Kitschy Kitchen

I finally got around to upgrading my kitchen a bit.  For the longest time, I've planned on making new curtains.  I had the fabric picked out, the measurements taken but no way to hang them.  I have to confess, we just had sarongs tacked up (I know what you're thinking....hippies.)  Well, they served their purpose but they had seen better days.  We finally got some "rods" that are actually super cool wires with clips.  My honey hung them and it was my time to shine.

I whipped out some of my favorite vintage fabric and transformed the place.  It was super easy, just hemming squares really, but I was still pretty chuffed with myself when it was all said and done.  It's so light and airy now!

Boris is giving me the crazy eye in this photo.  Since I wanted him to look, I asked, "Boris!?  Is that you?!"  He turned around and looked at me, as if to say, "Of course it's me, woman!  Who else would it be?  Great, my mom's losing it."  Oh, and please forgive the overflowing recycling, I can't very well be cleaning my kitchen and making curtains for it at the same time.  

The black frames are coming down and the new wall art will match the new kitschy theme.  Speaking of matching, I made a Lazy Susan.  Dillon said it would be "a bit much" but I thought it would be perfect.  I used spray adhesive to attach the fabric, added a couple coats of Mod Podge and a clear coat.  Voila!  Matching Lazy Susan!  Using the spray adhesive and cutting slits on the edge before I tucked it under, made the fabric perfectly smooth.  Even on that ridge, it was super easy.

And check out my new candy dispenser!  Isn't it great?!  I've had one like it in my etsy favs for a long time and now we finally have one, just in time for the kitchen upgrade.  It was a surprise gift from a friend.  It was the perfect Earth Day, B-day, Easter pressie all rolled into one.  I love it!!  However, I am a bit frightened to think about how much candy that jar holds.  I poured in an entire bag of M&Ms in there!  I have to be careful with this thing.  Dillon said I'm not to fill it or my teeth will fall out.

Anyhoo, that's just one of the projects that's been keeping me so busy lately.  More to come soon.  Hope you have a craftastic day!  I'm going to be spending some time getting ready for the long awaiting Stitch & Bitch that's happening this weekend.  I'm so excited!

Cups and Saucers

You guys know Lisa, right?  Good!  For those you who don't, she's a fellow CA crafty lady who can stitch with the best of them.  When she's not stitching and scootin' around on her bright red Vespa, she's an expert on all things tea.  Talk about a Renaissance woman!

Anyhoo, I wanted to make her a little something, just because she's great.  I started something a long time ago, using the same materials, but Boris had other plans for that.  Grrrr, that cat!  I'd glare at him now, but it's been too long and he's much too cute.  Second time around, even with the same materials, I went in a whole new direction.  And I must say, his destruction was a blessing in disguise, because I think it screams, "LISA!!!"

It's not perfect, but I still loved the results.  Behold, "Cups and Saucers."

I also loved that everything came from my stash.  The vintage flannel I used to make the circles is one of my favorite finds ever.  I wrapped the whole thing with some vintage trim to finish it off, popped in the mail and off it went to Lisa Land!  It has made it to it's forever home and lives on the wall of her crafty room.  Yay!  I can't think of a better place for it.

Want to know a secret?  Each cup has a permanent smile built in!  The way I stitched the ridges on the bottom of the cup inadvertently made them perma-happy.  This is what they look like on the backside.

The piece is mounted on a painter's canvas though, so you can't see 'em.  That's why it's a secret!

Well, that's it for now, my computer time is just about up for the day.  Less computer equals a more productive Jackson.  Besides, all this talk of Lisa and happy cups has me thinking it's time for a spot of tea.  Have a craftastic day!

The Blog Police

Hey, guys!!  I bet you're thinking, what the hey?! Didn't this used to be a craft blog?  What's with all the random pictures of cats and green benches?  Well, don't worry, the blog police came home for lunch and Officer Alwaysright wrote me a ticket for my lack of activity.   So, I'm back in the saddle again.

I've been stitching like crazy lately!  I've got so many things to show you, but first I've got to keep crossing oldies off the list.

 

I made this for a special lady I know.  Sorry, for the horrible picture.  Sometimes with presents, getting a picture is an afterthought.  I realize I don't have one right as I'm about to wrap it up and snap one quickly.  Obviously, with no thought to it's potential quality...or lack of it, haha.

I've been experimenting with painting the hoops, I rather like it.  Here, I just used black gesso, but it's matte quality was a perfect contract to the silver beads.  Yeah, you can't tell with the crappy photo, but that's actually green floss with silver beads.

Anyways, more fun stuff coming your way soon.  Gotta get back to work, I have an itch to stitch.  Have a craftastic day! 

Swaptastic!

I'm not sure if I told you guys or not, but I joined Swap-bot.  As a crafty gal and a mail enthusiast, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to join a group of like-minded people.  Check it out, I would be willing to bet there is a swap or two that will catch your eye.

