SweetPepperRose

Fall Front Porch Decorations

2019-12-03T19:20:00.000-05:00

Need a quick way to dress up your front porch

for the Fall season?

Use your urn style planter to hold

Fall faux Pumpkins and faux fall berries and leaves.

Add an Autumn mini flag and a

metal pumpkin stake.

DIY Prim Sconces from Old Cutting Boards

2017-03-12T13:38:00.000-04:00

DIY Prim Sconces from Old Cutting Boards

For those of you who follow me, you know of my

obsession with primitive decor. I wish I could

afford all of the 'real McCoy' prims out there, but I can't,

so I do what any respectable DIYer does...

I just make'em. As promised, here is a quick

and simple tutorial on how I made them.

PLEASE excuse my pitiful photos -

photography is not my best attribute.

(blurry camera phone photo!)

I found these old cutting boards at the Goodwill.

I kept the left one in my craft room for a very

long time, not truly wanting to paint over

Mozart's Figaro's wedding graphic.

But it obviously did not fit into my prim decor, so I finally

gave in and decided to make them into sconces.

I took the cutting boards into my workshop,

along with a battery operated candle for

size referencing, and dug through my scrap

wood pile to get started with the cutting process.

(Please do not judge my messy work space!)

Candle placed for reference.

And this is what I ended up with... here's a last

photo before sanding away Figaro and ladies!

My sweet little grand daughter painted them for me.

She had been begging to "paint and craft with Nana"

for a very long time so I figured now was a great time,

using the only red craft paint I had on hand to avoid an

unnecessary trip into town. And once they were

completely dry...

I sprayed painted them with flat black and sanded

in areas to allow the red paint and wood to show through.

No PRIM item is ever complete without a black over

coat and distressed sanding. Strictly my opinion, of course.

For the sake of easy dusting, I applied two coats of

clear satin Polycrylic.

I just love how the paint and poly brings out the old beat up

cutting marks! Prim at its very best!

For the life of me, I tried and tried to get a good pic

of these sconces on my living room wall. My LR is large

(21 x 24! and I love it) but my front triple windows are far

enough away that I still can't get good light on this slanted wall.

Oh well.

Of course, these battery operated candles are not truly meant

to actually give out light. But the ambiance is lovely.

I MIGHT have to go back and sand more to uncover

more RED and wood. I Love RED!!

So, what do you think? Not bad for a couple of old

cutting boards and wood pieces destined for the trash burn pile.

And that's what DIYing / UP-Cycling / Re-purposing is all about.

Happy Crafting, Y'all!

JoAnn

UPDATE Glass Doorknob Bedpost Finale

2017-03-02T13:38:00.003-05:00

UPDATE: Glass Doorknob Bedpost Finale

and newly painted headboard and walls

As promised, I am back to share with y'all my

daughter's updated painted "found" headboard that we had

added the glass doorknobs to, as the original posts were missing.

See the original blog post here.

Here is a reminder photo. You can see that

although the cream color is pretty on the headboard,

however is just blended into the old wall color.

You can't really tell from the above photo, but the old color

actually had a PINK hue. (Look closely around

the doorknob.) Not cool. At all.

New wall color is called Sour Dough (not sure what brand).

It is in the Khaki family color.

Oh so pretty! It went on pretty dark, and we were very

nervous, but it then lightened when it dried.

I cannot tell you the color of the headboard. She had it

color-matched to the color of a book cover she is reading.

Kind of a blue/grey color.

I think that is so great that Home Depot can do that!!

And now it all really blends very well together.

Very happy!

Til next time!

JoAnn

Primitive Country Saltbox House Wallpaper

2017-02-24T13:02:00.000-05:00

Prim Saltbox Wallpaper

Hey y'all! Just thought I'd share (again, I think)

my current living room wall covering, a very

Prim'n Pretty scene with saltbox houses, sheep and

those little apple trees. I've been very satisfied for many,

many years as this is high quality (aka expensive)

wallpaper. I still love it BUT.....

(Like my DIY black wall sconce?

I'll do a how-to next time.)

as much as I love it, I'm pretty much over it.

Our home is 18 yrs old and I think it's been up for

about 10 (?) yrs, maybe a little less.

I LOVE my Country Sampler magazines and swoon over

all the prim items, antique crocks and bowls, furniture, etc.

