Starting a New Project

I'm sure many have had the same kind of story as this. You make something and you show it to someone and the next thing you know, you have orders coming out the wah-zu. That's what has happened to me. Sometimes it's a blessing and sometimes it's a curse. If you have MY luck, it can be more like a curse. 


It sorta started with this little table I made earlier this year that you can read and see HERE. I have to say that it has been THE most popular project I've made and posted on my blog.


I posted the table on Facebook to show friends and family and right away, one of my old scrapbook friends, who just happens to be a neighbor as well, asked if she could buy it right now. I said "Sure!" She loved it so much she wants 2 more tables in a much narrower version and she wanted a high back chair with the seat portion done like the top of the table. I thought I found a chair that fit the bill, but I was mistaken, yet have been working on it anyway. Then I found a chair at a very reasonable price, but I never showed it to the lady wanting the chair. Why? Because I had scanned over good ol' Craigslist and discovered this...

"I" want this chair! Just kidding, but I thought to myself, how can I try to pass off the other chair when I know in my heart that this would be what she would really want? I had to at least show her the picture to see if it was worth spending the extra cash. I explained the significantly higher price I would be charging and the problem with it not having a wood seat that would need to be replaced with one. Surprisingly, she didn't care. She. wanted. this. chair. Who can blame her? I think she was hearing the Angels singing as the beam of light from Heaven shone down on it while she was looking at it's picture. It seemed to have that huge of an impact on her!


Let's check out the details, shall we?

The woven rope seat that is in perfect condition. It's going to be a shame to remove it and try to customize a wooden seat in its place. This is not a small seat! My husband doesn't say one way or the other if it will be a big deal to make one from wood. If not, we have a couple of friends who are carpenters.

I like the simple carvings on the rungs of the back.

Nothing like some natural distressing!

She's got some nice legs as well. I think I hear a construction worker's cat call in the distance. ~*snicker!*~



It may be a while before I get to show this in it's finished stage. The painting isn't the problem, it will be getting the seat done, since that will be up to Alan to get done and this is his work's extremely busy time of year with tons of overtime. I don't think I want to start painting it until the new seat is on or else I will most likely be doing a lot of touch up painting.


Until next time!

 

Out of Control!

I think that I have to admit that I have a problem with yard sales. Today was an all out free-for-all. I spent my limit for the entire weekend all in one day and then some. Not to mention that I was sent home with a lots of free picture frames - large ones! My living room looks like a yard sale exploded in it. I need to get it cleaned out before my hubby gets home. I already told him that I went overboard, and yet he's still willing to go pick up a set of end tables and a coffee table tonight.  Unfortunately, I missed out on the tables. I guess they weren't meant to be.

Are you ready for pictures? I always say this...but what you see still isn't everything that I lugged home, but this is the majority.


This is an old trunk that my friend found for me for $10 - the latch needs a little work. The trim pieces on top were free from a sale. Not sure if I want them, but he wanted to get rid of them really bad. He could have thrown them away just as easily as I can. LOL

This is a pretty Pfaltsgraf shelf that has just a few little dings at the bottom that can be easily fixed. I will paint this up and give it a new life. It has some great curves!

These are most of the free picture frames. The little sleigh was only 50 cents.

Check out that giant key that I got!

And then, this $1 silver plated dish was necessary in order to make one of these:

(Mod Vintage Life)

Is that not the coolest? Of course, these are much prettier than the one I found, but beggars ain't gonna be choosers.



So many goodies here for CHEAP! The blue bottles were 25 cents each, but the Noxema jar was $1. The stamp stickers were 25 cents and can you believe that those rubber stamps were only 50 cents! I have wanted that NOEL stamp for yeeeeeears.

Those pieces of plaid fabric are fabric samples and I thought they looked perfect for using for a lot of my Christmas crafts. I'm sorry about how poorly I take pictures of the things I find.

