DONE WITH ZIGGY!

Well I complained about him yesterday so of course today I would power through and finish it. Ziggy Stardust is officially mosaiced and waiting for grout.

Neck Tie Draft Dodgers, Studio progress and Ziggy update

Whew a whirlwind is what it's been! Check out the cute little draft dodgers my kids and I made from old neck ties, hopefully they will keep the cold out and the warmth in this winter! I tore the seams out of two ties then stitched them together and the kids helped stuff them with old fabric scraps and plastic bags, would have been heavier with beans or sand but didn't have either! Madison my almost 10 year old is a great seamstress and is always making pillows, bags and other trinkets!

Wade and I put up insulation in the studio, we got some free old barn tin from his bass player which warrented a trip to the country to pick it up (forgot the camera), we got a tour of his 100 acres and stopped to visit the cow herd, they came over to the 4x4 ranger and even licked the kids hands!! Too funny to see cows and calves eating apple out of Bill's (the bass player) hands!

SO, we put up a half wall of barn tin and some trim we already had, next will be paneling but probably not until spring because I am tired of moving my supplies around and I hung up my favorite old tableclothe and I am happy how it is!!

Bill said he would help wire it some day (running an extension cord from the house currently) and I will make him a beautiful mosaic for his Buffalo Hollow Farm.

Ziggy stardust is a causing me problems...I just can't work on it for more than an hour without crapping out! So I just keep adding to it, here is what I got done this weekend on the final side to finish..cannot WAIT to finish it, SO beautiful in the light!!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

The kids helped me paint some old chairs that I am going to use for an art show or craft show sometime, you can see little pegs I put into the seats of some of them, that is so my mosaic windows don't slide off, kind of like an easel. They painted the bright colors, my plan is to gloss black over the bright color then sand through the black so some pops of color show. These are too distracting for me!! I finished a "girls only" sign that has been giving me fits...I have had coffee spilt on the white grout which ended up being a happy mistake to make it look "antiqued" and then I had a bunch of really cute buttons on it before then the adhesive didn't work so I plucked them all off and finally modge-podged some cotton doilies on the top part then did a kitsch arrangement of old buttons, barbie accessories, a locket and other glass bobbles. It turned out ok, but will probably just put it in my daughter's room. I had to paint in between the black tiles because it was hard to read, everyone kept saying "what...oh ok, it says Girls Only" geesh.

And last but not least, the kids snatched my camera and did a photo shoot with stuffed animals and one live cat..poor Lucy she slept through all the fun!!

Marble Mirror Frame pics and a ghostly tale...

Do you ever just have one of those days? I had one today. Felt like cleaning this morning so while I was wiping down every square inch of this old victorian home I came across an old key in the transom above my daughter's bedroom door. So of course I had to see what door it fit. Our home is over 130 years old and at one point in it's long life it was a boarding house so every interior door upstairs has a keyed lock above the normal door knob lock. Even the spooky 3rd story "tower room" has a lock. I don't know if the door was already locked or if I actually tripped it with the key, but the spooky 3rd story tower room was locked...from the inside...with no one else but the toddler here with me!! I tried to make the key unlock it but it didn't work in that lock! So I freak and leave the house and call my husband to come home and investigate! We have only lived here 5 months and we are still discovering things. We know that the creepy attic entrance door moves over a couple inches with the attic fan on, and sometimes the creepy 3rd story tower room door opens on it's own...sigh....I am not a paranoid person but it's days like this that make me think otherwise! My dear hubby got the door unlocked, blamed it on the kids and then peeked in the attic to soothe my fears! What a stud! Alas, no vagabond living in our attic locking the door..but it made for an interesting day!

On a mosaic note...I got the mirror in the marble frame and now I just need to name it...I am thinking "Found 'Em" (get it...marbles..lost your marbles...then..well..Found 'Em!)

While I was playing with getting a good picture of the frame, I took one of the shirt I was wearing today. It says "I'll be using these to my advantage" it's a funny around-the-house kind of shirt..my husband just rolls his eyes!

Mosaic WIPs

Here are a few of my latest works in progress...still need to get a mirror cut for the marble frame!

Mmmmm pumpkin!

I just HAD to share the dessert I made for the family on this cold rainy night! Pumpkin dessert here is the link to the recipe, I used an extra TB of pumpkin pie spice though...sneaky spicy girl I am. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Dessert/Detail.aspx

Why I love Etsy!

It is random acts of kindness like this that make me LOVE my fellow Etsians.
http://www.handmademovement.com/
Too sweet.

Mosaic Monday

Happy Monday! Well besides a failing US financial market along with crumbling consumer confidence I would say things are just fine in my little mosaic studio!! SO I finally finished and listed the "Paisley" mosaic window.

I also "aged my victorian inspired boo signs, but kind of messed things up when I attached the d-rings on the back with screws that were too long and gave the front of them a little pimple! Hate that! lol, so they will just stay here in my spooky old house!

