Clearly a Crafter and not a Cook

This past weekend was crazy busy but I still managed to fit in my usual Sunday morning breakfast for the family - oatmeal pancakes. I thought I would be a cool mum and make Mickey Mouse pancakes for my little one. Lets just say that I think its pretty obvious that I'm a crafter. Not a cook. Yep.

But hey, I tried.

Deals - Vintage Circus Products at Michaels

If you are head over heels in love with the whole "vintage circus" trend then run (don't walk) to your nearest Michaels and head straight for those sale bins that are typically near the checkout area (greatest marketing strategy ever - they get me every time). I was at my local Michaels picking up a few essentials and excited to stumble across the circus products for $1.50 a piece. For a long time I have been in love with images of vintage hot air balloons so I grabbed a cool notebook, set of cards and stamp. I'm contemplating going back for more... At $1.50 a piece I think I will stock up and have some of these on hand for gifts for friends and family!

In addition to the vintage hot air balloon designs there were a number of other designs in the same collection that were very cool. Like this set of circus themed cards. They are great "all occassion" cards. Perfect to have on hand when you need a card asap but dont want to trek to the store.

The prefect saying for all sorts of occasions -
Fun Times Ahead.

Eastern Redbud

I posted recently on how around here spring has sprung. At the time I was eagerly waiting for a tree in my backyard to bloom also. Finally it started blooming so I headed outside this afternoon to snap a few pics.


Last summer a local nursery was have a huge sale because they were unfortunately going out of business. I decided to take a look and get some plants to pretty up my backyard. Majority of my backyard is concrete so I was looking for shrubs and trees that could grow easily in large pots. I found a Japanese Red Bud and decided to try it out. At the time there were no flowers on it since it was late summertime so I have been waiting and waiting to see how it would look this spring. I was starting to get nervous because the tree was basically bare all winter and I was pretty sure I had killed it in a heatwave at the end of the summer (the leaves all shriveled up). And in addition to the heatwave I may have forgotten to water it... But much to my delight, it recently started popping up all these pretty flowers! Success!


I've never been much of a green thumb which is why I'm kind of excited that I didn't kill this tree. Not like my tomato plants that I got at the same sale. That's a story for another time though...

Good Things Come In Small Packages

I created this shadow box about 4 years ago...

I made it for my daughters bedroom and it stills sits on top of a bookshelf in her room. I got the idea from a project that I had seen on Twopeasinabucket. Its been so long but I'm pretty sure the inspiration for the project was from a Twopeas member by the name of Melibean but it looks like she removed the project for publication. Judging by her blog LilyBean's Paperie, and the style of her projects, I'm 99% sure it was her. By the way, her blog is pure eye candy and you must check it out! Lily Bean designs for a number of various company's and her style is so soft and pretty.

To create the project I used a shadow box and mini pots from Michaels. With a little paint, paper, natural craft moss, and faux flowers I created a similar project to the one I had seen on Twopeas.


What made me really want to create this project was because it was just so perfect for my daughter. At the time Izzy was only 1 and we had been going through some tough times with doctors appointments and trips to the children's hospital to see specialist after specialist because she was basically small. And each time test results came back showing nothing abnormal. So the phrase "grow little flower" really touched me because of what we were going through. My motherly instincts tell me that there really isn't anything wrong with Izzy, she is just simply naturally petite. My mother went through the exact same thing with one of my older sisters (whom Izzy obviously takes after). Izzy is still a petite little munchkin these days but perfectly healthy. Good things just simply come in small packages...

Just Simply Tasty.

I'm working on a fun photography thing·a·ma·jig and had to share this picture. Gosh I love plain old pretty sugar cookies.

That's all folks!

Vintage Canisters - But New To Me

Last weekend I picked up this set of vintage tin canisters at my local antique market. The seller had marked down the price from $15.00 for the set to half off so I got the entire set for just $7.50. I guess I thought it was my lucky day and couldn't understand why no one else had snatched them up before me. Sometimes I have to remind myself that just because I see beauty in something doesn't mean everybody else does.... but I certainly see the beauty in these.


So I brought them home, gave them a quick clean to get the dust off and set them up on my kitchen window sill. My husband came home from a snowboarding trip that night and I was half waiting for some kind of comment/joke from him about bringing home more junk... But it turns out he likes them (this is not the norm with my husband and my antique/thrift store finds) so I guess they are here to stay for a while!

What is really cool about these tin canisters is that they had an original Sears price tag attached, and they must be somewhat old because the price tag says $1.97. What can you get for $1.97 these days? Not a whole lot.

The tins are still empty, I'm just trying to decide if I should put kitchen items in them or craft supplies. Leaning towards craft supplies for when I do crafting in the kitchen.

A Trip to Salvation Mountain

I first learned about Salvation Mountain through Elsie Flannigan's blog.

I was so intrigued and still fairly new to California at the time so I decided to do some exploring and head out there to visit myself. It was back in March of 2009 that I went out to visit (yikes almost two years ago) I'm kind of itching to do another trip and see the mountain and Leonard again. My friend Cacey was visiting from Australia so I thought the perfect Sunday road trip would be a trip to Salvation mountain, and a quick stop in Palm Springs. So with Izzy in tow we headed out to the desert.

Salvation Mountain was created by Leonard Knight. It's a really interesting story on how he came about to create the mountain and how he got there, you can read all about it here. I'm always intrigued by people like him that really live SO differently to most of us. Hi lives a simple life and simply does what he loves while sharing a message that is important to him.

Leonard uses adobe clay, donated paint and all sorts of recycled and found objects to build and create the mountain. The vibrant colors used throughout the mountain are pure eye candy, I love it!

Its truly an amazing work of art and simply breathtaking. It's kind of like an enormous green crafting project! It's in the middle of nowhere but if you live in Southern California is an easy drive.

Leonard is such a kind man and fortunately he had some spare time to walk around with us and give us a little tour trough the mountain and shared some of his story. What a nice man. He also happens to share the same name as my father, which of course made me like him even more!

I was really in awe of his passion and love and simply inspired.

It doesn't matter what kind of religious beliefs or views you have, it doesn't even matter how old you are (Izzy was 3 at the time and LOVED the place), its an enjoyable experience that I think people from all walks of life could appreciate and plain and simply leaves you feeling good.

So if you are up for a trip to Salvation Mountain then let me know!