My Gifted Goodies!

Hello everyone! 

I have a fun post for you today! A couple weeks ago, my friend Tania from Little Vintage Cottage asked me if I would like to participate in a fun little challenge she created. 

Here's what it's called.....

I was super excited she thought of me and it sounded like a lot of fun, so of course I said yes! The way this works is simple, we shopped for items to send to another participant and they are to take the items and do something with them...create something new, repaint, anything they want, or nothing at all if they love the items as is. In a few weeks, we will share what we created! Anywho, you can visit the other participants here:

Tania (our hostess) at Little Vintage Cottage

Kimberley at Seaside Avenue

Kim at Snug Harbor Bay

Donna at Distressed Donna Down Home

& 

Cecilia at The B Farm.

Be sure to hop over and visit them too!

Anywho, we were all assigned a person to send to and we received from a different person.  Kimberley from Seaside Avenue sent a box to me and I sent to Kim at Snug Harbor Bay. Check out the treasures I received.

Loved the note card and envelope Kimberley sent with her box of goodies. 

Here is what I received! I am over the moon excited with what she sent me! 

First up is this gold metal tissue box cover. At least that's what I think it was. I think I have an idea for this...but my wheels are still spinning.

These brass pieces are next. I believe they are candle sticks, but I am not entirely sure. They come apart as you can see in the photo. I am still trying to decide what I will do with these beauties.

If I didn't know better, I would say Kim knew me well, but we only "met" after we joined the challenge. Everything she sent me were things I would pick out myself! And she even wrapped the next item in aqua blue tissue paper and sealed it with washi tape! It's like she knows me...lol!

I am in love with this gorgeous fabric she sent, as well as the handkerchief!

This hand mirror is so beautiful! My daughter said it reminded her if Belle's mirror from Beauty and the Beast.

And last, but certainly not least, is this beautiful vanity tray! I have a couple of these already, but not one this size! It is quite large. I have a great idea for it!

So, there you have it....all my treasures to play with. I can't wait to get started! Be sure to keep checking in to see what we all create. And, if you don't already know the other participants, be sure to go check them out too. They have all shared their gifts in a post already, so you can go see what they received. 

Hope you all have a lovely week! Mine promises to be both busy and emotional as I prepare to send my daughter to Europe on Friday. While I have peace about her going and am extremely happy for her to have this opportunity, I will miss her dearly. I pray for safe travels and for her safety  living in a foreign country. The Czech Republic is supposedly one of the safest countries in the world to live in though, and I have faith that all will be well. All the same, if you would remember her in your thoughts and prayers, it would be much appreciated. And, I am going to try to reply to recent comments but I have just been so very busy and have not gotten around to it yet. I do thank each and every one of you who comment though. They always make my day and bring a smile to my heart. 

Until next time.....

 

 

Catching Up Colorfully!

I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks since I last posted! I have been super busy with a myriad of things. I have been working on checking off everything on the list below. I am getting there! Let me share some of the things I have been up to! Warning!!! This is a totally random post and the photos are in no particular order, but most of them are colorful!

A few weeks ago, I picked up this basket from Hobby Lobby on clearance. I did not care for the color (not for my craft room) so I painted it a pretty minty green and it holds my wrapping paper now. My collection had outgrown my old basket.

I received some delightful happy mail from my dear friend Kelly-Anne from Beautiful Girlhood. If you don't know this delightful young lady, please go pay her a visit. She is the sweetest! She e-mailed me a few weeks ago to ask me if it would be OK if she made me something for my new kitchen. OK? Well, of course, I would be thrilled! So, she made this wonderful bunting as well as some tags and a card. Everything is handmade. She is quite talented. I was just in awe of her beautiful handiwork. Kelly-Anne lives all the way over in South Africa and right now it is winter time for her, thus the snowflakes on the mailer! So neat...especially when it is nearly 100 degrees here in Florida every day. Thank you again Kelly-Anne for your kindness and generosity. You are a sweet blessing to me. 

I am not leaving the bunting in this spot, but here's a little glimpse of it hanging. I have plans to tweak the kitchen a bit and I will share when I am done.

I have done a little shopping (my no buy July didn't work out too well...lol). I found a great deal on a set of Project Life journaling cards at Michael's a few days ago. This set was normally $29.99 and it was marked down to $12.99 and I had an additional 25% off of that. Score! I use these in my planners and am collecting items here and there to start scrapbooking using this system. I love it!

Just had to share this delicious cupcake from my weekend in Tallahassee with Miranda and Mama. This was mine...it was a Sangria cupcake and it was so yummy!

We've been working on the hubby's man cave. This was my son's room but he moved out and we are turning it into the man cave. My hubby and son have over 100 trophies from years of race car and go-kart racing. Most of them have been packed up in the shed for a while, but no more! I will update as we progress on it. Sadie already loves "her" room.

One thing I had to do in the man cave was to move all my decor out of the cabinet I was housing it in. My son has moved out a while ago and this room was used as a catch-all for several months. So, I moved all my junk home decor back to the guest room closet. Here it is...I did manage to part with a few things in the move. I have donated 5 large boxes/bags of stuff to Hospice in the last two weeks. 

