Treasures~

Here are my latest newly found treasures~ I picked up this rose painting at an Estate sale for $10, I talked her down from $20.A brand new silver spiral tree with two sided heart frames to hold precious photos, this was only $6~ Some new and vintage jewelry. I'm not going to tell you how much I spent on all this stuff... it was way more than I wanted to pay, but thats how it goes sometimes. My intent was to donate all of this to be used doing collages with children... but at some point you just have to realize it just isn't cost effective when you start donating expensive stuff. lol The silver little trunk was .50cents and the four antique photos were .50cents each~I also picked up a huge red radio wagon (one of the new plastic ones with two pop up seats) for $7.50, a Big Wheels for $5. (I've always wanted one of those!) and various other odds and ends.

Peep...peep....

Peeps! I was wanting to make an Easter banner for my home... something small and cute and well, Eastery. I came up with this peep banner using felt I already had. Nothing like shopping your own stuff huh?Here is a close up of the little peeps on the banner. I think it turned out super caute.... I think I'll use this as a continuing theme for this upcoming Easter. Easy-peasy! Here is another view..Okokok... now I'm just showing off all my neat stuff! :-P I've linked up to Someday Crafts Easter linky party.

Been Paintin'

I finally finished painting the pie safe my mother gave me... here is the before photo. Here is the after.... Drum roll please, rat-tat-tat-tat-tat~ I LOVE it! I used white flat paint and I distressed the edges of the pie safe ever so slightly with a brown ink pad. I covered the aluminum panels in each door with cardboard that fits snuggly inside each square. They can be popped out at a moments notice~ I used spray adhesive to adhere thin batting over each cardboard square then I tufted some shabby chic fabric with white buttons. I used glass knobs on the drawer at the botton and I used slightly bigger wooden knobs then what was originally on the piece for each door. I already had the white paint and the knobs... and I even had the Shabby Chic fabric that I used on the door. Total cost... fa-reeeeeeee~

On the top of the pie safe I hung a mirror I recently painted and aged, (up until now it was propped against the wall behind a rocking chair) This is still a work in progress... I think it turned out super caute!

I've linked up to Domestically Speaking power of paint party. On the previous post you can see some of my fabulous thrifted treasures... seriously cool stuff that I picked up super cheap! *insert gloating smile here*

Thrifted Treasures~

While in Anaheim before our fun time at Disneyland.... we of course hit some second hand stores. (its tradition to hit at least one second hand store while in a different city) Here are the things I found. The really large aluminum tray was $2. The box of red buttons were only $3 The stainless steel pitcher was $2, and the boutique of shabby roses were $2. The gold 3 keys on the ring were only $1. Cheap, crazy prices huh? Then I came across this little beaut for $7, highway robbery I tell you! I put it in my cart thinking all the while I would just hold onto it for a little while and put it back-- cause I'm cheap like that...sigh........ But-but-but.... wait, whats this? I found another one! *woot-woot* I lurve "matchy-matchy" So now its on, I not only bought the first one, I bought the second one as well!GASP well, wouldn't you know it? I found a third! I didn't even bat an eye and bought all three. lol... Now, I just have to degrease all of these darling birdcages. The black you see isn't paint, its grime!

Easter bunny Swap~

Here is the Easter bunny I made for the Easter bunny swap I joined~ I made the pattern myself, I think it turned out very well considering its the first pattern I've ever made. I used vintage fabric for the bunny, pink felt for the nose and red facheted rhinestones for the eyes.I made a container to house this little bunny in... I covered a large wicker egg with some pink vintage fabric and ric-rac. I think it ended up looking like a smocked egg. I covered the inside of the egg with some sheet music to keep the baskets egdes from snagging the fabric bunny. I also made a little spring-time fairy for this swap as well.... that along with a little chick in a blue glittered egg and some chocolate tossed into the Easter grass and off it goes in the mail~
I hope my swappin' partner likes it!

Easter Basket Swap~

Here are the two baskets I made for the Easter basket swap I joined. I blogged about how I created the baskets here. I filled each little basket with some Easter grass-- and some chocolate, not much as I ate a lot of it! You know how it goes!!!I made two of everything-- sending both of my swapping partners the same things. A close up of the silver glittered bird sitting on the edge of each basket~Along with the two baskets, you had to send along five additional items. Here are the five things I sent.

1.) A vintage tin~2.) A vintage inspired foil covered eggs. I covered football eggs that I got at Walmart. Most eggs open around the middle, and I needed/used eggs that opened the length of the egg. I really love how these turned out!3.) A spring fairy in a jar sitting in an eggshell~

Here is the other springtime fairy~4.) Yellow plastic peeps filled with baby blue buttons~5.) Lastly, an Easter banner that says "Happy Easter." I color copied and reduced a vintage photo frame and added some fairies holding the letters that spell out the words~Here is a blurry close-up of two of the letters~I hope my two swappin' buddies like the goodies I've sent them... they are in the mail as I type!

