Some Recent Finds

Wanted to share a peek at some of my pickins’ that are sitting around waiting to be (properly) photographed, inventoried and listed on my shop site.

This was a bag of beads and baubles that I picked up at an estate sale last week. There were several charms and beads that my daughter claimed for herself to use in her earring making. Lots of gorgeously detailed old metal buttons found their way into stash. Two pairs of vintage rhinestone earrings and an adorable rhinestone barrette were dug out to use in projects. I was pleasantly surprised when I came across some silver heart charms & pendants. Two of them are distinctly marked sterling silver.

This iron wheel I picked up at Spice, here in town, from Feather Your Nest’s display. Knew I needed it for my son’s bedroom redo the minute I saw it. It’s the perfect shade of yellow and rust. You know the feeling, right???

Here’s a box of assorted goodies that have come from various thrift stores within the last couple of weeks…..

Some horns that will end up in Blake’s room, a plate hanger (.50 cents!) for display purposes in the shop room, and a cool primitive looking wooden cat. The berry vine with tin stars on it I retrieved out of the free box at our local thrift store.

Another view…..

Little red lantern for Connor’s room and a black hobnail decanter and glasses that are all wrapped up were fround at a thrift store. They are gorgeous and will end up in my Etsy shop.

This picture of wild cattle will get hung with a barn wood frame in Connor’s room. His is the one I am currently working on. I only paid a couple of dollars for it and I have a frame on hand.

And last, but not least, this eye-catching piece I picked up today at Clover Belle’s in Helotes, a very quaint little town we found quite by accident. Not sure what it’s original purpose was, but that’s how I usually pick something, simply because it caught my attention.

Hope all have a wonderful New Year!

Linking to:

Knick of Time Tuesday #15

Debbiedoos Newbie Party

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesdays

From My Front Porch To Yours THT

Eye Candy

While the kids and I have been on our Christmas break, we’ve ventured out to some new spots and shops outside of our little town. I thought I’d share some of the fun photos we’ve snapped along the way. I’ve tried to credit the shops I spotted these pieces in, but I neglected to get biz cards from all of them. One of the hazards of browsing with children.

Loved these burlap lined baskets. I think I found these at Ross or TJ Maxx in Austin, but even there, the price tag was wayyyy out of my range.

I’m going to make one of these for my son’s room. A log & barb wire candleholder. This one was at a thrift resale store in Llano.

A lovely piece at The Market in Llano. They were having a Christmas Open House the day we visited. The ladies were so pleasant and the shop was filled with goodies!

This is a huge hornet’s nest! Spotted in an antique store in Johnson City.

Something my son had to take a picture of. Not my taste at all!

These green blooms were very striking. Found at GG Ganache in Marble Falls.

Feather tree!! Coveted by my daughter.

Cute little music sheets cones from Summer house Antiques in Marble Falls.

I neglected to get a card from the shop that the following photos are from. And I should have. They had wonderful displays. These decorations were hung as you entered the store. Very pretty.

Rusty chair-right up my alley.

The  main street of Marble Falls showcases some interesting sculptures for sale. My favorite was this one entitled Haywire. For a mere $2,500 it could be yours.

The kiddos also had a favorite one

. Let me introduce you-Laina is my daughter and the oldest. The guy with the glasses is Connor, my youngest. Blake is the middle child.

I have some more fun things to share with you in the next few days.

I’m also still tweaking this blog to get it just right, so you may see some rearranging going on. I’m planning on merging my homeschooling blog with this one. I thought I would keep them separate, but it’s just not possible. My kids, homeschooling, family, junking, my home-it all goes together. That is my life and it’ll be much more enjoyable to share it all with you.

Blessings!

Cat Nappin’

I caught Silvy snoozing on my desk the other day, which is not unusual, since it is one of her favorite places to sleep. My desk is situated next to a sunny window that looks out to the backyard. She spends a lot of time gazing at the birds and imagining what she would do with one, if only she were out there with them.

It’s not where, but what she was napping on, that I found amusing.

What an appropriate choice for my pet’s pillow.

Featured on Binky La Faye’s Blog

I was so excited when I received an email today from Binky Morgan of Binky La Faye in Llano, letting me know she had written a post about my shop and my sale from a couple of weeks ago!

If you are from anywhere around here, you’re probably familiar with Binky La Faye, Objects of Eld.

I had mentioned in this post, that she had attended my sale and was a pleasure to meet. I was in Llano last week with my daughter to do some window shopping on her birthday (more about our great day out later) and stopped in Binky’s shop. All I can say, is lovely!!! I did bring home a snowflake ornament and the vintage music note cards that I used for this project.

So hop on over to her blog and pay her a visit. When you’re through there, check in at her shop site to view her gallery.

Thanks, Binky~it was an honor to be featured!

Music Note Makeover

This past summer I redecorated my daughter’s room while she was in California for a couple of weeks with her grandmother. There are a few final touches that I’m still working on.

