Home decor & more...

I had originally seen a sign very similar to this on KTCrafts.com, made by bjc. I thought it was so stunning that I had to make one too. Mine is only slightly different from hers, but I'm still pleased with how it turned out. I'm in the process of making another one, using the same papers, for the word "PRAY." I'm participating in a craft show in Nov. & hope to get a few of these altered words done for that.

I was going to give this one as a gift, but I like it so much that I'm thinking of keeping it.

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Altered Art

Here is a layout I did based on a sketch that Rose1 did as a challenge for the Design Team on the KTCrafts( http://ktcrafts.8.forumer.com/forum). I'm not on that design team, but I was really inspired to use these Bo Bunny papers for that sketch! I have switched the middle & last flower around at the top of the page after realizing that it looked off balance.

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This is an altered iron shaped picture clip. The wooden iron shaped clip was one of two that came in a boxful of unfinished wooden items, such as a plate, a box with a hinged lid, plaques, etc., that I got at an auction in Wisconsin 15 years ago. The auction was the aunt of my mother-in-law at that time. Her aunt use to do what she called Rose Mahling (sp?), which must be like tole painting. This one was already painted a teal blue. It had some sketches on it, so it must have been getting ready for painting. I decided to crackle over the teal paint instead. Then I attached a piece of battenburg lace that I picked up at a garage sale & tea stained. Finally, I glued on some antique buttons that I also got at a garage sale. I thought adding a picture printed in a sepia tone would be the right compliment to this in a vintage style setting. The picture is of my daughter last fall when she was playing in the leaves.

Brooke's first week of Preschool

The week after Labor Day was Brooke's first week of Preschool. She was so excited to go!

Here she is standing outside the preschool after her first day on Tuesday. She just HAD to wear her "packpack", holding it with her hand was not an option.

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Here she is in her classroom heading to pick out a book. The lady in red, on the left, is her teacher. There are only 6 children in her class for the afternoon and only 1 is a boy! We haven't decided if he's lucky or unlucky. LOL

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Brooke had her first altercation on her first day. The teacher didn't say anything to me about it, but Brooke did on the way home. She told me that she "poked a girl in her little belly button & made her cry." I asked her why she did that & she said the other girl was trying to take her little hammer away from her. I asked her what the teacher said & the teacher made her tell the girl that she was sorry. So, I explained to her that she needs to keep her hands to herself (for the umpteenth time), even if someone is trying to take something away from her. I told her to tell them that if they want what she has, they have to ask for it nicely, if they can't ask for it nicely, then she doesn't have to give it to them, but she is not to touch them & she is to do the same if she wants something that someone else has (but more in 3 yr. old terms). You wonder if they understand all that stuff, ya know?

Kenton - here & gone

Well, we made it to Kenton, OH with no problems, considering we looked like a train going down the road! Boy, we sure did get lots of long looks from people. I'm sure many were wondering if it was legal for us to pull a camper AND a trailer with a golf cart. Yes folks, it is - as long as it's not over 65 ft. long. This is in our driveway right before we left.

This is a saloon in a tiny place before we got to Kenton. I thought it was kind of simple looking for being called a saloon.

Here is Brooke after she woke up from a nap she took on the way there. It's a long trip for a 3 yr. old. (It's feels like a long trip for a 42 yr. old too)

But, she was ready for the scene once we got there & all set up! Since she loves to go garage saling with her Mom, we just told her that this was just like a great big garage sale & she was all for it.

Kenton Nationals is a huge fleamarket & you'll find just about anything imaginable there. I "affectionately" call it the Hillbilly Festival. I can call it that because I am 1/2 hillbilly anyway, so I don't need any comebacks from people who are offended by my right to free speech.

Anywho - I thought this made a pretty picture with all these flags blowing with some sun rays peaking through the clouds behind them.

Here was a really cool parrot some vendor had behind his booth. I don't know if it talked, but it sure was pretty!

This was one suped up golf cart! Jacked up, flames & lots chrome!

Not the colors I would have chosen to paint MY camper, but it sure did get my attention. LOL

This was the view from the walk-through entrance of the flea market on the first day we were there (2nd day of opening though). It wasn't so busy at this point.

Here is the General Linda Lee golf cart. I never saw this cart in action, it was always sitting whenever I seen it.

Here's Brooke trying on hats while her daddy was looking for a Camouflage shirt (in the background). The shirts were $2, the hats were $1. Yes, she came home with the hat.

I thought this was an unusual looking fellow carting around antlers in his basket and in hand.

Here is a comical sign someone had at their tent. At least, I hope it's meant to be comical!

One of a few vendors selling specialty meat jerky & sausage. We haven't tried any in the years we've gone there.

This is what I call a voodoo head on a stick, I guess for a lack of the correct name - and I don't wanna know either! Yes, people were buying them ,as I had seen 2 women walking around with some & a few others had some too.

This is another example of a voodoo head. He was going for $65.00.

Here's a conversation piece you can amaze your friends with! Imagine seeing this thing in your hallway in the middle of a bad night!!

This was an adorable Pomeranian puppy that was there for sale.

Brooke was wanting to pet every puppy dog she saw in the place and this is the place for the Coon dog Nationals, if that tells you how many dogs we stopped & petted! Here she's admiring some Jack Russell Terriers.

These were the cutest little Chihuahua puppies. The black one wanted Brookes attention badly!

All 3 of these little Chihuahua pups could fit in this beer box.

A bunch of coon dogs together.

No, the coffee pot isn't small, the cups are just huge! One will hold 3-4 regular cups of liquid.

This little girl was in the camp setup next to us & while we were waiting for the real concert to start with Country group Shenandoah & Country Legend Ronnie Milsap, she was giving us a pre-show review of her little dance routine. She has no idea that I took pictures. tee hee

Now, usually we camp with another couple & his big thing is to have chili on Sat. night because "IT'S TRADITION." This year THEY decided to break tradition & not go with us, but we STILL made chili on Sat. night. We took the picture of the chili so they could see that we still believe in traditions. Seriously though, there's no hard feelings that they didn't make it this year. They've been pretty good sports about hanging out with us all the other years.

Since I didn't want to have any legal problems with pictures of the actual concert, the only thing I will show you is one of the two display screens they had there. They did make it nice to actually see the entertainers, even though we weren't that far away to begin with.

Here is Brooke sitting on her daddy's lap during the concert. I have another picture of her when she fell asleep during the concert, but it was accidentally deleted. I'll have to post it when I have more time.

Here is our camp setup. We had a black pirate flag hanging earlier, but it was pulled off by this time. We are nearing the end of the trip at this point.

I don't know what kind of tree this is, but I seen several of them along the fences of flea market area & they look WICKED!! I don't know if you can see the giant thorns on this baby or not, but it is solid thorns that are several inches long!!

Well, here's to another Labor Day weekend spent in Kenton, OH. This was a great year to go, maybe next year it will be even better because of it.

look for my next posting when I show off some of my lighted hot air balloon & fireworks pictures from the Marshall County Blueberry Festival, also held over Labor Day weekend. We made it home in time to catch it.

Have a great day!