Today Is My Someday

I’m branching out

2013-05-08T05:55:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since my last post. Whew! That stencil project and giveaway really wore me out! Not really…. I’ve been really busy with my furniture business. You know- Seek, Find, Repair, Paint, and Sell. I’m still amazed at how much work it is to be a furniture painter. Yet, I absolutely LOVE it- despite the ups and downs!

One of the things I have been working on is teaming up with a couple of great gals who have just opened their own furniture and home décor shop in the nearby town of Statesboro, GA. I’ve known these ladies for some time and have always admired their talent and work ethic. When I found out that they were opening a shop of their own, I was immediately drawn to it. The shop is named Nostalgia, and the owners are Debbie from the very popular , creative blog Refresh Restyle and Jamie the furniture magician from the wonderful blog Southern Revivals. I know! Loads and loads of talent!
And if that wasn’t enough, my friend Debbie from The Smart Set agreed to partner with me in my booth in their shop. We are gonna be a great team!

Nostalgia has only been open for one month, and already they have been very successful. Not only are they a painted furniture and home décor shop, but they are also retailers for Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint and Maison Blanche –La Craie Furniture paints. They also teach painting classing using these paints. But I think the thing that has impressed and touched me the most is their commitment to the local community. In one short month, they have supported and promoted the local farmers market; a community recycling program; a nearby restaurant featuring local musicians; neighboring shops; and GA Southern University, which is a few short miles away. GA Southern just happens to be my alma mater :) Most recently Jamie built a beautiful farm table and it’s being raffled off at the store with all of the proceeds going to the Statesboro food bank. Whew! All that and they have a beautiful, welcoming shop to enjoy.

I am thrilled to be a part of their team, and I am excited to see what Debbie (The Smart Set) and I can add to this already charming shop.

So far, I’ve added these pieces. Photos thanks to Debbie at Refresh Restyle. I only had my phone camera on the day of delivery. Before and afters to come on these 2 pieces.

I still have my furniture and home decor proudly displayed in my booths at Two Women and a Warehouse in Savannah. I'll be in both places now. Sharing the love....

More to come. You’d better believe it!

Stenciled and Painted Armoire Makeover and a Cutting Edge Stencil Giveaway for You!

2013-03-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to show you this makeover that I created using a tired and dated armoire that has been hanging out in my stash and my brand spanking new Cutting Edge Stencil! When Cutting Edge Stencil gave me a chance to pick any stencil I wanted from their huge selection of stencils, I must say… I took a few DAYS! But I finally decided on the Fleur Craft Stencil by Kathy Peterson.

Okay, on to the before…

Here is a nice but outdated small armoire that is looking for some pizzazz. I’d been saving it to make over for my daughter’s room for quite a while. I custom mixed some chalk paint to get the perfect light aqua paint color for my stenciling. Turns out, I actually made what looks like Annie Sloan’s Provence without realizing it. I don’t own that color, so now I know how to make it :) I must be a genius!

I took the cabinet doors off to lay them flat and so that I could measure the stencil placement. The Cutting Edge Stencil and the brushes that came with it were very easy to work with. I have stenciled before, so I felt sure I knew what to do, but I went to their website and watched a couple of the how-to videos just in case. Their projects are so inspiring!

I first painted my entire armoire with Annie Sloan’s Old White. Then I took the doors off and measured and taped the stencil on with blue painters tape. I used my custom colored chalk paint to stencil, and it went great! Chalk paint is very forgiving. If I found I was too heavy handed, I was able to wipe off the excess very easily. I didn’t worry too much about imperfections either, because I knew that I would be sanding down my stenciled area after I finished.

Once I finished the doors and reattached them to the armoire, I stood back and thought about it… It needed just a little something else…

(Just a little too plain)

So I took out the middle drawer and turned my stencil design sideways. I stenciled just one design around each glass drawer pull.

Perfect! It ties the whole piece together without being overdone.

After my stenciling dried, I lightly sanded my design with 220 grit sandpaper to give it a slightly worn and not-so-crisp look. I then sanded the edges of the armoire around the doors, drawers, and edges – just because I like that look. I then sealed it all with a coat of Annie Sloan’s clear wax.

At first when I was stenciling the doors, I showed my 7 year old daughter and said that I was doing this for her. She said “Umm.. I wanted lavender” and walked away. Ummm… mom’s not into lavender, and there is not one lavender thing in her room. Girls! So, I thought I ‘d be selling this piece in my booth. But after I got the shiny new glass knobs on and the piece put together, she saw it and said “can I have it; can I have it?”. Ahhh.. much better. It will go into her room and hold all of her American Girl dolls and their clothes and accessories. Now I get to vacuum the floor, and she gets a special new piece painted just for her and the dolls. Win. Win.

Thanks Cutting Edge Stencils!

So, do you have a tired piece of furniture that needs some reviving? How about some curtains that need color? Would an accent wall make a huge difference in your room? Or a rug in need of a makeover? Plain pillows need pizzazz? There are so many projects to be done with stencils. And now you have a chance to win the stencil of your choice. You can pick any stencil worth up to $75 from the Cutting Edge Stencils website if you are the winner of my giveaway.

And it gets even better! I am one of 7 blogs doing 7 Cutting Edge Giveaways in 7 days. Yes, you can enter all 7! Please stop by the other 6 blogs listed below for more chances to win. ~LUCKY NUMBER 7!~

Good Luck!

Use this easy Rafflecopter form to enter to win:

**Our first winner never responded, so a new winner was chosen. Congrats to Jennifer L. M.**

a Rafflecopter giveaway =

Linking up to these great parties:

Inspiration Gallery Link Party at Crafty, Scrappy, Happy,
Knock our socks off party at Mom 4 Real

In search of Annie Sloan paint

2013-03-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend was St Patrick’s Day. Savannah has one of the biggest St Patrick’s Day parades in the country. With the parade comes thousands of tourists. It’s fun and festive, but it’s very very busy.

image via Savannah Riverfront on FB

So our family decided to take a trip out of town to Charlotte, NC. We took the kids to the U.S. National Whitewater Center and the Discovery Place Science Museum. We all had a blast! As with every trip we take out of town, I quickly googled Annie Sloan stockists in the Charlotte area. Fortunately I found Melinda Shrom from Artisan by Design. I visited her at the Blacklion location. First let me say, I LOVED that store! It was like a giant Hobby Lobby, Garden Ridge, Homegoods, Thrift market, hip antique store all rolled into one! So much fun!

