Painting....

I have been super busy doing a little fixing up of the inside of my house lately. We had some granite counters installed in our galley kitchen, along with some new slate flooring. Ohhhhhh the powdery mess that I have had to endure from all of the cutting of granite and tile. Not only that, but I have added to it.... *sigh* I have had to re plaster some walls... so now I also have a chalky mess from that too.  Ugh, it seems like I will be plastering, and painting for.ever.... then comes the fun part--- having to clean up the HUGE mess. eiy-eiy-eiy..... The upside, I am pretty sure it will get done in my lifetime. *sigh*


I was needing a little break from all of the "house stuff" and decided to spend an hour doing something quick and fun in my studio. So, I made some earrings. I really enjoy making earrings as they whip up fast and I get instant gratification of having completed something... at this point, completing anything while taking on the daunting task of painting is very uplifting!

 I bought a very old necklace just so I could pull it apart for those two diamond shaped beads below.... 

 I loved the blue of these beads....

 I bought a really long necklace of these multi colored glass beads below. They just spoke to me... I'm glad to have them to play with.

 I haven't finished the earrings just yet. Most of them are still needing to have the bead pins looped around then an ear hook attached. But it sure did feel good not to have to think about painting for awhile.

Drat... why did I mention painting. I better get back to it.
big hugs,

Repurposed Salvaged Door

A few months ago I purchased a very old, solid wood antique door. I thought it would be the absolute perfect door for my latest pirate building in my backyard... well I was wrong. Well in theory it would have worked-- but it ended up feeling to big and chunky... and with a screen door- the new door had to open into the building and that would have taken up valuable decorating space... so it was a "no go." I had seen on pinterest where someone had taken an old door and made it into a bar/counter... so that is exactly what I did with the door.

The bottom part of the door has been cut off so that the door now has four equal panels. It is attached to a raised platform to make it a counter top height.

The backside of this  newly constructed piece is open so that it can be used as a bar/counter. For now, I have it pushed up against a wall in the latest pirate store to showcase some fun pirate treasure.

While playing in the pirate store, I added a huge net to the ceiling. The netting was originally one of those golfing nets that you drive your balls into when your practicing. This is a good start to the ceiling, before the ceiling was to perfect--- which didn't fit in well with the cluttered look of the rest of the building. I'll go back and add some ivy and a hanging light and some other random odds and ends to pull it all together.

If you pan down from the ceiling and to the right of the front door you'll see where I left off. So much yet to do~ Who knows what will get put to use and what will get tossed out. Oh, who am I kidding, I'll find a place for it all!
Here are some of my backyard pirate companions, they take up a lot of my free time because I just can't resist giving them all cuddles... this is Chumley. Bear-bear is at the bottom right sitting off in the distance... Here is Pee Wee, he is sitting in the neighbors yard peeking into our yard. The little nutter~
Along with cuddling with the cats.... it is also fun to just PLAY. No agenda, no "getting it done"..... just having fun and playing in the yard. Just yesterday I added the large wooden box (to the right in the photo) with the rope and the black crow. It was f.u.n.

A few weeks ago, we constructed a weathered old looking box to cover our huge swinging umbrella stand. Now, it looks so much better and will not be an eye sore or a tripping hazard. The added bonus? look at all the fun space I now have to play~

I am really needing to play inside.... the inside of my house is now looking pretty ratty.... and not in a good pirate kinda ratty way either. *sigh*
 Today, I am linking with: My Salvaged Treasures - Vintage Inspiration Party
big hugs,
 

Cat In The Hat

 Last week at my grand kids school they were celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday with a week long celebration of events. One of the days events the kids were to dress as their favorite character from one of Dr. Seuss' books. Well.... the Cat in the Hat was an obvious choice for me... and seeing how they are little they pretty much don't argue... yet....

For my five year old grand daughter Chloe, I made her a little miniature cat in the hat-- hat.

She is such a little pistol... I thought she would enjoy some cat ears too...

I added some white felt to one of her long sleeve black shirts using some wonder under iron on adhesive. The large red bow just pulled everything together. I also made her a long tail~

My grandson who is getting on in years (he is seven) wasn't wanting to much of a costume... so I made him a HUGE cat in the hat-- hat... and the large red bow to go along with the hat.

I am surprised they came together so quickly and that they turned out so darn cute... I surprise myself sometimes! I've kept the patterns and I think next year I'll make some more. One for me!
big hugs,
 

Recent Treasures

Here are some of my recent treasures that I've found and hauled home. I found a wooden 3/4 barrel for only $20.00. I have no idea what the previous owner used it for, but I see it has potential to be something fabulous. It has a hinged door at the bottom and a hole with threads in it too. I love the fact that it has two brackets attached to the side, this would make a perfect table to hold hand towels....Who knows what it will end up looking like!

 I also scored on two full size barrels too. The original price was $45 each. I got both of them for $45.... Buy one, get one free. Score.

Buddha was smiling down on me today... I got two.  This jolly golden guy with a nice smile...

and this solemn looking statue too. 

I also scored on some candle sticks and lanterns... my cat Chumley loves pirate stuff as much as I do.

 Here are some other random odds and ends. I adore the little wooden baby shoe form. At first glance I didn't think it was old-- until I flipped it over.

It was only $1.00, who could resist...

About a month ago, I bought an old chippy door that I thought would be a perfect door for my pirate store... I ended up not liking it for that-- so we are making it into a counter for the pirate store instead.

 I had every intention to leave it chippy.... but one thing lead to another and it was just so fun and easy to scrap off the paint.....

The upside is now I can paint it all one color and then distress it so it looks fabulous. So like the saying goes, "That is my story and I'm sticking to it."

big hugs,