Little Bit of Awesome: I Actually WON Something?

So I read this blog called Babysaur, even though I don't have babies, because it's incredibly cute and it gives me crafty ideas.  About a month ago they had a giveaway for an awesome book, The Modern Girl's Guide to Sticky Situations by Jane Buckingham.  They also featured it on Wedinator, another cheezburger website.  I entered, thinking they'd probably choose one of the other hundreds, but, according to Kristyn, they picked me! Yipee!

They asked, "What is the stickiest situation you've been in?" Here's what I wrote:

Jenny

May 28, 2010 at 1:07 pm

I have celiac disease and so have to eat a very strict gluten-free diet. My mother in law, to get back at me for stealing her son, put on a full-out Thanksgiving dinner with not a gluten-free morsel in sight. Then loudly complained that I was being rude by not eating her cooking.

Completely true story, everybody.  It's whacko.

Here is the book:

And she wrote an inscription: Dear Jenny - Congratulations and hope you enjoy the book! then an unintelligible signature that could say Kristyn or Jane or Dorothy for all I know.  

P.S. This title is awesome, but an awesomer (yes, that's a word, I just made it up) title would be ...Awkward... 

Oh so THAT'S how you do it...

I have featured Lovely Tina's vintage blog here before, talking about the Peter Pan Merry-go-round Bra with the figure skater.  But Lovely Tina has outdone herself today. Behold:

Buahahahahahahhaahahahhaahah!

There's more to see on her site.

Storage from Kool-Aid Box

I think you've picked up by now that I'm a super-organized person.  While I'm at my computer, I often have things I need to jot down, like passwords or quotes or reminders.  I am so obscenely organized that I do this on 3x5 index cards. I know. Well anyway, I needed a pretty place to put them.  I found that they fit perfectly into a box for those little packets of kool-aid you put in a water bottle and shake up.  You can still see the edge of it in the picture.  I covered it in pretty paper using glue. The paper fell off.  I used staples (you can see one on the pink part).  The paper was too heavy.  So in a final effort, I covered the whole thing in clear packing tape.  Ha! Take that, anti-gravity/anti-glue paper!

Sorry there's no tutorial.  I did this before I started a blog.  Just imagine it in your mind.  

Pink Saturday: Decopage With Cloth

I've been watching the blog How Sweet The Sound for a while, and she does this amazing thing called Pink Saturday, Pink is my favorite color, everyone.  When I was a single gal, I had pink bedding, pink pillows, pink blankets, pink artwork, and now I have to limit my pink to crafts.  But I do have a pink cell-phone. And even though I don't have a regular phone line in my house, it would be fantastic to own a vintage pink rotary phone.  Ahh, a girl can dream.

Evidently, a girl has to email her intent to participate the day before, so this isn't an "official" Pink Saturdays entry.  But it's Pink, and today is Saturday, so here we go.

I was reading the directions on my Mod Podge the other day, and was amazed to see that included in the list of items one can mod podge was cloth.  I decided to try it out.

Here is a completely adorable bandana that I tied around Lucy's (the beagle) neck ever now and then, but then we got Hannah (the spaniel) and she ripped it to shreds. :(.  

I got this little cardboard box for $0.10 at Goodwill, and saw loads of potential.

I was originally going to cover it with that pretty paper in the background, but I didn't have enough.

Note the pink phone. Fabulous, is it not?

Before I did anything to it, I wanted to take away the tacky seafoam green and gold sponging.  So I covered it in a light coat of white paint.  

I didn't document the process, mainly because it was an experiment that lasted a whole week, bits here and bits there.  So ... ta-da! Fully covered in cloth, inside and out, held on by decopage.

Later I sprayed it with a matte Mod Podge sealer, and some of the weird textures went away.

I had one problem with my brilliant plan, however:

Box won't close.  I should have seen this coming. *facepalm*

If I jam it on really hard, it only tears the lid a little...

The question: Can one decopage with cloth?

The answer: Yes, but not very well.  I had pockets of air that I couldn't get rid of no matter what I tried.  It stripped the white paint off in places. As you can see from the photos, some of the corners had to be folded over, and it doesn't work so well through three layers.  

The verdict: Oh well.  At least it's pretty ;)

Swap-bot!

I have heard good things about this site and decided to try it out.  I made a profile, signed up for two swaps, and  we'll see how it goes!  I already have the cards picked out, and I'm going to share them with you (the ones I'm sending).  Is that cheating?

Swap one:

Absolutely Awful

I swap with Swap-bot!

Awful, are they not?

Swap two:

Bird Art Postcard Swap

I swap with Swap-bot!


Equally awful, IMHO.