Melinda was great! I had called ahead and my paint was already put aside for me on the “hold table”. I went to her booth, and she was eager to meet me. Lil’ ole me? Yes! We had some great discussion about paint colors and textures and how much we both LOVE Annie Sloan Chalk paint! I watched and listened as one of her repeat customers came in and discussed her wall that she had painted in Arles and asked Melinda’s opinion on what color paint and wax to add for more depth. Melinda is a real pro, and gave the lady several options, but not so many that she was overwhelmed. In the end, she even asked my opinion as the tie breaker :) I was honored. We all agreed and the customer practically skipped away happy! Melinda told me about the awesome and innovative paint classes that she holds at the Blacklion, and then she showed me the paint studio in the back. Boy, do I wish I could take one of her classes. If only I lived closer…

Here is a picture of the paint swatches in her paint booth. Very helpful when you see the paint out of the can and side by side on a board. Cute design too! ( sorry for the cell phone picture blur)

Annie Sloan color board by Artisan by Design

And here is the paint color wall in the studio where the paint classes are held. LOVE this idea! Look at all of those color variations from each color of paint! So versatile!

Annie Sloan color wall by Artisan by Design

I had an incredible experience with Melinda, and my love for Annie Sloan Chalk paint has been ignited all the more. Can’t wait to get started on my next piece using my very favorite paint!

This is what I brought home with me, and this dresser drawer and its friends are next for the Annie Sloan treatment…

Now, I said this store was incredible. So here are a few pictures of the treasures I would have liked to take home.

This one greeted me right at the front door! And it had a matching “friend” too :) I’m digging that fabric and those curvy lines!

And Hippity Hoppity Easter is definitely on its way at this store! I saw moss covered bunnies, Burlap bunnies and carrots. Bunnies with wheelbarrows. Crackle finished ceramic bunnies. Furry yellow chicks, and every other kind of fabulous Easter décor I could have possibly imagined and drooled over…

Easter Display at Blacklion

Okay, I’m on board with most of America in my love for burlap! So when I happened up on this booth which I nicknamed “Burlap Paradise”, I knew I had to buy this great ruffled burlap table runner! See the one in the top of the photo? It is mine. End of discussion….

I’m kind of on an animal and bird kick right now. These peacock pictures were amazing in person. But see those yellow tags? Someone else loved them too…

How about this wonderful horse painting. Swoon… Loved it!

And lastly I loved this rustic farmhouse looking booth with these awesome letters.

Thank you for taking this virtual shopping trip with me. I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful store and my visit with Melinda. I will be back as soon as I can find a reason to go to Charlotte, NC again.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Linking up to these great parties:

Spring Green Spray Painted Rattan Head Boards

2013-03-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

Yes! I said SPRAY PAINTED! Normally, my rule of thumb is that I don’t like to spray paint anything except wicker or metal. But I found these wonderful rattan twin headboards at a local thrift store and knew they needed some fresh color for Spring.

There are so many nooks and crannies in these headboards, that I just couldn’t imagine spending a ton of time painting these with a brush. Plus, I wanted them a little *shiny*. So, I went with my go-to spray paint Rustoleum x2. I used “Leafy Green” for a fresh Spring look. Once they were dry, I sealed them with a spray on clear coat for extra durability.

I think these headboards are sooo much happier now! Here’s hoping they find their way to a beach house nearby soon….

Happy Spring…

Linking up to these great parties:
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm,
Knock our Socks off Party at Mom4Real

Grass Green Table with Crackle Finish

2013-01-24T11:36:00.002-08:00

Hi everyone. Sorry to have been MIA. Christmas was wonderful, but then came sick kiddos and tax season. So, I haven’t had a chance to blog in a bit. I’ve been poking around blog land checking some of your projects out and drooling… And I’ve done a few of my own.

Since Emerald Green has been named the Pantone color of the year for 2013, I thought I’d start painting a little more green.

Now, this isn’t exactly Emerald. It’s what I’ll call a “grass green”. But Spring is on it’s way, and from the color palettes I’ve seen, all greens are game in this Pantone color of the year phenomenon.

There is quite a story to this little curvy end table. I’ll try to make it short and sweet, but I want to tell you about the troubles and triumphs in case you ever encounter such things when buying thrift store items.

I don’t have a picture of this cute little table before I started working on it. I had a good bit of scuffing and a few knicks on the top and a pretty deep scratch on the top left corner. So I sanded and sanded until I felt I shouldn’t sand anymore. I can’t tell you how I knew when to stop. I just knew. That’s just one of those things you have to do by trial and error. This piece had some type of inlaid design on top, so I wasn’t 100% sure what was underneath. Then I filled any scratches or gaps with wood filler and let it dry.

After the wood filler dried. I lightly sanded that part with 220 sandpaper to make it smooth to the touch. It felt totally smooth. So, I took my homemade “grass green” chalk paint and went to town painting this little beauty.

As it dried, I saw this:

(sorry for the glare- cell phone picture)

Ugghh… the green was so pretty, but the scratch was so obvious! It reminded me of that L- shaped scratch on Mrs. Leefolt’s dining room table in “The Help”. It IS one of my favorite books/movies ever! I even wrote a post about it – remember? Well, I didn’t want to think of Mrs. Leefolt when I looked at my beautiful table!

So, I wracked my brain for a solution. And Tip Junkie came to the rescue. I used this tutorial featured on Tip Junkie to create a crackle finish using Elmer's glue.

I bravely brushed on a coat of watered down Elmer's School glue over my freshly painted grass green table top. It was SCARY!

While the glue was still tacky, I painted another coat of my grass green homemade chalk paint over it. Again, scary.

But after it dried, it was a wonderful thing! It hid Mrs. Leefolt’s scratch and those few knicks perfectly!

I left the table overnight to be sure everything was totally dry. I then sanded just the edges of the table and the base, drawers, and legs as usual. I waxed them with Annie Sloan's clear wax to seal the finish.

It turned out beautiful, and no one had to know about the scratch. Hopefully, they’ll just think I’m uber-creative. Ha!

Sometimes the greatest projects come from a little trial and error!

Linking up at these fabulous parties:
Inspiration Gallery Link Party, Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed,
Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Weekend Bloggy Reading Linkup

Christmas Ladder Gift Wrap Station

2012-12-09T18:16:00.002-08:00

I’ve gathered up all of my supplies and I’m ready to wrap up the Christmas gifts! Ummm… I guess I’d better get online and start ordering some things quick : )

It is gonna be great having my supplies all in one place for a change. Plus, this is cute and looks like a Christmas tree. Bonus! Wrapping décor!

It started out with an idea to participate in Debbiedoos Holiday Knock off party. I just knew I had something lying around from one of my thrifting trips that I could incorporate. And I found just the thing tucked away in my garage- umm staging area…

A crusty rusty old ladder with plenty of patina. Just the way I like it!

I wiped the ladder down and loaded it with rolls of wrapping paper; stacks of tissue paper; gift boxes; rolls of ribbon; gift bags; scissors, tape; and ink pens. What else could I possibly need? Besides the aforementioned gifts and a couple of helpful elves?

Here’s a close-up of my gift wrap station, just so you won’t miss a thing. I kind of love it!

