Cottage of Memories

thank you donna - i think

I had so much to do this weekend, and a perfect weekend to do it in. In an act of planning on my part, I had nothing to do outside of the house from 6:00 on Friday night to midnight on Sunday. Some of the things on the ever growing 'to do' list included: find that silly girl scout report, organize my 'little' garage(where I keep all my thrifting finds and goodies - some day I'll show you a picture), put away all of the little baskets used in the June edition of 'come play' which would then lead to the ability to put the picnic table back outside, laundry, continue organizing my studio so it would be ready for new projects, and design pages for a girl scout day camp on scrapbooking.

I'd have a contest to see who might guess the ONE thing I accomplished from that list, but if you read my last post, you'll know it was laundry because my lovely girl came home for just one day and needed her clothes cleaned for the next week of camp.  Besides, that wouldn't be a very fun contest.

Now, you may be asking, how in the world I had more than 48 hours to my weekend and only completed the laundry ? Well, have you ever seen the work of this lady ? The amazing and talented d. downey.  I just HAD to read her blog on Friday evening and see her amazing video tutorial on how to make an art journal out of newspaper. I could do that. It sounded like fun and it should only take a couple of hours, right ? Wrong. At least here where there also seemed to be lot's of other things going on that weren't on that original to do list.

Like watching our friends sons for the day / evening / overnight while they had a date night at a local outside concert venue in town. And watching the neighbors golden retreiver puppy. Oh - and with the boys came their new edition to their farm (they raise goats, bunnies and chickens and thankfully, it wasn't any of those). It was a precious, tiny, baby kitten of only 3 weeks in age that had been abandoned by his mamma. Bottle fed and everything. Meet Panther. Doesn't he look tough ? Hee Hee.

 

So, back to the art journal. Once I started glueing and painting, I just couldn't stop.  The 16 inches available on my desk soon became cluttered with paint bottles and gesso and foam brushes and newspaper.

I loved the process. The paint on the fingers and occasionally on my nose. I loved that I stayed in my pj's all day and really didn't care. I loved that my husband still loved me for not officially cooking and eating chicken strips and salad for dinner. I loved that the boys wanted to help a bit and I was able to let go and allow them to paint a couple of squares for me. (Not my usual m.o.) I loved that Sami just went upstairs on her own and took a nap with the gentle breeze of the day streaming through her window. and I loved that I finished painting all of the pages.

But now, what to do with them all ? I'd tuck them away and wait for the perfect opportunity or thought to use them. They look pretty as they are, and it wasy okay that I didn't have any purpose for them yet. Then I went to church and the perfect use for my larger book came to light. A book of praise songs and words of worship. I've been really working on giving EVERYTHING to God - to lay it down at the foot of the cross and give up control, but this is so hard for me. I like having control. I like planning.  and I don't like surprises. So all of the songs have a little something about my journey.

 

It's a bit hard to see the colors, because it's late and there is no natural light, but it's mostly brown and cream and pink. Like neapolotin ice cream. For the base color, I used white gesso and then painted the colors over it. It's not completely done yet, and that's okay. I have an idea for how I want to finish it and it will come with time.

Thank you Donna. this was perfect. the garage can wait and no-one is using the picnic table anyway. TV trays work just as good outside as they do in front of the TV.

But next weekend, I HAVE to find that report.

Blessings, Jill

another busy weekend

Seriously - I am busy.

Sometimes I love it and thrive on it and sometimes I don't. I love it when I am busy and I can be creative and I can see a light at the end and bring projects to a conclusion. I don't like it when I feel as though I'm swimming around in circles and not getting anything done. Just a little here and there and nothing coming to completion. Do you ever feel that way about what you're doing ?  I have so many projects around here, it's all I can do to keep my head above water.

I have been looking for a girl scout report for weeks now. I had it once. I know I did. I can picture it. But do you think when the deadline came and I was suppose to meet someone to talk about it I could find it ? No way. Still looking for it.

But even though I am still searching for that silly piece of paper, there are a bunch of good things going on around here.

Remember Artfest ? Well, I'm both embarrased and happy to announce that these . . .  .

are now unpacked and everything put away. These lovely bags have been sitting in pretty close to this same condition in my garage ever since I returned from Artfest in April. April ? Yep - April. See - I told you. And the only reason is I needed to find some supplies to start and finish these. . .

