Thrifty Miss Priss

On My way to Silver Bella

So.  Imagine my shock when I checked my e-ticket on Saturday.  The e-ticket thats getting me to SIlver Bella on Thursday.  I pulled it out because it was with my supply list for Silver Bella.  I glanced at it and

My ticket was for WEDNESDAY not THURSDAY!  When my husband booked my flight for me he didn't hear me say THURSDAY.  I was not looking at a calendar at the time and I told him "Thursday the 11th".  Well if I'd looked i'd have noticed the 11th is WEDNESDAY.  So.  I get to go  a day early!  Yippee!  That means an extra day of fun!  My "big" little sis Karla already has big plans for lots of bellas, including a shopping spree at a fabulous vintage wallpaper place and a guided bus tour sponsored by Jessi!

If I had not looked at that paper, and waited until Wednesday night, I would have missed my flight!

I can't wait to share this experience with all of you! 

Lots of pictures when I return!

Did you go to class today?

Artist class is in full swing!  I'm up to my elbows in projects and can't wait to start more!  Time is just flying and before you know it Christmas will be here.  There are a lot of cute projects in this class to use as gifts too.

My project is scheduled to appear this week.  It's the "Pocket full of Treasures" scrapbook.  Here's another peek

It's a scrapbook created from an old record album book.

Here is my "bio"

In this workshop you will learn to make a keepsake book, full of pockets to hold your little treasures!  You will receive instructions on building your book by using a vintage record album book, or plain card stock.  We will be using lots of scrap fabric, hankies, trims, laces and jewels to add interest to you pockets.  You do not need to know how to sew to do this project!  You can use glue or stitch tape, or machine stitching.  The fun part is adding all the decorative embellishments to the completed pocket page!  Once completed, your book will hold all your special treasures for years to come.  Special occasions……...love notes from your spouse or children…….Christmas or Wedding Memories…..all held together in little pockets.  The beauty of this project is you are not altering your special keepsakes, but merely tucking them into the pockets to hold forever!

 
I'm hosting a giveaway of one of my Holiday Houses if you sign up for artist class in November using my coupon code "thriftymisspriss" and I'm also going to offer a bag of bits and pieces to use when you create your own "pocket full of treasures"  So thats $10.00 off for you, and a chance to win some great prizes!  Its a win-win situation!There will be other giveaways on the other artists blogs; as well as on the Artist Class blog itself. 

Check out the bio's  and see what this class has to offer! So many talented artists in one place showing us step by step instructions.  The blog will be open until February and I plan on using all that free time after Christmas to create a bunch of these projects, after life slows down a bit.

Have a terrific, creative week!

Little Visitor.......

Today is the first day ofArtist Class!  If you haven't heard all about it...I urge you to rush over to check it out!  Mary had selected a very talented group of people to teach us some really wonderful techniques!  I can't wait to get started on these projects!

Don't forget, if you sign up using my coupon code "thriftymisspriss" you will get $10.00 off which makes it only $4.00 per project!  You will also be entered into my giveaway of one of my Christmas Cottages! (see post below)

This weekend I invited my little friend daughter over for sleepover.  I think she gets the short end of the stick a lot of the time and I wanted to pamper her and make her feel SPECIAL.  It started out with dinner at I-Hop.  Then off to the grocery store for her to pick out lots of goodies for the sleepover.  I even let her scan all the groceries in the self check out...a kids dream job!

We got home late so we painted  pumpkins and got ready for bed.  I drew the face on this white pumpkin and let her pick all the colors.  She is so detail oriented she stuck with this for over an hour!

then it was off to bed.  She wanted Sarah to sleep with her so badly, she doesn't have any pets and she was so excited to have Sarah sleep there.  It lasted all of five minutes though.  Sarah is a mamas girl and wanted to be right by my side.

 
This morning bright and early I got a visitor crawling in bed with me.  My husband turned on cartoons and I got to sleep just a little bit longer.....It's been a LONG time since I had to get up with the chickens on a weekend!

We hit the ground running with crafts and activities!  After breakfast we ran around outside for a long time.  I put her to work raking.  She said she's never raked in her "whole life!"

