Weekend Finds and Projects

It's Monday. Yet again. Two weeks into school and the child is all ready sick hence the late post. At least it's not raining again today.

Figured I'd show you what I had been accomplishing with all the rain going on. Look at this! Just love it, and I'll give props to the Mr. Man for figuring out the design. It needs to be cleaned off and grouted, but you get the idea. It previously had white vinyl sticky tiles that went all the way to the wall making it completely assymetricaly which drove me nuts.

I'll show you pics when it is completely done.

Look at my fantabulous new stools for my worktable. The best part was I found them at a yard sale for $10. They were $5 a piece. Before I got a hold of them, they were regular old actual bar stools that had brown pleather and matte black bases. I transformed them into this with a little fabric I paid next to nothing for at another yard sale and some lime green epoxy paint. Lurve them so much!



Now. My favorite thing ever! I paid absolutely nothing for this except the fabric that is going to go into it to reupholster it. Got this on Freecycle. It was her great aunt's, and I am so in love. I've been wanting one of these forever but haven't been able to get one. Check it out.



Just look at the scalloped back. You can't find that anymore.



What did you do this weekend? or have as a project?

Weekend Treasures

I did not go to that specialty auction I mentioned last week. Was going to, but my mom took too long bringing the child back home as usual. I did go to a new auction I found the next town over. It's only been open for 3 weeks, but if it keeps up with what I saw this past week, they will do well.

So, let's open the treasure box and see what I found.

I am super proud of this discovery. I do not have one of these, and it's perfect for my collection. At $7.50, it was a steal especially since it's solid wood and not small.



Dig around some more... I got this pretty little display in a lot for $4. The lot also had a nice wicker laundry basket and enough pieces to make two porcelain doll babies for K.



What do we have here?! This I am extremely proud of! A box of faceted glass/crystal door pulls. I have been wanting these since I was a kid and collected old glass doorknobs which my mom promptly threw out when I forgot to take them with me when I moved. (Still mad about that.) $10 for 18 of them. I think that's pretty good.



Check this out. A Godinger Silver Art Co. silver plated Christmas tree candleholder for $3. Woohoo! Isn't it beautiful?! The suggested retail price is $83. I LOVE it.



Another Godinger product. The sweetest little beehive honey pot and stirrer. I think this is one of my favorites. Another $3.



I adore these Godinger vases I picked up for $3. They're so perfect and lovely. I'm all ready imagining filling them with lilies or lilacs and until then they will be beautiful on display.



Last but not least, I picked this beautiful piece up for my one of dearest bloggy friends, DiPaolo Momma. It just struck me as right up her alley as her family makes their own wine. (If they keep having good deals like this, I have all ready decided some of it's coming home for some bloggy giveaways.) It's a fancy schmancy wine holder with a matching pull cork. Wouldn't that be lovely sitting at the table at a family feast?! Hope she likes it.



I wish the pics showed how beautiful and silvery they are. They need a bit of polishing, but that's part of the fun. There were a few other things like a Godinger cork screw for myself, a few things the Mr. Man wanted, a box lot of kitchen stuff, and a little Godinger enameled reindeer box for K. I spent about $50, but I think that is pretty good for what I got unless you consider I probably didn't *need* those items. Am I kidding myself?! Yes, I did. They are pretty, shiny things. What do you think? Did I do good?

My Shopping Adventure

The moment you've all been waiting for....

I got my bathtub! Yay! I can't believe they still had it. Normally, habitat sells the whirlpool tubs as soon as they come in. We even decided to get both of them because the other tub was just the perfect size to go in K's bathroom. I'm tickled to pink as they say. That is actually why I didn't blog yesterday. We spent the whole day running back and forth getting the tubs because Saturday we had to go get a used lawnmower. In his defense, with a true acre we had to have one.

Got my dresser all in Sunday. Look how pretty it looks as a credenza! Plus, I get a marvelous mirror to use somewhere else now. I have to take pics of the light on top of it because it just looks sensational together. That was another great deal at Habitat. A brand new light, never been used still in box, donated by Lowe's for $10.

K and I also got this little purse pin in a box lot at the auction. It's now listed at Orchid.

Good News

So, I sat myself down to work yesterday and had a great, simple idea for a bride's necklace. I get halfway through the project when my torch goes empty. Don't you just hate when that happens?! Of course, since I live a thousand miles from nowhere I have to wait until today to get a new one. It may have been just what I needed as I'm going crazy to get a few things done.

Since I couldn't work on jewelry last night, I worked on my new cleaning closet. You see we removed the old furnace and drywalled the walls. It's in the laundry room so it will be perfect for laundry detergent, vacuum, broom, and anyother cleaning supplies. I have about ten more minutes worth of sanding to do on it before it can take paint. I will be so happy to have my first project completed. We have lots of projects started that have not been completed. This is Steve's fault because he just can't seem to get them to the finishing point so I can finish them. I'm the finisher- spackle, sanding, paint. I do all the things that might have to finish the project. It's time to crack the whip so to speak.

