Downloadables & Fun Stuff

I've been saving up little snippets of pictures, stuff I've found and stuff I thought was pretty. The list was getting kind of long so I thought I'd post them all now in one linkfest! Enjoy!!


IndieFixx once again has several Feed Your Soul free art downloads. The new group for the month of June is just in. Look at those fabulous squirrels. I think the tail looks like a cinnamon roll, either that or I'm hungry. First french fry boxes, now cinnamon roll tails.

Go on over to the download area and take a look. There are almost 40 pieces of art. I've been enjoying printing them off and decorating my desk, putting them in cards, sending them to friends and leaving them in grocery carts.


Folding Trees informed me (and only me) today of an adorable box pattern - Look at how cute it is. I haven't been to a fast food place in so long that I didn't notice immediately that it was a french fry carton. It's from Creating Keepsakes.



These are just precious embroidered stuffed animals from Apple and Eve's Etsy Shop. I found the link at Made by Girl.





Do you like to decorate packages? Do you like to make the things you mail out just a bit more interesting? I've been looking at this FAB masking tape for a long time, but it was never offered in the United States -- until now. I think this would make a great gift for someone (or many someones!)


I found these on Etsy - at the Nothing Elegant Shop. Remember that journal I talked about yesterday? As I was playing with it yesterday I kept thinking about this masking tape and how I'd love to use it on several of the pages, or on the cover.


Got Color? See this house that's for sale as seen on Hooked on Houses.

from d.Sharp Journal

I love this photo. The last time I was on one of these was with my friend Bob as I recall. or maybe I just remember having such a good time that I just assume that she was with me. :)





Have you ever wondered what some movie houses look like? Remember the memorable scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off where the car goes out through the back of the garage? More Ways to Waste Time posted this little ditty about- Cameron's house being for sale and while I was over at her site, I also totally fell in love with these three legged pots from Pigeon Toe Ceramics.



Watercolor initials from plumbpudding. What a fabulous piece of art. Leigh, what an easy way to get some "B's" into your decorating. (She says that she has a hard time finding her initial on things.)







Father's Day is coming up & Kind Over Matter has a free printable card for you. It's called Dad You Rock!

Have a Fabulous beginning of the week!
Kristin

Wreck This Journal

I decided to get out of the house and take a walk. I didn't want to run or jog or anything real strenuous, I just wanted to walk. So I went to the St. Johns Town Center. It's this very large mall-like place.

There's lots of room to walk and I didn't need anything, so it was going to be just a nice time window shopping and enjoying the fairly cool day. I actually got about a mile away from my car when the clouds started coming in, so I ducked into Barnes and Noble.

It started pouring.

Really really hard.

For about an hour.


An hour is a really long time for me to be "forced" into staying in a bookstore. I wandered around and around and every time I picked up a book I thought, "I can download this on my Kindle." So I started thinking about what I couldn't get on my Kindle and that sent me into the creative section of the store.

AKA - books with pictures.

I found a few books and two magazines, but this book "Wreck This Journal" is going to be the most used and abused. I hope to show you some of the pages as I work on them in the future.

The whole idea behind this book is to use it, color in it, draw, scribble, catch it on fire, tie a string around it and drag it behind you and rip out some pages! EEEEK!

I'm the type of book reader that when I finish a book, it doesn't even look like it's ever been opened. I don't bend pages, crease them, or even open the book all the way. I open it just barely far enough to read into the crease. This book is going to be a real challenge.

I did manage to trace around my hands and then decided to add the pen in that I used to do the tracings. I'll need to color them in. I have a brand new, never opened box of Crayola 64. I've had it for about 20 years. Never been used. I don't know what I'm waiting for...maybe it was this journal!!


I like the idea of a non stop line. I've been making my own calendar pages each month and I'm getting tired of ink pads - maybe I'll use the continuous line to make the August Calendar. Ooooh, this book has already sparked a creative off -shoot!

I do believe the line will have to stop at some point, because I could never be able to finish, but I have visions for this page.

One of my favorite numbers is 22, so that's where I started.

There are no rules. OK, there are a few rules, but we can break them.

The author of this fabulous book is Keri Smith - she has a website devoted to Wreck This Journal where people have loaded their own finished pages into the Gallery section. I will mention that not all of the submissions are PG. Most are quite tame, but there is a page in the book that says to write here when angry. Some people wrote angry words...

I've already bent the spine, wrote my name on the top edge of the pages, traced my hands and on the page that said "chew this page," I got my cat to chomp on it. She loves to eat paper.

