Artful Thursday ~ Week 16

This project was a few weeks in the works (well, actually a little more than that, but it was a project that is finally completed!)

Back when we lived in Florida, I was riding around one day and spotted a treasure aka: junk. See my previous post for my unique abilities! I snagged this cool piece of old wood and brought it home, much to my husband's great joy!!

We've moved twice since then and I carried this piece of wood with me each time. And this is a thick, heavy piece of wood. It takes both hands to pick it up. Then about a year ago, while visiting family in Mobile, I was in Hobby Lobby and found this iron brackets on the sale isle. They were white at the time. Before starting Artful Thursday, I had already painted them black. They still needed something 'more'.

Again, sorry for lack of pictures. But I decided they needed to be "aged" (kinda like me). So I went in search of how to rust items. Basically, salt and water. Let it dry and then do it all again. I know you can buy the paint that looks like rust, but when you are doing things on a budget, you tend to try to find cheap ways of doing things!

Yesterday, I got the wood out of the garage and gave it a good brushing and wiped it down with some warm water.

Of course, I had some help!!

After debating about exactly where to hang the shelf, I finally decided in my studio. I in real need of extra storage space, so this room won the prize. But I have a perfect place for another one, so I'll be keeping my eyes open for another piece of wood!

Checking to make sure Mamma is straight..


And it's done!!


Finally, a good close up of my RUST


There is actually fungus growing on the wood!!!


More rust


Love the old nails still in the wood



A little vignette (my green teapot that I couldn't bring myself to sell!)

Not sure how "Artful" this is, but I am totally happy with my accomplishment! I had put this off for a bit because at first I was going to have Hubby cut off the broken ends of the wood, but yesterday I decided that I loved it just the way it was. And thought I could tackle measuring and screwing the screws into the wall. And I did it! Oh, I'm ready for another one ~ LOL!!!

Please be sure to visit the other Artful Thursday chicks to see what they have been up to.
Happy Thursday!

Thrifting and Junking

Within a few days of us moving into our new neighborhood, I happened to drive by a house with a large pile of trash at the curb. Since I was born with a trained eye to spot treasures in other peoples' junk, I saw a few things that caught my attention. This 'second sense' that I possess drives my Sweet Husband BATTY!!! But, I think he is finally getting an understanding of what makes me tick (you'd think after 10 years, this would have already been done, but he can be a little hardheaded sometimes, unlike me :0)

I really was only going to grab a few things...but as I started grabbing, more seemed to appear for nowhere...they were like the Tribbles from Star Trek...I finally stopped when I no longer had room in the trunk. Nor the backseat. Or the carseat. I had the kids' walk home. ( JUST KIDDING!)

But I did end up with a little over 30 fabric swatch books!!! Mostly upholstery fabric, but some nice stuff. Some from Schumacher.

Now I've been racking my brain for ideas as to what I can do with all this fabric. I did have a few ideas. But I want to show you the finished project, so give me a few more days. But even with that, I still will have loads more fabric. So if you have ever made anything using one of this books or know of something I could make using scraps, please let me know :0)

After that episode, we no long have a second car. So I can not go riding around the neighborhood looking at the trash, only the next-door neighbors. So on Charlies' last off day, I happened to use my Female Powers, and after a stop at the Home Improvement Store, we pulled into a local thrift store.

Some nice vintage sheets and pillow cases

The COOLest Vintage fabric!

Like I didn't already have enough, but this are nice, large pieces. Big enough for things like little girls' dresses or maybe even a cute little purse.

I love this one with the ironing board!

I got all of this, plus a beautiful white vase and little plate, for under $6. Not bad for a 10 minute shopping trip. Cause, even though Hubby drove me, he and Gracyn sat in the car. Which was fine with me, because Gracyn can be a bit of a handful, especially when my concentration is focused on other things. She goes 90 to nothing and then....

Night Night!!!!

The Sunday Café ~ Fried Dill Pickles

Sunday is my Café day, the day I sit down and decide on my weekly menu plan, write out a grocery list and throw out all the science projects growing in the frig! I thought that today I would share a recipe with ya'll that we really enjoy. And the Corona is just an extra special touch ;0)

Fried Dill Pickles

1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup beer
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 drops hot sauce
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground red pepper
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic power
2 (16 oz) jars sliced dill pickles, drained
Vegetable oil

Whisk together first 5 ingredients.
Stir together 3 cups flour and next 4 ingredients. Dip pickle slices in egg mixture; dredge in flour mixture.
Pour oil to a depth of 3 inches into a Dutch oven; heat to 375°. Fry pickles in batches 30-60 seconds on each side or until browned. Drain on paper towels, and serve immediately or at room temperature.
* We love'em dipped in Ranch dressing!!

ENJOY!!

Artful Thursday ~ Week 15

Okay, this week was a little crazy. At least I did get something done. It was more of a One-Thing-Leads-To-Another sort of project.

Recently, I discovered the Queen of Tarte. Love Her!!! And I fell in love with this color scheme:

I was thinking about using these colors on our mantel and had been searching around the house for anything that would fit it. Then with the up-coming Artful Thursday I tried to think of something I could make that would suffice for both purposes.

Awhile back I tried my hand at making some of these:
(following pictures were taken from the internet)

I had done the single stem flowers and was wanting to try the multiple-flower stems. I happened upon this great site:

Button Flower Tutorial

This is a better tutorial than I could ever give you. And considering I'm still a little unorganized right now, trust me on this!

I really didn't mean to do "flowers" again, but hey, it works!!


I stuffed the bottle with some pages from an old book. I have seen this used a lot lately, but don't own a paper shredder. So I used my trusty little paper cutter. A little time-consuming, but it works!