Post Artfest fatbook pages that a lovely dorm-mate is putting together. There were so many wonderful trades and swaps and books, I didn't know or have time to put stuff together for everything so I opted out of the fat book. Didn't really even know what one was until I saw them. So when Kristie was looking for participants for a 'post' book, I jumped at the chance. The original invitation came out in late April, due on August 1st - plenty of time, right ?  Well, a hem.. . . I started them last night and am finishing them up now.  All I need to do is tie the yellow yarn to the side. Hey - I'm within my deadline !

Then, this wonderful young man came home today for the week. I've missed him so much ever since he moved out and started a life on his own. I can't wait to cook for him and wash his dirty socks this week. (did I really say that ?) Love you Greg. You make a momma proud. And sheesh - could you be any tanner ?

And. . .this wonderful young lady is now at camp. . .again.  Her 6th week out of 8. She loves camp. I hate having her gone, but I love what it does for her. Produces an educated and fun loving and friendly and God following young lady. And a young lady she's becoming.  No longer my baby, although as many of you know - they're always your baby. We have a great system down for packing. She comes home on Friday, drops her suitcase in the laundry room, I do a load of darks and whites and fold them up and just put them right back in her suitcase. It's a lovely thing.

Well, I'm off to finish my pages so I can get them in the mail tomorrow. And then another project will begin.  Designing scrapbook layouts for a girl scout day camp I'm leading. more laundry and cooking. And then I need to start brainstorming for our September edition of this.

If I could only find that silly girl scout paper. . . . .

Blessings, Jill

show and tell sunday - paper goodness

Hello my friends - old and new. I just never know who will stop by, but I am so glad you did.

Todays subject for show and tell sunday is paper and ephemera. Not only what you have, but how you store it.  Once again, we are hosted by the beautiful Little Pink Studio (if you haven't visited yet, please do ~ Cerri' just started her own little shop and it's delightful).

As a scrapbooker, I store my paper in a very simple way. I have a great shelf and have purchased plastic paper holders from my LSS, made by Cropper Hopper. The most commonly used companies have their own holder (Basic Grey, Daisy d's, Autumn Leaves, etc) and the rest is just randomly placed in a folder. If I've purchased something specifically to go with another paper, they get paperclipped together so I don't have to go digging in the future.

HOWEVER - for me, todays Show and Tell isn't about the SB paper - it's about the amazing, fun, old, crumbling, beautiful, aged paper we all use for our altered art projects. I must admit that I have always been drawn to ephemera and have used it quite often in scrapbooks - but during the last two years as I've 'met' all of you wonderful women in blogland who use their talents to create amazing art, all of this paper goodness has taken over my interest, and in ways, my heart. I just love the stories everything tells and the way loving care was taken to write things down and document their lives. In addition, I love coming up with ways to repurpose the paper into a new piece of art.

So, come along - let's see what there is.

First of all, you may remember a post I did back in early June about the estate sale in a local town that was known for logging. It's where I found the little bike and the old bank statements and logging journals. Well, the week after the sale, I received a phone call from the person running the sale and she told me my bid ($10.00) on the left over ephemera was accepted and she had a box for me. Well, here is the box.

Isn't it amazing ? This lady must have saved every single little card she received WITH the envelope. Christmas. Birthday. Sympathy. You name it, it's there. When I get around to sorting everything, I think they'll be by event / holiday. This will take a whole day, as I am sure there are a couple hundred cards in there.

My studio is just off the kitchen, so all of my items must be stored in a practical way, adding visual interest to the shelf, since it's seen all the time. It's not a room I can just shut the door on, so it needs to stay somewhat organized. With that in mind, I decided that locker baskets was the best way for me to store most of my large goodies. While at one of my favorite stores, I found this locker basket shelf and knew it had to come home with me. I'd forgo a latte every day for the price and it was well worth it. At the top, I have my mini rolls of wallpaper and the rest houses lace, etc. 

Take a step over to the left, and you'll see another wire basket on the floor which has my favorite taller rolls of wallpaper. I have about 35 more, but they're in the garage waiting for their time in the spot light.

Enter the door in front of you and you'll be in our guest room, which I admittingly have spilled into. Why not ? The room doesn't get used all that much and I had to decorate it some how - right ? (I'll be painting the walls a wonderful pale blue later in the summer) In this room are two shelves which house:

vintage music, misc books and smaller items, like calling cards

and vintage photographs 

back in the studio, is a black spinning display rack, where I've gathered a few of my favorite game cards and bingo cards and tied a pretty ribbon on them.They are in one of the top racks.

