Falling for Fall

To say that Autumn is my favorite season is a HUGE understatement!  I have been really busy decorating the house and porch to go with the season.  I apologize for the lack of posting, I kept thinking “oh I’ll post it when I finish it all.”  Well, that just never seems to be happening so I decided to go ahead and show what I have so far. 

My front porch has definitely been a work in progress.  I wanted to put a bunch of pumpkins and flowers out in the oranges, yellows, reds, and greens of the seasons.  So, I’ve been arranging and re-arranging things.  At the same time we’ve been having quite a bit of work being done in the house.  They are steadily working on the hall bathroom and I’m totally thrilled with how it’s coming.  I am so pumped about the wall color I chose.  The walls are a medium gray and the ceiling is a lighter gray.  All of the trim is bright white with large crown molding and baseboards.  The sink cabinet is white, as is the floor tile.  The new jacuzzi tub is also white.  They came today to measure for the granite for the top of the sink cabinet and the tub deck.  The granite we chose is black.  I think we’ve FINALLY decided on the tile for the tub surround.  We are going to go with white subway tiles with a black and white checkered accent strip about half way up.  It will be a week before the granite is put in and then they should be able to finish all the plumbing, electrical, and tile work.  I’m guessing it will all be totally done in about 3 more weeks.  Once it’s done I will be sharing the total transformation.  I’ve been taking a picture every day to track progress but I don’t want to show any of it until it’s done. 

In addition to the bathroom, we had a little mishap in the house.  A friend of mine came over to run cable in the attic so we can connect our TV and DirecTV to the internet.  He was running the cable through the attic and slipped and fell through the ceiling in the hallway from the garage into the house.  Luckily he didn’t fall all the way through and he didn’t get hurt too bad, but I can’t say the same for my poor ceiling.  I ended up with the internet at the TV but I also ended up with a rather large hole in my ceiling.  Needless to say we had to get someone out to fix the ceiling.  They did that this week and then we repainted the hallway afterwards.  Now I’m in the progress of redecorating it.  Pictures will be coming soon of it too. 

Well, that’s a lot of text and nothing to ooh and ahh over so without further adieu here are a few pictures of some of my fall inspired decor.  Enjoy!

I put a bunch of fall garlands in the wire baskets.  Then I loaded up the top basket with some miniature gourds and pumpkins purchased from Hobby Lobby.  I centered the ceramic pumpkin with our initial in the top of the top basket.  Since this picture was taken I removed everything from the bottom basket and filled it with real pumpkins.  They weigh it all down to help keep things steady in our West Texas wind and they are really pretty too!

I put the old wooden cart/table in the corner and put flowers on the top.  In front of it I stacked some fake hay stacks (purchased from Hobby Lobby) and then perched a lighted jack-o-lantern on top.  The wooden pumpkin greeting sign I set behind it all.  It says Autumn Greetings.  I also changed up my front door wreath since this picture too.  I will share that soon!

A closer picture of the corner table.

Well, that was sooner than I thought!  ha ha ha.  Here is my front door wreath just revamped for Fall.  I just removed the red flowers, added the fall foliage from the garlands from Hobby Lobby and some fabric flowers I made. 

A close-up of the fabric flowers on the wreath.  I made these out of Stampin Up fabric using a flower die and the Big Shot also from Stampin Up.  No, I’m not a Stampin Up dealer but I do happen to love love mine and I really do love their products!

Almost done now.  Just imagine that bottom basket filled with pumpkins and you can see how it looks now!  I’m seriously loving it.  Isn’t Fall just wonderful?

Now on the inside…

My new dining room table décor.  I just added some fall style flowers in the vases, set out the white ceramic pumpkin on a candle stick, set out the “Give Thanks” wooden set and the fabric pumpkin behind it.  Simple but lovely. 

I found the “Give Thanks” set up in my attic.  I’ve had them for years.  I think they are an old purchase from LTD back in the day when I was buying stuff from them.  The fabric pumpkin was given to me by my mother-in-law years and years ago.  I also found it in the attic when I was up there looking for stuff.

