Show & Tell~

For this show and tell I'm sharing what I entered in our local fair...I had a fun time hunting for the 8 things I made to see if I won any ribbons. Happily I can report I did win some ribbons!! Out of the 8 things I entered, I won 6 ribbons! Two first place: this set of 3 crocheted Christmas ornaments:This set of 6 3d soldered Christmas ornaments not only won a first prize ribbon but also BEST IN SHOW!!Here is a better picture of them: two second place: a crocheted teddy bear...
A fabric covered box (dumb division, but I always get a ribbon in it lol)

and two third place ribbons: a pair of crocheted baby booties...
and an appliqued quilt(Mine is the Yo Gabba-Gabba baby blanket-- the one with the blue faced character on it~)
Two didn't win a thing. This crocheted baby blanket
and this mixed media necklace....big pout. I surely thought the bably blanket would win, but noooooooooooo not this year!! Still going to try next year though!!

You can find more people sharing Show & Tell's @ Kelli's.

Show & Tell Friday~

Here is a wooden mantel clock I picked up at an estate sale recently for the small sum of $3 bucks. It is a new clock-- it runs on 3 double A batteries. Two of the batteries operate the hourly/half hour chime. Needless to say, I took those out the first night!! To loud for this light sleeper sleeping way down at the other end of the house lol. When company comes over though-- I am soooooooo putting them back in! It does sound lovely!The dark wood of the clock just didn't look right in my house at all! Sooooooo I painted it-- I know, I know-- some wrinkle their noses, but it does look like it belongs now :-)
Lastly, I share my bounty of cherries with you. I planted a cherry tree last year and just look at all this yumminess. I left a lot on the tree for my yard squirrel to eat. The little stinker loves his sweets!This show & tell is hosted by Kelli :-)

Show & Tell Friday~

This week I'm showing off a beautiful painting that I picked up for only $2.... great price but A LOT of damage. Someone had actually scratched the paint right off the canvas... gasp! I just couldn't let this beautiful mother and child be neglected any longer. They almost look scared don't they...There were big scratches all over the painting--- their faces & hair, the babies legs, the blue of her skirt. It seems every part had some damage to it. grrrrrrrrrr why would someone do that? I fixed it though~ I think it turned out fabulous, I'm really happy with the results. I used some thick texture paint and a putty knife to completely fill in the scratches in the brown background (letting it dry before repainting it.) Then I just used some acrylic paints and started dabbing/wiping/mixing/redabbing paint all over the painting until I was happy with the results. Then I went over the entire painting with my fabulous fix all...yep, that yellowish antique finish I put over everything lol. And taaaaaaaaa daaaaaaaa.... back to being fabulously cute.
This show & tell was hosted by Kelli~

Show & Tell Friday~

This weeks show & tell...I am showing a little foot stool I've painted for my grandson. I picked it up from a resale store (soooo using Kelli's term there lol) It only cost 4 bucks. It was originally white with a little sailboat and the name "Adam" painted on it.... but I saw its true calling. First, I painted the white stool black, then I made a copy of the skull & cross bones and transferred it onto the stool. Then I painted, shaded--repainted and then sanded it to give it an aged look. Lastly, I sprayed a semi-gloss finish coat over the top of the stool. Taaaaaaa daaaaaaaaa--- and so I give you--- A pirate stool~
For more show & tells check out Kelli's blog :-)

Show & Tell Friday

This week I'm sharing my beloved Cats~ I have four! (I hope thats not against the show & tell rules...*fingers crossed* but they are in my home, and I do love them...so I guess it's a go???)

