I am so blessed!

My garden is covered in these mums this fall!!

Psalm 104:24

O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!

In wisdom you have made them all.

Recycled Weed Vase...

The front of my Weed Vase! See the beautiful vintage music surrounding the jar!The back of my jar with my signature "E" on it! The side of my weed vase with the rusted top!
Have you ever wondered what to do with your glass olive, caper and other beautiful tall jars?

You just couldn't bare throwing them away?
Well, here you are! Make yourself a beautiful weed vase. I got this idea from two of my fellow bloggers ~ The Feathered Nest and The Thrifty Decor Chick. Both had used bottles in different ways to decorate and with my husband and I collecting wood weed vases I thought this would fit in fine with our collection!
It was really easy, just lot of time drying! You start with a clean bottle and apply any paper that you want with your matte medium. Don't worry about getting it all over the bottle, the matte medium makes the bottle look antique when it dries. After this completely dries, decide how you want to embellish it. I embellished mine with a piece of burlap which was glued down with matte medium also. This also took a while to dry. I then hot glued my dried cedar and feathers. I took a watch face, wiring and beads and altered a watch face to my liking. I then hot glued that to the front. I filled in with cedar until I was HAPPY!!! I then took the top which I had earlier applied a rusting solution (purchased at any hobby store) to. This usually takes overnight. I then drilled two holes with my dremel close together. On the inside of the top, I cut a piece of paper to embellish the top. After running my wire through and connecting it to the jar I was able to embellish the inside of the top adding my E, which is the initial for Yvette. LOL To complete my piece I added the metal word, wiring and beads to the top of the jar! A very fun project. I want to do two more to make a set of three!!!

Another piece of Altered Art....

This is another piece that I enjoyed making for Chase! It is on a 12 X 12 canvas with sewing and words glued on. First I painted my canvas a base color. I made the photo on my printshop and glued it on the 12 x 12 canvas. Then I used some inking to antique it. The little piece is actually on a smaller piece of wood and glued up higher on smaller boards. I used beeswax over the piece to finish it. I love to sew on paper, I think it adds a great dimension to your pieces!

Chase had sent me the picture from college and I made the piece as a joke for him at Christmas! That's just the kind of family we are!!!

Lamp from your childrens small toys...

How many of these LITTLE TOYS

do you have laying around your house?

Blogging about Baby Showers has me thinking about my own babies (Chase 24~Liberty University and Whitney 20~Auburn University) and I wanted to share a piece of altered art that I made using some of Chase's toys and some toys that I purchased showing off his personality (The bear at the top because they call him Grizzly Adams)! I hate throwing away "stuff" and I also "feel" like I can use it at some point. Here is a good example! I love this little lamp and every time I look at it I can't help but smile. I hope it goes in his home one day or at least in his child's room! It was really easy to make, it just took time gluing the pieces on (E6000 and blue painters tape to hold them until it was dry). After it was finished, my husband (I break out from head to toe) poured epoxy over the whole project for me! So, save those little toys your children love to play with and make your own keepsake lamp!

The Baby Shower...

I just had to share Meredith's beautiful Baby Shower invitation with everyone!

I purchased the invitation at Hallmark and my friend Casey said all the girls are printing their invitations like this now. They have the main information in just a plain font and the rest in a fancy font. I really could not make up my mind in the store, so I went with what everyone else is doing.

What do you think ~ Do you like the different fonts or not?

Also, I had to add a little bling to it by adding the little jewels to the shoes!

A little hint for making a perfect cut on the ribbon ends~

Use a rotary cutter and small mat! Perfect cut every time!

Tin Can Recycling...

