Wicky Sticky Warrenton

See the banner photo?  That's where I'll be this week - in Rotterdam.  The photo is actually Delfshaven.  I love saying that - Delfshaven - like a Dutch person.   I'm real stressed out about going but I'm sure it will all work out in the end.  Work is really busy and stressful right now and I have alot of things planned.  Like Friday, when I went to Warrenton with one of my besties, H.  H and I were neighbors for 18 years.  We take 529 west and stop in Bellville for breakfast at Newman's Bakery (yummy plus I found a crocheted baby bonnet for $2).  From there we take 159 and then a little right turn for Warrenton and we come in right at Cole's.  Easy peasy drive and of course, we talked the entire way, so time flew.  The parking lot at Cole's was muddy - apparently we'd just missed the rain but unfortunately, the humidity soon followed.  And I'm tellin ya, it was just miserable.  Hot and muggy and sticky and it was almost not fun.  Almost.  And yes, we found some goodies, wanna see?  Oh, wait a second I'm getting a head of myself. 

 

Oh, and I can't talk about this yet, either.  That was found inside, at Cole's.  at Wendell's booth.  Let's stick to the stuff outside. 

My first purchase was a Texas handkerchief for $5.  It has the cities and just was cute and neat.  I know it will come in handy one day.  At the same booth as we were leaving, I spotted an Anagrams game for $20.  She was happy to tell me that all the pieces were there.  I was thrilled.  I've been watching them on ebay and quit at $40.  Yep.  this was a good buy.  I found the pink felt baby booties for $5.  I don't know the names of these booths, I just recognize them and I usually find a goodie or two at this one.  I found the wooden spools at the very end for $8.  The trims we found at the booth in Cole's for $1/yard except for a scallop velvet which was $3 (and at another booth - its an older lady from California - she's always in the same spot - very sweet).

The westie was $3 at a junk booth and the letters were $1 near Wendell's booth at Cole's.  I think that covers it.  Except for Wendell's booth.  He had that color gem cabinet marked $79, I got it for $65.  It has small 2 x 2 plastic slots to hold things.  Its not a fancy wood or construction, by any means but I love the staircase aspect.  I may paint it white.  I think its cool.  When we were going to pick it up I saw the picture easel and let me tell you.  I have always loved stars/moons.  It was marked $48 and I was only willing to pay $15 really.  He came down to $30 so I took it.  It is just so unique.  I turned the picture around so you can see it - and the picture isn't that great - I was too lazy to download from my camera so I used my iphone, which I switched to 4G this week.  Last week Kathleen was whipping through hers and since mine crashed, the replacement is slow as molasses.  Guess Apple's marketing ploy is to give you a piece of shit so you'll upgrade.  Sorry for the negativity, my patience is really challenged these days with computers and hot water heaters.  But thats a story for a different day. 

I made this baby block this weekend for a baby shower.  My Mom's caretaker needed a shower gift so I whipped this up.  It was good practice.  I had seen the paper shoes on blogs and tried them but still don't have it down pat.  It was fun to put together.  She mod podged and glued the buttons so she could say she made it.   We used a paint pen to color the babies hair and I painted a bit on the face and then wiped it off to tint her color.   She needed a to/from  card so we added the diaper and she wrote a note.  Those diapers from vellum were one of the first things I ever made - I found the pattern in a BH&G book and I bought all the pink/blue footprint vellum from Michael's.  Remember how old that stuff is?  We added pink and white buttons down the side.  I spray painted the clip white and added a button in the center.  We stuffed the baby shoe with kleenex - probably could have picked something better but that is all I can come up with.  I hope, one day, to look back on this blog and look at my staging photos and think, man I've come a long way.  I've learned alot of things with this scrapbooking craft but my staging skills are sad and lacking.  One day I want to be in the Heather Bullard league.  Really.  I do. If you're going to aim, aim big.

Well, I have two chores left, three really and I don't think they are going to get done so I will close now.  Hope it is a great week for you.  Thanks for visiting..

