Glass Totems-Project 50

Having seen these cool garden art glass totems all over the blogesphere last year I just knew that I had to make me one too.  I mean, how hard could it be?  Stack and glue pieces of glass together...easy as pie right?  I began collecting pieces of glass that caught my eye at yard sales, thrift shops and the occasional auction.  SF thought I was crazy as my collection of glass grew and grew.  By this spring I had amassed quite the collection and figured now was the time to make my totems! 

The hubby and I pulled all the pieces out and cleaned them up and began assembling the pieces.  I had researched what type of glue to use and although others have used silicone, aquarium glue and some high $$ special glue...I used my trusty E6000 glue.  I just made sure there was a good bead of glue around each piece and then let them sit for a few days before trying to move them.  They're cute...but I think that project is out of my system now.


Well.....

      till I find some cool glass somewhere!

New shabby bracelets-Project 50

  

 A few more bracelets using scrap leather.  These are pieces of old purses, a purple leather one, a brown purse and a green suede purse. 

Purple purse before

Brown leather purse

 Of course I forgot to take pictures of the green purse before, but I'm getting better about taking the before pictures...so hopefully I don't say that too much.

Garden Chairs-Project 50

I have a thing for old chairs.  I've collected them over the years but until now I've never transformed them into anything other then dust collectors.  These two chairs have been in my garage for years and have been used for everything from butts to storage.  Since we've been on a purging spree this year I decided to get rid of them, toss them out, *gasp* throw them away...so I drug them out of the garage and put them with the trash pile.  The only flaw in that plan was we were a few days away from the trash pick-up so they sat outside.  Pitifully sat...sad...forlorn and rejected they endured rain and cold evenings outside.

The next few days came and went and I swear I heard a faint "save me" every time I looked in their direction.  I tried, I really did...but I just couldn't do it...I pulled them back out of the trash pile and turned to my husband and said those 4 little words that strike's terror in the spouses of creative people everywhere..."I have an idea!" 

I had seen this chair on Pinterest recently and followed it back to her blog where she tells the story behind it.  The story was beautiful as was the chair and it inspired these latest creations.  These chairs needed some paint, flowers and a new life too!

When I got home from work the next day my hubby had done the alterations I had envisioned and I was off and running with them.  They both turned out great and look wonderful in my front flowerbed. 

Now...to find some more chairs!

He bought my chairs!

Life has not been so fun the past year or so and when I feel the build-up of the bumps and bruises of life I begin to withdraw farther into the mask. I tend to forget to count the small daily blessings I do have and dwell on the things I want that I don't have. It makes me bitchy and resentful and mostly not the person I think I am or thought I was.

One of my favorite movies is Phenomenon with John Travolta. The main character George falls in love with Lace, who makes beautiful chairs and furniture from bent limbs and twigs. There is a part of the movie where Doc makes the observation that George "bought her chairs" and follows up with the following quote "Every woman has her chair, something she needs to put herself into, Banes. You ever figure out what Lisa's chairs were and buy 'em?"

Since seeing that movie I knew that the man for me would be the man that bought my chairs...but I don't make chairs.  One beautiful evening recently...after dinner and dishes were cleaned up I walked outside to find my husband SF watering my garden and realized that my garden, my projects, my creative endeavors that He helps me brings to life...THOSE are my chairs. Those are the blessings I need to cling too...He has more then bought my chairs and I love Him more today then ever.

 

AND...just because it's my favorite scene in the whole movie...enjoy a little juicy scene between John Travolta and Kyra Sedgwick with a bit of Aaron Neville thrown in!

 

Redneck Fairy House-Project 50

I've been enchanted by fairy houses and fairy doors since reading about the Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor and reading this man's blog.  I've been wanting to make something similar but I don't have anyplace cool to put a door...my house isn't cool...if I had a business or storefront it would totally have a fairy door.  Fairy gardens are another avenue for fairy lovers but my limited yard space kind of limits those possibilities for me also but I've discovered oodles of fairy gardens built in a container of some type and THAT I can do!

I had this already-re-purposed-once-by-me bench/planter

As with most of my projects that i don't do on impulse, this project has taken a lot of time and thought.  I wanted to make it from reclaimed and recycled stuff, because fairies just don't go to Wal-Mart to buy their stuff...it's all found and re-purposed items they find.  I didn't have any particular image in my head but I was sure I'd know the components when I saw them.

While visiting a friend recently I noticed a poor neglected wooden birdhouse and just knew that it was my fairy house.  Luckily she gave it to me...SCORE...and I was off and running.  It wasn't a whimsical shape like I thought I wanted so the hubby (SF) cut a whimsical style door in the front for me.

After looking at it for a while trying to find some inspiration for the details of finishing it I finally became inspired by the damn twigs from my neighbors tree that littered my yard.  Fairy's use twigs for lots of stuff so I made windows using twigs, used twigs and a rusted piece of metal for the roof and then got the bright idea to make a stone covered chimney.  Somewhere along the line SF got inspired as well and found a smaller old birdhouse that was buried in the garage.  We decided to cover it with stone and make it an extension to the bigger house and soon it took on a life all it's own.  We made stained glass windows (glass scraps i had), stone face addition and chimney, decorative twigs adorn the front door area and I made a door handle from twigs.

