Charmed

I bought ZEBRA duck tape.... f u N!!

2011-11-11T09:49:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the blurry picture. I forgot to take a before pic of the frame, but this shows it. Just a dull, brown frame. I cut pieces of zebra duck tape and taped them around the frame. Easy... and so cute!

Looks good with blue!

Looks good with tan!

Looks good in a grouping!

Owls... before and after

2011-11-09T09:53:00.001-06:00

Much better, huh?

Confession... I used to hate owls. I thought they were really ugly and WAY outdated. Now I love them! Turqouise paints helps a lot though.

Kinda cute. REALLY cute.

I can't find his before picture. I know it's somewhere on my computer. Just picture a dull metal owl and that's the before. Isn't he cute now?

I love OWLS!

I'll be listing these in my etsy shop soon. It's been closed for a long time. I used to sell my jewelry, but jewelry is on the back burner for now. My new favorite thing is PAINT!! And OWLS :O)

My latest Thrifty Finds!

2011-11-06T17:07:00.000-06:00

Lotsa good thrifty stuff!

Some of it is already painted. If I have time I'll try to post some before and after pics this week. I'm having so much fun painting this stuff. Vintage... old and worn out... sometimes ugly stuff... all prettied up with a little paint :)

The Old School Desk

2011-10-24T12:18:00.001-05:00

Here's my son sitting in an old school desk that my mom bought years ago. She probably picked it up at an antique store or garage sale or maybe the side of the road. She embarrassed me... that was before these things were cool. Now I've turned into my mother, yes, the same mother who embarrassed me. Luckily my kids think it's cool and I don't embarrass them.

What do you think the kids that used these desks back in the day would have thought if their teacher told them that someday kids would have phones that they carried around with them sitting on their desk top? They probably would have said, "yeah, and we'll fly to school in our cars."

Anyway, I love it. I think it's pretty cool. I had it in my room when I was about his age....and I think I may have sat in a desk or two like this in Jr. High.

More Goodwill Goodies...

2011-10-14T22:00:00.004-05:00

Here are my most recent thrifty finds from Gwill....

cute stuff, huh?

He is now turquoise.

My daughter said I shouldn't paint this one... don't know if I can resist though. I'm thinking maybe white and then distressing for a shabby chic look.

Maybe Pink?

Maybe red or orange?

I love, love, love this frame! The marbleized {or whatever it's called} mirror has to go though.

Goodwill is making me very happy these days. I usually go on Thursday when I go to town to deposit my check. I try to spend at least $10 so I can get my card stamped. I've almost spent $100 and when I do I get $10 worth of free stuff. Woo-Hoo!!

TOTAL COST $11.31

New bright paint colors

2011-10-13T23:34:00.000-05:00

I picked these up at WMart the other day...

.99 each.

I'm lovin' these bright colors!

And here's my dining room table.
My plan for tomorrow is to finish some of these and start painting some more.

Oh No!

2011-10-07T23:12:00.001-05:00

I was getting so close to being done with this table. The blue part of the table showing in the picture had been painted white and I was getting ready to put on another coat of white and then distress

and

this happened!

I noticed a bubble. I tried to sand the bubble, but it wasn't working so I had to get out a box cutter and cut the bubble. It was painful!

I had to peel....

...and peel. I even had to use a spatula to get under the paint.

Painful!!

{Truthfully, it was kind of like peeling a sunburn.. it's not good, but it feels kinda good when you get a big piece... I know! Gross! but that's what it reminded me of when the huge pieces of paint were coming off.}

I ended up peeling the whole section off. It was MAJOR shallac. Probably from the 70's or earlier. I'm hoping I don't get anymore bubbles. I have kilzed that section and now have to buy more spray paint.

I'm so frustrated! But I'm looking at it as a learning experience.

I want to buy this building

2011-10-06T20:17:00.000-05:00

Ever since I saw Flashdance I've wanted to live in a warehouse. Ok, I know that was WAY back in the 80's, but I've always secretly dreamed of living in one of the old buildings in my hometown. My dream is to have a store and live upstairs. Well, our house is for sale and my husband said he would actually consider it. What? Really?

There are quite a few old buildings for sale in the downtown area of my hometown (the town we'll be moving to when we sell our house) and I've been known to pull over my car and get out to look in the windows and imagine what it would be like to have a store and live upstairs.

I pulled over to this building the other day and the store owner next door happened to be outside and asked if I'd like to look at it. He had a key. I said, of course I would. He let me look around and said he'd lock up when I was gone. Woo-Hoo! It was so much fun. Since then I've gone back and walked through with some of my family. My cousin happens to be a real estate agent and he walked through with me. It has a lot of potential. It's 3 stories and even has living quarters on the top floor.

I sat down the other day and drew out a bunch of plans and ideas. I do that a lot. Sometimes dreams come true.... we'll see.

To some people this building probably looks like a mess, but to me it has all kinds of possibilities!

You know what they say..... Dream Big!

Chippy Shelf

2011-10-02T11:05:00.001-05:00

I finished something!

Before

After

This is my first really distressed piece. I like the way it turned out.

More pics....

My new chippy shelf in front of my chippy front door.

Remember this table?

Now it looks like this.
I'll finish putting a light coat of turquoise on top and some spots on the legs and then one more layer of white on the legs (over the turquoise) and a couple of coats on top. Then distress. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

~Linked ....

HERE

Paint and finish day...

2011-10-01T14:24:00.001-05:00

that's what today is supposed to be. I'm pretty sure I finished a headboard that... um, no.. I just remembered I have to wax/seal it. Ok, so today is not FINISH day, but work on finishing something day.

I did do this today though.

