Graduation

Our six weeks of puppy training classes have come to an end. My German Shepard puppy is still all puppy-- but she has great moments of pure obedience... but then quickly resorts to being a carefree, psychotic puppy once again. I know once she outgrows her youth she is going to be a fantastic obedient dog. She is now five months old and since I've gotten her, she has doubled her weight!

I enjoyed learning how to train a puppy... and I did listen and pay attention.... even if my dog didn't *wink* With that said, I wanted to give our very patient dog trainer a little something-something as a thank you gift from the "class-clown" a.k.a. Akira. I had read a very funny quote a few months ago which read, "I just got a Cheerio stuck between my toes walking through the kitchen. Clearly my dog isn't doing her part of the chores around here." Well I ran with that quote-- straight to my studio to create a little wall hanging. I love to use vintage book covers to build upon when I make these wall hangers, this one was from the early 1900's.
Once I had the funny quote/wall hanger finished, I needed a gift bag to put it in. Now, I probably have enough gift bags to last me the rest of my life... but there was none that I deemed suitable for my handmade gift... so of course, I had to make a gift bag! I had an empty puppy food bag with a really nice zippered top on it... perfect!

 I drew a straight line where I wanted to cut the bag...

Next, I turned the bag inside out and I wiped it clean with a baby wipe. Then I lined up the edges and added some paper clips to keep the edges together and I drew a line where I would staple the edges together.

 I stapled on the line very close together to create a seam for the bottom of the bag.

 After the staples where in place, I placed duct tape over the entire surface of the inside-out bag. At the very bottom of the bag, I cut away some of the extra paper bag and then placed some duct tape on one side of the bag and pulled it to the other side to seal in the staples both front and back.

 Ta-da... all finished and looking snazzy! Now, the hardest part of all--- pulling this bag right side out!

 Here it is all finished. A little bit more wrinkled then what I started with, but I think it turned out super cute!

 Here is the newly made gift bag showing the duct taped interior of the bag.

Along with the wall hanger I also gave her a little fabric snap bag that I had previously made. If I remember correctly, I think I got this fabric from my friend Diannia... *waves to Diannia* Now, I know not everyone loves handmade gifts, I get that--- so I tucked in a gift card to the Texas Roadhouse. Yum. Everyone loves food!
Since school is out for summer.. ahem... we have been enjoying being in the pool to get some relief from the heat. Akira is VERY smart... she sees me sitting with my feet in the pool-- and does the same! The photo is a smidge blurry... I took it from my Instagram page :-)
She even does this in her small wading pool....  she is looking at a ping pong ball in her pool.

I am going to look into getting her in the next level of classes possibly when it gets cooler. We are already hitting 100 degrees here in California. Before the next round of classes, I also have to work on her coming when I call her name... the little stinker KNOWS HER NAME when I have some chicken or tri tip in my hand... but call her name with no treats?  Your dead to her.
big hugs,

Candelabras

I bought these two wrought iron candelabras a few years ago-- $7.00 for the pair. I stuck them in my backyard-- and that is as far as I got with that project. I decided to finally make some candles for them.

 I was lucky to find some 1/2" pvc pipe in my garage that fit perfectly in the candle sockets of the candelabras. I didn't feel like digging around looking for a hand saw to cut the pipe-- so I tried my hand at using some pruning shears and luckily it cut the plastic pipe easily.
I roughly cut some chipboard circles to cover one end of the opening of each pvc pipe. I poked a hole in the center of each piece of cardboard and pulled through a piece of thick floss generally used for plastic canvas to act as each candles wick.

After hot gluing the chipboard onto the pvc pipe, I then squirted a little bit of hot glue down the sides of each candle to mimic the look of melted candle wax.

Next, I hot glued each pvc pipe temporarily to some cardboard so I could spray paint them easily without them falling over.
A little bit of paint transforms them quickly into candles...

Once the white spray paint had dried, I simply pulled each one off of the cardboard and added some watered down brown paint to each candlestick to make them look old. I left the tops of each candle white, I think it adds to the "realness" of the look of the candles.

I added a plastic skull, which I spray painted black, to the tops of both candelabras. Ah, much better~

I am almost ready to reveal my lagoon makeover--- I'm so excited to share how super-cute it turned out!
big hugs,

Recent Treasures...

Is it just me, or are treasures getting far and few between? All of this loot below has taken me weeks to amass... 

I prefer to buy aluminum trays over silver plated trays as they don't get rusty out in my yard. That... and it drives my friends batty that I have such fabulous stuff just laying around in the yard. The trays were only $1.00...

 I scored on this small box of new velvet draw string bags. The entire box was only $1.00. I've got an idea of what I want to use these bags for when I find some free time to get working on it.

 I always buy the little booze jugs when I see them, I love how they look tucked in amongst my plants.

 I've always wanted one of these skeleton hands that crawls along a table... A very good investment for only a dollar. It has a sensor on it so it will activate randomly if someone passes by it. I am going to add a bling-ring to one of the fingers and make the fabric look a little more like the arm once belonged to a pirate. Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh~

 I bought a box of hawaiian decorations for $5.00.

 I pulled off the seashells from the boards which is the main reason I bought the box. I want to use the little plaques as sign posts with arrows pointing to different locations in the yard. Not that this is necessary, but I think it will look cute. *wink*

I am needing to pull off the old hot glue from the seashells. Most of it will pull off easily with some needle nosed pliers... the coral is pretty clean already and looks so pretty in this silver bowl. :-)

I also bought these two very tall iron what-cha-ma-call-its. With the lids in place, they measure in at 28" tall. Kinda pricey at $10 each-- but when you want something, you've got to have it!

