Downriver Primitives

Giveaway - Prim In The Country

2011-08-03T15:24:00.002-04:00

Melissa from Prim In The Country is having a giveaway on her blog. Aren't these pumpkin pals adorable?? Just head on over to her blog to enter. This giveaway ends on Aug. 15th. Please mention that Laurie from Downriver Primitives sent you :)

Has It Really Been Over A Year??

2011-07-27T08:30:00.000-04:00

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged. At first I took the time off to get my son ready for kindergarten. Soon after he started school I got sucked into couponing to try to lower our family's grocery budget. (I actually got it down to $70 per week from $110). Then my husband and I started our kitchen remodel, which we are still working on.

I am so happy to say that after such a long break, I finally pulled out my sewing machine and made a few dolls and ornies. It felt really good to craft again.

Here's one of my Prairie girl's dressed in her colonial blues. I love this fabric.

Prairie girl #2

I just wanted to thank everyone who kept me on your blog list. I have high hopes for Downriver Primitives.... With that being said, please stay tuned for a giveaway.

New pattern available....just in time for Easter

2010-02-15T12:08:00.001-05:00

I am happy to announce that my first pattern is now available.

Meet....Beatrice Bunny.

She will be the beginning of many more to come. I actually have a folder full of my own personal designs that I will be turning into pdf patterns in the near future.

I also wanted to share a photo of the doll that my official pattern tester Patti @ Wild Berry Primitives made (in 1 day!). She's adorable!

Whatcha Working on Wednesday

2010-01-27T11:38:00.000-05:00

Good morning and happy Wednesday. I am back to my old self again. Feeling great after my surgery and ready to tackle new projects. I have soooo many things on my to-do list today. I just wanted to share my crafty one's with you.

First are these snowmen ornies. I made them from an Alysroom pattern and they are so adorable don't you think? I am a member of the Trim-A-Limb ornament club. We create handmade ornaments all year round and sell them at craft shows and open houses during the Christmas season. So much fun!! Well I have 4 of these little guys made up and I will be starting on some more today.

I am almost finished with Nicole's patchwork quilt (the one made with a lot of her toddler outfits and favorite fabrics). I started blind stitching the binding closed last night while watching last year's season finale of Lost. BTW can't wait til next Tuesday. Lost returns....YAY.

Well since I am leaving the binding for something to do while watching night-time tv, I decided to start working on Andrew's quilt. He loves dogs...I mean loves them. So of course what theme did he want for his quilt? Dogs, lol. The front is a patchwork design with his favorite colors (red and blue) with a few "dog squares" mixed in.

This is the backing fabric. So cute! I will be sewing the strips together later today.

Well Andrew and I are heading out to story time at the library after lunch. They meet every Wednesday for an 11 week session. It's great to get Andrew together with other children and he absolutely loves Miss Anita. He even told her so last time, lol. I like it because I get a half hour to myself, looking for books, magazines or just roaming around the mansion (yes our library is a mansion). lol. Gotta love old historic towns right?

Have a great day and make sure to visit Leslie's blog to see what everyone else is working on today. Take care.

Thanks for the prayers and an update on daughter's quilt

2010-01-22T11:50:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to thank everyone who left such kind comments on my last post. My surgery went well and I am slowly getting back to normal. Still in a lot of pain, but the med's are helping, lol.

I wanted to show you what I got finished before my surgery. I was able to put the quilt top together in one day. Nicole was so excited when I showed it to her. We decided that since I will be making her a color coordinated bed quilt next time, this quilt will just be a throw size. So I cut down the number of squares I orginally needed from 180 to 140.

I am now ready to attach the border. I went to Joann's on Sunday (and stood in the cutting line for an hour!). I picked out a white calico with white stars for the border & binding and some pink flannel for the backing. I also picked up the batting for 50% off. I can't wait to finish it.

I don't have a photo, but I did finish binding my lap quilt while resting on the couch yesterday. It looks great and I am so proud of myself for finishing it. I am so bad at leaving projects unfinished. So this is a biggy for me, lol.

Have a great weekend :)

Could you send a few prayers my way?

2010-01-18T13:28:00.000-05:00

I have surgery scheduled for tomorrow morning. I'm not too nervous about it, just really sad that I have to put a halt to all my craft projects, lol. But...seriously, it's nothing major. Just a laparoscopy to remove an ovarian cyst along with that ovary :(

If you could say a few prayers for myself, my husband and kids. They (especially Nicole) are very nervous. I on the otherhand have done this before....5 times to be exact. So I know what to expect. But I know every surgery has it's risks. Thanks so much.

So I am off to tidy up the house, finish up all the laundry and prepare dinner for tomorrow night. As of 2pm today I am on a liquid diet and I need to drink that yucky Magnesium Citrate ~~crap~~ drink. Not looking forward to that stuff again. Have a great week everyone.

Willow Bend Prims is having a giveaway

2010-01-15T12:17:00.000-05:00

Look at all the goodies in this fantastic giveaway! Visit Willow Bend Prims to enter. Giveaway ends on January 31st.

Custom pillow added to my etsy and selling blog

2010-01-14T11:08:00.001-05:00

I will be offering customized grandmother pillows in my etsy store and also on my selling blog. Since I had such a great response with these pillows last year for Mother's Day I decided to offer them again, but sooner. If you are interested please feel free to visit either my etsy badge or my selling blog button, both found on the right hand side. Below are a few of the custom orders from last year.

Thanks for looking.

Whatcha Working on Wednesday

2010-01-13T12:16:00.000-05:00

Today I have a few things to share.

One thing I will be working on, but will attempt tonight when the kids go to bed, is blind stitching the binding on my lap quilt. Remember how nervous I was to make the mitered corners? Well it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Here it is waiting for me.

I also wanted to show you the silhouette photos that I finished last week and finally hung up in my upstairs library this morning. I am very happy with how they turned out, and I am sure the kids will cherish them years down the road. (sorry about the bad pictures, I took these without a flash).

Ok, here is the final thing that I will be working on throughout the day. Nicole wanted me to make her a quilt too. So I took some of her baby and toddler outfits and special fabrics that we saved and cut them into 6" squares. So far I have 110 squares (I need 180 to make a twin size quilt).

A lot of the fabrics were cut from dresses and short sets that my grandmother had made for Nicole when she was younger (about 3 or 4 yrs old). I love knowing that they were chosen by my grandmother and will last forever in the quilt. One of the fabrics was Nicole's floral crib sheet, another is the material from her curtains that I made a few months ago, and few were some of her old Carter's pj's. So today I will be cutting out more squares, hopefully the last 70 so I can begin sewing them together.

Andrew already put his order in for a puppy themed bed quilt and Nicole would like to have another quilt specifically for her bed with kittens. Those ones will be made with coordinating fabrics not a mish-mosh like the one above. So I guess I need to stock up on some fabric. I'm itchin' to make a run to Joann's but I need to hold off until Sunday. They will be having a sale on their calico's and that's my favorite section.

If you would like to see more "Whatcha Working On Wednesday" posts head on over to Leslie's blog My Country Home. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful Wednesday.

Putting the finishing touches on my first lap quilt....and pretty darn happy :)

2010-01-11T16:28:00.000-05:00

Back in June I posted about my very first lap quilt that I had started. Yup that's right....I said June. Well obviously I put it aside and completely forgot about it. I quess I was too busy with the kids during the summer, our three week-long family visits, vacation and then the holiday season. Yeah that's it, lol. So I really think I should thank Leslie from My Country Home for posting about the quilt she is making for her daughter. She motivated me to pull mine out and finally finish it.

So this weekend I put the two borders around it and tied it off at every other square (like a checker board). Today I "stitched in the ditch" around the two borders and made my very first binding strip (thanks youtube.com). Here it is all trimmed up and ready for the binding.

Wish me luck, I'm kind of nervous about making the mitered corners.

Christmas gifts that can finally be revealed

2010-01-08T16:23:00.001-05:00

I promised to share photos of the Christmas gifts I made this year. For my sister I painted her an 11x14" primitive canvas with her family's names. That's my brother-in-law Jason on the right holding it up for the camera.

For my mom I made two Raggedy Ann dolls from my own patterns. They are a mother and daughter pair who resemble me and my mom (or at least used to when I had blond hair as a child, lol). I made a little pillow for them to hold that says, "A mother holds her childrens hands for a while...their hearts forever."

The pic on the right was taken by my sister in Florida of our parents Patti and Dana. I think my mom likes the dolls, what do you think?

I thought that I would post a photo of the custom canvas that my grandmother ordered from me. She emailed me a photo of her home in Florida and asked if I could paint that instead of a saltbox house. I was very leary, as I am pretty new to painting. But I was very happy at how it turned out and so was she. Thanks Grammy :)

I did finish the silhouette pictures from Whatcha Working On Wednesday but haven't hung them on the wall yet. Once I do I will share the pic. Take care and thanks for reading.

