Sunday, August 21, 2016

Junk Pickin' Jackpot

We hit the junkin' jackpot today!  My brother-in-law knows a guy who knows a guy who is selling all the junk off of his land.  We went to see what we could get and came back with quite a haul.  Don't mind the pictures, they were taken on my phone and the set up isn't so pretty!
This old metal milk crate had heavy engine parts in it and my hubby knew how much I wanted it, so he took all of those heavy things out so I could get it! 
A neat old apple basket.  I can't wait to use this in my fall decorating soon. 
They thought I was crazy when I said I wanted these old bed springs.  What in the world will you do with that they asked.  Oh, well, there are so many possibilities! 
A really nice milk can with a lid.  The other side has a horrible painting on it but that will be removed soon.  No ugly frogs for me, thanks! 
This super cool and super rusty head and foot board will probably find a place in the yard soon.  This thing is heavy! 
This wash tub has a neat red color on it and is a really good size.  It even came with a burlap bag in it.
I spotted this rusty old Chevron bucket in the weeds.  It is rusty and has holes in it but it will work great as a planter. 
This old washing machine is so heavy too.  My brother-in-law bought this, but since he has no where to put it, he is going to let us put it in our yard to enjoy. 
My sister's in-laws own storage units and sell past due units.  They bought one for $500 and it is loaded with so much vintage goodness.  My sister was going to throw these bubble lights away but I said no way!  I am sure I can find a way to repurpose them or something cool.  She has so much to go through still and sends me pictures of all the cool stuff.  I told her to let me take anything she is going to throw away because none of it should be thrown away!
It may have been almost 100 degrees outside when we were hunting for all of these treasures, but it was totally worth the $10 and all the sweat it took to get everything!

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Monday, August 15, 2016

Challenge: Box Makeover

I love a good challenge!  We have had these odd boxes in our office forever.  I am not sure what they were used for but when our science building was remodeled a few years ago, our department was given these in hopes that we could find something to do with them.  They've sat for awhile unused and unloved.  Last week, I finally decided to do something with them.
As you can see, they are pretty neat little boxes. Look at those dovetail joints!  They are just fine as is but I wanted to make them fit into my office just a little bit better.  So a light coat of Peony Pink paint and some decopauged roses later... 
 I now have these perfect little card holders!  I love cards--thank you cards, thinking of you cards, any card really. 
I just searched Google images for some pretty roses, printed them and cut them out.  I tried to do the packaging tape image transfer, but the paper just slid off the tape instead of sticking to it.  So instead a little mod podge and voila! 
These cards fit perfectly in this box so I can see what I have.  While I was at it, I also painted a different box and added a matching image to hold cards that were given to me.  Now this sweet grouping sits on a shelf in my office and looks like it belongs.  Challenge accepted and challenge won!  What would you do with one of these boxes?  Want one of your own?  Tell me what you would do and I will pick someone to send one to!
In other news, last week was my county fair and I won 6 ribbons!  Three 2nd place red ribbons for portrait, pet and snapshot photography, and two 1st place blue ribbons for professional and black & white photography.  My chocolate chip cookies also won 2nd place! 

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Sunday, August 7, 2016

Stencils are a Girl's Best Friend

I got these old brass stencils from a yard sale at work earlier this year.  The library brought them to the yard sale and before they could even put them out, I snatched them up.  There are 3 sizes--2 inch, 3 inch and 4 inch.  This weekend I finally did a few projects with them.
These galvanized buckets were the first thing I made over.  After removing the burlap and twine, I taped the stencils onto the buckets and used a sharpie to trace the numbers.  Then I hand painted them using black acrylic paint.
I put our address on the buckets and dressed them up even further.  I used the burlap that I removed, cut it in half and tied a piece to each little handle.  Gravel was used to weigh them down and hold the silk red carnations in the bucket. 
Now which way should these go on my front steps?  Do you read from bottom to top? 
Or top to bottom?  Which way should I display them?
This next piece I have had forever.  It used to have terra cotta pots cut in half on it in different sizes with flowers.  They fell off long ago and it was time for something new. 
Stencils to the rescue!  The 3 inch stencils were used again to spell out "Welcome" and I hand painted the letters in a custom paint color I made to match our house color. I sanded the letters just a bit to give them a nice worn look. It now hangs proudly outside of our front door. 
I changed up the front porch display just a little bit, took the flags out of the buckets, added some twine and a new red mum to the inside of the crate.  I am going to love changing this whole set-up for each season and holiday! 
Here is a shot of our front porch today.  I love how welcoming it is! 

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