Merry Christmas to All.....

and to all a good night!!



Wishing each and everyone of you the peace and love of this Blessed season!

Coming Up for Air!

I've been really busy with my new endeavor with Stampin'Up! I've been getting ready for a craft fair that I was doing with 3 other crafters/Stampin'up! folks. It was short notice to try and do some things to add to our space. I was going to put some of my baby shoes in and I made 5 pair. But I had a lot more fun doing my Altoids boxes, so I concentrated on making them.
I made the box above for my niece who was gracious enough to host my first workshop a couple of weeks ago. It was my way of saying thanks.It is my version of a box that is on the front of the Stampin'Up! catalog. She admired it and said she'd like to make it. She wants to use it to keep her favorite Bible verses.


This one of my favorite cards that I made...as most of you know I've really been into pink since my go-round with breast cancer, and I gravitate toward shabby chic/vintage things.

I borrowed most of the stamps on this card from one of my Stampin'Up! friends. It is a retired stamp set which makes me very sad as I love it so much that I'd love to have it! Guess I'll just have to borrow it from her when I want to make more from the set. I used it a lot on my boxes.

This box top was made from a Dr. Pepper can and an embossing folder. I flattened out the cut out portion of the can. I painted it with pink and blue acrylic paint and antiqued it down with brown glaze. I also used some shimmer paint to bling it up a little, also. Then embossed it with gold and stamps. I used a Versamark pen to go over the embossed roses and then put on the embossing powder and heated it to set. Then I added some old clock embellishments and an old button.

This box is covered with old music , antiqued down with a brown glaze and gold embossing and some pearls. I used the Versamark pen on this one,also to do just the edges with gold embossing.

This one is made with a tag, chocolate chip ink and antiqued with brown glaze, again.

I'm doing another two small craft fairs on 12/3 and 12/7. So I've been making some additional things for them, plus I've been filling in a lot a work for one of the other nurses who's been having time off to diagnose her current health problems.

Sorry to have been gone so long I'll try to do better.

What I've Been Up To....

Recently I've taken a big step and joined Stampin' Up!, a company with a great reputation and fabulous products. I have done stamping before and really enjoyed it. Since last February I have been a member of a card club that meets once a month. We make 3 projects each time. Usually at least 2 cards and I love it. So this last month I took the plunge and am going to be a demonstrator.
The picture above is a small tin that I covered with scrapbook paper and then embellished with stamps and embossing. I really love getting my hands into all the craft projects. It's a real pleasure and the only limitation is my imagination!! This is the before picture of the box in the next picture. I covered it with paper and antiqued it down with dark brown ink. Added lace and some old buttons

The next few cards are a small sample of the cards that I've been making. The dog card I sent to a friends daughter who incurred an injury that will keep her down for awhile. She's a dog lover, like me, so I thought she'd enjoy the doggies. I have hand painted some of the elements and elevated them to give the card depth.

On this next card I used embossing to give it depth. The gold flowers are embossed with gold embossing powder and elevated, again. An old white button and a touch of ribbon. This is one of my favorites. You can see that I embossed the envelope, too.

Another embossed card is with red and a button and ribbon, again. It doesn't show in the picture but the white background is also embossed with polka dots to simulate snow and corelate with the polka dot paper. The camera put glare on the embossed background of let it snow. It is more solid red than it appears in the picture. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo but you get the general idea!!

This next card was for a co-workers baby's first birthday. All the stamps are water colored by hand and elevated. These stamps are from 3 different sets and two of the sets I've had for over 10 years, they are now retired sets. I'm having so much fun playing with all the different materials. Hope you enjoyed see just a few of the cards I've made.

A Little Road Trip

Here we are with my blogging buddies! L to R: Beth, Me, Jenn and Karla at the Round Top blogger party. Nice to see the real person where it just was a picture before!! And guess what! They are just as nice as they seem on their blogs!! We really enjoyed our brief visit with them both!!

Last week while reading Beth's blog (http://bethleintz.typepad.com/gatheringdust/) )she posted that she and her buddy Karla (http://karla'scottage.typepad.com) were going to Round Top. WOW!! Now I know most of you know what Round Top is but for those who don't, it is just the most fabulous antique and flea market this side of Paris. They weren't going primarily to shop but just to see it, absorb the ambiance and meet up with friends.

