Making a Birthday Card

 Hope everyone is enjoying their long holiday weekend! I thought I would take a break from my "chores", and sit down and do some blogging!  When I first started this blog earlier this spring, I didn't realize how addicting it would become!  Now that warm weather is here (and gardening and yard sales!), I need to learn how to better balance my "blog time", with all the other stuff that needs to get done!  Anyone else have that problem??!!!

I hardly ever buy greeting cards any more.  True, it's alot easier to just pick one up at the store, but I have so much fun making them, and I think the recipients appreciate the fact that I took the time to make a card just for them.  Anyway, my sister's birthday was Friday (mine was Thursday, yeah!), so I thought I would share with you the card I made for her.

To me, the hardest part about making a card is coming up with an idea.  I don't know about you ladies, but I just get a mental block when trying to decide what I want the card to look like!  And I have plenty of card making books for inspiration!  The best thing to do when that happens is head over to The Graphics Fairy.  I just love the pretty pictures that I find there!  One of my all time favorites is this sweet robin on a nest.  I knew this would make a perfect card for my sister!  The card is very easy to make.  I just made a card out of heavy card stock, and used a glue stick to add the robin image.  Oh, I cut the robin out with decorative edge scissors first, and added tan photo corners. I love that look.  Now comes the fun part of embellishing.  I used "Zots", to attach two vintage mother of pearl buttons, and a fabric flower.  I love zots!  They really are strong!  I added a bit of craft glue to the center of the flower, then added a little rhinestone.  And since you can never have too much glitter, I got out my Martha Stewart clear glitter. I first used Alene's dimensional glaze on the eggs, and a bit on the leaves, then sprinkled on the glitter.  As the final touch, I used some vintage seam binding on the left edge, and tied it in a bow.  This was the last of my seam binding, that I had found earlier this spring at an estate sale, and I soooo want to find some more!  I just love the look!  Anyway, I used my craft knife to make a small slit the width of my ribbon at the top left along the fold line.  Then I attached the ribbon to the front of the card with a zot or two, and continued it on the inside of the card, then up thru the slit, and made a bow.

Here is a closer look the finished card.  I wish that the glitter would show up better in the photo, 'cause I think it really added alot of interest.  Anyway, my sister loved the card, and I know next time I have a "mental block" when I need to make a card, I'll do one similar to this!
I am linking this project to The Graphics Fairy

Making a Birthday Card

Iiiiii

Garage Sale Goodies

I have been anxiously awaiting Debbie Doos Garage Sale Paaarty all week long.  Debbie throws the best parties, so be sure to head on over & check out what's happening! We were in Paris last week, so I missed last weeks party (be sure to check out my Paris post!), so I could hardly wait for this weeks garage sales and the Paaarty!  I didn't have much luck finding many sales this week, but I did manage to find a few neat goodies that I am excited about. 

Ok, so the colors on this cast iron door stop are beyond hideous, with some primer and a few coats of heirloom white, she will be a knock out!  She's very heavy, too, and at 50 cents I couldn't pass her up!

I am a sucker for cute watering cans, and this one has a gorgeous copy of a vintage French soap label.  Tres chic, and tres me!!

I found 4 of these little tin pails for only a buck.  While the floral & veggie designs are cute, they are really not "me", so I am heading over the the Graphic Fairy in search of some neat graphics that I can Mod Podge on the pails.  Not sure what I will use them for, but I thought they had tons of "cuteness potential"!

I found this gold 8 x 10 picture frame for 50 cents. (break out the heirloom white again!), and this pretty vintage tin tray.  I've found trays just like this before at yard sales, and transformed them into magnetic memo boards for my etsy shop, but I think I just may keep this tray myself. Hubby & I have taken a couple of trips to North Carolina & just loved it there!

I was so excited to discover this large wooden applique.  It's bigger than it looks in this picture.  I am saving this for a future crafting project (how many times do I say that?!!), and think it would look gorgeous painted, you guessed it, Heirloom white!  Or maybe a soft aqua.

