hanging with my gnomies

i'm about to add these little buggers to my shop. i had made these bottlecap pincushions a few months ago and decided they needed a little pizazz in order to list them in my shop. what better way then adding a few polymer stick pins. being they were mushroom in nature, i thought a gnome would compliment them perfectly. they turned out to be an adorable combo.

i also did a coffee mug pincushion with matching flower stick pins. it also turned out great. i'm having a hard time parting with them, but i'm sure they'll find a good home. hopefully, when i'm in maryland this weekend, i'll be able to find more retro-looking cups, i haven't had much luck around here. i had fun making these and am looking forward to my next batch.

on that note. i've updated today instead of tomorrow. i'm heading to maryland for few days tomorrow. flying solo again. my main agenda is to give my mom a little company while my dad is in iraq/qatar. tomorrow night we'll be hitting up insubordination fest where the copyrights will be playing. (no, my mom is not going to rock out with us! just brian and luanna) saturday we'll be partying with cole as he turns one. sunday getting a little shopping in, checking out the local thrift stores and ikea. pretty jam packed weekend. i'll be bringing my mom back with me so she can get a little mountain air this summer. i guess i better get packing.

hunka-hunka burnin boston

what marley looks forward to on our daily two mile walks. bosco's the same way but he's in and out, no lolli-gagging, he's all business. i honestly think she'd stay there all day if she could. i don't blame her. i'd do the same!

mary's gone wild

when we were at holden beach a couple of weeks ago, we passed by this crazy house on our way to get haircuts. we all did a double-take and decided we'd have to stop by on our way back. it definitely wasn't a disappointment. we walked in and there wasn't a surface that hadn't been painted with some sort of image or color. it looked like the "trash heap" from fraggle rock had exploded and mary had decided to paint what she could. she had mentioned something about being on t.v. and after doing a little research i found someone had actually made a documentary about her.

most of the artwork were old windows that had been painted and the average price for one was about $100. of course i kept thinking, "i can do that." and in fact i had. a couple of years ago i had painted a window for aaron's dad. he had gotten a winter scened window at a craft fair and wanted a spring scene to swap out when appropriate. it turned out really nice and i'll have to get a picture of it next time we're back there.

anyways, i didn't buy any artwork but i did buy an old scrabble game for $2. (she also has her house jam-packed with antiques/junk.) it's funny cause i couldn't remember her name, but "crazy mary" kept popping up in the back of my mind when i thought about her. if you're ever in the area check out mary and her "wild" house!

Recycling the unwanted goods of others with a fun-lovin' sense of humor, bright colored paints, and great faith, Mary has built a magical garden for all to enjoy, and to help feed the hungry children of the world.

yard sailing

this morning we got up fairly early to hit up a few yard sales in the area. beech mountain was having a community one, so we headed up there first. didn't have too much luck finding anything. it was more like people got a card table, put five things on it and they were ready to sell. i did manage to buy 13 zippers for $3 which was a fairly decent score. other than that, we didn't have much luck at any of the others we checked out. i couldn't believe aaron suggested we hit up yard sales today. i have to drag him to antique shops and thrift stores so i was a bit surprised he wanted to go. it's probably the last time since he didn't find what he was looking for. a small table to put in his bathroom at work. he's dead set against paying $60 for one at walmart, hence the yard sale shopping. maybe i can find something for him when i head to maryland next week. i think a trip to ikea is in order.

made a few more checkbook covers today. it's funny how things get better the more you do them. i'm pretty happy with how these turned out. i'll probably list them tomorrow. i've been trying to do at least five different versions of one thing. and i'm probably making them more difficult than they have to be. oh well. i'm also open for suggestions on what people would like to see in my shop. i like having a little motivation/direction so suggest away. and thanks for all the custom orders and thanks amanda for buying some charms today! i still get all giddy and yell, "i just sold something!" to aaron when it happens. he thinks i'm crazy but i can tell he's happy for me.

how 'bout dem apples?

i've been hoarding a bunch of japanese fabric i got last year. i didn't have a particular plan for them, but they were too cute to pass up. they're fairly expensive, so i wanted to use them sparingly or at least have a craft i've perfected before i put them to use. today, i finally made the cut. luckily this project only used 1.5" squares, so i barely used any. i listed a few and will probably list more next week. i have a red apple set that i wanted to try and attach rhinestones to. things didn't go according to plan, a little too messy for my taste. i have to figure out what glue to use and get a pair of precision tweezers.

on a fabric note. when i was in carbondale i saw that jo-ann's started carrying alexander henry fabrics. maybe they've always been there, but i'm just now noticing. i picked up some cute apple and pear fabric and a bold floral print as well. no plans yet, but i'm sure something will come to mind. i guess i need to replenish my checkbook covers this weekend. who knew they'd be so popular.

blue sky

another jam-packed weekend is finally over. i honestly don't think we could have fit any more into our weekend. graduation, vineyards, cardinal game, geocaching...etc. or i should say carbondale, springfield, carbondale, st. louis, carbondale, boone. it was a lot of fun and we both had a blast but it always takes a few days to recuperate. which mainly means housework needs to get done, groceries need to get bought, and laundry needs to be washed.