Organize Me

For those of you who know me, prepare to be shocked and a little dismayed. For those of you who don't know me, allow me to explain.  

I'm an organizer. Everything in the house has a place, and the house isn't "clean" until those things are in their places.

I had a conundrum.  My hair accessories/earrings/makeup was threatening to spill out of the cupboards and take over the house. And I couldn't remember where I put half of it. So I pulled it all out and laid it down on the living room carpet, the better to organize, dearie. Let me show you what I mean.

Before:

Can't reach most of the stuff I want.

Ick.

Gag.

A candy wrapper? Who lives here?

What a treat to discover that NyQuil has been laying in wait like a sticky predator.

3 hours later, after getting all my hair-ties back from the dogs (NOT a chew toy! No!)

AFTER:

Bandanas (for yard work, I'm not in a gang. Promise.) and hair claws. Bandanas go in the square box because they're square.

Headbands and hair scarves go in the round box b/c they're round...see a theme?

Flower pins and clips

Stacked on that, anything that is elastic and holds hair back

And stacked on that is anything that is a clip that holds hair in place.

Hair dryer, curling iron, straightening iron, brushes and combs go under the sink.

Husband's random junk caddy turns into my new makeup organizer!

Necklaces get hung on a really nifty plate displayer thingy I found at a flea market.  It's supposed to display three plates (how....oldfashioned?).  Instead it displays (most of) my necklaces. 

I thought I had done sooooo well, and was about to give myself a mani/pedi, when I saw this:

I guess I have some more work to do. LOL.

Oooo Oooo! Postcard from Russia!

I know I've been doing a lot of postcard posts lately, but it's a hobby that I have that is free.  Have I told you guys yet how much Postcrossing rocks my socks? Yes. I have. But I'm telling you again.  Because today I went out to get the mail, and I was feeling a little glum and under the weather.  I leafed through a grocery ad, junk mail, bill, ad, magazine, POSTCARD FROM FREAKING RUSSIA.  I had to type all in caps, I was that excited.

Here it is, in all its glory:

Makes me want to go there.  Now.

And the reverse:

Don't you just love the stamps? To me, the stamps and the post office markings are as interesting as the postcard itself.

If you can't read the message, it says, "Hello Jenny! My name is Maria. I'm from Moscow, Russia.  I'm very glad to send you this postcard. This is the St. Basil's Cathedral. It is situated in the Red Square in the Centre of Moscow.  Hope you'll enjoy this postcard. Best wishes to you from Maria (Sh-ma)."

I blackened out the postcard number and my address, but left the USA part because I have never seen it written that way! I can't read cursive Russian. Maybe one of you can? It probably just says "United States of America" or something boring like that.  But it could say, "You just won a million dollars!" or, "Your hair looks fabulous!"

Postcards from the Netherlands

Once upon a time, I was 9 years old and I went to the Netherlands.  My dad, step-mom, and paternal grandparents took me to see a man named Salvatore Romana (I'm sure there are tildes and accents my American keyboard is missing), called Salva. Salva had been my grandparents' foreign exchange student in the 70's, and he went to high school with my dad in little Platte City, Missouri.  Anywho, Salva then lived in Holland with his German wife (can't remember her name) and their 4-year-old daughter, Teresa.  We all went to visit them and it was very .... cultural.  My dad and his side of the family can be a bit much at times, but I got to see lots of interesting things and go interesting places.  I picked up lots of postcards, and mailed all of them but two to relatives in the U.S.  These are two that I kept for myself.

The back isn't very informative.  It says only "Marken Holland" and was taken by photographer Henk van der Leeden.  Purchased in the Netherlands in 1993, never mailed.

I remember I bought this one because I took about a zillion pictures just like it, but none of them turned out very good.  The reverse says: (c) Paul C. Pet "Zeilen in Friesland".  Purchased in the Netherlands in 1993, never mailed.

That translates to "buy this postcard or I will find you and stab you." Either that, or "Sailing in Friesland." 

Totally-non-related but awesome-anyways-side-note: Salva spoke 7 languages. Italian, English, Dutch, German, French were among them.  His wife spoke 3 languages: English, German, and Dutch.  Their 4-year-old spoke 2 languages: German and English.  Although, she was a brat and would never speak English to me.  I remember that she threw lots of fits and had this weird purple toothpaste.

National Geographic

As an amateur photographer, National Geographic makes me wet my pants with joy. (Not literally.) (Ok it was just that ONE time.)  Here's today's Photo of the Day:

That's a real picture, you guys.  If I could be so lucky to take a photo as beautiful as this one!  Follow this link and you can get all the info about the photographer and tips on aerial photography.

