A Busy Family life!

Here is what we have been up to lately! 

Very life changing things here... I must say for the kids and us as parents!

We have 3 kiddos..  and 2 out of the three promoted and one graduated from High School!

This Corrie Promoting from 8th grade to a freshman

This is the baby! I cant believe in 4 short years I will be done with kids in school! :(

This is Jesse our High School Graduate .. Class of 2011 :)

So proud of him! He has big plans to go to college and become a Engineer 

(not sure of the field of Engineering he wants to specialize in yet)

Our Middle child Cheyenne with will be a senior next year! Class 2012

 

Any words of wisdom or thought? How long do let kids live at home after graduating? Do give rules and curfew? What will empty nest be like, how do I prepare? HElP....

What not to Clean or not Clean

What not to clean or not clean, as more mistakes are made in this area. A Rule thumb is that if you are not sure, don't do it! No! Halt! Stop! Danger!  What took nature hundreds or thousands of years to create can be destroyed by  in a moment. What you might think of as "dirt" is known to the collector as "patina" and adds to the value and beauty of antique and ancient items. How can you tell the difference between "dirt" and "patina"? This is a bit of a fuzzy area, but I would say in general patina cannot be removed with water, or by soft brushing, but dirt can. DO NOT REMOVE the patina! You can feel free to contact me with questions if in doubt. 

 

So what is this patina? Patinas are chemical compounds formed on the surface of metals. Many patinas form naturally, by weathering. Figuratively, "patina" can refer to any fading, darkening or other signs of age on any material. It is natural and/or unavoidable. The chemical process by which a patina forms is called "patination," and a work of art coated by a patina is said to be "patinated." For instance a statue or object which has been handled a lot can be worn down and acted upon by the oils in the human hand, imparting a smooth (as imposed to encrusted) patina. Patina often adds value, shows authenticity and should not be removed. An exception would be a heavily encrusted object which one planned to keep forever, or exhibit in a museum and which would be enhanced by getting down to original material. In my opinion many, many objects in museums (even world-class ones) are over-cleaned or over-restored or both.. The Bottom Line: Leave it a bit dirty rather than risk damage or over-cleaning!

Let's continue with some basic tips.

• warm water is the best and most gentle cleanser. Use caution, however on delicate porous materials: cloth, paper, wood, silk, etc, or anything really delicate or fragile. Clean an itsy-bitsy, teeny-tiny, little area first. If it looks like it might damage the item stop!
• Lemon Juice is also a good and fairly mild cleaning agent for stickers, etc. Don't use lemon juice on porous materials in general.
  
•  For truly delicate objects the best you may be able to do is to brush the item with a soft brush and clean whatever dust and dirt you can by gently dusting the object. It is better to have a somewhat dirty object than to destroy it of course!
• If you are more certain of the objects solidity you may proceed to using warm water with a little bit of dish soap. A 1% solution should be pretty safe. I use this for most pottery, even ancient pottery, for example.
• The next level would be warm water, soap and scrubbing from gentle to vigorous. 
• Finally harsher methods such as solvents and scraping can be used. I will only touch on this briefly as the potential for damage is high.
• Professionals can also use lasers, obviously we won't be talking about that!
  

On to the specifics in order from easiest to hardest:

