antiques/junking – Page 34

White paint, and a White Dorky

a lapse of memory again, or am I just careless?, antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), give away, Hand Painted Furniture, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 25, 2007

My blog buddy, Natasha http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/ let me know that I messed up on the swap amount AGAIN. It isn’t 2 cards, she reminded me, then the next day, she had to remind me again, it isn’t 4 cards and two tags, it is 4 each. So, I made an extra tag today for her and I am sending it off to Australia as a thanks to her.

I got to play with power tools today! I had to make some signs to paint, so was cutting up some boards I had stored (they used to be my garage! It was the first garage built in the county, ages ago, I HAD to save the boards when we demolished the old building!!)

While I was outside painting boards, I decided to prime and base coat a bunch of things:

4 windows to make into signs

a just her size chair and a little rocking horse for Sugarwings

2 Victorian chairs

a table

a cabinet

and those signs that I cut with the jigsaw

Poor Twinks wasn’t as much of a help as she thought! (see why I call her a Dorkie?)

She ran as fast as she could for the house, and into the breezeway, but got very little paint in there. We got out the hose and sprayed her (and the breezeway) off.

(oh oh looks like I could use my roots touched up soon- why do I show such bad photos of myself???)

There isn’t much to her when she is wet.

I have even more paint on me than Twinks had in her fur. But I always look this way, I have a bad habit of wiping my brush on my clothes, so I pretty much either ruin all my clothes, or just get dressed in paint clothes every day.

A table that I had bought at a garage sale for $1 last month had bad veneer on the top, so after priming and base coating it today, I covered the top in sheet music.

I found some that says "Moonlight and Roses" and "Love is a Rose", so I painted some roses over the music paper. It isn’t done yet, here is sneak peek.

ArtsyMama is having another party! Her tea party on May Day was so fun for me, my first real time to dive into blog world and meet people. Can’t wait for this one, we are asked to give tutorials of projects, so I think I will do one on how to paint furniture. It will be on August 8.

SIX DAYS LEFT TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY- JUST LEAVE A COMMENT AND YOU ARE IN!

I am slightly crazy about these medallions

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, give away, how to's, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 24, 2007

Another wonderful day- almost 12 hours of uninterrupted studio time! That rarely happens, even for me and I am supposedly, a full time artist.

I got these 3 leather covered books last week when I went estate sale shopping with Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/. I knew they could be good projects, and they cost me under $5 for all three.

Today I turned them into this-

Some vintage wall paper, rub-n-buf, glue, glitter, roses and ribbons and they are all "Silver Bella-ed Up".

I was inspired by the Marie Antoinette Swap that is going on this summer (I didn’t sign up for that one, but loved the look of it). That movie was so spectacular. I still day dream about the colors and pictures in it.

This one is actually a box made to look like a book. The inside was already so pretty, I just added some silver trim over the dark book binding tape and a rose medallion over the hole I punched in the outside of the lid to attach a button shaped crown.

I used one of my anaglyptic wallpaper medallions to glue a rose picture to, cut it out and glued it down. (I used one on the front of the other book too)

I bought quite a few rolls of the wallpaper border for 99 cents each at Goodwill. They’ll make such great projects! I love the medallions, there are so many ways to use them!

Today I glazed some of the paper pink and some umber, then added hand painted pictures to the center of each oval.

I have been seeing the cutest cupcakes every where I look and thought I’d try painting a few. But mostly I painted roses, they will always be my favorite and I can paint those with my eyes closed by now.

I like the way the glaze shows off the texture of the paper.

I made some note cards with a few of the center medallions. There was a box of Christmas cards in a cute shape on clearance at Michaels for $1. They were ugly as they were, so I am gluing my own stuff over their ugly picture. I liked the scalloped edge that they have and I added hole punches to accent the scallops. Then I painted a little green vine down the side.

With this note card, I cut the oval out of the wallpaper, I didn’t use the whole strip. Then I put it down over some vintage wallpaper and added velvet ribbon.

On this oval, I painted a teeny ballerina and made a tag with her. This is one of the giant 8" x 4′ tags that I got cases of at a garage sale. (I’m putting some in my Cottage Collage Kits)

Did I mention that I am totally enamored with this wallpaper??

For this tag, I glued part of an old typed letter in the oval, and added a picture and itty bitty millinery flower over it.

