Art | A Thankfully Imperfect Woman

Jan 6

Temp -33 and a Snowflake Tree to Warm My Heart

Well, if you haven’t heard, it’s been cold here in Minnesota. It’s been REALLY cold up here in Northern Minnesota – this morning we had -33 with a wind chill that brought it down to -50! Did it stop me from running errands? Oh no…hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to PT I go!

Sunday, I finally put away all the Christmas decorations…it only took 7 hours with my daughters help :)! My wonderful, incredible, patient husband brings the bins up from the basement…and carries them down when they’re full!

I decided to do something a little different this year with our Christmas tree. Last year we left the lights on and put the tree on the deck – it was beautiful through the patio doors, especially when it snows! This year we pulled all the ornaments off but kept (and added) snowflake ornaments and we kept it in the living room…it’ll be on the deck when it starts shedding its needles!

Isn’t it beautiful? It almost makes the cold temps outside bearable…almost.

Stay warm everyone! No matter where you’re reading this!

Patty O

Oct 24

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A Grease Monkey, Family Heirlooms, and Barb Kellogg Photography

The Grease Monkey is me…yes I shop at the St Louis County Mall (aka the dump) and yes, I grab greasy treasures! I have a little too much fun cleaning up these treasures…thank you Dawn dish soap, or as my husband puts it “If it’s good enough to clean ducks, it’s good enough for this”. (Obviously referring to the oil spills, the affected waterfowl, and the Dawn dish soap commercials.) I had GREAT fun cleaning up the pulley!

And yes, my husband thinks I’m nuts. Oh ye of little faith…but then he sees the finished product and says “Well, that’s cool!” 🙂

In the featured LOVE picture, the first two items were dump (oops Mall) finds. The V is a folding tape measure that was Tim’s Grandpa’s. And the two clamps I picked up at my friend’s garage sale…I needed an E…what can I say?

And here’s a collage of the rest of the wall! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! Read more

Oct 23

Antlers, Leaves, and Wreaths = FALL

I LOVE FALL!

For anyone who’s seen my house this is no big surprise. Deep green with red and pumpkin colored trim? Yes, please. Fall is absolutely my favorite time of year. Bring on the sweaters…the pants…oooohhhhh – the scarves! And then there’s the decorating! I had so much fun doing my fall decorating this year…ok, it was done 3 weeks ago, but I’ve been kind of busy!

There’s outside decorating:

A Tiger for Elena

Little Miss Elena loves tigers.

Not just any tigers, she loves the tiger at the zoo…and I think the tiger loves her.

We all went to the zoo on her last birthday so she could introduce us to her friend, and while we were there Elena stood on a ledge to point out her tiger, who was pacing back and forth. One moment he was pacing, and the next he’d reared up with his front paws on the glass to literally look at her eye to eye.

I’m not sure if he was thinking ‘lunch’ or not, but I quickly told her he was saying “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” The poor little peanut turned her wary look into a big smile and off we all went to see the next animal…and her love of tigers remains!

I decided a week ago to get rid of an old dresser I’d been hanging onto. I mentioned it to Elena’s Mom, Jen, and she said she didn’t have one for Elena yet and maybe it was time.

Well…I couldn’t just sell her the plain old dresser, not for our little Miss Elena. I had hoped at one point to paint a beautiful flower on the front and then sell it, but had decided to just get rid of it…needless to say…the idea came back to me. I asked Jen what animal I could paint on the dresser for Elena and she immediately said a tiger. I should have known.

A few days later little missy appeared in her favorite t-shirt adorned with what else, but her favorite animal. So I convinced her it was dirty (it actually was), so I could borrow it.

Here is my weekend project, done with lots of love, for a sweet little girl who loves tigers…

(This is where my oldest daughter would say “Ta-daaaaaa!”)

Elena got to see her new dresser yesterday and her smile said it all.

Patty O

ps…this is absolutely one of my favorite things to do…so if you know of anyone who wants an extra splash on their decor, whether it be for a child’s piece of furniture or an adult’s, just give me a call!

Jun 6

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Elena and The Photo Shoot

It rained the day of the photo shoot, which brought all the festivities indoors.

The session was a favor to my friend Barb Kellogg who is building her people portfolio…she already does wonderful pet and landscape photography.

The original plan was for her to shoot our family…Sam, Gabi, Tim and me. However, I, having once again over scheduled myself, had the babies for the day too.

Thankfully, Jen (baby Momma) decided it would be a good idea to snap a few photos of the little ones too.

The fun began shortly after Barb arrived… Read more