Under A Pile of Scrap!

A Pretty Garden Chair

2013-05-21T10:21:00.000-04:00

I kind of want to call this post my "Un-Craigslist" chair find. I choose to give it that name based on a recent encounter with a Craigslist seller that pretty much left a bad taste in my mouth (& he wasn't the first either). If you want to read an entire post about it, you'll want to go back to my March 27th post. Since I tend to go on & on about things enough as it is, I won't bore you with repeating that story here.

But, I do have some good news! I did manage to have a BEFORE picture of this chair. If you read my blog enough, you know I'm really bad about getting, or finding Before shots of the things I refinish.

There is actually 2 chairs that I found at the curb of the before mentioned Craigslist deal gone wrong, along with some other things you see here.

I just want you to know that I braved the mosquito infestation this morning to take these pictures. I think it was the quickest photo shoot I've ever done.

The one I worked on first is one that had a broken leg brace. So I fixed the break & decided to make it a garden chair. The chair is still pretty sturdy, but I don't want to take that chance with anyone's safety, but it will hold a heavy planter of pretty flowers just fine.

I wanted to make it bright enough that you could see it out in someone's garden or a shady porch (like mine-not shown).

Using my Silhouette Cameo cutter, I made this design. I've always loved the quote "Time Began In A Garden", because my husband always thought that me having flower gardens was kind of senseless & a waste of time. I felt it was necessary to remind him of where time began. He doesn't say that anymore.

I think this scroll bracket was a freebie from the Silhouette store a little earlier this year. Did you know that they offer one free design each week? They choose the design, but they do pretty good about selecting decent ones. Anyway, I felt this one was perfect for the front of the seat. It fit the curve nicely without getting blocked by having a potted plant or vingette sitting on the seat.

The blue is more of a teal blue color and I just used a Glidden sample bottle that I got at Walmart. The color is WGB09 Deepest Aqua. The green is an Apple Barrel brand acrylic paint in Pale Green, also from Walmart.

I love those set-back spindles and I wanted to accentuate those by painting them in the green accent color.

If you look closely, really closely, you can see the break in the "cr" letters of the word Scrap in my watermark.

I traced the Petunia/Morning Glory image from clipart I found online, as well as the butterfly, in the Designer software add-on for my Silhouette.

The font is Guttenberg MF and can be downloaded for FREE at Dafont.com.

This is just a close up of the white accent painting I did in the grooves at the back of the chair.

I sprayed the entire chair with Krylon Clear matte spray sealer and called her good and took a day of rest (actually I didn't rest, I have more projects to finish).

Parties I'm linking to:

New Life for a Henredon Coffee Table

2013-05-17T13:19:00.001-04:00

Does it seem like it's been FOREVER since I did a post on my blog??

Yeah.

Don't feel bad, it seems like it to me too.

But I have lots of really good excuses!

Really!

Take for instance that my repurposed items have been selling pretty good lately, especially for the piddly bit of effort I've put into "putting it out there." I've even developed a few "regulars."

Keeping up with the supply & demand at this point, has been quite time consuming, but it makes me happy & worth it!

Excuse #2 - And since I was pretty successful in the majority of my craft shows last year, & then hearing all the inquiries as to where "my shop" is located and how I SHOULD get one, I've finally taken the leap of Faith and going to give a try. My husband has been trying to talk me into it for 2 years now. He apparently has SO much faith in me, that he's dropped ALL existing projects to build my shop here on our property. Wait. Is it faith? Or just the mere fact that my stuff is pushing us out of rooms in our house? Maybe that's it. Naaaah!

We priced having a building built and delivered, but we did the calculations and realized that we could save at least $1,000 by doing it ourselves AND I could have a larger building to include a workshop and finish it on the inside for that same price. Ummm, no brainer there.

Excuse #3- since I've been selling things and trying to think ahead of what I might want or need in my little shop, I've been working on my own projects of refinishing tables and cabinets and finding other display pieces. So I've been hitting the garage sales and thrift stores and that takes up at least half a day 2-3 days a week.

Excuse #4- I also had some special orders to work on as well. I hate to admit it, but I've been doing really bad about taking any pictures of them, let alone my usual - no "before" pictures.

But today!

Today I have something to share with you and I love it! My husband must love it too because he said the only way we're getting rid of it is if someone pays $300 for it. This is coming from the guy who said he doesn't even care to have this piece of furniture because it just gets cluttered (and he's so right). So I guess, technically, it's for sale.
pssst...I seen a used one eBay for $399 & others for much more, so this is a pretty good price IMO.

I wish I could find the Before pictures of this, but I bought it exactly 2 years ago, so those pictures were probably 2 memory cards ago, mixed in with about 6 other memory cards. It had some major water damage on the top, which had the finish looking opaque & flaking. The wood was rough from swelling & then drying. But it's a solid piece and made of solid oak. The entire piece was stained a single dark oak color. I love its design. Simple, yet unique.

There was a nice little surprise while I was painting on the underside.

I noticed this mark.

Of course, I had no idea who the Henredon company was, but soon learned that they are a high end U.S. furniture manufacturer. I guess the business had fallen on hard times and might have been recently been bought out (not 100% sure on that, so don't hate me if I'm wrong). From what I've seen of their pieces, it's superb stuff and waaaay out of my league price-wise. I bought it at a moving sale at a mansion that belonged to the daughter of a local successful business owner. I didn't find out about their sale until the afternoon, and this was the only thing left that I found to my liking, and the price was more than right.

I decided to paint the base and legs a Natural Wicker color, then sanded & "antique" it, because I like that look.

Yeah. Don't make fun of my sculpted shag carpet. Since it appears to be ORIGINAL from when the house was built back in 1978, I guess that makes it vintage, right??? C'mon, work with me on this, K? Cuz, it's going to be a while before I get new carpet in here. Saying it's vintage makes it sound more acceptable. yep.

I decided to paint the skirting around the top black, as an accent, kind of like I did with the Clock table I made that you can see here. And I stained over it after that.

Here is a close-up of the inlayed wood. Not my best photography skills, since the light coming from the windows is creating a glare on the wax in the grain of the wood, making it look dried out.

I used Minwax Aged Oak gel stain for the darker color & Varathane Natural gel stain for the squares/diamonds. I was shooting for a noticeable, yet subtle difference in the pattern.

When it was all painted, stained and sanded, I finally put a coat of clear wax all over. Don't think that ain't a task! Wax on...wax off, but just once.

(A little tidbit about me and waxing on, waxing off. Back when the movie Karate Kid came out and the whole wax on, wax off became a well known phrase, I was doing a job that would have made Mr. Miyagi proud. I was 19 and worked in a Fiberglas tub & shower manufacturing plant. My job was to wipe on & wipe off 4 coats of wax on each tub and shower mold that came through before getting the color gelcoat applied. It was not uncommon for me to have applied & removed 100 coats of wax in one day. And yet, I had the tiniest arms with no noticeable muscle tone. Not right...)

So there it is. One of my better pieces of furniture that I like to think I made even better.

Parties I'm linking to:

Whipperberry

Our Hand Made Rustic Bin

2013-04-14T15:45:00.001-04:00

If you've been following along on my blog lately, then you may have noticed my latest trend of rustic/primitive projects.

I like rustic decor and it seems to be a bit of a trend all over. That may be why I do fairly decent at my craft shows, for being a no-name crafter that is.

Sometimes I can get my hubby to show a little enthusiasm too. Especially if I can convince him that what I need him to do is simple.

He helped me out a lot with the memo boards & chalkboards. So I showed him what I thought was a simple project, but proved to be a little more laborious than I anticipated, but he/we got'er done!

I was going to post the picture here of the inspiration piece, but I'm having problems getting it to post no matter how I try.

So here's our black painted version, which has graphics added to it, where the other one was just plain dark blue.

Sorry about the poor photo quality, but it's been so gloomy & rainy all week, that I had to use my flash and I still couldn't get the photo editing program to help me create the money shot.

But in these shots I wanted to show how it works great for Keurig coffee pod storage, boxed or not.

And this a close-up of the graphic I used, which is the same one I made for the wooden grain scoop I decorated too.

I put it in my craft show this past weekend, but it didn't sell. I sort of followed my hubby's advise on the price, but I think it was too high. Actually, he wanted it to be priced even higher, but I disagreed with that one for sure! I've done enough shows in our area to have a better idea of what the threshold is for people in our area. I'm not saying that no one would ever pay his asking price, but it's just gonna a take a while to find the right person, but I don't want to hang onto it that long. LOL!