I was inspired by this photo in Southern Lady’s November/December 2012 issue.

Magazine

My Version

I didn’t buy anything for this challenge. I already had all of the Christmas wrapping supplies and the wonderful thrifted ladder. I used a drop cloth (I always have one on hand) for my tree skirt. And I had the two mini trees on the sides from last year. The green one in the peanut sack was a gift from my mother in law, and I made the burlap and sweater ruffled tree in this post. So, I will use up or reuse everything here. Fun and frugal.

Merry Christmas all.

May your packages be beautifully wrapped!

Linking up to these great parties:

Debbiedoos 2012 Holiday Knock off Decor party, Sundae Scoop link party, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm, Wow us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style, Better Late than Never Christmas Inspiration Blog Hop, Christmas Junk Decor Party at Funky Junk, Happy Hour Link Party at Crafty Scrappy Happy, Whipperberry Friday Flair

5 Simple Must Have items for painting furniture

2012-10-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

This post came about in a funny way. After losing the same items over and over in my garage, I began to think that I am unorganized and beyond hope. I decided to solve this little problem by making sure that I had at least 2 of my “necessary” items on hand, so that when I really needed them, I could put my hands on at least one. Yes, I know “everything in its proper place…”. But, this works for me –okay?

So what are these items that I am constantly using and always losing? They are so basic, it’s almost silly to post about them, But, I’ll bet there’s at least one person out there like me who needs to go ahead and buy 2 just in case one is ummm…misplaced :)

For painting furniture, these are my go-to items:

1- Purdy Cub paintbrush

Yes, there are tons of other paintbrushes out there, but for me and my small hands, the cub is my BFF. And if you take good care of it, it will last for a long, long time.

image via

2- Plastic Scraper

This simple and inexpensive tool comes in various widths. Buy several; they are cheap. They are great for scraping off excess paint after sanding and for getting the goo off left over from labels and stickers.

image via

3- Paper plates

Again simple and inexpensive. I almost never use the paint trays that they sell at the home improvement stores, unless I’m using a roller. And that’s really ,really rare. So a good ole paper plate does the trick for mixing colors, thinning paint, and providing a disposable palette.

image via

4- Drop cloth

Yes, you can use old sheets, towels, blankets, etc. to paint on. I have done that and still do sometimes. But in my experience, nothing beats the drop cloth! The seams on a drop cloth are weighted just a bit. So, as you are painting that end table, a big gust of wind doesn’t come along and blow your sheet over the freshly painted side of the table causing it to stick. Don’t ask me how I know! The big box stores charge quite a bit for drop cloths, but I’ll tell you a secret. Shhh… If you are lucky enough to have a Big Lots in your town, buy your drop cloths there. They are half the price. And if you are really frugal like I am, you can cut off one whole panel or at least six inches or so along one side to get crafty with. Make yourself a banner like this Candy Corn Banner.

5-Baby wipes

What can I say, painting is messy, and I like to hide the evidence- quick! No really, baby wipes are wonderful to have on hand, because they stay wet all the time and are portable and handy. I buy the generic- whatever is on sale type.

image via

Okay, I’ll bet you are really ready to tackle a big ole painting project now huh? Doubtful, but I did want to share a few of my favorite little things that keep me going as I paint all kinds of furniture with different kinds of paint. There are so many other cool tools out there, but these top 5 are “must have’s “ for me to even get started. Maybe I’ll talk about paint next, or how to choose a good piece of furniture…. keep reading along.

Share: What are your favorite painting “tools” ? You can leave a comment here on the blog, or on my Facebook page. I’d love to know what you find invaluable. A few of my Facebook friends have already chimed in. Go check it out. And “like” my page to keep updated. You never know what I may come up with next….

Joining these great parties:
Tutorials and Tips at Home stories A to Z
Meet me Monday at You're Talking too Much

Yellow Sunburst Dresser

2012-10-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

So, how do you like her? Ain’t she a beauty? I’m not shy! I worked hard on this baby! I wanted her to stand out!

My before pictures stink, as always. No need for e-mails or comments stating the obvious. I always rush right in to get rid of the ugly. It’s so hard to remember to document the ugly. But here’s what evidence I have of the before. Not bad… just old and brown.

But see those “indentations” around the knobs? I loved those things! They were screaming for attention! So, I painted the body of the dresser with 2 coats of Annie Sloan’s Old White. I painted the drawers with 2 coats of Annie Sloan’s Arles. And I stalled… and waited… and searched Pinterest for inspiration. Nothing.
I read a quote on Miss Mustard Seeds blog about this time that said
“there is almost always a point as I’m working on a piece of furniture when I hate it and want to haul it to the closest thrift store just to get it out of my sight. I resist that urge, though, knowing it’s going to look amazing in the end”
This was me at that moment! But hey, if MMS didn’t give up, I certainly wasn’t going to!
I got out my sanding block and roughed up the edges of the body and drawers, which I will say brought me GREAT JOY! This piece sanded so easily! Mostly because of the chalk paint, but also because the piece is old and solid maple with no finish to speak of. It was like butta…
I used Annie Sloan’s clear and dark wax on the body of the chest, and then I stared at those drawers…. I repainted the pulls with my trusty Oil Rubbed Bronze. Can’ t live without that stuff!

Then I remembered that I have a Silhouette machine! Hello??? I went into to the 99 cent Silhouette store and shopped ‘til my heart was content. Well, I actually spent like $3.96, but I was sure that something I bought might work as a stencil on those drawer fronts. I played around with sizing and cutting etc. I finally found what I was looking for. (Take THAT Bono!) I cut it out on heavy cardstock and used it for a stencil. I then spent the next 27 hours (more like 2 hrs, but my back was killing me), hand stenciling those “flowers” around the drawer pulls. SO WORTH IT!

To finish off I sanded the drawer fronts and flowers and sealed with dark and clear wax.

I’m in furniture love….

Hey! Don’t let that fabulous scale distract you from the dresser! That’s for another post. Stay innn the moment….

Now, I’m off to hate another piece of furniture ‘til I love it! Honestly, that really is how it works. For me and Miss Mustard Seed :) ! Catch you later.

Linking up to these great parties:
You are talking too much Meet Me Monday

Happy Hour at Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

Weekend bloggy reading at Serenity Now
Inspiration Friday at The Picket Fence
Whipperberry Friday Flair
Sundae Scoop at I heart Naptime

Halloween Chair- Saw it- Made my own

2012-09-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

I first saw this idea for a Halloween chair on Facebook. The link led me to a blog post by asentimentallife where she found this amazing chair at Goodwill already painted up! What a cutie and a great find!

photo credit: http://asentimentallife.blogspot.com/2010/10/vintage-finds.html

I started thinking about making one of my own and putting it in my booth to spice it up for Fall.

