Thrifty Miss Priss

I've been a lazy blogger.  I have a good excuse I guess.....I've been working on my own little piece of heaven.  No more crafting in the dark stinky basement.  I moved all my stuff upstairs into my sons old bedroom!  It's still a work in progress and probably will never be "done"

 

The walls are 1970's paneling that we painted white.  How do you like my storage?  The blue shelf was left in my basement by the previous residents.  I just spray painted and distressed it.  The Big blue contraption on top is my scissor and marker storage.  It's supposed to be for utensils at a fast food place I think. 

The wooden carrier on the right was purchased at a yard sale for $1.50!  It has holes drilled into it....i think to hold screwdrivers.  It's perfect for paintbrushes.

 

 

here is the shelf before I painted it-

 

It's just a cheap dirty shelf from the 70's...I would have thrown it away a week ago...but now it's got a new life!

The two beautiful books on my shelf are from Dede....One is the Valentine Fat book I participated in and the blue one n the right is one she sent to me last year when  I was starting my journaling!  I love and treasure them both!

I've been planting a LOT of flowers....lots I grew from seed, but still had to go out and buy more.  I ran out of planters and beds!  I had this old bamboo-ish looking tray/stand.  I had planned on using it for some other project back in the fall...and never got around to it.  I left it out and it rusted.  I actually  like the way it weathered.

 

I taped off the edges so I could save the patina and spray painted it...

 

This is my spray painting "station" in my back yard!

 

 

 

This old frame for a mirror was free.  I took it thinking I'd make an "inspiration board".  It was missing it's emblem in the middle at the top.  I found the perfect one in a junk box and sprayed the whole thing pink.  It's been sitting in my basement since November.  I finally got to hang it!

 

The collage hanging in the middle happened purely by accident.  I was working in the dark dirty basement...I was in a raunchy mood...so I decided for the sake of my family's safety I better stay down there for a while.  My husband sent me a message on the printer (it's kept in the basement)  he was trying to set it up to be wireless.  Computer upstairs...printer downstairs...ANYWAY...I heard the printer fire up and something was printing while I was down there.  I looked over and he'd printed out a note..."Perry Loves Robin!!" so it made me smile.  You know the saying "If mama aint happy....nobody's happy?"....I'm just sayin.......So I grabbed it and started playing with some new watercolor crayons I got.  I thought I'd make it kind of high schoolish and cut it into a heart...just because.  It kept evolving and in the end I put a picture of my husbands great grandfather at the top of it.  It has an UNBELIEVABLE resemblance to my husband...it's really weird! (he never knew his great grandfather)  so I foofed it up and it's the first thing I hung in my new art room! 

 

 

I found this really neat "book of days" it's really old.  So  I tore out the page for that date...May 29 and collaged right on top of that.  After being creative I was in a MuCh better mood....so my family is probably safe until about oh....June 29th or so.....

I also made this skirt.....I cut an old pair of jeans off right below the pockets....and I added the vintage pink material to make the skirt part.  The pink fabric was a bedskirt that I fell in love with a few years ago but never had a bed to use it on.....I was saving it for SOMETHING but didn't know what........

 

See that lace on the bottom?  I was doing laundry the next day after I made the skirt and the lace from the top of my sheet started to rip off.  I impulsively just tore it all the way down off the sheet before it went into the machine...and I thought..HEY!  This can go on my skirt!  So I'm a little like Scarlett O'Hara, using bedskirts for clothes and sheets for trims!

 

I really like to sew...but not from complicated patterns where pinning is involved!  Not one pin was used in the making of this garment!

I've always LOVED the Rachel Ashwell Union Jack flags...but who could afford that!?  I whipped up my own little pillow using scrap fabrics from my rag garlands......and some muslin fabric I had.  Now I want to make a hundred of these.....

 

Saturday was such a terrific day!  My sister and I took our mom to an antique mall.  We forced her to try on vintage clothes and hats.  She was the only one tiny enough to fit into those tiny clothes!  I wish I'd taken my camera!  It was lots of fun!

I hope you have a wonderful week........I'm looking forward to shopping and spending time with some blog friends that are coming into town!  I'll have LOTS of pictures to share next weekend!

Project Weekend....