The medallions can be used in so many ways. I will be sticking them everywhere.

I have some for sale on Etsy too, as well as most of the projects I made today, if you don’t see something you like over there, feel free to ask me about it.

I used another one to make a card for my Christmas in July swap partner http://loveofyellowroses.blogspot.com/ (oops, I forgot it was 4 cards, 2 tags!! My friend, Natasha http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/ reminded me).

So I whipped up a couple more cards and some tags for her, and then tweaked the two I made yesterday that were TOO YELLOW. I used some gold and walnut stamp ink to age the edges and that helped. I think they’ll be OK.

Everyone was so nice with their comments and encouragement about the cards, thanks.

That can’t be all I did today, I was in my studio for about 12 hours straight. The day flew by, but it seems like I should have more to show for it!

I guess I painted a heck of a lot of these little ovals. Did I mention how crazy I am about them? I think I might have, and you might be sick of hearing it by now.

But if you aren’t sick of them, I’ll include a painted oval in my give away as part of the COTTAGE COLLAGE KIT drawing for July. Leave a comment (as often as you’d like) to enter.

Another Art Doll Hat and Gloppy Purse Fairy

antiques/junking, fairies, how to's, how-to projects, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 21, 2007

The Art Doll Hat for the swap hosted by http://craftingbycandlelight.blogspot.com/ was fun to work on today. It is very different than the one I made for Sis in our private swap.

But both have the same base- a party hat in holographic paper, gold for Sissy and silver for my swap partner http://jenniferconway.blogspot.com/.

Jennifer has a wonderful site and makes the coolest crows. I don’t do crows, but I added a bird to her doll, hoping she’d like it.

I can’t send it to her until I get an exacto knife and clean up those messy arms. My scissors were too bulky.

I have a lot of these party hats left, I might make some angels to use for Christmas tree toppers.

I also made a purse fairy from one of the tiny perfume bottles Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ gave to me in our supplies swap.

My first step was to pour glue into the bottom of the bottle, then shake glitter inside it.

Next, I glued a 1" high picture down onto some background paper, and cut her out. That way, her back is attractive too, and she is more sturdy, with the 2 layers of paper. I left a strip of paper at her feet as a base.

I found a crystal bead that was small enough to fit through the opening of the bottle, and wrapped the paper base around the bead, glued it to the bead, then wrapped the base in silver ribbon and glued that down.

Now she can stand up and has a weighted bottom.

I cut butterfly shaped wings out of the same paper I had used on the back of the lady, and glittered them, bent them into a V shape and glued them to her back.

I carefully, without creasing her, folded her over and poked her through the opening to the bottle after adding glue to the bottom of the bead so it would stick to the inside of the bottle. I used a paint brush handle to adjust the fairy once she was inside, and used the brush to poke in some teeny little vintage flowers that had a drop of glue on each.

To foof up the plastic lid, I wrapped and glued a strip of the same paper I used on the fairy’s back onto the side of the lid.

A vintage button topped with a pearl bead was glued to the top.

And now I have a fairy that will always be with me wherever I go. I think I glopped enough glue into that bottle, that it will be secure, that is, if it ever dries! I’ll leave the lid off a while, maybe a week or two??

ps- you can still enter the giveaway for July by leaving a comment

Mini Spa Day at Home for the New Mom

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, give away, parties, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 20, 2007

What a nice day! We had a fun Mini Spa Day at home for my niece to celebrate her baby’s two week birthday, then I got to work in the studio, and now my husband is back from his business trip. And I was smart enough to make up extra Cordon Bleu for lunch today and don’t have to cook tonight!

I didn’t actually get to make things today, but I did bundle up some Aqua Themed Cottage Collage Kits for Etsy and got them listed ($14).

And I played with my new purchases from my estate sale shopping with Beth. This vintage wallpaper was being used as shelf paper in a cabinet in a basement, I pulled it out and got 3 large pieces for ONE DOLLAR!!

Velvet ribbons, rick rack, buttons, a sequins all came from the same basement. I added the green ribbon and the mother of pearl button, with a vintage flower to the top of the little jar full of sequins. That is about as creative as I got today, mostly it was unpacking, and packing and finding new homes for everything.

All of these little rhinestone earrings will make pretty snow flakes for Christmas projects and look at these tiny Button Crowns!!!!!!! Oh, I see a Silver Bella project in their future.

