Tiny Bedroom in da' house.

We have one room left that we haven't used as a bedroom.

 It's small with coved ceilings.  We used to use it as play room when all the kids were tiny.

 Most recently, it's been for storage. 

But, it's time to make it into a bedroom for 8 yr. old Monica. 

It will be a perfect fort for her. 

She's already staked her claim:

It's down the bare bones and full of possibilities.

It needs to be doused with bleach and scoured.

The a layer of insulation needs to be added to the sides.

I need to come up with some creative lighting. 

 I need to find the vintage vibe mixed with Monica's coolness.

 Hmmmm.....

Oh! I am motivated.  

I get to do a little girls room in this cozy little nook and I'm pretty pumped.

(Quandie, lookee - I've discovered I still had one little red chair....)

A few years ago, my mom sent me her childhood doll house. Thank You Patty!

(It's a different one than the one in  the laundry room.

I've been bestowed with not 1 but 2 fantastic old doll houses.)

Moni is the perfect age to use and and treat decently.

It emerged in the room clean out.

It's a cryin' shame it's been stored away. 

This room is the little tucked door on the left.

(it's now painted with chalkboard paint)

After a weekend of cleaning - it looks this good again.

I love the Goodwill drop-off lane.

They are probably sick of me.

This little room change idea has opened up TWO more room redos.

I'll explain that next post.

Will the house ever be done?  No.

xo Jeanne.

on this...October Afternoon.

 Hello fellow scrapbookers.  Get out a pen, 'cause you're going to want write this down.

 I'd like you to meet a darling company, October Afternoon. 

 Their scrapbooking supplies are pure Retro. Images, letters & graphics.

If you like retro flare to grace your pages, this company is it.

The quality is excellent and their graphics are divine.

 All done right.  And I am picky. 

There was a warehouse sale near me.

My car drove me there. I had no control, I swear.

Yep, this is scrapbooking paper.

You can imagine my joy upon finding flashcards.

I went a little nuts. I bought 20.

Then, I spotted these little cards... I was a goner.  Can you blame me?

I'm usually not a big fan of stickers, but when they are this fabulous - I'm in.

Great for layering.

I was lucky enough to meet a few gals who work for this company.

They were as delightful as their paper was.  

I told them about the BKB and asked if it was okay to give them a plug.  

Their lines are names like "5 & Dime", "Thrift Shop" and "Schoolhouse."

 It was bound to find me. 

(October Afternoon is not my sponsor or paying me in any way... I simply dig their stuff. )

I dropped $49 easily and happily.  
Here's a link to their blog & some darling ideas.

I can't wait to use my stash on the next scrapbooking weekend. 

Ahhhhh...me time.  It occasionally happens.

Happy Scrapping!

xo Jeanne.

Junk, The Ax-man & Gears.

Over the weekend I found these fantastic little gears.

Steampunk, for sure.  They'll be fun for jewelry making.  I love them.

But that's not the story.

The story is where I found them.

Earlier in the week, my son went to a shop in St. Paul and had begged to go back. 

He said I would like it, "They have a lot of junk stuff." 

It didn't take much to get me to go. 

The shop is 'Ax-Man' & has been there years.  Yes, junk is for sure it's speciality.

You have to have an appetite for it or you just wouldn't get it at all.

  It deals in surplus - but truly no kind of surplus I've ever seen. It's really not explainable.

As in, fantastically weirdly unexplainable.

But (miracle) I had my camera with me...I'll just let my pictures do the talking.

I whipped it out when I began to see fantastic little signs like this all over the place.  

The crap was overwhelming, but the humor was delightful.

Need your very own hyperbolic chamber?

How about a 3 headed baby?

The Ax-Man's got you covered.

Perhaps a new sign for the bathroom....

Or, in case that Halloween costume has you stumped.....

Have no fear, Ax-Man is there for you Babe.

Seriously, now I know where to go to find casters for my pallet table.

I really did love these used Water Meters. Oh the possibilities.

I Loved this old clock contraption. Probably a Time Card Clock.

I asked an adorable junk loving dude behind the counter 

 if he had any locks, gears or clock parts. 

He went looking for bag fulls of clock pieces/motors he'd pulled apart.

