Fanciful Fall Projects

I had a long tiring day of coaching, so I'm barely awake, let alone crafting. BUT, I couldn't resist when the CD of our fall photo shoot came in the mail! I updated my facebook profile pic, ordered new prints for my large collage frame, and created my holiday cards in Heritage Makers! I won't ruin the surprise on those yet :)

By the way, I am still totally in love with my green coat!

Good Source for Party Supplies - Taymark

Taymark is the company behind M&N International, and about a million other catalogs hocking the same stuff but targeted at different audiences. They're headquartered in White Bear Lake, and every Thursday they have a little retail store open with overstocks and super-clearanced stuff. It's COMPLETELY hit or miss, sometimes 100% junk, but sometimes there are great deals. The giant paper daffodils I used for Wicked Wonderland were a big score there - just $1.25 each a few years ago. One day I was there and a mom picked up 15 rhinestone tiaras for a little girl's birthday party, I think they were under $4 each, which is a HUGE deal and what a fun princess party favor that would be!

They're usually only open 10am - 4pm, kind of difficult for those of us in the working world (I've tried to make it there and back in my lunch break a few times, it's rarely successful. Oops!), but in preparation for the holidays they have a few days of extended hours - Thursday December 3rd & 10th they are open 10am - 6pm, much better!

They are located:
Taymark
4875 White Bear Parkway
White Bear Lake, MN 55110 - it's a huge industrial building with a big sign above the outlet entrance.

One more caveat: it's CASH ONLY, don't forget! There is no ATM anywhere near.

A very pretty pair...

My mother had a present waiting for me on her kitchen table when I swung by her house last night - these ADORABLE Betsey Johnson socks! I <3 them so much! The grey pair has black spider webs and sparkly pink spiders, and the pink pair has black spiders dangling from webs, and orange details. Spectacular!

I actually wear knee socks almost every day, I've decided they're much more fun, easier to match up in the laundry, and since I'm lazy about shaving my legs (much to the hubby's dismay) they provide excellent coverage :) Today I have royal blue with turquoise apples on. They don't in any way match my jeans & maroon top, but who cares! Nobody sees them except myself anyways, with pants being so long and my merrells covering all of my feet.

Mom scooped this pretty pair (2 pair actually) up for $6 at Marshalls - I might just have to see if they have any more!

Digital Designing

I have been hard at work the past couple days, but nothing to show for it yet - I'm working in cyberspace :) I'm doing Heritage Makers projects, and I'm on a roll! I have 3 books ready to publish - my New York trip, the Bachelorette parties of 2009, and my September scrapbook, a couple of gift items, and tonight I just finished a super fun calendar! These are the "pick of the month" for November, so the smaller size is just $20! I like them because they are fully customizable, like all Heritage Makers products, so I've been able to do sume really cute things like put people's photos on the squares for their birthdays, a wedding photo on our anniversary, etc. I chose tie-dye looking backgrounds, since I just love the bright colors and wild designs, and put old family photos from each month in the header of each page - wedding photos in May, New Year's Eve fun in December, etc. I finished it up tonight, save a few Thanksgiving photos I hope to snap next week to fill out November. I'm so excited to see it! I had never considered doing a calendar until I helped a friend get acquainted with the system last night, and it really caught my eye.

I'll be putting in an order on Thanksgiving, so if anyone wants to make a calendar, book, or other photo gift, let me know ASAP!

Lost & Found

I found a set of keys outside my office yesterday, sort of lost in the bushes along the sidewalk. Of course I thought "Oh no, someone lost their keys, they shall be so happy I have found them" and scooped them up. I sent a message to our building's listserv, but nobody claimed them. I started to rethink my helpfulness. I called the University Police, who told me they wanted no part of it - they didn't keep such things as lost car keys, and I should turn them in to my building lost and found. Which does not exist. And inquiring about said lost and found only resulted in a defensive statement from the building manager about why we aren't REQUIRED to have one, and therefore won't. The building manager will begrudgingly pick them up and hold them in the basement for a week, then throw them out. Hmm. Somewhere someone is locked out of their Audi, home, and mailbox or padlock #151. I even went through two parking lots looking for an Audi, and didn't find one (interesting note: there are a TON of Toyotas at the U). But the moral of my story? Don't be helpful. Leave keys where you find them. Apparently all I've done is hide them from anyone who might have gone back searching. Live & learn!

Have you ever tried to help and just made the situation worse? Share your life lessons in my comments. To comment without signing in, choose "anonymous" - but please sign your submission :)

A Pause in the Action...

I ran myself out of glue and had to stop mosaic-ing for a while. I knew I was getting close, but I kept hoping to find my adhesive somewhere local, and that hasn't worked out. I got the first bottle up in Maple Grove, but I think I'll just order my next batch off Amazon - save an annoying trip through the most awful traffic in the metro.



I use "Weld Bond," and none of the chain stores around me seem to have it - I've checked Target, Michael's, Joann's, Menard's - none of them carry it. I'm lax to try something else when I know how well this works, so good thing tomorrow is payday and I can put in an order!

I did get a lot done tonight though, first I picked up D-rings at Michael's, after consulting with their framing department and determining what would be best to hang my heavy mirrors. they're pretty easy to secure, just measure and drill.



I got four boards set up - the two long thin ones actually have 3 rings on the back, so they can be hung either horizontally or vertically:



One of them I'm halfway finished with, got the center mirror and a cool border of jagged mirror tiles:



I'm going to go with red for the rest of it, and I cut all the tiles for the edges & most of the center while I'm waiting for glue:



But before it ran out, I also got a 2nd jumbo mirror started - these are 18" x 24":



And I cut a bunch more glass:



Just 11 days till my first show, hopefully I can get 4-8 of these large mirrors done by then too!

Random Mosaic Musings

Today I accomplished one major crafty thing, which was racing to J. Ring Glass Studios on my lunch break and getting the mirror sheets for my larger mosaics! I'm itching to go home and work on them, but I have a million other things I should probably do first.
I did manage to make it through this weekend's grouting day with just a couple small (but deep) slices on one finger, I consider that a rousing success after my previous attempt left me mangled for a while. But I do think I will wait for these to heal up a bit before doing my next batch - I have 9 waiting to be grouted right now. It takes a massive toll on your fingers, not just the risk of getting cut on glass edges but the grout also dries out your skin violently. I've been soaking in lotion ever since, and my fingertips still feel parched.

In case you are looking to get into mosaics, but don't quite know what to get, here is what I use:

For grouting I use this Keracolor stuff, since it's what I used in my class and it works great. It's powdered and you just mix with water in an ice cream bucket, definitely worth the savings over pre-mixed grout and you can make only what you need for that "batch." They have a million different colors, so far I've only stuck with "biscuit" which is pretty much white (along with 30 other colors of white). It comes from the tile aisle in Menards - it's absolutely the same stuff you do bathrooms and backsplashes with. That's also where I found a little tool that looks like this:

This little sucker is awesome, it spreads the grout but it's rubber, so it also helps remove the grout from the glass pieces - wayyyyy less to clean that way, which is a HUGE time saver! Best impulse buy in a long time :)

I can't wait to get home and start some more BIG mosaic mirrors!