Today's my baby sister's birthday....

She came for a visit in 2008 and we took a road trip to the Grand Canyon.  When she lived here we went to the Canyon a number of times.  It's one of her favorite places to go.  We had a great time. 

Happy Birthday, Rhonda!

Nice day inside and out.

Even though it's a nice day outside, it's a nice day inside....windows opened, nice breeze and sweet windchimes putting a smile on my face today. I moved one of my work tables around in my craft studio...now I face the courtyard. Brings good mojo into the studio, don't know why I didn't think of this before? The window screens have been replaced and the view is so nice and clean. Been listening to classic rock music most of today...trying to get a playlist of music for Tom..he always complains about my music on road trips...so I'm making him his own playlist. The Who, Rush, Outlaws, The Stones, J. Giles Band, Edgar Winters, Bruce, Mott the Hoople, Zepplin, to name a few.

Came across this video of Mick and Bono...  Not really classic rock but sexy...


 
Tomorrow I'll be listening to R&B soul to work on a travel playlist for me & Melinda...

Stamping metal & more dirt

Remember the spoons I flattened?  Well their stainless steel and so dang hard to stamp.  I guess sterling silver or silver plated spoons work better.....now you tell me.  I got some cheapo spoons at Dollar Tree, maybe I'll have more luck.  I even decided to try my hand at etching some spoons, no bueno.  Tomorrow I'm gonna play with all the metal stamping options I can come up with.  I think I'm gonna etch some metal, too.  So, laundry, dishes and sweeping up the floors will have to wait another day.  I'm in the middle of replacing all the window screens and when I say all, I mean all five of them...haha.

I haven't been in the courtyard playing in the dirt this week. Got the first layer off and piled up. 

We tilled the whole thing before it rained this weekend.  We got lots of much needed rain, but it left it a muddy mess.  It's still wet!  We'll be back at it on Saturday.

Blog design??

I've been reading other blogs and notice how different they look than mine, nicer.  I really don't know much about blog design but maybe it's time for me to learn.  So far I figured out how to switched out the background color.  Easy enough.  I noticed my banner photo doesn't fit correctly.  So I'm going to do some learning and then I'm gonna update and redesign my blog.  Now I say that having no clue what I'm talking about.  I would like some font choices and some color choices.  How about a background?  How about a banner with a number of photos or some of my art?  How about a signature?  How about tags?  How about the little pictures/links of "you may like this" tags?  See I have lots to learn.  Another thing that makes me go..humm?  I have few comments from my readers, I wonder why?  Is it difficult to leave a comment?  When I say difficult I mean technically, logistically, etc.  Or maybe, no comments is normal in the blogging world?  I don't comment on other blogs...maybe I should.

Coffee bean bags....

Kathy, my Sweet Salvage shopping friend, made this tote bag...isn't it cool?  She's pretty clever.  She uses coffee beans bags, recycled neckties, leather strips, even fur to make these bags.   She let me pick one out and this is the one I chose.  Lucky me!

Kathy then gave me a pile of my very own coffee beans bags to do whatever I want to do with them!!!  I just love them. 

The possibilities....

(oh yeah, remember the ottoman?)

Sweet Salvage Sale

My friend Kathy and I hit the Sweet Salvage Sale last Thursday, the first day of their monthly opening.  It was fun and boy do they have the neatest things.  What I realized is I have some of the same treasures.  It opened my eyes to repurposing and rethinking the things I have hidden away in the deep corners of my garage, shed and attic!  The same type of windows, mirrors, frames, brokenwing angels, bottles, ribbons, etc.  We had a blast.  They were happy to hear I was blogging about their shop.  Well worth the time, loved it.

This is what you saw as you walked around.  You needed to look up, down, underneath, beside, on top of, behind and right in front of your eyes. 

1. Religious statues and iron gates.

2. Neat piece of furniture.

3.  Wanna make this sign.

4. Coffee bean bag covered ottoman.

My treasures....

Details of the little metal box...I have this thing about metal boxes

 Believe me there were many unique and amazing things in this shop.  Don't get me wrong I wanted to buy up every "can't believe it" kinda stuff.  I truly wasn't prepared to figure out where it would go if I bought this or that.... next time I will be.  Kathy found a bird bath for her back yard.  What a find.

While I was in this area of town, which has many similar shops, I stopped in one more.  Check out my finds....

Isn't this cool?  I want to use it in the bathroom with fancy hand cloths and sweet smelling stuff

The details and worn age of it

You ask what it this?  It's an umbrella stand
But, I'm using it for my precious papers stand.

XPS Laptop....

Working well!  Actually, working better.  Let's hope no more calls to Dell Support Center!

Sweet Salvage Sale!

I read about this shop here in Phoenix that opens for 4 days out of the month.  Tomorrow is first of the 4 days.  The other days of the month they shop for this monthly 4 days sale,  The shop is called Sweet Salvage.  I'm meeting a crafty friend there tomorrow!!  I'm so excited to get some unique finds.  I'll keep you posted.  I'll even take some photos!!

Boring Boring Boring

This is my boring Kindle Fire cover and I mean boring.  Not good enough to get anyone's attention to read a book, surf the net or post on Facebook.....

Gotta prime the cover with gesso.  It took two coats...done. 

 Purple was the perfect choice.  But not one shade but several...nice.

 Added some designs and a place to add a title.

 I remembered a saying from a book plate from a long time ago.

Books fall open...you fall in... 

Ta da... a new cover

Way cool!