The Winter plate you see here is actually a cake plate with a snowman holding him. It's part of a set of dinnerware that my husband and daughter have been buying for me for a couple of years, but now it's discontinued. Alan seemed kinda happy that I found it, even though I don't use cake plates, but it would be darling with a winter display on it too.

I also came across this primitive style cabinet. It was when I went back to get this that I was given all the free picture frames. SOOOO worth the trip back!

I have such plans for this! It's not going in my home....maybe. I think I could maybe use it in my bathroom for extra storage though.


OK, enough over stimulation for one day. What kind of treasures have you found in your searches? I'd love to see too!

And It's Monday - Again

Yes, it's Monday again, just like it was last Monday and will be Monday next week too. But next week will be a good Monday, because it's a holiday here in the States as we celebrate Memorial Day in honor of all the service men and women who have fought for our freedoms, and the freedoms of other countries as well. 

I don't really have anything exciting to share today other than some of the things I found at the local garage sales. I must say, I could have brought home much more, but some of the prices that people are putting on their stuff these days are a bit high for me. I'm not saying that this stuff should just be given away, but wow, I would only be able to buy one thing and STILL need to go to the bank to get more money to cover the cost. I forget what I saw that was like a little bit of nothing, but they wanted $35 for it! And what is it with the "$35" price tag? I see that amount on lots of things. Is it the new "$25"?  I went to Habitat to look for a chair, just a simple wooden high back chair. I don't know if I found what my customer is really wanting, but I'm giving it a shot. Is this considered a high back chair? It is when I Google it. ;^)

Habitat wanted $15 for this chair-but then again, they threw in the dirt and grime for free! I admit that this thing is solid and heavy, but I also thought $15 for a single chair was a bit much. I paid it anyway. I told the lady that wants it that she didn't have to commit to it if it wasn't what she really wanted. It will just be one more thing that will be ready to sell later down the road.

I have it all cleaned up and the first coat of home made chalkpaint on it. I have to admit that I like the style of this chair and I'm almost thinking about going back and getting the other one - yes, even at $15. My husband couldn't believe how much nicer it looked after I scrubbed it good with Murphy's Oil Soap and water.  I forgot to take a picture of it all clean though.

Here are some other things that I brought home with me in hopes of giving them a new life. I guess taking the picture in the grass in strong sunshine wasn't the best idea.

 

The tall pottery gazing ball base in the back was only 50 cents! It's needs repainted, but nothing that a can of spray paint can't fix. The picture was a $1, I'm kind of kicking myself for not getting the other one too. It's hard to tell in this shot, but it has a really pretty frame with the pale blue and ivory paint already distressed. I plan on making it into a chalkboard or dry erase board. I got both egg baskets for $2 ea. I was squealing over that! There's a small metal hanging thing that holds a clay pot that has a pip berry "tree" in it. All of that was just a $1. I really only wanted the pip berries, but might find something else for the hanger and the pot. There's also some evergreen picks sticking out of the snowman that I got for 25 cents each.

My daughter was interested in the nutcracker, since she had never seen one, except on TV. I don't know if you can tell that there's a pretty wreath in green with fall colored flowers. I'm tempted to keep it for myself. I don't know what I'll use the wooden ladybug on picks for, but they were too cute to pass up for 50 cents for all 4. Habitat had the utensil hooks - $1 for the set of 3 so I bought both sets. I guess that made up for the expensive chair. ;^)

I thought the snowman tea light burner was cute and I really liked the shape of the chicken "cutting board", which will get a different look than the chickens that are on it.

I liked this basket and for $1, I didn't think it could be beat. I've already started on it's transformation. I thought it might look pretty hanging on someone's front door. Now I'll get stuck on it trying to decide whether to just decorate the basket or fill it with decor so it's ready to hang. It's that kind of over-thinking that keeps me from finishing things sometimes.

I'm sure that I forgot to include other treasures that I found, but this is the majority. You may get to see anything that might have been forgotten in later posts after they've been given a new lease on life.

'Til then - Have a creative day!

Gettin' On A Roll!

