Clothespins - not just for laundry anymore

Don't everyone fall over in surprise but I've been creating and crafting lately and I've actually enjoyed it. Believe me, it shocks me too!

I've fallen in love with the idea of painting things. I love to take something old or merely functional and with a little bit of paint and embellishment, make it pretty as well as practical.

That was the idea behind my recent clothespin project. Really it all began when I couldn't find any plastic clips for my potato chip bag. I had some extra clothespins around but I wanted something with a little more flair so an idea was born.

All I needed was a quick trip to the craft store for some supplies and I was off and running.

Note the very sophisticated drying rack, nothing but the best for me!

I finally found a use for scrapbook paper!

Once the scrapbook paper is cut to the right size, I Mod Podge the heck out of it...covers a multitude of sins, love that stuff.

and voila - the finished product ready to adorn a chip bag near you. Put a magnet strip on the back and they're great on the refrigerator for holding notes or pictures. I'm kind of in love with them.

more backyard treasure

One of the first things I found in my backyard of junk treasures was this cute little pig. I haven't given her a name yet, maybe somebody has a suggestion for me?

I have thrown out a lot of the stuff that was left in the back but I knew that this little piggy had found her forever home with me.

As you can see, she loves dressing up and posing for my camera. Isn't she adorable?

Rustic country

Sometimes you don't even need to attend a vintage fair to find treasures.  Look what I found hanging around in my own backyard.  The previous owner left behind all sorts of stuff, most of it not to my taste, but every once in awhile I find a couple of gems. Today was one of those days.

Creative

I'm going to confess something.

I am not artistic.

I can't draw worth a lick, ask all my art teachers throughout elementary and high school. I can't sew or knit or crochet despite my mother's best efforts...and believe me, she tried again and again and again to force coerce interest me in at least one of those crafts. I also have never had any interest in scrapbooking even though EVERY friend I've ever had has been crazy about it. And don't even get me started on how I feel about rubber stamping.

Despite all of this, I've always thought of myself as a creative person even though I'm still not sure what I want to create. At least I'm pretty definite about what I don't want to create.

So the above stone, given to me by a dear friend, has become my inspiration for life. I want to spend my life creating beauty in some form.

I once saw a leather cuff bracelet with CREATE on it and I've wanted one ever since so when I saw the Junk Girls booth at Goat Hill, I was thrilled to see a large selection of leather cuffs.

Each cuff sported a brass plate with a word hand-stamped on it. Best of all, the Junk Girls were offering free personalization during the show so I could get a bracelet made, just for me, with my special word on it. Bliss! I knew I could only buy one thing at the show and in the end it was an easy decision.

The whole process was fun, I got to place my order with Jenny from the Junk Girls, who is an amazing artist, and we tweaked the design until it was perfect. I picked out the leather cuff and then Melissa got to work banging her hammer on the anvil to stamp the letters. Speaking of creative endeavors, metal stamping looks like fun! I have all sorts of ideas for future projects.

After the brass plate was stamped, I was taken over to Bombshell Betty's booth where Betty (aka Jodi) attached it to my leather cuff with brass tacks. The end result was a piece of art that brings back wonderful memories of the beautiful Goat Hill vintage fair every time I look at it.

I really wish I could end this blog post by telling you about all the wonderful things I've created in the month since I've been wearing this bracelet every day. Yep, I wish I could.

ok, maybe I've been up to a little something

Ta ta for now! Have a great weekend, my friends.

Goat Hill Vintage Fair

Recently I attended my first vintage fair. It was wonderful and beautiful and so much fun. I loved all the creativity in the booths and even the clothing worn by the attendees and vendors was fun and sassy. I was in my element. I would LOVE to have a fun booth to decorate and sell things. Notice I said "decorate" first? That part seems waaaaay more fun than selling but I have a feeling that selling is more important.

Goat Hill has been around for a few years and used to be held on a goat farm (yeah, I know you were wondering about the name) until it got too big and had to be moved to the county fairgrounds. I didn't know anything about it until this year but now that I know about it, I plan on going every year!

I'll shut up now and just let you enjoy the Goat Hill loveliness!

