Weekend adventures!

Sorry I've been a bit quiet lately! Life has been busy in the retail fabric world, our sale just ended and I found out I not only made my sales goal early but I also won second place in the store contest between the sales associates! Yay! 30 extra dollars to spend at renn fair this weekend!

*we now return you to your scheduled program*Ahem.

So! Last weekend Todd and I went to a local field to go fly his newish model airplane! I know, we're pretty nerdy sometimes, but at least we're not boring! It was windy this past Sunday, but the weather was beautiful! We learned very fast why they tell you not to fly on windy days!

Preparation for flight!

Takeoff attempt one!

Takeoff two!

Success!....

And then the wind caught it while he was trying to land it. It pretty much did a straight nose dive.

Reaaaallly bad crash. The engine actually caught on fire and was smoking!

Poor Todd has to go buy new parts for his plane again!

Afterwards we decided to checkout a few pumpkin patch/farms nearby, I'm a bit low on my honey reserves and I need to restock! Local honey is the best! The first one didn't have much of a shop, but they did have dried bamboo stalks for sale!?! I know I could make something awesome with them but I didn't buy any. The second patch we went to is super popular in my area. It's called Cox Farms and they're kind of a big deal in the fall, especially if you are 7 or younger! Todd and I just walked around the shop(or should I say navigated? SO. MANY. PEOPLE.) I found the honey that I usually get from a local beekeeper but was disappointed with the raised cost! $20 a jar! Though her honey cost more than your average grocer store honey, but think of all the work she puts in to it! And she's like 80! Anyway I persuaded Todd to try apple butter with the great description of "its apple cider you can spread on toast!" Honey and apple flavored things are a must for me in the fall! What are your favorites?

This little guy is always in Todd's car! It's an LED flashlight that ribbits when it lights up

must be nearing a pumpkin patch...

Cool old fire truck randomly on the farm!

Apple Butter!! I think he was hungry, he was much more smiley after being introduced to flavored honey sticks!

Pumpkins and gourds!

Goose gourd! My mom and I used to paint these and cut a hole in them to make a bird house!

Warty Pumpkin!

The world needs these in place of "do not park" signs

another old fashioned truck

Earlier this week I made a run through my library to try and find some good art books that would inspire me to work more with collaging for ATC's or mail art. I think that collaging is one of the hardest things to do and i never feel satisfied with my collaged work. Luckily, I found a GREAT book that is fun and shows a lot of variety with collaging. If you want to look it up it's called "Scraps: an inspirational field guide to collage" by Elsebeth Gynther and Christine Clemmensen. By the end of the book I was envisioning a gloriously organized craft space with  many successful projects piled up in a corner. Sadly I won't be able to have my own designated "craft" space for quite some! Right now everything is just piled in my bedroom and I work where ever I can find space!

After flipping though for over an hour, I got excited about going through my stash of ENDLESS collaging supplies and ended up with this little ATC. What do you think? I kinda like it but I'm not sure if its "done."

Book inspired ATC

I also checked out some other artsy books. I like picture books! I haven't been in the mood to actually sit and read a book in a while but when I do I like to pick random books off the shelf at a library, that way all the books get a fair chance of being read! (because books have feelings?) But I mostly frequent the DIY/craft/art section. Even though it's a small library and I've probably seen most of the books that I'm interested in, you never know! Sometimes something that you overlooked before could be a new source of inspiration!

I had I hopes for this book but alas, Martha failed to inspire me this time. Image from Amazon.com

Do you have any go to books that inspire you? I'd love to know!

Happy Saturday!

I think my mailman holds all my mail til one day so I have more than one thing to be excited about. This came yesterday!

Okaay so maybe it's not a real Saturday. But give me a break I work on the real Saturdays! I'll take my weekends where I can get them!

Incoming mail!

Color swap! She gave me lots of colors since I'm a lover not a hater =)

Notecards from the color swap. All Parisan themed!

A map of the Czech Republic! I like pretending that I can speak foreign languages when reading haha

A Castle in Germany

Pretty stamps from the Czech Republic!

Pretty awesome looking guy

Beautiful stamp!

I love all the stickers and labels that come with foreign mail!

Outgoing mail!

A note out to my friend Kimberly!

An intro letter to fellow mail blogger Pamela. I visit her blog for inspiration!

I love reusing magazine pages with textures or color like this

This one is full of friendship books!

A boring white envelope dressed up with a pottery barn catalog! This one is going out to Lin for the color swap!

Find anything interesting in the mail box today? I'd love to hear!

Incoming!

So I was a little sad this week as I didn't get very much mail! I did however get two postcards and a letter from my friend Kimberly during the week though! Ahh sorry I don't have pics of them!

PINNACLE OF EXCITEMENT

BUT when I least expected it on Saturday, I was inundated with mail and packages! Look at that huge package! Naturally my excitement was overwhelming. So I decided to open from smallest to largest since I knew the big package would have fun things to sort through from a swap!

I am a VERY special woman!

I got a belated graduation card from some  relatives! Even though it was 4 months after graduation I was still happy to see they remembered me and included a little money to help me out.

I can't wait to write something on this cute stationery!

I  got some stationery from a stationery swap! Look at how cute it is!

I also had ordered a few things from etsy. By things I mean stamps. Sallycrafts has a variety of rubber stamps and other craft supplies! She also shipped out very quickly! The prices were too good to pass on so I just bought them while I could.  I'm one of those online shoppers who usually leaves everything in the cart for a few weeks before buying.

You can expect me to use these with my mail art soon!

Okay so now its time to open THE BIG ONE. I got this one for a swap (on swap bot of course!) for extra craft supplies that you aren't using anymore. There were so many things!

Mini chickens!!

mini miniatures!

Craft magazines!

Oooh so many possibilities!

Yay something for the dollhouse!

I am officially banning myself from buying rubber stamps. for now...

A strange little mobile with animals all over it! looks handmade!

Cute stationery with a fish!

Lots of paper for mail art! Who wants mail?!

Cute leaf ornament! Handmade? I can't wait to find a home for it!

Quebec!

Funny. I went to a Titanic exposition this year in D.C.

*OVERWHELMED*

Lots of booklets from museums and places she'd been.

I'm glad this had already been cut up a bit else I would feel to guilty to use it for anything!

I actually shared a few things with my mom and we found a great place for the flowers and the garland with a wreath hanging on our porch. I think its cute! How do you like it?