Testing the new Blogger format.....haven't figured out how to add words yet. In the meantime....some Thistle love! Look but don't touch...ouch!

Wishing you beautiful Easter blessings!

A fleeting glimpse of spring

Our mild winter slipped straight into summer in the blink of an eye......
.....so my friend and I set out on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to capture some pics of the quickly fading spring loveliness.....

.....the sunbathers were out......


......and the mountain bikers were on the trails.
(Actually, we would have been riding too, but my friend is recovering from elbow surgery from a mountain bike fall!....so we walked the 7 miles around the lake.)

A little log cabin and primitive fence provided some nice textural shots.


My feet still hurt, but the weather was so perfectly perfect! And these pretty sights will remind me that it was spring, even if for just a little while.....before the heat and humidity of summer starts making us captives of air conditioning. Looks like summer might be a real scorcher this year!

Makin' stuff......

Yay! My new wire mirror stand sold within a few hours of listing it!
And coincidentally, shipped to a home near the beach where I hang out in Sarasota!! Small world!

The purses with photo frames are still being requested, so I'll keep making them until I run out of handbags.....plus it's great fun to experiment with all sorts of display options! (I especially love the way they look in a wall grouping!)



More wire........I use wire nests in a number of projects, but am starting to list them alone on Etsy....we'll see how they do. (there is more work in them than you would think - hello carpal tunnel, my old friend)

Making lights out of metal anything is very addicting!! The flat Purina chicken feeder sold quickly!


Wood, iron, wire.....and lots of funk went into my new wall collage.
Again....endless display fun!
Makin' stuff is such creative therapy......and if I could accomplish even a fraction of the ideas I have brewing in my head, there would be 50 projects in these pics, instead of 5!!

Weekend wander

I got a chance to run downtown to the ACC craft show (no photos allowed) this weekend, and hit Scott's Market on the way back. I only made it through the North building before running out of time, but was totally inspired by what I saw....

How cool is the galvanized ? thing in the photo above with the old tintypes on the front! Love it!

Also love this old door with the lights made out of galvanized strips and burlap.

Unique idea to nail some metal patches on a table top.....wonder if they were added to hide something, or as an artistic touch? Regardless.....very interesting!

Galvanized or industrial metal ANYTHING is so hot now, and you always see the best of it at this market. (affording it is another matter....)

Interesting lights in the above pic, and wonderful rusty coils below.....of course I had to have one of those.

These letters would be great with holes drilled and retro lights added.


The perfect garden accessory!

Interesting old overhead light strips! Great possibilities!

There are still lots of French-themed booths.

I would have wanted to buy these cages that were, thankfully, already sold.

Love the repurposed galvanized basin.


Where CAN one buy these large sheets of zinc for covering tables anyway??

This metal mesh thing would make such a cool light!

Oh yeah I'll take one of those....just throw it in the trunk! (the LION I mean)


I wonder what goodies I missed in the South building? I may have to make the trek back down next month!

New Etsy stash

I'm finally getting a chance to stock up my Etsy shop again and here are just a few of the new offerings.....with much more to come.

It's nice to be back working on projects....which are much more fun than spring cleaning!! (BTW....I have lowered the price of lots of my previous Etsy listings)

a little fun in the sun

While in Sarasota I'm usually on the beach at sunrise, and on this particular morning there was quite a bird show.....
.....with the usual precocious gulls.....and lots of these orange beaked birds (below) that I had never noticed before - but have probably always been around (usually I'm scouring the water for dolphin sightings).
None of them were budging from their spots for passers-by, so it was easy to get close pics of them.
Also while in FL this trip, my son and family were doing the Orlando scene before embarking on the Disney Cruise, so we all went to Discovery Cove.
This is another one of those places I had never been to, despite living in FL so many years, and it was a pleasant surprise.
It's a bit pricey, but if hassle-free, water-themed relaxation is your goal (and you can't get to the Bahamas) this is the place to be. Classy and accommodating from beginning to end!
All the (pretty decent) food you can eat, wetsuits, snorkel gear, towels and lockers are included in the price, and they limit the number of guests, so no standing in lines or fighting for beach chairs.
You can do the optional dolphin encounter, or just hang out with the fish and rays in the reef pools. There is an interesting walk-through aviary, long winding river float, and shark encounter (behind glass) in the reef pools.
All in all, a fun time for kids and adults alike.
But alas....it was inevitably back to the gray, drizzly skies of the ATL. (I'm just glad it's a warm winter, anyway!)