Flood Watch 2010

As many of you know or may have heard, we are getting hit with a major rain/wind storm here.  I am lucky enough to live next to a creek, so this is what my parking lot and street look like: 

(please excuse the crappiness of the photos... I was trying to be quick so my camera would stay dry)

Our street and surrounding our building have turned into a miniature river with a pretty strong current, as I found out wading in it last night (the water was just to my knees).  We moved our cars to higher ground yesterday afternoon, so at least they're out of harm's way.  As of this morning, James (who is 6'3") said the water was above his knees when he went outside, and I decided that all 5'2" of me should stay inside.  Luckily, I live on the top floor, so I'm not concerned about damage to our apartment, but they've already evacuated two buildings down the street, and we're supposed to get 1-2 more inches of rain by tomorrow morning.  We haven't lost power and our building is relatively dry so far.  Hopefully, we will be able to stay here and the waters will start to recede by this evening... Keep your fingers crossed!

Etsy Find: Natalie As Is.

I was perusing through Etsy the other day and found this journal that I'm absolutely in love with:

images from here.

It's from the shop of Natalie As Is, and I'm smitten.  I wish I knew how to sew and was creative enough to think of something like this... 

Another Project to Add to The List.

I have a cheap, laminate dresser from Target in my bedroom that is awful and ugly.  We're eventually going to get a new bedroom set, but until then, I think I'm going to do this to it:

image from here.

I found a great tutorial on how to paint laminate furniture (plus this blog, Living with Lindsay is a great resource for other creative diy projects -- check it out) and have some fabrics in mind.  I have a lot of projects on The List, so this one will probably be put off for a bit, but I love how bright and happy this picture is with all the yellow.  I'm definitely on a yellow kick lately!

Purple Heart.

 

I've been wanting to do a project like this for a long time, but didn't have the vintage stamps with which to do it.  Finally, I came across Verde Studio, an Etsy shop loaded with tons of vintage stamp collections.  The thing I love about this shop, is that she sells color blocks of stamps.  She sells both used and unused stamps, so if you're looking for some cool vintage stamps for your correspondence, check it out.  

Anyway, this project was a piece of cake.  I just arranged all of my stamps on a piece of paper to get a shape I liked, then glued them all down and put it in a frame.  Simple.  It seriously only took me twenty minutes, max.  I did use acid-free glue, so that it won't damage the stamps, if I decide to keep this piece for ever and ever (unlikely).  I love that the stamps are used, so they have all kinds of postage markings on them to make it a little bit more interesting. 

I think I got this idea from somewhere, but I can't remember where I saw it... 

New in the Shop.

Since taking the class on Letterpress & Bookbinding, I've been making softcover books like it's my job, so I decided to actually make it my job and list a couple in the shop.

There are two in there now and I will hopefully be able to add a few more within the next month or two.  This particular form of bookbinding is so relaxing that I find myself picking it up right before bedtime.  Of course, James always gives me the crazy look,* followed by, "are you seriously going to make a book right now?"  By this time, he should have figured out my abnormal nocturnal habits... It's not out of the ordinary for me to start cleaning our apartment after 10pm, I tend to start craft projects after 9pm (that poppy watercolor was started at 9pm), and I will often pay bills and tend to our finances close to midnight.  I've been a night-owl ever since I was a toddler, so I guess he'd better get used to it!**

* The "crazy look" is what I frequently receive when I'm in a fit of mania...


** And now that Smashing Pumpkins song, "We Only Come out at Night" is stuck in my head...  It should really be my anthem.

Poppies on a rainy Saturday night.

I've always been a huge fan of botanical illustrations and paintings, but have never been able to find any to buy (I probably haven't been looking hard enough, or at all).  I have always loved drawing, so I figured that I could just make one of my own.  I drew up a sketch of a poppy a few months ago and finally got around to using the watercolors my grandmother gave me this past Saturday night:

It's not a traditional botanical illustration with the diagramming of seed pods and petals and such, but it didn't take very long, considering I haven't touched watercolors in at least 14 years.  It's not perfect (the highlights are a bit off), but it's a start, and I finally convinced myself that watercolors aren't as scary as I thought they were.... not impossible, at least!

I had an extremely creative weekend, and have a couple more posts lined up for the week to show you what I was up to...  Hope you all had a fabulous weekend and are easing into the week with an easy Monday! 

If you have a Case of the Mondays, however, check out Melita's blog for a little pick-me-up!