welcome to my nightmare

we've been staying at the local hampton inn while our floors were being redone. i pulled up to my house the first morning and this is what i saw. there were 2 huge unclosed bags of garbage on my driveway which the wind blew everywhere. last september we ripped up all the carpet in our upstairs and then in november we ripped up all the carpet in our downstairs.



we were assured that we could restain our existing wood to match our new wood. well, the first thing i noticed - the new floor on the left and the stained floor on the right do not match at all. i was told after the first coat of varnish it would look different.






i then noticed burn marks from the sander on my floor. no problem, he'll fix them after the first coat of varnish.








then i noticed huge "blobs" of stain.....and why is my molding pink?











the base of my kitchen cabinet was ruined. along with the door molding. and what's with the stain missing and streaking?
















welcome to my nightmare.

my stairs are a completely different color. my rails aren't even done!












and why are footprints on my wall?????

i'm getting the wood ripped up and new floors put in, hopefully next week. my floors, cabinets, molding are RUINED!!!




i'm going to go work on the fringe for my shawl now.....and think happy thoughts

january 19, 2006

the body of my shawl is finished and now i'm working on the fringe. i've added some beads that really don't show up very well!

january 18

i'm going to consider this artwork! i have been collecting um's forever with hopes of mounting them. i wood mount all my stamps, yeah i'm so old school. so first i have to look through every one of them to make sure they're still wanted! the ums not wanted get scanned and listed on a swap board.







the ones i'm keeping go onto foam cushion, gets trimmed and measured to get the correct size mount. then i stamp the image onto the wood. (i've been using staz-on with great success.) the rubber then gets mounted onto the wood and voile! i have a stamp ready to use....well, almost!









i scan each of my stamps and keep track of them by category and company on my computer. i love being able to view them on my computer with ease instead of searching through the bins. i also find when i have a certain stamp in mind for a project i end up being inspired by others!









so finally, when i'm done with the computer work they get sorted into bins by category on my wall of stamps until i'm ready for them to come out and play! i've been doing this for about 5 days now.

i'm taking breaks to go to fencing meets for my son and choral programs for my daughter. i've been knitting while sitting....so i'll have something else to show y'all soon! enjoy!

january 12, 2006

i got inspired by a photo to make this bracelet cuff. it worked up in a few hours and i love it! hope y'all do too!

january 11, 2006

a quick card i made with a hearts-in-touch image. i love silhouette stamps!

january 10, 2006

someone asked to see my purple kitchen - so here it is! my floors are being redone. they were supposed to start on tuesday. hopefully they will show up next week! we have put in all the kitchen fixtures and changed all the knobs. next i hope to lighten my cabinets, put in different counter tops and then get new appliances!


there's a little hall in the back of this picture that leads to my office on the right. there is also a little bathroom there.








here it is, ta dah! no, this is not my office.....lol! the bathroom has been painted with one of those fancy technique from the paint store. (i love my string curtain!)



you can kind of see the brush strokes, yes?

this is hanging on the wall opposite the candle holders. this photo was take by my friend Amy Scheld. i fell in love with it and asked for a copy. they are all rusted "beauty" type cans. the hairspray can label says "just wonderful!" i love it!

January 6-7-8-9, 2006

This is a page in Pam Thomas's book that I did. It'a an altered artist's quote round robin. The pages were blank s0....I added text pages, antiqued them with walnut ink, put a tissue paper on top with gel medium. The doll was inspired by Somersest's Workshop Book, she was collaged and stamped. The pages and then the doll were dry brushed with acrylic paints, edged with krylons and then embellished with more tissue and glitter glue. Time to get it on the way and onto the next one!

january 5, 2006

i took a class at a local beadshop and learned how to make this necklace. hate the clasp and the focal cluster came out a little large, but i love the technique and will definately be playing with it a little more! it's loaded with swarovski crystal and i'm thinking i should just take it apart and redo it? am i crazy???? gotta get to those journals, why do i keep letting myself get distracted???? gotta figure out that mental block because i still have a quilt to finish!!!

january 4, 2006

this is a piece of special fabric paper i had made. it's with dog hair and fibers and bits and pieces of other "stuff."

the words kari had posted the other day struck a chord in me and i added them to this piece.

enjoy!

january 3, 2006

this is a view of my dining room put back together from my purple kitchen! it still has a long way to go. i can't seem to find a rug i like. my floors are going to be redone a little darker beginning next monday. i want to get rid of the yellow tones. i'm not looking forward to this - but i'm looking forward to enjoying it after!















here is a picture of my dining room from my green foyer. although it really isn't that color green in real life. next to black my favorite colors are sagey greens and dark purples. i also love copper colors. and periwinkle. i think i just love color!















ta dah....what all these lovely pictures look like in my scrapbook!

january 2, 2006

my house is a work in progress. i will consider it artwork as it gets my creative juices going!

this tray was made from an old mirror that i took out of the frame and put on a piece of wood. i added 4 large wooden balls that i painted black for feet. i glued on beads around the edge until i was happy. the cake is made from silk flowers, petals, ribbon and trim. arielle made the smaller piece. you can see the wooden feet on the small mirror tray her piece is on.

i re-uphostered my 6 dining room and 4 kitchen chairs with a velour animal print.
















with the leftover fabric i recovered my chandelier shades. it cried out for some tassel trim and maribou!



i had crackled my dining room table. the base coat is a metallic copper and the top coat is my favorite color - black! i'm hoping to get to my breakfront soon!!!!

January 1, 2006

my first bit of artwork in the new year! Wish i was better at photography, but hope you can tell what this is. my daughter took a square block of plaster and carved a frog. i helped her to finish it off, just a little. more like teaching, but it still got my creative juices going so i'm counting it as my 15 minutes of art for the day!