This is my laundry/mud room. See the chippy table? My mom bought/found on the curb (?) many, many years ago.

Look at all that chippy, distressed goodness! (My mom had cut a piece of linoleum.. you know the kind that's white with small gold flecks/dots?.... UGLY.. on the top. It wasn't attached so I took that off real fast!)

I sanded it and then thought it looked pretty perfect.

So I cleaned it off and put it in the laundry/mud room.
My husband needed a place to put all his "stuff" when he comes home so I wandered around the house looking for something.

I tried this...

It was a little too "mod" for the table.

So I tried this...

Actually, I'm not totally happy with this one, but it's bigger and holds more "stuff" and the style goes better with the table. But... it's too close to the color of the table so I may have to rub a little bit of color on it or find something else. It works for now and my husband couldn't care less. Maybe he won't lose his keys now.

More pics....

One side of the table and the legs are metal and it's hollow inside. It's an unusual little table.

I wish I had prettier things to hang from the hooks, but this is reality. Caps, hats, dirty lunch boxes. I think the spurs are cute though.

Maybe tomorrow I'll FINISH something. (Probably not.)

Things I'm working on

2011-09-30T19:39:00.000-05:00

.... i like blue/turquoise

I know it looks like I'm a really bad painter, but there's a purpose for this messy paint job. I'm going to spray paint white over this and then distress it. Hopefully the turquoise will show through where it's distressed and also the wood.

I've designated tomorrow as "paint and FINISH some projects" day.

Goodwill Goodies

2011-09-29T19:51:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my most recent goodwill finds....

Isn't he cute? My daughter has started collecting elephants. He was $2.00. I didn't realize it till I brought him home.... he's an Avon perfume bottle. The gold part is the lid... comes right off.

This is for me. I thought it would look good in my laundry/mud room. ($2.)

... fits right in.

This little shelf was only $2 too. It had holes in the middle of each shelf so I filled them in and sanded them down. Now all I have to do is decide what color to paint it. I'm thinking a coat of turquoise and then a coat of white so the turquoise will show thru when I distress it.

Look what I found on the curb today

2011-09-25T22:23:00.000-05:00

So, my daughter and I are driving down the road today. {She's driving and she's 16... scary.} I look over and there these lovely pieces sit. I've been looking for curbside treasures for weeks now and, YAY, I finally find some!

I say "oh look" and she says "you want me to turn around, mom?"

OF COURSE!

Do you notice anything missing on this lovely chair? It basically has no back. It stinks too. But... it has potential. As soon as we got home I took it out and put it under the car port and febreez-ed it. Much better. {I'm pretty sure the cats are going to use it as a bed though.}

Next is another lovely piece. I like it! It's retro!

Look at those funky drawer pulls. I'm thinking I'm gonna keep 'em!

Can you say... peeling laminate?

LOTS of peeling laminate?

Looks like the back is going to need some work too.

I think I'll just pull that back off the rest of the way and mod podge it with a funky/retro design.

Remember the 16 year old? She wants it.

Sneak peeks and mums....

2011-09-10T16:47:00.001-05:00

The weather was so nice this morning so I got up and went straight to work....

for about an hour

and then it was hot.

So, I headed inside and did a little cleaning and watched "The Pioneer Woman" cooking show on the Food Network... love it!

I decided to do a little painting inside the house.

More sneaky peeks...

I picked up a little pot of purple mums from Wal-Mart for .99 ...

... dreaming of fall

so I can buy more cute little mums AND paint outside!

Painting supplies

2011-09-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

I spent some time today at Home Depot and Lowes.

It was better than shopping for clothes!

Now if the weather would just cooperate and get cooler I could get busy painting furniture.

I got this cute little butterfly stamp and more fun stuff at Wal-Mart. I finally got some letter stencils... I've got plans for those.

Love these FREE paint brochures. So many pretty colors. Isn't the butterfly beautiful?

Can't wait to use all this!

Bargain of the day! Oops paint.
.50 cents each. I snatched up all of them as soon as I saw them!!
Look at that red.

Not sure what I'm going to use this on. I'll find something.

Remember this table?

I'm thinking now that I want to paint it white....

with these cans!

I love paint supplies.

It's my new favorite thing.

Goodwill is so GOOD to me....

2011-08-30T21:34:00.000-05:00

I found these pieces at Goodwill a few days ago. Me and the girls just stopped in to kill some time. I made a beeline for the furniture section. They don't usually have nice furniture or if they do it's usually priced too high. I saw these and the price was right! But... I was there just to kill some time, not spend money. So, I hovered over them going back and forth and looking and telling myself I didn't need to spend the money. Finally I talked myself into buying them. Big surprise.
The headboard was $10 and I had been looking for one to paint and sell. It was perfect!

The table was $20. Yes, I said $20!! I have been looking for this exact table for several years. I'm pretty sure it's solid oak and it was only $20!! How could I pass that up? Well, I couldn't.

When the weather cools off {The Dallas/Ft.Worth area has had 64 days of 100+ weather. Fun.} I have big plans for these two.

(I'll get a better picture of the table when I quit being lazy and get it out of the back of my mini-van)

I want one of these....

2011-08-21T18:38:00.000-05:00

Goodwill Goodies... and some other goodies

2011-08-15T22:14:00.000-05:00

I spent a little time in my favorite place today....

Goodwill.

I saw this old purse. I think it's kind of cool. It's very roomy. I'm just not sure if I'm 'hip' enough to pull it off.

Frames! ~~If we ever~~ when we sell our house and move, I plan to spray paint a lot of my frames that I've been collecting and put them on a wall. Some will have pictures and some will be empty. The oval one is a small mirror.. I'm thinking turquoise with a little distressing and stain. Maybe I'll do a wall of mirrors too!

