Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Simple, Summery Door Hanging

Welcome!

Ever since I took down my Christmas wreath, I've been missing having something pretty on the front door. I guess I've just been waiting for some inspiration. Well it finally arrived, in the form of a cheese hoop lid.


I was plundering in my Momma's shed when I found this and a light bulb popped up over my head. It was already missing the ring around the lid - ready to use!



It was tongue-and-grooved together, so we took it apart and put some wood glue in the grooves to keep it together.



Then I transferred my initial onto it. I rubbed chalk on the back of the letter and outlined it with a pen. I expected to use the chalk outline, but it turned out that the pen imprint was more prominent than the chalk (guess I should have picked a darker color!). I just used a Sharpie to trace and fill in my letter.

I kept the accessorizing to a minimum with a little twine and a starfish. For a pop of color, I used bright pink ribbon to hang it, which I just stapled on the back. I also put some globs of hot glue on the back to serve as bumpers.


After I hung it, I decided that it would look better if the ribbon was attached on both sides instead of just in the middle, so I did a little reworking. And here it is!




It's simple and summery - just what I wanted!

Partying with:
Talented Tuesday @ My Frugal Family
Get Your Craft On Tuesday @ Today's Creative Blog
Make It Yours Day @ My Backyard Eden

Monday, April 19, 2010

Curb-shopping JACKPOT!!!



Such great things to be found curbside! My hubby and I spent Friday night curb-shopping with my brother-in-law . . . it was their town's annual big trash pickup. We had soooo much fun scrounging for treasures, and we found four truck loads of goodies! 


This vintage lace was among lots of old craft supplies I found.

I found two boxes of wooden hangers - one still perfectly 
packaged with a shipping label to Abercrombie & Fitch



Pickets, spindles & table legs for future projects

Love these cute old signs!

Anyone know if this bed will strip well? I'd love to refinish 
it for my son's room - it even came with the rails!

We even found some toys for the kiddies!

And last, but certainly not least - my strangest, most intriguing find . . . .




An old, black puppet wearing tap shoes!  
Anybody know anything about old puppets?

Linking up to:

Monday, April 12, 2010

Putting last week's thrifty finds to use

After my fabulous haul from the yard sales last week, I was excited about putting some of those finds to use! (My hubby is being very annoying encouraging in this area - he's tired of me piling up his spot in the garage with "junk"!)

Remember this little wreath?

I could not snip off those tired little flowers 
fast enough - and there were tons of them!

And this poor mistreated bottle?



They now have new lives, lives that bring me much joy!

I am absolutely loving these cuttings of native azalea. 
There's lots of them in our woods, and I anxiously 
await them blooming every year. 

 
I  have been told that my mystery metal 
tabletop is an egg tray from a commercial hatchery.


 
Doesn't every flat surface need a starfish? 
I found this old Joy of Cooking at a yardsale 
years ago, and the rolling pin belonged to 
my grandmother.






On a different note, I passed 50 followers this weekend!!! I have so much fun with this blog, and it's nice to know that there are people who actually read it. Thanks y'all!


Thursday, April 8, 2010

She ain't no beauty queen . . .

 
In fact, she's downright UGLY!

When we designed and built our house, we did so with the intention of hanging a big swing (think four grown butts big) on the back porch. So one day my father-in-law tells me, "I've got a swing for you . . . so-and-so gave it to me." And proceeded to show me the ugliest swing I've ever seen. Ummmm, thanks . . . . but, um, I hadn't really planned on having harvest gold carpet on my swing . . . and, um, I kinda thought we might get something with the back completely attached. So FIL put the swing in his barn.

Fast-forward six months. We're in the house now, and spring is coming quickly . . . I want a swing, but I don't want to go shopping for one, and I sure don't want to pay for a pretty, well-built swing that big. So I tucked my tail between my legs and asked my father-in-law if he still had Ugly. He did, so I went and wrested the monstrosity into the truck and brought it home. 

After removing the carpet, attaching the back, and giving her a good coat of paint, she looks downright presentable now.



Please ignore my dirty porch - I'm well aware that I 
need to put down my paintbrush & pick up a broom!

She still ain't no beauty queen, but I'm happy with Plain Jane!



Want to see more fabulous projects?

Monday, April 5, 2010

Girls Day Out . . . Yard Sales, Lunch, & Massages!

Girls Day Out - Woo Hoo!!!
My Momma, Me, 
Amanda (who bought the much-photographed hat!), and Mildred


My Momma, a couple of friends, and I had a much-needed Girls Day out on Saturday, and we had an absolute blast! It was such a blessing to have a day to ourselves to spend doing what we love - treasure hunting! We started out early at yard sales. Despite it raining on us off and on all morning, we hit lots of sales and found tons of goodies (okay, I did most of the buying, but it was good stuff!). Then we had Mexican for lunch and headed to the spa for massages. =)  I really don't think our day could have been any better! 

Here's a run-down of my finds.

I told you I found a lot! Pair of Wall-mount swing-arm lamps, 
$5; Pair of barstools, $8; Cooler, $5; Gobs of sand toys, $3; 
and four pair of shoes for my little sweetie who can never find a pair!

Chippy chair, $5; Frames, $1 each; Roll of burlap 
(8 yards!), .50 (anybody know how to make a cent sign?); 
shutter, $1; Wreath, $1; New candles, .50 each; Candleholder, $2; Bottle, $1

Birdcage, .75; Oak stool, $1; Tiered stand, $1; 
Magazine, .25; Bottle, $1; Flower pot, .25; Finial, $2