Inspiration...

There is a lot of crafty stuff that I want to share but since it's all gift related, I'll have to wait on it for the time being. In the meantime, I'll do a little cross blogging, sort of a home reno meets crafts kind of post.

First up, the appliances arrived on Saturday.





Mmmmmmm, appliances...
They are Ultra Silver or Ultra Steel Look, something like that. They don't really look like stainless, but they're silvery. They don't show fingerprints (as badly) and they're not white or black, so I love them. Love them, love them, love them. Then I loved them a little more and the constable told me it was moving into the realm of inappropriate, so I had to rein in the love. I know the stove looks pink, but it's got a protective plastic sheeting on it.

Anyhow, they're all living in the middle of the kitchen at the moment as Mr. Fixit works on the quarter round where the flooring meets the cabinet toe kicks. He's kind of fed up with it cuz I don't think it's going exactly as he would like, but I think it looks fabulous. We choose a plain pine and then he picked out a stain that matches almost dead on to the finish on our cupboards. He's a brilliant, brilliant human being.

As the cooktop to my range is ceramic, I wanted to protect it from potential mishaps. I went rummaging for my old blankets and such and came across this:



It belonged to my granmother, and I'm pretty sure she made it. I seem to recall her being a crocheter. I know that she kept it in her bedroom. I have another of hers, a knit afghan, that used to lay across the top of the couch. It was a horribly stiff, itchy couch with the worst floral design, all in rust orange. You just cringed when you had to sit on it in the summer time. The afghan is army green. She had a deep red velvety easy chair in the room as well, and the walls were lined with shelves that displayed her Hummel and horse figurines. On another wall she had nursery rhyme plates, which, when taken out of that particular context, are kind of cute. On the one coffee table, she had a centre piece of porcelin roses and on yet another wall, a shelving unit displaying her Toby mugs. Henry the VIII and his wives, just to name a few. I inherited those as well as the afghans. Needless to say, the apartment had a distinctive grandmothery style, which to my astute eight year old taste was UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGLY! (for some reason whenever I think back on my grandma's apartment, I'm always eight. Perhaps because that's how old I was when we lived with her for a year. That and the place never changed).

I always thought that this afghan, pictured above, was particularly ugly. Just beyond comprehension how someone could come up with that colour scheme. It's %100 acrylic and will undoubtedly last until the end of days.

I admit though, that over the years, it has grown on me. When decluttering a long while back in preparation for a series of moves, I thought about getting rid of it. But I just couldn't. When I look at it now, I see my grandma. She's passed away, a few years ago now, and all that's left are my inherited trinkets and a stuffed chicken that bears her name. As I stood and looked at it though, something dawned on me. It seemed oddly familiar. Then I realized that I've embarked on a project whose intention is to create just such a discombobulated effect of colour and design.

The Frankenblankie Project. Yes girls, if you're reading, this is apparently what my subconcious mind has in store for all of those mighty mitres. So do it up right. Get out those loud colours and knit away cuz I think I've found some new inspiration for this project.

In other crafting news, I decided to forego the reno-ing yesterday and indulge in something creative. Remember when you were a kid and your parents would get something that came in a big box? What was the best part about it? Why, the box of course!



I've got some pretty big plans for this pretty big box. Any guesses? This is uncharted territory for me, working in cardboard, so I'm hoping all of my grand plans work out. Here's what I've done so far...

Primed, with some markings sketched out...


The basic template for what's to come later...(those holes near the bottom were for handles...not my design!)

Anyhow, it's a start. I likely won't show it again until it's done so stay tuned. For now, I'm off on a little vay-cay, so go catch up with your other blogs!

Until later...