Re-purposing a Christmas Card

I generally keep Christmas cards from special people or if I really like the message or picture or think I can re-purpose it some how. {Don't you know my husband loves that about me!} Actually, I don't think he minds.

Take a look:

Last year, we received this card from our Aunt Willie Sam and Uncle Louis. I loved that it was a shape card and beautiful! I knew my Stickles were going to glam it right up!!! (Apparently I was too excited to get started...I don't have a before picture...image the above without glitter...I know it's hard. Everything is better with glitter.)

Anyone have any tips on fussy cutting chipboard?

I loved Jonathan's Aunt Willie Sam instantly. She reminds me so so much of my Nana. Even her hand writing is similar so I knew I had to save and re-porpose the inside of the card too! Really, it's the way she makes her "L"s.

I cut a piece of patterned paper to fit the chipboard on the back of the card front and mod podge'd the pieces together with the inside of the card in the middle. A little Tim Holtz distress ink around the edges and I thought it turned out great!

I intend to lean it in my kitchen window at Christmas time this year. But it was dark when I finished it all up and got it dry enough to handle so I changed up the photo shoot.

I love that little shelf area in my bathroom...yes, I was taking pictures in the bathroom. :)

It's the bathroom right out side of my craft room. It has a cute pedestal sink and is just quaint. Our guests don't use it because there's a larger one across the hall...but I pretend they do. :)

So, do you save Christmas cards too?

Partying at Jennifer Rizzo's place. Check it out here.

I was FEATURED!!!

Can you believe it!?!

Rhoda, from Southern Hospitality featured my tea cart in her Thrifty Treasures recap.

I'm talking about this cart:

Here it is currently...still not completely painted.

{Here} is the original party I linked to. And {here's} where she featured me! ME!! Woo Hoo!!! Thank you, Rhoda!

If you like finding great deals, yard sales, second hand shops, etc, etc, you should totally check out Southern Hospitality. You will be glad you did!

Patio Furniture

I don't know about you, but I think patio furniture is horribly expensive!!! I've been looking around for furniture for our tall deck, the one Jj has been repairing. I'll show you progress pictures of the deck...pretty impressive, if I say so myself. That guy is super handy and talented.

Anyway, back to the fur other hunt. I had already decoded that I was going to have to wait for someone to discard their furniture either via garage sale, Craigslist or good ole estate auction!

Enter my sweet Momma and an Auction at Larry Petree Auctioneer in Tipton, MO. And check out this beauty!!!!!

I know! Just wait...it gets better!!!!!!! It was only $20!!!

A couple of weeks ago, on a routine Wal-Mart trip, I perused the spray paint and selected a color that was pretty to me. I didn't have a plan for the paint...I just knew that I liked it and it felt like the Beach to me. If you have been around here much this year, you know that I'm trying to add A little Beach to every room in our house. You can see my progress {here}. Anyway, here's the color I had...just waiting! And here's a sneak peak of the painting:

I only had one can of paint...so I'll have to finish another day. But! I'm liking up with Southern Hospitality's Thrifty Finds party. Check it out {here}.

Re-purposed Ink Holder

My inks have always just been kind of all over. :) Awhile back, my friend Lora, told me about using an old tape cassette holder...got me to thinking!

Enter a trip to the Red Racks!

In case you don't know, Red Racks are trift stores ran for the financial benefit of the Disabled American Veterans. When we lived in Columbia, MO, a couple of times a year, they would pick up curb side and sell the stuff at their markets all across the Kansas City area. Now that we live in the KC area, I have developed an affinity for these shops.

The junk is good, the prices are good and so is the mission and purpose of the shops.

I think this thing was $2.95. Probably not as cheap as a yard sale but definitely do-able!

I started after it with several light coats of my favorite Heirloom White.

Just like the bird cage, it took FOREVER to get the insides covered!!!!!

SIDE NOTE:

When I turned this dude over on the back... it was manufactured in June of 1980! This crate is officially vintage...and officially older than me!

See what I mean? It's rough and narrow and just plain hard to paint.

But the final result was worth it and I don't think you can tell that I didn't get the inside painted well. :)

Stampin Up! and Close to My Heart inks both fit great! On top, I have Tim Holtz Distress inks.

To the right of this tape case turned ink holder, there's a book case that I got at a yard sale for $5 and painted too. It holds my stamp sets.

Do you have any great stories of junk you had from your kid-dom that you re-purposed into cool stuff? I'd love to hear the stories!

I linked up at Jennifer Rizzo's Thrift Store makeover party. Check it out {here}.

Sun Porch Eye Candy

Remember waaaayyyyyyy back when I told you about getting my sun porch together?? Well, I had to google to find it, myself! :)

Look {here}.

Ok, so it's not much...so far but...

I had this bird cage from our wedding. Mom bought it back then at an auction and spray painted it to match our decor.

I love this thing!! Jj thought it shouldn't make the move from our old house...obviously, it came with! :)

Oops, there's my shadow.

Here we are partially painted.

And here it is pretty much done.

Let me tell you! Painting the inside of there was a royal pain in the patoot!

I also rubbed it down with a little wax stuff to take the *glare* off. I'll show you that when I get the porch shaped up. I need to do some serious sewing!!

Reformed Big Ugly Mirror

Remember when I showed you that big ugly mirror I got at a yard sale for $10?? Click {here} to see that thing again...go ahead, I'll wait.

I know right?!?

Here's where we started. Sans beautiful tapestry and ready for some pretty.

I went to town with my favorite Heirloom White spray paint.

When I bought it originally, I had something like this in mind:

Source...as near as I know.

