Upcycled Vintage Finds ... it's not about what it was made for - it's what you need it to be ... plus I blame chemtrails

ruler picture holder - I use this for biz cards sometimes, too

This week has flown by - how did it get to be mid-October already??

Instead of an actual post which I would have to have some functioning brain cells to produce at this very moment I have grabbed my trusty Canon

(although it is not so trusty these days because I have to manually focus, which creates lot of problems for someone like me who's right hand can't remember what her left hand is doing ... )

and snapped a few quick pics around here of some upcycled goodies that may inspire someone, somewhere, someday to forget about that cute and colorful whoseewhatsee from Target and use what they already have in some of clever way ..

cork storage in vintage sugar bowls and barn sink - you
may not have this much cork - I hope for your sake
and the sake of your liver, that you don't have this much cork

Olive's Red Ryder porch bed - with her favorite wool blankie for fall

vintage microscope with family photos in the glass slides

Also I should report that I had to get my driver's license renewed this week (yay, I finally got rid of that crappy picture so I could get ... a slightly less crappy better picture) and I was chosen for a random eye exam (?) - at least I think it was random,

because everyone else went right to the "get your picture taken" line and I went right to the "get your eyes checked" line - maybe I was the only one in there who wears glasses - is that possible ... does anyone not wear glasses these days, or do I just know old people now -

anyhoo, a man who'd probably been filed under A for Alive at some point during the last century, I kind of thought I recognized him from the state seal, called me over.

He put on a pair of THICK eyeglasses that could double as a welding mask (at least someone else was wearing glasses now), picked an invisible thread off the J in his NJMVC patch, and told me to have a seat.

my license looks kind of like this -->

except for the picture and the name and the address and the driver's license number and also the fact that this man is smiling BIG

(because it screws up our state's facial recognition software -  
which I do not believe for one second we actually have - we are not allowed to smile BIG in New Jersey for our driver's license photos - which is surprisingly not a problem for those of us living in New Jersey)

After I have no trouble reading the ten-letter clump of nonsense on the eye exam he asked me to look at four different shapes through the view finder. "Tell me what each of these are," he said, his accent thick enough to join the cast of Jersey Shore if Snookie ever needs a really, really tired looking great-great grandfather.

"A red octagon, a yellow rectangle, a yellow circle, and a yellow triangle." "Well, that's a first," he said, picking another invisible thread from his shirt.

"What? nobody else knows what they are??" (I am thinking what the hell is happening to the brain cells of the people living in NJ ... I blame chemtrails)

"Nope. Nobody else ever just told me the shapes. You're s'posed to tell me what the signs are."

"Oh." I was less embarrassed than I was excited that I'd done something no one had done before.

"A stop sign. Um... maybe a warning sign? Or a children playing sign like in that one development, the one where all of the houses look like the red monopoly pieces .."

"And the next?" he interrupted.

"Uh, that one's a railroad sign, you know, my husband had a cousin who was hit by a train."

He blinked, almost audibly. "Continue."

"Well, he may have been drunk and fell asleep ..."

"With the signs. Continue with the signs."

"Oh. Maybe a Men Working in Trees?" (we do have such a sign, I'm not just randomly making stuff up here)

He said nothing, picked the last invisible thread from his shirt, took a deep breath, stared at his hands and sent me over to get my picture taken.

Which I did.

And it looks amazing actually (in a sort of attractive if you squint, slightly less crappy than my last driver's license photo kind of way).

I love New Jersey.

Christmas Upcycled Gift Countdown Week # 3 - Tray Magnetboard/ToDo Board

This is what I ask myself when prioritizing my day.

(yup it's pretty much the secret to my success here at Olive Bites folks, works pretty well for me - I do spend quite a bit of time napping, eating snacks and solving mysteries though, so it might not work for everyone)

This is a heavy vintage, enamel metal tray (a similar type of thing can be done with a smaller, lighter weight tray, too - see LOVE pic below),

some large adhesive letters from Lowe's ($1.50) and some magnets that read NOW, LATER and NEVER

(I can hook you up with the tops of these just email me and add your own magnets)

Now, you are probably thinking this does not need a step by step - you're right. It's pretty much cut and stick. I did have to take a few pics though so I can call this a TUTORIAL, otherwise it would be cheating.

(the LOVE tray has a little adhesive back hanger that I could hook you up with, too)

You could stencil something like this, too, if you are feeling very crafty and if your recipient might think stickers a bit .. tacky (stickers ... tacky ... get it) - the vintage green one above is a bonus gift for a special someone on my list. I do not think she minds tacky - especially when it is an awesome mint green circle of blooms and rust covered with hugs and kisses - who could resist that?

A Peek at Some New Work in Uncorked Shop

uncorked.etsy.com

stop by and have a peek

Manifesting for Makers - Introduction - the act of creating is the act of allowing

CREATE print by and at wallfry.etsy.com

The definition of manifesting is "to make clear or evident to the eye or the understanding - to show plainly" -

this is probably not the definition that most people are thinking about when they are trying to manifest (ala the law of attraction) something.

This is the definition we are going to work with though (the making clear and evident one) because it is a higher vibration and life is supporting a higher vibration now.

(the vibration is important because it works sort of like a key to unlock the higher paradigm within us; the thing we are reaching toward - this must have been what it felt like for people alive on the planet as the Dark Ages moved into the Enlightenment .. scary and exciting and unchartered and we are making it up as we go along and that is totally ok and more than ok actually because if not us who? )

I think the last few years has shown us that hundreds of thousands of people setting intentions to manifest specific things for themselves, the things we thought we wanted (the gimme more, bigger, better, best way of thinking that is born from the fear that there is not enough) can really muck things up

(of course, as with all mucked up things - it is just a mirror reflecting our own mucked-up-ness back at us - we are never really victims but just people being shown our weakness)

the real "Secret" may be that we have this manifesting thing ass backwards -

of course, we have also been brought to this point by hundreds of thousands of people taking their power back and setting intentions to manifest something else, something new and authentic and real - the very energy of which is totally supported because everything either evolves or becomes increasingly unstable until it breaks down - the new that is totally unstoppable.

We aren't here to figure out what we want and then manifest that.

The idea that manifesting is about figuring out what we want and then going for it, is the reason so many of us are stuck, sitting in this place of  indecision "well, what the hell do I want?" -

because we are thinking this with our mind (our soul is awesomely ok with any and all circumstances) - the part of us that can only offer up answers based on our past conditioning and often based on what we don't want - based on fear.

The difference between coming at things from love (think : soul/heart here) or fear (think : mind/thoughts here) is the difference between wanting to manifest a partner because we're uncomfortable being alone and afraid we will always be alone or wanting to manifest a partner because we see an old couple lovingly holding hands and whispering in the park and our soul cries out YES, I WANT THAT!

I saw just such a couple yesterday and they made my heart so full that I found myself drawn very near to them and I asked them how long they had been married and the old man looked at me with a mischievous twinkle in his eye and said "we're not married, but we've been living together for 4 months and 6 days" - I thought my heart would explode with happiness.

Anyhoo, I only wanted this to be an intro - a little taste of where we are headed with this series if anyone wants to come along - this journey to manifesting; the allowing = creating kind of manifesting that is what we makers are really here to make.

Next Week: Manifesting for Makers - Part I - how compassion can unleash our passion (plus an exercise in how to figure out what we really want ... within seconds)