Been makin Thumbprints in The Thumb of Michigan!!

 

WOW!! has it been a long time since I last posted!! But I have been  kinda busy I guess!! LOL We went on our annual vacation Sim and I take every year in June to The Thumb of Michigan. I look so forward to this cuz it is just Sim and I. This cool rusty wrecker is in a little town called Snover, Michigan. The guy who owns it is gonna re-do it and it was his Dads and his Dad used it all the time. It is in my favorite color!! RUST!!!

 

 

We had a very frugal vacation and I tell you what I loved it!! One of my favorite things we did was to pack sack lunches and take our bikes and head to a couple of little PO-dunk towns. We rode our bikes through the towns and then went to the railroad beds!! To look for my favorite thing!! Rusty items!! Here are a couple of pics and if you look real close at the last one you can see a deer!! That deer watched us for the longest time!! LOL They are so curious!

 

We saw a lot of deer!! We would go out around dusk and look for them!! Here is another one that just stared at us for the longest time!! Which was kinda great for me cuz I was designing a deer head and was trying to figure the placement of their ears out!! LOL I had bought an old corduroy coat at a garage sale and decided to make some deer and use stuff I found in the woods. It took me all week to get it right!! LOL

 



 

Here is a sneak peek at my deer head!! It is smaller than it looks!! I took that deer with me on a few rides LOL to look at deer!! I was calling him "John Deer"!! I've got him all grubbied up now and will be making his deer camp for him and selling him. It was a lot of fun to make him.

 

 

AND then the very next day after we got back we had a very weird storm with winds that were 70 miles an hour and guess what our power was out for two days!! Oh boy always something!! LOL This is a tree that had a rope swing that Kaitlin use to swing on!! My hometown lost so many trees it will never look the same!! The good news is no one got hurt!!

 

But it is good to be back to somewhat normal now!! Trying to catch up on things!! I have missed everyone as my computer was messing up too!! It seems like this summer is already flying by!! June is almost over!! Can ya believe it!! Next week is the 4th of July!! I haven't even decorated for it. Hope everyone is doing good and it feels so good to be back.

XOXO Love ya Fran.



Frannie's New Up cycled "PIG" Gig

 

Check out my new groovey PIG!!!

 

 

I sewed this pig by hand and grubbied it up real good. It is my own design.

 

 

 

I found this rusty spring from an old mattress out in the pit up in the city. I also went on some other walks mainly up in town and found these other rusty items. I put Spanish moss in it and made a grubby tag that says "Pig Pen". I put a clothes pin on it for notes.

 

 

This is one of my favorite parts. I had this old bottle and Sim helped me put rusty wire on it to hang on the spring and then I added some dried flowers and weeds and a feather.

 

This is the back and I made a curly tail on it. I think it turned out pretty cute!!

I know for sure I will be making a lot more of these! My favorite part is finding the rusty gigs for it. I have always found things and made things out of them. One of the things I had the hardest thing with this pig was pricing it. I put a lot of work and thought into it. I sold this one before it was even finished. I have some more of the springs but each one will be different as I will be finding different kinds of rusty things. I may not be able to live on a farm but I can certainly make things that go on a farm!! LOL Pigs being my favorite!!

XOXO Love ya

Fran.

 



 

 

 







HOW YOU DOIN?

MAXI (neighbor cat): How you doin?

Goat: Hey I'm doin!! I like it here!!

 

This is our new goat!! since we are NOT zoned for us to have any farm animals we decided to trick them! Ha we got a (metal) goat!! I can't get milk or  soap from him but he is very well behaved!! and I love him! I still gotta give him a name. That is my neighbors cat but I gave her the name Maxi. My neighbor has so many cats he doesn't name them and they LOVE to come over to our house cuz we feed the birds!! Oh how I love nature!! LOL 

 

 

Can ya Digg how beautiful my lilacs are!! I think this is the prettiest I seen it in many years!! It smells so awesome!! On Saturday we opened all the windows on that side of the house so we could smell it!! I would get out of my car and you could smell it!! Oh for the beauty of the earth!!