It's so NICE to have a THREE DAY WEEKEND!  It feels like such a  bonus!  Normally around this time on Sunday I'd be getting the Sunday Night Blues.  I've had them for years.  Even though I LOVE MY JOB and I'm so THANKFUL to be employed in such hard economic times....I get the blues on Sunday Nights.  Right now.....It's Saturday Night in my mind........

My husband and I worked all day in my front garden...ridding it of weeds and finally planting some flowers.  I've grown a ton of plants from seed but wanted some that were already blooming for the front of the house.

 

I bought some  "knock out roses" a few weeks ago...and I've been really happy with it's blooms.  I've never grown roses before...now I want lots

I pulled out my window flag that I made last year- inspired by Joy from Joys of home.....and then I noticed my neighbors across the street pulled out their buntings. My husband said they copied me because of my flag!  I informed him that I HAD buntings that I thrifted (of course) back in December for $1.oo each.....they still had the original tags on them for 6.00 each!

 

A month or so ago my husband discovered a "junk pile" on our property that had been used as a dump for many years.  He found these old light fixtures buried in dirt.  He dug them out and brought them to me.   I had NO IDEA what to do with them....but saved them. Today while I was planting my flower beds  I caught a glimpse of this old fixture and immediately STOPPED what I was doing and started working on a hanging planter.  I call this Junkers ADD.  I already have ADD I'm sure of it...but before I was even half way finished with the flower bed project...I started working on this.  Of course half way through it I was sick of it already and wanted to abandon it...but pushed my way through it.....

This hangs on the back of my house between my bathroom windows now!  I just LOVE the patina on it. I first thought I'd spray paint it...but I like it just how he found it.   I planted some asparagus fern in there and some LEMON  petunias (new this year I think)  I had the plastic chandelier baubles from a HORRIBLE chandelier that was in this house when we moved in.  Each little bauble is tied to a place that used to have a dangling light socket.  I think this is from the 40's.  Our house used to sit on farm land and we've found quite a few interesting pieces.

This is a little birdcage I bought at the thrift store and planted some of my husbands Grandmothers succulents in it.  I think it's neat that she has passed away...but we are keeping her memory alive by her plants that she loved so much....

I hope you are having a wonderful three day weekend!  If you see a Veteran or a Service Man or Woman...don't forget to thank them for their service!

Have a terrific week!

Yummy Things!

I found a yard sale advertised on Craigslist last night.  This morning I didn't really feel like going, but it was only a few miles away so I jumped in the car and went.  I'm so happy I did!  I found FIVE of these hooked wool carpets...in soft turquoise and tans...... (they're soaking in sudsy water as I type)

 

Two small ones.....about 2 x 3.......and two LARGE ones....One rectangle and one oval

 

It looks like a sage green but it's really a soft blueish color.  Perfect for me! Look at those pinks!  My heart skipped a beat when I saw these rolled up in plastic.  I thought surely it would be hundreds of dollars for all of them.  But the woman running the sale was very uninterested.  She had boxes and boxes of china and glassware wrapped in paper, not even bothering to display it.  I started digging through the boxes and she mentioned that all this stuff was her late mother in laws.  She had no emotional attachement I could tell.  I asked her for a price for all the rugs together....

 

"Oh I dunno.....five bucks for all of them?" thats what she said!  I scooped them up!  It started to rain and I wanted to dig through all those boxes!

I saw this ornament box laying on the ground under a tree...I opened it and "oh my!"

 

pink and blue vintage ornaments!  In the original box!  So I left there spending $6.00 but felt like it was all worth $600!

I came home and my husband and I made our very first little garden!  We've always wanted to grow some veggies but never knew how to start.

 

It was his idea to grid it off in 12x12 squares so we could space the veggies properly.  I teased him that it was very Martha Stewartish.   I would have just thrown the dirt in and burried the veggies, willie nillie style.

Afterwards we fenced the whole thing in so the deer and ground hogs the size of pontiacs don't eat the stuff.  Keep your fingers crossed that I'll be eating lots of home grown salads this summer!

Have a terrific week!

This and That

I hope everyone had a fabulous Independence Day!  I had a wonderful weekend spent with friends and family.  LOTS of cook outs...LOTS of eating and a few beers thrown in here and there.  Here is my little friend daughter in anticipation of her red White and blue dessert

Can you see the tablecloth?  It's a vintage bedspread.  Chenille.  Found it for 1/2 off at the super duper thrift store.  I bleached it and hung it in the sun.  It has pom pom fringe.  My husband saw it on the table and scratched his head.....because it's a bedspread.  He said........"uh.......who's sleeping here?"

