3 days and counting!

Well...I got an entire booth for the Saturday Open House (and beyond!)  Let the full-blown panic begin!!

I have been working like a madwoman trying to finish projects, create price tags and imagine how this booth was going to look!  Today, I got to take the first load over and start setting up.
 

Before 
Rug and table cloths are mine.

My booth is by one of the two entrances and has a large window on one side.  This is both good and bad.  Good in that it provides a lot of natural light.  Bad, in that it provides A LOT of natural (afternoon) light!  I've been warned that I will need to frequently rotate items near the window to avoid fading.  In fact, the streaming sunlight made it difficult to take clear pictures!
 

The display unit and the round table belong to the store owner, but she has been kind enough to let me use them until I come up with something else.  The shelving has the name of the previous booth-renter on it, so tomorrow, I'm either going to paint over the name or put up some wallpaper.  I am whipping up a (temporary) sign to go up there too!

 I will try to take better close-ups tomorrow.  The store is only open Thursday through Saturday afternoon, so I have to wait to receive a call that someone is at the store and can let me in.  Eventually, I should be given a key, so I can "fluff" on days the store is closed.

All-in-all, I am quite pleased with how it looks on the first day!  I was having trouble visualizing how the stuff would fit, but it came together pretty quickly.  It will probably change tomorrow, as I bring in more stuff!

I'm really loving my "suitcase table".  Hope someone feels the same and makes a home for it!

So, there is your first peek!  Let the panic continue!

A small panic attack is starting....

Well, it was inevitable. With all the hoarding junking collecting that has been going on around lately, it was time to bust-a-move and find an outlet for some of the projects.  Some things just aren't suitable for Etsy or are too big/bulky/heavy to sell online.

There is a cute store in Tiny Town that rents booths to vendors who sell antiques, collectibles, handmade items and upscale crafts. I've been talking with the owner for a while about setting up a booth of my own, when one becomes available.  It takes a while of sitting on a wait-list before your turn comes up.

The last time I was in the shop, the owner had just finished installing billboards around town advertising her Holiday Open House on the third of November. She told me that she makes space available to people who don't currently have a booth in her store and asked if I wanted to participate.

 Do I?? You bet!

She is still working out how the store will be arranged to accommodate the extra tables, so I'm not exactly sure how much/what size stuff I could bring in.

But in the meantime...chaos!!  The Open House is in 1 week!!

I've got a zillion projects in the works, large and small, some more done than others. I'm trying to come up with more "gifty" type things specifically for the Open House.

I hope I hear soon if I have a table or shelf unit.  Until then (and for some time after,) I will be in my garage working like a mad woman. 

And if I don't end up in the Open House??  Well, I will have a LOT more items to list on Etsy!

Roll-top Desk

Here's another project I've been working on.  A basic pine roll-top desk.  No, I didn't remember to take a "before" photo.  I'm getting old, okay??  Just picture your average yellow pine wood, okay?

I painted the desk a warm white.

Two of the drawer knobs were missing and they were ugly anyway, so I replaced them with some sparkle!

Then I added a classic graphic from my favorite source, Graphics Fairy.

It wasn't easy getting it on with the way the slats move as the roll up!  Let's look inside.

 Wait!  Did I forget to mention something??

Like, that this roll-top desk is really a recipe card file??

Shoot!  See?  I told you I'm getting old!  But I think the "desk" is kinda cute anyway!

I'm linking this to Brag Monday at Graphics Fairy , Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm ,and Nick of Time Tuesday .

Hey, Diddle Diddle

It's about time that I showed a project that's almost finished. ( Please pay absolutely NO attention to the views of my various work stations.  They pretty much cover the whole house, and garage... and yard.)

From deep in the pile of crap stuff treasures, comes this wooden child's rocking chair that I found at the Goodwill. I forgot to take a true "before" picture (cuz I thought I already had! Getting old is tough!)

The poor thing had been rode hard, as was about to rock itself to pieces. Pretty much the entire bottom half had to come off for repair. Of course, that entailed chiseling out old dried glue and removing itty-bitty nails that were supposed to keep the chair together.

Following lots of gluing and clamping, I painted the chair a lovely Pebble color and tried to decide how to decorate it.  I settled on a Hey, Diddle Diddle theme and found a great graphic at the Graphics Fairy for the seat. I played around with fonts to create the title for the top rail, then tried them on the chair for size.

First up was a water-slip decal for the seat.

This was to be my first attempt at creating a stencil using my new Silhouette Cameo!  It took a couple of runs, but I got it done and stuck the stencil on the curved back of the chair.

I covered the stencil with blue paint, then peeled the vinyl away immediately.  And it ate part of the new paint job!  (I think I might like it!)

It took some time to lift all the small pieces in the letters "D" and "e", and some of the letters got smudged.

Stud Muffin thinks the messy letters adds to the charm.  What do you think?  Maybe I'll fix the letters, maybe I won't.   I still need to distress the chair in a few more places and give it a good wax job, so I will leave you with the "almost" finished look.

Oops! I did it again!

Today, I was minding my own business, heading off to do a merchandising job in a pharmacy near the hospital.  Okay, I DID allow myself to stop at my favorite Goodwill, since it had just opened for the day. Always the best time to go!

After scoring a metal card catalog drawer thingie, a silverplate candelabra, some china pieces and assorted wood items, I continued towards the pharmacy.  I'm early, so I stop at the other GW in town.  Got a single basket.

Still minding my own business and heading towards the job site, my car automatically pulls into the third thrift store between me and the job. There is something seriously wrong with the steering in this car!  Maybe it's possessed! (Yeah, that's it!  I'm sticking with that story!)

But wait!  What's in the corner of the store?  Side tables!  Heavy, solid oak tables?  Got them for $35 total!

So the question is, how much stuff can you fit into a Prius?  Well, if you are me, the answer is...quite a bit!  Fold the backseats down, pile all your work boxes into the front seat, and balance what you've already scored on top of it all.  Then drive v.e.r.y carefully!

Back in the car and I am now 2 blocks from the pharmacy, when a garage sale popped up on the very street my job is on!  I sailed on past, and then my car made a U-turn and parked right in front of the sale!  Can you believe that?  I was inches from my destination!  But I can say that I did not buy anything at the yard sale, I did go my job and I got it done.

Heading towards home, when what do my wondering eyes did appear, but an ESTATE sale! Crud and crap!  Gotta stop.  Some picture frames, a vintage aqua tablecloth and wire basket stuffed themselves into the car with me.  (I had nothing to do with it!)

Almost to the turn off for home, when the dang car turned in at a yard sale I saw early in the morning as I headed out.  I was so good this morning and didn't stop!  But the car has a mind of it's own, I tell you.  Somehow, I was able to fit 2 Ball canning jars with zinc lids, 3 antique potato mashers,  and a corn cutter into the car with just enough space left for myself. 

Whew!  Made it safely home, but I gotta have the car looked at.  It really does the weirdest things when I'm minding my own business!