And this little clear button is a Scotty, but it is awful close to looking like a Dorky. I never find Dorkies!! The world is filled with Stupid Scotty dogs tho. Oh well, this is cute and like I said, almost a Dorky!

Twinks has claimed the feather pillows as her own. They were only $2 each, that is pretty cheap for a dog bed, but they sure are pretty. Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ says they should go into a hammock. Well, I don’t have one, but it is a good idea.

And look at this rug- I have always wanted one of these. I paid a bit more than I usually spend when out shopping, but it sure is a lot less than buying a new rug at a "real" store or even buying an old one at an antique store. This one is 10′ x 6′ and was $75. Ooh, that makes me cringe to admit I spent that much.

There were 3 of these brass lady-stake things, I only bought 1, for $2. I should have got all three, but was spending like a fool already. Now why did I think that another $4 would break me??

I like it in the flower pot. I don’t know what it is really for, but she seems content in the rose moss.

I found a bunch of ric racs and ribbons for a total of $4.50, quite a few rhinestone buttons for $1, got this cute aqua colored card for only 50 cents, and the trash can was $1.50.

You can’t beat shopping in the basements and garages of estate sales! That is where the sellers put the stuff they think is junk and not worth much.

These leather covered booklet thingys are cute, the one on the right is actually a box, the left one is a note pad, and the middle is a funeral home booklet. All three were $4. I can see all sorts of possibilities with them.

The prettiest pretty of them all today, was Madison Catherine. She is 2 weeks old and seemed to be enjoying her party. We all got to hold her while her mom soaked in the tub.

I lit some candles for the new mom, got out scented lotions and tossed some pink rose petals into the jacuzzi.

I set up a special chair for Brooke to sit in for lunch, and tied up the back of it with a bundle of flowers I got in my first swap from Karin at http://www.creativechaos.typepad.com/

We ate salads with feta, cranberries and almonds, then had cordon bleu with spinach fettuccine and a side of broccoli. (the broccoli got mushy but the rest of the meal was good)

The new grandma brought a Tiramisu, who needs broccoli when you can have that?!! I picked a gladiola from the garden for Grandma Gladys who loved Brooke so much and would have loved to see her baby. She was with us in spirit today.

Brooke wore the crown I received in the tiara swap from Barb at http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com/.

I have one more thing to list on Etsy, then I am going in to have a plate of leftover cordon bleu. I wish I had leftovers everyday, man I hate to cook dinner.

Please leave a comment if you want to enter the drawing for a Cottage Collage Kit!

A Bounty From Beth, Baubles and Blooms

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, flowers, jewelry, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2007

Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ had so many great things for me today in our swap!!!! Old wallpapers, a cool box full of stuff, pictures, post cards, a how to paint roses book (love it) a scrapbook, old lace rolled up on a clothes pin, cards, Valentines, and three mini bottles to decorate. She suggested I make "purse fairies" to put in them, so I’ll always have a fairy with me.

And look! Old photos of lovely ladies!

I know I tend to go on about being a Lucky Person, but I do think I am lucky to have a friend like Beth. Not only does she have cool stuff (and she shares it)- we can talk for hours about anything or nothing and have a great time together.

When we are old, we’ll still be buddies like these guys.

I’m afraid we didn’t get around to making our Silver Bella projects today, we got caught up in Estate Sales in Kansas City and couldn’t stop.

I bought these two necklaces that are along the lines of what I collect. I rarely find them for such good prices anymore, so don’t buy very often, these were $20 and $25! (they are sitting on a table that I faux finished)

So, we got to talking about jewelry, (along with gossiping about our blog friends and what they are all doing and who said what and who showed what on their site this week).

Beth showed me these pieces that she got from her Grandma. Even better, hers are sentimental. But, I have never seen her wear them, she isn’t a jewel person.

I, on the other hand, AM a jewel person! Love the old stuff, or hand made things from old pieces. Here are some I pieced together myself with old bits that I collect.

I really like this green one, but I never wear green. Sometimes I wear the necklace with a black tee shirt and jeans since I don’t own green clothes.