You can see the rest of my Master Suite inspiration photos {here}.

I have the giant ampersand but I haven't decided if I want it to say "you & me" or "mr & mrs) or if I want to use vinyl or cloth for the other letters...too many decisions.

BUT! I knew I wanted to use this frame, ASAP.

Enter our current Mantle decor:

I haven't had a great plan going on in here since I took the Christmas off there. This is ok at first glace but allow me to put this all in perspective for you...

Almost there:

I know. Where did my little vignette go????

So I started over with a bigger base: And I added some stuff from other places: Recognize that "Jones" sign from these pictures?? Click {here} to see the ones of which I speak.

I was trying to hold it up there to see what I thought...I got this great idea that I'd snap a picture and then I could "see" what it would look like. Note to self: Need longer arms. :)

I busted out my command hooks and it worked great!! I added a few accessories and here's what I came up with: And the whole effect, plus a Boxer.

I wasn't terribly in love with it but decided it would do just fine until I thought of something else.

Well, Jj didn't much care for the picture in a picture. He said, "that's weird. Do other people hang pictures inside frames that don't fit or did you just come up with something here?" I told him that I see it all over the internet and it's really quite normal. Alas, I agree with him...it's kind of akward.

So, I removed the "Jones" sign and put it back where it was.

Here's where we are now. I have a plan but I need a good coupon code to Mpix.com first. ;)

A little plain but like I said, I have a plan.

And about those cords that I tried to stuff in the basket...when we bought this house, we went ahead and had hook-ups for satellite TV added to this room. We have no idea if we want or exactly where we would put a TV in here. For now, I have the box and cords sort of piled into a basket...

Edited to include the following: Linked up to Jennifer Rizzo's Painted Project Party.

What's your go-to mantle decorating trick? I could use some assistance!

Buh-Bye Sassy Brassy!

Remember when I told you about my Stevie throwing dust rags in the fan?

Remember this fan?

Don't you just love that brass?
That's ok. Me either!!
Remember that I have been spray painting lately?

Did you guess what I have done??

Yep, I did it! Dad & Jj took down the fans...which was a Circus in itself!


Jj brought a 12' ladder home from work. They quickly decided that one on the balcony and one on the ladder wasn't going to cut it.

So, we had to rent a 16 foot ladder! HOLY COW!!!!! It was tight quarters maneuvering that baby around in our living room.



Removing the globes helped a ton with elbow room.



They took a few blades off for opening more space too.



Then they repeated the steps for the other fan.

Prior to beginning, they turned off the breakers and checked (however they do that...I am a bit scared of electricity) to make sure they did in fact have the juice off!

SIDE NOTE: I warned Jj that if he left me a young widow in a big house, tons of miles away from our family and friends...I'd be upset! Basically, I insisted they use the breaker as an off, rather than just the switch. Let's be smart about electricity.

**And now I'm off that soap box**

Once the fans were both down, I started to take them apart.


Basically, I wanted to separate the blades because they weren't getting painted. Then, I wanted to take the main part apart as much as I could. Which basically consisted of taking off the light kit (you just unscrew it) and the blade holders (above picture).

I could have sworn I took pictures of this next part...but I guess not. I ran a light sand paper across all the surfaces just to be sure. I was using something like 220 grit; not much at all.

I laid all the pieces out on my drop cloth and commenced to painting! I dusted them with a spray paint primer (Rustoleum) because I had it and then went to Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze. I did 2 coats, loosely. I say loosely because I didn't really do 2 complete coats but the second coat was more to hit the spots I missed.

After having completed the project, I would recommend priming. If nothing else, it changed all the surfaces to white so I could easily see where I needed to add a little paint.

We let them dry over night and put the fans back together. We left off 2 blades, the bulbs and globes off for ease of handling.





On to fan #2


And that's a finished project!

What do you think?







Thanks for stopping by.

What's your latest finished project? I'd love to hear all about it!
Leave me a link in the comments. I'd love to see all about it too. :)

Here's the newest addition to our Home!

My Pretty Mom refinished this for our wedding gift. She and Steve delivered it last weekend. JJ and I couldn't decide where we were going to put it so they couldn't install the shelves (hence the year delay)...

Like Miss Irene, this beauty was nearly black when my Mom rescued her and saved her just for us. JJ and I truly are blessed with wonderful family that love us very much as well as provide for us an example of how wonderful marriage can be. I agree Mom, may God watch over us and help us to remember to keep Him at the center of our marriage and our marriage at the center of our lives.

Just look at that detail!!

We finally made a decision.... this pretty girl resides in my Cavern and holds some of my favorite things... PAPER!!

Psssttt-- looks like I need more doesn't it!?! There are two whole drawers at the bottom that are empty... EMPTY I say. Oh my stars!

~LJ

Making our house into a Home

A long time ago, JJ told his mom that his house was starting to get cozy. Want to know why? He had curtains, candles and a rug at the back door! (All dropped off, hung up, etc by me.) Well fast forward 7 years, finishing graduate school and beginning a marriage... here we are.... And I am still striving for cozy!

Anyway, I found this semi-ugly wooden word at Dollar General for $3. I liked the shape and the word, I didn't hate the red but the black line... really?? Had me wondering... "Just who thought that was a good idea?"

But I took it home anyway, busted out my Heirloom White spray paint and went to town! I let it dry overnight and sanded the edges and a few random front parts. I set it in my kitchen window next to an airplane plant and a stack of vintage butter pats that I picked up about a month ago.

Pretty cute and pretty home-y.

I am linking to Today's Thrifty Treasure at Southern Hospitality.