Second Wind

I bought this really ugly cabinet for 200 pesos or $4. It had missing knobs. It was dirty. And quite frankly, I did not know what to do with it. All I knew, that it was cheap, and that it had potential.

Dad and I went to the local hardstore and purchased door knobs for my little cabinet. After wiping the cabinets down, it was time to work.

I purchased two sets of the Dear Lizzy line, and had a spare set lying around. Perfect. I divided the paper for the top and bottom part.

I used a Martha punch for my borders.

I used American Craft stickers for the house, the small dog and the hot air balloon. The tree house and branch is from Pebbles. The family is from Making Memories. The bird and the cloud is from Bella Blvd.

I used to have a healthy disdain for "altered" stuff. Stuff, which people decoupage and for me, just becomes even uglier junk. Now, I am having to swallow my pride and say, that now, I am addicted to altering junk.

It all depends on one's concept of beauty. And for me, cute things make me happy.

The Music Box

When I studied in Japan, we had a school trip to Hokkaido, the nothern most island.

And one of the high lights of the trip was a tour in a music box store.

Everywhere you turned there were music boxes. Each tinkling a very special melody. As much as I wanted to buy one, I couldn't afford it. And so, it became a dream of mine.

A couple of weeks ago, I chanced upon this really dark wood music box. It was in perfect working condition. There was a lock and a key. I thought, it would be a perfect gift for my niece Leanne, who was turning 8.

I feel as if the kids nowadays are missing out on a lot of things that used to hold magic in my generation.

I remember tinkering around with my mom's music box. Or my lola had one, and it had treasures in it.

I've already given her a diary. And now, a music box seemed perfect for storing her treasures.

I bought the music box for 300 pesos or roughly $6 and set about beautifying it.

First, I covered the whole thing with gesso. Applied white paint, cream paint. Leaves for the grape vines. Purple for the grapes and gold paint for highlights.

I lined the music box with My Little Shoe box papers, and used die cuts from DCWV.

And there you go, worthy of keeping an 8-year old's treasures.

Punch Cart

Happiness is finding perfect storage solutions to my crafting needs. I've been on a look out for a place I can store my punches in. I have outgrown my wire basket by leaps and bounds already. I have resorted to storing my punches in cabinets in the other house, the store, wherever.

I've looked at antique stores, and the cabinets were either too big or I don't know what to do with them. Finally, I saw this yesterday at one of my neighborhood antique store for 500 pesos. It wheels around, and fits under my table. My crafting area is very much a work in progress.

Little Girl

I really had no idea where to get little girl pictures. I could use some from Hana and Corinne, but I just looked inside my room to get some of my old pictures.

I have made more than 10 lay outs, but the others are still on loan. I have to get them back and snap a quick photo for posting.

Still lacking titles and journaling.