It holds 3 boxes of pods nicely while giving you the top shelf available to easily grab one for use. I didn't have this in mind when I wanted the hubby to make it, but the idea just came to me while looking for someplace to take a decent photo & I was moving my son's coffee pod boxes out of the way.

It may not be the perfect solution for everyone, but it does work.

Parties I'm linking to:

My Beach Theme Suitcase

2013-04-11T07:00:00.000-04:00

That's BEACH, not the other nasty word. hee hee!

Now that we actually seem to be in full Spring mode here in northern Indiana, it has me thinking of the things I want to do this summer. Going to the beach might be one of those things!

But...beach season is quite a ways off, so in the meantime, if I want to feel a bit beachy, I decided to create this piece of decor.

I was inspired by seeing a vintage suitcase that had the word BEACH roughly painted it & an arrow. I don't even remember many of the details, because right away, my mind was dreaming up this design even before I had the suitcase.

This suitcase was purchased at a thrift shop and originally was all blue, like the trim color. You can imagine my excitement when I seen it sitting in the shop!

But there were set-backs. There's always set-backs.

First, I had issues with getting the design to cut for me on my Silhouette Cameo, until I eventually ruined the blade on the last attempt. I found a decent blade deal on Ebay and now have 1 with an additional 1 as a back up.

New blade is in & I get the design to cut b-e-a-u-tifully, but because I used contact paper, it didn't want to stick to the surface of the suitcase at all. Ugh! Yes, I cleaned the surface of the suitcase well. There were scuff marks that had to be scrubbed off first.

So then I had to go over the back of each contact paper piece with some repositionable glue, and that helped, but apparently not enough. My first coat of creamy ivory paint seemed to do well. A false sense of relief came over me. But when I went over it with the 2nd coat, I could tell the contact paper was starting to lift and I knew the paint was seeping underneath. Sure enough, every single image had major paint seepage. Crying.

This is the part that people don't want to pay you for. The part of your time it takes to make something sellable, but doesn't make you enough money for what you had to do to get it to that point. Follow me?
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I had to take wet Q-tips & go over each letter and image by hand and rub off the excess paint. It's not perfect and the edges aren't clean & smooth, but I think it gives it a rustic, beach worn look, yet looks pretty good, even from a short distance. It's just when you look at it real closely that you notice the quality.

AND, just to toot my own horn a little bit. I created this design all by myself. As much as I loved my Cricut Expression (and still do) I didn't have much creative freedom with it like I do on my new Cameo.

Parties I'm linking to:

So Now I've Got A Wood Scoop

2013-04-10T10:00:00.000-04:00

What would I do with that wood scoop?

Do you know what wood scoop I'm talking about?

This wood scoop is the one that I picked up at the thrift store with this group of goodies.

Could you tell I was so excited when I went on and on about them in my Thrift Store Goodies post? Oh yes, I was.

And before I knew it, I was already working on the cutting board.

If you missed out on that project, feel free to check it out here.

I noticed a few people were really admiring the wooden scoop in that first post too. To be honest with you, tears nearly ran down my legs when I spotted it. I can just hear it now, "Clean up in isle 7! And bring the mop and disinfectant."

But I managed to contain my excitement and just grabbed it as quick as I could. THEN, I looked at the price. What??? It was less than a dollar and I also got 10% off that. Score!!

I've been pondering about what to do with it. I mean, it's cool enough just as it sits, all pale and naked. But I can't just leave it go like that. It needed something to dress it up & yet make it look rustic. Like it had been used and had a previous purpose in life.

This is so much more to my liking.

I seen this name when I did a Google search for "feed and grain." I wanted something that seemed fitting for a scoop. I have no idea what a wooden scoop might have actually been used for, but this seemed likely.

The images with this name were all really generic looking and quite plain with just a single line. I have quite a space to fill on this good sized scoop, and even though I'm going for rustic, I wanted to spice up the look.

The font I used for Feed & Grain is called Niagra Engraved and it has some pretty slim lines that are barely noticeable, but I still loved how it looked. Again, I used my Silhouette Cameo to make this design.

I wrapped a small portion of the handle with some twine and tied it off, then stuck in some burgundy pip berries. I don't show it in these photos, but once my battery pack charges for my drill, I'm going to drill a hole in the top of the handle so I can add some twine or rag ribbon to hang it with.

Before After

I'm so glad that I'm getting this stuff done. I just wish it would look like I'm making a dent in the whole hoarding look I have going on right now in my home.

I'm linking up to these parties:

Do You Have An Obession?

2013-04-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

I seem to have a small obsession. It might appear that I have an obsession with a collection. Well, it's not really an obsession of a collection for myself. It could be fuel for someone else's collection obsession though, if I'm lucky!

You've seen the pictures all over the magazines and Pinterest where people have a very full crock or basket of vintage rolling pins. I have to say that I kinda have rolling pin envy when I see those pictures. But honestly, I don't have anywhere to put them. So how do I get the thrill of being able to buy rolling pins without having to find a place in my kitchen for them?

I decorate them and sell them!

(Insert a picture of all of the rolling pins in a holder here-if there isn't one, then I've been slacking and didn't get it done by the time this was published)

It's kind of like the best of both worlds. I can shop for them and have the thrill of the hunt, while not having to worry if I have too many or a place to keep them. Well, I still have to worry about where to keep them until I sell them, but if I'm lucky, it's only temporary.

This is the first one I made. I was happy to see it sell last year.

Then I had another older rolling pin that I thought would be cute all painted up too.

I haven't had it in any shows yet, so it goes in my next one that's coming up soon.

I wanted to point out that I think it's a great way to display a family keepsake. Not that I have any from my own grandmothers, but it would make them even more special if they had the family name or the grandmother's name painted on it.

After doing the first two in the same design, I decided to change it up a little with this design.

This one fits a little more into the primitive look.

This photo looks a little more grey than the tan-ish color it really it is.

Some of you may be gasping at the fact that I'm completely covering up a vintage rolling pin with paint. It's OK. In the case with this last one, it already had quite a bit of paint splatter and paint smudges on it, so I didn't think it was a big deal. I'm thinking I did it a favor.

On the topic of rolling pins - I was going to work on another rolling pin from my stash and I noticed that one of them is really heavy, has bearings in it and it has a stamp on one end that says Foley. I did a little research and learned that it must be a highly collectible rolling pin that was made from the 1920 to the 1960's. Really?!!

They're going for $10+, but mostly double that on Ebay & Etsy, and that doesn't include the $10+ for shipping! Crazy.

Nope. I don't think I'll be painting this one up.

Parties I'm linking to:

Chalkboard from a Cutting Board

2013-04-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

Since I had been sick with a doozey of a head cold, I haven't done too much. Having a tissue stuffed up your left nostril while using the bottom portion to sneeze into kind of puts a damper on doing anything. Especially when you have to change it out every 5 minutes, if you're lucky.

That's why when I seen a cool project by Stephanie on "The Cozy Old Farmhouse" blog, I thought I could manage that one with said tissue sticking out of my nose. Well, there is a teensy little drawback to doing it with a runny nose, but I'll get to that in a bit.

One of the best parts about doing a project is when you have everything on already hand.

Then next best part to having everything on hand is KNOWING where everything is too! ;) Around here, that can be the trickiest part to any project.

Isn't that a darling idea?! I actually think I seen it before on Pinterest from someone else, but didn't pin it and didn't remember it either, until I seen Stephanie's. I really liked the rustic look it had. Mine is a tad different from hers, since she was trying to fix a faux pas that ended up working out for the better. I think she taped off the shape for hers, but I set out on the wild side & decided to go freehand.

I took some Minwax gel stain in Aged Oak and coated the entire cutting board, front and back. You just never know if someone doesn't want the chalkboard look and may want it to be plain, so now they have that option. I know, I fret over all kinds of little things that other people may not even dream up. But I like to create multiple uses for things where ever possible. You'd be surprised at some of the complaints I hear as to how someone wishes it looked like something other than what I did.

Oh, and the gel stain? That's where the runny nose can create problems. The next thing you know, your nose is suddenly gushing & now you have brown spots on your nose and above your lip from the stain that's on your fingers & hand. Yeah, it would make for a funny picture for y'all, but I don't live that far on the wild side.

Next, I just used some of my brush-on black chalkboard paint (that I purchased at Walmart) - applying 2 coats and letting it dry between each coat. I used a medium sized artist paint brush, so I could have better control for crisp lines around the edge and a smoother finish, in spite of all the cuts in the wood.

