"Junk"le Bells in March

It's the last week of March and time for "Junk"le Bells!

  

Here once again was my starting point--vintage bottle caps.  I found some 1" Christmas images on Etsy from Xander Graphics  and from Gypsy Woman.   I really wanted to use my own paper ephemera, but thought I'd get a better variety by purchasing some digital images.  This is the first time I've ordered digital images and I have to say I love the potential.  I can re-size and print as many pictures as I want.  I really like the last part...so if I mess up....I'm not out the image!

I made bottle cap garland!

I used a hammer and a nail to punch a hole on either side of the cap, made jump rings out of  wire and glued in an image.

I had a couple of problems....one, being how do you photograph garland without a tree?!

Hang it on the porch? No

Drape it around a pole? No

Lay it on the floor? No

Shoot it with the sun behind you? No

Around a bird cage? No

Well, everything looks better in a jar....

Maybe not...so without a tree, I don't think it looks so great, but honestly, in person, the garland really looks good!

What I learned:

~There is a plastic coating inside the bottle cap, you have to rough it up first or nothing will stick to it.  (I still have to fix some of them!)

~Glue the image in first, then punch the holes, then add the jump rings.  I punched the holes, attached the jump rings, then added the images and I had to bend and trim to get them to fit.  Uhg.
~If you have a 1" hole punch, this project will fly--I don't have one. :(

Now, join me with your up-cycled/recycled junk ornament project!

You can post pictures here in Flikr if you don't have a blog, or link up below with your blog post.

Suitcases, You Can't Have Too Many

I've posted about my attraction to suitcases before. I'm sure many of you share the same addiction, ahem, desire to collect them!  These sit in my sewing room.  The tags... this is about as "cutesie" as I get and I have to tell you, I think they are great.  I bought them on Etsy, but currently the woman has her shop closed, so  I'm glad I bought quite a few from her in two different styles when I did.  The black is chalk cloth so they can be used again and again.

Can you see the bottom one?  Labeled "Ethel's"?  I bought that suitcase with many little fabric pieces and crochet samples from my great aunt Ethel's auction many years ago.  Most of the little pieces are still in there.

I have more suitcases for storage and display all over the house and as I dust for graduation this May, I'll take more pictures!

March "Junk"le Bells Reminder

These are my "raw materials" for my March "Junk"le Bells project.  I'd love to have you join me during the last week in March to post your own project!  You can read about  "Junk"le Bells here.  

Check out the  past projects here and here.

Trip Down Memory Lane

I have four projector screens.  Yes, four.  They sell for .25 at auctions and would be "no bids" if I wasn't there.  I can't leave them.  I don't know what I'll do with them, but they are simply wonderful.  Then it hit me, why not use one as, well, as intended?!  There's an idea!

I borrowed Mom's very old slide projector and her slides of my family growing up.  I've only gotten through a few of them so far, but I'm loving it.

I wish you could hear the hum of the fan and smell of the warm metal.  Viewing images from long ago,  so very nostalgic and certainly a gift.

Here is my Mom in 1961,  (Before I was born) and today, is her birthday!

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

This is a perfect post for my first time to link up to Tuesdays Unwrapped: at Chatting at the Sky