I looked through my stash of chairs. See photo here. Remember- don’t judge :)

I spray painted it black with Rustoleum x 2 in a black matte finish. I tried to avoid the seat but didn’t bother to tape it off. I kind of regretted that later on…

Once the black paint was dry, I taped off the spindles closest to the chair and the little curved side pieces. Then I painted away with Valspar’s Autumn Blaze. It’s ORANGE! As in –construction zone- but that’s what I was looking for in this chair…. Just need to find some more bright orange projects to use up this quart!

I used my Silhouette to cut a Jack-o-Lantern face stencil out of cardstock. I taped it on with painters tape and used a make-up sponge wedge to apply the paint. I peeled it back and revealed the cutest little punkin’ face you ever did see :)

I hand distressed the black with a little sanding block and fancied her up with some raffia and some Halloween candy corn ribbon.

And here she is ….

I hope someone likes her, and she finds a place of honor amidst a sea of mums on a beautiful covered porch… Or if not, she can sit on my porch, and my kids will love her!

Happy Fall,

This Post featured at:

Partying with:

Happy Hour Link Party at Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

The Beachy Blue Desk

2012-09-19T04:16:00.000-07:00

I have painted a LOT of furniture in the last few months, and I have not blogged about hardly any of it. Not only that, but I have been horrible about taking “before” pictures of my victims… In the case of this desk makeover, I have only a couple of pictures, and for some reason, they are pictures of only half of the desk..?… Don’t know why. I picked up this desk at Goodwill. I was immediately drawn to it because of these babies :)

Yes! Glass pulls and knobs! Actually I had to buy a badly damaged waterfall dresser and mirror along with the desk just to get this desk. It was to be sold as a set at Goodwill, and they wouldn’t split it up. Lord knows when I’ll get around to tackling the peeling veneer on that dresser! But that’s another post.

The desk was painted an evil, horrible spearmint white with the drawer fronts a pale pepto pink. It was not pretty; it was filthy. But those glass handles…ahhh… they called out to me.

Here’s the half of the desk photo that I took. Again, no idea why? As you use your imagination, you’ll guess that the other side of the desk is identical :)

So, I took off the precious hardware and scrubbed and scrubbed this baby 'til it hurt! Then I decided to paint the base in Annie Sloan’s Old White and the drawer fronts in a mix of Old White and Duck Egg Blue. You just can’t go wrong with that combination.

Then the headaches started… The evil, horrible spearmint white that I pointed out earlier began to rear its ugly head! The Old White gives great coverage, but honestly, that spearmint white wanted to be seen! It’s hard painting “white over white”; at least it is for me. It’s because you can’t see clearly if you’ve got really good coverage all over like you can if you are painting a light over a dark color. But I digress… After 2 coats and many touch ups and a very light distressing (because too much distressing revealed too much spearmint), I finally got the body like I wanted it. the drawers were fun! I just painted them Old White and dry brushed Duck Egg Blue over in one direction. I just eye-balled it and did it however I liked it.

At first I put the desk in my booth with no chair.
No sell…

Then I added a chair from my out of control stash… Hey, DON'T JUDGE!

Muuuchhh better…

Please excuse the weird collage borders. Pic Monkey and I are just now making friends!

Finally, I had the privilege of being in the shop when a very sweet lady came in and purchased my desk to put in her beach home. She loved it, and I was happy to see it go to a place where it would fit right in.

image via

Here’s wishing you never find any spearmint white paint, but that you luck up and find some fabulous glass pulls…

Linking up at these great parties:

Happy Hour party at Crafty Scrappy Happy, Design, Dining, and Diapers, and Craftberry Bush

Welcome back Scrabble

2012-08-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

I’ve been scouring the thrift stores looking for original Scrabble games to use in a little project that’s been brewing in my brain for quite some time. I’ve seen lots of Scrabble art- big and small. And this may not be an original idea, but it’s original in my tiny world, and it makes me smile : )

This set belonged to “Beth”, and she was quite attached to it. All of the owner’s paperwork was filled out and many of the trays were labeled with her name. I’m sure she played many games of Scrabble at her friends’ houses, but wanted to be sure she got all of her pieces back!
Well, since this set was from the 60’s, I’m sure that “Beth” wouldn’t mind if I updated it a little…

I’m using these little beauties all around my booth on my furniture pieces to attract the customers’ eye and to show off some of my paint colors and finishes. These are just some basic Annie Sloan colors with a little distressing and dark and clear wax. But I have more trays and plan to mix some colors and make more eye candy in the near future.

I used a single piece of scotch tape on the back of each word to keep the letters together. It has worked great! The “Welcome” below has been in my booth for a couple of months, and it’s still in tact despite my own kids and other shoppers’ kids playing with it.

Have you played any Scrabble lately?

Linking up to these great parties:

Our Big Hometalk Thrifting Trip

2012-08-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

When Debbie at Refresh Restyle contacted me to ask if I wanted to be a part of a thrifting day, I jumped at the chance! I {heart} thrifting!

When I found out that Hometalk was sending 8 of us out on this little journey with matching T-shirts, I was beyond excited!

Here, we are before we hit the road. We paired up in teams of 2, kind of like the Amazing Thrifting Race! Not really, we were all pretty civil; we just needed 4 vehicles to haul our goodies back home.

We drove and chatted with much excitement! We got lost; we waited in line to get in to one store while instructions were blasted over a loud speaker (serious business!) We walked/ran through stores. We sat on/claimed furniture as our own. We found treasures for ourselves and for our sister thrifters.

Mary and I packed and re-packed our vehicles several times. Toward the end of the day, I heard bids going on for the last amount of space available in Cherry’s vehicle!

Our Loot:

I’ll be posting some pictures later on of the makeovers or makeunders of the things I thrifted on this trip.
But for the sake of fun, I wanted to show you a few of the things that we DIDN’T buy! You know the kinds of things that non-thrifters think all thrift stores are filled with…
Here we go. Giggle :)

None of this came home with us….

How about live music at the thrift store on the weekends? He was singing Elvis, I believe…

We got so much great stuff. I still can’t believe it. We shopped ‘til we almost dropped! Didn’t stop for lunch until almost 4 p.m.

Our Thrifty Sisters were Debbie from The Smart Set; Karen and Mary from Cotton*Wood Furnishings; Cherry from Cherry’s in the Garden and More; Sarah from Unto the Rainbow; Ann from Shabby French Cottage Basement; and our Coordinator for the event Debbie from Refresh Restyle.

Besides our loot, our lunch and conversation was the best part of the day! Girlfriends chatting it up about everything from bargains, to paint, to woodworking, to relationships. We had the best time! We are hatching a plan to do another one of these trips very soon… Thanks Hometalk!

End of the day ~Everyone's haul....

Happy Thrifting!

