What? It's cold here....

I know, I know, it's not even Halloween.  But you have to get ready for these things.  Things....being Christmas.  So I'm getting my crafty on...ohhh yeahhhh.....sorry.

I think I'm going to try to open my own online shop.  After I get some inventory made up...so she'll be available soon.

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa

Just Getting Started...

I went to the auction yesterday and bought a small lot for a couple of dollars.  An old mantle clock was included and you know I don't leave anything behind.  I thought the clock works were missing (they were), but someone had replaced them with an electric mechanism.  So it tells time-though it doesn't chime.  That would have been really cool. I thought of either painting it or re-purposing it and then I had an AH-HA moment and decided to use it for my Halloween mantle.  (I keep writing mantle as mangle-oooohhhhh)  It's perfect, right?

So that got me all excited to decorate.  I have a LOT of really weird things, but I NEED a gravestone.  Believe it or not, they come up at auction once in a while.  One time they had a baby coffin.  I was horrified and tempted all at the same time.  I didn't get it.

I  do have a big box of old body mannequin parts.  This hand seemed to suit my vision...

Poor little dear...my kids hate this doll and my husband doesn't understand why I haven't thrown her away.  But, hasn't she suffered enough? She waits all year long to celebrate Halloween.  Just look at how happy she is!  That is utter joy on her face....or voiceless terror...whatever.

I have a few more things to dig out but I've decided that I need to reupholster my couch today.  It doesn't fit my theme.  I may need help.  Oh and I went looking for my copy of The Shining (the only King book I thought I had) and came up with these instead.  I didn't even know I had them.  But where the heck is The Shining?  Probably Room 237.  I'll go check.  If you don't hear from me in a while...just pretend I was never here.

Smiles from the un-haunted* farmhouse,
Lisa

*You'd think living in a house built in 1900, you'd have at least one or two regular ghosts.  I mean--come on!

She's WONDERful...

I felt like making Wonder Woman in Cabbage Patch-ish form.  So I did.

Is that weird?

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa

Summertime...

Well I just realized July is almost over.  It's probably too late to plant a vegetable garden, right?  I do have blackberry's.  But I suppose I have to thank the old lady that used to live her for that.  Too bad she hadn't figured out some sort of perennial cucumber.  Thanks a lot, old lady--I'd really like a salad.

I broke out the sewing machine this morning and was able to get these made....

All available here!  Other than that...not much happening.  Hope everything is just wonderful for you and enjoy the rest of the summer!

Smiles,
Lisa

Sock it to 'em....

I can't knit and I don't really know if I want to know how.  It has just bothered me for a very long time that I can't do it.  Sometimes it doesn't matter how many things you can do-it's the things you can't that keep poking you in the back and laughing at you.  Yes, I am fun to be around.  Why do you ask?

So anyway...I saw this:   Authentic Knitting 9"x3" Sock Loom Knitting Board W/Dvd-  at Joann Fabric a few weeks ago and I happened to have a 60% off coupon, so I went for it...

So, yeah I just opened the package and made my first sock in a few minutes.  Ha-ha-ha-ha, snort.  No, I didn't.  There is definitely a learning curve-and swearing-horrible-horrible vulgarities (and there is no warning on the package for that).  I bought sock yarn, which is pretty thin and breaks easily, especially when you are doing the heel.  So I threw the first three tries away and gave the whole thing the stink eye for a few days.  Then I calmed down and decided to use a basic poly yarn.  And look what I did!  I made a sock!  It took me a week, so, I don't see this as a particularly efficient craft, but I did it.  Yes, I chose to make socks for the family member with the smallest feet.

Look at that!  I'm almost entirely self sufficient.  If self-sufficiency is defined by cuffless polyester socks and you know, I'm pretty sure Henry David Thoreau carved that in a tree once.  It's a beautiful statement.

So now I have to work on doing a ribbed cuff.  It looks easy, so I'm sure I'll finish them right around the time they stick me in the old folks home.  So there's that to look forward to!

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa


This is not a paid post, but if you purchase this from the Amazon link, they'll throw me a few coins.

Spring!

Lilacs are here.

And that's all I have.  Which leads me to wonder....is blogging dead?  I've been posting on my No. 10 Antiques  Facebook page in a kind of mini-blogging way.  I have more than three times as many "followers" or "likes" as I do on the blog.  I post three or four times a day, share other's pictures and likes and am really enjoying the interaction part of it.  But I know that some of my bestest blog friends don't do Facebook, so I don't want to totally abandon this space...so I won't but I feel it's just so much easier to connect with people over there.  Anyway--just thinking out loud.  Or writing out loud...whatever.

Have a lovely day!

Smiles,
Lisa

My Chair Lady...(see what I did there?)

So I had these chairs.  I might have paid a very small amount for them.  In fact, I may have paid $.50 a piece for them.  And why not?  They were in pretty rough shape....

So I did what I do...ripped those sucker APART!

Then I added a little DIY chalk paint, which was very arduously applied and then unceremoniously sanded off.

I decided to forego the old springs and just added strapping.

Then I hit a snag.  I didn't have quite enough of this fabric, which has been in my stash for years.  I looked on eBay and evidently Richloom Fragonard is hot right now, selling for about $40.00 to $65.00 per YARD.  Yeah, that's not going to happen.  So I had to get a little creative.  Suffice it to say, I have not one inch of this fabric left.

After some seam ripping and the ever present swear words.  They are done.

