Book Thursday and more!

Grab a seat - there's lots today!




First up is the book called Wonderful Wraps by Marie Browning. It is about making your own boxes and containers for gift wrapping. She even gives you all the templates for them! Really neat ideas - out of paper, metal, terra cotta pots, fabric and more! I got this from the library and usually I go through a lot of these books and get a couple ideas - but I had to renew this one so I can get all these patterns done!

Here are some pics of some containers you can make.









Next, is an item I have on ebay right now which is a needle holder. It could have been worn around the neck or kept in the sewing basket. A neat item!




Then I have a couple pics of some things I got yesterday. These 2 things are memo pads! I didnt realize they matched till I got to the cash, since I got them in different areas. 75 notes on each!





And then another trip to Michaels in a different town! Clearance section again and these "angel wings" were there. I guess you use them in paper making, but I think it would be neat to use them in pics as wings. I will show what I come up with.





As I've said before, I am in swap-bot and having a blast! I got my chocolate swap the other day.



In the Deloache box was 6 chocolates. I opened it up and look at these!



They are stamped on - well - were, they are gone now! They didn't last long around here!

Just a quick note...

I'm on the run again. I guess Book Tuesday will be Book Thursday! I am going down to Moms to work on the building of the store and then staying there tonight and tomorrow going to an auction at 530pm! Whew! Taking a load and probably bringing a load - hopefully! Ha! This sale is all on advertising items, so it might be too pricey but its the same place as last time where whole table tops were going for 5 bucks!

This flower is actually mine! A bulb I planted last year and they came up! Nice purple tulips. Its so cool to have plants of my own and hey its only been 40 years! I love flowers, they just dont like me!

Have a good couple days and I will post a nice long post on Thursday!

Cottage Charm Giveaway Winner!

WOW! 65 comments.That was so cool hearing from all of you - thanks for entering and hope you come back and visit sometime! As you will recall, the prize was this vintage paper pack complete with some "extras" for the winner.






I put all the names in a hat and drew out Karla! From Karla's Cottage. Thanks again to all who entered and if you would like to purchase one of these packs :) , please just go to my ETSY store. Thanks!!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Shopping!

So I didnt have to worry about the weather - a complete turnaround in a week! 31C degrees and hot!! Got a tan, had the top down, and a nice 2.5 hour drive to see Sarah at her track meet. She was soooo close to moving on - one spot! Sometimes thats worse. She is already gearing up for next year - she thinks she wants to run again. She did for a while and then stopped.

Her event wasnt till 2 so I went shopping!! Good thing this town had every store I would want! I went by the Michaels and thought I would stop there and see. I had heard about the Martha Stewart line, but didnt expect it to be here in Canada and it was! The stuff is so cool. Colors and things I have never seen. I had gone on the website to see, but in person they are better and there is more in the store. I couldnt resist to buy a couple things!







Then I hit on the clearance section. WOOOHOO! Things for 50c and 1.00???? No way! So I had to go get a cart LOL! and fill it up. Everything in this pic was 2.00 or under! Score!



These I like the best, these pearl letters in different letters and this ribbon with different sayings on it.






A couple hours later (!!!) I went to find the school and also stopped at the thrift store and spent a whole 10 bucks on papers, boxes, lace, ribbon, gift wrap and stationary!

So now I have all these things, now to do something with them! Right? I plan to spend this weekend working on some projects. I will share here as soon as I get done! I'm still in the middle of swaps too and lovin it! I am also hosting one called the magazine scavenger hunt - you have to go through different mags and find the items and send them to your partner. I have till June 4th to sign up. Check it out!

There is also 1 day left on the cottage giveaway. I am giving away the vintage homemakers party pack and please go to that post and sign up -I will be drawing the name sometime tomorrow so there is still time!

Spring at last!

I went downt to my Mom's this past weekend and here are some shots from around her place. Some lily of the valleys, apple blossems and other ground cover she has. I took a walk around and took pics to my hearts content. I love digital!!







Have a good day, it is nice and sunny here today and tomorrow is Sarah's next track meet. Hopefully it will stay nice!

Book Tuesday

This past weekend was a holiday here in Canada so my days are mixed up! This weekend I hit a few yard sales and of course! got some books. Some neat old french encyclopedias from 1936 with great pics and only $1.00 each! So the book today is called Flea Market Style by Jerri Farris and Tim Himsel. How appropiate since I got it at a yard sale for a quarter!





There are some really neat pics and projects in here. The first one is an old window frame and put a piece of wood in and paint it with blackboard paint and an old doorknob and use it as a wall greeter!



The next is an old panel wood door and take out the top panels and replace with a mirror. Then add a shelf and use in your front entrance.



Then an old mirror frame and replace with wood and cover with batting and fabric and ribbon and put back in and you have a neat memo board.



This is a lamp made of teacups with a bar up the middle to hold them.



These are just some of the ideas and there are many more. A great find and what a deal!

Ebay items

Some more pics of ebay things. I have been trying to put pics on for a few hours and now it seems to be working.







First, 2 vintage photographs - one of a dog which you dont see too often, and then check out the face on this guy!



An old sewing kit box



And some vintage fabric.


Have a good weekend, I'm off to bed! Oh! By the way, I am hosting a swap over at swap-bot.com called the magazine scavenger hunt. You have to search through mags and catalogs for items and send them to your partner. There are TONS of swaps over there - something for everyone. Its really neat.

Also, be sure to sign up for my giveaway on my giveaway post until May 25th!

This and that

Some random things today... some pics from the yard sale, it went ok and I forgot how much work it is! Especially to put everything away. I took a carload to donate to a local society for their yard sale this weekend and I am taking another load down to my moms this week to have one down there too! I know.... sucker for punishment, I want to get rid of some stuff tho!