Kim

Surprise your Friends Daytime “Sleepover” Party

2012-07-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe my little girl is 7 years old already! We were planning a party for a couple of weeks from now. But, we had some scheduling conflicts, and I had to put the party together in 3 days! This is UNHEARD of in this house! Normally, I would plan, stress, decorate, and stress some more for weeks and weeks before one of my kids’ birthday parties! But, honestly, I took the laid back approach (who am I kidding), and pulled it all together in a couple of days using some of our decorations from last years Pinkalicious party and some great colorful paper décor from Party City.

The best part of this birthday bash was that the birthday girl was in on all of the planning. I think it made her feel a little more grown up help plan the party and keep it a secret from her friends.
She wanted a sleepover for her birthday party, but we just felt like age 7 was a little too soon for our family. So we came up with the idea of a daytime sleepover. A kind of “pretend” slumber party!
So, instead of a nighttime party, we had an early morning pancake and pajama fest! I contacted all of the moms ahead of time and asked them to have the girls dressed in their “going out” pj’s. They were to keep everything a secret from the girls. We only invited the number of girls that we could fit in our SUV. We headed out early, just “A”, me, and our favorite 13 yr old friend “S”, who was riding shot gun :)
By 8 a.m. we were ringing the doorbells at the homes of some sleepy but excited little girls. Actually, they were a bit confused at first as to why were were at the door in our pj’s and why we wanted them to come with us! It was cute! But the moms had the sleeping bags packed, and we were well on our way to the next pick up in no time.

And so the group of giggly girls grew as did the excitement and anticipation of who was to ring the doorbell and explain our fun plan to the next girl on the route. By the time we reached the last house, we were picking up two girls- sisters. The oldest ran AWAY from the door shouting “I’m not properly dressed to go out!” It was hilarious! We quickly got her back on track by pointing out that we were ALL wearing pj’s for the party!

With the car packed full of giggly girls and sleeping bags, we were well on our way home for a bacon and pancake breakfast with all the toppings.

The ingredients for our sugar coma included:
-Home made pancakes
-mini- M&M’s
-Cherries
-Whipped cream
-chocolate syrup
-maple syrup
- chocolate chips
-blueberries
-strawberries
-Bacon

The girls were hungry and excited and dug right in. Plates were piled high with all forbidden breakfast foods :)

After everyone had eaten enough sugar, they all took their sleeping bags upstairs to our bonus room to spread out for their sleepover.

We put on a movie for them while hubby assembled the cake in the kitchen. We wanted to stay with the pancake/sleepover theme, so hubby made this chocolate pancake stack from zoomyummy as a cake. Click on over to see her beautiful photo of what it could look like. Ours turned out more like this…

(Never you mind that rainbow “7” candle! My girl picked that out weeks ago from the grocery store. So we definitely HAD to use it)

While the cake was coming together, the girls played a couple of rounds of musical sleeping bags. It was quite funny watching them scramble around the room to hop on a sleeping bag when the music stopped, because the sleeping bags were so slippery!
Next was the impromptu dance party!

Fun!

Karate kid? Stayin’ Alive?

Cake time:

anticipation….

mmm… it was good!

Overall, this was a quick and easy to plan party with great results! The girls had a blast, and not one of them came up and asked why I didn’t bust out the Silhouette machine and make pajama shaped garland!

Our very favorite part of the whole party was surprising our friends! “A”’s anticipation and the girls faces as they opened their doors and saw us standing there in our pj’s was worth all the last minute scrambling around.
What a FUN surprise :)

Happy birthday to my very favorite 7 year old!

Love,

Mommy

Linking up to these great parties:
Uncommon Designs

Pool Noodle Dragonfly

2012-06-25T20:51:00.001-07:00

So, I wrestled a pool noodle in order to party with the cool girls at the Pool Noodle Party.

Party Hosts Debbiedoo’s

This thing was going to be a wreath, a skate board, and a flower! But ultimately it became what it was meant to be… a shabby little dragonfly.

Here are the materials needed to make your own shabby dragonfly from a simple pool noodle.

-Pool Noodle
-strips of torn drop cloth
-ball of twine
- thin wooden dowel
-one pants hanger (wire top cardboard bottom)
-straight pins
-hot glue

1- cut your pool noodle in half long ways and then in half the other way. Like a loaf of bread waiting to be buttered…mmm…

2- tear many many many strips of drop cloth and pin the ends to a piece of noodle and wrap. This is the longest step, so put on your DVR’d episodes of “Junk Gypsies” while you wrap.

3- Once your 4 “wings” are wrapped and cinched in at the ends with the strips of cloth, take another half of a regular pool noodle and begin wrapping it in cloth. Sounds like we are mummifying something doesn’t it?

4- Then use your wooden dowel to attach the wings to the “body” noodle.

Hubby is helping out here :)

5- Once the dowels are in, wrap the dragonfly some more. Criss-cross across the body and pin on the back side to be sure that everything is nice and secure.

blurry close up…

6- Once your dragonfly’s body is made, then roll some twine to form 2 eyes and hot glue them on. Simple.

7- Poke a hole in the top of your little guy, and bend the coat hanger top straight and drop it right in. I used a little hot glue to secure the antennae.

close up of the antennae

So folks, there you have it. My very last minute pool noodle creation. I told Debbie at Refresh Restyle that I’d be late to the party, but I’d be there.
My motto seems to be…

I was gonna be lame and just use my iPhone to take the pictures, since I was running so late to the big bash! Well, I changed my mind and used my “good” camera. Did you notice the fabulous quality of my photos???? Did ya? Oh, well, with only a few minutes before the party started, I CANNOT FIND THE FILE WHERE MY PICTURES UPLOADED!!!!! I must be crazy! So here are some rather crappy iPhone pictures of my pool noodle project :)

I made it to the party Debbie! Oh, and I brought a date! My shabby little dragonfly.

Linking up to The Pool Noodle Party

The desk that had wings (and a little secret)

2012-06-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

I love furniture make-overs! I love them even more when they surprise me!
I bought this funky little desk from a local thrift store and I had to ask a fellow customer in passing about it’s “wings”…

He said that they were for you to rest your elbows on while you work. Okay…

As with all furniture around here, this one sat in the the garage marinating for a couple of months before I started on it. *That’s my excuse for the furniture hoarding*

First I cleaned off the top to try to get rid of those rings and dirt. They didn’t come off easily, so I got out my electric sander with some 150 grit sandpaper. The yuck came right off and much to my surprise I found the most beautiful yellow chippy paint underneath that faded white. I went all around the skirt and legs to expose some of the yellow everywhere. The top had these wonderful wormholes and chippy paint….

It was then that I decided that this desk did NOT need to be painted! I just cleaned it up and sanded it to show the beautiful yellow. I then made the
difficult decision to REMOVE THE YELLOW WINGS! I know, I know. It’s a tragedy to take off those cool elbow rests. But honestly, there was a little drawer under those wings that couldn’t be used with the wings intact. The wings were old and wonky and not really all that pretty the more I looked at them.

