Heirloom Party

I’m joining Marie over at Emma Calls Me Mama for an Heirloom Party today, how fun! While I don’t really have any heirlooms that have been passed down throughout the generations, I do have one piece that I hope will one day become an heirloom piece, and it holds some items from my grandparents that are very dear to me. This china cabinet was my mother’s, and it is an antique, but I think she was the first one in our family to own it and she passed it down to me:

She painted it and distressed it before she gave it to me.

Here’s a close-up of the contents, I’ve numbered some the things I got from my grandparents:

Items 1-3 are crystal pieces that I always remember being in my grandparent’s home. The candy dish on the top shelf was always filled with candies that I loved to grab when I visited!

Item #4 is a cup and saucer that my grandfather brought to my grandmother from New York.

Item #5 is a painted platter that I just found pretty.

Item #6 is actually from my husband’s family. It is a pair of glass hurricane candlesticks with a “W” (our last name initial) etched on the front. I don’t know much about these, but I do know they have been in his family for some time and his aunt gave them to us a couple years ago. I’ll try to get a larger photo posted later, sorry!

While none of these items have much monetary value on their own, each piece holds so much sentimental value to me! I love to take a moment every now and then to look at these pieces and remember my grandparents. Hopefully they will belong to my children one day and I can tell them stories of the fun times I shared with my grandparents.

Be sure and visit Marie and the others who are sharing their beautiful heirlooms today! I hope everyone has a great weekend, I’ll be back next week with some thrifty treasures, a full re-cap of my Dallas shopping trip, and some new DIY craft projects!

Transformation Thursday: DIY Paint Organizer

 

This was a quick and easy DIY that took only a few minutes and a few dollars.  I found this spice rack at Goodwill for $3.99:

After a coat or two of purple spray paint, it has been transformed into a fun and funky….

….craft paint organizer!!

This turned out to be the perfect size for a great space saving solution to storing all those little bottles of craft paint that get jumbled together.  This rack ended up holding about 30 bottles of paint. Now they are all displayed neatly and I can easily pick out the needed color with just a glance! No more picking through a sea of white tops! 

Wouldn’t you love one of these organizers of your very own?? You would?? Good, because I’ll be giving one away soon!!  I’ve decided that once I hit 100 followers I’ll do my first-ever very own giveaway!! So all you lurkers come on and sign up to be a follower.  Don’t be shy, everyone’s doing it!!

I’ve got a couple more of these racks just waiting to be personalized especially for the winner.  And of course, you don’t have to use it to organize paint, it could organize lot of stuff….glitter, bottles of buttons, scrapbook embellishments, hey, even spices!!

So stay tuned, I have a feeling the giveaway will be happening very soon!

As usual, I’m linking up to Transformation Thursday at the Shabby Chic Cottage, DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land, and Thrifty Treasures at Tales from Bloggeritaville.  Hop on over and check out everyone else’s links!

Shopping in a New Town

This won’t be a long post, because I’ve got to get my rest after a day of shopping in Dallas.  Isn’t it fun to shop in a new city and at new stores?  I’ll do a longer post when I have more energy, but for now, here’s a peek at some of the things I spotted today (but didn’t buy!):

I’m so excited to be going here and here today!

Vendor Review: Zazzle.com

In the spirit of my previous product review for Vista Print, I wanted to share my experiences and opinions on another online retailer, Zazzle.com. Zazzle is a site similar to Cafe Press, in that they offer customized products designed by you and other users. You can design something for your private use, or make it available to other customers and name your own royalty. So it’s a great way to make extra money for all you graphic designers and other creative people.

Zazzle’s products run the gamut from business cards to shoes to postage stamps and more.

From their website:

“Zazzle allows you to not only browse from a mind-boggling array of designs, but even better, you can customize (most all) products that you find in the marketplace. Go ahead and change the size/placement of designs, add text in hundreds of fonts and millions of colors, add your own images/designs/logos… go crazy.”

My first encounter with Zazzle was my fabulous business cards that my friend gifted me on my birthday. I couldn’t have designed anything better myself. I love the colors and the damask type design at the top. I also think they are unique because they are vertical, which you don’t see a lot. Here’s a photo of my business cards (with some info blacked out):

The quality is top-notch, featuring clear printing on heavy-weight cardstock. These cards are by no means flimsy and will hold their shape when stuffed in your purse or wallet. Their prices range between $24 and $30 for 100 business cards.

