Miniatures in the making

When I see miniatures like these my heart goes pitter patter.  Granted, I usually do not see miniatures of that age and quality unless I am visiting a museum, but I have seen sweet little reproductions at antique stores.  The prices may be reasonable (Starting at around $15-$20.) but they are not in the budget right now.  A single purchase might be feasible, but they look better grouped, and that makes the price climb quickly.

They do speak to me though, these tokens of love and affection before the age of photography made it easy to capture a face for remembrance.  They are representative of my obsessions and I find myself standing long in dusty shops staring at dainty portraits.  I feel drawn not only to the artistic beauty, but also to the history.  I also feel the spark of imagination that flickers within me as I gaze long upon unknown faces.

So when my studio art major daughter, Coley, handed me three postcards and asked if I wanted them the spark flickered.

I remembered the miniature mirrors I had bought on clearance one year after Christmas (75 cents for all three!) that were in my party decoration bin gathering dust. 

Here is my little ember of inspiration: 

My Mod-Podge is lost hiding so the project is temporarily on hold.  I plan to take a tiny brush and make brush marks on the surface of the postcards that will be framed so it will look like they have actually been painted.  (Well not exactly, but it will make me happier.)  I will post pictures of the finished product after I find my Mod-Podge or, more likely, go buy more.     

Cottage shutter... now picture display

Years ago a friend gave me a cute cottage shutter after I had admired how she had made one into a shelf by securing it to brackets like these:

 

Ekby Hall bracket from Ikea 

As usual, it was set aside with other things into my shoulda, coulda, woulda pile.  There it remained, cute and forlorn until last week.  I have been so wrapped up with schooling the girls and attending university that I let everything creative in my life slide, except for writing necessary for assignments.  Not a good thing.  While I don't really do New Year's Resolutions, I would do reevaluate and reexamine my habits and goals.  I want work on more things, work on the house more, create more!  After a very stressful semester I did not want to read or write anything.  At all.  Highly unusual for me.  I just wanted to DO.  It was so very refreshing and needed to work in this way that feels so different the creativity and effort I put into my lessons.  I need this.  It is good for me.  So, no grand promises of a project a day, BUT I can work on something or another everyday.  It rests my mind and spirit and above all makes me HAPPY.

Here is where I started:

The shutter was a weathered gray and had fallen into a little disrepair.  I had to fit parts of it back together.  Since only one side would be showing I opted for staples instead of repairing it properly with wood glue.  Barry helped me by stapling the slats closed so they would not move around when handled.  

 In the meantime I spray painted the little brass eye hooks white.

We then painted and sanded the shutter.

Next the eye hooks were screwed into the top sides for hanging on the wall and the front top corners for the twine that the pictures would hang by.

I then tied the twine, adjusting for how I wanted it to hang.

I used mini clothes pins from Hobby Lobby.

The finished product:

A cute way to display photos with the ability to change them whenever the mood hits me. 

Supplies list:

Shutter- big or small

paint

sandpaper

eye hooks

twine (*thrifty tip* I checked at a craft store and twine was $3 and up.  

I bought mine at the hardware store for .99 cents.)

mini clothes pins

pictures of choice

All packed and tidied

The front porch decorations are all that are left of Christmas at our house. Everything is packed up except holiday photos. The holiday photos are my favorite decoration. I have pictures from my childhood, as well as Barry's, and of course our girls. Everything from pictures on Santa's lap to birds in our front yard and the famous snow Sphinx Bitsy, Grace, and their friend Levi made. Not only does this extend the holidays, it adds a more personal layer...it is our history. I love it!

Terra Cotta Tile Roof

I know what type of person I am going to be when I am old. I am going to be the type that gives directions by what used to be! (Grin!) I was a little saddened by something today. I was driving home and was on the corner of 6th and B in FS at the light. The little old gas station that used to be on the corner across from St. John's is gone. I haven't been by there in a while...Maybe I have been and had a car full of kids... It made me a little sad. 