Beth and I exchanged e-mails and decided that if Jenn and I wanted to, we could meet up at the blogger party that was being given by one of the exhibitors. She said see how you feel on Sunday and if you're up for it take a road trip.

So Sunday afternoon Jenn and I headed out for Round Top. Trying to be sooo organized I went to the Round Top website and printed out the directions how to get there from San Antonio........but

I didn't realize I laid them down on the table and forgot to take them. What an Airhead!!! Needless to say it involved getting thoroughly lost but finally making it there just before the party. In some ways it was for the best!! When I arrived there I was thunderstruck! Talk about over stimulation! Wow! Just the little that I was able to see made me drool! Since finishing the room I am pretty much broke until I get everything paid off. I had 99% of the money but, as usual, there is always some things that you didn't plan for that arise. I just have to get past this before I can go out and buy something I like without feeling guilty! I've included some pictures that I took. These are not representative of the whole show which if fabulous. Just some of the things between the party and the car. Hopefully you'll enjoy just looking at the next few pictures.....

Aren't these light fixtures really cool!

If you can't find a great antique bed here it just doesn't exist!!

Changing Things Around

There is an old adage that goes..the best laid plans of mice and men often go a rye. That is what I found out when I started to use my new room. It looked fabulous but when I started using it as a craft room it fell a little short. Nothing was readily available and felt somewhat awkward. I've had to "tweek" it a bit. That involved moving a lot of things around. I moved the family area around and consolidated it a little, expanding the craft side more. I spent the majority of yesterday rearranging furniture and seeing what looked best. I'm going to live with this arrangement for a while and see if this works better before I make it permanent. I guess time will tell........ Any thoughts??

The Tour..Part Two

Here is a look at the whole table and the window above it. This is the table that I salvaged from a cold death outside my Mom's house. The chairs are also cast offs from my Mom. Originally there were 4 but these 2 are the only ones that are all in one piece. Above the window is the cornice that I made from insulation foam. The fabric is a Ralph Loren fabric called Water Floral. I love the big pink cabbage roses and the touch of blue in the forget-me-nots. This fabric is a retired pattern and is hard to find. The only place I have been able find it is on E-bay and then you have to fight for it There are lots of others out there who want it too. I've gotten up to the last 5 seconds and had someone win it right out from under me. Grrrrrrr! Anyway that accounts for why I had to come up with a window treatment that requires a minimum of fabric. I did score the chair covers recently, but they are actually pillow shams that I converted.

I had purchased the shutters at a garage sale sometime back and though they don't fit exactly they are close enough for me and give some privacy if needed. Under the table is a decorative suitcase that I bought at Home Goods for $10.00 in the clearance aisle. It had fake travel stickers on it but I covered it with wallpaper and removed the leather handle and replaced it with a cream colored ribbon. I could use it for storage but for now it is just there to look pretty.



Here is the single french door that we added to the room when we found that the existing door and frame were rotted out. You can see a small cornice that I added to the top of the door. I put Velcro on the back and using a type that will adhere to smooth surfaces. The lower curtains are left over from a previous house. The rod is magnetic. I don't know if it is kosher to just drape the fabric over the rod but that way it is not sewn and can be used over and over. If you are interested in how to make these cornices you can go to the DIY.com website and find the instructions. All you need is the insulation, a utility knife, tape measure, hot glue, batting and fabric. I chose to put my fabric on with long pins so that I can change the fabric as needed. I have some beige fabric with the pink roses that I plan to use for the winter season.



Here is the door that originally led from the laundry room (which I made out of part of the original garage) On the backside of the room you can see the door that leads into the dining room. Also the computer armoire that I got at a garage sale, too. I used some of the same wallpaper that I used on the suitcase and in my bedroom. I'm not sure if I like the finish I have on it. I originally made it the plain white and my Mom said she thought it looked like a big white blob so I tried to tame it down some. Do you have any suggestions to improve it??? I would appreciate any feedback that might help me figure out what would look best.

