Mr. Bonz, The Sequel

Those of you who are regular visitors might remember the story of Mr. Bonz (July 15th post), a half-alive kitten I found abandoned while on a walk. I took him home not expecting him to make it through the night, but he made it! Not only made it, but is thriving. Here is the original photo of him in my 16yo son's palm. See how tiny he was...



And now three weeks later, he doesn't even fit in Casey's palm. He has about tripled in size in that time. Here's a photo taken today. I tried to get Casey's hand in the pic so you could compare to his previous size.



And he is SUCH a wild man. He tears all over our bedroom, jumping up and down off the bed, whipping in and out of closets at top speed. It is so hard to realize that this is the same kitten as the bag of skin stretched over bare bones that laid dazed and apathetic in my hand on our trip home after his discovery.

I can't tell you how much God has used this kitten to teach me so much in just three short weeks. For instance, how much He cares about ALL His creatures, enough to bring Jana and I to just the right spot at just the right time. And that if He cares this much about a frightened, dying kitten how much He must care for human life. This kitten has taught me the value of life in all its potential. The need for all living things to have the chance to grow and thrive and fulfill their God-given destiny. It has also given me hope for a community I care very much about...my local church. We have been through such a nightmare these last few years. I have despaired that our body would ever again thrive, be healthy, make a difference in our local community. I had written us off as dead, ready to walk away. But just as I thought this kitten was beyond hope, but discovered that careful nurture, tender love and a willing worker could resurrect the dying, so I am tentatively beginning to hope that there are second chances for our church as well.

Perhaps you have something in your life that you have deemed beyond hope...a marriage? A floundering child? A friendship? A terminal patient? As long as there is a breath of life, there is hope. I don't usually go in for introspection and sentiment on this blog, but I wanted to pass on the lessons that Mr. Bonz has taught me. May he, and you, live long and prosper.

Seinfeld Inspired Tags

Yes, you're right...the Seinfeld influence is nowhere to be seen on these tags. But I was watching Seinfeld while creating them and "Seinfeld Inspired Tags" sounded like a better title than "Yet Another Collage Tag". I found some vintage embroidery transfers recently and was experimenting with using them in collage art. These are the results.



And a halloween mini-banner...I'm not one who likes the really ghoulish Halloween decorations and figure I must not be the only one out there. When I found these Retro Owl vintage greeting cards, I thought they'd make a fun, more feminine, Alternative-Halloween decoration. So I harvested him off his Get Well card, cut around all the intricate floral detailing and mounted him on this spunky grass green paper. A slight touch of Barbie pink pinked matting brings a feminine touch before going the more traditional route and adding a spider web patterned paper. Then the fun part. A corrugated heart adds a bit of the primitive with its "Halloween Fun" message. Pink chenille hanger. "BOO" lettering. "Owl" tag. A ruffle made from a page of Leaf Art craft instruction. And we're all set!



A Sneak Peek at a new listing on Etsy, a "Dream" flora and fauna-inspired banner.


Charity

Vintage Wallpaper

Isn't this floral stripe wallpaper the prettiest thing! I estimate its age, because of the colors and fragileness as dating from the 40s era. I found it about a year ago and love it as much as the day I discovered it. Below are a couple of the things I've made with it. I especially like the look of it combined with vintage sheet music. I decided to go ahead and make some available on Etsy. I will probably only do this one or two times as I love this to the point of stinginess! LOL!

UPDATE: This has sold.

As Promised...Thrift Store Finds

I went thriftin' Wedsnesday. I was hoping to find some rolls of vintage wallpaper and books with great illustrations. While I came up empty-handed there, I did find lots of other papercrafting and collage supplies. So here they are for your viewing pleasure (only other thrifty/crafty types would understand why we enjoy seeing each others' "junk")!

Two great vintage girls' patterns. As you can see, I've already started in on these. The groovy one will be a card and the other is the beginnings of a collage.


Assorted vintage greeting cards. There are some funky 70s owls in bright orange and yellow. One pretty cottage card from the 40s. And lots of florals which will probably become tags.


Bits and pieces of costume jewelry which I most likely will use to adorn vintage bottles a la Brenda Walton (see link in sidebar)


Vintage embroidered pillowcases. Got these for .50 each! I like to use them when creating cottage-style pillows or totes. Here's an example of a tote I made a few years back using a vintage pillowcase. The tablecloth I will most likely combine with a funky red print and make a couple of aprons.



Paper mache rabbits and swan. They need a crackle paint treatment, I think. Then some embellishing.


"Swanky" cards. Vintage boudoir lady (only two, unfortunately) and 4 5-packs of the tuxedoed gentleman!


Assorted craft supplies. I'm not sure what I'll do with the baby sock roses. Perhaps make a little bouquet in a vintage shoe? And I have no intention of taking up tatting, but I couldn't just pass it by when it was only .50 and the 9.99 price tag was still on it! So...the Beginner's Tatting Kit goes to whoever posts here first that they would like it. Shipping is my treat!

