IT'S BEEN AWHILE......BUT I'M STILL HERE

Where has the summer gone ????  Fall is now upon us and it has dawned on me that my social life this summer has kept me from doing many projects.  I do have most of my horded projects completed, but tomorrow is going to bring a new auction, one I am anxious for as they have a lot of great pieces I'm interested in.  Did attend an auction a few weeks ago and walked away emptied handed, the pieces I was interested in were a little out of my price range, so hopefully tomorrow I can acquire a few new pieces.  Although I haven't really had the time to start any major projects I have been working on an attempt to clear out my fabric stash and I love making clothes for my granddaughters, so I have been having so much fun with all of this.

MORE FALL DECOR............

As I was thinking about getting some fall décor out, I grabbed the door wreath I had made last year for fall but it seemed a little too soon to get rid of all the summer colors, so I decided I could make a wreath that would transition from the warm days of summer to the cooler days of fall.

 

This one will welcome my guests for the next month or so or at least until I am ready for more fall colors.

IS IT TIME FOR FALL ???

My weather man tells me that tomorrow is the start of meteorological fall and since it is my favorite season I hope he makes it last for months and months.  I shared in the spring that I did some gardening or at least planted a few flowers and not being much of a gardener I'm quite pleased with myself.  Along with purchasing some little flowers and planting them, I also planted some seeds and this year I had some success..

 

I have been enjoying these blooms for awhile and this morning decided to bring some indoors to start my fall decorating.

 

 

I do remember this time last year being very warm, however this year the weather is mild and it is beginning to feel like fall and for me nothing says fall like some burlap and sunflowers.

I WANT TO SEW SOMETHING ....

I have not done much sewing in the last few months, a couple of Queen Elsa dresses and a little summer dress for a 9 year old granddaughter.  She picked out her fabric, pattern and lace while she was visiting giving me complete instructions on exactly what she wanted.  I finished up that little dress a few weeks ago and sent it to her, but have not had any yearnings to turn my sewing machines on since, that is until this morning.  I knew I wanted to sew something but didn't know what until I got into my room and started looking for inspiration.  I remembered I had saved a pattern from a facebook page for a purse.  I don't think I have ever made a purse before, but I have been doing a lot of things recently that I am unfamiliar with, so I found some fabric, printed out the pattern and spent the day putting it together.

 

I am so pleased with how nice this bag came out.  It is lined and I even added a pocket on the inside.

 

 

 

I feel inspired to make a few more of these bags and think I will probably tweek the pattern some to make the bag a little bigger.

SAVED FROM THE LANDFILL !!!!!

Picked this cart up for free in a pile of trash at a yard sale.  It was dirty and broken and just waiting for trash pick-up.  The woman who I rescued it from just laughed at me when I asked if I could take it home.  It has been sitting and waiting for it's make-over.  Now made over it will be delivered to it's new home next week.

 

I took it apart, cleaned, sanded and repaired it before I gave it a new paint job.

 

 

I spray painted the bottom two trays, used a paint and resin treatment on the top tray and after letting it all sit for a few days for the paint and resin to cure I put it back together and this is now the finished project.

 

                                                                   Isn't she beautiful !!!!

 

I hope this piece will live on for many more years to come and it's new owners get as much enjoyment out of it as I did giving it it's new life.

 

I LOVE RECYCLING !!!!

I love to recycle, repurpose, stay organized and spend little to no money on projects.  I just can't bring myself to throw out jars, spaghetti sauce jars, jam jars, pickle jars, etc.  You get it, I horde jars.  All of these loves of mine have come together in the last few days and I was able to clean out most of my horded jars and make some new storage for my sewing/craft room. 

First I put my bathroom jar storage idea on steroids,

 

then I added candlesticks, drawer knobs and leftover spray paint to make my own beautiful apothecary jars.

 

 

Now instead of having all my buttons, snaps and supplies tucked away in plastic containers I can now see them and my jars just make me happy.

 

Going to the craft store or even Wal-Mart to purchase storage jars can be quite expensive, but my jars were all saved, candlesticks were purchased very. very cheap at yard sales and all the drawer knobs were saved off of furniture that I have re-done so for less than the cost of one apothecary jar at the craft store I made 28 and now have beautiful, colorful organization !!!!!

 

 

MORE JUNK STORAGE

I gathered up some of my recent roadtrip acquisitions.

