Waiting for Santa

The sounds in the workshop are slowly winding down, and only a few last minute details are in need of attention. So now the countdown has begun!

Last year I made this for our newest addition. This year, and only a couple of weeks ago we added another. A new stocking, for a new girl was needed!

Now this granddaughter belongs to a fairly woodsy family, so a fairly woodsy stocking was required.

So back to Pottery Barn to see what I could find, and this one seemed just right.

Now my version.

I just adore these little owls, hanging out on the tree limbs.

Now all that it needs is for Santa to come fill it up!

Merry Christmas to all:)

To Grandmother's House we Go.

My house is a buzz with Christmas creations, strategic hiding places, the smell of cookies being baked, and the addition of a new Grandbaby!! With all this happening, we are also reorganizing the basement and the garage, which means found furniture.
What happens is I find something, move it in and then find something else set it on top. I'm trying to not  do that anymore and work through what I have, which brings us to todays piece.

We bought it a long time ago and it was in pieces. I was thinking it would be an easy fix and in the end it was. So, in between Christmasing and baby kissing, it got a new life.

I almost forgot to take a before picture before we started, but I quickly grabbed my phone and took this. The bottom piece that holds the drawer is missing and that's what needed to be fixed.

And now, all fixed sanded and painted. Its painted ASCP Cream.

The top was badly water stained and I really wanted to see if we could sand that out and as luck would have it, we did!!

We changed out the hardware because the handles were pretty funky. Original to the furniture but didn't match the feeling I get when I look at. Which is something I'd see in my Grandmother's house. I didn't know either one of my Grandmothers, but I like to imagine.... a lot.

Its a cute piece in need of a home, but thats another story...:)

Simply Christmas

Simple. Thats what I'm hearing people say this Season. They want simple decorations thats an easy up and down, and be able to focus on family, friends and the true meaning of Christmas.

So here is my simple version of "Christmas".

 I toyed with several different ideas, but this one says it all. We hung it up liked it, placed it on the fireplace, and liked it.  I liked it just about everywhere. But this one has gone to a silent auction with proceeds going to the " The Good Food Box". Check them out online. :)

A little Snow

Since Roger no longer has a job to speak of, I've been putting things into two categories in my mind. Wants and needs. Since wants are usually frivolous things that I don't actually need I'm finding more things falling into that category. :(  But with a little thought, and a little help from pinterest, we came up with a very cheap way to add a little fun to the kitchen.

Now its no secret I dislike my ceiling very much, but it does come in handy at this time of the year for hanging things up.

 To keep this project within the budget of super cheap I found this

 An old Reader's Digest I picked up at my local thrift store. The covers on these old ones are pretty neat and will become something else down the road. 

We began by ripping out pages and cutting strips for chains and making snowflakes.

Every year M'lynn forgets how to make these and it takes her a couple of tries. This one's not bad, but she gets better as she makes more.

Everything we made, cost about a $1.00. This was one frivolous thing I could afford.:)

The Baby Bag

There is a little over two weeks left till we add to the family once again. And I think they have just about everything ready for the little one to arrive, but the baby bag.

When Leah was born I wanted to buy Ashley a diaper bag, but after looking at my options I quickly changed my mind. They all seemed so suitcasey and hadn't really changed a whole lot since I had kids.
So a quick trip over to my favourite quilt store I found a pattern that I liked and made her a baby bag. I've made a couple of these as gifts but here is Amy's.

Not big and cumbersome and the pattern comes with a change pad to make as well. It's loaded with pockets and doubles as a purse when out and about with babe.

Over time I hope to be making more of these.:)

Practice piece in Black and White

I had a bit of a disappointment a couple of weeks ago. I had gone to my local upholsters and asked if I could volunteer my time in return to teach me a few things. Both said no. I'm not upset with them in anyway, just was hoping to learn a little faster then I am. (sigh)

A while back I bought this fainting couch at my local thrift store. This was layer one.

This was layer two

And number three

Black and white seems to be my theme this week, so here it is.

I used my mixed up design and reupholstered it and painted the legs black.

So the question is am I happy with it?.... The answer is, I'm ok with it. Since I'm learning how to do this on my own, from books and videos, it is what it is. And thats ok with me. Each little practice piece along the way, I'm hoping for better results, until one day I will be decent upholster and feel confident enough to sell something I do.
                                       Until then, I just lounge around on this one.:)

The Room at the Top of the Stairs.

In my house there are a couple of areas that once the door is shut it's out of my mind. I don't have to look at it anymore or think about it until I have to open it again. Unfortunately this room or in this case closet I did have to open almost every single day and then when the doors had to be taken off you can imagine the sinking feeling every time I climbed the steps to see this horror.

Yup, everyday for the past 6 years that was were the wash was done. Thank goodness there was doors.

But when this came home to live after the death of my washer I couldn't give it an ugly home and the doors would no longer work cause this baby stuck out much further.

So we gave it and its sister a new home.

So at this point we don't have doors and right now I don't want them because I like looking at this prettiness.

Roger made the cabinet and I wanted a chunky counter top, so chunky I got. We sealed the wood extra in case you're wondering. The sink and doors came from Habitat. I then painted the doors and bottom half black. The little bench is great for folding wash.

  

The ceiling and the walls were replaced with beadboard paneling, and, Roger trimmed the whole thing with some pieces put together to give me a little ledge. I've got something in mind for that later.

