Monday, March 7, 2011

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!!

Tip Junkie handmade projects





Iron Violet Designs



Photobucket




Show and Tell Green





My Repurposed Life






Thursday, March 3, 2011

More Lamps!!!

Ya'll are probably so sick of me and my 'lamp thing' I've got goin' on!

I was just over at Not Just A Housewife, and Stacey has posted a couple more of her creations that are just fantastic. You can go see them here and here!  She comes up with the COOLEST ideas!!

I thought I would share with you a couple of lamps that I've made, before I discovered blogging!!  I love monograms and personalization.  But, since my last name has 11 letters, I usually just stick to the monograms!! 

The first lamp I'm sharing was made with an old pickle jar that my daddy gave me.  He bought this huge jar of pickles at the DOT Foods 'store' in Macomb, IL.  He thought he got such a deal and was so proud of himself!!  I don't really know how long it took him to eat them all.........  I miss him so much!!  Anyway - I wanted to keep the jar!  I printed out my "W" from word and cut it out of the paper  - to make a stencil.  I taped the stencil to the glass, and painted the "W" with black acrylic paint.  (This was before my Cricut - otherwise I would have used vinyl!)  I stained the lampshade with some wood stain, and that was a chore.  Got an idea on how to stain it and, well, it was a learning experience!!  I KNOW that water and oil don't mix.  I promise I do!!  But I guess I didn't REALLY think about what the stain was made of.  I got a 5 gallon bucket and made sure my shade would fit in it.  Then I almost filled it up with water, and then poured some of my stain in, too.  I thought that it would give it more like a tea-stained effect.  nu-uh  Not even close....  The fabric on the outside of the shade didn't do anything.  Didn't take any color at all.  The plastic 'liner'? Well, it came out kind of  'polka-dotted'......  and didn't dry.......  I had an oily MESS!!  hhmmmmm  now what??  I let the shade sit in the sun for most of the afternoon, then wiped down the plastic and got rid of the oily mess.  Then I took a rag, dipped it in the stain, and then just stained the fabric like you would wood.  I think it turned out pretty good, in spite of it being a learning project!!! 


The picture on the left is of me and my brothers and my sister.  I think I was about 3 months old.  I love this picture!!  (Yes, I was a surprise!!!  Daddy was 37 and Mom was 36 when I was born!!)  The other picture is of my kids about 15 years ago.  I think it is my favorite of them.  Black and white pictures are the best!!

My next lamp sits in my kitchen next to the fridge.  I use it as a night light.  I hate getting up in the middle of the night and having to turn on bright lights.  I got the jar from WalMart.  I used a paint pen and wrote 'Believe' on the side.  I see a lot of bloggers are using 'Simplify' as their word of the year.  I think Believe is mine, for more than a year........  Kind of a life motto..........



I got my little bear at a craft show.  Isn't she cute?  I haven't changed anything about my shade, and I don't think I will.  I like the simplicity of this lamp!!

Okay, I promise, I will try NOT to post any more lamps (for a while, at least)!!  I CAN do other things!  And we'll get to those in a few days!!

Happy Thursday!  Happy March!!  Spring is ALMOST here!!  I saw a robin Tuesday - actually 3 of them at once!!  I heard the doves coo-ing this morning and birds were singing!  My daffodils and jonquils are coming up!  I love this time of year!!!

Hugs ~~ Suz

I'm joining the fun at these parties!!




Creations by Kara

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Inspiring Projects

Since my "Door Project" isn't ready to post, I thought I'd share with you a few projects that I've seen in blogland that I REALLY like.

The first one is the concrete countertop that Dawn at Creative Cain Cabin did. I absolutely LOVE it!! It's beautimous!! Dawn - you and your hubs did a wonderful job!! I love the color you chose!!!


You can get Dawn's full post here!!


These drop cloth pillows are too stinkin cute!!!



Flann over at Three Sisterz posted her project using drop cloths.  I am seriously lovin' anything 'drop cloth'!  Go see her full post here!


I am so lovin' this bathroom redo.  I love how Susan used all the baskets and how she made the tags!!



Great job!  Go visit Susan's post at http://www.homeroad.net/

And last but not least - - check out these pictures!!  They are AWESOME, and they're NOT what you think they are!!!



Read Jane's post about these fun pictures HERE!  Her blog "Little House of Projects" is really cute!

That's all I have for now - - I'm heading to the basement to work on a couple of my projects!!

Hugs ~~ Suz