After all that, I took some twine and wrapped it around the handle like Stephanie did, sort of. Actually, the chalk hangs down lower than in these pictures, but it kind of screws up seeing the writing on the board, so I wrapped it around the back again after tying it off so it would look nicer for the "money shot."

Now it's ready for my first ever spring craft event!

Linking to these parties:

A Little Bit Country Chalkboard

2013-04-07T07:30:00.000-04:00

With chalkboards being all the rage these days, and having made several myself over the past 2 years, it looks like I'm at it again. If you want to see some of my other chalkboard work, check out here, here, here, or here.

A little FYI, my hubby is a licensed plummer and also does HVAC work, so he has many opportunities to pick up some pretty awesome stuff for ME to work with!

Take this galvanized panel here, for instance.

He brings one home for me to see if it's something I can use. Ummmm....Heck YEAH!! Are you kidding me? At the time, I didn't know just what for, but I was sure something would come to me. He also informs me that there's 36 of them. They're some kind of panel that gets removed off of some furnaces they're installing for an apartment complex. Oh, and guess what? There's going to be 36 more later too.

Here is one that I made.

I figured I'd include the size in case anyone asked.

Of course, this isn't everyone's taste, but I'm hoping it's a good seller. Oh, & did I mention that I only get 3 hours to sell for this next show?


This Metal Star is also a Magnet

The Bottlecaps are made into magnets

Then, I decided I could just make a magnetic memo board in a bit more of a shabby chic style, because I know some people that like that look also.

I have one more chalkboard made, but it's all just the basic black with the same stained frame style as the first one. It will be for sale, but I'm also using it to display the magnets that my daughter made to sell.

One more is painted and waiting in the wings for a frame and that may be all I get done for this round since I don't have anymore wood prepared for frames. The wood I used for these was also free because my hubby picked it all up from somewhere & had to be cut down. I sanded them all then painted or stained them in with Minwax Aged Oak gel stain. It matched well with the vintage ruler I used for the one in the first photo.

I was hoping to get some pillows made, along with a new tablecloth for my booth space, but my sewing machine is messing up, so I'm not sure any of that will happen.

Check back frequently this week as I will be posting pretty much every day to share the new stuff I've been working on.

Parties I'm linking to:

Vintage Style Cutting Board

2013-04-06T13:25:00.000-04:00

Does anyone frequent here enough to remember my March 2, 2013 post on the 3 treasures I found at my local thrift store?

These 3 treasures?

Well typically, I'm a huge procrastinator! If I don't start on something immediately, then I tend to let things sit around, at least until I get a good swift kick to jump start me. It's usually deadlines or I've been made to feel guilty by my husband (who is a bigger procrastinator than me most times) that gets me motivated to finish stuff.

Heh! Not this time! I actually had one of those items in that picture done BEFORE I even posted about buying them, and I didn't wait that long to post about buying them either - like 2 days.

And truth be known.....I now have a 2nd one done at the time of this post writing! Woo hoo!! I'm on a roll friends!

But today, it's all about this one

Just like the title said, the Cutting Board. It doesn't look very vintage here though, does it? (for all the admirers of the wood scoop, stay tuned...)

I love the old look it had, however, it was pretty pale in color. I adored its versatile looking style. It looked like a cutting board and was all marked up like it had been used as such, but it also looked like it could be made into an old wood sign.

Would you believe I actually passed on it the first time I seen it in the thrift store? Luckily, so did everyone else that had been in there during the week that passed.

Ta-da!!

Doesn't it look more interesting & all rustic now? I really like how it looks sitting there on top of the Primitive Style Breadbox I painted up last year.

The large gaps are what really made me want this slab of wood.

I like the primitive look it has now. I tried to make it look as authentic as possible. Since it was a cutting board, I wanted a design that gave it that country kitchen look and feel. I chose Flour as my jumping off point. Since I usually use my own wood cutting board to cut my home made noodles on, which of course, requires flour. I don't even remember if I found an image online that said Old Glory Flour or if I just used the "Old Glory" part and added an "e" at the end of the word old, then the word flour, plus the scroll & the stars, but it must have been something similar to that. I created the design in my Silhouette Cameo Designer Studio program. Gosh, I love that thing!

I stenciled on the design in black paint, distressed it, then stained over everything with Minwax Aged Oak gel stain and sealed it with a spray on Matte sealer.

This gives you a pretty good idea of how used and loved this cutting board really was. Who ever donated it probably would have kept it if they knew it could be made into this, don't you think?

I hope it finds a new happy home that will appreciate it and display it proudly. Of course, if it didn't find a new home, it's safe to say it looks pretty good in mine.

Parties I'm linking to:

Reduse, ReUse, Recycle

2013-04-05T08:50:00.004-04:00

I think more & more people are making the conscious decision these days to try to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as they can.

I also think a lot of it has played over into the crafting world with lots of help from Pinterest. There's that name again...it's a good site to go to for ideas, if you actually use what you see on there and IF they work out.

I seen the idea to make plant markers on Pinterest via In My Own Style blog, but that blogger used a marker. However, she had much prettier hand writing than I have, so she could get away with that & it looked nicer than I could do by hand. She also gave them a bit of a Wow Factor when she blinged it up with jewels! Pretty!

I, on the other hand, wanted something with a little bit of a Wow factor also, but without the jewels. The squirrels or coons would probably take off with them, so I needed something that still gave me that factor without the "wasted" work to make it pretty. I'm not always successful in achieving that, but I try. (disclaimer) If I didn't have critter problems, there would definitely be jewels on mine too!

I also wanted to use another object that so many people are wanting to throw away these days because they're kind of worthless after a short while.

I present to you the vintage cardboard tube & wire hanger. Please ignore my awful 1970's kitchen cabinets that desperately need refinished.

Once you remove the cardboard tube at the bottom of the hanger, you're left with the perfect end to use as a hanger.

Just snip each side off below the curved hanger portion at the top. If you want, you can take a pair of pliers and crimp the curved tip closed once you've added your labeled lid.

Then you need the metal discs to create your label. I use crescent rolls or this.

On a side note, I love these Seamless Crescent Roll sheets for making the raw veggie pizzas and Sopapilla desserts. I have to purchase them from our local Kroger grocery stores because Walmart doesn't carry this variety here.

Once you get your metal disc removed from the cans, one end will have some print on it that can be removed with nail polish remover, then you need to wash all of them with warm soapy water to get the dough residue off.

I used yellow and green outdoor vinyl to cut out my designs with my Cricut. I don't remember what cartridge I used for the design, but I used the Botanicals cartridge for the font.

I don't have these herbs planted yet because it's just too cold right now, but I want to give them a try this year! So all I got is some daffodils and Hyacinths popping up.

Parties I'm linking to:

It's Almost Baseball Season...

2013-04-02T16:42:00.001-04:00

I'm just going to let it be known that I'm not a huge sports fan. Whenever I'm asked what my favorite sport is, I always say it's what ever my kids are playing! That's about it.

So, just for the record, I've went to a few local minor league baseball games, but I'm not a baseball fan either. Not against it, just not "into it." IF I was going to be a baseball fan, I would have to root for the Cubbies though. My ex-father-in-law was a Cubs fan when he was alive and he was a sweet man.

Now, where am I going with this?

Since I sell things at craft shows and I'm also trying to start my own shop here at my home, I try to expand on my customer base as much as I can in order to draw in lots of different people's needs.

Sorry about the poor picture

Maybe it was, in part, because I had made a couple of baseball racks last year that made me want to create something else to go along with that look for anyone doing a baseball/sport themed room. I sold one of these, but still have another and there is another bat waiting in the wings....wait, that didn't sound right.

Along comes these to complete the look

I had seen a set of Americana painted baseballs that had been published at BHG.com. They had been pinned all over Pinterest last year and I made it a mission to paint a set myself. They fit the sports fan as well as the boys & men. A much neglected area in the female dominated crafting world.

It took me a little while to gather up 3 softballs, but I managed to. I got them painted them up, one by one, until I finally finished up the last one today. I painted them kind of crudely (except for the stars) to give them a little rustic charm. Not sure I accomplished that completely, but at least they don't look perfect. I didn't want that.

I also found this old glove that looks like someone tried to re-lace it with an old red shoe lace. Actually, I'm impressed that they went to the trouble to do it! I like it. It kind of completes the look for a nice photo op.

