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Full Tilt Boogie

 
Whew! Where does the time go when the warm breezes of summer invade the atmosphere? So far behind in blogging due to a long stretch of hanging out in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Always such a privilege to soak in the beauty and charm of this special place.

But I hope to set aside some time in the next few days to catch up with all my bloggy friends. I don't think I've ever gone this long without inspecting my google reader.

I have to admit, on my drive back from the cabin all I could think about was getting my paws on my art supplies! You see, Mary Ann's newest online class Full Tilt Boogie debuted in my absence. As usual, her video instruction is superb and full of inspiration. Not to mention Mary Ann's adorable sense of humor...so add the word entertaining to the previous sentence as well.  

 
Although the instructions in this class are focused on altering an old Victorian photo album, any type of book will work. The real empahsis is on bookbinding methods.

For my first journal {she will be teaching several different types of binding} I chose the open back binding. Isn't that fun? Another girl in class posted a photo of her completed journal where she used the baker's twine and I was sold! 

 
The "book" I altered wasn't really a book at all! I repurposed the thick cardboard backing on one of my watercolor pads and made my own book covers! In order to give the covers more of an authentic look of an old victorian album, I first padded them with several layers of cotton batting {a slight brushing of mod podge to hold the layers in place}.

 

Before wrapping the covers in some upholstery fabric, I sewed different embellishments to the front cover using irish waxed linen thread.

The beautiful old velvet violet millinery flower was a gift from my friend, Patty. So fun to find a special place for this much loved little gem!

 

 
 One of my splurges for this class was buying a Japanese Screw Punch. I've wanted one for a long time since I have gobs of uses for this little beauty. It even punches through thick leather with extreme ease. For this particular class, it drilled all the holes for binding my book together.

 
My plans will be to add my own photos I've taken, as well as add lots more tape-in sections, pieces of ephemera, a little paint, rubber stamps, and of course, some journaling.

So much for that housework getting done....!

And by the way, I'm pretty sure you can still sign up for Full Tilt Boogie if this is your cup of tea! It's a delicious cup for sure and the best part? The class never closes...meaning, you will have full access to all of the videos forever and ever. I love that about Mary Ann's classes!

{no, i am not a paid blogger! i post this raving review of the class of my own free will!}

Hope you're finding some time to live in your sweet spot too!

xo, Sue

Vintage Laundry Drying Rack

I love vintage.

But I don't love laundry.

However, I do love my new vintage laundry drying rack.

 
...just think of all the things you could display on this sweet thang...

 
 
 
Endless possibilities...

...balloons for a celebration, little doll dresses, drying artwork, hangtags, if your children are little-their artwork, inspirational quotes, drying flowers, or I guess you could even use it for its intended purpose.

If I were wise, I would clip matching envelopes to each clothespin. Inside each envelope would be "something" I've been putting off for too long. Each day I would force myself choose one envelope and force myself happily complete that task.

 
 These are the kinds of finds that I love to drag home with me.

 
Not something I was looking for necessarily...it just caught my eye. Something nostalgic about it...a throw back to the times when people actually {gasp!} washed lingerie by hand. Can you imagine?!

Xo, Sue

p.s. On a more somber note, my heart and prayers go out to all who have suffered loss during this latest rash of deadly storms here in the U.S. May their be an outpouring of love and support...  

Treasures found...

 Originally posted May 18th over on Wordpress. Copied and moved  back to Typepad.

Rarely does a day pass when I don’t venture into the out of doors. Soaking up some warm sunshine, and in season, gathering a few flowers and offerings of nature to bring indoors. We are blessed in Northern Georgia with a bountiful supply of trees with an equally impressive variety of  types of trees.

My one clump of River Birch trees is definitely a much loved tree in my book.

 Loved for its beautiful peeling and curling bark, I am always gathering up the naturally shedded pieces. Eventually they find their way into an artsy/crafty project. 

But early this winter, I spotted something unusual hanging from the tree’s bare branches. Even with a goober-sized zoom lens it was hard to get a good shot of it as it was perched way up high. But that didn’t stop me from trying.