Below is Mr. Zacky-man... my orange tabby who I got at an outdoor antique show in a town about a hour and a half away. I caught him in mid-yawn here...he likes to sleep on this down filled blanket. He thinks he is a "Tom-cat" when he really isn't! I've spent hundreds on his boo-boos the bad-bad kitty! He is my indoor/outdoor kitty...He works the graveyard shift...up allllllll night long, sleeps alllllllll day long. Ohhhh and he is a drooler. He gets so happy he drools... yep, yucky-poo! He is about 9 years old~Below is Mocha... she is called a tortoiseshell cat. My daughter went with her boyfriend (now her husband) to get a kitten. (There was a lady who hadn't been spaying her cats and had loads of kittens that were going to the pound, so we thought we would rescue one of them) Anyway, she told me that she was going to get "thee-most-beautifulist-cat they had" Now...unless your looking at Mocha in very bright light, the fur that is beige disappears and she looks like she has balding patches. lol She does not like to be touched! She sits like this for hours on my nightstand watching me sleep. Mocha is about 4 years old now~This is Baby. My little gray-girl. She was given to me by my daughter for my 40th birthday...so she is now 3 years old. She likes to have her paw/paws dangle.... but watch out, she does this so she can grab you as you pass by her. Clothing, skin-- she doesn't care, she'll just grab you. In a nice way of course lol Ohhhhhhhhhh and she kisses. You'll be laying in bed and she will climb up on your chest and reach over and plant her lips right on yours.... and she'll keep on kissing you until you push her off. (I know some of you are saying GROSS.... but its precious HONEST!)Lastly, below is my little love-bug, my little tabby named Charlie. This is the little ferral kitty that I rescued that was near death. I had seen her and 2 other kittens along with the mother roaming around the house across the street from my daughters new home. One day while visiting my daughter she was feeding them... and this tiny kitten was so starved she couldn't run or walk away from me, it was all she could do to TRY to eat the dry cat food that was on the plate. Needless to say, that little soul got scooped up and tucked into a basket with a towel over the top of it... and I guess you could say I stole her from those neglectful people across the street.
She is still a ferral kitty, she doesn't like to be picked up at all and will claw at you to be put down. Yet she will lay down and sleep in the bed with me...under the covers even. She runs down the hall after me, she waits outside the bathroom door for me... and she loves me. How lucky can a girl get?

Please remember to spay and neuter all your pets :-) Its the right thing to do!! Now tell me dear readers...how many cats do you own???
This show & tell is hosted by Kelli~

Show & Tell Friday

This week for show & tell I'm showing & tellin' about some Map table cloths I've made for... yes, you guessed it, my grandson's pirate party! (coming in APRIL) Now this is just the top part mind you.... I've made 3 of these map table cloths that will be atop of...I'm thinking some black fabric, or maybe some burlap? I'm not sure yet~ This one pictured has a map from my house to my grandson's house! He is my little treasure, thats for sure!!
Here is a close up of the compass I've stenciled on one corner.

Here is how I made them if anyone is interested:

I took some ultra suede fabric and tore the edges randomly. I then went around the edge with some watered down paints. I then took the fabric outside and ever so lightly sprayed it with some spray paint in the colors of black and a red primer. I then bunched up the fabric and sprayed it a little darker to give it the look of being folded up for ages. I found and enlarged a map compass online and printed it onto cardstock paper which I then cut out and made into a stencil. I used acrylic paints to stencil on the fabric. I then just painted roughly a "map" onto this old-worn looking fabric. I'm pretty happy with the results!

The winner in my drawing for one of my zipper pins is: Susan from the blog Penless Writer. Susan if you could e-mail me your address I'll get your pin off to you toots-sweet!

This show & tell is hosted by Kelli :-)

Show & Tell Friday~

Showin' & tellin' & givin' something away~

This week.... I'm sharing a torso/jewelry stand that I purchased from a second hand store for 2 buckeroos. The bust is made out of styrofoam and is held up by a brass stand. I covered the bust with vintage sheet music. I've had this jewelry stand for years. It was in my daughter's room when she was a teenager, it had leopard fabric on it when she had it. She hung necklaces from it and even used it as a bulletin board, it was cute! When she got married & moved out I had it in a hall closet for a few years lol.... and now its going in my studio~If your wanting to try covering something in old sheet music...here is how I did it:

