Tuesday Treasury List ~ Fairwell to Cairo.....For Now

With Tuesday, comes another Tuesday Treasury List at Hartley Rowe. I found some amazing pictures and maps of Cairo, my son's latest destination. It was his home for four months, and may be again someday soon. Click on the links below to meet the amazing Etsy artists who created these beautiful pictures or to meet the curators of the vintage maps and prints. I love Etsy!

'Farewell to Cairo.....for now.' by hartleyrowe

My son is headed home from Cairo. He may be returning there to start his career.... or off to another global destination. Stay tuned to see what Treasury List my children's travels inspire me to create next!

Tuesday's Treasury List ~ Headed to Norway!

It seems I keep living vicariously through my children's travels. I am so happy they have opportunities to see the world and to work in amazing, faraway places. I just miss them so darn much! For today's Treasury List, I've chosen Etsy creations with the common them of Norway. My son is growing to love this beautiful country. I can certainly understand why. Have you ever been to Norway? Was it as beautiful as these creations lead us to believe? I hope you enjoy this Treasury and the thoughts of traveling to faraway places....

'Headed to Norway!' by hartleyrowe

It seems all my Treasury Lists lately have had to do with travels to faraway places. This week I've chosen Norway because my son is there now visiting his girlfriend before he continues on to Cairo (next week's Tuesday Treasury?).

Tuesday's Treasury List - A Farewell to Madrid

I found these beautiful Madrid creations while "window shopping" at Etsy.com. I thought I would create this treasury list in celebration of our daughter's homecoming from studying abroad. She loved Madrid!

'A Farewell to Madrid' by hartleyrowe

My daughter is heading home on Thursday. She's saying goodbye to Madrid, Spain, her home for the past four months. She made great friends and had great adventures as she studied abroad. I'm so happy she had this experience....

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Corbel Close-Up

I've been trying to decide what to do with several photos I took of architectural elements during our last trip to San Francisco.  I finally got to work today to try a new project.  Here is a picture of the first one in a series I have planned.  This is one of my favorite pictures of the elements I took; one of a corbel.  I love corbels and how they've been used in architecture over the ages.  Sometimes  referred to as brackets or cornices, the name's not important, but the beauty is.

I printed the photograph onto regular printer paper and adhered it to three sanded and painted pallet boards.  I used ModPodge and black acrylic paint.  You can see the steps in the picture below.

I had originally thought I would  frame the picture with smaller strips on the front, but  I decided to keep the front flat with the photo being the focal point.

The boards are held together by another pallet board that I split and nailed as braces from the back.  I then attached a saw tooth picture hanger on the back.

                     

It now hangs near our door leading out to our garage.  It will remind us of our visit to San Francisco to visit our son every time we leave the house.   You can read more about the pictures I took on our trip here.  It's my blog post about one of my favorite online photo editing programs....Picasa 3.

I hope this project gives you some ideas for ones of your own.  Please let me know if you have any questions...or suggestions for making this project even better.

Thank you!

~ Alison

This post was linked up at:

The Boogie Board Cottage
Thrifty Decor Chick
Home Stories A to Z

A Little Bit of San Francisco.....

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I had almost given up on the project above, but I was persuaded not to by my son.  My oldest son, Andy, is moving back to his beloved city of San Francisco to start a new job.  I wanted to give him a small house warming gift for his new apartment so I worked on an inkjet transfer onto wood using one of the photos I had taken there during a past trip.  I was not happy at all with the way it was turning out, but he saw a "diamond in the rough".  I had abandoned the project and written it off as a "fail".  He took one look at it and could tell that it could become a beauty, something he would love to  have in his new place.   So, with the encouragement of  one of my biggest cheerleaders, a.k.a. Andy, I resumed the project and finished it up.  I'm happy to say, I have reports of it making the trip to San Francisco safely and it is now in its new home.  

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Here are a couple of pictures of the transfer of the Golden Gate Bridge onto a reclaimed lumber board.  Andy, I hope you like it and and that you enjoy being able to see a bit of the bridge every single day....clouds or no clouds:)

Below is the inkjet printout I used as a transfer onto the wooden board.  I love the end result as it appears to be very aged and weathered.

One of the benefits of having adult children that live in amazing locations is that I get to visit them in their wonderful cities......I sure can't wait for my next visit to San Francisco!

I hope you all have some wonderful trips planned for 2013.  Be sure to take lots of pictures.  You never know what special treasures and creations those photos will become.......

~ Alison

Starting a New Chapter......

There's a story here.....

There's a story behind the pages you see above.  I'm not sure what it is yet, but I look forward to reading it as the year progresses.  I may not be "reading" it in the literal sense. This journal I just completed will be journeying with my son back to Egypt, his new home following his recently completed study abroad semester there. I will most likely depend on my son's updates to Facebook, his blog, and other social media applications to keep me connected to him. But I will also imagine him writing in this journal each day in a place so far away.

This was my first attempt at bookbinding by hand and it will certainly not be my last.  I loved the process beginning...to end.  I like the fact that I touched and shaped each of  these pages for my son.  Hopefully as he records his journal entries outlining his experiences in his new home and at his new career, it will bring him some comfort by reminding him we're here for him at all times.  He's a new college grad with an Anthropology degree and he is setting out to study, educate and serve the world!

These empty pages symbolize so much to all of us.  They represent an unwritten story of the future waiting to be told, the story of 2013, and beyond.  They will most likely reminisce of the past days of 2012 as well.  2012 has been an amazing year for all of us in so many ways.  All of our four children have reached major milestones in their personal lives and their careers ~ ranging from our oldest becoming a small business owner while still juggling the act of the corporate world, to our youngest getting his drivers license.  It's also been a year of discovery for me as I started the Hartley Rowe blog and opened my Etsy shop.  And, to anchor us all, 2012 has become the last full year my husband is a member of our beloved US Military.  We are looking toward his retirement from the Navy this summer and all the possibilities and challenges that come along when a lifelong member of the military (he was a Navy kid as well), tries to navigate his way in a civilian world.  2013 will be an exciting one for our family for sure!

So, here's to the beginning of stories...for my family and for yours ~ let's all keep reading to see how they out.

Thank you for stopping by today and thank you for a wonderful 2012 for the Hartley Rowe blog.

~ Alison

P.S. Keep an eye out for a future post with a tutorial on how I put the journal together.  If anyone out there has any tips for bookbinding, I would love to hear them.  By the end I was covered in glue and fearful it would all fall apart!!   Thank you!

Find Your Way With a Good Map ~ Tuesday's Treasury List!

It's Tuesday again ~ time for another Treasury List.  I was out of town last week helping my son move out of his apartment as he starts a new career of being a small business owner.  He will be traveling a lot with this new venture, so I thought a Treasury List of maps and products made from maps would be a neat Treasury.  My other kiddos have turned into globe trotters as well; I dedicate this Treasury to my four wonderful kiddos who see the world as theirs to explore and leave a better place!

'Find Your Way With a Great Map!' by hartleyrowe

I love maps! I love decorating with them, displaying them and following them. As a child, I was fascinating by them and even became a cartographer at the age of 10 when I make my own map of our small homestead in North Carolina.

Treasury tool by StylishHome.