Thrift Score - Vintage Books

 I stopped by the Goodwill today and picked up these cute little vintage books. They were a dollar each so I scooped them up! These are little - slightly bigger than the size of a wallet. They're from the early 40's and have great "patina" (aka wear and tear).

The illustrations inside are pretty, too, but I have to admit I got these books for their covers. I'm thinking of making wallets or maybe little notebooks/journals. I also got a Wilton cake-decorating book from the '70's. It's hilariously dated but has some great tutorials for making buttercream flowers and lots of other techniques.

I have a weakness for vintage books. I went to the Goodwill to look for clothes for my Halloween costume but somehow managed to walk out with books instead. It happens all too often :)

New Craft Project

I started a new craft project. I got a cool pillow case from the thrift store and some vintage fabric for about $4 or so and am going to embelish the case. I started by drawing some birds with fabric markers. I may or may not add some buttons or other trim. I'm definitely going to add a few leaves cut from the green and yellow fabric.

Simon approves, I think.

Little Bird

I am experimenting with adding stitching/embroider to my canvas paintings. This isn't the best photo but it shows the general idea.

Watercolor Wednesday

Here is a painting that I did a little over a week ago, using watercolor and crayon. I used Photoshop to change the colors on the one below. What do you think? I don't understand the controversy surrounding painters using Photoshop. It's a tool like anything else, right? Unless you are a very traditional artist, mixing your pigments and doing everything as they did pre-1800, I guess. I bet those guys would have loved to have Photoshop, though :)P I guess there are some painters who disapprove of painting from a photograph, but I say whatever works for the artist is okay with me.

Watercolor Wednesday

I had fun last night making this chart of different crayons with different paints. This way I can easily remember which paints and crayons really pop together without having to remember all the crazy crayon names (famous? tickle me pink? the giving tree? what ever happened to names that describe color, Crayola?)

I'm pretty happy with the bird below. I'm feeling an itch to break out into something new again, though, so this may be the last of the birds.