Moving on...I covered a little blank book from the Target dollar spot with washi tape. 

And, on the inside, I use it to make washi combo ideas for my planner. I love washi tape and am glad I have a good reason to buy it now!

In all my cleaning out, I came across a few bags of old t-shirts I had saved for my kids. I have plans to make them t-shirt quilts with them some day. Well, I had kept the shirts intact, but they were taking up so much space that I decided to go ahead and cut them down. Now I have one small bag full instead of four large bags!

I've been painting like crazy lately! All the trim around four doors and the large opening in this photo as well as the front and back of the four doors. We still have to put the knows back on. We had never finished this from our dining room remodel that began last summer. We also installed the new light you see in the little hallway area. The door straight ahead is the guest bathroom. The one to the right is the man cave and the left is my craft room. I also painted the guest room door. It is to the right on this side of the opening.

We installed the light fixture in the laundry room.

We put up the medallion to hide the hole left by the old stove exhaust. We moved the stove in the renovation and did not want to replace the ceiling. We originally planned to put a light in the center so we bought a medallion with a hole. Well, we changed our minds, so I had to come up with a way to cover the hole. I used a small silver plated coaster that I painted white along with the rest of it. The nickel finished piece in the middle is from an old knob. The hubby cut it down so I could use it here. I just painted it in nickel to match my knobs and pulls in the kitchen. I think it turned out really pretty!

I tweaked & straightened the bookshelves. I had bought a few new books and had just been sitting them on top of the others. I finally put them in alphabetical order with the others. I also moved a few things around to freshen it up a bit. 

I saved the prettiest picture for last. I am working on a small quilt for my daughter, Miranda to take to Prague with her. Here's a sneak peek of some of the fabric. The rose was picked from Mama's bush earlier today. She helped me on the quilt. Thanks again Mama...love you!

And that is it for now. I have been busy with lots of other things as well. We are trying to get the house looking as good as possible for Miranda's going away party on Sunday. She leaves a week from Friday for Prague! This Friday we are going to Tallahassee to move her things back home. I will most likely not have a chance to post again anytime soon, but I am trying to visit all of you and comment when I can. I hope you have a blessed and beautiful rest of the week. 

Until next time....

Where I Create...aka, My Happy Place!

Hello friends and happy Saturday! If you're new here, welcome! I'm so glad you stopped by. And for my regular readers, thanks for stopping in to visit...) I'm always happy to hear from both new and old friends! Today I'm joining Karen from My Desert Cottage for Where Bloggers Create. This is my first time joining and I am super excited! My craft room, otherwise known as my happy place is one of my favorite places to be. It is constantly evolving and changing to suit my needs as well as my growing collection of craft supplies. It is a busy, colorful, fun, and inspirational place to "play". Won't you join me for a tour?

This may sound very familiar to some of you as I recently posted a craft room update. It was through that post that a blog friend suggested I join this party, so I am back to share my happy place again. I have made a few changes since that post a couple weeks ago, so stick around and see what I've been up to. We'll start in the sewing table corner. To the left of the sewing table is a closet full of stuff! I recently made a new chair cover for my vintage sewing chair. The fabric was from a pair of curtains I made for my classroom year before last. For those of you who are new here, I'm a kindergarten teacher! You may have noticed the black and white checked floor. This room used to be my son's room. When my daughter moved out, he took over her room and I took over his...lol! He was into racing, thus the checkered floor. It is not in the best shape, but it works!

This sewing box was one of my redo's from a while back. If you visit here often, you already know I love to go thrifting and I decorate my house with my finds. My craft room is no exception. The sewing table was a vanity my mother-in-law got cheap at a yard sale and she gave it to me. I had the hubby attach two shelves (also thrifted) to the back, and now I have a sweet little sewing table. 

Here's a closer photo of the chair. The chair is actually a vintage Singer sewing chair. The seat has a storage compartment. I believe I gave $5 for it a few years ago.The seat cover comes off and there is storage underneath. 

Moving to the right, you can see my $5 wooden file cabinet which of course got a makeover after I bought it home. On top of it is an organizer drawer unit I bought at Michael's with a 40% off coupon a few years ago. Hanging on the wall above is my blog friend bulletin board. I display correspondence from all my blog friends here for a while. When it gets too full, I move the cards, letters to my memento box, which you will see in a bit. 

My ticket stub jar and a photo of my sister and I when we were little girls sits atop the plastic lazy Susan style Scrabble board on top of the units. That's me in the bonnet!

Moving on around is one of the shelves that holds my glass desk top. It holds a variety of things, from stationery to my hot glue gun. 

Here's the desk top. This picture was from a couple weeks ago. I have since changed it and will share those pictures too.  Almost every item on it was thrifted.

Here's the new setup. I added a couple shelves on the side and made an "L" shaped configuration. I also recently found that shelf that I believe was part of a twin headboard at some point. It holds tons of my stationery supplies that I use for my newest hobby...keeping a planner. It involves so many things I love, like organization, list making, journaling, and decorating (similar to scrapbooking). It gives me a reason to buy pretty stationery supplies like stickers, pretty papers, washi tape and so on. I LOVE these types of supplies. 

