Patty Van Dorin

a change in plans

called away for a bit of work
 
a hotel room with an incredible view
 
eating snacks and admiring the view
 
I will be away for a several days and hopefully back to regular blogging soon. 

when great stuff comes in the mail

The past few days, I have been the lucky recipient of some really great stuff that has come in the mail.
 
Really good things, like scrapodex cards
 
These two beauties came from Karenann.
 
How about a case, yes a case of halva. I certainly am spoiled.
حلاوة طحينية

 
Gorgeous Dubai postage stamps.
 
A box of cool rusty stuff.

What can I say and it's not even my birthday.
All of my favorite things.

Please Do Not Use Pallets

There is a huge trend that I am seeing using recycled pallets in making furniture, shelves and in crafts. I know you have seen these pallet projects as they are appearing all over in blogs and on pinterest.

But I warn you, I beg you, please do not use pallets in making furniture and home interior items.  I am a big fan of recycling, re-purposing and using found items but pallets are strictly off limits.

Many pallets are treated with some nasty chemicals like methyl bromide, fungicides and/or pesticides. The wood used in constructing these pallets is very soft. Meaning the pallet wood absorbs everything like a sponge and then holds on to it.

here is an article about some of the chemicals used in treating pallets

Click here to go to article.

Then if the chemicals are bad enough, you don't know where these pallets came from and what was stored on them. Pallets are recycyled and reused many times, so there could be a whole nasty mix of stuff on them.  There can be any kind of hazardous waste to chemicals and even the ones used for food transport could have all kinds of stuff on them to make you sick. I have seen pallets used to move spoiled processed chicken to be dumped.  I don't even want to think of all that nasty spoiled chicken juice soaking into a pallet and then that pallet being remade to hold dishes in a kitchen.

if the link above didn't change your mind on reusing pallets, then here is another.

Click here to go to article.

A consumer group tested pallets for food borne pathogens, including E. coli and Listeria. The findings were alarming: 10 percent of the wood pallets tested had E. coli present.

There are better sources for reclaimed or cheap wood.

And that ends my rant for the day.

Please re-post this blog post and pass it on. 

**I wanted to post pictures but didn't want to offend anyone using pallets for craft and furniture or give ideas for projects that I don't support**

Happy Father's Day

a Happy Father's Day to my dad

charmed

Rarely do I bring home souvenirs from travelling. One item I do indulge in is the "penny press" token maker that rolls pennies onto dies making a squished imprinted coin that you find at most museums, zoos and aquariums. I haven't found a country yet that doesn't have these penny press machines.
 
Many countries don't have a copper penny type coin but like these penny presses that I brought back from the COEX aquarium in Korea, this lack of penny has been solved by punching out copper blanks the size of a penny.

Once I start unpacking my household stuff and find my penny press charm bracelet, I will put up a picture. I have more charm bracelets than I will ever wear and most have become too heavy to wear.

I think my next charmed project will be this window drape.

 
image source click here 
Isn't this window drape incredible and a perfect place to hang all the vintage prisms and special glass beads I have been collecting while travelling over the years.

I love adding bits of nothing to my home of things that have little value but appeal to me all the same. A book I found this week will be added to my bookshelf. I try my hardest not to collect books as living on a coastal beach it is not prudent to collect massive amounts of paper. It doesn't fit into my hurricane evacuation plan. So I collect books and when the numbers get too massive, I sell or give away until I reach a manageable number.
 This book is a nice early paperback edition of "The Lord of the Flies" and check out the incredible cover art.
Love it.
Paperback books like these are my "comfort food" of the book world. They take me back to a time when it was simple and good, and all I needed was a battered well read paperback book tucked in the back pocket of my jeans and I was set to go.
 
As you can figure, I don't have a decorating theme or style when it comes to my home.  If it is needs a name, I guess it would be called Flotsam and Jetsam Gypsy as it is just bits that I have gathered while moving about in my travels.

What items of little value do you like to surround yourself with?

pink dog, purple sun

 
 
more from the withDRAWal sketchbook

a world of signs

This morning I was in a kind of funk, thinking and looking for direction on this path I am on.  There is the proverbial fork in the road and a new direction but I don’t fully understand and am feeling uncertain what it.

Driving down the road, I was thinking “God (willing), please give me a sign, something that I will recognize, not the subtle signs that I don't seem to appreciate, a sign that I will know I am on the right path”. 

Stopped in traffic, I looked over and saw this.  A knock up aside the head could not be more obvious. Now it is up to me.

 

work zone

 
I will be back to regular blog posting in a couple of days.

Toccata

Have you seen this?  If not stop everything and watch this amazingly talented musician.

 

utterly bland

 
more from the withDRAWal sketchbook
 
 
I love ALL comments. Thanks to everyone for sharing with me and I am excited that is project has inspired so many to start their own withDRAWal sketchbook.

Art critics should be highly encouraged without them the world would be utterly bland. Just don't take their words to heart.