Full view of the mantel

Vintage Yellow Button flowers

I love my green Mercury Glass candleholders! Just need some yellow candles and I'll be all set!

My coffeefilter flowers from previous Artful Thursday. And my funny little gargoyle. Yeap, he's sticking his tongue out at'cha!

Decorating Lesson 501: When you don't have enough items to complete a color theme, use ANYTHING that will work (old champagne bottles!)

I wanted to take more pictures, but now that I have found my camera, the battery died. And I don't know where the charger is!! **sigh** Always something~LOL!!

Hope you enjoyed this weeks Artful Thursday. And Happy Earth Day!

Hard to Let Go

Things have been so hectic the last few months, I haven't been posting all the wonderful things that have popped into my head that I want to share with you. So I thought I might take this week to do a little show and tell so I can let you in on some of the goodies going on around Grace Goods.

A few weeks before we planned to move, I made an effort to stop by a local thrift store in Gadsden (actually Rainbow City) America's Thrift Store. The place is huge and I made a hurried trip through the store. But look at the lovelies!


I fell in love with these green teapot, with it's wire handle. It's missing the top, but I could care less.

And this beautiful twin bed throw! Guess how much? Go ahead-GUESS!!!
-$10.00 - No
-$8.50 - Nope
-$5.00 Not!
-$2.48 - Yeap!!!

How can you pass that up? And I think it will make a wonderful throw over our big Papasan chair.

I hardly ever look at the lingerie section in these stores, but a usual, things just seem to jump out at me. And this little sweet was calling-(screaming!) my name. After being married for 8 years and having two kids, things like this don't usually make much difference to me, but I just fell in love with this one. I thought that if I was way off, at least I could sell it in the shop. Well, she was made for me. And Sweet Hubby likes it too!!

And the hanger...swoon! Ft Myers Beach, Florida!! I have always wanted to start collecting these, so here starts my collection. I only need two more to make it official, right?

Photo shoot for the green teapot. I actually listed it in the shop.

And after having a dream about it, I removed the listing the very next day!! So much for a shopping trip for the shop!!! I'm wondering for those of you who have shops and resale items, do you ever have situations like this when you had intentions of purchasing something to resale but then can't seem to bring yourself to let go of the item or is it just me?!? Please tell me it's not just me :0)

XoXo,
Kristal

I'm Back!!

FINALLY!!! I'm back in business...so to speak!
We have moved into our new home (for now), until the next job transfer. I was thinking about all of our moves. Over the last 10 years, we have moved a total of 11 times to four different states!!! And No, it has nothing to do with the military!!! And you would think that a normal person would have less and less items to move each time, but mine just keep growing and growing...although I did suffer a few casualties this time. Thinking I might need to take up mosaics since I am starting to acquire a collection of broken dishes :0) **sigh** Oh well...
I did miss last weeks Artful Thursday and am scrambling around for something for this week. And to add to the chaos, I can't remember what box I threw my camera into!! I'll be digging through more boxes today, looking for it. Dear Hubby is off today and we have a few to-do's on the list today. The whole hanging rack in our closet fell down (no, I don't have that many clothes, it's just a cheap set up) then last night, after lying to bed sweating to death thinking I was having an early hot flash, we discovered that the air conditioner had frozen up. I need to buy a toilet paper dispenser for the Master bath (there is none!). The joys of a rental home... but we'll manage. Oh, and did I mention the carpet?!?!?!?! This is going to be a nightmare...the carpet is Maroon...MAROON!! And we have 3 WHITE dogs...are you seeing the dilemma? I've already given one a haircut and am working on the other one. I think I need to invest in a pair of sheep shears between the two.

Just want to let you know that I've missed all of you!!! So much so, I'm thinking once I get somewhat settled I'll be gathering some goodies together for a little giveaway. Sound good? I've got lots of ideas about some new creations I want to start working on. I'm really excited about it! And one good thing happened while I was without internet, I read 4 books!! I'll post about those a little later, all 4 were very good. A few new ones and a few older one.

Off to do work on the doggie haircut and some more unpacking. Enjoy your day!!

XoXo,
Kristal

Artful Thursday ~ Week 13

(Shhhh...I'm supposed to be packing up the house while my hubby is out mowing the grass, so I will have to make this week's project quick. :0)

Coffee Filter Flowers

I actually have a lot of pictures this time, hope that helps. I have been seeing these beautiful tissue-type flowers and weren't sure if they were made from actual tissue paper or coffee filters. Since I happened upon a bunch of coffee filters, that turned into my medium of choice.

I had a few different sizes...

Then I dipped them into my coffee-tea mixture. Then I started laying them out on the countertop and realized that it would take them forever to dry. Since I'm an impatient person anyway and I was in a rush to get this done quickly, I did want any person would do...stuck the wet filters into the microwave!!! They were dry in about 12 seconds!!

Next came some experimenting. I have packed up a lot of my crafting supplies, so I was limited to what I had to work with. I did find an old stylus and used that to poke holes in the center of each filter.

Then started layering...

An old bread twist-tie worked as a stamen.

I did one using a cotton bloom that I had picked up earlier in the year on a fieldtrip with Dane. I loved how it turned out and will be searching for some more to make a whole bouquet!

Ironically, I was purging some magazine and torn out this beautiful layout. Wouldn't a bunch of these flowers look lovely in this room? Love this look!

Just an FYI -I plan on making a dustruffle for a future Artful Thursday project :0 ) That will be fun!!
Happy Thursday! And wish us luck with this move. We are moving TOMORROW!!!!! So, sadly no Easter for us :0 ( But things will be better in our lives, so it's worth the sacrifice.

XoXo,
Kristal