Thrifty Miss Priss

Art Journal and Home Journal

Happy Day! 

I participated in a Spring Ephemera Swap and look at the packages I received!

There's enough goodies in these bags to keep me busy for a very long time!

(this was my paternal grandparents home in Middleport New York)    

 

Some of these pages are not complete yet.  I've been working on this journal for a year now!  Most people do one a month......suffice it to say I've not been a regular at it.  I enjoy working in it but don't make the time to do it.  It's really fun to go back and look through old pages....to remember where you were or what you were doing at that time.  I don't do a lot of writing...mostly quotes.

about 4 years ago I started a "home book" where I ripped out pages from decorating magazines that I wanted to keep, and pasted them into a regular book from the thrift store.  I had it packed away and forgot all about it....I found it one day this winter when we were buried in snow...and I was happy to see all the pages I'd glued way back then.  It was funny to see that I'd incorporated a lot of the ideas in my current home...even though I didn't have the book for inspiration.  Here's a few pages from that book"

This is the book I'm using....I'm just ripping magazine pages and gluing them in.  I haven't worked on this in a long time until I found it in February. When it's finished I will make my own cover for it.

here's a normal page from the book

  it's all about American homes throughout the centuries.  On pages that are dull and boring I glue my own stuff to it.

sometimes I leave part of the original pictures intact...like the building on the left hand side bottom.

I write on the pages....what it is about why I love the page.....

this is a great way to get rid of your magazines that are hard to part with.  You've saved the best...and now it's all in one place.

So grab a book and start gluing!      

 

All work and no play.....

Thank you all for the Birthday wishes for my mom!  We had a wonderful day and I cherish the time I have with her.

We got some more of this.....

so my plans were canceled to go see my mom Saturday.  Instead I stayed in my p.j.'s all day and worked on my Remains Of The Day Journal.  I will do a separate post later in the week about that.

Friday night I hit the thrift store on my way home and found a few odds and ends.  I realized the whole focus of my blog at first was about my thrifty finds.  I still hit plenty of thrift stores, but I just don't show you my treasures anymore.  I'm going to get better about that in 2010.  Even if I am too lazy to take pictures.

I spotted these

 

I instantly thought I could recreate a tshirt neckline using these organza flowers.  I will of course have to disassemble them and reassemble them but I love the look.

I've been on the hunt for another white soup tureen because mine met with the wood floor during doggie party time.  I've seen this at the same thrift store forever and finally caved in.  It reminds me of a chamber pot!

So now I'll have to find some cute plants to put into it and start all over again.  

A friend that I've worked with for 7 years left the company last week.  She was a wonderful co worker and we got along great.  I would tell her little bits and pieces of my thrifting adventures but she was so opposite of me in that respect....she is all about modern and clean -Not vintage and shabby. Her nick name for me is Gypsy Girl.   She brought me this lock that she found in her garage when she purchased her house many years ago.

she was going to throw it away!  When she told me about it I told her how cool it was and to keep it forever.  On her last day at work she brought it to me.

to find something like this is really amazing.  The fact that the key is still with it and works is even better!  I found an old military steamer trunk a few weeks ago (pictures soon!) and I've attached it to that.  I told my co worker every time I look at this crusty, rusty old lock I will surely think of her...

 So after our little snowstorm last weekend....we got another 4 inches last night.  Just enough to make driving on side roads scary in the morning commute.  Today the weather reports are calling for a HUGE snowstorm to hit Northern Virginia on Friday. They are talking up to TWO FEET OF SNOW.  I will be sitting at my desk at work wringing my hands thinking about my commute home that night.  We will be snowed in all weekend if it truly comes to pass.

It will give me a good excuse to sit at my sewing machine all day and finish my Remains of the Day Journal.  

(the picture above is an old brochure for a cruise ship that my mother in law modeled for.  She is in the upper right hand corner standing on the deck of the ship with the captain!)

and a copy of a "perfect attendance" certificate issued to my mom in 1937 when she was only 7 years old!