Note*  The paint chipped at the creases, humm

XPS Dell Laptop (continued)

Today a very nice Dell tech support guy, can't pronounce his name let alone spell it.  Anyways, he was very nice and patient with me.  He was able to take remote control of my laptop which was both cool but eerie.  He made all kinds of changes and explained in layman words to me.  All got fixed except for the USB ports which another tech guy will have to come and replace (again).  Also yesterday's tech guy didn't get the left click button in right and it sticks!  So they will fix that too.  I was on the phone with the Dell tech guy for a long long long time, almost two hours!  So I thought what the heck, ask him some questions, too.  He was in India, the southern part.  It was 1am there, it was 1pm here.  It was Thursday there, it was Wednesday here.  It's hot there and the center is 24/7, always available to Dell customers.  I wanted to ask him if was full time?  if he was married? he sounded like late 20's I wanted to know how much he got paid per hour?  I wanted know how much training he has to go through?  But I didn't ask since I recall the conversation/call is recorded.  At the end of the call his supervisor asked to talk to me, YIKES I wondered if I got him in trouble.  I told her nothing but good things about him...good review from me.  Now lets hope my laptop issues are better.  ....... to be continued

XPS Dell Laptop #@$%!!!

Today this tech guy came by to "FIX" my laptop.  He had the replacement parts and he took the whole laptop apart...I'll never be the same after seeing the mess he created.  He thought maybe there wasn't a problem because of all the tests he ran.  I'm like do whatever you have to do!  Then he says it's up to me....ah me!  I have no idea about the insides of my laptop.  I finally tell him to replace the parts which he does, then more problems.  The USB ports will not work!!!!!  We call Dell customer service, the tech guy talks to them and gets frustrated and hands me the phone...he then bails on me...while I'm on the phone with Dell he tells me he needs to go and says don't send your laptop to the Dell depot......"shut the front door". 
Dell tech support guy on phone wants to talk to me about "lets recap the problem" and then gives me a phone number to call to reset my laptop to factory settings.  So who cares about files and photos, service guy says you have important files on your laptop?  Dah.  I couldn't deal with it anymore so I took the number said a few choice words and hung up. 
Tonight I backed up all my "important files"  and tomorrow I will take a deep breath and call the tech support guy.  Wish me luck!  Dang..it froze on me twice tonight, but on the other hand I got to post on my blog...

Still diggin

Really nice day out...Good day to keep on diggin....
First layer done...
Wheel barrow experience needed...
Shoveling not much fun....
Neither is using the hoe...
Two piles of dirt...
Where am I gonna put the dirt, you ask...
I have no idea...
May put sign out front...
Free dirt, you haul it way...
Watered it all down, again....
Second layer tomorrow...
Rotating tiller rental....
New gloves needed...

Maybe a party is in order????
Dirt moving beer and burgers served party...hummm

Key Ring Project

I ran across this key chain idea and thought I could make it.  I had all the stuff and of course I have time.  It was windy outside and a nice day to spend listening to the wind chimes from my craft studio.

 First to pound the spoons flat.  I had maybe 20 spoons and figured why not pound them all.  I can always use them.  First I started pounding them on my table but then moved into the garage cement floor.  It went much better. 

 I needed to find a key to add to the project.  This is my little brother's key collection.  My mom collect keys for him to play with.  I've been wanting this collection for years and finally last year she allowed me to take them but knowing they belong to my little brother.  But come on  who's gonna miss ONE key, right?

I cut the handle off the spoon and bent the tip to become a holder.  Cutting and turning it was so tough.  I'm gonna have to figure out an easier method. 

 I needed another embellishment so I dug through my stuff and found this heart pendant.  I had to drill a hole and put a eyelet through.  Now to assemble.

 This is the final product....what do you think?  I love it and my Mini key will look nice with this.

I stamped my name and year on the back.  This was fun to make and might need to be a item to make for future craft sales.

Trip to Lubbock, Texas

We took a weekend trip to Lubbock, Texas to watch my nephew, Robert Lewandowski.  He's plays basketball for Texas Tech Red Raiders.  We've been lucky enough to get to a game or two for the past four years.   This day was Senior Day and he is the only senior on this year's team.  They honored him before the game.  His parents were so proud of him.  He's a great young man.

Coach Gillispie, his dad, Mark and his mom, Julie & Robert #15

He is in the starting line up

Great shot

Banner in front of the basketball arena has Robert on it... pretty cool.

He was a great sport to take a photo with his aunt.

I must say we really enjoy following his basketball career at Texas Tech. It was also nice to meet up with family and meet some of his good friends over the past four years.  This last trip we got to meet his girlfriend, Bailey.  She's adorable.

In Honor of my special friend.

This is Arlene Viersen

I was 12 when Arlene crossed my path.  I had no idea the impact she was going to have on my life.  She began by teaching me to sew, but what she really taught me was to be focused, to pay attention to details, to have patience, and finish what I began.  Sewing is still a passion of mine to this day.  She went on to teach me to bake and I love baking.   She taught me which measuring cup to use for liquids and which one for dry ingredients, but what she really taught me was, use the right tool for the right job and following directions was important to get the best results.  She asked me to participate in modeling to show off our sewing projects and what I learned was poise, confidence and to hold my head up. 

She exposed me to a life I never knew was possible.  She took me to her home and I couldn’t believe she had me in her home and was so generous when she didn’t need to be.    I remember talking to her about my dream to go to college and where I came from college was only a dream.  I finished high school and went to the University of Nebraska.  She attended my college graduation which meant so much to me   It’s hard to explain and I tried a number of times to tell her how I would not be the person I am today if it was not for her.  She believed in me.  I believed in me because of her.  I would visit her whenever I was in town and  I was able to see her on my last trip in November and I hugged her tight and I felt her love.  She smiled, I told her I loved her and we said goodbye.  I will miss her but she is in my heart always talking to me.  She lived a love filled long life to the age of 90.    She was the best mentor a person could have and I was blessed we chose each other.