I couldn’t just stop there though, oh no!  I wanted to bring a little cheer and décor to work too, so I made this…

I just stamped the image in versa-mark and then embossed it with shiny black embossing powder.  The backing is just one of those cheap thin canvases from Hobby Lobby (the kind that comes 3 in a package.)  I covered it with scrapbook paper, sanded the edges and inked up the edges a little.  Then I put the stamped image on the colored paper with dimensionals to pop it up a little.  After it as all done, I just set it on a mini-easel and set it on my desk.  Voila…instant Halloween décor at work!

I hope I inspired you to do a little Fall/Halloween decorating for yourself.  Have a great weekend!

So Pretty!

So, yesterday I was sitting at work and got a text from my brother-in-law.  You see we are in the midst of yet another remodel…this time our hall bathroom.  My brother-in-law is basically our contractor for all intents and purposes.  He stays at the house during the day while Hot Rod and I work to watch over the workers and let them in and such.  Well, he sent a text saying “look what I just found in your backyard.”  Then this picture followed…

Isn’t it so pretty!  I immediately texted him back and told him please don’t kill him or let Charlie kill him.  You see my dog will pretty much kill anything that ever comes in our back yard.  Well, turns out we have figured out the one thing that apparently put Charlie in his place…an owl!  My brother-in-law said that Charlie went over to it then quickly retreated.  I think those talons of the owl are pretty intimidating.  So my brother-in-law texted me back and said the owl has a broken wing and he had already called SPCA to come and get him.  They are going to nurse him back to health!  So, we rescued a beautiful owl yesterday.  I think it is so pretty too!  I showed the picture to everyone and my sister responded “It’s Hedgewig”  ha ha ha  What are the odds of finding an owl in your backyard in West Texas?  I’m guessing they aren’t that big but apparently we are just special that way.

I hope they fix his wing and he gets all better and comes back and visits!

Reflections

I know I'm about 4 days late for this post and I know I don't usually post about serious or thoughtful things here but I'm making an exception today. I've just been incredibly tired lately and last night I decided to just lay in bed from the moment I got home from work. Hot Rod laid with me and watched TV. He somehow managed to navigate to the History Channel and they were having the 9/11 shows on. I must of dozed off for awhile because I woke up around 9:00 and I was starving. I got up and got some cheese and crackers and brought them back to bed to share with him (and the dogs of course!) and after we finished and I put the paper plate back in the kitchen and turned off the kitchen light and crawled back next to my husband he just grabbed me and hugged me and he was crying. He said he just never realized how many people got to call their one and only and tell them "I'm not going to make it out but I wanted you to know I love you." I can't imagine the heart break all of those people went through. I can't imagine that city, the city I love so much, coming to a stand still for days upon days. But, it happened. 10 years ago...it happened.

I'm sure all of us remember where we were that day. I know I do. I was sitting at home actually that day. I was taking my motorcycle into the shop to get a last minute oil change on it before we headed off to the Ruidoso Motorcycle Rally the next day and I was sitting at home waiting for 9:00 to come when the shop opened. I turned on the TV and actually saw the second plane hitting the 2nd tower. I was in shock. At first I thought I must be watching a movie or something, but to my dismay it was no movie. I picked up the phone and called my husband who was at work. He was already watching. We just sat on the phone with each other in shock. Later we went to the motorcycle shop and it was a very somber day there. The TV's were all on and everyone was just glued to the set. No one could even express anything at all. It was too shocking, too sad, too disturbing.

We left the next day for the bike rally and instead of a joyous event that year, it was very somber instead. But, the one good thing that I will ALWAYS remember is just about every single motorcycle there (at least 20,000 bikes) were all displaying the American flag. Hot Rod had a huge flag on his bike and I had 2 smaller ones. I will never forget how proud I was to be an American those next few days and to show the world, you may hit us and you may knock us down but we will rebuild and we are stronger than you think.

