Friday Finds

 

Happy Friday friends!!  It was a short week due to the holiday and I LIKE IT.  The weather is great and summer is shaping up nicely.

My Friday Find this week is this great vintage blackboard.  The perfect size for the kitchen.  Only one problem.....

It was sad.  Actually I was sad because it had been loved so much that chalk simply wouldn't stick to it.  I even bought Crayola chalk for this sucker.  

Easy fix!  A jar of blackboard paint, sponge brush thingie and a warm day to dry the two coats I put on. 

 We painted it once and waited for it to dry.

Posey relaxed in the sun and I drank coffee of course.

The instructions say two coats and let it dry for 24 hours to cure. So we painted the second coat and prepared to wait.  Well, it was warm and I'm not known for being patient, so I tested it last night and it was all fixed!  Happy blackboard and happy me!  

It's back in its place ready to be used.

 What did you find this week?  We need to see!

 

Funky Rustic Americana Flags

In honor of Memorial Day, I busted out these funky flags made out ribbon and fabric!  SO EASY to make and they look fantastic!  Muriel and I are both hyper critical of our stuff, but even I can't be too critical because I really do LOVE these things!  The first flag is about 2 1/2 feet X 3 feet.

To start, all you need is a stick or dowel. I dug out a piece of driftwood Muriel and I collected on the Oregon coast last winter. Gather a bunch of ribbon, lace and fabric strips in reds, creams, whites, and golds. Of course you can use whatever you like.  Muriel and I were on the lookout for the perfect "star" fabric and she just happened to find it in the form of a shirt she found in a thrift store for under $3 bucks.  

First I cut a length of ribbon for the top, which equaled the length of the stick.  I then sewed a piece of star fabric to the ribbon.  From there, I sewed my strips of trimmings across the top of the ribbon. Because a lot of the ribbon and lace was sheer, I overlapped a lot of pieces to give the overall effect a fuller look.  

After sewing all the strips to the main upper ribbon, I added a smaller ribbon to the bottom of the star fabric and then sewed ribbon strips and fabric in the same way as the top ribbon.  You just have to eyeball the length of the ribbon.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  After that's all done, just attach the ribbon to the stick.  The first large flag I made, I put these little eyelet screws in the wood then used quilting thread to run through the eyelet and the ribbon.  In the second, smaller flag I didn't use the eyelets and just sewed the ribbon to the stick which actually is a lot less hassle than the eyelets.

The finished size on this little guy is about 8 X 10

In keeping with my flag theme, I decided to play around a little with some fabric strips and ribbon by sewing them together for a whole new look.   I think this would look really cute put in a rustic frame.

So everybody, get your Americana groove on and gather all your fun trimmings and start sewing them together!  Would love to see what you come up with.

Friday Finds

Happy Friday!  It's a hot one here, the flip flops are OUT!  Well, on my feet anyway.  

I found some great stuff this week, kind of a mish mash really.  I just found this today and love it!  It's 4 feet tall and the little "perches" for the birds are made out of old square nails.  

I found it at this great shop called Jeannie's Consignment where I'm a frequent haunter.  They get in great stuff all the time and most of it's priced really well.  I rarely leave empty handed.  

I also found a fantastic length of 19th century double damask fabric.  I collect antique fabric and was happy to add this to my stash.  Manufactured to be cut and hemmed for "lapkins" which is just a fancy word for really big napkins.  I love that it still has remnants of the original labels.  Under that fabric is a great old silver plate tray.  Mavis and I both love old engraved trophies and I love anything that is engraved and silver or silver plate.  It's a great sized tray for serving.  I wish there was a big fat cake sitting on it right now.  These thighs aren't going to feed themselves!!

Last, but not least is the great vintage bracelet with loads of dangles.  The stones are all glass and it's heavy and jangly.  LOVE it!  More of an autumn thing I would wear, so I've set it aside til then.  Who knows, maybe I'll take it apart and do something else with it. 

That's all I got.  What did YOU find?  And why aren't you telling us about it? 