Earring Storage Solutions

I have a confession to make.  I love me some dangly earrings. LOVE me some dangly earrings.  There's just one problem to owning lots of dangly earrings and being too broke to buy a fancy-schmancy earring holder - they get all tangled. And you can't see them all to pick one. I guess that's two problems.  Well, two problems are about to be solved! 

Behold, the Shoebox-lid Dangly-Earring Holder!

It was extremely simple to make, once I figured out what to do and how to do it.  I literally spent like 2 hours staring at my craft room, trying to figure out an answer.

I don't have step-by-step photos for instructions, but my readers are not idiots and so you can figure it out.

1.  Take a shoe box lid and punch holes in the one end of the lip.  I did this with an exacto-knife, but you can do it with any sharp object you may have laying around. (My readers have lots of sharp objects lying around.)

2. Punch holes in the front of the box where you want the earrings to hang (see above photo).  You may want to use a ruler of some sort, if you're OCD that way. I did two rows of close-together holes at the top for my earrings that aren't dangly.

3. Find a ribbon and tie a double knot on one end.  Thread it through the first hole from the inside to the outside, and then again from the outside to the inside on the second hole. (Confusing much? Just look at the picture.)

4. Adjust the ribbon length so that it hangs at the level you want it to.  Hook it on a nail/screw/pointy thing on your wall. 

5. Presto! You're done. I kind of like the logo black/white look. Although, I have considered painting it so it doesn't look like a shoe-box.

Note: No sooner did I get this project finished than my mother sent me a real dangly earring-holder. And it's super pretty. *facepalm* 

At least my vast amounts of earrings ensures that I have to use both of them. And this pretty one doesn't do non-dangly earrings at all.

Too Funny Not To Share

Today while browsing the interwebz I came across a lovely blog that features "Vintage sewing and fashion ephemera with a few other finds from my travels."  It's called "What-I-Found."  


Today's post featured Ultra Violets, what to do if you're a plain girl, bobby pins for when your boss is a jerk, and ... wait for it... Peter Pan Bras. With a Merry-go-round patented design.  Now I want a Peter Pan bra.


I don't know the dos and don'ts of blogging, so is it sacrilege if I post another blogger's image here? Even if the purpose of the image is to increase traffic to her site?


*Update: I got the go-ahead from Tina, the loveliest gal in town, to not only link this image, but to, ahem, and I quote, "feature anything you find here, anytime. Share the love!"  Here's the ah-mazing Peter Pan Merry-Go-Round Bra!

It makes me want to figure-skate.

Postcards

I love this image. Doesn't it look like the doll is saying take my picture and I will murder you with my plastic flowers?  

I received this beauty from the Netherlands via Postcrossing on June 12, 2010.  It looks vintage, but I'm pretty sure it's new because of the quality of the cardstock.  

The caption on the back makes no sense to me as I'm not even sure what language it is in.  Maybe someone can help me out. "176. Kathe Kruse. 1929. Uvachrom - Duitsland."  The "a" in "Kathe" has those two little dots over it.  I can figure that this is #176 of a series of prints by this Kruse woman, maybe photos taken in 1929.  The last part sounds like a place, maybe some place in the Netherlands? Although, I have been there, and it doesn't look like Dutch to me...

The message written says, "Hello Jenny, I live in Rotterdam [I've been there!] a big city and famous harbour with my husband in the Netherlands. I work in the present-shop of my daughter. We sell presents from Spain, Morocco and Mexico. I like my job. Greetings and nice summertime.  Annemiek, 7 - 6 - 2010."  Since July 6th hasn't happened yet, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess she's doing the European date thing and means she sent it on June 7, 2010.  

Postcards

I received this postcard of Times Square on June 10, 2010.  My grandma and her good friend had never been to NYC, so they went. And why not? You go, Grandma (except my family is from the Ozarks area and I call her Memaw).  The back is dated June 6, 2010 and says she was going to see this play that night.  Mamma Mia!, that is.  I am so jealous.  I'm going to see her in a few weeks, and I'm going to beg to see the playbill.  Maybe I'll show you people, too.

Notes on a Garage Sale

Day One Garage Sale Extravaganza

7:47am.  Got my first customer.  The sign says 8AM  PEOPLE.

7:57am.  FIVE crazies got here before 8am.  Also, I made my first sale.  I sold a candle a student once gave me as a Christmas gift for $0.50.  I know, I have no soul.

8:15am. There seems to be a town-wide fight over who gets to buy my broken lawnmower.  A guy just gave me a deposit. And took the wheel.

8:18am.  The most popular item here is my dog.  I knew this was a great sales ploy.

8:25am.  My grandmother's china went. It's ok, she said I could sell it. Don't make that face.

