I know what I did last summer...

I didn't blog once this sumer.
I could give a million reasons why, but the truth is I spent time with my children when I wasn't painting.
I'm not sorry.

I'm ready to get back to it, so here's my summer condensed.......

We had a preschool graduation.
(which doesn't really count since she's going back to pre-school for one more year. Next year -Xanax.)

.

An elementary graduation.



Oh, my, did he ever hate the tie.



Notice my neighbor turned photo bomb. His daughter looks on in embarrassmnet.



We had a sudden, totally unexplained swollen eye one day.

I leave the kiddos with the husband, my daughter's eye swells shut.
Go figure...



Lilly's Dear, (my mom), taught Lilly how to sew a button.



Her fingernails were wonderfully grime-free for this close up.
Sweet little hands...



We went to the strawberry patch.
It's in the middle of nowhere.
Well, in the middle of nowhere next to a really strange, mid-century modern house that looks like the Jetson's.

We had a mom and her 3 racoon babies living in a tree in our backyard.

We watched them, or they watched us, while we would eat on the deck.

See the eyes?

We went to the beach with my family.

It is seriously my favorite week of the year.

Lilly and my dad.

My kids with their "depression era" stares.

You're at the beach, smile for pete's sake.

We roasted marshmallows (covered in sand) on the beach.

Lilly and Baker fought over the ipad.

Sometimes they shared.

Lilly had a birthday too.

We had a pool party.

The weather was perfect, and all her friends came to swim and get sugared up.

A lot of my friends live for throwing a birthday party.

I'm not in that club.

I like 'em short and sweet.

This was a fun group of moms.

School had to come back around and ruin it all.

Thanks, Baker for the goofy look.

Tomorrow----some actual furniture pictures and this summer's flea critters.

Kim

http://littlebitsdesigns.com

Crafts that make you go hmmm...

I know that my job is "crafty". I don't mind being called that. I paint, I sew, etc. - so it fits.

I do not like it when people say, "Are you still running your craft business?"

It sounds like they think I'm sitting around with my glue gun putting pom-poms on toilet paper tubes.
(Let's be honest if they would sell - bring on the pom -poms....)

So, instead of refurbished furniture or painted canvases, here are some crafts you will never see me make.



A bracelet from a shirt cuff and ugly buttons.
Goes great with mom jeans.






I don't even know what to say about this.

I guess they would rather use the glove to hold the flowers than wear it to wash the vase.




Yes. You read that correctly.


They used DRYER LINT TO MAKE PAPER.


I shudder to think what all those little bits and pieces in the paper are.


My grandmother always put her dryer lint in the backyard "so birds could use it to make nests."


Was she crazy too?










I've never worn a tie, but I'm pretty sure this is a bad idea.


I don't think taking a client out to lunch, and pulling your Visa from your tie would be that impressive to the other guy.


"You like this? My wife is into crafts."











I remember these. They used to be wearing crocheted dresses. My friend Candy received one once for a gift when she first got married.


Does that make the little old lady that made it a 'Modern Surrealist?"






Littlebits Designs


Pictures in this post were gathered from Dollar Store Crafts

Monday Make-Over

I asked readers to ignore an ugly lamp in my last post.
I don't think it's ugly anymore...



The shiny brass bottom is gone.
Was shiny, shiny brass ever in style??




Sometimes you just have to look at things for their shape and potential.
I used an oil based primer so the paint would stick to the metal, then layered on 3 different colors, one coat at a time.
I finished it by sanding it, and adding a clear, matte glaze.






Can you see the little bits of french blue, and ecru peeking through?




I topped it with a simple linen drum shade.




Last year,I wrote a post here when my oldest son and I went to the flea market together.
He found these signs, and just had to have them for the new room he was imagining in his head.
They've been jammed between the freezer and wall in my garage for about a year now.
We decided to hang them this weekend, (his room's coming along at a snail's pace). The one way sign had a big bend in it that I couldn't get out, no matter what I tried.

But....I came up with a solution.




We ran over it with my husband's big truck.

Over, and over again.

Until it was flat.

Littlebits Designs

Coins and lost shakers

Here's a picture of a desk I recently finished.



