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.

Baby Canvases and Ugly Clothes

I started this post WEEKS ago, so before posting anything new, I wanted to publish this one. The pictures are a little out of order, but I'm too lazy to change them. I had an order for a few canvases for a baby girl's nursery. The mom-to-be wanted to keep it pretty classic and simple with a large monogram.


She also expressed her love for sheep, so I put them on the two smaller ones.





I have this thing for scallops. (The shape, not the seafood). I think they are so sweet without being too fussy.



Can you see the 'feathery' details in the sky behind the 3 sheep?



Thankfully, my customer was thrilled, and sent me pictures after they were hung.



The bedding doesn't realy show up in this picture, but it is adorable. A couple of different shabby chic cotton prints.





Last year I posted about a weekend trip to Cincinnati here.
I wanted to post some pictures from this years trip.
We went to Gabriel's, my favorite place for cheap clothes. The catch at Gabriel's is that you have to look through some crazy stuff.
The crazy stuff is much more fun to blog about.
Mom found a t-shirt with an enormous Icee. Slurpee? Slush Puppy?



Whatever it is, it's 'yummy'.



Aaaawwww. Look at the little baby one on the back.....



These cannot qualify as shorts. They're more like denim underwear. Daisy Duke would blush.



Not sure what Nike was thinking. Gold + velcro?



Nothing says classy like a yellow cheetah print shoe with a four inch heel and zipper.



I considered this shirt.
My 11 year old told me once that I am so short, it's a little embarrassing to him in front of his friends.
I'll show him embarrassed when I show up in the lunchroom wearing this....

Cindy, my super -secret, never before revealed in pictures friend from my flea market posts (here, here, and here) found the worst item of the trip.
The ugliest leggings I've ever seen.
She was kind enough to try them on.

But , due to some holes in strategic places, she wasn't really ready to step out and model. You will have to settle for a peek of her leg.



Next, we went to Ikea. (My mom is taking the picture.) Her photography skills have improved significanty from last year's post. I love Ikea.
I found this wool blanket I love.


While I'm not crazy about this pillow, I like the color combination for Jackson's room. In the spirit of my beloved flea critters, we had a sighting at Gabriel's. Here is Michelle. Michelle is hoding up a totally normal shirt. It's a decoy. The real action is the lady in the background.



At first, we thought maybe she was trying the glasses on and looking for a mirror. But, after she shopped, and shopped wearing them, we figured something else must be up.

I really enjoyed the group we had this year.
Cindy can find a Goodwill store better than my TomTom.
Natalie gets carsick just like me.
Michelle and I like to swap recipes.
Paula reallllly doesn't like Skyline Chili.
My mom is as awesome as ever.

Sadly, as we checked out at Ikea, Cindy got a phone call that her mother-in-law had suddeny passed away. We headed home right away.
We are planning on going again next year, and, hopefully, it won't take me six weeks to write about it...