 

I brought home two spice racks, not wanting to store spices, but because they spun around and I wanted the spinners on the bottom.  I took them both apart, added some candlesticks, pans and plates using E6000 glue.  I have found that E6000 is the best glue out there when needing to glue metals.  It is not a glue I would recommend using around children as it is quite strong smelling and contains some pretty serious warnings and also keep in mind it needs a good 24 hours to cure.

 

I wanted to round up the supplies I use often with my sewing machines such as bobbins, zipper feet etc.  When I was done I ended up with two pieces that I'm sure will bring me great joy in the future.

 

 

They now make their home on my sewing machine table.

 

They are tiered and they spin around so I anticipate they will make it easier for me to complete my sewing projects.  So again, never look at something for what it's intended purpose is but for what it could become and you don't have to pay retail for what you want !!!!!

 

 

YARD SALES, THRIFT STORES AND ROAD TRIPS

I have spent the majority of this summer with family and friends visiting me and me visiting them, not leaving much time for any of my projects.  But back home from my latest road trip I plan on having time to get some ideas out of my head and to fruition.  On this road trip I had the opportunity to hit up some yard sales and visit some out of state thrift stores.  Knowing I have plenty of projects to complete I focused on bringing home storage items.

 

I plan to use these items in my sewing/craft room and will update you as I finish them.  I cannot leave a room alone until I become happy with it and my "fun" room is home to so many items and I am constantly researching better storage and use for all my fun stuff. 

 

I love being able to get the things I want for a fraction of the retail cost.  I was able to pick all these items up for less than the cost of two storage jars at the craft store and combined with other things I have been hording I am planning on some pretty and colorful storage.

LET IT GO......LET IT GO......

If you have little girls in your household you can finish this song and how fortunate am I that I have two little girls in my life that LOVE Queen Elsa and asked Granny for Queen Elsa dresses.  When I have these requests the first thing I do is some research and thanks to a mom on Pinterest I found the inspiration I needed and headed out to the fabric store and hit up my stash to gather supplies.

 

Putting something together without a pattern isn't always the easiest thing for me to do but once I got started these little dresses went together very fast.  Thanks to my Pinterest inspiration I started with a t-shirt and added to it and I know my little ones are going to love them.

 

  FRONT

                                                                 BACK  

 

Now add a long blonde braid

 

 

and Queen Elsa will be coming to a home near you !!!!

 

P.S.   Mom's if you don't want to build anymore snowmen or ride bikes around the hall, don't worry the girls will eventually move on to something else.

 

I CAN'T DRAW......BUT.................

As I have said many times I was not given any artistic talent.  I say I can't draw, but I am pretty good with stick people, not sure that counts.  I was blessed with some creative talent and the love of making things.  I do have the ability of seeing things in my head and for the most part am pretty adept taking my visions to fruition, so yesterday I pulled out some canvases and hit up my paint supplies.
.

                                                   Gave each canvas two coats of paint

 

Added some stickers and painters tape

 

                                            Another two coats of paint of another color

 

And then added a few little embellishments and when all done I have a beautiful little art work grouping and since I keep a supply of canvases on hand, which I purchase only at a good sale and collect many things yard sale shopping, this little grouping was made for under $3.00.

 

Art is anything you love and you don't have to be an artist to give any room some personality.  Your walls are only limited by your imagination.

BED SPRINGS AREN'T FOR BEDS ???? WHAT !!!!!

When I see something or get an image in my head sometimes it stays with me until I can pull together the item.  This is what happened to me a month or so ago, when I saw something made with old bed springs.  Now, I don't sell or horde junk, but fortunately for me I have several friends who do just that, so after a making a few requests one of them came through for me and I got my bed springs.

When I was done with this board and bed springs, they made their home at my bar.

In my case I wanted a home for a couple of bottles of very special wine and this fit the bill perfectly.

Now that I have finished my project, I have had a few requests for these and fortunately my "junker" friend hooked me up, so I still have a few to make.  Don't you just love using things for other than their intended purpose, I sure do !!!

WHAT CLEANING OUT JUNK DRAWERS CAN LEAD TO.........

Cleaning out a drawer awhile back I found a collection of boot hooks that I have had for several years and I knew I wanted to do something with them,  just didn't know what until this morning when it came to me  I was in need of a new coat rack.  So I gathered my hooks and supplies.

 

 The board I wanted to use was a little too long for the space I chose to hang my new coat rack.