I always have and always will, I suspect.

And then, as I scroll through page after page and

blog after blog that are incorporating the white

"shiplap," some even painted a different color, also

either white or painted bead board,

(which I already have) I can feel my taste of decor and

color choices changing.

However, I know for certain I cannot do the

"white on white on white" or even the light greys.

Part of my love of jewel tone colors is that

they are soothing to the eyes, due to my migraines.

I mean, sometimes I even feel like I need to put

on sunglasses to look at all those pretty but super

bright blog photos of the white on white on white pics.

That said, I have seen the shiplap painted with

very pretty pale greens, mid tone colors of grey,

and some creams and toned down whites...

even stained (the 1/4" plywood) which I totally love!

So I guess I'm posting these photos to try to help myself

make a final decision. But we are STILL working on

our bedroom and master bath, which has NO

country/prim items, if you can believe that.

And I really love it.

Crochet Kitty Cat

2017-02-11T03:00:00.000-05:00

Crochet Kitty Cat

(Pattern can be found on Little Woolie's blog

Part 1 and Part 2 )

I made this super cute crocheted kitty cat for

my grand daughter as a Christmas gift for 2016.

If you look closely at her pattern you will notice that I

made a few changes to the kitty to reflect my own personal

tastes, such as adding the yellow around the

top of the ears/head. Also I made a different nose.

Kitty has her own blanket!

The beginning circles, turned into squares.

A different spin on her blanket by adding smaller

granny's around the perimeter.

Then adding the border rounds, finishing with a shell stitch.

A close up of the face.

Tummy

Back

As a side note, I did add pieces of an old t shirt to

the tummy and back squares so the stuffing would

not come out.

And my little 5 yr old grand daughter loves her!

Happy Crocheting, Y'all!

JoAnn

Glass Doorknob Bedpost Finale

2017-01-03T10:11:00.000-05:00

Glass Doorknob Bedpost Finale

See UPDATE on color HERE

Hubby and I found a discarded king size headboard

that was missing its finales. Most likely it had those

familiar round wooden "cannon ball" finales.

Daughter and her new hubby recently purchased

a new king memory foam set with only the metal mattress

frame, and she wanted only a headboard, soooo...

PAINTED!

After working some 'paint magic' on it with my

go-to paint, Zinsser Bullseye 1-2-3 Primer, because

is tintable. 3 coats in Country White. Perfect!

Lookin' pretty good so far, right?

Sorry, no 'before' photo. But trust me,

it was ugly and very dirty. Seriously, secretly

I had my doubts about it the entire time.

MISSING FINALES

While the paint was drying, Daughter and I went to

Lowes to find something to serve as finales, but

they did not have anything she liked.

Then I remembered Hobby Lobby had some round

and egg-size wooden pieces. All of those were much

too small in proportion to the bed,

so some major brain-storming took place

right there in the store. While walking around we passed

by the faux doorknob / drawer pull section and found

these lovely glass doorknobs. My daughter had a

'light bulb' moment. "Mama, wouldn't these

look great on the bed?" Um, Yup. Win-win.

These photos were taken before I actually mounted
the doorknobs permanently using a wooden dowel,
screws, wood glue and also super glue on the metal parts.
(Sorry, no photos of the actual process!)

NOTES: a small hex wrench came with these
knobs for adjustments/removal - see the small side "hole"?
When you remove the long metal pole connecting
the two glass doorknobs, they all become loose pieces,
so they MUST be glued in some fashion.
Unfortunately they did not come with some matching
screws for the back, now 'Bottom', plate.
Also, the back of the doorknob is square, so I

bought a square dowel, also at Hobby Lobby,

that fit in the knob perfectly. I then cut up small pieces

of the left over dowel to fill the gaps in the larger

bedpost hole, plus filled it with wood glue, topped it

with the metal plate then glued and screwed it in place.

Here is the headboard in her bedroom, before we

painted the walls. They were a very pale pink.

And here it is after the walls were painted.

Camera phone pic!

The result is pretty darn cool!

Happy Painting, Y'all!

JoAnn

Sharing with:
DIY DREAMER

Crochet Granny Hexagon Throw

2016-12-12T19:08:00.000-05:00

Crochet Granny Hexagon Throw

I really enjoyed making these hexagons, most of

them made using my favorite jewel tone colors.