After viewing Lisa Kaus's http://lisakaus.blogspot.com/ Tinny Collection in the The Best of Stampington & Co. Handcrafted Volume 4 Magazine, I knew I had to try it! My tin cans look nothing like hers... I found out a long time ago that I have my own way of creating art, and no matter how hard I try, I cannot recreate another persons work! As much as I like the soft colors that Lisa seems to use and Dawn Edmonson http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/, another one of my favorite artists, use; I cannot seem to use them! My mind and hands are drawn to the jewel and rustic tones. I love the outdoors and I love to roam the woods in search of items to use in my pieces. Friends and Family that know me know that I love rocks! My children gift me with rocks when they go places and I love that! The tin is truly recycled~ The paper is from my scrap paper, The spoon and buttons were given to me by my Aunt Betty, she knows I love junkie treasures!!!! I paid for the bottom ball feet, wire handles with beads, eggs and nest in spoon (I couldn't find an old nest in the woods), paint and the two little burns on my fingers from the glue gun! Try this, you will love it! And don't forget about that special can opener I told you about earlier!

The Vintage Moth...

Visiting friends blogs this morning, I came upon this wonderful blog, The Vintage Moth! http://thevintagemoth.blogspot.com/ The creator, Abbie, has devoted her blog to providing mixed media and collage artists original, OOAK (one of a kind) images. The antique/vintage images she has collected and created are incredible! And what is so amazing she provides them to all of us FREE! What is even more amazing.... She does this daily! Many Thanks to Abbie!!!

Creative State of Mind.....

Some more of my Scrapbook Clothespins.

Some of these I will be using at the Baby Shower (November) for My niece, Sweet Meredith and our new baby Emma (arriving in January).

A small banner I made for myself.

My nephew started calling me AuntE when he was a baby and at the age of 25 he still does with my other niece's Lauren and Lauren!

I jokingly said they named the baby after me.

They don't know that I am going to call her "LittleE"! LOL

Just kidding Daniel and Meredith, I'm not...... hopefully!

Picture/Recipe Holder Tutorial....

Supplies Needed: Old Potato Masher, (2) wood #4 X 5/8" screws, screwdriver, dremel with drill attachment, (1) clothespin, small piece of scrapbook paper, decoupage glue, embellishments for front of clothespin and E6000 glue

To start project take the clothespin apart and put metal piece aside. Glue paper to wood pieces and allow to dry. After this dries, sand down all the sides really well. With an ink pad, run down the wooden unfinished sides (use any color you like). Varnish the clothespin next. Drill two holes in one side of your clothespin for the screw to go all the way through. Mark your holes on your the top handle of your potato masher and drill starter holes for your screws. Next take your screws and screw one side of the clothespin with the metal side attached to the potato masher. Now attach the other side of the clothespin to the other side of the clothespin. All you need to do now is embellish your clothespin using E6000 glue!

Have Fun!

Great Halloween Giftbag...

When my children were younger I found the perfect size bag for their class treats. I found it at Paper Mart http://www.papermart.com/ Stock #11518 and I could purchase 500 for under $13.00. It was amazing all the different ideas I could come up with using this tall bag and I could always stick a pencil or drinking straw into it. This Halloween bag was the easiest bag that I made and probably my most popular with the kids! All I did was lined all of the bags up on the table and pulled out any can of spray that looked scary. I used black, textured, fluorescent after that I used orange slick paint to throw across all of them. To finish off I added all different sizes of eyes and a spider at the top! The kids loved them!

So.. What are you doing for Halloween?

So.... Has this been your big weekend for carving pumpkins or getting ready for your "trick or treaters"? I want you to share your ideas with me.... Leave your comments and blog site so that I can visit you and see what you are up to during this season of the year! This is always a special time for my husband and daughter! As long as I can remember, they have always carved pumpkins together. And now that she is out of state at college (War Eagle!), she still makes that effort to come home and carve her pumpkin with her Daddy! Who would have ever thought that a twenty year old would enjoy that tradition with her daddy so much? Anyways and Anywho.... Happy carving to you and yours and don't forget, leave me your ideas!

Another Use for a Trellis....

After visiting my favorite store, Hobby Lobby, I found their summer merchandise on sale for 80% off. I purchased a beautiful trellis for just a couple of dollars not knowing what I was going to do with it, but knowing that I could use it in my office for some type of storage! Well, after a month of ignoring it, I finally pulled it out and put it to use with my vintage jewelry that I use in my art. I love the fact that now I can see all my pieces so well! I also have enough room to hang a few of my favorite bingo cards, postcards and pictures! I also added my favorite vintage love letter from my husband's grandfather to his grandmother! It holds a special place in my office now!

