Twigs & other peoples trash

I bought these posts for $1 at a yard sale...

 And these dishes for $2 at an auction...

Paper & a Deck of Cards

I saw this wonderful idea for a Valentines day gift on Pinterest called "52 reason why I love you". Using a deck of cards you put one reason on each card. But it was just words. I am such a visual person that words alone were WAY to boring for me. So beginning in January I started gathering ideas of what I wanted to use to help illustrate each of the 52 reasons why I loved GT. But as usual, time FLEW by and other projects took priority. ie. . .100 days of school, Valentine boxes for kids, Sonja coming for my birthday, MY Birthday....you get the picture. 

So ON VALENTINES day morning I got up and brushed my teeth went downstairs and got coffee, and started what I thought would take me 3 or 4 hrs to assemble. 

Kids got home from school and I was only on #25

GT came home from work around 8:30 and I still had 4 more to finish. . .

13 hrs later I was finally done.

I gave it to GT unwrapped and with out much explanation, except that I was still in my PJs because I was thinking of him ALL DAY long while making his gift! 

As he started going through each card and tears were rolling down his face, I knew he did not really care that nothing else had been done that day.  And I no longer feel guilty that I was a mess. 

Here is the finished project. And if your counting. . .there are several I left out. Some were just inside jokes that would not have made sense, and some that were just personal.

Repurposed, re-Loved!

I am inspired by many things.
But I have a special fondness for books. Old books, new books. . ALL kinds of books. I love turning a page and not knowing whether I will laugh, cry, be encouraged or convicted.
This was a gift I made for someone dear to me. I have made altered book projects before, but never one like this. I wanted it to be a more than just words in a book.
I wanted it to be a visual feast!
 I started with some of my favorite inspirations and my favorite quote and took the cover off an old book.
Next I fashioned 4 pages from cardboard

 

 The first page is Do Brave Things. As with most of my paper projects, I have a basic idea or feeling for the layout. But as I start playing with the paper and bits of ephemera, it takes on a life of its own

Dare to Dream

And something I need to be reminded of often. . . You are Loved

And the last page, Follow your Heart.

I hope you are inspired to find something old and make it new again!

The house that Evan and Tyler built

Once Upon a time. . .

There was a place that people came from 

far and wide to see. 

(well, really just grandparents from Utah)

This is a story about that place. . . .

and the 2 boys who built it.

 

The End!