Thrifting Haul!

So I recently bought some of the coolest stuff to use for future projects, and I got all of them for a total of only about $12!

My haul! Well, minus 1 book and 2 maps that I forgot to put in this picture...

All in all, this is what I got:
-4 LPs with their album covers, plus the smaller Xanadu LP
-A cool yellow-green coffee mug
-5 books, including a book of poems and sketches, just a random old book because I have a strange obsession with old books, a children's book filled with drawings of the cutest bunny I've ever seen, another children's story book with some really classic illustrations, and a silly joke book about butt rot and bottom gas (couldn't resist)
-A plain, wood picture frame that I can't wait to paint ^_^
-2 National Geographic inserts with awesome animal illustrations


These items are providing me with endless inspiration right now. I have a few favorites...

Been thinking so much lately about the possibility of moving to Chicago in my near future, so I had to grab this album cover...

This tiny book, Pages of Angels, is full of really cool poems and sketches. Only cost me a dollar at the library book sale, and I can't wait to use some of the pages in craft projects!

I'm not a huge fan of the color (might have to repaint this one), but I love how unique this mug is!

I love the idea of just framing album covers to use as wall art, especially for only 50cents apiece! Use frames you find at Goodwill for a totally cheap but beautiful piece of decoration. I bought the West Side Story one for my mom since it's her favorite musical =)


Also, this:

SO FREAKING CUTE

Tuesday Tunes - Milk Carton Kids

I have pretty much continuously listened to this song for the past month. There is something so entrancing about the guitar work and the fact that Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan have this crazy ability to be indiscernible from each other. As in, their voices have essentially melded into one super voice that ties in with the somber lyrics in a hauntingly beautiful way.

The guy who wrote the Foreward to their album Prologue found the perfect word for how this music makes me feel: seduced. Not in the lustful, rock-my-body kind of way, but in that I always want more. More of those subtle harmonies, more of that effortless finger-picking, more of their emotional lyrics that feed the "sometimes crying feels good" mentality. I mean, come on...these words are perfect for us self-defined tortured souls:



"You took the words right out my mouth,
When you knew that I would need 'em.
What am I supposed to do now,
Without you?
Without you." ~Michigan

Photo from Birmingham Box Set

"I come in pieces, I always have
I miss your face, the way you laugh...
I'm glad we met
In God we tried
My one regret
We got one goodbye." ~One Goodbye


I'm feeling like having myself a good cry just listening to the album in order to write this post. My lady readers will understand. This is the perfect music for a rainy day, or to play in the background while you're doing homework. I'm finding it to be the perfect accompaniment for blogging, so there's that! And don't worry, they do have some cheerful tunes in their repertoire =P

To add frosting to this already delicious cake, this band has put their two albums up as FREE downloads on their website.  I IMPLORE you to grab those freebies, even if it's just because turning down free music offered up by the musicians themselves is a waste. I wouldn't be surprised if this incredible sound starts catching like wild fire - they've been around for a year and I personally think they should already be much bigger than they already are.

Quickie: Ingrid Michaelson covers Gotye

No way. Ingrid Michaelson covering “Somebody That I Used to Know”?!?  (don’t lie, you’ve definitely heard of this song and you’re definitely just as obsessed with it as I am). This song has now spurred TWO awesome covers (previously, by Walk off the Earth) including this new one, and I am just so pleased with the music world right now. I love that super talented people have been inspired by this great song enough to put their own unique spins on it.




...quickie posts are hard to end.

Janine and the Dream of Horses

Yesterday turned into an impromptu adventure, and I'm so pleased that it did! I was visiting my parents and found out that we'd be spending a portion of the day babysitting my sister's boyfriend's daughter, Kennedy.

That's my Mom with her at Southern States =)

She's SO freaking adorable, and she was SET on seeing some baby chickens after my mom told her there were some at her job. Hearing a two year old screaming happily about "babie chickes" is was enough to make my heart break when we found the chicks hadn't arrived yet.


But good news everyone! My mom's awesome coworker lives on a LOT of land and owns 5 horses!

This place was just so gorgeous...