A pair of shorts for Ethan. School starts pretty soon so we can't have too many shorts.

I put this cute little metal basket in my basket because I wasn't sure I wanted to buy it. I only wanted to spend about $10. We have a punch card for every $10 you spend and after spending $100. you get $10 of free stuff. I decided to keep it. At first I thought it would be cute with a few little potted plants in it. Then I remembered I needed something in the shower to keep all my little bottles from falling all over the place. It's perfect!!

{It has a handle, but I took it off for now... this cute little metal basket will probably hold something else one of these days and I might want the handle then.}

Another view.

{sorry about the yellow-ish color.. no flash}

So, there you have my goodwill goodies.

Total spent... $11.84!

....and now, here is something I'm working on

It kind of looks like a robot sitting on the steps. {I think I've been exposed to too many transformer toys this summer.} It's really too hot here in Texas to work on it, but I just couldn't resist spraying some paint on it to see what it looked like. Hopefully I'll have a post on this table and two chairs coming soon.

And now for the

Cutest Baby In The Whole World

:O)

Bentley.

My grandson.

We were hangin' out on the floor and I snapped this pic

so I thought I'd share.

Recycled Coasters

2011-08-01T09:15:00.000-05:00

Aren't these coasters lovely?

I've been wanting a set of coasters and I found these at Goodwill.

Guess how much they cost?

I got the Mod Podge, some scrapbooking paper and the white spray paint...

{The white spray paint on the holder didn't look very good and I didn't want to

do a lot of sanding and re-painting so I decided not to use it. I probably wouldn't

have put them in the holder anyway because they look so cute on my sidetables.}

Finally... a post and some furniture re-dos

2011-07-30T23:49:00.005-05:00

Wow.... a post every 3 months. I'm on a roll!

I enjoy looking at other blogs so much that I forget about my own

and

I've been busy,

ok?!

I've been busy painting furniture. Not really that busy though. I have two pieces that I've finished and the first piece, an antique dresser, only took me

a year

to finish!!

Really.

I started sanding on it probably OVER a year ago.

So, here it is....

the before.

She's pretty isn't she? She was in my dad's computer room for a long time and when

he cleaned it out I got to take her home. She sat in my storage building/craft room for awhile.

I sanded her and then, like I said, a year later...

I finished her.

Here she is in my daughter's room.

(excuse all the teenage girl crap everywhere)

I just bought some cheapie black paint from Wal-Mart and put about 3 coats on. Polyurethaned her. Then found these cute ceramic white rose knobs at Hobby Lobby.

Now we just have to find a pretty mirror to go with her

(instead of the ugly mirror without a frame that's sitting on a towel so she won't get scratched

and leaned up against the wall)

And now for my second piece.

I found him (I call it a "him" because he's not very pretty)

at Goodwill... for FIVE dollars...bargain!

He was $15!

then FIVE!!

He's pretty sad, don't ya think?

I glued and used wood filler on a couple of places.

I had to use a chip clip for a clamp.

Clamps are on my list of things to buy.

Primer... the inside is still just primer, but i would like to paint it a bright color,

maybe turquoise, that just POPS when you open it.

Surprise!

I'm turquoise inside!

And.....

here he is....

(I made, or recycled, the coasters. I'll post about them tomorrow.

I promise. I'm back in blogger mode.)

Much better!!

Close up of the knobs... Hobby Lobby again.

Aren't they cute?

One more look at the

Before & Afters

Linked here ~

http://justagirlblog.com/

Texas....

2011-04-14T16:22:00.000-05:00

Good old Texas...where the tea is sweet and accents are sweeter, summer starts in April, front porches are wide and words are long, macaroni & cheese is a vegetable, BBQ is the state food, y'all is a proper pronoun, chicken is fried, biscuits come with gravy, everyone is honey, someone is always getting their heart blessed, and we are all "fixin" to do something.

(source: Facebook)

My first grandchild was born January 25...

2011-04-01T08:35:00.000-05:00

I guess that's why I haven't blogged in 2 1/2 months!

I've been too busy lovin' on him...

Anyway, isn't he cute?

His name is

Bentley Knox Rigsby

and

I LOVE HIM!!

Dreaming of a backyard pond...

2011-01-15T19:41:00.000-06:00

One thing on my wish list is to

have a backyard pond.

Since I was a little girl I wanted one.

My dad talked about building (do you BUILD a pond?)

a pond for a long time, but he just never got around to it.

So... I've been bugging my husband to build one.

So far he hasn't gotten around to it yet either.

Our house is for sale and hopefully we'll be moving soon.

I've been house hunting. I LOVE house hunting!

One thing I have to have is a nice big yard with nice big trees.

A nice big yard for a nice pond!

I want a pond with fish and frogs and turtles and

pretty plants and

pretty rocks.

And... a bench to sit on to watch the fish swim.

I'm pretty sure it would relieve any stress I was feeling.

One day I'll blog about MY pond

and how my husband and I built it

with our own two hands.

But for now I'll just download

google images of other peoples ponds.

Scenes from my kitchen

2011-01-06T13:49:00.000-06:00

My kitchen was a mess for a week or two during and after Christmas cooking.

It's clean now, but we still have a few little messes here and there.

Here is my kitchen today...

This is just a little mess... just need to put a few things in their place.

See the cheap-o alarm clock/radio... I used to have a nice radio/cd player, but I moved it to the craft/storage/junk room and it got dropped a couple of times, so it's no longer nice, but it will do for the craft/storage/junk room. I really need a new one for the kitchen... I guess I shoulda asked Santa for one.

