Garage Sale Basket

Just a quick post today. I worked on A project today for my craft show later this year. Just one. Don't wanna burn myself out ya know. ;)

If you read my previous post about my garage sale finds from April 27th, this was one of those finds.

See the wire basket with the doily hanging out of it? It's that basket that I worked on today. When I bought the basket, it was quite bent out of shape, but luckily, I was able to pretty much bend it back into it's original shape. I had already fixed it before I took this photo.


Luckily, I don't have an idea of what to use this for myself. I don't have anywhere to put it to use in my craft room for organization, so it's going to be sold in my craft show. Which is probably better anyway.

I think it's pretty. Kinda shabby chic. I've seen all the darling little tags that people find or make to hang on their baskets and I was going to try to do something like those, but I am basically lazy and was looking for something easier.

I had the little doily for many years and first I took some Plaid Stiffy liquid fabric stiffener to stiffen the doily. It was kind of odd that it looked grungy after it was dry. That's OK, I like it! Then I took a bronze looking metal number, that I've also had for a number of years, left over from my scrapbooking stash and made by Making Memories (I think). Isn't it cool looking? I also have some in vintage silver too. I wish now I would have gotten the vintage brass ones as well. Anyway, finally I just wired the number on to the doily and then wired the doily on to the basket. Done.


Now I just need to think of some other things to use these numbers on. I KNOW I can come up a ton of things. ;)

Have a creative day!


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Weekend Goody Finds!

It's that time of year for us crafty types and junk hunters, isn't it? You know....that time of year. When the true sign of spring isn't the budding leaves and newly emerging flowers. 

Oh no. Those aren't the signs.

...it's the signs that say "Garage Sale - Flea Market - Estate Sale -Yard Sale - Sale - Sale - Sale!" And, there's even those of us that are the occasional curb shoppers too, looking for the free finds from those in the midst of their spring cleaning that don't want to put the time and effort into fixing stuff or having a garage sale.


I wasn't going to go out on Friday, but by about 11 o'clock, I couldn't resist anymore. I do wish I wouldn't start that late and I usually know better. I drive around to all these sales and find nothing or see the items with the "SOLD" tags on them that I missed out on and would kill for. But. This day was different! Not that I brought home the mother load, but I was pleased with what I found. 


Then on Saturday, we all hopped in the "Loser Cruiser" to check out a little flea market in South Bend, but it turned out to be kind of a dud. There was definitely stuff there that was wanted by "yours truly", but not for the prices they were asking. We walked out with a Guitar Hero II game for $2. It works great, so that was a really good price! 

On the way home, we stopped at a church rummage sale and I found a couple of things that was only 50 each. I spent a whole dollar! 

Then we stopped at a moving sale. There was quite a lot of stuff, and the prices couldn't be beat! But I only bought a really nice quality wreath for 50 cents.

I will try to give the run down of what's in the photo underneath it.

Magazine rack = 50 cent (Sat. Church sale) not pictured here is a grapevine Christmas                                     "thing" that was also 50 cents.  
Wreath = 50 cents (Sat. moving sale)
Cute pocket basket with pegs = $1 (Fri. garage sale)
Stuffed snow family = $1 They were removed from something else, but they're so cute!                                              (Fri. garage sale)
Wooden bowl = 25 cents. (Fri. garage sale)
Stencil brush = 25 cents. (Fri. garage sale)
2 primitive styled plates = $1.50  each.  (Fri. garage sale)
Wire basket = $1 and it was bent out of shape, but I was able to bend it back and it looks                  just fine! (Fri. garage sale)
Crocheted doily = 50 cents (Fri. garage sale)
Dark belt = 75 cents (Fri. garage sale)
Light belt = 50 cents. (Fri. garage sale) I am keeping my eyes open for belts these days               because I have a special use for those! 

I know it's not even May yet, but I have my sights set on Christmas for many of the crafts I find. I had a lady at the Salvation Army talking to me like I was crazy for buying the Christmas item I had in my hands. I told her that I do crafts and I have to get interesting Christmas things when the gettin's good. She still looked at me like I was a freak. That's OK, if she comes to my craft show in Nov., she would be the one buying that stupid thing I have in my hands because she won't be able to walk out of there without it. ;)


What about you? Do you do the garage sale, curb shopping, Christmas decor in summer thing too? Tell me I'm not alone in my insanity...

 

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Boring Organization Time....

I know a few of you that have been working on getting your homes more organized. My attempts are few and far between, yet probably more in need of constant attention than those of you who are making way better progress than I. I'd tip my hat to you, but I probably couldn't find it in the heaps I have around here. Like I keep repeating myself, I don't call my blog Under A Pile of Scrap for nuthin'! It's not just scrapbooking supplies either. I'm trying hard not to become one of those hoarders you see on TV, but I swear I'm borderline and Pinterest ain't helping! LOL!


