Thrift chair redo

I've had this chair in my garage for many months, waiting for the ever rare "time" to work on it. I paid $5 at a local thrift store (shoulda got all 4 of them... doh!) and it is a good sturdy chair. I intended to refurbish and gift it to someone, but I decided I like it a lot and want it for myself. Yes, I am selfish that way sometimes.
Here's the before:

Not all that ugly, just didn't go with anything and had no pizazz. (love that word. you almost have to use jazz hands when you say it) The seat isn't broken, I had just unscrewed it from the bottom before I took the picture.

Got some black glossy spray paint (more about that later) and some material (more about that too) and presto change-o I got a pretty new chair for my craft room.

Here's the more-about-that part...

THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT MYSELF TODAY:
1. I get an idea and run like the wind to get it done without the proper pre-planning that it takes to get it done correctly. That's how I roll. I'm not crazy about that, but none the less, that's who I am. OK, I have put it in writing and now you know my dirty little secret.
2. I'm not all that crazy about coaching from the sidelines especially from a coach who doesn't do anything handy. No names necessary.
3. Lizards make me squeal like a 9 year old girl.
4. Tyra Banks likes to smile with her eyes. I like to say "KMA" with mine.

THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT SPRAY PAINTING:
1. Spring days in Florida are windy.
2. Wind + spray paint = paint all over you and not the project.
3. Wind + spray paint = twice as much paint as you thought you'd need.
4. Spray paint doesn't come off skin as easily as it goes on.
5. Lizards don't like spray paint.
6. After spray painting 3 cans of paint, that's pretty much all you can smell for a long time. Hmmmm, if they only made something that could prevent that. what? they do? a mask! why didn't I think of that.

THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT PRE-PLANNING A PROJECT:
1. If you need cloth for a project, you cannot guess how much that would be while you are at the cloth counter. You will guess wrong. There's no shame in measuring.
2. You will need twice as much paint as you thought you'd need.
3. Husbands sometimes like to snicker when you don't pre-plan. Hence, the KMA eyes.


Cute, cute, cute! and it only took 2 trips to Walmart for supplies. I have extra cloth now :) so maybe I can coordinate a bulletin board with it.

   

This has been posted at:

http://www.domestically-speaking.com/2011/04/67th-power-of-paint-party-painting-hall.html 

Gator Nation

I found this awesome bracelet at Charming Charlie's  (Avenues mall in Jax) OMG, what a cool store! I love the design of this bracelet and love the assortment of metals. It goes with everything I wear. It has black, pewter, and silver beads. The best part is it is on stretchy cord, so I just slip it on and off.

I stared and stared at the design (my MO) and decided that I wanted to make my own. I am donating a Gator bracelet to a fund raiser in May and thought the design was a good one for that. Of course, Gainesville IS Gator Nation, so a Gator bracelet is just the thing for an auction item.

She's a purty one. The photo does absolutely nothing for the sparkle power it has. I used Swarovski crytals and silver spacer beads. It really is impressive. I hope it brings good bids. C'mon Gators! Get up and go!

City Slicker

One of of my school board perks is attending the annual Youth Fair in our county fairgrounds. My first experience was 3 years ago, and I must admit, it was the very first time I was up close and personal with real live farm animals. I remember Shannon and I sitting in the audience watching cows being shown. The announcer talked about the cow like she was a beauty contestant. He said she had "youthful udders". I swear! He said that and we laughed out loud. I still giggle when I think about it.

I have discovered something about myself, and that is, big animals scare the crap out of me. They're not just big, but kind of dumb and therefore seem pretty unpredictable. We wandered in and out of pens of cows and pigs and goats and saw some cages with chickens and rabbits. I did a lot of jumping and letting out tiny "eek" noises.

We attend these fairs because some of our students are in FFA and show their animals. I admire people who are comfortable around farm animals, I could NEVER be a farmer. I would get so emotionally attached to an animal, it would definitely have a name, and could never be part of my dinner menu. My duty at the fair is to take pix of animals for our files. The above is a baby boer goat and was in a pen with her mama. She is only about 2 feet tall and what a cutie pie! I wanted to hold her.

This guy above stuck his head through the hole in his pen then could not pull it back out because of his horns. We brought it to someone's attention and were informed he'd been doing that all morning. Hence the "dumb" in dumb animal.