Initially I was not sure if I'd even like how

the end project would look.

But I'm glad I decided to finish it.

These are crocheted in ten rounds of DC.

I finished with one round of SC in soft white.

Get the hexagon pattern HERE

I joined the hexagons using the whip stitch

going into the back loop only.

It created a very pretty almost "lattice" like stitch.

YARN:

This was my first time use Bernat Super Value.

I used Red Heart SS in Soft White for joining.

They pair well together.

Happy Crocheting Y'all!

JoAnn

Sharing with:

Linda's Crafty Corner

Crochet Solid and Traditional Granny Square Red and Aqua Throw

2016-11-29T15:12:00.000-05:00

There's just something about RED Aqua and white

that I just love. Well, the actual name is "Turqua," by

Red Heart. A fabulous blend of turquoise and aqua.

And I'm a jewel tone color girl. Imagine that.

Yes, I know, it's Red Heart SS, but once you WASH IT.

Oh my. Well, it's heaven by the handful.

Yes, you read it right. I WASHED IT.

RED. with WHITE. and that lovely Turqua.

NO COLOR BLEEDING!

You gotta love that!

Washed separately on COOL/COLD temp, Delicate cycle,

with plain old, el cheap-o hair conditioner,

then Downey in the Rinse cycle,

Gentle tumble dry on LOW heat = MAGIC SOFTNESS.

Oh, and I, well I.... I ironed it.

Yes, IRONED.

No, no, no, the iron was NOT directly ON the throw.

I ain't THAT dumb!

I used a very old-washed-100-times

white t-shirt, double thickness, with the iron's dial

set on none other than the ACRYLIC setting.

Low, at first, I kept feeling my hand between

the t-shirt and my throw, until I felt it was

safe to go just a little warmer.

Enter a big smiley face here.

I'm not a pro at crochet by any means,

but as I crochet more and more,

I'm finding that I like less of the "hole-y" patterns.

I'm more of the Solid, All-around Granny Square kinda gal.

I was feeling a little adventurous.

So I dabbled a little with design and threw in

the traditional granny square for good measure.

And came up with this.

Not too shabby, eh?

I just love the 'dotted 'X' the solid granny shows.

Another gift checked off my list!

Happy Crocheting, Y'all!

JoAnn

DIY Wood Pumpkin Lanterns

2016-11-04T12:36:00.000-04:00

Hey y'all! Back to share another scrap wood pumpkin project.

I call these pumpkin lanterns because I put battery operated

blinky lights in them for illumination. (see last photo)

Sizes vary according to my scrap wood, one

is 16" the other is 18" (not including lids)

I drew free-hand the eyes and mouth then cut out

with my scroll saw. (The lids stay put with an extra

piece of smaller scrap wood secured underneath)

I painted the insides with yellows and bright oranges

before I assembled them.

I also free handed the pumpkin handle stump,

glued and brad nailed into place, wrapped with rafia.

For the crow, after I cut it from scraps, I drilled a

very small hole in both his bottom and top of lid,

and hot glued a piece of small dowel to secure,

then glued Spanish moss to cover. One also has a

sunflower secured with hot glue.

I use battery operated blinky lights to illuminate.

(I do not recommend wax tea lights due to fire hazard).

The yellow and bright orange paints really light them up!

I use these indoors but you could also use them on a

covered porch. I would spray them with a clear outdoor sealant.

I meant to post this project before Halloween, but I

just did not get around to doing it.

Happy Fall, Y'all!

JoAnn

Wood Pumpkins from 1x6 Scraps

2016-10-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

1x6 Scrap Wood Pumpkins

Happy Fall, y'all!

I never get tired of hearing or saying that.

FALL.

It's MY most wonderful time of the year.

No gnats! No mosquitoes! No Sweating!

That's a plus, plus, plus in my book.

It means (on a good day) I can get outside

and into our workshop building without

sweating to death to make something.

Around here, one cannot even walk out to

the mail box with out sweating nearly to death.

O.K., on with the show...

Today I'm sharing a set of scrap wood pumpkins

that I made last year for my antique / unique

mall booth, and of course I had to keep a

set of them for myself ;-)

(Yeah, I ought'a do a separate post sometime

about having and maintaining a booth,

while battling fibromyalgia and migraines.

