My Weblog

Textures: Free Images!

 
Me bad...really, really, really bad. Sitting in my computer are too many half-composed posts, ephemera I want to post and share, unanswered emails, you name it. And if it's missing, it's probably in my computer. Sitting.

Only so many hours in a day. Sigh.

What is it about chippy paint that so many of us love? For years I've been wanting to stop along a busy road up in the mountains of western North Carolina to photograph this little Post Office. I think it's just adorable. So unlike the huge complex that is my local post office here in suburbia Atlanta.

 
Well, during our last trip up to the mountains we finally pulled over and I snapped some shots...peeked in the windows...admired the chipy blue paint on the doors. That's where the first photo came from...from a section of one of these doors.

Then I got to thinking...and playing in PSE....

 
...and in addition to some awesome Kim Klassen textures, I also slapped on a layer of my blue chippy paint photo. Isn't that a fun new look? Please feel free to grab the blue paint texture for your own files if you'd like.

And I know I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating, I adore Kim Klassen. She is responsible for opening up the world of PSE to me and I love her for that! She just finished round one of her FREE Skinny class and is opening up another section of this FREE beginners course to PSE. Click here for the details. The new class begins November 8th I believe, but she will also accept late registrations. Check it out!

As long as we're catching up, I realized that I forgot a couple of things in my last post. I meant to share a couple of shots of the matchbox I made to give to Patty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As well as sharing this link to Patty's posting on our swap. I knew that Patty loved swans and I had the perfect picture of a swan. It's a lithograph from an old turn of the century children's book from my collection of old books.

Here's two copies of the swan I'm sharing with you for your own personal use. {{I don't mind at all if someone uses my free images in work they plan to sell. But please don't sell the image itself in a collage sheet or CD or any of that kind of stuff! Fair enough?}}

 
 

It's a cold, drizzly, rainy day here in my little patch on earth. But since I bought enough candy bars for 150 trick or treaters (we've had over a hundred some years) and only about 70 came to the door this year, I've had plenty of fuel to keep me warm! Waiting for college boy and college girl to swing home and grab the rest of these...oh please hurry home! 

Meanwhile...back to catching up...

Xo, Sue

 

A Heaping Spoon{ful} of Grace

 
Squeal with deeeee-light! That's what I was doing as I slowly opened a package from a recent swap with Patty {Magpie's Nest}.

You know the routine...slowly is the operative word. Not only do you want to savor the moment as each new treasure/layer is revealed, but you also want to capture all the beauty with your camera...or as best as you can given that the sun was no where to be found that day...

 
I love details, don't you? The pattern on this hammered spoon handle, not to mention the word "grace" are just the best! A spoon, I might add that Patty makes with a little help from Mr. Magpie. Check out this post of Patty's for more photos of these wonderful altered cutlery... 

 
Backing up just a tad, I have to show you this MOST ADORABLE little zippered pouch. It is made entirely from recycled materials. Tucked inside was the spoon that was sitting on multiple layers of treasures that eventually led to the altered matchbox. The theme, if you will, of our swap. 

However, as you are about to see, Patty went above and beyond...three times around the moon and back gathering bits and pieces and treasures and trinkets...

 
In fact, tucked inside the larger covered matchbox, was this smaller matchbox filled with its own goodies! How cute is this little matchbox?! Way adorable! The eye actually winks! Love that little inchie she made as well. She has a great tutorial on her sidebar for making inchies.

 A A gorgeous TAP transfer with the stamped piece of eyelet...such a great saying!
 
Steampunk wonderful! Unlike anything I've got in my stash!

 
A beautiful tag with the sweetest words on the back...yummy handmade papers... 
The big-sized matchbox! In all it's glorious details...get a look at the lace collar and cuffs in that photo. So perfect to give that little royal boy a lace crown.

 
Another peek at the textures and creative details...

 
The aqua-colored fabric swatch on this piece is so gorgeous. The Kim Klassen texture on this photo distorts the true color...it's more like the previous two photos. I also was having a difficult time capturing all the glazing/painting/inking...in other words, the details on this altered matchbox.

