pamgarrison

summer yard shots

This planted truck is still one of my favorite  moments made this summer. My son and I were planting, he is afraid the little, little, plants because he thinks he will break them (and sometimes he does, he's mostly gross motor skills vs. fine motor skills type of boy), so we decided instead to tuck them right into this old truck he used to play with. I never got rid of it, always planned to use it on a buffet with silverware in the bed or candles or flowers, napkins... endless uses really. It's just so darn cute planted! I think a little collection of three or so planted would be fun at a party or outdoor dinner table.

This side section of our yard is one of my favorites. We filled it with pea gravel, which I love...the sound, the look, everything about it, and I had the gate made right on top of the existing metal gate so we wouldn't see the pool equipment and trash cans. I bought this square pot at a flea market about 15 years ago and love how it's losing it's white paint through the years.

I've got a little problem with loving buckets. They are just so handy, and shaped so pleasingly, and usually cheap, because, well, they are just metal buckets. They are waiting to be pressed into service as a trashcan, planter, soil storer, who knows...

Still on the side yard, a table that gets pulled into service on occasion, an old trough for ice and drinks.

Here's an instagram I posted of a carload of plants. My son is really wanting to work on the yard but we have found that our eyes at the nursery are bigger than our desire to dig when we get back. We've adopted a new policy of one cartload=one carload=all we can get per trip. So far, it's working well, we'll see if we can keep to it.

The motivator for this nursery trip was to use this bucket (bought about 25 years ago at a flea market. Don't know what it was for, says something water district on it. The green is due to the bucket fully patinaing naturally) as Amy suggested,  as an herb garden. Loved the idea instantly, thanks Am!

Here's an instagram of the planted bucket with plant markers. It smells delicious every time I walk by it. Can't wait to use the herbs too in cooking.

If you like the plant markers, a google search brings up lots. I used a chalk ink to write on them.

How cute is that Boxwood Basil plant? I had to get a couple of those.

Enough shots of things around the yard? How about some plants then?

David Austin Abraham Darby is a long standing favorite.

Just looking at all these photos has me wanting to go out there, but I've a little more inside work to do first.  Hope you get to spend some time in your yard too, if you like that sort of thing.

Happy weekending :).

new etsy listings

I've listed a pastel version of the You Are Loved print over in my etsy. Thank you to those who have asked and been patiently waiting for it.

I've also listed two new embroidery sampler patterns printed on cotton. One is the pattern made for Meg's Craft Weekends, and one that I want to embroider and make into a pillow for my desk chair.

                 This is the chair I'm envisioning the pillow on. They both have a similar retro feel to me.

I've had another computer move again, can't quite get it right yet. In this latest move I brought the desktop computer out to the family room vs. the office. I needed a real office chair if it was going to be on this taller table I will use as a desk. {You can see the little children's desk I just got from a friend on the left of it.} I searched on the internet and liked this one,  this one, and this one, and then decided instead to go scrub the one I had in the garage that I brought home from my Dad's office when he was closing down his company. I think he's been using it at various offices since the 60's or 70's. Those I share the house with weren't too fond of it, so I took the instagram above to get quick feedback from people whose taste I trust, just to make sure the nostalgia of it wasn't clouding my decision to override the nay votes here. I got a thumbs up from instagram friends, so I'm going with it and am continuing on with moving my focus out here. I can't wait until I get a system that really works best for me figured out and am not wasting time on it!

caught a glimpse of Christmas

           

Just a glimpse, as it flew by as fast as it came. Full of guests and sweets treats, gifts and good times. It has been a good year, and we're enjoying every last day of it. Until the New Year...

happy memorial day

house book close-ups

Thanks for all the house book love! This little book makes me so happy, and I am glad the love came through in the video. Michelle is getting together some new kits that she will post on her etsy soon, so good news for all of you that want to have some fun of your own. Before putting it away, I thought I'd take a few more photos for you. So much of the fun and the love is in the details...