Yeah, I know. )

Look! My secret stash. Well, one of anyway.

I saved all these scrap pieces of wood

from my husband and fire pit. Baah!

I did not take step by step photos while

making these pumpkins, cause I'm

just not that good at juggling blogging

and making or buying booth items.

But I'll come back and edit this post

with instructions when I make another set.

EDIT: Written Instructions:
Scrap 1x6 wood in three various heights.
Mine are 12", 9", and 6" because
that's what I had on hand

2 - pieces of wood for each size pumpkin:
Cut the corners with a miter saw;
Cut ONE of the pieces of wood in half;
Glue and nail it to the center of the other piece;
Glue and nail small tree limb nubs to the top;
Paint and add rafia.

Ta-da!

Here they are beside my Sweet Witch and my

pillow made from the leg of some old jeans.

I've moved them around the house a few times

and can't decide where they should go so

at the moment, they are on this antique door

display piece that did not sell. Oh well. I made

good use of it in that special spot in MY house.

Happy Crafting, Y'all!

JoAnn

Sharing With:

Second Chance to Dream

Natural Acorn Wreath, Spray Painted

2016-10-22T14:25:00.002-04:00

Living "out in the sticks", as my dear Mother always

used to say, does have quite a few perks.

Other than the peaceful quite, where we live,

there's an abundance of natural FREE elements

to decorate with - and acorns are one of them.

A couple of years ago, I made this Acorn

Wreath and spray painted it orange

for the Halloween / Fall season.

I love orange!

Not that it's 'rocket science,' but here's the gist:

SUPPLIES:

Foam wreath * see note 1

Acorns, cleaned and baked * see note 2

Glue gun and glue sticks

Spray paint (your color choice)

* NOTE 1: For this project I strongly recommend

the round solid foam kind and not the DIY kind,

such as pipe foam insulation secured with

duct tape. This will be a rather heavy wreath.

* NOTE 2: Before you start this project,

you WILL need to wash and BAKE your

acorns - they really do have bugs and bacteria

inside them!

Go here for instructions to do this.

Did I say you'll need some acorns

for this project? 'Some' means LOTS

and lots of acorns.

After the cleaning process and your ready,

pop in a movie (or two) and begin hot gluing

acorns to the wreath. Use the smaller acorns

to fill in any gaps between the larger ones.

Then spray paint it your desired color.

I use my wreath indoors, but I suppose you

could use a clear exterior sealer if you choose

to hang your acorn wreath outdoors.

Super easy peasy! A little time consuming, but

you'll have a beautiful wreath for years to come.

As I said, this will be a slightly heavy wreath,

(as compared to most) so you could use color coordinated ribbon or burlap to hang it, or

or simply prop it up on your mantel or a shelf.

(Sorry for the blurry pics - phone camera!)

Happy Crafting, Y'all

JoAnn

"Solid Circles" Granny Square Cotton Baby Blanket

2016-10-14T05:30:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday, y'all.

Here today to share a nice little blanket I made

for my newest grandson, a

Solid Circle Granny Square baby blanket, made from

100% cotton Sugar & Creme and Peaches & Creme.

I think this yarn is used a lot for dish clothes,

and I did have my doubts while working up the circles

then assembling the blanket because it is not as soft as

the acrylics I'm used to working with, which is mostly

Red Heart's LOVE or Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn.

But after giving it a good ironing, it is as soft as ever.

Next time I'll be using

Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton.

(I just wish each skein had more yardage!!)

I can see this pattern done in so many different color

variations! I found this wonderfully easy pattern

over at Spin Cushions, which she calls a "Dotty Blanket".

What ever you want to call it, hop over and take

a look at her site for the pattern and browse her projects.

Happy Friday!

JoAnn

Nine Patch Granny Crochet Block

2016-09-14T16:58:00.000-04:00

Nine Patch Granny Crochet Block

I mostly used Red Heart's LOVE for this project.

Very nice yarn to work with - easy on the fingers!

It makes a nice sofa 'throw' size.

Here it is on my antique 3/4 bed.

This will probably be gifted this coming Christmas

to a very sweet relative - we draw names each year.

