The Past 12 Hours

I've been busy the past 12 hours working on this and that.  Put an antique walnut stain on my wooden ironing boards.  I'll use one of them as a sofa table and the other in the dining room just for funzies.

Been working on a few more sock snowmen....

My mother-in-law also gave me a carousel horse which I plan on painting white and putting somewhere in my house...right now it looks a little weird to have sitting in my home but it's only temporary.

One of the biggest projects so far this weekend has been organizing the bedroom.  Totally rearranged everything.  I'll start making repairs next weekend....like patching holes and repainting.  I also plan on making canvas drop cloth curtains for all the windows as soon as I get my sewing machine, which I've been told is going to be a Christmas gift this year.  We arranged the room so there is a larger, more comfortable seating area to relax and watch t.v.  Although the room is not finished, not even close to being finished, here are a few pics.  We're in the market for a flat panel t.v. to mount on the wall as well. It's kind of a bedroom, recreation, sewing, computer room all wrap up in one.  I'll post more pics as I make progress in this room. Like I said, we have a lot to do in here.

So there it is...what I've been up to the past 12 hours or so.  I hope all of you have a great day and I'll chat at ya later.  :-)

Sock Snowman

Here's a cute project to do with the family.  Super easy and super fun.  I made my sock snowman in about five minutes and plan on making a whole bunch more as soon I get more supplies.

Have fun...........

Here's my snowman.

Here's the instructions:

http://thenshemade.blogspot.com/2011/01/sock-snowmen.html

The Results Are In.........

So, I'm finished rearranging the living room, dining room, and kitchen.  I'm actually making room for some antique folding chairs and two wooden ironing boards that my mother-in-law gave me over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Here are the chairs...the ironing boards will be here later this evening.

Of course they need a little TLC.  I plan on keeping them as close to original as possible.   Will probably do some sort of cushion seat and repair the back.

And here are a few pics of stuff I moved around and rearranged.  I did get rid of a lot of stuff, had a "curb alert" posted on Craigslist and, of course, it was all gone within a few hours.

Anyhoo...there they are.  Just wanted to post a little something so ya guys didn't think I was just sitting around like a lady of leisure...haha.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I know I did with my fabulous husband and family.  Looking forward to Christmas.

Light Buld Flower Vase

Here's a tricky project...a flower vase made from a light bulb.  By the time I finished this I felt I had accomplished something wonderful.

These are the tools and supplies needed if you want to try this project for yourself.  The trickiest and most certainly the most delicate of the process is getting the black glass out of the center.  Just work at it a little at a time.  I found snipping the tip off and then getting a sharp pick like tool to break away the rest of it.

Then take the wire and form a base...fill with water and put a flower in it.  I don't have any live flowers at the moment or else I would have taken a picture of that.  I think you get the idea of how it works tho.

You should try this at least once...I love mine and plan on making more when my light bulbs blow out.

Chicken Wire Christmas Tree

I started searching online for Christmas decorations to make with my burlap and came across instructions on how to make a chicken wire Christmas tree.  Now, this design is originally for the great outdoors but I've never been one to follow the conventional way of doing things.  I decided to try my hand at making one of these chicken wire Christmas trees for inside the house.  That way I could save my husband just a little of money by not having to go out and buy a new tree.  This is a table top version.  Since it's my first one, I wanted to start small.  Now that I'm finished with it, I may just go ahead and make larger one whenever I'm in the mood to play with chicken wire again.

Here's my version and how I did it....

1. You'll need chicken wire.  How ever much you think you'll need for the size tree you want.  This is a table top version so I would say I only used about 2' x 3' piece.

2. Cut it in a big triangle.  I used a yard stick and a sharpie to mark where I wanted to cut.  This seemed to be a much easier way to do it then just by free handing it. 

3. Close your triangle end to end and fasten together with wire or just twist the ends together like I did.

Here it is so far.....I spent a little bit of time shaping the cone to make it level so it sits on the table without wobbling.

5. Next, I began putting on the lights.  I tried to tuck some of them inside the tree to make it look like it was glowing from in the inside out.

6.  After that I began to add my burlap garland. 

7. Once that was complete, I finished it up with the ornaments and topper.

So tell me...what do you think??  If you're planning to do this project yourself, have fun and extra careful when working with the chicken wire...it tends to stick ya.

Burlap Christmas

Today has been a relaxing one. I have this bolt of burlap that I wasn't sure what I would be doing with it when I bought it but it was only 5.00 on Criagslist and since I LOVE LOVE LOVE burlap...I bought it on an impulse. This year we have decided to put up a Christmas tree which means we will need to purchase everything.  Haven't had tree up for several years and have moved a few times so the decorations have dewindled away leaving us with absolutely nothing to decorate with for the holidays.  Well...since I'm not a fan of the typical red and green color scheme of Christmas and I have this huge bolt of burlap fabric (which I do LOVE), I decided to make our decorations so the only thing we will really need to buy is a tree. I plan on getting a white tree with white lights since I love everything that is any shade of white or beige.  It looks very clean and crisp.

So far, I have made a few ornaments, a garland, a tree topper, and a wreath with a few cheapy christmas balls from the Dollar General added to it.  I even made a beer bottle ornament for my husband (doesn't match the burlap theme but he loves it so up it will go onto the tree). I'm even going to use these old small dolies that kinda look like snowflakes to mix in with the burlap ornaments.

Looking forward to the holidays this year.  Usually,I dread it's arrival. I wish all of you a very safe and happy holiday.

A Shutterbug's Dream

I answered an ad for a free Omega Enlarger on Craigslist and was the first to respond to it so I stopped by to pick it up this evening.  Little did I know that when I picked it up I would also be given a tripod and an old leather camera bag full of old equipment.  I hate to call this stuff antique since it's all stuff that I remember using when I was working in my dad's photography studio as a teenager.  There is even an old manual for a Minolta Twin Lens camera in the bag...I used this same camera to photograph weddings when I was just around 16 years old.  Finding all this stuff has been the highlight of my day and I can't wait to get to started on cleaning it all up and figuring out where I'm going to display it all.  Photos of the finished process will follow.