Of course...in my family for some reason... "it's all about the story" so we had to make one up!  My fairy fell in love with the stone mason who stoned her fireplace and chimney so they built an addition and got married!  Now that's a redneck story if I ever heard one!  It's turned out pretty cute and now my fairy and her stone mason has a beautiful place to live...now to start the garden!

Trying to link to my first contest party at The Magic Onion and her Fairy Garden Contest-2012.

Gratitude and goodbyes

While cruising around Pinterest recently I came across one of those sayings/quotes that seem to be all the rage these days.

It stopped me in my tracks.  Sadly, I'd have nothing.  I'm not what I consider a religious person, I'm not in-your-face with my beliefs as I believe everyone is entitled to believe in who or what they choose too.  My spiritual side is rather private, I do talk to my savior but it's quiet, silent.  I beg and plead with Him for so many selfish things, I offer up prayers for friends and family that I know are struggling or ill but I very rarely thank Him for what I do have.  Part of the reason for starting this blog is to help me change my way of thinking, I really need to be grateful for what I have, instead of whining about what I want and don't have the time/money/energy for.

Learning of the death of a co-worker who lost his brief battle with cancer this week has left me melancholy.  He was a good man, hard worker, always a smile and he moved at the speed of sound.  After a routine hernia operation and while in recovery at home, the cancer that was ravishing his body reared it's ugly head and left him almost paralyzed.  In trying to diagnose that new development they performed an MRI  where they discovered his body was riddled with tumors, so much so that they said it was too far along to try to combat it.  The transfer to the James Cancer Center in Columbus brought a few rounds of chemo to shrink the tumor that was pressing on his spine causing the paralysis.  It shrunk enough to give him some relief and they removed that one to enabled him to walk again with help.  His last few weeks of life were filled with pain but he was surrounded by his family and friends and he was loved...by many.

I am trying to turn my thoughts to positive ones but it's a struggle...a daily struggle.  I have to keep in mind that I am far better off then so many others are, I have many blessings and I need to be grateful for that.

Pony Club and Pancakes

The weather here is West Central Ohio has been a bit erratic these days swinging from almost 100 over Memorial Day weekend to the high 60's and low 70's this past week and for the next few days.  The mornings have been cool and crisp and I find myself breathing deep the morning air as I navigate my way to work in the mornings.  I love the smells of the morning and they say a smell can conjure a memory...this is one of them.

Driving onto campus in the morning I'm met with the strange combination of pancakes and Downy.  The P&G plant where they produce Downy is less then a half mile away and when there is a perfume (term for the Downy scent concentrate) spill the air is filled with the unmistakable scent of Downy.  Could be worse I suppose, out here is rural America it could be a hog farm instead.  The cafeteria serves breakfast and they are often doing all the lunch prep work as I'm driving onto campus in the mornings and for some reason it smells like pancakes.

When I was a young girl I was lucky enough to have a horse, which was an incredible blessing for a young horse crazed girl living in the middle of suburbia which had swallowed the local farms and agriculture.  Stormcloud was me but in an equine body...he was stout, surefooted, playful and STUBBORN as all get out!  Appaloosa's are just that way but he was all mine. 

My girlfriend across the street got a horse at the same time and although she boarded her horse at Quantico we often did things together with our horses as she had a horse trailer too.  One of those things was Pony Club and although I was outclassed by the rich girls and their expensive trained horses I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about myself and my horse.  One of the things we did was attend Pony Club camp every year for a week in Frying Pan Park where we learned about horsemanship, horse training, 3-day eventing and how to take your bra off without removing your shirt.  Hey...that last one is a lifetime skill...you never know when and where that skill will come in handy, but I digress. 

We slept in the old school house in sleeping bags on the old hardwood floor, which seems harsh now looking back on it, but we were so tired every night we probably didn't feel it.  Some Mom volunteers were there with us throughout the night and between all the mom's rotating shifts we were fed lunch and dinner.  Breakfast was a special treat!   Doing our morning chores in the barns each morning we all waited for the sound of 'the bell' off in the distance.  That bell was the signal of Breakfast...and oh what a good breakfast it was. 

The bell belonged to the little Presbyterian church that was about a mile around the corner from the park entrance, but just a quick walk along the power lines at the back of the park where the barns were.  If we timed our work right and all worked together to get each stall and tackroom cleaned and ready for morning inspection we could sprint to the church before the boys got there.  God bless those ladies, they were ready for the 30 or so kids every morning, with smiles and hugs.  We had a different special every day which was always yummy but they also made pancakes every morning. 

That smell of pancakes wafting up and over the hills of the power lines in the cool, moist (this was the DC area in august when the humidity is like 100%) morning air and made our tummies grumble as we scooped poop is the stuff memories are made of.