• Porcelain ceramic and modern glass: this is really the easiest. Just hand clean as you would a normal dish, but do so by hand and gently. Use a 1% soap solution. a toothbrush should do the trick for stubborn bits. Try lemon juice if this does not work.  Porcelain is amazingly hard and if it has encrustations on it (old sticker material, etc.) you can remove it with a razor blade. the blade must be  held  perpendicular to the object. push the blade only as hard as you need to do to remove the offending substance. Don't push too hard or you will leave a black mark which you will not be able to remove. You can do the same for glass and mirrors, provided they are not heavily damaged.
• Hard Stone (granite, marble, etc): more or less the same as above, but DO NOT scrape it with metal as metal is harder than stone in most cases and will scratch it. If you must scrape, use plastic or wood.
• steel, iron, aluminum modern metal; this is usually pretty easy to clean using the 1% solution and a soft brush (toothbrush should be fine here too). Iron (and non-stainless steel) are susceptible to rust. Light rust and encrustation can be safely removed with mild chemicals. I recommend "Never-Dull" and nothing else. If you use it, read the label first. Heavy rust can be removed with steel wool, but this may leave scratches if the metal is soft. This is a personal decision. I would, for example use steel wool on an old wagon wheel, but never, ever on an item like an antique sword.
• Wood, leather: I would avoid soap if at all possible, as it may penetrate the item and have unintended consequences. Use a damp cloth and a lot of patience. Use butchers wax in a can and  a fine paintbrush to work the wax into the item after you clean it. Then finish up with a soft cloth. It is amazing what wax can do for wood and leather! Don't use pledge or other spray waxes, they have to many other "ingredients". Keep it simple.
• Bronze: Dust it, wax it, and forget about it. Don't do anything else or you will probably be sorry. Don't come crying to me if you ignore this sage advice. do not remove the patina!!!
• Anything ancient or really valuable: Dust it with a fine bristle paint brush and leave it alone. Anything more should be left to professionals. If you must clean it contact me and I will see if I can help.
• Paper, cloth, silk, etc.: These materials are exceedingly delicate, however a damp (almost dry) automotive quality cloth can be used to very, very, gingerly remove surface dirt. Test a teeny-tiny non-visible area first for fastness.

M.I.A

Oh my gosh I cant believe how long it's been since I have blogged! I miss my blog land! Work family and life has really got in the way of some of the things I enjoy.  So I am just going to jump back into blogging! I hope I didn't miss much! Please fill me in and tell what I need to know! 

Pinking my Christmas up!

I have been thinking ahead about what colors I want to put on

our Christmas tree this year! Ready for a change!! 

And yes we all know that I ♥ Pink! Pink is my most favorite color but I am sure the rest of the family wouldn't agree with a pink tree...lol 

 

So I put together some recent creations, I made to show them how cute and pretty pink would look on our tree.

I hand made Stocking aren't they just adorable!!

I also found a few pics for inspiration 

So tell me what color would you do your tree or better yet what fancy color are you doing your tree this year?

Fall Findings Cigar Box Swap

Fall Findings Cigar Box Swap

It's time for 

 The Reveal!

 Here is what I sent my Partner Roberta Philbrick

She expressed that shes loves  Red, Black & White! That is my inspiration for her cigar box

 

Filled it with tons of goodies... I hope she loves it!

Here is the fabulous Cigar box she sent me!

 She sent this beautiful box she left untouched.. with the most fabulous bow she made for me ! Ty

filled with tons goodies so I can create  and great ideas/instruction!  What a creative idea to send to a fellow artist! The thought put into my cigar box was awesome!

Time for a fun day!  Thanks :)

Toodles ... wish great Fall wishes to come!!

Great Giveaway going on!

...The Gratitude Giveaway!

... a bag of gratefulness

Well Rosemary @ Ozma of Odds is having a giveaway that is to die for. With a great meaning with it!   Gratitude Giveaway!  A beautiful bag is just the beginning with lots of extras.  Hurry the giveaway ends on Oct. 28th.  Please let her know you found the info from my blog ..thanks

A Super Pink Surprise!

A Super Pink Surprise 

Well as you guys know I went away for work for 3 weeks.. It was a great experience along with a nice break for me being away 

from kids and hubby.... I did miss them but I also enjoyed my time too! 

So my wonderful hubby did a super surprise for me. 
I had no clue!
My husband took 2 weeks to fully restore my childhood beach cruiser! 
It has been sitting behind our barn rusting for the last 22 plus years.

I had the biggest smile ever when I saw this! My bike is my only toy left from my childhood