I hope you've had a fantastic, creative, restful, sunshiney weekend!
Kristin

Here's someone who has gone through two of these journals. Just see what she's done - Kitty Pink Stars - you can click on the individual pictures to see a larger version.

New Home

My sister moved into her new house today. I'll be going home in a month, so I'll see it soon it enough, but I wanted to send a card.

This card is one of my very favorite cards, which is unusual, because it has glitter on it - and I really dislike glitter. However, I love the chandelier. I've got a thing for them lately (and lately they seem to be showing up everywhere) so I'm able to get my fix without having to purchase any of them...well except this card.

This is the person who designed this card. I found this particular card at the Fresh Market, which is a grocery store. They have just one small rack of cards and I buy one card nearly everytime I go. They are fabulous.

This is one of the things I wrote on the inside of the card. That's my handwriting :) I found this at Housewarming Quotes and it was perfect for my sister. I hope she doesn't read this, I just tucked the card in the mail today. Chances are she's going to be really busy unpacking boxes for the next few days/weeks to be reading my blog so I'm not too worried.

I really like my handwriting. I have many different handwriting styles but with the super fine clickable Sharpies on a nice smooth paper, it usually turns out just like this. I think it's really easy to read, hope that's the case when you read it!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend.
Kristin

My Brother In Law

Just a quick update on my Brother in Law, Cap. He is finally awake and is doing pretty well. Tom has visited with him the past two days - yesterday he was at the hospital for about 7 hours. Cap was speaking a little bit, but they have a tube down his throat, so it isn't very comfortable for him to talk. He was unaware that he'd had the transplant, but Tom believes by the time he left last night that Cap was aware enough to remember that piece of information. He looked better yesterday than the day before, so that's real good. He's still in ICU, but that's where U of M takes care of transplant patients, so it's still OK that he's there. Tom won't be back to see him until Monday, but Cap will have several rounds of visitors today, so he won't be lonely.

Although the post transplant treatment is not what I'm used to, I'm confident that he will recover quickly. In a few weeks he will be just like all of the post transplant patients that I know and love, so I'll just have to wing it until then! My fingernails have gotten pretty short this week from all my nawing on them. I must stop that, he'll be fine.

Thanks again for your many prayers. I'll give an update again when Tom goes back to visit next week.
Kristin

Post Boxes

Welcome to Postcard Friendship Friday hosted by Marie of Vintage Postcards. I've only officially participated once on Friday so its not ingrained in my brain that I need to get something posted for Friday morning. Since the carnival is hosted from someone in France, it's already really late in the day!

I hope you go over to Vintage Postcard and take a look at all of the postcard posts, as well as anything at all that has to do with mail. Today I will be showing you some of the post boxes that I found in Ireland and the Isle of Man. A few of them you may have seen before, but I thought I'd put them all together in one post.


This shop was in the heart of the little downtown area of Nenagh, Ireland. Nearly everything was closed because it was a Sunday, but I was drawn to the tile in the entranceway so I went over to take a picture. Then I saw the letter flap.

I thought the closeup of the letters flap was very nice. I loved the burgundy door and the gold. I also really liked the font used for the letters.

The first night in Ireland we went looking for a place to eat dinner. We were following directions, but pulled over to check the map and see if the folks in the other car knew where we were going. I walked around snapping photos while the drivers talked to one another. I saw this post box set into this giant rock and new I had struck gold!

This post box was spotted at Bunratty Castle in Ireland. I loved the two tones of green paint and I so love the roundness of the "box."

I think this is a stylized version of the P and R that I saw on the mailbox in the stone up above. Ahhh, turns out I was wrong. Sheila gave me a little history lesson in the comment section. Thanks so much! This post box is even more special now that I know a bit of the history.

Sheila said...The two-tone green letter box is an old British one dating from Victorian times. The letters are VR, Victoria Regina. Rather than replace all the letter boxes when Ireland became a republic, they just painted the existing ones green. I imagine it's had a good few coats of paint since it was last red. :)

Extreme closeup of the word post and part of the drop slot. I am kind of fond of this photo.

This is the Isle of Man post box that we saw at the IOM airport. It is so bright!

Those are all of the mailbox pictures that I took. I have to say though, every time I saw one I wanted to photograph it, even though most of them were the same shape and color. I forced myself to focus on other things.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit other Postcard Friendship Friday participants.
Have a Wonderful Weekend!
Kristin

Paints and a brush

I needed to play with colors. Needed!

It was almost like I was being pulled by some force to get out my paints and paper. I am not an artist, that's for sure. I don't see the canvas, I don't have a feeling about the colors or how they are going to look when I finally get them on the paper. What I like it the act of swirling the colors with the brush and then doing it over and over again.