Isn't this the cutest little teapot? I think it's supposed to be a Christmas ornament. I don't even remember where I got it...

but i lOvE it!!

Suncatcher and one of my garden charms hangin' around~

Antique bird cage that I picked for free in someones driveway.

We're planning on putting a cute little parakeet in there one of these days.

I have to have at least ONE messy pile.

The beta.... it's my son's. I think he named him Speedy or something like that. I think he's beautiful. I love to watch him swim.

Guess who takes care of him?

.... the windowsill

Still a few lingering signs of The Holidays....

On the fridge...

..... lists, schedules, mixed media magnets that I made, things my kids lovingly made me, a picture of the girls when they were little (sniff-sniff) magazine tear out of vegetables I'd like to grow {one of these days I'm gonna grow them!} ....

Thanks for stopping by

happy holidays

2010-12-23T22:01:00.000-06:00

*happy holidays*

everyone

if there's anyone out there

still visiting my blog.

i've been such a bad blogger lately....

* * *

Bargain of the day.... ~~cardis~~

2010-11-01T16:48:00.000-05:00

First of all I'd just like to say

the following pictures are pretty crappy.

{Sorry, but my room is dark AND

I just didn't feel like arranging them all

cute and folded on a flat surface.}

On a recent trip to Goodwill I hit the jackpot on cardigans. I'm pretty sure these had just been put out and probably came from the same person. They were at the end of a row and kind of all together. I snatched them up FAST! They all fit. Some are cuter than others, but I wanted them all. They were $4.19 each, so I got 5 cardis for about $20!!

Cute, huh?

Who doesn't like LIME green?

I already have a light pink cardi and now I have a

HOT pink one!!

I love this one. It's a pretty blue and heavier than the others. This will feel good

on a cold day and look cute too!

We all know how hard black is to photograph... so there's my excuse for the pitiful picture.

This cardi is not faded (like the picture shows) and has the cutest little flower pin...

This will go with a lot of stuff.

Well, there is my bargain of the day. Now maybe I can do another

WIWW (what i wore wednesday)

because I'll have something new and cute to wear!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN ~o~

2010-10-28T08:55:00.000-05:00

I did this in picnik...

fun!

New earrings and a necklace

2010-10-25T11:37:00.000-05:00

I made this necklace last night around midnight. It took about an hour. While I was making it my 15 year old daughter sat at the table with me for part of the time and talked to me about a certain boy. It was nice. It's nice that she talks to me about things.

I think I'll call this necklace

young love

I've really enjoyed working with bead caps lately. For some reason I never really used them in my jewelry designs, but after seeing some really beautiful pieces on etsy I decided to start using them in my pieces....

Here are some earrings I've made in the past few weeks. I'm planning on showing them around and hoping to sell them all!

I think they'd make really nice Christmas gifts and I've priced them all at just $10!!

Have a great week~

My new earring holder

2010-10-09T14:54:00.000-05:00

I made this earring holder to possibly use in a store that sells my jewelry.

It didn't work for the store so I decided to use it, for now, in my room.

I have several old frames in my craft room.

Spray painted it white and glued it. (It was a little wobbly and still is, but not as bad.)

I strung some twine across the frame and hot glued it with a vintage button on top to help hold it.

Here's where it ended up. In my bedroom.

Also, now it is filled up with my earrings.

I want to fix up some frames with screen in them for holding earrings...

one of my many projects. I really need to get busy on some of my projects!

I finally hung the pretty hook that Julie bought me at Antique Alley. I thought it looked really good beside my peacock feathers on the dresser. My room is tan with burgundy curtains and pillows. I've been wanting to change it, so now I'm thinking tan and teal.

What do ya think?

Best bargains ever!!

2010-10-08T20:04:00.002-05:00

This week was a good week for bargains!

I got these at a Bath & Body Works Outlet

for $1.12 each!!

Total bill $3.64 for three of these. They're usually $4.50 each.

I love to get a bargain. It makes me smile.

Now comes the best bargain EVER!

Goodwill paid ME .37 cents! Yes, they paid ME!!

First, all the hardback books were on sale for $1. instead of $2.

So, I picked out 5 books,

the cute little kitty thing that I'm going to use to make a cute windchime .75 cents,

a big white shirt $4.19

and a thick glass bowl/candle holder ($1.)that fell to the floor and broke as I was paying for my stuff. All of this cost .71 cents because I had a frequent shopper card that you get stamped every time you spend $10. After you spend $100. you get $10. worth of free merchandise. Anyway, the guy says it's his fault that the glass fell out of my bag and gives me back $1.08

so.... Goodwill paid me .37 cents!

I'd say that was the

best bargain ever!

wiww

2010-10-06T19:21:00.001-05:00

Ok.. these are all out of order. I have a major headache that won't go away so I'm just trying to get these posted on Wednesday

Linked to

Sunday

Church

Dress: Cato

Jewlery: Necklace.. vintage, my moms?

Ring.. Fire Mt. Gems

Bracelet: me

Shoes: Payless

(another weird face)

Sunday night small groups

Shirt: Old Navy Clearance

Jeans: Old Navy

Flip Flops: Old Navy

Jewelry: Necklace and Earrings by me

Monday? Tuesday?

Shirt: Walmart

Jeans: Old Navy

Flip Flops: Walmart

Wednesday night church

Shirt: Old Navy on clearance

Jeans: Old Navy

Shoes: got them a long time ago... not sure where... i hardly ever wear them, i should wear them more often. they're cute, don't ya think?