While we were in the pig area, I heard a horrendous noise and some very loud snorting. This pig was in a trailer by himself and obviously not happy about it. He was trying to lift the gate with his snout (loud noise) and when I got close to look at him, he tried to charge the gate. See why I'm scared?! I asked about why he was isolated (yeah, I was the city slicker with all the dumb questions) and a man told me he was in there for a bath. Turns out, he was getting ready to show and needed grooming.

Don't even get me started about the chickens. Well, the roosters really. They were in a separate building with the rabbits and were all side by side in their little cages. I have never heard so much cock a doodle doing. Seems, the roosters were in competition with each other and continuously crowed.It was hilarious!
On the last day of the show, the animals are "sold". In my sweet little rose colored glass world, I will take that to mean that someone bought them for a pet for their children and they are going to live happily ever after on some wonderful farm.    It could happen.

Lucky Me

Tonight I made a promise to myself to use what I already have to create a St. Patty's challenge. I love, love to make projects with words, so I started with some silver frames for scrapbooking. Which, by the way, I hate to do. I need an instant gratification that comes with any craft other than scrapbooking. I made albums for my children that took 6 months to finish and tons of hours. Were they beautiful? Yes, but I didn't think I would ever finish them. I digress...

Then I added some scraps of green background paper to the backs of them

...came up with some silly Irish phrases with my bead letters from the craft store. Oh my, I just noticed the front center phrase... LOL, that is supposed to say "sassy lass" not "a slssy ass". I guess my sleeve bumped the letters before I took the picture. Too funny, I make myself laugh!

used tacky glue to add the words to the background papers...

hot glued a piece of cardboard to the back for stability, along with a pinback. Embellished the front with some green bows and shamrock confetti (the only thing I didn't already own - 99¢ from Michael's)

tada! I will give these to my friends at work with a "lucky me to have a friend like you" tag.

Happy St. Patty's Day! Lucky me to have so much ap-cray in my craft room.

Shoes, glorious shoes!

Remember Imelda Marcos? The only reason I do is because of the tremendous uproar that came about when her stash of hundreds of pairs of shoes were found in the palace after the downfall of her husband's regime. The Philippines, remember? OK, I just googled it and there were 2700 pairs of shoes LEFT BEHIND. I can remember that vividly only because I thought to myself... "excessive? really? I just don't think so". If you know me at all, you know I love shoes. I could seriously buy a pair every day. I read a blog recently by another shoe lover and she used the word "shoegasm". Oh mah gah! what a glorious word.
My inventory doesn't hold a candle to Imelda's, but it's somewhere in the less-than-a-hundred range. I don't own any expensive designer shoes like the kind you see on all the Housewives (teehee) but I wouldn't decline them if they were offered. And I do covet them. I don't own many flip flop styles of shoe (hate that fwappa fwappa sound), nor sport shoes. Eegads, that would imply I'm going to have to sweat.  Mostly, I have shoes for work or "dress-up" shoes. You really can't have enough black shoes, but I am concentrating on adding more color to my stash. Stacy London says to use your shoe for a pop of color in your wardrobe. I love Stacy. And Clinton. And I love her choice of shoes.

If you ever see me wearing the shoes above, I will be at a Halloween party dressed like a monkey. And I would not have paid a nickel for them, I would have borrowed them from someone who is not a friend of mine, 'cause friends don't let friends wear crap on their feet.

I would wear any of these shoes. I have some similar, and when I wear them, I carry a spare pair in my car, so I can change out during the day. I'm crazy about shoes but that doesn't mean I'm crazy. I know my limits. Four hours is about all I can handle in a stiletto and that's only if I am sitting a lot. But damn, I look good.

So as spring shoes arrive in the stores, I tend to linger in the shoe department a little longer than anywhere else in the store. Mostly trying on shoes. I could do that all day long. I LOVE to go to places like TJ Maxx because the correct shoe size is sitting right there on the shelf just waiting for me to slip on my foot. I hate shopping where I have to ask for someone to go in the back and get my size - what a pain in the patoot.
Back in the 70's, they had people in the shoe department (mostly men... like Hal Bundy) that not only had to go get your size, but then sat in front of you on that weird little shoe salesman bench and actually put the shoe on for you. I hated that!!! A lot! It totally creeped me out. First of all, I wore the tiniest little dresses and skirts back then and sitting with some stranger directly in front of your crotch area was frightening in a pedophile sort of way. There simply wasn't any way to discreetly lift your leg up to that shoe bench without displaying the merchandise. And second of all, it was the 70's. I was a liberated woman. I didn't need help putting on a shoe, thank you very much. To by-pass the "system" I would: find a shoe I loved, ask for it in my size, buy it, take it home and try it on in the privacy of my salesman-free home. Then, if it did not fit, I would return it to the store. Ugh! a HUGE pain in the patoot. I was elated when decades later, the "system" changed to Try-On-Your-Own-Damn-Shoes.