Here it is with the wings closed. Can’t even see the drawer.
So off they came…

A little more sanding… That electric sanding is kinda addicting isn’t it? I then used a clear poly to go over the top and chippy sides. I wanted to retain the “chips”. I knew I’d be taking this to my shop. I always touch furniture before I buy it, and I imagine most people do. I envisioned coming in to find the cute little desk sitting next to a pile of paint flakes on the floor. Oh, the horror!!

Here she is all prettied up in my side yard before I threw her in the car with 2 minutes to spare before picking up my kids from school :) Or should I have said “gently placed her in my car to take her to my booth for sale.”? Either way, here she is…

Oh, and I replaced this knob with a dark brown wooden one right after this picture….

I took it in to the shop on Thursday afternoon, and I was in the store on Friday morning when a cute young couple came in and was looking at it. They stalked it a while and then told me they had to have it for their wedding. Their wedding colors are to be yellow and white. I think I was as excited as they were to see this sweet little piece go home with them!

Happy Wedding sweet couple!

Happy Weekend ya’ll!

Linking up to these great parties:

Annie Sloan’s Napoleonic Blue-yes! Old White-not so much…

2012-05-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

I’m here with a great little table that I just painted with Annie Sloan’s Napoleonic Blue. I then sanded her to make sure she felt the love, and applied dark and clear Annie Sloan’s waxes. Now she’s been buffed to a beautiful shine! I love her!

I just popped open this can of Napoleonic Blue for this table. There is just something special about opening a new can of paint. It’s so exciting!
I felt that way the first time I opened a can of Annie Sloan’s Old White chalk paint. But I have never had the same love affair with the Old White that I have with the deeper colored Annie Sloan paints. I don’t know if it’s the difference in pigments. I do not claim to know ANYTHING about the make-up of paints! But I do definitely notice a difference in the consistency of my Old White can(s) versus my Napoleonic blue or Antibes Green or Emperors Silk colors. Those colors just glide onto the piece, making it beautiful almost instantly. The Old White makes me WORK harder! I’ve been told to add a little water, and I have added some to my working palette on occasion. I honestly don’t blame Annie or her Old White mixture for this problem. The results can be amazing!
I painted this table a while back with Old White, and have gotten great feedback from the gal that purchased it! That makes me so happy!

But, I think the bottom line is that the COLORS are calling me! They make me happy! My paintbrush loves them! And my booth just thrives when I add color!
Don’t worry, Old White, I can’t live without you! You are the original… but I am stepping out of the box-for now!

Happy Thursday to you!

**Oh, and "Beautiful Blue" has already sold, so I won't be bringing her home to live in my sunroom where she fit in so nicely...**

Linking up to these great parties:

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy Me Thursday,

It’s Yard Sale Season!!!

2012-04-09T19:00:00.007-07:00

Hi All! I have been one busy girl, and my blog has been sadly neglected :( But…I’m having my blog made over, so that it’s more “Me”! I’ll be working with Carly from Playful Pickle Designs. She has done some amazing blog designs, so I am excited to get started!

Now, back to the title of this post… It’s Yard Sale Season!!!! I love it!
In the colder months (I can’t call it “Winter”, because we don’t really have a true Winter in GA), the yard sales are very very sparse. But now that the sun and sand gnats have come out, the sales are everywhere!
Now that I have my booth, I have an excuse to go out on Saturday mornings, because I need to get stuff to fill my booth. Before that, I was just going out for fun and hoarding tons of cool stuff! Now, I’m sharing the booty with others who like cool stuff!

This awesome wagon is staying right here on my front porch! I am going to get some blooming flowers to put in it THIS WEEK! No more procrastinating!

I put together a little vignette from some of the items in my garage. They are all from yard sales, estate sales, or Craigslist ads that I’ve gone to in the past few weeks. I randomly pulled these items out in about 5 minutes. Believe me…there’s plenty more booty where that came from :)

Take a closer look at this awesomeness!

I have been looking for a metal fan FOREVER! And I needed one more metal scale to make a collection (I have 2 already). I am keeping both of these beauties… but the 2 pitchers are darling; the chicken is adorable; and the tiny wooden chair and lamp are super cute.

Here I scored a really cute footstool that is begging for a stencil on top. I have 6 of these wooden crate “thingies”, which I plan to make into some type of painted shelving. And the beautiful turquoise wood is from a broken table. I LOVE this color, and the wood is perfectly aged! Yes! I bought parts of a broken table from a yard sale for $1.00! Don’t be jealous! I have plans for that beautiful wood too. Oh, and the table in the background of the photos was picked up at a yard sale this past weekend. I’m gonna paint it this week and put it in my booth.

Don’t get me wrong, I still go to every Thrift store on every corner. I love ‘em all! But, nothing beats the variety and the prices of a good old fashioned yard sale.

~P.S. For those of you reading this post who live in my city… it’s much more fun to sleep in on Saturday mornings than to be up and out the door by 6:30 a.m. Besides, you’ll have to stand outside in the gnats next to old women complaining about how the sale should have started 5 minutes ago and how there’s nothing there that they want anyway! Yeah, you should just stay in bed.

Happy Yard sale shopping!!

Linking to these great parties:

It’s been a while…Spring has Sprung

2012-03-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

I haven’t written a blog post in over a month. I can’t believe it’s been that long! So many things have been going on, but I’ve had no time to blog about them, and some of them are just “life” and are not for blogging anyway. I have missed being able to sit down and share thoughts and pictures with everyone though.

When I last posted, I was headed to the Southern Women’s Show in Savannah. I had a great time and met some really wonderful bloggy friends. I’ve kept in touch with a few of them and plan to continue those special relationships. I even have some giveaways coming up along with highlights of some of the vendors from the show.

I’ve really been working hard to update my booth for Spring. You know, it's hard to blog and keep a booth running. Anyone else find it difficult to balance?

Here’s what "Today is my Someday" looks like right now.
What do you think? I need a round table in the middle? Funny you should say that... I'm working on one right now!

This is a view from the front door. All dressed up for Spring!

                  These are a few of my favorite fun new pieces!


The pictures are from my iPhone. Hubby changed the settings on the “good” camera, so we could try out the Light Scoop that he got me for Christmas. Well, we haven’t gotten around to going through the tutorial, and we can’t remember how to change it all back. Yikes!

I love “before and after’s”. So, I’ll leave you with a couple of easy, fun makeover pictures to inspire you to paint or reupholster something of your own.

The cute yellow chair in the pictures above… I got it from a yard sale. I don’t have a complete “before” shot, but I do have a picture of the BEAUTIFUL (insert sarcasm here) fabric that was on the seat.

Ick!
This fabric was on that sunny YELLOW chair with the beautiful curvy legs!

Now that’s better! Just a little fabric refresher and an attack of the palm sander, and she’s beautiful again!