Wanna Try Some Papercrafting?

I've put together some "Pocket Packs" collage kits for those interested in trying a bit of papercrafting. Each pack contains more than 35 items. Each pack is different, but will contain vintage music, paper, illustrations (originals torn from books, NOT print-outs), trims and such. They come in a pretty floral pocket salvaged from a calendar. And they are only $10. I will combine shipping for those who want more than one. These two are currently on Etsy with more to come.

Americana Color Scheme


Pink Floral Color Scheme - UPDATE: PINK PACK HAS SOLD, MORE TO BE LISTED!


New Pink Pack on Etsy -

Heart Healthy Breakfast Smoothie

I love to make fruit smoothies for breakfast. This is one I made up today and I thought I'd share it with you. It is a heart-healthy recipe that makes enough smoothie for you and a friend. Raspberries would be an additional heart-healthy addition, but I had none available.

Heart Friendly Berry Smoothie

10 fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup cranberry-blueberry juice
8 oz. nonfat strawberry yogurt
8 ice cubes
1 tablespoon flaxseed oil

Whirl in blender until well blended.

More Baby Cards

So I lied...I'm not done crafting for this week. I caught up on the housework, the cupboards are generously stocked with foods, the laundry is done. You know what that means, right? It's time to PLAY! So I made a few more baby cards with the stash of baby illustrations I recently liberated from a vintage book on sewing. These will end up on Etsy.

A Junkin' Day

Today is HiTCH Day. That stands for Hail The Conquering Hero, the day my sweet husband comes off his two week work shift and returns home for two weeks. He works two weeks at a time in a remote location in the Arctic Circle managing one of the oil fields there. So every two weeks I shuffle off to the "big city" to either deliver or fetch. This is also the day I hit the thrift stores. His flight is earlier than normal this week so I'm hoping to have time to pop into some antique stores as well. I'll share pics of any findings later. For now...it's a-huntin' we will go!

Charity

Food Ruts

Today was grocery shopping day. I've noticed that I tend to cruise down the aisles on automatic pilot, pulling the same-o, same-o tired items off the shelf. Which leads to cooking the same things over and over. Which leads to culinary apathy around here. In order to get out of my food rut, I've been making an effort to buy a couple of new-to-us items everytime I shop. So far I've tried leeks and made Leek Potato Soup. And I discovered sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil which I LOVE and have used in a variety of ways. And artichoke hearts, not particularly adventurous, but yummy on bagels along with the sun-dried tomatos and cream cheese. I recently picked up some mango chutney. Haven't a clue what to do with it yet, but I heard it's good on curry and we love chicken curry. At the same time I bought some tilapia. I know, I know...that trend has already come and gone, but we're not exactly on the cutting edge here in rural Alaska. Today I picked up some mix to make crab cakes and plan to give that a whirl later in the week.

Anywayyyyyy...I am OPEN to ideas here. Tell me about the weirder things on your grocery list and what you do with them. I am BORED with my shopping list!

Charity

Between Two Extremes

I consistently seem to fall into two opposite, yet equally distressing extremes. I either get absolutely no crafting/sewing done (which makes me miserable), but am able to maintain a lovely home, prepare yummy meals and keep up with the laundry. OR.....I have a veritable creative blitz and make tons of fun crafts, but the laundry piles up, we're eating sandwiches and the house falls apart (which also makes me miserable). As you can tell from this week's posts, I've been on the crafting edge of the cliff. I have an excuse! My men were all elsewhere so no LIVE thing was getting neglected. But regardless, the house now needs my attention. I've put on my cleaning clothes and shoes and am ready to hit it. This is the last craft pic I'll share for a couple of days. Time to do my Susie Homemaker Thang.


Bird, Shell, Floral, Pearl-filled Tussie Mussie

Sweet Baby Cards

I ran across a vintage book about sewing for baby that had the sweetest illustrations in it. I have enough illustrations to make 5 or 6 of these two-card notepacks. The first one is below and I will send along pics of the others as they come out of the studio. I love the sweet colors and precious little faces on these quaint images. These will go in my Ebay Store





And just put these into my Ebay store as well...

Winter Whimsies

UPDATE: This item has sold.

While these are not recently created pieces (I've had them on Ebay)I just added them to my Etsy shop and so thought I'd repost them. I will be doing some similarly-themed winter pieces under glass domes in the next week or so. I'll share pics when I get them completed. While I have some absolutely wonderful antique silver birds that I will be using in the scenes (they were wine bottle toppers, I think?), I need to get some bottle brush trees and a few other "wintery" things and have not been able to find them locally. One disadvantage to living in an area that is shopping-challenged!




AND SCROLL DOWN FOR A GREAT BUY ON A SMOCKING MACHINE! The post is getting buried fast. Guess I've been overly chatty lately! LOL!