Thankfully Peaceful Thursday

It has been quite the week so far.  I have been extra busy at work because my co-worker is out on vacation.  Ugh!  It has rained every day for almost a week now, so happy about that!
I was here this morning looking at this awesome sounding tropical cake.....I want to make it!  Check it out at:

Come here to see some other great links!
  Today is a PARTY!!

One of my oldest, dearest friends who shares my same birthdate (I call her my twin) is moving to a house right down the street from me this weekend...... so happy about that also!  We were in girl scouts together and I can't wait to work on different DIY projects with her!

It is the weekend for me because I am off every Friday in the summer.....yay!....Very happy about that!

And I am thinking of refinishing an old drop leaf/farm table I have.  Hopefully soon.  It will be the second "re-do", so I will be studying some of my favorite blogs to get some good techniques.

In the mean time, a former HS classmate took this fantastic picture of the sunrise today from Melbourne, FL.  It is so peaceful......enjoy!

Coming Tuesday-My Phone Collection Featured!!

If you have a chance, go see Sarah's blog all about Decorating, Collecting, going to auctions and being thrifty!  She has done some amazing things with turning some discarded items into wonderful useful and fun items!  She has inspired me to really look past the drab!  She goes to the best auctions too!

She will be showing off my phone collection on Tuesday.  She loves collections and seeing what everyone does with different collectibles from all over the world!  She also has a website with some great items to purchase.......Take a look!

Transformers....

I have been rather lazy lately because of the extreme heat and no rain.  Although rain is predicted for the next few days, so let's hope it cools us off and puts out all the fires.  Maybe I will get focused and get back to some good projects!  Otherwise this weird thing happened to me.  I guess sometimes you just have to get with what's going on around you....I like doing that anyway.  I find bird nests, honey bee nests, and one time last week a wounded squirrel trying to hide.....he better or the hawks will get him. (or my dog!)

While weeding the other day I saw a wild passion vine growing through a bunch of palmetto palms.  I really want to get the passion vines growing on my property, so I cut some to root.  While walking with the vines in my hand, I noticed a butterfly following me.  It was as if I took his home away.  Well turns out it must have laid eggs either on the vine or nearby.  So after putting the cuttings in water, I again noticed something weird....caterpillars all over the leaves.  Some big and some no bigger than a pin head.  So I had a to go get more vines for them to eat because that is what caterpillars do before the big transformation.  They are all gone now, hopefully hiding somewhere on the patio and I will see a new batch of butterflies in the next few days..... I will let you know!

One of the caterpillars crawled here and turned in to this!  It is stuck to the wall on the back patio!

Birthday Treat

Thanks Susan over at Naps on the Porch !!




for posting this idea.  I made one last night for a co-worker who likes chocolate and her birthday lunch is today.  She is an odd one who does not like flowers or much of anything at all, so hopefully she will like this!  It's a bit bigger than the one Susan had and I added a "cupcake" type lolipop along with the straw.

Picture Treasures

My daughter....she is so creative and thoughtful.  When we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, she decided to create this unique collage of pictures of us and some nice family pictures.  At the time, she found this window looking wall hanging, which originally had a mirror in it.  When working in the retail store it came from she noticed that the mirror was broken, so she asked if she could get a discount on it.  She did, and removed the broken mirror.  She cut a board, attached the pictures, then mounted it back where the mirror was.  We keep it in a hallway in our bedroom.  It gives the pictures a little dimension and covers them just enough to not make them "stand out" just plain on the wall.  We love it.  So if you happen to see something similar in one of the better discount stores, and it looks like it's a little beat up, you can distress it, paint it or use your imagination.  It would make a nice gift for a special occasion!

Just Homemade...

My husband has made so man nice things in the past 32 years that I wish I had a digital camera back then.  I would have to get out my pics from the albums and scan all of them to show him off!  From no on, I will definitely whip out the camera now to catch him at work.  He has some plans upcoming for some things I have saved for him to make.  Here is one he did about four years ago for a specific place we needed a few simple cabinets for storage.  We couldn't find the size we wanted anywhere, so we designed these for the perfect fit.  Since then we moved (of course) and gave one to our daughter for her office and I kept the other for the mud room we now have.  I needed a shelf unit for above it to keep the dogs things, lunch bags, kitchen towels and miscellaneous.  On a trip last year back to the NC mountains, we went to one of the antique stores and found this old top part of a hutch.  It originally had doors from what I can tell by the hinge marks and holes.  We matched the paint from the original cabinet and distressed it a bit.  In honor of father's Day coming, I thought I would show off his handy talent.  I have so much more!  He is a keeper!

In Raw finish- Just 2X4's and plywood



Then stained, painted with a soft black, then sanded slightly to distress in areas and varnished



Look carefully.  I took the dremel and carved out stars in the top

Found the knobs on Ebay

Finished and now.......

...... in the Mudroom



 He also made me these wonderful little business card holders from some scrap oak.  He cut them about the size of a business card and drilled tiny holes and used a heavy duty wood glue and clamped them together.  I drilled tiny holes across the back on the top edge and used my many miles of copper wire to add beads and some frilly string fabric for a whimsy look.  I give them as gifts!

And just something pretty to look at today as my Petunias are looking so nice

 even as hot as it is!

Saturday is in my office!

In my office, which is my hide out, I needed a bed or lounge or big chair.... but ended up finding this on Craigslist.  It was the top part of a bunk bed which someone didn't use anymore.  I bought it.....it was cheap and I had a vision.

I got a colorful quilt, a bunch of pillows and a very reasonable mattress.  It can also be home to a guest of my granddaughter. I lay around on it when I am chatting on the phone or hiding from everyone else. 




Now, the space under this bed was very high....higher than the normal bed, so I measured and managed to find five baskets to fill the space which are great for extra blankets, sheets, toys, office supplies or anything you need to tuck away.

Above the "lounge" on the wall are a collection of antique telephones.  And a poster/collage I made by finding high resolution photos online of phone parts, antique phones, etc.  Saved them and made the collage from Kodak.com.  That was fun!  Now I have to just finish the rest of my office and I will be happy!

Looking Past the Ugly

I was driving down the road one day in one of my resident towns and saw this garage sale going on so I stopped because I was attracted to this old beat up wood dresser or whatever it is.  Just three drawers.  At the time I was redoing a guest bedroom in a tropical theme, so I painted this to match a wall hanging that had a fish on it that had sunglasses on!  Mostly sponge painted the background then painted the fish on the side.  Sprayed with a clear coat to protect the paint....The rest came from my head and from what my trees looked like in my yard.  I changed the drawer pulls to a wicker type I found at Lowes.  It was fun.

Head over to http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/. You will see some adorable things!  Alot of projects give life to old things! The link is on the right.  Or go yo my Party Link tab and look at all of the others!


So... look past the ugly if you see a useful item.  Think deeper.....

This tree on the front was painted from a tree in my yard that blew down in the hurricanes of 2004

It's hard to see, but the fish has on small sunglasses!

Wicker Knobs