I did manage to get another small area more organized, even though it's not one that I necessarily mess with much, but I hate it when I do...and that is our dreaded Entertainment Center cabinet! Ugh! 

 Nice?   Not! This side holds all the video game players, controllers, portable DVD players, video games and DVD's, etc., etc., etc....

 

This side ain't no better. It holds the overflow of DS games, DVD's, VHS tapes and the ever-lovin' growing stock pile of coloring books, sticker books, writing tablets, magazines that all belong to my daughter since her birth (she's exactly 8.5 yrs. now). And we have disposed of a few during that time.


And now here are the improved versions:

I think I see faux woodgrain ...and the hole in the back even! 

:O)

I still would like one or two more baskets, but this is MUCH more do-able, especially since all the DVD's & VHS tapes in the back are Christmas ones. 

I know I could sell many of the kid's movies I have & clear out the other large video storage cabinet I have and to make room in here, but I also have a son in college and thinking ahead, I could very easily become a grandma in the near future and I want to have a good supply of movies on hand for any grandkid(s).


My husband will probably complain that I didn't need to spend money on the baskets (they were only $6 each @ Walmart) but I did attempt to recycle by using the nice sturdy boxes that a 12 pack of Ramen Noodles comes in, but I felt they were an odd size and I would have needed lots more of those! Even though I could stand to lose a few several pounds, I'm not quite up for a ramen noodle diet.

I was going to try to do something creative with these baskets to "cute" them up, but it was challenging enough just get the organizing done! LOL! Besides, they're not on display and no one really ever sees them, so I didn't see the point in going to the extra trouble. I say, put my efforts into where it can be more appreciated.


Have a creative (and better organized) day!

My Auction Treasure!

I have to admit that I haven't seen much of anything done in blog land with the auction treasure I found, but that's not to say that there hasn't been something truly inspiring done and I just ain't found it (yet).

You see, last weekend my hubby went to a farm consignment auction for some tractor tires for his IH Farmall tractor. I wasn't able to go, since our daughter had a friend spending the weekend with us and this was just not something that a couple of 8 year old princesses want to do for a few hours, not to mention it was kind of cold & yucky out. 

While there, my sweet hubby was also trying to scout out some of the items for me that were listed on the sale bill. This is where I love cell phones, and even though we don't have the fancy phones that require over-priced data plans, we can take & send pictures. We do this all the time when either of us finds something that we think the other person might be interested in. He still had quite a bit of time to kill before he had to deal on his tires and was sending me pictures of the items of interest. It turns out that there were only 2 things that I actually wanted him to bid on. Some wooden cheese boxes and these.

Just in case you're not familiar with what these actually are, they're called nail kegs - obviously it states that on the yellow tag. They were used to ship large quantities of nails in, and in many cases, the stores just left the nails in the kegs to sit on the floor of their shop and you just scooped out what you needed and paid for them by the pound. The tag also shows that there were supposed to be 3, but apparently, the third one had legs and walked off or rolled away. ???

I told my husband that my maximum bid would be $20 for the lot. It ended up being only $12.50! After he got them home, I went online to see how much these bad boys go for. Are you kidding me?? These aren't that cheap. I found ONE for $40 on Ebay and it was missing a ring! There were some on Etsy for around $20, but you have to pay for shipping and that can't be cheap either. 

As far as I can tell, these are both in excellent shape and I'm trying to come up with something clever to do with them. I have one idea, but I'm not 100% sold on it & several others are floating in my head. Some days there's lots of room for floating in there. Maybe if I would have had the 3rd one, I'd do it and still have 2 left to do something else with.  Shoulda, coulda, woulda...

It's supposed to rain today, but it's taking it's sweet time getting here. I don't normally want rain, but I'm getting tired of having to water my plants already. The bad part to the rain coming is that it's supposed to get colder again. We haven't had any significant rain here in over 2 weeks & I have really sandy soil. I guess there's not many April showers for us year.  Crazy weather. 80's in March, no rain in April, kinda scared to see what May holds for us.

Have a Creative day!



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How I Fixed My Broken Glass Faux Pas

I hope to be able to get out and take advantage of the 70 degree day we're having today. But I wanted to share this with you right away.

Just in case some of you are not familiar with how the story of my picture frame turned dry erase board really began, you may want to go read HERE first. 

This is what my dilemma was.

 And I was so happy with how it was turning out before this

And I want to THANK all of you that offered some really good advice on how to recreate the look like the existing glass. Tammy, from One Year of Books blog suggested I use clear contact paper to give it the slightly frosted look. What a great idea! I knew this, but it hadn't occurred to me to to do that, although, I'm not sure if there is 24 inch wide contact paper available & I didn't want a seam, but I will remember that for future smaller versions of this! Oh yea.

And Stacey from Flickerwhips shared her story of some Oops! moments she experienced. It's kind of comforting to know that I'm in really good company here. LOL!