Now I just need to figure out how I want to package them up so they can stay together (& not have any get stolen), yet not take away from the way they look together. I'm open to suggestions on that. I also don't know if I want to sell them with the glove or no glove. The glove doesn't have to get sold.

As time gets closer to my craft show on the 13th of this month, you will start to see more posts of what I've been doing leading up to my first spring show. I'm excited and nervous. I will say, it's kind of nice not doing Christmas stuff for a change!

I'm linking up to these parties:

Revamped Watering Can (again)

2013-03-28T18:52:00.002-04:00

About a year ago, I shared a simple make over with this watering can

I managed to get the decal off using an acetone based nail polish remover. The remover was old so I don't even think they make nail polish remover with acetone anymore (in the US anyway) but you can buy straight acetone in a can in any paint dept. and you should wear gloves as it's extremely drying to your hands (and very cold too).

After cutting out a label made from chalkboard vinyl on my Cricut, this is what it looked like then.

I tried to use a stencil made from contact paper to write the word Fleurs, but I clearly cannot line anything up straight. Thank goodness it's written in chalk so it can be redone (just not any better).

And I was quite happy with that little label improvement, but I want to try to sell this, and the nasty looking faux brass accents that had some wear, just wasn't the look I want to offer a customer. I don't mind if the galvanizing looks worn, but not the really shiny fake brass stuff.

If you look closely at the finished version, I even added some extra accents that weren't in brass before. I did the bottom banding seal of the can. I thought it just made it look more complete with it. I also painted the underside of the watering head instead of just the front. And finally, I taped around the little handle brackets that attach it to the can and spruced those up too.

I had smeared the previous chalk word pretty bad, so I tried to freehand over what image was left. I'll try to make it look nicer at sale time.

And in case you're wondering what I used to paint it with. It was Krylon Fusion Hammered Copper spray paint, but I used a brown spray paint primer on the bare metal first and then went over it with the hammered copper paint. You want to be careful with the Hammered paint because it has a bit of a shimmer to it, making runs look even worse, but if you just use short even sprays and don't get too close, it looks amazing when you're done.

So here is a Before and After shot of my little watering can.

Click on image to enlarge

What a difference a little spray paint and a label makes, eh? It kind of has a bit of an industrial look to it and I think it would look great in a Fall display. If I had some fresh daffodils blooming right now, I would have filled it with some of those. I can't wait for those to bloom!

This was not a sponsored post, I just used what I had on hand for the spray paint.

Parties I'm linking to:

Craigslist is NOT for the faint of heart!

2013-03-27T16:59:00.000-04:00

I'm sure sometimes when you come to read my posts, they may leave the impression of me standing on a soap box (preferably a vintage one) spouting my displeasure with certain misfortunes in my life. Well, brace yourself - here we go again.

As the title implies, this is going to be a rant about Craigslist. Not Craigslist in itself, but the sellers/buyers that you encounter through this site. I guess it's like the Walmart of the internet, you're gonna get all kinds.

I've bought and sold a bit on CL over the past few years, and typically have not had any problems - until the past 2 weeks. On 2 separate occasions I was the FIRST to reply to TWO separate ads for furniture. The first time was for a set of tables that very closely resembled this table I had done last year. I have regretted selling this table to this day.

French Postage End Table

So imagine my excitement when I came across an entire set for my own home! Long story short, the man sold them out from under me claiming he got his emails mixed up. Really? How do you mix up emails when each one is different and shows a date & time? Yes. I want to call you a few choice names.

The next one gets even better.

I found 2 oak end tables posted late Sunday evening. $5 each! woo hoo! I know I was the first to call, by phone. Talked to the man & MADE ARRANGEMENTS TO PICK UP for a day & time that HE set up with me for Tues. night (he told me they couldn't do it on Monday). It's a 30 mile drive for me to get to this place. With the price of gas and our time in a pick up truck with 3 little girls, it's not a cheap trip or a joy ride.

So now we're close to the house, but when I call the guy to ask exactly where his house is, he proceeds to tell me that the tables are sold and that "he got confused with all the calls." WTF! How do you get confused when YOU set up the time with the FIRST caller? (ME) I will tell you what, if I didn't have 3 little girls in the back seat of my truck, I would have unloaded on him with words that would have made a sailor blush!! I was H-O-T hot!

Why are these people doing this?? Is someone else telling them that they'll give them more $$ for these items if they sell them to them instead? That would be my guess, but you know what? That's wrong. If YOU set the price and YOU make a deal with someone already, then that item is sold and that's the right thing to do. I don't feel as though I should have to pay for their stupidity. I hope Karma comes back to bite them in @rss! I do believe in Karma. I even ask myself if I'm getting paid back for something I did wrong to someone else. If I did, then I didn't realize it at the time.

The story doesn't end totally bad though. Apparently Karma felt Murphy's Law had had enough fun with me for the time being and decided to step in on my behalf. Bless her heart (I'm assuming Karma is a female, cuz they don't say "paybacks are a b!tch" for nothin'- wink wink)

As we were sitting somewhere near the vicinity of where the person lived that had these $5 tables, we spotted a bunch of junk sitting out by the trash cans there by the road. There was some good stuff there and my hubby hopped out & proceeded to dig through all the stuff. He has been curb shopping looong before I ever started. He got some speakers, scrap metal and some yard tool we'll try to sell in a garage sale.

Here is what I picked out.

Look at all this good stuff we got!! I didn't get any tables, but I did get two of my favorite style of chairs!! YES! One chair has a broken support, but it's fixable and I'll make it into a decorative planter chair, but the other one is in great condition.

I think the birdcase is home made, but it's still kind of neat and needs a little work too. The basket with the silk plant inside was included. Not sure of what kind of condition it's in yet.

I seen an idea on Pinterest that I want to try with this galvanized tub that was sitting there too. It may not turn out as nice as the one I seen, but I want to give it a shot anyway. Not to mention, you just don't pass up a FREE tub!

This metal mailbox. I LOVE the name on the side! (maybe a little clue that someone was watching out for us with this find) I think I'll keep it there. It's another Pinterest idea I hope to try to make.

This dirty, grungy dartboard that is in otherwise new condition.

It even came with darts that were new in the package. I may clean it up to resell or gut it and redo it more rustic. The selling it is easier.

If you look on the seat of one of the chairs, there's a couple of wire hangers with the cardboard tubes. I used to throw these away, but now they have a new purpose for me and I'll be showing what I do with them in the near future.

I just love the back style of these chairs! I want to keep one.

I guess sellers/buyers on Craigslist don't have to care how badly they handle their dealings, since there is no accountability on that site, like on Ebay or Etsy.

So, has everybody had at least one bad experience on Craigslist or have I just hit a couple of bad ones in just 2 weeks?

Linking up to these parties:

A Crackle Painted Rolling Pin

2013-03-19T18:15:00.001-04:00

I told myself that I was done with this. That I was not going to do this crackle painting thing anymore. And yet, here I am doing even more. What is my problem?

Part of my problem is Pinterest and seeing all the people that are pinning my crackle painted projects with the stars on them. THAT'S what my problem is. Someone had pinned this little number I did last year.

And you know what they put in their comments? They said they would love to see what this design would look like on a rolling pin. Well, that was all I needed to get me going. So, you know I had to make a rolling pin in this design, don't you?

Oh yes. I did.

I keep saying that I'm not doing crackle painting anymore. It's not really a good seller for me, but for some reason, it draws quite a bit of attention without creating a desire to buy it. It's kind of a nuisance to do, with little financial reward. LOL! Maybe I should try selling this stuff on Ebay. It seems to be a hot ticket on there, at least for now.

I still have several rolling pins sitting around waiting to have something done with them. Some are old, some not. I'm getting them done, slowly but surely.

I sort of have an interesting story with this one. Ok, maybe it's not all that interesting - to you guys.

This rolling pin was my first choice to do the crackle paint & star design on. But then I noticed that stamped word "Foley" on the end. I didn't remember seeing it when I bought it. I'm sure it came from either a thrift store or a garage sale for no more than a couple of bucks.

I'm not a rolling pin expert (or any other kind of expert for that matter) so I did a little research on the name. It seems as though it was a well made rolling pin that was produced from the 1920's-1960's before going out of business. It must be a somewhat highly collectible piece because they go for pretty good money (for a rolling pin, that is) on Ebay & Etsy, not to mention the $10+ for shipping! It is quite a heavy rolling pin made from maple wood and the roller portion is larger than normal. It even has ball bearings in the pin mechanism. Mine doesn't even look like it's been used much!