Harley-town

I want to blog about my weekend, before I forget the details. I had a workshop in Milwaukee for work and I thought. Yuck, that's just great. Who in the hell wants to go to Milwaukee. Well, let me tell you - I was in for a surprise. First of all, it was cool, which was super. And the workshop had an incredible keynote speaker, Jason Dorsey who talks about the differences by generation and how to communicate with each other. So funny, so true - watch his video. If you watched 60 minutes about a year ago - he was the guy talking about Gen X. Okay, back to Mwk - they have a casino. Uh, huh. Did you know it was the home of Harley-Davidson? Me neither. And they have some pretty nice architecture downtown. We stayed at the Hilton, which was built in 1924 and recently refurbished. The details in the elevator were amazing, on six different levels. I know, who'd a thunk - an elevator. Once the business was over, my CE/SE roomie, Jeanne picked me up and we headed out of Dodge for the greater parts of IL. We stopped at the Third Ward in Mwk (thanks for Design Sponge for the city guide). There were 3 stores in the area - Broadway Paper (so-so), The Home Market (super yummy but -spensive!) and Utrecht art (small but good). We passed a junk store and squeezed our way in. Ohmygosh, I felt bad for the owner. I don't know why other than she was a serious hoarder and we had to push our way through her store, through all the junk, there wasn't even a path hardly. Not complainin, just sayin. I found a couple of cool things - a glass/plastic owl (from Avon), a white "cold" hardware knob, some tiny 1" vases and a 2" princess and an old flower frog. We headed out of town and stopped at the Olive Pit and while we're waiting for our sandwich, scoped the antique store next door. It was set out very nicely so I equated that with expensive. I was w-r-o-n-g, thank goodness. I found several goodies: a large ledger for $16, a hotel spoon, 2 vintage books. There was another larger store close by but we were running late so we only did a quick recognizance and no purchase. Antioch was our destination and we met up with three former CE lovelies, Kathleen L, Shelley F and Kathy W. And Hannah's was having a garage sale. I only bought a couple of Tim Holtz supplies (those feet thingies) but had fun looking around. Hannah's is a true crafts store, not just scrapbooking. I was tempted by the latest collection from My Mind's Eye but didn't want to haul paper. We stopped for coffee and a fox ran down the road over yonder. Way cool. Then we were heading to Schaumburg for the Big Bowl and dinner with Cathy D, Nan G and Candi. It was fun to hear about their projects and Cathy's view on 2010 CE and just all the latest events. Then we headed to Crystal Lake and Jeanne's abode. I've never met her 3 old English sheepdogs and 2 border collies and so there was no time like the present. We had a nice visit with her hubs. She has such a comfortable house with alot of land - I could have spent days just visiting and relaxing. And what's not to love about a pile of pups in your lap/feet/floor/everywhere! On the way to the airport, we stopped at Woodstock and looked at one of Jeanne's haunts. Fun to see all the hardware and piles of printer drawers. I saw two women looking at a photo album (the type I collect) and they couldn't figure out why it was upside down. I couldn't either, I've seen several like that - I figure someone tried to repair it and put it in wrong... that's all I can figure. Anyone know? So they bought the album and gave it to me to fix. Hmmmm. Fate is an interesting visitor.

And to answer your question, Linda. Yes, I am taking off Friday and heading to Warrenton, hopefully with Miss Sandy and if not, we'll hook up while we're there. I love the idea of going for 3 days, you lucky duck. Looking forward to a day off, looking at junk albeit expensive junk - let's hope for cooler weather. What about you, Debe?

Oh, and one last thing. I tried priceline and I'm super happy. I wanted to stay at the Renaissance in Amsterdam because of its proximity to the train station but it was $215 or $240 or something so I pricelined it at $125 and got a 4 star... that happens to be the Renaissance. Interesting! Looking forward to their cooler weather next week.

Hey, would you mind leaving a comment? I'm feeling a bit lonely here...

15 days

It's sizing up to be a nice month, the rest of September. I had a good weekend, starting Saturday morning when I headed up to Cypress for a craft fair at the Berry Center. I did my usual - parked on the side, entered and went straight for the back. I found a vintage linens booth with incredible piles of linens neatly ironed and stacked. I was first in and allowed myself a pillow case, table runner and pillow. Oh so pretty embroidery. I walked past a booth with Christmas decorations. You know the kind, it just speaks to you, personally and directly. I have been wanting mill spools. I know, I know, everybody bought mill spools in the 80s, okay maybe 90s. But I don't have a one and I wanted more than one. So I bought 5. One has a scalloped metal edge. Yummy. She also had a cool egg basket, in red. Across the way, she had plastic, kind of like oil cloth (but not)lunch bags. I got a Dick and Jane one and a Queen Elizabeth one, each $8. Did I ever tell you that I collect QE coronation memorabilia? Mostly because my brother loves royalty stuff but I also like it. I've picked up a few very cool items. I will photograph them one day. We also sent a birthday card to the queen one year and she wrote us back, thanking us. Of course, AFTER I bought all that stuff I realized I needed a baby gift for my Milwaukee trip this week. I hemmed and hawed and bought nothing but I saw cute stroller bags made from blue jeans skirts. So, of course I stopped by the Goodwill on the way home and bought two cute skirts. (Are you the kind that can't ever buy just one of something - you always have to buy two. or more? me too). I think I have it figured out - follow me. I will sew a lining to the bottom of the waistband and then sew the bottom of the skirt closed, with the fabric. I will put two grommets on each side (or maybe just one) and run some thick, maybe grosgrain ribbon through to tie it to the stroller. Oh, and add some decorative ribbon trim on the front and back, perhaps I should do that first, before the lining. Okay. I have two chances to get it right.

