Great Things

For the next few days I'm gonna be giving some shout-outs to some great fellow Etsy entrepreneurs.

There are hundreds of thousands of shops on Etsy. You can find anything you want there--handmade or vintage. They even sell sweets and vegan treats. Yummy!

So, today I'm singing the praises of: wish it was sunday. (Yes, that is a link. Try it!!)

This shop is all about protective cases.

For the Kindle, Nook, laptops, iPads, phones. You name it. Handmade. Customized if you ask

.

She made me a padded case for my new Macbook Air. It's amazing!! The fabric on the outside is nature-themed with vines, a stag, spiderweb, birds, butterflies, etc. The inside is contrasting fuschia white little white polkadots. And since I didn't want the button-clasp that the original came with, she made mine with a zipper. It has a sweet pink ribbon sewn on to act as a zipper pull.

I had a fear of crumbs and junk in my purse getting into a button-closed side and destroying my new baby. Can you really blame me?

Here's mine:

I'll Procrastinate Tomorrow

After a loooooong hiatus, I am back to my blog.

I missed you, blog.

*smooch*

I have been so busy lately! I lost my job after taking care of the most adorable boys for 3 and half years, found a new one (love, love, love this family), traveled with the new family for a month, and now I have finally settled back into a normal routine!!

Oh, and we have been going through the process of being approved for an exchange student!!! (Can't wait to meet her through Skype in the next few weeks!)

I've been planning out the next month's worth of posts, so I am going to start tomorrow.

Nothing like a little procrastination!

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!