My First Guest Post - Check it Out

IT'S FRIDAY, YAY YAY YAY !!!!!

Why do I get excited for Fridays? Cuz, I get to junk tomorrow.

SO EXCITED : )

Anywhoo, I wanted to share with you guys that I'm visiting today at

My Repurposed Life 

I first must say, that I have been a stalker of Gail's for quit a long time now. She has inspired SO many of my projects and she's even helped me with a few projects that I've worked on by giving me great advice. So, when she said a few months ago that she was looking for some guests to post on her blog, I contacted her and asked if she thought I would be good enough to be on her site. She said, 

"Of course". So this morning I was happily jumping around the house when I saw MY guest post in my Google Reader list. YIPPIE YIPPIE YIPPIE !!!!

Make sure you stop by and see what I created. I used a technique and something special that  I've never done before. Just click here.

Thanks Gail for having me and thank you everyone for the support : )

** Make sure that ya check out my summer giveaway I have going on. You can enter here **

Not Too Bad for a Buck

Yesterday I showed this table that I picked up last weekend at a garage sale for $1.

The moment I saw it, I fell in LOVE with the gray color. It had been left outside for sometime

and was sun bleached. Underneath however, I could tell that it was pine.

 I thought that it might make a good potting bench ...

I started by sanding it and when I did, most of the gray came off (kinda fur-like) and the pine started to come through. Although the pine was nice, it didn't go with the look that I was looking for. So, I cleaned it with a lil' bleach water and let it dry in the sun. I decided to stain it with some Minwax stain in Classic Gray. I let that soak in a bit then dry brushed a water based white primer over it and rubbed that in so that the white wasn't stark. Then I took a lil' black gesso and dried brushed it randomly wiping the brush off in a rag and blending it in. I just wanted some depth. See the darker spots?

I then painted the base with an oops paint/primer I had. Distressed is a bit and then waxed the whole piece with a homemade dark wax

 (Natural colored furniture wax mixed with a Dark Walnut stain).

I love it so much that I didn't want to use it anymore as a potting bench.

After moving it around the house, MANY MANY MANY times, I found the PERFECT place for it

at the foot of our bed. It looks like it was made for our room. It kinda was : )

Not too bad for a buck : )

I'm partying at:
Five Days ... Five Ways
Serenity Now
Beyond the Picket Fence
French Country Cottage
Creating a House of Grace
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Savvy Southern Style
Homespun Happenings
My Repurposed Life

** Make sure that ya check out my summer giveaway I have going on. You can enter here **  

This Weekend's Junkin Finds #18

Howdy ya'all ...

So, I know tomorrow is Friday which means that my normal junkin' day is less than 2 days away, YAY!!!

It dawned on me that I had yet to post last weekend's finds.

So, before it gets to late, here they are ...

Yup, I did good. Let's take a closer look, shall we ...

First off I found these 2 vintage folding chairs for $5. They're in PERFECT condition too.

My husband thought I was crazy for buying these ...

33 incredible leather, metal and wood stirrups for $20. 

I'm thinking they would look awesome hung on the wall

A couple of lamps. 

The one on the left was free (it's kinda missing a foot) and a solid wood one for $3

2 vintage signs for $5

All these pieces were picked up for $.50 a piece

An AWESOME metal tray for free and this cast iron horse and buggy for $15

A sha-weet piece of Americana

A Yankee license plate cover for $1. Perfect for my "new" car

 

2 vintage suitcases for $2 each

This poorly painted chair for $3. I'm thinking it needs to be stripped and refinished.

What do you think?

The one thing that I bought that I'm kinda thinking I probably shouldn't have bought was this ammo box. It's stamped US on the outside and dated 1943 inside. I picked it up for $5 but when I got it home, I noticed that it had LOTS of termite damage.

So, needless to say, I haven't brought it into the house. I think I might use it in the backyard

as a planter. That way it won't go to waste. 

Good idea?

Lastly, this table for $1. I've already refinished it and can't wait to show it to ya tomorrow : )

Not too shabby huh?
How'd you do? Did ya find anything cool?

I'm partying at:
Chic on a Shoestring

** Make sure that ya check out my summer giveaway I have going on. You can enter here ** 

Our Sweet Lil' Fairy Garden

Summer in our house usually involves some sort of project.

I try to think of something that's creative, fantasy based and stuff we would have to make.

Well, this summer I thought it would be fun to make a fairy garden.

It all started with this fountain that I had bought about 8 years ago.

During our last garage sale, a little boy (about 4yrs. old) pushed it over yelling,

"No aqua". His parents didn't even say sorry. They just grabbed him and went on their way.