So Saturday afternoon, some girls came over for crafting goodness and we made decorative blocks ala Julia. We are kicking ourselves for not taking photos (I mean, really, what kinda scrapbookers are we? - okay, Julia isn't a s/b but I am). Because it was so much fun and no one wanted to quit, we made cute Halloween blocks too. Julia is such a talent. I love it because we all had a great time, and when everyone leaves they want to know when's the next time. It's just so much fun. Time to laugh and connect. And BONUS - I got to show off the room of shame! The empty room of shame, that is. (a spare bedroom, that now is truly spare). I still have more work to do for the garage sale, but we're making progress.
Sunday I headed over to Richmond for an auction, this auction. I was a bit surprised. It was smaller in person. It was a good day to attend, very small crowd and low low prices. But there was nothing that I had to have. So I bought a wooden iron board. Mainly because the vintage linens lady from Katy that I'd met the day before said she loved ironing on her wooden ironing board, that there was nothing like it. And I only paid $10. And then I realized when I was driving home. We HAVE an ironing board in our den, in the wall. My house is 50 years old and we left it in... I should go look and see if its wooden. I'm sure it is.

I'm headed up north for a couple of days for work. OMG, its 90 flippin degrees here this week. Disgusting. Its a high of 60 in Milwaukee. Saaaawwweeeeeeet. and yes, I will so enjoy it. Going to see my scrapping peeps and meet Jeanne's dogs. Can't wait. The following week is WARRENTON, can I get a hellyeah. And then to Rotterdam for some even cooler weather and hanging with my Dutch peeps. Okay. wait. I have Dutch colleagues, that's it, they're not peeps. Who am I kidding. I'll report back after Warrenton.

Thinking about 1899

I thought I would share some photos of pretty things that arrived in my mailbox today. I bought a photo album on ebay. It really is lovely. I scanned a few of the keepsakes that were included with the album (which I have to say, is a kind gesture from the seller). This one is probably my favorite - a page from a book.

And a calling card from 1899. There is also a beautifully embossed graduation announcement for the West Point High School in Krause's Hall June 8th, 1899. Love it. 11th annual... I just did some research and WP is located in West Point, Nebraska. I love researching history - now I'm going to go back into the album and try to figure out the connection. On the outside of the announcement, it lists the 14 graduates, all but 3 were women. It includes program and announcements. Perhaps I should take it apart and scan it properly? I tell ya, I've had the worse luck electronically lately. My new Dell desktop is even acting up... so I have to scan through microsoft, which is kind of weird. So bear with me...

Do you know what Sapere Aude means? It's a Latin phrase meaning, dare to discern or dare to know. I <3 Wikipedia.

There are a couple of pieces of lace and probably part of a pillowcase with initials embroidered. I love that these were someone's keepsakes and I can cherish them for them. I wonder why someone in the family didn't keep them?

Now, are you ready for scandal? Look what I found in another photo album... Look closer. Yep. Isn't that just shocking? I mean, not now but back then - for it to be caught in photo. I love it. Brokeback Mountain.

That's all I've got for you today. It's a Monday.

Dorothy was right!

There is no place like home. I was gone for eight days on a business trip with a weekend of fun included. The trip started off great when I was bumped to first class and a studio room at the hotel, Avia. I cannot rave enough about this place and look, they have a location in The Woodlands. Its modern (which isn't me) and fabulous - free computers with TV monitors. Interesting design details. The room is very well planned and elegant. I found myself comparing the subsequent hotels to it. The business worked out very well also. I did a presentation on Worker's Compensation (oh, fuN!) and we took a tour of the Port of Los Angeles and cleaned up Cabrillo beach as a community service project. Let me tell you - that is tough duty picking up cigarette butts (I was imagining large handfuls of trash) and traipsing through the sand in jeans (work-appropriate) gear. I mean, let's face it, are you going to get in a swimsuit around co-workers? No, think not. It was still a fun afternoon (we got to tour the aquarium and touch sea life - see photo) and a fabulous dinner at Trump National golf course. Our host asked an interesting question - what was your favorite concert? So fun to hear the answers and reminisce also. I asked the same question at a dinner the following week and talked to a guy who saw the Beatles in Toronto in 1964.

