got time, make a hair wreath

For those of you who have never seen "the art of hair work", I'll give you a little history.In the Victorian era, mid 1800's, hair work was a ladies drawing room pastime. saved hair was intricately woven into wreaths and jewelry. Mementos of deceased loved ones as well as symbols of love and friendship. they were usually placed in shadow boxes with a picture of the deceased or loved one. i can't imagine the hours it took to make these. but, with no other form of entertainment, it definitely passed the time.i don't see many of these any more. Alot of people are grossed out by them. One guy i know compared it to saving finger nails in a box.I think they are beautiful.

"more busts"

"collection of busts"

this is my collection of female busts. it started with my largest one about 8 years ago. I've been searching ever since for new and different ones. Only vintage , no repros please. My only problem is finding a good spot for new ones. Bill keeps complaining he has no room for "HIS" stuff. poor fella.

flaming bust

Give me a mannequin and I'll cover it with something!I seal it then out side it goes, so people driving by can scratch there heads. I'd like to do a sculpture with a cement mixture of large phallic symbol, that would really get the tongues a flapping.

doll collections

I want to show some of my stash, my many collections. I love dolls. all kinds, all ages, all conditions. I want to start a collection of creepy dolls. I see alot of Really creepy ugly dolls and think if i had a collection of ugly dolls, that WOULD be mine. SO i decided to start one. I really like boy dolls and boudiour dolls. Unfortunatly i have'nt added many lately, to exspensive.I want to know what other people collect. leave a comment and let me know.

bills cave

bill's cave, what can i say. he would'nt want to know i even put these pic s up. no one sees his room. He has the coolest stuff. But, everything is on top of every thing and very dusty. He'll sit in his chair with all his stuff all around him. Arrow heads antique kids games, pin backs and old radio premeiums. Old kites, great turn of the century books and tin toys from the turn of the century. a mother lode of wonderful things BUT>>>>>What can i do. It's his room. or cave.

craft books galour

my studio?

Help, i need i bigger room. i have all my stuff crammed into this little extra bedroom, with no room to spare. but, an abundance of natural light. i can stand in the middle of the room and work on stained glass or my mosaics and turn around and work at my desk on collages. At least it not on my dining room table like alot of folks. But, it's "MY ROOM". A girl has got to have a room of her own no matter how small. Filled with my stuff, creepy, weird or stupid stuff, cool stuff, or stuff you like but, don't want others to see it.I'm a natural hoarder. but so is bill. our house doesn't have paths thru it yet. but, give it time. I will post a picture of bills room later. WOW!!! he's got me beat on disorganization skills.
I have so many books, i tend to do more looking and reading than doing sometimes.

i snuck one in

The rain just keeps coming. but, there was a break today. i rode my 20 miles today. i surveyed the farmland on my way. it's pretty well under water. the farmers were out with shovels trying to divert the water out of the fields. looks pretty hopeless. we are pretty high. i don't anticipate any flooding, although some people are getting water in there basement.

easy composting

i used to have the traditional 3 bin compost pile. adding food scrapes and leaves and grass, all that good stuff.i never could keep up with the turning and aerating. So, nothing ever happened with it. It just sat there, then the weeds would take over. A big mess. Then, i read an article about red wigglers. I ordered a couple thousand from "gardens alive".I started out with a medium size rubbermaid tub with a lid. Drill holes in the bottom and along the sides for some air circulation. shred news paper into thin strips,soak them in water and ring all the water out.About enough to half fill the tub.mix in alittle potting soil to break up the clumps of matted paper. the soil should be damp also. throw in the worms and some scrapes and your on your way. Keep adding scraps till all the paper turns to a fine dark brown compost. when you want to get the compost out, start putting all your scrapes to 1 side for a few days and all the worms will migrate to that side. scoop up all the compost from that side and replace with more shredded paper and food scraps and repeat the process on the other side. i keep it in my house and there is NO Smell at all. and very very easy. it started out slow , but, now i put something in and it's gone in acouple of days. It's incredible. when i empty it out i transfer it in to a large bin in my shed.

"my kids"

i have acouple of new pictures of my babies. they are frequently are in the sleepy mode. peanut, pickles and jimi. emmie must be upstairs in bed, under the covers. Her favorite place.

Business isn't booming

Where are all the antique stores? Where are all the small businesses. My friend Sharon of http://thefabricofsweetrepose.blogspot.com/ just put up a post about closing shop, and just do shows and flea markets.They can't keep up with the overhead. I love shopping in antique stores. buying all your stuff off eBay is fine but, you lose the thrill of the hunt, and meeting people.traveling from town to town and seeing things you wouldn't have seen other wise, eating in restaurants you wouldn't have, if you weren't searching for that prize.granny's in Iowa city is closing it's doors this month. the Iowa city antique store on Gilbert closed this winter. My Friend Mary has a bead shop in lone tree. It's a great little shop. She opened last fall with high hopes but, it doesn't look to good for her. She'll be next.I agree with sharon, buy american!!! www.howtobuyamerican.com/store support our country, boycott walmart,everything is made to be disposable. that is such bullshit. where is QUALITY!!!