Peace on Earth Good Will Toward Men

I wanted to wish all of my virtual friends a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year too. Thank you, gals, for all of your ideas, inspiration, camaraderie, uplifting words and prayers. I couldn't imagine a year without all of you wonderful women and your very unique personalities and ideas.

Thank-you so much and God Bless you during this CHRISTmas season. Peace on Earth Good Will toward men.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them,

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 2:8-14

Sue

I've Been Featured in the Front Window!

I've made it to the front page of sorts! I've had three of my items displayed in the front window at the Calico Craft Mall that I have a tiny booth in. The JOY sign, the tree in a Red Barrel left/below the sign, and the large Lathe Star to the right and below are all mine. Woohoo!

This "JOY" window is something that I think I subconsciously overpriced so that I'll have to keep it!

My favorite Christmas "Cloche"! I found an adorable pink cardboard house (brand new but I really loved it), attached it to a vintage silver-plated tray, added some vintage bottle brushes that I bleached to a paler shade of green, glued lots of "snow" to the tray and then covered with a huge glass dome-type cloche that I found at GoodWill. Oh, yea, I wired vintage glass white beads in three different sizes together to form a snowman. I made three, sprayed with adhesive spray, rolled them in snow and glitter, and wala - I had a snowman family. It's rather difficult to see them, but they are in the lower left area beneath the trees. Hopefully this will sell as well, but if it doesn't, gosh, I just might have to keep it for myself! I was in the shop the other day and overheard two little boys with their mother. One said "Wow, that's a really big Snow Globe"! I hadn't looked at it like a snow globe before, but it sure does look like one.

These were fast sellers and I didn't make enough, of course. I found some antique lathe strips at the local flea market and assembled five together to form a star.

I even remembered to keep one for myself!

I made the mistake of taking pictures at the shop and the lighting was horrendous! This is my Shabby Chic Pink Christmas tree in an enamelware bucket. Honestly, there are many pink accents including pink miniature lights, a large pink bow, vintage pink glass ornaments, pink beaded garland, pink star, and pink-n-white pinwheel ornaments (new). I've also wired ice-looking picks to many of the branches for some extra shimmer.

My Father-in-Law Left a Wonderful Legacy

As some of you know, my Father-in-Law has been very ill for the last four months. He lost his battle to many problems including complications after double bypass last month and passed away very peacefully on Sunday. He may have lost the battle - but he won the fight as we know he has finally met our Savior that he has modeled his own life after.

This is the type of man that left a wonderful legacy without even trying. Always kind and gentle, he ALWAYS put everyone before himself - especially his wife of 53 years and his three sons.

I'm not able to put down in words everything that I'd like to as the pain is too fresh, but I did want to pay tribute to Bert Randall, 80 years old, husband to Hazel and father to Danny, Terry, and Gary. May he enjoy his new life in Heaven and may he rest in peace.

Yankee Candle Wood Lid Tutorial - Recycle is Good

I've been on a quest recently to find out something to do with candle jar lids without dumping them into my recycle bins. So, I managed to come up with one thing for the Yankee Soy Candle wood lids.

I discovered that the wood lids can be separated from the plastic seal and used for crafts. Just use care when cutting the plastic rim.

I tossed the plastic rim into recycle and used the wood disc as the base of a wood candle holder for more stability for a future project. Using E600, I glued the wood disc to the base of the candle holder and I'll use the metal circle for another project. I had just bought a wooden disc at Hobby Lobby for $.99 but with this quick project, I got three wood discs for free just by recycling!

My First Craft Mall Teeny Tiny Booth

Newsflash:

In the midst of the rat race I'm running, I finally took the plunge and signed a six month lease for a very small space at a relatively new (but very busy) craft mall near me. The Calico Rabbit in Plainwell, MI has a great corner storefront in the middle of their quaint little town. Small

is good for just starting out I think, but I filled it as well as I could. The good news is that the owner invited me to bring in more goodies to overflow in the empty booth next to me. In fact, she said that I could bring in lots more junk and scatter them here and there in a couple more semi-empty booths. She'd rather have things in the spaces and then clear them when the spaces are rented. Sounds grand to me - extra space for me rent free!

