Farm Chicks eye candy

This past weekend I travelled east over the mountains...and through the wheat fields...to Spokane and the annual Farm Chicks Antique Show.  Now in its 13th year, it has become one of the premier vintage events in the country.  I had never been...so when my friend Liz mentioned it a few months back, we began planning...

As we drove across the state Friday morning, I received the pleasant news that I was the recipient of two early admission tickets...courtesy of a last minute giveaway by Katelyn Foutch via her blog, Foutch Coutch.









Katelyn is a professional photographer who does work for Serena Thompson, brainchild/genius/cheerleader behind The Farm Chicks...Katelyn had two extra tickets and decided to share the love...it was the perfect start to the day (yes, even though it was pouring rain...we were at the start of the entrance line and there were Krispy Kreme donuts) with the extra bonus of Katelyn being the sweetest peach you could ever imagine...that's her in the middle with the red polka dot bandana in her hair...surrounded by friends and family who were all part of this Idaho troupe...

Without further interuption...here's what caught my eye...

A little later in the week...what went home with us...

Note to self

Junk...one love of my life...but sometimes it gets the best of me. 
I've been having a hard time finding an effective method for organizing/ cataloging/just plain keeping track of
what I have...

Every once in a while I get a wild hair...and then all sorts of things go out the door - to other artist friends, to Goodwill, to other deserving souls.  I'm thinking of expanding my etsy shop and offering for sale junk that I either
1.  Have a sufficient quantity so parting with some of it would never be noticed by me and it might make another soul happy.
2.  Picked up so long ago that I have lost my initial inspiration and nothing hits me now so might as well have someone else give it new life.
3.  Couldn't bear to throw out but it has great potential!

My current project definitely falls into the third category...I have had this bag of cream colored circles for years...I'm not quite sure what they are made of...but I think they might be ceramic...they look like old poker chips but there's no marking of any kind...I just knew they had potential so they sat in a pile, waiting patiently...

The inspiration finally struck...I have an idea for making wire baskets and wanted to attach some sort of number tag to the front of the basket...like these that I saw on Pinterest...and then I saw other pins of number tags...using round disks with an imprinted number...and it hit me...the eureka moment...I have some round disks that I could put numbers on!

Gathered up the disks...dug out my supply of rub-on letters...played around with numbers and letters...drilled a hole in each disk with my Dremel tool...sprayed a finish coat of semigloss polyurethane for protection...and ta-da!

The polyurethane can was almost empty so the spray was inconsistent...but I like the mottled effect it produced...
I'm thinking of using a crackle finish on the next batch...

But before I tackle that next batch, I'm off to The Farm Chicks Antique Show in Spokane...going with my friend Liz...I've never been so I'm looking forward to seeing all that junk...looking at all that potential...discovering all new inspiration...

and still challenging myself to find a way to keep it under control...that be the junk...not the inspiration...

The mighty mason

The mason jar...one of the staples of vintage inspiration...ubiquitous and versatile...I thought that I had seen every possible configuration from storage to light fixture to soap dispenser but on my recent trip, I saw yet one more idea that I had to try myself.  Start with one mason jar...did you know that Classico Pasta Sauce is bottled in Atlas Mason jars...no, the jars aren't vintage...but they are a classic design...which makes them timeless...

Add in one screw top canning band and a piece of hardware cloth.  Even though I had some old canning bands that were rusty and gold colored, I purposely bought new bands because I liked the burnished silver color and thought it worked better for this project...it was only $3.50 for a box of 12 bands & lids...I had plenty of hardware cloth around...available usually in the garden section of Lowe's...its fairly rigid which is ideal for this project.

I cut a section of the hardware cloth with a pair of wire cutters...conforming it to fit inside the canning band.  This pair of wire cutters worked like a charm...that's the beauty of old tools - sturdy and reliable...and one of the best finds at an estate sale...whenever there's a garage or basement at a sale, that's where I head first.  Not only are there interesting treasures for use in my artwork, but I always pick up whatever hand tool I might need - cutters, pliers, rasps, awls, etc.  They usually have wood handles, are better made than current models and have the added bonus of great patina!

I pushed the cut section of hardware cloth inside the band, slightly bowing the wire outward...it fit snug without any adhesive...and will be kept firmly in place once the band is screwed onto the jar.














My mason jar/flower frog vase is complete..I added a stalk of parsley and a few blooms from the garden...

With the hardware cloth acting as a flower frog, three stems are easily arranged and stay in place to make this simple display...

Such a simple idea...ideal for summer entertaining...add a few posies to the patio/deck/porch without a lot of fuss...linking up to Mission Possible: The Great Outdoors...plenty of inspiration with plenty of summer time ahead...

More alike than different

Three weeks ago when I attended the book promotion for The Pulse of Mixed Media, it was interesting to hear the collective responses to several of the questions posed in the book...and that my personal experience mirrored many of these responses.  Though the art is personal, the approach is often universal.  I am not a classically trained artist...I have always have a creative bent and dabbled in some art classes in high school (and even won a city-wide art competition at one time...receiving a set of acrylic paints!) but my scholastic pursuits were of a more serious nature...with the end result to be more "employable".

