RUST AND DUST

 I gave a little preview of our new project and thought I would update in a couple of days when we got it complete.  It took longer than planned as usual....and it will never be complete, but here it is today.

 We decided to move one booth out of Hubby's corner of 3 booths to the opposite side of the building.  It seemed like the painted furniture projects were getting lost in the Flea Market look of the other booths.  One side of the building is more vintage/antique  and  the other side is more eclectic.  We are trying to keep this booth more neutral colors with a touch of aqua, green and blue.  And not quite so crowded.  Let's see how long that lasts!!


This booth had never been painted.  I decided to leave the pegboard as is for now because light colored things like frames show up well against it.  I did paint the lower walls since the mdf board had writing all over it which took 2 coats of primer and one coat of a taupe color (Lowe's mis-tint for cheap!).  Also hung a burlap ruffle around the top of the walls to dress it up.  The sign was made from a vintage screen purchased from another vendor, burlap flowers and scrapbook paper.

Some of the things came from the old booth and some are things we have made new in the last two weeks.  Tommy has been into furniture lately,  The  two step stool is so cute. The plans came from www.ana-white.com.   Painted with chalk paint.

We moved this giant chalkboard over from the other booth and gave it a face lift.  It was orange for Auburn but never sold so now it is more neutral.  The little drop leaf table has been in my dining room for a year waiting for a repair and paint.

Tommy saw and made this clock over the weekend.  Love pallet wood!

The shutter shelves  have been sitting around half finished for a year.  And the burlap topiaries moved from my booth to dress up this new piece.

Tommy also built this from plans in Ana White's book "Handbuilt Home."  I love the details of this piece and wish I could keep it.  He really distressed it and stained it before I painted it (again with chalk paint).  The knobs have maps so I lined the drawers with old maps to match.

 

 

 

At Least 26 Angels

My heart hurts for the families that have lost their children in  the last week.  I have

been that parent who got that unexpected call that no parent can understand.  Then 30 years later I was that grandparent who got that call.  I pray that God holds them tightly and gives them comfort.

I have never really noticed how many angels are sitting around my house at Christmas until this week.  I kept looking at the decorations with such an empty feeling.  Then suddenly only the angels seemed to warm me up.  And I started to count them - hoping that I had 26- or more. And I did. 

Hymnal Angels

 Last year I saw a Hymnal Angel in a gift shop.  Being too thrifty to pay the price I decided that I could figure it out.   I set out to find some old hymnals but was soon disappointed.  I had seen them often in thrift stores...until I needed some... I did find one.  I made an angel for the music teacher that I work with in the violin program.  I was so excited that I forgot to take her picture!   I spent the year with my eye out for some hymals and only found 4 this year!

 Her face is a paper mache covered styrofoam ball.  Her hair is moss and her halo is a sparkly gold pipe cleaner.  The face is very simple -pink cheeks and dots for eyes and a mouth.   Bits of old lace for a collar and sleeves.  Her arms are pipe cleaners.

She holds a gold ribbon with a tag made of scraps, buttons and an old glass ball.

Her body and wings are folded pages of the hymnal.  I did take out any torn pages and page 142 had "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" so I used that to make the tag.

Back view

To make the wings fold the bottom corner up and crease on the first 25 pages and the last 25 pages.
To make the body fold the top corner down on all of the middle pages- which takes some time!!!!

Two of them sold as soon as I put them in my booth.  I just finished the other 2 last night so they are ready to go to the booth today!

I am linking up to this party!

Chalkboard Banners

My big seller this month looks like  it  will be chalkboard banners!  I am not sure where I got this idea...Pinterest, another blog, Etsy...???  I have seen several variations but finally settled on this one.  My Hubby cuts out the triangles then I sand them and paint them with chalkboard paint.  I put up a sample in my booth and sold 21 triangles the first day.  I sell them individually so you can buy as many as you need.  I think this is a great idea because you can have one set that adapts for every holiday.   You can add different ribbon or even some fabric panels, buttons, bells...anything.

 

This is the sample I put in my booth -"JOY" only for home I added a bottle brush wreath on top of the "O".  I have been trying to think of some words that only take 3 letters so you could get more use out of it-  "USA"   "BOO"   I plan on keeping them in the booth year round so people can buy more triangles if they need them.

The Santa mugs with the mini trees are also headed to the booth tomorrow.   I have a few more boxes of Christmas to take out there before the holiday open house.  Then I will have a week before I start decorating at home.

In the mirror you can see a reflection of our $4 palm trees!!!  They are from the backyard and they grew so much this year that they will not fit in my low ceiling basement for the winter......  I just may decorate them for Christmas and forget the big tree....

Sweater Pumpkins

 My best seller of October has been the Sweater Pumpkin!  Made from old sweaters that I had in the donate or dispose of bag and some odds and ends.  I have made a lot and spent only $1.50 for supplies.  All of the remaining pumpkins in my booth sold this weekend so I whipped up this basket full during tv time last night.

One of my customers complained that I did not have any orange pumpkins so I spent $.50 for a thrift store sweater.  For small pumpkins cut off sections of the sleeves.   Gather one end.  Stuff. Gather the other end. Decorate.

I used twine, a felt leaf, a branch and 2 buttons.

One button is glued on the bottom,

They are each unique.

For the  bigger pumpkin just cut a circle out of the body of the sweater and gather the edge like I did with this one-

 

I hope all of these little ones find new homes this weekend !

 

Editted- Seven of the ten pumpkins sold before I left Angels on Friday!  I will have 14 more in the booth by Sunday :) 

Recycled T-Shirt Skirts

Here are the T shirt skirts that my friend and I have been making in their debut at Angels. We have been buying up t shirts at yard sales and thrift stores. It takes 4-5 shirts per skirt depending on size. The scarf is also made of recycled shirts.
Sorry about the cell phone pictures- I never remember to take my camera out there and by the time I get organized - the thing has sold! (which is a good problem!) This skirt sold the 2nd day it was out there.

Here is the "guinea pig" skirt- I will keep this one. It was a learning experience so I wanted all of the mistakes on my skirt. If I had a serger this would be easier. I am not crazy about sewing on knit. I have had to play with my knit stitches and overlock to get the best look.

It sits low on the hips, so the only place you have to fit it is the hips and length. The waist band has to stretch enough to go over the hips and not slide back off! It folds back down. That is one shirt bottom. The other four shirts are sewed in a big tube, gathered, attached to the waist band and hemmed. Not too hard! You can make any of the panels be the front- so 4 skirts in one!

I wore mine today to test it out- comfy and cool. My friend is making some for her daughter out of her Hello Kitty Tshirts that she has outgrown. I can't wait to see that one! I found a UNC shirt at the thrift store and will hunt for more. I don't outgrow my shirts and am not willing to cut up any of my favorites! Maybe I can get Mom (hint,hint) to look for some in NC! DO NOT PAY MORE THAN $.50 FOR ONE!!!!