Tri-Color Coral Bells

This plant's beauty is in the foliage...and is gorgeous in the true light of day.

Summer's Delights in My Garden or My Church

I receive so much pleasure just plucking those nasty weeds from the dirt...and look what it gives me in return!

My spring garden weeding takes me to another place where I can just be in the moment. From tulips~dianthus~buttercups~pinks~salvia and troughts...I love it all. Will be posting summer blooms soon. Happy SUMMER!

Just thought I would ad some pics of my shop. This is an early original paint cupboard, probably a linen press at one time. It's has great storage...it's 5ft. wide with 4 shelves.

The White cupboard is wainscot and again, amazing storage. Just think how many sweater, toys, project supplies etc. you could store in this!




The walnut stepback cupboard has the original finish and dates back to the 1860's. It has peg and dovetail construction. The best part is, it's a two piece cupboard for easy moving. Lot's of storage in the two doors below.

Here is a luxury home for our feathered friends. Made by a cottage industry in Missouri, they use salvaged wood to make many delightful folky items for yard, patio, and the PORCH. We have a 2-story in our lower yard mounted on a 10 ft. high tree. It was visited almost immediately by a cute grackle...he came strutting out on the porch and all he needed was a straw hat.
Next posting will be of my flower garden which is my CHURCH.

My Work Area with Projects

Old Dictionaries for collaging. Americana made from vintage bunting. One of the witches I have made. My work area.

New York

Just spent 10 days with my daughter in NYC...I had such a wonderful time!!! She lives in Manhattan on E 82nd St, we were in walking distance to everything that I wanted to see and do. Many pics of Central Park and the extraordinary architecture, found only in that amazing city! This little brick building was calling out to me, just down the street, from my daughter's apt. It has so much charm and it's the smallest original structure on the entire st. Found out it is owned by an 82 yr. old gentleman and his 78 yr. old wife. Maybe we could buy it and my daughter and I could start a business there!!!! Well, she did some searching on the web and found out they were offered 4 million and it has air rights, so that takes care of that blue sky. The last time we were there we visited downtown Manhattan and it was a real rat race. Her neighborhood was so normal and relaxing, mother's with strollers and young and old shopping and taking care of the everyday necessities of life. Really think I could live there, the big plus would be, being close to my daughter.
I'm a displaced yooper and if I can't live in the big apple, I'm going to go back to the U.P. eventually, there's nothing like the northwoods. This was typed up in May...had a heck of a time posting my pictures with flicker. When you get to my page click on yooperA, there are pics posted there.

Ca. 1861

Here are some close-up images. All of these pictures were scanned from a volume of Godey's fashions. The framed collage is 21 in. long by 17 in. wide. Would love to see the work of some of the other collagers in cyberspace.

1861 Close Images

Here a few close-ups to my Godey's Collage. It measures 21 in. long by 17 in. wide. Any collagers out there?

Godey's Ca. 1861 Images

I have been spending many hours creating these collages...they are so-o-o much fun! I start with a blank canvas, paint, stain, distress, and stamp it to make it look old and used. I then scan vintage images, re-size, give it a patina, then print and distress with alchohol inks, stamps, etc. Cutting out the images is very time consuming, but I grew up with paper dolls and enjoy this part of the process. Placement comes next, then remove everything and start pasting! I seal the image several times, then make my own frames. Any collagers out there?

My mom just turned 77 and I made this collage for her(this is the work in progress, and failed to take a picture of the finished work!). It's all the vintage pictures I had of our childhood life. She raised 5 children by herself and it wasn't easy! I love working with vintage black and white photos...especially from the 40's and 50's. I'm going to try and work on smaller projects with fabric instead of so many images. The scrapbook stores have so many wonderful embellishments now.

Uncle Sam

This is a collage of a vintage Uncle Sam, taken from an antique book ca. 1907. The images have been scanned, sized, printed, antiqued, and distressed to give it a vintage look and feel. The images were then pasted to a painted and distressed canvas and I then made the frame and painted that, as well. The finished image is 5 1/2 in. wide by 7 1/2 in tall. Ihave several more collages, some whimsical and some are seasonal ei. X-mas, and halloween.

Handmade,Heartfelt

Looking for kindred spirits...I am involved in several areas of obsession. Gardening is my first love, however, I stitch, collage, alter books, make funky witches, old christmas men, and do needlepunch. I never make the same thing twice! I'm sure there are many more like me. I get bored with projects and usually end up trying something new. I never go to another project until I finish the one I started. My craft art is for sale, but I price them to get my time out of my work. Looking forward to blogging with creative souls like myself. Rosa