On Friday I headed over to Vancouver for the weekend and was blessed again with pristine weather. If you've never been to VC, you really should go in this lifetime. It is so clean, weather is fabulous, the people are nice all the time and there is so much to see and do. Okay, let me qualify that - the homeless people cuss you out when you don't give them money, serious.ly We went to Granville Island, Gastown and Stanley Park, shopped on Robson, saw the library (an architectural gem). On Sunday we headed up to Whistler for 3 days of meetings. Yeah, I know. On Monday we toured the area and saw the Olympic venues, which made me wish I had watched the Olympics. We saw the bobsled/luge track, the ski jump and the biathlon track. We took a gondola up to Blackcomb and peak to peak gondola across to Whistler mountain and then down on a chair lift. Yes, I was pushed through my fear of heights. It is so quiet you can hear the wind and we saw a bear on the way down. Payday. After the meetings on Tuesday we enjoyed an adult beverage and watched this entertainment. What a different world. We met a 35 year old French guy from Japan who was spending 5 days riding the mountain. I loved seeing the passion in these guys, doing what they love. You could feel it when they rode through an S curve - how natural it felt to them and how much they loved it. The meetings in Whistler were also great and we (meaning the operators who do all the work) won a safety award with our group. I was proud. With all that being said, I can tell you it felt so good to get back home, yes, to the Houston heat and cuddle with my pups and be at home. I finished 3 different projects last night and went to bed at 3 am! Yikers. Still feel good today and hope to finish a couple of large projects - a blackboard tray, another printer block mirror and a vintage page wreath. Here's hoping!

Weekend Goodness

It feels so great to start a project. It feels even better to finish it... all in a weekend. I've had these printers blocks and mirror for over a year and finally put it together on Saturday. Turned out just how I had it pictured in my mind. I saw one in a shop in the Heights a couple of years ago and thought, I could make one of those. What's a little time and distance... I think I will sell it - great way to start off an etsy shop, although its heavy. I have another mirror and more blocks - but boy it is hard to find a flat one (mirror). I love anything having to do with wood and print... yummy. I have several small printers trays, I found two in London that have Fleet St or London on them. Really love those. You'll hear in a minute the connection with printing and this weekend. Pretty interesting and cool.

I was also going to show you a little stitching I did tonight. I need to learn this stuff, mainly because I want to but also because I don't want to embaress myself in the Silver Bella stitching swap that I joined. It's an Anthropologie kitchen towel and Julia asked if I made it, so I figured I should doll it up somehow... I really like how they did the swaps this year. There are 23 of them and you had to sign up for them, max of 5 and you gave your preference. I signed up for 3 (don't ask me about the other two - I've been fighting with my computer and camera tonight to upload and its after midnight - I'm too tired to look it up). Anyway, I got in all three and I'm really excited.

Wendy H from Silver Bella last year just did an Around the World swap and we submitted them before July 4th so I can't wait to get my package. I lucked out and got France and I even learned a few things about the country! I didn't know much about Marie Antoinette but it was fun to search for pictures of her. There were 20 participants.. can't wait to see the rest. I really enjoy doing swaps, it makes you stretch a bit and I enjoy the repetitiveness of putting things together - its happy crafting to me.

Want to see some of my treasures from Glenflora? I found these two german bisque dolls that are a nice size and include hands/feet that were originally marked $50 each, I got them for $12.50. I think one of my Silver Bella class involves these dolls... I also found a beautiful wooden drawer from a cash register that I really had to have ... so glad I treated myself. And 8 small bottles for 25 cents each. A few linens, okay several linens - you know I can't help myself when pretty fabric is around. And about 4 1/2 yds of black toile. Too pretty to pass up for $18. I'm really going to have to learn how to sew... (oh, by the way, I sewed on the France tag - to make a pocket for the Marie doll - do you love the french script laundry markers? totally, my favorite)