The pink Chzeck glass necklace is the first I bought, and it is just as I found it, didn’t need any redoing at all. It is my favorite and started the whole obsession with these glass stones. I wear this one all the time, it seems to match everything I have!! When I bought it, I was worried that I had spent too much, and felt bad about buying something so expensive for myself for no reason, and 20 years later, I am still wearing it, and am so glad I got it! And it wasn’t that much, only $45, but at the time, that was quite extravagant and I almost didn’t get it. All of the others cost under $30.

Sissy gave me the round purple pieces that I used to make the chain for this one. She made earrings for me from them too, and they are my one of my favorite things. I don’t own purple clothes either, but I do wear this color jewelry a lot with white or black tee shirts (I have boring clothes).

These two I bought at a flea mkt this spring, and will probably clean up and sell instead of keep. I have plenty! And I work at home, and usually wear paint clothes, so don’t always have a place to go to wear jewelry.

Although I did have somewhere to go tonight! I was invited to a Lawrence Art Guild party at a friend’s house.

She had the most beautiful, wild, rambling gardens!

I spent some time chasing down this butterfly.

Pam has a funky old wooden ladder that she uses to brace her holly hocks.

I loved the chaos of the garden, it all seemed so natural and unplanned, but she has a degree in horticulture, so I do think that she spent time planning it!

We had a nice evening of sipping wine, exploring the gardens (oh there are lots more than these!) and talking art with friends.

There’s No Place Like Home, but Okoboji isn’t bad

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, give away, Sugarwings, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 16, 2007

It feels good to be back in Kansas!

We are back from our family reunion at Fellenwarth Beach, Lake Okoboji, Iowa. I felt like I took a trip back in time, or was on the set of Dirty Dancing at the Kellerman Lodge! This place was built in that era and has been updated, but still had that old fashioned feel. (but no Patrick Swayse, drat)

There was the cutest little amusement park next door, called Arnold’s Park. Sugarwings rode on her first carousel horsey and her Uncle Ryan won a prize for her in the bottle toss.

She had her first taste of ice cream.

At first she wasn’t sure what to think, and the cold didn’t make her very happy.

But once the flavor hit her taste buds, she decided Ice Cream is the best!!!

It wasn’t the cheapest place to stay, and I’m afraid that we made it even worse by pulling our boat up there, along with my BIL bringing his boat. If the nation experiences a huge gas shortage this week, it is because we used it all up in those two trucks. We could have spent a week in Florida at the beach for what we spent on a long weekend in Iowa.

But seeing relatives from all over the country made it worth it. It was great to be there for Little Joan’s 75th birthday (oh, and she liked the photo album I put together for her.)

I snuck away with baby brother, Randy and his husband, Kevin for a bit and we did some junking. Both of them are avid antiquers and that Kevin has a great eye and so much knowledge about what he sees. I just look for what is pretty, he knows values, and the history of what we come across.

I only had an hour or so to shop and there were SO MANY antique places up there. I was hoping to take more time junking, but just couldn’t be selfish during family time. But I did find lots of cool old papers, this album full of anniversary cards was $8, the kids books were $2, the kitten post card with glass eyes (how cool is that??) was $1.

I found a few other little pretties,

the white dog salt shaker- $2
shell vase $1
an oval frame with a German die cut cherub – $4 (and I seem to have packed that away somewhere in the vast luggage that isn’t unpacked yet)
But my best find, was these two cardboard courthouse record keepers, from 1917-1930.

They were jammed packed with correspondence, typewritten, and hand written!!

I’ll be adding some of these pages to the July Cottage Collage Kit giveaway. There are some wonderful pieces in the boxes, I can’t wait to have time to sift through them all. (the boxes were $15 each, but I was only going to buy one and then my BILs surprised me with a second one, how sweet)

Back to normal life, houseguests are gone, the vacation is over. I have so much unpacking to do and errands to run.

I went to the store to get soap to do up the mountain of laundry I brought back from Iowa, returned our books on tape that we listened to on the drive, and of course had to get some of the $1.99 bunches of flowers that are on sale every Monday. And Peaches were on sale for 88 cents lb. If they are good, I’ll go get more and make a pie or two.

Then, I swung by the Vet’s office to get my pile of Dorkies, and all of us worked outside, watering the garden and flowers. The little dorkies are all as happy to be home as I am!!