I didn't have any brushes in the house - not fine art paint brushes - but I did have a 1" trim brush that's part of my house painting supplies. That worked for me!

I couldn't remember if acrylic paints could be used with water, so I used the brush dry for the first round, but pretty soon I needed to get the paint off of the brush because the colors were getting too muddy, so I doused it in water. The next round was a wet paintbrush playing in the paint.



I don't own any paper plates, but I did happen to have some yogurt lids that I thought would work real well for my paint palette. It was a nice little set up. The kitchen counter, three yogurt lids, some paint and paper. I didn't think about anything going on in my life. I concentrated on filling the page with lines of color.


I may cut this up and turn it into a collage, or maybe write on the back of it and send it off to some unsuspecting friend! Oooh, that might be fun. They might think that I think this is a masterful piece and won't know how to mention it. LOL It would be a fun gag.

Or I may just frame up the tight close ups of the paint brush.

Well, whatever I do, I had a real nice time destressing and brushing colored lines onto paper.

Hope you have a great day!
Kristin

Kinsale to Dublin

I hoped to get this post written and posted last night, but far too many things got put on my ToDo list. So, we'll try to get this accomplished tonight :)



Here we are waiting for the cars so we could load the luggage.

Alison, Judith (Mom), Hillary, Kristin, Tom and Galen (Dad) standing outside of the Gallery B&B, Kinsale, Ireland.
This photo is really good of everyone but me! Ugh. I look like I've been hit in the gut. The other picture where I look less awful, no one was paying attention. So, I'll post this one and just pretend that it's a good one of me.


This was the strangest picture. It was in the bathroom in our room. I wish I didn't have to use the flash, but there was precious little light in that bathroom.

We decided to take "The Road to Dublin" as they call it. It's a main road, mostly two lane for each direction and about a million roundabouts, but it's much faster than the backroads. We thought about taking the little roads, but the time might have tripled to get to Dublin and we just didn't have the time.

However, on the Road to Dublin were a couple of castles that we worth seeing. The one we stopped to see was the Cahir Castle. (pronounced Care) I took a bunch of photos, which I'll show you, but I found these and they are really cool too. They are a lot more detailed then the photos I took.

Here we are, walking up to the castle. I keep trying to imagine as we approach these buildings what it might have been like if this was my home or if I was coming to visit the family who lived here.

This was the main entrance into the castle. I'm truly in love with this photo. The light just seems to pulsate in those little squares and look at those teeth!

Tom was looking at the plaque shown below. The rooms in that building were so dark. Look at those tiny slits of windows. I know it was for protection, but in such a rainy country I can't imagine not having any light coming into the rooms.

You can click on the picture to enlarge it. This photo is mostly for Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. She asked me to photograph the name Butler and this castle was once inhabited by Butlers. I learned though that this family was not originally named Butler, but that they were butlers for someone and at some point the family took on the name. The name change came about in the early 1500s as I recall. Once they became Butler, the family was a major name and influence in the city of Cahir, Ireland.


We went up and down and inside and out in this castle. The stairs were small, tall, steep and scary. The steps were by no means even from one step to the next as you may be able to see here. There were some spiral stairs that were frightening. A few of those steps were so small that the little pie shape of the step barely fit the ball of my foot. I imagined a servant girl running up and down those stairs delivering food, blankets, water or whatever the household needed and I shuddered. I could hardly take one step without cringing, I can't imagine carrying a tray or something!

It was really starting to rain, but I though the houses looked so pretty next to the top detail of the castle.

Inside one of the rooms was a whole display of castles around Ireland. Since we started our trip in Nenagh, Ireland, this castle caught my eye. As I was reading I discovered that it too was owned by Butlers. So Leigh, this is for you as well.

This is the remains of the castle that the info sheet above described.

As we were leaving Cahir Castle, I noticed this cart path through the river.

I thought this was a pretty view with the castle and the river (and the rain.)

Tom and I ate our lunch across the street from the castle and then made our way to Dublin. We made it in real good time. I was so excited because we'd be able to rest a little bit and I knew there was internet at the guest house. However, driving into Dublin and trying to find our place was nightmarish to say the least. We drove almost to it, made a wrong turn and spent two hours trying to find our way back. Sigh.

Hillary took this photo of the street where Egan's Guest House was located. It wasn't this light when we arrived :) Everyone else arrived hours before us, so they had already eaten dinner and my Dad was hanging out at a pub nearby.