Hope you are enjoying your Spring!

I was invited to a bloggers event at the Southern Women’s Show- Savannah!

2012-02-17T08:21:00.000-08:00

This weekend I get to meet several great local bloggers at the Southern Women’s Show in Savannah. Really exciting!

Jamie Kennedy ~ The Social Media Director of O2 Media, Inc. the Producers of The Balancing Act and Designing Spaces has put together a great behind the scenes tour for us at the show.

I can’t wait to meet Ginger, Cherry, Summer, Debbie, and Adriana. These are all local bloggers and part of my little community. I’m sure there will be lots and lots to chat about. We’ll all have our camera’s, so look out for picture overload and fun details after the show!

Have a wonderful weekend!

My Bessie: She was kind, smart, and important

2012-02-13T19:46:00.010-08:00

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Okay, I know I am probably the last person on earth to have read “The Help” or to have seen the movie.

I just saw the movie over Christmas and then read the book after that. Backwards, I know! I have not read anything recently that has made such an impact on me. I have carried the characters and conversations in my head for weeks… I’m actually glad to have watched the movie first. It gave me faces to put with the characters that I was reading about in the book. Oh, don’t get me wrong, this book was descriptive enough on its own to produce the faces of the characters. But I found it comforting to already know who I was reading about. Anyway, I am not writing this post as a book review. There are many of those already written by much more talented writers than myself.

I want to write about “The Help”, because it brought back such wonderful feelings and memories of the “help” in my own life. I have lived in South Georgia all of my life. And in the early 70’s, when I was born, people still hired maids to help with housework and babysitting. It wasn’t a luxury afforded only to the rich. My parents were far from rich! They were a couple in their early 20’s with two little kids to raise. Both of my parents worked outside the home, and Bessie came in to stay with us kids and keep house. According to my mother and grandmother, Bessie was my grandmother’s maid first, and she came to work for my parents after I was born. She seemed to still work for my grandparents at times, so I am not sure if she worked for both families at the same time or not. I know she was a hard worker, so she may have held down both jobs!

I was six years old the last time I saw Bessie, so all of my memories are made up of stories told by my family members and a few memories of my own- from a child’s perspective.

What I remember most about Bessie was sitting on her lap. She was a plump woman who always wore those thick support stockings. I believe they were white or nude, which is so funny to me. Can you imagine an African American woman wearing white or tan thick stockings these days? Anyway, I remember sitting comfortably on Bessie’s lap while she sang or talked to me. And I can still see those chubby legs where the support stockings had rolled down below her knees and exposed the rolls. I never saw her as “fat” or “black” for that matter. I just remember feeling loved and secure. You know what’s amazing about that? From what my family has told me, Bessie had 16 children of her own. YES! Sixteen! And her older children and her husband were very abusive toward her. They wouldn’t let her eat at the table with them or let her wash her clothes with theirs. I don’t know what the family dynamics were exactly, but I just remember hearing how she was treated badly at home. That made me sad even then. I can’t imagine having 16 of my own children, and going to someone else’s house to cook, clean, and babysit all day every day. I can’t think of many women that would do that today!

I remember her fried chicken too! Mmmm… delicious! Mom reminded me that Bessie had asked that she be able to make herself a plate of the food she cooked for us every night. When we had fried chicken, she always wanted the back! People are funny about their chicken : )

Me at 2 years old

Because I was so young, I don’t have a whole lot of memories of specific events involving Bessie. I just remember her being there. I remember feeling loved. And I certainly do not remember feeling any kind of prejudice against her because she was black. I hope she felt loved and appreciated by our family, especially in light of her own difficult home life.

In reading “The Help”, I was shocked and hurt many times by the words that were spoken to and about the maids in those homes.

I guess I was just too young when we had a maid to see the very ugly side of racial prejudice, and I am thankful for that. Don’t get me wrong, living in the South, I’ve seen a lot and heard a lot that made me angry or uncomfortable. But, thankfully, I’ve never believed that anyone, regardless of the color of their skin or the kind of job they held, is less important than I am.

I’m so thankful to have the small yet pleasant memories of my Bessie to remind me of someone who was KIND, GOOD, and IMPORTANT. I will always remember her fondly….

Linking to these great parties:
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs

Directors Chairs- a quick before and after

2012-02-02T07:55:00.000-08:00

I picked up 2 of these directors chairs at a yard sale last Spring. It was late in the day, and they were leaning against the wall and folded with no seat or backs on them. I had to ask the seller what they were. She pulled out one ratty looking seat cover to show me what these were supposed to look like when assembled. I took them home and planned to buy or make the seats and backs from canvas. I found that the kits are sold at Pier One and World Market for $20 each, but I’m way too frugal to pay that much! I held on to the chairs and hoped to have the time to make some myself. But… months later, as I was browsing my local Habitat Home Restore, I came across 2 sets of these directors chair seats and backs! I couldn’t believe my luck! Sometimes, it pays just to wait for the right thing to come along…

So, I have just recently pulled these little guys out and cleaned them up. They were made in the early 80’s, according to the tag underneath. The hinges had some type of protective coating on them that had yellowed. It was so difficult to remove, that I ended up sanding it off! They were DIRTY too! So, I cleaned, sanded some rough spots, and taped off all of the hardware. I used spray paint,which I will NEVER do again on a project like this, but that’s another story. It took many light coats to get the coverage I was looking for.

Sadly, I was so into getting these chairs done that I forgot to take any pictures of the intermediate steps. Sorry. Once the paint was done, I sanded it lightly in the places that I thought would normally show wear. I wanted them to look beachy and laid back- not perfectly crisp and white!

Once I was ready to put the super duper cute canvas seats and backs on, I discovered, that they were not an exact fit for my chairs. Uh oh… Thank goodness my mom isn’t afraid of her sewing machine : ) Not saying I’m afraid of mine or anything… She just hemmed both the seats and backs for me, and we were back in business!

Ta-da! Aren’t they great?!? I love the difference! From drab to fab- for sure!

Here’s a little better shot of the seat. I just love the bright colors!!

I already have some great furniture in my own sunroom, so these two went right up for sale. I hope they’ll brighten up someone else’s space.

Happy Thursday to you!

Linking up to these great parties:

Weekend wrap up at Tatertots and Jello

Chic Paper Napkin wreath

2012-01-27T16:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

I know I have been somewhat MIA lately, and I have really missed blogging. My little booth has kept me really busy! I have been painting and thrifting and creating “stuff” to sell in my little cozy corner.