Whatcha Working on Wednesday

2010-01-06T13:26:00.001-05:00

Today I am working on something that I have been wanting to make for awhile now - framed silhouette profile photos of my children. I figured that I better get a move on before my children "magically" turn into teenagers. You know what I am talking about. I feel like I blinked a few times and my daughter turned 10. How did that happen? Well anyways, that is what I have been working on today.

Here is what I have completed so far:

The first thing I did was take profile photographs of both kids. I then uploaded them to my computer and used my editing software to make them grayscale (I did this to save $ on color ink).

They don't look very happy do they? lol. I told them, "whatever you do don't smile!"

I then cut out their profiles using small scissors. Placed the cutout onto black cardstock and then used my lightest chalk to shade around the cutout. It worked perfectly.

Lastly I cut out the cardstock very carefully and ended up with this.

I haven't had a chance to finish them yet. But I did find the perfect scrapbook paper for the background and two frames that I bought at the Dollar Castle for, well, $1 each! So I will leave you with a vision of what they will look like.

I still have to trim the bottoms, adhere them to the sage background paper and paint both frames black (one frame (this one) is dark brown and the other is white). I will post the final pictures once I am finished. Be sure to check out Leslie's blog My Country Home for more Whatcha Working On Wednesday posts. Take care, and thanks for reading :)

Wild Berry Primitives is having a giveaway!

2010-01-02T14:16:00.004-05:00

Patti from Wild Berry Primitives is having her very first giveaway. Look at what she is offering:

Two handknit cotton dish cloths, three dish towels, and a Gooseberry Patch Christmas #6 book. I wish I could enter, but I am her daughter and I don't think that would be fair ;^) darn!

To be entered in this giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment on her blog. If you are already a follower or become a new follower you will receive two entries. If you do not have a blog you will receive one entry but please be sure to include your email address so she can contact you if you are the lucky winner. The winner will be drawn on Saturday, January 9. Good luck!

Whatcha Working on Wednesday

2009-12-30T08:52:00.004-05:00

First off I am SO sorry for being gone from blogland for 3 months. I can't believe it has been that long since I last posted. I will soon be able to start crafting again (which I am really excited about). Well not that I haven't been crafting because I have. But they were Christmas presents that I couldn't share on here because my family reads my blog and that would spoil the surprise. I am sure you understand. I promise to share photos of the gifts soon.

I officially don't have anything craft-wise that I am working on at the moment but I did want to share something that I am starting today and will continue to work on. It's a family cookbook.

I already have a 3 ring binder that holds all of our favorite recipes along with some that I think we will like. Each page is typed up. And I have them in those plastic page protectors. That works great in my kitchen. But I want something sentimental that I can eventually pass along to my children.

So I decided to start collecting ALL of our favorite recipes along with recipes that my husband and I grew up loving. Once I find a favorite, I will take a photo, upload it with the typed recipe in MS WORD and then save them one by one on a dvd. My goal is to either have the cookbook professionally printed and bound or I might even be able to do it myself with some waterproof paper and the binding kit from Office Depot. I have years to decide on that. But basically that is what I am working on. Don't you think that would be a wonderful wedding gift for each of my children?

Happy Wednesday everyone. Please check out Leslie's blog for more Whatcha Working on Wednesday posts.

My Best Thrift Store Find EVER!

2009-10-02T08:21:00.007-04:00

I haven't had much luck with yard sales and thrift stores this summer, mainly because I haven't had the time or extra money to go :( But something told me to stop into the one thrift store that I always have luck at. While I was about ready to give up and head home I decided to walk to the framed prints wall.

Well something caught my eye right away. It was a framed Warren Kimble print with a beautiful saltbox house on it. I looked to the left and there was another one! So I checked out the price tags - 2 for $8.50! I knew I had to have them. They are in perfect condition, they just have some paper stuck to the frame (which did come off). I was shocked when I got home and looked online. These are two prints from Warren Kimble's 4 Seasons Collection. The whole set of 4 sells for $100+ and each one separately sells for $25+. I got each one for $4.25 hehehe. That made my day for sure.

So now I have them all cleaned up and hanging on opposite sides of my fireplace. It was like they were meant to be there all along. The other bonus is that they are prints of my two favorite seasons, fall and spring.

Oh and I can't forget to show the other thing that I bought. It was only $2. It says that it was handmade in 1984. Not sure what I want to do with it, but for $2 I couldn't pass it up.

I hope to be posting more frequently, I apologize for being gone so long. I have been very busy with my daugher being back in school and getting my 4 year old ready for kindergarten next year. Not to mention dealing with the damage from that darn tree.

Tree Fell On Our House & Local News

2009-08-21T11:41:00.009-04:00

We had some excitement here yesterday. Right before my husband was leaving for work at 2:30 we had a little storm roll in. We were all in the kitchen getting ready to say goodbye when all of a sudden there was a loud "BOOM" and our house shook. We all screamed and I said, "I think the house just got struck by lightning". Nicole ran to the living room and noticed that the blinds were moving. She screamed out, "the windows broken" and start to cry. Then she looked out the window and shouted that our neighbor's tree was on our house.

I had to scramble around because the water was flowing into our living room through the broken window and also from the bay window roof above. In a few minutes the police, fire truck and ambulance were parked outside. What happened was that our neighbor's century old maple tree (huge) was struck by lightning and split in two. The right side fell on our house and smashed her porch in the process and the left side fell into the neighbor's house on the other side. Luckily we got minimal damage. We had to have a tree removal service come out and get this....it ended up costing a total of $10,000. We have to pay a third of it, but luckily that is what insurance is for.

Well added onto all this drama, the local FOX4 news came out to do a story. That was hard for me because I am a very shy person and it was my first time on tv. So a couple hours later I turned around and parked across the street was the FOX4 news van (again). The cameraman came up to us and said that when the main anchorman heard that we went through Hurricane Charley in 2004 and now this... he wanted to do an exclusive on us. I was like...... OH NO! lol. So we were interviewed again but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Dave and I let the kids stay up till 11pm to watch our story on tv. Do you know when they start out the news and they play a little intro to the top stories? Well guess what? It was me!!!! WHY???!!! lol. Anyways, I guess I can add the link here, just don't laugh please (except for the first part which IS funny). I look funny in a couple shots, I don't know where those expressions came from! And it's very short. They edited the heck out of it. Oh and our daughter Nicole is in there for approximately 2 seconds, lol.

Whatcha Working on Wednesday

2009-08-19T08:00:00.002-04:00

Yay! I am finally back to crafting :) I have been so busy these last 2 months with a week visit from my sister, brother-in-law and nephew in June then in another week visit from my mom and dad in July. Then shortly after that my husband, kids and I traveled to New Hampshire to visit with family and friends. I was so happy because that was my first time showing them where I grew up. It has been a wonderful...busy...memorable summer!

So on to the crafting right?? Ok, here is what I started working on Saturday night. I love this fabric that I picked up from my local quilt store. I already made a doll's dress out of it which sold on ebay a few months ago. So this is what I decided to do with my leftover pieces. I came across this saying on a stencil somewhere and I thought it would be cute stitched on a pillow.

So here it is finished. It's actually darker in person (darn camera). I think it came out nice except for the puckering in the letters. I stuffed the pillow tight but it still looks lumpy and loose. But I guess that is what primitive is all about right? It isn't supposed to look mass produced. I backed the pillow with stained warm and natural.

Now onto what I will be finishing up today. This Annie is one of my favorites. I love her dress and her face came out so sweet. She has burgundy hair although you can't tell because the camera made it look black. I just need to attach that button on her bodice and make a hang tag. Then she will be ready to sell.

That's all I have got going on today. Thanks for stopping by. If you would like to see what others are working on today head on over to Leslie's blog My Country Home. Take care!

Locks of Love Donation

2009-08-15T18:06:00.003-04:00

My daughter Nicole has been growing her hair out for a little over 2 years now. She heard about the organization Locks of Love and decided that she would donate her hair when it was long enough. Well yesterday was the day that she asked me to cut it. One part of me was sad because she has such beautiful hair, but the other part of me was very happy that it will be made into a wig for another child. Also....I won't have to spend 15 minutes brushing knots out of it every morning ;). So I sat her down in the kitchen and went to work.

Here are the before photos:

And here are the afters:

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I hope to post something for Whatcha Working on Wednesday (finally) ;)

Antique Shopping In NH

2009-08-13T21:48:00.009-04:00

This past week my husband, kids and I have been away visiting my family and friends in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. (I promise to write a detailed post later).

During our trip, my Aunt Deb Rustic Country Handcrafts took me to a cute little antique shop called Log Cabin Antiques where she consigns some of her beautiful country & primitive creations. I had such a great time browsing around Lynn's charming shop.