So this little number isn't going to get anything done to it. It's just going to be sold as a vintage collectible, but not for the ridiculous price that they're going for online.

It's been a crazy couple of days around here lately. On a spur of the moment, we drove just over the state line into Michigan last night to look at a smaller enclosed trailer we found for sale. I have to say that unlike campers, those suckers hold their value. I don't understand. They're just an empty box with a couple of doors and a wood floor on 2 wheels. We got a better deal than the asking price and we put some cash down to hold it until we can go get it this weekend. It's going to store my 8 ft. tables and be used to haul my stuff around to the craft shows I do. I was hoping for a smooth sided one, so I could do my Rustique & Chic logo on the side. However, it has lots of rows of rivets all along the sides. Oh well, I just have to work around that, I guess.

Oh, and that was after I got up at 5 a.m. to help my 20 year old son make a New York Style cheesecake for a coworker that he lost a bet to (pssst...it was a girl he's kind of sweet on). Mind you, neither he nor I have ever made one of those before. I've eaten plenty, never made any.

The winner wanted chocolate covered strawberries on top. I have to say that Walmart carries some dipping stuff called Chocolate Lava, or something like that, and it is very good on the strawberries!! Oh my!

No, I didn't get any of the cheesecake, but the reviews were off the charts, I guess. He decided he wanted to make a Vanilla Wafer crumb crust instead of the standard graham cracker crust for his. I guess that got him some bonus points with the winner. ;) We used the crustless cheesecake recipe I found on Pinterest (is there anywhere else to look?) The crustless cheesecake recipe can be found on What2 Cook.net. I plan on making one for us when I get a 10" spring form pan. My largest one is 9" and it ain't gonna cut it with this recipe. It definitely needs a 10" pan. I also have to wait until after Alan has his bi-annual blood work done. I'll give my take on how it good it is after that.

Parties I'm linking to:

Distressing Shutters

2013-03-15T11:06:00.000-04:00

Some of you may know that I am trying to start up a little business from my home. I even went so far as to start a Facebook page to showcase & sell my wares. It's been a little slow going, but I'm seriously working on stuff.

So far, I have only sold one item from the Rustique & Chic page, but I've only just announced it about 2 weeks ago. I have so many more pictures to take of stuff, but everything is packed up at the moment and I have a craft show in a few weeks, so being basically lazy (I know, laziness is not a strong point when you're trying to start a business) I don't want to go digging through stuff and unpacking only to put it back and unpack it again for the show set-up. I'm also working on some new stuff to add to what I already have. I will be posting those to my shop and writing posts for this blog in early April. So watch for those!

The item(s) that sold was this set of 3 shutters

The customer who bought these was only getting the shutters, because the wreath was not included, but it sure does look purdy on there, don't it? She has plans to hang a moss covered "R" from them instead.

The shutters started out as the standard dark honey varnished variety. The customer liked these because they reminded her of some she had seen on Miss Mustard Seed's blog. Hmmm...there's that name again, she has a huge influence on style right now.

Did you notice that darling watering can too?

Just in case you missed it, here's a close-up.

I can honestly say that I've never seen one like it before. I don't know if you can tell that it has 2 handles. There's the large one at the top that's moveable, but there's another smaller one at the bottom that's stationary, although it's kind of hard to see in this picture.

Cool! Right?

I freshly picked those pussywillows from my local Dollar Tree store. hee hee, yes. they're fake. They just remind me of spring & I had to have them. I don't have any that grow naturally in my gardens, so I have to resort to fake ones, which are much more dependable anyway.

I'm just plugging away at these projects that are overwhelming my home and hopefully creating things that people want to buy. After completing these 3 shutters, I'm down to having only 2 unfinished ones left. Too bad it doesn't make a dent in how full my rooms are.

***********************************************

This project was Featured at Rustic Restorations for having the most clicks! Woo Hoo!

AND, these were also featured at Rustic Pig Designs!

Parties I'm linking to:

Brooke's Florida School Project

2013-03-13T10:51:00.001-04:00

This past week, my daughter Brooke, had to do a presentation on one of the states in the USA. She chose "The Sunshine State" of Florida.

I guess if you're gonna have to a project like this to do in March, it might as well be some place sunny & warm!

At first, I was going to use my Cricut to cut out the state of Florida using the "50 States" Cricut cartridge. It's a great cartridge for this kind of thing & the very reason I got it in the first place. But Brooke wanted a really large state cut out. To be honest with ya, I was not all that comfortable trying to cut the state into two pieces with my Cricut. So, I relied on my Silhouette Cameo to do it for me using their Designer Studio. It made very quick work with no guess work needed on my part.

You can clearly see the seam where I had to piece this together, but that was my own sloppiness. This cutting technique is easy when you use the knife tool in the Designer Studio program. That program is extra (like $50?) but it's well worth it if you like being a little more creative with your designs. Luckily, mine was free as part of a Christmas promotion.

The poster is really pretty simple in design, but it's how my daughter wanted to do it, which probably makes it easy for her and the rest of the 3rd grade class to absorb.

We put everything on a piece of white foam board that we purchased at Dollar Tree for $1. The colored poster board we used for the blue and the yellow is less than a dollar! (I think it was 69 cents - white is 50 cents) And this poster board cuts on the Cameo like a dream!

I thought it was cute that she wanted the sun at the bottom corner to look like the "Cutie Mark" on Celestia from the My Little Pony cartoons.

The font that was used for the Florida title is called "Upper East Side". If you click on the font name, it will take you to Dafont.com, where you can download it for free!

The font that was used for "The Sunshine State" is called "Walt". I'm not sure where I got that exact font, but Dafont.com has one almost identical called "Waltograph."

Brooke said that everyone was fascinated with her poster and swarmed all around to get a better look at it. And here I thought it was very plain & simple.

I guess that just goes to show that the best projects are the ones that are "Simple with a 'Wow!' factor."

Now that this is all done, I'm going to cover the backside of the foam board with fabric and use it as a back drop for taking pictures of my projects.

Parties I'm linking to:

An Award

2013-03-06T19:59:00.000-05:00

I don't usually accept the blogger awards - even though I'm extremely flattered that anyone finds my blog worthy of one! Jamie, over at Better With Age chose me for this one! Awww, thanks Jamie!

Since I had a little time this morning, I decided to fit this one in - just this once. We have about 8 or so inches of snow outside, so the kids are home from school today.

First, I'm supposed to list 11 random things about myself.
So, here we go! (trust me, it's not really that interesting)

1. My husband and I originally met back in 1985 and he asked me out on a date, but I turned him down. I was interested in someone else at the time (that never panned out).

Then, after being divorced from my first husband for some time back in 1999, my friend was trying to set me up on a blind date. It ended up being this same guy! He was literally a friend of a friend of her step-daughter, so she had no clue that there was a past connection between us. She was freaking out when I told her the story. We believe it is fate. I don't know if this is a stretch or not, but before reconnecting with him, I had went to a medium and she told me that I would be reconnected with a past love. I don't really consider him a past love, but that possibility was there. Like I said, it's kind of a stretch.

2. As I mentioned in the previous line. I do believe in mediums, not all, but I do think there's some kind of gift some have. It may not always be 100% right on, but sometimes, if you give it time & thought, they might be more right than you realize. Some people say you're just grasping for vague information & that can be the case, but I've had some pretty specific stuff told to me as well, that was not public knowledge & it was when the whole internet age was still in the baby stages.

3. I also believe in ghosts. I've had my own personal encounters with some kind of spirit(s) that lived in the house I grew up in. I have never seen one in the house, but my husband claims to have seen one there, and he WAS a non-believer until then. I've had other experiences at other places also, so I don't know if they follow you or if I'm just a good channel for them. I didn't have any experiences when I lived in the house with my first husband, so it can't always be "just my imagination."

4. I've been pretty crafty since I was a kid. I used to sew my own Barbie clothes and accessories by hand, since I wasn't allowed to use my mom's sewing machine.

5. I LOVE flowers and flower gardens! I keep adding to my own gardens every year and yet I still don't have enough. When we first moved here, there was not much for gardens and everything was overgrown with brambles, briars, weeds and trash. When we moved in, there was even a pile of concrete & old car seats left behind by ALL the previous owners.

6. My husband and I always felt that his deceased mother's spirit intended on us having this house. We would have never been able to afford it without the inheritance from her passing. Why would I think she wanted us to have this particular house?