 

 For months I checked on it…after every bout of high winds, snowstorms, heavy rain, I’d check to make sure it was still there. And it held fast…but then in the Spring the tree leafed out and I could no longer find it amongs the heavy growth of leaves.

 

 

But yesterday, while walking among my flower beds, I spotted something laying on the ground underneath the River Birch. My heart skipped a beat…it was the cocoon! I was surprised at how sturdy the little thing was made…like a very stiff, rugged cardboard covered in delicate silk threads.

And when I turned it over in my hand….

 
Look at what I saw! Is that awesome or what? So intrigued…it sent me running off to google to see what I could learn about this cocoon. I discovered that it was not a butterfly cocoon, but a silk moth’s cocoon {I think!!}. Which led me to this intriguing website called Aurora Silk.

 In addition to selling silk cocoons {30 for $12} she has directions for soaking the cocoons in order to harvest the silk. My favorite part was her suggestion to save the water for a superior shampoo/conditioner!

As an artist and into all things natural, she has a line of dyes, silks, homeopathic creams, etc. There is even a kit to buy that would be perfect for a classroom teacher {or a science fair project} depicting the life cycle of a caterpillar. If you enjoy these kinds of things, you might enjoy browsing through her site.

I did place a little order as I could never soak the little treasure I found in order to harvest the silk…way too personally attached. smile.

Here’s to finding {seeing} the treasures in our days.

Xo, Sue

2 Responses to Treasures found…

1. ~*~Patty says:

   May 18, 2011 at 1:47 pm (Edit)

   ooo you had me in such suspense AND delight (as always) dear Sue!

   you nature girl you! the butterfly wing and blue flowers (name escapes me)!
   we took the road less traveled on our way home from VA Tech for the graduation and enjoyed the slow and scenic pace of The Blueridge Parkway….we saw SO many large yellow butterflies…I almost drove Mr Magpie nuts counting them….out loud heehee!

   I was on Cloud Nine anyway with the weekend’s festivities!

   to see where the cocoon was attached to the leaf with that perfect impression must have made you gasp with joy…these sorts of things are so wonderful…leave it to you to get to the bottom of things and share such lovely info with us…imagining you rinsing your hair soon with some VERY special rinse water

   oh and your WP blog looks wonderful…really lovely with so many sweet touches…your artful techieness is enviable lady!

   Happy May…it is always sweet to come for a visit…
   oxo
   p.s. oh and it is much easier for me to leave a comment too I see
   AND I can get notification when you update your bbb
   Yippee Yay!
   That is the one thing I wish WP had…a blogroll that reflects others updated blogs

   Reply
2. Zuzu says:

   May 19, 2011 at 12:12 pm (Edit)

   LOVE the photographs in this post, Sue. That first one had me oooing and ahhhing. Don’t you love how one great find leads to the next? I’m off to visit the website link…
   Have a happy one,
   Zuzu

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

 
I first read about this paint on Miss Mustard Seed's blog. Oh my....

No sanding, no primer, no nothing needed before you paint a piece of furniture. Seriously? Even over varnish? Even over varnish.

After watching this video on her blog about waxing versus using a poly sealer I placed my orders for a few cans of the paint, two kinds of wax and the special waxing brush you see in my photo above...on this link she talks a little more about the paint and places to order it.

 But even if you're not in the market to paint some furniture, her blog is very inspiring! You might even discover after visiting that you now NEED to paint some furniture.

 
As soon as I opened the box of paint, I could hardly wait to try it out. Right in the middle of my floor. [not recommended by anyone who knows better] Sanding the piece for distressing purposes in the middle of your house is an even worse idea. Naturally....I did this too. Just once....never again!!!!! 

 
One dining room chair down...

 
...seven more to go...not to mention several other pieces I plan to tackle. The bids to have everything refinished by a pro was going to be a lot...

 
But it was obvious something needed to be done... Let's just call this style of distressing "puppy love".... Most of our chairs look as if we raise beavers inside our house!!! Grrrrr.... But our little puppy has grown up now and no longer chews furniture....thank goodness.

 
The cream colored paint from the Annie Sloan line after adding some wax matched my corner cabinet in the kitchen just beautifully. I painted part of one chair to test it out. That's the beauty of this paint...even after waxing it {or applying poly} if you don't like it, just paint over it.