Here's a few pictures of my space. The mini lights are pink, great to help highlight Chic Cottage Junk!

It's not very big but I loaded it up! The previous tenant had painted the pegboard brown and I thought it went just fine with the Shabby colors I use.

Life Has Gotten in the Way ...

As many of you find, Life has a way of - well - of getting in the way. I have been away from home a lot staying with my Mother-in-Law a couple of hours away. After two months of health issues for my Father-in-Law and in-and-out of the hospital, he suffered a heart attack a month ago. After double bypass a month ago today, he has had many set-backs and complications.

Last Wednesday, while going through minor surgery for the insertion of a feeding tube into his stomach, they lost him after his heart and breathing stopped. After 10 minutes of full recessitation including chest compressions on a chest that three weeks earlier endured open heart surgery, the doctors were able to revive him. He has improved over the last week and the decision was made yesterday to transport him to an acute cardiac care rehabilitation facility. At this point he is still stable but is in for a long road of rehab. He is very weak and cannot even feed himself at this point.

I was gone for a week and it feels good to be back home ... for now.

Been Outta the Loop for awhile

I've been AWOL again, but I've had lots going on and just haven't taken the time to blog. I had my first fall craft show a couple of weeks ago, hurt my back and neck, getting ready for another show Saturday, and Life in General, getting in the way!

I'm just checking in and I wanted to thank Janis Gurney (http://janisgurney.blogspot.com/) JunkDreams for mentioning me and one of my past projects on JunkMarketStyle.com! What a dear! Thank you so much for the mention - and the fact that it was included in the latest email from Junk Market Style! Janis - your Masher Bud Vases are beautiful - and an improvement on mine! Thanks again.

I need to get to bed with some good ole Ben Gay on my neck and shoulder. I've been fighting this "pain-in-the-neck" for a week and a half now and I'm really getting tired of it. It's been pretty painful and has really put me behind in production for my October shows. Dang it all!

Not a whole lot new here I suppose. Andrew's new job at the Vet Hospital is going well and he is really settling in well. First full time job WITH benefits and a good paying job until he gets picked up by National Geographic. Jeremy got a new cast last week and is still fuming that he won't be wake boarding any more this year!

Thanks for your patience while I try to get back to blogging. And thanks to the new followers - I really appreciate you stopping by!

Sue

Mom, I'm gonna be ok so don't freak ...

Have you ever gotten that phone call from a child that starts out likes this ...

"Mom, I'm gonna be ok so don't freak". Yup, I got that one today. Jeremy, my oldest (three weeks shy of 28) called me from the emergency room this morning and started the conversation with the previous line. Of course, as a mother, I had to freak just because he told me not to. Actually, I didn't freak, but I knew it was going to be bad. He was wake boarding this morning when he "bit it" or "wiped out" or "biffed". Whatever you want to call it, it wasn't good.

While falling, he hit his forearm on his knee - and you guessed it - he broke his arm. Not a fracture - broke it all the way through. Not a clean break - a bad break. A jagged break. So, they put him out to set it and then put on a pretty white cast. That will hold him until next week when he will ultimately have surgery to put a shiny new plate in his arm. Not to freak, mind you, just the typical phone call a mother might get from a 28 year old who likes extreme sports!

I'm glad my younger son was driving the boat and was able to take him to emergency. Andrew took him home, detailed the boat and got it covered for the night when he took a bad fall on the dock. Andrew's belongings flew out of pockets and his cell phone landed - well, where else might it land? You guessed it - in the lake. (Jeremy put two iPhones in the lake too) Lakes and cell phones are not a good combination. So, Andrew had to go to work tonight filming a high school football game and will stand for several hours with undoubtedly a sore back side.

So, it's been a rough day around here ...

I'm Not Sure Who was More Scared ...

So...I have this little friend...I call him Chic Munk...yeah, I know that they are called chipmunks, but I like Chic Munk, it just sounds cuter. And he is cute! He is DARLING cute! He sneaks into the garage when I'm painting my junk and then scurries out when I mover around the garage and accidently frighten him. He helps himself by sitting right in the middle of one of our bird feeders and stuffing his little CHIC Munk CHEEKS full of bird seed and sunflower seeds.

