Maggots

Today's post is not for the squeamish.

Or the kind.


It's only for those of you with control over your gag reflex and a devilish streak.

I was making dolmades this afternoon for our dinner tonight. If you don't know what dolmades are, they're a ground meat (usually lamb, but I Americanized them with beef) and rice mixture rolled up in a grape leaf. Good eating!! Anyway....

I had 1/2 of the ground beef in the mixing bowl with the rice and various other ingredients. The other 1/2 of the meat was still in the syrofoam tray beside me. As I was squishing the mixture with my hands, some of the rice flew out of the bowl and onto the beef on the kitchen counter.

Later, as I was putting the extra, unused beef into a ziploc to freeze for later use, I noticed that the rice kinda looked like maggots in there. Ewww. Then, the first thought in my head was to leave the rice in there. Why? Because I am leaving for a month next week and my hubby is going to be the one cooking dinners. And wouldn't it be funny if he got this bag of meat out to use for the spaghetti sauce one night while I'm gone, and he noticed what appeared to be maggots in it!!! *Evil grin* Of course, I won't be here to set him straight and he would freak out!!

But I didn't. I picked the rice out like a nice wife, and let out a sigh of disappointment as I was putting it in the freezer.

XOXO

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am not into buying big presents or store-bought cards, so I made Mr. Rust Magnet and Baby J my own cards on Photoshop. I love heart-felt, homemade sentiments. I hope they do, too!! I wasted so much cardstock trying to get these printed just right--I am ashamed to admit it. (All those test sheets did at least make it into the recycle can. That has to count for something....right?)

His:
Hers:


I hope all of you are feelin' the love today!!

a 1000 words

This has been a three-week long project, and I finally got it all put together.

I started with this:

Blocks of wood (maybe candle holders??)

Vintage reflector numbers (a Canton purchase MONTHS ago)

Broken photo holder ($0.99 at GW)

And this is what I made today after drilling and painting and sanding!:

They are for sale in my Etsy shop!

All Keyed Up

I recently bought a huge lot of old keys, and I've been deliberating about what exactly to do with them. A couple of weeks ago--before the ice and snow came, and the weather was in the 70s--I spent the day outside and refinished 7 oval frames I'd acquired. The plan was to sell them on Etsy, but I found a fun way to use them today.

I sewed a collection of keys onto some cotton duck and framed them, using those oval frames. I used batting to make the fabric puff out, and blue thread to bring out the blue paint in the frames.


I like the way they look--I am going to make a couple to keep and use in the computer nook. The ones here are for sell in my Etsy shop.

Befores and Afters

Last night, I decided to be creative again! After getting all that sheet music, I thought it'd be nice to actually DO something with it instead of just having it sitting around the house.I started with this:


And ended up with this:
It's the biggest wreath I've made. (2.5 ft in diameter. The opening in the middle is 8" wide!) It was an accident. I didn't trim the music down enough. Oops!


I also used my sticker maker to make labels for these little bottles I found the other day.

Some buttons and muslin to accent, and now they look like this:

No idea what to do with them!! I'm gonna stick them in my Etsy shop.

And, today I repainted a picture frame I found for cheap. It looked cheap! Terrible 70s brown finish, but it had great flowers on the corners, and I could see the potential. I forgot to take a before pic, but here it is drying in the garage.

2 different coats of paint and a coat of glaze and some sanding!! I have big plans for it, but I don't want to reveal what it is to be yet. I will say, though, it won't be framing a picture!!

I hope the rest of the week is as productive as the past 18 hours have been!!
Time to pick up my girl from school!
Bye!

Choirs of Angels

I happened to be perusing Craigslist this afternoon and I typed in "sheet music" in the search. The top listing that popped up was in the FREE section. It was for 3 boxes of vintage sheet music--most of it church songs--in Haltom City. I called the lady and she had just listed it minutes before. I was her first caller on it, and she promised to hold it for me. Yay!! *Fist pump in the air*
So Mr. and I drove out there this evening--it took us an hour to get there--and lo and behold there were four big boxes of perfect, yellowed sheet music.



I haven't looked through it all yet, but it looks promising. I love this one, La Boheme: Opera in Four Parts

Here is a book of "modern songs," printed in 1939! And it cost $1.50 at the time! Ouch!
The first song in the book is "The Sleep that Flits on Baby's Eyes". *sigh*

And there are some notebooks that someone compiled of favorite songs, I suppose. The notebook paper in the binder is brittle and worn and some of the artwork is very pretty.
I have grand schemes for these books! I hope I have some free time in the near future to work on my projects.

Dirty Little Secret

Yes. I have one. And today I am fessing up to it.

Ready?
I have an obsession with taxidermy.
Kind of gross, I know.

J got a jackalope for Christmas from me. It's awesome. We hung it in her "living room" ( although I secretly wanted to keep it in my closet to hang my necklaces on its antlers.)

And today, I bought six taxidermied ducklings on Etsy. They are cute and macabre at the same time.
Maybe I can display them at Easter....


And I found this gorgeous blue-throated bee eater (never heard of it before today) in the same Etsy shop just now. Love it!! (Don't feel like throwing down $50 for it, however.)



This is about as far as I am willing to go right now.

I don't think I'll be buying things as freaky as this:
Too macabre!!

Or wearing taxidermy accessories with my nice dresses like so:



And this is a big design no-no in my book:
Yikes.

Yeah....I think I'm done...