A Poodle Party

My local friend, Carol, had a birthday last week.  She collects poodles, real ones and china-hutch ones, so I made a little Poodle Party for her birthday because you can never have too many poodles!  Now that it has been delivered I can show you.

Happy Birthday, dear friend!!

Grow Your Blog

 Welcome to Grow Your Blog 2014!  I want to kick off with a big shout out to Vicki at 2 Bags Full for hosting.  I read that there are over 500 blogs this year and what a feat for her to pull it all together.  Thank you, Vicki!
My name is Kathy.  I live in Portland, Oregon where I make my living as a Business Analyst and I make my joy blogging, hunting down cool junk, making things, gardening and collecting (sometimes on purpose!).  I have been blogging since 2009 and my very favorite thing about blogging is the wonderful tribe of like-minded people I never would have met otherwise.
When I was thinking about what to post this year, I decided to put together a sampler of the types of things I blog about so we can get to know each other.  Welcome to my blog!

 I love the hunt and I am out there searching every chance I get.  Search and rescue!

 What I call "poke sacks" are my favorite.  I adore buying a mixed bag and treasure hunting through it!

 I put the junkalanche to use in some of the things I make.

 This altered book is my collection of quotes.  It was a looong project that I just recently finished.  I have already started prepping the next one.  The altered book is my relaxing "play place".

 A vintage apothecary cabinet rescued with wallpaper and new knobs.  I am blessed to have a room of my own where I curate my stash, blog and create.

 My tastes run to a little edgy, creepy and Steampunk style.

 A skirt made from up-cycled t-shirts because I am the queen of cheap and always looking for ways to "wear it out, use it up of go without".  Well, okay, I'm not really that great at that go without thing.  But I can say with conviction that I always choose vintage first!

 I made this altered fabric book for my Granddaughter, Alexa, and it was published in the June 2011 issue of SEW Somerset.  I have been fortunate to be published a few times as you can see from the left sidebar on my blog.  I haven't submitted anything in quite a while and need to get busy with that.

When a vintage photo whispers a caption to me, it is telling me what it wants to be and becomes an altered Altoid tin.

A few pictures from my garden always make their way on to my blog, especially in Spring when everything is fresh and in bloom around here. 

Buttons are an addiction for me.  I don't consider myself a collector since I don't mount them and enter competitions or anything like that.  I am an accumulator.  Buttons are a frequent topic on my blog.  I store them in apothecary jars and jewelry boxes and just love to look at them and learn about them.

 My love of vintage hankies comes from some very happy memories of my Grandmother.

 Flamingos and songbirds are another thing I can't resist and I have dozens of them decorating my kitchen.

 If you would like a tour of my art room you can click the link on the left sidebar.  Things have changed since that post, as they always do, because there always seems to be something new (old!) following me home.

 This is Mona, one of my art room companions, along with her children Harmony and Calliope, but that is a whole other story for another day....

 If you have stayed with me to the end of this very long post, I have a giveaway for you.

Just leave a comment and you will be entered to win this vintage leatherette box of treasures to inspire your next great thing.  The giveaway is open to everyone. I will announce a winner on February 15th.  Good luck!
Thank you so much for coming by to visit today!
Kathy

Bloggy Love In The Mailbox

 I came home today to discover and envelope of bloggy love in my mailbox.  Dear Carol from Art and Sand sent me a surprise package!  When she and I "met" we connected right away and she has become a treasured blogland friend.  Blogging is so amazing that way.  How else would we connect with our wonderful tribe that we would never meet otherwise??

The envelope was packed with embellishments, envelopes and little trinkets.  She nailed my tastes perfectly! She is from southern California so I adore the playing card from her hood.

 Hope - what better gift could you receive, especially when it is tied up in a stamped muslin bag.

 I love the way she customized the bag with her own artwork, just for me.

How perfect is this!
Thank you, Carol, for your generosity and most especially for your friendship.  You are a treasure!

About That Pink Jewelry Box

 This vintage pink jewelry box was in my last junking post here.  I loved the very tarnished mirror in the lid and knew I could do something with it.  I turned it up on edge, starting pulling stuff out of my stash and used it as a shadow box, of sorts.