The style of her room is slightly shabby chic, mixed with touches of French décor. I went with a red, white and black color scheme, based on a quilt she had picked out. I’ll give you a tour of her room in another post-it’s the only room that’s been completely decorated since we moved in over a year ago!

Today I did finish one project idea that I’ve been thinking about for a while. Originally I had planned on painting squares with chalkboard paint on the wall above her bed and then placing some repurposed frames over them, but I came across some vintage music note flashcards last week and decided to frame a couple of those instead.

Here’s how my first one turned out.

I sanded and painted an old thrift store frame that was missing its glass. Then I glued a piece of patterned scrapbooking paper to cardboard the same size as the frame. Because it’s not flush to the opening, it resulted in a “shadow box” effect, which I really like. Then I just glued the note card to the paper and cut out my own photo mount corners from black cardstock and adhered the whole thing to the back of the frame with hot glue. I used a scrap of black lace as a hanger, and, voila, a new wall hanging emerges.

Total cost, including the paper and ribbon I already had, is probably somewhere around $2.

I didn’t even repair the cracks.

I have one more card to work with as soon as I find another cheap frame the correct size.

Linking up to:

Faded Charm White Wednesday 131

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesdays 45

Stuff and Nonsense Fridays Unfolded

At the Picket Fence Inspiration Friday 45

French Country Cottage Feathered Nest Friday

Funky Junk SNS 113

Christmas in the Trenches

During the Christmas season I try to read as many Christmas books to the kids as I can squeeze in. It’s not possible to read every night, due to other holiday going-ons, but the kids take turns picking out which story they want to hear when we are snuggled in at home.

Tonight Blake chose Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon. This is a book I picked up at ,where else but,  a thrift store a couple of years ago and  it remains one of our favorites. The author first wrote a song, then a book was developed from that. The touching storyline is loosely based on a Christmas truce that occurred during WWI.

The book also contains a brief author’s note on how he came to compose the song and a historical note on the actual occurrence of the truce. The last pages of the book are the lyrics to the song, itself.

So, to wrap up our story time, we found a video of the author singing the song and watched that. If you have the time, it’s worth viewing, especially at this time of year.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

I Was Featured on Knick of Time Tuesday!!!!

You can not possibly imagine my surprise and excitement when I visited Knick of Time this afternoon to join the Knick of Time Tuesday linkup, to see that Angie mentioned my blog and featured one of my photos from my Christmas sale post!

I am so honored to be included among the other wonderful blogs she showed off! So, hop on over there and explore her site and the others that link up to this fun and inspiring party!

Thanks so much, Angie!

Vintage Style Wall Hanging

I started this project on Monday when we girls got together for some crafting time. I’ve left it just sitting for a couple of days, due to the fact that I wasn’t sure which direction to go with it.

I’m pretty happy with the outcome.

I wouldn’t consider this a tutorial, but I can walk you through what I did. I don’t have before or during pictures, so please use your imagination!

A friend gave me some cedar shims to work with. I painted this one black, then sanded and distressed it some. Next, I ripped up some vintage sheet music from an old school hymnal and glued it to the wood with Mod Podge. Gotta love that stuff! After it dried, I played around a bit with the embellishments.

A rusty tin square, some scrapbooking paper, a little bird tree from the Graphics Fairy and a small photo hanger ended up in the middle. I sponged the edges of the tree with a brown ink pad.

Bit of vintage sequined lace from my stash, a chipboard clock face and a brad from my scrapbooking supplies layered over a swirly rub-on.

I glued the hymn title to another piece of lace, and added a button and a cross charm.

You can’t see very well in this photo, but the hanger is a rusty coiled wire.

And there you have it! Entirely “rusty and redone”~

And it’s for sale in my Etsy shop. Just click on this link:  

Wall Hanging Wood Decor Ornament Vintage Sheet Music OOAK 707

Linking to:

Faded Charm White Wednesday #130

Funky Junk Interiors SNS 112

At the Picket Fence Inspiration Friday No. 44

Too Much Time on My Hands Get Schooled Saturday #3

Knick of Time Tuesday #13

Stuff and Nonsense Fridays Unfolded #46

My Itty Bitty (Fake) Christmas Tree

Ok-it’s not really itty bitty. But it is fake artificial.

Not feeling like digging out all of the ornaments, nor spending an insane amount of  money on a tree, I decided to use the one I purchased at a thrift store (for $2 because it was missing its stand!) for my sale, as our Christmas tree this year.

It’s only a couple of feet high, but once decorated, I think it works well.

Because it lacked a stand, I had to figure out what to put it in to keep it upright. A thrifted little bucket and some rocks from the yard worked great. I wrapped a piece of red ticking fabric around it for a skirt.

Instead of using our traditional decorations, I opted to keep the icicles on it that I used during my sale. I added a few rusty star nails and tucked some vintage gold and silver balls among the branches.

My garland is lace and ribbon that I had on hand.

The tree topper is a silver tin star-another thrift store find.

Very simple, rustic, yet sweet.

And, a little tacky, I guess. I left the price tags on all the tree decor from my sale.

Just in case.