Too Sick To Blog

Quarantine! Quarantine! Our house is a den of germs! Liam and I are down with the flu. No not the H1N1 flu, we're not quite that special! We have a good old garden variety flu. Luckily the first couple days of it Liam was pretty sedate from feeling lousy which gave me the chance to rest a lot. Now he's a ball of fire and he doesn't seem to even notice that anything is different. Man, I sure wish I could muster up that sort of energy while suffering from aches and pains! Thank GOD for Benylin flu medicine! I don't even want to imagine having to deal with my wild child without it. While it doesn't make me feel wonderful and carefree, it does lessen my suffering which makes me more than happy! To date Oliver is still not sick despite the fact that he has been kissing us and breathing in the diseased air around here. Here's hoping he remains untouched by our not so enjoyable plague.

My Little Celebrity!

The above picture (click on it to enlarge) is a screenshot from the website/blog 'parentdish'. Did you notice what's in the bottom right corner? That's my Liam! He's the 'Daily Cutie'! Such a nice surprise it is! I must agree, he is a daily cutie. Every second of every day!

Small Projects

Lately I'll admit, I've been a wee bit lazy. Not as far as household chores such as cooking and cleaning are concerned but rather with all things creative. I have completed some projects, just nothing on a grand scale. Liam has been waking up before seven every morning for the last, oh goodness, I think it's been about two weeks now. I am TIRED! The strongest coffee in the world couldn't get me going I'm certain! And then to make things even more difficult, my little bug has decided that every single time I sit down he either has to sit on my lap or he insists I get off my (rather large as of late) rear end to chase him around the house or dance around with him or some other equally tiring thing that I don't have the energy to do. I'm not really complaining though, well, not wholeheartedly at least. While he's trying his best to kill me, I can't help but be reminded over and over and over again every day that I am SO incredibly lucky to have such a perfectly WONDERFUL little person around to keep me company every day. He is the one person, the one thing in my life that can always make me smile no matter how bad I'm feeling!

Okay, so back to the artsy stuff again. Being tired all the time means that any art or craft project I get done will most likely be small and even though small it will take FOREVER! Here are some little things I've managed to make lately....

I made the above two collages by gluing bits of antique and vintage papers onto damaged antique postcards. The postcards weren't worth collecting but they had some redeeming qualities so I spruced them up a bit with collage and then a coat of clear Martha Stewart glitter. What will I do with them? No idea, but I enjoyed making them and that's the point of this sorta thing isn't it!?

My other small project, colored pencil drawings on recycled paper. I LOVE this paper! It's 100% recycled post consumer waste, it's brown and it makes my pencils POP! I want to save the planet all by my lonesome but since the likelihood of that is pretty, well, impossible, I'll settle for buying recycled paper and feeling really good about it!

Okay so this is actually an older project but I forgot to post about it so here it is. While trying to get into the whole Christmas decoration crafting spirit I constructed a garland to hang by our windows. It's simply white and off white doilies of different shapes and sizes strung up on a length of antique lace. The doilies were attached to the lace with vintage white buttons also of varying shapes and sizes. I am always looking for new ways to use my over sized doily collection, HUGE collection of antique lace and overabundance of buttons (mostly vintage). I'm not merely a person that enjoys collecting old things. I like to actually use them too. I enjoy my art and crafting far more when my supplies are old. The garland pictures were taken before the weather became cold and the leaves disappeared from the trees.

Lastly, we have the shadowbox that I posted about a while back before it was finished. Now if only I could figure out a way to photograph it head on without a reflection of myself in baggy mismatched pajamas showing up in the glass!

I Collect Nature

When I'm outside, whether for a walk or even just to take the trash out, I automatically scour the ground for treasure. A feather, pine cone or maybe even just a twig, I can't help but pick them up. Because of this I have amassed a rather large collection of bits and pieces. Some are packed away in boxes, others displayed on a small round antique table in the corner of the living room.

My vintage rusty green tackle box. It cost 50 cents at a garage sale here on the island and is in my opinion perfectly wonderful! It houses the especially tiny and terribly fragile. The blue and yellow tin is home to Oliver's rock collection.

Inside the tackle box (above and below).

See that little plastic container labeled with green masking tape? It really does have mouse teeth inside! No worries, no mice were harmed to attain the teeth :)

Some cows teeth I found in Kamloops BC.

Sand dollars found last weekend at a trip to the beach.

My bird wings.

The matching skull to the above wings.

Feathers galore! The striped feathers are from an owl.

Tiny dried bird legs.

The Long Lost Landscape

I FINALLY found it! I have been under the impression that this painting was lost during our move and was truly bummed out after I had put sooooo much work into it. That and the fact that I really like this particular piece. Today I was going through one of our boxes, filled with my paintings and there was a painting that was just the right shape to be the long lost landscape! While it sounds a little silly I must admit that I was a wee bit nervous to unwrap it from the bubble wrap it was wound up in. I really had my hopes up! But it turns out that nerves were not necessary and now my favorite painting is sitting up on the living room mantle where it rightly belongs :)

This painting was started just days before I hurt my hand in that horrid fall I had back a ways. I actually did a good amount of it with my left hand which was an incredible challenge! The tiny wildflowers along the bottom were painted and then once dry I etched them with an art knife, which you can see a close-up of in the last picture below. I apologize for the truly lousy photos! I really did try to get better ones but I'm afraid I am cursed with shaky hands and am lacking in the tripod department :)

The Cover-up

Here (above) we have one of my vintage suitcases. The previous owner was a woman with children, neon orange pen wielding children. After putting the project off for some time I decided it was finally time to do something about the unattractive artwork on my suitcase. I had already tried scrubbing way back when I first purchased the suitcase but that didn't work much at all so something else had to be done. After some scrapbook paper, glue, and sandpaper were used this is what I had......