The spinning rack sits on top of an old dresser (that was mine as a little girl) and I use two drawers for other miscellaneous items like alphabets, dictionaries, playing cards, etc.  (for some reason I can't post the photos of the drawers, but no biggy, they're just drawers!)

I hope you've enjoyed the little tour today. I can't wait to visit you all this evening too. Have a beautiful day and take some time out for yourself. Even just 15 minutes. Trust me, you'll feel better. Blessings, Jill 

so little time

My dear friends -

How does the time pass so quickly ? There is so much to say and not enough time to write it all out right now.

So, stay with me for the week and I promise to update with lots of yummy photos and just stuff about what's going on including some fabulous thrift store finds.

If I could, I'd send each of you a beautiful bouquet with these yummy pink hydrangeas that are in my front yard. Better yet, if you'd visit, these are right outside the spare room window and they'd love to greet you in the morning.

In the mean time, Jennifer and Stephanie - you might want to watch for the postman. Miracles at Jill's house DO happen :)

 

the boutique sale

For those of you who would like to come and shop in the 'Come Play Eugene' boutique, I will have a sale on Friday, June 27th from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm and on the same day from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm. If you need directions to my house, e-mail me and I'm happy to provide them. (note - Friday only)

Prices will be cut on most of the items to clearance them out and get ready for more in September. For example - paper was .25 cents a sheet and will now be 10 for $1.00 !  Embellishments are from 50 cents to $2.00, (and include companies such as Making Memories, Cloud 9, Daisy D's, K and Co, 7 gypsies, American crafts, maya road, and many more) page accents from Wild Asparagus, 25 cents each, ribbon for $1 - $2 per package, acrylic stamps and rub ons for cheap and the list goes on and on.

I took some photos of what there will be - so here is a peek in case you want to see what there is before you make the trip.

(note - this blue shelf and the little while one to the right will also be for sale)

This is all paper - and at 10 for $1.00 you can't pass it by ! And great companies too - Chatterbox, Wild Asparagus, Daisy D's, Basic Grey, Heidi Grace, and again, so much more !

Hope to see you on Friday !

Blessings, Jill

amazing weekend

What a fun time we had this weekend with our scrapbooking event in my home.  If you couldn't make it, we certainly missed you. There were some empty seats with your name on them ! So be sure to mark your calendars now for September 6th, which will be our next event in conjunction with the Coburg Antique Fair. Seating will be limited, as we will only have 2 sessions this time on Saturday only.  Keep checking the 'Come Play Eugene' blog for details, and Emily will be e-mailing you if you're already on the e-mail list.

All of the ladies who arrived seemed to have a great time - and who wouldn't with Ali in the house ? Thanks so much Ali for teaching a great album class and Tricia for being the provider of the kits and Emily for all of your hard work in the boutique and taking the RSVP's and making the name tags (and making the run to costco for me - you saved me!)  So much of our hearts went in to this event and I hope you all had fun and came away inspired and blessed. It was a blessing to meet each and every one of  you and to have you in my home. Some of you came from California and Washington and all around Oregon and we are so glad you did.

I'd like to share a few photos of some of the ladies hard at work. . . . and I don't know what I was thinking, but I don't have any pictures of the whole group of us (Lisa  - can you help me out here ? I know you were the photography queen!)

Again, thank you all for your enthusiasm. (and a big thanks to Mark and Sami for putting up with all of the ladies in the house. I love you guys!)

And for those of you who couldn't make the class and would still like the oppportunity to shop in the boutique, I will leave it set up and have a sale this week.  Stay tuned. . .I will post information and pictures tomorrow.. . .I know . . .the suspense !

Sneak Peak

Here is another peek at what will be available in the boutique on Friday and Saturday.

I've spent all day sorting and packaging and labeling these goodies. They are words and alphabets from vintage games.  There are words such as inspire, create, artist, blessed, passion, friends, family, queen, and many others. Some are in tile format and some in vintage letter cards.  There are also a few whole alphabet packs available.

Enjoy the photos and we'll see you this weekend !

Flea Market Finds

I have been wanting to participate for a long time in a little blog-land fun called 'Show and Tell Sunday'.I found it over at the Little Pink Studio, and from what I can tell, Cerri or Analise at Sugar Sugar are the hostesses. Today however, we're being hosted by Heidi at Birds of a Feather.I And if you haven't already, hop on over to these fine blogs - eye candy and inspiration for sure.