Periodically my family stops into the doorway throughout the day as I'm in there sewing away.  They look at my progress with piles of papers.....scraps all over the floor, and nothing but frankenstein zig zag papers all over the place.  They scratch their heads and worry about me I'm sure.  I feel a little like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" when he is working on that all important novel and is not to be disturbed.

  Until the wife finds out he's been typing "all work and no play makes Jack and dull boy"......about 6000 pages worth.  Then the crazy really starts.  Still the scariest movie ever!  

We'll see how much progress I make on my novel- I mean journal this weekend...when it's snowing like crazy and we're housebound.  I'll just be sure not to wander outside and get lost in the hedge maze.

Knee Deep in scrap(s)

I forgot to share the gifts I made at Christmas for my twin sisters.  We long ago decided not to exchange gifts at Christmas.  Everyone usually shows up to the party with one wrapped gift and we all pick a gift and steal from others if so inclined.  

I decided I wanted to do something extra for my sisters so I stole this picture of them from my moms photo album and made these little.....gee I don't know what to call them!  I copied was inspired by Lori at my faerie window.  She made the cutest gifts for a group of bloggers that came to Virginia last May.  I used to small gift boxes from Macy's as the base.

 

I also used to gift boxes to make these ornaments for them.  

 This was A LOT more fun than searching through stores for the perfect gifts!

Last weekend I mentioned I was working on my journal for The Remains of the Day online class.  It's so addicting creating this thing...I didn't even want to stop to eat.  Therefore my Christmas Tree did not come down over New Years.  I urge you to check out the blog for the class and consider doing it!

 We have a box of PAPERS in our basement that we've had for TEN years....it's full of stuff from my husbands Grandfather, who passed away in the 60's.  I guess they packed up his little apartment and these were all things that got thrown into a box.  Little things that he kept...that my husbands family could never bear to throw away.  I searched through that box and came up with a treasure trove of ephemera.  I'm swimming in it.

I added a tag for journaling...you can see it slipped into the end of this very cool envelope.

the pipe cleaner pack above is also now a pocket....a tag can be slipped into it for journaling the days events.  There's a business card at the top of a tobacco salesman, his grandfather was in the tobacco industry in North Carolina.  On the right is a lift up page with another pocket.

old yellowed security envelopes....these are just the things that I needed for my journal.  

 I sewed this little heart on the page, and look what happened to the back side....

My family kept asking what in the world was I working on for all those days....I showed my daughter and she said "wait...I don't get it...what are you doing with this stuff?"  so I explained it all to her....how cool it was that I was using all this ephemera from her GREAT GRANDFATHER and she had a blank stare on her face.  She said "so you're making a book?"  No.....I explained.....it will be a journal when I'm done, where I can write thoughts, quotes, record things....and she said "thats the part I don't get!"  So maybe it is a little "out there" and I know MOST people don't get it...but I knew my friends in Blogarita Ville would appreciate it!

a few of these images are things I've found on the internet and stockpiled for my scrap stash.  I think the image on the left is from The Graphics Fairy...she has fantastic graphics for FREE.  I'm sure you all know about Karen already.  She's so incredibly sweet to share her images.

So I'm knee deep in scraps and ephemera but loving every minute of it. At least it's finally being used or dealt with some way and not sitting in a box (although there is still tons of stuff in that box)  I might set the stopwatch and take down my tree in record time this weekend so I can get over the guilt of it still being up and get on with my life!

One last little treasure I found in that box.....a Valentine my husband made when he was about 7 years old for his parents.....he even used a little doily!  I brought it upstairs to show him and hung it on my white wreath.  This is one of a very few things that his mom saved that he made.  It must have meant the world to her to hold onto it all those years!

 (we have no clue why he wrote "to the Mods"....my vote is that he was trying to tell his parents they were "cool" or "Mod"

 Have a wonderful week!

What a Beautiful Mess I'm in.....