Barnwood Crosses - (or..... crosses I made from some wood I found on the side of the road)

“Sunlight dusts them; Water is damp; Crosses pain them; And beheadings cause cramps—” ― Thomm Quackenbush, Danse Macabre (Night's Dream, #2)   

When looking for a quote about crosses, what could be better than cramps and beheadings I say!

I collect cool crosses and when thinking of what I like and what Muriel likes, I figured I could make my own pretty easy, and that's what I did!

First things first.  I needed wood.  Preferably aged barnwood.  Though I live in a place where there are actually quite a few old barns, the thought of trespassing and then basically stealing wood from the walls of one made me nervous.  So, plan B.  On my commute to work everyday I pass a business that has a wood scrap pile with a spray painted, "FREE" sign.  Sold!  Stopped one day and not only found the wood, but they were already in the sizes I envisioned for my crosses, so I didn't even need to "saw" stuff!  The pieces were old and aged and had rusty nails in them to boot!  Wall Ah!  Faux Aged Barnwood!

Next, I gathered my supplies:  my cool drill from IKEA, wood screws, acrylic paint, magnets, E6000, wax varnish, sandpaper and.... at my local craft store I came across these tin flowers with magnets on the back.  They were sold to stick on cute little tin trays...They were cheap and looked cool and were under $4 bucks so I snagged a few.  Wow, what a perfect accent to go in the middle of the cross!

 

 

WHAT I DID:  Removed the rusty nails, sanded the wood and slapped some paint on there. I watered the acrylic paint a bit and dry brushed the wood to retain the aged look.  Once dried, I sanded a bit more, then added the satin wax, which really made the wood "pop!" 

After everything was dry, whipped out my cool IKEA drill and drilled the pieces together with wood screws, Used E6000 to glue the magnet on the wood, then stuck the tin flower on!  I also did put a metal hanger on the back.  I can't believe how cool these things turned out!

Friday Finds

Wow, it heated up this week!  It's almost obnoxious but it's not even "real" summer so I shouldn't complain.  I literally went from boots one day into flip flops the next.  

Ta Da!  I present Friday Finds this week.  Not a huge haul but a great one!  

A fantastic book from the 1940's, an antique wrapped canvas oil painting and a smaller vintage frame and print.  (you can click on any pic to enlarge for detail).  The best part?  I paid under $10 for it all.  Score!

This antique oil painting is truly beautiful.  

10 inches square, mounted canvas on wood.  So much character and perfectly imperfect.   Isn't it gorgeous?

 No signature or date that I can find but the frame is embossed with a patent date of 1886. 

The gilt oval frame with a classical print is only 3 inches.  I just love her!  

   

And finally, the book!  Don't you love old books?! This is

A Treasury of Mexican Folkways by Frances Toor, signed by the author on the front page.  500+ pages of anything you ever wanted to know about Mexico.  It's truly amazing and since recently I'm all about Mexico/Mexican Art/Mexican food (always!), I was really excited to find it.  It has some amazing color plates inside too!  These are just two:

I think there are ten or twelve of these, still vibrant after all these years.  The whole book is in great shape and it's fascinating.

What did YOU find this week?  We want/need to know!

 

Friday Finds

One of my favorite things to do during the week when I'm out and about is to poke around  my favorite haunts for "stuff."  Usually odds and ends that  I use to decorate or incorporate into gifting.  Actual gift giving or wrapping.  I'm a sucker for the wrapping of a gift being as nice as the actual gift.  

Not a lot of Friday Finds this week, but I did spend 3 hours at the dentist and the weather has been wonky.  That's my story  and I'm sticking to it. ;)

A nice little bit of sparkly goodness:

A tiny white porcelain prancing pony, an old dress clip with faux pearls and a leaf, several sets of vintage earrings and one longish strand of rough cut beads. 

I'll use the beads for a multi strand bracelet, perfect summer colors!   I love to use old clip earrings and dress clip for packages.  They look adorable with loads of ribbon tied around a gift.

The pony now sits on a shelf by my sewing machine looking happy and quite at home.  

No dentist next week and hot weather is coming, so I'm hoping to be out there poking around for more good stuff!