 
One of my favorite parts of making the book was numbering each page. I tried to use a different method on each page, whether I was stamping, or writing, or cutting the numbers or words out of books like this one here. When putting the book together, I sometimes used a and b after the letter especially when the pages met in the middle like doors.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by my house :). Let us know if you make one of your own!

home sweet home

 

 

Years ago, I bought a house kit from Michelle Ward and went to town adapting it into my very own little ode-to--our-home. I remember how much fun I had working on it, joyfully obsessing over it until it was done. Just a reminder that there are so many different ways to journal/scrapbook/whatever, and endless subjects you can memorialize while doing so. Here's a quick little look into what I ended up with.

{I've asked Michelle if she's got any kits left, I'll let you know when I hear back, but feel free to go look around and while you're over at Michelle's check out the cool way she's making a big difference.}

one step closer to finished

It dawned on me that I already had a vintage towel bar I could use on the back of the new island in the making. I bought it at the flea market long ago and we had previously attached it to a piece in the garage. It works out just fine, nice and light, and about 3' long. You can see the vintage wallpaper I chose to use and bleached, painted, sanded and peeled once it was on. Now to get a piece of marble cut for the top...the final dreaded step...

meet my easel!

Remember how I said I was out playing with a new toy? Well here it is! My Dad made me an easel out of an old rolling clothing rack he found left in the rafters by the previous owners. I put some big paintings on it so you can really get an idea of the size. There are 3 paintings on it and the smallest in the upper right corner is 18x22 just for scale. Anyway..... Isn't it great? I am in heaven. It's so beautiful, but I think I need a wide angle lens to really capture it to show you. Here are some of the details that my Dad made that make it over the top cool to me:

 

Isn't it great?!? So I got down to playing a bit...

 

 

couldn't resist

I'm playing outside today with a new toy (of course, I'll show you more on that soon). While out there I decided to really enjoy myself and cut a bundle of roses and lemons from the garden and put them in a $10.00 jar from the flea market. It felt so indulgent, cutting them to make my creative time more pleasant...just for me. Isn't that silly?  Cutting and arranging them is happy making itself! How could I have forgotten that?

 

It's the simple things in life, right? I'm determined to see that and work on living that more and more. For the holiday weekend, we went to Palm Desert with friends. On the last night,
after the nightly game of flashlight tag on the golf course (where I was most often "it"-or should have been, but they took pity on me- due to the fact that I was afraid to run full speed for the "safe" lantern on a hilly golf course in the dark...am I getting old, or is the back surgery too prevalent in my mind? Probably a bit of both), we all lay down on the grass looking up at the stars. After a few of the kids said they saw shooting stars (all at different times), and there were doubters among us, I said, "I hope we all see a shooting start that is undeniable go across the sky". Right then, and I mean right when I finished saying that, we did! It was thrilling! We all shouted at the same time, struck by the magic moment. My girlfriend said I literally kicked my legs back and forth in the air. Now, I'm not sure about that, but I do know that moment, the excitement we all felt and shared together, will bring me happiness for years. Joy, it's as simple as seeing a shooting star with some loved ones.

i've been obsessed

I am in love with a piece of furniture. Isn't she a beauty?  It's my new kitchen island, and it's been taking up all my "free" time for about 2 weeks straight. Here's how it looked when I bought it at the flea market:

 
 

Since this photo, my Dad has rebuilt the base for me, (upon arrival home the base fell off as did a wheel), and then I scrubbed and bleached the entire thing, (especially the yucky inside), stripped the paint off the glass fronts of 15 of the drawers (three are wood), primed, sanded and painted inside the drawers, removed hardware, (about here I started to question whether it was going to end up the treasure I imagined it to be when purchasing it), went to Restoration Hardware for paint (pale silver) and bought hardware. Realized how ridiculous their hardware prices were, made plans to return hardware (in other words, it's on my to do list). Went to Lowe's and bought the perfect handles for .99¢ a piece; came home with those to discover they won't work. I have to find hardware that screws in from the front, unless I want to completely take the cabinet apart and rebuild (uh, no thanks-not that I even could).  Then painted the front, top and one side of the outside, sanded, repainted and glazed those sides. Applied vintage wallpaper to the back, bleached, painted, sanded wallpaper. Ordered this beauty to span the entire back of the island (as the back will face the sink) Yes, it was quite pricey, but it's the only 4 foot towel bar I could find. Went on a fruitless internet search for pulls that you screw in from the front that are thin enough for the one centimeter edge. I'm sure they're out there, but I was getting cranky googling/ebaying etc.... began the second round of wondering if all this work was even going to pan out...Went to Muff's antique hardware in Orange Circle and after almost giving up even there, found 18 pulls that I hoped would work perfectly:

I think they do, don't you?!? Here's a view of the drawers before and after:

And then I started to  believe that it was really going to be as good as I'd originally hoped. There's still a bit to be done: I think I'll fill and paint a few of the holes from the old hardware, I've got to get a pane of glass to replace the one I broke while working on it, I think I'm going to have a remnant of carrera marble cut for the top so I can roll out pie crust on it,  and my favorite part: filling the drawers and putting it into use, and admiring the result of all that obsessing! I think it'd be a fortune if found this way at a cool furniture store.

{oh, and yes, that middle drawer is a mirror, I'm going to leave it that way}

After getting home from the grocery store it was great to have a big open counter to put all the bags on!

What got me all fired up to do something cool for the house was this show: oh! their kitchen table, their giant painting, their antique lanterns in the master bedroom, their basketball dome, their clever, clever ideas are soooo inspiring. Another inspiration: this cutie here, that I'm doing this alongside. I love people that love homes and share the tales of making their home what it is.

Now that that's out of my system, hopefully the regularly scheduled crafting can now resume!

problem solving

Surely inspired by dottie angel, I made a snowflake curtain to cover the window behind our tree. It creates a lovely backdrop and I feel oh-so-clever for putting it all together. We have a wall of windows in our living room that are still in need of window coverings. (I just can't figure out what to do in that room, but that's a problem for another day.) The windows let in beautiful light for most of the day, and therein lies the problem for our Christmas tree. It can't take such direct heat and light. See what I mean?

So I grabbed a really old and destroyed tablecloth that I was saving to make big lapkins out of. Um, not sure what happened here, but it looks like it's been through a lot. There's a large tear as well as the burn.

 

Since doilies are having such a moment in the craft world, I too have caught the fever and been gathering a few. The rest are from JoAnn's Fabrics and were $1.00-$3.00. With those and a few upholstery tacks, it looks like we'll have our own version of a white Christmas.

Now for the yucky part: off to put the lights on. Not sure how or when that became my job, it didn't start out that way. But I want to have the tree ready for a family trimming  tonight, and that makes it worth it!

{Ed: Hey! Check it out, maybe it wasn't only dottie angel in the back of my brain, but Martha. After seeing Alicia's post on her darling doily packages, I clicked her inspired by link and there was a snowflake curtain! Although, of course, Martha being Martha, and Martha's people being Martha's people, it is perfect and beautiful. I like it better on a sheer fabric even, although, for my sun exposure purposes I wouldn't have been able to go that way. Everyone loves doilies, don't they? Martha has more ideas here}

hope you had a happy thanks

As I continue the clean up and put away, I wanted to stop and say thank you to you: friends I know, and friends I don't, lurkers and commenters, regular visitors and first timers. I am grateful for all this blog has brought to me and that includes you. With many thanks and good wishes, xox, pam

this morning in my playroom

       

        

 

 

 

                             

     

 

in a 70's sort of mood

When taking photos of the wall project of last post, I edited out this plant, but then I started taking pictures of it and the other two I had recently bought for inside the house. It surprised me how much of a 70's vibe the plants have to me. This next one is in the living room and I had been looking everywhere for one (although I don't know the name of it, sorry) as I had seen it in every home magazine and wanted one for a giant pot I have. Isn't it funny that plants go in and out of fashion? This big leafed beauty is even in the current Pottery Barn magazine for proof of that point.

 

And while at Home Depot this past weekend figuring out a way to hang the wall art boxes, I stumbled upon this guy and couldn't resist bringing him home. All the plants were bought at Home Depot in the houseplant section, but none had tags on them, so I don't know what it is either. Here it sits on the dining room buffet. That's a French antique wine bottle drying rack on the wall next to it. I've got a good idea for it to come in a future post!

fini!

