Beachy Sea Horse Hooks

I love being able to craft while we are camping in our motor home!  To me creating is like breathing, I need to do it!  And I am happiest while I am working on projects.  

So I thought I'd share with you my latest creation, that I just finished.

Aren't these sea horse hooks just adorable?  They are made of wrought iron.  I painted them each a different beachy color, ranging from aquamarine to turquoise to light blue.  Then I distressed them a bit to give them time worn charm.  I am in love with these gorgeous colors!

 Sure wish that I'd taken a before shot of the wood board that I mounted them on.
(well, my handy hubby actually mounted them for me!) 

It began life as a dark wood finished and very country-ish (as in 1980's country!) plaque!
It had been hand painted with little Amish girls, and was definitely not what I had in mind!
I could hardly wait to transform it with this pretty light blue.
Here is a close up of the sea horses.
I think they are just so darn cute!

I've added it to my Etsy shop if you want to take a peek.
I am keeping a smaller version of my shop open while we are here in Savannah.

Next time I'll be sure to share with you pics of some of the pretty scenes around downtown historic Savannah!

Paris Market in Savannah

One of my favorite shops in Savannah is the "Paris Market", a really neat store with creative, fun and unusual vignettes.  So I could hardly wait to visit again on this trip!

Care to join me for a mini tour?

Look closely at the photo below.  Those are faux donuts and pastries that are seemingly floating mid air!

 And an even closer look reveals that all of the fancy French desserts are of the calorie free kind!

Yep, they are all just for show and faux!

I am in love with the gorgeous aqua trim on the building!

So many treasures, where should we start?

 The large table, below, was a feast for the eyes!

 I just love the authentic zinc Paris bistro chairs!

 Drooling over all of the gorgeous blingy chandeliers!

 The shop has some really neat light fixtures, many with the Edison style filament light bulbs that I am crazy about.

 Neat large Eiffel Tower bricks.  At $150 each, I think I will have to pass, though!

 I'm not a fan of the deer heads, but loved everything else in this room!

 Gorgeous hotel silver creamers.

 This is moi!  Loving the giant basket to my right.

In a few days I'll share more photos of our adventures down here, including some of Savannah's  many gorgeous old mansions.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

Savannah Bound

Bonjour, Y'all!

We've left cold and very snowy Michigan behind, and headed south to Savannah in our motor home for a little break!

Thank goodness, we pulled out just in time.  The day after we left home, almost a foot and a half of snow fell!

 We're soaking up every last bit of sun while we can:) 

This is our fourth trip to Savannah, we just love the state park here where we're camping.

While the weather is cool for down here, it is a huge improvement from back home in the Midwest!

So we've shed our parkas, scarves, boots and gloves.

 It's subtropical down here, full of beautiful and huge palmettos, palm trees, and lots of moss draped live oaks.

 This is our home away from home!

The sites are large and private and oh so quiet.  I've brought some craft projects along, so I will be a happy camper!

 It's supposed to warm up by the weekend. 

  The campground has some amazing and long hiking trails which we love taking Katie our cocker spaniel on.

 Sorry about the glare in the photo below.  Notice Katie on the dash?  That is one of our favorite perches!

Stop back in a few days, and I'll share some pics of gorgeous and historic downtown Savannah!

For all my friends affected by the winter storms, stay warm, safe and cozy!

One Party Animal!

 Yes, it's true!  We have a party animal on our hands!

 Our little cocker spaniel Katie turned two yesterday!  And to celebrate the occasion, what did I do but make her a party hat!  I know, it's ok.  You can call me nutty!  I guess this is what people do for entertainment when they are cooped up inside in the winter time:)

 "What is this thing on my head?????"

 Katie is so fun loving and sweet. She keeps us laughing with her crazy antics all day long!

Don't let that innocent face fool you.  Oh, no!  She is one very mischievous pup!

But, we love her dearly and admit that we spoil her more than just a bit!

 Ooops, looks like this pup is too pooped to party!

Getting her to pose for the pictures, all while wearing a party hat, was no easy feat!

I had to bribe her with treats while I was snapping away:)

 We're always ready for a party here!!!

Have a great day!

And to all of our friends snowed in on the East Coast, stay warm and safe:)

Wintery Whites

Cold and wintery outside means it's a good excuse to stay indoors and have fun creating!

With all of the white stuff on the ground here in the Midwest, I thought I would bring some more white indoors! With paint, that is!

So today I thought I'd share with you some of my latest creations that I've made for my Etsy shop, all done in my favorite shades of white to cream.

