Salvation Army finds today

Skipped off from work a little early today to get to Mom's bank before they closed and had time to get into the Salvation Army store. I got there about 4:15pm and they close at 5pm, so in actuality that only gave me 30 min to look as they start turning out the lights about 4:45pm to get people to the checkout so that they can get out of there on time, I guess. Can't blame them for that.

Finds included a sewing holder for $3, map book plates 50 cents, groovy Luv Letters flower-shaped stationery for a buck, silver holder and demitasse cup for $1, miniature cabinet 50 cents, wooden heart garland with rusted wire $1, and not in the picture a small off white spatter painted planter which will make a great candle holder for $2(forgot to put in in the photo arrangement). I have an addiction to pottery, especially off white or white.

I thought the Luv letters were vintage-looking, like maybe from Target or similar store, but realized they were actually vintage after opening the box when I got home. There are only a few envelopes remaining which have age spots from the box, but still 13 of the flower letter pages. The girl who received them had written on a few as thank you notes, including thanking the one who gave her the Luv Notes, but must have been a girl like me and never gotten around to mailing them. Still stuffed in the envelopes and laying in the box. A fellow procrastinator! Not sure what I'll do with them, but couldn't pass up something so seventies for only a dollar. This looks like something I would have coveted as a teenager.

The cup with the silver holder was purchased because I was thinking of jewelry when I looked at it. Will try cutting the rim into several pieces which I think will make a main element for a bracelet, maybe with soldered edges and some kind of attached adornments on it and on either side. Does that make sense? Now, have I ever made anything like this? Well, no, but I might!

Why did I buy the tacky heart garland? My thought process on that was 7 wooden hearts to decorate or alter, along with several pieces of curly rusted wire, was a deal that couldn't be beat for one dollar.

After the trip to the SA, I ran to Hobby Lobby to get some flowers for church. I'm responsible for the altar table arrangement this month. I was very good and bought only the flower arrangement at half price and then a few Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads that I've been wanting to try for 1/2 price. Didn't even use the 40% off coupon I printed out!

I've been asked by Karen about the Kentucky Home collage. Sorry, it was done for a postage stamp themed chunky book swap last year, so someone, somewhere, has this page in their book and it is not available. I did 26 different pages, I think, for that swap, which were a lot of fun to do. I'm bad to put an older work photo up when I don't have anything current scanned and ready to post about. Thanks for your kind words, Karen! I don't think anyone has ever said they would want to buy my work before. This piece started out with a gessoed and color washed map background if I remember correctly and then the main images are the Kentucky stamp collaged on top of a piece of a scenery picture from a vintage children's schoolbook page. I used watercolor pencils, colored pens, and pencil to blend the images and the background by adding a few elements or bringing some like the road into the foreground. The words were handwritten on the inside of an old envelope and cut out. The stars were stencilled with gesso across the sky. I'm glad you liked it and thanks for taking the time to tell me so!