crochet:: the BIG PUSH 4.0

In my little matchy-matchy crazy cat lady/hooker corner I shall need illumination.

I found this lamp headed for the dumpster.  I dove.  I saved it. I showed it some love.

lamp before

The shade was screen printed with a dorky surfer dude.  White spray paint covered him immediately.

I also rescued some yarn.  Who throws out VINTAGE MOHAIR Y’ALL??? Barbarians I tell ya.

mohair rescue

Although I have no friggin clue what to do with it, IT MUST LIVE! *suggestions are welcome*

And then I spent a little time on the deck.

lamp 2

Of course wine was involved.  I’m just playing with yarn.  Sheesh, it’s not like I’m operating heavy equipment, right?

lamp 1

And BAM! UFO #4 done 🙂

Have a ridiculously amazing day!

life:: the BIG PUSH 3.0

Last fall we had a hellacious storm blow through the prairie here and it knocked my barn star off my house.

What the hell is a barn star doing on a house you ask?   I don’t have a barn…I improvised.

I guess it was trying to tell me to repaint it so it didn’t look so shabby either.

barn star

BAM! UFO #3 done.

My boy Elroy just hung it back up above the door for me too. Woot 🙂

life:: the BIG PUSH 2.0

I kinda let several paint projects pile up recently, until I was whoosh, inspired.

Then I was like, PAINT ALL THE THINGS!!

You may remember my little cushion & footstool endeavors so that I will be an incredibly cool crazy old cat lady/hooker.

Well if I’m going to get all matchy-matchy here, I need a little notion box to be my catchall for ends, hooks, scissors, etc., right?

notion box

BAM! UFO #2 done 🙂

life:: when life gets in the way

I’m not a liar, I really planned on sharing more paint projects last weekend.  Life got in the way.  Important stuff.

But I’m back now and have lots of artsy stuffage to send you through the wifi.

Many, many moons ago I had cancer as we all know.  It made me decide to finish stuff and not let it languish in corners and closets.  Then I got lazy for awhile. Don’t we all?  The plethora of UFOs in my house got out of hand during that time, so I have been doing the BIG PUSH to get them cleared up and created before summer hits.

Summer means gardening, and my friend Martha wanted these garden markers like reaaaaallly badddddd.

garden markers

BAM! UFO #1 done 🙂

~champagne corks, wine corks, acrylic paint, bamboo skewers, clear spray paint~

Happy Saturday!

crochet:: yo yarnchick, where you been?

Painting.  Not crochet.

Yeppers, you heard right.  I’ve been doing a little painting.

paint 1

Had a little paint party with my besties, Barbie from Ta-Da! Workshop & Miss Cortini.

paint

OOOOOOOooooo, my last name starts with a G.  Betcha only about 3 of you knew that one 🙂

So friends, have a ridiculously amazing day and I will show you more of my painting projects this weekend.

Happy Friday!

~LV

life:: art & wine, bitches

Lately, the neighbor girls and I have been inspired to paint.

We started an Art & Wine Night.

It’s friggin fun!

art & wine 1

art & wine 7

Bottles of wine are consumed and we let the art take us where it will.

art & wine 6

We use plain old acrylics and inexpensive canvases.

art & wine 5

art & wine 4

art & wine 2

art & wine 3

art & wine 8

And then we create masterpieces.

At least we think so.

We also have a blast.

Next time…we will be painting large wooden letters to hang on our front doors.  It will rock.

life:: how to be an organized hoarder in 743 easy steps

Well maybe only 3 steps to get started.

I admit it already.  I think I am hiding it, but we all know I’m not covering it up well.  I am a pack rat, a hoarder, a sentimental junk collector.

There I said it out loud.  Isn’t that supposed to be the first step?

Yeah, about recovering from this…not gonna happen.  Instead, I spin it my own way into being organized.  Can anyone define OCD for me?

I love to collect snippets of life along this journey to remind me of thoughts or feelings or events.  Not that I re-visit them all that much, but I still save stuff.  Perhaps you have seen my card album post?

1.) Enter the SMASH BOOK

poem

smash book 1

smash book 2

smash book 3

smash book 4

smash book 5

It’s messy and colorful and my life mushed into a non-scrapbook scrapbook.  I get to continue hoarding meaningless baubly silly stuff and I can do it without encroaching on every inch of living space that I share with 2 other human beings who seem to like clean and orderly living.   Win.

2.) Pinterest

I know I link to it often, it’s just that I am still in love with it.  It’s digital hoarding of stuffage that I want to read, research, try, explore.  Even though I’ve been on it since the beginning I still have an obsession with it.  For me it’s not the thrill of digital collecting just to be collecting, although that’s valid if you are so inclined cuz it takes up a lot less space than say collecting real taxidermied wild animals, which is also valid if you are so inclined.  Just not my cup of tea.  