So last week I was taking one of my flower walks ... you know the walk ... where you WALK slowly among your flower beds and admire the calming beauty that flowers offer. I heard Chic Munk scurry up the down spout above my rain barrel. He likes to perch on the rain barrel and run up the spout when he sees me. It's just a cute GAME we play - just me and Chick.

Anyway, I ran to get my camera because I could see a photo opportunity unfolding. I was in the middle of my "photo shoot" when I decided to get really close when he ran into the spout again. I moved the decorative trellis thingy in front of the spout a little for a better view up the spout - the trellis bumped against the camera - which scared Chic - and then he scared me!!! I smacked my wrist on the trellis and instantly one of the veins inside my wrist burst open inside.

The pain and the fire inside my wrist almost took me to my knees. My husband was out of town with his parents (FIL in hospital) and I had to call him to ask if I was going to bleed inside to death - should I go to emergency. In the scope of what he was dealing with regarding his father, my blood filled wrist was probably not an emergency. But to me it was. I resorted to icing it several times that night and I'm fine now, just a little tender in the area.

You'll have to look closely to find Chic Munk, but he really is there!

Rainy Friday with a Previous Project ...

Potato Masher Bud Vases ...

Flea Market Style Give-away!

Be sure to check out the Flea-Market lined cart give-away at the Flea Market Style Bog today! The contest ends Sunday, so hurry over to the new blog and read about the brand new magazine coming out next spring.

Roadside Rescue ... Empty Sewing Machine Tables

So, I was lying in bed the other night reading the recent JR posts on my laptop when my CELL PHONE rang. It was only about 8 pm, but sometimes I just feel like getting HORIZONTAL a little early and either read or watch tv. Anyway, back to the story, I ran to the phone (hoping that both adult sons were ok) and discovered that it was one of my DH's co-workers. Hmmm, what on earth could she be calling on MY cell phone for? She's an ANGEL - did you hear me? An ANGEL! She was driving a couple of miles from my house when she called - she just saw four bedside TABLES or end TABLES on the side of the road with a FREE sign on them. When she told me where they were I KNEW exactly what they were without seeing them. I had been to a BARN sale two weeks in a row at that house and they were selling dozens of old sewing machines and cabinets. I figured that these were SEWING MACHINE CABINETS (and I was right!) So, I pealed off my JAMMIES, threw on some clothes, and SNUCK out of the house with DH still sound asleep in bed. I hurried down to the house, JUMPED out of the car, and within about two minutes, I had three of those suckers CRAMMED into my car! I got back home, snuck back into the house, slipped back into JAMMIES and slid into bed. My DH hadn't even rolled over! I'll post an update when I get them converted to either pet beds, kitty-litter concealers, or end tables. I have to let the ideas ferment in my mind before I dive in.

More Garden Tour

These are from my "Bird Santuary"...

Garden Tour

I took some new pics of my yard the other day and I thought I'd put them here for SAFE keeping. I started with two flower beds in which I planted perennials that I got free on Freecycle, mostly from a local Master Gardner (Thank-you Barb P. from Dowagiac, MI). As you know, perennials like to REPRODUCE and with over-flow from the original two beds, I now have seven ADDITIONAL beds. I also have a very large area on a hill that all of my over-flows go to for sort of a MEADOW type bed. This is also where I pull from to start MORE beds! A girl can't have too many flower beds in my opinion!

Vintage muffin pans don't always have to hold muffins. I painted this one a soft pink and then added mint green in every-other cup and around some of the edges of the pink cups and the outside edge. I sanded it as I would a wood piece to shabby it up a bit. The colors look good enough to eat!

Doesn't it look much better as a jewelry tin or trinket tin?

My First Window Greenhouse!

We were so pleased with the outcome and plan to build a few more for my Garden Tour and Chic Cottage Junk sale in June of next year. Please check back periodically for updates on our Garden Tour and Sale!

