You will be surprised what I can do with a hot glue gun

I found this poor tired old looking lamp for 3.99 while I was thrifting. The poor thing had no color and just looked so lonely sitting there on the shelf ,I just couldn't resist. Hmmm I thought I'll take this poor thing home and give him the royal vintage treatment. I'm not too crazy I just love my things that I find that need a better way of spirit. The shade was a road side find that I was saving for the perfect mate.
The first thing I did was heat up my trusty glue gun. This is a procedure that I do on picture frames furniture and much more. I simply drew on the base with the glue let it dry completely and then I put a vintage type paint design...... like a light greenish blue and I just work lightly to get the glue design to pop. I used that color and black and white. Not to much paint just enough to give it that vintage feel.  With the shade I just lightly painted it and outlined the seems darker and I did a little stenciling "Family" And the finishing touch a burlap bow. No more boring lamp and she's proud to be front and center in the living room. I certainly had some fun with this project and for 3.99  gotta love it.







Here they are an almost perfect marriage                 

 

 

My Beautiful Accidently Decorated Wreath

Whooooo it's hot here and humid that's one of the downfalls of living in the southern most part of Florida. But if you have some sweet tea  with ice and a swimming pool at your fingertips it's ok. It Also has it's advantages, we grow some beautiful vegetables and flowers. Our oceans are like bath water this time of year and the fishing will satisfy the fussiest angler. Did you ever visit the Florida Everglades? That's where I am near , If you haven't been you should go it's amazing.

Anyway I planted a Mandevilla (a gift from my sweet daughter, granddaughter and son inlaw) about 2 years ago in my front flower bed and it was doing Okay but now its gone crazy, its  flowering vines have taken a likening to my grapevine wreath and its decorated it so beautifully. I could not have done a better job. For those who are not familiar with the Mandevilla  it a climbing beautiful flowering plant, loves sun and lots of water. Just so happens we are in are rainy season now so we have storms daily. You kind of have to stay inside  get used to it.Oh did I mention the mosquitoes they wear helmits they are so big. JK ....but all that aside it is great living here and that's a lot said from a Yankee girl. Check out the beauty....

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Transform plain glass sliding doors into stylish doors

I don't know about you but I have 3 sets of plain glass sliding doors  and I hated every single one of them , they are just so plain and dated. I have come up with a way to dress these uglys  up. Yes I have tried curtains and wreaths but nothing seemed to work . So I have come up with a great solution , You will need some foil tape and some black spray paint. It's very easy depending how wide you want to make your foe panes , I cut the foil tape in half` length wise so that was the size I have used . You will have to measure your sliders well to proportion the tape evenly.

After measuring and cutting your foil tape you will then bring the cut pieces outdoors and spray paint them all. I used a flat black .99 basic spray paint from Walmart. They dry fairly quickly. Once dry bring them back in and this is when the magic starts. It's real simple just peel the back off and place . This is long lasting , I have had mine up for a couple of years and have had no problems and I wash the glass allot. So for the cost of a roll of Foil tape and a can of black spray paint you can transform a dull slider into a classy slider.

 

From Old White dated Ceramic Pieces to Foe Pottery Oriental Tea Set

My sweet dear aunt had gifted me a white ceramic 15 piece set, It was just white but had a really dated country blue design on it....just not my cup of tea. Many of the pieces  were chipped  but all were pretty different from each other such as a coffee and tea pot, creamer, salt and pepper shakers etc.   I could picture a bride about 60 or so years receiving this as a wedding gift.

I had been scanning the thrift stores for an Oriental Tea Set but have had no luck so I did a little compromising and came up with this............It actually looks like real pottery. Just using a simple latex paint  and I created my Oriental Tea Set. I  went one step further and learned some Asian words online Hope, Love , Joy and Happiness. (I still have to practice  a bit but I find Asian Language so fascinating.

• So if you get a whole of some old ceramic stuff do not throw it away give it new life. And Aunt June I noticed you eyeing that old set when you came to dinner in disbelief but forget it I wont part with these beauties.
  
   

 
 

My vintage looking $1.99 backsplash , Alluminum foil?

