L O V E

Shower the people you love with love - and have a sense of humor about it.

Tomorrow I will share the construction of my handmade thrifted valentines with you.

In This House #3

This is our dream freezer.

Treasure Find Tuesday

Everything (other than a paycheck) is cuter in miniature form.

A few weeks ago at the base thrift shop, I took in an order of old tools from a friendly older gentleman. Though I have no idea what half of them were designed to do, each piece was visually interesting. I was tempted to buy all of the pieces and hang them on a wall as art. Tools tell a story. They have purpose. They are made to withstand challenging situations. They make our lives easier. Worn tools send my mind deep into endless wonderings. Who came up with this? Why is this necessary? Has new technology replaced it? How often was this used? by who? WHEN? WHY? HOW? I managed to stop myself and finished taking in the man's order. A few of his items were pricey which helped me rationalize. A splurge on old tools was just not going to happen ... yet. I have daydreams about stumbling across an abandoned barn full of odd interesting old tools and making wall art out of wrenches, but now is not the time.

Now is the time to appreciate what I did buy. One of the last tools in his order was this 1 inch red C Clamp. HOW ADORABLE ... and functional =)

I got it for under a dollar and immediately clamped it to anything I could find in my house. I had no idea they made C Clamps this small.

Right now I am using it to keep my note cards in order. Any other ideas on where I can put my new mini clamp to use and admire it at the same time?

XXV

February 7th is Chris' birthday. We celebrated on Sunday with steelers colored cupcakes even though they didn't win.

We celebrated again today with Japanese dinner and The Kings Speech. This Kings Speech was amazing. We highly recommend it. Now I am off to spend the rest of the evening with my handsome 25 year old.

...ok I tried my hardest not to get to mushy, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt either of us to let you know how loving, hilarious, and all around outstanding Chris is. I am lucky to be married to my best friend. Looking forward to many happy birthdays to come.

fyi I made his cupcakes from a yellow cake mix, but did the icing from a MARTHA recipe. I would have done the cupcakes from scratch, but Chris wanted a fluffy cake and mine from scratch always come out dense. I got the idea for the toppers from my lovely phraner lady friend . I adore her cupcakes.

Treasure Find Tuesday

I enjoy order, but my eye LOVES chaos. That is why ever since I can remember I have been doing collage work.

Back in July, my sister Sarah sent me out thrifting for her birthday present. She gave me free regin "anything creative and thrifted"

We both have a passion for art. I set out to Goodwill Outlet with no idea of what I would come up with. I was taken back by all of the little scraps of paper hanging around in the bins. Who is gonna buy random hooked on phonics cards and children's books with busted spines and water damage? ME! Those scraps of paper and broken down books were inspiring.

Her birthday is 7/16 so I tore out all pages 7 and 16 from the books and used them as borders on either side of the piece.

I liked the end result so much I had to have one for my house, so I made one using our wedding date 6/27/2009.

The final products together.

So you have an idea of scale, my picture is hug on the wall to the left above the pink chair that needs to be recovered. How do you decide what fabric to recover a chair in?