We used four very tall (5.5') windows for the sides and door and two smaller windows for the roof. We framed it in on the inside, added two handles on two sides for moving about the yard, and two iron shelf brackets at the peak of the roof for a little character and added support. Isn't this just the neatest greenhouse - we call it our phone booth and even added a pay phone for even more uniqueness. I plan to really start my plants in it next spring.

Ok, so I've been AWOL for a couple of weeks while I've been busy around the yard completing a few projects. My latest and greatest is my first window greenhouse. I happened to acquire a few dozen windows recently and, at the urging of my junkin' buddy JunkerMidge, I attempted my first greenhouse with the help of my DH Gary.

Today's Junk Finds - Favorite Thrifty Hang Out

I was so excited to take a little adventure today. I visited my local GW and my absolute FAVORITE thrift store and found some treasures - of course! At the thrift store, I found some great vintage silver plated items - A beauty of a tea pot ($2.50), sugar and creamer (.50/pair), serving tray ($1), and a casserole holder (.50) minus the glass casserole. I'll use the casserole holder for chimes and possibly the tea pot as well. Or, the tea pot may become part of a Christmas display (yes - I said CHRISTMAS not holiday - please don't call the politically correct police). Some old wooden coasters (.50) will get shabbied up a bit with paint, set of 4 brandy glasses ($1.50) will become cloches, some china pieces for mosaics that I'll start on soon, some other glass pieces (about .50 each), a grapevine type swag ($2.50 for about 16') will become little nests in cloches and wine glasses, among a few other things. I love the 2 pink sheers ($4.00) and I'll use them in my craft booth near my Shabby Chic junk at upcoming fall shows. Grand total for this haul was only $22.00! I LOVE it all.

Deer in the Garden

This little cutie spends time frolicking in the river and then spends time frolicking in the flower gardens eating off the tops of my flowers! Yesterday I stood in my kitchen making a pie while one of her babies watched me without my knowing. When I looked up, we met eyes and when I went to get my camera, the baby was gone. I went out to move the sprinkler in one of my flower beds awhile later and we startled each other again. The little stinker was eating flower tops again!

Tricked-Out Silverplated Pink Compote

This is an older project, but thought I'd post it anyway. I used an old silverplated compote, shabbied it up with a bit of pink paint, & distressed the edges for more Shabby Chic appeal. I then wove a length of mint green ribbon through the filigree openings, added an old pink glass broach & some glass prisms for some BLING.

Junk Haul from Last Week

Here are a few of the things I got last week, including an old clock with hands but no movement pieces on the back, a wire wall basket, an old wooden perpetual calendar, a vintage wood 3-shelf deally backed by a mirror, lots of glass pieces for totems, an old candy tin with sewing notions and my favorite & a keeper - an old metal stool similar to what you might find in a laboratory. The seat was shiny chrome with a couple of rusty glass rings. I sprayed poly on the seat to preserve the rust - YES - to preserve the rust! There's plenty to keep me a little busy with this stuff!

FREE WINDOWS

I cannot wait to start some painting projects with them. I took them all to my junk storage rental to let them dry off for a few days. I'll make some into chalkboard/corkboard message centers and also paint some Americana Flags on the single paned ones. Then I'll cart them off to some of the shops I sell in and save the rest for the fall Arts & Crafts shows that I'll be in. Woohoo!

FREE WINDOWS

Yesterday I hit the jackpot on free old wood framed windows. I posted a "wanted" on Craiglist and had only one reply. A guy had remodeled his house and put new windows in. Long story short, I got 14 free windows for future projects. Six windows had 3 panes and six had single panes. It took two hours today, a hose, 4 buckets of Murphy's Oil Soap, Comet, a Magic Eraser and a scrub brush to get the filth off them.

Take the Time to Help Someone Get to Where They are Going...

Yesterday morning I went out to get some paint at the hardware store. When I came out, an elderly lady (picture white hair, frail, maybe 85 years old) was just pulling into the spot next to me when I started backing out. She kind of waved me over to her car so I turned my engine off and walked over to her window. She asked me how to get to a road that was about 15 miles away. She actually had tears in her eyes when she told me that she was a little confused and wasn't sure how to get there. This frail, petite lady was dressed to the nines and looked like she was a very prim and proper little gal.