{Grrr...I double photo-ed here, but lately, if I delete a photo once added, everything else becomes underlined, so I'm not going to bother. You'll just get to see it from both sides :)}

I'm finished with my little wall art project for now, and we even figured out how to make them hang-able and hung them too! I had to toss around the phrase, "we've been here for well over a year with nothing on the wall" a lot to get full cooperation with the above,  but it was worth it. I like them!  Thank you for all the great thoughts and suggestions. It's so fun to brainstorm creatively with others; you know I can't get anyone in my house to discuss a craft willingly with me! Happily, this little set seems to be appreciated by the whole family, which is not always the case with things I make (my daughter still "doesn't get" the coffee filter garland...). They all probably like these because they were involved in the gathering of all the parts. Using just a few shells from my childhood made the house piece extra special to me, so I suppose they feel the same. Speaking of the shell house, it ended up  looking like this for now:

I did extend it a bit, but I couldn't bear to cover up the Paris postmark on the paper I bought there last year (see it below?). I also filled it in quite a bit with tiny shells.

The third piece is a tray made using a family photo taken by Tara Whitney at our favorite beach a few years ago. It sits on top of a piece of marbled paper cut out of an old ledger. The marbled paper reminds me of the ocean. I wired it on under a piece of glass. I tried mica instead of glass, but you couldn't really see the photo. My printer is l.a.m.e. so I may reprint and switch out the photo when I get new ink, or change to black and white, but for now it doesn't bother me enough to worry about. Here's the finished box on the same shutters I used to show you the others:

 

I hung a tiny little bottle off it and I'm either going to put some sand or water in it that we collect next time we are at the beach. First I thought sand, but then remembered Janice Lowry's cool water collection and liked that idea better.  So, when you look at the other things hanging, do you read it as "us" or "U.S." ? It's funny, it took me awhile to see it as "us", but now I do.

And there you have it! I'm done for now...but I do wonder if eventually I should add two more...hmmm...

oh my!

Ok, I'm so behind on all the news out in the craft/blog land, I know. But in case you are too, I wanted to share. Just recently I was told that Rachel Ashwell has a blog, which I've been enjoying. But apparently Kaari Meng has had one for quite some time now. I have been a fan of French General's ever since I saw an article on Kaari and her cute sister Molly Meng (who has her own stationary business) years and years ago. I think it was in Victoria? or maybe Martha Stewart Living? I can't put my hands on the article but I tore it out and dreamed of visiting their New York shop and Tinsel Trading while I was at it. Speaking of which, check this out...oh, heaven on earth! Even the rustle of the old paper packaging makes my heart skip. To be on the treasure hunts that Kaari describes on her blogs would be thrilling for me. I love to dig for treasure, but I don't have to tell you that, do I? Well, how about this treasure hunt? I can only hope my place in line is up high enough to go, and I don't even know any details. I think Kaari might have to stay in France for the summer entertaining groups and groups of interested folks- she just might have unknowingly opened Pandora's's box! Oh that Chateau...I could go on and on but know I don't need to, her post will make you swoon.

Anyway, those are two new blogs to me, you all might have been reading them for awhile now. If you know of any new blogs or have started one up yourself, feel free to leave us all a comment so we can follow the link.

Hope you have a creative day! I'm getting off the computer now to go make something. The kids are back to school and my fingers are itching to get lost in something.

{The photo has nothing to do with anything posted, but what's a post without a photo? This is the kitchen chandelier with the sun hitting the remains of the birthday bash still on it. I thought it worked for new years, so I left it up. Off to take them down now...}

scenes from a summer sunday

plums from my neighbors yard

gathered nectarines and plums from our yard

apples growing on our tree

old hardware for the potting shed doorknob.

the view from my seat on sunday afternoon.

simply summer. trying to slow it down.

it worked for about 15 minutes.

random update

Hey there. Been away too long, sorry about that. Here are some flowers from the garden. Whenever I'm down, cutting flowers always brightens my mood. Of course, the scent of the antique roses is heavenly, but the viburnum are my favorite this year. Here they are in close up.

They look like those paper flowers sold at scrapbook stores, so light and perfectly shaped.

I was fortunate to spend the night Saturday with two of my best college friends, laughing and chatting and feeling the years between now and then slip away. Easing the sadness from the tragic events last week, all while enjoying this view.

Gorgeous, right? We were in Pauma Valley, staying at my friends parents' home. So beautiful there. I miss them already.

