The Little Things

Lot’s of sunshine, seasonable temperatures, and the little things made today a perfect fall day in the Finger Lakes.  It was one of those days when I felt like a lot got done.   I baked homemade cinnamon pumpkin (yeast) bread, made an apple pie, AND whipped up a dish of coleslaw for dinner to boot.

Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve felt like spending that much time in my kitchen!

Once I closed the kitchen down for the afternoon I headed out for some fresh air.  These little plants, or should I say weeds, were begging to have their pictures taken.  And so I obliged and I even gave them each a caption.

Sunny and Bright; Yellow and White

More Pink Than Purple

Pretty and Periwinkle

What kind of weekend did you have?  Busy, slow, productive, or not so much?

 

 

 

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PicMonkey Makes Photo Editing Simple

 

Have you ever worked with photo editing programs?  And if so, are you intimidated by them?  A long time ago I  purchased a photo editing program that I found wasn’t very user friendly.  Since then I’ve played around with some of the programs on-line and I’ve found PicMonkey  to be my favorite.  I can easily enhance, add text, make a collage, or turn an ordinary photo into the unordinary.  

This isn’t a sponsored post, it’s just me gabbing about a website that I’ve found quite useful in my blogging.   And because  I’m  somewhat  frugal, I work off of the basic (free) PicMonkey program.  But if you are willing to spend a few bucks then you can upgrade to their Royale package for $4.99 a month, or $33.00 annually, and the first month trial is free.

The photo above has been slightly enhanced through the photo gallery program on my computer.  Just a little tweaking was done to brighten the images and correct the color before I uploaded them to PicMonkey to make my collage. 

From this point forward I’m going to show you just how creative you can be using  PicMonkey.  In the pictures below  I used multiple design options.  My suggestion is to sit down and play with the program and get familiar with it.  I think you’ll see that there are plenty of features to keep you busy.  If you run your cursor over the image it will tell you what photo process I applied to each photo.

 

If you have a favorite image above please go ahead and share it on Pinterest – one of my most favorite places to hang out!

DIY – Victorian Style Earrings

While I was out shopping this last holiday season I ogled over all of the pretty earrings that sparkled at me in just about every store I visited.  I fought hard to ward off the urge to buy myself a few pairs.  After all, I wasn’t shopping for myself, I was buying gifts for others.  And in the back of my mind, a little voice (coming from the frugal shopper in me) told me that they were too expensive.  You see, I have a hard time spending money on myself.  You might even think that I was reincarnated from the Great Depression if you watch me shop.

That little voice also reminded me that after the holidays blew over and things settled down that I could make my own unique sparkly earrings.  I completely embraced the idea of finding a DIY project to keep me busy and save me money.

This week I finally ventured into one of our local craft stores to check out their jewelry making supplies.  I happily settled on some pretty charms to use in my earring making adventure.  I also made the pretty little cards to hook the earrings to.  That was just as fun as making the earrings.

I’m not big chunky earring kind of girl;  I like drop earrings, not too long, not too big.  Pretty, but subtle.  These earrings fit the bill.  I really love how they remind me of the Victorian era.  Romantic, elegant, and pink.

I’ve decided I’m going to keep one pair of these for myself and give the other pair away as a Valentines Day gift.   I’ve also decided to take orders for these earrings.  If you’d like your own pair(s), in your own custom colors, please email me for details.

So, would you consider yourself more of a shopper, or a do it yourselfer?

Share Your Vintage Camper Story

Since hubby and I remodeled the Pink Paradise I’ve gotten several emails from other vintage camper enthusiasts.  Let me just say how much that I love hearing from people that share my passion for these old beauties like I do.

My camper is about 90% finished and I’m already looking forward to warm spring days when I can get back to working on her. 

In the meantime, it’s going to be quite some time before spring arrives here in the Finger Lakes, so I’m looking for other vintage camper stories to feature here at The Joy of Caking.

If you have a great vintage camper story that you’d like to share then I’d love to hear it! 

My Vintage Travel Trailer; The Beginning

With my flower beds all spruced up, freshly mulched, and looking like something out of an issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine – okay, maybe I’m exaggerating just a little, I announced to my hubby that I needed a project.

Little did he know what I had in mind, or should I say in store.  In fact, I had been hashing this (not so) little project over in my head for quite awhile.

For years now, this little diamond in the rough has been sitting out back waiting for someone’s undivided attention.  That someone, as it turns out, is me.

I love just about anything vintage, retro, and antique, so when I started looking on-line and saw how people are re-doing vintage travel trailers and making them into the coolest, hippest, tiny spaces on wheels, of course I wanted in.

Armed with bee spray, a shop vacuum, and massive cleaning supplies, I dug in.  A couple of hours into the start of this project I wondered if I had suddenly, without any warning, become insane.  There’s always that chance you know. 

Apparently, the chipmunks, mice, bees and ants take vacations too because  I found chew holes in the walls and cabinets, along with mouse droppings and  black walnuts that had been stashed in every drawer and crevice. I even found an abandoned honey comb under a seat, and the ants still visit daily.

Since I’m not a fan of inexpensive dark wood paneling, which is pretty much what this whole travel trailer is made up of, I am painting  the inside of it, as well as the outside.   And my color of choice?  Hold on to your coffee cups, PINK!  Of course, out of consideration for my hubby I asked him if he’d mind the color pink and he (being the loving and supporting) husband that he always is, said “No, this is your project, you paint it any color you want.”  Hence, he has already come up for a name for her “Pink Paradise”.

My objective; beautify this relic on a shoestring budget, and use as much recycled material as I can come up with.  I’ve got a pretty good start on that  since I have some scraps of laminate flooring and lumber on hand.  I am going to use some wallpaper that I bought at a dollar store a few years ago and never  put to good use, and with  a few modifications I might be able to recycle some old curtains I’ve been storing for Lord only knows why. 

Follow along as I  take you on my journey of transforming this beast, into a beauty. 

Click here to see (lot’s of pictures) of our work in progress.   Also, at the bottom of this post are pingback links that you can follow to see our restoration work too.

And here she is close to finished!  

Mission nearly accomplished!

Still want to see more??  Click here to see the  Before & After – 1972 Frolic Camper Remodel – Bathroom Door or here to see Table for Two in The Pink Paradise.