To join the small black blocks together,

I used the slip stitch method.

After adding the blue border, I used the zipper stitch method.

It creates such a pretty "V" stitch.

For the DC border, I stitched into the back loop only.

It creates more of a flat stitch.

Happy Crocheting, Y'all!

JoAnn

Linking to these Parties:
Domesblissity

Featured at Domesblissity

Simple DIY Outdoor Wedding Arbor

2016-07-09T16:43:00.000-04:00

SIMPLE DIY OUTDOOR WEDDING ARBOR

Hi all! I thought I'd share just a few photos of the arbor

we built last August for our daughter's outdoor wedding

in September, for only a few dollars.

Seriously. 2x4's. Painted white. That's it.

Sorry, no time for step by step photos, and I only had a

short time to snap these with my phone camera, but I

know you savvy DIYers out there get the gist of it...

Three 10 ft. 2x4s...that's it. Two of them have about

2 ft. buried in the ground. The third one had the ends

cut off to use as side braces and to stabilize the top board.

SIMPLE.

A dear friend of hers from her workplace did

all of her flower arrangements, as her wedding gift.

The wedding time was late afternoon, and, as you

can probably tell in the photos, it was cloudy...

and it DID RAIN about 2 hrs prior to the wedding!

Daughter originally wanted to use wood branches/small

trees for the arbor, and build wooden benches.

When she decided the time of the wedding, we all decided

with the wedding being late, and no sunshine,

that WHITE would POP against the natural background of grass

and trees - I'm so glad WHITE was chosen.

But it worked out to the good. Down here in South GA,

it was a HOT and MUGGY morning.

All of God's pesky critters were threatening to

RUIN the wedding... Gnats, Wasps, Mosquitoes, Flies.

You name it, it was buzzing around.

But the rain subsided, and for September in the South,

we were left with a relatively much cooler and

mostly bug-free evening. Thank you, Lord!

The framing for the "Entrance" old wood doors was

made in much the same way, except the

doors themselves had wooden shims drilled in them

and drove into the ground. I used black chalkboard

paint on two old children's headboards, one used here

to welcome guests and announce the wedding party.

It was propped against a old table used for a water jug and

cups for guests while they waited for the Wedding March.

(the other used to announce the evening's menu)

We used an old dry sink with mirror

to hold the bug spray (not even used!) and

the Wedding Programs (not pictured due to rain!

they were set out just prior to guests arriving.)

Daughter preferred to use her old school globe for her

guests to sign there names in lieu of a traditional guest book.

Simple grapevine wreathes with baby's breath tucked

neatly around the bottom adorned each door, so pretty!

And what outdoor country wedding would be complete

without a Pallet Project or two?

TIP: set out a "Deer Cam" (left side, on the post)

to capture random photos!

Even our pet donkey, Shrek, wanted in on the action.

And, I just had to share this photo. Our family RARELY

has a dance at weddings, so this 'Father-Daughter dance' pic is

very special to me! Those two little girls at the bottom of the

photo (actually there were about 6 girls or so sitting there),

they simply sat with there mouths open, staring at the

"Princess of the Evening."

It was so precious!

We transformed our boat shelter into an all out "Party House",

complete with dance floor and lighting.

The Best Man provided the music via his iPod and

portable mega speaker,

and they danced and sang til Midnight!!

The Bride

The Bride and her Grandmother

A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER:

If you are in the South Carolina area, esp Greenville,

and are in need of a photographer for any special occasion,

please consider Kendra Martin Photography. She's terrific!

If you click the link above, you will see various sample

wedding photos, including some of my daughter. She is

the dark haired beauty with her man and wedding party

in the Pine Forest near our home.

To view more great photos of the wedding, click here.

You'll read a short overview of their wedding written

by Kendra Martin on her blog, and even get a glimpse of

my lovely little grand-daughter and grandson, who were

Flower Girl and Ring Bearer.

NOTE #1: that is plain juice in his cup - he was tuckered out!

NOTE #2: Her diamond ring is actually a combo of two of

my old 14k gold and diamond rings - the band with the

"open side loops" was part of my "pre-engagement ring" her

Daddy gave to me when I was only 16 years old!

(And Yes, I am, well, over 50 )

The diamond "head" part was cut from my wedding

ring set, and made into a necklace many years ago.