Clue 1-She was a lover of hummingbirds. She collected all kinds of humming bird decor. If you look at the center of the window on the front door of our house, it has a humming bird etched in the oval window design.

Clue 2-The hall bath has a unique linoleum floor design in it. We inherited a throw rug from my MIL that matches it perfectly in design & color. She never used it in her own house though & didn't have this linoleum either.

Clue 3-The upstairs bath has the same linoleum design, but in blue. Would you believe we she also had the same rug in blue? Yes. Coincidence? maybe. If it were just one bathroom rug, I'd say it was, but with 2? And the blue rug would also match the floor in the master bathroom. There are a few other things that I can't think of at the moment.

7. My blog actually started out as a scrapbooking/paper craft blog way back in 2006, only because I was on a design team for a local scrapbook store and they wanted us to have a blog to help promote our projects that used their product. That's how I got the title for the blog, meaning under a pile of scrapbook paper/crap, but it has since evolved into different kinds of scrap & junk with some paper crafting thrown in every once in a while. I've only been putting my blog "out there" for just a little over a year now, so that's why it's still not that big. I kept it kind of private, like a diary, all that time.

8. I have 2 children that are 11 years apart. My oldest is my son from my first marriage, and he's 20. Then I have a daughter with my current hubby, and she's 9. He's the good "big brother" and they get along pretty good. He will eat just about anything and my daughter is the pickiest of picky eaters.

9. I only have one sibling and it's my sister Michelle. She's only 14 months older than me, but she has Down's Syndrome, so it's always been like I was the big sister taking care of her, and I still do. My mother suffers from mental illness, and that has been a struggle for our entire family. My parents have been divorced for years, so the responsibilities of finding care for my mom & my sister have been left up to me. They don't live with me, so that's a bonus. My sister lives in a group home with 3 other ladies and she wouldn't have it any other way. However, there may come a day in the somewhat near future, that will change.

10. I sometimes think I'm ADD and I joke about it on here from time to time, but I do think there's some truth to that. I also feel it has gotten worse as I've gotten older. Maybe it's the times we live in that contribute to it, but I recall things from my childhood that lead me to believe that's not all of it. I think that's why I do so many different kinds of crafting. Once I complete something, then I'm over it and want a new kind of challenge, but I jump from project to project before finishing the last. I can't count how many projects I have started at this moment waiting for me to finish them. I do eventually, but I also will start many more before doing so. It's a vicious cycle.

11. I think I've only casually mentioned on here in the past, that I have been seriously thinking about opening up a shop on our property to sell the things I make, especially the bigger items, like furniture. I have already started a Facebook selling page that I have not yet promoted. But that will be posted on here soon. If you want to have a look, check out Rustique & Chic. And if you really like it, then, well, click the Like button. hee hee!

Next, I was given a list of 11 questions by Jamie to answer.

1. What do you do other than blog? {you mean you do something else? LOL} Work outside the home? Stay at home mom? Empty nester? Would love to hear about your lives a little bit.

I used to do administrative duties in different engineering and quality departments of the automotive industry before getting married (I was NOT an engineer though). Now, I am a stay-at-home-mom/wife (aka slacker) but I do a lot of repurposing of junk and furniture and have been contemplating opening my own shop to sell what I make.

2. If you had an entire day all to yourself {no husband or kids}, what would you do?

I pretty much have that already until 4:00. I usually bum around online, work on designs in my Silhouette Designer Studio and recreate stuff and talk with a friend for a few hours at least once a week.

3. What is your favorite guilty pleasure? Could be a snack, TV show, etc.

Wasting time online for hours every day. Really more than I should. Another thing might be going to thrift stores in the winter and garage sales when the weather is more suitable. My home reflects that pleasure by looking the like the beginning stages of needing a hoarding show intervention - minus the trash, well, it might look like trash to SOME.

4. What is your favorite room in your house and why?

I would have to say the Master Bedroom, because it's the only room that is the closest to being updated of all the rooms in our home. We painted it and put in new carpet 5 years ago, along with new furniture and curtains. We just put in a new window, so it's back to being in a bit of mess again.

5. Do you like wine? Or chocolate? Both? If the answer is no to any of these questions then we can't be friends {kidding, kinda}.

Wine - no (my hubby's raspberry martinis-yes!), but I do like darker chocolate, but in moderation since it gives me heartburn something fierce!

6. What is your favorite all-time movie?

That's a tough one, since we're not really movie goers or watchers. Oddly enough, the Disney movie Toy Story might be one of my favorites. For many years it was the 1980's movie The Outsiders. I was in love with Ralph Macchio!

7. What is your favorite all-time book you've read?

I'm not much of a book reader either ( I know, what DO I do?), but I like non-fiction, autobiographies and true ghost stories.

8. Where did you grow up? Where do you live now?

I grew up in a tiny, tiny little town of about 800 people in north central Indiana, USA, which is just south of South Bend, the home of Notre Dame University.

Now, I only live 20 minutes south of where I grew up, in my husband's home town. We've lived in our current house for just over 10 years.

9. What kind of personality or what type of person are you? {introvert? extrovert? hoarder? organizational queen?}

I am more of an introvert that still loves the spotlight! Does that even make sense? LOL! I've also become a new found hoarder with the onset of blogging and repurposing items, so that leaves out organization queen. This has just come about in the past year, seriously. My husband was the only hoarder before that. I have been working on the organization part, but it's a huge undertaking.

10. Describe a little bit about your dream home.

We are in the process of creating our dream home with the one we already live in, but it doesn't have a basement & I would love to have a huge, full basement for me to keep my projects and craft space in, out of sight from the public eye. My home would also be updated with new floors and carpet and doors.

11. Who is your favorite interior designer or decorator or blogger?

I think that Miss Mustard Seed's style is closest to what I'd love to do in my home, but my house doesn't lend itself to that style so much, and my husband wouldn't go for that either. He's more of a wood & earthtone kind of style and I'm more shabby whites & neutrals, but we both love rustic! I'm slowly convincing him how we can make both work.

I'm supposed to pass this on to 11 other bloggers, but this is the part I'm going to be a party pooper about and not do. I know that new bloggers like the recognition, but finding enough bloggers is the longest process of these awards, so if you don't mind, I'm going to skip it. Besides, I have to help my daughter make a poster for a project due on Friday.

Thrift Store Goodies

2013-03-02T11:33:00.000-05:00

I don't have anything creative to share today, but if you like seeing others thrifty finds, then stick around.

It's the beginning of March & there's no sign of spring weather here in northern Indiana. I remember hearing the phrase, "March weather comes in like a lion and out like a lamb." I wouldn't say it's like a lion so much, but it's cold and there's snow on the ground. So that means there are no garage sales going on right now. Bummer. I love garage sales!

What's my alternative? The thrift store in my town. Oh yeah! I visit it on a pretty regular basis. Like, at least a once a week basis. I mean it IS on the way to Walmart. I have found some really nice stuff in there! Some things are just stupidly priced way too high for a thrift store though. Other things are priced fair or pretty darn cheap!

I took a donation in on this particular day and they gave me a coupon for 25% off my next purchase! They've never done that before. Yes! Since the coupon was burning a hole in my pocket, so to speak, I decided it couldn't hurt to have a little look around.

I didn't really get much, but I didn't have to.

I was flipping out over finding this bigger wire sled. I can usually sell sleds that I've decorated up for Christmas at my craft shows. It's painted a metallic gold, but it won't be when I get done with it.

After I finally came back to earth after throwing the sleigh in my cart, I quickly seen this old looking cutting board on the next shelf. I just loved the rustic look it had. I had a vision for that and you'll see that in a future post.

I have been on the lookout for rustic scoops. I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but I think they're just interesting looking. I don't have any others, except for a cute little aluminum one. I could probably just leave this wooden one alone and not do a thing to it and still sell it, but I have to change it up in some fashion.

So like I said, nothing creative today, but if you like checking out other people's treasures, then this might have been an interesting read for you.

Parties I'm linking up to:

Alice In Wonderland Tea Party -long post.

2013-02-23T21:39:00.003-05:00

Alice In Wonderland

I know when I Google that title or enter it in the Pinterest search engine, I get ALL KINDS of amazing ideas for just about anything you can imagine, or even not imagine.

In all honesty, I've never been a fan of Alice In Wonderland. I think she's a darling girl and how CUTE are most of the characters?? I just can't seem to follow the story and keep my patience. LOL! That's not really saying much about me though, it can be a challenge for me to follow a typical conversation too.