Earrings and necklace: me (sorry for the blurry pic)

Hair: still haven't had a cut, up in frizzy ponytail so i thought i'd pouf it even more for the shot.

Thursday morning

after taking the kids to school... i look pretty hideous (no makeup, haven't brushed my hair or my teeth) and don't match, but don't care :O)

Tee: our local, very small mall.

(It's the "fruits of the spirit" Galatians 5: 22-23...

our bible verse theme for a social club i was in at college.)

Shorts: Goodwill

Flip Flops: Old Navy

I wore this outfit last week, but forgot to include it...

Cardi: Target
Shirt: Kohl's junior section (i've had this shirt for a couple of years and
never worn it. what took me so long? it looked really cute!)
Jeans: Old Navy
Jewelry: had forever.... especially the silver bracelet with swirls..
i wore it in highschool in the early 80's. that makes it vintage :O)
Sandals: Payless
(my FAVE outfit so far for what i wore wednesday!)

halloween time....

2010-10-03T15:57:00.000-05:00

I'm getting in the halloween spirit....

My bargains for the week

2010-09-30T09:25:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile since I've gotten such good bargains,

but this past week I found several.

I know the price tag says $1, but it was

.16 cents!!!!!

yep, only .16 cents!

I saw this little birdie at Dollar General when I had to rush to get my daughter some marshmallows for a science project that she forgot... anyway, I saw this little fella and picked him up and said to myself, "I don't need that, even if it IS only a dollar." But.. then I talked myself into it and when I checked out the checker said, "16 cents." I had to ask her to repeat herself. I just love him. He's so cute and he goes perfect in my bathroom. Now I just have to find a place to stick him. He's supposed to go in a plant, which I don't have in my bathroom.

My next bargain of the week are these funky reading glasses from Goodwill....

$1.39!

I'm WAY past due for a new glasses prescription. I need bi-focals BADLY!!

I'm hoping to use these when I'm creating. I have trouble seeing the small pieces I'm working with. Yep, I'm getting old.

I found these yesterday at Goodwill. I knew they were good quality. I'm not an expert on boots so I called my husband (who is). I wanted him to Google them for me or look on ebay to see if I could get any money for them. They're size 7 and I'm a 7 1/2. They fit me, but are a little snug. I could probably wear them if I wasn't doing a lot of walking. Anyway, my husband was in the field and not in the office by his computer so I had to decide if I wanted to pay $8 and take a chance on making any money on them. I decided to go for it. When the guy rang them up they were only $4!! The sign said that boots were $8. I didn't mention that to the guy. Was that wrong of me? Hey, he works there, not me. (Rationalization?) Anyway... I like 'em and I hope I can wear them. They will add some style to my wiww outfits!

I've been looking for more cardigans to add to mywardrobe

and I found this one at Goodwill for $4.19. I already have a

red one almost identical to this one, but this one is more

of a darker, cranberry color.

Can't have too many cardis!!

(sorry for the bad pictures. my house is dark and dreary this morning.)

What bargains have you found lately?

wiww

2010-09-29T23:03:00.000-05:00

What I Wore Wednesday....

Linked to

the pleated poppy

Friday

Wore to substitute teach

Shirt: Thrifted from Goodwill..i think $3.99

Tank: Wal-Mart

Jeans: Levis thrifted from Goodwill... $6.99

Shoes: Payless (i think) a few years ago

(sorry for the weird angle, but the straight on shots were not pretty)

Sunday

Wore to church

Cardigan: Target

Tank: W-mart

Skirt: i think Kohl's clearance rack

Shoes: Old Navy

Earrings: shrinky dinks made by my teen daughter at church camp, cute huh?

Sunday night

Wore to small groups (church)

Cardigan and shoes: same as Sunday morning
Tank: Nicole Miller, Kohl's?

Jeans: Levis thrifted Goodwill

Jewelry: earrings.. premier, necklace... made by me out of vintage shoe clip

Monday or Tuesday

Wore to take the kids to school and work around the house

Shirt: old don't know where i got it

Jeans: Old Navy

Flip Flops: Old Navy

(cropped my face out... no make-up and a little scary lookin')

Wednesday

Wore to town to set up a display of my jewelry

and a display of my garden charms at two stores... woo-hoo!

Tee: Church camp shirt

Jeans: Old Navy

Flip Flops: Old Navy

Hair: up in pony-tail and frizzy from cleaning

and another scary face

This is my every day attire when i'm at home

Tee: Very old and holey Old Navy tee

Shorts: Boxers from Gap (so comfy!)

Granny house shoes: Walmart

Another beautiful hair day and goofy face

I REALLY need a haircut... really bad!!

Tomorrow I'll show you some of my bargains I found this week... i LOVE me a good bargain!!

Antique Garden Charms

2010-09-27T09:44:00.001-05:00

Well, I guess it helps to network if you have a small jewelry business. I've been making jewelry for about 5 years now and adding new creations as I've gone along. Besides making jewelry I decorate antique bottles, make gypsy windchimes, mixed media pieces, needlework and my newest creation is garden charms.

When I was at antique alley last weekend I started talking to a woman in a booth where I bought an antique chandelier prism. I was telling her I was buying the prism to replace one that had been broken on one of my garden charms. She asked me what a garden charm was. I explained the best I could and she asked to see them. The next day I went back with a bag of my garden charms. She really liked my vintage-looking garden charms and commissioned me to make several of them for her to sell at flea markets. She gave me all the antique chandelier prisms she had and told me to use them to make as many charms as I could. Woo-hoo! I felt like a REAL small business owner! I've FINALLY realized how important networking is and that it's not so hard. I think sometimes us creative people who make things just don't consider ourselves legitimate businesses... at least I don't. I'm trying to change my frame of mind when it comes to my business.... first of all, that I actually do have a business. After this week I will now have my creations in two businesses (maybe more since one of the business owners said he knew more people that might be interested in my stuff.) Now I just need to get out there and show my stuff.