Ok, these last two things I picked up two weeks ago at garage sales, but since I ws getting ready for our trip, I didn't get a chance to blog about them.  I couldn't resist sharing!  Anyway, check out this gorgeous framed vintage embroidered linen!  Someone placed her in a new frame on a background of new pink lace, with vintage crocheted trim.  How sweet! 

I found this mirror for 2 bucks. In person, the frame looks really cheap and plasticy. But, I have seen many of you ladies transform mirrors just like this, so I can't wait to work some magic!  I am going to remove the mirror, cause it's not in perfect shape, then have hubby cut a piece of 1/4" thick wood to fit, which I will turn into a chalk board.  I think I am going to paint the frame a distressed aqua. 

Well, that's it!  I can't wait to hop in over to Debbie's to see what treasures everyone else has found! Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Le Fleurs

Hope you all are doing well!  One more day til garage sales!  I hope to find some good ones this weekend!  Thought I would give you a little tour of some of my gardens and flowers.  The daisies are going crazy, and my irises are so pretty!  So I have been picking lots of flowers and putting bouquets in just about every room in the house!  See the pretty orange butterfly on the daisy?  Today's post will be mostly pictures, not alot of me talking, mainly because I am sooo tired tonight, but also because I think the flowers are just so darn pretty!

I really am happy to see the clematis doing so well!  It's growing at the base of our mailbox.  It really is this pretty vibrant bluish purple color, I didn't enhance it!!  Hope you enjoyed the little tour!  Have a great weekend!
I am joining Cindy over at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday

A vintage wood pedestal bowl gets a much needed make over!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Today I wanted to show you what I did with a vintage wooden pedestal bowl that I picked up at a sale a few weeks ago.  I wish that I had taken before pictures, but as soon as I got home with all my goodies that day, I went crazy with the spray paint!  So unfortunately, I didn't think of taking pictures until after I had primed it!  Just imagine it a dark wood stain, and rather old and tired looking!

After a morning of going to a ton of garage sales, I was driving home when I spotted one more sale sign! Well, I just couldn't pass it up, but the sale turned out to be in a storage unit!  I was a bit apprehensive, but thought hey, what have I got to lose?  Besides, you never know what treasures might await you at the next sale!!  Turns out this sale was over flow from the thrift shop in town. When I walked into the storage unit, it was very dark, and cram packed with a ton of junk treasures.  Well, I was not about to give up easily, so I was excited when I found this wood pedestal thingy.  I just love transforming wood with paint, and I adore anything on a pedestal!  At the same sale, I also spotted a big stack of books of vintage sheet music!  Very exciting!  I love the look of old music, and wish that I'd bought more than just one book!  I turned around to see what was behind me, and spotted a bear!  A real stuffed bear!  Oh my gosh!  A bit of a startle!  Something tells me the bear didn't sell that day!

Ok, back to the bowl!  After I gave her a good cleaning and sanitizing (I am one of those crazed cleaning fanatics!), I primed her and gave her two coats of Herloom White.  A bit of distressing and Ralph Lauren antiquing glaze, and she was looking much better already!  I knew that I wanted to use the sheet music on this project, so I decided to cut sheets to fit the inside of the bowl, and Mod Podged them on.  I prefer matte Mod Podge, and always use several coats, letting dry between each coat.  The sheet music was a bit of a departure for me, as I usually use pages from vintage French books in my crafting.  I really had fun working with the music, though, and can wait to do another project with it.  The pedestal still needed something else, so I added a really pretty rub on of a copy of a vintage French perfume label.  I lucked out that same day garage saling, and found several sales that had tons of brand new scrap booking & paper crafting supplies, so that's where the rub on came from.  I had a bit of trouble applying it to the wood, but finally got it.  I've never had any difficulty applying rub ons to paper, but maybe it was because of the texture of the wood, I don't know.  I sprayed  the entire piece with clear acrylic sealer, then added protective felt to the entire bottom so it wouldn't scratch anything.

