49 cent cutie

Just a simple little mini project with some chalkboard paint-a tin I found at thrift store for 49.cents.

The color was perfect the way it was, so i left it- taping it off with blue painters tape-

Then used spray chalkboard paint and sprayed the tin 3 times-let dry for 24 hours- rubbed chalk over it-wiped down-

pulled tape off and there ya go- and added a baggy of chalk for the next to person use- a bit of twine for detail with a bow.

Total Cost maybe $1.25 with twine-chalkboard paint-tin

Love that you can make anything out of truly anything even this throw away candy tin.

A Girl needs her Lighting!

So a new found love for me is the chandeliers, never really paid any attention to them, we have a basic black one from Lowe's in our Dining Room. But now I have discovered the big dramatic ones , with jewels and I love them.

So I found this huge gold kind of funky one for $29 & it worked great.

So of course painted it a shade of white, added a ton of lights to it, and some jewels.

Now when it came to hanging it, not so easy. I wanted it in my sewing/crafty room (the front living room-the one no one ever uses in a home) But the ceilings are vaulted and are at least 14 feet tall.

The only ladder my husband had was a 8 foot. He was insistent that it would work- Well, (nope)..So as he is use to my over excitement for something new to get set up or hung or built, he thought he would have it done before i got home.

Well when i walked in, I found a long vintage table from my shoppe and another vintage table (I'm getting ready to turn into an ottoman) set up, with long pieces of ply wood on them, then his 8 foot ladder on them- and he on the top trying to install this huge chandelier.

Oh my...

Would of been beautiful except he had asked if we had electrical wire- i say yes- well i guess there is a difference between speaker wire and electrical wire for wiring a chandelier (oops)..

Now it is up, and I LOVE IT!!!!

then i added another lighting make over- a little mini lamp, that i use to use for sewing-no longer need it-so i painted it, changed shade and back to adding red to the shoppe with this cutie..

Oh how I love my paint- No

b-day gifts, anniv. gifts for me- Just a case of heirloom white paint will do.

Who can Resist Ruffles!

Following Vintage Sassy's last post on (Ruffles) I thought i would share my Ruffled Table Cloth that i made for a (Ruffles & Stuff)contest on making something or anything unique & ruffled. At that point I hadn't seen any table clothes with ruffles-

And I promise right after i finished it- there was the Country Home's Article on Ruffles- and there was a Ruffled pretty white tablecloth.

Funny how that happens- I guess we all have such great thinking alike minds.

I used a cheap $3.00 sheet-

then made some ruffles -using old fabric and left overs- turning them into long pleated-ruffles and sewing them directly on to sheet- starting at the bottom.

I also used some pre-made ruffled ribbons trying to give different layers of textures-styles-thickness-colors even used ends of blankets to make it more unique.

I'm sure you can see it got to a point where the line of ruffles going around table cloth started to slowly angle down. (Yikes)

Then, There is my Ruffled Party Hat- I just thought it would be kind of Different & Cute, I also submitted to Ruffles & Stuff for her (all that is ruffled contest) a while back.

Bring on the Red!

A Quick Apron to bring in some red at the door way. I found this Large Pillow Case in a light cream color with these small red flowers on it- I find most my favorite fabric from other sources ( curtains,pillow cases, table cloths, or even clothing) they are just more unique & even more one of kind than the fabric from the Fabric stores.

and so i whipped it up before i went in to work, always lining it, and adding some ruffle and a finishing red wrinkle ribbon to trim the top.

Mostly sharing the cool fabric, i just love the red floral.

And this little step stool, I  at one point had it black, with blue soft velvet but now it is time to be white (distressed) and recovered in a red-cream ticking thick fabric- Again to bring in some red.

As you can tell, we are getting ready for 4th of July & the big Rodeo (50th anniv.) So many things I'm swapping to reds of different patterns.

The hand towels I embroidered (America) on them and added the ribbon for an added touch.

And One last share, that so unique Aladdin statue that was given to me, well here is the after picture, I painted it white, sanded a bit of it and here is the finished look.

I'm an odd bird  I guess, I just love him, I have never seen anything like him, or maybe i don't get out much.

Lately I have been waking up at 5:30am just because i cant wait to start on painting or sewing or finishing some ideas, I think I don't even sleep sometimes, because I'm dreaming about how they'll look, or something I saw and Just to excited to give it a try.

Must be adrenaline Rush.

Lovely Vintage Finds!

Look at this Lovely Gem, How amazing is this an old sewing machine, even has the manual (pretty tattered-faded-fragile), the thread, all the attachments $10.. I just love it..I might use as a desk-decoration in my home.

And then look at this little Heavy Statue of an Aladdin like fellow holding a candle display- A good friend of mine gave it to me, It belonged to her mother in law. How unique is this little guy-kind of odd-but quirky.

And my last little love this old book, my neighbor at the shoppe gave me, a handy mans book dated 1951 How cool is that, I just love it, it shows pictures of the woman watching in awe as the man screws in a hinge. How Cute is that.

Just Love all that is Vintage!

From the Past they Rode!

Today in our little humble Historic Folsom, the Pony Express came riding through. Giving everyone a glimpse into how the mail was carried so many years ago. With children watching on, & adults, cameras, newspapers glaring past the sun she rode in with the bags saddled over the pretty horse, a police escort and many smiles in her direction, then like the wind they swapped riders- exchanged some mail and off again he (the new rider) rode to the next stop on the Pony Express route.