I finally found a vintage hat!  This poor sweet thing was stuffed in the Tupperware bin at Goodwill.  99 cents!

Karlahad told me what to look for in these vintage hats.  No plastic at all is the first sign that it's vintage.  Even though it was stuffed in the Tupperware bin, it's totally plastic free!  Speaking of Karla, look what I found in my mailbox on Saturday!

I won this sweet necklace that she made!  She picked random names from the people that participated and made her Sweet Aunt Caroline a card for her 100th Birthday Celebration.  I was on my way to a cook out and couldn't find the right necklace to wear.  I asked my husband to pull up to the mailbox and check the mail that evening, due to the fact I was too lazy to walk.  Right inside was this sweet piece for me!  I put it on immediately and had so many compliments!  Thank you Karla, I love it! 

See the hand that the necklace is displayed on?  I bought it at the beach a few years ago.  I found 2 more this weekend in the thrifts........they're perfect for rings and necklaces.

I've been painting like a fool too!  I'll show you the afters this weekend.  Here are the befores-

Sorry to show you such ugliness and not show you the "afters"  be assured they look much better now!

I'll leave you with a bit of pretty from earlier this week

my blinged up bottles on the kitchen window....the little clump of weeds given to me by my husband....who by the way used to bring me one dozen roses every Friday when we dated 26 years ago......

and a new visitor that has come back every morning.  We have named her Betty.  She was 15 feet away from us and was not scared at all.  She even turned her back to eat some bird seed on the ground.....so tame and used to humans!

We know it's Betty each time because of the spot on her back.

And good news for Weight Watcher Wednesday!  I'm now in the "normal" range for my height. (normal is a 30 pound scale......)  I'm at the high end of "normal"  As far as weight watchers is concerned...if I stay here for 6 weeks I can attend free for lifetime (if I keep it off!)  I've lost 20 pounds and have about 10 more to go.  My daughter has lost 30! Today is our 12 week anniversary, so it's an average of 2 pounds a week..doesn't sound like much but try carrying around a 20 pound bag of something and you realize how much it really is!

Do you know what kind of tree this is?

This is our first Spring/Summer in this house.  I had no idea it would do this!

Special Delivery...........

photo from flickr

I pulled the mammoth moon plant out this weekend and collected enough seeds to mail out to probably this many people.........(I wrote about it here )  please feel free to email or leave a comment if you want some.  (If you've already sent me your name and address they'll be going out at the end of the week! 

I spent the weekend moving my craft room from my spare bedroom to the basement.  Now I have much more room, the dogs can be under my feet but not tripping me........my stuff wont be spread out in all different areas, it will all be contained to the basement. I put the table right near my big sliding glass Door so I can get the cool breezes and bright sunshine.  Lots of work but very satisfying!

See ya at the mailbox!

thanks flickr!

Have a terrific week!

This thing has got to go!

This is a picture of what I call a moon plant.  Kari over at Just Livin Large tells me it's called a Datura.  Whatever it is, it's taken over my front flower bed.  We have had a drought this year and have not been allowed to water any outside plants, or face heavy fines.  I purposely left this alone (it came up from seeds it dropped last summer).  I have not clipped it, stroked it or given it once ounce of water or fertilizer.  This mammoth has grown this way completely on it's own.  I've had these in my yard for years and they put off the most UNBELIEVABLE scent at night.  Just pull into our driveway and you are bombarded with the smell.  I always thought it would be nice to plant near a patio or deck, so you could enjoy a summer evening filled with perfume.  It likes dry sandy soil (that would be here!) and full sun.  It only blooms at night.  At dawn the flowers start to wilt and that evening you'll get a fresh new crop.  I've read that they are poisonous so if you have pets that are nibblers (or kids for that matter) don't plant this! 

I took this picture at night in the rain (finally!) but you can see the magnitude of this thing!  The blooms are trumpet shaped and bigger than a LARGE hand!

I've enjoyed it and loved it dearly this summer, but it's taking over the porch.  I finally have to hack it down now!  I'm saving the seed pods so if anyone would be interested, I'll be happy to mail them to you and you'll be ready for next spring.  Just neglect it, pay no attention to it and it will thrive!  For more info about it look here