Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Another flower box

It has been awhile since I made a new Hydrangea arrangement. This one was a special order so I asked my husband to make me another small pallet box and I thought I would try something new and give the flowers some color.
 
I love how many different kinds of spray paint there are out there, just about every shade of every color! I decided to go classic and painted them blue. I was very pleased with how they came out! I think it will have to be pink for my next arrangement.
 
 
I also added the aluminum can base to the hydrangea instead of the leaves I have done in the past. I think this style may be a keeper. That base helps to fill out the box nicely.
 
I used a lace lined burlap ribbon for the roses this time and was much happier with how they turned out. Another trick to keep.
 
Oop! I see a pin out of place, better fix that quick.
 

And of course, I am still mildly butterfly obsessed so I had to tuck a butterfly in there as an accent.
 
Sorry, not sorry.
 
 I still need to finish the butterfly branch arrangement for my kitchen. With rain in the forecast this weekend, it may be just the project for me to tackle.

 
All in all I am very pleased with how it turned out. I really enjoy making these little arrangements, I think I will have to put a few more together soon.
 
Not long ago while flipping through a magazine, I saw the prettiest arrangement of zinnias in a wood pallet box and just loved how it looked, the bright orange, yellow and red of the zinnias really popped next to the dark rustic wood of the pallet box. I am turning over some plans in my head trying to recreate a zinnia look with aluminum cans. Off to Pinterest I go for some inspiration and ideas! How did I manage to brainstorm before Pinterest?
 
Hope you are keeping cool and having a great week!

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Not much going on.

Getting ready for back to school and this darn heat have me either too busy to craft and thrift. Or too unmotivated to be bothered.
 
We had Senior Football pictures this morning, so I had to skip the Nashville Flea market, but honestly, I did not even feel like going. Again, too hot. But I did get a chance to drop into my favorite indoor flea market last weekend, but still only came out with a few odds and ends.
 
Pretty green small Fire King bowl.
 

Glassbake loaf pan....hummm, I must have been on a green kick last week.


My daughter fell in love with this Fire King bird mug. She has a thing for mugs like I do.


And we both pretty much love anything with a bird on it.



On the list for the upcoming week is definitely finishing off some more definition spoons for Creative Village. I have not been back there in months! I don't know where the time went!
 
But for the rest of the weekend, Pool time. Unless of course the thunderstorms that keep popping up keep me out giving me no excuse but to work on my many projects.
 
Hope you are having a great weekend!

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

My Sunflowers bring all the bees to the yard.....

Sorry, bad humor. I am easily amused.
 
Well, it is that time of year again. The time of year when I become obsessed with my Sunflowers and Morning Glory's and you have to suffer through picture after picture of them
 
Suffer? No way. Who suffers from looking at a glorious Sunflower?
 
Not me, that is for sure.
 


 
This heirloom variety has several sunflowers blooming in a bunch on one stem. I really wish I had kept track of which ones they were...dang my disorganized gardening habits.
 
 
Oh the color on this one. So beautiful.


Sunshine yellow.
 
 
I like to think this is a sunflower Van Gogh would have been moved to paint.

 
I promise I will get back to projects soon. Too hot for everything, even to hit the flea market, too busy and too unmotivated. Did I mention too hot? Stinking hot here in the South. Not to mention I ended up entertaining kids all last weekend. No complaints, it was a lot of fun. A pool party for my sweet daughter and some of her best girlfriends on Saturday night, and another impromptu, very last minute pool party for my son and 5 of his best friends from the football team Sunday night. I estimated that I had approximately 1,500 lbs of 17 year old boy in the pool, they are all big college football bound boys. Then I had to feed them all. And boy can 17 year old football players eat.
 
wow. Good thing was clean up was easy, there was nothing but dirty plates to rinse off and load in the dishwasher, they killed off all the food. 15 16" loaves of Jimmy Johns bread, 5 lbs of assorted deli meat, cheese, condiments, fruit, chips and cookies. But I was happy to do it. These are really exceptional kids and I love having them around. I will miss them all next year when they all go off to college, it breaks my heart just thinking about them no longer playing together anymore. Sniff, sniff.
 
Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Another Photography contest

I have only entered one photography contest. Just the local electric company contest, I was on pins and needles for two months before they posted the winners, and obviously, I did not win, or place for that matter.
 
Still, it was fun and you will never have a chance if you don't try right?
I am going to try again. The theme this time is "What does summer mean to you". Based on the winners in the past I expect that they are looking for are sweeping landscapes, pictures of lakes and sunsets with kids playing in water and fishing. Pretty much everything I don't typically photograph.
 
But my stubborn rebel streak is going to enter the pictures that I want to anyway. So, brainstorming, I was thinking, what does summer mean to me? Beautiful homegrown tomatoes, Flowers, bees and water.
 
Ok, my tomatoes are not home grown, garden failure. And I could not find pretty tomatoes at the farmers market, so whole foods to the rescue.
 

 
Still have not decided what to enter...I will have to look at them for a week before I decide.
 
Such beautiful Zinnia's this year. Believe it or not this picture does not do this Zinnia justice. The colors are so intense on this variety. They are just gorgeous.
 

Maybe both flowers and tomatoes together? No. I don't think so.


I thought about sunflowers. I mean, How can you look at a sunflower and not think about summer?

 
I think the only one I am 100% positive about entering is this bee picture. From last summer, but one of my all time favorites.
 
