Deer before and after…

I got this out of a free box last summer.

Before:

And after:

I have it hanging here…by these two mirrors I’m still working on. This is such a dark little hallway in my house I’m hoping the mirrors and white paint will brighten things up. I’ll add a pop of color when I figure out what that will be. lol!

Can you believe I started spray painting this last summer…almost a year ago! But while spray painting I noticed the antlers were loose and almost falling off. So I brought it into the house to get fixed…and there it sat… until I got out my E6000 glue and a stick pin and dabbed glue into the crack. Phew! I can’t believe it didn’t get broken before I could get to it…

Happy Crafting!

PS: And when I say “get to it” I mean remember that it isn’t done…sometimes I have projects that sit around so long I don’t see them anymore! Anyone else have that problem?

Last day!

Today is the last day of school! That means it is the last day of peace and quiet for me for the summer. One part of me is sad about that – but a big part of me is glad to be done for the year – and we are so looking forward to a schedule-free summer! I made the last peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the year yesterday. YES! Geez I get tired of that.

I finished quilling my picture and will show you next week – I got a frame yesterday and I still need to paint it white. But I did want to show you the table I got last fall. It was sitting on the side of the road. Free! Does this count as dumpster diving?

It’s in my craft area in the basement. It has a leaf so it could be longer, but it needs just a bit of repair work before I use it. Isn’t it pretty?! It’s oak. This will be the perfect fabric cutting table/scrapbooking table!! The plumbing you see under the table is where I could have a sink…and wanted a sink…but since there is a bathroom 10 feet away I decided this would be a better use for the space.

This is what I’ve been using to hold my works-in-progress. I got together everything needed for the quilling project and keep it on this cart. When I’m not using it I wheel it into my office. This is working really well. When the quilling-fever has died down I’ll empty it and fill it with the next project. I got this cart and several others at the dump. I think I need to spray-paint it to jazz it up – and suggestions on colors? Light blue? I dunno…

This is the “junk drawer” in my office. Since there are no drawers I’ve been repurposing jars that once held candles. I like it!

Also, thank you to everyone who has commented on my posts and/or given me an award lately…I haven’t forgotten…and will post on that. I’ve been such a bad blogger lately…at one time I just couldn’t get enough of the craft blogs and lately I can’t seem to concentrate on the computer…I dunno…

Well, have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!

Don’t hate me…

Don’t hate me cause I’m so lucky!! Hubbie went dumpster diving and came home with this for me – yay me!!

It’s about 4 feet tall and will hold a lot!!! I can’t wait to get to the basement and load it up…

Accidental Genius

 

I can hardly spell my name (thank God for spell-checker) but I’m a genius! I got a burlap rice bag from a friend who said “maybe you could make something with this?” – ya know, that happens a lot…anyways, I’ve been inspired by Maya Made and wanted to try making a burlap bucket. I wanted to use the entire rice bag for the project so I just unraveled the side seams and the top seam – it was then one long rectangular piece of burlap. Then I lined it with some ugly blue felt (that I found at the dump – in it’s package!) and then orange check fabric. I sewed all of that together. I then wrapped the whole thing around a bowl so I would know what size to make the base, then made the base. I whip-stitched (by hand) everything together and followed with the sewing machine. I didn’t try to sew in straight lines I actually tried not to sew in a straight line – it looks pretty rustic.

OK – here is where the genius comes in – I left the original zipper intact while making the bag. There was no reason for leaving it in besides the fact that it is a pretty red and offers another pop of color. Once the bag was constructed I realized I had a great way to insert some stabilizer!!! I had some rolled cardboard that I’d been hoarding stashing for years and I got it in between the outer and inner layers via the zipper opening! My bucket now stands straight and tall. When it gets dirty just remove the cardboard and wash – put the cardboard back when dry. Stabilizer can be expensive – the zipper opens up lots and lots of opportunities… no pun intended… to use other stabilizers. I can’t wait to experiment! Happy crafting!!!

Dumpster diving again!