The look on this little cutie's face when the horses ate treats right out of her hand just ruined me. And her delayed and ridiculously precious "whee" as she rode around on a horse for the first time...just what anyone needs to put a smile on their face for the rest of the day.

Kennedy meets Lily!

This trip also reminded me of the fact that I reeeeally miss riding horses. I used to take riding lessons when I was pretty young, but my parents made me quit when my trainer switched me to a bigger horse that could easily throw me and break my tiny body into a million pieces. Needless to say, riding again made me pretty happy too ^_^

Anyways, just thought I'd share! I honestly was just expecting a quiet day at home with my parents, but I'm glad we were impulsive and ended up having a super awesome day =) Hope you guys had great weekends as well!

Arts and Crafts Haul!

I've been really good about saving money lately and so treated myself to a little shopping spree today. The weather is nice, the boyfriend has other plans, and I feel like being creative....the destination? Michael's. It's one of my favorite stores, and always the hardest place for me to leave without wanting to buy everything I see.


Without digging too deep into my wallet, I got some really fun stuff that I can't wait to turn into great projects! Here are my two favorite buys:

The design on this scrapbook paper caught my eye and I just had to grab it. Not sure yet what I'll use it for yet...

My apologies again for the crappy quality picture...but, I am SO EXCITED to finally have some Sculpey. One of my favorite bloggers (Delighted Momma) has these awesome DIY tutorials for polymer clay jewelry, and now I can actually try them myself ^_^

I even, reluctantly, picked up some items in order to retry a project that I have miserably failed at completing twice in the past...BUT, I am determined to make it work this time! More about that in a future post =)

If you guys have any craft ideas, let me know in the comments!

Artsy Farty Fridays - Polymer Clay Bracelet

Delighted Momma is one of my favorite blogs for DIY projects, and so I decided to give one of her polymer clay crafts a try! I followed her pretty simple instructions and finished up with something kinda cute!


Materials:

1. Sculpey, 2. Exacto Knife/Razor blade, 3. Sandpaper (not pictured)

Knead the Sculpey color of your choice (I probably should've picked a color that less resembled poop..) and then roll it into a tube. *Tip: measure your wrist or use another bangle as a guide so you don't make the bracelet too large or small!

From here on, I pretty much just followed Delighted Momma's tutorial to the letter. I will say that I wish I had used a razor like the one pictured on her blog since it allowed for more varied and angled cuts.

I am absolutely, 100% a beginner at this sort of stuff, and I know I could probably have made a much better quality bracelet if I'd had experience making jewelry or working with polymer clay before (it's tricky to know exactly how to handle that stuff). BUT, I'm still pretty happy with my little hand-made bangle =) 

This is how it turned out after I sanded it down some ^_^

Perhaps I'll spice it up by mixing this project with another of Delighted Momma's DIYs by wrapping some colored thread around portions of the bracelet, but I'm not sure yet. 

Artsy Fartsy Friday - Mason Jars

I recently got into this new-ish website called Pinterest, which basically just allows you to “pin” pictures of things you like on the Internet to “boards” that other people can follow. If you like someone’s pin, you can click on it and it will link you to the website where they found the picture. I frequently haunt DIY (do-it-yourself) boards because I like to believe I’m crafty. At this point, I have accumulated many pins of DIY projects and recipes that I have the best intentions to try but never actually do. Hence (partly) this blog. My lack of interesting things to write about has lit a fire under my butt to get these projects going! 

This first project is really quick and easy, which is perfect for me because I’m impatient and easily confused. I already have a hipster-y fascination with old books, so the main item this project took me out of my way for was the mod podge (which you can buy at any craft store for under $10). Anyways, just get yourself some mason jars, rip some cool looking pages out of some old books, and just slather mod podge on the jar as well as the paper to stick 'em together! It adds a little flair to an otherwise plain glass, and it looks really cool if you put a candle in it, with the light flickering through the pages. I haven't gotten to this myself yet, but you can decorate them even more with twine or ribbon to take it up another notch.

*(I don't remember exactly where I first saw it...sorry I'm not sure who to give credit to for the idea!)

**I'll have a better camera for the next craft post...