Found Objects Coral Table

coral slab occasional table, a photo by BaubCat on Flickr.

My brother-in-law created this incredible coral table from discarded items he found. The broken slab of coral was perfect for the tabletop. He also removed the nice mid-century modern legs from a tossed-out table. He attached three of the four legs, thus enhancing the beautiful freeform edge of the slab. It looks beautiful in the natural setting of his patio. Chalk one up for another talented recycler.

New Treasury - Hometown

I just created a new Treasury on Etsy. I heard two news stories in the last two days about my home town of Cincinnati. I haven't lived there since I was a child, but have been back to visit a few times. Since it was on my mind, I thought I'd build a treasury on that theme to promote crafters back home. I don't know any of these artists and wasn't able to add all the talent I found by just doing a shop local search, but I hope you enjoy the nice stuff I found.

Kitchen Floor Samples have arrived

We ordered some samples of the marmoleum floor for our kitchen. The sample pieces are only the top linoleum layer, but the floor comes in engineered pieces that click together, so they install easily as a floating floor.

I spent the last couple days playing around with ideas for patterns using the 3 bottom colors. I pasted into the drawing the countertop swatch & stretched it over the counters, but the scale is of course too big. I also added the bamboo door swatch off to the side.

So which patterns do you like & dislike?

Craftzine Blog

Camera Pillow Boxes, a photo by b-a-boop on Flickr.

A flickr photo of mine that I added to the CRAFT pool was featured on their blog. Thanks CRAFT!!!, it gave my flickrstream a nice boost.
You'll notice that I have a link in my sidebar to MAKEzine, which oversees CRAFT. They are both great fun to follow and the best resources for creativity.

These pillow boxes I threw together at the last minute to wrap the wallet I made for my husband & also some chocolate I got for him.

Handmade Journal

Handmade Journal, a photo by b-a-boop on Flickr.

OMG I admire people who craft handmade journals so much more now that I made my 1st one. A couple hours just looking through my collection of buttons, fabrics, scrapbook paper, lace, etc. Then almost a full day on each of the front & back covers - switching out items, rearranging buttons & such. I know I’m way too persnickety & indecisive. I only knew I wanted the glove on the front. 

It was a gift for my sister-in-law Roberta’s birthday, and the glove had belonged to her Aunt. I did better with the inside pages as I chose just to decorate them randomly with some watercolor & a few inspirational words.

Also check out Roberta’s Blog & Etsy shops too.

Old Houses always throw you a monkey wrench

Not sure what's to come with my kitchen. The latest contractor to come out and give me an estimate brought along his electrician since I told him the house was built in 1947. I knew we would be rewiring the whole kitchen because there aren't enough outlets, some aren't properly grounded & we're rearranging most of it too. But the electrician asked to look at the meter & main panel & told me that trying to permit my kitchen would most likely trigger a whole house rewire from the bldg dept. We were well aware of many old boxes, old meter cans & some stuff we couldn't identify, but he showed me some things that are a bit scary. I really don't want to construct without permits or add to what is probably already a fire hazard, but I wasn't expecting to redo the whole house. This may now knockout my whole kitchen budget. The only plus side is that we will then move the elec panel that's in the kitchen & really in the way of a good design. So I have to wait for his rough estimate and see what I can budget. Meanwhile I'm going to continue demolition cause I just can't stand looking at it any longer. I'd rather look at an empty room with holes in the walls than my gross old kitchen.

Demolishing the Kitchen

Demolishing the floor, a photo by b-a-boop on Flickr.

It's a nasty job, one 6" strip at a time I'm removing the ugly vinyl kitchen floor. Underneath is a 12"x12" vinyl or linoleum floor (a bit less ugly, makes me wish I'd pulled up this first one years ago). It will also have to come up & then there is the original linoleum in red & black. Hopefully I can leave that bottom layer as the marmoleum click I wish to install can be put over one layer of existing floor.