Here's a closer view. I love having all my pretty supplies in plain view!

Here's a close-up of my planner. This is my latest addiction!

I love making cute clips to use in it too...)

These are two new thrifty additions. I'll show before and after pix at the end of the post.

Here's the top of the new addition on the side. I put scrapbook paper on top of the shelves and topped                                                             it with another piece of glass.

And here are the shelves holding the new side addition. There are lots of supplies in the baskets and containers....stamps, ink pads, punches, sticker paper and so on.

I have also been adding some colorful "artwork" above the desk. I can't wait to repaint this wall white! I am over the green! 

Here's the other shelf that holds the glass top up. It holds mostly paper for the printer, and paper cutters and punches. It is easily reached when I am sitting in my desk chair.

You may have spotted the black and white polka dots in the above photo. This container holds all my yarn and looms and my printer sits on top. I sat it on top of a frame with casters from a chart stand I used to have in my classroom. I can easily roll it out when I need to use it.

This unit was a great thrifty find last year. It holds a variety of things, but mostly my Crayola collection. It is no longer on top of my desk. It will be mounted on the wall after I repaint them.

In the right corner are two shelving units which I have placed in an "L' shaped configuration. They hold tons of craft supplies, from paint to fabric!

Here's my other big desk which is a vintage mail sorting case I bought it years ago from the post office where I used to be a substitute mail carrier. It is actually going to live on my front porch when we get it built. It will serve as a buffet on the porch. I will replace it with lots of shelves. I'm waiting to paint the walls white after this beast is moved out. It will probably be a few months before that happens.

On top of one of the corner shelving units are two baskets filled with printed burlap and vintage sheets. On the left end of the post office desk are some cardboard boxes I dressed up with washi tape and a few other things. Most of my storage is free, like the repurposed boxes, or thrifty, like the wire freezer baskets holding fabric on top of the shelf.

Here's a view of the back side of the shelf. I put contact paper on the back to make it pretty. The painting is one I painted when my friends and I got together for a paint party. The white revolving tiered unit is from Harbor Freight. It was grey when I bought it but I painted it white. It holds a ton of stuff! My little vintage ladder was moved to the corner in front of the shelves. It will be moving to the new front porch as well after it's built.

Another view of the top...vintage sheets and paper straws. I have a thing for both! I also LOVE globes! I've had this one for years. It's the first one I purchased.

And the right side holds another washi decorated box and my fabric scrap basket.

The left side. This caddy from Harbor Freight was one of the best deals I ever got new. I assembled it, painted it white, and loaded it down with all kinds of goodies!

The middle...love the happy colors in this shot!

Here's the right side. Lots more junk stuff!

My Raskog cart from Ikea holds a variety of things! I have plans for it soon.

The other end of the room...near the entrance is the closet and a vintage thrifted record cabinet that holds lots of stuff.  The two drapery tie back hooks on the wall hold lots of thrifted embroidery hoops and a few other things.

The metal card catalogs are among my favorite thrifted items. The wire basket on top holds fabric I will be using in upcoming projects. A thrifted medicine cabinet turned chalkboard is mounted on the wall above.

Most of the storage items in my craft room were thrifted and many are vintage. This little recipe box recently got a makeover and it now holds scripture and quote cards I am using in my planner. I made the cute little dividers as well.

As promised, here are a couple of my recent thrifty finds complete with before and after photos. This little unit was just $2.39. I saw potential in it even with the awful paint job it had. All I had to do was paint the drawer and attach a new pull. All my knobs were too big so I got creative and used a vintage brooch I had in my stash. I love it now!

The next two involve a repurpose and a makeover. The top one is made from a metal Nike brand wallet box. My son needed a new one, so I picked one up for him at TJ Maxx. The metal box with hard plastic lid was not to be thrown away though. I simply spray painted the metal and added one of my Project Life journaling cards to the top with some washi tape to hide the swoosh. The second one is a vintage mug tree I found for $0.69 that I simply spray painted gold to hang my skinny washi tapes from. Not bad for less than a buck! 

Thanks Karen for hosting this fun party! Be sure to hop over there and visit some other places where bloggers create!

I have a few sewing projects I hope to complete this summer. I have four weeks left before I have to return to work. I hope to get everything finished!

And that, my friends, concludes our tour. It's a small room, but I have managed to store everything in it quite  nicely. This room has transformed many times over the past three years and will transform many more in the future. It is truly my happy place and it just gets better with time. If you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer. 

I am off to visit my daughter for the weekend. My Mama is going with me. I'm looking forward to our visit although it will be a bittersweet one. This is the last time I will be going to spend the weekend with her before her move abroad. It's all good though...as I am looking forward to a visit "over there" during my Christmas break if everything goes as planned! I hope you all have a delightful weekend! And, as always, thanks so much for visiting and leaving such sweet comments. 

Until next time.....