This large basket was a lucky find!  It's brand new, and came with the canvas liner.  I couldn't scoop it up fast enough!

Of course it didn't start out life this color. It was a natural wicker tone, but I immediately thought it would be so much prettier with a white wash finish.  So I painted it my favorite creamy white, allowing a bit of the natural tones to show thru.

 

And since the basket had a French feel to it, I just had to make a French graphic tag to go along with it.

 Oooh, la, la!

Shelves are always big sellers in my shop, so I am always on the hunt for nice ones that I can transform with a little paint and tlc.  I was super excited to find this ornate vintage Homco shelf, below.

Originally gaudy gold when I spotted it, I could hardly wait to take it home and give it some creamy love!

 The shelf has some beautiful detailing, and would also make a pretty bed crown!

 It can sometimes be challenging to photograph my shelves.  The one below is even cuter in person than I was able to capture in my pics, I think.

It is vintage and has great curves!

 It was an awful dark reddish-brown finish when I found it on one of my weekly treasure hunts.  Many coats of creamy white paint, and it's looking so much happier, I think!

 Also popular in my shop are picture frames.

Actually hubby found the next pieces that I'm about to show you.  I get so excited when he comes home with treasures for me to transform!  I guess I've trained him well, as he knows just what to look for now:)

I really love this sweet oval frame.  It is vintage and has the prettiest floral and ribbon motif at the top, as well as pretty raised details around the border.

 I took it from gaudy gold to glam with my signature antique white!

 It came with this sweetest little bird print, but that could be replaced with a photo or other artwork.

 Oval frames are especially popular in my shop.  This pretty matching pair below are also vintage.

From boring brown to shabby and chic cream, I am really loving them!

 They have a pretty raised floral and leaf design on both sides of the frame.

I like including either vintage sheet music or pretty scrapbooking paper in my frames.  I think they look pretty in the photos, but sometimes I also like to show what the frames look like empty, so the buyer could better visualize them with their own photos or whatever added.

 I was excited when hubby came home with not one, but two of these cute curvy shelves, below.  And I could hardly believe my luck when I found another identical shelf when I was out thrifting last week!

I painted this one pure white, so much better than the awful dark reddish brown finish.

 Love the curvy brackets and the scalloped edge top.

 That's it for now, so glad you stopped by for a visit!

Have a great day, and stay warm and cozy!

Coffee & End Table Redo

A few months ago I finally got around to giving our coffee table and matching end table a face lift.  So I've been meaning to share it with you and finally got around to snapping some photos today!

We bought these when we got married, over 14 years ago, and while I still loved their clean lines, they just really didn't go with our room anymore.  Especially since hubby now finally appreciates painted furniture!

He's always been all about the wood!  Wood tones everywhere!  You will see what I mean in a second!!

The tables are very well made, so I didn't want to just get rid of them.  They are solid wood and made by Broyhill.  I knew that some creamy white paint would totally change their look and feel!

See what I mean about lots of wood?  I am not a fan of the wood walls in the least (that is hubby's taste), but I guess a girl's gotta pick her battles, right?!

I keep telling him that our next home will have beadboard.  Lots of white beadboard!!

Notice Katie on the couch?  As soon as I was about to have my little "photo shoot", she decided she wanted to get in on the fun, and promptly hopped on the couch!

Of course I forgot to take before shots of the tables, but you can get a peek at what they used to look like in the photo below.

I used a nice creamy white by Behr, the same color we used on our dining table and chairs.

I'm so happy with how they turned out!

What a pretty puppy!

I used several coats of paint, let cure for a few days, then distressed just a bit around the edges.

Then I used a clear satin sealer for protection.  And since I loved the oil rubbed bronze drawer handles, I left them as is.  I think they make such a nice contrast to the creamy white.

I'm amazed at how a few coats of paint totally transformed their look and feel!

Of course, one thing leads to another, so I had to paint the basket that I keep magazines in, too!

I just gave it a quick coat of creamy white spray paint, to give it more of a whitewashed feel.

So now I want to repaint our other end table!

This is it, on the other side of the couch.  It belonged to my mom, and she gave it to me years ago.

I eventually want to replace the wicker rocker (which will go back to its original home in our bedroom).

I do love it, but it is oh so uncomfortable to sit in! I adore chairs with lots of tufted buttons on the back, so that will be the look I go for.

Here's a better look, without the tablecloth.  Since the top is very shiny, I'll use a deglosser first, and paint it the same creamy color.

I can hardly wait to start! 

Here is one last look.

Thanks so much for stopping by, hope you have a great day!