I went back to New York in the spring of 2002, just a few months after 9/11. I was on a work trip to Philadelphia actually and we went to New York for an afternoon. I was the only one in our group that had been there before. I was the only one that had seen the towers before they were destroyed. I was the only one that could truly comprehend how massive they were and how the sky line of New York will be changed forever. The thing I remember most about that day was seeing this metal orb that used to be displayed in the courtyard at the World Trade Center. They found it in the wreckage and it was displayed in Battery Park.  I just stared at that mangled piece of metal because I had taken a picture of that very thing the first time I went to New York in 1996. I took another picture and then scrapbooked the 2 pictures together as a tribute to our great country. Here is that scrapbook page that I did so long ago. ..

I dug this out of a very old scrapbook and then scanned it. I just have to give a small disclaimer that my scrapbooking has come a long way since this was done! But, I'm glad I had these pictures. I'm glad I took the time to actually document this time in our nation's history. I hope someday my grandchildren and their children will inherit my scrapbooks and they'll look at this and they will remember what our nation went through. They will know that their grandmother was one of the people that stood on the sidewalk across the street from all that destruction and cried.

So, if you haven't already today grab the people that mean the most to you and tell them you love them because you just never know if it will be the last time you get to do it.

Would You Buy It?

Once again I’m a little late to the party but I wanted to join Stephanie’s (aka Junker Newbie) Would You Buy It Wednesday. So, this week I am actually posting about something I bought a long time ago (so obviously I’ve already ruined the surprise and admitted I bought this!) but I just recently found the perfect place for it. Here it is…

It is a vintage mirror from a hat shop. I saw this at a city wide garage sale about a year or so ago and just had to have it. I just loved it at first sight! It has mirrors on both sides that slide into the metal frame. The frame itself has just the right amount of rust to give it the perfect patina. The bottom of the mirror has these little holes for hat pins and it even came with one hat pin.

So, I’ve had this sitting in my spare room basically being unused for the last year. However, a week ago I found this great table at the Salvation Army Store and it is perfect to go in my hallway from the garage. I’ve been looking for something like this for awhile. I wanted to come up with a space to check my makeup before walking out the door and also to have a space to drop the mail so it is all in one place. After all, we don’t use our front door, we come in through the garage so I really wanted a place for us to use. My entry room is coming along fabulously but it still is not where we come into the house, we use the garage and come into the house via this long hallway from the garage so this set up is going to be perfect for us.

(Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy). I didn’t do a single thing to this table either. I cleaned it up and put in the hallway as is. I was so happy because for once my husband really LOVED it. Usually he’s really not on board with all of my thrifting finds so I was really pleasantly surprised when he said “I love it” and he actually meant it! So, what do you think? Would you have bought the mirror? What about the table?

Turns out they were both the same price…$20. I think I scored, but I’m anxious to hear what you have to say. Do you like them? Would you have bought them? Do you think the price was fair for both of them?
I'm linking up to...

A DIY “Art” Project for the Kitchen

I’m actually pretty excited about this project for the main reason that I actually thought of part of this all by myself.  You see people ask me all the time “how did you think of that?”  Most of the time I reply “I didn’t, I saw it online and copied it”.  Well, not this time!  Well, not entirely that is.  I did “borrow” part of this but the other part is mine all mine! 

So, I made this to hang in my kitchen. 

I started with a framed canvas painting that I purchased at Goodwill for $20.  The painting wasn’t even that bad but just wasn’t my taste.  I thought I had a picture of it but apparently I didn’t take one…yet again!  I’m going to MAKE myself take pictures of anything I buy after going to Goodwill, Savers, Salvation Army, Garage Sales, or Estate Sales the minute I walk in the door from now on!  But I digress…

The main reason I bought the picture though was the size of it.  I just knew it would be perfect for a large wall hanging and it would fill the big empty hole that I created in my kitchen (not a literal hole, just a hole in décor) when I moved the wire shelves out of my kitchen and into the storage room.  You can read all about that project here.  So, the first thing I did was take the canvas out of the frame.  Turns out that was a major ordeal.  The frame was actually physically nailed to the frame of the canvas and that was what was holding the frame together.  So, as soon as I took them apart, the frame fell apart. 

