Monogrammed Coasters

Hey! I got one of those Cri Cut Personal Cutters for my birthday (thanks Mommy) So I did my first project- Monogrammed coasters. I cut vinyl letters and placed them on ceramic tiles and then a coat of sealant. All thats left is to put some corkboard paper on the backside of the tiles... and one Christmas present is done!

I only party down with the best at:

Doing Without

Oh Ok. Rebecca Jean at midnight maniac is nagging encouraging everyone to give up things for lent. Give it up for 40 (actually 46 days).So let me put on my pious pope hat and see what I can do.

Not a bad idea this. It gives one the oppurtunity to do a self check on some things We I may be getting a little slack on doing. And gives one the oppurtunity to save some cash as well.

For my part, I won't eat meat on Fridays, won't eat candy, give up buying lattes and mochas (note: coffee itself aint included). I reserve the right to eat fish on Fridays (if it works for Duh Pope, then it works for me) Anyway, It is a good challenge.

Modern propaganda art

Remember how much I love old propaganda posters? Well it seems that an artist in Portland, Oregon, Joe Seppi loves them too! I was perusing the inter webs (as I do) and came upon The Victory Garden of Tomorrow A very good artist who creates remenistic victory garden posters with modern themes. From his website:

"The Victory Garden of Tomorrow is a self-commissioned poster campaign
designed to channel the bold energy of historical poster propaganda. It is
committed to civic innovation and social progress-- better food, better gardens,
better cities. It is artful advocacy for the modern homefront."

You can get yours at JoeSeppi's Etsy Shop

A quick Tour

Since this is Take Back Urban Homesteading Video Day, I thought I would post a little video from May 2009. to show my garden attempt from days past.

Note:

• The Apple trees are much fuller now
• The garage has been re-roofed
• I still own the tractor
• the corn box now has tea plants (camelia senensis) planted in it
• I didn't get an infection from stepping on the nail

Anyway I hope you enjoy a quick trip through my garden urban homestead, even from 2009

SeedBallz Winners

And the Ballz go to the following Urban Homesteaders:
Comment Number 8- Queen of String
Comment Number 9- Tory of the Blog "Champagne Wishes and Coupon Dreams"
Comment Number 11- Anonymous
Congratulations to all... have fun raising my balls!

Freecycle Sucks...

...at times. What? Rob hates freecycle? That wonderful program that allows you to get rid of things you no longer want or need or find great items? No. Rob still loves the free cycle. Just some of the folks who use it make me so angry. I recently put a love seat up on free cycle. I got a response. I even put a link to a pic of the love seat. The guy who responded, I shall call him "Jerk" to protect his anonymity, agreed I would leave it on the front yard and I would cover the cushions with garbage bags. Well I went to work came home, he had written a note that it smelled. Well now really, he wanted a new love seat??? B.S., It may have smelled of pets or even cigarette smoke (remember I quit some time ago) but you take off the cushion covers and wash them.. I am not going to do it for you, Jerk. So off it goes into the truck to the thrift store! They loved it and I asked them to smell it. It was fine according to the attendant at the thrift store. So I am glad I found a way to recycle it. But it galls me that people will agree to take something on the freecycle and then get all uppity. Hey, Shithead- it's a free love seat. Apparently they didn't have anyone tell them not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I don't mean to get on a rant here, but if you use freecycle don't expect new things. Period. And take what you agree to take. I still love freecycle, but will be more careful of what and whom I deal with.

Whatcha Gonna Do With That Lid, Man???

Whatcha gonna do with that lid, man???

Conversation from high school in the seventies? No, The lid from my tuna fish can. Lemme ‘splain:
I have one of those newer fangled can openers that actually cuts the lid off from just below the ring, on the side of the can. Sometimes frustrating- I use to use the lid for strain the tuna fish, but now that is a thing of the past. Anyway, one of my coworkers noticed I save the lids and wanted to know what I would do with them.
So I thought. And Thought. Then it came to me! Coasters! I got out my Peel and stick cork shelf liner paper (This really is a must have- you can make trivets, coasters, line the underneath of lamps or make your own cork tabs for a cabinet door. Any hoo, I got out the cork paper (as I call it) used the bottom of a cleaned out tuna can for a template, traced out a circle in the cork paper, cut, peeled the paper covering the adhesive on the cork place it in the lid, and I have a cork coaster made from garbage. The rest of the can? Would make a great biscuit cutter or round cookie cutter. That’s all from my world!

I only party down with the best at: