Short & Sweet

I ventured out to the Dollar Store today in search of some large bags for some items I need bagged for a sale I am participating in soon.(pictures appearing soon)  They did not have any but...next door is one of my favorite thrift shops, I needed to buy some hangers for the clothes I need to sell, I bought those and also found these little cuties.

I found these adorable quails, I had to get them as my beautiful mommy had some sort of like these, they reminded me of her and our home growing up. I found them for $1.00 ea.
A music book, I have been inspired by some blogs out there that have made some nice things using music sheets so I want to try some myself. $1.00
The apothecary jar was also $1.00 can you tell it is acrylic?  I don't think you can have to many of them displaying little pretties you have made or bought.

Short but sweet post~
Thank You & Many Blessings

Trash Gone Pretty

You ask yourself trash pretty?  Well ya some trash can be transformed into something pretty, but this is not the case here.  No it is all about the vessel we throw our trash into.  So this story starts with my husband bringing home a new trash can, we kept tripping into it, knocking it down and it was just not pretty.  I have had this bakers rack for quite some years and I no longer needed the display space it offered.  I removed the bottom 2 shelves  & got said new trash can & stuffed it into the space where the racks were.  IT FIT!  The fit was very snug & asked my husband to remove the two bars that were in front of each shelf to allow for some additional breathing room.

BEFORE

This is where the bar was that helped hold up the shelf.  He removed two bars and I painted it black.

This is what it looks like now~  I told my husband I was proud of myself for thinking of this!  He thought it was pretty clever.  What do you think?
                                                                                 AFTER

I am thinking I want to paint something on the trash can itself, but I do not know what.  Any ideas?

I know I write as if I have hundreds of followers, when in fact I only have 6, but I want you to know that 

I LOVE YOU!  You all rock & I value your every comment.

Thank you & Many Blessings~

My Dirty Secrets

Okay, so they are not dirty nor are they really not a secret, actually they are out for everyone to see!
Wanna see? Okay but be warned~

 Our old/new microwave in our front entrance! Now I ask you does that say welcome?  My husbands office moved & they needed one for a short period of time so I said just take ours. Well... he never did  take it so it just sat there for 2 weeks, I just just rearranged/organized out front storage closet (where I had it) and I did not want to mess things again by putting it back in .But I did today!

Another secret, I hide things! Behind this chair is storage bags with decorative pillows & throws.  I need to take them to the consignment store, but I just hate to do that because consignment shops don't give you a good enough return.  Anyone have some ideas as to where I could sell they them, I have about 7 boxes in the garage of things to consign/sell.

AND these handbags & clothes...for sale too, but again no consignment shops.  Heck there are Prada's, Versace and some Gucci's in hanging here.  I would hate to see them sell for so little & me only getting 40% of the sale!  Not sure if it is worth it this route~

What do you think?  How do you sell your goods?   Oh, sorry I digress, these are in our front room and again have been hanging there for more than 2 weeks maybe even a month.  It is driving my husband bonkers!

Well so that was not so bad.

Thank You & Many Blessings~

Before I Blogged & Trash

I wanted to show you a few things I did, repurposed, made, designed or repaired before I knew about this this called Blogging!

Let us start with this cute little bench/stool.  I bought the stool years ago for $1.00 and I thought it was cute but I hated the way it looked, it was all bubbly and the color was so uneven throughout the seat, so I thought since I covered my counter tops with aluminium (oh yes I did, 12 years ago) I can apply the same technique to this.  So I did!  I used aluminium, decoupage, silver paint & varnish.  I used the dull side of the aluminium and glued it down with the decoupage because it allowed movement before it stuck for good so that I can obtain that marblie look, once I got the look I was after, I got some silver paint I had on hand applied that & once it dried I coated it with a few coats of varnish.  I now use it to sit on as I bathe my angels.

I found this great table at a house sale here in our neighborhood and liked it since my sofa is round it was a perfect fit.  I brought it home it was very heavy since the top is marble so we left it outside. Well... it rained and the sun got to it, my hubby was ready to throw it out and I said let me see what I can do with it!  I brought it in sanded it down, glue in a few places and started to gold leaf it~ I just love this stuff it hides so many scars. It was in rough shape with the water & sun damage the varnish was peeling and I brought it back to life.

I was in need of some fun art work for the playroom other than the art work from my angels so I kept the disks that our frozen pizza dough came with and used that with some wrapping paper and peel & stick decals.  This is one piece I came up with.  I like the movement I achieved with this.  It looks so cute in the playroom. I will show you the playroom in another post since I AM STILL WORKING ON A RUG FOR THAT ROOM!!!

