this just in....

the ridiculously adorable shirt we got for Lars on Monday...
and his new piano...
the boy loves music!

my "bootie" from the hardware store...

...and the bead store...

...and the scrapbook store...
*I am totally in love with orange lately...it's weird...always before I associated it with pumpkins & candycorns....now all I want to look at is orange! {and maybe some purple for contrast...oh, and some teal or baby blue to make it all pop....lol}

Our stockings were hung by the {microwave} with care....

the only acceptable spot in the house to hang stockings...
please disregard the patch of subfloor showing....lol
didn't get the floor refinished before winter set in & now we have to wait till spring to get it all finished off...

*Mom*
remember the stocking I had 2 years ago that I made in the dead of night right before we came to your house for Christmas?
the one that I hated rather badly?
well, I dragged it out this year & revamped it.
now I love it...
raw edges...vintage trim, beads & velvet...wool...polka dots...odd usage of usual materials...
and
the recently ubiquitous Tim Holtz laundry pin!
yay!

totally Jenn!

metal & glass book III

I made this book for my best friend Katie who has recently moved to a far away state
to live an all new fabulous life.
I am so proud of her courage & bravery & accomplishments,
I thought the quote was perfect.

...and as per Katies insistance I have signed & dated!

metal & glass book II

A good look at what drove me crazy for a month...I am not very good at soldering...total beginner, seriously. It took me so long to figure out how to get the mechanical part of the book to "work" & in the end, it was a suggestion from Josh that saved me. (again!) He brought me a piece of copper tubing (like you would use to hook up the water to your refrigerator dispenser) & then things really started cookin. I had been trying to use a screw as the spine; with a combination of nuts & washers as hinge parts & spacers. But I just couldn't get it all soldered on straight enough & even though I could put the book together, it didn't "work", you couldn't turn the pages. ARG!



the latchplate was a found item, I have no idea what it was meant for originally. *I wish I did...cause then maybe I could find more. lol
the hook is a regular old jewelry clasp on a tiny bit of chain with a Tim Holtz laundry pin.

another look at the top of the book.

metal & glass book

Ok...this is where it all started...neato little metal tag things....

And this is where I ended up (a month & a half later)

fun bits & baubles from my collection of odds & ends. Most of these things were meant to be used on another project & then didn't work out so they went into the tin of misfit embellishments... the glass bead however, is vintage.

I used the top of a lone knitting needle
*(I always want to type knitting kneedle...lol) for the "spine" of the book.

A page in process....I think all of the embellishment stuff is done
but you never know, once I add the photo I might tack on a couple more "bits"
*hmmm....maybe some ribbon?

Made this a few months ago when I was working out a technique...figured I would try it out on the "w" cuz I'd would probably never need it for anything. ha ha

I cut out this branch out of vellum using my cricut & then I inked it up & used embossing powder on both sides to make a "ghost".

Used my new Tim Holtz {*sigh*} mask on the corner here... too cool!