I am so happy with the way she turned out!  I added her to my etsy shop, and she just sold.  I think I was secretly hoping she wouldn't sell, so I could keep her!  So now I am on the lookout for a similar bowl, so I can do one for myself this time!

I am linking up with Kathleen over at Faded Charm for White Wednesday.
and Bobbypins Boardwalk Bragfest 
and Feature yourself Friday 
and Beyond the Picket Fence under $100 party
and Saturday Night Special, over at Funky Junk Interiors

6 Days in Paris!

Bon Jour Mon Amis!

Hubby & I just got back last night from Paris, and we had a tres magnifique time!  I really, really missed blogging while we were away!  Thought I would share some pictures of our trip with you.  First of all, I don't want to give the impression that we are independently wealthy or anything (but hey, that sure would be nice!).  Thanks to hubby's many years working at Northwest Airlines, we get really great travel benefits, and we make good use of them, too!  This means flying stand by, and I am getting better about it (not getting too stressed out...well, usually not!).  We had no trouble getting out of Detroit, or Paris on the return, though we didn't make it on a connecting flight coming back.  Got the last two seats on the next flight though.  Whew!  At any rate, it is more than worth it!  I love to travel, but it feels so good to be home! It is amazing what little things you miss when gone away!  the above picture of us is at Notre Dame.  It's our favorite area in Paris, and just a few blocks from our hotel!

I think I need to go on a detox program after all of the rich food we ate on our trip! thankfully we did lots and lots of walking!  But I am taking eating cheese morning, noon and night, croissants for breakfast, baguettes and beurre (butter) at lunch and dinner......you get the picture!  Not to mention all of that great French wine!  Wine is actually cheaper than pop, so deciding what to drink was a no brainer for me! I really did miss American Diet Coke, though!  European coke ("coca cola light") is alot different than ours!
One night we had the most amazing cheese fondue at a cute little restaurant we'd been to several times before.  We'd never had fondue before, and this was incredible!  And rich! They served it with chunks of bread, thinly sliced ham ("jambon"), and roasted potatoes ("pomme de terre").  It was just too good!

Hubby had a really good salad of fresh mozzarella cheese and tomatoes,with a pesto dressing for lunch one day. I had  a warm goat cheese salad.  Yum!

Ok, in case you think all we did was eat........We climbed the Arc de Triump one day.  That's alot of climbing!  The view from the top is amazing!  This is what the traffic looks like down around the Arc!  How crazy is that?!  There are no marked lane lines, so it is basically a free for all.  And they drive fast.  Very fast!  Here's another view from the top.

We lucked out with beautiful weather the entire time.  It was really sunny & warm each day!  This was at a cute little flower shop across the rue from our hotel.  Love the galvanized buckets!

I love taking pictures of all the neat signs, even if I don't always know what they say!!  And I love how every cafe and bistro has their menu posted on a chalk board!

One day we took a train about 1/2 hour outside of Paris to Chateau de Chantilly.  Can you imagine living in this??!! 


More pretty flowers at a market.

Ok, hubby would kill me if he knew that I posted this picture!! He saw this apron in a shop and just had to try it on!!

Thanks for letting me share some of our pictures!  I will share more with you later this week, including some of the goodies that I bought.  Our suitcases were really full! We had a wonderful time, and have lots of great memories, but it feels so good to be back home to enjoy some of the things I missed:  curling up on the couch at night with our cute little dog, cream in my coffee this morning (they never serve cream, only milk!), seeing all my flowers in bloom, our quiet back yard & birds, our comfy bed, and hubbies anti-snore pillow (enough said about the last one!!).
I am linking this to:
le chateau des fleurs French Obsession Party  
and No. 504 Main for a Tickled Pink party!