For Karen

Karen was wondering what I did with these shoe stretchers that I bought in September.

 

The project I mentioned working on (and hoping wouldn't be too weird!)  was a photo holder.

This is the third one I have made.  The first two sold pretty quickly!

I used Mod Podge to glue a vintage shoe ad to a piece of aged wood (from behind my shed) and rusted the shoe tree with vinegar and salt.  I mounted the shoe tree to the wood and curled the spiral photo holders from rebar wire. 

I don't know WHY I made this, but the idea wouldn't leave me alone until I did.  I guess it's not too weird for other people, thank goodness!

Headboard bench

Well, it may be a new year, but it's the same old me!  Too busy lazy tired to keep up with the posts. My bad, sorry, and all that! Forgive me?

One of the the things I have been working on is converting random headboards into a bench. I've actually had a bed set in the garage for a while that is intended for a makeover, but was too afraid to pull the trigger on cutting the footboard in two!

Then, while out junking with LaVon, owner of the shop I sell my things in, I came upon this twin headboard:

I loved the white and yellow scheme and the cute flowers painted in the center. It just had to become a bench!  A few days later, I found another, larger, headboard that had the same kind on routing detail as the first one! Of course, I forgot to take a picture of it before I chopped it up, but you can see a piece being used as an "arm" of the bench:

I framed out the seat with 2 x 4s in my garage, since the rain wouldn't go away no matter how loud I sang!  (P.S.  There will be no criticizing of the condition of my garage.  I ain't got no time for "cleaning" my workspace!)

I finished the seat and filled all the endless slots and holes in the headboards.  Endless, I say!

Now it was time to paint!  (Doo-di-doo...waiting for a non-rainy day. )

Finally!  I covered the flower detail that I wanted to keep, and went to town with the glossy spray paint.  I learned something along the way:  I should have painted the seat before attaching it to the back to avoid having to repaint where I over-sprayed the yellow.

Oops!  Now I over-sprayed the white onto the seat!  Cr*p!  Get out the yellow paint again.

Finally, the majority of the painting was done, but I wanted to add back in the yellow detail in the routing.

Another night in the garage, and the job was done!  I hauled the sweet bench to the store yesterday, which was the first sunny day in a long while.   I unloaded it from the truck and parked it in front of the shop where people could see it as the drove over the bridge.

LaVon and I fretted about where the bench would live at night, since there was no room in my booth for it.  We shouldn't have worried, since it sold 5 hours after I placed it in the sunshine!

Now to make another one!

I'm linking to  Transformation Thursday

Welcoming in the New Year!

In anticipation of the New Year, I've made some changes.  Starting with my blog template, which had remained the same since...forever!  Don't know how long I'll keep the pink, but it was nice to make a change.

I also spent all day a few hours at LaVon's, reworking my booth.  I tend to think in themes, and had been collecting items for a red, white, and aqua kitchen display.  After pulling down the Christmas decorations the other day, I knew it was time to put the kitchen plan into action.

This is the "before."

And the other side.

Of course, first I had to pull almost everything out and start again.  I worked to find a spot for the yellow table, and as I picked it up to move it, noticed the "Sold" sign on it! 

Never mind finding it a new spot!  So, I'd move and set things, step back and decide to move them someplace else.  This went on for some time.

I moved the round table to the center of the back wall and made the kitchen display there.  I think it came out pretty good!

I think the star of the display is the bread box I painted with Miss Mustard Seed milk paint in Tricycle Red that I got from Petticoat Junktion.  Before I figured out what to do with this bread box, I got carried away priming it and sprayed the inside with primer. Then I realized that maybe people wouldn't want to put food inside of a freshly painted piece.  It spent the rest of the summer in the garage, until inspiration hit!

The box doesn't HAVE to be used for bread, it could be used to store/display condiments on a table or any other thing.  So, I decoupaged some pages from a vintage recipe magazine that had red accents in it to the inside.

On the outside, the original white ceramic knob and raised plaque were replaced.  Thank goodness I thought to keep them "just in case!"  I could have just as easily thrown them out!

The display has a variety of kitchenware, cups, canisters and bowls in my favorite color combination.  I hope the customers find it refreshing too!

The rest of the merchandise was rearranged as well.  I have to pay attention to the large window in my booth.  As much as the natural light is wonderful, I cannot put anything that might fade near it.  That includes upholstered furniture, lampshades or paper items.  The price tags on the things that have been in the window have bleached out already!  So it took some time to accommodate everything while protecting items from the sun.

The last two wieners are hiding under the stenciled table.  The footstools are now on top of the wooden ironing board.

"Cheryl's" red Asian table (so named because she is trying to convince me to mail it to her!) stand on one of LaVon's oak side tables that really needs a white paint job.  The blue accent table sits on the matching oak table.

Items were moved around on the bookcase, and the blue record table took up residence in front of the window.

Not much changed on the vanity, except I moved the lamp there after selling the original lamp that started out on the vanity.

I am now ready (okay, not really!) for the start of a new year.  It will probably take me until March before I remember to write 2013 instead of 2012, but someday it will become automatic.  I am hoping for a good year at LaVon's, and have a bunch of ideas rolling around in my otherwise empty head.

Here's to 2013!!

Christmas morning!

So, November and December disappeared into the chaos that is my garage/workshop.  I've been doing well at my shop booth, selling things faster than I can make replacements!  A good problem to have, for sure!

I also spent time making Christmas gifts, but of course, I didn't remember to take pictures of them all.  

