New Painted Furniture

These are my recent creations.

White spindly table with drawer and shelves, handpainted roses on this cute little child's chair, great old chair repurposed into a Welcome floral piece, Great little painted garden cart with wooden wheels and painted on top with "Bloom where you are Planted" and garden tools to boot, a very cute little iron shaped bunny pot holder and lastly a great wooden desk with bench.

This is a cute little kids shelf. I used an old Math book and found some great pages to apply to the shelf for the vintage look and a few ABC 124 blocks finish off the look.

I also did this to another shelf using an old music book from the 30's. Very cute for a music room or above a piano...

I used the same music sheets to add some pizazz to a few pieces below. Two old glass jewelry boxes get a music note, and two very cute little silver rounds get an update.

Lastly, I took the music theme to three silver trays I had. I added the music around the edges and to the center of the pieces.  I have to find a pic of a vintage angel to complete one of them that has the words to "Angels Watching Over Me".  

Trip to Paso Robles Antique Mall

We had a fantastic time shopping in Paso for my birthday. Two full days of shopping and a Free Birthday dinner at a local Mexican restaraunt. Yummm.

One of the stores we went to see was the Cottage Antiques. So very pretty. The owner was very obliging about me taking pictures. She was just delightful!
The shop was full of my kind of look, cottage, garden and just so much fun!

We all loved this dresser with the two tones of white and turquoise. Every so shabby and chippy!

My sister fell in love with the old box springs with the Garden Sign and see packets attached. She is on the hunt for one to do in her garden.

I fell in love with this black eterege. Very french and very ornate. I liked that it was so slender and perfect for a hallway or entry way.  Wish I could have taken it back with me to Chicago - oh well, maybe I'll find one here.

There was such a cute display with vintage easter items. I love the look of that old crates add to displays. Different levels give the eyes so much to look at.

We also went to a very cute Antique mall down the street which was my other sister's favorite. A few things that were picture worthy for perhaps a chance to create later...

Loved this look on an old aluminum tray. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for aluminum trays with lots of character and style.  Keep checking for the how to on this later!

I fell in love with this cute short knitted scarf I loved the little buttons, and thought it made the piece very tres chic!  I think I'll attempt a crocheted version.

Lastly, we found this cute little rag lamp and thought it would work perfectly on a shade my sister had that needed some help. We found a few later with the entire shade covered with the rag strips. It was very pretty too!

Well that's all the pics I took on our great shopping trips! 
Every where I go I try to search out the local antique malls and crafty shops. I'll be sure to share them with you!

Welcome Spring! New Painting Project

New Project! A Welcome Chair. In this case it is for Spring but welcome's anyone to your cute house porch! 

First I found an old chair at an antique store and got it for a steal due to the missing rattan in the center - Perfect for me! It was brown but I painted it white as shown below.



I had a bunch of flowers from another purchase. 

What I did was cut out a piece of burlap that was big enough to hold the flowers in a bundle and inserted it into the hole in the chair, stapled it in place and now the chair is full of beautiful flowers. You can see the burlap in the underside of the chair.

Then I took the orbital sander and removed a bit of the paint to give it that old worn look.

Now its time to paint the Welcome. I used acrylic paints and just used a pencil to draw out what I wanted to say. Then applied the paints.

Now, I don't like things to look so perfect and new, so I took the sander and went over the paint once it was dry of course. Then I took some of the white paint and went over the paint and removed areas with a damp paper towel until I was satisfied with the look.



Now for the final view - Welcome Spring!

Visit to CA for my 50th Birthday

Yep, that's right. the big 5-0. My sister had purchased a wine glass for me last year that said "50 is the new 40" and she made me promise to come out to CA for wine tasting on my birthday. So that's exactly what I did!

We went to the wine country in Paso Robles, CA. We had beautiful weather and I got to see my sister's new place out there. (I'm jealous!)  So pretty.

This is the whole gang. My brother also turned 60 that weekend so we had pleanty to celebrate!  Our first visit was to DuBost Winery. Very pretty. The first pic is the winding road that lead up to the winery.

then the winery itself...

They were very nice and let me and my brother keep one of their glasses for our birthday! The next stop was Tolo.

This little farmhouse was decorated very cute. They also sold old fashioned linens and the grounds were beautiful.  Our next stop was Adeleida.

Yum, Yum. I joined their wine club there. Can't wait for my first shipment. It is very nice to have a glass of wine with dinner and these wines were so smooth and very tastey so I know I'll be very happy!

Our last trip was to Mondo. This property overlooked the valley. So pretty.

I just love the plants they used in their planter under the sign. We had so much fun.
Then we drove out to Lake Naciemento to see how high the water was and much to our surprise the lake was way up!  Good news for the summer trips!