 
I have been very busy at work, this is our busy season, new residents coming in and locum doctors subbing for providers taking month long summer leaves, but regardless, tired or not I am trying to keep hammering and get some new stock into Creative Village. I sent a nice selection to the new boutique "The Basement" and still have a nice number of my "base" stock on hand. Believe it or not, I am already thinking about working on Christmas ornaments. I wanted to have several ready for the October Farmisan Market, and they were very good sellers at Creative Village, so I will want a large stock ready to go and not have to rush to get them together at the last minute. Because of this I have not been tackling as many new craft projects as I would like to. Time to hit Pinterest again for some new inspiration?
 
But finish one project first...I need to figure out a picture to submit that deals with water. Thank goodness I live close to a gorgeous lake. I refuse to conform to a sweeping landscape shot. But I sure do love a pretty lake water picture,
 
Off to the lake. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
 
 

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Just a little thrifting...

During the summertime when the kids are out of school I like to take random days off and just hang out with them. I was very lucky over the 4th of July that my company decided to close both on Friday and Monday, so add on one vacation day and I had a nice supersized weekend to hang with my kids. Well, kid, the big kid is old enough now to be at work, and he has a pretty poppin social life, so it turned out to be more girls time. But we girls are like peas and carrots and always have a blast.
 
Running around Nashville, lunch at the grilled Cheeserie (best grilled cheese in Nashville) McKays bookstore,  shopping at World Market for gourmet root beer then floating in the pool while sipping said gourmet root beer and of course some crafting and thrifting.
 
This is one of the soda's we grabbed at World Market, omg, this was the most amazing tasting soda. I am definitely going back for more. So good.
 
 
We really had a practically perfect weekend.
 
Not that we found a lot thrifting, but we had a darn good time doing it!
 
Best buy of the weekend, Mint Julep cups! I have been looking for these for a long time. Goodwill find, two bucks a piece, I got four of them. They are silver plate, and I am thrilled with them! Cannot wait to fill them with beautiful tiny roses!
 
 
The coolest enamel mushroom pot. Mint condition, until I dropped the lid and damaged the enamel. Dammit....but still love it and have used it several times already. I have two Fire King casserole dishes mint condition with their lids, same design. Love the 70's mushrooms.
 
 
Napco milk glass vase, this is going to get some pink hydrangeas and burlap roses, I think it will make a good arrangement for one for craft shows this fall!
 
 
Another cute little butter crock! No problem filling this up with more vintage silverware.
 
 
The coolest little tea diffuser! Sitting at the same Goodwill with the Mint Julep cups, .99, cant beat it!
 
 
And a moustache cup, again a Goodwill find, I like to use them as tooth brush holders, into the bathroom it went!
 
 
I keep all my metal stampers in an old handmade tool box, but they are always rolling around. I spotted this little enamelware box? I don't know, but it is a nice old heavy enamelware and it is the perfect size to keep my stamps corralled. 2.00, totally worth it. And, I have another larger one, now they will both be going into my toolbox.
 
 
I found a light kit at Hobby Lobby to light up a mason jar, so I grabbed another vintage blue jar, the light does not fit perfectly, but a little burlap ribbon around the top and we are good to go! I really loved how it turned out. I may have to run back and get another kit. They are cool!
 
 
And an Ebay buy...we decided to add some cool old Monopoly pieces to add to our vintage game collection.
 
 
I have yet to put an air plant in my pretty blue bottle, I keep popping little hydrangeas in there, I love how this looks on my window sill. 

 
I am looking forward to another long weekend this week, Vacation time for another girls day and getting ready for a summer pool party for my daughter and her best buds. We are having a good time surfing Pinterest looking for fun pool party food ideas, so much fun! Cannot wait to see how it all comes together.
 
And...I think I will be able to sneak in some more thrifting as well!
 
hope you are having a beautiful weekend!
 
 

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Alice in Wonderland

 Another lovely long summer Holiday weekend. I had a lot of fun, did a lot of relaxing, and got a lot of crafting done!
 
Remember this flea market buy? It did not last long, I was excited to make my vision come to life.
 


I had a lot of fun with this one!
 
 
This was not easy to photograph It is quite tall and regardless of what I placed it in front of, it was difficult to capture. Nevertheless I really love how it turned out. The sentiment spoon says "Every Adventure requires a first step" a quote from the book, but I felt that it was especially appropriate for a children's nursery arrangement.
 
 
I loved the knot in this box. It looks so rich after it was stained, amazing for such inexpensive pallet wood.
 
And the butterflies, oh the branches full of butterflies! I was right, the funky graphics of this old book made fantastic butterflies.
 

I again did three layers with the aluminum cut out in between. Red, white and black. I did a couple all paper, but the majority have the aluminum center. My favorites are the ones with the aluminum centers.
 

I am just so pleased with how this turned out. I NEED to make more!
 

I did my best to get some of the best pictures into the butterflies. They made such cool butterflies.




 
I posted my creation on Facebook and got some very favorable comments on it, as a matter of fact, I had a couple people ask me to make one for them, so, it is off I go to McKay's used books to dig through their children's bookshelves and find some more little golden books. I have an order or another "Alice" themed book, but I would love to do a Peter Pan and a Bambi arrangement. Maybe even a sleeping beauty!
 
I could very easily get carried away with this.
 
I made this one especially for a wholesale order for a shop a fellow crafter friend of mine is opening in August, so now I will be selling at two "boutiques" very exciting! I hope she likes it enough to put it in her shop, but if not, I feel pretty confident I have it sold anyway.
 
Hope you had a fantastic long Fourth of July weekend!