So, thanks mom, for the shoe fetish. I got it honestly, and as long as I can still walk in them without busting my butt, I will continue to have cute shoes and lots of them. Not to mention the shoegasms.

Double Trouble

That's the name my sister and I call our business. We make and sell snowmen from vintage bottles and found objects. It is a very hard craft to describe, but when you see pictures of them it all makes sense. We went on a bottle hunt today in Webb's Antique mall near Lake City. Jan found a booth on a recent trip, that had nothing but bottles (score!) so we decided to go and make an offer on a bulk purchase. Luckily for us, the booth owner cooperated, and we now own 70 more bottles that we will turn into snowmen for this fall craft show season. Finding vintage/antique bottles is not as hard as you'd think, but finding them for what we are willing to pay is another story. We don't really know much (or care) about the history of the bottles, we just like how they look, and love how pretty they turn out when we are finished creating a snowman out of them.
We have been very successful selling them and actually have "fans" who buy multiple snowmen for their collections. (Thank you, dear fans)

This is the banner we use in our booth display. If you are ever in our area at a craft show and see that banner, stop by and say HI. We love to have company. Or, check us out at www.etsy.com/shop/boogirl99

Some of our snowmen are there, but not very many.

Last year around this time, I was in my favorite place to shop: TJ Maxx/Homegoods. I saw this bunny...

and thought how cute his head was. I took my camera out and photo'd him (yeah, I know, I should have paid for it if I was going to copy it) and came home with creative juices flowing. I love when that happens. Anyhow, this is the result of that...

a little vintage perfume bottle, a little clay, a little bit of found objects, and some glitter = Double Trouble. This bunny was a one of a kind. I intended to make more, but alas, time got away from me. C'mon, Jan, let's make some bunnies!

Bert

Catch-Up Day

I have been so danged busy for so long and have sadly neglected my blog. This is a place for me to collect my thoughts and share, but I haven't done much of that lately. One of my New Year's resolutions is to focus more on the good things in my life and blogging is one of them. So, I am posting some things today to try and catch up with myself.
One of my favorite things to do at work, is thank the people who work in other departments, but do sooooo much to support our department. Mostly, I like to make a small little sump'n sump'n to give each person along with a heartfelt "thanks". We jokingly call them suck-up gifts (SUG for short), but we really do appreciate their help when we need them. I make around 40, so I am always looking for something that isn't going to cost way too much. Anything under a dollar is good for me. Here are a few of the things I have shared with my coworkers...

Dollar Tree Lolli's

I found these cute little lollipops at Dollar Tree (6 for a $ - score!) They had 3 pink and 3 red in each package. Each one has a cardstock heart with a "to" and "from" on it. This doesn't even qualify as something I made, but none the less, it is a cute SUG. I simply wrote "we heart you" on the tag. I will give them out next week when it is a little closer to VDay.

Memorial Day pin

This was a big hit! I bought small American flags on a stick at Michael's for 39¢, removed them from the stick and then folded them up like you would a real flag. I hot glued the ends and then added a pin back to it with more hot glue. I made a card to present them that was embellished with a denim background paper and stamped a patriotic message inside. Love these! Hooray for the USA

(that's me in my office. I really LOVE my Mac, and Photobooth. I don't need no stinkin' camera)

This is another fave SUG. Easy peasy to make and makes a very impressive display. I bought a box of Lifesavers at Sam's, covered them with patriotic background paper, printed out Avery mailing labels with a message "Stars and Stripes Forever!" and then added the cutest firework toothpick that I found at Michael's. I also stuck a little flag toothpick in with the firework pick (also came from Michael's).  I gave these out last year on Memorial Day and people still have the picks on their desks cause they are that darned cute.