Tom and I needed to do laundry. We had only packed enough clothing for 5 days (to keep the weight and bulk of our belongs to a minimum) so we went in search for a laundromat. The directions we were given were pretty close. The laundry was only about 4 blocks further and around the corner from where we were told. It was raining quite hard by the time we arrived, but that's OK. It was nice to be out of the car!

The posters on the wall are all of New York City. I thought that was funny.

The next morning, we hopped aboard this airplane and headed off to the Isle of Man!

Hope you enjoyed this tour!
Kristin

Thrifty Useful Things

Welcome to another edition of Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. A fun little time to hunt around the house, the garage, someone elses house and garage or even a thrift store or two to dig up some cool finds. Be sure and check out the other Thrifty Finds, from the other participants.

This week Leigh is talking about some very good deals on some outdoor planters. I don't know how she finds these deals. I think they must magically appear!

I found some good items to share with you, from my house this week. I've purchased them long ago, but the thriftyness is still there. :)



Lidan baskets - IKEA, set of 2 - $9.99 (set of 4 - $14.99)

When I saw these soft, flexible, woven baskets I thought they'd be perfect to corral some of my stuff in the bathroom. After bringing it home, I realized the Kleenex box fit in the large one and that both would fit on the tank. PERFECT! I don't like tissue covers as a rule so I'd always had the box perched on the back of the tank, but I liked the idea of having the box sitting in something rather than covering it up. One of the best things about these baskets, the thing that makes them better than a regular basket is that these can be tossed into the washer! You can't put them in the dryer, but to be able to wash them is fabulous! I've had mine for about 3 years now. So far that's about $3.33 a year. Not bad!

The set of 4 are not round - they are square and are 4 different sizes. They weren't a good fit for my bathroom, I could tell in the store, but they just may be the ticket for your home, so I included the link.

Eons ago I was in an antique shop when I spied this box grater. I've been searching for a grater that wouldn't bend when I grated my own Parmesan cheese. I'd been through several graters and was truly disappointed with the quality I was finding in the kitchen stores. This grater is steel. It rusts if you let it, but I don't. :) But if it does rust, it comes right off. Not a big deal. It was $6. I've now had it for almost 12 years. I'm sure it was used for a few decades before I got it. It grates the hardest of cheeses without bending. The teeth of the grater are sharp and stay sharp. It is one of my favorite kitchen items by a long shot.

The last thing is the bottle sitting next to the grater. That's my dishsoap. It's in an olive oil bottle that still has the pour spout that came with the oil. Cost - Free! after of course using it as it was originally intended. (I had another bottle that I was using for soap, but I wanted a change, but didn't want to spend any money. This was perfect!) I really need to get rid of that metal ring around the bottle top. oops.

I've been going through IKEA withdrawal lately. I've been dreaming about the big blue and yellow store - OK daydreaming about it. I don't remember my dreams. I've been trying to figure out what I could possibly need from IKEA in order to make the 3 hour drive worth it. (I don't have any excuses to go) I've been wondering if I need to buy gifts for people, where going to IKEA would fit the bill. (I haven't thought of anyone who NEEDS an IKEA gift.) So I'll just have to indulge my need by looking at their catalog and telling you all about my fun little baskets from IKEA.

You all have a Fabulous Thrifty Thursday!
Kristin

Nothing new to report

image source

Here's the scoop.

He's still in the hospital, he hasn't been woken up yet, he's still doing well.

I'm still very annoyed that they haven't allowed him to wake up yet.

My husband is flying out tomorrow to go to Michigan.

He wasn't originally planning the trip but a few other things popped up today that made taking the trip worthwhile - and justifies buying plane tickets the night before. Sheesh, that's not a Thrifty Thursday post, that's for sure.

I have no idea what to expect this weekend from my BIL's health. But I'll let you know.


This evening I will be writing another photo-rich post from my trip - This time we will be in Dublin for a quick moment, then the Isle of Man. The tour of the Islands will pretty much done.

OK, gotta get back to the laundry.
Kristin

What a day!

Somedays you just can't plan.

Today has been one of those days.

I had a feeling it might be hectic, but I didn't realize how many things were going to try to push and shove their way into my day. Funny thing is, I didn't mind a bit. I just had to do a bit of juggling.

This first thing didn't add or subtract from my list of the day, but is fabulous news and this is a perfect time to talk about it.

Last night we got a phone call that my husband's brother was going into surgery for a liver transplant. He'd been ill for about a year and now that I think about it, it was almost exactly a year that we first heard about his illness. Since Tom and I are pretty well versed in the liver transplant road, we were a good source for the family.