I cannot remember a time when the little gas station was actually in use, but you could tell that is what it used to be. Someone with a good sense of style made that little building. It had a Spanish/Mediterranean style that was unexpected yet pleasing. Unexpected because it performed such an everyday task, pleasing because someone thought that even everyday things were worthy of style. I cannot even remember if it was brick or stone, but I am leaning toward stone. What I do remember is the beautiful arched window in front. The garage doors had more panes of glass than they do now and even it looked classier for it. 

The cement that surrounded windows and made up the supports was not the regular dull gray, it was the kind that sparkles when the light hits it as if it has thousands of tiny jewels in it. My favorite part was the roof, it was red terra cotta tile. They weren't flat either, they were curved as if someone had rolled them, cut them and laid them down on an old bottle to fire them. They were graceful and repeated the arch of the window. 


I suppose that the little lot will be put to better use than it was. It will probably be used for parking for Saint John's or some such thing. I remember when the Goldman was torn down to make parking for I.C. Even though it was old, hazardous and probably beyond repair I still felt a twinge. 

It almost hurts to see things that used to be grand in such a state, almost like being shown a picture of a beautiful girl by a old woman. Her skin might be crepe-like with things softly folding and sagging here and there. Her back may have a soft curve to it. Her hair has long since turned gray. Her eyes may have faded a bit, but you can still see the twinkle of the young girl's eye in her own. 


I enjoy progress most of the time but all too often those things that replace them don't have the same style or flair of the old. Beauty in everyday life makes things bearable and it is too bad that more people do not realize that. We need more Mediterranean style gas stations with terra cotta tile roofs in the world! :)

Love,
Shawna

I've Never Seen the Ocean

Someone asked me about the poem "I Never" and this post will help answer that question.

I finally put up my spring decorations and put out my summer ones. No, I did not still have bunnies and Easter baskets out, I had pastel glass bottles and forsythia branches-that type of thing-along with family photos. I have different seasonal photos that I change out. I like to change my knick-knacks from season to season. My summer decorations include vintage cameras, sand and shells with other natural elements as I find them. I am also looking to add vintage postcards from interesting places as I find them. 

To look at the items I have displayed you would think I have traveled to tropical locales and gathered them along sandy shores. Sigh. I haven't. I have never seen the ocean. I want to though. 

There are many places I would like to see but the ocean is at the top of my list. Space exploration fuels the imagination of young and old alike-they dream of traveling to the stars and exploring space. I find the ocean much more provocative. Its depths have never been completely explored, its inhabitants constantly surprise scientists. Seemingly foolhardy myths of ocean monsters are more understandable with the discovery of giant squid. There are creatures that have yet to be discovered. It isn't just a beautiful view that I am interested in, it is standing at the edge of an unknown world. 

I want to walk across a sandy beach and feel salty sea spray misting my face. I want the wind to whip through my hair and the waves to lap at my legs. I want to watch the activity in a tidal pool and dig for clams. I want to watch the sunrise and sunset over the endless horizon. I can imagine the delight on the face of my girls as they find the treasures of the beach, shells and sea glass and little creatures scuttling away. I want to hold Barry's hand and stare at the endless expanse of water. 

April and Jon's honeymoon in Hawaii yielded a small treasure box (okay-shoe box) of sea sponge, coral, shells, volcanic rock, weathered beach wood and sand. (Both chuckled a little when I asked for sand from the beach.) I have coral and shells from my Uncle James' Caribbean cruise when I was a girl. Coley brought me a beautiful shell from her trip to California with Barry's family. I have pictures of the trips that I want to frame and decorate with. 

I want to add my own to my collection. I even have my sand bottle picked out. I will fill it with sand and write out a little label and tie it on with twine. Hopefully when I am old I will have several bottles to take down and pictures to pull out so I can tell my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren about the wonders of the ocean and the God who created it.

You see, there are many things that I have not yet had the opportunity to experience and see. Many things. I know they are there awaiting me. I have seen enough pictures and read enough excellent descriptions in books to have a good glimpse in my mind of what it will be like. I have quite an imagination but I also have a desire to actually go and see and do. Emily Dickinson never went farther than a few miles from her home and by the end of her life she was a recluse. Her mind traveled the world but she did not. She wrote that a book can "take us lands away," but she never got to see them for herself. I want to see the things I have read about, I want sand on my feet.

Love,

Shawna