So, with both pieces just sitting in my jewelry box,

I had our local jeweler make her ring, as

her "Something Olde" and now, her Something Special.

Thanks for stopping by!

I'd love to read your comments.

JoAnn

Granny Square Tote Bag Purse All Around Pattern

2016-04-09T10:59:00.000-04:00

Here's another great item that is ready in

my Etsy shop It's a great multi purpose bag

made with premium acrylic yarns and cotton blend lining.

Back

Nice sturdy handles!

Double lined - ecru to prevent see thru to pattern

and a lovely print inner lining machine

stitched for extra durability to hold heavier

objects like books, water bottle, baby items -

you name it!

has a "Button and Crochet Loop" top closure

and an inner zipper pocket.

Could even be an overnight tote.

Endless uses and possibilities!

AND FREE SHIPPING

Thanks for looking!

JoAnn

WIP: All Around Granny Goodness

2016-03-16T09:30:00.000-04:00

WIP... these lovely Spring colored "all around"

granny squares are shaping up

to be my next project.

I've made a few items that will be available

in my Etsy shop soon.

Stay tuned!

They remind me of Easter egg colors!

JoAnn

Maybelle Crochet Flower and Square afghan

2016-01-23T16:57:00.000-05:00

Hello again! Here is one of two blankets I made as

Christmas gifts, using the Maybelle crochet flower pattern

(link to pattern below), one for my daughter and

one for my DIL.

I really like the contrasting colors.

I used Hobby Lobby "I LOVE THIS YARN"

Linen and Greybeard

You can find the pattern here.

Check out the one I made for my

granddaughter here

Thanks for stopping by to visit!

JoAnn

Maybelle Flower Crochet Blanket

2015-12-27T11:07:00.000-05:00

Hi all! Hope your 2015 Christmas was Merry and Bright!

It's been a while since my last post,

but thought I'd share a pretty blanket that I

crocheted for my sweet little granddaughter

for her Christmas gift.

It's the Maybelle crochet flower,

and the pattern can be found at

myrosevalley.blogspot.com

Flower and the surrounding block square

I really wanted to take it outside to photograph for better lighting,

but it was a wet gloomy hot Christmas day

down here in South Georgia.

So, my sofa and my bed had to suffice for display.

AGAIN - FLASH ON

AND FLASH OFF

This pretty baby is a hefty 11 inch block,

25-block blanket.

5 rows across, 5 rows down.

I did not intend to make it this large, but

she will grow into this. Somehow I just did not like

ending the block with the white border,

so I added another 2 rounds of the pink.

Because I do not live near a Hobby Lobby, my favorite

yarn choice, I LOVE THIS YARN, was not readily available

on such short notice...

I churned this baby out in 2 WEEKS!! Whew!

I took a BIG leap of faith and used Red Heart's LOVE yarn,

which is a VAST improvement over their supersaver

(which I will NEVER use again!)

Colors: Papaya, Minty, and White

She loved it, and I hope she will treasure it for a long time.

JoAnn

Linking with:
One Project Closer

Bed Bench with BarnWood Seat

2015-08-16T22:16:00.000-04:00

I know bed benches are all over blog land

(search 'how to make a bed bench' tutorial)

but we were pretty proud of this one

as it was a gift to our daughter.

She loves it.

We had some left over barn wood and used

it as the seat, sanded and sealed with poly.

........

I'm such a bad blogger - I completely forgot

to take proper pics of the next shutter shelf

I made last week. It is already in my booth!

Here's a sneak peak. I will try to remember

to get a better photo when I go in to

rotate items this week.

Here is a shot of the bottom section. I love

the mixture of old white flooring, barn wood, and

old pieces of "newer" scrap wood. I say old

"newer" as we keep odd pieces of scraps, literally

for years. We know we'll use it for something!

Instead of another corner shelf, I chose to make a

regular shelf, using the shutters for the sides and

scrap wood for shelves. You can see I used another

piece of the old green baseboard at the bottom.

I sealed it with poly to prevent the remained old

green paint from chipping off.

It's the last of it - the remainder has a split in it.

Til next time!

JoAnn

DIY Shutter Corner Shelf

2015-07-31T16:00:00.000-04:00

I recently acquired several old shutters from a yard sale at a

"get-them-out-of- my-sight-don't-wont-to-lug-them-home-with-me" price.