My dogs just LOVE her and all the attention she gives to them.  They don't leave her side when she is here.

Of course after all that raking she had to do a LOT of running and jumping.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves......

 

after all that fun is was back to business!

She is going to be a black cat for Halloween so she chose the black cat theme for her pumpkin carving.

I really did not think she would be able to do this, and I didn't want to hover to make sure it was "perfect" but after I got the pattern on there she was able to do all the cutting.

  when my kids were little,  pumpkin carving used to stress me out!  The mess, the goo, the screaming and excitement was just TOO much.  I used to make my husband in charge of that activity! 

This time, I was laid back and relaxed.  I just supervised to be sure she didn't cut her thumb off.  I guess I've mellowed out quite a lot in my old age!

It turned out just like the picture on the package!

While she was doing all her craft activities I was working on a gift basket for a baby shower.  I made the little banner for the baby girl who will be born in December.  Her name will be Vera, which I think is so cute!  You don't hear other little girls with that name so I'm sure this little Vera will be quite unique!

Here's the gift basket I put together for her.  Full of little onsies and tights....patent leather shoes and suede boots too!

I hope you have a great week and a fun spooky Halloween!

Artist Class and a glittery sugar house Giveaway!

My friend Mary  is sponsoring an on line Artist Class.  She invited me to contribute a project and I'm excited to present to you "A Pocket Full Of Treasures Scrapbook"

This will be an on line tutorial of how to make my scrapbook along with LOTS  of other projects from other artists. 

My scrapbook is meant for holding all those little treasures you collect throughout life, but usually leave tucked away in a drawer or box.  After you've made your own scrapbook you can keep those special keepsakes all in one place without gluing them down.  This book had lots of little pockets to hold all those trinkets and treasures.

I used one of those OLD record album books and altered it into a scrapbook.  I will provide step by step instructions on how to do this.

The beauty of it is you do not need to know how to sew.  It can be glued or sewn.  I used both techniques and have to honestly say I like the gluing method better!

I'll even show you my mistakes and how I fixed them!  I will be using my book to take to Silver Bella to collect business cards and MOO cards.

  I can also see this scrap book being used for a scrapbook to hold little love notes from your kids.....or to hold special treasures from a vacation or a special event like a wedding.

 

I've signed up for several on line classes and have always enjoyed the challenge of the project.  This class gives you LOTS of different projects..not just one!  And if you use my coupon code "Thriftymisspriss" you will get $10.00 off!  It will basically cost less than $4.00 for each project!  I'm offering a fun giveaway to a lucky person who uses my coupon code as well. 

Wouldn't you like to live in one of these?

I will enter your name into the drawing if you sign up using my coupon code  The lucky winner will receive one of my sugared Christmas houses!  I will mail it to you in November so you can enjoy it with your Christmas decor.

Hop over to the Artist Class and take a peek!

Have a great week!

Halloween Decor-Thriftstore style

I usually don't decorate for Halloween anymore.  My kids are grown and I think my teenage daughter could care less if the house looks like Halloween. 

Yesterday I got in the mood to shake things up a little...like clear all the junk from the dinning room table that had accumulated over a long period of time.  That led to me taking all the stuff off the buffet and boxing it up.  I wondered what I could do with a fall theme, but I knew basically all I had was three white pumpkins I got for 75 cents several months ago.  I dug them out and the wheels set into motion. 

 

I knew I had another one of these glass domes packed away...never been used....found at a thrift store...so I grabbed it.....on the way back up from the basement I noticed the white Christmas lights I got at a yard sale this summer.... then I grabbed the little swiss dotted curtain from the thrift store and headed back up the stairs.

 

I was gathering trash to throw away and found crumbled up tissue from a pair of boots that my daughter had bought.  I put the lights down.....spread the tissue on top of them and then put the dotted swiss curtain on top.  You can just see the glow...not the harshness of each little bulb.

I also balled up the tissue and set the pumpkins on it...to give it some height in the dome.....

I shopped the house and gathered up all the little glass bottles I keep buying here and there and arranged them all on this little mirror I had bought over a year ago and had in the basement......(I noticed it when I went to get the glass dome!)