I signed up for my first swap too, an embroidery swap with a fairy tale theme.  And even though send-outs are over two weeks away, I already received my package from the talented Snifferooski in Ohio.

Isn't it darling?  I love the tassels she made by putting the knot on the front.  I'm going to paint a frame to go with it.  Can't wait to show you when it's up on the wall.

It's exciting to get a little something a person with a totally different style than your own.  I never would have interpreted it this way, which is why I love it so much.

Now for my piece, to show or not to show?? 
I'm 99% sure that my partner doesn't read my blog but I'm still torn as to what to do.  I've already decided I will not be showing personal swap stuff on here until after my partner has received it.  (Sorry, Sam.)  But what about Swap-bot stuff, is there a protocol?  Since you don't know who your partner is, does it matter?  What do you think?  Help!

Thanks for looking, I hope that you all have a creative day.  I'm off to be productive...hopefully.

Fab Friends!

Have I ever told you that I have fabulous friends?  Well, I do.  Not only are they smart, funny, attractive people but they randomly give me presents too!  Who could ask for better people in their life?  Not me.

Check out all of the awesome loot I've received over the past couple weeks.

A huge tin of vintage buttons from my lovely friend, Angelica.

There are so many goodies in here.  I'll show you some of my favorites in my next post.

Another old yearbook!  My friend Kyle gave me this for my birthday.  Snapshot Friday just got more interesting.

Ironically, I'm pretty sure my high school gym teacher is in here as a student!

And finally, look at the huge pile of vintage linens (that I am entirely too lazy to iron at the moment) from my roommate, Jamaal.

Again, more pictures of these to come in my next post.

My friends really know what blows my hair back, huh?
  I feel blessed to have so many wonderful, generous people in my life.  Thanks guys, you're great!

Home Skillet.

I had a lovely weekend celebrating my birthday with friends.  We sailed the high seas with my fav, Sailor Jerry, grilled the yummiest food and my honey made me feel extra special with flowers.  (So far, the lovely flowers have been knocked over...twice.  And I just walked into the kitchen to get some water and found Boris rubbing his head in them, so I don't know how long they'll last.)

On Sunday, Dillon and I went to a huge antiques fair.  I fell in love with so many things, among them an old army sewing kit complete with everything- the thimble, buttons and various kinds of green thread.  It was all sorts of awesome.  However, I walked away with one tiny thing.  And I could not be more in love with it.

Dillon bought me my very own home skillet!

It's a souvenir spoon from the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, a World's Fair Type event, held in Buffalo, New York.  Most people would know about it because that is where President McKinley was assassinated.  He was shot at the Temple of Music and died a week later.  I've done a little bit of researching online and have seen a bunch of spoons from the expo but only one like this one, it belonged to the library at California State University at Fresno.  So I'm going to have to look into it a bit more.

I had seen lots of spoons that day.  I always halfheartedly look through that kind of stuff to see if there is one for a place I've been.  My love of tiny things must have come from all of the hours spent looking at my great-grandma's collection of tiny spoons and thimbles when I was a child.

When I found this, I had been thinking to myself that I need to start actively looking for Niagara Falls stuff.  After so many years as an tourist destination there are a ton of souvenirs and I would love to have a collection to remember my childhood with.  Not just spoons of course, but you get the idea.  I kid you not, the very next spoon I picked up was this one!  It was a sign.  I had to have it but we weren't planning on buying anything so we just kept moving.  However, I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that it was meant to be.  So, my honey made it happen.  He's the greatest.

Based on a few other pan shaped souvenirs I saw online that only thing I can figure is they were playing on the whole PAN aspect of the Pan-American Expo.  HA HA, I love it!  Silly pun humor, these were my kind of people.

The front.

I'm going to reach out on a limb and assume the the gentleman at the top represents the Seneca Tribe.

The back.

Apparently, the building depicted here was lit up in with multicolored lights and made for quite an impressive display.

I'm super happy that this little home skillet lives with me now.  It might just be the oldest thing I own.  I don't think my man realizes how much it means to me but it's very special.

Thanks for looking and reading my long, detailed, boring account of my life.

Tuesday is for Teaser!

As promised, a giveaway teaser!

This little jar of whimsies will be in the ATC Kit Giveaway.

I love little doodads on my cards, don't you?

And this is for all of the stitchy folks out there.

A teaser for the embroidery giveaway.

Speaking of giveaways, look what I received from the lovely Floresita at Feeling Stitchy.

I was one of ten surprise winners in her giveaway a few weeks ago.  I wish I'd had the patience to take a picture before I opened it, it was wrapped so nicely.  However, I was like, "Accckkkkk, a present!!!" and promptly tore into it before I thought to grab a my camera.  What can I say?  It was Christmas time and my inner child was craving that tearing paper sound.  I feel so lucky!  A big thank you to the awesome folks at Feeling Stitchy!