Roasting Marshmallows

My daughter and her family are going camping this week. This will be the first camping trip for my two little grandchildren. Along with camping, it is my son-in-laws birthday too.... so, I thought it would be fun for my two grand kids to make some roasting sticks  and gift them to their dad for his birthday-- then they could use them on the camping trip.

They were simple to make, I cut and straightened wire coat hangers for the sticks. The wire coat hangers have a bronzed finish on them that easily comes off with some sand paper. I only sanded about 3 inches where the marshmallows would be placed on the roasting sticks.  Once the wire was ready to go, I looped one end and had my two grand kids add one large bead and then four small beads to create a handle. We used a paint brush dipped in glue to adhere the wooden beads together. After the glue holding the beads together dried,  I let my grand kids paint each handle with what ever color they liked.
 
Pink for Mom, blue for Dad, orange for Jonathan and Chloe requested a shiny purple. Little Miss Chloe Rose loves to paint and does it every time she comes over to Nana's house *wink*

 Here is Jonathan hard at work, this was the perfect project for him--- short and sweet. He doesn't like working on art projects that take longer than 15 minutes...

Once the paint on the handles dried, they were finished. Easy peasy. I used some foam marshmallow on the end of each roasting stick to keep them from poking anyone accidentally while being transported in the car to the camp site.
 
I think they turned out really cute! The grand kids wrapped everything up nicely... I even let them wrap up some marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers to go with the roasting sticks...
fun times... fun times :-)
big hugs,

Yearly Pilgramige

I had a wonderful time at San Juan Batista for the annual Antique street fair that is held the second Sunday of August. I totally fell in love with a store that I didn't expect to come across while poking around the streets looking for treasures... The store is called "Vintage Corner" and it is literally one of the cutest stores I have come across in a long-long time.

 The store is housed in an old school building that is just filled with charm from every angle...

 I completely fell in love with the burlap curtains and the burlap retaining netting that was used to close off part of this large room. The burlap netting is from a hardware store. I love the look of it and think I'll get some for my pirate backyard!

 Loving the huge wooden clock--- it was listed at only $85.00....

Everywhere you looked was something fabulous to look at... branches made into shelves? NEAT!

 My new bff Susan was selling out in the back court yard of the old school house now the "Vintage Corner" her face book page is: Crowned Goddess... another pure delightful soul. Unfortunately the store I fell in love with is closing at the end of August... boo.... but Susan is looking into getting ownership and continuing on with the store! I wish her all the luck in the world! Check out her face book page and say hello :-)

I did find the best kettle corn I have ever had in my life... that was my first purchase of the day! Priorities people, priorities...

Amongst the antiques I spotted some pirate junque...

the usual Pez junque...

and some old junque...

some cute junque...

 

and then there was some treasures! I immediately fell in love with this high chair with a vintage silver tray screwed in place for the high chairs tray.... fabulous!

 *gasp* the loveliness of it all! The soft pink she had painted everything was gorgeous!

I talked in length with the gal who created all this beauty and she was a sweetie as well~

Love-love-loving the vintage table cloths on this towel rack.... darling!

 and these dress forms a gal distressed and added the graphics onto the forms...

Super cute items... simple and sweet.

 I stopped in my tracks when I saw this pirate luggage piled high... aarrrgh.... *wink*

 Wooden furniture everywhere...

A huge folk art adult rocking chair...

 It is super odd, but extremely well made!

 It is for sale at "Sweet Pea Antiques" on Third Street in San Juan Batista if your interested in purchasing it. *wink*

 OH..... and they have these little children's chairs that are super sweet!!!

Here are some more photos from the "Vintage Corner".....

Loving the rusty galvanized retaining wall in the garden...

An old spool potting table..... cute~

Oh my goodness... a bucket turned into a light? Um... yes please!

I did manage to find some odds and ends to actually buy while in San Juan Batista. I found a few pirate things for my backyard, I found 24 cork net-buoys for only $10.00 for the lot. A wooden vase and a wooden tiki sculpture both only $2 each, and the large wooden box was only $1.00.