i've had my cell phone for over a year now. mainly using it for talking, texting and picture taking. a few weeks ago, while i was bored at a crawdads game, i figured out how to check my email using it. welcome to technology, susan. well, on our way back to illinois i was completely giddy i when i found out i had sold things from my shop via cell phone. even had requests for custom items. i wake up saturday morning with another sold message. how neat. of course, i have a standard phone, no special keypad for texting so i can't really respond but it's nice to be in the loop even when you're out. i do love technology. and thanks betsy and jen for shopping with arudegirl!!

skulls and spiders and cozies, oh my

i only listed a few new items today. i had to run a bunch of errands before leaving for illinois this afternoon and it's eaten into my update time. these were my attempts at ipod nano cozies before they got even smaller than they were. they're perfect to carry small items (lip balm, single tampon or small change) in, so they weren't a complete waste.

my pictures are all over the place. i can't get the lighting i want to be consistent and it's bugging the heck out of me. when i get back, i'm gonna be spending a lot of time figuring this out. at least you can see what i'm selling even though the pictures look like poo! oh well.

where in the world is JDR?

my dad left early monday morning and headed to qatar. this is the second time he's been there, at least that i can remember. he travels a lot with his job so half the time i have no idea where he is. this stint will be three months long, so we were all briefed before he left. i'll probably make a few trips home this summer. i just thought about the heat and humidity in the dc area *cringe*, maybe i should have mom come here!

on a crafty note. i'm gonna try and update the shop every friday. since we are heading back to illinois this week, updates will be done tomorrow. and thanks to kirsten for being my first "friend" buyer!!

art-o-mat

this past weekend aaron and i went to the wedding of the son of aaron's boss. it's weird to go to a wedding when you've only met the groom in passing and you've never met the bride. it was more of a courtesy attendance than anything. we got all dolled up and had a good time nonetheless.

the reception was at the turchin center for the visual arts here in boone. a really nice venue with modern art and exhibits surrounding us. when we entered the lobby i spotted the art-o-mat immediately. i had heard of them but this was the first time i'd actually seen one. what is the art-o-mat? they are "retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to vend art." unfortunately i didn't have any cash on me to vend some art. but next time i'm in the area, i'll have to give it a go.

surprisingly there are two vending machines located in boone. which is crazy since there are only 82 throughout the whole country. i'm actually considering submitting something for vending. it'd be great to have somebody by your art on a whim!

that's just tacky

today's project: fabric covered thumbtacks. i've been trying to figure out what i was going to do with this huge bunch of button covers that i ordered a few months ago. i had planned on using them for ponytails, but they were a lot smaller than i thought. i need to keep a ruler handy when ordering things online. well yesterday i found a way to finish the backs so you don't see the ugly glued tack. just add a little felt. i just added three sets to my shop. i'll probably add more soon but i want to find some more vintage looking fabric. these were made from the scraps of my thrift store finds. nothing goes unused in this house!

while i was listing, i looked up at the number of items in my shop. after adding the tacks there should have been 33. HOT DIGGITY! i just sold something!! awesome!!!!

oh deer, a stencil

i decided to venture into the freezer paper stencil forum. here's a somewhat step-by-step tutorial of my process. freezer paper can be purchased in your local grocery store, usually in the foil and baggie section.

take a sketch and turn it into a simple stencil.

adjust size to what you want and print out. (i was able to print the image directly on the freezer paper after cutting it down to 8.5x11. it was a little flimsy so i tried to staple it to a heavier sheet of cardstock. it ended up getting jammed in the printer, so i just fed the freezer paper by it's lonesome and it worked. and make sure you print on the flat side of the paper not the shiny/waxy side)

cut out negative image using a sharp blade. (be sure to leave little arms for any positives in you stencils such as the eye. you'll paint those in by hand as the final step.)

iron stencil onto desired surface, shiny side down. (as you can see, you can use the stencil multiple times before it loses it's clingablity. is that a word?)

make sure you have something underneath your surface before you start stenciling. the paint will more than likely bleed through. be sure to use paint that can adhere to your surface. i used fabric paint and a sponge to apply. begin applying the paint. you can apply one coat or if you want a bolder color apply a second coat after the first coat dries.

let paint dry and begin peeling the paper off.

be sure to color in the positive space with a brush and paint.

presto! you now have a nice stenciled tee or whatever you decided to tag with your artwork.

i also used the negative image of the deer i cut out and ironed it to some fabric to cut out a applique. i attempted to sew it on a tee but i still have to get the hang of doing so. it's probably a little too detailed for me at this point. here's the end result.

mario mania

i'm just a tad addicted to mariokart. yesterday i unlocked all the characters which means achieving star level on all the courses. aaron asked, "what is there left to do?" plenty. there's still vehicles to unlock and double-star status to achieve on all the courses. when that's done, there's speed records to beat. it's endless. thanks nintendo for creating video game crack!