There is a trick to covering things with old sheet music or paper from old books. If you have ever tried to tear old paper into random strips you'll find they will tear very straight. Not a good look when your looking for a more hap-harzard look. Soooooooo if you soak the paper in hot water before tearing it apart it will tear beautifully and actually adhere faster with whatever glueing method your using. I just rubbed Elmers glue all over the torso with my hands, full strength letting the water on the paper dilute it ever so slightly. I let the piece dry over night. I then went over any rough bits with 100 grit sand paper (ever so lightly) I then went over the entire bust with a product called "Decoupage Finish" made by Royal Coat.... oh my goodness, I just love that stuff. It gives it a nice slight-gloss-yellowed-antique look when it dries!! It only takes about 20 minutes to dry. I highly recommend this product. Anywho... once the finish coat was dry, I sanded anymore spots that seemed a tad rough and just applied another coat of the decoupage finish over those bits and taaaaaaaaaaaa daaaaaaaaaa instant cute!!

Another thing I want to share this Friday is this:

A flower pin made out of a vintage zipper. Now mind you, this is my very first one~ so it is not 100% fabulous, just about 80% fabulous~ I am having a "give-away" to anyone wanting a chance to win a zipper flower pin (not this one, hopefully a cuter one!) I know not everyone thinks this is cute nor would want it....so if you want a chance, just say you want in the drawing and I'll enter you! I will draw out a name and post it in next Friday's show & tell!

This show & tell is hosted by Kelli

Show & Tell Friday~

This week I'm sharing a little treasure chest I've painted for my grandson's Pirate birthday party in April.I purchased the chest from a second hand store and painted it just as it was to keep it looking old and battered. I lined the inside of the chest with some map wall paper. I've also made a wall sign with my grandson's name. I purchased some wooden letters and covered them with some maps I got for free from another second hand store. (Don't you just love second hand stores?) Anywho, I used water solvable ink around the edges of each letter then I used something called decoupage finish on top of that...and that caused the ink to wash over the map causing the bright/vibrant colors to become aged. I drilled holes into each letter and added knotted suede roving to make it appear that it was tied onto the large oval... but I just glued them on. (I used the same technique on the ovals map) I then glued rope around the edge added some suede roving, made a hanger and taaaaaaadaaaaaaa, instant cute!

This Show & Tell is hosted by: Kelli

Show & Tell Friday~

This week for show & tell I'm showing off something I purchased at a second hand store for $3 buckeroooooooooooooos~ *insert smile here* This is why I call second hand stores "boutiques" because you get such unusual/beautiful things there! Well, I do anyway!

This beautiful work of art is a handmade cut-out of the Hail Mary prayer. At first glance from across the store I was drawn to it because it looked "lacey" and I loved the old frame it was in as well. When I spotted it the old frame it was glued to was HUGE and gold.... soooo I cut the frame (mitered the corners) and made it smaller so the piece fit inside it better. The piece was also not painted.... you see, this piece of art is actually cut out of WOOD. Yes, tis true! It is made out of 3/16th inch wood. So I sprayed it white (my friend said once that if anyone sits to long at my house, they get sprayed white lol...)
Here is a close up of the beautiful cut work....remember this is super thin wood. What a work of art huh?Anywho, I placed it atop of some black velvet and since there is no glass to this old frame, and I wanted to keep the dust off of it, I purchased some heavy plastic and just layed it over the top and glued it to the back of the frame.

Not knowing the history behind it at all, I am pretty confident that the person who made this has passed onto his/her great rewards. Why else would they part with it? I could tell that it had been hanging on a wall for ages.... I just bet that someone didn't see, didn't "feel" the immense love of God that this piece brought the artist who made this. Well.... I'm lucky that I found it.

This show & tell is hosted by Kelli.

Show & Tell Friday~

For this weeks show & tell I'm sharing some old Daguerretype photo's that I picked up from a second hand store. There was a bag of 5 for $20. I had always wanted some of these.... no reason in particular...lol...just wanted some. They are housed in little cases/boxes that are super cute all by themselves, then they open up to showcase an old photo inside a golden mat. There is velvet opposite the glass photo I imagine to help protect the glass from breaking. I had to use my scanner to get a close up of these. These are daguerretypes which means they reflect like a mirror so they are tricky to photograph....okokok, and I was lazy.They are not in "pristine" condition, all of them no longer are hinged together.... I like to believe that the people in those photos were so deeply loved that the boxes were opened so often that the little hinges broke that way :-)

