May Creative Fun Day Update

It was a quiet Creative Fun Day this past Saturday.   More of a brainstorming and idea generating time than one where items were created.  Ruth joined me and we talked about the various projects we were currently working on or considering.

I have been inspired to think about a new way to look at using art/craft to promote kindness and generosity in the world.  Rachel is working on this idea with me and we are getting excited about the possibilities.  At this point, I won't say much more, but I was playing with the Scrabble letter sign that I made last year and this is what I came up with:

 It is probably hard to read, but it is a start and a reminder of what we hope to work toward.  (If you click directly on the picture, you should be able to get a larger view of what it says.)

Hope you can join us for the next Creative Fun Day on June 16 which is 4 days before my birthday and I believe we will have a joint Creative Fun Day/Birthday celebration.  See you there.

May's Creative Fun Day

This Saturday - May 19 - will be this month's

CREATIVE FUN DAY!

Bring your projects / creative ideas / writings etc and spend some time creating with other creative people.  Hopefully the weather will be great and we can do some creating out doors.  You can spend the morning hunting through local garage sales and bring your finds to work on - or to get new ideas from friends.   More information here - Creative Fun Days.

Hope to see you this Saturday - Let me know if you have any questions.

Treat Yo' Self

Today was the Around the Town Yard Sales and Farmer's Market in Jonesborough.  I met Rachel down there for a round of "Treat Yo' Self" - a new favorite phrase and concept that we got from the television show Parks and Recreation.  See this link here to understand this concept - Treat Yo' Self or this one Treat Yo' Self 2.  Since neither Rachel and I like to shop in regular stores, we decided to take the concept to the yard sales.

So here is what I found today.

These old comic books from the late 50s early 60s with names like "Teen Age Romance" - "Just Married" and "Confidential Diary". I think the collage and card potential for these pages should be outstanding.   I won't cut them until after I have read them though.  Think of what I will learn!

In the same lot as the comic books I found these old booklets.  The one on the left is an old song magazines and the set on the right are booklets that encourage children to look up different items in the encyclopedia.  I should be able to have a lot of fun with the images.

I also got this for one dollar:

I intend to use this in the kitchen which means the old one:

is just waiting for a creative new use!

Finally in true "Treat Yo' Self" fashion I spent $5 on this:

It is an old printer's case that has spent a lot of time in someone's barn or attic.  It needs a lot of work, but it seemed like something I might be able to have some fun with.  I might even try to figure out a way to combine some of the old images from the comic books with the various spaces.  I will post updates as ideas come to me.  If you have any ideas for any of these items, let me know in the comments section.   And remember next time you are at a yard or garage sale, you can always use these three little words - "Treat Yo' Self".

Old drawer - New planter

Several months ago my friend Ruth left me two dresser drawers that she no longer needed or wanted.  She actually stopped by some time in the night and left them on my driveway.  This is not the first time someone who knows me has dropped off an interesting recyclable and I hope it isn't the last.

I decided recently that I wanted to try to make a planter box out of one of the drawers for my back porch with thoughts of starting a small herb garden.  I even bought the herb seeds and will be using old TP rolls as the plant starters.  (Maybe I will post about that later.)

Anyway I knew that I needed to give the box some sort of leg. I tried short legs out of small wood boxes, but then decided it would be nice to be able to stand over my currently imaginary herb garden and wanted longer legs.  So today I went to Lowes and talked to my friend Keith who suggested deck spindles as an inexpensive alternative to regular table legs.   I like this suggestion and bought four "legs".

So after a bit of trial and error, I attached these legs to the old drawer and although it is a bit wobbly I
set it up on the back porch.  (I know I will need to add some brackets to attach it to the porch to stabilize it.)

It is a bit taller than I thought it would be, but after staring at it for a good while, I started to like it.  However I was still worried about the stability.  Then I remembered that I had another drawer!  So I tried this:

I think I like this even better.  It provides a bit more stability to the whole piece and I can use the bottom drawer for either plants that need some more shade - or for "gardening" supplies.  I haven't committed to the bottom drawer yet and would love anyone's thoughts or input.  So what do you think?

The Finished Cat House

Here it is!  Here are two pictures of Rachel's complete Cat House.  It is so cool.

Join us for our next Creative Fun Day on Saturday, May 19 and see what you can create!