On our way home it looked so serene in the sky, but not to worry, just a beautiful sunset and all those clouds dissappeared in time for our skylit dinner that my sister had catered.
So yummy and so thoughful!

We had a great time! Good Food, Good Family, Good Wine!

We also did a lot of shopping, but that is for another post. Stay tuned!

All Settled in Illinois

Just got done setting up my new shop in the State Street Market Shops Mall.

I love this little mall located in Elgin, Il west of Chicago. 

It is so quaint and full of all kinds of great little shops.

Here are a few pics of the new set up...

This corner has my fishing/ocean stuff in the corner and the pretty white display shelf me and my hubby just made out of an old brown wanescoat closet. I painted it white, added the crown piece I had and put in new white shelves. My hubby created a new backing and I wallpapered it and added a small flourescent light in it.

This corner is my New Orleans/Paris look. I'm finally selling my awesome Royal typewriter with all the keys and the key caps. Makes me sad but just don't have any more room for all these pretties! Check out the hanging ornamentals. Me and my grandaughter spent one night making a mess creating these black and white yarn balls with startch. They turned out ok, next time I'll use glue though. The startch was just not stiff enough for the weight of the yarn.

Also selling the one of the first pieces my hubby made out of a shell of a cabinet I picked up at Lakewood, in Atlanta. He basically rebuilt the entire cabinet.

Check out the top, I did a little music decor using old player piano scrolls. So cute. I did this in my new home too. Will have to post pics later.

In this front part I have this cut out with shelves and that is where I am going to put all the cute little bottles I'll be decorating later. I'll post them at another time.  Also the little table I have holds the sales slips and I decorated it for St. Patrick's day and just to the side of that is a few little Easter goodies.

For more information on the mall go to:
State Street Market Shops

New Booth

We just moved to Chicago and my trips to the antique malls leaves me missing Florida already. Not that they don't have great antiques, but the just don't decorate thier booths like we did in Florida.  Well that has to change and who do you think is the one to do it? Why me of course! If nothing else I seem to be a trendsetter. ha ha

So I got a new booth and began with a complete overhaul with paint of course. A nice coat of warm sand on all the walls, the bottom of the trellis, and the floor.

I can't wait to get in there and start decorating! I need to tone down the windows a bit and I got these great thermo drapes from Target on clearance before I left! They are gold and I think will look very tres chic. I also love that little built in shelf unit. I have been wanting to create little vintage bud vases and with a lace curtain behind I think that will be just the spot! 

Here are a few pics of what I intend to bring in to the shop with a lot more unpacking still yet to do. My booth will be full in no time!

Wonderful old door my hubby turned into a hall tree. I love it!

Some of my treasures. The house is too small so I have to part with them. So sad.

Check back on the progress of getting the shop up and running and later I'll be selling via internet so definately stay tuned!

The new shop is located here:
http://www.statestreetmarketshops.com/index.html

Vintage Valentines

Valentines day was a big day at school. I remember the week before we would use our arts and crafts time to bring in a shoe box and take all the lovely construction paper and heart doilies to decorate our box. Then on that very special day we would collect up all our cards and hoard them in that prized box and show all our friends just how many we got and all the special little ones from special friends that meant so much.

Remember these great little Valentine cards when you were a kid?  Boy Valentines day was always so much fun for me. I just loved getting the boxes filled with these little cuties and coming home and sorting them out one by one as to who would be the luck recipient.  I took my time and wrote very neatly their name and my name on the back. Carefully sealed up the envelope and wrote their name on the front. Then I'd anxiously wait for the day at school when we could pass them out.

I remember that some were so corny - ha ha pun intended! I saved those for the kids that I did know very well. Seemed appropriate and very logical at the time.

Then there were those card specific kinds. They would only fit one person in the class. The cowboy type, the girl who only wore pink, the boy that loved rockets and so on.

Then you had those risky ones that, if you dare, you would reveal your feelings to someone as a tester. It was fun to see the boys blush at some of these cute little cards.

Then you had the nuetral valentine. This would work for anyone. It was a good thing too. I had lots of platonic friends and didn't need for anything to be misinterpreted.  See I told you I took a lot of time considering the recipients of these little beauties!

Last but not least, there was the one mushy gushy card. Oh how I adored that one. I held it to my heart and dreamed of a big beautiful wedding some day, my knight in shining armor at my side and all the little people bowing with flowers laid at our feet. OK so I was 8 now I know better!

Well, I hope the everyone out there has a special Valentine that they take the time to either buy or create that special little Valentine card for and that it puts a smile on both your faces!

Happy Valentines Day!