The Truth and a Chandy

Okay, so.  I'm just gonna put it out there. Yep. The truth.  Not that I think you guys ever thought I spoke anything but the truth.  Sometimes...I speak way too much truth. But that's just me.  So why would that change at the ripe old age of 48.  Yep. 48.  I turned that this past month while away from my blog.

An iPhone pic from moving out of the former home.

So the truth.  After moving 8 times since 1988, buying and purchasing and selling, buying and purchasing and selling over and over again, we have landed the house of my dreams.  Now, before you get all excited for me, I have to tell you something.  In order to get such a place, we had to find someone willing to walk away from an over improved home and had to buy it "As Is."  That real estate term, in case you don't know it, states that the buyer is purchasing the property in the current state regardless of the condition of anything releasing the seller from the 2 percent clause. (If you don't know what the 2 percent clause is, look it up...not boring you here with that!!)  Outside all the legal jargon, we have learned that with THIS house the term "AS IS" means "Everything is broken!"  Ha!  We didn't even do formal inspections!!  Guess what?  We still don't care!  Sometimes, ya gotta be willing to overlook the faults, bite the bullet and get what you want vowing to fix what you can as you go.  This is where we find ourselves.

So the last month, we have been in fix it mode.  You know, the boring stuff like appliance repair, and appliance repair...and oh, and appliance repair!  But that doesn't mean that I haven't had some fun finding some great things.  For example, the seller decided to strip the house of a few items that needed to be replaced, like the ceiling light fixture in the foyer.  Yep, he took lighting.  Oh well, this means that I get pick my own.

I set out to all my favorite consignment stores looking for the perfect chandy.  I didn't look at antique places or thrift shops for this.  I needed something a little more special, newer and such.  But you know me, I am a bargain person and I was not going to pay full retail of this item!  Oh no!  It took me a few days to nail it.  In fact, I found this one day in a consignment store over by my daughter's former school (remember I talked about that 3 hours of driving in my last blog post) and am glad that I stopped to check out the place. I am super duper excited about the lighting fixture that I found.  I just got it installed in the foyer and took these snap shots to show you.

How totally cool is this fixture?!!  I just love the glass flowers and the droplets.  It was super hard to transport and install.  Lost a few pieces along the way.  But it has such a WOW factor at my front door.  Don't you think?!

It's not for everyone, but it is for me.  I'm kinda glad the guy who sold me this house took the light fixture.  His was probably ugly anyway.  I like mine just fine and it didn't set me back too badly.  Sometimes, if you stay positive, it all works out!

-The End-

Quick Stop at Thrift Shop Yields a Few Finds And A Question

I dropped in at my local Goodwill yesterday afternoon.  My daughter is in the school play, Peter Pan, next month and I needed a few old blanket props for the Lost Children.  But, you know me.  I had to take a look around and I found a few interesting things for next to nothing.

The box is going to get a spruce up and be used in my Master Bath to store my cosmetics. I love the handle...kinda beachy.  The light switch covers were only 25 cents.  I have no idea what I might do with them.  They will most likely be re-purposed since my home doesn't have any one switch units.  The little bird house was only 50 cents.  It will pop up somewhere soon.  The other birdie thing?  I have no earthly idea what it is?  Do you?  It is a very heavy iron material. The inside of the cloche part has a hook at the inside top. It's total height is about 8 inches.   Somebody help me out here...

I have been doing a few little things in the studio, but haven't taken images of them.  I promise I will in the next few days.   In the meantime...help a gal out and tell me what this birdie thing is, will ya?!!

-The End-

The Sweetest Days of St. Valentine Series: Re-Cycled Valentine Heart Pillow

The pink is the pillow getting ready for the makeover.

This past weekend, two of my neighbors were having yard sales.  I picked up quite a few things for pennies. I saw a sweet little pink pillow and immediately thought Valentine's Day.  The pillow had tiny, subtle dark pink and white stripes and a few gathered pieces.  But I thought it could use more and I knew I could add a little pizazz of my own.


I am always looking for throw pillows at neighbor's yard sales, because I know whether the pillow has been in a pet free environment.  This matters to me because my teenage son has horrible allergies.  Even if I throw a pillow cover in the wash, the pillow form itself gets to him if it's been in a house with a cat.



Today, I sat down for a few minutes to spruce up this pillow.  Remember these from my 25 Days of Christmas and Holiday Series?

Well, I still have some red sweater leftover and, you guessed it, I decided to use it on this project. I thought it would make a wonderfully cozy looking bright red heart for the front of the pillow.   I took the leftovers out along with my spare fabric from my Kitchen Cabinet Becomes an Open Shelf Makeover.  Remember that post?  Woodsy is still sitting on that shelf.  He loves it there next to Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.

Anyhoo...I knew that since I was going to be cutting a shape out of the sweater, it was going to need some type of backing to stabilize it.  The black checked fabric that I used in the open cabinet still had some Mod Podge dried to the back, but this didn' deter me. I knew it would work regardless.







I first cut out a paper heart the size I wanted.  I faced the fabric and the sweater wrong sides together and before cutting the fabrics, I stitched a heart using the paper heart as my guide.

After the heart was stitched, I cut it out.  I did it this way because I knew it would be easier since the sweater material, now stabilized by the checked fabric, would then be able to keep it's shape.

I then used a satin stitch on the outer edge of the applique to seal off the fuzzy sweater edges.  I added a little homespun running stitch along the edge of the heart using three strands of white embroidery floss.

I then just simply whip stitched the heart onto the front of the pillow in three places using a red thread. Three snips after Valentine's Day and I can do something else.

