Before/After Little Piano

I found this child's piano at the thrift shop for $12.  It works great, but was a little scuffed up and needed some "pizaaaaaaaz"!  After painting it with the bright pink flowers,  I carefully wrapped it in bubble wrap and packed it in my HUGE suitcase to take to some of my grandkids over Christmas.  It survived the trip (which restored my faith in airline luggage handlers!)  and makes plenty of noise to drive their parents nuts!  I'm sure the grandkids have great fun with it!!!!

My driftwood mobile

I collected sea shells and driftwood on the beaches in Oregon and put this together with fishing line. The trick is to drill 2 parallel holes through each piece. This keeps the wood from spinning around, maintains it's design, and adds durability. extra sea shells dangle at the bottom.

This project doesn't mean anything to anyone except us. We have the memories of collecting on the chilly shores of Oregon.

Crafts found in Oregon

This is from a shop in Eugene, Oregon. She makes her own bird nests from natural materials she collects on her walks.
This is an artist's canvas covered with papers, then old letter game pieces were used.

Crafts I've picked up along the way

The folded tree was a craft I picked up at a wonderful little shop in Farmington, Utah called "Just a Bed of Roses". It was my first inspiration to working with old books for crafts.

Junkmail Journals

Here are two new journals I sewed together with fabric scraps. The blank pages are ready to be filled. I like the size of these journals. They fit in my suitcase or even purse very easily and are not heavy.

Junkmail Journal

This has been such a great project for me. I took an on-line class from Mary Ann Moss (dispatchfromla.typepad.com). She gives such complete video directions . This was very easy to put together. The "gist" of the project is to use fabric scraps, paper scraps (junkmail in particular), pages from old magazines, maps, registers, and leftover bits and pieces of scrapbooking papers and supplies. Then she taught me how to sew it all together to make the journal. Who knew my old Singer could sew paper!!! Thanks so much Mary Ann!!!
Once the journal is sewn together it's ready to take on my travel adventures to fill in. Initially I didn't really know what to add other than photos, then my friend Kathy suggested I use the journal to not only keep a record of where we've been and what we've seen, but also to give opinions and impressions, making suggestions of possibly returning in the future. She suggested adding places we missed with the idea of getting there on another visit. These ideas have helped me nearly fill my first journal, and I've put together another with even more pages to fill.
As we have more ability to travel at this time of our lives, I wish so much I had a travel journal from our early-married years, when the children were younger. There's so many places I can picture in my brain, but I just can't remember WHERE they were!!! If only I'd made a travel journal back then.

I Just Keep Folding Old Books

Folded Heart Valentine Books

Here's a new project I've been working on. It's a bit time-consuming, but I like the results. Folding the pages of old books is relaxing for me, and definitely not an exact science........there's a lot of guessing here. Some old books have pages that are somewhat fragile, so that adds to the challenge. Decorating the cover after all the pages are folded is a snap and really fun. Enjoy!
I've put 4 of these on my Etsy page called Rescued Treasures.