Here is something I copied/pasted from the web about this type of photograpy if anyone is interested in reading it ~

Daguerreotype The dawn of popular photography arrived in 1839 with the daguerreotype image. Though an earlier process, the calotype, had been invented in 1835, it was the "dag," invented by Louis Daguerre in 1839, that excited the public and brought our ancestors to the new studios that opened primarily in the larger cities. The daguerreotype photographer was a true artist, and needed significant skills to create the one, non-reproduceable image. The daguerreotype produced a direct positive image by coating a copper plate with silver, polishing it, then exposing it to iodine vapors to make it light sensitive. The plate was placed went into the camera, was exposed, then heated over mercury. The result was a very sharp & detailed image. Wrinkles, lines, muscles, wounds are all keenly delineated. You will often get the feeling that the subject in a dag will step out of the image and come to life! Dags were delicate and easy to damage. Thus, the daguerreotype was the most expensive type of image to buy then as it is now. The daguerreotype is a startlingly realistic form of early photography. You can recognize a daguerreotype by the mirrored appearance to its surface.

This show & tell is hosted by Kelli

Show & Tell Friday!

This week I'm sharing a fleece blanket with a crocheted edge that I recently made for my 9 month old grandson. (instructions to follow~) I purchased a yard and 1/8th of fleece fabric with skull & cross bones on it... (since he is my lil' pirate!) I cut the fleece so it made a perfect square, I then rounded each corner. There is enough fleece left over to make a pillow... I'll whip that up at a later date. I used sport weight yarn and the edge is done with a tight stitch so as his little precious fingers don't get tangled the crocheted edge :-) Instructions: Using masking tape mark off at 1/2 inch intervals- about a 10 inch piece (this will be used as a guide to poke holes into the fleece evenly) You can reuse the same piece of tape several times :-) I used an awl to poke through the fleece to create the holes.

Create your base row by making a sc followed by 2 chain stitches all the way around your fleece blanket joining with a slip stitch to the beginning stitch~
Second row: sc in each stitch around- join with a slip stitch to beginning stitch.

Third row: This row is worked using an "X stitch" The x stitch is made by crossing two double crochet stitches over each other. Sounds hard? but is so darn easy! (I've borrowed this photo below of someone demonstrating the stitch~) Sooooo you basically chain 3 (counts as your first dc) Then you yarn over and do a dc in the stitch to the right of your first dc. You are working backwards for this dc stitch. This creates your first "X" Then.... you skip past those two dc.... skip the next stitch and make a dc in the following stitch. Yarn over and do a dc in the stitch you skipped. Continue this pattern around the whole blanket and slip stitch at the end. Almost finished!

Fourth and final row.... Sc in back loop only all the way around your blanket to give the edge a nice "finished" look, join with a slip stitch and finish off...taaaaaaaa-daaaaaaa instant cute!This show & tell hosted by: Kelli

Show & Tell Friday~

This Friday I'm showing a cupid I made using an old vintage photograph of a baby.I enlarged the photo onto cardstock and copied it in black & white so I could paint on the color (cheeks & dress) I then glued some old sheet music from the 1900's on the backside. I used illustration board as a base for the wings which I then hot glued white feathers onto. I also made a quiver using a beautiful piece of glittered paper to hold the 5 red glittered arrows this cupid has. The paper hat I made using old vintage text from a book written in French, it is embellished with a red feather ploom and a red rhinestone. In this little cherubs hand is the red glittered bow ever ready to load & shoot.I've housed this little love-bug in a pink bird house~This show & tell was hosted by Kelli

Show & Tell Friday~

Here are two small paintings I recently bought at one of our local thrift stores. The frames are solid wood frames that have a richly carved look to them. They set me back a whopping $4 dollars each. *big grin* One is a painting of a cat... (I adore cats)
the other a dog~ I have no idea where I'm going to put them, but I thought they were pretty funny and super cute...and for a total of $8 bucks, I couldn't pass them up!This Show & Tell is hosted by: Kelli over @ http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/