Does anyone else have the problem of marketing your creations? I'm really trying to overcome my fear of ... rejection? It's hard to create something and have someone not interested in it, but really... so what? I need to remember that there are plenty of people who like my stuff and are interested in buying it. I'm going to put myself out there this week and see what happens!

These are the pieces I was given to "create" with.

and...

here are some vintage garden charms I created....

I loved making these! I made nine of them in just a few hours.

Hope everyone has a wonderful, creative week~

Through my back door....

2010-09-25T19:18:00.001-05:00

I took this a few days ago. It doesn't look like this today. It's been raining and it's kind of dreary.

I loved the rain... it made it cooler.

So ready for Fall weather!

Hmmm.... now that I'm looking at this picture again. My yard could definitely use a little sprucing up/maintenance. I also REALLY need to paint the railing. It would probably make a better impression on someone interested in buying our house... if we ever get someone interested in our house.

I just love the white blooms on the crepe myrtle and the purple blooms on the texas sage bushes.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend........

Antique Alley LOvE.....

2010-09-23T10:18:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again... time for antique alley.

My friend, Julie, and I usually go.

Our favorite spot is

Whipp Farm

We had a really good time this year. We didn't stay too long so we weren't exhausted and hot.

I saw a lot of purty stuff!

My FAVE of the day was this booth. I spotted it and pretty much ran over to it and started taking pictures. The first thing I said to the vendor was "I want to buy everything in this booth!!"

and ... I bought nothing :O)

Only because I didn't have any money. We talked for awhile about all her cool stuff and about blogging.

Here's her blog

Take a look at all her cool stuff that she makes....

I wanted this peace heart SO BAD!!!!

Just look at all the rusty goodness!!!

LOVE!

Tin letters... love those too!!

One day I WILL buy some of her stuff!!

I thought this was cute. I've seen these at Hobby Lobby with the natural wood and they painted it my new favorite shade of blue... aqua!! I'm thinking I might make a trip to HL to get one of these and paint it the same color.

This was also a neat booth. They had rocks and metal work animals.

Cute turtles

An army of ants

This was a very cool dragon made of metal.

People just amaze me with their talents. I would love to go to people's

work spaces and watch them create their art.

I want a fountain like this in my backyard.

She reminds me of a fountain in a little courtyard

of a beautiful shop in Fredericksburg.

I fell in love with the shop and the courtyard fountain!

Aren't these the cutest things ever?

If I'd had money that day I would have definitely bought one of these!

Now I'm wondering why I didn't get peoples business cards!!??? I'm pretty sure this lady

sets up every year so maybe I'll see these little cupcakes again.

And this is what my dear friend, Julie, (who always pays for stuff and won't take no for an answer) bought me. I showed this to her because I really liked it and when I walked to another booth she was

VERY SNEAKY and hung around that booth and bought it for me when I wasn't looking.

Thanks Julie.

Healthy fruit or sugary candy??

2010-09-17T10:19:00.000-05:00

Ummmm..... I'm thinkn' sugary candy!

Definitely sugary candy!

See! I told ya!

♥*¨)

¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)

(¸.•´ (¸*´¨(♥ Happy Friday Everybody!

(¸.•´ (¸.•´♥

What I Wore Wednesday... my first~

2010-09-15T17:20:00.001-05:00

My first

What I Wore Wednesday

I found this through one of my many blogs I read

and it sounds like fun. I actually wore something besides

boxer shorts and t-shirts this week AND

put on makeup since I subbed 3 days this week and wasn't

just doing mom stuff around the house.

I've seen so many cute outfit ideas and I'm hoping it will inspire me

to dress a little better. It would help if I had money to update my wardrobe...

it's been awhile... a LONG while!

I have two teen girls in the house so their wardrobe is usually updated

and not mine. I'll probably include them in the what i wore wednesday sometimes.

Linked to:

The Pleated Poppy

top: don't have a clue where i got it... i've had it a long time (like most of my wardrobe)

jeans: Old Navy.. i'm sure on sale

flip flops: pink sparkly flops, but don't know where i got them either

necklace: made by me, but didn't get a picture of it

wore to: substitute teach

hair: need a haircut REALLY, REALLY bad!

empty bird cage: free in front of someones house

top: Old Navy clearance

capris: Wal-Mart

flip flops: Wal-Mart $3.00... very squishy and comfy

necklace and bracelet: made by me

wore to: substitute teach

New stuff

2010-09-11T00:25:00.001-05:00

Here are a few new things I've made lately...

I'm pretty sure I'm keeping this bracelet. I'm always wanting a colorful bracelet

so I decided it was time I made myself one.

I haven't decided if I'll keep this black and white one. I wore it to church last Sunday

with another black and white bracelet. Sometimes I just have to wear something a few

times before I can sell it :O)..... anyone else do that?

I'm such a procrastinator!

I made these garden charms months

ago. I had plans to take them to some local nurseries to sell or consign.

It's now Fall and I still haven't done it. I hope people will buy these

now... it would have been much better to sell in the Spring

when people are starting their Spring gardening.

I made some new price tags for them... the first ones I made were just... what's the word? .....

Not good.

Not cute.

Kinda cheesy.

VERY homemade looking.

Ugly.

These are cute. I think.

After the Rain☂ ☂ ☂ ☂

2010-09-08T22:11:00.000-05:00

It flooded here today. So much that school was cancelled. The rain was so nice though.

