Snowman parade

Snowmen have invaded my paint table! These adorable cuties have been in my stash for over 5 years. Oh My! I am way overdue in clearing out my craft stash. Don't you just love the bisque quality? So simple and unadorned, classic.....Hmmm, do I paint....not paint.....well, the paint won, so bring out the brushes.

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Now, doesn't everyone use their serger to dry ornaments?.....................
Here is a party of snowmen in all their festive outfits waiting for the glitter storm.

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Come in from the glitter storm and grab a cup of cocoa. Hope you enjoyed the snowman parade. Come back for another post soon on another project just off the workbench.

Paint the bathroom, company's comin

Hi, welcome to a quick tour of a project in the guest bath. The guests will be arriving and I've been cleaning house and freshening the Christmas reds in the rest of the house. This room hasn't been touched yet by the decorating elves, but thought I'd share a few pics of the blank palette.
When we purchased this home a few years ago, the bathrooms were dated and the countertops were in sorry shape and had the original vintage color....NOT the desirable vintage color either. There were many other priorities, but I couldn't live with the cracked counters. Paint to the rescue! Drag out the bondo-putty-goo stuff (normally used to repair car bodies) to repair the edges. That worked very well. I didn't even lift the sink basin, just painted up to the edge of the rim. Conventional craft acrylics and faux marble techniques and a couple of coats of polyurethane to finish. Voila! Five years later it is holding up great for just a 1 year bandage project.

After removing the wallpaper that was in this room, I did the usual prep and then started layering. The base color matched the yellow tile to help it all blend in and disappear. The preferred look was a worn paint finish that would allow the wallpaper to peak through. Actually that was my cheat. I photocopied the fabric from the curtains and glued some pieces onto the wall to create my own personal vintage paper. Spackle is my friend and was used to create a plaster look and then distressed with sandpaper and general scraping.

Dry brush a soft creamy white over the entire wall to tone the golden yellow paint down a notch.

Here is a shot of the shower treatment. I love layers and this one has it with the 2 sets of shower curtains plus the liner and then the valance to finish it all off.
Well, that's it for making a small space more tolerable. I hope you enjoyed the tour and y'all come back soon, ya hear?!

OUch!

OUch!

That is what the headlines were saying in Lubbock. How true. We are licking our wounds today, but will heal and become stronger. OU deserved that win and they came out to claim it too.

I do have a positive pic to share in this day of gloom. In the blue mood theme, I share some of my old canning jars from my grandmother. Doesn't that beautiful turquoise blue just lift your spirits?....sigh...... We savor the bounty of our gardens in the midst of winter from our canned goods.

We are also reminded of the plentiful bounty that God showers upon us daily and be thankful.

Texas Tech vs. OU

What more needs to be said?!!

Get your guns up TECHsans!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy the game.

Old Furniture and Chandi's

My cup runneth over! More button love for International Button Week. Come on across the street with me to my friends house....
This week I was able to brush up on my paint skills. My neighbor had the most clever use for an old chest. Bear with me on the pics. I was battling intense light from a nearby window and my trusty point and shoot was doing the best it could.

It had doors on top and the 3 drawers. A coat of black paint and new knobs became a new canvas for a little decorative painting. They had found a botanical print to be interpreted onto the doors and on a couple of the drawers....Now, you're wondering How Clever is That? not much in itself.....but,

This old chest was transformed into a computer desk. The pullout drawers behind the double doors were removed to make room for the monitor.

The top drawer was removed and replaced as a false front that drops down. The keyboard pulls out on it's own shelf. This works on so many levels. Functional for a small space. Attractive and is a great new use for something old.

Now, back at my own bunkhouse...This chandelier is the last remnant of brass left in the house. Until it is repainted, we will embrace it's shinyness (is that such a word?, but it works perfect for this project). We have the before view that is just plain....

But you add yards of crystal beads draped everywhere and you suddenly have a crystal chandi!!! I really scored the crystal beads BTY at Walliworld in the clearance section at $1 yd. woohoo for being at the right place at the right time. I bought all that was on the shelves.
I am sneaking some of my Christmas glitz in before Thanksgiving. DH doesn't realize what is fixin to hit him, or maybe he is in denial already.

What a perfect week to celebrate....International Button Week! I have lots of buttons from my grandmother's stash and my own collection from sewing all my life. Well, nearly ALL my life.
Anyway, got that reminiscing out of the way. I always cut buttons off the clothes going to the rag pile and that really adds up.
Only last week, I made a button tree in an effort to gather my whites into one place. Check out the Nov. 5th post.

Just hop on over to buttonfloozies.blogspot.com to check out the button bonanza.