Um, YES, thank you!

Above is the finished product in my booth.

I went with green, lots of items go with green.

My shutter stash in my junk/craft room.

Please tell me you have a room like this, too!

I wanted the bottom part to be larger then the top, so I chose two sets of larger shutters, two sets of smaller shutters,

and used scrap lumber for the "shelves."

I used scrap lumber for the side braces, helping to keep the shelf nice and sturdy - I even disassemble some broken shutters

and used the shutter opener thing-y

(I know there's a proper name for it)

as trim on the shelves, covering the rough edges.

This is just a shot of my ability to correctly use my husband's miter saw - I cut it just right! Excuse the blinding flash, but I tried to show an old piece of board I used as a base board.

And here it is before painting.

You can see the old base board was chippy green.

I kinda wanted to leave it all rustic-like,

but some of the shutters had bad stains on them.

Didn't look good up close.

I know I have posted in a while, hope you're still following!

I have more shutter projects coming soon.

Due to those pesky spammers, I have changed my comment settings,

but I'd love to hear from you.

JoAnn

SHARED WITH THESE LINKY PARTIES

Vintage Yellow Cupboard with Chicken Wired Doors

2015-04-26T16:00:00.000-04:00

Hello fellow bloggers!

Wow, it's been a very long time since I've

made a post about a project here on the blog!

Been busy, busy, busy as a bee, and tired, tired, tired.

Which, if any of you followers are reading this,

the blog has taken a back seat since I opened a booth

at a local vintage / antique mall.

Just don't have the time to do it all...

work a job, work on house work, work on projects,

then to photo and blog about them is next to impossible.

Doing all that while battling migraines and fibromyalgia

only adds to the "no blogging" absence.

But today I felt like sharing one of the projects

my husband and I recently finished, and to my surprise,

the store owner decided to place it in the foyer entrance

of her store ;-) (only the yellow cupboard, yellow birdhouse

on top and yellow honey bee cookie jar are mine).

No before picks - just picture plain old dark brown.

I juggled RED or YELLOW for the exterior of the cupboard. But

I happened on an "oops" gallon of yellow paint for only a few bucks.

So that was the deciding factor on that part.

I had 3 silver colored cabinet handles left over from another

project, so we left the chicken wire that we placed in the

upper cabinet doors (one glass pain was broken) as it came,

so that it would match up nicely. I distressed the entire cupboard

lightly on places that would normally get scuffed over time.

The original bottom door magnets were still in tack, but

the doors would not stay shut. We improvised and added wood

handles (I know there's a proper word for those)

to keep the doors closed.

I hope to share more projects and post very soon!

Til then, Happy Painting!

JoAnn

Chalk Painted Antique Cedar Chest

2014-10-23T22:56:00.000-04:00

Hello fellow Bloggers and Painters!

I'm very much alive but have been VERY busy with projects for my booth in a local antique/vintage mall, leaving very little time for well, hardly anything else, esp. blogging.

But, I wanted to pop in and show off this little beauty.

An antique cedar chest with GORGEOUS curves and features that I won at an auction.

There are many home made chalk paint recipes out there in Blogland using the Plaster of Paris. I've tried several ratios, so I did a blended mixture of a little bit of them all. I do find that adding less warm water, just enough to get it blended as smooth as possible, is best, in my opinion.

Here she is in my ~~junk room / craft room /~~ studio

I can't decide which I love more... the feet or the front carvings.

Please excuse the ugly mat on the floor.

And the poorly lit night time photo shoot.

Just concentrate on the beautiful cedar chest.

Here are some before pics. No damage, just badly in need of sanding to the bare wood and re-staining - um, noop, or painting. Chalk painting.

I gotta say, I seriously considered buying some

Restor-A-Finish but opted to chalk paint.

I'm reading some good things about using coconut oil for refinishing? I really want to try this method, so anybody out there that has any tips or suggestions, please send it!

Again, please excuse the night time glary photos!

Anybody out there with a booth experiencing

"seller's remorse"? As bad as we need the money, This baby MIGHT have to come back home with me!!

And, I can't believe how long it has taken me to filter through these photos (all taken with my smart phone), edit,

and type up this post!