I have to admit that I am either in a good creating mood or I'm in a real lull where nothing seems to come to me... not ideas, not motivation, just plain nothin' (well, except a few extra pounds).

It must be the great weather we've had this spring (so far, but I probably just jinxed it by saying that) but I've been really inspired to work on stuff and motivated to do it too. Motivation is usually the biggest problem I have. I guess I'm motivated now because I know the weather is only nice for just so long and I have to try to cram as much into that short amount of time before things turn too hot, too cold or too late. LOL!


This is something that I was requested to make by my husband's boss' wife. She's been an excellent customer - probably my best! She purchased one of my pillows last year and she was wanting another to go with it. She bought the one that had the ruffle on the back and the French script design on the front.

Now she wants a pillow with her wedding year on the front and the three button closure on the back in a 12x16 size with the faux grain sack fabric.


Here is what I came up with.

And this is the back

Every year I make my daughter's teachers an end-of-year gift. Since her teacher for this year is getting married in early June, I made her one with "Est. 2012" on it, but minus the pretty swirls, since that isn't her style.

I really need to start working on getting a bunch of these pillows made up while I already have everything out. The more I do them, the faster and easier they go. I've hit some good sales for the pillow forms lately and have a decent hoard of them. And yes, hoard is the appropriate word to use here. But I just hate it when I have to stop working on a project because I don't have something I need. I think that's part of my hoarding problem. I want to make sure that when the mood strikes, I have everything, and as much of it as I want or need on hand. Because once I stop, that just might be it for the motivation. Surely I'm not alone in this thought process...

That's it for today. I've got to get to working on some more stuff.


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Pretty (Simple) Project... and one not so simple

I got a little busy on Monday. I guess maybe it was because I had a great Mother's Day (weekend) where I was spoiled the whole time! It was very refreshing. We went out for breakfast on Saturday morning in order to avoid the Mother's Day crowd. It was delicious. My picky eater daughter has discovered that she likes scrambled eggs, at least when "I" make them. She doesn't like her fathers. hee hee! He kinda takes offense to it though. It turns out she likes the ones at the restaurant too.  Poor guy, he tries so hard, but he's a very good cook.

Then, breakfast was made for me on Sunday morning and I got my gifts. My hubby realized that the tiny tool pocket that he got me for Christmas was already too small, so he got me a REAL one. My hammer actually fits in this one. LOL! My hubby and daughter both got me some pretty spritzes from Bath & Body Works and some hand lotion. My daughter discovered B&BW at Christmas and fell in love with the place. After all that, he did some things I needed for a few projects and then he made dinner. He just winged it by trying to make some Cavatini (sp?) like the local Pizza Hut makes. He did a pretty good job with it and even Brooke ate it and liked it. The best part is, I won't have to cook for a one more night because there's plenty of left overs.

Right now you're probably asking yourself..."Ok, so where's the interesting stuff? Get on with it already!"

OK, OK...

Here is a tag I made with my Cricut. It turned out, but yet it didn't. I say that because it worked out exactly as I had planned, but the housing seemed to have such a jerky action that it showed in the jagged look of the design. I don't like it when it does that. It didn't do it on my test design. I need to work on that... Maybe I need to increase the pressure. But besides that, isn't it cute? I plan on using these to put on my craft show items. I have a good sized spool of that red/white Martha Stewart baker's twine. I LOVE that stuff!

Since I had the Cricut already fired up, I wanted to get a pretty label made for a glass pump dispenser I found at the local thrift store. I really liked the square shape of it, which made it easier to put a vinyl design on. I was so happy that I cut the design right on the first try!

I used Lacy Labels for the frame and Splish Splash cartridge for the word "Soap" in the Cricut Design Studio program, which made it almost too easy to do.
 

I wanted to add a little charm and some twine just to dress up the neck of the bottle and give it a little shabbyness. The charm was from a set that I purchased at Walmart.

See? I told you it was a simple project. This is going in my craft show(s) later this year. 

Until next time...