I have been making SUG's for years now, for every occasion (Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day... you name it) but haven't photographed any until recently. My vow to myself... keep better photo files, and share. Next up... St. Patty's Day.

Ribbit

Love this... I found her in a wonderful little gift shop in downtown Alachua. I levitate towards things that make me smile, and this little thing did just that. How cute is this?! There were 3 different  Yoga "poses" but this one spoke to me the most. It is on my filing cabinet in my office, right in front of a mirror, so you can see her cute little butt in the reflection. Too flippin' cute.

Happy Christmas

It is Christmas Eve, 2010 and we had the pleasure of entertaining our children, grandchildren and friends this morning. We had a wonderful breakfast, a meat lovers feast, with 3 lbs of bacon and a ham steak to go along with scrambled eggs and biscuits and sausage gravy. Yummo!

The boys were so patient and well behaved as we waited until all of us were through eating before we did the gift exchanges.  I played Santa this year, handing out the gifts to all. Mason was my little helper. "Here Papa, this one's for you."
Spiderman bikes and Lightning McQueen helmets were the big hit! Mason took right to it, but little Braydon's legs weren't quite long enough to make the full rotation. A little help from Jeremy was all he needed. They should have a good nap today.
It was a good year, and we are so excited for new things, good things, to happen in 2011. Merry Christmas all, I hope your Christmas is as happy as mine.

Dear Santa, I've been a good boy.

Last night we went straight from daycare to the mall to see Santa. Oh my! What a wonderful night for Gigi and Papa. We discovered that it was pet night with Santa, so the line was already long with people and their pets waiting to see him. My boys both love animals, so it was a welcome distraction and made our wait pleasant. Braydon discovered that dogs have peepee's too and announced that to one of the ladies holding her male dachsund. She and I giggled. Mason told Santa he wanted him to bring Gigi a new ring (that's my boy) and asked for a "Thpider Man" toy for himself. On our way home, we drove through neighborhoods looking for Christmas lights which immediately became a contest on who had the most on their side of the car. Hmmm, I seem to remember the same contest between their mama and her brother when they were small. Some things never change. Merry Christmas to all of my sweet family and friends!

Dottie

This is Dottie. I got to meet her on our Thanksgiving trip to NC. Terri and John rescued her from a shelter, and she is so incredibly precious! Sweet personality, adorable face, and already knows she is loved by her new family. I am a strong proponent of rescuing animals. I'm not really sure why more people don't do that versus buying from breeders. This little sweet girl is a year and a half old and was turned in by her owner. No one knows why, but she is so loving and obedient, it's hard to imagine why anyone wouldn't want her. But that is their loss and Terri and John's gain. I am so glad I got to meet her.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends. I am grateful for all of you.

Too soon? nahhhh

It's November 18 and my house has been decorated for Christmas since November 3rd. Some people laugh at that but since I am never home for Thanksgiving, I kind of skip over it and jump right into Christmas. We go to NC to visit my best friend Terri and her husband John and sometimes it's actually snowing there on our visit. A bizarre concept to a native Floridian who is used to sweating not only on Thanksgiving day but also on Christmas day and New Years day and pretty much every holiday that comes to mind. Last year I completely changed my ornaments after collecting them for over 30 years. I had an eclectic collection but was inspired to go with glass ornaments that are all red and white and some silver. It is so beautiful and makes me smile when I come into the living room. I love this time of year. The magic of family gatherings and all the hustle bustle, and somehow the world seems a little kinder and gentler. I hope you enjoy the holidays too. Merry Christmas.

Karol

What's not to love about a 3 year old?

My daughter and I exchanged IM's recently about her oldest son who is 3 1/2. The change is so dramatic between 3 and 4, they learn so much and start seeing the world as a place that doesn't so much revolve around them anymore. Mason is no exception. He is observant and opinionated like his mother (and grandmother). We were discussing how grown up he is and how he has discovered Santa. She asked him and his little brother to tell her what they wanted Santa to bring them, and sat down to write a letter for them. Mason grabbed a pad of paper and a pen, and proceeded to ask mama what she wanted so he could write to Santa too. An "awww" moment in a Gigi's life that keeps me going and makes me smile. Here is the content of another IM that made me smile (pardon me for sharing this, Kristi, with the cyber world without discussing it with you first)

"i was getting ready for work Wednesday and had a skirt on. He turned around from watching his Spiderman cartoon and eyes-wide said "Mama you look SO pretty. You look so PRETTY, Mama!" :) And then he ruined it by looking at my heels and saying "I have shoes like those, too!" hee hee"

Seriously, does it get any better than that? I don't think so. God love you, little Mason. You make me laugh out loud. And God love you too Kristi, for sharing with me.