The disclaimer on the fabulousness of Pinterest is this::  when your boards reach critical mass…stop.  Just stop collecting and start organizing.  I made the mistake of thinking I will have only 10 boards, that’s it!  Then my problem became scrolling till my hand cramped to find exactly what I KNEW I had pinned 2 1/2 yrs ago.  Now that I have broken out some of the critical mass boards into usable storage boards, I am getting more inspired all over again.

I am obsessed with the organization of information I can actually FIND again when I have the time to read, research, try or explore.  It also tames the out-of-control paper tiger that was wreaking havoc on my home.  No more printing information to stack up only to get lost in the abyss of my office.  Another win.

3.) Contain it

jar storage 2

I am a big believer in glass jars & baskets.  They can contain anything.

jar storage 1

And if you are still finding yourself at critical mass, try 40 bags in 40 days.

Holy cow it works!

crochet:: dream big

I’ve been calling this one Frankie’s Amazing Technicolor Dreamghan.

I’m using 14-round grannies and the join-as-you-go method with fingering weight wool.

dreamghan 1

And holy cow I’m nearly finished with 2 whole rows.  Out of 12.  This will be taking just shy of forever.

dreamghan 2

Today I did the choosing of the next 4 rows.  When I got done we pretty much looked at each other and said, “half way by Christmas?”.  And laughed.  Because yeah, this is definitely taking just shy of forever.

dreamghan 3

Ready…

Set…

GO!

dreamghan 4

Have a ridiculously amazing Sunday!

life:: crafty time capsule

treasure chest 1

I love to go junk shopping.  Thrift stores, garage sales, it doesn’t matter what it’s called if I see a sign…I will most likely stop just to wander around aimlessly.  It’s like your Mom letting you rummage through her jewelry box and try on every shiny bauble you fancy when you are 5 years old.

I feel like I hit the jackpot when I find crafty stuff and this was a great find recently.  At a church tag sale I picked this 60’s sewing kit up for a song.  It was on a table with other crafty type things and heavy and janglely and I wanted to be surprised so I didn’t open it until I got home.  Kind of like my very own Christmas-in-July-present-to-self.  Wanna take a peak inside with me?

treasure chest 2

Well yikes, that’s quite a tangley mess.

treasure chest 5

The vintage sewing patterns and books were pretty fun.  I think, no, I know I wore those shorts with the side ties in the 70’s…and a very similar dress in the early 80’s…lord help us all if this stuff makes a comeback.

treasure chest 6

After sorting through it all and tossing the junk…there were several salvageable bits and pieces.

treasure chest 3

Not that I need them, but I scored several hooks and knitting needles.  I think I will be making some more funky hooks soon.

In the very bottom in the back of the box I found this.

treasure chest 4

It brought back childhood memories of watching my Mom get ready for a big night out and breaking open the fancy little glass vials of expensive perfume.  She would get all dressed up and I would watch her in awe of the beautiful dresses and high heeled shoes and her good jewelry and I would always hope that one day I could feel like a princess getting ready for a date.  Remembering life through the eyes of a child makes actually being an adult really difficult sometimes.

crochet:: bits & pieces & staycation, oh my!

11 days of bliss.

ELEVEN WHOLE DAYS.

I have not had this many days off in a row for 15 years, and I’m incredibly happy about this staycation.

There will be making and cooking and maybe a new crochet business venture!

I am working away on Frank’s Amazing Technicolor Dreamghan and although progress is slow, we are both ThRiLleD with how it is turning out.

dreamghan 1

I’m using 14-round grannies and the join-as-you-go method.

dreamghan 2

I’m going to give a plug here for Knit Picks wool ~ lovely colors and amazingly easy to work with.  This labor of love afghan is going to be my Favorite Of All Time.

In other news, I am still enjoying the Smash Booking thing. I need to share some of it soon.  I’ve  been saying that for awhile and yet not delivering, you say?  Duly noted, I shall take pics this week while I’m off work.

One of the things I’m using in my Smash Booking is washi tape.  I have a washi tape crafty crush cos the stuff is just so cute!  So, I have made a little container to keep my growing washi tape stash.

washi tape box

I’ve gotten several orders for dishcloths and caterpillar cocoons lately, so much of my making seems to be on those items lately.  The good news is that I have a couple more new ideas percolating in the far reaches of the crafty portion of my brain and will be testing those patterns during my staycation.

Ta for now!

Have a ridiculously amazing day.