elsie marley

Trash picking is my hobby. Granted, it’s not a very glamorous one and not really all that interesting, but I love it.  And the trash gods (garbage men?) have been good to me lately.  This is the biggest and probably the best thing I’ve ever found on the curb.  It took much help from many friends to actually get it to my house, but I would have lugged it home on my back if that’s what it took.   It has three shelves, but only one at the moment because my kids think it’s their clubhouse.  The drawers actually work and there are two sets of hinges on each door so they can open all the way (270 degrees).  It’s on our porch now and I hope to fill it up with art supplies for rainy days.  But it will be perfect as an extra closet one day.

I know there are other out there like me who sift through trash when no one is looking. Who can blame you–people throw away good shit.  I started a flickr group: trash pickins.  Because you want to brag about what you found, but don’t want to get that look from people when you tell them where you got it.

My husband cleaned up my website for me this weekend and I whipped up some brioche for him, well and me too.  It’s not completely done, but there is a new links page which you should go see.  The rest of my weekend was spent in Chicago with an old friend and some lovely food and wine.  I picked up some books at Mitsuwa that I’ll show you tomorrow, because right now I’m off to bed.  good night.

These beautiful alphabet cards were made by Ida Pearle.  There was a flurry of activity on the designy crafty blogs a while back when this set of cards came out.  And every time I saw pictures of her work I got excited because I knew someone who knew her.  Sadly, when picking up and washing up is most of your day this is as exciting as it gets.  So you can imagine how thrilling it was when the artist herself came to my house.  She (and our mutual friend, hi bill) ventured deep into the midwest just for a visit.  We had a very nice time in spite of the ridiculous amount of snow and then rain and hail and then more snow.  And I’m happy to say miss Ida Pearle is a kind and generous person as well as a talented artist.  She uses paper with the most amazing patterns in her collages.  And though I don’t really know how to talk about art, I know that hers is very much alive.  So go to her website and look at all her beautiful pictures.

This is a half assed craft.  But I’m not a knitter or crocheter, but I have seen a few pot cozies around the internets and I wanted some myself.  So I cut off the sleeve of a felted sweater and voila!  A little blanket stitch action on the top of one and damn if it doesn’t make those crappy plastic pots looks good.

that’s all I got. have a good day everyone!

The weekend went by too fast, but at least the breakfasts were nice.

Today is the last day to sign up for the mobile swap! Almost 100 amazingly talented people have signed up from around the world already.  So if you still would like to make and receive a mobile please email me at elsiemarleyblog AT gmail DOT com with the following information:

1. name

2. email address

3. website (if you have one)
4. mailing address

5. favorite colors

6. whether or not the mobile is for a baby’s room

Monday I will send out your information to your partner and you can get to making.  You will receive a mobile from a different person than you are making one for just because surprises are nice.

The picture above is my new studio.  I’m still in the basement, but I have a much bigger space and a window that even lets in some light once and a while.  Once everything is together I’ll take some pictures so you can see where the magic happens–though most of my magic has been sitting on the couch watching god awful tv since christmas.

Two perfectly good thrift stores very close to my house closed recently.  One so quickly and secretly that I didn’t even get in on their unloading all this crap for a ridiculously low price sale.  But I did manage to pick up these sweet little tin houses while I was on the other side of town. I think you’re suppose to put candles in them, but I’m content with them just looking pretty.  They are on our mantle next to our christmas tree away from four curious baby hands.

the last day of color week. I had a nice time playing with my new camera and taking pictures around my home–I don’t do either as much as I should.

There are four of these shelves above my sink. I feel like an ass setting up little vignettes, but the shelves aren’t good for much else.  And really they are nice to look at while I am up to my elbows in dirty dishes.

(Don’t worry the beetle is long dead.)

for color week.  today’s color is cream.