Here is another piece, I bought different sizes of googly eyes from yep...Hobby Lobby and glued them on to a piece I already covered with wrapping paper it  was a nice colorful background for the eyes, talk about movement, literally!   Those eyes follow you, nah just kidding! =0)

Also, in the playroom I wanted somewhere other than the fridge to hang some of their beautiful art, school work and other fun things they make so I came up with these two boards.  I told hubby what I had in mind & he built them for me.  He used a sheet of steel so that we can use magnets as well as dry erasers or crayons so they can be easily wiped off.  The angels use them to draw on or scribble & use the magnets to play with or spell.  You can see they get used!

This was once our kitchen clock.  No matter how many times I would replace the batteries it never seemed to work properly after awhile so I decided to just make it into a chalk board for the kitchen.  I am the usually the only one that writes on it and they are normally bible quotes, uplifting quotes or once in a while our menu.  I enjoy writing on it so that my family knows how so very much I love & appreciate them.

I hope you enjoyed looking at some of the things I made before I ever discovered this wonderful world of blogging! I am just sorry I did not have any before pictures. 

Should I just trash this bakers rack?  I do not really need more space to display anything else!  TRASH??
Well tune in, umm, I mean please come back to see exactly what I will do with it!  Will ya, PLEASE??

White to Brown? Yes BROWN~

Remember these beauties?  I must confess I really liked these lamps on sight so into the buggy they went, then I second guessed myself so out of the buggy and back on the shelf.  I strolled around the store a bit and kept thinking of them and looking at them from afar and I said to myself: Nina I think I really love these lamps so back into the buggy and home with me they came.
Ready for another confession?  This is the 4th time I have painted them!  There I said it, four times, wanna know the colors I painted them before I finally~finally settled on this color?  Okay, first was silver, hated it not shiny enough, then here comes the gold, so WRONG, I thought awh black will be perfect then hubby comes home and says I think they will look better brown~

So here they are all chippy and with very bad repairs.  I had to re-repair and do a bit of sanding before I got them to look this BEAUTIFUL!

Okay, so they do look black, but truly they are a very rich dark brown.  Dare I say it?  Hubby was right!  I love how they look with the white shades what a pop Right?  I also think they look okay this dark with the colorful art in the background.

 I bought the art at Hobby Lobby, it was originally marked $159.99 I paid $32.00 for it because the glass was broken and some of the panels were off.  I needed a large piece of art for the living room so I thought I like it without the glass & I know I can replace the panels with a little hot glue.  I paired all of this with some small frames I also bought at Hobby Lobby for $24.00 for the pair.  I had these hung in the little space between the panels we have framed in our room, they were the perfect fit.  I had them hung for about 4 years without anything in them, it drove my husband crazy.  I do not know why it had not occurred to me before yesterday, but I remembered I had some cool  Fleur-De-Lis mini Christmas ornaments so I tore the hangers off and glued them to the frame I was not able to remove the glass they were just glued in really really well so I just glued them straight onto the glass.  I have to tell you a funny story about the backing on each little frame.  The bright yellow was a piece of ribbon I had as was the red, the taupe color was a pair of undies (that was the funny part) (Smiling?) and the green was an old tee.  Wow so many confessions in one post!

I love the way they turned out so colorful and they add just the right amount of color. 

Here is the little vignette I have with the lamps.  I also bought the hurricane lamp at Hobby Lobby for $3.00 because it was broken thank God the broken piece was still with it so it was an easy fix, the mirrored vase was another Hobby Lobby purchase, I can't remember how much it was but I am sure not over $10.00.  The hearts were part of my beautiful mommy's collection that I happened to give her, they mean so much to me two of them are Nambe, something she & I loved and collected.

I realized something tonight as I was posting.  I REALLY need to get better at my picture taking abilities.  I will work on that I PROMISE~

Thank You & Many Blessings~

I joined this link party.

A Cross Here A Cross There Crosses Crosses Everywhere

I have been collecting crosses for many years and I have them everywhere in our home I have them set in a bowl, I have them hanging on walls, I have them over every door to bless anyone that enters or leaves our home.  Crosses make me fell good, happy and safe.  Also, they make me sad because our Lord Jesus died on a cross and he died for us~
This cross here (above) is my favorite cross, my husband bought this for me 11 years ago, at the time it was 100 years old  it came from a desanctified church we were told.  I fell in love with it so he bought it for ME!  It is pretty big over 6ft tall and it hangs above our landing area in a little niche, with some candles and a copy of a church that my husbands cousin made for us.  It is very special to us as he lost his battle with cancer a few short years ago.  Excuse the AC vent I tried to crop it out but was unable to.

