Map of the world cheesebox

I decorated another cheesebox. This time with a map of the world.

And three stacked, make a nice stand for my little fan. At least I think so.

Have a wonderful day!

Books and stuff

I love, love, love books, but you know what, I don't read them much anymore. I take my netbook to bed with me and by the time I'm done 'reading the computer', I'm too sleepy to read a book. Bad Holly!

I LOVE to look at books, so that's a good thing. And even though there are no small children in my house anymore-I feel like I need to keep crayons, and coloring books, and some little toys around-just in case. My grandma always kept a tin of crayons and coloring books on a bookshelf on her sunporch. I have fond memories of lying on her sunporch floor and coloring. I suspect that's why i keep them around.

My goodness-apparently I was influenced by my grandma alot because when I was a teen-I just couldn't wait to get my own apartment, then I would buy glycerin soap and those little cans of Campbell's tomato juice. Both were things my grandma had in her house.

Well-I have a house and I have tons of soaps around-but I'm just too cheap to buy those little cans of Campbell's tomato juice. In fact, I make my own tomato juice now.

S(t)ill life

I love changing out my windowsill. I love colored glass and zinnias. I love soaps and tea!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Strawberry cheesebox (box, not cake)

I embellished another cheesebox last evening. This time I used vintage (I really have no idea if it's vintage-but I bought it at Goodwill and it smells a little musty, so it could be) strawberry wallpaper. I mixed up some wood glue and a touch of water and used that to adhere it. Then I painted the bands red. Also, I rubbed the whole thing with a little brown craft paint on a damp towel for that 'aged' look. I'm using this one to store fabric scraps in my bedroom.
I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I like my strawberry stuff, you know!
And isn't my bunny table great? Thank you, Dawnie, for donating it to Goodwill when you needed room in your basement. Thank you, Goodwill, for pricing it at 20 dollars. Thank you, people, for not being willing to pay that much for it. And finally, thank you, Goodwill, for marking things down to 15 cents when they don't move. (Actually, I think paid 10 cents for this. It was before Goodwill was forced to raise their prices due to inflation. :)

Sunday thrifting

After our church picnic on Sunday-I moseyed on into Goodwill. I found these three lovely tins-cheap, of course. I already own a tin exactly like the first one pictured-but I always say-you can never have too many pretty tins!
Also, I found like-new children's books.

I found-I Love You Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt-(But, Mama, but, Mama, what if I were a super smelly skunk, and I smelled so bad that my name was Stinky Face? "Then I would give you a bath and sprinkle you with sweet-smelling powder." "And if you still smelled bad, I wouldn't mind, and I would hug you tight and whisper in your ear, 'I love you, Stinky Face.' "

Four Dr. Seuss books jumped into my cart, along with Bambi.

I also brought home two foam wreath forms and a cool vintage sheet.

I love thrifting! I can get good stuff for not much money. In other words-CHEAP!

***On a side note-look at the size of almost five month old Rocco the Rottweiler's paw!***

I cleared off my table!

Hey, look-I cleared off my table. That was no easy feat!

Awwww, look-Hope, zinnias and salt-three of my favorite things in the whole wide world.
Look Ma-no crap junk!
I even washed and dried my tablecloth. Look Ma-no wrinkles!

Ahhhhh-if only it would stay this way for more than two minutes.......

Another bb (that's-bedside bouquet) and another bbtg (that's-beach blanket to go)

I'm loving having my little bedside bouquets-
except the sneezing part. I'm not too fond of that. But I'm willing to suffer-just a little-to have my little bouquet, bedside.

And shhhh..... don't tell-but I made another beach blanket to go from the book Handmade Home. (I used fleece for the back-that's why it's so fat!) Can I muster up the ambition to make more for Christmas gifts? We shall see........

Pretty Pyrex perched

...atop a painted cupboard.

Actually the top red dish is Glassbake (from Goodwill). The red bowl is plastic (from my friend, Dawnie). The pink gooseberry dish is Pyrex (from Goodwill). The little green dish is Pyrex (from Goodwill). The blue dish is Pyrex (from my sister, Kim). The bluish-green dish is Pyrex (from Goodwill).

No sense in hiding these beauties away. The only thing is-I have to wash them before I use them.

