Cute kitties

I had a Porch Sale today - which was not a good idea actually. With the holiday weekend there is no one around. In spite of that I still made a whoppin' $18! But I think the happiest people today were the cats.

Obviously the towels were put on the table, in the sun, just for Jacques! I tried telling him that he wouldn't be great for business, but no luck. He was very content right there.

There was also something for Swee'pea; balloons! He's never seen these before and they were just fascinating.

 

A good day all around.

inch by inch

Slowly slowly, more things get done. It was a beautiful day here; clear, breezy, and cool 65°(in May!) Warmer in the sun. So I decided to put two more lattice strips up. The old ones are okay. There are a few broken strips here and there,  but with a fresh coat of paint, they are just fine.

Before front: 

Before side: 

After front: 

After side: 

 

Of course all of this happened under the watchful eye of the Supervisor. 

Garden update

 Aliums are in full bloom. They are gorgeous this year! It must be all the water they are getting. This spring has been very strange weather wise. We had a lovely 85° day today, but by Sunday it is supposed to be 65°. My roses are barely starting to make an appearance and usually they are in full bloom by now. I guess I shouldn't complain, Minnesota is still getting snow! Ugh. I'll be they are mighty done with that.
The azalea bush I discovered my first year here is also doing just dandy.  It is brilliant white and so many blooms. Maybe because I fed it this year. just maybe. ahem.

 And since Mr. El left and hasn't been back for almost a year. I hope no one will notice that the ugly wall of the house is being covered up with beautiful vines. This is from last year and I'm hoping they will continue to propagate and cover everything. This vine goes bright red in the fall. Lovely. 

5 years

 

Five years ago today I signed my fingers off to to get the pieces of paper that say that I'm responsible for this house. I can't believe it's been five years. How did that happen? I still feel like I just moved in. I'm still unpacking (a few) boxes, I'm still trying to make it exactly the way I want it! How did five years go by? Well they did and this also means that I've been writing this blog for almost five years as well. That's probably more of a surprise, by all accounts I should have petered out by now. Still going though - because there's still lots to do. (This is a pressure print I did this past weekend at Melanie's press.)

On Tuesday, having toured all of Philadelphia with my Australian guest, and having survived my peer review at school, AND inspired by Karen (of course) - I indulged in a little creativity. I covered some light switches.

The new cover in the studio. An old seed packet. 

My absolute favorite marbled paper - but the Modge Podge made it even darker, so it's hard to see. 

 

Bathroom switches

The thing I realized though, once I was putting them back on the wall, is they will look better on a colored wall. That's what makes Karen's so stunning - the colored wall behind it. My favorite is the turquoise one for my kitchen on the blue background. So... I guess I 'll be thinking about what color to paint the bathroom.... maybe that green!
But that blue in the kitchen is especially hard to photograph so here is a clear one slightly blown out...

 and here is a slightly blurry picture with better color...

Next time I will cover them with paste paper.

What I want now...

Because there is an Australian visiting from our Mail-Art exchange, I was up a Melanie's for the weekend. Katie who is also in the mail art exchange was able to come to meet Heather, and Melanie also invited Karen -  a friend of hers who does a lot of mail art within her own circles. Heather and Karen had "met" on facebook and it was so much fun to get together with like-minded people and have a play day. Heather was introduced to a whole new world of printmaking!  We spent Saturday at Melanie's PRESS and each made a pressure print. I'll have to post those another time because I want to take photos and I'm planning on "installing" them somewhere on the premises.

Karen invited us (Heather and me) to her home on our way back to Philadelphia. And wow. Just wow. What a beautiful home!
It makes mine with all of my colors look conservative!
It is so beautiful!
I want one.
Look...

The cabin in the woods

The living room and the studio (second floor)
Karen in her kitchen  Heather  

 

The breakfast nook

The Mona Lisa Bath

   

The light switch cover in the Mona Lisa bath

The green bath... (huge sigh - is this a bathroom for me or what!?)

light switch cover in the green bath...

But since I can't really have a house like this (not right now anyway), I'll settle for the light socket covers... Look at these!

(I'm sorry the images are a little blurry. I don't know what was blooming up there but I was having the worst allergy attack I've every had. I took antihistamines and everything, did no good.)

Karen explained that the light switch covers are covered with decorative paper, stamps, maps etc.  Well. I think I have some of that stuff lying around! I can't wait!

Heather and I did some running around yesterday... the running tour of Philadelphia. Got her safely onto the train this morning and I dashed off to my peer review at Moore, which I think went okay. 

And now I've blogged - so I think I can indulge in a little art. I'm going to go cover some light switches!