Yesterday I spent most of the day in freezing cold and rain! It was a track event for Sarah and I went to see her in Javelin. She came in 3rd! Which means she gets to compete next week in the regionals. Yay Sarah!



It was so cold and wet for them all and we were sitting in little tents most of the afternoon. But then we got to go the Chinese Buffet where we pigged out!! Shrimp, roast beef and of course all kinds of chinese. Then mango and cookies and cream ice cream for dessert.

Then a pic of a vintage postcard I am putting on ebay. Isnt it pretty? I guess I wont be too sad if it doesnt sell!





Have a good day!

Book Tuesday

Today's book is called the Success Principles by Jack Canfield. Most of you would be familiar with his Chicken Soup for the soul series of books that are everywhere! This book is about the things he used in his own life to be a success with those and other things.
I found this very interesting and I made a "short" list of the points I want to rememeber, and that I feel are the base of the book.

1. Take 100% responsibility for what happens to you and your life. It is no one elses "fault". You cant blame your parents, society, your job or your relationship for how you feel. We live in a free choice world, and if something is not working - change it! YOU are the only one who can. " You either create or allow everything that happens to you". This is number 1 principle and all the others are based on this - EVERYTHING starts with you.

2.Be clear why you're here. Are you here to make people feel better, bring joy to peoples lives, heal the sick, help the unfortunate, raise good kids, - What?

3.Decide what you want. He has a good exercise that you list 30 things you want - to do, to be, to have. 30 of each. What do you want to do? What do you want to be? What do you want to have? Just start listing and near the end, the real things will show up.

4. Believe its possible. To get all you want. We get what we EXPECT. Expect more.

Other points were to set goals in writing and be specific - not just lose weight, but I will lose 5 pounds by June 15th and to do that I will..... and take the steps one at a time.

Visualize- thoughts become real and act as if.

ACTION- its all fine and dandy to write things down and think things, but you have to move! Do 5 things every day toward your goals and exceed your own expectations.


Some points to ponder and an interesting read.

Busy, busy!

Yesterday and today and in fact all week, I have been sorting things out and getting ready for a yard sale. It's tomorrow! I did the flyers and ads last week, and today I priced and laid out tables. I cant do it all cause it looks like rain today. So it is all ready to go and I guess I get up early! It's supposed to be nice tomorrow.

The thing I forgot about was....BLACKFLIES!

Now anyone in the woods should know about these little pests. They are crazy up here swarming around your head and biting everywhere all day long! UHHH! Today was a little colder, and had a breeze so I managed to get some stuff done - but I keep running back into the house - like right now. My Mom has none, and she only lives 2 hours south of me. Hopefully they will only last for a couple weeks and then they die down and mosquitos come! We said we wanted summer right?





This is an old pic of my porch before I sorted - Do ya think I NEED a yard sale? Nah.....
It will be nice to get my porch back and my hammock! I will take some pics tomorrow and let you know how it went.

Mother's Day Giveaway!

Another Giveaway! ( I am part of the Cottage Charm giveaway - posts below) and I found another one today. 5 minutes for Mom is giving away up to ten things for Mothers Day including a ipod nano!! Other great prizes as well. Just click on the side banner to be connected.


PS. This is actually a flower at my house!! One of the bulbs I planted last fall. I actually have some flowers here! (As you can guess, I'm not really much of a gardener, I like flowers - they just don't like me.)

Artwords - Eyes

This week was Eyes and the first thing I thought of was this photo I took of my daughter's eye. This wasn't enhanced or changed in any way - that's the color of her eyes!!

Book Tuesday

This weeks book is Decorative Boxes by Juliet Bawden. The first half of the book is history on all kinds of boxes...
metal, glass, wood, painted and so on.





The second half of the book is about how to make some of these boxes yourself. This box of "chocolates" is all fabric.



Some neat ideas and projects.
Sorry for not the best pictures - these pages were very glossy.

Please make sure to check out my giveaway below!!

Announcement!

I opened up my ETSY shop! It's called fromthepines (of course!). I had been thinking on it for a while, and I just decided to DO IT! I only have one item for sale right now, but I have some more ideas floating around my head.




This item is called "The Vintage Homemakers Paper Pack".
It has many papers, mostly vintage that have to do with the homemaker.

Such as: Recipe
Craft
Fashion
Reading
Music
Games and more!
There is also a piece of old lace and ribbon and a piece of fabric or doily.





Also included are some new items, such as pretty wallpaper and napkin, inspiration page, new craft sheet and a copy of a great old photo!

Each bag comes with a custom tag with a vintage button and can be personalized with calligraphy for free.




I also will try to cater to colors and themes anyone wants. For a full listing of the items, please go to the shop. This is just a sample - there are over 25 different things! All of these papers could be used in collage and your own art as well - it doesn't have to stay in this form.

But what a great idea for the women in your life! Truly one of a kind.

Renovations - the shed continued

So the next thing we had to do was fix the "bunkie". The main part was ok but there is a storage surrounding the outside of it that I plan to use for my studio, and its roof needed replacing, even some of the rafters! This is a pic from the back before. We had to move these trees and we changed the flat roof that was the problem to new slanted rafters.



This is from the front and you can see the sky when the old roof came off. This opening used to be a window and it turned into a door - works great!



Some of the old roof - just a little moss!



New rafters being put in.



The view from the back with the rafters in.




Then it was all plywooded and shingled. I can't seem to find the pic of the finished shingled one but it was all done in green shingles.

And all this was done in a weekend! Does he work fast or what?