My amazingly creative friend Karla is giving away some gorgeous vintage fabrics and other treats at her new blog Cut From A Different Cloth. Hurry on over!
Smiles!
Megan
Oh MacBook, How I’ve Missed You January 30, 2011
This is my iPod.
And my iPhone.
And my iPad (which i LOVE)
And because of all of these, I’ve so been neglecting this little baby, my MacBook.
Sometimes I just miss sitting down with a cup of hot tea, feeling the warmth of that MacBook battery on my lap and browse and browse and browse for hours. The big screen, the ease of typing on a real keyboard, instant access to Excel, Word, InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, not to mention the ability to have them open all at once. . . sometimes it feels like coming home; familiar and comfortable. So today I’m thankful for this little nugget of a laptop (phrase courtesy of Chelsea Lately!!) and all the efficiencies it brings me that those other little gadgets can’t!
Smiles!
Megan
One, Two, Three. . . Where the Mail Shall Be January 30, 2011
I’m trying to work on my headlines, was that a good one? Was it so compelling you wanted to see what the heck this post is about? It must have worked, after all, you’re here!!
My sister and I went back home last weekend to spend some QT with our parents. Saturday was spent antiquing and junk shopping with my Mom. Just what I needed, quality time with Mom and Kate as well as a boatload of creative inspiration!
Now this is a funny story as to why I took a photo of a $28 smiley face cookie jar. A few years ago my bff Jill was in Kearney with me and I took her to all the cool antique stores. For some reason I’ve always been attracted to yellow smiley faces, if I ever got a tattoo it would probably be of that! So here it was in all it’s glory sitting upon a shelf that was right above a beautiful mirrored serving tray which held a dozen or so crystal wine glasses, and i just HAD to pick that damn thing up, I don’t know why I needed to feel it in my hands, but I did. I reached for it with my left hand with my right hand quickly approaching and next thing I know the top of the cookie jar is crashing onto the mirror serving tray, miraculously falling in between the extremely expensive crystal wine glasses (thank goodness) and the top nob of it cracks off the lid. NO!!!!!!!! I glance to my right and there sits the dreaded sign – YOU BREAK IT YOU BUY IT! So, $65 later, I have a smiley face cookie jar with the top cracked off. Sixty-five bucks? I got jipped!! I saw this one (pictured) at an antique store for $28, oh well. It’s such a great memory, right Jilly?
Now, back to my original post. I found this cute little piece at a new antique store in Kearney, it was only $12 and I had been looking for something to help organize my mail so my kitchen table didn’t constantly look like this!
I thought I was getting something that someone had probably put together from scrap wood in their workshop but when I was paying I noticed this sticker. . . I can’t believe someone would really pay $49 for that!!
Now, you may have noticed the bazillion paint jars in the earlier photo, Gail from My Repurposed Life posted about Home Depot’s Facebook Deals as she had purchased this pack of Martha Stewart paint samples for $4. Yes, $4!!! So of course I had to have it too, the colors are gorgeous. This one is called Cornbread and matches my kitchen pretty well. It took me about 2 minutes to paint the strips of wood on the wall hanging.
I got it painted quick and it looked kind of plain so I thought this was a great opportunity to hop on the “Numbers” band wagon and put some on this piece. I’ve really been liking what people are doing with numbers, like this from Susie Harris (her signs are AMAZING!!) and here on Today’s Creative Blog. So I printed out a couple sizes and tested which would fit best.
I liked the smaller size better so I taped it down, inserted some graphite paper underneath and traced with a sharp pencil.
And here’s what it looks like after the tracing. Can you see a 3?
I painted the numbers with a black acrylic, I think it took 1 minute to paint all 3 numbers! Then used the hair dryer to speed the drying process. Looks pretty good, huh?
The black was too flat, needed to rough it up a little so it works well with the rest of the piece. So I took my sanding sponge thing to it.
Here’s a close up after roughing it up.
I LOVE how it turned out!
And it looks fabulous in my kitchen!
And it only took about 30 minutes from start to finish.
PS, isn’t that lampshade fabulous? One of my favorite buys from the sale shelf at Target!
Smiles!
Megan
Amazing! Thank You Postcards January 19, 2011
I was just thinking today that I needed new thank you notes but I wanted to make my own, not purchase any. So I think it was meant to be when this post showed up on my most favorite blog, Design Sponge. Bring on the cardboard!
My friend Lucy always sends the CUTEST notecards and I always look to see where it’s from. Most of the time it’s Papyrus, and then that explains it, they have some great cards! Where do you find your notecards?
Smiles!
Megan
Cupcake Inspired Art January 4, 2011
I wanted to make my Aunt something special this Christmas, something cute and creative and fun, but what can you possibly make for a lady that bakes and decorates amazingly beautiful treats such as these?
Or these?
Well, a Cupcake inspired memory box of course!!
She is also a HUGE Nebraska Cornhuskers fan so just had to use a Red and White color scheme.
I knew I wanted to do something around her mad baking and decorating skills so I browsed the baking aisle at hobby lobby for some inspiration and out popped these fun white doilies, the perfect place setting for a cupcake, right?
And what person doesn’t love those big silver sugar sprinkles?
More cupcakes on the inside of the box too, featuring a special message. I used an image transfer technique to take an old love letter and incorporate it into this design.
Vintage buttons of all styles made for fun decorations.
And sealed with a bow. Now she has a special place to keep all of her sweet memories.
Smiles!
Megan
