Thrifty Miss Priss

Shake Rattle and Roll

My mom bought this old daybook/ledger about 10 years ago.  I was with her in an antique store and she just had to have it.  It's from an old country store, where customers "tabs" were kept recorded.  There is no fancy writing, just notations of what the person bought and what their tab was. 

I didn't even question why she "had" to have it!  Many years later it's now in my possession.  I decided to make it into an art journal.  There's plenty of room for writing and over 200 pages.  I will complete the cover at some point but here's a peek inside.

I recently bought this book

Creative Wildfire by L K Ludwig

It's full of yummy inspiration and techniques

(the picture on the left is my mom...I used a gel transfer technique to add the image)

 

 and yes, today I'm feeling LUCKY!  I awoke this morning to an EARTHQUAKE!  In the DC METRO AREA!  At 5:00 a.m. we experienced an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.6, categorized as MINOR...but wow!  I'm Lucky I don't live in an area that has the big ones!  I'd be a nervous wreck I'm sure!

Have a wonderful weekend!

I'm lazy and don't update my blog enough

 

I won a fabulous giveaway at Natalea's blog Kandeland!  It's a whole box full of fun things she selected from her art studio for me!  There's beautiful ribbons, laces, millinery flowers....oh so beautiful!  I just kept pulling things out one by one....it felt like Christmas.  What a fun thing to do...and a fun thing to receive!  It was truly inspiring on so many levels.......one being I had no place to put the beautiful things she sent me...because my art room was a MESS.  I didn't want to just plop the box on my desk...only to be never seen or used again.......so I blog hopped and looked at everyones fabulous studios.....and the very unique storage solutions many bloggers have come up with.  I was particularly inspired by Karla's studio, as she's taken so many pieces of furniture and incorporated it all for storage into her studio.  It's very calm and cohesive.  

I went to sleep that night dreaming of a prettier more organized art room.  I woke up and hit the road looking for a few yard sale signs...hoping to find some type of storage to cram into my already tiny art room.

I followed a sign down a long and winding road and ended up at this house

I kid you not!  I about fainted when i walked up the 200 yard private wooded gated driveway.  This home is less than 3 miles from where I live but it looks as if it's right out of a magazine.  

Most of the furniture was sold and there were just a lot of odds and ends left.  The inside was just stunning.  I got the impression the owners were "walking" away from the house.  It's for sale for 3 million dollars.  No joke.  Can you guess how many square feet this baby is?  13 THOUSAND.  I got to go all through the house....and my mouth was hanging open the entire time. It's absolutely stunning.  But with a $13,000 mortgage payment each month...uh...no thank you very much!

I was determined I was going to take SOMETHING away from this beautiful home.  I really wanted to ask if I could go out to the pool and cut the stunning hydrangea bushes that surrounded it (not shown in this pic. from the real estate website)  the blooms were the size of dinner plates! I thought they'd think I was a little weird for asking them, but I came "this" close to asking.

So all I could find were some old kitchen cabinets out in the garage.  They were oak...and old...and spider webby.....

This isn't the actual cabinet...I found it on the web but they looked just like this.  I purchased two of them and wrestled them into my car.  On the hottest day of the year.  I came home and spent the rest of the day outside on the hottest day of the year priming and painting them.  Then I dragged them inside and started organizing my un -air conditioned art room (I don't want a window unit hanging out of the window on the front side of the house so I suffer) 

This is what I ended up with

 

  I placed them on top of a dresser that I use for fabric storage.  and on top of the cabinets I put the book case thing.  It goes straight up to touch the ceiling!  I have to use every square inch of space in this room and I think I'm getting there.

 
ah.....one whole cabinet that will be dedicated just to journal supplies....

  

 
 a sweet little collage plate that Natalea made for me!

 storage inside the cabinets...tins from my moms house

more storage...sewing machine drawers from Goodwill

 More goodies from Natalea

a glimpse of my messy work desk

So all those beautiful goodies I received from Natalea really inspired me to get more organized in my art room.  Don't let the pictures fool you though.  As you've notice there are no "wide angle" views.  Thats because it's still at "hoarder status" as I slowly get organized.

Now for some more beauty.....

a beautiful Catholic House Blessing...that I picked up with the intention to re sell...and don't know if I can do it.  It's just so gorgeous I want to keep it.  There's an inscription on the back...it was for someones first home...from their parents in 1952 so it's quite old and WAY before my time...!!!

pages in progress.....

