Rain Rain Go Away

Hiya Blogland!! It's another rainy day at The Stone Fence Cottage. Where was all of this rain when my tomatoes needed it in July?? I'm feeling like a slug today, so glad it's my Friday off! A good day for a cup of tea and snuggling under an afghan in the recliner with Mr. Bill and KaeKae to watch my tv boyfriend Mark Harmon (Gibbs, NCIS-hubba hubba!!).

I found this gorgeous old picture at the Goodwill this week.  The frame was nicely carved but painted an ugly black. A spritz of Heritage White and some glaze made a huge improvement. It's not really as yellow as it shows in the before:

Hanging in the living room. It was hard to get a good picture of it with the glare from the glass. The colors are soft tans and greens. I LOVE it!! It's definitely a really old print--could find no signature but based on the type of paper and the style--I'm guessing turn of the century. Not bad for $2!!!

Now that I FINALLY got the cast off of my arm (the knee one still remains for now) I was able to finish some hooking UFO's.

Yarn hooked sheep and strawberry mat that now hangs in the kitchen (covering the weirdly placed unused phone jack)

Table runner made from recycled plaid skirts. I love to hook with them because you never quite know how they will turn out. I picked up a HIDEOUS navy blue and orange plaid 70's maxi skirt that I can't wait to see how it hooks.

Close-up of star. This runner when to a dear friend at church as a surprise blessing.

Mr. Bill and KaeKae helping me recycle wool. Hey, it's really TIRING supervising and looking cute!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Tamera

Heritage Days and weekend loot

Hiya Blogland!  Yesterday was the 149th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg. I live right in town--in fact, all the houses around me were here during the battle. The lot where our house now stands was the neighbors garden. Confederate troops camped here during the battle.

Cute picture of Ms. KaeKae napping in the sunshine on a pile of wool I'm recycling.

Unfortunately, we got some surprise rain which cut short my attendance. Plus I over-estimated how much I could walk with the cast on my knee. I'm paying the price but oh well...

Oh, yeah. There are no pictures because I forgot to charge the camera's extra battery and the one in the camera was dead as a doornail. DUH!!!!

The hubster and I went down to the firehouse for the pancake breakfast.( He went back later in the day to pick up their bar-b-cued chicken platters for dinner) We then walked around a bit. There were lots of yard sales in town and the main street was set up for craft vendors and such.

I got to spend some time in a member of our rug guild's booth. Here's a shout-out to Caroline of Eagle's Nest Woolen's! http://www.eaglesnestwoolens.blogspot.com/  Her booth was wonderful and I of course had to buy some wool for hooking! Her charming hubster Ron-who is also a rug hooker, and another guild member Mary were also there.

The yard sales were kinda dismal for me--I'm not into tupperware or kids stuff.  My backyard neighbor's friends were holding a yard sale in their yard and I was able to snatch up some goodies CHEAP--like $3 for all!

Gorgeous plates-a Royal Dalton, Homer Mclaughlin, and Edwin Knowles. These are destined as wall art in the bedroom.

Here's a close-up of the sweet cottage on the Edwin Knowles platter.

A feather tree!!! That's my work area in the craft palace. The table top is neat for a moment.

A flat feather tree. Gotta redo the can holding it--it says CAT. Nothing a little spray paint and a vintage label can't improve.

Here's the ornaments that were on the trees. some are vintage and some not. LOVE the green glass garland! 

Close-up of one of the ornaments which turned out to be a pin. I'm going to adapt this idea into pins or ornaments.

My next door neighbors are a darling elderly couple. Miss Alice is 90 years young. She does ceramics as a hobby (she once owned a ceramics shop) She was selling some of her work yesterday and I had to buy some.

Sweet children and snowman for our daughter.

Gorgeous Santa for my collection.

Amazing detail!

Raffia-look pumpkin.

Well, off to take some drugs...I think I caught a bit of a cold yesterday and I want to KNOCK it out now!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Tamera

Autumn has arrived!

Hiya Blogland!! Autumn has finally arrived at The Stone Fence Cottage!!! The temps arer only going to be in the 60's this weekend. I LOVE it.

Now that I am having my own "personal summers" or "power surges"( you ladies of a a certain age know what I be talking about!) I can't wait for cooler/cold weather. You can put on more clothes to get warm. There is only so much you can take off when it's hot before you get arrested or scare small pets and children.

Gratuitous photo of the most stylish dog in Sharpsburg looking cute. She helped take the pictures. Mr. Bill is camera-shy and it's hard to get a good pic of him. Not Ms. Thang!!! She sees the camera and starts posing and preening!

I did my outside decorating this week. This weekend is the Sharpsburg Heritage Festival-which commemorates the 149th anniversary of the Civil War Battle of Antietam. We will have loads of tourists and visitors in town. I live on the major cross street about 1 block from all the festivities and I want my home/yard to look nice.

First up is a trash to treasure project. I have been wanting something to hang on my mailbox that i could change throught the seasons/holidays. And of course I wanted it for CHEAP!

I found two metal flower holders at the Salvation Army for $1 each. They are the same size but not exactly alike (one has handles) . They had some ugly painting on them. I THINK one was a chicken but I'm not so sure!