I also got a bit of good news yesterday. Steve called to say he was getting a surprise check from someone who shall remain nameless for something that shall remain nameless. Sorry about the secrecy, but I've had to edit myself for reasons that shall remain nameless. lol. Don't worry. It's all legal. lol. Yay! Gotta love surprises like that. It's like Christmas all over again. It also means that this year(cross my fingers) my birthday should be good instead of finding out the house I'm living in is being foreclosed upon. But, that's another story for those that missed it. Here's to having good birthdays. Don't think I've ever had a birthday where something bad didn't happen. Knocking on wood this time. Anyway. This bonus came at a great time because our electric bill was about to send us to the poor house, and I'm out of building materials to remodel the house. I also found the final piece I need to complete my house- the bathtub. I saw it Monday at Habitat store. It was one of those with a jet and just huge. They had two. One for $50 and the other for $125. I'm going back tomorrow. I hope they're still there so I can get one.

Tonight, though, I'm going to the auction. They have another danish modern piece I can now afford. The bonus was real good. Anyone want me to get them anything? Oh, and those vintage cabs and inspired findings are at Orchid. Almost forgot.

Misplaced creativity

Finally got my supplies in. Yay! It's sad to think how much money it was for not a lot of supplies. It's sad too that I still need more. Maybe this will give me the push I need to get back to jewelry creating.

You see in the spring, especially with this house, I have a lot of creative urge to be in the garden or working on the house. I want to get things done and work every minute. Perhaps if someone actually forced me to do that I wouldn't have anymore creative energy in that field. While this may be all fine and good, the rest of my creative life suffers. I've made one new thing in approximately a week which is a long time for me. I'm going to see if I can make my two creative lives share time.
With all this creative surge, I did manage to decide what was going in my garden at least with flowers. I don't know what they will look like together, but you know I don't care. At least, I'll have lots of pretty flowers and some seed pods to do electroplating with. I decided on chinese lanterns, globe gilia, ornamental grass, chamomile, bee balm, baby blue eyes, oriental red poppies, a mix of clarkias, crimson king, verbascum, maltese crosses, and a mix of columbines. I do have a slight fear of all these seeds because they will have to be started in the house so the birds and ants won't eat them. I've never had a seed actually grow outside. I should've built a greenhouse because my sunroom is going to look like one. I think it amounts to like 3 or 4000 seeds. I got good deals. What can I say?!

Well, I suppose I should get down to business. Orchid has been updated with that lovely owl pictured and a few jewelry supplies and a pretty frosted blue glass mini vase both not pictured. I even finished my challenge item at Jewel Street Designs which is also pictured. A lovely pair of earrings inspired by Art Deco design with birds flying from wire. It can be found in my shop.

Orchid and Vintage

I hope the time change, for those in the U.S, is not screwing you up like it's screwing me up. We don't really have clocks in our house other than the ones on the satellite and the computers. The satellites changed by themselves, and we have been too lazy to change the others. The inconsistency is driving me crazy. I keep running back and forth to make sure I know what time it is. I'm forcing Steve to change the remaining clocks.

Well, I decided I did not have enough work to do with my one shop on Etsy and started a second. I have had plans for awhile to do this because K and I have been wanting to start a shop for pottery. We just have to find a good place to put our kilns. I didn't want to wait any longer because I had a name so I opened one up for my vintage things and supplies.


As many of you know, I am remodeling and have found so many vintage items that I have acquired from yard sales, flea markets, and auctions. They either no longer fit my style or I never had the heart to throw them away when they came in box lots and didn't need them. I'm such a hoarder. It's all my father's fault. He's an auctioneer and antiques dealer/appraiser. His house is full to the brim and overflowing. I'm trying to break the cycle.

I've even sold my first item in my little shop which was surprising as I had to wait 6 weeks for my first sale at JewelStreet. I only have two items in the shop right now, but I have a ton getting ready. I'm going to spread them out as we all know that's the best way to do things. My first two items are pictured- a vintage set of 3teacups and a strand of multi-colored two hole onyx beads. I'm getting ready to list a really pretty vintage porcelain horse figurine.

So, stop Orchid Pottery and check out my very bare but up and coming shop. It's kind of fun starting all over again.

New Bangle and Auction Finds

What to blog about? The eternal blogging question. Hmmmm.

So, this weekend not so fantastic, but in some ways it was. Steve was sick this weekend. Now, if any men are reading, answer me this. Why do men have to be such babies about getting sick? Seriously. He wasn't even sick sick just a cold, and yet, you would think he had the bubonic plague. He forced me into going out of the house because of his melodramatics. So, in a way, my spending money at the auction I went to was his fault. lol. I went, I saw, and I bought. I didn't spend that much money. $40. I did get an incredible mahogany dresser with both a modern and retro feel, a black retro chair, a bunch of drawer pulls from the 40's and 50's, and a couple of terracotta planters. Of course, K was with me so she got a few things as well as always, and I did bring an old world radio home for him to tinker with. All in all, I don't think I did bad. Photos of the dresser will be forthcoming. I should've taken pics of it before I got it into my nasty house under construction :)


In other blog news, I finished this great bangle. I created it for my challenge in the forum. This week's challenge was bubbles. As usual, I am all late and wrong, but at least I finished it this week. It took much longer than expected or should have. It's created solely from sterling silver tubes and copper tubes in different sizes. I still have to polish it, but I will be listing it in my shop this morning after I do that final step.

Hope all my lovelies had a beautiful and terrific weekend! Pssst. It's March and that means it's almost spring for us Northern Hemisphere people. Yay!