Sadly enough, puppy did a number on all of those chairs too. One puppy with sharp teeth left unattended for even three minutes can inflict unbelievable damage.

But somewhere over the course of last week in all of my decorating scheming, I decided to go another direction with the chairs.

 
I ordered these........! One meal of spaghetti with a pack of teenage boys will let me know rather quickly whether I made a huge mistake. The old chairs will find a new home and purpose in our basement.

Incidentally, you can use this paint to make chalkboards too....check out the Annie Sloan website to see all the colors available. Or mix a couple of colors for your own custom color.

Wishing you all a wonderful week of living creatively!

Texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen Cafe

 
Oh YIPPEEE SKIPPEEEE!

Been so busy catching up on real life [meaning less computer time] that I almost missed the news about Kim's newest inspiring adventure, TEXTURE TUESDAY!

I'm also known to spend way too much time out of doors once Spring hits my hometown. Like it's done! The above photo is one of my favorite of favorite trees...The Red Bud tree.

After applying a couple of Florabella actions, I added five layers of Kim's textures:

~scratches, 2 brushed linens, just golden, and an all time favorite, grey day!  

 
Thought I'd show the original pic before I applied the textures. It wasn't that long ago that I knew "zero" about Photoshop, and even less about adding textures to a photo. But both of those changed when I happened across Kim's blog! I took a couple of her online classes and a whole new world of fun was discovered.

If you've ever wanted to learn Photoshop {any of the versions}, I have, and will continue to highly recommend Kim's classes. There's even a free one to get you started. Just click on this link and you'll find the listing of classes on her sidebar.

 
Dragged home from the greenhouse a few pots of these adorable flowers to add to my flower beds last week. They are called Scabiosa, or more commonly known as the Pincushion flower.

Kim Klassen textures that I used: just blush, mona, sepia scratched, and 3 layers of softly. {also used a texture from flickr from boccacino}.

Head over to this post and check out all the other players in Texture Tueday and be inspired!

Inspired

Been missing in action...meaning, I'm in full action mode, just missing from blogland! Too many fun things, life, the daily grind...you know that story.

But these recent offerings from Pottery Barn are way too inspiring not to share. Especially for all those still stuck in winter...mostly against their own will, I might add!

!!!all photos to follow are from pottery barn website unless noted differently!!!

 
 
 
 
 

...those plates in the delicate pastel shades and ruffled edges make me swoon....

...i'm convinced that food even tastes better when served on pretty dishes!

 
 
 
 

 

 
As much as I prefer "real" flowers, I must say that these apple blossom silks are deliciously lovely.

 
...same to be said for these spring magnolia blossoms which are currently in full-glorious-bloom in Georgia. They are stunning in person...and there is also a white version of this magnificent tree.

But as much as I love so many items in the recent offerings from Pottery Barn, if I could only pick one, this would be it....

 
....ahhhhhh.....place your orders for Mother's Day girls!

 I'll sign off with a couple of photos from what's happening just outside my windows...

 
 

 
 
 

Happy inspired Spring wishes to all....let us all do our part to make the world a more beautiful place. {and i don't mean with just "things" :) }

Xo, Sue 

The joys of bleach...

 
A few posts back I had mentioned that Linda had wrapped some cards in some yummy vintage crepe paper. Well, lo and behold, she zipped me a note to say this wasn't vintage crepe paper at all....rather, she had bleached it to make it appear old! How cool is that...{linda, send me the link to your tut on this process and I'll update this post! little ole challenged me couldn't find it}

EDITED UPDATE: Click here to see Linda's tutorial. Thank you, Linda!

So I guess you could say that one good bleach has led to another...

 

Ruffled sham is the original color...and larger piece is the duvet after taking a swim in the washing machine with a generous amount of bleach added!

Not long ago during a quick once and over look at a fav thrift store I found this bag of bedding. Mint condition. King duvet. Two shams. Dust ruffle. And three add'l yards of this yummy floral fabric. The weight and texture of the fabric is similar to a painter's drop cloth. It even reminds me a lot of the vintage barkcloth fabric used in drapes.

