Letters from Friends

I love getting a letter from a good friend.  Not a Facebook message, not an email, but a real, handwritten letter from someone close to me is one of my favorite things.  With the rapid incline of technological advancements in communication, letter-writing has almost become a lost art.

That's a shame because seeing a pretty, colorful envelope in my mailbox next to bills and flyers always makes me smile.  I maintain two pen pals--both friends from my college days in Brookings--and have received many of the cards and letters above from them.  

Usually, the content is light.  We write about books we've read and music we've listened to and how our jobs are going and what our boyfriends are up to. Sometimes, though, we share something that's been bothering us or a story of family tragedy.  We can always count on genuine support and a few good laughs from each note received.

Writing to my friends doesn't take a huge chunk of time.  When I receive a letter, I try to send a response within a week.  Jotting down what's going on in my life is not only a good way for them to know about what I'm up to, but it's also a great way for me to reflect personally when I don't get around to journaling.  

Is this the adult version of passing notes?  I have to admit, I love stickers and cute stationary about as much as a middle school girl.  At any given time, I have an assorted variety of stationary and stamps because I don't want to constantly send my friends the same card.  Perhaps the girlishness never really leaves some of us.  

Your friends and family would probably love to get a handwritten letter from you, so get to writing!  When you get their addresses, don't forget to record them in a small notebook for future reference.  (Christmas card time will be here before you know it.)

I would love to receive a letter from you!  If you're so inclined, you may write me at:

Leslie Warnke

408 S. Sanborn Apt. 6

Mitchell, SD 57301

Oh, the possibilities!  About two weeks ago, I heard about a fabulous sale at a fabric store in town I used to visit with my grandmother as a child.  The chocolate-covered cherry doling old man who used to run the place had died years ago, leaving piles of valuable fabric bolts to rot in a couple of old warehouses.  Apparently, a construction company recently purchased the buildings and required their contents be emptied by the end of the month.  

A coworker informed me that a woman was attempting to sell what remaining fabric could be salvaged before sending in the garbage trucks.  Shortly after receiving her text, I was at the store, perusing piles of authentic vintage upholstery and dress fabric, along with other fellow sewers, including women from three of the surrounding Hutterite colonies.  I was in heaven!  If only I had more space in the apartment, I thought.  

The seller was looking to get rid of as many bolts as possible, and the Hutterites had loaded their Suburbans and conversion vans to the hilt.  I, however, had to consider my available storage space, so I asked to purchase some of the fabric by the yard and settled on what you see in the picture above.   The entire haul cost a total of $23!  A steal for the yards of velvet and other high-quality items I acquired!  

The only problem I ran into was that of cleanliness.  Most of the fabric smelled quite musty from its years of being shut away in dank facilities.  I washed what I could but had to hang the velvet on my parents' clothesline and spray it repeatedly with Febreeze for about four days to remove the smell.  

I have many projects in mind, including using some of the pink velvet to cover bulletin boards in my classroom.  Some of the pieces have already been put to good use, like this green and white striped number I turned into a patio rug...

 

... and the green velvet I've used as lining for my farmers market jewelry display.

Any suggestions for how to use the rest of this glorious fabric?

Yesterday, I was a crafting machine!  I painted the arms and legs of a $3 Goodwill chair (more on that in a later post), painted a night stand, and used a decoupage technique to transform an old wall-hanging into something much more modern.  Our bedroom received the first in a series of much-needed updates.

For the night stand, I began with a spray primer from Rust-oleum that promised to be sandable.  I had some problems with the initial application.  The primer came out somewhat chunky and ended up sort of turning to dust and just, well, falling off the back side of the small table.  After using it for a while, the texture became more consistent, but when I attempted to sand what I'd applied, it turned dusty again.  Maybe next time I will sand the surface of a project before priming.  Once I got the silver sprayed on (Rust-oleum Specialty Metallic), the surface seemed smooth.  I'm quite impressed with the intensity of the metallic shine!