 

Out came my jigsaw, although I don't like using the saw in the house, our weather has been so wet the past week and it was such a small cut, so I cut the board to size, painted it to match the existing wall, attached my hooks and then screwed the completed project into the wall.  Now I have a unique coat rack that comes with my memories of the places and time spent collecting these hooks.

 

With summer just a day away, I do hope I won't have a need to use this much for the next three or four months.

JUNKER/CRAFTER IN TRAINING !!!!!

I have had the pleasure of having some help the last few weeks.  A three year old granddaughter who appears to share my love of crafting.

 

She had a lot of fun painting and adding sparkly things to her horse.  Of course, you know Granny will do what she can to keep her interested in expressing herself in her own way.  Couldn't be more proud of her !!!

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH..GRANNY GETS OUT HER GLUE GUN !!!!!!

Started my day wanting to put some of that self stick "caulking like" adhesive to my bathtub floor, but we all know it won't stick for long, so I needed to come up with another plan, aka my glue gun.

 

I love my glue gun, I can't remember how long I have had this one, but it has been years.  I also own a few more, one must have back-ups.  Some of my back-ups I have had 25-30 years and they are still going strong.  I took this little puppy into the bathroom and finished up my project in no time.

 

 

Since I had the glue gun out, I used it for a few more projects.  Cut down and covered a cereal box with a piece of scrapbook paper to use as a holder for some paper hand towels.

 

 

And with rodeo season starting here in Belt next weekend and 4th of July right around the corner, I figured it was time for a new wreath for the door.

 

Hubby often teases me about my "Barbie" tools, but my reply is always "a girl can accomplish many things with a high heel, butter knife and a glue gun".  I for one cannot get through my weeks without my glue gun, but did retire my high heels a few years ago.

MORE FREEBIE LOVE ......

You know I really like when I can make something new for nothing.  I have had this idea in my head for awhile and decided today was a perfect day to put my plan into action.  I shared a few days ago about some mason jar storage for a bathroom and wanted to add more to the space.  I started with all of this

and finished with this

 

For this dispenser I simply made a hole in the lid of my jar, removed the pump from the store bought soap and used my hot glue gun to attach it to the jar lid. Then emptied the soap into my jar and screwed the new lid on and voila, a free new soap dispenser.

 

I liked this one so well, I headed to the kitchen, this time wanting something a little different, so I hit up my jar stash and came up with this

 

 

Now doesn't this look so much prettier than a store bought plastic bottle.

 

A few little secrets I have learned over the years, when re-using bottles or jars with labels that leave a glue residue after you  remove them, peanut butter is my go item to remove the sticky.  Most jars/bottles also have dates or numbers stamped on them, well a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser will remove that ink with barely any scrubbing, and will remove whatever residue is left after you wash the peanut butter off, it really does work like "Magic". 

 

For my bathroom jar I had to cut down the pump, but that is easily accomplished with a sharp knife or razor blade.  The jar lids and pumps can be painted, I chose to go natural, just be certain when painting plastic you use a spray paint that is for plastic, otherwise you will get chipping.

 

Remember once you make your dispenser, you simply unscrew the lid and refill your jar with soap, should last for years or at least until I want something different.

GOOD MORNING !!!!!

This time of year I love to keep the window in my bedroom open at night while I sleep.  I love to listen to the sound of the water running and smell the fresh cool air.  Okay, an occasional skunk can bring me out of a deep sleep, but fortunately that doesn't happen often.  My bedroom window is pretty sheltered from the elements, but provides a beautiful morning view and since we no longer set alarm clocks in our house, mornings are some of my favorite times regardless of the time I start the day.  All of this has had me singing  one of my all time favorite songs so I thought I would put it on a sign to greet me each morning.




DO YOU KNOW THE SONG ????
 



WINDOW TO THE PAST........................

I have become the keeper of many generations of family pictures, some dating back to the 1800's and my great-great grandparents.  Fortunate for me my grandparents had the foresight to label and date many of them.  I have been wanting to display a few of them for some time, one that could tell yet another story for all my future generations, therefore, I have been contemplating and researching how to display them and have finally come up with a plan that I am very pleased with.

 

Going through my "junk" stash I came up with an old window.  Once I cleaned all the dirt and cobwebs off of it, I attached the old photos, using photo corners,  and hung it on the wall.  I really like the way it came out and it just seems appropriate for the "window to my past".......