Give Me An H!

Give me an H! Give me a U! Ok, so you know the drill. This is a snapshot into our living room. We have the beautiful wall of windows and killer trim. From the moment we moved in, I new I wanted to do something in those boxes. Kept my eye out for wrought iron pieces or something of the like. Thought about spelling something out. But I new I didn't want to cover those windows up. I love all the light that comes in. And the trim work is too pretty to cover up.

 My friend Jen, over at Social Salutations use to be a Stampin' Up rep. I was hosting a party at my house in my dining room. Leafing through the catalog, I saw these letters and had that AHA moment. I jumped up from the table, ran into the living room and counted boxes! 

This is great. This is the just what I was looking for! Stampin' Up sold these letters in individual packets so you just ordered the letters you need. (Jen is no longer a Stampin' Up rep so I don't know if they still sell these letters). These letters are the vinyl cut letters that

  can be removed at any time. However everyone that sees them think that I hand painted them! No a chance in Christmas that I could get them even close to looking this good.

So, these are our window treatments in our living room. Maybe one day I will make some roman shades. We'll see. I like that they are different and not what is typically above windows. Hope you enjoy this window treatment  that's "out of the box". Bad joke. My apologies.

Enjoy,

ginger

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The Streetbeater

So this title might be a bit odd at first glance, but I promise it will all come together after I spin this yarn. So, here's how it goes, it's full on garage sale season and I entice my girlfriend, Jen, the one who's closet I did the redo on, you remember her. If not, go check out that post  here. Anyways, I entice Jen into going with me. We pile into Big Daddy's truck and take off with a list of places. First stop we hit the mother load, not just good finds but also some killer Jamaican jerk chicken! I mean y'all, it was out of this world! I'm pretty sure I was moaning when I was eating it.

So we eat this killer Jamaican food, buy a ton of stuff and then we hit a dry patch. Couple of dead spots. No goodies. Now we could have gone home but it was a beautiful day and we had no children. They were at home with the Daddies. No way were we going home early! Then we hit this killer BBQ joint,  Moonie's Texas BBQ and refueled. I mean I love me some BBQ, especially North Carolina style but this stuff is dang good. You gotta try it! Ok, sorry, shinny object, back to the hunting.

After refueling on killer bbq, creamed corn and all the other yummy fixin's we hit two more spots and bought several more goodies. Oh and I think we had to head out to an ATM at to resupply as well. Wow, this is the longest story about a table! All this brings us to this table and the fact the upon return we looked like Sanford and Sons, the show where the father was a junk man. I thought her mate was gonna fall out in the yard when we pulled up with stuff overflowing out of the truck! He started humming This tune, the theme song from Sanford and Son; hence the title, which until this evening I had no idea was called The Streetbeater by Quincy Jones.  And if you wanna see a before of this table, go check out this post.
So all of this to say, this table is available for purchase.
$75
Message me or swing by Queen of Hearts for pickup.

Hope you enjoy. Oh, and the pics, clearly I took them at Christmas time and have just now gotten around to posting. Table was painted in ASCP Old White with clear and dark wax.
Enjoy,
ginger


  Sanford and Son Theme Song

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Cupid, Draw back your bow

Ok y'all, it doesn't get any easier than this. I mean seriously, your kids could do this. And most likely without your supervision. So here you go. Four easy steps, most difficult is making a trip to Target and we all know that that just really isn't a difficult step at all.

 First step, stop at Target, grab these out of the Dollar Spot. These were $2.50, not a dollar though, just FYI.

 

Second step, glue clothes pins on to back with wood glue, let dry.

 

Third Step, grab a favorite photo, this one is of my Mom as a little girl. 

Fourth and final step,  set up vignette.

And as Miss Priss would say," Easy Breazy-Lemon Squeezy". 

Happy Valentine's Day!

ginger 

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Iron Butterfly

A quick little project to bring a little taste of spring to these cold winter days. This is a frame I picked up at a garage sale last fall. It's been sitting in my to-do pile. I knew what I wanted to do with it moment I grabbed it. It was a side by side frame. Time to mix it up a bit.

I wanted to have it hang rather than sit for a couple of reasons. First, most houses only have so many places to "sit" photos and with the rising popularity of gallery walls, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone. First I attached a loop of burlap to make a hanger but when held up,the frame wouldn't quite lay flat. I grabbed a small plate that was purchased at Home Depot, drilled a couple of holes and screwed the plate to the back, across the hinge area. This made the whole thing hang nice and flat.

 A couple pieces of some vintage inspired scrapbook paper of lepidopteras. A nice little sign of spring during these cold winter days.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

ginger

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Lady in Red

Holy Ugly Paint Batman! What the flim-flam were these people thinking? Oh and just to add to the visual, I'm pretty sure the blue is tempera paint. You know, the kind you used in school that when it dried out, you just added water and shook the bottle and ta-da, new paint. Yup, that's what this little beauty was painted with. But there are good bones under there. And who among us hasn't been caught in an awful outfit? Ye be the first to cast stones. 

Well check out this make over! Who would have thought?

Look at how this cleaned up. Now it was not without a LOT of sanding but as you can see in the close up photo's, I left some of the color and of course it wasn't all going to come out of the nooks and crannies. 

I also scrubbed and scrubbed the hardware with mineral spirits and a wire brush and an electric wire brush attached to our sander. Once all the old clown makeup had been removed, I sprayed it with oil rubbed bronze from Rustoleum.