This is one (okay, maybe second) of my favorite finds... its a criminal courts docket from Matagorda County - I should have taken a picture of the ledger pages... awesome. All kinds of petty crimes and the fines. What was funny was it was laying on the floor in a back room - kind of tossed to the side and yet, it is so absolutely cool looking inside. It's another Glen Flora find. I have to thanks Ho Ho (who could update her blog) for the introduction to GF. It's past Sugarland but not all the way to Victoria on 59 and now there's a Bucee's at the exit. This time, Sandy was in Florida and so I went across the way to Wharton and looked at their shops. There were several on the town square, but one totally stood out. Let's see, if I can remember the name of it. Oh yes, I googled it - History's Hardware. This place was unbelievable - it was like stepping out of a sandstorm into an oasis. First of the all, the shop is filled with oak, gorgeous rich handsome oak, tiger sawn, whatever kind - it is rich and it is gorgeous. And then they have fabulous drawers filled with hardware. Drawers of hardware that they've salvaged and cleaned and restored. And every other kind of antique you can think of - if its wood or attaches to wood, or cabinet cards - just all kinds of lovely items. He was a lawyer and this was their retirement dream. Unfortunately, he was involved in a serious auto crash last year and their life has taken a different turn. And as much as I was awe-struck by the shop and all of its lovely contents, it broke my heart because their pricing is super super expensive. Like kinda crazy, expensive. Like maybe you're smoking something, expensive. $245 for a photo album with cabinet cards. Okay, I'll quit being mean but really, I felt so bad for them because there's only a couple of people maybe in California that would pay that kind of pricing. It is still so worth a look. I wanted to buy something, anything but I just couldn't, in good conscience. In these thrifty times... when I'm cruising the MAM or Salvation Army, can I pay that kind of money...
And I left the best for last... the event that placed a smile on my face the entire weekend. I received a message on Facebook asking if I was a Big Sister back in the 80s. And I was and it was a sweet boy named Harold that I befriended at DePelchin. It was so sweet that he remembered me, okay not sweet but amazing. We chatted a bit on line and yes, I'm going to hook up and see him - he has a little boy of his own now. Oh, and you know what he does for a living? Printing... I even looked up DePelchin today and they have several great volunteer opportunities. (their webmaster must be 18 - look at the size of that font...)

Okay, one last pic for good measure...

Weekend

Let me tell you what is cool. You have some friends over on Saturday and today you see all these hook ups on Facebook of everybody friending everybody else. I really like that. We had 10 people over on Saturday for some crafting goodness and other than the usual, good food to eat (spaghetti pie, taco dip, fruit salad, better than sex cake), laughter, stories, super talented people creating all kinds of amazing stuff - yeah, it was just your usual awesomeness. I had a blast and everybody else did too, so we're doing it again in August. I really tried to be low key about it and not get worked up over the preparations or any of the food. I totally forgot to make coffee - dang! It's funny how people see your world, Julia blogged about it here. I love it when she says, stealing religious medals just screams bad karma. There was incredible inspiration flowing - Michelle wants to make a lamp out of a metal rounder that I have - so I bought a lamp kit today. I love how friends can inspire you and motivate you. Sandy and Kristin and Cindy were creating some awesome layouts. I love the sharing part - Cindy's going to get together with Michelle and Harriet to do an record album using an LP, which is sooo right for Michelle, who loves music. Julia, who has decorating skills galore was moving prints from Etsy artist, L. Young right. then. and there. You gotta love that! We had a newbie in the group and it was fun to offer up some stash for her wall art.

Here's the recipe for the Taco Dip b Jeanne Davis (I forgot who she is - it was on TV a long, long time ago - all my recipes are from a long, long time ago)
12 oz jar of salsa
15 oz can of Hormel chili (no beans, please)
8 oz of cream cheese
16 oz. sour cream
2 c cheese
small can of diced black olives (because I like them)

Mix the salsa and chili together. Mix the cream cheese and sour cream together. Then layer it, starting with white, red and cheese - do that twice and throw the black olives in whenever the mood strikes you. Microwave and serve with tortilla chips. I put it in a 8 x 8 glass pan.

Oh, and things like this happens alot when you're scrapping with friends...Michelle saw the book, the Four Agreements and mentioned she was reading it. I told her how I overheard an old guy at the airport talking to a young married couple, giving them advice (whether they wanted it or not) and he said, Happiness is an inside job. At the end of the flight, I mentioned it to him and so he told me about the book and how much he believed in it. In essence it tells you to: Be Impeccable With Your Word, Don't take anything personally, Don't make assumptions and Always Do Your Best. Good stuff to ponder and produce as often as you can. Anyway, I digress. So not but 5 minutes later, Julia comes into the sunroom and is trying to help Keisha find a quote for her project and tells her. Yep. you guessed it. Freaky!

I'm going to see Wicked on Thursday - should be great fun. And then starts a nice long weekend. Can't wait! Here's to a good week for all of us.