 
Do you see the nubbies in the fabric? It has a percentage of flax in the fabric content and the bleaching process only accentuated this wonderful texture. Despite the fact that the laundry instructions read DRY CLEAN ONLY!!! this laundered well with no shrinking, but I didn't put it in the dryer...you can only get lucky so long....

 
 Despite the fact that I could make this work into the scheme of my new decorating plans, I'm leaning towards more neutral tones...maybe some accent pillows? Or I could sell it to help fund these expensive booties I would love to buy and have snuggled on my feet as the colder weather sets in...

 
Wouldn't these be great with jeans?...and you wear them baretootsied, like an Ugg boot. The manufacturer is Quoddy. They are all handmade... J Crew has them in their most recent catalog. Every year they feature a pair of Quoddy's and every year I drool over them...and every year I never buy them! Full circle.

And as long as I'm mentioning great things, you have to go and see these pumpkins Theresa made here. She was inspired by another blogger and gives a link to that tutorial. Love the inspiration available in blogland, don't you?

 
 
playing, playing, playing....

 
...dragging vintage dresses, a vintage hat, a rusty chair, and what not into the backyard to snap some photos...and then playing some more using my newest textures from Kim Klassen...

...whoever invented digital cameras....i love you....i seriously love you...but i only wish this technology was available when my kiddies were wee ones...or i had been able to afford a better camera...

...but should i ever be so blessed to some day have little grand-babies, watch out!

... hopefully there will be a little granddaughter in the mix so i can dress her up in my stash of vintage dresses...or i guess a grandson with a good sense of humor {!} would work too....but come to think of it, way back when the little boys wore dresses all the time... 

 
...meanwhile, i'm absolutely enjoying {obsessed} with learning to use Photoshop Elements...

 
 
...but every now and then i wonder what the neighbors think as they see old dresses and rusty chairs set up in our backyard... oh well....

And as long as we're on the subject of photography, if you love beautiful photographs that inspire, you've got to visit ZuZu's {A Cottage in the Woods blog} newest Tumblr blog. I've been meaning to share this as it is that special... She did a post here, explaining the concept. Be prepared for some serious oohing, aahing, sighing, and inspiration...

Postal Joy!

Anytime mail arrives with stamps like these...

 
...you are smitten and then grinnin' almost as if fun HERSELF had come knocking on your door. Seriously. That's how my world spins... I so enjoy little details like this...

Not long ago, Linda hosted a week long giveaway. One of the prizes that Patty won  was this delightful deck of playing cards. You can read about them here. Linda had some extra decks she was offering up to anyone interested.

 
Well, I was interested and my deck arrived today!!!

 
Linda had the cards wrapped so cute in some vintage crepe paper...and snuck in one of her adorable embroidered buttons she blogged about here.

But as I was opening the box, there was another complete surprise inside...

 
Linda's BFF, Virginia, included something FOR ME! Linda often features some of Virginia's beautiful handiwork on her blog {Virginia isn't a blogger}. It's quite evident that these two Texas  girls have a lot of fun together. Once, after seeing something very special Virginia made or did {or probably both!}  for Linda I left a comment asking how I could become Virginia's BFF too!

Well girls, I think I'm inching ever closer.....

 
Are these not the most adorable [wool felted] acorns you've ever seen?

 
And lookie at the little pouch they arrived in....the turquoise bead is being used as the button! Love it!

 Linda and Virginia, you are both dolls! Your little package added so much happy joy to my day!

I wish for heaps of blessings on you both...blessings as perty as this beautifully faded vintage crepe paper....

And just as a little added tidbit, Linda & Virginia both live in the same neighborhood where hubby and I lived over 25 years ago! [But we didn't know each other then.] It's a small world sometimes, isn't it?!

Xo, Sue

 

Searching...

...found that quote in some free publication that was in our mailbox...thought it spoke volumes...

...meanwhile, instead of knocking off important stuff on my to do list, {which will soon turn into a list renamed as "it's now on fire!" if I don't get busy soon} I keep playing with my camera and textures and pse...

...but I will keep searching for that girl who is organized, on time, and strikes a healthy balance between "should do" and "want to do"....

Xo, Sue

credits: textures by Kim Klassen