Starting the Tour

As you enter the door you will be greeted by the old fashioned screen door. I have great affection for this door. I personally carried it on the top of my X-Terra all the way from Mobile Alabama a couple of years ago.

When visiting my friend Nancy and her husband Rob in Mobile, they had a couple of them in their house and I just loved them. She had purchased them at Home Depot there in Mobile. Being unsure whether they had the same design at our local store. I purchased three of them to bring back home. When I designed the room I wanted to include the screen door. There were two reasons, one, to keep the dog from bolting out the back door and secondly, to add the vintage flavor that I wanted for the room.

As you can see I put hardware cloth across the lower part of the door instead of returning the screen. This gives the necessary safety factor without closing in the room, the screen is dark and would tend to separate the two areas. At present I just have it attached with wire but I want to staple it on and trim it out to give it a finished look on the back side.

As you open the screen door to your right is an old oak table that I acquired over 30 years ago.

It originally came from the garage of my stepfathers' sisters' house. My Mom had brought it out to her house after his sister passed away. She left it out in the weather when we all lived back in Kansas. When I got it, it had peeling white paint. I spent many hours out in my garage stripping all the old paint off. Who would have thought that years later I would have loved that finish!! I stained in walnut and put it in my kitchen. I have transported that table from Kansas to Arizona and then to Texas. I didn't have any place for it in my last two houses so it had been retired to my Mom's garage where I tried to sell it. Luckily no one bought it and it has returned back to me and got repainted, white.

I love to go to Hobby Lobby to see what is on sale 50% off that week. Back in April I found this little green house there just waiting for me to take home. I have a couple of African Violets in it with some moss and and a little angel to complete the vignette. In front I have an old book with some dried long stem roses. Underneath are some old pages that curled up when I tried to apply them to a slick surface that rejected them. On either side of the table are two small French rush

chairs. The table has drop leaves on both sides so when I want to use this as my work table for sewing or crafts I just need to lift the leaves to expand my working surface.

Here is the slick surface that rejected the book pages. They are inexpensive modular units that I bought at Target about 5 years ago. I primed them and painted them the soft blue of the Forget- me- not in my rose fabric. I then went around my house and pulled things from all over my house to create this display. The good thing about gleaning things from the other parts of the house is that it pared down some areas where I probably had a little too many things, if that is possible! The piece of gingerbead came from a closeout sale at Wimberly, a flea market in the Texas Hill Country.

In these cabinets and drawers I have a lot of my crafting equipment and some of my fabrics. I changed out the hardware as my friend Nancy told me that it wasn't vintage enough. I took Spackle and filled the extra holes where the old hardware had been. I wanted to use these vintage pulls but the price of them was just more than what I wanted to spend. Lowe's had some gold pulls that were marked down to 89 cents. So I bought a can of brushed nickel paint and painted them. An easy solution to my limited budget.

Hope you have enjoyed the first part of the tour.....see ya soon!

Welcome Home!

This a partial view of the entry way to the new room. This area is approximately 4x4 feet. It is on the other side of the screen door that we placed at the entrance to the room. On the right side of this area is the door to the storage area than we incorporated at the very back of the garage area. I love and need a lot of storage!!

I wanted that screen door there to keep the dog from being able to bolt out of the outside door when it is opened. Most of my dogs have been talented escape artists. Molly, thankfully, is not as much prone to this but I still don't want her running out into the alley as most of the cars come down the alley pretty quickly. Also, I think the screen door adds charm and the vintage feel I wanted the room to impart.

I don't like coming home to a totally dark house. I usually have a small night light turned on to correct this problem. In this case, I have a 15 watt bulb in the lamp on the shelf. The shelf, it's self is made from old shutters I bought at a garage sale several years ago. Shutters aren't as popular as
they used to be but I still like them and have them in several places in my house. To me they have more character than blinds. In this case I added two metal brackets to form the shelf and then used the lower edge of the one shutter for hooks to accommodate some old track shoes , a straw hat and a small sign that says "to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow."

