Yard Art and Frustrations

 

So here I am minding my own business.  I am thrilled that for exactly one month I have been wearing a matching pair of shoes!  For the previous 14 months, I have been in and out of an air cast, walking boot, slippers, one shoe and one slipper, etc due to problems aggravated by my RSD.  So fusing my great toe on the right foot eliminated all the pain and swelling I was experiencing with the combination of rsd and aggravated arthritis.

 I have advanced to this pair of shoes---not able to wear anything else yet---but HEY they match!

 But one day last week, I stepped off our foot high porch---no problem right?  Wrong.....I landed wrong on my left foot and my ankle snapped and I went down crying in agony.  I thought I broke it but it is just severely sprained.  I am now back to one tennis shoe and this walking cast for the next 6 weeks!!!  I am trying to remain positive and find the humor in it all.  forgive me if that escapes me for the moment.....but any remarks are welcome!!! Yesterday I actually stubbed my bare right foot and broke my little toe......so am not sure I can even wear my tennis shoe for now.....sighing-----John says he is going to put me in a straight jacket......only so I will sit STILL and mend safely!!!!  HEE

Before all of this, I have been working in the yard and want to share some of my long awaited projects.

These two doors were pulled from the house fire we had years ago and have been patiently waiting for some respect ever since. This is the back door to the garage.

This door is the garage door to the patio.  I scrubbed them both up with a scrub brush and soap and water.  Then grabbed some out door paint and brushed on leaving raw and painted wood exposed underneath.

 

 

This is the first one.  John put them up against the fence and then they are secured with a bungee cord around the fence for support so they won't fall over on someone or by the wind.

                             I purchased plastic planters which were pretty inexpensive.

                               I spray painted them white with a white primer/coat of paint

                          John drilled holes in the backs and screwed them into the wood.

 I then bought some flowers and planted them in the planters.  They are placed where the automatic sprinklers will water them daily so that eliminates the chore of daily watering.

 This old window was salvaged from the neighbors wood pile.  I scrubbed it up and painted it much the same way as the doors but added some white spray paint to highlight the darker wood and painted areas.

 We had lugged this window across the patio three or four times and then brought it out to hang on the fence.  When John picked it up to hang it on the fence, the entire thing fell apart and the window panes all fell out.  Lucklily none of them broke but we decided to leave them out and nail the parts up.  I had a small metal tin to use for a planter.

I am off to work on more projects for the fence.  Hope your thinking of new ways to repurpose things in  your yard.

Birdcage Lamp

Since I am not in school, I have made it a priority to work on stalled projects as well as new ones.

I bought this great wire birdcage a few years back, with every intention, of making it into a hanging lamp.  You know that story and how it goes.  But I did finish it.

I had to use what supplies on hand and that was not a problem at all.  I took strands of pearl beads and tied them on with thread.

Then I got in my stash of red plastic hearts ( found at a garage sale for cheap). I cut out words from magazines and decoupaged those on front and hanged them with colored ribbon.  I also added a row of bead trim.

I used lace and red bead garlands for the  middle brackets.  I then went through my stash of crystals and beads to make the hanging bead garlands.  I have to admit I did buy the red heart beads. This was initally intended for hanging over the bathtub, but it turned out it was an accident waiting to happen.  It was way too long!! 

Insert a light and hanging chain and VOILA  it graces a corner in our family room.  John and I love it and that is all that matters. Two of our granddaughters loved putting their dolls or animals in this birdhouse and carrying them around and were a little sad about its new use.

When Lauryn saw it she said,  "I want one JUST LIKE YOURS for my room."  She will be here next weekend so we will make one together.  I have a green birdcage that isn't as elaborate, but it will work fine.

Hope your days are full of finishing new and old projects.

GARAGE SALE FINDS

A few weeks ago I was driving to the grocery store and saw this sign for an estate sale. How could I NOT GO JUST TO LOOK right? No harm in that...........ummm never..............sure.

Actually it was about ten blocks away and the driveway was uphill---took a few minutes to think about walking up that baby with my cane.....once up I would have to come down as well.....both hard for me...........
Several people were walking away with small boxes or even large pictures bedding etc......all smiling................alright................a very good sign.

Up the hill I trudged feeling wonderful fun things calling out to me.
"Hurry come get me before someone else does. "

I was offered free lemonade or iced tea ...so nice ...and did the 'slow scan and walking from table to table.............of course chatting with the homeowners. "Moving?" No actually cleaning out closets and drawers and getting rid of stuff we never use."
I see................... .
u looking for anything in particular ma'am?
Well some times I don't know that I am looking for something until it calls my name but always looking for vintage craft supplies/jewelry
etc."
"FINALLy" popped up one daughter......I bet you want grannie's two boxes!"
I was led to two small carboard boxes crammed with craft looking stuff. How much ...of course is the leading question.
$20 each .......this is the last day and we cut the price in half .
SOLD .
They even carried the boxes to the car for me chatting as they
went.
No one in the family really makes stuff unless it is fishing flys."