I also received this bit of advise from Julieta from 4 Goofballs about tying some ribbon bows around the corners to cover it up. And even though I didn't use her exact idea, I did find something to cover up the boo-boo, and I think it really sets off the board even more than before!

Are you ready for the big reveal??
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Ta-Da!

Whaddayathink?
 
I have had the wooden corner pieces for-evah! Probably around 15 years or so. I never figured out what to use them on up to now. I debated about distress painting them to match the frame, but ya know? I REALLY like the look of the wood-tone against the rest of the white, so I just waxed it with clear furniture paste wax and I'm calling it good!

Then, after looking around on Pinterest last night, I was looking through some of my boards and came across this pin I had and LOVE! I just really want to do that framed quote. I noticed that the frame on my dry erase board would have been perfect or this! Oh well, what's done is done and I love it as a dry erase board.

 {source} 
please be kind and pin from the original "source"

I will carry on the hunt for another frame to do this for myself. I usually find something even better than the original thought, so I'm holding out for that. LOL!

Until next time...
Hope you have a creative day!

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Spring Mantel Decorating

We didn't have a mantel in our living room when we first moved into our home over 9 years ago. There is a rustic barn beam mantel in the family room, but I didn't want that for the living room. Our living room is not formal, much like the rest of our home which isn't really formal either. It has more of a lodge look and feel as it sits back in the woods. It has a lot of charm amidst all of it's neglect from previous owners that we have slowly, but surely been trying to overcome.

My husband started to build the mantel in the living room during a period where he was laid off. He has mostly made this mantel out of scrap wood that he has had on hand that was thrown away pieces from various jobs he has worked on over the years. He is a plumber, but very well skilled in so many other areas - thank goodness! He got the shell done, but then was called back to work before it was finished and he just never had enough time to get back to it until the next year when he was laid off again. thank goodness he's been back to work for a year now.
 

 
After never having a mantel that I can decorate my whole life, I have to get into the habit of doing so & getting better at it. I've had this decorated only about a week before Easter. Everything is 2nd hand and low budget! 

Take this bugle, for example.

I only gave $5 for it at a little sale last fall held by the local Humane Society. The lady at the booth was telling the other lady in the booth that it would take "the right person" to buy that horn. Since I was eavesdropping on their conversation, it caught my attention and I told them that "the right person" just showed up and I bought it. There is a chain on this that was only half there, I'm sure it's not original to the horn. I had just received my product compensation from my Cricut magazine publication and it included some gorgeous crystal prisms & some vintage looking brass flowers that were made by Maya Road. I just had to add them to the chain for a little dressing up.

If you want to duplicate the dust, feel free, you don't even have to give me credit. I'm sure it's not MY original idea and I don't recall where I originally seen the idea. It must be catching on, cuz I've seen it all over in other people's houses.  ;)

I know I need to get better at decorating my mantel, but this is what I have on hand. I'm happy enough with how it looks.




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Never Before Seen Old Project....

Some of you may know this, but many of you probably do not, and that is that I've had some of my projects published in magazines. Well, it's only been one magazine. Maybe you've heard of it... maybe not, since it's not a highly recognized magazine like Better Homes and Garden. It's called the Cricut Magazine by Northridge Media Publishers. They also put out a number of other crafting and scrapbook magazines. They're a bit on the pricey side, but they are high quality magazines with very little advertising - hence the higher price, since they don't get paid by outside advertisers. Sorry, got a little oft-track there...but I've had a number of projects published and a number of times. I have "bragged" about these events a few times here on my blog over here .... here and here. There were a few more times, but I didn't post about them.

The publishers seem to be drawn more to my projects that I've done with vinyl. My first published piece was a dollar store plate that I added vinyl lettering on so it could be used as a Menu display, you can see the post for that {HERE}. I eventually was able to put it in my craft show and it was quite the success! I even had people wanting to buy multiples (I only had the one). But, even before I put this one in my craft show, my daughter was wanting one for our own kitchen. She is such a sweetheart and probably my biggest cheerleader. She loves anything I make. Since I have a pile of dishes for crafts that is much more than I have in my own kitchen, I figured I should make some more. I did, but I wanted ours to be different and fit our kitchen decor a little better.

Boy, I can't write in a straight line for nuthin'! :D  For this design, I cut from some left over scraps of dark brown and beige vinyl with my Cricut Expression using Cricut cartridges. It's been so long, and I have quite a few cartridges, that I can't recall which ones were used on this, but you can be sure that they're at least 2 year old cartridges. The plate was on clearance at Walmart for 75 cents and the easel was also on clearance for $4 also at Walmart. I bought all they had. LOL! I don't call my blog Under A Pile of Scrap for nothing!

Do you feel inspired to make your own Menu plate? You don't even have to put a vinyl design on it. You can just use a plain plate or a pretty platter. You use it just as a regular memo plate instead of for writing your dinner menu. It's pretty AND practical!






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