Garage Sale Finds

We are having our annual neighborhood wide garage sale this weekend. Just around the corner, I found a fantastic round side-table with caning as it's top and base. It needs a bit of TLC, but I am happy to use it as-is for now. I love the way it looks in our front room! We are so lucky to have it! And my favorite part, it only cost $5.00!




I found 1 more side table for only $2.00. I am not sure where I am going to put it right now. But I will definitely try out my re-finishing and painting skills. I'll keep you posted....




Linked to:
Garage Salen @ Debbiedoos
My linking properties are stubborn right now! Sometimes it takes 24 hours to work again..
To find Debbie, go here:
http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/2010/06/both-feet-on-ground-garage-salen-party.html

Punch Storage

Well, my craft room is getting there, little by little. After a lot of thinking.... I finally decided where to set up my punch storage - yeah! I also have mini punches and will probably keep them in a drawer, where I can slide it out and see all of them at a glance. I also keep a cardstock sheet on hand with my mini punch shapes glued on, in a contrasting color for easy reference. (I have a few more punches lurking around still waiting to be found.)

These punches are tucked in right behind my door and fit perfectly on the Bygel rails, found in the kitchen section of Ikea. They do not come with the screws, so I used drywall screws which were black. No problem, I got out my handy dandy silver spray paint and ta da! Just take your standard plastic grocery bag, place it on the lawn and push the screws through the bag, anchoring them in the lawn. Spray away! When they are dry, just pull the bag up and carry it inside -extracting the screws out as you need them. They won't roll away or get lost. Easy peasy.

For those of you who would like a visual...

Ikea Metal Bygel Rail Product Info:
Cost: $1.99
Length: 21 ¾”
Height: 2 “

Also comes in 39 ¼” length.

Ikea Hanging Container Product Info:
Cost: .99 cents each.
Length: 5”
Width: 5”
Height: 5”

Katie's Sketch Challenge

I finally put together my card version from Katie's Craft Corner sketch challenge! Here is the sketch I used to create my version and what I came up with. Click on the title to head over to Katie's blog~ (Ends 04/30/10.)

A second version as a birthdayy card...

Bookmarks & Fun Sayings~

This is my favorite stamp saying right now! Just cracks me up. So I thought I would make a couple of quick bookmarks. I stamped on cardstock and used colored pencils for my cocktail lady, flowers, and to add some color to the background. (The wavy vertical lines are due to the lighting I used. The original is a solid color!)

On-line Photo Frames & Collages

One of the Hewlett-Packard sites: HP Creative Studio for Home; Photo frames and borders offers free photo templates. Simply choose a template, upload a picture(s) and print out your creation! Other projects and decorating ideas are also available, and there is an email feature provided to easily send the project link to a friend. Most of the frames come in 2 sizes, i.e. 4x6 and 5x7. The collage style frame I am using as an example only comes in the 8x10 size. You are able to customize the frames according to the colors that compliment/contrast your photos, previewing as many colors as you like before printing. I printed out my finished projects on Kodak Premium Photo Paper, Glossy, Instant Dry. Visit the HP site  HERE.
 I first tried a collage of family photos from a recent birthday dinner. Some of the pictures are a bit dark, but they have great sentimental value! I chose black, as I often use it and really like the results. With these photos though, I ended up liking the brown much more.

Here are 2 versions using a brown frame.



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Next, I played with color using some of my favorite photos, and my current favorite, ~turquoise.

You can see where the horizontal version doesn't look quite right, and some of the photos do not fit well. I am much happier with the vertical version! The photos used in this turquoise frame are a mix of my own, and a couple of shared photos from the web. The fabulous turquoise sugar/creamer/white rose photo is from Leslie’s, A Creative Mint blog:
http://acreativemint.typepad.com/a_creative_mint/2009/06/playing-with-avocado-turquoise.html





HP displays this heart frame in red ~the photo I used did not look good in red, so I used their color re-set option. I was in a mono-chromatic mood and I thought I would like the green, but the photo looked washed out. I ended up with the orange/peach shade.






And, finally I played around with a colorful Easter Lily frame.

Have you used this site before?
What do you think?

Let me know what you come up with!

Blog Hopping

Just completed my first Blog Hop, on The Everyday Scrapper's first Blog Hop. You see some ideas you might have otherwise missed.:) To participate just head down to my right corner and click on their button.

Found a new blog to check out...

Found a new blog today, Can't Stop Making Things, by Gail. Given are~ "..instructions to make crafts that don't require special skills or expensive materials yet result in professional looking items that you can use or proudly give as gifts." The most recent projects have a Valentine theme. She has interesting ideas and has even given instructions to make a Greenhouse Cloche out of picture frames. Weekly posts are added with free downloads. Great instruction and photos -take a look!
http://www.cantstopmakingthings.com/