This weeks theme was 'Flea Market Finds'. That one item you saw out of the corner of your eye and made your way hastily over to the item without anyone noticing, or thinking that the treasure you eyed was any big deal. . . oh, this thing ? It's nothing. . . . . Tee Hee Hee.  Amongst a group of friends I go junking with, we call this term the 'Rooster Lung'. In other words, get your nice little self out of my way !

I have to honestly say, that I've not been to a flea market in years as there aren't that many around here. I am hoping that a thrift store counts in this case.

So, here they are. The two fun things I could recall right away that were worthy of the lunge.

The first, are these two sets of vintage flash cards. I found them at a thrift store. The boxes are no big deal and in pretty rough shape ~ and I almost passed them by. But I've learned to never let an ugly box go unopened. When I saw what was in there, I couldn't get the lids shut fast enough and the boxes in my cart. I think I even covered them with an old blanket so that no-one walking around me would lust after them and be tempted to steal them out of my cart.

These next beauties are my all time, most wonderful find. After my husband and I purchased our new home two years ago, we needed some additional seating in our living room. It is very long and we wanted to divide the space in two. I had envisioned two wing back chairs facing the fireplace, but knew that it would be almost impossible to find them at a price I was willing to pay.  Fast track to my favorite Goodwill Store, AKA The Pound. Not only is there a store in Salem, but Portland as well. I was with my friend and as soon as we walked in the door I spotted one of the chairs. Thinking in my mind that 'darn - I wish there were two. But something pulled me over there and can you imagine my delight when I saw another one that was hiding behind the pole. SIT ! I told my friend - and please, guard these with your life ! I think I scared her. (sorry Jodi). It was at that point I'd remembered to look at the price. Now these weren't going to be weighed and priced - all of their furniture already has a price on it. I was thinking maybe $50 each, and I'd be happy with that.  But nooooooooo - the price tag said $10 ! What ? $10 ? Are you kidding ? Are your sure that's not $100 ? Nope - $10. Each. What a deal. I couldn't load them in the van fast enough. And now they sit in front of the fireplace, just where they were meant to be.  (sorry about the bad photo - no light in the LR so early in the morning).

It's been fun showing you my 'Show and Tell' Items for today. Check back next week for the next theme of the day !

in the ' come play eugene' boutique

In addition to the wonderful items that Ali and Tricia and Emily will have for sale at the Cottage of Memories 'Come Play Eugene' Boutique, I will have some fun ephemera and vintage game packs for sale.

To go along with the travel them of the Cocoa Daisy kit, I will have these packs for sale.

 

In each, you'll receive a map from a vintage geography book, a page from a coin collecting book, a stamp collecting book (and as available, the countries will match), 2 vintage cards from an old card game called Touring, some fun playing cards with places of interest on them, some german vocabulary word cards, and if I find anything else that is travel related - it will be added too !

Then there will be packs with vintage game pieces in them.

The first pack will have Bingo cards, scrabble letters or cubes, monopoly pieces, dominos, pieces from a childrens bird game, and time telling flash cards (plus some other goodies)

Next, I'll have some vintage cards with letters on them. You can choose from a complete alphabet,  or a word that has been pre-packaged for you. These might include: art, create, inspire, live, be, and others.

Then my favorite, a pack with old playing and game cards. In the photo above, you see domino cards, skipbo, flinch, spell well, touring, pit and bingo.

Also available will be ephemera packs that have no theme. In these packs you'll find vintage wallpaper, dictionary pages, cards, lace, and what ever else I find to toss in there.

Don't miss out ! If you haven't signed up yet, go one over to our blog and e-mail Emily ! We'd love to see you there.

I'm sure I'll find more as time allows, so there may be some surprises you'll find as you come in.  I'll give you a hint - tomorrow I'm hoping to participate in 'show and tell sunday' and you just might see what else I may have !

(and don't worry - for those of you coming on Saturday, I'm holding out some stock so the Friday attendees don't snatch it all up !)

Blessings, Jill

Open your eyes !

Okay - I was going through my pictures from graduation again and found this one that makes me laugh and smile when I see it. I'm smiling because the blue eyes that belong to these guys are mine :) and I'm laughing because of the story behind the picture. For some reason, I can hardly ever get my family to smile normally in a photo. They either blink, make a funny face, or look away from the camera. When one of the persons in the photo is looking at me, the other is not. Wiping their face, scratching their chin. . . whatever.

The photo taken just before this one was no exception. Both M and G were squinting and their eyes were hardly open. So I said. . ahem . .yelled. . . 'Open your eyes !" And this is what I got.

Beautiful, aren't they ? And don't anyone ever try and tell me they aren't father and son. They look too much alike.