And this is what I gave my husband for fathers day.  It's an old piece of wood that I found and made into a sign.  The address on the sign is where we met in Georgetown (a very trendy hip area of Washington DC) way back in 1982.  It was a club called the Bayou and it was "THE" place to be in the 80's.  It's since been torn down and I thought it would be fun to have a little daily reminder of where we started way back when.

It's quite rustic, but it's the exact look I was going for.  I sure hope he "gets it" and doesn't wonder why I gave him a crusty termite infested piece of board for Fathers day.

Have a wonderful weekend!      

My mirror is probably famous....

 

  

 

 

I've been glued to the computer watching these videos..... it's all about the process and not so much about the "pretty". I've been spending way too much time on this stuff...but having lots of fun!

I went to see my mom on Saturday and it dawned on me that she probably doesn't really know who I am. She has a faint look of recognition but I'm not sure she knows me or my sisters anymore. I think she knows we are "familiar", she listens to the conversation and laughs at appropriate times but I'm not sure she knows us. I take her a hamburger and milkshake every time I visit, she loves those milkshakes! It's fun to watch her expression when she takes her first sip. My daughter frowned when she read the page above about my mom...she said "you need to stop writing all the sad stuff about Grandma" and focus on all the happy memories you have of her...... maybe she has a point....but after all, it is for ME and not to please anyone else...

In other news...remember this?

found at a yardsale a few weeks ago and now hanging in my bathroom?

Well my husband and I were watching American Pickers and he noticed that Frank was walking around holding the  same mirror at a junk place!  They never mentioned how much he paid for it but I'm betting I got the better deal!  

I've been busy making lots of pillows and more are on the way! I've been lucky enough to sell some in my Etsy shop...that makes me so very happy!

Have a wonderful week!

Collage Love

So I mentioned earlier in the week how I'd officially graduated to "hoarder status" based on my recent yard sale finds.

It was the end of the morning....sales were closing up around 11:00 and I found a pile of this

 22 Cynthia Hart Victoriana Calendars

 The images in these are so wonderful!  Perfect for Art Journals and collage.  Each Calendar is unused and still in it's protective cardstock folder.  They all also have "bonus gifts" inside......little die cut post cards and pocket calendars.

I've already cut one up to use in my Art Journal.

 (the back cover on left and front cover on right of my first art journal)

I love this image...all those cute little kids doing their own thing at the lunch table

 

 

  so if you are into collage or art journaling...or you just want some images to get started....these will be coming soon to an Etsy shop near you. 

 

  Speaking of Etsy...thank you all for your help on trying to get my link up here!  I went to the "etsy mini" section and copied the code...and inserted it into my typelist...and it's STILL not working!

 

So....how many can I keep and not be considered a hoarder?

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!      

 

Rainy days....

 On a rainy Saturday...with no obligations......I've done nothing but this ALL DAY

  

wow...that itch has been scratched.....

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!

Wallpaper, Thanksgiving and Christmas!

I was able to get a few wallpaper packs listed tonight!  If you want some beautiful paper and some BONUS vintage sheet music from the early 1900's check it out here!

  This is one of my favorites!  It reminds me so much of Pam Garrisons Journaling style!  I got to see her journals and hold them and feel them at Silver Bella!  That was on my top FIVE of all time "Moments" at Silver Bella! 

And this last one...so hard to capture the true mint green color on digital-

 After work I shopped for Thanksgiving....made Chili, dragged up several boxes of Christmas decorations and took several boxes of knick knacks back down to the basement.  I fee like I'm in Holiday mode now and don't want to go to work tomorrow!  I've been listening to Christmas music all the way to work everyday and it puts me in the BEST mood.  At work I have pandora playing on my computer and it puts everyone I work with in the BEST mood!  I've never decorated at Thanksgiving time for Christmas.  But the way I see it, if you wait until December to decorate, it's just not enough time to enjoy the sparkliness of it all!

The tree is the only thing I did not get up yet.  The family will have to help with that.  Then I'll be taking it all down on New Years Day by myself, as my husband and daughter watch and call me Mrs. Grinch.  Maybe this year I'll let them decide when it comes down.  We may still be looking at it all by Easter!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving...I hope you get to spend it in a warm house, with family and friends and an abundance of food to eat.  Anything over and above all that is gravy!

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!