Wait a minute! Don't throw that big ole can out! Turn it into a gift any BBQ grillmaster would love!!

I'm wondering how many of you have these big tin cans  laying around your home. Many toss them away without giving it a second thought. We here at Sweet Tea N' Salty Air use so much of this stuff so I always have them saved for several craft projects, thank goodness for back yard sheds, in Florida we do not have basements.

Our family was recently invited to a BBQ so I thought I would whip up a little token of appreciation so I took out a huge tin can , cleaned it up well and gave it a couple of coats of paint, dark blue . Cut out a piece of burlap for the label and stenciled BBQ. A trip to Dollar tree to pick up a thing or two such as a Teflon BBQ . Tuesday morning had the great red kitchen towels in red @ 1.20 each marked down from 7.00 each I also found a hamburger press and some cool unique spices. I gave the can a good spray of water based poly and tied a burlap/twin bow on it and Voilà  a great gift for the grill master. If your hubby is the grill master at your home gift him with all new BBQ utensils and some cold bottles of beer and he will be on his way to the grill turning out some delicious dinner! I have some great ideas for the huge cans that I will share with you later, so remember keep and save! See that a gift for only about 6.00 , not too shabby.

THE CUTEST ADDITION TO MY KITCHEN!, MY THRIFTSTORE FIND

Hope everyone had a wonderful fourth of July. Well I've been out thrifting with my family and my aunt. We hit about four great thrift stores and fond some really good stuff but this find I am about to share with you is my very favorite. OK try going thrift shopping with people that only see "Junk" they just don't have that vision that could beautify something, so I find this metal piece that looks something like a filing cabinet but it actually slides open from the top . I bought it for 5.00 it was 10 but it just happened to be half off day! When I seen it all kinds of uses were going through my mind ,first kitchen , I could use it as a mini island / snack keeper. Or maybe a place to store my freshly baked goods until I'm ready to disburse my treats accordingly. This would sure work well seeing it's hard to keep them away . Well here she is before her makeover....So I cleaned her up and sanded her really well. Keep in mind everyone agreed that what I was buying was total junk and a waste of money. Ha Ha Ha (they don't know anything) I Laughed! A plus for this piece is that it is strong and has wheels so I good roll it to the dining room decked out with deserts. Also great to roll to the dining table for tea. !

 

She's looking kinda sick here isn't she?

Once I sanded and gave her a good spray of primer I painted her with the same paint I used on my kitchen cabinets a shade of green that I see many vintage items wearing. Then I hand painted some cherries , I don't know but when I saw this piece I thought of cherries all over it. I empathized the edges with some black paint and last sealed it with a water based sealer. Now Look at her , isn't she beautiful?

 I added a new handle, a .36 Lowes Clearance

 

 

 

 

A summer movie and all the trimmings!

I am starting to think I should start building an arc, we have had non stop rain for days...I know its rainy season but this is ridiculous. It is typical when you live the farthest south in Florida. So why all you  that live up north are having a fun summer we are here in the height of humidity and rain that never stops oh and you have to pretty much run from your car to the house visa versa so you don't get that bit up from these monstrous mosquitos then theirs the bears you want to be careful going out at dark we have Panthers, coyotes, some time a stray alligator and many snakes so that's why we watch allot of movies and eat a allot of popcorn all summer. Today we made a cute Movie sign and we watched our favorite movie "Flipper" from the late 80's, The kids watch it for the movie I watch it to view the beach house and keep wandering if there is a way I could buy it. Give me a month and some shopping money..... It has so much vintage character. Do you know the movie? My children's favorite part is when the uncle makes toast with a torch on the wall.  Well there is an upside to this though... when you are all having snow and freezing weather we will be in perfect weather around 70 during the day and it does get a wee bit cold around 40 sometimes then I have to go out and cover all the plants with sheets to keep them from freezing up. But for now movies, shopping, thrifting and other indoor activities is fine. The sign is made from recycled flooring and many tones of paint to make it look old. In front of our fireplace we have a wrought iron stand that is always being used for something I picked it up at a yard sale for 2.00, today it's holding our Movie sign,

 

 

Some old pieces from the shed turn into something bright!

