For so many years, and primarily based on my career, I only had the courage to ask myself, "What is permissible, profitable or allowable?" Living such a life, it is difficult to be true to the amalgam God has created in each of us.So, creativity for me, now, is asking myself - for the first time in nearly two decades, "What is possible (within the confines of my faith)?" This question has helped me work through many challenges. When my basement flooded and ruined the lower six inches of a wall, the lack of money or know-how to "do sheet rock" led me to hang peg board which I found at Home Depot for $4 a sheet. When I hung it and it looked like, well, crap, I spray painted 33 cent yard sticks and hot glued them to the raw edges and gaps in between. Ya know, it's not perfect, but it looks so much better than it did. This experience stretched my mind to ask what is possible about other things that need fixin' around here!
I think pegboard is the new duct tape. Good for practically everything. I magic-markered that outlet. =)
By the way, I bought that frame at a garage sale for $1. The photos - about 19 cents each from Snapfish.com. They are my kids, of course.
We have a brick driveway and some of the bricks have eroded away. We recently replaced a $1,400 section of the driveway after we had it ripped out earlier this year to replace an expensive sewer line. We were NOT going to have individual bricks dug out and replaced. Having made this paradigm shift from what is permissible to what is possible, I thought of a new ways to solve the problem of the broken bricks.
For my birthday in September, I bought me-self a bunch of tiles and grout and stuff. I'm going to try my hand at mosaic, doing a different scene for each month of the year. My project will start in January with a winter scene I've been designing.
Thus, something broken has turned into a pallet; an opportunity to be artistic, to involve my children in a project and to commemorate important things and dates in our lives. We'll have a brick for each of the kids' birthdays; bricks for Holy days and so forth and so on.
7 comments:
what a brilliant idea !!!
I wish I had a path of bricks now... will have to use this somewhere around the place
Kudos to you for getting the materials and just doing it! That takes courage and creativity. I am still ignoring my botched caulking efforts on my tub...which was a project a couple of years ago. :)
@berlinkat oh, i did the caulk thing, too. what a nightmare. i'm half way through the job. tearing the old caulk out nearly cost me a finger and made me puke once when i saw the mold growing underneath it. some things are worth saving my money for. that would be one!
@cgdk there are some interesting web sites that show mosaic on sidewalks. I was googling mosaic driveway when i found a few neat resources!
Jen, I can always rely on you to tell us about interesting websites and blogs. Thanks.
Jen, I truly love and enjoy your resourcefulness! What fabulous ideas you came up with. You are teaching your children to think outside of the box and that is always a good thing! Your creativity spans in so many different directions. I love that!
Your new header is gorgeous, by the way. And it's nice to see that your little girl inherited your beautiful smile!
Hugs,
Debbie
This is soooo coool you clever, frugal chickie !! great job and I look forward to seeing the art - I love art used to fill everyday functions like this ...
the intergration into life is what I like most :) le
Not only is the idea wonderful, but the photos and layout look great too!
I wish I had bricks in front of my house now...
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