I made my kiddo some monster eye balls for a snack today..banana slices with a chocolate chip in the middle, he modeled them for me!

SOOOO excited about tomorrow..doing a professional quality photo shoot with a friend. Getting all my etsy pictures consistent has been a struggle so this is such a great opportunity! Probably post some pics on Thursday.

The rest of Friday was good for the Mosaic life....

Here is what I got done, the half of the guitar window that was ready, got grouted. My fancy refurbed' mirror got painted and grouted. AND, I snapped out of my hormonal coma I have been in !! Hooray!

Spooky Halloween Sign

So far today I have painted two BOO victorian inspired wooden signs with cute fancy frames attached and halloween pics inside as well as a crystal dangle! Paint is still wet but I am going to "age" them and seal them when they are dry enough..make them even spookier!

How fun!

Cool fall morning with tons of leaves falling outside the window...good coffee morning!

Follow the TP trail and what do you find??

So. Did I mention I have a 3 year old...boy..ALL BOY! He is rough and tumble, loud and talkative and oh so cute and cuddly. HOWEVER! Today before 1pm if I recall, there was a trail of toilet paper throughout the hallway entering into the bathroom and at the end of this magical trail was something that Mom's truly truly don't appreciate...an entire roll of toilet paper gracefully dispensed into an unused toilet for nothing more than a few giggles and 30 seconds of entertainment before rushing off to make another mess. At first anger...then I just started laughing...it took 3 flushes and 5 sturdy plungings to get that blob of TP to sink. THANKFULLY there were no other surprises in the toilet or I would have NEVER taken these pics to share! I like how he leaves the empty TP roll beside the toilet....that's hard evidence there kiddo.

Productive Mosaic Wednesday!

WOW, only 11:22 (CST) and I just finished my long awaited paisley mosaic salvaged window!! It is not grouted yet but I can't wait, the purples and greens are going to look so great with black grout! This window is really old too, while I was refurbishing it I discovered it is constructed with square pegs! (Yeah I know, square peg, round hole..that's the story of my life! Ha) Not sure how old that makes it..sometimes I feel like I need a history course on all these great materials I come across and whether or not I should deconstruct them, cut them up, break them down or glue them down??? They are so cool, one of these days I will just take pics of all my treasures out in my studio...I do snag some quirky stuff...so check out the window with the paisley design and then look at the unfinished guitar one...what do you think?

I also got 3 listings up on my Etsy site, some hand cut mosaic tesserae (broken pieces).

Included in the pics posted are one of the horn worm the kids found on our glorious tomato plant! They were fascinated with him and fought over who got to take him to school for show and tell! My 9 yr. old daughter had to research him on the internet to see just exactly what these things were all about!

3 cups of coffee and painted with my toddler boy! He made two fabulous works of art that he told me were "the best paintings ever ever" that is his thing right now..everything is "in 5 days" and "ever ever ever"!! He's my little man..so darn cute!!

Also see the 4 glass nugget/gem pendants I soldered?? That is my new hobby when I am burnt out on mosaicing..I turn to the soldering gun..it is a lot harder than I thought..these are my Halloween themed ones. Not sure they are Etsy worthy..there is a lot of great jewelry on there!

"THE" Buttons

Last week while my 3 older kids were in school, Kade (3 yr. old) and I went out "junkin". That's my verb for antique store bargaining, thrift store rummaging, salvation army browsing, garage sale hoppin' and general curbside snatching! It was a very productive day, bowling pin for $1 and it will end up a mosaic piece one of these years, a frame here, a plate there and then I hit the mother load.....over 2800 new in package, never opened, sitting in their original boxes, shiny and gleaming....Crystal Glass Buttons. They are all glass and the front is mirror with a recessed center. Octagon shaped and unscratched.

The packages are marked Made in Germany American Zone and the box has the lot numbers on it as well as item number and other info. Only 3 packages were falling apart...all the others are intact and there are a gross per package and about 20 packages in the boxes total..some buttons are loose so I need to get an accurate count. But I posted this find in a forum on Etsy yesterday and realized that it is time I started this blog since I had no way of showing everyone what I was talking about. I think they are beautiful and the jury is still out on how much everyone thinks they are worth. I won't tell you what I paid for them but I will tell you that I LOVE them and can't decide what to do with them yet.

Day one in the life of a newbie blogger

Is that what I am called right now? This is my first officialy blog and I am so excited! I feel all grown up and with-it! So far today (it's 10:30ish) I have re-photographed several pictures for my etsy site http://www.karicrumpmosiac.etsy.com/ as well as some really beautiful new (well they are vintage...one is really old) cut pieces to sell for others to mosaic to their hearts desire.

Sears repairman came by because my new front loading washer was missing it's drainhose for the pump filter thing you are supposed to check once a month, drain, clean out filter and reassemble...(anyone do that??) got a new lint trap out of the deal for my new dryer too after I complained that mine was already ratty after less than 2 months of use!! So far a fairly uneventful day...oh but let's talk about these buttons shall we?