Dear John

This is what is over my john. yeah, our bathroom is ridiculously small so it was fun finding ways to make it cute and not cluttered.  The tree i got was a jewelery thing from urban outfitters, but my friend broke off one of the branches...so it couldn't hold that many necklaces. Also, i didn't have the room for it in our little place, so i put it over the toilet...i figure, if i read when i pee, guys can look at artwork...

We just painted the flowers to go with our color scheme and put a cute plastic frame with a crazily textured solid color picture that we painted to go in the background for dimension.  it may be ghetto, but  i thought it was clever enough

We put some fake flowers that we had on our tree over the toilet into cute glass bottles. I think glass is a great reflector of light, which helps with the lighting problem. i had an antique mirror, of course during college life...it was unfortunately broken by a "ghost." so i just have it in the bathroom where no one will notice and where it will help with making the place look bigger, which we need. i love my little wooden crates that hold my lotion; it helps so much with clutter.  and the red framed paper helps had color and fun to our bathroom

i love it when something that is small, suddenly becomes something that is charming.

Whats grandma up to now?

Husband Walker and I went to the Madlen Family Reunion in Wyoming...why wyoming?

I haven't seen my grandma and grandpa for over 10 years. I had idea what they have been doing in the mean time, I just figured that they were getting old. NOPE! To my surprise, they had built themselves a workshop.

My grandma spins the yarn they use and dyes it to make all sorts of cool colors. They both create any pattern they want on their giant looms. They make everything from dishtowels to scarves to rugs.

One of my favorite presents was a voodoo doll my grandma made. So yeah, don't piss us off.

magnetic feel

We went to Savers thrift store and found these old frames that are about an 1 1/2 inches tall. From them we made these banging fridge magnets with pictures from a early early last century dictionary

 

The refrigerator is just a canvas. 

Thrift store Serendipity

Serendipity--the word has been voted to be in the top ten of the hardest English words to translate. It's defined as "making fortunate discoveries by accident." I think that the place where the most serendipity ever occurs is in the thrift store.

Months ago i found a gold candle holder that i loved. What good is having a single candle holder to most people? Those candle holders usually come in sets, but i liked it and i got it anyway.

Then a couple of days a go...there was a fortunate discovery by accident

I found the same candle holder only painted in a bone-like color. They were meant to be together. I love the excitement of these little discoveries at thrift stores. Sometimes, somethings you randomly come across find are so perfect for you it is fate put them there. Serendipity.

Look what i found

After having to blog all day for Shabby Apple, i came across an etsy account that has just the right amount of badassery.
RoadKill, pretty much some of the coolest jewelery around.

Of course Husband Walker and I aren't much for ordinary jewelery.
especially ever since my antique wedding ring

He uses an old ring from grandfather. Some newly weds complain about having no money yet still spend thousands of dollars on rings. I don't get it. I love being poor because it allows you to be creative and different, even when it comes to things as simple and lasting as wedding rings.

Making Order out of Chaos

A couple of months ago i saw this on Anthropologie and I loved the chaotic feel of it. They described the collected memories mirror as being "plucked from the past and given new life," which is kind of our thing here. Predictably, I wanted to get old frames and old mirrors and make this for myself

 

 Mama Walker gave us some of her old frames. I didn't want to attach them together because that would ruin them, but I also didn't want to make a million holes in the wall because we are renters and that is never good. Luckily, Husband Walker is a genius and thought up a way to attach them without ruining them or making too many holes in the wall.

We made it so every frame could be hung, attached each frame with wire to the chicken wire then trimmed the wire down. This way it is easy to hang, get to, etc.

This isn't quite the finished picture, but this is pretty much how it turned out. Although it's not what I initially wanted, I still love it (one day soon I'll try to make the actual thing). It is a really nice wall decoration and a great way to have ordered chaos in the home.

Swingers

For our marriage, our friend Sam decided to give me her prized lamp. She thrifted it, painted it off-white with cream accents and then painted the light shade black on the outside and blue of the inside. We love it.

It was our good fortune that this lamp didn't fit her fiance's style. To give her something to remember her beautiful lamp by, I picked up some stuff from the thrift store and painted it in the same style and then made her a candle. Interestingly enough...about six months earlier, it was my sister-in-law's bday and we found that exact frame and painted it the exact same way...and then we found another one just like it again.