I asked her if she wanted to take the highway or the back-roads. Again, with tears in her eyes, she replied that she couldn't take the highway. (Now, this was not on my agenda, I had flowers to plant and pieces to paint). I told her that I would be driving south for a mile or so and where I turned right - she should turn left and stay on that road for about 15 miles and it would take her right to the road that she wanted to go to. I thought she was going to cry right there! Finally, I said, I'll drive to the very road that she wanted to go to and she could follow me. With big tears in her eyes, she couldn't thank me enough for taking the time to go out of my way to get her there. We traveled along, me leading, her following, until we got about a mile away from the road that she wanted to get to. She evidently started recognizing the streets and we were passing and found the road that would lead her to her destination, and turned off.

I'm sure you know the feeling that I got - she thought that I was doing her a favor, when instead, she was doing me a favor. Someday I may be wearing her shoes. a bit confused, and need someone else to take the time out of their busy day to help me get to where I'm going.

While I was out where I didn't have plans to be yesterday, I hit a few garage sales that netted me some pretty nifty things - so the trip was certainly meant to be!

JunkerMidge T-Shirt Giveaway!!

My friend JunkerMidge is giving away a free I heart Junk T-Shirt so be sure to check out her cool blog for your chance to win!!

http://refunctionjunktion.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-first-giveaway-hope-it-fits-you-to.html

Contents of $2 box! Lots of mugs and dishes and a couple of pieces of Spode Christmas Tree! Also a vintage Thermos with a red cup lid and a cork stopper that I've never seen before.

30 Hay Wagon Estate Sale Today!

I ventured off the couch after being sick all week and at the urging of lots of my junking buddies at the Junk Revolution, I headed to an Estate sale where the load everything up on haywagons and park them all over the front yard, side yard and back yard. Their barn was also full of antique furniture and goodies.

This was most of my haul for the day.

Large picture frame $1

Small picture frame 50¢

White frame 50¢

Mesh wire book stand $1

Small square table $1

Wood doll bed $1

Tweed sewing machine case 50¢

Samsonite aqua train case with sewing notions $2

Box of Therm-o-ware + other junk $4

Box of junk $2 which contained 2 pieces of Spode Christmas Tree among other goodies

Turquoise rimmed enamelware double boiler $6

5 or 6 pieces of silverplate $2

Green vintage cash box $1

Vintage electric alarm clock 50¢

Box of hinges and knobs 25¢

2 vintage drawing compasses 50¢ each

3 burlap looking tabbed valances 25¢ each

Ceiling medallion 10¢

various other goodies about $2

Well, this blogging stuff hasn't gone the way I had hope it would. It seems like one thing after another has kept me away. Right after our trip to Alaska, I had eye surgery that kept my vision fluctuating for a couple of weeks. Then, I've not been working on a single project since before we left for Alaska so there's nothing new in that category. Saturday night I came down with a bad case of the flu or food poisoning that has really kicked my butt. I've been in bed or on the couch since 3:00 am Sunday morning and I'm getting sick and tired of being sick and tired darn it!

I don't have any new projects so I'll try to post some garage sale finds from a couple of weeks ago...coming soon.

Sorry I've been gone for awhile, but I had lasik eye surgery last week and haven't been on the computer much. My focus is in and out a bit at times so that's my excuse for being awol!

I'll be busy over the weekend out of town for Father's Day. I hope you all have Fathers to be grateful for whether here to celebrate with or waiting for you in Heaven. I have very fond memories of my childhood and I am so grateful to my Father (and Mother waiting for me in Heaven) for bringing up six Irish Catholic children so well. The greatest gift that they ever gave us was the Gift of Love.

Thank you and Happy Father's Day Dad and all of the other father's out there.

Mt. McKinley or Mt. Denali as the natives call it

This is what everyone was there to see - The North Face of Mt. McKinley inside Denali National Park. Because it's so high at 20,320 feet, there's usually cloud cover & you might never get to see her like this. We were lucky & she was "out" on one of the 3 days that we were there. What looks like clouds/snow is actually McKinley. This picture can't come close to giving you a good idea of how big it is!