Every evening it seems as though I have to walk into a dark bedroom on my tiptoes trying to keep quiet but I usually end up dropping stuff cause I cant see. So I decided to make a nightlight out of some old pieces in my shed. Coincidently  the master bedroom is decorated in deep tones of red white and blue starring a quilt from the Country Door, ever shop there? They have the nicest things , they have an online catalogue , you should take a peek. Anyway here is what I found in the shed. Kind of dingy but that's ok I have a marvelous plan to see through.
The first step is to clean the pieces well. I made up some homemade glass paint with 3/4 part white glue (I used Elmer's wood glue I found it worked better) , a few drops of food color and a few drops of  dish soap mix well and I painted the glass globe a blue color. When using this homemade glass paint you have to work quickly it gets thick and stringy. I proceeded to paint the base a bold white. When the white was dry I lightly put some reddish shading over it, once that was dry I applied an antique glaze.  I added a little white "snow" shading to the shade , when all was dry I glued the glass shade to the base and attached a little burlap/ red checked bow. I also did a little glue writing and then out lined in white. Now I have a cute little night light ! As long as you have storage such as a shed or basement always keep parts , you never know what you can make next!

Come visit over to "The House Of Hepworths " today! HOH #155 www.houseofhepworths.com You just have to check out the amazing talent! Some great recipes.

 

 

OLD DINGY PIECES

An anniversary / birthday and another birthday, lots of celebrating and a homemade gift!

Saturday we attended a surprise anniversary party at a very quaint church nestled away from all the hustle and bustle. The party was  for  a couple.  family members I have to say it was a very lovely party and put on solely by their children. The theme was black and white and everyone was requested to also wear black and white. The tables were decked out with black and white balloons and table attire as well . You could feel the love radiating through the church of this close knit family. Front and center the screen displayed photos of their 30 years of memories including 4 great children and one very cute grandchild "Juliet". Dinner was a wonderful Authentic style Italian pizza in many varieties along with antipasto and pasta. Desert lined a table in all heights of black and white sweets. Laughs and smiles swept among all the guests as they sat and enjoyed each others company. Seeing that this family is lovers of photos I decided to make up a pretty wooden photo box to store all their memories.

I sanded down the cherry wood box until I reached a semi roughness. It took two coats of a vintage melon color paint. Once the paint was dry I personalized it with the names and date . I Also applied some brown wax around the edges and hinges to obtain that vintage look. A good spray of a water based poly spray was applied then a little burlap and some cute daisies I purchased from the craft section at Tuesday Mornings. Ever been there ? It's a terrific place to get quality items very low at price, including Garden, clothing, housewares which I love they have some very unique things . I was happy that they really liked the memory box, I also included some old photos of them which they thought were funny. It was a great party with some wonderful people!

You have got to see my alltime favorite roadside find and a funny story to go with it!

 

Ok I know that everyone sees some junk on the road side , some pick it up and some are too shy to do so . But if your a real repurposer and have a love of stuff you will slow down , stop traffic if you have to and get that something on the side of the road that has caught your attention. But never pick up curb side stuff with teenagers in the vehical. No! No! No!, they will get down on the vehicle floor screaming about how embarrassed they are. Well one day I was leaving my moms house with my teenage son and there she was standing there as if she had her draw waving me down for a ride to a nice home. Sooo I was in a mid size vehical and she was going with me one way or another. I know this is bad but I had to have my son walk back to my moms and I picked him back up after I took my new piece of furniture home. I couldn't very well leave it unattended it would definitely be gone when I returned. Wouldn't you have done the same for this? I keep this very close to my dining room table which we use daily. The cedar lined boxes where a steal from a great little shop I stumbled upon in my travels. I store all of my wine glasses and pretty not for kids glasses. The blue tone pottery bowls are from Good Will at 1.99 each. They hold my placemats etc., Also 2 little egg holders that I found at .99 each while I was thrifting hand painted from Mexico. The back wallpaper is a border that I have in my service pantry, that's what I call it it is between the living room and dining area. I'll shoot that soon and post it. One of my wooden handled hand mixer hangs with burlap on the door missing glass. The top has some tiny carvings in it and this piece is definitely handmade. If your reading this and you recongnize it at least you know that she got a good home.

Wait, dont through that old pool liner away and that old rusty fire pit either!

About two years ago we bought a fire pit  and it began to rot out on the bottom so I kind of set it aside and the pool liner also just had too many holes to patch so I also set that aside meaning I just couldn't throw them away . Yep , Lisa's the name and repurpose is the game. Some call me a junk collector but when you see what I did with these two items you may change your mind . First up is my tired old fire pit. I put a plastic liner on the bottom with some rocks for irrigation and filled it with soil and plants, not to bad for something I was going to never trash. The pink plant is a Penta and they are hardy and grow nicely.

Second up is the old pool liner, I just put it down over the existing grass and filled the top with some red mulch, I still need to do the edges with decorative blocking. It seems to stay in place fine through all our daily storms and ironically enough this is where my new fire pit is. I guess its all connected. So don't be hasty about throwing things away , find an out of the way place and store them until you are ready to repurpose them.