I was so impressed with my business cards that I decided to order some coordinating stickers for my Etsy shop. I thought the prices for stickers I wanted were a little high, but I waited patiently and was soon rewarded with a coupon for free shipping in my inbox, which helped out a little. I don’t have a photo, but they are pretty much identical to my business cards, except with just my store name, website, and email. You may be able to view them at this link.

I ordered 2 sheets of the 3” size (6 stickers per sheet) and 1 sheet of the 1.5” size (20 stickers per sheet). Total cost was $19.80 with free shipping. Again, the quality was excellent. The colors and text are clear and sharp, and the stickers are a nice heavy weight with a glossy finish.

I will certainly be ordering from Zazzle again in the future and recommend them to anyone looking for unique, high-quality products to promote their business or otherwise. Once you sign up on their website, they will send you special offers and sale notices about once every week or two.

So take a look around their site, you just might find something you can’t live without!

Thrifty Treasures

I hit a few Estate Sales on Friday but came away empty handed so I decided a trip to Goodwill in the next town over was in order.  It seems that everything at Goodwill is either $.99, $1.99 or $3.99….weird.  I picked up these three wooden pieces for $1.99 each:

I just loved the curved edging of these pieces, they just look like they were all made for one another, don’t they?

I’ve got a great idea for each of them, I can’t wait to show you soon!

I strolled down to a neighborhood garage sale late Saturday morning and found the perfect desk lamp for my new sewing area:

25 cents, can you believe it?  I’m going to introduce him to my pal Mr. Spray Paint soon, I’m sure they will become fast friends!

That’s all of my thrifty finds, be sure and visit Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality to see everyone else’s treasures.

Hooked on Crafting: Where I Create

I’m joining Karen at My Desert Cottage for her first ever blog party showing off everyone’s creative spaces.  I’ve gotten more and more hooked on crafting (especially making personalized frames and tins) over the last year, so it’s great that I have a dedicated space to use.  I do most of my crafting in our office.  So here are some photos of the room all nice and neat:

The desktop computer isn’t there anymore, so I have more desk space for my painting and crafting.  The large TV is also gone and now replaced with this desk:

Now I have a great space for my sewing projects and I don’t have to mess up the dining room!  Okay, here’s what it normally looks like when I’m in the middle of a project (or two):

I use most of the space in the closet for my craft supply storage.

Here’s a more detailed view.  Yes, I went slightly OCD with the arrows:

I also store some supplies (like glitter, glue, scissors, carbon paper & stamps)  in the desk drawers:

Well, that’s it! I feel lucky that I can just make a mess in here and then just walk away from it or shut the door without the whole house looking messy.  I’ve got some great work surfaces, but I could always use more space! I can’t wait to see everyone else’s crafty spaces!

I’m also linking up with Hooked on Houses for Hooked on Friday!

P,S.  If you liked my craft paint organizer (in the closet), stay tuned for a chance to win one of your very own personalized just the way you want, I’ll be doing a giveaway soon!

Transformation Thursday: DIY Personalized Jewelry Box

For some reason I am drawn to these vintage jewelry boxes, perhaps they remind me of the hours I spent playing with my grandmother’s vintage jewelry, which she kept in a similar jewelry box. I picked up these two at separate estate sales for $1 and 50 cents each.

These babies needed a facelift, don’t ya think? Enter the spray paint:

Much better! I spray painted the larger one silver and the smaller one lavender. They were still kinda plain, so I decided to keep on going by adding my initial and some bling.

I added the border to highlight the slightly raised detail border that still showed through a little.

I just used silver craft paint to paint the border and initial, then outlined them using a paint pen. I printed out an initial and used carbon paper to transfer it to the top of the box. Since I am an impatient crafter, I didn’t even tape off for a clean line, but it still turned out okay. If you wanted to do a real professional job I would recommend taping off.

Now they’re right at home in my guest bedroom, but I keep moving them around. Tell me which spot you like best.

In the vanity:

Under the vanity:

In the corner (I’m leaning toward this spot):

I’m linking up with A Soft Place to Land for DIY Day, The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday and Tales from Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday. Whew, I’ve got a lot of friends to visit now!

Wordless Wednesday

Flea Market Frenzy

I thought I would share some photos from our Flea Market jaunt this weekend. Our local flea market is only open on weekends and most of it is indoor booths, which is nice in this Louisiana heat! There are also outdoor vendors, and some of the outdoor “booths” are actually old railroad boxcars from the early 1900’s.

There was a lot of junk

But some treasures too if you did some digging

Although I only walked away with one frame, overall the visit was a success because now we know what the flea market has to offer. My friend found some awesome large frames to turn into chalkboards and other fun home decor pretties. So I definitely see more Flea Market Frenzy in my future!