Home~

We had a wonderful time at Disneyland, but don't you find its always nice to come home? Here are my favorite photos from the little va-ca we took. My grandson Jonathan pulling up his sister Chloe's ruffled sleeve..... look at his determination, and look at her disdain....then kissing her hand....Ahhhhhhhhhhh~

This was a funny site-- a duck swimming in the hotel pool!
Fun-fun-fun vacation!

Va-ca~

I'm off on a little vacation in the California sun :-) We are going to Disneyland and the Disneyland California Adventure park for a few days with my daughter and her family. This will be my grandchildrens (ages 1 & 3) second time going to this magical place of fun... and their first time going to Club 33~ If you've never heard of Club 33 at Disneyland... you can read more about it here. The good thing about this club is that its an exclusive members only club, so the paparazzi are not allowed in... My little grandaughter Princess Chloe Rose won't be hounded for an impromtu photoshoot. *sigh* The downside of being a princess lol

Restyled dress~

I picked up this little white dress for my grandaughter. Just a basic little white dress..... that needed a little somethin'-somethin'~Sooooooooo I gave it a little somethin'-somethin' and a little somethin' more~ I got rid of the lavendar and added pink straps and a sheer shimmery skirt over the top of the skirt of the dress. Then I added some flowers, rhinestones and pearl & ribbon trim.I also matched a pair of white shoes to the dress~along with a flowered wreath for her head~lastly, I made a rose septor that has a gold bell on it for her to play with~I made this for my grandaughter to wear to Club 33 at Disneyland, this will be her first time having a luncheon there. You never want to go to a special event wearing the same gown as everyone else~

Baby Leg warmers~

I made my 1 year old grandaughter some leg warmers using some striped socks. Easy-peasy. Here is how I made them if your interested.

You start by cutting off both toe parts of each sock. Using your sewing machine, zig-zag around the cut edge to prevent unraveling and to give it a nice finished look. Next, turn under about a half an inch of the zig-zagged edge and stitch around the sock leaving about a half an inch opening. Feed elastic through the opening then just simply knot it together to make a nice gathered edge. Stitch the opening closed. This newly encased elastic side will be the bottom of your babies/childs leg warmer. The top portion of the sock will be up around the babies thigh-- so it will look super professional when you've finished it. See, I told you, easy-peasy!

Monster Truck Jam

We went to see a Monster truck show yesterday evening. My 3 year old grandson is a total car fanatic so this is really thrilling for him to view this car show in person. This is the second year we've taken him. If you have never been to a see Monster truck jam/show, your missing out. Its scarey-good. It is kinda like that feeling you get when your on a rollar coaster ride in the very beginning when you ask yourself... "what am I doing-- I want off-- this is scarey-- I'm to old for this cr @ p" You know what I'm talking about, scarey-good!
We were lucky enough on Friday to get to go to a radio show hosting a driver/car meet and greet. My grandson got to sit in the wheel well of the Donkey Kong monster truck. Noooooooo easy feat as I think he was a little overwhelmed with the size of it-- at first!Then it was thumbs up from there! He was once again a happy camper~Doesn't he look so cute wearing his ear protectors? lolAnywho.... I made this monster jam race track for him to play with his big monster trucks that he has. I used foam core to make the huge dirt mounds out of, I used one of his trucks as a reference on how high to construct them. I went around the edges of each mound with some paper clay to smooth them out a smidge. Once the clay dried, I hot glued the newly constructed mounds onto a base of foam core. I added more paper clay to the seam where the mounds met the base. I cut out two rectangles at the base of each mound so he could set in some little cars to drive over. Once the paper clay had time to set up, I sanded down the rough spots and base coated the whole thing with brown paint. Then... I spray painted again using some textured paint making the whole thing look like dirt. I made a frame of foam core which I spray painted black to go around the entire track. Lastly, I printed off some car signs and I glued them on the wall around the track.

Easter baskets~

I joined an Easter basket swap on Miss Rhea's blog Sweet n Shabby Roses. The swap is based on using yogurt containers as the base of each basket.... I decided to cover the two yogurt containers using a technique I previously used to create the look of leather on some pirate chests. You can read all about it on the tutorial I posted here. I love how they both turned out. Don't they look like peat pots? Now with the yogurt container covered comes the fun part of foofing & fluffing them up!

Seein' Green~

Here are some things I've been working on for Saint Patrick's day. I've made these four leaf clover lucky stones~ I used real clovers under the glass. I think I'm going to solder around each glass stone and add a jump-ring so that I can have them hang from a necklace...caute huh?I've also made these four leaf clover tags using real clovers~Lastly, I've bottling up some Leprechaun fairies. I've set them on a shelf unit I'm still working on to showcase them. Here is a close up of a few of them....

One more wanting a close up~Its nice to be able to play again :-)