I drilled some small holes in the bottoms for drainage. I then drilled a hole near the top to hang it by. (Make sure the hanger hole is big enough to hang on your nail) I also drilled another small hole in the front to attach a bow. I haven't yet found a fall ribbon I like to put on the cans.

A couple of coats of hunter green spray paint (matches our shutters and door), some old floral styrofoam stuffed in the can, a bit of spanish moss on the top and some dollar store silk autumn leaves and they were ready to hang. I've gotten compilments from the neighbors and some passerbys on them. Super easy and cheap. I'm thinking some greens and poinsettias for Christmas will look awesome!

Here's some more pictures of the house:

My super fake-o pumkins I brought these maybe 10+years ago at Target on sale. They are jack-o-lanterns  that I removed the lights and turned around. No one is the wiser!

Now I've gotta get crackin' on finishing the inside decorations!!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. I'll take pix of the festival if I'm not too stupid (menopause mind) and forget to take the camera!

Tamera

Cheap tins & Spray Paint

Hiya Blogland!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful DRY(if you're in the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast) weekend!!

I want to share a quick easy CHEAP project I did to fill up this odd space in my kitchen. I have a cathedral ceiling--which means I have awesome display space above the cabinets. There is a pantry in the corner that has space above it to display stuff. It's kind of awkward because what ever you put up there needs to be largish to be seen and light weight.

Here's the spot!

The space needed COLOR!! I had some baskets, a wooden box and some wooden crates but they weren't cutting it.

I got some cheapo popcorn tins and other tins at the thrift store. You see the all the time at yard sales and the thrifts for next to nothing. I decided to paint the dark cherry red (Rustoleum 2X) with black lids. I dry-brushed a little black on the red to "texture" it. Totla cost for all the tins and paint-under $5.

I found the French Chocolate labels at The Graphics's Fairy. If you've never heard of her--check her out. Awesome free graphics and projects! Http://Graphicsfairy.blogspot.com

I printed the labels out as large as I could on 8 1/2 by 11 paper. I found some distressed looking scrapbook paper that I cut down to fit my printer. This made them look aged with no effort on my part! I tore the edges after printing and stippled walnut ink on the edge to further age it. A little tip-thinner paper works better if your tins are round--it seems to adhere better.

I then used spray glue--I get mine at the auto-supply store--it's the stuff they use to glue car headliners in- to glue the labels to the cans. It stinks but sticks like crazy.Aanother tip--I use food service gloves (those clear plastic throw-away ones-you can get them at Sam's for like 1000/$5) to keep my fingers from getting all gluey! After I glued the labels on I sprayed the tin with clear matte spray paint to seal.

Here's a close-up

Here's the finished display. I really like how it fills the space and pops out!

You can adapt this project to the colors/prints that work for you. These would be cute in a pastel color also.

Thanks for stopping by and hope y'all have a great day!

Tamera



It's all in your perspective.....

Hiya Blogland!!! I'm still alive and recuperating from my "tragic hang gliding accident". At least that's what I tell people happened. It sounds WAY cooler then " I face planted on concrete like the klutz that I am". Still sporting the soft casts on my right wrist and left knew. HOPEFULLY at least the wrist one can go come mext Monday when I visit the doc. The knee is still hinky but I can get around THAT. Not having full use of my right hand has been a BUMMER!!

I haven't been blogging because I haven't had anything interesting to say.. and the couple of times I did Blogger ate the posts. My typing skillz are minimal with both hands and pathetic using only my left to peck the keys.

I managed to get the kitchen painted. Yep...left handed and it took FOREVER. Thankfully there wasn't much to paint--but I must've been a sight to see sitting on the stepstool with my leg propped on the counter, painting the walls with a brush taped to a pole-left-handed. LOLOLOL It's amazing what you can do when you're bored and
crazy!

Here are some pics. I painted it a pale beige--matched to a color in the wallpaper.

My super spiffy new window treatment. I had a bunch of old utensils and soapers and decided to hang them as the valance.

It my eternal quest for stuff at the thrifts I run across alot of items that the people at the checkout counter must think I am loony to purchase. It's all in your perspective, folks. I love finding things I can remake and repurpose. Recycling at it's finest.

Case in point:

A ceramic pheasant from 1983. A  hideously painted ceramic pheasant for $1.50. The check out girl rolled her eyes at me. She just did not have VISION!

A coat of my beloved Heritage White spray paint, some Tobacco glaze, an old fall garland, a repurposed candle stand and some berries and WAH-LAH!!!

Stunning Fall coffee table display!

The owl was another example of 1980's DIY ceramic lovliness. This one only needed a coat of tobacco glaze (to tone it DOWN--neon owls!!!).

I've picked up a few more of these gems to redo later this year. (Christmas stuff is a BONANZA)  It's looking at these items with new eyes allowed me to see the potential.

Cuteness alert!

Miss Callie looking cute in a basket-as opposed to terrorizing the dogs and tearing up stuff. And bringing me dead one-legged crickets from the basement.

Miss KaeKae supervising by laying on some lame' I was making into billows for our Hispanic Praise Flag Group. Never too much glitz for a diva!

Thanks for stopping by-I hope to not be away as long. I have TONS of pictures and stuff to share!

Tamera