Random bits

This week I am in love with green and gold. 

The local art store got a face lift. I pass it every week on the way to the library for the 25 cent magazine sale. This art store (Visual Supply) is a small space but the prices are good and the owner features the work of local artists on the inside.

           "The great planting is finished", she says waving her arms with a flourish.  Since the plants were a little too short to fit into the box I filled each of the holes with a bit of burlap. The entire planting took about 2 hours and I ripped all the labels off the containers and put them in order in my book so I know what each of them are. 

            I left the two spaces by the handle free so that I can still use the handles to pick it up.  I am going to look in the floral section of the craft store for some decorative moss to put inside and add a bit more green.   

              In case you were wondering you can buy a giant piece of  80x80 inches of burlap for under four dollars at your local hardware store. I also bought a small bag of succulent grade soil to fill in the holes and the rest will go towards replanting some sad little cactus for a friend.  They have become the playground for some spiders so I'm trying to get the cobwebs out without impaling myself on the spikes.
              I found the little bird at a craft show for under $5 and it came with the stake attached so I just cut it down a bit so it wouldn't tower over the big plant.  I think I'm officially in every free rewards program around town so the big plant was free with my $5 coupon from the local hardware store.  I thought about breaking it up into smaller units but it makes a fun focal point in the corner.

Updated Journal Bag

Before



After



 I love my French Army Journal Bag but it was looking quite sun damaged and sad so I punched up the color a bit and added a bit of stitching.  I simply put the bag in a bucket with a powder dye and left it to bake in the sun for a bit.  Gave it a thorough rinsing and put it back outside to dry and finished it in the dryer.  The back of the bag has a sewn in piece of press board so I didn't to encourage secret mold.  People of all ages talk to me when I walk around with this so it's kind of fun.    I have more than can fit on this bag so I rotate them.I can't wait to find more buttons.

    Runaway...

Good News comes in the mail

       

      I found out last week by mail that  a few of my journal pages made it into the galley section of Art Journaling Magazine.  It's on the newsstands now and a nice motivation to get cracking on a new journal. 

July

    We spent the 4th in Julian, a sweet little town known for it's Apple pie. We caught the tail end of the town parade and had a nice lunch and went through a number of shops and saw an inspiring quilt show.  The car was a bit north from our normal spot and I just had to walk up this winding stairway carved out of the hillside to see what was at the top.
   It was a nice old cemetery with plenty of benches and old grave markers that were well worn with time.  It was interesting to see how headstones have improved over the years.  The sky is full of giant rain drops that are threatening to fall.

I would love to come back and spend the day drawing.

 

It rained for a bit as we took the curvy road back to San Diego.
I always fall asleep on long trips but I did make it down the mountain reading my summer book before drifting off.

Happy July.

Breakfast

The last Wednesday of the month a bunch of volunteers go out to breakfast before volunteering. I was actually quite late to this one because I underestimated how far the restaurant was from apartment and didn't count on the traffic jam for the new library.  I was walking and in San Diego eventually the construction on a block will affects the sidewalk.  My personal favorite is when someone decided that they have to dig up all four corners of an intersection at the same time and they don't put up signs until you get close to the intersection.  Luckily that has only happened twice this year and I have been able to walk in the street without back tracking a full block.

I ordered the pancakes and ate less than half of this so as not get a tummy ache.  The restaurant is closer to the Baseball field and I'm sure I will make the trek again to try something completely different.

Planting - Where is my green thumb?

 Last year at the state fair they had this amazing display of succulents and I feel in love with this old soda box filled with succulents.  They weren't for sale so I figured I would just have to make my own.  I have no idea how to do this but I'll figure it out. My body did not include the green thumb model ( I break out in hives when I try to garden) but succulents are the perfect plant.  Hard to kill and i've been collecting the materials for this project for about a month. I found all the plants in once place but I work with a budget so I split up the buying of the plants into two trips. Finding the box was the hardest part but I finally saw one a few weeks ago in this little antique shop that doesn't charge an arm and a leg for things.  I saw a Pepsi-co box the week before but truth be told I'm a Coca-cola girl through and through, so I'm glad I didn't compromise.  I sprayed the outside with a clear finish so that it will have a little protection from the elements. 

I have to figure out how to prop the plants up and moss just crept into my brain but that would mean another trip to home depot so I'm making my brain pick something else out that I already have.   

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Red and White

 I spent $15 yesterday with the splurge on the place mats but they were $1 a piece and I'm looking for red and white fabric to finish off my homemade teepee / tent.  It's a coincidence that everything ended up being red and white but they make a nice collection even though they are going to be split up.  I also bought 3 pairs of scissors and some Superman bed sheets.  I'm going to look at the way people display their collections because I think the scissors are my first official collection.  I'm sure I top 20 pairs by now and I can't wait to sort them.



I love this series of books from the 70's because it's chock full of pictures and the styles you don't see any more.  I'm working on my embroidery stitches this week and I can see that the basic stitches haven't changed.



ABC's of lettering by Carl Holmes...perfect for writing inspiration.