Liz wanted a sign for over her bathroom door.

Courtney wanted a green stool for her kitchen, so I painted one I got at a garage sale this summer and stenciled a koi fish on the top.

This Goodwill vase was in perfect, if dirty, shape but the white color was a bit too ghostly for me.

I painted it jade with gold accents and added silk greenery and twirly twigs.  This was for Courtney.

I found a vintage "crystalette" chandelier kit at LaVon's and immediately knew it could be turned into a great floor lamp for Liz's guest room.  She currently has a multi-arm lamp that clashes with the shabby feel.

As a last minute gift, I made each girl and their guy a photo canvas.

It was great to have everyone here for Christmas.  I think the last time the whole family was together for a holiday was about 6 years ago!  As the girls get older, their lives are likely to take them far enough away to make these celebrations impossible.  They came with their boyfriends and we had such a blast!  Food, laughs, movies and gifts...what's not to like??

 Courtney and Liz

Liz's boyfriend, Tim trying to hide.

Courtney's boyfriend, Clint toasting with orange juice.

  

The morning started with cinnamon rolls and stockings.  This was apparently the "electronics" Christmas.  Courtney got a much needed new computer.

Tim got a Garmin GPS so he won't get lost driving Liz around!

 

Liz got a new iPhone, since she's been using my old one.

Clint gave Courtney an XBox...

 

and she gave him a watch that he wanted. 

That got her a thank-you smooch!

Courtney made Liz fleece pants with Tim's alma mater name and colors. 

 Like the trash bag on the table?

Once the elastic was adjusted for Liz's tiny waist, she had a tail! And she played with that tail all day!

Clint REALLY wanted the complete set of James Bond movies on Blu-ray, and he wasn't disappointed!

 After the gift opening, it was time for fried egg sandwiches and quiet time to enjoy the gifts.

The rest of the day consisted of multiple James Bond movies, steak and baked potato dinner, and then more movies.  Snow started falling after dark, which kept Liz and Tim from leaving until this morning.  Tim was supposed to work this morning, but was able to go in after lunch instead.  Courtney and Clint left this morning as well, but not without some foot-stomping and whining about how they didn't want to leave.

I think everyone had a good time.  At least, I sure did, and we know that's all that really matters!  Hope you had as good a Christmas as we did!

Open House Day

This was how my booth looked when I left Wednesday night.  I still had a couple of things to bring in that weren't q.u.i.t.e ready on Wednesday.  But I managed to make a sign for the bookcase with what I had on-hand.  My booth name is "Runs With Scissors."  I think it goes well with Colors Outside the Lines!

I came back Thursday morning and brought the rocking chair

this two-tiered revolving caddy,

and some miscellaneous silverplate.

I wasn't going to go in on Friday, because I didn't have anything else to bring, they were still running around decorating, and, frankly, I didn't want to look like an obsessed nutcase!

But on Friday, the shop owner called me and proudly said, "You sold the round table!"  I wracked my pea-sized brain and finally replied, "But I don't have a round table!"  "You know," she said, "the one holding the candlestick picture frames!"

I had an ah-ha moment.  "That's YOUR table and you sold it out from under me!"

Now let me tell you, this was a table otherwise bound for the dump!  But she was kind enough to lend it to me and I was thankful to have use of it.  But now I needed to come up with Plan B quickly.  And I still didn't have a table of my own.

Here is the sold table after I remove my things:

I ask you...what would you pay for this!  I wouldn't have given $15 for it with the cheapo laminate top and missing edges.  I nearly wet myself when I asked what she sold it for and she told me she got $75!!  Some people have more money than sense!

I grabbed a pair of Pottery Barn canvas drapes that I found at the Goodwill for $5 and ran to the shop.  The owner had a folding table I could borrow, so I wrapped the legs with the drapes and put the tablecloths and items back on.

I made the shop owner promise not to sell this table until after the Open House, and said I was heading out to find a table to buy.  The GW had a crappy table yesterday, but I didn't need a table then.  When I got there, the table was gone.  Of course! 

So, I headed down the street to the warehouse of a new bud, Rick, who buys storage units and resells the contents.  I bought the chair that became part of the suitcase table from him and figure he might have a cheap table.  In fact, he had exactly what I wanted, but he didn't want to sell it to me because one of the legs was split down the middle into two pieces.  He said he didn't think he could sell it to anyone.

We agreed to let me try and repair the leg (and another seriously cracked one) and if I could make it usable, I would come back another day and pay him...$5.  My kind of deal!  I just knew I could repair this!

And I did!  Isn't it nice?  And doesn't it look better than the other one??  Ha!  I will swap out the folding table next week. 

So, now I am all set up for the Open House.  I borrowed a coat rack for my log carriers and a couple of small tables that were in the way of the aisles.

Last year's Wiener Collection is here.  On the back table are All Beef Wiener and Pork Wiener (wearing a removable pig nose.)  On the front table are, from left to right, Baller-wiener, Cocktail Wiener and Meaner Wiener, the girl from the 'hood.

I made some small gift pouches in conjunction with the jewelry designers who were going to be showing their wares.

And I brought in this gray and white table that I reconstructed from pieces and stenciled.

I went by today after the Open House was underway a couple of hours and found the joint jumping!  There was food, a musician providing tunes and lots of customers checking things out.  So far, I have sold the reversible chalkboard/mirror, which is pretty cool.

And if someone wants to pay me $75 for my new round table that isn't even in the shop, I might consider it!