So off I went to the store hoping I had something worth that kind of money in there.
I got home later and did the HAPPy dance and this is what I found:

bottles of gems including opals and probable birthstones.

like these including individual rhinestones of all sizes in GLASS bottles.
more gemstones and beads some very vintage looking.

these pretty colored drop glass beads with holes in the top

vintage trims as well as large colored glass prisms
even more beads and stones and trims
all these pearl necklaces and bracelets
even more vintage trim how did it all fit in one small box?

glass bottles of tacks and nails and clips and little necessities in a studio
more and more trims
interesting paper trims
more vintage beads and old pins hat pins etc
vintage doll parts lots and lots for assemblage art!!! woo hoo

jewelry findings
a vintage box of rings some with set stones a lot more without
vintage mercury glass beads unstrung perfect
more trim in this box
and enought rhinestone jewelry to 'bathe' in...............well almost!!

Lucky Lucky me!!

A Community Garage Sale! So Fun!

This Past Saturday the guys were in a golf tournament so my friend Joan and I took off in my new rig to break her in 'just right." It had to be christened for garage saling. We went to a small farming community about an hour away. It was so fun. Lots of individual family sales as well as the grange.
On the way back home we stopped at a Barn Bazaar. I forgot my camera....but what a lot of booths, entertainment and food etc.
It was almost 100 but we were having so much fun we barely noticed.
I am still resting up from the outing.

I found these red and white enamel ware plates to go with my other pieces all from family. They were very reasonable. I hesitated and the lady came down $4 immediately!! I think they wanted to get out of the sun!!

These goodies were all 50 cents apiece!!! napkin holder, vintage sifter,
and princess house steamer.

these bed posts were only $2 for the lot and I know they will make something great for the yard.
I have always wanted a horse collar and had ideas to put a mirror inside. This one is pretty worn but was only $1. It will probably get a clock inside and it will hang on the deck. For some odd reason we ended up with a few horse shoes from John's great aunties. Now if we ever see any we pick them up. So the horse collar will go with that decor!!!
This was a favorite find at the grange sale. A trellis arch! I am going to paint it white and have john put it up in the front where I have two climbing roses that need something to grow up.
For another buck I got a box of misc stuff and here were 14 vintage chickies on little green twigs made in japan stamped on the bottom! Woo Hoo I was so excited.
These doilies were a dime each so I had to bring them home.
Bags of buttons for 25 cents each were a great find as well.
several bags had rhinestone buttons too!!
These are vintage prints and will be a december birthday gift for someone in my family.
This box was in the grange as well and for ten dollars I could have it.I have a penchant for collecting vintage christmas supplies to make my reproduction ornaments. I saw a few pieces on top of the box. So I grabbed it up and lo and behold................the entire box was FILLED with this vintage chenille rope garland in green and red.
It took me several hours to get it all untangled and put in other containers. This was THE BEST find of the entire day. I know it would fetch a lot on ebay but I have lots of ideas for it!!



boxes of fabric all vintage came home for $1 each. The fabric came in lengths from several yards to quarters and eighths. The lady was a quilter and said she would call me with more goodies in a few weeks.
These are all quilt pieces for the drunkard's path. I am not sure if it will make a full size quilt but I will take it out and look and if nothing else can use them for a small lap quilt, wall hanging or framed art.
I also was given tons of quilt templates because the lady 'liked me'.
She was a dear heart and was happy that I was so happy to find her stuff and take it home with me.
Now that I have a vehicle to drive and the weather is nice I am looking forward to the garage sales. I hope all of you have the the chance to get out and look for your treasures as well!!

YEAH VINTAGE BOOK SWAP!

Finally i was able to upload pictures. My swap partner in the Vintage Children's Book swap was Heidi Schlumpf from the Spirtual Knitter.
I so enjoyed getting to know Heidi. What a sweetheart. She really outdid herself.
here she sent me a bag of vintage fabrics that are very nice. I can't wait to use them in some upcoming projects. I am slowly building up my stash!

this is avintage cookbook that i really like. John and I are both into cooking and used to have tons of old cookbooks. This is a special addition to our cooking.
Heidi is an editor for a catholic magazine and sent all of these extra books for me. Some address chronic pain and health issues and I have already read all of them. There is always so much one can learn in any situation. Heidi I appreciate these thoughtful books more than you will ever know. Thank you.

this is my favorite item in the swap. The homemade book mark. Heidi made. She hand felts old sweaters into beautiful felted wool. This is so pretty. She added leaves of autumn colors and it is so special. It is already being well used in my current book. If you want to see more felted projects you can go to her website.
the first vintage children's book is Richard Scary's Counting Book. Our oldest daughter Sarah was home when the package arrived and she remembered it being one of their favorite books
The next one is the Big Big Story Book. I love the illustrations and stories in this one.
The last one is a beach book. All of our grand daughters are very close to Oceans and spend alot of time there so this book is very special. They collect shells and swim and watch sea life etc.

Heidi is a great swapper and an even nicer person. Thank You Heidi for all of your thoughtfulness!!