Happy New Year everyone!  I, like many others use this time to reflect to see whats good and not so good about my life.  Things I have control over and things I don't.  I always feel like this is a great time to make BIG changes in ourselves.....fresh clean slate...all that.  But POOF!  I usually do not follow through.  Actually each new day is a clean slate and a new opportunity to change or do better.

I do feel a shift coming on though....I'm not blogging nearly as much as I used to and my family doesn't have to pry me off the computer kicking and screaming anymore.  

Maybe I got overloaded with all the Christmas preparations everyone was doing.  I just sort of STOPPED getting on.  I've sat and watched t.v. with my husband.  Good movies....HILARIOUS movies(The Hangover) crime shows....the whole shabang. 

I made a commitment to myself to finally finish my journal that I started last Spring. 

 

 I spent the day after Christmas sitting in Barnes and Nobel by myself, with a big stack of books that I've been wanting to look at forever.

I took this picture with my phone while I was there and sent it to my husband I told him not to expect me home for several hours!  It was pure heaven sitting there without a care in the world while everyone was busy making the shopping deals of the century at the mall.  I don't have the need or desire to get in that chaos.  I have more than I want or will ever need and then some.  One tiny resolution for me is to STAY out of thrift stores so often.  I will still go but not as regular as I have been.  It's all just STUFF and I have way too much now.  In fact I've started cleaning out bits and scraps in my art room and will be listing some collage packs one day soon I hope.

 

Speaking of collage.....

 

I've been eye balling this online class forever and finally jumped in with both feet. The Remains of the Day is a Journal  made entirely from your paper SCRAPS on hand.  They are all sewn together, then sewn into a scrappy cover and tied tight.  I can't get my link button to work but you can read all about it here:  http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/rotdoci.html

Her pages are incredible!  She offers TONS of videos and printable instructions too.  Once you pay the site is available to you until December 2010!   Once the journal is put together and assembled it only takes a few minutes to write your journal entries.  I want to take a lot more photographs this year.  I plan on tucking them in this journal.  Otherwise they sit in my computer and I don't enjoy them nearly enough. If you get the chance go look at Mary Ann's Journals.  They are certainly drool worthy.  You can also look at the Flickr group she has set up here

http://www.flickr.com/groups/purexperimentation/pool/

(my link button is not linking!)

So I made the cover last night.  Actually it was all day of watching her videos, hunting gathering scraps, supplies...cleaning off my art table....junking up my art room....I'll let the pictures speak for themselves

(my daughter snapped this of me on the floor cutting out the fabric. I instantly told her "DON'T take my picture in this mess!" I planned on deleting it...but I wanted to remember this moment!  Of course Sarah had to be in there on my lap, and trying to lay on the fabric.

   

oh this fabric is so soft and comfy...

   

 

And guess what?  My Christmas tree is still up.  I don't even care.  It's fake so it can stay another week.  Right now there's more important stuff going on around here.

 

Here's hoping 2010 gives you all health, peace and happiness!

We got some snow here last weekend.....just enough to make everything beautiful and quiet....

 Just look at her.....both back feet off the ground!  You'd never know Heidi is 13 years old (91 in dog years!)  She's as frisky today as she was as a pup.  I know our time left is limited but if she can stay active and healthy like this until her time comes I will be grateful!

This is what Sunday afternoon was all about.....laying around enjoying the sights of snow out the window and relaxing.  Does this look comfortable to you?  Who needs a snuggi when you've got this? 

We recently got a new computer....an apple...and it's a whole new way of doing things.....so just when I had mastered downloading photos and editing them...I have to learn a whole new way of doing it.  This computer is supposed to be the cream of the crop but I just sit here and cuss at the monitor when it won't do what I want.