But I can't leave without saying a little bit about having a booth.

I both LOVE it, and... I not-so-much-love it. (does that make sense?)

It's a GOOD kind of work. But for me, and I've talked about it before, my fibro can dictated which project gets done.

And a project like this chest really kicks my butt.

PLUS, my husband cannot help me as much as before (at his previous job), and I have to do all the moving around of items and rearranging. That's the part I don't like. It's

like, everyday when I bring in new items, I have to pull out stuff and then push it back in... Same with the auctions, although they do have "loaders" for the big items.

And yet, I'm addicted to it. All of it.

The auctions.

The sales.

The thrifting.

The painting.

NOT the sanding.

Getting my check at the end of the month to help pay bills!!!

YUUUP!!!

No, I don't actually say it quite that way, but it does sound pretty cool! Anybody else watch Storage Wars?

I think "Barry" is just too cool.

Kinda reminds me of an older Miami Vice "Don Johnson"

Gotta go folks!

Happy painting!

Singer Sewing Table with Barn Wood Top

2014-06-09T21:48:00.000-04:00

Stopping in to share this little project my

husband made for our daughter, from

an antique Singer sewing machine table

she picked up at a yard sale.

It is missing the foot pedal but she loves it.

It had no top of any kind. She had seen

some of the old barn wood we won at an auction,

so she knew what kind of top she wanted on it.

This is a left over section of an old barn door.

From research, husband THINKS this particular

wood is from the old Chestnut Trees.

(If we're wrong, please let us know!)

Its full of wormy holes (no, not from termites,

we know what that looks like)

These pics were taken before I put a

coat of poly on it.

It went home with daughter before I thought

to take a quick pic for the blog. The poly

really brought out the grain of the wood.

I wanted to keep it for myself! ;-)

Before I go, here's a few pics of an unwelcome

visitor I practically stepped on while painting

a cabinet outdoors...

I had put the cabinet doors

on our swing, which hangs from gigantic old

light poles and is covered with Wisteria vines.

While alternating from the cabinet to the doors

between coats of paint, I stepped back over

to the swing, I felt something shoot past my foot!

By the time I got a camera he was half way

up the pole and headed for the tree.

He moved so quickly through the tree.

You can barely tell which is a limb and

which is the snake. This is a first "tree" snake I've

actually seen... now not only do we have to

watch where we step, we have to look UP

when we're under the trees!

Just happy it was not a "bell tale" rattlesnake!

Have a Happy Day, Y'all!

Old Window Shelf {Tooting My Own Horn!}

2014-05-04T11:23:00.000-04:00

Hey y'all! Just popping in to share a project my husband and I made for our daughter, who saw it on Pinterest and wanted one similar to it. She texted me this picture of her window we made for her hanging in her home ;-)

We had recently purchased some old windows to make different projects for our booth, in which some are

rustic and unpainted. So we were eager to try

this particular project and it looks great!

She wanted her window painted white, and I think it

turned out pretty good. This window was not in the

best shape so we had to add a bottom strip of wood

and fill in holes with wood filler.

For a different look, this window could easily be turned upside down and look just as nice.

We have one of these in the booth now, unpainted and rustic looking, so whoever buys it can personalize it with there own taste in color, but I think I'll bring it home and give it a couple of coats of white paint!

Y'all have a happy day!

Number Painted Vintage Bill and Letter Organizer

2014-03-27T13:44:00.000-04:00

As promised, I finally found an item in my phone that I painted to put in our booth...

Anybody recognize it?

I saw them all the time when I was a kid... it's an old "Bill Letter Misc" organizer stand with three metal key ring holders at the bottom. It can also be hung on the wall.

No, I didn't take a 'before' pic but here's one just like it, listed on Etsy, minus the 3 metal key holders:

I just love it!

Most of the gold (gilded?) lettering was gone from mine but I could still feel the letters, so I sanded it down.

I used Christy James' 'old school letter transfer' method.

She makes some of the coolest stuff ever!!

I doubt there's anybody who HASN'T been to her blog,

but just in case, hop over and check out her stuff at

Confessions of a Serial Do-It-Yourselfer

Happy Thursday, Y'all!

Sharing with

Katherine's Corner

Tickled Pink x 2
Treasure Box Tuesday