My Goodies!!

A few weeks ago, Mr. Inspiring and I took a road trip to St. Louis (that's when I got my fantastic deal on my doors).  We stopped by an architectural salvage store while we were in town.  The store happened to be located in the old Dad's Rootbeer building.  It was really cool, and I loved  *LOVED* looking at everything.  But, I'll admit I was an Architectural Salvage virgin.............   I had NO IDEA how expensive some of that stuff can be!!   

I found The Coolest door knob.  well............. ok............. YOU might not think it's the coolest, but since our last name begins with "W", it earned a pretty high coolness rating from me.

Let me just say that our visit to this store was a real learning experience.  We got there about 11 am.  The guy running the place was already drinking (actually, he smelled like he never stopped from the night before.....)  Mr. Inspiring and I are planning on building a house in the next couple of years (give or take) and when I saw these doorknobs (8 - 10 of them in a box), the wheels started spinning.  How cool would it be to have one of these on every door??  So I asked how much............. His answer?    $25.......... EACH!!  So I told the guy I was willing to purchase the whole box, so what kind of deal can he give me?......... His answer??           $25..... each.............  He said, "I'm not in a hurry to sell them.  They been sittin' there for 25 years and they can sit there 25 more........"   Life lesson learned that day!!  Never negotiate with a drunk!!!   But I HAD to get one....  And the box it's leaning on???  He had a boat load of them - all over.  I got the one that DIDN'T say Dad's Rootbeer.......  I figure I can go back and get one of those, but this one was the only different one I found.  $10 each.  Please don't tell me I got ripped off........ I've never had access to one of them before!!!

I also bought 2 cast iron architectural stars.  The big one is the one I used as my pattern for the stars on my drop cloth curtains.  I think they were $10 each, too.

Now, my little partial project reveal!!  I have had my Ritz Soda box sitting on my dining room table for a few weeks now and it looked lonely (I was still trying to decide how I wanted to decorate it).  Since I love candles and glass (particularly Ball jars) I decided to decorate some candles and put them in the soda box. 

I put the first candle in my big Ball jar.  The inside bottom of the jar is NOT flat, and the bottom of my candle is NOT flat, so when I put the candle in the jar, the candle kept tipping over.  I got some sand today and filled the jar about 1/3 full and put the candle back in.  I had some natural colored burlap, so I cut a strip to fit around the jar, and pulled three horizontal fibers from the top and bottom to 'fray' the edges.  I sprayed the back of the burlap with super tacky adhesive and wrapped it around the jar.  I used the selvaged edge in the back to overlap the cut edge and help it look finished.  I put a couple of holes in my rusty star and used rusty wire wrapped around the candle twice to hold the star on.   I think it turned out pretty cute!!

For my next candle(s), I used a wide mouth pint jar and filled it about half way with sand.  I pushed 4 taper candles down in the sand.  I might take 2 out, I'm still deciding.  I wrapped jute twine around the jar, and then tied a piece of shimmery off-white ribbon over the jute. 

 And for my last candle, I just wrapped a piece of ribbon around the middle and secured it with a scrapbooking thingy (VERY technical term) that looks like an old button.  I put a little sand in a vintage martini glass (I guess that's what kind it is) and then put the candle in the sand.   Here's how it turned out.

I so love that button thingy........ but dang, the camera so picked up the glue.  Funny - you can't see it in person!!

Like I said, I want to put them in the soda box, but it needs more........... something.  So I'm in the process of getting crafty with a drop cloth, again, and I want to throw some flowers in the mix..........  Hopefully I'll be able to show you the finished project this weekend.  In the meantime, this is what it looks like so far.

I want to figure out something to sit in the bottom, under the candles to lift them up a little.  I like this so far, tho........... 

Which candle is your favorite?

Have a great week!!

Hugs ~~ Suz

I'm linking up to these parties!!