Not for the faint of heart.

Seriously, this project is not for the faint of heart. I got this idea from a link on greenliving.com, which lists ways to reuse plastic bags.
So, from an idea there, I decided to make a little raincoat or windbreaker out of my grocery bags.
To do this, first you need to fuse your bags, (there are a TON of tutorials out there explaining the process ), and then you can use it like any other fabric supposedly-- the process sounds simple enough-- but for some reason, half of the time the bags I was using would just shrivel up, bubble, melt, etc. etc. etc... and I would be doing the same thing every time! SO frustrating! But still, I love the idea, and would especially love it if someone else out there could master the bag-fusing technique and give me some pointers. :)
A HUGE thanks goes out to my mother for all her help with this project. She created the pattern for the coat from a hoody.
The actual bags I used come from three places.... Meijer grocery store, The Art Museum of Columbus ( the neon yellow bag), and The Dispatch (the orange bag our Sunday papers come in).
Also, a huge thanks to our friends who bribed their son to wear this super crinkly coat for some pictures. He wasn't too happy to do it, but I am SOOOO grateful. :)
Honestly, I was surprised at how fabulous the coat turned out.
As for some other details, I tacked in a hoody to make it a little more comfortable, and added some snaps to the exterior.
As always- nothing is a science. I share these things to help give others ideas-- change it how you will. But, if you do have specific questions about this, or any other project, don't hesitate to ask them! I love to share! Thanks all!

Altered art journal

I got this idea in the beginning from the journals at www.littleblackkitty.typepad.com/ but had NO idea how to actually make one-- bind it etc... so looked around, and found this altered art journal idea at artfulcollections.blogspot.com.
Anyways.... a lot of work, but the long and short of it is this- I found a book with a cover I liked at the Goodwill. Then, I glued every other page together with a regular glue stick, to make the pages stronger. Then, I did a bunch of different things.... I painted most of the pages, glued in other paper, glued in ribbon, lace, and doilies I liked, and even ironed in fabric I liked using fusible webbing.
On the cover I also ironed on a cute cross stitch picture I found at Goodwill, again with fusible webbing, and put a pocket in the front of the book, for pictures, pens, whatever.
The deal is that you can do whatever you want-- so come up with your own ideas.
This isn't really an "art" journal I don't think... but rather a journal of sorts, which could be an art journal if you wanted, but for me I liked the idea of painting and embellishing, but still leaving room for other stuff.... it's just nice to have some things already there to act as inspiration for the future.
I gave this to my sister.... though admittedly, after all that work, it was hard to say goodbye!
P.S. if any of you ever try this, WAX PAPER IS YOUR FRIEND! It is the thing to use to protect the pages you've already worked on as you begin other pages.
Leave questions if you have them! And as always... I LOVE comments and other ideas!!!! Thanks!

Here is a little something I just finished today. I got this old window about a week ago at a local antique store for $10.00. I fell in love. I'll probably end up going back and getting a few more... but anyway... I couldn't decide what to do with it. Finally, I decided to make this collage. It is stamps and things from meaningful letters that I've been carrying around for years- I didn't want to throw away the envelopes, but hate storing things, even sentimental things that have no purpose now. So, here's the final product... a bit of meaningful, and re-purposed art. :)

I also had an idea concerning white boards awhile ago. I hate white boards. Let me clarify, I hate the way they look- but love the functionality. I'd also taken up leaving a dry erase marker in my bathroom, ( for whatever reason all my ideas come to me as I'm getting ready for the day...) so as my ideas come, I just write them on the mirror. This got me thinking-- why not just get a frame I liked, and use that as my whiteboard.
This is the frame I got-- it's huge, and not too cute, but I liked it. At first I just took out the back, and hung it, so you could see the wall.... but it was too bland... so then I took and old tablecloth, cut it to the right size, and sewes ribbon around it to give it some style... and then framed it.
I like it much better ... but now I don't like the colors of my markers, or my handwriting. Oh well. I'll leave it for now.

My last picture is of another $10.00 antique mirror... oh sigh... now what for this rugged beauty? I'm still not sure... perhaps a black and white collage of my favorite pictures? Vintage material? I love using meaningful, sentimental scraps of my life... but we'll see what happens. All I know is, she is perfect...