After 20 years, I returned to art...and though it doesn't pay the mortgage, it does feed the soul.  Once again this year I will be participating in the juried art show, Fresh Paint, here in Everett.  I started working on a few new collages back in January...and then they sat...laid out on my work table...incomplete...direction unknown...




initial start on bird no.3 collage

 



During The Pulse of Mixed Media book event, Leslie Avon Miller talked about how she keeps the paintings that she is working on close by so that she sees them on a regular basis and they can "talk" to her...and it is by this process that she understands the direction of the piece.  This comment resonated with me...I often leave a piece on my work table...where I will see it everyday and "hear" how it needs to be completed.  I also work on several pieces at once...the collages that I started in January are part of a five piece series...and I learned at the book event, that the major of artists profiled in the book, work on several pieces at once...and that they want to work in silence...no background noise/distraction/commotion for me!

After 4+ months of incubation...here is the finished collage of bird no. 3...

I love the graphics from old vintage dictionaries...but this bird is different than the one at the start...he (or is it she?) wasn't facing the right direction so was traded out...kept the brass stencil 3 with the back of the vintage raffle ticket showing thru the opening...

in case you were wondering...the foundation of this piece is a well-loved mini-cutting board...I like the shape...and the fact that its wood so I can attach pieces with nails (the stencil) or drill holes to thread string to tie on items (the feather)...I'm all about using items at hand...I veer away from traditional art supplies...

A perfectly white feather adds a light touch...

and the topic of time always seems to creep into my work...evidenced by the old timepiece gear & spring...














So mark your calendars now...Fresh Paint Art Festival, Everett Marina, August 18-19...hope to see you there...

There's no place like home

I've just returned from a mini-vacation...The Southern Man and I travelled to Virginia to visit family...and to take a little time to unplug and unwind...
and now that I am back home in the Pacific NW, I'm reflecting on how important "home" is...no matter who you are or where you live...

We spent half of our time in Charlottesville, a small university town where the Southern Man's daughter and husband live...we hung out at the house, walked around town (admiring the cute homes and charming porches...such as the porch I captured in the opening photo) and soaked up the warm sunshine...from observing the backyard chickens, I gathered we were not alone in enjoying the weather and our surroundings...

During our visit, southern man's daughter & husband learned that their offer on a foreclosed house had been accepted...though the housing crisis has had its share of sad stories of loss...it was gratifying to see this young couple's dream of their first home come to life...under a housing boom, they would never would have been able to purchase this 1930's Dutch Colonial...but given the current economic conditions and being in the right place at the right time, they now own their dream home...and all the excitement (and work!) of making it their own special place.

While in Charlottesville, we visited Monticello, the famous home of Thomas Jefferson (or T.J. as locally noted).  Its an incredible estate with nothing less than an incredible man at the center of its creation...it was easy to understand why T.J. relished this retreat and truly felt at home here.

For the flight back to Seattle, I picked up the June issue of House Beautiful magazine at the airport newstand...and saw my vintage-inspired stairwell highlighted as one of 20 Makeover Ideas...their magazine has the perfect tagline -"We believe everyone has a beautiful house in them".  I strongly believe that one's home should be a welcome retreat and a nest in which to find warmth, solace and peace...incorporating simple ideas such as these 20 suggestions will make your house into your home...

As we opened the door to our house and breathed a sigh of contentment, I found comfort in the fact, that though I love to travel and relish all the experiences that come with it...there is no place like home.

I spy inspiration...

I am always on the lookout for ideas...especially for potential projects...once you get into the habit of thinking "what might be" instead of "what is", there's no turning back...inspiration is everywhere...


One of the best things about working at Lowe's is using my "what might be" radar on all sorts of products...and sometimes I don't know what something is, so the "what might be" knows no limits...
case in point...

One morning I saw these concrete blocks with wires sticking out of them...I thought it was some sort of support packing material for store product...I find out that they are Dobie blocks, which are used to hold rebar in place while setting a concrete foundation...the texture of the concrete block is great and the wires have the tiniest bit of rust forming on them...I buy 10 of them (at 50 cents each!) and take them home at the end of the day.

There is the slightest indentation in the center of the block...my plan is to bend the wire around a glass test tube (which will rest in the indentation) and have a very rustic looking bud vase.

I get to work straightening the wires...they are heavy gauge so this takes a bit of work...I decide to leave the bent ends so there's less chance of gouging a finger on a sharp wire and the bend adds a little flourish.  The dobie blocks come in squares of 9 or 16 blocks...and are broken off according to how many blocks are needed.  I bought several singles and a couple of sets of two.

To form the wire support to hold the glass test tube, I found a metal rod (part of an old curtain rod) the same size in diameter as the glass tubes...I used the metal rod for support as I wrapped the wire. 
I was able to tweak the tension and turns of the wire with a lineman's pliers using the metal tube as the interior support on which to pound - a much more durable material than the glass...and when I was done, I slid out the metal rod and slipped in the glass tube.

To add to the mix, I decided to use two of the blocks for picture holders, turning the wire into concentric circles to hold a photo/tag/card...

All I needed to do now was snip a few flowers from the garden and add a couple of bird tags...

here's a closeup of the wire support...

It was the easiest project...and I love the contrast of the rough concrete with the smooth glass...and with the heavy base, I can use these vases out on the patio and the wind won't knock them over...

Linking up to Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special...mmm...what other ideas can I find for inspiration...
and also linking to Not Just a Housewife, Show Me What Ya Got and Coastal Charms, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday...