Messing around with book covers..

 One of my graduate school professors once called me a Renassaince woman--I am pretty sure that referred to the fact that I have a wide variety of interests and activities  (and only a few skills that are truly mastered as  a result).    So once again, off in a different direction!

         I have a pile of book covers from the old books I have dismembered for decorating purposes.  And    

        this one in particular simply called for something special to happen.  I love the central panel and its aged weathered look. 

                                                

    I added some birds cut out of vintage paper...

And a canvas twisted rosette.

 

 Stamped words on canvas cover the original title and author printed on this cover.



A bit of timeless inspiration to hang on the wall in the corner by my desk,

Quick yard decor project

We live in the country, in North Dakota. Think strong wind and snow will fall soon....  Which means no fragile yard decorations...  Ane we live a long a fairly busy road with traffic passing by at 60 miles on hour so if I wanna impress the neighbors, small won't catch their attention.

I decided I wanted to add a little halloween to my fall display.   So as I thought about what I had available, I came up with this idea for an owl...

I used packing tape  (should hold when it freezes overnight)  and took the corner of a black garbage bag and taped one corner over the middle of the top of the bag.  Then I pulled two corners around front and down a ways to make wings.   I cut circles from the ends of a bag of bird feed for the eyes.  I also taped a bit around the corners of the white bag so the ear tufts stayed a bit more pronounced,  And although it does not show up well, I used duck tape to make some wavy designs on the front for chest feathers.  Quick, easy and kinda cute!  The ghosts are a white garbage bag cut in half with some fiberfill stuffed and tied in the corner.  I tied bolts to the bottom to try and keep them from totally blowing away but the wind is pretty strong today.

I'd love to know if you make yourself a yard owl and see the picture!








 

Being a Grandma is awesome (even if I feel too young to be one..)

This is Lydia. The most perfect granddaughter ever.   She is almost three months old.

She wakes up smiling and giggling.  She is so very happy and content.

Who knew that each stage of life and family is a wonderful as the last?

and a touch of humor

I have a very large (like 110 pounds) lapdog. Max loves to curl up on the couch next to me. But Max and the couch did not get along.

My beautiful leather couch got destroyed by Max enthusiastically jumping off when he had things to do. 

At least he has the sense to look a little bit guilty.  The answer is probably to train him to stay off the couch but I really like when my dogs are curled up next to me on cold winter nights.  And I am a pushover for a sad puppy face so keeping them off the couch is not likely to happen.

And so I came up with another temporary no cost fix.

I made a patch that makes the couch useable and a bit less ugly with a touch of humor thrown in,   And now to go do some research and see if my couch can be repaired.  I wish the cushions were removable and seperate rather than sewn into the couch.  >sigh<  It would have made life so much easier.  Because of the way it is made, a seat slipcover just would not stay in place.

I just don't understand why some people don't like sharing their living space with animals.....

Creative or Crazy Shoddy?

We have a large bay window in our living room that looks out on our very private 3 acre backyard. I took down the blinds the came with the house as we had never closed them in 3 years. There remained a very nice but unremarkable white valance that did nothing for the view or room. I haven't decided whether to hang decorative drapes on the sides (and what kind) or whether to put trim aournd the window.

So long story short, I had one of those middle of the night crazy thoughs and had to try it out.

Can you guess what I have done?  with book pages sewn together?

I made temprorary drapes out of vintage book pages!

They are sewn together and hung on the sides and across the top of the window.

It is definitely something I haven't seen except in my crazy middleof the night thoughs.

The color of the old paper works well in the room....

Ta daaa...

I lightened this one so you could see a bit better.  And haven't mastered photoshop so I couldn't brighten and lighten the inside without blowing out the outside.  So please excuse the BRIGHT view.

It makes me smile so it will stay temporarily and probably get tweaked a bit until I decide on how to dress this window.  So what do you think, creative or crazy shoddy?  (and any suggestions for a real treatment for the window are most welcome).