Well there you have it...or them!  This is just a portion of my collection I will share more later on another post.  I hope you enjoy looking at them as I do everyday.  I so appreciate everyone that gave them to me like my sister, an aunt, my mother in law and my husband.  I love them all!

**I want to point out the bottom two crosses next to the silver one I recently painted, they were white & I wanted them to blend in with the others. They look better painted right?

Do you have a cross collection?  Let me know I would love to see it~

Thank you & Many Blessings

More Thrifty Finds

I got to sneak out for about an hour today to one of my favorite thrift stores and this is what I found

I love books, but especially books with colorful spines and they don't get any better than Readers Digest Condensed Books they are so colorful not only on the spines, but also the cover as well as the back.

The urns look like they are made of clay or resin but actually  are candles.  I will not use them as they were intended, but as urns.

An old cheese dome, I love these as you can re-invent them I am not sure what I will place under this one, but I am sure it will be some sort of keepsake.

I found another globe can you believe it?  It matches the one I already had, this one is a bit loose on it's base so maybe that too will also be re-invented.  Who knows?

And this awesome giraffe made of brass, I think I may want to paint this but not sure on the color.  Any ideas out there?

All of this for $5.99

I would LOVE to go to a few garage sales in the morning, but we will just have to see!  Good Night~

Thank You & Many Blessings~

HAPPY & BLESSED BIRTHDAY MY SWEET ANGELS

I did not post any thing yesterday because we were busy spending time with our angels on their 9th birthday!  We had a fun day we took them shopping and played outside.  But first I had to take one of my angels to see his oncologist,  yes, his oncologist you see he needs to see him every 3 months to make sure that the "C" word has not invaded his body again.  While we were at the hospital of course they knew it was his birthday so they had a balloon and a card for him and all the oncologists and teams sang Happy Birthday to him and gave him a gift card.  It was pretty great!  Things would have been better had we found out his results early on, but they did not have them ready by the time we left so of course all those negative thoughts crept into our minds since this was a first for us of not having the results from his tests back before we had to leave.  We had faith though but still we are human and thought oh gosh did it grow back, did they see another spot?  It was kind of difficult to get that out of our heads but once we got the news we all said OK now we can celebrate!  Thank you JESUS!!!!  One of the angels was sound asleep and in his bed before 8p, while we were at  hospital my husband took him to a playground near our house so that he can get out too, so he must have really played hard.  Then when we got back from  hospital he & I baked cupcakes plus the shopping so he had a full day and must have been extra tired.  MY SWEET ANGELS  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH~ I THANK GOD FOR YOU EVERYDAY!!!  HAPPY & BLESSED BIRTHDAY~

Once Upon A Time~

Once upon a time back in 2000 I went to a thrift store and I could not pass up a dresser with 2 drawers and the mirror missing nor was I able to pass up a twin headboard.  I went to my husbands office to show him what I had bought and he thought I was crazy!  He asked me what are you going to do with these, I told him I do not know NOW but it will come to me.  Well a few mornings later in the wee hours of the morning 4am to be exact it came to me!  Make a BENCH!!  So I did, my husband helped me with cutting down the dresser to bench height as well as the headboard to match the width of the dresser, then we got to work putting it together.  It is very obvious the headboard is the back rest, the dresser is the bum rest.  My husband asked me what are you going to do with the things that held the mirror up on the dresser ( I hope you can picture it) I told him lets make those the arm rests and they all lived happily ever after!!  This has traveled with us to several homes and I have enjoyed it throughout the years.  I think it is ready for a makeover but I just don't know what color to paint it.  

Manly Man Desk Makover

Since I have the angels home with me for spring break =0)  I knew I would not have much time for many DIY projects, but I did manage to give our desk area a manly man makeover.  Above picture is what I had to work with.  The camera belonged to my husbands father, the black urn is our beloved 1st dog, the cross & 'T" I bought at Hobby Lobby for only $2.00, the cross was black crackle & I painted it red. The black box is actually a humidor and the little tree I bought at Pier 1 

I bought many of these items at  one of my favorite thrift stores.  I paid 1.99 for the globe it, it is actually one of a pair of bookends, I did not really mind that I only found one, I am trying to go with the travel look for the entire room and this fit the bill.  I also bought the books and for the whole lot of 39 I paid $4.00, the cloche was $.99 everything else I had. I also need to mention the gold 'T' was broken in 2 places & you were able to see the repaired cracks.