Yup – again. And I only had to rake the neighbors yard for about 4 and a half hours to get there… With my kids… It was worth it! I got another little cart!!! I haven’t taken a picture of the one I got, but I did a little research and here is what I can tell you -

I got a REALLY GOOD DEAL!!! You know – free!!! Did you see the prices on these things? High price of $296.44 and a low price of $245.96.  OK – It needs a little major scrubbing. I can do that! I also got a couple other finds that I can show you some other time. Really, I am soooo tired. All that raking and bagging and yelling at my kids to quit being wooses really kicks my butt. (The kids were actually real troupers – just took some loud motivation from me once in a while)

Maybe I can craft tomorrow. Good night all and happy crafting!!

Pact with the neighbor…

So my neighbor and I got to chatting the other day and I told him about my cabinet. Come to find out he loves going to the dump too – so we made a pact that if he has to go he’ll take me. And if I have to go I’ll take him. ha ha! Now I’ll have muscle with me!!! Well, we went today and this is all I found -

The Tupperware salad forks were still in the packaging!! The little shot glasses with stems are just perfect for that batch of dandelions the kids bring me. That little vase could be covered in polymer clay…the little bells are great for tons of holiday projects…and that basket! The shape of the basket caught my eye first. I thought I could recover it. Well, then I got it home and looked at it a little closer. It is in great condition – just filthy. So I washed it. And set it in the sun to dry. It is made of an oilcloth material. Sturdy and basically waterproof.

 

Still has the tag – although this one doesn’t fold.

Geez – I love the dump. Anybody need to go???

Applepalousa

Uff-da! My mom came for a couple days and kicked my butt! She brought with her a trunk full of apples. Then she made me process them with her – ha ha! We ended up with something like 64 quarts. Yes. SIXTYFOUR QUARTS!!!! I used every quart jar I have and then started freezing some, then left an ice-cream bucket full in the fridge for the kids to snack on. It took us 12 hours. I was so tired I woke my husband up by snoring. I never snore! Look -

And take a look at the size of the apples – amazing!

I tell ya mom – you may be older than me but you still make me eat your dust!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!

Now look at what I pulled out of a dumpster at the dump/landfill yesterday. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you aren’t supposed to do that because some idiot hurt themselves and wrecked it for everybody else… but you’d have pulled this out too!!! I used my super human strength to get this out. I pulled and tugged and finally got it balanced on the edge of the dumpster – then I dragged it to the trailer and ran out of oompf. Luckily a guy pulled up to dump his own stuff and he said “Looks like you’re changing your mind.” I said noooo, I just pulled this out. Well, he looked at the dumpster, the cabinet, and then me and I could read the how in the hell… on his face. Hee hee. A determined salvager can lift almost anything.

 

Huh – funny how that camera angle made it look narrower on the bottom – but it is square in real life.  Check out the knobs – they are what caught my eye to begin with. Oh – and the pull for the drawer is soaking and ready to be cleaned and put back on. I did the knobs last night.

      

And how cute are the hinges?! So can I paint it? Or do I have to leave it in its crackled state? Oh yeah – the top is enameled metal. I put a regular milk crate inside so you can get an idea of the size. Isn’t it AWESOME! Why do people throw stuff like this away? It really makes me crazy. All they would have had to do was stick it on the roadside with a free sign and I know someone would have taken it. If nobody did take it within a week or so then throw it away. But nooooo, lets bring it to the dump and trash it! Does that make sense to you???? There was another one in that dumpster – I couldn’t see the front so I don’t know really what it looked like, but it killed me to leave it. I’ve gotta start bringing a screwdriver to at least remove knobs and hinges. Have a good weekend and happy crafting!!!!!

Bird rescue

I got this bird at a garage sale for pennies. It had been broken and glued back together badly. But – I really liked the “lines” of the bird -

See it’s poor little legs? I sanded down the one on the right until it was smooth to the touch. No ridges.

Then I painted it -

And put it on top of the fridge – love the bird!