I finished my Christmas shopping!  This is the earliest I've ever finished!  I'm even catching up on some projects I left incomplete when I left Silver Bella.  Pam Garrisons Holly Days class was supposed to be an advent type wreath and I started it in class.  I couldn't get my holly leaves to look right so I gave up.  I recently found several white poinsettia silk bushes at the thrift store.  I bought them not knowing what on earth I'd do with them besides put a few around the tree.  I dumped them in my craft room and then I had the light bulb moment.

since I was not too good at cutting out the holly leaves in class, why not use the white silky-velvetish leaves from the poinsettia?  This way I can leave it out all year too...it's not really a "Christmas" wreath.

  

 I started this project around 10:00 on a work night.  I just kept adding more and more stuff to it....and was determined not to leave it unfinished.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out and nothing new was purchased for it....all stuff I had already.  I have enough leaves left over to do two more wreaths so I might make another one for my etsy shop..which is EMPTY now!  YAY!  My little wallpaper packs all sold out!

OH!  The fat books are finished and in the hands of their owners!  We had 12 participants and one dropped out at the end, so we all made 12 pages.  Which means I have an extra book.  Haven't decided what to do with it yet, but may auction it on ebay with the proceeds to go to my animal shelter for Christmas.

 

 

 

The theme was "Winter Whites".  I was happy with all the pages and the way they all looked together in the book.  I will definitely host one of these projects again someday....with trial and error I now know what is involved in doing this!

I hope you all get the chance to slow down and enjoy the season and soak up all the beauty of it!

A Beautiful Life Journal

I recently participated in an on line journal class hosted by Heather.  Everything she does she pours her heart into...and this was no exception!

The theme was "A beautiful life".  Heather provided a lot of beautiful images and wallpapers for us to download to use in the journals.  I found a few old song books that were small enough for this project.  I used sheet music from these books throughout my project.

 
I won't explain every little detail...but I wanted to use really special things that I've been saving.  The tatting used here was done by my Grandmother who was born in 1895.  A relative sent me her sewing box last year and there are all sorts of treasures in there.

I used a lot of Heathers images that she provided, but also used some of my own.  I ventured off course a little and made a "title page" in my book too.

 
The last page I created a little pocket out of Heathers image...and inserted a little tag.....I wrote on it what a "Beautiful Life" means to me.

I was happy to find the music "Gay Robin Redbreast" in the music book.  Anytime I see anything with the name Robin or bird related I like to use it.  I was born with a red birthmark right above my heart....and I think it's kind of funny that my mom named me Robin.....but then again...she named my brother Brett but the moment she brought him home she thought he looked like a "pete" and we never called him Brett again!  She used to call us Pete and Re-pete.

But back to the journal!  Heather is leaving the workshop open until the end of October I think.  You can work at your own pace.  Anyone can do this.  You can spend as little or as much time as you want on it.  I love my little book I made and will add it to my little growing collection.   Speaking of book collections.....the fat book sign ups were finalized last weekend.  The participants are:  Mary, Cari B., Joyce, Julie Ann, Lynnae, Karen, Kelly, Jill, Judith, Leslie and Carrie.  If you do not see your name listed and you signed up please let me know!  Also if you signed up but did not get an email from me let me know. 

This morning I stepped outside to get some decent daylight pictures of my journal.  I glanced up and saw this.  

 
 
I watch that little lonely sad face every morning as I back out of the driveway to go to work.  When I pull in at night she is there peeking out waiting.  She knows the time line and won't lay there all day...but around 5pm she gets back up on the couch and waits for me.  I can remember watching out the window down the street every night at 5pm waiting for my moms baby  blue mustang to come zipping down the street into the driveway......

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

   

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!

Puppy Love and Friday the 13th......

Are you superstitious?  I am somewhat.  Of course I don't think that stepping on a crack will break my mama's back...but you just never know!  And watching a loved one drive out of sight....a big no no here in my house!  Walking with someone you love?  Don't let a pole split you up! These are all my husbands superstitions that over time I've adopted.  Umbrellas open in the house...no way!  Faking sick at work because your "kids are sick" nope.  Bad Karma!  I love Friday the 13th!  I was born on Friday the 13th!  It's never brought me bad luck!