Of course I couldn't leave without buying some things teehee.

I couldn't resist this antique rusty green scale. It was only $10, can you believe it??!!!

The robins egg blue washboard was only $8. The wording is faint but you can still read "DUBL HANDI" Columbus Washboard Co. I am debating on if I want to just display it as is or paint a primitive scene on the top part. We shall see.

This enamel bowl is huge! It was $6. I want to fill it with some prim ornies or even some prim rag balls. Does anyone have any ideas? I would love to hear them.

I also bought an old cabinet door for $2, two rusty bed springs for .50 cents each and a primitive sheep notepad. I wish I could have walked away with more but you know how tight money is right now =( I can't wait until my next trip to NH. I will be stopping in to see Lynn again, that is for sure.

If you are ever around Kingston New Hampshire, make it a point to stop by

Log Cabin Antiques.

I'm getting very frustrated....

2009-07-06T15:06:00.005-04:00

with blogger!!

I haven't been able to load my blog lately and have been having problems opening others as well. Today I was unable to see my posts so I decided to change the template to black with lighter font colors. Well now since I did this I have lost my 3 column template (which by the way took my almost 2 hours to figure out last month).

So I know my blog is a little BLAH and I am sorry. As soon as I get some free time I will revamp it.

It has been very busy around here lately. My sister, brother in law and nephew came for a week visit and left this past Saturday. We had a wonderful time and I will share some photos soon. Next my mom and dad will be flying in this Friday for a week visit.

So unfortunately I haven't had anytime to create or paint anything. But this Saturday my mom and I want to spend some time at a local craft show. I hope to find something(s) to share next time I post.

Have a great week.

Had To Share This Video

2009-07-05T13:23:00.003-04:00

I came across this video today and had to share it. I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th yesterday and will continue to have a great weekend.

via videosift.com

A Sad Goodbye

2009-06-13T11:22:00.003-04:00

Thursday was the last day of school for Nicole. She will now be entering 5th grade. But in addition to saying goodbye to her friends for 3 months she had to say a final goodbye to her best friend Victoria. Victoria and her family will be moving to Georgia this month. She is such a sweet girl and has been a wonderful friend to Nicole for the past 3 years (since we moved to Michigan).

I was hoping that they would be friends throughout school, but unfortunately that was not meant to be. Here is a photo that I took of them at their 4th grade recorder concert last month, they hold hands in every picture ;)

On another note, I apologize for being so behind on my posts. I have been EXTREMELY busy getting ready for the arrival of my sister, brother-in-law and 3.5 yr. old nephew. We are so excited and can't wait to see them (it's been 3 long years). They will fly in next Sunday evening and spend a week. Then 2 weeks after they leave my Mom and Dad are flying in for a visit too :) I am going to have a lot of scrapbook pages to work on, lol.

I promise that I will post an update soon on my patchwork quilt along with a few other things I have been working on. I also found something at the TS that I wanted to share.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Whatcha Working On Wednesday

2009-06-03T11:35:00.004-04:00

Ok, bare with me because I have a lot to share. There are so many projects that I have going on this week. Below are some that I will be working on today.

On Saturday I decided to start a quilted lap quilt / wall hanging. A couple months ago I attempted sewing a quilted table mat, but haven't completed it (I will... I promise). But anyways, I want to make a patchwork quilt so that I can reduce the amount of fabric scraps from my growing stash. So Saturday and Sunday I cut out 264 2.5" fabric squares. Here is the layout, with the help of Nicole. That is why she is in the pic, and of course Andrew had to be a part of it too, lol. With a border it will measure 30x50.

Here is the stack waiting to be sewn together.

Here is what I got finished Monday and Tuesday. Not bad for a beginner.

Now on to my stitchery. This one will look great in my garden theme dining room. Love it!

I wanted to share with you this primitive cross stitch kit that I picked up at Walmart a few years back. It was on clearance for $5 and I knew I had to have it. I really want to get back into this so I will work on it at night when the kids are in bed.

I promised to share with you the wood sign that I made for Andrew's bedroom. I think it came out perfectly antiqued. Unfortunately, again, my camera is playing games with colors. If you scroll down to the distressed blue wall shelf that I painted you will see what the color of the sign really is.

I absolutely love the old rusty lantern that I found at an estate sale for $10. It was the perfect thing to display on his inset shelf.

The wooden train on the shelf below is actually from an 8 piece train set that my husband had as a little boy (locked together it measures 6 feet long). A couple of the cars in the set need to be fixed so I thought these two would look nice displayed on the distressed shelf. I LOVE the border. I had my eye on it for almost two years before we actually bought it. I lucked out on ebay because the seller offered "MAKE AN OFFER" and so I offered $4 per roll (I needed 3 rolls) and he accepted it.

That is all the projects I have going on...well besides recovering my dining room chairs, staining my bathroom baseboards, stripping paint off the medicine cabinet, painting our family room ceiling, distressing our library accent table..hmmm what else, lol.

Oh, I almost forgot. Nicole brought home a permission slip yesterday to sign up for band/orchestra next year. She will be entering 5th grade! Yikes. Well she would like to play the violin and I think that is a wonderful idea. She loves classical music (plays it on her cd player at night while falling asleep). The only thing I am leary about is the cost. The paper said that we could rent-to-own for $25 a month or purchase one outright at a local music store. Well on ebay yesterday Dave and I found a music supply store that sells them for $50 and up for free shipping. It says that they are teacher approved and all that. I am wondering if that is the way to go. Do any of you know something or two about renting or purchasing a violin? I would love any imput. Thanks.

I will update later this week with my quilting progress. Check out Leslie's blog My Country Home to see what other's are working on today.

Have a great day :)

My Summer Reading Has Arrived

2009-06-02T12:28:00.005-04:00

I bid on this Beverly Lewis collection of Abrams Daughters last week and won them for $14 including shipping. What a great price for 5 hardcovers in excellent condition. The dust jackets show little wear, but I take them off when I read anyways.

That was perfect timing because I just finished The Redemption of Sarah Cain last week. Now you know what I will be doing this summer while the kids play outside. Yippeee!

I will be back tomorrow with my addition to Whatcha Working On Wednesday. I have so much to share with you :)

Have a great day.

The Primitive Country Bug's Giveaway

2009-06-01T11:23:00.004-04:00

Look at what Birgit from The Primitive Country Bug has put together for her "Random First Giveaway". Oh my how I would LOVE to win this primitive assortment of handmade treasures, I'm sure you would too... right?

Just head over to her blog and leave a comment for one entry, become a follower for a second entry or even mention her giveaway on your blog for a third entry. The winner will be announced on Monday June 8th. Good luck!

Whatcha Working On Wednesday

2009-05-27T12:45:00.001-04:00

Ok, first off I really want to share something with you that I found this morning at KMART. These 2 primitive kitchen towels were only $1.49 each! They actually had 4 styles, but these were my favorites. Aren't they just perfectly prim? I might head back and buy some more...hehehe. You should too!!!!

Well since I had to do my grocery shopping this morning I won't have as much time to work on projects as I would have liked. But I will show you my works in progess.

I wanted to show you my finished "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread" wooden sign. It is finally stained and hanging in my dining room above the arch entry to the living room. The colors perfectly match my dining room, although you can't tell since my camera made it look black :( It's really a beautiful forest green.

Here is the photo of the sign before I stained it to give you the idea of what the green looks like.

I started working on the sign that I want to display in my son's train themed bedroom. When it is completely dry I will sand down the edges and stain it. I know the saying actually seems like it would go in a busy room, but it works for a train station theme too, don't you think? I remember while I was growing up, if the phone rang continuously (which it did), my Dad would always shout out, "Grand Central Station!". LOL.

Those of you who have read my previous posts might remember that my husband and I want to install a train track around the perimeter of our son's bedroom ceiling. I am very anxious to get started but unfortunately it looks like we might have to wait until fall. We have too many household projects going on and we have 3 vacations planned this summer.

Here is the candle holder that I picked up at the thrift store yesterday for $1.00. I am displaying my very first grubby candle that I made surrounded by "southern apple pie" scented rosehips, mmmmm.

The last thing I wanted to share is my first canvas board that I started about 7 or 8 months ago. I put it aside and actually forgot about it. Well since I can across it yesterday I decided to finish it for once and for all. It is a Kim Klassen DeSigns pattern. Hopefully posting it on here will motivate me :)

If you would like to see what other's are working on today check out Leslie's blog.

Have a great afternoon :)

Thrift Store Finds

2009-05-26T12:01:00.006-04:00

This morning I needed to head out to JC Penney to buy some much needed shorts, since last years pairs don't fit me anymore :( Well my daughter forgot her Teacher/Parent communication folder so I had to drop it off at school and then Andrew and I headed over to JCP. Unfortunately when we got there I realized that it didn't open until 10am (it was now 8:45).