Here is my simple, Recycled Valentine Heart Pillow

Do you look for this type of thing when you are shopping at your thrift shops or yard sales?  Do you ever notice that the plain pillows are always the ones leftover on sale at your favorite stores?  Don't overlook this stuff.  For pennies, you can create something that is uniquely yours.

After finishing taking images of the pillow out in my backyard, I placed the pillow on my wicker chair in my studio.  My Coco hasn't moved from this spot.  Seems she approves too!

Gotta love the little furbabies.  They've got great taste!

Stay tuned for another great project in my series 

The Sweetest Days of St. Valentine!  

-The End-

Linking this post to:

Sew Woodsy Wednesday Link Party

Someday Crafts: Whatever Goes Wednesday

WOW Us Wednesday - Savvy Southern Style

Between Naps on the Porch

Mad In Crafts

Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers Blog Hop

SNS at Funky Junk Interiors

Valentines Week Linky Party at Shabby Creek Cottage

Valentine Party at Someday Crafts

                   

Goodwill Wreath Upcycled Using Recycled Shirt Tails and Scrap Fabrics

Have you been to your local thrift store in the last few weeks?  Seems like everyone, while packing away their holiday decorations, delivered a box of unwanted and tired wreaths and such.  I found this disgusting, dusty and overall unloved wreath and scooped it up for 50 cents!

The ribbons are so old, they look dark orange instead of red and that white stuff is so dusty, dull and ...let me be honest, sticky. Ewe.  So why buy this wreath?  Well, it is a red grapevine wreath under all that junk and I saw potential for something neat for Valentines Day.  

So today, I got busy and ripped all that trash off the wreath, saving the rusted out bells in my jar of rusty, crusty junk.  Might use them on a project someday.

After removing everything and using pliers to get the excess old glue off the wreath, I gave it a quick wash.  I then rummaged around in my supplies pulling out fabrics and such that I might want to use.  I knew that I was probably going in a Valentines Day theme direction, so I chose a lot of reds.

In the image above is a dress shirt that my hubby was getting rid of and I took it for my fabric supplies.  After all, there wasn't anything wrong with the red plaid fabric on the shirt and knew it would come in handy someday.  You can also see in the image the fabric sample books that I got for free from a friend of mine who works as a designer.   I sorted through and pulled out shades that I thought might work.


TIP:  If you know an interior designer who works with a large firm get yourself in the loop.  They get rid of their fabric sample books every so often.  Guess where they go?  The trash.  Yep, that is right.  She downloaded an unbelievable amount of amazing sample books to little ole me.  The fabrics are amazing. Many of them are high end samples in all sorts of blends, including velvets, tapestries, cottons and tweads.  You have to have a place to store them.  I made the room. They are stacked in my garage in a way I can access them as I want.

So, I gathered up all my supplies, including scissors and hot glue with my box of spare beads as well.  I first tried out wrapping strips of burlap, but didn't like the look I was getting.  I decided to use my hubby's shirt and I ripped strips out of the shirt front.

 I then took the strips and wound them around the wreath allowing some of the red grapevine to show through.  Here is what it looked like...

I then got out the fabric sample books and sorted though the selection.  I decided to use a combination of velvets, plaids and tapestries to form little rosettes in the same fashion that I made them for my Upcycled Sweater Wine Bottle Bags that I highlighted on the fifth day of my 25 Days Series last month.  

Here is the wreath after I made 6 rosettes using deep red, champagne pink and eggplant purple velvet scraps along with a red and white plaid fabric , a woven mauve fabric and  the tapestry fabric from the previous image. 

I used hot glue to affix the rosettes to a base piece of fabric and to affix them to the wreath.  If you look, I also worked in a few spare beads and pearls into the center of the flowers for a little extra interest.  I finished off the top with a bow made from the dress shirt materials.  I placed the bow slightly off center to counter balance the visual weight of the rosettes.

Here are the results...

I am super happy with the results.  This sweetheart of a wreath didn't take a ton of time and can be used well beyond Valentines because my home decor allows for a little something red here or there. 

Have you taken a trip to your local thrift shop?  Make sure you take a spin around the areas that old holiday decor could be offered.  You'd be surprised, if you keep an open eye and mind what you might find! 

-The End-
Linking this post to:

Valentine's Link at Someday Crafts

                                                                                    

        

Flea Market Chippy Window Adds Extra Texture To My Tablescape

A local collectibles mall sponsored a flea market this morning.  I grabbed my go cup of coffee, my hubby and a few friends and headed out to check it out.  We were somewhat disappointed because most of the participants were heavy on the pricing.  You gotta wonder why?  I wanted to stand back and loudly say, "Hey people!  It's a flea market!  What's with the pricing?!" 

Well....in the end, one of my friends bought a neat "I Like Ike" campaign button for 3 bucks and I found this neat chippy window pane for 10 bucks.  As we walked out to our cars, that same friend asked me what I was going to do with the window.  I told him that I would use it in a backdrop for photo shoots with my Homeless Finch furniture makeover.  But for know, I tucked it into this sweet little tablescape in my master bedroom. 

I love the layer and texture that it adds sitting in front of the antique bed frame that I have leaning on the wall behind this farmhouse work table.  This little lady is a sculpture that I made a few years ago.  She is made out of terracotta clay, glazed with flat, chalky off white under glaze.  She stands holding a little blue bird in her up-faced palms.  The ironstone bedside pitcher was handed down to me from my southern grandmother on my father's side of the family. 

Keep your eye out for interesting windows frames, doors and such when you are searching around yard sales and flea markets.  They make wonderful backdrops and add interest for very little money.  I didn't come home with a ton of goodies today, but I'm happy with this fun find.  It was also enjoyable to spend the morning strolling and chatting with friends.  Win, win.  Get out and enjoy the day!

-The End-