 Hence, my little gears purchase.

He sold them to me for $2.50 a bag.  Junk Loving Dude was cool.

It's the kind of place....

where you dig your hand sanitizer out of your purse immediately upon leaving. 

But in an odd creepy way of coolness - the place survives.

Farewell Ax-Man. Until we meet again. (0r I need gears.)

xo Jeanne.

(did you spot my fab little 'words' book up there? it's from the book sale.)

Cabinet, Collage & Gadgets.

Our living room is well loved.

It's the TV room, kid fighting room, Xbox room & movie central.

It must be livable and adorable at the same time.

I've been slowly making some changes to it. 

Nothing major and I'm not nearly done, but here's a few teasers:

• The giant white cabinet.

Shamefully, this fantastic curvy detailed upper portion 

has been stored in the basement! {gasp!}
We've had this for several years.  Recently, only the bottom was used as a TV stand.

Coming to my senses, I brought it back upstairs and painted it white.
(the hydrangea's are dried and from my garden.)

It was originally a 199o's white washed stain.  The Cabinet Maker built it.

I basically had him look away as I painted it.

 But hey, it had to happen.

• The Photo Collage

With moving the big cabinet up, we moved the TV to the wall where the collage was.

Plus, I thought it would look cool hung vertical w/ the 'public phones' sign added. 

We actually keep the phone nearby and thought it be a clue for wayward visiting children.

It's a bit busy w/ the Fall decor, but.... Here's a quick wall shot:

• Over and OUT.

You may have spied my new 'OUT' letters above my front door in my subway sign post.

(did you miss it?)

They are deliciously vintage.

I plan to paint them black to match the front door and shabby them up.

Some arrangements I have goin' on at the moment:

The little hammers and gadgets are from my dad's garage.

I nabbed the 'hammer' flashcard for just this purpose at Junk Bonanza.

I am not a fan of the current skull theme that is en vogue at the moment.

But, I saw this book at the book sale the other day.

I thought it would be just the right kind of creepy for a Halloween display.

Happy Friday Everyone.

Rock your Weekend.

xo Jeanne.

Subway Art - Jeanne Style.

A couple weeks ago, I gave you a Subway Sign Teaser.

 I was first inspired by art I'd seen on my friend Shawn's office wall.

A neato black & white quote.

I liked it and it stuck in my mind.

(We see cool subway art on the Internet, but do you actually have one? )

 I didn't. So I made one. 

The yard stick is held up so you can see how big it is.  25 1/2" x 33".

{Here's how I did it.}

I used a tutorial link I found on Pinterest. The link and tutorial is here.

 It is totally great and walked me easily through it. 

I've been trying to stretch myself and get handy with Photoshop, and this project totally helped.   (It uses Photoshop, but you could create one on Miscrosoft Word as well.)

To sum up the final results:

Instead of a quote, I used the names of my family and pets.

I used my favorite number and the original name of my street.

• I used Trebuchet for the names. Georgia for 'home' and 'beauty ave.'
• I played with font sizes to get it how I like it. I purposely put 'home' off to the side.
• I printed it out on a regular 8.5 x 11 piece of paper.
• I took it to a print shop and had them blow it up 300 percent. This cost $4.50.
• I had The Cabinet Maker bring me home a piece of wood cut 25.5 x 33.
• I painted it black.
• I laid the big sheet over the board and taped it in place.
• I traced the letters using white graphite paper underneath, being petty picky with a straight edge.
• Then I painted the letters using regular craft paint. Vanilla.
• The next night I sanded the whole thing lightly, then wiped it down with a damp cloth.

 *TIP*

I painted the letters upside down or FACING AWAY FROM ME.

This makes the lettering much more precise and I don't over correct.

When you turn the board right side up, the letters are proportionate.

The process took a couple days.  The black took a day or two to become un-tacky.

Tracing took about 2 hours.

I only painted one coat of white. I didn't want the letters to be perfectly solid.

I let it dry for a day before I sanded.

Plus I had life going on in between.

It's actually the first piece of "art" I've painted to hang on the wall.

Cool eh?  What took me so long?

Now you go make one too.

xo Jeanne.

(see up there, my house isn't perfect. the entry wall needs moulding.)