Little beach lamp

Vintage blue 1/2 gallon canning jar and  jar lamp adapter (garage sale purchases) sand and shells from the craft store and a lamp shade.  I’ve seen these made with ALL kinds of fun stuff in the jars!  Things like vintage jacks and balls, marbles, rag balls and old clothespins, cookie cutters and small old kitchen utensils.  You could create on to go with just about any decorating theme.

FINALLY!!! A project to share!

Just a little one, but a project none the less.   Have had these old electric carriage lantern housings sitting around for quite some time.

I scrubbed them up, scraped off the peeling paint, gave then a dose of fresh white spray paint, and added shells and a candle.

This is the biggest one.  Trying to decide if I want to ’sponge paint’ on a little bit of sandy brown color to the metal housing of the smaller ones before adding the candle and shells.

OUR WEBSITE:  www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

 

Still in ‘recovery’ mode . . .

(some inspiration pictures at the end of the post)

. . . from my bout with pneumonia.  sigh.  Was doing better the end of last week, then got sicker again over the weekend as I tapered off the steroids.  Back to the doc on Monday to get more steroids and the higher dosage of asthma medicine.  I was coughing so hard yesterday that I seriously think I may have CRACKED A RIB, or maybe badly bruised it!  Even just taking a deep breath makes it hurt.

This particular area of my left rib cage has been a bit ‘touchy’ since my back surgery seven years ago, because they removed two of the ribs and cut one off part way so they wouldn’t jab into my heart and lungs when they straightened my spine.  Since then, if you push lightly in ‘just the right spot’ I about hit the roof with pain.  Funny how they never tell you about that potential of that kind of residual pain when they are ’selling you’ the surgical procedure, eh? 

Oh well, I go back to the doc on Monday for a follow up, so I guess I’ll find out what’s up with the ribs then.  Not that there is anything they can do about it but let it heal on it own. 

Here is the link to the ‘Cottage of the Month’ web site.  Lots of beautiful homes to visit and inspire you.  Sorry I can’t post any of the pics from there as they are all copyrighted.

http://www.theoldpaintedcottage.com/cottagemonth.html

Published in: on May 9, 2008 at 6:56 am Comments (1)
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A freebie from Huckleberry Arts

 

What a beautiful tag!  And the designer is offering it FREE on her blog. (saving it from her blog will give you a bigger size image)  She makes LOTS of other images which she sells via her blog.  Great stuff for altered art projects and scrapbooking.  Here’s the link to her blog. 

http://huckleberryarts.blogspot.com/

I’m thinking this would make a neat Mother’s Day gift for a friend who is a mom!

New issue of Creative Times Magazine

Check out the second anniversary issue of CREATIVE TIMES MAGAZINE.

http://www.creativetimesmagazine.com/current_issue.php

Publisher, Kelle, INSISTS that we all eat a piece of cake in honor of their second anniversary serving the creative community.  And we don’t want to be rude, do we?!?!?  So, have some cake AND fuel your creative juices. 

Their web site also has a listing of archives of past issues for you to refer to:

http://www.creativetimesmagazine.com/archive.php

OUR WEBSITE:  www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

 

 

Published in: on May 2, 2008 at 6:38 am Comments (0)
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Please bear with me . . . .

 . . . and the lack of new posts in the blog while I continue to recover from my bout with pneumonia.  I’ve had SO MANY people caution me to not ‘over do it’ when I start feeling better because it’s very common to relapse.  I do NOT want to get sicker again, so I am forcing myself to ease back into my full work schedule.  Right now I still start coughing a lot if I get a little winded, so that reminds me it’s time to rest.

I just HATE not having new things to share in our blog!   I’ve developed a great readership and I don’t want to lose readers for lack of new content; or have you think I’m just slacking off and ignoring you. 

So, on the days when I don’t have anything new to post, I hope you’ll peek through some of my favorite blogs and review some of the old posts category by category.  There’s a LOT of stuff in those archives!  I even have to use the search feature to find old posts because I even forget what all has been posted!

Happy May Day!

aj

Published in: on May 1, 2008 at 6:35 am Comments (4)

Barn House

Another great blog, from just up in Washington state even!  They’ve got a list of upcoming shows beginning in May.  Here’s the link, and it’s added to my list of favorites along the right hand side:

http://www.barnhousebh.blogspot.com/

Published in: on April 29, 2008 at 7:36 am Comments (0)
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Another great ‘RE’ site for you to explore

Here’s another fun site for you to explore while I remain on the mend from my bout with pneumonia:

“retreat”

http://retreatdesign.blogspot.com/

Their link is also added to my blogroll list so you can find it easily any other time.

Happy Monday!

 

Published in: on April 28, 2008 at 6:28 am Comments (1)
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Pneumonia update

Coughing a bit less and sleeping a bit more at night finally.  It still doesn’t take much exertion at ll to make me out of breath, but I’m feeling quite a bit better. 

Last night was pick up from the last spring show.  I took it easy most of the day to rest up.  Even though it was BEAUTIFUL outside and I REALLY wanted to go out and PLAY!  Instead I took a nap.  sigh.  (but was glad I had later).  Michael had recruited my son Elliot and his girlfriend, Elya to come and help up pack up.  We have only two hours to pack up (what took us two DAYS to unpack and set up!) and be out of there.  And we are usually the last ones out because we bring the most stuff!

With the kids helping it was a breeze!  Bless their hearts.  Even after being up on the mountain snowboarding all day, they were happy tp help.  I gave Elliot a set of gray dishes and Elya a pretty little black wire ‘Parisian’ style corner shelf as thank you gifts.  And we took them out for a quick bite to eat afterwards. 

Went to see my primary care doctor on Friday in follow up to the two ER visits.  And I learned something about pneumonia.  I thought ALL pneumonia was caused by pneumococus.  Not so.  It can also be caused by a staph or strep infection; which is most likely what mine is.  The kinds caused by pneumo are the REALLY bad ‘killer kinds’ where you are fine one minute then in the hospital on a ventilator being pumped full of antibiotics and steroids trying to keep you alive. 

I also learned what SATS are in the ER.  Like on a medical show when they say “Sats are 98″.  I know what that means now!  That little clippy thing they put on your finger measures the amount of oxygen in your blood.  Oxygen saturation level.  When I was in the ER and they were giving me oxygen, my sats would still not go above 95 because of how much ‘crud’ was in my lungs preventing the smaller vessels from receiving oxygen.  So, now you know what SATS are too. 

Supposed to be another nice day today.  Michael and I will unload a few things from the trailer into the storage shed so I can get to the other stuff in the trialer as I need it to re-stock the store.  I should probably try and bake Michael that batch of cookies I’ve been promising him for the last month too! 

I hope you are all well and enjoying some nice spring weather!

Published in: on April 27, 2008 at 5:45 am Comments (2)
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Primitive inspiration

While I’m recovering from this darned pneuminia and not getting any work done this week to share, here are some pictures of a wonderful primitive cabin for you to enjoy.

http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/563174625mdlTRM?mediaPosition=1

 

Published in: on April 25, 2008 at 6:11 am Comments (2)
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