DeMya has been creative since birth. I never really expected her to catch on this quick, though. She practically painted this tissue holder herself. I gave her very little guidance and relying on our past crafting sessions together, she came up with this design and executed it beautifully. How proud am I? Don’t get me started!

…would be a can of Whoop Ass, or two! Denny and I have gotten together with his folks every week for two and a half decades to play cribbage. It’s been the women against the men since the beginning. And it’s always been lopsided on the wins. I can remember a stretch of about 3 years when we didn’t win at all.

We knew we had to do something about this. We were as skilled at the game as we were ever going to be. We needed something extraordinary, something to overcome the men’s blind luck at winning. Also, we just couldn’t take their smugness anymore. Talk about poor winners! Then it occurred to me that it would be a simple thing to do to actually produce some.

I grabbed a couple of cans out of my pantry of some things we probably would never eat, like 3 year old jellied cranberry. I measured the can’s dimensions and designed labels to fit. I used double-sided tape to attach them. I had fun adding details that made them look authentic such as warnings, barcodes, seals of approval and a list of silly ingredients.

I made my mother-in-law one with her picture on it and I also made us travel sized ones, too! Now when it’s our turn to go to their house I throw my little can in my purse and off we go. When we get there, Viv’s large can is already at the card table. When it’s their turn to come to our house, it’s fun to see her walking up to the door and taking her travel sized Whoop Ass out of her pocket.

It didn’t work the first couple of times but we knew there were other factors involved, like, maybe they got cold in the car, they might be too close to their expiration date, etc. Well, they finally worked. We whipped the snot out of them on Sunday. The label says, “Effectively Level The Playing Field” but we never expected it to work that good that fast!

Thank you, Whoop Ass, thank you.

What a great way to start the day–two sales on my computer this morning! Sad to see the lovely things go, though…. But there’s still lots more treasures waiting for you at Vintage Treasures. Stop by today!

I wasn’t going to do both originally, but after I finished the first one I guess I couldn’t stop. So I started with a good basecoat and then painted on a very simple design. This one didn’t have perches so I drilled holes and added some pewter dragonfly drawer pulls. I purposely kept this one simple and down to just a few colors so I would have more choices on where to place it.

Before

After

I bought this birdhouse years ago to house some cd’s but didn’t use it because it wasn’t very pretty. It got stuck in storage for several years until the day it caught my eye…hmmmmm.

I removed the birds and gave it a good coat of primer and then the base coat.

Then I sponged in a foliage background and added some simple detail for the flower garden.

I replaced the wooden dowel perches with small porcelain knobs and added a little resin detail to the front. Of course, I had to have some dots somewhere (though subtle as they are) so I added some to the roof peak.

All that was left to do was stand back and admire its sweetness and the fact that it could have ended up at Goodwill in the near future. But for a few pennies worth of paint, less than $6 in knobs and resin decorations, it now has a proud place for display in my home.

Yes, it was only a few short weeks ago when I created this and I thought I was pretty happy with it. But what did I know? This was my very first attempt at whimsical painting.

I usually don’t knuckle under to other peoples’ opinions but when my sister said that she didn’t like it I took a second look and decided it wasn’t singing to my heart either.

So, back down to the paint studio for a new treatment. After giving the entire thing a pink basecoat, I painted a floral doily on the top and added some detail to the legs. I had put some little dots around the edge of the doily and decided they were too bright. I rubbed a little whitewash on them and liked the subtle look.

Hey, I think this is singing to my heart! How about you, Nanner?

I got this birdhouse for almost nothing because all the berries on the twigs had fallen off. I did a light yellow wash over the body and hot-glued little roses on the top. The whole project took less than 15 minutes and cost about $6 (including the cost of the birdhouse!)

What to do with an old milk stool? How about a whimsical paint job!

Before

After

This took about six hours (only because elements had to dry before others could be started) and a few pennies worth of acrylic craft paint.

	I taped a grid on the top and painted in the openings with black. When that dried, I painted dots around the squares to hide some bleeds and, well, because I like dots!
	Then I painted yellow stripes, letting the background green show on either side, to make it look like woven strips.
	I added some basic flower and vine shapes around the edge of the seat.
	I added stripes and dots (what else?!) to the runners.
	I finished it off by painting some simple vines with tiny flowers running up and down the legs. It wouldn’t have been finished without those little blobs of white paint!

Have fun!

