Distressing Shutters

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

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

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

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

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

Did you notice that darling watering can too? 

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

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

Cool! Right? 

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

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

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

AND, these were also featured at Rustic Pig Designs!

 
Parties I'm linking to:

 

To Post or NOT To Post

THAT is the question.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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



 
Linking to these parties:

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.




I'm linking up to these parties: