a little bummed that there's no snow....

Well, the rain has started again!  I was secretly hoping for a big snow storm that would take us by surprise!  No luck.  At least it's not 20 degrees.  I will have to get into my shop this evening after school.  In the mean time I'm planning my next "Knock-off Wood" creation...I wanted to show what you can do if you have a husband that saves trinkets and treasures.  Everything is very cool.  Ticket stubs, matchbooks, Mr. Peanut, guitar pics, Old pens, receipts (from his first Mac-Intosh Computer), old tins, baby books, poker chips, business cards, coasters, patches, lipton tea ceramics, doodles from church.....the list goes on.  I just realized i was finding all these little "treasures" and they didn't have a home.  I'd ask him what it was and he'd tell me that it was from his grandma or it was something he dug up on the farm when he was a kid or it was from aunt Alice or......  Now I totally understand about keeping this type of stuff.  I to have a secret collection myself. But I decided to finally starting a collection together in one box.  When the box was full and I had the perfect frame....these shrines were born.  Theses frames are from IKEA and were very affordable.  Actually should of gotten a few more.  Establishing a background is a important first step when creating a collage / assemblage.  I used photo copies of a few photos and some flat items (like coasters, ticket stubs, or doodles) a craft paper grocery bag and some snippets of note/letters that he wrote to me over the years.  The pair on the right are only 12"x12" and include more miniture type objects.  I created the larger version with more of a photo / flat type item theme.  I attended a crafty girls weekend up at Driftcreek Camp on the Oregon Coast Range.  while the other ladies were scrap booking or quilting..my sister and I arranged, rearranged and then arranged again to get all the ingredients just perfect.  We used hot glue to adhere them.  The photo above was very difficult to acquire with out reflections...so sorry.  But for now you can at least get an idea.  Gotta run and get off to my real job......Art Teacher.  How many days til summer break?

missing summertime

sunflowers planted along the silage corn.

volunteer sunflowers on our river bottom

  Summertime is a time of great productiveness for "laura's salvage design".  I miss the sun. I miss being energized and the drive I have in the warm months.   I can only imagine how people in Alaska (or similar areas) crave sunshine.  Maybe this is why I really love sunflowers....They just motivate me.   That's what I need today...MOTIVATION!  It's nasty and windy outside so I'm being productive inside.  I'm in the process of painting our bedroom.  I got 2 gallons a of an interesting grass/avocado paint.  Hubby hated it.....that's fair. (see photo below) Too much yellow. Reverting to my color theory lesson for my high schooler's....and knowing it was the yellow that was offensive and in need of balancing.....to balance out the problematic color you add the opposite color (please consult the good ol' color wheel for reference). Opposite of yellow is purple.... I've done this before when the regular priced paint I had mixed in "terracotta" reminded me of bad foundation makeup..so I balanced out the pink by mixing in green.....worked like a charm.  Very nice mocha color.  Lovely bathroom color.  (I'll try showing you my bathroom another day)....I knew I had picked up yet another "Oops Paint" a couple weeks ago in a medium blue and blue is as close to purple that I had.....so I started concocting.  I ended up using the whole gallon of medium blue and got an interesting dark grey/blue green.  I know - duh. I took a photo....with the white trim it'll be fabulous!

3 days left

As a teacher, I cherish every moment of any and all days off from teaching.  I wonder if that means I'm not the best fit for an educator?  Since I've persevered through 10 years in a classroom, I suppose it's fine.  I haven't strangled any teenagers yet!  That takes me to my count down.  3 more school days until Christmas Break!  That's exciting, but that doesn't mean rest.  This is the time to salvage good wood, start a new project and make a very long list.  My current list of to-do's starts the minute I get up on Saturday.  I need to organize my shop.  It's so small (just small enough to not need a permit to build) that if it's a bit out of whack I'm too distracted to work.  My shop work habits as are well organized as my teaching and house cleaning patterns.....similar to a pin ball machine.....back and forth here and there and back again.  bing, bing!  It doesn't mean I am useless.....if anything I'm super powered- as long as when I get somewhere I jump back into what I was doing.  For some with this "condition" it's a curse, but for me it is multi-tasking at it's finest.  So the race begins.....because it's the off season good wood isn't free, but the pickin's are prime.  My favorite place to pick (and unfortunely have to pay) is The Rebuilding Center in NE Portland.  It's such an amazing place.  Everything you could want to fix up an old home or create with.  I go for drawers, old screens, painted trim, shutters and "Art" Doors ($5) .  I've scored many wonderful things to improve my own home at super prices. Hopefully this time I'll score some carpet tiles for my living room too. So Saturday I'm off and running up to the Rebuilding Center....but not until I sit through the last 2 - 4th grade basketball games of the season. woo hoo!  Thank goodness there are 3 days before "take off " because it might just take me that long to get a list written up. Now if I could just find my favorite pad of paper.....hmm.