Custom Stamps- The Way To Go!

Just a quick post to give you a heads up on a favorite product I have recently purchased- They are custom Trodat rubber stamps from Stampxpress.com!  I use them on all of my merchandise hang tags for the products in my booth, as well as return address info on packages and letters I send out.

With this being Breast Cancer Awareness month an easy way to help the cause would be to order your custom self inking Trodat stamp with the Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon so the profits go to help cure this horrible disease.

It seems that every woman knows at least one other woman affected by breast cancer.  I hope that none of you has personally suffered this kind of loss, but I have lost 3 people in my family to cancer and it is so hard.

With Christmas right around the corner, many of us will be sending out cards, and it makes it so much easier to be able to stamp the signatures or return address- and you can truly get so many designs now, why not?   Trodat stamps are made in the USA, and I am such a big supporter of all American made products and companies.  I think it is hard to complain about the state of the economy if you are not doing all you can to support small businesses right here. 

Thanks for taking time to make a difference today!  I always appreciate all that you all do!!

Bad Blogger is Back With a New 'Old' Lamp Project!

What can I say?  It's been a busy past few months!!  My son returned to High School and so we had to get back into the 'school routine', my Rheumatologist had me try a new medication which did not agree with me at all.  As a matter of fact, lets just say short of my anaphylactic reaction to a few other medications I have had in the past, it ranked right up there on the 'bad experience' scale.

I also got a new great-niece!  After 40 hours of labor (yes- you read that right!)  beautiful (and not just because she is 'ours') baby Arwen was born!

Then I went on an 'antiquing' trip to MI, got some fabulous things, got sick from being stuck in that sardine can they call flying coach, and just barely had time to whip up a fall project!   I tend to decorate for fall, not Halloween.  I don't have any small children and the fall theme takes me through Thanksgiving.

Lately it seems, I have had a 'thing' for lamps.  I don't know why.  Possibly because they are plentiful and inexpensive.  One thing for sure- I will never pay full price for a lamp or shade again!

So here is my 'latest' new 'old' lamp project:

But- as usual- we gotta get there, right?  

I recently bought the barley-twist lamp in the photo at our neighborhood garage sale for $3.  I switched out the shade for a narrower one I had on hand from a different lamp I was not currently using so I could group the lamps together.  I think it makes for a kinda neat display  :)

The 'project' lamp is an old, sad 8" tall (minus the shade) glass lamp I got at the local thrift for $4.49.  You know the kind- popular in the 1980's.  Depending on your age, you may already have one around the house  ;-)

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Be sure to look at the bottom to see that it is easily taken apart by undoing the wing-nut that holds the threaded rod that goes up the middle.  Just undo it, loosen the cord up through the lamp and you are ready for spray paint.

 I used black satin spray paint and put a little blue tape around the cord to keep the paint off.  Paint the base, and the brass-colored threaded rod that goes in the center.  Of course, you can use whatever color suits you and your project.  Clean the glass and get ready to fill it up!  You could use pine cones, acorns, candy corn.....I chose these cute mini pumpkins and threw in a few small pine cones from my stash.