It's from the 30's from what I can tell. It has all the original, brass hardware, and it weighs about 500 pounds.(well, it feels that heavy).

When I first got it home and cleaned it out, I found this.


A really weird coin with a swastika.
Well, it's supposed to be different from a swastika. I guess the lines are going in a different direction than the nazi symbol.
No matter which way the lines go, it still looks evil to me.
I looked it up, and these things are on ebay for $35 -50.
Guess it's going on ebay - backwards swastika and all.

Remember my enormous salt and pepper shakers from my recent post here?

As I was cooking tonight, I couldn't find the salt.



This is where I found it.



Why????

I wil never understand my children.



Littlebits Designs

Littlebits on Facebook

Adios, Pedro

I'm writing this from my "safe place". We're having some pretty strong storms coming through our area, so I've been watching the local news, which is non-stop weather reporting.
They name towns or cities that I've never heard of.
Today they mentioned Hoodoo and Bugscuffle.
I did not make those up.


Between the rain, I've gotten ots of frames finished. I love the large white one. It's marked 'Ethan Allen 1910'. I don't know how acurate that is, but It'll make a great chalkboard.



Ignore the crazy ugly lamp, that makeover will be up soon.
The box it's sitting on is an old cheese box. They are typically all wood. This one had this great metal edging that has a sort of pie-crust effect.





Cool, huh? This is the lid. With a bit of sawing, I made the bottom into a twin. Not sure what to paint on it though...

I posted a piece on facebook last week, but thought I would show the before.



It was a plain, poorly stained, 5 drawer dresser.



I painted it in Porter Paint's ecru, and topped it with a wanut tinted glaze.

These croquet balls have nothing to do with the dresser, but I like the picture.

We'll say it shows the finish up close....

What are all the kiddos looking at so intently???

A super mean looking turtle.

He was NOT shy. He didn't go into his shell once.

I 'm no turtle expert, but he looked eager to bite a chunk out of a small finger.

The kids plyed with him for hours.

He wandered into our backyard.

I bet he'll never do that again....

If he does, we'll recognize him.

They named him Pedro, and begged me to write his name on his shell.

I hope Pedro likes blue, cause it's permanent.

Notice the live bug in his mouth??

Charming.

For once, I think they listened to me.

They look a little wary of losing a finger.

He ran away during the night.

Adios, Pedro.

Littlebits Designs

Littlebits on FB

Jewelry boxes and ramblings...

These little packages are actually jewelry boxes. The larger ones stack together, and have 2 little compartments that are lined with pink felt. The smallest one is just a good old fashioned little jewelry box. I think they would be cute with a monogram on the top stuck into a little girl's Easter basket. (Any little girl but Lilly - she has 3 former sample jewelry boxes

already.) Thhe large ones are $10, the smaller one is $8.



Do you love these too?
My neighbor, Beth, has threatened to steal my salt and pepper shakers for a while now.
They're shiny, pretty blue, and huge.
She has shaker envy.
Here's what they looked like before. Before I bleached, boiled, and painted them.



Well, lucky for Beth, I found a set for her this past weekend. They aren't as big as mine, but they're close.

I got something interesting in the mail this week, from Lysol, of all places.



This book came with a lovely letter congratulating me on my new arrival. (???)
I haven't had a baby since 2006.

I love the phrase under the title, "From Birth to Reality".
If that was really the basis to the book it would be pretty short.
The reality part would begin the day you get home from the hospital, and could be summed up by saying,
"You will never ever get enough sleep ever again.
You will no longer spend money on yourself.
You will lose much of your dignity doing things you promised yourself you never would.
You will turn into your mother.
Welcome to reality.
The end."

Part of my reality is that Baker has a great dislike for 'play clothes'.
He prefers shirts with a collar.
He rarely goes without a belt.
My oldest prefers the homeless look.
I pick my battles.
This is what Baker came up with when I asked him to change out of his school uniform into play clothes.



Aaaahhh. Mixing plaids. It's an art form. Clearly, one we have not yet mastered.

When I asked him to change into a shirt that matched his shorts, he put on stripes.....



.....and took off running throught the basement when he saw the camera.
It's blurry, but I 'gotcha.

Last, but not least, I had another surprise visitor.



Another bird.