The Mystery Thrift Off Day 2

Well, today is the day that Lindsey from BetterAfter posted the second set of 4 contestants' pieces. Mine was one of them, which means I can show you what I made.

Remember, I started out with these...

...after a little cardboard cutting and some paint, I ended with these...

The olive boats, turned upside down, became the bases for the cat and dog. If you've been around here for awhile, I know you understand that the dog had to be a Schnauzer.

Go check out the other 3 designs. You might just be amazed -- I was! Again!

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. There is some fierce competition.

The Mystery Thrift Off

Hiya! I'm back.

Long winter, busy life, blah blah blah. I didn't even write about my last two foster dogs. You know something's up when I don't do that...and I will soon, but first I want to tell you about this contest I was recently involved in.

Lindsey over at BetterAfter put together a Thrift-Off. She gathered some things from Goodwill and sent them out to 12 readers and the task was to redesign the items. I was fortunate enough to be in the line up and I had a lot of fun with it.

I was very excited and curious when I received the package...

This is what I found inside -- 2 olive boats (I was told by an IG viewer that they are Crate and Barrel, no less):

Here are some in-process photos:

Today she revealed the first four creations. Check them out here. Lindsey goes into more detail of the hows and whys of her idea to do this. Then check back throughout the week as she reveals four more final pieces each day, then has voting on Thursday.

It's been a few weeks since this started and I was excited from the get-go. The anticipation is killing me. ;)

A Trade, A Swap, A Cat , A Dog

A long while back, I saw this little guy on my blogger friend Cindi's Flickr page and had to have him.

I asked if she'd be interested in a trade. She said, 'yes' without even knowing or asking what she was getting in return. I told her she didn't have to send it out right away because what I wanted to send her I hadn't made, yet. As you may know if you've been hanging around here awhile....I procrastinate. I knew the subject matter I wanted to use, just wasn't sure of the medium, so, of course, I had to wait until the stars aligned just right before I started. Those stars took a damn long time.

She sent her little paper mache kitty out right away.

Then, she patiently waited -- so long that I've lost count of the months. Bad me. Bad. Bad. Bad.

But, alas, I finally decided on the medium and I finally finished the project and I finally sent it.

An embroidered portrait of her dog, Blue.

Made out of already used or old materials. The frame was a thrift store find that I painted, the background fabric was from a shirt, the white fabric from a shirt, the embroidery floss - vintage - from my mom's stash from the 70s. 

and for a little size perspective....

She received it. She loved it. I love that she loved it.

End of story.

Hope you've had a great day!!!

A Wedding

Last Saturday, one of my closest friends married her man of the past 11 years. She asked me to make a "wedding -- this way" sign for the beginning of the path to the venue. After spilling the primer on my studio floor, I was able to get to work...

Lois is my thrifting co-hort, therapist-over-a-cup-of-coffee friend, we support each other, she's short, I'm tall, she's conservative/preppy, I'm hippy chic, she's a grown-up, I'm a grown child. We can depend on each other when in need (unless it's between the hours of 11pm and 8am then I'm to call someone else,) 'cuz she's zonked and will sleep through a bomb and we have a lot of laughs together.

Sooooo, knowing she has a sense of humor, as I was designing it, I was having fun with the words. She wanted something a little whimsical and said I could put just about anything I wanted on it...."within reason," she said. 

I thought this one was appropriate...

...she didn't agree.

I thought this one was even better, snarky and fun....

she laughed but I guess she wanted this to be a more serious matter -- go figure! 

So this is what she got, and she loved it...

I made it with all previously used materials. The sign is the back of a drawer, the pole is an old wooden broomstick, the paint was left over from various jobs I've done. 

It was a beautiful setting by the river. The 3pm lighting from the clouds starting to cover the sky made for a nice light, the breeze was coming in, the rain held off and the vows were spoken.

Lois preplanned for the possibility of cooler weather. On the back of every other chair was a Pashima shawl for the female guests in case they got cool, and we got to keep them. What a nice touch. 