Where is all the stuff hiding???

antiques/junking, give away, Hand Painted Furniture, how to's

By Karla Nathan / July 11, 2007

My fairy grand baby has loved meeting her Wyoming cousins, and we are all looking forward to the rest of the week together up at Lake Okoboji in Iowa. I probably won’t be posting for a few days, I’ll check in if I can, but most likely won’t have access. You can still enter my drawing if you want to leave a comment, you can enter to win a Cottage Collage Kit, with vintage papers and other pretties.

People have been asking me what I do with all my stuff in the studio when I set up the room for a family reunion.

I hide it all!

This little silver metallic colored wash stand that I painted is full of doll making supplies and trims, the cosmetic case is more lace and doiles, and the wicker basket holds all my original greeting cards. (this piece was free, Beth, http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ gave it to me and I fixed it up.)

And of course, all these baskets are full of supplies too.

I have all my jewelry making goods in the (free from my niece) wardrobe drawers, with mosaic materials in the side door of it.

Drawing and collage supplies are on the shelves ($15 at a garage sale, then I repainted)- and you really don’t want to see behind that screen! ($3 at at garage sale) That area is where the avalanche of junk is hiding.

My sewing machine is in this cute little $5 cabinet that I painted and added a ceiling tin top and a wooden wreath to, and the candy dish is full of seed packets. (and that is my typewriter sitting on the shelf, not sure what I am going to do with it yet)

Two sets of Home Depot basic cabinets ($50 each) are stacked up and placed back to back then filled with more and more junk.

This is all scrap booking goods packed away into these drawers. The dresser was $20 at an auction, it didn’t have a bottom drawer, but I like it this way. I used to keep a tv on top and the video equipment on the open space.

I have stuffed this french vanilla painted wardrobe (that I paid $15 for and rebuilt) full of vintage fabrics and water color supplies. There are more fabrics in the German trunk above it. I don’t really sew, but I sure am a sucker for gorgeous old fabric. Someday….

This glass doored hutch holds some inventory that I am eventually going to sell. I thought I’d set it out and enjoy it until I found new homes for it, instead of storing it in boxes. (This hutch was only $50 at an auction!)

You probably won’t believe this, but this narrow chimney cabinet is empty! Not a thing in it, but I did cover the shelves in old paper, then glaze them in umber, and edge them in vintage lace.

I paid $5 for it at a garage sale, but don’t really need it. I just have a soft spot for storage pieces and cabinets!

This buffet sits near the head of the table, but has nothing to do with food service. It is full of fairies and fairy houses that I made, and vintage jewelry. (it was $75, but needed work too)

So, this room isn’t perfectly set up as a dining room, it still has a studio feel to it, but I really can seat a lot of people at tables in the center of the room, and it is nice to be able to all sit together even if we are surrounded by inventory and supplies!

I’m off to start the dishwasher again. I didn’t have to cook tonight, my brother-in-law made chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes and black bean salad! I had 2nds.

I contributed a carrot cake from a mix, that I dumped a can of mandarin oranges, red grape raisins, flax seed, sunflower seeds, extra brown sugar, cream cheese, yogurt and an extra egg into. I kind of cook like I craft, off the top of my head and what ever sounds good at the moment.

I decided what to offer for the July Giveaway!

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, give away, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 9, 2007

Well, we have a houseful of people, kids, and dogs (Twinkle is still being "trained" by Luke), so I am not able to do any craft or art work. But I did manage to put together a few more Cottage Collage Kits (or scrap packs) to sell on Etsy.

Here you can see Twinks getting a lesson in going down the blow up slide in the wading pool. Luckily, she seems to be enjoying all of the so called "dog training". Her feet haven’t touched the ground since the kids arrived.

This visit has been so busy, that we all forgot that we were supposed to have an ice cream buffet last night!! There is a lot going on, when kids forget ice cream!

Once the kids were tucked in, and the guys were settled into a card game, I went to the studio to play with paper (my cleaned up studio!)

I made up bundles with over 30 items in them, including sheet music, vintage wallpaper, copies of my art, pages from old books, a page from a steno manual, a millinery flower, some posies, old buttons, vintage gift wrap, and on and on.

Its so fun to pick through my stash and try to find goodies I think someone might enjoy using.

This tone on tone wallpaper is actually silk.

Anyway, I listed 6 of these on Etsy last night for $14 each. I got to thinking, that maybe a similar one would also be a good giveaway for July. So, if you are interested in a variety mix of a Cottage Collage Kit, leave me a comment and I will enter you in the drawing at the end of the month.

