Happy Anniversary!

Happy 25th Anniversary to my sweetie - my best friend, my traveling companion, father to our four-leggers - my love.  Hard to believe it's been 25 years. How time flies. Hope we get another 25 as special as the past years have been. 

In addition to two compilation CDs, I made this anniversary card for him.  I'm addicted to flowers so it's almost impossible for me to not use them, but I wanted it to look masculine so the flowers are mostly blue, brown and silver.  Like he'll notice.  I also used the lined envelope I made during make-and-take at Paper Crown last week.  I had planned to mail it to a friend, but I love it so much I'm happy to keep it in the family.  Ha!

So much junque, so little space

Due to budget cuts, the DH was on furlough yesterday (a day off but no pay) so what better activity than going junqueing!  Less pay, no space in the house - whatever.  After weeks of temps in the high 90s and low 100s, the weather was beautiful and we had to hit the road.

We stopped at several garage sales.  At the first, he purchased an iron table base which he plans to use as the base for a welding table.  It's actually very cool and just happened to come with four iron chairs.  All apparently handmade.  For $10.  We'll see where they end up.  Photos to come in a later post. 

At the third garage sale I found this giant candelabra that may stay on my buffet for a while, but will probably get moved elsewhere at some point.  I also found a 1950 school text atlas in excellent condition, a diploma in a lovely satin-padded folder that will make a great journal cover, another certificate in a smaller folder, some linens, a small wooden drawer, and a children's book from 1951 that includes selections from Alice in Wonderland accompanied by awesome color illustrations.  Other finds for the day included a Dick and Jane reader in very good condition, another book with beautiful illustrations, lots of old buttons, a folding wood measuring stick, two vintage plastic frames, and old photos.  All in all, it was a fabulous day.

Nature vs. Nurture

Nature wins, at least at our house.

This year we purchased and planted six tomato plants.  They all died.  But...this hardy fellow came up on its own in the middle of our yard, growing from underneath the pile of fence panels we have yet to put up.  It's about four feet by five feet and has been loaded with cherry tomatoes all summer.  I can't explain.

I have purple coneflower planted in my front flower bed and they do fairly well in spite of not quite enough sun.  However, this little jewel came up through a crack between our porch and the house.  Amazing.

Okie Bellas' Day Out

Anyone who has talked with me in the past six months is probably aware that I'm going to an arts event this fall called Silver Bella.  I've wanted to go for the past two years but didn't want to go alone, and this year it worked out that my friends Kerry and Chris are able to go, as well as Kerry's neighbor Teresa and her best friend Sheryl.  We five Silver Bella newbies decided to get together beforehand so everyone would be acquainted before going to Omaha.  We met in OKC on July 24 and by the end of the day it was like we had all known each other forever!  We visited Antique Co-op and shops in the Plaza District before having lunch at Pachinko Parlor.  After lunch we drove through Classen Curve on our way to Paper Crown and Cloverleaf.  And of course we made the obligatory stop at Sonic before the day ended.  It was so much fun to spend the day with my two old friends and former co-workers, and to make two great new friends.  Can't wait to do it again!  Here we are at lunch, after a bottle of wine and a little sake - Chris, Teresa, Sheryl, Kerry and me:

I Wanna Be A...What??

I bought a packet of scrapbooking supplies at Ross over the 4th of July and it contained some leather-look letters and glittery yellow paper.  Somehow those two items inspired this little creation.  I also included a heart cut from a small piece of red leather that I've had for years, a flower fashioned from a tiny scrap of lace, and a piece from an old measuring tape.  I most definitely do not want to be a cowgirl so I'm not sure where this came from, but I do like it.

Flower Power

I've been on a flower-making kick the last few days.  Here are a few of my creations, along with a beautiful bright pink rose made by my talented friend Kerry.  I had one little scrap of the lovliest light blue velvet ribbon and it made a perfect flower.  I hope to have more of these made by the end of the week.  It's a great way to use up little scraps of lace, paper and ribbon, and a nice highlight for vintage buttons.  I'll be using some of these for my Silver Bella swaps.

By The Sea

On July 22 I had my second class at Paper Crown.  These classes have been so enjoyable!  We made a mermaid shadow box, which adds a fun element to the beach decor I'm trying to incorporate into our home.  If you visit you'll see these lovely ladies perched on the shelf in the main bath. 

Just a note - please excuse the photography in my recent posts. Our harddrive crashed a few weeks ago and we lost our photo editing capabilities.  I hope to have them restored soon.