  
 
Patty tucked in lots of little pieces of art...Not only do I love her Zendoodles, I also learned that term from reading her blog. Didn't even know there was a name for such purposeful/artful doodling! Come to think of it, I've learned a lot of artful helps by reading Patty's blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

...don't miss the name of the venue for the Daughter Elks Ball...High Hat Night Club!  

 

...this vintage cake/cupcake topper is the best!  I've bought quite a few pieces over the years of vintage plastic halloween stuff to give to my two sisters who are avid collectors of the items. Sorry sissies, but this one is staying at my house! I'm thinking of taping it to my forehead on those days when I want to warn everyone as to the condition of my estrogen level.....non-verbal cues can be so effective!

 
More squealing....Patty gave me one of her wool felted heart pendants!

 

Love these little figurines too!

And then.........just when you think it doesn't get any better than all of this.....it does!

 
Tucked inside my package was this beautiful french maid's apron in all its glory! I LOVE "FRENCH" and I do seem to do my share of "maiding" at my house ...........but in a little spirit of fun {or subconsciously am I trying to send another nonverbal suggestion?!} I decided to let Mr. Dressform model this beauty.... 
 

A little better look at the scrumptious detailing in this apron!
 

 I absolutely love everything Patty sent me, and then some! It also occurred to me that the word on my spoon-- "grace" {and creative, and inspiring, and insightful, and kind, and generous, and thoughtful, and encouraging, and witty, and, and, and,.....FUN} are all great words to describe Patty!  

Without a doubt she spoiled me rotten with all these treasures! But as much as I am enjoying my rotten state, what I love even more are the connections I've made with Patty and others through blogging.  These are the bestest treasures of all....

Xo, Sue

My First Tag Swap: Dorothy

ooops...this post was left sitting in my typepad folder just before i ran away to the mountains with my family...just needed to add a few url links before I pushed publish...

 

Yessiree,...my first tag swap! Karla was the hostess and I can only imagine the amount of time that went into coordinating this event! The glittery shoe you see in the above photo was an embellishment trinket, along with a cover tag Karla made and attached to the six tags I received. If you haven't guessed already, the theme was Dorothy/Wizard of Oz!

Here are some collage-type peeks of the fronts and some of the backs that were in my package...

 
click your heels together on any photo to enlarge!

 1. Cover tag by Karla Nathan   2. A button on the back of tag made by Nicole Kohmescher  3. A back view of the tag made by Karla   4. Tag made by Sandy O'Donavon   5. Tag made by Elizabeth Streeter   6. Tag by Nicole Kohmescher {not sure if all are bloggers but I included blog links of those that referenced a blog} 
1. Tag by Amy Pytlik   2. Scottie dog on Karla's tag   3. Tag by Kathy Semrick   4. Tag by Karla Nathan   5. Back of Amy's tag   6. Back of Kathy's tag

Because I won a contest on Karla's blog of guessing how many corsages she scored while galavanting across Texas, my prize for winning came in the package containing my tags for the swap. A red poppy corsage, how appropriate was that?!

 
It was attached to a book page from an old, old rendition of The Wizard of Oz with all my tags tucked inside. Adorable! 
A view of the book page on the reverse side...isn't that a great old font?

Of course, the red poppies, unbeknownst to Karla are near and dear to my heart as they remind me of the red {and blue} poppies I used to sell as a little girl to help raise monies for Veterans...

 
So thank you Karla, not only for the great old millinery corsage but also for reminding me of a sweet memory from my childhood! My father was a Disabled American Veteran from WWII so patriotism and gratitude for the cost of our freedom was something I learned at a very early age.

Below are a couple of shots of the tags I made. Incidentally, they are tacked to an old piece of tin ceiling with a magnet. I have a couple of the larger pieces of tin that I use for inspiration boards in my big old messy crafty room.

 
The scarecrow is showing the back of my tags... 
I sandwiched a vintage key between the front and back of my tag to use as a nontraditional "hole" for threading through some string/ribbon/etc. Sewed to the skirt is an old optometrist lens with a quote glued to the underside. And to borrow an old trick from the Wizard himself, "PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MESSY RED STITCHING!"

Like I mentioned, this was my first tag swap and hopefully not my last. It was so fun to get artwork from other talented people! Here's a link to the post on Karla's blog to see more of the tags that were made for this swap. It's also a great reference/post on how to host a swap!