At the Thrift Shop

  I stopped at one of the thrift shops I go to frequently yesterday. Right away I found a large art tablet-18in x 12in paper ( 11 sheets still in the pad ) suitable for pastels or watercolor, etc for only 50 cents. I continued to browse on my way to the books, but did not see anything else of interest. In their book section, they have one bookcase that has unsorted books and magazines. I found book 2 of a series and as I moved some other books I found 1 and 3 of the same series, Yay! 
  When I got to the checkout there was a woman in front of me, I saw she had some old books, embrodiery hoops, and playing cards among her purchases. I was debating whether to be nosy about her purchases when she saw my art tablet and said nice, and was I an artist? I said by no means, but my sister had started art journaling and such and I was trying some different types of media. This gave me the perfect intro as to her purchases, were the old books to read or craft with and she said both, she was into crafts and likes to recycle and reuse things instead of buying new, she would use the pictures on the playing cards also. We had an interesting chat for a few minutes, after she left the cashier asked some questions about the mixed media art we had been talking about as she was not crafty. She wanted to know if only old books or any books used. I told her it could be any book, but she might want the old books for their distressed covers. She also asked what you would do with them, i said that you can cut part of the inside out to make a box, some people sculpt the pages, you can use them to make art journals by adding gesso and other mediums such as paint inks,stamping ,etc. She probably found out more than she wanted to know.
  Back to my books, I got them for 25 cents each and the original sticker price was $10.49 for 2 of them and $10.97 for 1. I got an awesome deal, over thirty dollars worth of books for 75 cents. WHOOPEE ! 
  

INSPIRED!

Toni's Art 

My Art

  I have been critiquing my DS Toni's art journaling and mixed media art for awhile, there are differences in the things we like sometimes, or the styles we like, but there are times we both like the same thing. After making a comment to Toni in an email that her last drawing was not my favorite of those she has drawn or my favorite style, I decided that maybe I should not critique unless I tried it myself.      Soo... I picked a drawing she did previously and this was the result. I was surprised it turned out as well as it did, for a 1st attempt. 
  I am not sure that I will want to draw people, but maybe this will inspire me to see what I can draw, and if I want to draw.

New Kittens

  My DH and I went to a yard sale last Saturday and they had a sign for Free Kittens, we could not see them til Sunday afternoon because of the sale.

  There were 2 black and white kittens which we seem to favor the most. They have been an addition to our home since Wednesday. They are adjusting and starting to be more playful. I will post a better photo when I am able to get one.

Rearranged - Better File Access

                                                 contents of both drawers
                                    2 boxes of files and 3 baskets of alterables

                          files in top drawer and alterables now in the bottom drawer

  My DH and I recently purchased another file drawer cabinet which is residing in my bedroom. I had decided I would store files in there that would pertain to our home, product info, etc. Previously some of these files were in the bottom drawer of the cabinet in my craftroom. In the top drawer I had a lot of crafty things saved to alter someday. As I started to shift the files I realized that having the files in the bottom drawer was not easy to access as it was difficult to read the file categories. SOOO.... I made more work for myself at that time by emptying both drawers and changing the files to the top drawer. YAY! I can see the categories now. It takes time to get organized but little by little I am making progress.

CD Holder

My DH and I went to a few yard sales this morning, I found this CD holder, the woman having the sale said I could have it for $ 2.00 . Since it is narrow I had the perfect place for it by my scrapbook workspace. I am going to organize my stamps into CD cases,these will go on a couple of the shelves. I just checked my drawer for containers I had stored to alter - Paydirt, I struck gold! I had 3 boxes with lids and 4 small plastic pails with lids. Everything will fit like they were made for this holder. More to do now, I want to cover the heart at the top of the shelf, organize my stamps, and embellish and fill my containers. 

Beginning a Art Journal

  I spent the weekend with my DS Toni. On Saturday, she introduced me to creating an Art Journal. This is out of my comfort zone a bit. I took art in junior high but that was a long time ago. I started with a brand new composition book and started crumpling pages, inking, a little painting, adding gesso and some stamping. A good start, I will have to see how far I travel on this unfamiliar path.
  On Sunday my DD Chris came to craft with us and got her intro to art journaling also. She was very creative with hers and has intentions to make it for a year , adding photos to it. My DS told her she also needs to create a blog so that we can share our creations.
  Three art journals, three different styles, but anything goes in art journaling.  
  Photos to come soon.


  

An RAK from my DS

  My DS suprised me with a RAK ( Random Act of Kindness) this weekend. She had posted on her blog that she would gift the first 5 that commented and I was the only person that commented. This was definitely unexpected an a very nice selection of products. Thank you so much, Toni.