My plants that were so wilted and dry now have new life.

Here are some pictures I took after the rain.

Wow... that's a lot of pictures, but everything just looked so beautiful and refreshed. I couldn't stop taking pictures!

☂ ☂ ☂ ☂

House for sale! Mine!

2010-08-30T10:18:00.001-05:00

We are moving back to the city!

I'm a city girl.

I've lived in the small town of Blum for 11 years now...

as I said to my husband,

"I've done my time."

I want the conveniences of a larger town and I'm ready

for a change.

We're selling our house

"For Sale By Owner"

so.... I decided to list it on my blog.

I thought maybe someone would be interested or know someone

who's ready to live in the country.

It's really quite nice.

Woods, seasonal creek and pond, horses, nice neighbors,

nice school ... and...

you can see all the stars at night! I think I will miss the stars the most.

But... it's time. So, take a look at our home.

Aerial shot taken by a very nice man who sold us this picture for like $60 and my husband actually paid it. Oh well, at least we have a nice aerial shot of our property, which I guess might help someone decide if they want to buy our house.

Our shabby chic front door. I was going to paint it, but I took a poll on flickr several years ago and the majority said, "keep it just like it is." So I did.

Come on in!

Living room

Dining room looking into the living room

Kitchen remodeled a little over a year ago.

I LOVE it!

Laundry/mudd room. Don't look at the mess on the shelves.

Downstairs bathroom. Remodeled when kitchen was a little over a year ago.

Shower. Ceramic tile surround.

Daughter's room. Biggest room downstairs.

LOVE my front porch. I might miss it more than the stars!

Now, lets go outside.....

16x20 storage building

Barn and corral

Storage room in barn. Concrete floor and shelves.

Here is Scooter and Slowpoke. If we don't sell them, they come with the house along with their trailer and all tack. What a deal!

Needed: A family to buy and love our home.

Here is the info. I put on Craig's List....

Charming 2 story farm house with 6 acres in Blum, Texas. Not too far from the city, but enough in the country to see ALL the stars at night. Lots of charm and character.

4 bedrooms, 2 full baths

Approx. 2000 square feet

Newly renovated eat-in kitchen

Newly renovated bathroom downstairs

Newer paint in most rooms

New flooring in living room, master bedroom, laundry room, bath and kitchen

Central heat and air, propane gas

New water heater (1 year old)

Leveled a year ago, pier and beam

Dining room

Large laundry/mud room

Large front porch

Siding

Fenced in back yard

All 6 acres fenced

Seasonal creek and pond and beautiful wooded area

Storage building 16x20 with heat/air window unit

Barn with corral

Detached metal carport

Brick patio with fire pit in back yard

1 minute from school

20 minutes from Cleburne

20 minutes from Lake Whitney

30 minutes from Hillsboro Outlet Mall

1 hour from Ft. Worth

Mineral rights included

2 horses, horse trailer and flatbed trailer sold with home if they are not sold beforehand

$165,000 with $5,000 allowance for improvements

Call Lora 817-992-4925

back to school

2010-08-26T21:33:00.000-05:00

School started yesterday....

awwwwww..... silence.

It seems like the summer FLEW by. The girls had a great summer!

Spent lots of time with the church youth group and going to church camps

and a couple of service projects.

Ethan played video games on the computer all summer.

I have my computer back!

YAY!

Have a pEaChY Monday....

2010-08-09T13:34:00.000-05:00

yummy peaches that we picked from Julie's peach trees

and then I made

COBBLER!

A walk outside....

2010-07-29T15:31:00.000-05:00

Grasshoppers gross me out and fascinate me.

I was tired of being in the house so I decided to take a walk outside-- in the heat...very hot out there! I grabbed my camera and Mr. Grasshopper was the first thing I saw.

fern.... hope i can keep it alive... i'm not good with ferns.

mint... the grasshoppers ate most of it.

I sprayed it so maybe it will come back.

She loves me. She loves to be cuddled. I carried her around for the rest of my walk.....

woodpeckers

Me and my TWO shadows

Kitty says, "bye"

I've been crafty....

2010-07-25T15:19:00.000-05:00

I've been spending some of my time visiting my favorite blogs lately. I have A LOT saved in my favorite files. A few I look at regularly, but most I don't get to look at that often. I came across a blog that I had favorite-ed and spent a couple of days looking at all her wonderful crafty projects....

like this one...

Family Bracelets by A pocket full of posies

and so I decided to make some of my own. So easy and they turned out really cute.

I had some of my mother's old quilting scraps... dug them out and found some cute material to braid together.

Do I look silly?

I safety-pinned the scraps together and held the pin

in my mouth to be able to braid the pieces together.

New earrings...

my friend Julie already bought them.

New earrings and necklace.

I love the necklace. I got to wear it once

and then sold it to my friend,

Julie

:O)

New Creations~

2010-07-17T15:51:00.000-05:00

Free Stuff!!

2010-06-28T17:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday as I was driving down a street in my hometown (stalking the house for sale that I want to buy when we sell our house) coming home from church...

I saw some stuff piled in a driveway with a FREE sign on it. I immediately pulled into

the driveway and got out. Luckily there was a guy in the garage who came

to my car and offered to put it in the back of my van.

It made me so, so HAPPY!!

I've been looking for a bird cage, but I've seen very few and they were always

WAY too expensive. This one was FREE!!!!

I thought I might spray paint it all white and use it as decoration, but the minute

my 10 year old saw it he starts asking when we're going to put a bird in it.

We made a little trip to the pet store today to look at parakeets.

I told him we'd have to wait and see, but I'm pretty sure they'll

be little birdie in there soon. I had a bird when I was

his age and I loved it!