 I bought them thinking I would load them up with seashells... but when I got them home I decided to add some moss and some pirate items to the containers. Right now I've got a compass, a small knife and an old padlock along with some small skulls in one of them.

 I am still needing a lot more odds and ends to fill them both up nicely. I'll probably add things that I don't want exposed to the elements as I'm planning on keeping these indoors. Over time I am sure it will all come together. It was inevitable that the pirate theme would work its way inside right?

Lastly, a photo of my little baby, Akira. My-oh-my is she getting big FAST. There were far better photos of her I could have posted... but, she was surrounded by a bazillion toys and pieces of bark, random rocks--- well you get the idea. Don't let that look of obedience and calm fool you. She is a hyper, jumping, spinning, never-ever seems to get tired- puppy.
With that being said, she is also pretty darn smart, she doesn't pull apart my pirate decor, and is already potty trained (hooray!) and she is beautiful :-) Now... if I could only get her not to embarrass the heck out of me at our puppy training class all would be right with the world. *sigh*
big hugs,

Hat Forms

I created a few head forms that I took with me to the  street faire I recently attended...

 There is a lot of work that go into making these... a lot of mindless work that is. It is the perfect project for sitting in front of the television to work on.

As I place each piece of metal I also add some pins to make sure everything stays in place.

I created five of these head/hat forms...

They all sold...

I've got a few upcoming selling events that I'm interested in attending... but I really haven't made anything "new".... so I'm not really "feeling-it" as I'm so busy with other stuff recently... and I also start puppy training with my German Shepard puppy, Akira on Saturday. Busy, busy, BUSY.
big hugs,
 

Pooped....

In more ways than one! Today I enjoyed a fun day selling my wares at a local craft show. The selling time was from 9 - 2, but as everyone who sells at events knows... it starts a LOT earlier and runs a LOT later for the sellers. I sold lots and lots of items and got the chance to talk with and visit with some super awesome like minded people. I love crafty people and those who love crafty stuff!

Also, I am now the proud owner of a new puppy. Look at that face! She is a three month old German Shepard. I have had her for one full week now and oooooooh my goodness is she smart. She can sit, lay and shake on command already. I am being very diligent on potty training her... another reason I'm pooped. My dog of seventeen years died recently, and I had forgotten all about puppies being little Tasmanian devils. This week I am going to get her enrolled in obedience classes. When I took her to visit with my Vet I was told she is going to be BIG. Hmmm just how big is big? I am pretty sure all that talk was code for, "You better get that dog into some obedience classes."  Okokok... that's how I took it anyway. *wink*

 This puppy had previously belonged to a nineteen year old girl who was working and going to college. It was hard for her to part with the puppy as you could imagine, but I assured her it was going to a home where it would be well cared for. 

 I kept the name she had chosen for the dog, Akira. Although, for the most part she doesn't acknowledge you when you call to her. Right now she is more interested in- the leaf blowing across the ground, the bird flying over head, trying to catch a fly buzzing her head, the branches on a tree rustling... I personally think she thinks her name is, "Are you hungry?" or... "Want some chicken?" You've never seen a dog come running so fast in your life.
Akira's big ears stand up all the time...even while sleeping. I cannot even tippy-toe to check on the puppy because she hears me coming. I must google how to walk like a Ninja....

My backyard is "pooped" too.... pooped with "poop" and puppy toys!

She is a real cutie pie~
big hugs,

Upcoming Street Faire

I've got an event coming up in a few short weeks in Old Town Clovis where I'm going to be selling some of my vintage and hand made items--- so I thought it was high time to work on some new display pieces.
I was planning on getting rid of this two tiered vintage shopping cart for awhile now, but  thought I would take one last look at it before putting it up for sale... It was missing some of the woven metal pieces that make up the baskets so I thought it looked pretty ratty. Recently at an antique sale I had seen -just the basket for this shopping cart with a hefty price tag where they had just used heavy gauge wire to recreate the missing pieces. Duh. So, now that I've done that to my baskets I'm in love with it once again. I had previously made fabric liners for the baskets and decided to remake some to match the ruffly table cloth I use at my outdoor selling events.... I found some ruched white fabric so it was easy-peasy to whip up the new inserts for the baskets. Now, I'm smitten with my vintage shopping cart once again.... *swoon*
I was curious about the selling price/value of this shopping cart. I had bought it for $5.00 a few years ago... *score* I found one on Ebay with the asking price of $410.00.... Here is part of what the seller wrote about the shopping cart:
This is a rare find! You are viewing the two wire basket trolley which happens to be the first shopping cart. It is said to be invented by Sylvan Goldman, who owned the chain grocery stores called ‘Piggly-Wiggly’. These carts were developed in the late 1930's for his stores and then later patented in 1940's. Goldman was inspired by the antique folding chairs you see today! 
I would sell mine for $200.... any takers? *laughing*
A few weeks ago I bought a two tiered display piece for $2.00. After painting it white..... you guessed it- I added a ruched liner to it as well. 

I love it...
 
Now I have to pull out my bins of things I've made and just load everything up.  It is going to be a fun day selling and hanging out with like minded people. A BIG thank you to my friend Diannia for telling me about this event so I could get in on the fun!
big hugs,