His brother was placed on the transplant list in November of last year I do believe and has been the only person on the list for that blood type in that hospital (University of Michigan) the entire time. They don't do a lot of transplants there, but from what I could gather, they have a good team. I certainly wish that they would have come to Jacksonville and be a part of the Mayo Clinic, but U of M was literally in their backyard, so they stayed. Things are MUCH different at U of M. I don't know what to make of what they are telling me. I know he's out of surgery, he's in recovery and he will be "out" for a few days. The doctors actually said that he would not be awake for a few days. That is just so foreign to me - unless there are major complications, post liver transplant patients at Mayo Clinic are up and walking within 24 from the end of surgery. They aren't sedated for a few days. So, as I said, this is totally foreign to me. I'm not going to freak out and I'm really not stressing about it, but it's hard to help when I don't understand the order of things. The blessing is...that he had the surgery is doing well. Isn't it something that both of the children in this family had the same problem? Different diseases, but same result.

I rent condos to transplant patients, as you probably know and I had one of my tenants move out this morning. This left me with only one rented and two empty. That's scary. I keep the rents really close to cost so that it is affordable for these folks who are usually paying another mortgage at home, plus all of those delightful medical bills, but that means I need to stay full.

Last night before I went to bed I said outloud "I need a renter. One who wants a small unit and needs to be in right away." and then I went to bed.

So bright and early this morning, I helped my tenants pack up the last of their things and waved goodbye. A few moments later my dear friend Steve called me from California. I hadn't talked to him in ages, so it was delightful to hear from him. I got a phone call in the middle of the chat, I decided NOT to take the call right that moment because I was in the middle of the other call...but I crossed my fingers that they'd leave a message.

I got off the phone a few minutes later, listened to the message and guess what?!! It was someone who needed a rental condo and would like it today :) The wife in this couple, had had a heart transplant last night and they needed a place for a few months post transplant. I met the husband and the son, showed them the unit that was ready to go and the unit that had been vacated just an hour earlier and they took the one that was ready to go, signed the papers, wrote the check and moved in.

Goodness! I love it when a request is answered. The Husband of the heart patient told me "I thought it was going to be difficult to find a place, but last night I told my son that we needed a small place for a great price that was ready to move into and the social worker gave me your name this morning. Funny how that works." I think the universe heard our request and got us together.

I still feel a little bad to have not taken the call the second it came in, but it drives me nuts that people click over to answer calls when voice mail will answer it for you. I just think people can wait 5 or 10 minutes for a call back. Obviously it worked out well :) and I got to finish my conversation with my friend Steve.

Tonight we are going to birthday party/farewell party for some support group friends. They came back for a three year post transplant evaluation and since we all like to gather and chat, we're having a little get-together. Since it's someones birthday, we'll have cake and ice cream, too. Anything to have cake and ice cream LOL

The only thing I planned today was to say goodbye to my tenants.

I love it when a plan comes together :)
Have a great Tuesday!
Kristin

Found Art

Have you ever found something an wondered where it came from? why it was left behind? did someone lose it? is it available for you to take home?

I've picked up change and even a stray dollar bill or two. I've even found a 100 dollar bill in a telephone book in a hotel room. I've found scraps of paper, bottles, sunglasses, bottle caps, and all sorts of shiny things that caught my attention.

Some people though have found Art. (The Be Kind piece shown here is from Robayre and she blogged all about it HERE.) Found art is art that others have made and left behind for someone to see, to pick up, to take home and to enjoy. I would have so much joy in my heart at finding such a piece.


Found art doesn't even have to be something fancy - it can be as simple as a doodled envelope, as shown above - blogged about HERE on Robayres blog. Robayre = a woman named Robyn.

Robyn has made several items for Found Art Tuesday - you can see her Flickr page where she shows a lot of the pieces she's done for the Found Art project. I think even a few others have loaded in their pieces as well. I plan on going back there regularly to see what's been created and left behind.

This is how she left the envelope that she made (above) - she just tacked it to a tree. I know if I was walking by and saw something on a tree, I'd go and investigate. One of her latest pieces was a small zipper bag that had a note that explained that this was found art - take it home and enjoy it or give it away.

Yesterday I found such a nice surprise when I went over to Color Me Katie. She decided to put a little love out into her neighborhood by punching out heart shapes and taping them in some unusual places. You have to see what she's done. Neighborhood Love

I have to admit, I've got a pocket full of hearts, a roll of tape and a camera on me right now. I've got some errands to run.

Maybe later I'll drop off some art for someone to find.

I love it when Monday begins on such a high note. What a wonderful gift to give myself and what a way to start a brand new month!

Have a fabulous week.
Kristin