Of course you know who will be cleaning the cage

and feeding it.

And... I can never have too many planters. I love this one and I especially love that it was free!

I can't wait to fill it with pretty plants!

I'm still on my FREE STUFF HIGH!!

My favorite car

2010-06-25T14:22:00.000-05:00

I love this car!

I want one just like it to drive around town.

Would that be weird... since I'm 46?

This cute car is in Glen Rose Texas... one of my all time fave towns.

Someday I wouldn't mind living there, but for now I guess I'll just visit when I can

...and go visit this car whenever I'm there.

3 out of 4 kittens

2010-06-11T21:47:00.000-05:00

The kittens are growing and they're so cute! I named the little orange one "Crush"

after the orange crush drink. We haven't agreed on names for the other three.

This little guy is the most adventurous and cuddly.

This cutie is still a little skittish, along with his sibling who I don't have a picture of.

I hope these kittens brought a smile to your face today :O)

Last day of school

2010-05-28T08:34:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of school.

The last day of 4th grade for Ethan.

The last day of 9th grade for Lydia and Tori.

My babies are growing up.

I'm ready, but I'm not ready.

I hope we have a fun and relaxing summer!

Ethan (in red) on Field Day with his friends.

dreaming of.....

2010-05-04T11:04:00.001-05:00

... owning one of these someday.

Shopping with Julie.... a trip to Granbury Texas

2010-04-29T12:14:00.001-05:00

Here is me and Julie.

Neither one of us like this picture.

We only took one other picture of us and my eyes are closed in that one.

Julie called me on Tuesday and said "let's go to Granbury tomorrow"

and I said "okay, I'm ready to get out of my house."

We only have a few more weeks until schools out and then we'll never get to hang out!

We saw lots of *bLinG*

and pretty flowers...

A pretty window display (sorry about the reflection)

This is one of my favorite stores in Granbury

Lots of pretty light fixtures!

mercury glass! LOVE!

Cool, colorful purses.... love those fabric prints!

I took a picture of these because we decided we could make these ourselves to go in our back yards... cute, huh?

Craft day project!

LOVE the fabric for these place mats and napkins!!

fish measuring spoons... oh my! so cute!

.... other pretty stuff

These napkins cracked me up! I had to take a picture.

Julie didn't see these. When I showed her the pictures later

she cracked up too and said she would have bought these!!

I guess we were s.l.u.t.s. yesterday Julie :O)

Look at those troll leggings!!!

A cool coffee shop... we didn't go in.

LOVED these too!! LOVED!!

Colorful piggies

and table

This was so cute. It was a little notebook made of newspaper

with the little birdie and tree applique.

Upstairs... i think this was my fave store

Not sure what these were... long match holder?? I just thought the print was great!

pretty glass hummingbird feeders

A light fixture made of branches and sticks....

neat-o!

Julie thinking...

"I don't want to go home yet!"

We stopped in here. It was really cool. You can paint pottery, make

mosaics and other stuff. We might be going back there with the girls.

... more cute stuff

I took a picture of this. I'm going to use this scripture in one of my collages.

We sing this song at our church too.

Last minute jewelry looking....

time to pick up the kids...

WAIT!

Where was that fudge we saw? or do you want ice cream instead?

(We decided we looked like 'duh' and 'durh' in this picture.

We were really photogenic yesterday)

We made it home!

Late picking up the kids.

We blamed it on a train we had to sit and wait on.

There WAS a train, actually TWO just sitting on the tracks.

I think we were late picking up the kids because we had to find

a cookie to eat on the way home though... but don't tell the kids that.

Here is Julie writing on my new chalk wall.

I think she looks a like teacher.

And... here's what I bought. A vanilla candle and a mercury glass candle holder.

I only spent around $7.... and about $4 for the cookie we had to have and a coke.

The cookie tasted awful, but the coke was good.

And I had a FUN, FUN day with my friend!!

Look-y at what's new at our house

2010-04-27T12:57:00.001-05:00

We've been waiting for these little ones for weeks!!!!

tOTaL cUtEnEss!!!!!

You did good momma

{She's practicing her stern momma look}

Charmed

I bought ZEBRA duck tape.... f u N!!

Owls... before and after

My latest Thrifty Finds!

The Old School Desk

More Goodwill Goodies...

New bright paint colors

Oh No!

I want to buy this building

Chippy Shelf

Paint and finish day...

Things I'm working on

Goodwill Goodies

Look what I found on the curb today

Sneak peeks and mums....

Painting supplies

Goodwill is so GOOD to me....

I want one of these....

Goodwill Goodies... and some other goodies

Recycled Coasters

Finally... a post and some furniture re-dos

Texas....

My first grandchild was born January 25...

Dreaming of a backyard pond...

Scenes from my kitchen

happy holidays

Bargain of the day.... ~*~cardis~*~

HAPPY HALLOWEEN ~o~

New earrings and a necklace

My new earring holder

Best bargains ever!!

wiww

halloween time....

My bargains for the week

wiww

Antique Garden Charms

Through my back door....

Antique Alley LOvE.....

Healthy fruit or sugary candy??

What I Wore Wednesday... my first~

New stuff

After the Rain☂ ☂ ☂ ☂

House for sale! Mine!

back to school

Have a *pEaChY* Monday....

A walk outside....

I've been crafty....

New Creations~

Free Stuff!!

My favorite car

3 out of 4 kittens

Last day of school

dreaming of.....

Shopping with Julie.... a trip to Granbury Texas

Look-y at what's new at our house

Bargain of the day.... ~~cardis~~

Have a pEaChY Monday....