It was a small gathering of their closest friends and family. I've known Lois for only about 3 years, maybe not even that long, I was honored to be included. 

Time Flies

Going through my cards I found this one which I made almost 10 years ago. I can't believe it. It feels like just a couple months ago.

Obsessed

Have you been so caught up in something that you are completely obsessed and every spare moment goes to that task and you even dream about it? Well that's where I've been since being at Angela's a couple weeks ago, and I have so much to share from life between then and now. The task at hand, though, was new business cards. I think the few friends I was sharing the agony with were about ready to clobber me over the head. I wanted to clobber me over the head. I couldn't get away from it and my brain became fried, nonfunctioning, full. Then, wouldn't you know, when I finally thought I was done, even though I wasn't thrilled with the design...I woke up this morning with a new idea and did it within a couple hours...and I feel better...but I feel like I wasted sooooo much time. My brain got locked into one thought pattern and I wasn't aware enough to get unlocked. So the graphic on the card went from this...

to this....

to this...

and finally to this (but refined) ... 

and my brain was free -- oh happy me.

(these cards are probably temporary as I've designed them to go along with a 'job' I recently did, which I'll show you pics of as soon as I have some.)

Now new stressors have entered. Dang!!

I hope you are feeling stress free.

HAPPY EASTER!!

Hello (Kitty) Bunnies...

...and Goodbye.

R's girls have had a fondness for Hello Kitty for years, so why not put her face on a bunny? Made with vintage fabric. I haven't made a pom pom in 30 years!

Have a great day!

Wishing You Peace and Joy...

Heidi Loves Strawberries

Back in January I did some small drawings and posted them here. I thought I might try to do one a day. I got bored. It didn't last that long. But one of the drawings I did was of Heidi, a foster dog that my partner had in her care and adopted out to a couple that had adopted Rudy from me a year and a half before. Terry contacted me after seeing the blog post with the illustration and asked if she could get a copy. I told her I could do an original and gave her some choices on how she'd like it done.

This illustration is what came out of my fingers. It became more involved and detailed than the original plan, but that is not new for me. I have the idea and the hands do what comes out of them. Terry had let me know that they discovered that Heidi loves strawberries, so I couldn't help but add them in, I created them in the shape of hearts to show her love for them and for her new owners. She gave this as a gift to her husband Frank for his birthday. I'm so happy that I was a part of their celebration of life with Heidi. Terry has sent us updates of her with pictures and she looks to be one silly girl, very happy in her new home.

Floral Ceiling Border

A simple border for a powder room. The walls were color washed with a soft purple and then stenciled with a stencil hand made by me. Due to incandescent lighting and a small bathroom, it was hard to get the color right. The top photo is the truer color but still a little over exposed.

Telephone Doodle

I was traveling in my car today and saw this boy walking down the sidewalk. I thought to myself, "how can he see anything?" his hair was literally covering his eyes. Now I often see boys with the long hair and they constantly do the hair flip thing (which btw has to bother their necks, I went to a Halloween Party one year as Cher and did the constant hair flipping thing -- of course while I was pretending to sing and was dancing, too -- wine anyone?? well the next day my neck was sore and after awhile I figured out it was the constant hair flipping! ouch!) so, yes, their necks must get sore. But, I was also thinking about how if it was my kid (because I have an over active imagination I actually had the 'video' in my head) I'd have told him the long hair is OK but he really needs to get the hair out of his eyes....then I thought of whether or not it can affect eyesight, or how getting poked in the eyes with the ends of the bangs must be uncomfortable....and then I crashed into the car in front of me.

No, I didn't really, just seeing if I still had you with me.

So, on the phone tonight, I started doodling and thought of the kid and how when I was driving I thought I wanted to do a sketch of him and then remembered that when I was on the phone. Ta-daaaaaaaa.

eight

seven

six

             he had a birthday so I made him a cake

five

four

Blue

three

two

one

Wall Art

The dining room was painted a light yellow then color washed with a golden yellow. Then I added some vine like branches.