I’m not sure you can see it from this picture but this frame was actually just hideous!  It was white and then someone put silver glitter all over it.  I have no idea what look they were going for but my guess was 3rd grade craft project! 

I tried to glue it all back together and that pretty much worked, except for the last corner.  I just left it undone and started work on it.

My idea (the one that is all my own) was to cover the frame by mod podgeing something over it.  I didn’t want to use just anything to cover it either.  I wanted to use pages from a vintage cookbook.  So, I went to Savers one day and looked for an old cookbook and found the perfect one.  It was called Meats and it was printed in 1968…PERFECT!

The pictures were even better!

So, I tore out a bunch of the pages, mostly looking for some that had a cool picture or a recipe on them.  After I tore the pages out, I randomly tore the pages up. 

Next I distressed the edges of all the pages by rubbing a caramel ink on each edge.  (more on this later though).  I took all of my torn pages and just started applying them to the frame, also randomly, but making sure they were all in the same direction.

Once this was done I just let it dry and started working on what would be on the inside of the frame.  My plan was to just frame one of the coffee bags that I had bought online a few months ago.  I saw these after several other bloggers posted about getting this burlap coffee bags from this place online.  They were super cheap!  I think they are $2.99 for 3 of them.  I ended up buying 2 different kinds, sisal and burlap.  I liked them both so I asked my husband to decide which one he liked better.

These were his choices.  He chose the sisal one (the one on top here).  So, I cut off the back of the bag and then stapled the bag over the painting. 

I actually stapled it over the front of the painting too.  I wanted the back of the canvas to be open for easy hanging.  I was a little worried that the painting would show through the sisal but it really doesn’t.

So, now it was time to put it all together.  Unfortunately it didn’t look good AT ALL!  I was so disappointed.  The frame was just too black and white and it just didn’t look good with the natural colors in the coffee bag.  I was not going to admit defeat though.  I just started to think of how I could make it work and then it came to me, I just need to “color” the frame a little.  I didn’t want to completely cover it though because I really liked the recipes and art from the cookbook showing through.  I figured out that the edges that I had distressed by rubbing ink on them was almost the perfect color, but it was too late to ink the entire thing so I started to think of how I could achieve that same look but now while it was all together and decoupaged on the frame.  My solution was to stain it using a wood stain.

I tried to use a red walnut stain first and it didn’t look good at all, so then I grabbed a different color of dark mahogany and it was perfect!  I put on 2 coats and the end result was absolutely perfect and it matched the coffee bag very well!

Once the frame dried I just used my husbands nail gun and attached it to the canvas again.  It worked perfect and the end result was just what I pictured.

It looks great with my printer tray drawer too…

TaDa, it is done and hanging in the kitchen and I love it!  One more thing to do in the kitchen and then this wall will be complete.  I’m working on that next, it’s my thrift store plate wall….coming soon!

So, there you have it.  My very own idea added to a borrowed one and ending up a huge success!  (at least I think it is!)

Gone Thrifting Lately?

I’ve been doing a little bit of thrifting lately and I thought I would share some of my favorite purchases. First is this little beauty. I got her at an Estate Sale last week. I fell in love the minute I saw it. The price was $5.00 so I snatched it right up. I had set all my stuff down at the front by the register and while I was gathering up all of my stuff to start paying for it a lady asked me “oh, are you still going to get that?” I replied, “oh yes, definitely”, and she replied “oh darn it, I was hoping you didn’t want it anymore and I was going to grab it.” So, would you have bought it for the $5.00 price tag?

At the same sale I also found this, a mini globe bank. I’ve been seeing globes in use as décor all over the internet and I really love them so I wanted one of my own. Unfortunately all of the ones I’ve found recently are priced way too high for my tastes. Then I saw this in a 25 cent bowl at the same estate sale where I got the scale. I snatched it right up. For display purposes I just set it on this candle holder to give it some height and to make sure it didn’t go rolling off the cubby wall hanging. So, what do you think? Would you have bought it for 25 cents? What a steal huh?