So Andrew and I mosied over to the Dollar Tree where I bought a few more classroom decorations for our playroom/preschool classroom. I absolutely love all their decorations and supplies and you can't beat a buck each. So I picked up some lesson charts, a writing tablet, and a "Perfect Work" stamp. I didn't need too much since I basically have the room completed.

The thrift store was in the same plaza so we headed there next. I was hoping to find some furniture, mainly a little table for our front porch or a table/desk to fit in our office. I had no luck finding those but I did find some goodies.

I absolutely love this and it will look perfect distressed and hanging in my living room.
It was only $2.

I finally found one! hehe.
I have been looking for a long cutting board that I can paint and hang in my kitchen.
I would like to distress it and maybe paint a long saltbox house or even a willow tree on it.
This was also $2.

The cashier saw this and asked Andrew if it was for him!
She was joking because it looks like a spanking paddle. We got a good laugh out of that.

This was the last thing I found and it was only $1. It will look nice holding a grubby candle surrounded by rosehips.

I wish I could have stayed longer, but with Andrew being soooo impatient - it was impossible. They had so much stuff there today. The shelves are never that packed. I had to rummage through everything and I know I missed a lot. Next time I am going solo so I can spend some time looking at everything.
But all in all I am very happy with my finds. I am hoping to work on them tomorrow so I can finally participate in "Whatcha Workin On Wednesday".

Have a great day everyone :)

Is having a city wide garage sale worth it????

2009-05-19T20:57:00.000-04:00

The answer is a most definite.....

YES!!!!

I knew we would be busy, but seriously. We had our sale open Saturday from 9-6 and Sunday from 10-6. We had people there basically every minute with no breaks. I wish I would have kept a tally, but if I was to make a guess on how many sales I would have to say in the hundreds. I was really surprised at how well we did especially on Saturday since we got rained out for a couple hours. Our grand total was close to $500 (and everything was baby/kids clothes and toys, a few household items). I didn't have anything primitive, antique or wooden to sell, lol. I wouldn't part with my treasures.

Our neighbors had a sale too which helped pull the traffic in. They had a lot of women's clothing for $1 each. I didn't sell my old clothes because I thought they wouldn't sell and the thrift store would be a better choice. Well they did almost $300 in clothing sales (and a lot of the clothes were stained and nubby)! You better believe that I will be selling my clothes next year, lol. One dollar a piece is better than nothing. I did manage to buy two things from them. A brown handbag and a red Nine West wallet (brand new). Both for $1 each. The handbag even had a quarter in it, lol.

I wanted to thank everyone who left a kind comment last week about my daughter's lemonade stand idea. Unfortunately she didn't set it up. The weather just didn't cooperate. Saturday it was rainy like I mentioned and instead of 78 degrees like they forcasted it was a high of 65 with huge wind gusts. Sunday was 60 degrees and windy as well. She was sad, but she understood.

Well I promised to show you how my placemat apron turned out. I found these 2 Americana placemats at the Dollar Tree and used some grosgrain ribbon for the ties. I sectioned it off to have 8 pockets. A pocket for $1, $5, $10, $20+, quarters, dimes/nickles, a calculator, and some extra pricing stickers. It worked like a charm and even had some wonderful comments made which made my day :)

I know it looks crooked, but it is just the way I am standing. ;)

Oh and at 5pm on Sunday, our neighbors decided to give all their leftover items away for free. They held a "EVERYTHING FREE" poster board up to every car driving by. I just had to scoot over there and see what else I could find. All the clothes were size extra small, small, 3, 5, and 7's. Sorry, but I am not THAT small. But the extra small shirts looked like they would fit Nicole. So we grabbed about 8 polo shirts and a couple MICHIGAN t shirts, some purses, wallets, 2 boa scarves and a butterfly belt. The shirts fit her perfectly and will make nice backyard play clothes.

Well... time to get back to my cleaning (what fun!). I hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday. Take care.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-05-13T12:09:00.005-04:00

Unfortunately I haven't been working on anything new lately. I have WAY too much going on here and I have absolutely no time to squeeze in some "crafting time". So I apologize for not having anything to share.

This weekend is our town's City Wide Garage Sale. It just snuck up on me, even though I have known about it for months. I'm not even close to being ready :( We have things that we lugged up here from Florida. If it doesn't sell this time it will be donated. I just don't want to look at the boxes of yard sale in the basement anymore.

I went shopping this morning for vacation clothes and stopped by the Dollar Tree to see if they sell utility belts or something that I could use for a money apron so I won't have to use a cash box. Since they didn't sell them I decided to buy two americana placemats and ribbon and make my own. I think it will look cute :) I will take pics of our sale and my apron on Saturday.

Nicole will be trying her hand at her very first lemonade stand during the sale. We ordered a free stand from Sunkist. She wants to donate a percentage of her sales to the animal shelter down the street. Maybe we will make some cookies and brownies to add to her stand as well. It is supposed to be close to 80 degrees on Saturday so hopefully people will be thirsty and hungry. Do you think charging .50 per cup is decent? I haven't had a stand since I was a child so I just don't know what is a good price. Any comments would be great.

I know I am a few days late, but I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. From reading your blogs it looks like you did. My day was great. My daughter Nicole made our Sunday breakfast, buttermilk pancakes (which were delicious). Then we took a few pictures and the kids gave me their gifts and handmade pictures. Nicole told me I wasn't allowed to do any work. So she took care of all the dishes and cleaning up while I relaxed reading my newest Beverly Lewis book. Here are some pics.

What Came In The Mail & Thrift Store Finds

2009-05-03T11:11:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to thank Sue from Palette Primitives for sending me these adorable mini prim bears. They are so cute! I can't believe I won them on her "Follow Me" contest. So thank you so much Sue. I will treasure them :)

Friday after my son and I went grocery shopping I decided to stop by the Salvation Army just to peek. I browsed through the women's clothing and found 3 skirts that looked brand new for only $1.99 each. Then I found a beautiful sleeveless dress with tags for $6.99. I also browsed through the girls section to see if there were any cute sundresses for Nicole. I found a reversible sundress for $3.99 and a long yellow floral dress for $2.50.

Then I went to the back and rummaged through the aisles. There were a lot of shelves and wooden pieces that I KNOW I could eventually paint, but I honestly didn't need to buy them at that moment. But I did find a bread box that is identical to the one my mom posted about last week on her blog Wild Berry Primitives. It was only $4.99 and I quickly snatched it up. I can't wait to work on it.

Well that is all I have to share today. Mainly I have been Spring Cleaning like mad. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Happy Birthday Mom (Wild Berry Primitives)

2009-05-01T11:48:00.003-04:00

I am celebrating my Mom's birthday today, 1300 miles away. I wish I could be there to give her a great big hug. My Mom was everything to me growing up and still is to this day. She is an incredible woman, loving Mother and an extraordinary Grandmother. If you get a chance please visit Wild Berry Primitives and wish my Mom a very happy birthday ;)

One of my favorite pics of my daughter and my Mom.

Taken in 2006

Getting Caught Up

2009-04-27T11:00:00.000-04:00

Wow, I can't believe a week has gone by and I haven't shared anything. It's not that I haven't been busy because believe me....I haven't slowed down.

I felt very lucky last week. First off I won a Kim Klassen epattern for following her on Twitter -along with many of you other lucky bloggers :). Then she gave away an additional free epattern on her blog. On top of that, Sue from Palette Primitives notified me that I was the winner of her mini prim bears. This was my first time ever winning a blog giveaway. I will dedicate a post when I receive them in the mail. Thanks Sue!

Yesterday I finished my very first teddy bear. I have always loved Boyd's Bears and I have collected many teddy bears throughout the years. So I decided to try my hand at making my very own. I think he came out cute, what do you think?

There are a few things I would change if I decided to make more. I would buy the joints so he could be posable. I would make his nose look better. And lastly I would weight him down with poly pellets. I really wanted to prim him up but I am afraid I would damage him. I would love some advice if you have any. Should I coffee stain and bake him or maybe spray him with some walnut stain?

Next is a picture I took of him yesterday before I put him together.

I received three custom pillow orders on Etsy in two days. So each night I have been stitching for 2-3 hours. I stated on my listing that it will take me up to two weeks to complete (thank goodness I wrote that or I would be in trouble, hehe). So here is where I am as of this morning. They should all be finished and shipped out by Wednesday (less than two weeks for all 3).

We have had some beautiful weather here in Michigan. The kids have been playing outside each day and yesterday I began reading my new Beverly Lewis book (in the shade) that I bought at a garage sale last week. It is "The Redemption of Sarah Cain". I have been trying to look online for more of her hardcover books to add to my library. So far I have found some great prices at alibris.com amazon.com and half.com. Now I just need the money to pay for them, lol.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday.

