Thrift It, Gift It, Face-Lift It Challenge

Back in July I was recruited by Tania from over at The Little Vintage Cottage to participate in the Thrift it, Gift it, Face-lift it Challenge.  You can read about our first posts here.  The idea was to receive a box of thrifted goodness from one of our blogger friends and then re-purpose the items into something else.   Thrifted items and re-purposed junk??  Hell yeah, I'm all in!!

Here's what I received from Vicky from over at Life on Willie Mae Lane.....

So let's take a look at what I came up with.

First I took the yarn tassels and cut them into pieces.  Then I paired them with my business cards and some handmade price labels.  

They are now hanging on the furniture as price tags on my items at the consignment shop...

 Next I took all the wooden bases and painted them in shades of blue, white and gray, finishing up with a little distressing and a quick wax...

I took 2 of the fluted mini tins and nailed them to the top of the bases, added some candles and I have a set of candle holders....

The rest of the mini tins got pounded flat with a rubber mallet.  Then I pulled out my stamping kit and stamped Peace, Hope, Love on them.  I punched a small hole at the top and threaded in a piece of cord.  There you have it - Christmas ornaments!

I painted a couple of them with a little blue for a beachy feel...

Here's a close up of one of them....

Next I grabbed the silver pie server and the wooden knob.  The knob got painted yellow and white to match a board I grabbed out of my stash.  The pie server got bent and screwed to  the board...

My husband was always tossing his hat, keys and sunglasses on the kitchen counter.  Problem solved!  This now hangs in the hallway next to our door.

And now for my favorite piece - the cloche.  I painted it in shades of blue, gray and white, distressed it and then waxed it.  Ahhh, my favorite combination of colors.  Then I filled it with my favorite shells and beachy items that belonged to my Grandma.  I love the way it turned out...

What do you think?  I have it on a shelf in our front room.

The only item I didn't use was the wooden/brass colored disc.  I just wasn't feeling it, so I put it in my stash box and eventually it will get re-purposed into something.

I want to thank Vicky from over at Life on Willie Mae Lane for sending me such fun items to work with.  The cloche was on my wish list, so I was extra thrilled to get that.  And I want to thank Tania from over at The Little Vintage Cottage for throwing such a fun party.  Be sure to check out the other blogs involved to see what everyone else came up with!

Vicky - Life on Willie Mae Lane - Life on Willie Mae Lane

Kimberley - Seaside Ave. - Seaside Ave

Donna - Distressed Donna Down Home - Distressed Donna Down Home

Cecilia - The B Farm - the b farm

Tania - Little Vintage Cottage - Little Vintage Cottage

Go forth and thrift!!

Where I Blog

A couple of weeks ago my blogger buddy Claudia from over at Mockingbird Hill Cottage put up a post that was laugh out loud funny to me.  She talked about what a mess her blogging area is and I thought it was hysterical because it was so me!  I even had to drag Chablis over to the computer to read the post and we were both rolling on the floor.  If you're not familiar with Claudia's blog, go on over, read the post I'm talking about and stick around for awhile.  I love her blog.

Anyway.....  I told Claudia I was going to copy her idea and do a post about my blogging area.  I mean, don't you sort of wonder sometimes where people sit when they write their blogs?  I know I do.  I read so many great blogs, inspiring blogs, creative blogs, beautiful blogs and I always picture the writers sitting at their desks (their organized desks) fully dressed with their hair and makeup done and gentle music playing in the back ground and perhaps their dog is napping by their feet while their children are nicely sitting at the kitchen table doing their homework and a nice dinner is cooking on the stove.  Hmmmm....  That's what I imagine anyway and I wonder how close or far I am from the truth?

That is so not my house or my blogging area.  I prefer to think of mine as "organized kaos."  So I'm going to show you.  This is my corner of the front room where I am camped out most evenings.  I usually have my sweatsuit on and the foot rest is kicked up on my chair.  My black lab crawls under the foot rest and my dachshund jumps up and lays across my legs.  I lean over and grab my laptop off that pathetic looking TV tray table and sit all evening and read blogs and type posts while my husband has the television blasting and my kids are in and out of the front room a hundred times.  I'm so packed into my chair that if I want a cup of tea I have to grab whoever is breezing through the room and ask them to go get me one.

So lets take a look at all my little "have to have them around me" treasures.  My book on Italy which I flip through all the time because I'm obsessed with going there and the Ocean book that is too interesting for words.  See the 2 GPS units plugged in?  That's because they have to be charged at all times in case we want to go geocaching.  Then I just have to lean over and grab them to load up with geocaches from my laptop program.

Ok, remember awhile back when Chablis and I made this totally cool looking Sanibel Island table?  This one....  Yeah, well that would look so awesome sitting right here with my laptop on it, but she won't give it to me.  How rude is that??

Instead I have this crappy looking TV tray table that I use.  But notice the picture that is my screen saver.  My good friend Karen, The Essential Beachcomber, took that picture.  It's one of my favorites!  Underneath the table is "La Cucina Italiana" which I'm reading for an upcoming book review.

Now let's explore my end table.  In the back is a rock and a piece of lava that a friend of mine brought me back from Hawaii, a container of peanut M & M's because I'm addicted to them, notes and flashcards for the Spanish class that Chablis and I are taking, 2 notepads because I'm an obsessive note taker and list maker.  One pad is full of notes on the book I'm doing the review on.  Say hello to "Miss Birdy" my troll.  I love her.  I bought her because she reminded me of myself.  She's a tiny little thing and her hair is always sticking up in all directions, kind of like mine does.  My kids call me "Bird" so it just kind of fits.

Underneath my end table is a tray with a ton of books.  I bought "60 Hikes within 60 Miles" because two of my favorite hikers, Linda over at Linda's Lens, and Cris over at Here There and Everywhere inspire me to take better hikes than the ones I do.  One of these days I'm going to get out to Portland and/or Spain and go hiking with both of them!  That would be awesome!!  The 3 of us hiking together would "rock it!"

I haven't had time to read any of these books yet except for the National Parks one, which is also the only one I paid full price for.  The rest I got at the library used book sale or at garage sales.  Average price?  A quarter.  Who can beat that?  I love books and always have stacks of them everywhere.  I should show you my bedroom, but I won't.  LOL!

Moving around to the back of my throne is this little collection...  Current magazines waiting to be read, a container of trail mix, my crochet bag with a blanket I'm working on, 2 tubs of yarn and our phone.  Why is my phone on the floor?  Because I hate the phone, I despise talking on the phone and more often than not I refuse to answer it when it rings.  I really only have it for emergencies but I think it's a waste of money.  I really should get rid of it.  Maybe I will.

So there you go, now you know that I'm writing my posts from an easy chair, with my dog and my laptop perched on my lap, surrounded by my family and all the things that matter most to me.  I think I'm more creative kicked back in my chair with my legs sticking up in the air. (altho not in the good way).  Ha!   I like the drone of the television in the background and my kids telling each other they are stupid and my husband asking me for the 10th time "what's for dinner and when are you getting out of that chair and making it?"  I doubt I could write a blog post if I had to sit at my desk in my office - that's just not me.

Ok, I showed you my blogging world, now show me yours!