I like the finished result.  Here is the break down: since I was doing this for my husband I added some of his favorite sports paraphernalia.  He did not like the look of the brown & white books or the fact that they said Year Book so I bought black & silver duct tape and covered just the spine, except for the ones that are laying flat I also covered the entire front cover.  I then took out my silver leaf (I just love this stuff) and covered the very obvious cracks on the 'T'.  I added a few items & subtracted some items.  I think I much prefer this look. Look how great the bulletin boards look, I showed you those in an earlier post, are they masculine enough they cover/hide all the phone and computer cords.  What do you think?

Thank You & Many Blessings~

Spring Organizing

I never made a conscious decision to start spring cleaning, but it seems that I am on that kick!  Today I went into my decor closet to  get something and this is what I found.  It was not pretty and I thought I had better organize it so that nothing falls & breaks. It is so stuffed  I think I had better sell some things. I know it would make my husband happy to get rid of some of these beauties!  See anything??  What he doesn't know is that I recently took over another bigger closet for some decor things and crafting goodies I would LOVE to keep it all in one place.  Maybe later~

It looks so much better right?  I look in here & see so many ideas and DIY's.  Do YOU?  What would you do with something you have spotted in here?

Look how beautiful the mirror looks with the other two, I had some others hanging there, but they just did not look good so I chose my 3 favorites.  By  the way all 3 of these lovelies were bought second hand, the smallest one to your left was purchased at a church sale in Denver for $1.00 it is stamped Borghese it is soooooo very beautiful, the second one was bought at a thrift store for $1.00, it is plastic but it is still so pretty and of course my latest is the bigger one that I just bought yesterday for $8.00.  They are hanging above my collection of swans housed in my homemade cloches.  I will post about those later, I am sure you have seen these made on other blogs.  I love how these showcase my swans.

I am just not sure what I will be able to get done tomorrow, as spring break starts and I pick the angels up from school early so, I may just get beds made, get some laundry done & pick up the house before I  pick them up.  I am so excited, I love having them home with me plus this coming week is their birthday!  We don't have any big plans as we have done so in the past & it is just so crazy with college spring breakers so we will just do something close to home and have fun together as a family.

Thank you & Many Blessings~

I Do~ Do Windows & The Coveted Lamp

Today I decided before I  pick up my coveted lamp I would clean all the window casings in our kitchen, they were simply GROSS!  So I guess I do indeed do windows. I can not believe how bad they get in just one year I try to do them at least once a year I may just need to do them once in the spring  & another in the fall. Thank God I enjoy housework and being a homebody helps too.

So take a look at the before & after~BEFORE Gross right?

Awh...clean~                      AFTER   I have a wall of windows so that means 5 windows.  I am even inspired to do the whole house and I only have 2 day left to do that as spring break is starting.

I felt so much better today so after I cleaned the windows I was off to the thrift store to buy my lamp!  Guess what?  It was still there.  Did I come with it?  NO! and here is why, I went with the intention & anticipation of buying it & thinking how awesome it will look once I got it painted.  I put it in my buggy went to pay for it I even had a coupon for 25% off so I was geared up.  Well...the cashier said it was not over $25.00 (it was marked $24.00) therefore I could not buy the lamp using the coupon.  WHAT? SO, this man next in line suggested that I pay an extra $1.00 to bring it to the $25.00 we asked the manager and can you imagine she said NO!  They would have come out ahead only losing out on $5.00 rather than the $6.00 cause I would have paid the extra to get the discount.  All is not lost as I came out with a beautiful mirror to add to my "small" collection of mirrors for $8.00, 2 small glass candle holders $1.00 and one small apothecary jar $2.50 not bad at all.  I think I will still dream of the lamp, but something better is out there just waiting for me or I may wait for it to go on sale, I still like this thrift store, so this will not keep me away.

Isn't the mirror beautiful? It is stamped Italy  I LOVE it, I have seen mirrors such as these in magazines and always thought they were so lovely & of course I wanted one and now I do!!  I will hang it with the other small mirrors & show you later.

I do not know if I will be able to do any DIY's  tomorrow, I wanted to paint my lamps but we are to have rain & wind so not great weather for spray paint, so let's see what I come up with.

Thank you & Many Blessings~