I won a Kim Klassen epattern!

2009-04-20T16:01:00.002-04:00

I just sat down at my computer when an email came through from Kim Klassen (I am signed up for her updates). She is offering a free epattern for the first 5 people who follow her on Twitter today. I jumped at the chance because I LOVE her painting patterns. I was so happy to receive an email back from her so quickly. I chose the Four Season Sheep Sampler (so cute!).

I urge any fellow tweeters new and old to follow Kim on Twitter. Her user name kimklassen. Here is her blog link too http://kimklassen.blogspot.com/

Good luck.

City Wide Garage Sale

2009-04-19T14:07:00.005-04:00

We spent Saturday morning driving around the City Wide Garage Sale two towns over. It was great because we hit about 20 sales in the short 3 hours that we had - Hubby had to work the afternoon shift :(

It started at 8am and we didn't get started until 9:30. We were spent from the day before and I was extremely sunburned. I really wanted to find some treasures to paint on or just revamp to sell online. I didn't find anything like that but I did find a few nice bargains.

~~The books were 3 for $1 (yes even the brand new Beverly Lewis hardcover). Even the two recipe collections were 33 cents each.
~~The photo collage frame was $1
~~The mini muffin tray was 25 cents

Here is a close up of the recipe collections. They were compiled by members of the town's Baptist Church. There are some great recipes in there.

These half gallon mason jars caught my eye. They were only 50 cents each and I couldn't resist. I am pretty sure they are not antique, even though they smell like they've been in a cellar for many years. I will use them for something. Maybe I will start canning, who knows.

I couldn't walk away from these. My daughter loves embroidered jeans and they are expensive brand new. When I saw that they were her size and they were only $2 each I scarfed them up.

That's about it, besides a stuffed TY puppy that my son bought for $1 and an unused Hello Kitty stencil kit that my daughter bought for 25 cents. I wish I could have found more but this will do for now. I will have to make sure I keep some cash in my wallet this summer because I will be stopping by yard sales whenever I spot them.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

This and That

2009-04-16T09:01:00.005-04:00

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. I have enjoyed reading all of your posts. We had a wonderful Easter (besides my son waking up with a fever). The Easter Bunny brought nice surprises and we had a wonderful ham dinner. Here is a photo that I took of the kids while they colored their eggs.

Well I am no longer discouraged. I have now had two sales on Etsy and I am feeling really good. Thanks to all of you who have sent wishes for future sales (it worked!). So now I have to get to work on the newest custom order, after I receive all the information that is.

Today I want to get the kids outside - it is spring break after all ;) This is the first day without rain so I would like to let them play in the backyard and maybe take a stroll through the neighborhood. We all need some fresh air.

If I get some free time I would like to prim up my small bowls that I bought weeks ago from the local TS. I need to stain my "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread" wood sign. And I want to work on some new "prim sayings" stitcheries. Let's see if I can at least work on one of these ;)

This Saturday we are going to a City Wide Garage Sale two towns over. I am sooo hoping to find some treasures, lol. Wish me luck and I will post on Sat. afternoon if I find anything. Have a wonderful day everyone.

Heartfelt Thanks & Stacking Box Redo

2009-04-09T15:08:00.012-04:00

I just wanted to take some time out to thank everyone who has posted such nice comments on my blog. It is amazes me how many wonderful people are out there that care enough to give praise, support and advice. So thank you from the bottom of my heart :)

I was sad that I missed out on Whatcha Working On Wednesday yesterday. It was a crazy day with no time for crafting. Not only was it a 1/2 day of school for my daughter, but I had to squeeze in grocery shopping and a parent/teacher conference on top of that. But I did get a chance to take a picture of my fabric covered stacking boxes that I recently finished. I painted the inside's and the bottom's black.

Do you remember what they looked like before?

I bought this 3 piece set for $1.50 from the Dollar Castle. They are not made of paper mache, actually cheap cardboard covered with paper. But you would never know that now that they are covered with fabric ;)

My First Etsy Sale - woo hoo!

2009-04-08T12:49:00.004-04:00

It's funny. I was sitting at the computer last night with my hubby and I received an email from Paypal. The first thing that came to my mind was "Did I purchase something and not remember?" When I looked closer I realized it was a payment for a pillow I had for sale on Etsy. I was shocked. My items have been sitting there for over 2 months and honestly I kind of forgot. So once I realized that I had made a sale, I got the pillow packaged up and requested the free USPS carrier pick up for today. That totally made my night ;)

Daughter's Room Makeover (far from prim)

2009-04-07T11:41:00.006-04:00

I have been wanting to change my 9 year old daughter's bedroom curtains since we moved in (2006). She has had the same white lace curtains since she was 3. I took her out to Joann's last Friday so she could personally pick out the fabric. She said it had to be pink, green and have cute cats all over. Well here is what she found:

Absolutely perfect!! I also had her pick out a coordinating upholstery fabric so I could recover her desk chair seat. She chose a perfect pink, white and green stripe.

I was hard at work Saturday and Sunday making these curtains (I even lined them with white fabric, lol). Let me just put it out there that I do not have a lot of experience ;) but I think they came out really good and Nicole loves them so.... Here is the final result. I decided to make panels for the window and a valance for the exterior door that leads to the balcony.

I'm a little upset at my camera because the walls look lime green, which they are NOT. They are pretty sage. Also you can't really see the chair that is in front of the door :(

I wanted to add a photo of Nicole's Littlest Pet Shop collection. I think in all she has 115! My husband and I made her a custom display to house all her pets.

So that is one room down. Now on to my 4 year old son's room. My husband and I want to install a shelfing/track system around the perimeter of his room for an electric H.O. Scale train set.

I hope everyone is having a great day.

Whatcha Working On Wednesday

2009-04-01T10:15:00.000-04:00

I have been going crazy "Multi-tasking" my heart out this week. Between my normal housework, "Mom Duties" and crafting, I have been running around here going between about a dozen projects.

I am in the process of finishing my 2 distressed bookcases (one is completely finished and is finally the home to the kids shared books, the other just needs the final coat of varnish - woohoo!). They came out awesome! Now I want to buy those corrugated magazine files to hold our MANY subscriptions. I will cover them with vintage style scrapbook paper, which I think will look amazing against the black bookcases. I will get a photo on here once everything is finished.

I decided to make myself a prim "Dried Herbs" jar to put on a shelf to the right of my kitchen sink. I bought some sweet annie from Twigs & Sprigs last week and couldn't wait to use it in something. Well this grubbied jar was perfect. I designed the label using a beautiful vintage flourish image. I think it came out really nice. The only thing that it is missing is some grungy cheesecloth around the neck. I am so mad at myself for misplacing it :( So once I find the cheesecloth this project will be completed.

I am still working on my snowmen ornies. They came out sooooo cute but now I am upset because I need to buy different infant socks for the hats. I decided to buy a pack from The Dollar Castle and they are obviously cheap & thin and just don't look right. So I will pick up another pack from somewhere else and finish these little guys up.

I painted this 24" wood sign this week. It will look beautiful hanging above the archway connecting my dining room and living room. It's not done yet though, I will be staining it today to prim it up. My next one is "Grand Central Station" for my son's train themed bedroom.

Well this is all that I will be working on today. If you would like to see what other creative bloggers are working on today check out Leslie's blog My Country Home.

Prim Bunny On Ebay

2009-03-31T19:50:00.004-04:00

I just listed her yesterday.

If you would like to take a peek - click on the MY EBAY button on the right.

Starting bid $19.95 or BUY IT NOW for $24.95

Vintage Seed Packets

2009-03-29T20:15:00.004-04:00

Here are the beautiful vintage flower seed packet images that I recently used on my Prim Garden Annie. I thought that maybe some of you creative ladies would like to use them also. Just right click the image and save it to your computer.

Thrift store & dollar store finds

2009-03-26T10:09:00.010-04:00

The other day I stopped by our local Dollar Castle to pick up some Easter basket fillers. I was amazed at all the nice things they had there. I bought 6 small wine glasses that I will use as juice glasses. They were 3/$1. Sorry I don't have a picture but they look very elegant.

Then I found some 3 pc. nesting paper mache boxes. They are covered in decorative paper & ribbon but I thought maybe I can try to remove the paper, paint and distress them. Here is the pic, does anyone know if it is possible to carefully remove the paper without damaging the box? Should I lightly wet it? I only paid $1.50 for the set so it's not a big waste.

UPDATE: Ok, I started to take off the paper and since it is just plain old cardboard underneath I decided to cover them in fabric instead. It's still a great price so I am happy.

Then yesterday I stopped by the TS like I planned. The books were 50% off so the kids picked out 46 books at 12 cents each. It came to $5.50. I was kind of bummed because I didn't find any cookbooks or hardcover books for myself :(

But I did find 3 little bowls that I will prim up. They are very cute and they were only .25 cents each.

