The Desert Table

Hi All

As you may or may not know I tend to call my home the "hand-me-down" house. I love old furniture. Mostly I love items that have previously been loved. There is a special history to items found in my home. I have a 100 year armoire, a full size quilt box, a fold up table and chairs set that has been past to at least 3 families, and other odds and ends. I wouldn't exactly say any of them are truly valuable or well know antiques, but they all hold a special place in my heart and in my humble home.

Soon after I had my daughter I began to feel we had outgrown our little fold up table and chairs set. One day on our way home from my in-laws (they literally live one street over and two blocks up) I spotted a upside down table in an empty lot. We live in a desert area and empty lots around here tend to have a lot of brush and tumble weeds and yes, sometimes trash. I eyed that table for about a month or more and then I worked up the courage to get my husband to go and take a look at it with me. I remember as we walked over there, me carrying our daughter, my husband came to the conclusion I was going to make him drag it home. Sure enough it was a perfectly good table! I started my speech about how I could restore it, that at least I couldn't damage it, and if I did mess it up we could always just put it back. Little did I know he already knew what he was in store for, hee hee.

I cleaned it, sanded it, painted it and we loved it for quite some time. Now as I said we live in a desert area. The heat, sun, sand and other elements had already done a number on the old wood. After a couple of years the screws had a hard time staying tight and the cracks weren't getting any better. Pretty soon the poor thing had a terrible wobble. A friend of mine who was moving called and said that she wouldn't be able to take her table and chairs with her and asked if I was interested in them. It was obviously time to say goodbye to my project table. But, I couldn't do it! A true crafter never gives up on materials, right? I asked my husband to take it apart and store it until I had some idea on what to do with it. He gave me the "I think you're crazy" face, but he did it for me.

It took almost two years, but it struck me like lighting! I know what to do with it. Most of it anyways. Now I just had to find the perfect quote. So many to go through. Too many if you ask me, but I found the one I wanted. I am so proud of my desert table. I hope you like it too.

So here it is....

 

Love is patient,

Love is kind.

    I Corinthians 13:4

Bring it on Kindergarten

 

Hi To All,

I feel like its been forever since I last posted. I have been preoccupied with my only child going to kindergarten. Who would have known how hard that would be? I'm sure everyone else but me. I am still cringing at the thought of her in the public school system. With the new possibility of tardies, absences, and unexcused absences I feel like the only thing being tested is my parenting skills. Let me tell you I am NOT ready to be graded on this. I was fine with the responsibilities of a blobby baby. Feeding it, changing it, giving it baths, teaching it to crawl and walk and talk. I am not ready to accept the responsibility of getting my child to school on time Every day. What if I hit traffic (all 3 miles), what if I sleep in (2 alarms and the TV), what if she argues with me about how to do her hair and I loose it and then she losses it and then we have to make up (most likely scenario)?

Okay, I have taken a breath and hope you have too. Sorry for my rantings, but I am really in a state over this. I think I may have a different outlook had I not grown up with a mom who was and still is ALWAYS late. I am still thankful we were always within walking distance to my schools and I could leave at will. Well folks, there is nothing left to do but suck it up and move on. I have not faltered on a challenge yet so, Bring It On Kindergarten! At least I will always have my crafts to calm me down.

I hope all of you had a better adjusted back to school.

The week before this I had the privilege of making an order for my new found cousin. Many thanks to her. She was in need of a baby gift and of course being new to all this I completely overwhelmed her in the beginning. She was a trooper and stuck it out with me and we came up with a puppy style and I went from there. Hope you like them.

 The booties set is a newborn size and the "luv puppy" is a 3-9 mos size. The Flowers are detachable hair clips for future use. I also have a tan fuzzy puppy set, a giraffe set, a baseball set, a ladybug set, a lamb set, a bunny set, a cow set, and I am currently working on a lion set. If you have something in mind please comment. I love to get fresh ideas for things to make. And I love to get any feedback from you guys.

Romantic Inspiration

While searching through Michael's for something worthy of my coupons, only a select few items are ever worthy, I came across a pendant in the jewelry section. It seemed sweet and I very much wanted to make something with it. The fact that I fell in love with it did not mean I had any ideas what to do with it. I decided it was worthy of the valuable coupon and took it home to ponder it's future. After picking it up and putting it down several times I had an idea to use it as a button. Then one evening I just started to crochet and it became a bracelet.