I have been tagged as a thinking blogger, and  appreciate the fact that Hanne, Nicole say my blog makes them think. I'll have to think (ha ha) about five to tag, there are just soooo many.  Nancy tagged me too. Thanks for saying that my blog knocks your socks off Nancy! Bloggers are so generous with their support. Here are some roses from the garden for you, girls.

So, this is a craft blog, so how about some crafting? Honestly, I haven't been doing much. My back is insisting that I rest, so there has only been some light creating. I'm at the point now that I'm frustrated and feeling guilty about the things I can't do, which is a very good sign that I'm getting better. So... I did some simple simple playing with the chocolate boxes from Easter. Here they are before and after adding some wallpaper scraps.

You know how I love boxes, the smaller the better. And of course, love vintage wallpaper. I know you do too, so finally, new packs are really in the works!

I'm aiming at having them in my etsy shop (pamg.etsy.com) by Friday afternoon. One of the packs is all flocked! Oh my! I'm also going to have some other items, still working on them. Here's a sneak peek of some.

I also wanted to share some of the new things I've bought from our fellow indie crafters over on etsy.

An Easter egg from the witty and creative Cari Kraft. I had my daughter hold it so that you can tell how big it is. Perfect for the front door.

I haven't stopped wearing this gorgeous piece by my friend Amy Hanna. She still has a few pieces left from her last posting, but boy, they sure do get snapped up quickly. So you can catch a piece if so inclined, a little birdie told me that she's aiming for a new collection just before Mother's Day.

I also recieved this adorable frame from Corey Moortgat. Isn't she clever? She has many others available here. She's also back to blogging now that she's given birth to her newest baby and her book. Many congratulations on both Corey!

From Naoko over at etsy I bought this adorable ID Holder that I'm going to use for my ipod. Sooo cute.

Ok, must go back to heating and icing the back. -Exciting teaching news coming soon!

 

aaahhh, that feels better

For the past three days, everything around here has been wrapped in plastic. And I mean everything...  I don't know why I was thinking it wouldn't be, but it caught me by surprise. As usual, I wasn't organized ahead of time. It did force me to spend 3 days in my art room though. More cleaning up most of the time, but I did make this little canvas. Funny, when I was searching this book for quotes, I was thinking about the feeling the little one in the photo portrayed and picked the one above. After I finished stamping it I realized I was probably heavily influenced by the fact that I have been displaced in my own home for days.

Some of you have asked what color I chose. I really didn't put much thought into it, just pointed to a very neutral beige (Sandcastle by Dunn Edwards) when the painter showed me the interior paint sample book. After having stronger colors for so long in much of the house, I really wanted to go with a very neutral pallet throughout. It's ok. Had I tested it on some spots previously, I might have picked something with just a little more tan to it, but it's plenty good enough as is. I am loving how fresh and clean everything is, especially all the white woodwork.  Here's how things look now in the upstairs hallway, downstairs and family room.

...except the plastic is down and I once again have computer access. Yeah!!!  I realized that if I had a laptop, I could have been able to get emails and blog etc. this whole time. So, that's my art earnings goal: to earn a laptop. Going to go move some things back in place. Back to other creative pursuits tomorrow...

random bits of Christmas decor

I owe you a nice big post, but in the meantime, I'll share some bits of Holiday cheer that I happened to photograph yesterday. How we  typically decorate for Christmas is to do a few spots over the top. We buy a tree (which you can see the star on the top of it hiding where it's wired to the ceiling) and hang this winter dreams banner from the ceiling near it. I'll show you more of our tree when we finish it. Here's a few ornaments from the tree starting with a Wendy Addison heart.

I just bought this bird ornament at my visit to Paris to the Moon. I wish I remembered the name of the artist, but it's not written on the back. It's not mass produced.

I also bought this frame there, which I think is Wendy Addison's line for Midwest Importers, which nestles a Tara photo of my not so wee-ones.

And here's the front door. The wreath from last year lost it's Two Turtle Dove Swag and gained another wreath to the back, so that's a bottle-brush wreath on top of a wire star wreath on top of a silver tinsel wreath. There's some fresh garland on the door frame, with some glittery branches tucked in the middle. See what I mean about a few spots over the top? Plain and simple mixed with glittery abundance.

Happy Monday!