So many of us forget each of our little towns have such history like the vintage pieces we love so much.

For example the building-next to mine was the Pony Express stop long,long ago, and the building I'm currently in- actually the shoppe itself is where the horses from the Wells Fargo Stage Coach use to get chained up, The Buckle is still hooked into the ground, and wood paneled floor covers it, but it isn't forgotten as I point it out to customers all the time. As I have this fascination with all that is old, furniture, stories, people, & just my love for history in general and what a nice day to share the past with my girls.

A Week of Projects!

I have been so busy lately, I think every room has a different project going on in it. But I do think I thrive off of so much. I get so excited to start something new, I just can't wait to see what a piece will turn out like. SO here with the first pic- a darling pedestal table- i could not resist the feet, or the carved detail in the base and of course with my love for chairs could not leave the store without those four charmers. So with my fav- Heirloom white paint, i sanded-painted-distressed and re-upholstered in red-toile. 4th of July coming up so i thought the red toile would be good for shoppe.

Are these not so cute, one i came across and couldn't leave behind, and the other was given to me by my older brother Tim & his Wife Chrissy, the chair had belonged to her Mother.

I painted one in cream & one in heirloom white- barely distressing both-and because of Tea Party they both got upholstered in shades of pink fabric. I probably will swap out for another fabric as soon as i can decide. Aren't they just Darling, very dainty and sweet.

This little piano seat, the seat lifts up for storage, i thought was so cute, and practical -If i must say so myself. I painted- and added some padding-and a sheer thin red drapery fabric( that i cut up to use) My favorite fabrics are usually old drapes, table cloths, things like that- (all about re-purposing), but turned out just lovely.

Now this is so not my style at all- The Chair itself I love, but a Customer wanted me to just recover with the brown fabric, giving it a new and updated look, the old pink fabric was torn, the arms were pretty worn & it didn't match her decor.

One of my first upholstery jobs at my new shoppe, I hope she likes it.

It is so hard to re-do or re-upholster a piece when it isn't your style.

 I so badly wanted to paint it. But nope, had to resist.

SO these are all of my past weeks projects- plus the party, Yikes what a week, but oh do i love it!!

And wait till you see what i just bought from my neighbor Wayne( he owns "The Shack") a lil- shop where he sells vintage records-tapes-8 tracks -movies books all $1.00 here next to my shoppe, I can't wait to show you!!!

Cupcake & Tea Party!

A few pictures of the Cupcake Tea Party for our daughter Caroline turning 8. Trying to have the shoppe open, and set up was a bit challenging, so i was more limited than i thought-  So closing shoppe at 5-then rushing to push rest of furniture-shoppe items back or out front under burlap to hide it-but not look messy- then quickly trying to blow up balloons-set table-& do finishing touches was a little tricky but we sort of made it-

 I made the Banner saying Happy Birthday, so that way I can reuse it for other girls, I made the sign on Fireplace mantel for her with some old panels of wood, and brought in all of the pink flowers i could find around house,garage and shoppe. I made the 3 tiered Pink cake for decoration, then recovered some of the vintage chairs in shoppe with different shades of pink fabric(something easy so i could change back after party). Hung some tulle- I made the hanging white flowers/greenery with mini white lights, and then used every tea cup, saucer i could find, had vintage hanker chiefs of all differ colors-textures-sizes and just tied them with different ribbons and layed out at each place setting.

Made each girl their own Crown, with their name on it, so they could use as a keep sake as well.

Then they were served by my older daughter mini peanut butter jelly sandwiches cut up, watermelon, & pink lemonade to drink.

We played one game (how many words can you make out of Caroline) in which they did while eating.

Then they were given large pink strawberry cupcakes in gold wrappers to ice-decorate however they wanted as much as they wanted (and  oh  did they) with cherries on top- we gave each girl a candle and Caroline 8 on her cupcake and everyone got to  blow out a candle.

Last they each got a white goody bag  tied with pink tulle  inside was a pearl necklace with ribbon to fancy it up-

pink glittered clothespins with a cute crown tip-

Sparkly mini notebooks-

Home Made Pink Strawberry Dipped Marshmellows (sprinkled with white-pink dots) with ribbon tied around them-

& an old fashion candy necklace

(and of course i snuck in cards for shoppe offering 10% off one item next time they come in) Yes a Shameless Plug)

and at the end we put all the tables away took some sassy pictures that each girl will get mailed to her and turned up the music and they danced.

Then we stayed until almost 10 cleaning up, moving all the shoppe furniture back,sweeping, mopping_& yes worth it for out littlest one.

I'm thinking about doing it for other girls (for a charge of course)..

Shared From the Past

As i was looking over some pieces i did for customers, i think this was one of my favorites. Probably because I'm so drawn to black & white. But this fainting couch with swan carved detail (if you look close you can see the swans head going up the side). Hounds tooth so soft, pretty & stylish, But while doing this piece, i didn't realize there was a certain direction each tooth went in, so when calculating fabric,  I didn't think about that- Which Makes a HUGE difference on the amount of fabric needed.

(lesson learned)

Just one of my favorites i thought i would share.