Can you believe the wall art above was created from the thrift store find below?!  To start, I taped off that pretty gold frame and spray painted the canvas with a flat black.  When that dried, I used Mod Podge to apply one of Chris's favorite Van Gogh prints.  I brushed the white glue both underneath and on top of the print using broad strokes with a 1 1/2" brush in order to secure its adhesion and give the finished product a rich texture.  In the process of the decoupage, I noticed that my tape had slipped while spray painting the background, and the canvas part of the frame showed some black.  To fix the problem, I simply re-taped the gold parts of the frame and applied acrylic black paint with a foam brush.  

 Our bedroom is on its way to looking rather stylish!

Hooray for fellow crafters!  Last night, Chris and I attended a tie-dye party at friend Briar's house. (Briar's in the pic with me.)  We all brought items (new or used) that needed a splash of color.  I brought a couple of pillow cases and two shirts, one of which I traded for a pair of socks.  We had a couple of beers and a fun time.  I'm always glad to have a craft buddy, so I was pumped to join a craft party!

Today, I washed and dried all the items and had the chance to try them on.  What a nice splash of color for my home decor and wardrobe!

Featured this week at Mitchell's Farmers Market: world map trivets and vanilla macadamia nut coffee candles!  

My obsession with maps spans more than a decade.  It stems from a combination of their alluring graphic design and the dreams of travel they invoke.  For Christmas last year, I made coasters from similar materials for fellow teachers and close friends, so when I came across the vintage-style pieces of map paper this weekend, I knew exactly what to do with them; it was serendipity! 

The candles were a new venture.  Thrift store coffee cups have always been a major attraction for me, so I pick them up whenever I can.  My cupboards hate me for this, so I decided to clean them out (to make room for more!). I've never made candles before, so these six are the result of my latest experiment.  

Come to the supplementary Farmers Market tonight from 5-8 p.m.  Most of the same vendors will be set up in our usual spots at 5th and Main.  Hope to see you there!  

Oh, and check out the lamps I made for a special order.  You can get a feel for their height by their location next to the door. Hope you enjoy them, Lindsay!

So, when my studio looks like this:

the living room looks like this:

Don't feel too badly for Chris, though, I cleaned the place up pretty well shortly after taking these.

While almost everyone who stopped at my table at the Farmers' Market today had something nice to say about my wares, one market-goer turned out to be incredibly rude.  He approached my table and picked up some of the beer cap magnets.

"So, do you dig through the dumpster to find all this stuff or what?" he asked, referring to the recycled bottle caps and wine bottles I use for my crafts.

"Actually, I work at a restaurant and the bartender saves them for me," I replied.

"And people actually buy this stuff?" he wanted to know.

"Yes, a lot of people are looking for something recycled," I explained, to which he laughed, rolled his eyes, and walked away.

Now, I realize that not every person who approaches my booth is going to like what I have to offer, but the thing is, most of those people just don't say anything.  It's unfortunate that the people we tend to remember the most vividly are the ones who have had a negative impact on us.  Maybe the guy was just having a bad day and needed to take it out on someone, but I was not impressed.

I am, however, incredibly grateful for all the support I received from the people who complimented my work.  My goal is to focus on the good and not let the little negatives get me down.

Today's Farmers' Market was a huge success!  I sold one of my lamps to a former student, and had a customer pre-pay for an order of two more!

Check out my latest creations!  I constructed the bases from empty wine bottles and natural fiber rope.  Chris helped put the lamp kit together, and I embellished the shades with white burlap.

The first couple weeks of summer vacation were rough on me.  I had been so very busy the last month of school with both my teaching job and my role in the Area Community Theater production of Cabaret that I barely had a free moment.  When both ended in the same week, I was presented with a seemingly endless amount of free time.  Awesome!  Right?  Well, actually it left me feeling a little depressed.  What was I supposed to do with all of this time during which I didn't have to do anything?  The answer:  craft.  I have been busy working on making jewelry, wine bottle vases, and--new to me--lamps.  My first trip to the Mitchell's Farmer's Market last Saturday was quite successful, which has motivated me to make more stuff!  With hope, I can ride this wave of motivation for the rest of the summer to make a little extra spending money at my booth.  Who knows?  I may even attempt to sell some crafts on Etsy!