A Chippy Little Bench

Sometime ago I bought a little wooden bench for my front entry.

It was made of old barn wood. I'd been wanting one for awhile and when I saw this at a yard sale,

 I was tickled pink. it was just what I was hoping for.

I left it in its natural color for awhile, but then decided that I'd like it to be a brighter color.

I used a dry brush technique with Minty Green color paint.

Then I added a wood stain over the top of that.

I wanted it to look like I'd found it out in an old barn.

Here's the finished product.

 It'll look pretty cute in my yellow front entry, dontcha think?

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

This is the first commandment.

Mark 12:30

This post is linked to Tip Junkie, Funky Junk, I Heart Naptime, Craft-O-Maniac,  Miss Mustard Seed,
and Between Naps on the Porch.

Monogram Wooden Letters

Recently while wandering about Hobby Lobby, I found myself in the wooden area.

Normally I don't buy anything in that section as I don't have any spectacular painting skills.

But I was drawn to a couple of pieces.

 

I thought that I could do something with the initials of some friends who are getting married.

I ended up making this wooden monogram.

I started with two large wooden letters.

Then I painted them with two coats of denim color.  

Once they dried, I lightly sanded them.

Then I painted a wooden heart red and used it to attach the letters to one another with a hot glue gun.

Because I was making these to be a centerpiece, I wanted them to be able to stand up.

I glued a scrabble tile holder to the back to act as a stand.

Here it is as a centerpiece at the bridal shower.

 

I was so tickled with how it turned out that I decided that I need to make one for my hubby and I.

Only I'll attach a hanger to the back so I can hang it on the wall.

 

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

 

The generous soul will be made rich,

and he who waters will also be watered himself.

Proverbs 11:25

 

 This post is linked to My Repurposed Life, Too Much Time On My Hands,
 Anything Blue Friday, Funky Junk, and Today's Creative Blog.

Thrifty Thursday #110

Well, I think this week's Thrifty Thursday needs to be renamed

DISHMANIA

because, yowza, did I get a bunch of dishes this week!
As a matter of fact, that's the only thing I got when
I went to two yard sales last Saturday morning.
 

 

The first sale was at a lady's house who has two yard sales a year. This old gal is fantastic. She collects things throughout the year and has the most beautiful set up that I've ever seen at a yard sale. I felt like I was walking through an antique shop. I told her that she should consider opening a store. She laughed and told me that she doesn't want to work every day.

I found two items that I wanted - both were marked $1.

When I went to pay her, she only wanted a dollar for both.

So I got this beautiful brown dish for fifty cents. 

 

The second sale I stopped at was very small, but from the road, I could see there were lots of dishes. 

None of them were priced, and when I asked about them, the lady said she just wanted ten cents apiece. So I loaded up!

I've been getting cute plates for a friend of mine and I figured this was a great opportunity to get a whole lot for just a little.

I loved the pattern on these green pieces. The outer two are small plates and the middle one is a bowl.

The plate on the left with a rose was a ten cent gem.

The plate on the right was from the first sale- I got it for fifty cents.

Aren't they so pretty? They're dessert size plates.

This is a dinner size plate.

 

This dinner size plate and saucer were from the dime sale.

Love those prints!

 

All of the above purchases are for my friend who's planning a plate display on her wall. I have gotten her quite a few and she should soon be ready to hang all these beauties.

 

This is the only purchase that I kept for myself. It too was ten cents.

I love this platter. I believe my grandma had this style of Corelle.

I think I'll be using this often.

 

Well, I'm off to do my grocery shopping- and possibly swinging by the thrift stores.

Happy treasure hunting to all of you!

 

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

 

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Psalm 33:5

 

 This post is linked to Junkin' Joe, I Heart Naptime, and Embracing Change.