Needless to say, my fountain laid in pieces. The only thing that really cracked was the finial at the top. I glued the finial back together but when I put it all together it sitting at a REALLY bad angel.

The base of the middle piece was pushed in. It would not be able to be used as a fountain again.

I then thought, why not make it into a planter. 

A Novica Giveaway {Celebrating Summer}

Howdy Ya'all !!!!!

How's your summer treating ya so far? I know it's not officially summer until later today 

but when the temperature is 90+ degrees, at least it is here in Florida,

IT'S SUMMER.

Whelp, to kick off summer AND celebrate my 200th blog post, I thought I would do a lil giveaway.

Sound like fun? Yeah, I thought so too.

So, a few weeks ago I was contacted by Novica asking me if I would like to receive a gift certificate for $75 where I could chose an item from their site for review OR I could choose to split it into 2 gift certificates and do a giveaway for my readers. Because I LOVE you guys so much

 I chose the 2 gift certificates : )

Novica is a wonderful company that is one of the leading fair trade artisan websites. They work with National Geographic to give talented artisans around the world a place to express their artistic talents and provide access to the world market. They have thousands of top fair trade corporate gifts, accessories, jewelry and home decor items on their website.

Batik Clothing

 Dresses

Sterling Silver Jewelry

Beautiful Moonstone Earings

Men's Necklaces

AMAZING right?

So, here's the deets (as my 9yr. old calls em')

The giveaway is for 2 gift certificates valued at $37.50 (1 gift certificate per winner)

Giveaway starts today 6/20 and ends 7/4 (yup, the 4th of July) at 10PM EST

Winners will be chosen via random.org and announced 7/5

**winner responsible for any costs over certificate value for purchase**

What do ya do to win?

1. Be a follower of my lil' ol' blog - of course - and comment that you do

2. Tell me what you have planned for the 4th of July

3. Follow Novica on Facebook and comment that you do

4. Follow Novica on Twitter and comment that you do

lastly,

5. Shout out the giveaway on your Facebook page, Twitter or blog and let me know that you do 

(1 comment for each if ya do all 3)

Wow, that's 7 chances to win ... SWEET !!!!

LET SUMMER BEGIN : )

This Weekend's Junkin' Finds #17

Howdy guys ...

How's your weekend coming along?

I'm sitting here watching the Subway Series (game between the Yankees and the Mets)

and thought that I would share with ya everything that I found this weekend. Remember how I told you guys how my junkin' has been pretty sparse? Well, this weekend kinda made up for it.

Saturday I found all these goodies ...

First off, I found this trap (I believe it's used to get clams) 

for $1. I love taking the handle off these and hanging them on the wall to hold magazines. Also, a round piece of wood for $5. I'm gonna turn the wood into a HUGE clock : )

The best find were all this vintage pillowcases and a runner for $.25 for 2.

A vintage dishtowel and a piece linen fabric both for $.25

An old ladder for $1

 This big wire basket for $2

An AWESOME vintage lunch box for $2. Yeah, it's been painted but I probably wouldn't had bought it if it looked like a kid's cartoon lunch box. I LOVE the patina on it. The hint of red, green and yellow that's peeking through the black. The inside is cool!!!!

Next I found this set of Kingston Staffordshire ironstone dishes for $7.
I'm really drawn to blue and white right now

A little stool for $1. Notice how it says $5 then $3? It's good to shop at the end of the day : )

All these kitchen gadgets were $.50 a piece except the sifter which was $1

The table everything is sitting on was only $2.

At Goodwill I found this adorable birdhouse for $1.99. Hoping a lil' birdy family will call it home.

 Lastly Saturday I picked up this bag of seed pods from some sort of tree. No one could tell me what they were off of but they were free and they're cool.

Today, after lunch, we stopped by a garage sale,
Goodwill and an antique mall where I found these ...

At the garage sale I found this adorable sugar bowl for $.50.
While putting it away I broke, yep BROKE, the lid. It crashed to the floor : (
Since I was just gonna store it with my ironstone collection, up high in my kitchen,
I just super glued it back together. I was still heartbroken though.

At Goodwill I found this box thingy for $4.99, a bunch of cedar planks for $3.99 and a
vintage tennis ball basket for $2.99

Lastly, at the antique mall, I found this mallet for $5.
It's a GOOD size and pretty heavy.
Made me think of Thor
(my favorite Avenger)

So yeah, I'm thinking my slump might be over - fingers crossed.

How bout' you? Did ya find anything cool?