I do love the artwork aside from the story. I even love some of the more modern takes. Graphics 45 has a stunning scrapbook line that doesn't look anything like the traditional Disney design. It's stunning.

So why am I carrying on so much about Alice In Wonderland then?

Let me back up the story just a bit here.

I have a friend who belongs to a sorority type club and they have a yearly fund raiser called Ladies Night Out. I went to it last year for the first time and had a blast. I wanted to donate something this year for their raffles. My friend said they'd love any donations. The next day she made an unusual request. Could I maybe make something with this year's theme of Alice In Wonderland? Sure! (really?)

Hmmm...I could try. Don't ask me why, but I'm up for a challenge - sometimes. I just happen to have a Cricut cartridge with the Disney Classics characters on it & Alice was one of them. Now to think of what to do. I could do plastic drink tumblers. That would be cute. No. It wasn't my cup of tea. ;) I guess I was trying to think of something out of the box. Maybe something no one had seen before, at least not in this fashion.

I definitely needed my hubby's help on this one but I was sure we could do it. I worked on this right up to the last minute. I do that with just about any event that I've making something for. It's a given. If you keep following along with me on my blog, you'll begin to see that.

Are you tired of waiting for the reveal?

I know the teapot lamp isn't original for any Alice in Wonderland theme. After I finished mine, I found a ton of them on Pinterest. BUT, I didn't see a one with a Mad Hatter's Hat as the lamp shade. Not even when I googled it. Can you tell in this shot that's what it looks like? I didn't realize that I was dead on with the camera when I took the picture. It's kind of hard to see the brim.

Want to know a secret?

When you turn the light on, there is a secret message that can be seen. And would you believe that this lamp shade did not come in this shade of green? I bought an ivory colored one and spray painted it. Then I made the brim by hand and spray painted it too.

I couldn't find any ribbon in the color or width I wanted so I resorted to using tulle. I actually love the look it gives it.

I made the tag that sticks out of hat band with the 10/6. Do you know what that stands for? Some of you may, but many of us Americans, we do not. I had to look it up. LOL! It stands for the price of 10 Shillings and 6 Pence in Great Britian money before the days of the Euro. gosh, I hope I got that right. Hopefully I won't get slammed for not having my facts right about that if they're wrong.

Since I don't know the story that well, this probably isn't depicted properly, but I thought the flowers were awesome for the look I was going for. Little Alice with the big flowers having a tea party. I know I should have done some placement of the characters differently, but it wasn't until after I had them stuck on there that I realized it, and there was no way in Wonderland that I was going to try to take the vinyl characters off to move them. It took me the entire day to make all of them & moving them would have messed them up. Some of those pieces in the layers are super duper tiny. Yep, they're good right where they are.

I handed it over today & my friend acted genuinely tickled over how it turned out, or else she's just a superb actress. I admit that it didn't turn out exactly like I had hoped, but I didn't think it was that bad. I think my favorite part is the hat/shade.

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Creative Crafts Thursday

Don't You Just Love Shoe Cobbler's Forms?

2013-02-19T16:42:00.003-05:00

The old shoe cobbler's forms. Is it just me or do they seem to be popping up everywhere these days?

Not that I was a frequent garage sale, flea market, thrift store or auction person, only up until just the past few years, but I had been to a few in my time. However, in all that time I don't recall seeing these interesting pieces of human history.

Now? Probably thanks a lot in part the internet, blogs and Pinterest, you see images of them everywhere, & I notice them frequently in my local thrift store these days, as well.

I never really thought much about them after discovering them. I had purchased a child sized metal one at a garage sale a number of years back and thought it was just the cutest thing I'd ever seen! Clearly I finally came out from under that rock I was living under for way too long. HA! HA!

It wasn't until I was reading one of my favorite blogs called Homeroad, that a light bulb went off. Actually, she (Susan, Homeroad's owner/author) had the light bulb moment, I just did my own take on it so I could try to sell it. Talk about being an opportunist, eh? Yeah. I'm complaining in one blog post about people stealing my ideas and then turn around & talk about ME using others for my own gain. The difference being that I'm giving credit (& links) where it is due (when I can remember where it came from) not to mention that her post was from well over a year ago and she wasn't selling hers.

K. Nuff said 'bout that.

Read Susan's post on how she displayed her Cobbler Shoe Forms. Please... go look. I'll wait, but come back.

CUTE! Right? Too cute!

Here is how I turned her idea into a portable piece.

My hubby secured them to a piece of white bead board for me and then I added a vintage frame to it. I painted the old world looking numbers on them because the position of the shoes made me think of dance steps. I know, I sometimes have a strange way of thinking. My husband thought they should be L & R for Left and Right, but that's what everyone would expect. I don't always do what's expected. It takes some people a while to catch on to my way of thinking sometimes. hee hee!

I thought Susan's idea of hanging your purse or scarves on these made them practical. That's the kind of ideas I like, functional while being a piece of artwork and definitely a conversation piece!

While I have been working on some stuff for an upcoming spring craft show (my first spring show) Alan & I have also been working on finishing up in all the rooms that we replaced the windows in. We replaced 10 windows in our house this past fall and they were all a bit smaller than the original ones that were HUGE! So there has been quite a bit of drywall added, taping, mudding sanding and finally some painting & trim now. It's not really anything exciting, but it really adds something to this tired old room. Can't wait until we can replace the carpet that has been ugly since the dawn of time - or at least the 1980's.

I hope I can have some pictures of this to show you in the future, at least the living room anyway. I love how it's turning out and hope that it can all get completed. We have problems with finishing any project completely.

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This project was featured here:

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Primitive Style

2013-02-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

I have a couple of similar projects that I managed to finish up this week. They're those kind of projects that have been lingering around for much much too long. If you ask my family, ALL my projects linger around too long! That is fairly true too. Sad. I know.

I bought this wooden box last year and have fought & fought with it since the day I brought it home, because I started working on it that day.

It was originally a burgundy color and it was pretty in its own right, but it was chipped badly. I tried to sand off the vines that were painted on, but they weren't going away that easy. Then I had other issues that just kept making matters worse with the finish. I really did not want to make another crackle painted piece, but this one left me no choice.

I was determined to turn this into a sell-able piece once and for all. I'd like to believe - mission accomplished.

Next, I had this napkin holder that I finished last year and tried to sell it all by itself at my craft shows. It had many lookers, no takers.

My original plan for it was to include the matching Salt & Pepper shakers. I thought they were darling since they looked like little milk bottles. But even though those were started, they didn't get finished in time to go as a set. I kept having problems with the letters not turning out, time and time again, they just wouldn't work for me. I gave up in frustration.

I have a craft show coming up in mid-April so I need to get some new stuff done for that. I'm also trying to finish up some tables for a customer, but I'm having conversations with them that are much too "colorful" to repeat. I've had to use paint stripper 3 times on one of them and it still has lots of paint left on it. It's one of my most hated projects EVER. Have you ever had a project that feels like it's never ending?

Do tell.

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How was your Valentine's Day?

2013-02-15T10:25:00.003-05:00

I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day yesterday and had someone special to share it with. I almost didn't because my hubby thought he was going to have to work late. I'm glad he didn't, even though we didn't end up doing anything special anyway.

I made these cards for my son and daughter. No real thought went into making them. I just used a file from the Silhouette download store for my Cameo and cut them out.

The one on the left is actually a deep red, but looks like a dark pink in this picture. He would not stand for that!

This one was for my hubby.

I had some problems cutting the front for this card I wanted to make for my husband. I thought for sure I had fixed the image I was using to make an easier cut than what I was getting, which in turn was hard for my Cameo to cut cleanly. What a mess, and it didn't turn out pretty, but that's what my sweetheart got and yet he still thought it was over the top!

I found this image on a blog that I came across and I thought for sure I had bookmarked it so I could reference her blog in my post. Maybe if she comes across this, she can let me know who she is so I can reference her here. I even checked my Pinterest files and it's not there either.

I have a few primitive styled projects that were finally completed this week, so I'll be posting those in the coming days. If that's you're kind of thing, be sure to check back!

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To Post or NOT To Post

2013-02-05T17:27:00.002-05:00

THAT is the question.

I tend to start quite a few of my posts with a bit of mystery in hopes of catching your attention and drawing you in. I'm not sure it's working for me, but it's how I do some things - in a cloud of secrecy.

