“And your very flesh shall be a great poem.”

When we decided to start our style of homesteading we decided to make a list of all the skills we had that could generate money. Although we were lowering our expenses, we still needed to be able to make money to pay for our necessities...mainly land taxes, medical bills and our house payment.

One of the skills that was on the top of my list was Tattooing. I have been tattooing on and off since I was a teenager, and Melissa worked in a tattoo shop when I met her. Over the years we have opened and closed two tattoo businesses, and sold our equipment numerous times. Yet, through all of that I have always loved the artistry behind tattoos and have always been drawn back to the craft after long absences.

Since it is a skill I have and love, and I now have the time to dedicate myself to the art...I have once again started slinging ink. The wonderful part about it is that in the past I was so concerned about the money side of it that I would lose sight of how much I enjoyed creating permanent art on people. Now don't get me wrong, we still need the money, but now it is not the primary focus. For once in my life I can truly enjoy tattooing

Here's a sample of my most recent work and If you like you can visit Sanctus Tattooing, my blog that will display images of my work.

The $2 Chair

A while back someone asked for close up photos of the chair I found at a yard sale. Sorry it took so long to post them, but here they are. I bought this chair for $2. It's super cool and seems pretty easy to build. You can even sit in it, though I have a plant on it by my front door.

One Mans Trash.....

The past couple of weekends marked the beginning of Garage, Rummage and Yard Sale season. I love this time of year. It's like a sport for me, hunting down that treasure that's oh so needed.

I picked up quite a few things for us this time around, couple shirts and a great pair of $100 coveralls for $9. I especially like if for finding clothes for Gabrielle. You know she's still stuck in the name brand world so that's what I keep my eye out for her, 3 shorts 2 shirts...score!

Household things are pictured here. The chair is by far my favorite find for $2. Pat's going to try and replicate it so we have a few more around the homestead. The planter was .50 cents and the cupboard was $4. I did practice bartering a lot, everyone that I made an offer to accepted. So offer away, it really works! Great deals for great stuff wouldn't you agree?

Captin' Jack’s Baby Shower

The "Pirate" baby shower was a great success! I spent under $100 for all the food, decorations, prizes, and even the gifts for mom and baby. One of which was the afghan I crocheted for them (pictured in a previous post). I did extensive research on the net for any baby pirate stuff I could find (which wasn‘t a lot, had to put my thinking cap on), searched the house for all our pirate ship gadgets, luckily we like that type of thing, and pictured here is what I came up with. It was a blast and even included a “Walk the Plank” game for prizes, and cute baby pirate gift bags with maps on one side and sayings like: “Shiver me rattles”, “Swab me poop deck” on the other. A BIG thanks goes out to Gabrielle and my MIL Sally for all their help, I couldn’t have done it without them!

It's a boy

Here's the blanket I've been working on for Jay's new baby. Dr's say it a boy, lets hope, everything he and Jordy got was blue at the baby shower. I'll be having a baby shower up north for our side of the family, that's when I'll give it to them. I bought most the yarn from the store but did get lucky and found some second hand at the re-sale shop that matched. Thankfully I already knew how to crochet. There is sooo much I still need to learn. But at least I got one thing under my belt.