So much better!

Smiles,
Lisa

Here's Something I think You'll Really Like....

This project has been simmering in my mind for a while.  I couldn't decide whether to go all out retro, funky modern or shabby or something in between.  I think that's such an apt description for my style, though.  I like ALL the pretty things.

Anyway...this is what we started with....It is a 50's or 60's veneer top table with chrome legs.  I've always wanted one.  I still do.  You see, I only saw a corner of the table top at the auction.  When I saw the whole thing alone in the parking lot, well that was a different story.  The legs were rusty and there was some sort of sticky grime on them.  Gross.  The table top was scratched and chipped and most of the cracked ice pattern was worn right off.  I was only sad for a moment, because...CHALLENGE!!!

First step was to scrub down the metal pieces.  I used find sandpaper, steel wool and finally silver spray paint.

Then I painted a coat of primer on top of that cracked ice pattern laminate table top from the 50's or 60's.  I know, it was hard for me too.  Awww, it's ok--come here sweetie.  There-there, sometimes we just need to let go.  That poor cracked ice was never going to be right again.

Then I found some pretty fabric at the store.  Yes, FABRIC!  Hello Mod Podge!  (Does anyone else call it MODGE PODGE?  No?  Me neither.... eh hemmm...)

So basically, I glued it on and then applied a layer of Modge, I mean MOD Podge to it and let it dry and then applied six or seven coats of poly, sanding in between each after the third or fourth-I lost track.

Now she has a new life as a border collie sun shelter.

So, now I'm on the hunt for some chairs.  Ideally, I'd love to find four matching vinyl chairs to reupholster, but I'm thinking four mismatched chairs painted the same blue as the flowers would be cute too.  We'll see!

Thanks for stopping in!

Smiles,
Lisa

Put a Rose on it....

I priced some furniture appliques on eBay.  You know the little decorative shabby, frenchy plaster or wood things?  They are expensive.  SOOOOOOO, I purchased this silicone casting putty from Amazon.  It was $16.00 and is the most amazing thing ever (until I find the next amazing thing that is).  I used the corner embellishment on the mirror in my living room as my first mold.

The stuff is really easy to use.  You just take equal amounts and smoosh them together until it's all purple and then squish it onto your object.  (Yes, I SHOULD be a technical writer)  Then you wait 25 minutes (absolute  torture for someone like me, by the way!)  But then you get this!  It is bendy and rubbery and AWESOME. You can use plaster or whatever to make your applique.  I used polymer clay, because I couldn't wait for plaster to set up, are you kidding me?

And I dressed up this sad little broken stand.  I had to putty the cracks and one corner had been chewed on by a rather sharp-toothed creature.  I'd guess puppy.

Primed, painted and PRETTY!

I used three of the appliques with the end leaves snapped off and moved around a bit.

Right?  Can you just imagine the things I can put rose swaggy things on?  SO EXCITING!

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa

Gasp...cough...dramatic sigh...I'm still alive...

Remember this?

Well it became this....

And after a ton of wood putty and repair brackets, wood glue, spit, swears, primer and paint...it changed into this.....(stained wood purists-the damage was extensive and would have been impossible to hide.  There were chunks missing-CHUNKS I SAY!)

So like an over-involved stage mother----After tearing the whole thing down...I slowly built it back up.


And here it is....SPARKLE BABY!!!!  (Nope, never watched one single episode of Toddlers and Tiaras--not ONE*)  (*Lies)

Is it not just lovely?  I'm feeling more confidant with the upholstery thing.  Getting better-not great yet, but figuring it all out slowly.

And where is this little gem you ask?  Well I'll tell you.  It is at my new antique booth!  You can find it at The Dream Catcher on Main Street in Ellsworth, Maine!  I have a Facebook page if you wanna look at some other stuff....

So this is what I've been doing for the last month or so.  I'm exhausted and the booth still isn't filled or organized to my liking.  I'll try to update this little old blog more often with all my doings, but if I go missing that is where I will be.  Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa

What I've been up to....

I lucked out and won a box of 1940's little girls' dresses in almost perfect shape at the auction last week.  Since I have no little girls to wear them, they are going up for sale.  Well, as soon as the weather gets better and my pictures don't look like like crap.  I needed a mannequin or something to show the dresses so while waiting for the sun to shine, I made this little google-eyed girl dress form.  Isn't she cute?  She's kind of Kewpie/Campbell kid inspired.  I think I'll paint the stand a retro-green and maybe add a logo or something.

 

This violin case has been in my pile for a while.  I dry-brushed it in white, painted a rose on the front and decorated the interior.  

So now, I'm going to go work on this.......

Does anyone have any booth space available at an antique and collectible mall?  I need just a little...or just a lot.

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa

Before and After

I haven't done one of these in a while.

This is a chair I bought at the auction for the staggering sum of $1.00.

 I didn't see that the little floopy design thing on the back was broken. See the little round part at the tip of what kind of looks like bunny ears?  Yeah, that part.  

 I'd still have bought it though.  'Cause I can fix things like that.  I knew I would have to paint the back though.  I used polymer clay to form a new piece, then I just glued it on and tacked it with a small nail.

Then I painted the design white and distressed it.  I made fun of it's momma and gave it wet willies.  Man, was it distressed.  Then to make it feel better, I added those little decoration thingies.  Oh and new upholstery.

TA-DA!!!

There, there.  Much better little chair.

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa