What You Need To Invent and Another Fun New Website To Tell You About

This is another page from my altered book collection of quotes and I love these words. Judging by the stash in my art room I have apparently taken them to heart! Well, maybe I need to work on the imagination part just a little. Honestly, I really don't know what I am ever going to do with some of this stuff but I'll keep it around just in case the urge to invent strikes and I need it.
Speaking of collecting things... Amy over at IntoVintage has launched a new website called Vintage Market Guide. She is listing vintage flea markets, shows and sales all across the country. Please pop over and check it out. I have also added a button link on my sidebar. She is looking for input so if you know of an even in your area please let her know. I am excited because she lives right here in the Pacific Northwest so I'm looking forward to finding out more about what is right in my own backyard!

The Little Journal is Ready to Leave the Nest and a Cool New Website to Tell You About

My little Swiss Family Robinson Travel Journal is finished and ready to jump into a Priority Mail box, jet to California and skid in with it's binder rings smoking as it slides under the February 15 deadline. Whew. Wish it well as it leaves the nest and makes it's way in the world.
Next up is a great new website that launched today. Well, really I don't think it officially launches until tomorrow but Ricë Freeman-Zachery is an editor and gave a sneak peek with a link on her blog today. It is called CreateMixedMedia and it looks like it will be loaded with fun and great information. They are even offering a free ebook download with 6 projects as part of the launch so be sure and check it out!

Around Here

It's been busy around here. I have been working on a little book for another Somerset Studio submission. In typical fashion I didn't get my mojo muse going until the deadline was looming. That means pages and papers and text and glue have been flying every which-away.
I worked a little different that I normally do this time. I usually go through my stash and choose the things I want to use and put the rest away. I have read some blogs lately where they posted about their messy work tables so this time I started pulling out anything and everything I thought I MIGHT use and piling it all on the table. I am searching for the way to make my work less stiff and more random. Naturally, I didn't end up using everything I pulled out but it was inspiring to glance around and audition different bits and pieces. Let me just say there will definitely be more messes in this art room!

This was the little book as of Saturday. I have since added more pages and started assembling it. It is a travel journal for their "Classics" call. I don't know if they consider The Swiss Family Robinson classic literature but I do. If I can squeeze in the time before I have to put it in the mail I will snap a picture of the finished book.

On a related note, on Friday I received back the piece they used in the January issue. I haven't even unwrapped it yet but I will post a picture of that as well, for those of you who don't follow the magazine. I showed part of it in this post but I wasn't sure if it was okay to publish it before it was submitted. After re-reading their guidelines I think it is okay when it is on your own blog.

One more P.S. I blogged about some vintage magazine in this post and I finally got around to putting them over in my Etsy store tonight. Gotta love those vintage advertisements!

The Never Finished Altered Book Project

When I discovered altered art four or five years ago, altered books were the thing that captured my attention. I have always loved books. Reading them. Touching them. Smelling them. I could go on about why that is but maybe I'll save that for another post.
For now I will say that I set out to make my own altered book. Probably a little ambitious for someone new to it. Making art is harder than it looks you know - LOL! I collect quotes and figured an altered book would be a good place for my collection and I would certainly have no lack of material. Several years later it still is not finished but I do add to it on a pretty regular basis. I guess you could call it an art journal of sorts since I try all different kinds of techniques and there is no rhyme or reason to how it is arranged.
I thought it might be fun to show some pages here on my blog from time to time and share my quotes in the process.

This is the cover. I decorated that part first which I have since learned is the wrong way to go about it. Kind of like eating dessert first! I chose the book because I liked the purple cover, the title and the "feel" of the pages. And the fact that it was in the dollar book bin didn't hurt!

It is decorated with tissue paper, a metal "thing" of unknown purpose and various beads, charms and tassels and fringe.

I remove pages as I add to the paint and collage but, as you can see, it has become quite swollen with altering. It doesn't splay quite so much when it is laying down and there is still plenty of room to add more of my favorite words. In no particular order.