 A test tube turned on end and filled with old pearly buttons.  The black jet button and gold metal button were both missing the shanks which made them perfect as cabochons. I glued the black one on top of a small Dresden medallion.  Two vintage perfume bottles altered and filled with glitter for sparkle and a little Christmas angel because angels aren't just for Christmas.

 I "fussy cut" a flower from scrapbook paper.  Thank you, Maureen, for that term!  The flower dew-drop in the spoon is a tiny glass cabochon.  The face is stamped with Staz-On.

 Is she not Majestic?  The light on her forehead is not camera glare from my camera.  It is the way the original photograph looks.  Her frame was cut from a Christmas card.  A lone pink button in the tube to signify something deeper than I can think.

 Words cut from a book page that have been sitting here on my desk for ages, just waiting for the right moment.

And the closed box.  Yes, the box still closes as it was found.  This will be headed over to my Etsy when I stop procrastinating on listing things.

And Then There Were None

 You know I have been counting down the pages to finish my never-ending altered book project and I am finally done.  I am saying good-bye to what has become an old friend but also looking forward to the next one.  I suppose people who do real jounaling probably feel the same way when one is ending and they are starting the next one.  This is not the last page in the book but seemed like a fitting quote for the final page to make.

 I showed the whole book a long time ago but took a few photos to document how it turned out.

 Is it any wonder I kept worrying about it bursting!  I am really pretty amazed it held up to all the handling.

 There are 52 pages and 103 quote collages.

I scolded myself throughout for doing the cover first because it is dimensional so it was frequently in my way.  That said, I am tempted to do the same thing next time because it is kind of motivating to have an attractive starting place.  They say you have to suffer to make great art.  Maybe you have to be inconvenienced to make mediocre art - haha! Follow my blog with Bloglovin

A Hopeful Sign

 I took a quick run through the VOA yesterday spent a whopping 99¢ on the pink mirrored jewelry box.  I like the patina on the mirror.  This morning I noticed an estate sale in a reasonable driving distance so headed over to see if there was anything left.  I bought another apothecary because I'm just stooopid on those things, some burlap, a few notions and some mostly newer buttons.

 These tiny treasures will wait in the wings until I get around to more shadowboxes.  The white candle holder looks like the more common resin ones but it actually ceramic and has a Trimont Ware Japan label.

This was my favorite find.  A box of souvenir playing cards of the Southern Pacific Lines.  The faces of the cards feature old photographs of scenes along the Sunset, Overland, Golden State and Shasta Routes. The pack includes a little booklet describing each scene.  Just the kind of treasure I love to find.
I am taking this as a sign that the junking drought is coming to an end.

Christmas Catch Up

 Christmas is all packed away for another year here but I received some surprises at Christmas time that I wanted to share.  The framed fairy quote is from a local friend, Carol (no blog).  The sheet music under the glass is French.  Where in the world did she find THAT! The lettering is on top of the glass so it has wonderful depth.  Here is the funny thing, she doesn't consider herself a crafter.  Well, me thinks she is mistaken.  Thank you, Carol.  It has a place of honor on my desk.

 This beautiful card is from Cathy at ma vie trouvee.  She always uses unexpected colors and yet it says "Christmas".  I love those rhinestones and that creativity!  Thank you, Cathy!

This gorgeous card is from Maureen at Victorian Studio.  It has about eight different layers giving it a wonderful dimensional quality.  She uses her amazing accumulation of tools and knows just what do with each one.  She has me Jonesing to learn about Cuttlebug and Sizzix and Cricut.  Thank you for your inspiration, Maureen!

You Are Right!

There is some TV commercial that keeps repeating this Henry Ford quote lately and the words are so true so I added them to the altered quote book project.
Let's all think we CAN!

A Little Bit Twisted

 A little junk I picked up sometime in the recent past.  My days of the week and weekends are all goofed up from the holidays so I don't really know when I bought these - lol!  It was sometime after this post.  With encouragement from a few of you, especially Gail, who were not creeped out by the doll eyeballs, I headed back over to Nina and Joe's for the crackly-headed doll that caught my attention on a previous visit.  It was still there because, um, it's not something for everyone, even at $6.  I also scored some pretty hankies and a new birdie for my collection so I'm not all bad.

Boo!  Did I scare you? I brought the dolly home and immediately dismembered it for this little studio vignette.  I thought it was interesting that she had a cardboard cylinder with a hunk of lead in it to weight the body.  Who knew.