Mandarin Craft Festival October 16, 2010

One day show, lots of work and preparation, but we had so much fun and were very successful! Here are some pictures of our booth. Come see us at our next show at the Moroccan Shrine Temple on Nov 21 & 22.

15 Things you may not know about me

1. I don't have a "bucket list". I'm happy to have survived some of the stupid things I've already done in my life.
2. When I get dressed, I put on a sock and a shoe and a sock and a shoe. Not a sock and a sock and a shoe and a shoe. Can't do it any other way.
3. I have discovered that I count things subconsciously, like when I walk up stairs, I count the steps. That's not too psycho.
4. I really don't like people who don't know the rules of the road AND INSIST ON BEING IN FRONT OF ME OR ON MY BUTT, oh sorry, it gets my hair on fire thinking about it.
5. I am one collection short of being on my own A&E "Hoarders" show.
6. "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes makes me cry.
7.  I'm disturbed by people who are mean spirited.
8. I could buy a new pair of shoes every day.
9.  If I could, I'd eat something sweet for every meal, like a banana split followed by a piece of turtle cheesecake.
10. I still feel like I am 24 years old. On the inside.
11. I kind of like doing some things by myself that most people like to do with friends, like shopping or eating in a restaurant.
12. I am happiest when I am with my grandsons.
13. I am saddest when my children are hurting.
14. If I had a do-overs-decade, it would be my 20's. (no explanations)
15. My biggest regret in life is not dancing with my dad at my 8th grade dance. I never got another chance, and I think I hurt his feelings.

Craft Shows!

Jan and I are quickly approaching our first show of the 2010 season. We are doing two this year in Jacksonville, and an Open House here in Gainesville. We have had the best time getting together and creating our little "men" (and women). We have laughed and oooo'd and awwww'd at each others work. Our first show is this Saturday (holy cwap, really?) in Mandarin at the United Methodist Church from 9 to 4. We're ready! We have more than 200 Halloween and Christmas guys ready to find new homes. The biggest pleasure in making them is the hunt for objects to use on them. We found a place that has the best treasure-hunt-factor, but if I told you where it was, I'd have to kill you. So, it's a secret. Most normal people (sorry Jan)would hate going there. It's hot and dirty and a little scary. Critters run around and I keep a constant eye for movement just in case. I have been known to either 1: squeal like a 9 year old girl or 2: curse like my mama at the sight of a spider or lizard. We hope that you will be able to come see us in our booth. Sit a spell, and watch the crowd.

Only 30 days til Halloween

Halloween in my house circa 1960: Every year my dad would get in the kitchen to cook some weird concoction which we had to eat before we were allowed to go Trick Or Treating. In retrospect, it probably wasn't all that weird, it was likely some kind of stew. We were used to my mother's bland style of cooking and anything out of her short repertoire of recipes seemed "weird" to us. There we sat at the dining room table, shoving things around on our plates, hoping beyond hope that mom would say, "OK you're done". Then Ding-Dong, "Trick Or Treat!" Aaack, the other neighborhood kids were already out collecting their goodies. A few more bites and we were on our way. We carried big brown grocery bags to haul our loot. Back then, we were able to go without an adult, and go we did. My brother who is 5 years younger than me, was in tow. We ran as fast as we could from house to house and I can barely remember any Halloween nights that it wasn't raining. And hot. We always came home all sweaty with a ginormous stash and our bags were soaking wet. Mom immediately pulled out all of the bubblegum. We weren't allowed to chew it. Does that even make sense?! No gum, but all the candy we could stuff in our face. Our dentist loved us.
To be perfectly honest, I can't even remember what costumes we wore, all I can remember is how much fun we had. It was a happy time in our neighborhood. We had lots of children our ages to hang out with and we were all innocent enough to enjoy Halloween for what it is meant to be: a happy, silly, care-free day to dress up and get all the candy you'd need until the next candy holiday. Happy Halloween.
...and, No, those are not my dogs, I don't even have a dog. But I can guarantee you that if I had one it would have a costume.