I received my "Puppy Love" tag book and it's full of Valentine beauty!  Karla hosted this and it was quite an overwhelming task putting them together!  We had to create six tags and send them to her...she swapped them around and made covers for all the tag books...then sent them back out.

 

This is the cover Karla made.  It's a sweet little pup and kitten....but the front of the tag has been carved out to create a little niche...so beautiful! And the ribbons she added with the little heart...

  Andrea-Vintage Bella Studio

 Tiffany from Shabby Scraps 

  Sarah from My So Called Junky Life

 Carrie (no blog) 

  Sissy (no blog)

  Caitlin from Chaotic Creation

 

It's so fun to be a part of these swaps.  I was reluctant the first time I signed up for one last year...but It's wonderful to see everyones version of the same theme!

Stop back by tomorrow...for the presentation of the huge Vintage Valentine Fat Book I received in the mail today.....after seeing all this creativity over the next few days I hope you'll jump in at the next chance and give it a try!  It's a true labor of love!

Treasured Journals

Years ago when I was a (very)! young mother of two, I was constantly wrestling with time.  Do I give him enough of my undivided attention?  Does she soak up all my energy because she is so "spirited"?  The guilt I felt about having equal time with each kid overwhelmed me all the time.  I was so hard on myself (and probably them too) way back then.  One thing I did do was create journals with both of them.  Plain simple composition note books.  I would write in it..leave it on their pillow(s) and it would magically re-appear on my pillow a few days later.  Sometimes it was hard to understand exactly what was being written.  Sometimes it was them getting their frustrations out at being treated unfairly.  Sometimes it was "Dear Mom, I want to be Jasmine for Halloween.  I expekt my wig to be on my bed when I get home from school" (just for that it wasn't).  When they were 8 and 9 I discovered there was going to be a new little bird added to the nest!  Some of those entries are priceless.  "Dear baby,  You made our mommy FAT", love your big boss sister."  Dear Baby, we just found out about you.  YES!  I prayed every night for this!" (she never once told me this is what she was praying for...or I would have been a little more prepared and less surprised!)  Or how about "Dear Mom, We want to traval.....can we have a suitcase and ride a train alone?"- This was likely the entry after the new baby fun had worn off!

I now have them all stuffed in a suitcase and I do take them out from time to time to read them.  So many moments in time would be lost long ago if not for these little journals.  Some of the composition books are starting to come apart.  I've thought about making the covers pretty and leaving them out on display. They'd be looked at and treasured more often then.  Now those two little birds are 23 and 24 and get quite a kick out of reading their entries.   And that sweet little baby that was the CENTER OF THEIR UNIVERSE, that they fought over who's turn it was to hold her on a pillow,  is now a typical 15 year old know- it- all that drives them both crazy at times!

About a year ago I made one for my sweet little "friend daughter" it has lots of pockets and secret tuck away pages....

 

 

I did a machine stitch on every other page.  This was more of an exercise for me in being creative...but I really want Lili to have the same experience with journal writing that my own kids had.  I know her mom will treasure it when she's older.

 

I tucked this away until a time that she'd be able to actually write in it.  She just started first grade so I think it's almost time to give it to her.  If you have young children around I encourage you to start a "two way journal"  it really opens up the dialog that sometimes isn't spoken and you'll treasure these as much as your family pictures.  15 years later I'm still loving them, every little last misspelled word!

I mentioned last week that I wanted to start my own journal.  I went to the workroom so many times to start it and always got sidetracked with something else.  It was almost like I was AVOIDING it!  I thought...just jump in and do it....I finally got the paints out and just started going to town.  I let the pages dry for  a few days and then I got a wonderful package in the mail from Karla....she was so sweet and sent me all this goodness to be used in my journal.  I can't wait to dig in and play!

 

I've also been working on some glitter houses.  Whenever I find birdhouses at thrift stores I buy them and re-decorate.  I covered the hole up so it wouldn't be a birdhouse anymore.  This one had been a child's art project.

 

Have a terrific weekend everyone!