 

Some more of my groovey "Fran's Junque". My sheep has sold. And this is my new raggedy face doll on a make do rusty screw and insulator. Oh I  LOVE makin these!! I am updating her a bit with a bow in her hair and one of my new rusty top flowers then I'll throw her into the shoppe. Sim and I have been takin little walks and gathering more rusty junque for me to create with!!

 

 



Here is one of my altered art swap goodies I made. This is a Mad Hatter hat and is only about 3 inches high. This what I gathered from my walk in the woods with Sim. I LOVE watchin "Duck Dynasty"!! I put a tag on it sayin it. I wanted to keep this one so bad!! But I have enough to make myself one. We had to make three of them.

 

 

 This one is up cycled from my coffee sleeve from my trip to the mall with my friend.

 



This one is a spin off of "Minnie Pearl"!! remember her and Hee Haw!!! I LOVED that show!! I up cycled the butterfly part from my birthday card. Added a tag with her pic on it and of course I had to have a price tag so I typed one out on my old vintage typewriter and added faux silk flowers!

 

 

Here is a tag I also made for my altered art swap I am in. I Love how the flowers turned out I up cycled them from bottle tops I found in the parking lot of the store. That is a dried black eyed susan from my garden. The theme was flowers.

 

Oh I tell you I LOVE being an up cycling, recycling, repurposing artist so much!! I believe I have finally found my calling as being a creating person!! I have been thanking God for the gift and for showing me ways I can use my gift.

 I am off to create, catch up on things, and clean the house.

Have a great day!!!

Peace out!!

XOXO

Love Fran.

 

 

 

HAPPY "MOTHER'S DAY" PEEPS!!!!

Wishin all my peeps an awesome MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND!!

I hope you enjoy your time with your family and also take time to do some playing and creating!!!

Love ya bunches,

Fran.

XOXO



My Secret Garden!!!!

HELLO BEAUTIFUL!!!

 

 My Clearance Violets from the Grocery Store!!!

 

 

We have been working in the yard and gardens!! 

 

Sim and I finally started working  in the yard!! We cleaned up the porch and I now have a place I am calling my secret garden. I can't wait til flowers are all around me. Every year I have a theme for my yard and this year it is "Americana/Farm House". I put this old quilt on my chair today and got a pillow and my laptop and came out here!! This is where I am blogging from!! I'm thinkin o-no cuz I am gonna be out here a lot and havin coffee in the mornings here too!! But Thank You God!!!

 

 

 Another view of the porch!!

 

 

 This is the view of our wooden fence. I cleaned out the lilies and we added some farm goodies. I put my Mom's rabbit over there too.

 

 

I Love this corner of the wooden fence. One of Sim's "Junque Rustic Birdhouses" and our little rusty kids!! Who mind us very well and love to go fishin!! that is Kaitlin's herb garden she had as a little girl. Now I guess it's mine!!!

We have been so super busy I am exhausted!!

 

 

 I have also made these awesome fun paper dresses for a swap I was in over at my group!! My partner is from Australia and I knew I wanted to make her a dress with her homeland on it. I had an old world atlas from the 1940's. The dress in the middle I made like  a Girl Scout dress and even used my old troop numbers. And the music dress is from an old Hymnal from 1924. I LOVED making these and I used jute and little clothes pins that I coffee dyed to hang them on!!! I had so much fun doing these!! Right now I am working on Mad Hatters oh my gosh they are so darn cute!!
 
I am also working on more of my "Rusty Junque". I have to share this with you. Saturday afternoon Sim and I were in the backyard. Kaitlin came home and came to see us. She sat down and looked over at us and said "Oh my gosh are you guys really trading rusty stuff"? LOL Sim had his bucket out and I had my container and we were trading back n forth!! She told my Mother in Law that she thought she was gonna have to call Nick and Ryan her stepbrothers and tell them that we had gone crazy for sure!! Aw good times!! After I thought about it it is kinda funny!!!
XOXO Love ya
Fran.