A Tutorial and A Tip....

I had to purchase a new can opener for our kitchen and I am very picky when it comes to this kitchen utensil. I have to have something that is very easy to use and I cannot stand an electric can opener that stands out on my counter. When I went to my favorite kitchen store in Athens, the lady recommended the Rosle can opener. What sold me on this can opener was the fact that it made a clean cut on the tin cans. As an artist and one who likes to recycle this sold the can opener for me. The can opener is a little pricey, but it is very easy to use and the tops pop right off and the edges of my cans are as smooth as the edges of any other surface! This leads right into my project..... I took my tin can, sanded it down with sand paper and painted it with three different colors as shown. Then using my matte medium I attached my vintage papers to the surface of the tin can rubbing the papers into the grooves. After drying I used china markers and oil pastels to enhance my colors. I then decided to add a few ink stamps of believe, dream and postal stamps. To finish off my surface I used a transparent red iron oxide over the whole surface both outside and inside of the tin can.

At this point I had to add my embellishments. I took a wooden star, painted it red and used a black china marker to enhance the edges. I attached a black button, twig and raffia to the star and then attached all to the tin.

I added four red balls to the bottom for feet. I took my dremel and drilled two holes in the side and two holes in my stick for the handle. I then took my wire, beads and stick and formed the handle for the tin. To finish my tin can I added fibers and ribbon to the side for embellishments.

Checking the Christmas Tree....

Well, for my family, it is time to check the Christmas Tree AND make all of the repairs AND have it ready to put up at Thanksgiving! This year was the year for a major overhaul and it demanded a trip to my favorite Christmas shoppe, M C Twinklins. After stripping the 10 foot beauty of all of its white twinkling lights (half of them being non-twinkling at times), Reid and I safely packed the tree in the back of the Tahoe for its trip. I sat at the desk with the nicest of ladies totalling up my colored light (yes, I said colored lights, because I need a change after all of these years (and yes we all four voted AND I won with my one vote))! Grand total almost $600.00! I could not believe it, the price of a brand new tree already lit, with a warranty included, is almost the same price! My beautiful tree was already approaching almost ten years old. I loved it so much, but couldn't justify the cost.... WOW! I just hope this one will last as long as the other one did! I am going to find a good home for my old tree with someone who can put lights on its beautiful limbs! I wish I could, because I know that it has many more years to give some family, Church or organization much joy! Anyway... God knew all this was going to happen, so I am just going to roll with it!My children grew up playing with this Nativity! Every year I would add a piece or two. The pieces are made from molded plastic, so you would not have to worry about the children breaking them. Our Nativity is over 20 years old and we have over a 100 different figurines. My children have lined them up and down through the house and we have told the story of The Nativity over and over again! And as far as sharing The Christmas Story with others.... it is such a wonderful opportunity! I have also given the starter Nativities as gifts many times! To me it is probably the best gift anyone can give to a person, besides offering them the plan of salvation. It is something to always to remind them of how much God loves them! This is one of the first decorations that goes out at our house at Christmas and it is probably the most played with at Christmas! Children love it. When they visit, they sit and play with for hours! Consider starting this tradition in your family!

The FontaniniTradition

M C Twinklins sets up beautiful vignettes throughout the store! Dept. 56 Village! So Cute!
I love this Snowman at the top of this tree! I wish I had him!
Baby! Baby! Baby!
Cute!!!

Byers Choice Carollers! Everybody needs a few! Consider starting with the Salvation Army Pieces. The Salvation Army Kettle with the lady ringing the bell sits in my guest bathroom. I am amazed at how many people slip pennies into the kettle!!!

M C Twinklins

2178 McDaniels Bridge

Lilburn, Georgia 30047

(770) 972-7237

http://www.mctwinklins.com/