 

This turning display piece was only $6, the little pegs on the side fold down flat against the piece so the whole thing is easier to transport. It is a neat piece that I can hopefully turn into something fabulous to hold some jewelry pieces for sale.

 

The biggest score of the day, besides the to-die-for caramel kettle corn, was this vintage metal parts cabinet. It was only $40.00.... I was on the fence on if I wanted to buy it or not--- until a man said he wanted to buy it if I didn't. Well.... thats all it took.... it was mine. 

It even came with some parts inside the drawers....

 

I told the guy I bought it from I was going to paint it pink--- I'm glad I can do my part to make people laugh hysterically..... all in a days work!

Here are a few of the people that made my day extra special:

The owner of 

"Sweet Pea Antiques"

     404 Third Street   

San Juan Batista, CA 95045 

The owner of

"Gussied Up Antiques"

349 Bell Street

Los Alamos, CA 

The Owner of

Junk U Say

(Face book)

and lastly, 

Susan Ramirez, Artist

Crowned Goddess

(Face book)

Thanks again to all of you for adding such joy to my day!

big hugs,

Lagoon W.I.P.

The lagoon I'm creating in my backyard is progressing nicely.  I've added some stairs to the step down lagoon, now it is so much easier to get down into the area....

 Here is a photo from the lagoon looking up.....I just adore those huge tumbled brick that I used for the stairs steps. The were only $3 each at the Depot...

 I have used a lot of cement retaining stones in this area... to soften it a little bit, I am going to cover the tops of them with rocks and other things to make it appear to be more natural rather than machine made. Here is one area I've already started on. This is to the left of the main steps as you walk down....
 
I loved the steps so much, I created another set of steps at the other end of the lagoon.

 For the floor of the lagoons area, I was wanting a cobblestone appearance with a large compass in the center. Well, I've begun with the faux cobblestone--- and so far, I'm pretty happy with how it is turning out. I am using some old irregular sized clay brick that I am setting with a large dirt grout area around each one. Once all the cobblestones/bricks have been set, I am going to create a compass in the center and then give everything a paint job of grays, browns and some black to create an old-old look. Fingers crossed it will look good!

 Once everything is completed, comes the fun part of adding a pirate touch to the plantings..... fun-fun-fun!

 I also have to move the wood deck that I pulled up from this area, but in the mean time, Pee Wee is king of the wood pile.

 and Puss-puss is queen of the dirt clods. She plays with them-- silly cat~

 big hugs,

Art Hop

I had a really fun time tonight as one of the vendors at an "Artist's Market" at our cities monthly ArtHop  held in our downtown area. There are over 80 participating artist studios, galleries, museums, and other venues that open up their businesses at nighttime to exhibit art at this event. At most participating venues the artists hang out at the receptions and some works are for sale, others simply for show.... I was lucky enough to get to be an "Artist Vendor" and sell my wares tonight. It was awesome. I met a lot of very talented artists, and I even came across several people who have been reading my blog for a long-long time. *blushing & embarrassed* Who knew?.....
 
Usually, I try a practice display at home before an event. This time I just took a bunch of stuff and just kind of winged it. I was going to tweek it and make it look cuter.... but by then the crowds were coming... but it all worked out just fine. I made over a hundred dollars in three hours... I think the sale sign I made pulled them in. It would me! lol

At each event I participate in I always try to make new cutesy things for my sellers table. I was wanting a small pennant for the front of the long ruffled table cloth I made for the last event--- but it just didn't happen. The only thing I completed was a "sale" pennant.  Even though I knew I was going to participate at this event a month ago, nothing like the last minute to get it done!

 I used burlap that I backed with some iron on fusible adhesive and then adhered the burlap to some tan felt. Once I had the backed burlap finished, I cut it up into small triangle pennants. After I had a large stack, I simply used a stencil and a red and a black sharpie to create "sale" and the name "The Tarnished Crown".... Then I glued the pennant pieces to some twine that I then just pinned to the display piece.

I know a few of the artists that have works that are showcased at some of these galleries, it is an amazing event that I look forward to participating in again!
big hugs,