Karla's Blog

July 25, 2024

You may (or may not) remember that, back in 2021 when we took our motorhome trip, it was for the purpose of looking for a Summer home in the areas we had researched for a year prior. Then the housing market spiked, making it unlikely that we would be in a position to buy anything for a while.

We’ve been on our current lot here at The Ranch for two years now and, more and more, we feel like this is where we should stay, at least for now. So, we’ve been doing projects to make that more feasible. For example, since I’m obsessed with arts and crafts, my awesome hubby made me an “art studio”. There are two recesses in the front area, which is primarily a dining room. One side held a pellet stove, which we sold. The other side held a TV that he relocated between the dining room and kitchen, which is great because it turns on it’s mount so you can watch it from either room! Woohoo! We like to use it as a giant rotating picture frame. Anyway, here is what he made for me . . .

Please excuse the mess. Since this picture was taken he added doors to both areas and now I can clean up and close everything, like this . . .

Then . . . because my finished creations were overtaking every surface, my sweetie made me a display board!

A thing of beauty! He did such a great job on this and has received so many compliments, especially from me! I’ve now added some of my creations . . .

I love our dining room/art studio! The goal of course is to sell my creations  and then replace them on the board with new creations to sell. Although it had been canceled, it looks like we may just be having a Vendor Fair here in early November. Woohoo! I’ll have another opportunity to sell my wares ;-D. If anyone is interested in coming to that and seeing our little slice of paradise, shoot me an email and I’ll give you the details when I have them. 

Anyway, I’ve been dubbed an “eclectic artist” because I don’t stick to just one style and I rarely duplicate a piece. I really Iove creating rock art. Lately I’ve been trying more mixed media in conjunction with the rocks. These are my latest . . .

Bottles caps play a part in this one . . .

Gnomes are a favorite of mine. I think they’re so adorable. The gnomes up on the board are used wine bottles. These ornaments I made with paint brushes.

So fun to make these, and LOVE those noses!

I also really like taking stuff that’s headed for the trash, or natural items that are in abundance around here, and using them to make art, decor, etc. For example, I have hundreds of wine corks that I’ve collected, so I used some of them to make this wreath.

And I used pistachio shells to make a roof for this little bird house!

My hands aren’t as nimble as they once were and those pistachio shells are difficult to work with so I don’t know if I’ll do more with them or not.

One of our cookie sheets got ruined so I upcycled it into a decor piece.

I’ve also been trying my hand at some painting and wanted to try a “bronzing” technique I saw, so I used a metal bird and flower from a yard ornament to do a test run. The canvas was white, the trim was silver, and the flower and bird were multi-colored. What do you think?

I liked the result so I decided to try it on a couple of bottles. Can you guess what the embellishments are?

These make pretty unique vases, don’t you think? I’m looking forward to doing more. By the way, the “beads” are lentils! LOL.

Well, that’s a little peek into my world of arts and crafts. Hope you enjoyed. I’m looking forward to cooler weather when I can spend more time in my outdoor “art studio”.