You Can Call Me Gwen

Trash to Treasure

 

 

Sadly, my house guests left yesterday.

Happily, we finished a project together while they were here, so I'll remember the visit often.

I went for a bike ride one morning during their visit and saw this perfectly good drying rack old crib at the curb waiting for big-junk pick-up (I love big-junk pick-up week).

 

 

My Seester-in-Love and I went back later with her van and picked up the piece we needed.

I had a long hinge in the garage, salvaged from a previous re-purpose.

We purchased some security wire and crimps and we got down to business.

Our new lay-flat-or-hang-to-dry drying rack is now installed on the previously big blank   laundry room wall.

 

 

It latches to the wall with a simple cabinet door catch.

 

 

When it is open, it hangs from security wire attached at the wall and the bottom of the top rail.

 

 

Yes, I painted the wires to make them 'disappear' when the rack is closed (I have a mild-to-moderate case of OCD, which I prefer to call "Visual Sensitivity").

 

 

When we finished hanging this, I immediately had a tremendous urge to do a load of hand-wash or delicate laundry.

Thankfully, it passed, so I just staged this for you, Dear Readers.

 

 

But, hey, I'm prepared for next time.

And, speaking of next time, I'll be back to show you the reason I was tuned in to see this old crib at the curb in the first place.

See, I have one of my own, so wrapped up in sweet memories that I couldn't bear to part with it.

It is currently being repurposed, as well.

Every single piece of it.

Here's a sneak preview:

 

 

I have a mild-to-moderate case of excitement about this.

Actually, that's not entirely true.

If you know me, you know I'm rarely mild-to-moderate about anything in my whole, entire, complete life on earth in the whole wide world.

Go big or go home.

Hand-Painted Napkins

 

 

One of the things I came across in my recent massive house-purge was a set of twelve cloth napkins I had cut (long ago?) and not hemmed.

I hemmed them this week.

Let's just pause and enjoy this information for a moment.

Today  I painted a fun new-to-me design on them.

Here they are:

 

 

They are a little, um, strange, no?

So...

Yo.

Tell me whatcha think.

Scrabble Tiles Rock

 

Well, let's see, this is my Tenth Day of Retirement,  so I guess I've missed posting a few days of wonderfulness (in which I went to see Bryan Adams' photo exhibit, among other things).

Today, though, along with other activities shared with my houseguests, I made my Little Brudder the dishwasher sign he requested.

 I pulled this stuff out of the studio drawers:

 

 

My Beacon's 3 in 1 Craft Glue had seen happier days and had to be cut open.

There just happened to be a scrap of balsa wood in the drawer (another vote against ruthless studio purging - sigh), which made a nice lightweight base for the tiles.

 The tiles were glued to the balsa wood first, and then I cut the balsa wood close to their edges using the craft mat and Xacto knife.

The magnetic strips were self-adhesive, but I used some glue on them, too, just for insurance.

 

 

Et voila!

 

 

Now, if I could have laid my hands on them, I would have glued these tiles to actual Scrabble tile racks (cut down a bit first) and glued the bottoms of the racks together.

Of course, that would have made the piece a lot heavier, and I would have needed my stronger magnets, which I also could not lay my hands on today, so I guess it's just as well.

On an unrelated note, the relatives brought these two fine specimens of doghood with them:

They are BIG dogs, but they are nice dogs, and they wait there patiently while we are in the kitchen, which they are not allowed to inhabit.

On another unrelated note; I took my Porsche out for a spin yesterday and happened to pass this pile of trash waiting for "big junk pick-up" at someone's curb.

 

My Seester-in-Love and I went back later with her van and picked up a piece of the baby crib that's hiding in there.

We started the re-purpose today, so ya'll come back.

Same bat-time.

Same bat-channel.

Ker-pow!

Gnomes for Little Hands

 

Dear Diary,

Want to see what I'm doing with my Fourth Day of Retirement?

I am not doing the grocery shopping or dropping my trunk-full of donations off at Goodwill.

I am also not clothes shopping for our vacation or going to Home Depot or the fabric store to pick up things I need to finish house projects.

And, to be completely honest,  I am also not showering or getting dressed.

It's cold out there and I just don't want to.

Instead (so far), I am watching old movies... 

 

 

...with my feet up on the ottoman and a drawer full of felt pieces, threads, and needles in my lap.

 

 

I am laying finished pieces of felt on the arm of the sofa next to me...

 

 

...which will some day turn into a set of little gnome peg dolls like these, which I recently gave to an "adopted" grandshoot of mine.

 

 

 

The sweet patterns (some I have altered) and tutorial are available from the generous folks at Wee Folk Art.

I do feel very privileged to have the option of staying home and sitting here in peace today, making things for no particular reason.

I really am very grateful.

But, it hasn't kept me from thinking...

..."Now if lunch could just be delivered, everything would be perfect."

Coat Rack Made W/Thread Spools

 

Dear Diary,

Want to see what I've been doing on my Third Day of Retirement?

I finally finished the coat rack that Creative Genius was kind enough to make for me many (too many) years ago.

 

Since we transformed the coat closet into a play-space for the Grandshoots, we've really been needing a coat rack.

I priced double hooks for this 48" piece several times.

Did I think they would get cheaper?

I just couldn't bring myself to lay out the money.

Then one day I had a brainstorm (my favorite kind of storm) and thought, "This might be a good place to use some of those wooden spools I've been wishing I could display."

And then I thought, "Why not use the ones that still have thread on them and enjoy the color?"

So I did.

I gave them a few coats of Mod Podge, spaced them evenly across the board, and then just screwed them in with white "All In One Screw and Anchors" because that's what was in the garage.

I hung the framed family photos - which Miss Mary Mack had given us at Christmas - over the rack, even though, technically, it's way too high on the wall.

Then I needed something with a little color, so I moved "The Beetle's Devotion" papercutting from the family room (I'm seeing it like new again - nice side effect).

 

It was a serendipitous move, a pleasant surprise, to see how nicely the background color played with the laundry room wall color (especially since that door is almost always open!).

 

 

As I stood in the hall snapping these photos, I looked anew at this grouping on the opposite wall:

 

 

I'm not a "cat person", but I found these little, bitty cards in a gift store while I was on vacation many moons ago and just kinda fell for them.

I brought them home, had some mats cut to fit standard size frames, and hung them up.

One of my Seesters said, "Is this one supposed to be me??"

 

 

I never said that.

But, I sure was thinking about her and all the good times we've had while I was working in the hallway today. Bwahahaha!