Layout of the Week #83

I have a fondness for picking up cute pattern paper. I have it all sorted according to theme so that it's easy to find. When I decide on photos to scrapbook, I browse through whatever theme or color I'm using and narrow it down from there. Today I'm scrapbooking some photos from Valentine's Day, so I went through my love themed papers. There were several prints that appealed to me, so I decided to use a little bit of several of them and combine them on one layout.

Here's the layout we'll be creating.

If you follow these steps, yours will end up looking similar to this. 

Obviously it won't be exactly the same as we'll be using different papers.:)

To make it, you'll need:

one piece of 12"x 12" pattern paper

two strips of coordinating pattern paper measuring 2"x 12" and 1"x 12"

one piece of pattern paper measuring  3"x 4"

two coordinating rolls of decorative tape

letter stickers for the title

white cardstock for journaling

optional: one embellishment (I used a heart shape cut from a punch)

adhesive

paper trimmer
3 or 4 photos

 

Adhere the 2" strip of pattern paper along the left edge of the background paper and the 1" strip along the right edge of the paper.

As you can see, I chose a busy pattern for my background. It works without being distracting because it has a neutral color. My pattern paper strips coordinate with the darker color on my background paper.

Now adhere your photos in a strip a little more than halfway down the background. I fit three photos across. They're all 4" tall, but are different widths. 

Depending on how much you crop your photos will determine how many photos 

you can fit across your page.

Place part of your title above the photos to the left
and part of it below the photos to the right.

Using your decorative tape, adhere one strip to the right of the top part of your title.

Adhere a second strip below the photos to the left of the title.

Now print or hand write your journaling on white cardstock and cut it into strips.

Adhere the strips below the photos curving around your title.

 

Now add your small piece of pattern paper above the photos about two inches 

from the right edge of the background.
 

Notice that I used yet another print, but this piece has both the light and dark pinks that I've already used, so it carries the color through and doesn't look too busy.

If you choose to, place one small embellishment at the bottom right corner
 near your journaling strips.

That's it! Not too hard, huh? 

If you enjoy scrapbooking and would like some guidance in completing more layouts, stop by every other Wednesday for a step by step tutorial.

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; 

and the God of love and peace will be with you.

2 Cor. 13:11

This post is linked to My Girlish Whims, Tater Tots and Jello, and Ivy and Elephants.

Recipe of the Week #111- Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge
3/4 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup cocoa
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Combine butter and peanut butter in a bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes. Remove and stir. Microwave for 1 minute. Stir in the rest of the ingredients.
Line 8" pan with plastic wrap. Press fudge into pan. Refrigerate until firm.

This fudge is so rich and delicious! The mix of chocolate and peanut butter is fabulous. I love a fudge that can be made in the microwave. I'll definitely be making this again!

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth.

Psalm 33:4

This post is linked to Craft-O-Maniac, Cheerios and Lattes, and Between Naps on the Porch.

Mini Album #26- A Day In My Life Album

Today I'd like to show you a fun album that I made sometime ago.

It's a Day in My Life album.

I took pictures throughout the day and put them into this album. It was such a fun way to show what our life is like at a specific time.

For the cover, I used a chipboard file organizer that I cut in half lengthwise.
I used a sheet of stickers from 7Gypsies that were life themed.

For the interior pages, I alternated pages of kraft cardstock with baseball card holders. All were trimmed to 4 1/4" x 10" to fit in the album.

I used a few pieces of coordinating pattern paper on the edges of the cardstock.

The baseball card holders allowed me to add lots of photos in a small space.

I slid photos into the pockets and adhered my journaling strips on top of the pockets.

I used a mixture of large and small photos.

All I did for the journaling was hand write on small pieces of white cardstock.

This was a fun album because to document what I did throughout the day, I got to include pictures of my computer screen, my Crock Pot full of food, my breakfast, my boys sleeping, and other things that I don't usually think to photograph.

The photo on the left was actually cut in half to fit inside two pockets on the baseball card holder.

The final page in the book is a business side envelope with the short edge open to form a pocket.

I added a sheet of journaling that listed my family's favorites at that point in time.