I couldn't believe all that I had bought....but spread out all over they didn't have the sparkly impact that they  now have.  I topped two of the big bottles off with the bracelets my daughter made for me and my other daughter to wear in her wedding.

Just keeping it real here...see the soap suds in that bottle?  I could not get that out!  I had washed them and that little fluff of suds would not budge. 

I stepped back and admired it.....

I thought it needed more.....

I grabbed a roll of black crepe paper and added some "true halloween" to the decor!

I've been ruffling this stuff like crazy!  I love to see how it ruffles up and I've been using it everywhere!

I found a cute little soup tureen and wanted to put these succulents in it.  I don't know if I can grow these inside...but outside they do great.  These belonged to my husbands Grandmother and they die off each winter and pop back up in the Spring outside.  I just dug them out of their pot and put them in this one.  I had the huge dome in my basement (a thrift store find) so I added that hoping it will keep the warmth inside the pot over the Winter.

just tying the crepe paper on various things made everything pop!  That black and white "runner" is actually a pillow sham that I bought for my daughters bridal shower table (at a thrift store!)

so at this point I have not one NEW thing here...every single item you see is from a thrift store or yard sale...including all the furniture!  But it sure felt new to me...all gathered together looking so happy and Halloweenish (sort of). 

I had to stop what I was doing to play taxi driver and on the way back I noticed these wildflowers growing along the road.  I had nothing to cut them with...but I pulled over and started yanking them out of the ground.  I do have to say I felt really silly....like a gypsy woman digging for taters on the side of the road or something!  I just KNEW at any minute my husband would drive along and think I'd really LOST MY MIND wading through waist high brush on the side of the road. 

I got back and threw them in a big water bucket for my front porch.  So not only was this a great find...just like my thrifty ones...this one was FREE

with enough left over for the inside

and here

see what happens when I try to take a picture?  She actually stood up on her back legs to get in this one.

I swished her away.....tried to focus then Heidi had to get in on it too...

I added a few spooky touches to the buffet...

these free images are from Karen The Graphics Fairy...I also hung a few in front of the mirror....and reversed the image on the back so you could see it in the reflection.....

 and one last little touch.....this frame was 99 cents at Goodwill.  It weighs about one pound..it's SUPER heavy......it's not really my style and I was going to spray paint it.  I decided to keep it like it is for a while and I added this to it.....

my husband brought me those little pink carnations NINE days ago....they last forever......

see the little pearl pins in the flower?  My daughter had those in her bridal bouquets and I saved them to add to fresh flowers.  The add a little sparkle to the flowers!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Fat Book thoughts.......

Thank you so much everyone for all the wedding Love!  The day was perfect and will always be a special memory for our family! 

Now that it's behind me.....I've been wanting to take on a collaborative project for a long time. I've just been waiting for the right time to do it......

Last February I participated in a fat book swap hosted by Dede.  We made lots of pages based on the valentine theme and sent them all to Dede.  She separated them, divided them up and put them together into fat books and mailed them all back. If you go to Dede's archives and look in January 09 you can see all the beautiful pages there.

She altered a hardback book by removing the pages and inserted all the fat book pages inside.

I just drooled over this beautiful artwork for months after wards.  It sits on a shelf in my art room where I can see it, open it, feel it on a regular basis. It's nice to have the work of so many others in your own book.  I've wanted to participate in another one immediately after I received this.

I thought I'd host my own fat book swap.  I've thought a lot about the theme and I've come up with "Winter Whites". Wouldn't a book stuffed full of ivory, cream, and white pages be beautiful?    Each participant would make a designated number of pages..(depending on how many people joined) mail them to me by the deadline and I will assemble and mail the fat book back to you.

Here are some pages from the Valentine book

This was the first time I'd ever participated in something like this.  I was a little nervous but like Dede said....everyone has to start somewhere! 

Do you like to collage?  Sew? Paint? Rubber stamp?  If you answered yes to any of these questions maybe you'd like to join me?  You might think you don't have enough   images of your own to use for a project like this....well flickr has thousands of copyright free photos that you can use. I will provide you with lots of links to websites that offer free images. Do you know Karen the Graphics Fairy?  She has beautiful images that she shares on a daily basis practically.  Mary is another source of wonderful images....some free, some very reasonably priced!