Vacation Finds

My world got busy and I never did get a chance to show you a few more of the picking treasures I collected on my vacation thrifting marathon. In fact, I had a little trouble remembering that far back (LOL!) when I started to gather them up today.
Mostly my usual fare, another jewelry box, more doilies and linens, a satin dresser box, all the usual suspects from my picking excursions. I do love that pink canister in the back. It is very chippy but that's okay with me, the scallops around the lid were just too cute to pass up. I spared you most of the Christmas stuff but had to include that bag in the front. It is filled with glass bead garland. The first I have found so far! They are in the bag because the string was broken but that's easy enough to fix. The amazing thing is I found it at The Bins moments before, I am sure, someone plopped a bowling ball down on top of it. The Bins is what we Portlanders call the end of the road, last chance, Goodwill "by the pound" store. Take your Purell.

Another thing I worked on during my vacation was setting up an Etsy store for the husband. He has his website but I have been encouraging him to give Etsy a try as well since I have been having fun with it. I added his Etsy Mini to my blog, right below mine.
Happy week!

In the Name of Fashion

Last Sunday I went to an estate sale where I scored three 1903, 1905 and 1908 Woman's Home Companion magazines in remarkable condition. They are filled with beautiful illustrations and the old ads are fascinating to me so I thought I'd share a few before I put the magazines over in my Etsy shop. We've come a long way, baby!
Cause and effect. Cause and effect?? I suppose they were promoting the corset as the cause and the effect was the figure but a whole different cause and effect comes to my mind. I'm pretty sure wearing this would make me feel crabby. And faint. And crabby. Rust proof? Really? I never knew my grandmother had to worry about her corset rusting. Man, it must have been a hard life. And they came in PAIRS? Huh? What? Like there was a separate one for each side? Each girl got her own?
When these women's granddaughters started burning their bras I'm thinking Grandma was buying them the gasoline!

What I Did On My Winter Vacation

I have been on vacation this week. One of my goals for the week was to re-organize the closet in my art room so I could put shelves in one side and a dresser in the other side. I have been working on the closet cleaning on and off all week, in between a daily trip to a thrift store, that is. Can't just go crazy with all work. Must keep my priorities straight! So the picture below is one side of the closet all cleaned out and ready for a bookcase of some sort. That box in the bottom is built-in and conceals some duct work so I had very specific measurements to search for.
This morning I stopped at one of the local Goodwill stores and there IT was. There was a sunbeam of light shining down and I think I heard harps playing. At least inside my head. The exact right measurements plus two sweet little drawers - bonus! Now get ready for the very best part. Really. Get ready. Apparently no one wanted it because it is really the top off a hutch and there is no bottom shelf so it was marked $4.99. That's FOUR DOLLARS and NINETY NINE CENTS. Change back from a five. SCORE!!!

This is how it looks after I cleaned it up and replaced the drawer pulls. They were missing and it was drilled with two holes for each pull. I filled the holes and drilled a new one in the middle of each drawer and then attached two vintage Bakelite pulls I had been saving for a special project. More Karma at work.

It fits just perfectly on top of the box like they were made for each other. Now I have to keep looking at it until "my eyes are filled up", as my Grandma would have said. I better look hard because once I clutter it up with all my junk treasures I'll never see it again!

I am linking up with Show and Tell Friday over at My Romantic Home today. Maybe tomorrow I will find the dresser!

Lucky Raccoon

We are having a miserable and windy cold snap for the past 5 days here in Portland. The howling wind sets my nerves on edge and makes me a cranky girl. The wind finally stopped sometime during the night and I woke up to cold and dry, slightly overcast and STILL. A perfect winter day in my book!

I ventured out to check on the fish pond. I was not surprised to find it frozen over but I wasn't expecting to see raccoon tracks straight across the ice! Lucky for him and I both that he didn't break through since I SO would NOT like to fish his frozen self out from under the ice.

Look closely on the right side of the photo and you can see the path. My pond looks pretty desolate this time of year and that woman who lives here sure needs to rake up some leaves and dead foliage but BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!