That's all for now. I am going to give Patti at Wild Berry Primitives a call today and see what she's got going on. BTW- she's my Mom ;)

Whatcha Working On Wednesday

2009-03-25T08:06:00.008-04:00

I missed Whatcha Working On Wednesday last week because I have been extremely busy and haven't had much time for crafting. So this week I decided to put off some chores so I can get some projects finished ;)

I wanted to post an update on my distressed bookcases. They were a %@&*! to paint! LOL. I think they came out really nice, even though the picture doesn't do it justice. One mistake I made was that I used glossy polyurethane on the left one Oops :( I didn't realize that it would be THAT shiny. So I stopped by Lowes yesterday and picked up some satin poly. I will probably wait until the weather warms up before I apply it. I would like my windows open for ventilation. I still need to paint the shelves. I think they will look really nice when completed. I want to place a large silk plant on top and add a couple prim goodies mixed in with the books.

I am taking the kids to the thrift store today after Nicole gets out of school. The store is having a 1/2 off book sale! YIPPY! Last time we went during that sale we ended up buying 110 books for a little over $10. Most of them were 12 cents a book. A lot of them were brand new in shrink wrap. You can't beat that. So we will head over there and pick up some books for our expanding library.

Today I will be working on Christmas Ornies. I am a member of the "TRIM A LIMB" Ornie Club and I am behind on my submissions. It is the end of March and I have only finished January's ornies *blush*. I need to get my butt in gear. So here is what I have chosen to create:

Aren't they adorable??? I have been wanting to make these for months. I found this free pattern on Alysroom. She has amazing painting patterns on her site, you should really check it out. Unfortunately this free pattern is no longer available on her site. But I hope to make a bunch and I will add them to my selling blog (which I am in the process of starting).

Lastly, I am working on an Americana table mat. This is my first quilting project so don't laugh ;) If I like how it turns out I want to make a table runner for my dining room.

Oh, a little off subject - I stopped by my local Walmart that is changing over to a supercenter. Their fabric is completely gone! I am so upset by this. I know everyone has been talking about it on my prim forum, but I asked a manager a few months ago and she assured me that it would stay. Well obviously NOT! I am steamin' MAD! What a stupid move on Walmart's end. Very stupid!

If you would like to see what other creative bloggers are working on today head on over to Leslie's blog - My Country Home. Have a great Wednesday.

Another Great Giveaway

2009-03-21T11:31:00.005-04:00

One Prim Girl is having her first giveaway on her blog. You really need to check it out. You can either "follow" her, leave a comment, mention her giveaway on your blog (or do all three for more chances to win). The giveaway will end on April 15th and she will pick the winner on April 16th.

A Wonderful Giveaway

2009-03-20T17:11:00.005-04:00

Wouldn't you love to be the winner of this fantastic giveaway? I know I would, that's why I jumped at the chance to enter :) Head on over to Primarily Primitives by abigailes mommy. You have until March 31st to enter and the winner will be announced on April 1st. Good luck!

I Hate Particle Board!!!

2009-03-18T09:50:00.002-04:00

Well we are still working on setting up our sitting room AKA "library" at the top of the stairs. We finally found two large bookcases this weekend for $29.99 each. Dave put them together on Monday and I started painting them yesterday.

First off let me just say that I should have primed them first. But unfortunately I am a very impatient person (my biggest weakness). You should have seen me while I was painting the first coat. I was holding the paint brush with my right hand and my hair dryer with my left hand. That was the only way to get the paint to adhere to the particle board since I stupidly didn't prime them first. I will never make that mistake again.

But luckily the hair dryer trick worked. I just finished the final coat of the first bookcase. Now I just need to finish the second one, sand the edges and varnish. I can't wait to post the final pictures on here so check back in a few days.

Our Son's First Movie - Marley & Me

2009-03-16T10:18:00.003-04:00

We decided to treat Nicole and Andrew to a movie Sunday afternoon. My husband's co-worker mentioned that there is an older movie cinema the next town over that sells their tickets for $1. We thought that would be the best place to bring Andrew for his first movie theater experience. We have been leary about taking him since he is a very figety 4 year old. So since he is a dog lover and mentions constantly that he wants a yellow puppy like the one on the Cottonelle packaging :) we decided that Marley & Me would be the best choice.

First let me say that we all LOVED the movie and can not wait for it to come out on DVD. I won't go any further than that.

Well it turned out to be a great experience. Andrew only had to use the restroom once and he ended up sitting on my lap during the second half of the movie (which was nice). We might even make this a Sunday tradition. You can't beat $1 per ticket.

Finished With 1st Custom Order - Canvas Painting

2009-03-12T13:45:00.002-04:00

When I first posted my handpainted custom canvas a month ago I received a couple orders. Here is my first one, just completed. I have covered up the family's last name for their privacy.

I painted this free hand with no pattern. I think it came out better than my original, lol. Now I will be starting my next order.

Oohh Lookie...My New Settee

2009-03-11T22:12:00.005-04:00

I am in love with this settee! It is a mini couch, only 54" long. Perfect for our little sitting area. We didn't want anything too clunky and overpowering up there. This piece is perfect. Ok enough ooohing and aahhing, lol. Here is the photo I promised. This is what it actually looks like, hunter green with light green rose detail throughout:

It doesn't look much like the online photo I posted earlier does it? I had to take this picture without my flash. Look at the next photo to see why...it looks like the website photo! Ugghh. Emerald green! It doesn't look anything like this:

We have had a lot of luck buying furniture from Home Decorators Outlet. Their clearance prices are wonderful. If you are ever looking for beautiful furniture at great prices check them out.

Whatcha Working On Wednesday

2009-03-11T14:45:00.001-04:00

I am participating in Leslie's "Whatcha Working On Wednesday". If you would like to participate head on over to her wonderful blog, My Country Home and add yourself to her post.

My husband has been working midnights this week so I was able to go out (kid-free) on Monday. I was able to stop at the Dollar Tree, Michaels and The Salvation Army before picking my daughter up from school. Here is what I found at the TS.

The magazine rack w/ towel rod was $3.99. I will paint it to match my upstairs bathroom. I was so happy to find the wall sconces. Everytime I go to the TS I search for matching sconces. A lot of the time they are just ugly or there is only 1. These were $2.99 each and made in the USA. They reminded me of a garden gate which would tie right into my garden theme dining room.

I hung the sconces on either side of my garden cross stitch (which BTW the pattern was also from the same library book I used for my 3pc. Amish cross stitch - you can't beat free patterns).

When I put the white (BLAH) tapers in, I just knew I had to grubby them up. I dipped the tapers in Grandma's Pumpkin Log scented wax, rolled in cinnamon and dipped again. I love how they turned out. Now I am thinking about distressing the frame to make it look more antique. I will keep you updated on that.

Since I already had my wax and cinnamon out I decided to grubby up my pillar candle that I have displayed on my dining room table. I was originally going to have 3 pillars on display, a large one in the middle with 2 on either side. But I liked how one looked by itself.

While I was writting this post there was a loud noise outside. I looked out the window and saw the FED EX truck backing up into my drive way. Guess what it was!!! My settee! Yay! One day early too. My husband put the legs on and it is now up in the sitting area. It is absolutely perfect. The photo online doesn't do it justice. Online it looks like a shiny emerald green fabric, in person it is dark green with light green rose details and not shiny at all. Now we just need to find the perfect area rug that won't clash with it. I will take a photo of my beautiful $100 settee soon.

Procrastination Pays Off

2009-03-07T10:38:00.005-05:00

In an earlier post I mentioned that we were working on furnishing our sitting area at the top of the stairs. It isn't an actual room, just an open area that we want to turn into a "library" type setting. We wanted either a settee or two arm chairs for a comfy place to sit and read and a large bookcase to hold all of our books.

Well we have scoured thrifts stores with no luck. I have searched Craiglist with no luck. And I have searched just about every website out there. A few weeks ago I was looking at Home Decorators Outlet. I came across a settee that had an antique/victorian look and I really liked it. The only thing I didn't like was the price. Even though it was on sale it was $199 plus shipping. After a lot of research I realize that anything under $300 is considered cheap for a settee but we are on a budget so I needed it to be less than that.

Yesterday I searched on there again and saw that the price of the settee was now $99! I was so excited. When I mentioned it to my husband he told me to go ahead and order it. And of course he had to mention, "See, procrastination pays off". I admit this time it did, but normally whenever we procrastinate I always miss out because what I want is gone.

So with shipping this settee only cost us $132. (The original price was $269 + $40 shipping).

First Attempt At Distressing Furniture

2009-03-06T06:33:00.001-05:00

First let me tell you the story behind this antique cupboard.