8:34am.  This is how I look today. I swear I didn't do it on purpose.  But cleavage is also probably helping with the sales.

8:38am. My neighbor's husband came over to buy the mower. The one I already sold. Great. Now the only neighbors who liked me are gonna turn to the dark side, too.  Over a broken lawnmower.  Sometimes I hate Iowa.

8:43am. A guy just asked me if our house was for sale (it's not listed). I told him it was.

8:46am. Teddy has a girlfriend. A tiny girldog named Griswold. Good thing he's missing his man parts.

8:59am. A lady holds up a book with a giant orange $0.25 sticker on it. "How much is this? I don't have my glasses on."  Uh huh.  Sure, lady.

9:07am. My first haggler.  3 Christmas potholders for $0.25 each.  Asked if I'd take $0.50 for all 3.  Sure.  Why not.

9:23am.  I have a headache.  There are no customers.  Risk going inside for a Tylenol? Yes, I think I shall.  But I'm taking the $ with me.

9:29am.  Ibuprofen. Not sleeping pills.  It's always good to double-check.

9:37am.  Iowa. A guy just asked if my husband was home.  Then he asked if we had any shotguns for sale. Or hunting knives. But "U.S. only. I don't want none of that foreign stuff."

10:05am. None of these skinny *itches will buy my old clothes. They're good clothes! The icky ones I tossed or used for fabric.  I just can't fit my boobs in 'em anymore!  Also, I just finished a crossword puzzle.  And I only cheated 5 times.

10:22am. I just met the "overshare" lady.  I mentioned that I was a teacher (because we were talking about children's books).  She says, "My daughter, she teaches over in North Omaha to all the little black kids."  Um....not sure what to say to that.  

*Note to self: take any mention of this blog off my facebook wall.

10:29am. Is it Hide and Seek or Hide and Go Seek? Crossword #3.

10:32am. I think I'll turn on my Ipod now.

10:33am.  I need some lip gloss. Or balm. Some lip-helping substance of some kind.

10:35am. That's better.

10:46am.  Finished another crossword. Only cheated twice. But honestly, how am I supposed to know "Goodman's drummer in '35" ? If you know without googling it, I will give you ten internets. I, of course, already know, because I cheated.

10:56am.  I decide to let my psycho beagle out to pee, and that's when the first customers in 45 minutes show up.  At least they bought a belt.

11:23am.  I think that lady is the 15th person to comment on the weather. "Sure is hot today." Iowa.

Day Two Garage Sale Let's-Get-This-Over-With


8:02am.  A woman just bought $20 worth of stuff.  Today might just turn out to be a good day.  Favorite quote:  "Will you take $1.60 for that hippo thing?" Orig. $2.

8:25am. Spoke too soon.  Haven't had any customers since awesome-lady. My next customer just did a drive-by. My crap isn't even good enough to get out of the car for.

8:38am. It started raining. Just as I got everything inside, it stopped and the concrete dried.

8:47am. Severe thunderstorms all day? Flash flood warnings? Are you kidding me??

9:10am.  New low.  I've begun offering to sell stuff from inside my house.

9:18am. Questioning my self-worth after selling a semi-defective mini-dvd-player.  Even if I did tell them it only works sometimes.  The guiltiest $10 I made all weekend.

9:59am.  Sun came out. It can't fool me.  Once I lug all my crap back outside it's just going to rain again.

10:15am. There are no other customers. Really? You're going to park there?

10:31am. Smoking in public is legal.  Smoking in my driveway is tolerable.  Smoking in my garage which is under my home? No way.  I'm allergic to cigarette smoke.  I try to stay away from it in public. But don't be an ass and force it on me in my own garage. 

10:57am. No customers since the rude-cig-guy. I'm cold, tired, and thinking of closing up shop an hour early.

11:07am. Look at all the stuff I didn't sell. FAIL.

Dollar Tree Swirly Frame

I absolutely looooooooove the Dollar Tree. It's full of things begging to be classed-up, deconstructed, or made-over. I can go in there and get tons of craft possibilities and only spend a dollar. That's kinda the point of the dollar tree.

Anyhoo, a while back I bought this photo frame for a 3"x4" photo. It's plastic faux wood with plastic designs glued to it. UGGO.

How to class it up? Simple.

Supplies:

Fugly frame ($1)

Cream-colored acrylic paint (I had some on hand)

A wet rag (for mistakes) (on hand)

A dry rag (on hand)

I squirted some cream paint onto the brown plastic decorations, making sure to get every crevice and nook. I used my fingers, but you could use a brush. I took the dry rag and wiped as much excess paint off as I could. I took the wet rag and touched up any paint that got on the faux wood.

And there you have it! :)