Pretty and Cheap Flower Vases

Spring is in the air and I couldn't be more ready for it! My yard is currently offering up a few pretty flowers, some of which were begging to come inside and live. As I was digging through my "vases" I realized some of my favorite containers were really never intended for holding flowers. But oh my, how I love how they look.My all time favorite "vases" are balsamic vinegar bottles from Trader Joe's. After the vinegar is all gone, I run the bottle through the dishwasher and then use Goof Off to get the label completely off. Over the years I've collected about 8 of these guys. They are so pretty all lined up down the center of a table at a dinner or party.

I have only one of these pretty blue bottles. I don't know what drink came in it. Someone must have brought it with them when they came for a visit. I couldn't bear to throw it away. So, out it comes each spring working as a bud vase.

And of course, there are the hard-working canning jars. I like the blues ones the best. (The daffodils did not come from my yard. My pal, D, gave them to me yesterday.)

I hope spring is finding it's way into your home. If the flowers aren't out yet where you live, I hope you enjoy the photos. :)

Oh, my aching back... No more!

I started Whisker Graphics last June on a shoestring budget. That budget has not changed. My "studio" is our 4th bedroom. It's not fancy, nor beautiful. My computer workspace is a "desk" (a plastic folding cafeteria table from Costco, ugly but roomy) and my laptop.
My laptop sat too low for me. I constantly hunched over to look at the screen and that made my back ache in the worst way. I wasn't sure how to remedy this. Then, I saw a photo of Marty Stewart in her office and she had this nifty stand for her laptop. "I want one of those," I thought to myself. With my budget in mind, I set my spending limit at $0.First I asked friends if they had an old keyboard I could have. They did. Then I did a trial run with a folding breakfast tray to make sure the height and keyboard would work. (That ugly legal pad to the right is my mouse pad.)The LOML made the stand out of some scrap plywood we had in the garage. Not up to Martha's standards for sure, but then again, Martha's budget is bigger. I had some white craft paint (bought when it was on sale 2 for $1), a foam brush (bought when on sale 10 for $1) and my trusy paint tray (an old frozen dinner plastic tray) and leftover paint from our bathroom.
A coat of the white craft paint first to act as primer.Then coat of Gossamer Blue paint from Benjamin Moore and my backsaver was finished. Both my back and my budget are satisfied!

Cheap Wall Art (I mean frugal)

The walls at Print Possible (my other, other job) are bare. Have been for 2 years. We keep meaning to put something up, but time keeps moving on and the walls haven't dressed themselves. Well, no more naked walls! These will be hanging very soon. (click on photos to enlarge)

The 16 frames all laid out on my floor. I'm going to try and hang them with sticky-back velcro so they will (hopefully) be easier to align.

I bought some 5.5 x 5.5 Nyttja frames at IKEA ($24 for 16 frames!), scoured my clip art books, did a little printing and cutting and voila, instant art.

The frames still wrapped up and some trial images printed out.

I created a template in Illustrator so I could print the images 2 at a time. I printed the trim marks as solid lines for easier cutting and because the picture frame border would cover any cutting mistakes.

A closer look.

I printed the "border" on kraft paper and the butterflies on white. I ended up changing the corner images to include some of the border because the corners on their own (see photo 3) were to overwhelming when they were bigger.

Thrift Store Gold (or Silver in this case)

Yesterday, Little Cat A and I went to a local thrift store. It's been a very long time since I've been on the thrift store circuit. Back when I was an owner at Room With a Past, I hit thrift stores and garage sales weekly to gather inventory to revamp for the shop. After a few years of weekly hunting, I was burned out and had to take a couple of years off. But, I'm ready to get "back in the saddle" and hunt again. I was rewarded on my first time out by finding this silver toast holder.

I've been wanting/needing a file folder holder (say that 3 times fast) and did not want another black plastic one from the office supply store. I love the font, the patina, the look, the everything! about this toast holder (I mean folder holder). All this enjoyment for only $3! (contented sigh...)