It was September 29th 2007. I know this for a fact because it was my birthday ;) I heard some commotion across the street and took a peek out the window to see what was going on. I noticed that the woman who lived there had all of her possessions strewn around her front yard. It didn't look like a yard sale to me. My attention was immediately drawn to a big piece of furniture - a yellow/gold antique cupboard. I loved the look of it and I knew I wanted that cupboard. So I peeked out the window all day while waiting for Dave to get home from work. There were people there now with pickup trucks hauling things away. I kept saying to myself, "No not the cupboard!" So when Dave was driving home I called him and told him about the cupboard. I told him how much I loved it and that it probably isn't for sale but if he could check for me ;)

He came home a few minutes later and told me that it was the 60 year old neighbor's grandmother's cupboard but she would sell it to us for $25. WooHoo!!!! Happy Birthday to me, lol. The sad thing about it though was that she had lived there all her life and now had to move because she couldn't afford it anymore. When he was there he also saw a little three legged hunter green accent table. She said it was in the trash pile. So he brought that home too. Sorry I don't have a picture of than :(

Here is the before photo. (I can't seem to find the photo of it by itself).

I wanted it to match my dining room so it needed to be sage green. I painted the base coat dark brown, rubbed it all over with a white candle, painted the top coat sage green, sanded it all over and then applied walnut gel stain.

Here is how it turned out. The door on the left looks lighter so I am thinking about staining it a little more. It is by far my most favorite piece of furniture that I own.

Whatcha Working On Wednesday

2009-03-04T16:18:00.010-05:00

I didn't have much time to craft today but I did get the chance to paint my thrift store napkin holder. Even though the birdhouse design matched my Pfaltzgraff Naturewood theme dining room, it just wasn't the look I was going for.

This is what I wanted it to look like:

So while out running errands this morning, I stopped at Lowe's and picked up a gallon of black flat paint for $7.97. Came home and went to work on it. Here is the finished product.

Not bad considering the black one above is sold online for $12.99 not including shipping (some sites even higher). I paid a total of $1.50 and I can't even count the black paint because I didn't even put a dent in the can. I am thinking about sanding the edges a little bit more. I still need to apply gel stain and varnish, but I wanted to get the photo on here first.

Now onto my next project, painting and distressing my son's bookcase and wall shelves. I can't wait to start that.

Feel Like Sharing More Vintage Images

2009-03-02T13:22:00.007-05:00

I have been very busy today. Between housework, preschool lesson plans, preparing my Ebay sales for the Post Office and finishing a custom painting, I don't have anything to talk about. So I decided to share some free vintage images that I recently came across. I hope they can be of some use to you and your spring projects. Aren't they cute? Just right click on the image and save to your hard drive.

New Dolls On Ebay Today

2009-03-01T11:14:00.008-05:00

I just finished these two Raggedies to list on Ebay.

The first one is a gardening Annie. I absolutely love how she turned out. She was made from a sage cotton calico with swirls throughout. I attached a garden themed border to the bottom of her skirt using zig zag stitches. I contempated for a long time about what her have her hold onto. I was originally going to have her hold a spade ornie, but then I came across some really cute vintage seed packet graphics. So I printed them onto walnut stained cardstock and cut them out using a seed packet template. I made Annie a little burlap bag to hold her seeds in.
The second Annie is actually a renovated dolly. I orginally made her with blond hair but I wasn't happy with how she turned out. So I replaced the blond with dark burgundy hair. I think she looks a lot better now. I wanted to make a cat for her to hold. I made "Whisker's" from white fleece that I coffee stained and rubbed with cinnamon. Mmmm she smells so good.

Feel free to check out the actual listings for detailed descriptions.

Just Back From Thrift Store...Kind Of Bummed

2009-02-28T14:49:00.007-05:00

I called our local thrift store a few weeks ago to see when their 50% off furniture sale was going to be. I have been wanting two comfy sitting chairs and a large bookcase for our sitting area at the top of the stairs.

So today was the day and I made sure we took our pick up truck (just in case). Well I was disappointed :( No bookcases. They did have a really nice looking wood desk for $25 which would have been $12.50 but the drawer supports were falling apart (too much work to fix). Darn! They also had a couple arm chairs for $20 each that I would have loved to reupholster but hubby said no. Dang it! He wants to hold out until we find some with a cushioned back. I understood.

Well I didn't go away empty handed. I have been wanting a punch bowl set for well...forever. So this is what I found for $5.00:

Dave said he would have bought me a new one, but I don't mind - I will just give it a bleach bath first ;)

I also found this napkin holder for $1.50. It's cute but I want to prim it up.

I have finished two Raggedies that I hope to list on Ebay tomorrow. I will share them with you soon. I also have two more in the works. Busy, busy, busy - that's me, lol.

What a deal!

2009-02-26T12:45:00.006-05:00

While grocery shopping at Meijer with my 4 year old this morning I remembered last minute to run over to electronics to pick up some computer paper. I mosied past housewares and spotted a clearance endcap. I couldn't resist. On the bottom shelf I saw a couple wood plates but the rims weren't the style I have been searching for. Underneath I noticed some wider plates...actually chargers. I was so excited because I have been looking everywhere for charger plates to paint on. You should have seen me when I noticed the $1.99 price stickers on them (which by the way rang up $1.59 at the check out, lol). I only bought three and I want SO BAD to go back and buy some more. But that is me, thrifty to the core. They are huge at 14" wide.

Then on another endcap I came across this wide wood serving tray / dough bowl. I wanted that one too but it didn't have a price tag or UPC. So I brought it to the woman that worked in housewares and she priced it $4 for me. Not bad. I will prim it up, add some scented rosehips and pillar candles. I think it will look great on my dining room table.I will keep you updated on my progress.

Rabbit doll with vintage dress

2009-02-22T13:10:00.005-05:00

Here is a doll that I designed and created yesterday. I am in love with her *sigh*. I am in the process of listing her on ebay right now.

I came across a vintage Easter fabric that I have been hoarding since my days working in the Walmart fabric department. I thought it would look fabulous on a primitive "grungy" rabbit. She looks like I just pulled her out of Grammy's attic.

She has the sweetest face, don't you think?

I am thinking of turning her into a pattern. What do you think? Should I do it?

Finally finished my wooly sheep sitter

2009-02-20T16:49:00.005-05:00

I started working on two sheep shelf sitters a few months ago. But with the holidays and focusing on my prim Annies, I put them aside. I pulled this guy out yesterday and set my mind to finishing him up to list on ebay. I love how he came out and I hope he finds a nice home.

He measures 9" wide by 7" tall. He was designed and handmade by myself out of 100% cotton muslin. I painted his head black, needlefelted white Merino wool over his body and also needlefelted on his little black felt ears. He is standing on twig legs (from my own backyard). I blanket stitched his "reets relish" green wool felt to him and attached a 2.5" rusty star with black crotchet thread. He is just too adorable, I almost don't want to part with him. But the best thing about designing him myself is that I can make another one just for me, lol.

What is your most favorite handmade creation?

2009-02-19T22:25:00.004-05:00

My most favorite crafting accompishment by far is my 3 piece Amish cross stitch.

When my daughter was an infant I wanted to work on some cross stitch projects while she took naps and at night before bed. So I decided to head to my local library, which for me was at the end of my street. I checked out a pattern book and found loads and loads of free patterns. The one I focused on was a quilt themed pattern that I knew I had to make for my Mom.

My husband just happened to look through the book and this Amish theme caught his eye. He told me that I just had to make this one. I looked at it and laughed. There was absolutely NO way I could ever finish that. It was just too difficult and time consuming. But I scanned and printed out the pages and put it away.

A year or so later I was "itchin to do some stitchin". I pawed through my pattern folder and found this monstrosity of a pattern. I really did love the Amish theme so I decided to begin.

Well, 5 years later. I finally finished it. I brought it to my local Michael's to have it framed. After spending $250 (ouch), it is now proudly displayed on the main wall in my living room.

Every time I look at it I think, "Wow I did that". I give special thanks to my husband for encouraging me to try something challenging. And just think I would have returned the book believing that I couldn't do it.

My Etsy Storefront - Now Open

2009-02-16T23:37:00.007-05:00

Well I just added my first items to my Etsy storefront tonight. I only have two on there so far but hope to get more listed soon. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck.

Free Vintage Easter Images

2009-02-16T16:31:00.006-05:00

I have been searching for cute "free" vintage Easter graphics lately and I thought these were just too adorable. I can't wait to use them for my dollies hang tags or just anything else I might think of. I hope they can be useful for you too. Enjoy!

Estate Sale = Chaos!!!

2009-02-14T14:02:00.011-05:00

Dave, the kids and I attended our first estate sale this morning. Oh Heck is all I can say. People get very crazy when it comes to getting something cheap.