When I fall in love with something I fall hard! Right now, it’s dots!! I bought this little birdhouse for less than $4 and with a few pennies worth of paint and an hour’s worth of time, I came up with this.

After I base-coated it I embellished it. The flower garden was easy. I just sponged a green-grey color behind where the flowers were going to be and when it was dry I blobbed paint in various colors all over it. It didn’t look like much but when I added yellow centers and a few twigs, plus a little babies breath (again, just dobbed here and there) the whole thing popped out! And, oh yes, I love those dots!

Okay, so I can’t leave anything alone for too long.

Before

After

After

	I decided I didn’t like the decorating job on the window so I redid it. Of course, I had to stay in that shabby chic/rustic theme so I painted it a solid yellow (custom mixed!) then applied thick dobs of white paint to give it that dotted swiss look that I love so much. Then I added some acrylic embellishments that I bought online over a year ago (I was waiting to use them for just the right project and I guess I found it!)
	While I was at it, I had a large birdhouse that I had painted over a year ago. Something always bothered me about it though…. Could it be that is was missing dots? Yes.
	I updated the birdcage, too!This used to be rusty green and had some bars missing. I scrubbed it, replaced the missing bars with wire of the same gauge (hot-glued them!) and painted the whole thing cream and copper. Then I added some greenery and a string of white lights and viola!, a beautiful feature
	Then I felt so good about the little changes that made such a world of difference, I celebrated by making another throw pillow for the bed. Nothing would do but Iowa Hawkeye fabric in pink, with a little floral flourish and a lovely little tassel.

Stay tuned for updates. I’ll be changing something in a few months, I’m sure….

Things are looking better here at home and around the city too. Clean up and repairs have begun and the city is healing.

Although we weren’t directly affected by the flood, we were affected by the incredible amount of rain we received in just a few short days. The rain either washed away or pounded flower seeds so deep into the ground, many flowers did not come up. The heavy rain also flooded out many annual beds, delaying their development.

Even though our personal loss was minor, we suffered for those who lost so much. After weeks of hell that our town has endured lately, we’re all starting to see some beauty in the terrible aftermath.

This is the berm under the new crab tree. For weeks it looked so stunted but it’s finally starting to leap to life in a huge way.

It’s nice to finally be able to sit on my front porch and have this lovely, calming view. It represents hope again….

It was a pleasant surprise to see that another vintage TV lamp sold. This item has to be nearing 60 years old, and given that age, it is in remarkable condition.

I hope the new owner enjoys it!

Visit Vintage Treasures today and get your own vintage TV lamp!

What a nice surprise to log on and see that I had made a sale. I really enjoyed this little clock by Sessions Clock Company because it reminded me so much of the one in my mother’s kitchen when I was growing up. The lady that bought it said pretty much the same thing and also said she couldn’t wait to show it to her mother. She also said the number 4 on the clock had special rememberance to her. I rather like it too!

See what else is for sale by visiting Vintage Treasures today!

The Flood of 2008

The first picture is how our City Hall looked prior to the flood. The second (looking North) is pre-flood May Island, housing the Linn County Jail and Courthouse, Memorial Coliseum and City Hall. Visible in the picture (looking North) are the 3rd, 2nd and 1st Avenue bridges and I-380 with the 5-in-1 dam underneath. The third picture is what our May Island looked like even before the river had crested.

At the end of May we started experiencing extreme severe weather and heavy rains all over the state. We had just endured the tragedies of the loss of life and property from an EF5 tornado that hit Parkersburg and an EF3 in Little Sioux, Iowa. Then the massive rains from up north signaled that we would be bracing for a flood.

We expected a “100 Year Flood” and that would have been bad enough. What we got was a “500 Year Flood”, effecting more city blocks that we ever could have imagined. That number ranges from 500 and 1000, depending on which source you are relying on.

These pictures are two different neighborhoods on opposite sides of the river, and, sadly, is representative of what many neighborhoods look like.

Here are two views of downtown Cedar Rapids. This first is looking south on 2nd Street SE. The second picture is looking east on 1st Avenue, our city’s main thoroughfare.

Power was lost all over the city for several days. Then water was rationed to “drinking only” orders. And it continued to rain and rain and rain. Then creeks and streams started to flood all over Iowa, closing many roads to and from them. Not only could we not get across town, we couldn’t get out of it. It finally became a reality: You can’t get to there from here.