And this picture is here simply because it is lovely :)

Pumpkin Butchering 101

Saturday morning Oliver, Liam and I all headed towards Charlottetown for some grocery shopping and to adopt a pumpkin. We stopped at a farm just outside the city where they were selling numerous pumpkins and other interesting produce (seen above). Oliver chose two large pumpkins and I picked out one very small pumpkin and a large one that really only appealed to me because of a number of greenish warts that I felt made my pumpkin far superior to Oliver's :)

Liam was not at all impressed with the pumpkins and stuck pretty close to his daddy's side.

We had a good time and what made it especially nice was the fact that our three large pumpkins and one small cost us only $3.50! A good deal I think!

Once home we set to work butchering our newly adopted pumpkins.

Oliver's two (shown above) took him literally minutes to carve!

My one large pumpkin (above) took me 5 HOURS to carve! Yes, you read that right, I sat at the table and worked for a ridiculously long amount of time and all I got was a pumpkin that will most likely be rotten before the week is over, LOL! I have to admit, this is my first attempt at carving a pumpkin and I learned a lot. Next year I will be slightly more experienced and hopefully it will only take me 4.5 hours to complete one pumpkin! I am considering carving a square out of next year's. Just a square, nothing else! That might get my time down to 3 hours if I'm lucky! Okay, maybe two squares to make it more interesting :)

Happy Haunts!

Wishing everyone a happy Halloween! We're going to head to Charlottetown today for some groceries and a pumpkin. Yes, we really left the pumpkin to the last minute! There's a farm on the road we take to town that has really nice pumpkins for only $1 so that's where our pumpkin will probably be adopted from. Have a lovely evening everyone :)

Treasure Abounds

As many know, I have an affinity for old things. Antique or vintage I love them both. No need for perfection, chipping paint, scratches, dents and yes, sometimes even very obvious breaks. Nothing is too imperfect for my tastes, as long as it's old I can give it a loving home where it will be appreciated. My love of old things really is more of an obsession really or at least so my husband Oliver tells me. It's hard for me to pass by an old beat up chair selling for next to nothing, my proof? Many old chairs scattered around my home. While sorting some of my collections the other day I decided to take some pictures. Just a sampling of some of my little things, enjoy! :)

An absolutely adorable vintage spun cotton bird.

Some antique and vintage pocket watches and jewelry.

You think I have plenty of antique Victorian trade cards? You should see my antique postcard collection! I'm definitely obsessed with old paper, LOVE it!

My Weekend

Autumn is very obviously here and I couldn't be happier! The cold crisp air, the colors, the leaves scattered across the lawn, it couldn't be more perfect. And yet I feel a slight tinge of sadness knowing that it will only last so long and soon snow will cover the ground and the leaves will be gone from sight. Already we've heard rumors of snow in the forecast, thankfully the weather man has been off on his predictions thus far but it's only a matter of time. Not that I'm dreading winter, I love looking out the window at snow and the blast of cold wind that will hit my face when I step outside to face the elements is more than welcome. I have always been a cold weather person. Often times I find myself too hot when everyone else is too cold and the thought of finally being able to wear a sweater in winter without breaking out into a sweat is a happy thought at that! The BC winters I'm used to are cold but nowhere near as harsh as a PEI winter, or at least so I have been told. In BC I could walk around outside on a snowy day in a tank top with no coat and be perfectly comfortable. I'm hoping that will change now that I'm on the island.

My yard is showing the tell-tale signs of autumn!

On Saturday Oliver and I headed to the vet in Montague with our little Boo. When weighed we found that she had lost about 3 pounds. Considering that normally she weighs anywhere from 6-7 pounds we were more than a little concerned. I really liked the veterinarian we saw. She was very nice, gentle with Boo and she didn't talk down to us like some veterinarians sometimes do. She didn't try to get us to spend ridiculous amounts of money on tests she knew wouldn't help Boo which is something that happened to us every time we went to vets in BC. She was obviously concerned about Boo. And according to the vet Boo is a very sweet and well behaved little Chihuahua. She was so good and put up with being poked and prodded by a stranger very well. The vet suggested we put her on a mild antibiotic and try de-worming her. So Boo is at home now, I think she's doing a little better. While I do have to coax her to eat she is finally eating her food now which is such a good thing! We managed to find a store that sells small bags of her old food (the food we were feeding her in BC). It's going to be a tad bit pricier to constantly buy small bags instead of the large ones we used to buy but if it's whats best for Boo then we have no qualms about spending that little extra. I'm very happy that we are seeing some improvement in her, especially since Oliver is so very attached to his old girl. If she were to pass away he would be heart broken I'm sure. I love being married to a man with such a big heart :)

On our way home we stopped to take some photos of two old abandoned houses. The first was a yellow Victorian style home and the other an old white farmhouse. These sorts of houses are so common on the island. I always feel both sad and in awe of them. I find their state of decay to be so beautiful yet I wish they weren't slowly dieing. Knowing that one day they will collapse and be forgotten is heartbreaking to someone like myself, so in love with the past and the things that were. If I had millions I would snatch up as many of these beautiful old homes as I could and restore them to their former glory.