Well, I came across the estate sale notice online the other day and I was able to look through all the pictures of what they had to offer. I was so excited because they had antique roll top desks, antique school desks, blanket chest, Lane hope chest, antique railroad lanterns, primitive shelves and cupboards, a hoosier cabinet and a pie safe. I told Dave that we just had to go and he gladly agreed.

It was in a lovely 3 story Victorian home with basement and it was packed to the brim. There was a line out the door and once we were inside everyone was squished together with no room to move. Once we were able to push our way through we quickly found out that all the "Good stuff" was gone, bummer. We were only 5 minutes late (thanks to Dave's migraine, lol). But luckily I did find some great stuff.

I was able to get this little table for $12 that I will prim up and put in my sitting area upstairs. Now I just need to look for two sitting chairs and a nice reading lamp.One thing I REALLY wanted to get was an antique railroad lantern to display on my son's built-in shelf above his bed. I found this one in the basement and it didn't have a price tag, but I took it anyways. Dave asked me how much I was willing to spend on it. I told him $10 even though I knew darn well it wouldn't be that cheap. Well when I went to check out I came across another lantern that was priced $40. I was like, "Oh no, that is probably what mine will cost". So when I went to check out I told the man that there wasn't a price. He thought for a moment and said, "$20 but I will give it to you for $10". I was ecstatic!!!!
I also found 4 wooden trays for $2 that I will paint. And also a cute checkerboard wall plaque for $2.50.

My daughter even had good luck. She received some money for getting straight A's on her report card along with some Valentine's money from both sets of grandparents. She is a Hello Kitty collector and was in heaven in the little girls bedroom. Here is what she came away with, only spending a whopping total of $18:

It was kind of funny watching people's reactions. This one elderly woman started telling a man that he was cutting her in line and he screamed at the top of his lungs that he was heading outside. She shut up quickly after that. My husband and daughter went upstairs to look around while I got stuck behind with my son. So I asked politely to be let through. One woman said, "Oh, where are you going?" I said we were trying to get upstairs. She sarcastically said, "Oh, there's nothing left up there." (By the way, there was tons). But I replied, "My husband and daughter are up there, so yes there is." hehehe.

I am so glad to be home.

Custom Canvas Painting

2009-02-12T16:56:00.004-05:00

I have received a couple inquiries about my customized handpainted canvas'. Thank you for your wonderful comments. Yes, I would love to take custom orders so please feel free to contact me by clicking the "EMAIL ME FORM" located on the right hand side. Do you have a favorite quote or saying that you would like instead? No problem, just let me know.

The pricing is as follows:

8x10 = $15.00 plus shipping

11x14 = $20.00 plus shipping

Free Vintage Valentine's Graphic

2009-02-06T10:19:00.004-05:00

Here is another free Valentine's Day graphic for your crafting needs. Enjoy!

Check back often as I have more on the way. Easter, Mother's Day and vintage seed packets to name a few.

Personalized Primitive Canvas

2009-01-25T13:01:00.005-05:00

I wanted to make something personalized for my front foyer. This is what I came up with. It was hand painted on an 11 x 14 stretched canvas (all freehand).

If interested, I would love to take custom orders. Want a different color saltbox house? Would you like to add your families "established date"? Just email me and I can work with you. Price is $29.95 plus shipping.

Custom Canvas Painting

2009-01-21T18:52:00.004-05:00

This hand painted 11"x14" canvas was a custom order for my sister Jenn down in Florida. She wanted to give her son's preschool teacher something special for being such a great teacher. I can't wait to hear how Ms. Pam likes it.

Sewing Basket...Almost finished

2009-01-21T10:04:00.004-05:00

Here is an update on my sewing basket. All I have to do now is attach the lid and make a liner.

It says... "sewing mends the soul".

I think it came out pretty good seeing that I am a total beginner. You can really tell when you get up close, lol. It's not as tight as I wanted it. Anyways it is for me so... no worries. At least I now have a place to store all my supplies.

January Submissions for Ornie Club

2009-01-20T16:32:00.005-05:00

Here are my January submissions for the "Trim A Limb Ornament Club" that I am a member of. I decided to do something different, something challenging. I decided to hand paint on muslin without a pattern. Both of these ornaments were painted freehand off the top of my head. I had a lot of fun making them so I am considering making more for my personal Christmas tree.

Free Vintage Valentine Card

2009-01-19T16:46:00.006-05:00

I wanted to share this beautiful vintage image that I found on hubpages. Feel free to right click on the image and save it to your computer. This image could come in handy for numerous crafts (scrapbooking, hang tags, iron on transfers, handmade cards, decoupage, etc.)

"Always Kiss Me Goodnight" Pillow

2009-01-19T16:25:00.002-05:00

I listed this hand stitched pillow on ebay last week for $14.95. It ended selling for $26.00! I was shocked but happy to see that people liked it and even better...wanted it. Since a couple bidders missed out on it I decided to make a second one. Thankfully I still have the same fabric in my ever-growing stash.

6 new dolls for January

2009-01-08T12:16:00.003-05:00

I have been hard at work getting these girls ready for new homes. I will be listing them on Ebay this weekend. Hopefully they will attract some bidders.

Handpainted "Quote" Canvas

2009-01-03T13:18:00.002-05:00

I decided to make this last night. I really love this quote, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain". I figured it would look nice painted with an overlay design. I painted it on an 11x14 canvas board that can easily be mounted to a frame. I will be listing this one on Ebay this month. I have a lot more quotes that I would like to work on next, but I am thinking of painting them on regular box canvas instead of canvas board.

Handmade sewing basket

2009-01-02T12:10:00.006-05:00

I went to Joann's yesterday and picked out supplies to make my much needed sewing basket. I found a cute chip wood basket on sale. Then I found this gorgeous sage green paisley fabric along with some coordinating prints to help make the lid and the lining. I think it will come out nice, but we will see...

First attempt at tole painting

2009-01-02T11:19:00.010-05:00

Ok, I just attempted something new - tole painting! And of course I couldn't start on something easy like canvas or wood, I had to paint on a pillar candle! I think I did alright for my first time but let me tell you, it was hard! I had my two kids running around me and I have very shaky hands anyways. Not a good combination for painting straight lines, but.... you decide. What do you think? Advice is very much appreciated, lol.

I feel like it still needs something. I was thinking of adding a pip berry garland around the top and also a few sheep. I will update when I am 100% finished.

First Doll of 2009 Raggedy Line - Jennilee

2008-12-13T11:09:00.006-05:00

I decided to give you a sneak peek at the first doll of my 2009 doll line. Meet Jennilee (named after my sister Jennifer Lee). I love how she turned out. Her hair is needle felted to her head and put into pig tails. She has the cutest bloomers on and fancy Mary Janes shoes. She isn't completed yet though, I still need to design an add on, either a handstitched sentiment pillow or apron. I am thinking a pillow because I don't want to hide her dress.

New Dolls In The Making

2008-12-10T15:06:00.002-05:00

I am very excited to start working on my Raggedies for 2009. I loaded up on beautiful fabrics from my local fabric shoppe, Joann's and online. At this moment I am putting the finishing touches on my Valentine's dolls and they are so cute & girlie, some not very primitive - more shabby chic. I hope to have them posted on here soon. Then they will be listed on Ebay where hopefully they will be adopted by loving doll collectors.

Our Christmas Card Photo

2008-12-09T12:36:00.005-05:00

This is the photo that we decided to add to our Christmas cards this year. I think it came out pretty good even though the tree looks really dark. But the kids look cute so it's ok - right? Of course!

Trim A Limb Ornament Club

2008-12-09T08:37:00.007-05:00

I am one of the members of the newly created Trim A Limb Ornament Club. We are a growing group of crafters brought together by my Aunt Debbie. Many of us gather once a month to submit a minimum of 2 ornies per month and share different crafting techniques while enjoying yummy food and good conversation. Unfortunately I am unable to attend since I live in another state, but I sent my ornies along right before they were displayed at a few Christmas Open Houses. I produced the custom keepsake tags thanks to the beautiful graphic by Trina Clark and my talented Aunt handpainted the custom sign.

The wonderful part of being involved in this group is that a % of sales from these ornies goes to local children's charities in New Hampshire.

Below are pics of the ornies on display at my Aunt's "A Homespun Christmas". In all 200 ornies were submitted. Way to go group!

**** A special thanks to Gollywobbles for the photos ****

Starting Fresh

2008-12-09T08:35:00.000-05:00

Ok, I have to admit I am horrible at blogging. I started my first blog last year and only posted 15 times. This time I promise to put more time into it. A lot has happened in the last few months so crafting has been put on the back burner. But now that all my Christmas presents are finished and ready to be sent out I feel like I am finally ready to create again. I have so many ideas running through my head and I can't wait to get started. So check back often because I promise to have new things for you to see.