Random Bits Of Me

EVERYTHING IN GENERAL AND NOTHING IN PARTICULAR
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Saturday, February 25, 2012

Let The Light Shine Through

I have a small collection of old glass bottles.
Half of them were in my craft room and the other half were in our office space taking up an entire shelf that I needed for office type things.
While I was packing them up to move them to the crafting area, I noticed how the afternoon light was shining through the glass.

With the natural light shining through you can see the different colors of glass.
I chose five of the greenish colored ones to use as a group of bud vases.

The rest were put in a closet in my craft room for some future projects.

In order to make room for these in my craft room, I had to purge some things that I had no use for.
My girls will go through the things I've decided not to keep and take whatever they can use and the rest will be donated.

 It's an ongoing process and one that sparks my inspiration as I move things from one place to another. Just like these old bottles, they look beautiful on the table with the light shining through, but they looked like clutter on the dark shelf in the office. The simple act of looking at objects in a different light or different place presents more inspiration.

So, by organizing a shelf in my office, I discovered some beautiful bud vases, downsized the clutter, and have some sweet photos of light shining through glass that I can now use in another creative project.


Let the light shine through....

Karen


Mixed Media With Found Objects

Hi out there!
I've been working on a little mixed media project.
It's made up mostly of recycled materials
There's a frame from a broken clock, a recycled paper bag and repurposed lace.

It's a work in progress and I'm happy with it so far.

I'll post some pics of the finished product when it's complete.

It's so much more interesting to use repurposed materials and found objects when I'm creating.
Have you repurposed anything lately?

Karen





Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Candle Sticks

Maybe I should call them stick candles instead of candle sticks.
Either way, they are cute little candles that my daughter made for me.
We gathered the sticks from the back yard one day while we were walking Jack.

Thank you Jamie.
I love them!

My sweet girl.

See you soon.
Karen

The Monastery Bell

Wake up everybody.
The sun is shining!

Today I want to share with you something that my husband brought home for me last week.
It was supposed to be a surprise for my birthday, but I caught him sneaking in the house with it and I just couldn't wait.

I did a little research on it and found out that it is a European bell that hung in the hallway of a monastery.

It's made of brass and this one has a lot of patina.

It was used to wake the nuns or monks and also to signal certain prayer times.

It has a really great gongy sound.

It's so unusual and the history behind it is fascinating to me.

Now I just need to find the perfect place to hang it.

What's the most unusual thing you've found lately?

Karen

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Gray Days

Looking forward to Spring.
This is what it looked like here today when Jack and I went for our walk.
Still interesting, but I could stand some sunshine and some pretty colors.
It shouldn't be long now.
Just a few more weeks.

Hope the sun is shining in your part of the world.

Karen


Thursday, February 16, 2012

Bernice The Bunny

Hi!

Meet Bernice.
She came to life in my sewing room yesterday.

She was once a grain sack, a curtain, and a bed skirt.

She likes being a bunny better than all those other things.

And she loves her carrot!

Do something silly today.  It will lift your spirits.

Karen


Paper Garland

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there are 4 birthdays in my family in the month of March.
Three of our daughters and mine.
This year we are planning to celebrate all of them together with a tea party.
We are making this a very girl kind of thing with lots of frills and pretty decorations.
Last night I made some paper garlands for the event.
These were so simple to make.
I used card stock and a large hole punch to make the circles (you could cut the circles out by hand if you don't have a hole punch), then stitched them together with my sewing machine (you can also stitch them by hand if you don't have a sewing machine). I used upholstery thread to make it a bit stronger.

I strung these across the curtain rod.

I made another type of garland to drape across a chicken wire door that hangs on the wall in my dining room. I cut out the circles then using a regular size hole punch, made 2 holes in each circle to string ribbon through (they look like a big paper button). This would be a great project to do with your children.

I'm pretty pleased with the overall look and I love the pretty colors.

This was a fun project and the happy colors brightened my day.
Hope you have a bright and happy day too!
Karen

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Green Living

I made a quick stop at the thrift store today and came home with some wonderful new treasures which I'll share with you on another post.  Today I want to ramble on about how I've decided to recycle more, waste less and just make an overall effort to live a greener life. Although I've been using recycled materials in my crafts for years, I'm now taking it to a whole other level.  My Mom called me yesterday to let me know that she has a big stack of old newspapers for me, but she forgot to save her used dryer sheets this week.  My daughter stopped in for lunch today and complained that she has "trash" all over her kitchen that she's saving at my request. I know this might sound a bit like I'm some kind of hoarder and I guess I am to a certain degree, but not the kind you see on TV. I try to keep it all organized and I actually use these materials, not hoard them. Here are some of the things that I'm recycling at this time.
These used tea bags make the most beautiful papers for my journals.

After they are dried I open them, compost the tea and save the papers for my journal.
They're pretty and they even smell good.
I haven't done much composting in the past, but it seems like such a waste not to, so today I started a compost pail. It will be used in my garden.

I bought my first dozen of free range brown eggs today.
I wish I would have photographed the eggs before I cooked them. They were such a beautiful brown.

The shells went into the compost pail and I saved the carton for packaging up some small handmade Easter gifts.

SIMPLIFY is my new favorite word.

Who knows, I may end up raising chickens next.

Hope your day is simple and comfortable.
See you soon.
Karen

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope your day is filled with love and kindness.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Karen

Sunday, February 12, 2012

THOUGHTS the final pages

I've been working on my art journal a little last week and a lot over the weekend.
I've found that my style changes each day depending on how I am feeling that particular day.
This tells me that journaling is very therapeutic for my well being.
That being said...here are the final pages to my journal.

HOME
No place like it.


BEAUTIFUL
YOU are beautiful!

There is beauty in all of us.

CREATE
Use your hands and make something.

WORTH IT

Buy yourself flowers.  You're worth it.

THINK

REFLECT


Photo by June Cochlin

FIND

 Look around and see the beauty.
ALL

 All the pages of my journal.
THE BACK

Not the end, just the back.
I'll have one more post of my THOUGHTS journal.
Till then...hope I made you think good thoughts : )
Karen


Believe With All Your Heart

Look WITHIN and BELIEVE in what you find there.

WITHIN

BELIEVE

I continue to lose myself in the joy of expression through creating.

Express yourself!

Karen