I actually placed both of these items in the same vignette on the top of my new splurge PB cubby wall hanging. Here they are all put together with yet another thrift find, the milk glass goblet that I got at a thrift store for $2.00. The blue Ball jars were kinda expensive for me but I just really wanted them. I got 4 of them with the lids for $20, then an additional $12 shipping on Ebay. The rest of the stuff in the cubby I’ve been accumulating over time. Some of the items I’ve bought at thrift stores, garage sales, or estate sales, and others were gifts or just stuff I’ve had for awhile.

So, this particular estate sale was really awesome. I got quite a few more things at the same Sale. I bought a bunch of plates for my “in progress” plate wall, some Dr. Seuss books for my sweet grandbaby, the salt shaker I used in the previous post (actually I got 3 of them and broke 2 of them when I dropped them, bummer!), a set of 3 stacking gold Italian tables, and a few more things that I just can’t remember right now.

So, what do you think of my recent thrifty purchases? Would you have bought them too? I’m linking up to…

DIY Mini Button Flower Bouquet Tutorial

As promised, here is the tutorial on how I created my mini button flower bouquet. To refresh your memory, here is the finished piece…

So, let’s gather what we will need. You are going to need:

1. A glass salt or pepper shaker. Preferably you are going to want to find one that just looks cool. I’ve been collecting these whenever I can find them, either at garage sales, estate sales, antique stores, or thrift stores.

2. A bag of pearl beads. I got mine at Hobby Lobby for $2.00 (priced $3.99 and then half off).

3. Buttons, you will need one button for every “flower” you are going to make. This is a personal preference, just pick whatever you want. I wanted mine to look vintagey and to stay in a black and white pallet so my buttons are all white.

4. Scrapbook paper or any other paper to cut your flowers out of. I chose a paper that is actually a print. You could even just use pages from an old book. If you want to do colors, just pick some paper you like.

5. A flower punch. I had mine from Stampin Up and it was the perfect size. It made 3 different sized flowers and I used 2 of them, the 2 larger ones.

6. Wire. The wire will need to be strong enough to stand upright, but flexible enough that you can bend it. I just used what I had which just happens to be 17 gauge wire for electric fencing…hey it worked!

7. Wire cutters and pliers.

8. A hole puncher.

OK, so you have it all gathered? Let’s get started. The first thing I did was just fill the salt shaker with the pearls.

Then, I just cut my flowers out of the paper using the punch. After I cut out the flowers, I punched a hole in the center of each one using my hole puncher.

Then I looked for some buttons to match up to the flowers. I actually love the ones I picked.

So, now it was time to assemble my flowers. I just guestimated at the length of the wire, but basically you want it a little longer than what the finished flower will need to be. Then I thread one end of the wire through one of the holes in the button. Bend the wire at the end and thread the end through the other hole in the button. Like this:

Then I took my pliers and clamped the wire together and thread both ends through the hole in the middle of the paper flower.

At this point I just kind of experimented with it and figured out a way to make everything stay secure. In the end I just took the wire and bent it straight across to basically hold up the paper flower. If there was any wire sticking outside of the flower I just trimmed it with the wire cutter.

The last step is to just put one flower through each hole in the salt shaker lid. Now I will admit that I wish this one has a few more holes so I could add a few more flowers, but this one just had the 6 holes so that is the number of flowers I could add. I’m super excited about some of the others I have because they have tons more holes to fill with flowers. I think it’s a judgment call though. You can either fill each hole with a flower or just fill it as much as you would like. So, let’s take a look at the finished piece again.

And, here she is in her new little cubby in my PB cubby wall hanging.

So, let’s sum up cost and time. Total cost of this was: $3.00. Now to be fair I already had the buttons, paper, punches, and wire so they didn’t cost me anything. All I had to buy was the salt shaker (which I got at an estate sale for $1.00 and the pearls which I already mentioned I got for $2.00). Total time from the start of gathering supplies to putting her in the cubby was about 30 minutes (which includes experimenting time figuring out how to secure the flowers on the wire.) Not bad for a cute little vase, is it?