Below the shelf I have a wicker shopping basket that I also bought at a garage sale when I still lived in Arizona more than 12 years ago. To me, it forms a great little vignette and gives a welcoming feeling to the entry. Welcome, we glad to see you ! Come in and stay awhile.!

ONE HUNDREDTH POST-PREVIEW NEW ROOM!

I wanted my one hundredth post to be special so it took me some time to get to the point that I had the room completed enough to share. It is still a work in progress but I couldn't contain myself any longer.

We are not completely through with the painting but getting close. Probably in a couple of more days it will finally be done. Bead board is not easy to paint. It requires getting into the grooves and that requires a lot more energy than just rolling it on. Those of you who have painted it know what I mean.

As luck would have it, my next door neighbor was having a moving sale a few weeks ago and had a queen size sleeper sofa that he was not taking with him. I purchased it from him for $50.00 and moved into my room. I ordered a slipcover for it . I have loved the slipcovers from Spring Gard'n for a long time and finally had the perfect sofa for one of her wonderful slipcovers. I added some
pink check and pink rose pillows that I had made to complete the look.

I brought my old coffee table and drop leaf table back from my Mom's garage and proceeded to paint them white. The tool tray on the coffee table is from my favorite craft/antique mall. It doesn't look to bad in the red. What do you think??

In the next few posts I'll share other parts of the room with you. I'm still trying to decide on curtains . I am using some pretty sheers that I had in a previous house. I have more of the Ralph Lauren pink rose fabric that I am thinking of making valances for the windows. Any suggestions???

OH SO COMPLETE!!!!!!!!!!

Oh Happy Day!!! The room is complete! I absolutely love it. It is all I wanted and expected and a lot more......

I still need to finish painting the bead board and the cabinet but all the rest is done. Now we can move in the furniture and start decorating. My very favorite things to do!! Isn't it just fabulous! It is so exciting to see your vision come to life. Like I said it is even more than I could have wished for. Thanks to my great guys for all their hard work. Last night they were down on their knees cleaning and grouting the floor until almost 9 pm. They were dog tired and barely limped out of here! (Literally!)

Here you can see the screen door that will keep the dog from bolting out the door if she gets the chance as well as one of my hidden closets with the door slightly ajar. I love the way that they turned out. I need to mount the brackets and add the shelves and then I can start loading in all my precious items (aka my junk!) With the doors being 8 feet tall I can use the space all the way to the top so that should give me lots of space. The best part of this is that there are 2, count them, 2 of these closets! Lots of storage. In my case there can never be too much storage. (It's a quirk I picked up from my Mom! She says it's hereditary!!!)

This is a picture of the doors closed, with my air conditioner/heater that we installed into the wall. I particularly like it because it is white. Some of them I looked at were gray or black and that didn't fit into my room. It was great when we finally got to the stage that we could start it up and work in the cool room instead of the very warm Texas heat! It certainly made it a lot easier to prime and paint the ceiling and walls.

Here you can see the doors open. I think that when I get all the bead board enameled that they will be even more inconspicuous. You can see the cabinets are just primed also. I've already put my stereo in there and today we put the new TV in.

My next post will be number 100 and I'm hoping to show you the room decorated to celebrate this milestone. It may take me a couple of weeks to get there but I'm hoping that you will feel it was worth the wait. Until then I'll be busier than a cat in a rocking chair factory. See you then.......

Closer, Still

What you see, if you look closely, is the wall with all the bead board. If you look over the equipment you can see the cabinets which will be where the TV will sit. On each side there are closets. What, you say? You see bead board on one side and plain wood on the other. What will be is invisible doors. They will be bead board on the outside and blend into the wall so you won't be able to see that there are closet doors. I'll show you more when they get completed.


This is the North wall and you can see the window and the single French door. Also the pre-primed bead board and unpainted trim. Also the wall color. It's a Martha Stewart Living paint called Buckwheat Flour. On the very left side of the picture is the edge of the French door that leads to the laundry room and beyond that the entry into the original house.



I wanted to include this picture of my hardworking guys. They are mixing the thin set to lay the tile in the room. A king size mixer blade driven by an electric drill. To the left is Greg and on the right is Royce. They've worked really hard and with great accuracy to make my dream a reality! Thanks guys, you're the best!!