I thought it was fitting to have my last photo be of my son sleeping.

The inside of the back cover is pattern paper with a few stickers along the edge

.



I bound this book with wire binding, but office rings would've worked too.

It's a very basic album, but I love that I have this piece of family history.

It's been long enough since I've made this that our daily schedule has changed.

I'm due to make a new one.

What do you think? Would you like a step by step tutorial to make your own Day in My Life album?

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous!

For praise from the upright is beautiful.

Psalm 33:1

This post is linked to The Dedicated House, Tip Junkie, Be Different, Act Normal, and Skip to My Lou.

Vintage Photo Garland

You know how I love vintage stuff, right?

I also love photos- I'm an avid photographer (not necessarily a good one). I think it's so important to document life in photos.

Anyway, recently I became a proud owner of a whole lot of beautiful old photos.

I knew just what I wanted to do with them. . .
 

turn them into a garland!

 

See the photo garland at the top of this arrangement?

I thought they'd look great in front of my lace garland.

 

I used small clothespins and pinned them to a twisted strand of tiny pearls, lace, and twine.

Then I tied strips of muslin in between the photos.

 

Here's a close up view.

 

Aren't the photos lovely?

What do you think?

You could also use current photos to do this. As a matter of fact, it would be a cute way to show off photos for a birthday party!

If you like this, you may also like this project of a photo mobile that features vintage photos.

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;

and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Psalm 32:11

 

 

This post is linked to Tatertots and Jello, Too Much Time On My Hands, My Repurposed Life,
and Funky Junk.



Thrifty Thursday #109

Because of all the yard sale-ing and estate sale shopping I've been doing lately,

I haven't gone to the thrift stores in several weeks. Seriously. Can you believe it?

Since my boys are on spring break this week, I made an earlier trip to get groceries and squeezed in some time to make a thrift store stop (actually three thrift store stops).

 

 

First, let me show you a purchase I made some time ago, but somehow forgot to show you guys.

I fell in love with this ring from the moment I saw it. It has a vintage-y look to it, doesn't it?

Guess how much I paid for it? $1.50- for real!

It goes with almost everything I wear!:)

Now, onto what I bought today. . .

I found this quirky steering wheel cover.

It's by Natural Life and actually was originally priced at $24. I got it for $1 and it's brand new.

There were three of them, so I picked up the other two for friends.

I'm thinking my hubby is going to be pretty pleased when I put this in the family vehicle. The guys at his work may give him a hard time about it.:)

 





 

I saw these bulky bookends and was immediately intrigued. I know that bookends aren't used too often anymore, but these are just the right size to be used as recipe card holders.

They're magnetic and I can't wait to repurpose them!

They were $2 each.

My favorite thrift store was having a book sale- 2 for $.25. Such a bargain.

 I got two for myself and one for my hubby.

Have you ever read Harlan Coben? His books are usually page turners!

I also enjoy reading Sandra Brown's books- they're a quick read.

 

I found these two books at the last thrift store I went to. I paid $.75 for both of them.

I plan to add them to the library at church.

 

My final purchase was this deal of yarn for fifty cents.

I haven't yet mastered the art of crochet- though I've taken several classes and really tried to learn.

This instead will be used for something else. . . just wait and see!

 

All this for less than $10. Plus, I enjoyed my leisure shopping time.

Does anybody else look forward to secondhand shopping?

 

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

 

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will guide you with My eye.

Psalm 32:8

 

 This post is linked to Between Naps on the Porch, Cheerios and Lattes, Be Different Act Normal, and Embracing Change.



Check This Out!

It's spring break at the Sexton house and we're currently camping,

so the Layout of the Week will be back next Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I wanted to let you know that the newest edition is out!

 

 

This is totally one of my favorite magazines!

Reading it makes me want to immediately head out to the thrift stores:)

 

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

 

The wicked man does deceptive work,

but he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward.

Prov. 11:18

 This post is linked to My Girlish Whims.