Flea market Belt and Purse

Vintage tablecloth a

Old feedsacks a

Embroidered dresser cloth a

Misc. items from 'the armoire' aa

Grab the inspiration for this flea market belt from http://robolady.blogspot.com/, a pair of scissors and the trusty sewing machine. I had seen this cute flea market belt on Margo's site and was inspired to make one myself. I have collected vintage textiles forever and had a nice selection to choose from. Problem is....I can't hardly cut them up. So, I search for the least flaw to justify the remake.

I used the feedsack for the base piece and the pretty floral tablecloth for the pockets. The crochet accents are covering up the wear holes and add some style.

I used an old napkin to make the covered pocket with a magnet closure to keep your cash/cards secure.

Now, I'd say this is a much more fashionable alternative to the fanny pack.

Well, I couldn't stop there. I made a coordinating purse to go along with the ensemble for post-flea functions. I used a dresser scarf to accent the interior along with napkins.

Pockets to carry the cell phone and the cash. Let's go shopping!

I have loved putting this little ensemble together. I will take these to a fund-raising auction tonight. I made them yesterday just to reaffirm that

if it weren't for the Last Minute.........I Wouldn't get ANYTHING Done!!!

Enjoy crafting y'all!

Apron search

Ok y'all~
Don't ya just hate it when you can't find something that you just saw recently? I have been surfing for the past couple of hours....NO exaggeration! I had seen the cutest apron, but where is it now?
It had been adapted from a nail apron, the type that you can purchase at your lumber yard. It had vintage fabrics applied to the front and pocket flaps. The flaps had embellishments such as a key and other smalls that held the flap tight by a companion magnet on the apron. Now, how clever is that?!
If anyone knows the blog that holds such a treasure....PLEASE release me from my torment and send me a link in the comments. I really thought I had bookmarked it for future perusal. Apparently I need to add a sticky note to my screen.
I pulled out a few of my old textiles. Very few actually, but enough to inspire me. I love to collect these from sales. I was digging through some of the feed sacks and decorative towels and some great old lace. I rarely cut these apart unless they are already tattered beyond repair. I did find a few that will become something new.
This business of cleaning out my armoire is turning into some serious work!

Wallpaper and Buttons

This week has been dedicated to just getting some of my ideas put to reality. I am needing to move a large armoire. Problem is...it stores a lot of my craft items and it is super heavy. So, the great idea is to complete projects that are housed in said item and theoretically EMPTY the armoire. So, here goes........

I gather the square canvases and a swatch of wallpaper I had considered for my kitchen at one time. It didn't make the final cut, but I was determined to use this bit of wallpaper somehow. I love it. I used an exacto knife and cut out one of the motifs. The black acrylic paint is base coated over the entire canvas, including the sides.

After the paint dried, I used a white pencil and wrote french phrases across the canvas. Well, that didn't show up as strong after the final glaze was applied and the photo doesn't pick it up very well. I used decoupage medium to place the cut out on the canvas. I followed up with 3 coats total. (It will be used in the kitchen and I wanted to be able to wipe it off easily)

I used gold Rub 'n Buff to highlight the edges of the canvas and some of the design.

Voila, an instant artwork. I love an easy project that is also FAST.

Then, I moved onto the green Styrofoam cone. I covered it with a pieces of white fabric i.e. muslin, pellon just to hide the green. It will NOT be seen in the end. I then used a length of lace and wrapped it around the cone also.

I have a lot of white buttons from my grandmother's collection. Finally a decorative use for all of them. I placed the larger ones scattered over the cone, then followed up with smaller ones. I used dressmaker pins and pearl seed beads to pin each button onto the cone.

A note: I purchased the pkg of 750 pins and have run out. This is just a 12" cone. So, you will always use more than you anticipate. I KNOW that, but did I listen to myself? Obviously NOT.
This is a time to contemplate deep thoughts while you pin buttons. (another way of letting you know, it'll take a bit of time for this part of the project)

But, it looks great when it is done. It is actually a great way to store these buttons in a decorative way. If I need one, just pluck it off the tree.

I can't decide how to finish off the topper and I may make a topiary with a dowel and container. Any ideas? Please leave me a suggestion.

I will post more of the Armoire Projects as they occur this week. Happy Crafting.

How about those Raiders!!!

Texas Tech 39 - Texas 33!!!

This was the most amazing game of the season. Phew, we're exhausted. Tech scores with 1 second left on the clock to pull off a serious upset. (understatement!!) These were 2 great teams and McCoy just didn't get a chance to show his stuff till the 4th. Harrell and Crabtree turned out to be the showstoppers in the end. Defense was certainly the name of the game.

This one was such a jump up and scream game that I didn't even get my usual idea sheet and planning list together for my crafty projects. I did remove Halloween and fluffed up for Fall a bit.

Don't ya just love football season? Yeah!