Well I have been absent from the blogger world for some time , reason being I'm just too darn busy reading all the other wonderful blogs and their inspiration keeps me crafting and building and getting into all kinds of creative trouble....But I have created a very vintage looking backsplash for nearly nothing. I scanned through my mind repeatedly for a unique backsplash that would not break the bank yet it had to be smashing looking. Low and behold after a thorough first take my idea was "born".

All you need for this project is Aluminum foil, a stencil of your choice, white glue, paint for highlighting, water based sealant if you choose to.A Flat surface for working, a soft cloth and plenty of patience.

hhSo, what do you think? you like the look? Now lets get started. The process is as follows: Place your stencil on a flat surface place your piece of tin foil on top of the stencil, take your very soft cloth and gently rub the foil and you will get the imprint of the stencil design . You can do as little or as much as you like I did the whole measured sheets of foil I just kept moving the stencil around, underneath this foil back slash is regular white tiles, very boring to me. Ok now you take about a quarter cup of white glue and mix it with about three quarters a cup of water. Mix well, now you just carefully paint the glue mixture on the backside of the foil and ever so gingerly attach it to the backsplash area . Now your looking and admiring this stunning application. So go ahead and get it all done be sure to use a new razor for trimming around outlets and wall ends. Once that's all done its time to take a soft paint brush and a soft rag and apply the paint so the stencil starts to pop, I used black but what ever will be fine. Kind of play with it till you get the look you want. I just brushed and patted until I reached the look I was going for. This project is probably not for beginner but with a little practice it can be done.

 

 

 

 

 

Good luck and have fun with it!

THERES NOTHING LIKE THE SCENT OF PINE SCROLLING THROUGHOUT YOUR HOME AT CHRISTMAS

Sweet memories of Christmas just flow through my mind when I smell pine throughout my home. I can visualize my grandmas cooking there specialties while the laughter of family filled the room with unconditional love. For some who can not have a real pine tree or if you opt for artificial to eliminate the mess of the falling needles you too can have the scent of fresh pine and I don't mean candles either. Lowes Home Improvement Has fresh Christmas trees so when they cut the bottoms off they are left with piles of fresh greenery and it's FREE for the taking. I went in to buy some paint and asked the clerk and she said to help myself......Hmmm great. So I had my significant other pull up to the mounds of greenery and I filled up the trunk. It's very easy all you need is a a special container that can hold water, I used a big copper tub fill with water about half way and with a little of your potion to keep greenery alive ...some say sugar some say aspirin .what ever the case start clipping the branches about one and 1/2 feet and randomly put in container. Be sure to fill it thick then you can add bows, snowflakes, Artificial birds or what ever you like you can even add a strip of lights. Even an old jar stuck in the arrangement with a candle what ever you choose will be great. So haul out the holly and have a holly jolly Christmas.

SNOWBALLS FOR BREAKFAST?

It's time to create a Lil magic in the kitchen for your Lil elves. Today we had snowballs for breakfast, how about you? With my no fail pancake recipe you too can create a fun Christmas breakfast.

11/4 cups flour
21/2 tsp. baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teas. salt
1 egg
1/2 cup of half and half and 1/2 cup of milk
mix all together but batter should be slightly lumpy then add about 2 tablespoons of melted butter or margarine. mix a Little. Pancake batter is best mixed with a whisk available at dollar tree a great item for 1dollar.

All you do is drop the batter on the hot griddle about the size of 4 inches in diameter. Then splat with a little butter then give a generous sprinkle of confectioners sugar and serve up your snowball pancakes and watch how quick your little elves eat them up.

A good set of cookie cutters is a great investment, you can also use then to make shaped pancakes, be sure they are metal and not plastic, spray with a butter spray to prevent the batter from sticking. A peanut butter and jelly cut out of a Christmas tree accompanied with a mug of milk would be a welcome fun lunch. Even grilled cheese can be cut out and cooked up. With a little Christmas magic you can make every meal special. You can make pancake reindeer using bacon for the antlers and a maraschino cherry for the nose. Go ahead and let your food imagination go wild. Oh and don't be surprised if the dad in the house requests snowball pancakes too!





















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