Cookie House Tour

The House Tour I did for Cookie Magazine is now up. Joanna, who did the interview a while back is just as easy and fun to talk to as you'd think. (Maybe a bit too easy to talk to judging from the interview ;)

There are a few more pictures from that set right here, if you're interested.

thrift store finds

Just some newly thrifted items.
In the top pic: new white salt shaker & tiny desk.
Next pic: the hens peck at the food when you tilt the paddle :)
plate
Last one: love this "Ours" cup.

Before & After

I found this stool at a yard sale with my mom for $5 about a year ago and have been looking for the perfect fabric to cover it since then. I found it but unfortunately ikea doesn't ship it, so my sisters friends' (Wendy--thank you so much for orchestrating this!)co-worker was nice enough to get it for me on her recent trip there.I like the way it came out.

On another note, I recently discovered my yahoo account has gone haywire. If you have emailed me w/in the last few months there is a really good chance I deleted it and never read it. I've always automatically deleted my Bulk Folder without even looking at what it was. Apparently a big mistake--when I checked into my other account, there in the bulk folder sat MANY legitimate emails. I guess my account has been randomly throwing emails into the Bulk. I'm usually a good responder so if you have emailed me and never gotten a response, please try again...I'm on top of it now. I really hate the thought of having missed even one.

$ 50

Yesterday I was lucky enough to get some time to shop at my favorite vintage-y store. With my $50 (Christmas money) I got all of the above. A triple-layer dry goods container (that I had seen & loved way back in March-so happy it was still there), working Fisher Price radio, condiment set, pretty/ugly chair and (not shown) some children's books for Enzo. I did good.

his animals

Shortly after setting up our Christmas trees, Enzo came out with all his animals and made it into the woodland scene above (which I love). Soon after the dinosaurs invaded. Boys.

Terrarium

I've always wanted to make a terrarium, complete with moss and now I have! It was kind of a spur-of-the moment thing. We were at the dog park when I spotted some moss. Later on while Tony had Enzo at a movie and I was cleaning up my studio (amongst other things) I remembered this glass container (which had many previous lives: fish bowl, underwater plant garden, planter, and for the longest time stood neglected outside) and quickly put this together. No planning, just grabbing. I really like it though and will try my best to keep the moss alive, maybe put in another clay guy...we'll see.

Morning Light

Just trying to catch the essence of early morning light. For some reason it seems so much crisper when it's cold out. Tony and Enzo are out on the lawn mower right now so I thought I'd sneak in here. Some more random things going on:
-My friends' move into a cute apartment downtown, next to another friend is really making me happy.
-Also getting excited about Christmas. I called Christmas Eve this year for our big family get together. Much better than Thanksgiving, I think.
-Trying to think up a fun and yet ascetically pleasing Christmas present for Enzo to make as gifts.
-The weather has been perfect. I see lots of picnics in the near future (get ready Sam).
But for right now, I'm off to paint. And later today, I am hoping to fit in a little project for the family to work on. We'll see......

Enzo's room

Well, anyway here are some pictures of Enzo's room. I've spent the past hour or so trying to make one of those photo albums relatives email to each other. I've not done one in over a year so I thought I'd put one together for all of our loved ones up north. Well, computers all across the lands are against me today and it kept erasing all my hard work. So frustrating. While I was in there I saw these pictures of Enzo in his room and thought I'd put them in a new post as even I am getting sick of my artwork. Now, please realize that if I had taken them with the intent of showing how cute his room is, I would have made his bed nicer, cleaned, vacuumed, etc. Oh well, something for you to look at. That big black blob under the bed is Clementine--she loves crawling under there.

Oh, and note the pile of books next to his bed. I'm working on that situation currently. You'll see......eventually.

Soap Thing

This week has been such a busy one! Everything from the fun-having, stress-making, and just plain busy stuff have made the time fly by. Most importantly, Tony installed my soap holder thing in the bathroom. OK, it's not that important but it really is special to me. I bought it when I was sixteen on a visit to Germany with my grandma. It was probably one of my first, "when I get a house of my own...." purchases. It's this metal thing that goes into the wall and has a magnet on its' underbelly. Then you press this bottle-cap looking thing into your soap and it hangs so nicely. I was pretty impressed when I first saw it so many years ago. I've since put a little silver dish underneath, for the drips. Speaking of drips, have you ever heard someone talk so long about a stupid bathroom accessory? Me neither.

The luckiest girl in the world!

So here goes...the biggest "Before and After" I had alluded to months ago. The making of my studio!!! Since I was younger and would be dreaming of my perfect house (which was a Major aspect of my daydreaming) I've always wanted a room to house all of my art supplies and other tools for creating. The house we bought didn't have the extra bedroom needed for my studio, but it did have a 11 X 18 Florida Room. Since our first viewing of the house I had the plan set: Build a wall down the middle, making it into both my studio and a dining room. (Our house otherwise just has an eat-in kitchen with room for a smallish table). I didn't want a cramped dining room and already had a lot of opinions against the wall-building or a least some weariness. Luckily Tony was only in the weary category. I should also mention that the wall would be butting up against a window. BUT my awesome dad was able to build it in about 2 days. And I think he did a great job making it look natural against the window.
And now I am really the luckiest girl in the wooooorld! Let's go through the steps.....


The room before (this picture was taken before we moved in).


The wall going up....
And look how great it turned out!


The dining room, a little bare still but perfectly roomy, right?


The corner of my studio that faces out. (Mostly sewing area, but you can see a bit of my easel and palette in the middle)


What a view!


My very favorite part. This is where I do illustrations, clay stuff, everything else.
A dream come true.
Oh, and Tony loves it too!

i like it

This is another (now about 2 months old) before & after project that I really loved the outcome of. It took about 89 coats of white paint to get it lookin' so sharp (and some hardware changing-out) but I think it was well worth it. It stemmed from my extreme need (not want) to display my cool mid-century-ish stuff.

Before & After

This was a blog I posted on myspace a month or so back. I just realized all I had to do was cut & paste the blog into a new posting here and there we go! So, because of how easy it was, I'll probably be re-posting a couple more.

This is a Before & Afters as it seems like that is my life lately. Lots going on 'round here, what with the nesting and all.. As much as I really love being someone who is always tweaking things to make them more my (our) style, it can be a bit much sometimes (lately). It's still fun and the outcomes are always the best part.



We found the dresser a few weeks back at Habitat for 9 bucks. You can tell why..it really did look bad. So, some sanding, painting, hardware buying ($8) and vee-oh-la.



Next up, a old-lady-style Sears purse and some vision (maybe? depends on your style). Straps off, buttons on, new purse. As I was telling Sam, I am just plain sick of the floppy purse trend. My stuff winds up being a big pile of junk. I prefer my junk separated into neater junk sections.
Oh! And those cat prints in the last picture are a clue into the latest and greatest and BIGGEST Before and After. Whoa. It's cool.