Here is one of the old wallpapers, pretty, huh?

These are from packs I made last week with a blue theme, that have already sold out.

I’ll be sifting through my goodie cabinets and finding some pretties to add to the giveaway, when I get a nice packet together, I’ll show a photo.

Now, I’d better go and see how Twinkle’s training is going!

Madison

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, family, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 7, 2007

Remember how I waited till the last minute to clean my studio and turn it into a dining room for company? Well, something else came up and it still isn’t done.

But it was a very good excuse for not cleaning, Madison (named for Madison, Nebraska- hometown of the Nathans) was born tonight! We spent most of the afternoon and evening at the hospital waiting for our niece to give birth.

The whole family was there waiting for her arrival. We played cards, laughed, made bets on who’s family would have the first baby, ours or the other people waiting that we made friends with. (We won!!) We had baby races with Sugarwings and another baby there with her family.

Finally, Madison came, and we all went back to see her. Sugarwings is enthralled by her new cousin.

So, do you think I’d clean the studio when I got home??? Nope, I fixed up a spice rack that I got today at a garage sale for $1 (including all the bottles) so I could use it to hold all the glitter that I bought today at the same sale (a bagful of glitters, sequins, buttons, and bows for $2).

I used a lot of the goodies I got in the mathcbox swap from Debra at http://www.hophopjingleboo.blogspot.com/ including the doll baby at the top (appropriate for today!). Whenever I glitter something up, I will think of Madison and the day she was born.

Hey, organizing the glitter was a very important part of cleaning up the studio!! How can you have guests over if your glitter is in plastic bottles and laying around helter skelter???

Well, maybe I should try cleaning up a bit now. No more excuses.

PS- All of the vintage paper packs I had listed on Etsy have sold, but I will be making up more soon.

ppss- Thanks for all the feedback on the loading speed of my blog. I’m glad to hear it is faster. If anyone is still having trouble, would you please let me know

pppsss- I really will have a give-away this month. I am counting all comments made in July and will let you know what the drawing is for as soon as I figure it out! (open to suggestions!)

Guests coming and no place to put them admist the junk, so I go and buy more junk

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 6, 2007

I should be getting ready for company. I have half of a family reunion at my house this weekend, then we are all car pooling to Lake Okaboji, Iowa for the rest of the get together.

Instead, I go garage sailing. And found a sweet ballerina doll for Sugarwing’s room. I added butterfly wings to her, so she’d be a fairy ballerina.

Of course, I aways have a stash of butterfly wings for these emergencies. I buy them by the cartload when they go on clearance at Michaels. Usually they can be found for a quarter at the end of the season. And you never know when you will need a set of wings in a hurry!

At another sale, a print shop was closing and I got 5 cases of manila and white mailing envelopes in 4 sizes, 2 cases of white and cream, blank note cards (the kind you send in an wedding invitation for RSVPing), and 3 cases of giant shipping tags!! For how much? TWELVE DOLLARS!!!

Now, am I crazy to think I will need this many envelopes for shipping purchases on Etsy and Ebay, or am I just being realistic, knowing that I am a swapaholic now and will be using lots of mailers???? I’ll also include some of those shipping tags in my give away this month. And probably every month for the rest of my life.

Even twinkle can’t figure out what I am doing with a car load of old windows. Well, sometimes I wonder too. But, I am planning on painting these up for signs, they have a pretty shape and were only a couple dollars for the stack.

This is my $1 table. It had bad veneer, but I already picked it all off so that now there is a new surface to work with. Some putty and paint? Or a mosaic? Or cover it in vintage papers? After the legs are painted, this will be a beauty, no matter which way I decide to finish the top.

This white iron stand with glass shelves was extravagant- $5.

Some days you come here for eye candy, other days, you get dirty old tables, or a dumpster. I almost hate to show you these next pictures. Oh my. But you’ll see why I say I SHOULD BE WORKING.

I will have 9 people staying with us and about 25 or so people coming here for dinner,(and meals in between)from Saturday till Wednesday.

And my art studio, which has seen some heavy duty work lately, plus is piled with garage sailing finds, needs to be transformed into a dining room by noon Saturday. Beds need to be made up and groceries need to be bought to feed us all.

So, I’m off to the grocery store. (I think that there is a neighborhood garage sale by the store, I might have to stop)