I'm sure you're wondering what I bought. I mean, come on, there's no way I could go to the fair and not buy anything, right? It's true, I bought something, something really special and meaningful to me but it's not in any of these pictures. I'll tell you all about it next time!

Time for Tacos

Mr. French and I just LOVE food trucks. Unfortunately there aren't any trucks down in our neck of the woods (anymore) but luckily San Jose isn't too far away and at least once a year we get to travel up for the Taco Festival of Innovation. Isn't that a mouthful of a name?

This lovely gathering of 40 or so local food trucks has been going on for 3 years now and we've been every single year. Each year they get a little more organized and the entry into the festival is a bit smoother. The meeting planner in me winces each year when they don't have enough signs or people at the entrance but at least this year they started processing pre-sales early and gave us all wristbands so that we could stampede  walk like ladies and gentlemen into the fairgrounds at the rope-drop with no delays like we've experienced the last two years.

Once inside you're overwhelmed by the sheer number of trucks.

There is variety as well. Even though this is called a "taco festival" there are many cuisines represented - Mexican (naturally), Korean, Japanese, Middle Eastern, traditional BBQ, Hawaiian and Indian are just some of them. Each truck offers their own unique cuisine in the form of a taco so that it's easy to eat and affordable. All menu items are under $5 so that you can sample from multiple trucks. That's our favorite part of this particular festival.

Some of our favorite tacos include pork belly, falafel and kahlua pork with bacon jam. I'm especially fond of the bacon jam!

But if I'm going to be perfectly honest, the tacos are not my main objective. They could take away all the taco trucks and I'd still make the drive up there for this

Fairycakes are little bits of heaven! I discovered them at the first Taco Festival and fell in love. I've been thrilled that they have attended every year. I hope they never stop. They are the best cupcakes I've ever eaten...and I've eaten a lot so I know what I'm talking about. They have a huge variety of flavors and they are always coming up with new ones.

The last two years we've just bought one cupcake each to eat at the festival. This year we got smart (it was bound to happen eventually) and brought home a box of six...ok, technically only 4 made it home. We tried salted caramel, maple bacon, turtle cheesecake and Boston cream pie.

My favorite was maple bacon...or maybe salted caramel...possibly Boston cream pie...although you can't count turtle cheesecake out of the running. ;-)

I can't wait to go again next year!

Prairie angel

 

There was much delight and joy around Jasper's Cottage this weekend. First of all, little Shifu Peanut is feeling much better after his operation and the ear is healing nicely. It's still a little crumpled, it usually stands straight up, but we hope it will be back to normal soon.

Another source of joy - the mailman brought me a very special present on Saturday. Remember how I mentioned that I missed out on the first issue of Prairie Style magazine a couple of years ago? Well, if you don't remember you can read all about it here. Anyway, someone wonderful and special and amazing read that blog post and just happened to have a few extra copies of the premiere issue sitting around her cottage and voila, she sent one to me. She's definitely my prairie angel and I thank her for not only sending the magazine (which I LOVE, btw) but for also being so sweet and encouraging through our email exchange last week. I definitely have a goal to get Jasper's Cottage "magazine ready" this year.

And that leads me to another joyful event that took place over the weekend - I finally got to go shopping for a few "pretties" for the cottage. There's been a loooooong dry spell on the shopping front this year so it was nice to be able to get a couple of things I'd had my eye on before they disappeared from the stores.

 

Do you recognize the blue floral basket that I drooled over 2 months ago in Target? It's mine now! Mr. French came along on the shopping trip because he needed to pick up a few things to redo our shower. Normally I kind of like shopping alone but this time it was ok that he was there because he insisted that I get the larger white floral basket as well. I said no at first but then I let him talk me into it. ;-) I also got a new comforter which looks great on our bed, not that you're going to see any pictures of the bedroom anytime soon. It's not blog ready to say nothing of being magazine ready. I've got a lot of work to do.

But you can catch a little glimpse of the beautiful new comforter as the background in this picture of the elusive premiere issue of Prairie Style from 2012. I'm so glad to have it, there are many gorgeous houses in there. My favorite house in the magazine is also featured on this blog - Dreamy Whites.

Here's my beloved blue floral basket being put to good use. I have so many "inspiration" decorating magazines and books, I may need a third basket...at least that's the excuse that works for me!