We should be done in the next few days so hang tight we'll be back.......soon!!!!!

More Progress

The tile is down in both the room and the laundry room. I've primed all the sheet rock and painted the ceiling. The ceiling was not FUN!! I don't have a good neck and looking up for so long was definitely a struggle, but it is done and boy am I glad. Part of the Sheetrock was the original that was in the garage and it absorbed the primer like a sponge. I went through 5+ gallons of primer and that wasn't even all the surface as the rest will be covered with bead board. It always feels sooooo good to have such a icky task behind you.

I, finally, have picked the wall color. My Mom was a great help. I must have bought 7 samples before we finally settled. The tile is a grayish beige and colors were either to yellow or something else. I do think we did settle on the right one!!!

The interior doors are in. When we got over to the door that was one of the original garage exits we found that the door casing was rotted. So we had to buy a new door there. So since I needed to get a new one I put a French door there, too. It's a single one but it adds even more light and a view of the patio on bedroom side. Now all the doors match.

Today, the guys are setting the front door and starting on the bead board. It's almost there....I'm so excited!!!

ONE STEP CLOSER

All the sheet rock, taping, and texture is done. We are now ready to install the flooring. Tomorrow we will start that . Today we started unloading the pod and putting some of it into the storage. All I can say is.....this is not fun!! It is hot out, we had a storm last night and may have another tonight so, it is humid. Need I say more????? We are not that far from the Texas coast and they are bracing for Alex. Be he hurricane or tropical storm he will surely have some heavy winds and rain
That's the update for now, pardon me but I'm off to take a nap!!!

We're Making Progress....

We have got part of the Sheetrock in and tomorrow they will begin to tape and float all the seams. The three sections you see above are on the wall on the back of the room. This is where the garage doors used to be. The center area is where the cabinets will go with the TV on the top. Each of the sections on either side will be closets where I will keep all my fabric, paint and supplies.

This is the wall from the opposite side of the room. In this picture you can see part of the windows and where the entrance to the room is from the backside. In that opening will be a old fashioned looking screen door. That will help keep the dog from getting out when the back door is opened.

Saturday we went tile shopping again and I found the tile for the floor. I have seen a lot of pretty tile while I was out shopping but they just didn't fit into my budget. The one I found is pretty and affordable, so I am happy. We are getting closer each day . So stay tuned!!

Music, Music, Music.......

I have started to paper the inside of the computer armoire. It is still a work in progress but I thought that I would share some of the parts that are partially completed.

I am using music books that I purchased on e-bay. It does require quite a few books, but it is also a very large area to cover. I am using liquid starch to apply it to the walls of the armoire. You can buy it at most grocery stores if you look for it.

I saw how to do it on Tracey's blog http://acottageindustry.typepad.com/. She did a mini tutorial about it. I used a small plastic bucket into which I put a small amount of starch. Use enough that you can dip the music pages in and wet them completely. I did find, however, that too much starch makes the paper very soggy and it tears even more easily. You need to squeegee out the excessive starch before placing it on the wall. Use your hand to do this.






I found it easier to smooth the paper out with my wallpapering brush . It does wrinkle fairly easily but can be smoothed out GENTLY. Otherwise it tears if you are too rough. I also wore rubber gloves as it is very sticky, more than with wallpaper paste.

I bought some paper napkins at Home Goods and cut out the butterflies from the napkin to add randomly to the area. One thing I like to do is cut off some of the margins of the paper with a paper cutter as I don't like the wide plain white margins. I have decoupaged some other things by tearing the pages and just applying it randomly instead of in sheets. It just depends on what you prefer. You'd be amazed at how stiff and smooth that it dries. I still have about half of the inside left to complete because of all the little shelving areas it has. So I'll share again when I'm done. If you need visuals of it go to Tracey's blog and look for the tutorial, it helped me a lot.

Windows And Doors Day 1

Today they are putting in the French Doors. It is amazing how light it makes the room inside.Of course, as you can see , it is not finished being installed but I am so excited I just had to share the very first look at it! Don't know if they will get to the windows today or will have to wait until Monday.