If you are interested in joining send me an email at thrifty underscore misspriss at yahoo dot com   I will post all the details.........who, what, when etc.  You may be signing up to make as few as 5 pages or as many as 16!  The more we have participating the FATTER your book will be!  I'm thinking the deadline will be the first week in November.  That will give me time to get them all separated and assembled and back out to you by the end of the month...in time for you to enjoy all "winter" long!

Enjoy your week!

This is what 16 year old girls do in the middle of the day when nobody is home and it's pouring buckets of rain.

she used the self timer.  I love how the puddles are splashing up around her!

In other news...I wanted to share this tote I made.  It's from a HUGE heavy curtain with a HUGE ruffle.....probably from the 80's.  I knew I'd figure something out.....I did not use a pattern or measure anything.  I just chopped it into a square form.....added the straps, stitched in the lining (an old sheet) and I was done.  20 minutes tops.

 apparently I'm not as good at taking my own picture as my daughter is!  Sorry for the blur-

Last night we had 5 16 year old girls sleeping in our house.  and two dogs. and one bird.....and us.....I think girls are draped over every flat surface right about now.

I'm on my way to see my mom....and carry my huge "over the top" tote (as my daughter called it -and not in a good way) and hopefully find a few treasures along the way!

Have a great weekend!

Avoidance

My craft/art room had become nothing more than a dumping ground.  All the stuff I didn't quite know what to do with ended up there.  I've been wanting to tackle it but dreaded the thought.  The organization in there or lack there of was stopping me from using it as much as I wanted to.

Avoidance Behavior:

A conscious or unconscious defense mechanism by which a person tries to escape from unpleasant situations or feelings, such as anxiety and pain.

I wish I"d taken a before picture....but I have too much pride.   After a full day of yard sales and thrifting I decided to tackle it last night.  I started with the desk...and which needed a major overhaul.  The cheap table I was using was starting to cave in a little in the middle.  Things wouldn't sit straight anymore.  I found an old door and painted it.....then slapped it on top of the old table.

but every little step I was making towards a cleaner more organized room....I kept stopping and playing with stuff.  Like this old box I had.....I suddenly needed to paint it and foof it up to hold hankies.

 

I found these yesterday at the thrift store. I really wish my room wasn't so dark because it's hard to see the true colors here.

after that little bit of avoidance I got the desk cleaned off and ready to stack everything back on.  I've never been able to keep my paints close by without them being in the way.  I came up with this solution.

  

I then noticed how ugly some of the things were sitting around on the desk.  Like the jar of Golden Gel Medium.  I thought it needed a little decoration. (more avoidance)

 

When it's time to buy more, I'll just dump the new stuff into the old now prettier container.  Then I saw the baby wipes....used for so many thing in this room. 

at least the lid was pink...not so terrible to look at really...but when I was folding up some scraps from my garlands (which are all over the place) I thought this would look cuter.  (more avoidance)

  

meanwhile the floor was covered with papers, trash and scraps and I was just happily covering things up.  I moved my bookshelf across the room and put it on top of the dresser.  It gives me more floor space now.

Of course I had to stop midway and paint some picture frames white...and paint the set of old sewing machine drawers seen in the picture with the Golden Gel Medium.

 

then I decided the shelves were a little too plain...so out came another strip of fabric to add more foof to it all

  

then of course I had to add some garland strips to the glass jars on top.  And that silver jar topper?  .10 cents yesterday at a yard sale.  I had no idea what to do with it.  I saw it sitting on the table and plopped it on there- perfect fit!

I like to listen to music from my phone while I'm in this room. I have a nice little set of speakers that hook right into the top of my phone.

 

Yesterday while out thrifting I found this Shabby chic pillow.

 

I saw this crib bumper also.  I loved the fabric on it.  I held it and turned it around and around for a good five minutes.  I loved it but had no idea what to do with it.  I put it back.  My daughter came along a few minutes later and said "There's a crib bumper over there that you would love!"  Does she know me or what?  I told her I had no idea what to do with it but what the heck.  Live dangerously.