Now that she's all decked out, it's time to name her and send her on her way. Off to a new home and a new life. She's reminds me of the islands, so in honor, I will name her after my cousin Susan who loves all things island, Jimmy Buffet, back porch sitting, cold beverage, laid back life kind of girl. I'm sure she will bring as much joy to her new life as Susan brings to those around her.

 The dresser is painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White, clear wax and a dark Briwax top wax coat.

 I hope you have enjoyed this before and after. Quite the transformation if I say so myself. Let me know what you think!

Have a great day!

ginger

Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing. $ 75 for the table only.

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Songs For A Winter's Night

My Winter Continent , all shiny and silver

A collection of silver trays, mercury glass, cloches and apocrathy jars.

So, the sign that is hanging above the door in the back ground, reads PISA, as in the leaning tower of...

If you follow my blog, you've heard me say that I struggle to decorate this area because I can't see over anything. I'm a whole 5'2" and the continent is bar top height. The back side of the counter where I do 99% of the prep work cooking is the new standard counter height which is higher than previous counters. Good thing I'm not a baker, I'd never be able to roll out any dough. 

Here you can see the view from my kitchen into our family room. This vignette allows me decorate it a plenty and still see what the heck is going on. You know, or carry on a conversation with folks sitting on the other side of the bar. 

Well I'd like to add more pics but my computer and/or blogger is being a pain in the bum so I'm gonna pull the trigger and call this one done. Hope you are staying warm.

Enjoy,

ginger

 

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Two More Bottles of Wine

  

Well, really it's three but who's counting? Have you picked up on the fact that most of my post titles are song titles? This one comes from an old Emmylou Harris song that my FIL (Father-in-love) likes. I made this for my SIL as a gift. I save wine bottles from special occasions, or special nights spent with special people. I write the date and the people I shared it with on the bottle with a sharpie. They reside in my dining room in a giant tall wine rack. Perfect place for me to go shopping for this gift.

 

Here are the supplies you will need for this project. 

Used wine bottles, empty

Nail Polish Remover

Cotton Yarn

Old Tray

Sink full of ICE COLD WATER

Lighter

First wrap cotton yarn around your bottle where you want it to be cut. Wrap it many times, like 5 wraps, give or take. Tie off and trim ends.

Remove from bottle but keep it in the circular form of the bottle.

 

Fill cap of nail polish remover with nail polish remover. Put cotton yarn in the nail polish to soak without unrolling the yarn. While it's soaking, get your sink ready with about 6 inches of water and LOTS of ice.

NOTE: if you are doing several, you will need to add more ice as you go along. Water MUST be ice cold or it wont snap. 

The next step is a bit tricky but try and follow along. Remove your cotton yarn from the cap and put it back on the bottle where you want it to break. Note, it should not be covering a paper label, it wont crack well. Still keep the yarn wound in the shape of the bottle. At this point, is the scariest but don't worry, once you've done it the first time, it's not bad. You are going to light the yarn on fire It is a slow burn and not very high. While it's burning, rotate the bottle. (It is slow enough that I managed to snap a one handed picture while it was burning)

 When it is finished burning, immediately plunge it into your ice cold water! 

 Above you can see the bottom that popped off laying in the sink And below is the bottom piece. 

 The bottles that I used were one from my birthday weekend I shared with my SIL. 

 This one is from a bottle of wine my SIL/BIL brought back from Italy to share with us. It was shortly after we purchased our home. 

And here they are on the tray, it was an old silver tray with a TON of age on it. Too much to serve any food on it.  Gotta love the paper towel roll in the back ground. Nice job there Olan Mills.

A couple of tea lights later, some sprigs of greenery and we have a nice little gift. Perfect to admire with a glass of wine with a special person.

NOTE: I took these down to our workshop and used our grinder to smooth the bottoms of them and make them stand a bit more level. I did wear long pants, long sleeves and safety goggles as little shards of glass went a wiggling everywhere.

Enjoy,

ginger
Disclaimer: I did not invent this technique. I came across a video on youtube. Here's the link should you care to watch it. 
Cutting Bottles with Household items 

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Old Things New

A reason, a season or a lifetime. That's what my mom use to tell me about people. She would say that people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime and that you just don't know which one it is. Well recently a woman reconnected into my life from my childhood (she was my Dad's girlfriend back when I was very young) courtesy of Facebook. You just never know who you'll get a message from in your inbox when you open that dang thing up, do you?
Well amidst reminiscing about memories of my Dad, who passed away back in 2006 she sent me a bunch of pictures from my childhood of me and my Dad. Talk about making my day when that package in the mail! But she also shared with me that her MIL makes these beautiful crewel work designs. She asked if they would fit in with the Savvy Shanty shop. I love to give my customers one of a kind, hand made items. These are not vintage but they sure do reflect an era of time gone by. She sent me several.
Here is just one of them and the first thing I made with it. How beautiful would you feel shopping with something like this! Can't you just imagine strolling through a farmer's market in the spring gathering fresh flowers, home baked breads and fresh veggies in this bag! To be honest, I really didn't want to put it up for sale!

This pattern has various herbs with their names sewn on to it and when she sent it to me, it was attached to foam board and covered with protective wrap. After detaching it from the board, I began to attach it to canvas and made a large market bag.

Look at the hand sewn detail. Can you imagine the hours of labor put into such a design? Seriously, you can't get this kind of work out of China!

You know, in between trips to the farmer's market, it would also be a great little overnight bag, or knitting bag, or quilting bag or..... well really, it could be just about an anything bag. Either way, it's up for grabs. Message me or stop by The Savvy Shanty at Queen of Hearts to pick it up! This item can be shipped.

Enjoy,

ginger

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