This week, I made another paper napkin wreath just in time for Valentines Day. I used almost exactly the same tutorial as the polka dotted wreath here. The only difference this time was that I used cocktail napkins for the whole thing, and I made two rows of “napkin flowers” to make it really full. Otherwise, just wrap your wreath form with napkins and pin them. Poke holes in the wreath form with a pencil. Twist the napkins in the middle. And insert the “flowers” into the holes with a dab of hot glue. Top off with a pretty bow. That’s all… easy peasy :)

Till next time…

Linking up to these great parties:

Weekend Wrap up party at Tatertots and Jello, Friday Flair at Whipperberry, Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes, Sundae Scoop link party at I heart Naptime

Easy Valentines Paper Napkin Wreath

2012-01-13T14:47:00.000-08:00

I’ve been painting, cleaning, and sorting through my thrifted goodies all week and am absolutely exhausted! Like my feet are on backward, and I can hardly walk tired!!! But this is the happy kind of exhausted. It’s the feeling that you get when it’s “all done”. I finally moved into my little booth today. It’s still a little bare bones, and a bit lacking in color. I tend toward the more rustic look with lots of wood and metal items. So, I need to spice it up a bit with some color in the coming days/weeks. I did manage to put together one little colorful cutie that I’d like to share.

It’s this super easy napkin wreath that I saw over at Living Locurto in the Fall. What a great idea! Thanks Amy!

She used cocktail napkins and a vine wreath. I used a combination of luncheon napkins and cocktail napkins and a styrofoam wreath form.

This is seriously so easy!

1- Tear open a package of napkins. (I got mine from Wal-Mart – 30 for $1.47)
2- Grab the napkin in the middle and twist

3- I wrapped my white wreath form with the smaller cocktail napkins, so that nothing would show through in the “empty” spaces. I secured the napkins using regular straight pins

4- Then I poked holes into the wreath form with a pencil, so that I could insert the twisted end of the napkin.

5- Dabbed a little hot glue in the end of each twisted piece and shoved it in the hole as quickly as possible. Do this all the way around filling each hole with a twisted napkin. It is surprisingly full looking when you are done!

6- Last, I added a ribbon for hanging and a bow to make it pretty!

Sorry for the sad background, but I forgot to take a decent picture of the completed wreath until I got to my booth today. So, you have some worn bead board and a peek of my banner. Want to see more?

Here’s a little more of a peek of it hanging over a red rolling cart that I painted. And here’s my little booth so far…

It’s a little sparse, as I still have several pieces to finish and move in. And NO that purple and green desk is NOT mine! It belongs to another vendor, and it’s just there temporarily to give me some flat surface for display. I know I need color, but not THAT color! Sorry, I’m sure that purple and green are great for someone’s décor…just not mine.

Thanks for checking out my little space and my happy little wreath!

Happy Friday,

Linking up to these great parties:

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy Thursday, 30 Days Pity Party, Serenity Now- Weekend Bloggy Reading , Friday Flair at Whipperberry, Weekend Wrap up at Tatertots and Jello, Flamingo Toes Think Pink Sundays; I heart Naptime Sundae Scoop link party, Six Sisters Stuff Strut your stuff Saturday, Todays Creative Blog Get your Craft On, DIY under $5 at A little TIpsy,

A new year with new adventures

2012-01-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have posted on the ole blog, and I have really missed it. I’m not one of those people who makes a jump into the new year with both feet and tons of plans to get fit, organized, and perfect in 30 days or less! I tend to ease into a new year making my plans slowly and deliberately. So, that’s what I’ve been up to, and that doesn’t make for much fun blogging content.

But….I did mention in my last post that I really wanted to try my hand at some furniture painting in the new year. I’ve been reading, researching, and taking notes on furniture painting and refinishing for months. I’ve even been ~~hoarding~~ collecting furniture pieces in my garage to re-do when the time was right. Well… I think the time is right! I got the call at the end of last week that there is a booth opening in a resale shop that I looked into before Christmas. I was on the waiting list, and now it’s available. Folks, it looks like “TODAY IS MY SOMEDAY”!! It’s a big step for me. I have one week to fill up a booth with goodies to sell. But, I’m excited to see how this goes. It’s been a little dream of mine for quite some time.

In preparation for this big event, I won a Wagner Power Painter Max from The DIY Show Off in November.
I submitted this picture of my “unfinished” projects and was selected as the winner of the awesome paint sprayer. I guess they could see I needed help!

I’m hoping to have my little corner of the world look a little something like this:

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or this…

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or why not dream big and go for this?

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However it turns out, it’ll be my little corner of creativity. And we’ll just see where it goes from there.

Local friends, my items will be located at Two Women and a Warehouse in Pooler. You can find the address and store hours here www.vintagefurnituresavannah.com

Until next time, I’ll be painting like crazy!

My top 5 Posts of 2011

2011-12-28T17:02:00.000-08:00

I have only been blogging since April of this year, and it has proved to be a great adventure. I never thought that anyone let alone many of you would like my little projects, but you did. And it motivated me to do more and try new things. There are still many things that I haven’t dipped my creative toes into yet.
Furniture painting is at the top of that list, and that’s what I plan to do in 2012.

But here is a look back at my top 5 posts of 2011. I figured I only blogged for half a year, so I’d do only 5 favorites.
1)

My Thrifty Finds to Fall Décor was the biggest hit on the blog this year. It was a combination of some really great garage sale finds and cheap Ikea mirror makeovers that created a fun Fall vignette.

2)

This Sweater and Burlap Wreath has become my #1 Pinterest favorite! I couldn’t be more thrilled that people are still pinning this one every single day. The funny thing about this wreath is that I made it last Fall, before I started blogging, and didn’t really love it. So, I just put it away in a coat closet. One week this Fall I didn’t have a project to post, so I dug it out and posted a tutorial on how to make it. Well, it was a hit, and it even got featured on a little blog named Tatertots and Jello! Maybe you’ve heard of it? Squeal!!!

3)

This Halloween wreath from upcycled leggings was a lot of fun! I love the little t-shirt pom pom spider with the crazy eyes! I like my Halloween décor to be kooky not spooky, so this fit the bill.

4)

My Dollhouse from Dollar Shelf was a hit with lots of moms with little girls, who play with tiny toys : ) It was such a fun and easy transformation using only spray paint, fabric, and a few upcycled items I had on hand. The best part of all is that I made something special for my daughter to enjoy.

5)

This last post- The Pink Cheeks is my favorite. It’s my favorite, because it’s about me…and my daddy. It didn’t get featured on any blogs or awarded for the wonderful writing. But none of that matters, because I got to share something from my heart that I have only learned to appreciate since my dad has passed away. And sadly, it isn’t until we lose someone that we love that we come to appreciate the special things about that person. It’s too late to tell them. The moment has passed.

I hope you've enjoyed my top 5 wrap-up. I hope to be back with more fun projects in the new year!

Linking up to these great parties:

Top Projects 2011 at Southern Hospitality, Favorites from 2011 at Savvy Southern Style, Show me what ya got at Not just a housewife, Crafty, Scrappy, Happy me Thursday at Crafty Scrappy Happy, Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes, Sundae Scoop at I heart Naptime