I've heard of artists saying that they do not create their art they are just a means for it. As though they are picking a "fruit" from a imaginary tree. I always thought it to be a bunch of talk. In this case I understood the statement. I had no real idea of what this was going to be beforehand and was delighted to see it completed. Its a bit of a romantic inspiration that I gladly welcome back anytime. I have since placed it on my Etsy shop. I just hope that someone will love it as much as I do or maybe even more.

The new Lampshade

Hi There,

I have been thinking that since I made mention of my projects in progress I should take advantage of it and do a step by step posting of at least one. Normally I kinda wing my projects and am never quite sure of the final outcome. However, this time I have a pretty good idea of how this one should (and I mean SHOULD) turn out.
Now for a little background on my project "lampshade". When we moved into our little rental, the light over our dinning table was no more than a long cord with a light bulb at the end and a old dirty lantern over it. Being that this is not really MY house I can't just redo as I would like to. I bided my time and waited until I could no longer bare to look at it anymore. In a hurry (I had a small child fighting for my complete attention) I made a sad replacement. Please see my picture below. It looks a lot better in this tiny picture believe me. Although, while it was not a total failure, it was not my best work. I have since been looking for ideas and inspiration to create something more, something spectacular, and lets be completely honest something cheap. I priced wire baskets that i could maybe turn upside down but they all seem to be too heavy as well as too pricey. I thought maybe a new lantern, but that brought back bittersweet memories.

Then one day while searching all the desireables on Etsy I found "the one". It was gorgeous. I quickly added it to my favorites and went back to look at it over and over again. The only problem with it was that it was way out of my price range. Now i am not saying that it was priced incorrectly. It was top quality craftsmanship and materials. However that did not mean I had the budget for it. Being a stay at home mommy with my husband in construction there is little room for extras. Then one day I went back to look longingly at it and it was gone! No, it can't be! I didn't "favorite" the shop, but only the item, and now it's gone forever. Sadly I can not reference back to it or give credit to the original for my inspiration.
After days of thinking about what to use it finally hit me, fake flowers. After pricing those i thought how about paper ones instead. I mean a hole punch and a few sheets of paper can go further in the long run anyway, right? So crazy as it may sound here is what I bought with my coveted and precious Michael's coupons.

A Martha Stewart hydrangea paper punch

3 sheets each pink, cream, and green scrapbook paper

Modge Podge glue

paintbrush

1 package of crystal beads or pearls

I then braced myself and pushing all the bad memories of that old tattered, dirty lantern aside, went to Cost Plus and purchased a new lantern.

Now here's the part where I have to tell you this project is not for the impatient person. It took a while to punch and cut out each little flower. I thought that I had bought a punch, but all it did was pop a flower up and I had to cut it out myself (by myself and with the help of my loving mom).

Once you have enough flowers, you have to start gluing small sections onto the lantern. I started at the top and worked in a circular motion downward, but I doubt it really matters which end you start with. It should look something like this in the beginning (left). Then you can add either adhesive pearls, rhinestones, or beads. I chose the rhinsestones and used them only here and there, not every single flower. I did save some sanity for later.

And then there you have it! One fancy smancy lantern.

Ta Da!

                       Enjoy



Hello To All

Hello to All

This is my very first, of many to come, entry. I am a stay at home mommy who loves to craft. It started small with a little home improvement here and there then morphed into a passion for all things crafty. It is safe to assume that I have at least 4 different projects going on at all times. I am currently working on sun sleeves for my mom who doesn't like the feel of the sun rays on her arms as she drives, a new lamp shade for over my dinning table, a hat or purse (I haven't quite decided), and still thinking about finishing that painting I started a couple of years ago. My husband says I have tweaker tendencies and he may be right (not that id ever tell him). And of course these are only done in between play dates, cleaning, cooking, karate classes, library trips, grocery shopping, bill paying, dog training, errand running, occasional date nights, and of course the never ending story of my life, laundry.

Unfortunately, my home isn't big enough to accommodate all the crafts I want to make. So I figured I can sell them and earn a little money doing what I love. Sounds easy enough right? Well, I have run into a couple of snags here and there, but I am getting there. I came up with a name, logo, and even started up a small inventory. That was the easy part. Now its been said that I am tech-challenged. The truth of the matter is I have too much energy within my body that makes anything electical react badly for me. At least that theory makes me feel better. I did manage to get an Etsy account up and I will be posting more items soon as possible (any moment now). And with a little help from my friends (thanks Mr. and Mrs. C) I am now a blogger. Ready to post all my successes and hopefully few to no failures (I can hope right?).

So, thanks to all who stopped by and hope you enjoy my blog and all my creations soon to come.

Charlie

One of my favorites