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.

Owlies- A Free Owl Pattern and Tutorial!

I am one of those people blessed with great family members.  Not to say we don't have our issues, fight now and then like families do or have a weirdo or two (which I am convinced is NOT me).  But all in all, through thick and thin we love each other to pieces.

So imagine my delight at finding out that one of my nieces was expecting a baby.....and a girl at that!  You know, I do love all things girly.  And who can resist a sweet little baby?  Unfortunately, my niece is full-term and has been in the path of Irene, but baby stayed put (whew!) and the power is back on in their area.  You know how the end of your pregnancy is.  And you can imagine she was thinking "Seriously?!? A freakin' HURRICANE?"

Well, enough of that.....back to me.

I wanted to make something special for baby, and much to my delight the 'theme' was owls, and the color of the nursery was to be green and brown.  I had seen a cool mobile some time back and had been wanting to try one- I just knew it was the project for me!  Originally I was going to attach the owlies by ribbons to a wooden embroidery hoop, but soon became obsessed with making it musical as well.  I scoured all of the local thrifts for gently used baby mobiles to no avail.  I was running out of time when I stopped into a Kid to Kid store to see what they had.  And wouldn't you know it- amongst  the pink Care Bears  and blue Cars mobiles I found this:

The perfect base for my newest creation!  
Couldn't wait to cut those sports figures off!!


I could not find an owl pattern anywhere that was exactly what I needed, so I made my own.  Feel free to download and use it, but please give a link back or shout out-K?  

 


Download Full Size Pattern Here


Suitable materials for this project are felt (wool or poly), suede or leather (I upcycled some old jackets), suit weight woolens (once again, I upcycled), quilt weight cotton for the tummy, and whatever buttons, embroidery threads, ribbons, etc. you would like to add.  I stuffed mine with a high quality poly fluff filling and sewed it on the machine, but you could easily also sew these by hand with a blanket or back stitch.


Cut out the pattern pieces from whatever fabrics you have chosen.  I used fusible web on the back of my cotton tummy piece to hold it in place while I stitched it on, and used a decorative stitch, but that is your discretion. 

Finally- Folding Chair Re-Do is Re-Done!

The heat must be getting to me.  


Not that I don't feel justified- after all.....today's temps hovering at 107 degrees sets a new *high* temperature for today's date, and ties us for 2nd place in number of consecutive days over 100 (now at 31) with no end in sight.  With August being our hottest month, we will give many old records a run for the money.  


Somehow these awful wooden folding chairs called out to me while I was at my local thrift.   In a moment of weakness I purchased them and brought them home, with a revitalization plan in mind, of course.  And for the record- I don't even need folding chairs....

 

I seem to have a weakness for rooting for the underdog.

  These chairs fought me every step of the way!  From the filth and split wood to the *mysterious disappearance* of the black and white toile fabric I had to use for the seats it was one thing after another.  But here it is- VICTORY!!  

This is a Lazertran decal I made and applied to the back of the painted chairs (image from Graphics Fairy)

Oh well, all's well that ends well, right?  These are now for sale in my booth at Antique Gallery of Lewisville  :D

Odds and Ends

In all my years of thrifty finds- this is one of my all time favorites!

It is 40" x 40" square and still has the World Market tag on the back!  I think it is going to look great in my daughter's new apartment.  

I am having a melancholy day.  My little doggie is at the hospital getting oral surgery and my nephew may or may not be in the people hospital after a nasty car accident on the freeway.  My oldest sister does not seem to have the ability to use any modern methods of communication including but not limited to the phone, texting, email or smoke signal.  So I am sending out a little prayer for you Tim and hope you are doing OK.

I am working on a super-secret project that I will do a tutorial on after the recipient has gotten it and it's not a secret any more  :)   This is a cabin-fever time of year for me because the heat and intense UV rays keep me from being outside too much.  You would think I would get a lot done, but I spend time obsessing on things......Like this chair:

I bought this chair and ottoman 13 years ago at a great price to fill a big corner of the library of our old house.  It is really large, not super-comfy but not bad either.  I just keep thinking it could be more "me".  But look at all of those furniture tacks!  I just don't think I have it in me to completely rip into this, plus the leather is in perfect shape, as the chair has not had any heavy use.  I have been toying with the idea of just re-doing the bottom cushion, the arm pads and the loose back pillow.  I would like to do a foam core with a down wrapped seat so that it had more of the feel my Uncle Charlie's antiques had.  So it would envelop the person sitting in it more.

I am also considering making my own fabric design for the back pillow, and toying with a few ideas:

So now you know my intentions.  We'll see what happens in the end.  ;-)