Junkle Bells in October

So, this project started out to be a tutorial on how to make a scrappy junk advent calendar.   First you pick up a cooking sheet or tray.

Then you collage over it with vintage text book papers

Next give it a coat of paint.

Here the tutorial ends, but the lessons begin.

Calendar without the dates added

*You can click and click to see the pictures closer*

Lesson 1:  Don't give up when the first paint you choose is ugly.

Don't give up when you smear the lines because you didn't let the paint dry.

You can keep painting over it.

Adding little pieces of this and that and more paint if you want.  

Lesson #2:  An advent calendar MUST have five weeks to it.  So when Dec. 1 is on Thurs. next year you still have room for Christmas on the Sunday of the next week and so on....

I do realize that this is really a 25 days of Christmas calendar and not all of Advent.

That was a tough lesson learned but I kept on as I'd put so much work into it already.

I was so enjoying putting the little scraps together and stamping dates with my old library stamp.

All my pieces were done.  Just to glue on the magnets...

when lesson #3 was blazoned on my brain.

Lesson #3:  If you plan a project with magnets...MAKE SURE THE PIECE YOU WILL BE STICKING YOUR MAGNETS ON IS NOT, I REPEAT, IS NOT ALUMINUM!!!

So, how are those little calendar dates staying on you wonder?  Well, I have the strongest little magnets so I added a magnet to the back.  Unfortunately, that means that should someone pick up a piece off the board the little tiny magnet on back will fall down.  It also means that when you store your little pieces to put up on the board all that magnetizing power will be annoying.

Yes, annoying.  The pieces were to be stored stuck on the back of the calendar until each day we pulled the next one out to slip it in it's place on the front of the calendar.

So, no tutorial, as no one would want to duplicate the steps I took, but plenty of lessons.

I may just magnet (can that be used as a verb?) my pieces in place right now, and just leave them in place.  I am quite happy with how the painting and pieces turned out.  At least there is that! And, if four years there will enough room on it again.

Now, anyone want to join in on the fun?! I'd love to see your junk Christmas project!  Link up below!!  I'll leave it open for a week so you have time to join up.

No Junkle Bells Yet...But, a Pillow.

 

Lauren is aiming for "Rustic Elegance" for the wedding.  And, this is where we are starting.  

The ring bearer's pillow.  

(which will be carried by a girl ring bearer!)

This is the perfect upcycling/recycling/repurposing project.  The burlap came from a garage sale.  I found a big bag of it, but it needed some serious laundering when I got home.  Boy, will burlap fill your dryer lint trap!

The flower is a combination of a new flower (purchased from Craig's List) and a fabic flower from a 75 year old wedding gown I bought at an auction.  Again, a serious laundering was in order.  The flower fell apart but I saved the pieces.  Because that's what I do.  And, these quickly found their new purpose. 

 

Also, in the flower is tulle from the inside of a formal dress I had that I knew would never be worn again.  The beaded flower adornment also came from a box of flowers purchased from Craig's List.

 

The twine will be used to tie on the rings.

 

This is the vintage wedding gown the flower came from.

 

I'm hoping we can use the satin to make flowers for the centerpieces.  The plan is to use wood slabs like this one.  About two months ago, they took a tree down on the farm.  My husband called me (knowing saving things is what I do) and asked if I would want a tree for any reason...I said, "I'm not sure what for, but, yes, please save it for me."  About two weeks ago we started thinking about wood for the centerpieces.  It was a sweet moment.  Randy took the chain saw to it for me yesterday.

Now, I'm still working on my Junkle Bells project, but a bit behind.  A big bit.  So, if you'd like to join along I'll be posting it soon.  If you're new here you can read about Junkle Bells here.

It's Done!

We spent yesterday morning making the final rounds of combining!  Yay!  Harvest is done!  We also watched 500 new little pigs come in. 

The weather was glorious!

(I have a lot to learn yet about making collages! Anyone have any info. to share?!)

I hope you have a great weekend! 

The Couple.

We had fall break here this past weekend, so, had a chance to work on some wedding plans again, and I took my daughter and her fiance's engagement photos.  

We live very near the train tracks.  What better photo prop than tracks?  (Actually, I think chalk boards are...keep reading!)

We made the ring pillow this weekend too.  We were so happy with how it turned out, we decided it's the inspiration now for all of the wedding.  I'll post about it later this week.  It was made with garage sale, auction, and craig's list finds!

After taking lots of fun photos we headed to the trees again with my newly acquired chalkboards.  Actually, I'm storing them in the trees...I know...really you can't see them! It's temporary!

She said, "Yes!" ...again!

Cute!

Old School!

Just fun.

 

The sun was going down.  There was much to do inside.  But, I could have played with this for a long time!

  

It will be here before we know it, I'm sure. 

Thanks for letting me share some of our photo shoot with you!

Industrial....Chic

 Margo is having her first linky party and the theme is Industrial Chic.  I want to play along even though I don't have a lot to show.  I do love industrial pieces, and over time more will make their way into our home. 

 

This past spring I painted our upstairs bathroom.  Gray..but you can't tell it from the photos.  I hung this iron grate to hold photos.  I had taken pictures of the kids (who use this bathroom) blowing bubbles once and thought it'd be fun to put them up in here.

 I repainted and gave a coat of finish to this chalkboard that came from my child hood church and hung it in the bathroom too.  I took the pictures back in April after I hung this.  I thought it'd be a good way to help the little girls learn about calendars, dates, etc.  Guess what?  It still has the April calendar on it.....and it's what?! October?!  My little gals  may be confused when they start school...

This isn't exactly "Industrial" but kind of...and it goes along with the look.  Our only window in the upstairs bathroom is this small one and not wanting to block out any bit of natural light, I only have a small valance in it.  This one I made from recycled shopping bags.  Anyone remember this post?!  Well I melted more bags to make my valance and then used them also to make the flower that I pinned to it.  There is a vintage metal button in the center!  The valance "fabric" is somewhat transparent and is sleek, vintage, and recycled!

Now, is this industrial chic?  Well, probably not, but I love this and decided to share it anyway.  My jar of rust.  All this lovely rusty junk came from my Dad's shop (which is an old house literally falling down).  The "lid" is a cog of some sort.  And, this sits in a place of prominence in my Hoosier in our dining room.

Now, head over to Margo's to see some wonderful decorating with some great industrial pieces!

Wordless Wednesday: Abandoned

Wordless Wednesday

Photos shot October 10, 2010 at abandoned farm place.

Oh, Helene....I'm Sorry to See You Go.

Once upon time...we were going to have a 40s-50s basement.  This had been purchased for decor, atmosphere, pazazz...  Life happens.  Plans change.  I need to sell the lovely Helene. I took these photos back when it was summer before I took the dryer over to my booth in Columbus. 

She was hard to photograph!  So reflective and odd shaped.  Then I started having fun seeing my reflection in her...

 

She's in such good condition.

And, isn't the lettering awesome?

 

 I think she would actually make the best lamp right next to the perfect vintage chair! 

I'm pretty sure someone could rewire her and rework her as a lamp.  Or, she can stand as is.  An awesome reminder of a time gone by.  She's still at my booth.  I imagine she may be there awhile. 

She'll be perfect for someone.  And, I will be happy when she goes to a good home.  You don't want to know how many years she was in my basement, then in my closet.  Made a pretty good clothes hanger.  Yeah, she deserves better.