But beauty does have a price, ya know!

Cheese box for storage

My dad has given me a few cheese boxes. (He brings them home from work.) I use them to store things around the house, like-fabric, t-shirt loopers, embroidery patterns, and in the one pictured I am storing a few momentos that I don't have out, but I'm not ready to part with either.

Today, I thought I'd give decoupaging a go on one of these boxes. So, I painted my box and after it dried I got to work decoupaging some sheet music to my cheese box. Since I don't have any Modge Podge, I mixed some wood glue with a little water. After the glue dried, I rubbed a damp cloth with a little brown paint lightly over the whole thing for that aged look.

While I can't say I am THRILLED with the results, I will say that I am happy-it will be just fine!

I like the look of these when they are just plain wood, but some other ideas for sprucing them up would be painting (wouldn't all different colors of these boxes stacked up look cute!), decoupaging with scrapbook paper, wallpaper, wrapping paper, or photos! The possibilities are endless. :)

Say CHEEEESE!

Candy colored

I love all the candy colored zinnias a few packets of seeds gives me.
That's quite a bit of sweetness for just a couple bucks. :)
These remind me a little bit of lollipops. (Cherry, grape, & orange shown above.)
I'm like a kid in a candy store. Haha! Sometimes I crack myself up! (Ummm-not really.)
Speaking of candy stores-I found that little half pint jar at my favorite candy store today. (Goodwill, of course.)

I think this looks pretty at night

Hubby wonders why I always go around plugging in the lights. I tell him-because that's the way I like it.
I think it looks quite pretty. Some people just don't understand!!!

I'll leave the lights on for ya! Good night. :)

Cozy wall pockets

I almost done working my way through the book Handmade Home by Amanda Soule. This project is called cozy wall pockets. I cheated a tiny bit (not really-anything goes) on this one. Instead of using a piece of wool blanket-I used the back of an old wall quilt-which I didn't like so much anymore.
I just cut out, folded, and pressed the 'pockets' and stitched them on. I embroidered a little heart for decoration. Then I added some tabs to the top and a dowel rod-then tada-cozy wall pockets. Great for storing craft supplies!
Four more project to go! :) Projects that are left:

::women's cloth
::memory tree quilt art
::silky eye pillow
::baby sling

Now that's a bunch o' bull!

I went on a dangerous photo shoot this morning. (That's right-I stepped outside!)
Oh-hello girls!
There was a whole lotta bull going on!
Teehee-this made me giggle-the tough ol' rottweiler kept to a safe distance.

I was sure hoping this fence would protect me...

cause I'm no bull fighter!

"Boo-yah! (Bull-yah!)"

There's a baby moo cow in the back there.

Well hello, purdy girl. (Darn flies!)

"My name is Rocco and I am afraid of the moo cows."

Gravel growin' wildflowers-they're everywhere.

You (I) gotta love this pup.......and that's NO BULL!

Treasures

I really love finding handmade pottery at Goodwill. I found this little turquoise treasure there yesterday. The zinnias are the first treasures cut from my zinnia bed!
Lastly, I received this little treasure of a bread box in the Goodwill parking lot! Yes, I saw my friend Dawnie at Goodwill, she had this breadbox in her car and was going to get rid of it, but asked me first if I wanted it. I hesitated a little, but I decided to go ahead and take it. I'm glad I did-it's replacing my red broken down microwave for storage, giving me a little more counter space and brightening up the corner. Dawnie suggested I could paint it to get rid of the mushrooms-but I kind of like them. (You know how I'm starting to love that 1970ish stuff now!)

Oh I love my little treasures-it doesn't take much to make me happy!

Linens on the line-plus a little visitor

This evening I decided to handwash a few linens (I love that word-linens!) and hang them out to dry. I bought the fruit tea towel at Goodwill today and the others I came across as I was looking for something else in a basket here at home. My mom had given me the two on either side of the fruit towel. I think they were my grandma's. The one on the far left is one I bought new. I have no idea why I didn't have it out before this. I decided to take a photo because I thought they looked pretty-and lo and behold I got a little visitor..........

You may stop in (and stay for dinner) anytime, Mr. Hummer! Next time bring your friends-but no fighting-there's plenty for everyone. :)