My wallpaper I picked up for $5 a roll in Goderich at the Giant Paint Can store. ( I can't remember the name right now)

The floor is a vinyl strip floor. Cool stuff in my opinion. The fabric was in my stash.

My find this summer at a yard sale. I really like this basket. It will store something, just not sure what yet.

 And my ironing board now has a home. I found this little beauty at my local thrift store and brought it home to become something else. But I really needed an ironing board so I used it. Super sturdy and far superior to the ones you buy today, so an ironing board it will stay. Now I just need to make a cover for it. Even my drying rack has a place.

So there you have it, another little piece to my almost renovated home. I'm looking forward to attacking my kitchen in the new year. :)

A Dogs Life.

It's been a roller coaster month. First Roger was laid off. Hired back for a month and then last week laid off again. Only this time we don't know for how long or where he'll go.
In the meantime all those projects that we have been putting off, are now getting done with a vengeance.

Picture taker girl and her husband are expected baby number one to arrive in 5 weeks. EEK!!! So there is a bit of a push to get some things done in her wee apartment to get ready for the little one to arrive.
So naturally the first thing we made was something for the dog.
 Hunter, their dog when left alone in their apartment has a bit of a fetish for all things fluffy. He is normally caged in a big old wire cage when everyone is gone, but they wanted something a little more stylish.
So thanks to Ana White and Pinterest we came up with this. I grabbed my phone and took this quick realizing I had almost forgotten to take a picture.

And the final product.....

I painted it gray and then age it with a dark stain.

The neat thing about it is, that it will double as an end table in their living room.

I think it's Hunter approved.:)

Quick change, Fresh look.

It seems it happens to all of us from time to time. We caught up in the outside world, that our own little world falls into a pit of despair.
My poor dining room chairs would fall into this category. When we moved here it was time to recover the chairs, and being the thrifty person that I aspire to be, used the drapes that had been left by the previous owner and recovered the chairs.
Fast foward to present day and the fabric is falling apart, not to mention it looks rather disgustingly gross.


The one on the right is the before. It doesn't look that bad, but I picked one of the better chairs for the picture.

This fabric was actually a bargain at $20.00 a meter. The bargain comes into play when you get 2 extra meters for free! This gives me more then enough because each chair takes 1/4 of a meter to cover it.

Recovering this type of dining room chair is something anyone can do. Its best to take off previous fabric so you will need is a pair if pliers and something to remove old staples, a flat screwdriver will work, and a staple gun.

Heres a shot of what it looks like underneath after the new fabric has been added.

And a closer look.

To do this, make sure that you start stapling in the centers all the way around, then working your way from the center to the corners pull and staple. Check your work along the way by flipping it over making sure your getting the desired effect. When you get the corners is where you will usually have excess fabric. Fold fabric into corners, staple, fold, staple, until you have a smooth corner looking from the top.

I only have a few more to go and then its one more thing off my to-do list, before..ahem..Christmas. :)

Wrist Warmers

As mentioned before my fetish for BBC programming led me to watch the Pbs mini-series "Little Dorrit" by Charles Dickens. Since I'm always on the look out for new ideas while watching these shows, I noticed wrist warmers in wool and lace were worn by actresses. Looking up a bit of a history on them its seems they've been around for centuries and worn in colder climates of the European North. The best explanation as to why wear a wrist warmer is very similar to that of a hat. It traps the warmth in the wrist thus keeping your fingers warm and able to carry on working, even outside.
Over the last couple of years they seem to have come back into fashion again, with patterns for them popping up on the internet and pinterest, so not exactly new, but I have not attempted them yet.

So sitting by the cozy fire last night, listening to the wind howl, I grabbed some wool and a crochet hook and made these. (yes they are the same height hehe)

For a first attempt and no pattern I'm ok with this. I added a little ruffle to them along the bottom to finish it off, and it only took me an hour to finish the pair. Hmmmm Stocking Stuffers??:)

A little Late, but ever so Thankful.

This past April was my mother's 80th birthday, and through much busyness, we couldn't seem to find time to gather together to celebrate. So each sibling did their own thing with her to celebrate.

Enter Thanksgiving.
My sister Angela graciously invited us all to her home for thanksgiving. She suggested that we take some time out of our Thanksgiving Festivites and surprise Mom with a round of "Happy Birthday" and a cake. Lets face it, we would not be gathering together to be Thankful if not for our parents, so really it seem fitting to do this for her at Thanksgiving.

I asked if I could make the cake, since playing with food always seems like a fun thing to do.
I started by making Marshmallow Fondant. There are tons of recipes for this on the internet and its super easy to make. It also looks like the professional fondant that cake decorators use but is sooo much cheaper then buying it.

I tinted half the batch in purple, leaving the other white, mixing them together to get a marble effect.

Then I decided cupcakes would be the easiest to transport and made those. Now while they were cooling I began making roses.

Since working with fondant is like playing with play-doh, I thought these would be pretty easy to make, and I was right.

Start with a center,  then make some petals by flattening out some of the fondant, some larger some smaller and wrap your petals around your center. I made a couple of rose buds as well, with a center and two petals.

Not all the cupcakes were going to have flowers I wanted some with coloured sugar. I just happen to have a very coarse sugar. I mixed some of my purple colour with a very small amount of water and mixed in the sugar. From there I let it air dry, mixing it around to keep it from sticking together.

I iced them first with a butter cream icing, and then added the goodies.

The finished product!

And the Birthday Girl! 

A very Happy Thanksgiving to All. :)