Secrecy. Kind of like the projects I make. I could post all kinds of projects that I work on here on my blog. Trust me, it PAINS me not to. I'm a Leo, so I love attention. But I have run into a bit of a problem with the wonderful world of the web. I find that it's a double edged sword. While it can be an amazing place for inspiration, and don't think for one minute I don't get a ton of my own inspiration from it, it's also a place where millions of others get theirs and perhaps, even from YOU. I guess if I was making a living from my blog and thousands of followers were hanging onto every word I wrote, and every project I did while getting compensated from companies just for making those projects, it might be quite different. But I don't make a living from my blog. It's been a year since I signed up for AdSense and it will most likely be another 4 years before I see my first check from them.

So, where I make my money in the meantime, is from selling my projects that I make at local craft shows, and to family & friends. Since the world of Pinterest has taken off like a bat outta....well, you know (LOVE Pinterest, by the way) it's anybody's game. I don't mind others getting inspiration from what I made. In fact, I find it VERY flattering & rewarding! But when I'm selling MY idea at a craft show only to discover someone else at that same show is selling my idea too, I question my decision for posting it too soon. Especially after they tell me they found the idea on someone's blog or Pinterest. E'hem. yeah.

I actually had that happen one year, even before Pinterest was a ".com" in someone's eye. I guess I never had the forethought that something like that could happen, especially at a small town craft show. Know what? It does.

I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that I struggle with deciding if I should post my projects on here for fear of losing sales to others that might be beating me at my own game because of factors I may or may not be able to control. I know it can draw traffic to my blog and it does to a certain extent, so don't think I will ever, ever, ever stop posting stuff I make on here. Eventually I do put them on here. It just might be out of season, you know, when no one else cares about Christmas stuff in July. LOL-jk, but I had done that last year if you check out this post.

IF I was really motivated, I would make something to show and something to sell at the same time so that I'm happy both ways. Nah, I don't see that happening either. LOL!

So as not to make this a totally boring text-only post today, I've decided TO POST this project. I mean, if you've stuck with me this long, y'all deserve something for your endurance!

I think this green bucket would be pretty sitting on a spring porch with a huge bouquet of white daisies in it or pink gerbera ones, don't you think?

It's probably been about a year ago that I purchased this bucket thinking I was going to do something amazing with it. Instead, it just took up space this whole time in my dining room. Well, I did paint the plain wooden handle and the inside of the bucket (including the rolled edge) black, as it was all green.

I had good intentions on cutting something out in vinyl for the front with my Cricut, but I couldn't seem to find a design to fit the look I was going for in all those cartridges I own (75+?). Well guess what? My sweetheart of a son bought me a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas! It also came with the Design Studio software that is usually extra. I whole heartedly recommend making that purchase if you want to try doing any of your own design work or even just making changes to existing designs & no, I'm not getting paid to make that recommendation either. I just took a couple of the designs from the massive Silhouette online catalog and combined some of the elements together to create this one and added Welcome. I'm still learning on how to make words curve correctly on tapered curved surfaces. There's a knack to it that I haven't quite mastered just yet, but I'll get there.

So thanks for sticking it out through more of my babbling and such a small amount of inspiration.

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Need an Effective Squirrel Deterrent?

2013-01-15T11:48:00.001-05:00

**UPDATE - We had to put a galvanized tube over the green pipe because after a couple of weeks, one squirrel was able to jump high enough to be able to climb to the top. Now they can't even hang on at all. (wink)

Squirrels at the bird feeder

Are you like me? I know I'm not the only one. Do you have a major problem with keeping the squirrels out of your bird feeders? You feel like you've tried everything? All the expensive feeder gimmicks? Luckily, I haven't gone that route, but don't think I haven't been tempted. I'm just too cheap!

If we lived somewhere that didn't have over 13 acres of acorn producing woodland, this might not bother me. But we do! There are piles of acorns everywhere for them to eat!

I've tried one method that was effective in the summer, but not so much in the winter. That was slathering up the feeder pole with gobs of Vaseline. It HAD to be Vaseline too. I tried the dollar store variety and they were a different consistency that was noticeably different in texture. It proved to be no match for the squirrels. Vaseline was good for the warmer months, but must get a little harder in the winter time which still allows the squirrels to get a grip on the pole and shimmy up it to a feast of the sunflower seeds that await at the top. Grrrr!

So as we were having breakfast Sunday morning, we noticed that the squirrels were able to jump halfway up the metal pole and make their way up the other couple of feet to the feeder. I just mentioned nonchalantly to my husband that I wonder if the pole was just skinny enough for the squirrels to get their paws around and that's why they had no problem getting up there.

What if......what if there was a big pipe that we could slip over the pole that was too big for the squirrels paws to wrap around and NOT get a grip on? Hmmm....my hubby was pondering this thought.

Lucky for me, the hubby is a plumber and there is always pieces of pipe (among other "supplies") sitting around just in case. It just so happens that there was a long enough piece of 4" pipe laying behind the garage. I never had a doubt there was. He did some measuring and went to work.

Of course the pipe HAD to be this vivid shade of green and all nasty from sitting on the ground for who knows how long. A total eyesore indeed. It will surely be a true test, because I'm sure the squirrels wondered what in the world that tall green giant thing was that goes up to their stash of food.

Shoot! It didn't scare them!

at. first.

Oh yeah, they thought they were just going to go scurrying up that green giant like it was just another tree. And they had a pretty good start! I thought to myself, "Oh no, failure again." But as I'm watching them, one by one, try to outdo the other in their mighty attempts to climb that green giant, they could get so far up and then they'd stop! Oh, they'd try to hold on. They'd look to the ground as they begin to slowly slide back down and then they'd have to jump back down to the ground. Each one failed. Miserably. YES!

This is about as far on the post as they can jump up to. He's hanging on for all it's worth.

So the pipe has to be long enough that they can't jump high enough to reach the top. This one is probably about 6 ft. tall. It's taller than me and I'm 5'2".

Here's the same one, after numerous tries of jumping onto the pipe, he has to jump down each time. He never makes it all the way up.

Now the squirrels all just hang out like bottom feeders, eating only what falls from the diner that hangs above them. Out of their reach.

The pipe is probably not cheap, but it can save you a bundle over time in the amount of bird seed you buy that goes in the squirrel's bellies & not the birds.

I don't know if galvanized pipe would be any better since it would get a rough texture over time, giving them something to help them cling onto, unless you want to slick it up with Vaseline also. Just a thought.

I hope this works for the long haul and I hope it works for you if you try it.

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A Burlap Fabric Memo Board to Check Out!

2013-01-14T11:35:00.001-05:00

In my quest to prepare for some craft shows in late 2012, I was in a flurry to get lots of projects done to fill the large space(s) I had rented. However, in that mad flurry of painting, gluing, sewing, covering & buying, I didn't really allow myself to make the time to take pictures of quite a few of those items. Only the best of the best made that cut for a photo op. Mainly furniture. And those items sure didn't get a blog post done about them either. Again. Mainly furniture was my focus.

Now that things have slowed to a more normal pace and the crazy holidays are behind us, I still have a few of those pieces left to help fill in the gaps of my blog posting. Especially since I haven't really done anything creative since the new year has rang in. Just the unsatisfying attempts at purging and organizing my home. We're not EEEEVEN going to go there right now, but I should be instead of writing this.

So for today's blog filler, I bring to you this half vintage + half vintagey-looking item.

I found the frame at a flea market, and if you think it looks grungy right now, you should have seen it before I cleaned it with a soft toothbrush & cleaner! You really couldn't tell it was white at all. I wanted to put an old grain sack in the opening, but at the time, I hadn't found any that large (of course, I have now). Since I had this burlap fabric sitting around just filling in my hoarding space, I used some of it for this. I nearly had a buyer for it, but she didn't have a space large enough in her kitchen to hang it where she needed it most. I have that same problem, so I could relate.

This is just a little closer look.

Pictured here is detail of the plaster bow at the top of the frame. It's kind of worn, chipped and cracked, for that perfect aged look. It's a little bit feminine and a little bit masculine, a little light, and a little dark and all neutral.

Because it was so nice and warm here on Saturday (yes, it is the middle of January) I was going to start on stripping a table I need to work on for a customer. But for the life of me, I can't seem to locate that brand new bottle of stripper I have. You can't miss it either, it's orange! AHHHHH! I have apparently moved it from it's long time location to somewhere new for the sake of organizing for the holidays. I don't really think you can call it organizing if you can't find it!

It happens all the time.

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