 I cut it at about 5 feet and now it's my bulletin board that I didn't know I needed!

 

I just nailed it right to the wall by the strings on each end.  It's super thick and I'm able to use straight pins to attach things and they don't fall off.

  even that big heavy key is just hanging with a straight pin! 

a few months ago I found this sweet little Robin Bird that someone had stitched.  On the back it said "Dear Dorothy....you liked my little Robin Bird so much I made you one of your own"  well it ended up in the thrift store so my husband said apparently Dorothy was just "being nice".  I couldn't leave it behind because of course I'm partial to the Robin BIrd (that's my name for those of you who don't know)  It was kind of sad looking in it's dark brown 1980's frame.  I took it apart it made it more for me.  Maybe Dorothy would approve now.

 

 

It now hangs on the door to my little room

  

I hope to be back later in the week to share a few more fun things I found yesterday.  One thing you never want to do is buy a candle at a yard sale...then leave it in your car all day while you ride around to different thrift stores with your daughter.

 

Not that it happened to me or anything.  Just sayin!

Have a terrific week!

Creating Pretties

I've been busy today!

 

I fell in LOVE with Rachel Ashwells Union Jack Flag a year or so ago.  Hers was HUGE and it was a wall hanging.  Way outta my price range too.  After I made the shabby scrappy garlands I've been collecting frames to use to also make these Union Jack Wall Hangings.

I have SO MUCH vintage fabric that I need to stop hoarding and start making.

  

  When I was at the beach I saw an adorable way to display plates

 

  It feels SO good to finally use some of my stuff!  I like to pull it out...look at it....dream of what I'll do with it...then it gets put away again.  I'm trying to PUSH myself to actually create things and get them listed.

I'll be listing some more of my scrappy garlands later in the week.  THERE.....I said it....now I have to actually DO it!

Hop over to my shop  if you want to see it all!

Have a great week! 

I was smart and took today off to unwind from my vacation....or in all reality to prepare my brain for going back to work.  I'm geared up and as ready as I'm going to be........

I worked all day in my art room...it's become the dumping ground for every yard sale/thrift store purchase.  I was making great progress and then I'd find something interesting.  I'd stop and play around with this and that, then get back to organizing.  Then I had to stop and take pictures of my thrifty finds........then I'd get back to cleaning........then I felt it necessary to cover a cigar box with pretty fabric......then I got back to cleaning.  I need to see a dr. soon for ADD i'm sure.

Here's some journal pages I did on vacation

  

Here are a few I did in my "Journal of Interest" book, which I will now refer to as my "pretty book"!  I'm using all my best papers and trims for this book.

 

I found this picture when we went to Lucketts in June.  I thought this little girl looked like she was up to something, in fact...she reminded me so much of my oldest daughter when she was a baby.  She was a little schemer and once when she wore me down from begging and whining for something..she walked away and told my husbands mother "Works like a charm every time!" so I thought this was the perfect caption for this photo!  The date at the top is my daughter's birth date.  I forgot to share this with her so I'll have to show her!  It's been a big family joke ever since then.....wear mom down and it works like a charm every time!

So after I was cleaning and throwing away today...I came across this picture of my mother in law as a baby.

Do you SEE the resemblance????  The little girl in the top photo looks JUST like my mother in law

so I had to dig out my favorite picture of my mom and do a two page spread dedicated to the both of them!

  The background journal paper is from Lori.  In fact, the little watch that belonged to my mother is glued on to a little decoration Lori used on one of the bags she sent me in our swap.  I like to recycle!

The lace is tatting that my grandmother did years ago and never used it for a project.

 

I don't like having to use the flash but I was in the mood to take the pictures so I couldn't wait for daylight.

 

while I was cleaning I came across this box of flash cards I got about TWO years ago....I know....the things we find when we clean!

I've been having fun with these all afternoon.

 see what I mean?  I copied the pictures of the mamas and now they're in my sight every time I sit down to play.

That little "k" on the bird picture came from Karen's shop at Lucketts (Karen is also the graphics fairy

Later this week I hope to show you all the great things I found on vacation!

Here's a sneak peek:

Have a great week!