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It's Been A Good Day

I don't know that I could have asked for a better day for yard sales than today...well, there's always room for improvement, but geesh, beggars can't be choosers,  know what I mean?

It's was a gorgeous day for starters. In the low 70's. The sun was shining so brightly, it just started me off in a good mood. I like those kind of days. Who wouldn't?

Then, there was going to be a neighborhood sale in the ritzy community on the next road over. I must have gotten there a tad too early, but that worked in my favor. There was a house that had stuff sitting out by the road with a sign that said FREE STUFF. YAY!! I was nearly peeing all over myself when I seen what was there. I wanted to be greedy and take it all, but I really didn't want it all. I don't know what I missed out on because there was a car just ahead of me that was stopped, but they couldn't have gotten anything huge, they had the 2 little boys out getting the stuff. I may have scared them off early - yay me! Oops! Was that mean? From what I understand, all is fair in love and curb shopping! You have to be street smart...get it? street. curb. 

Anyway, sorry about trying to be funny. I'm just still giddy. I pull up to these free goods and there are 2 sets of ice skates. One white, one black and they're leather. I decorate skates for Christmas and they're kind of popular in these here parts. I like working with the leather ones much better than the pleather (plastic "leather") kind.

The other awesome thing that I got was this. It's over 5 ft. tall!

Of course, it's not in perfect condition including some pieces that had been replaced, but it's every bit decoration worthy. There was also an old wheelbarrow that had the metal front wheel and wooden handles. I wanted it really bad, but left it. There was an antique wooden high chair. I could have repainted it, but didn't want to mess with it either, so it stayed also along with gas powered weed eater and a golf bag wheeled cart.  The rest of those items were gone by the time I was done at the first sale. LOL

At the next sale I found this HUGE glass jar.

And here is how much I paid for this bad boy!

I tried storing all my plastic and metal cookie cutters in it, but it still wasn't large enough and it didn't look very cute. Instead, I ended up putting most of those flat glass marbles in it up in my craft room.  (never mind the torn wallpaper in the background-this room needs a MAJOR overhaul...if I wait long enough, it will all fall down on it own!)

I really needed something big (and cute looking, of course) to put ALL of them in, and out of those stupid plastic store sacks that were sitting on the floor. It didn't make a dent with the stuff sitting on the floor, but baby steps are still steps. right? 

There are going to be a ton more sales on Saturday too. I don't know if I want to go to garage sales or flea markets...the hubby says it's my choice for the weekend, since it's Mother's Day on Sunday. I was thinking flea markets, but now I'm thinking maybe garage sales since the weather is supposed to be awesome again and I can save the indoor flea markets for a yucky day.

It's tough to be me... (smile)

 

Something for the Deck

One of the things that I worked on today was something I should have done last year when it was still warm in August or September.

Last year I bought two identical larger plastic planters that were on clearance at Lowes. I can't remember what I paid for them, but they were pretty cheap, even at the regular price.


Here is one of them before.

I really like the way they look just the way they are, but they blend in with the deck too much and you can hardly notice them. Why get such pretty planters if you can't appreciate them? So I decided they should be a lighter color, but I still wanted to keep the dark brown band and handles.


With just a few spritzes of ivory spray paint (after taping off the dark brown areas) giving it only one light coat, you get this.

The sun all of a sudden decided to come out when I was taking these pictures, so they kind of look washed out, but in person you can actually see some of the old finish peaking through because I only did one light, yet splotchy coat.

They're all ready for planting and they've been filled with Canna tubers waiting to give the deck a tropical feel. I planted some the first year we had the deck and the cannas really gave the deck a tropical feel. Even my husband told me he really liked them and he could really care less about plants or flowers. Trust me.


I wish I could show you how they look with the flowers blooming, but I started with bare root tubers, so it's gonna be a while...provided I don't kill them first.


So remember, if you see a planter or pot that you really like, but it's just not the right color....paint it! This took me all of 30 minutes to do both pots, including all the taping off, and since it was such a light coat of paint, there was no time waiting for it to dry.


Have a creative day!

  
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