The Cedar River’s normal flood stage is 12 ft. It crested at 31.1 ft. on Friday, June 13.

The river cuts through the center of town and is spanned by many bridges. All of them were engulfed by the river and only the I-380 bridge remained open. The traffic was backed up for miles on major city streets all over town, trying to get to this one remaining link to the other side of town. A normal 10 minute trip was now taking several hours.

Tragically, we lost all three of our historic railroad bridges this day.

Nothing much was said about the southernmost one that served Wilson Foods decades ago but Mike Sullivan got a picture of it:

Then the Penford bridge succumbed. It had been weighted down with hopper cars filled with rocks, hoping to stabilize the bridge, but it collapsed anyway. Pictures 2 and 3 are courtesy of Mike Sullivan.

Finally, the Quaker Oats bridge was under attack by, all things, the houseboats located at Ellis Marina that broke moorings and drifted downstream.

The devastation was incredible and heartbreaking. And the toll is enormous. Twenty-four thousand people were displaced and many of those will not have a home to return to. They also lost anything they couldn’t carry with them when the mandatory evacuation was called for. Many businesses will not reopen. Pets were lost or died in the homes they couldn’t get out of.

Our city and county services were almost wiped out because they are all in the flood plain: Linn County Sheriff, CR Police Station, Linn County Courthouse and Jail, City Hall, Memorial Coliseum, CR Main Post Office, CR Main Fire Station, Federal Building, and Public Library to name a few. They’ve ether had to close or set up temporary offices elsewhere. We lost two ethnic museums and many family businesses that had been operating for over 100 years.

Thank God for the Iowa National Guard, Cedar Rapids Police and Fire Department personnel and the countless volunteers. They all worked around the clock unselfishly to assist the flood victims.

After a few days the power came back on and water restriction was changed to odd/even house numbers to alternate days of moderate water usage. That meant showers, some laundry, toilet flushing and hand washing could resume.

Now the waters are receding and the bridges are slowly opening. We got our first look at the city last night. Street after street is lined with gigantic plies of flood ravaged belongings that used to be someone’s life. Furniture, appliances, toys, clothing in filthy, stinking piles. Bone-weary people in obvious shock carrying out armfuls of pitiful former belongings for the garbage trucks.

Windowless businesses (that exploded from the force of the water) teemed with tired, grimy workers determined to start the cleanup.

City streets and parks were strewn with every kind of debris that the river could carry down. And the stink is incredible.

From a personal standpoint, our house is safe, although the floodwater’s edge got within two blocks of us. We only lost the refrigerator’s contents due to the power outage.

It makes me feel terrible to say that we were only mildly inconvenienced by the power outage and water restrictions, and that we lost about $100 worth of food, when there are so many people who lost everything. Our hearts are breaking for them and our town.

Ironically, the City Council, for years, has been trying to refurbish the downtown riverfront to be an attractive place where people would want to gather. They named 2008, “The Year of the River.” Well, it certainly turned out to be just that….

Here’s this week’s challenge object at PSPIZ, my online art group:

Here’s my entries:

Sometimes the challenge comes with instructions for use, but in this case, it didn’t. so I got to use my artistic license. When are you going to join us for the fun?

We had the shed custom built a few years ago and had never done anything to it other than paint it to match the house. Last summer I got busy and added some details to it.

I painted the hardware black and added some solar lanterns. I made a swag for the front doors out of wire and an artificial berry garland. I removed some old birdfeeders and added a “Grandma’s Forget-Me-Not” garden in their place. I planted some chives and honeysuckle on the side.

We were having a hard rain the day I took the “after” picture. Beautiful….

Click here to see what your town looked like in the past. Lots of postcards from all over the country! Here’s two from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

   

Every two weeks, my online art group, PSPIZ puts up a new challenge object for us to play with, using mostly Paintshop Pro. This was the object for Challenge 388:

Here are my entries (click on any thumbnail to enlarge):

Here is my award (the shoe won!):

Join us for the fun!

Meet Chipper, my sister’s dog. She’s a Boxer and she’s 3 years old. I know everyone think’s their dog is the smartest, but this one really is–and she’s not even mine, so you know it has to be true. This is her room and you can see she is color-coordinated with it….Love you, Chippy. Annie’s Girl!!

We’ve had more rain/sleet/snow this winter than any that I can remember in a long time. Two days ago we were hit with 13″–on top of the 20″ we already had!