Merry Christmas

Avery and I hope everyone has a great Christmas! Hope Santa finds you!

Christmas Gifts

I finally finished painting my last gift last night. This poor rocking chair has about six layers of paint. The plan was to spray paint it all and it would would be a super quick project. Doing the seat was fun. I sprayed it with a dark brown, and then I cut up a lace curtain and laid it on the seat. The plan was then to spray over the lace and rest of the chair with pink. I loved the way the seat looks, but wasn't happy with the rest of the chair. So I painted just the spindles dark brown, and still wasn't happy. Next I painted just the arms and the corners of the back pink, and it was better, but still didn't like it. The solution was to dry brush over the brown with the pink.

I stamped her name on the back, and again didn't like it, lol. So I attempted to paint over it. The ink seaped through the pink, and surprisingly I kinda like the faded look....

Another gift I made where these bottles. I got the wording and the rooster (used a stencil for the pattern), and traced the designs on the bottles with carbon paper. Then I just took a dremel with a diamond encrusted bit and engraved the design. It's basically like coloring, you just have to stay in the lines. I rub a little white paint in the engraved areas to get the design to stand out. I get the pour spouts from a bar supply company, but you can find them lots of places. They work great for dish soap, cooking oil, salad dressings.

It's a Party!

There's a party over at A Soft Place to Land and I thought I'd join in. I just wanted to share my small collection of Santa's that I've collected over the years......

The following two where made by a good friend of mine. We both do local shows, and always have a blast trading each other.

I got the tree up!

Finally! I didn't think I would ever get to decorate this year. Craft Shows are over, the house is somewhat reorganized, so it was time to put up the tree. Do you have ornaments that make you giddy? I remember getting so attached to certain ornaments when I was little. I thought I'd share a few....

Here is my tree topper, nothing exciting just a simple star. The banner I got at Canton last year. Notice the little elephant? For some reason I always think of watching Rudolph when I put this cutie up. He looks like he belongs on the island of misfit toys.

While we are on the island of misfits, here is another resident...

This is my new favorite ornament. I received it in an ornie exchange last year. The candles and holly are done with paper quilling. Its really a beauty in person...

How about a cute horse made out of corks?

Or a little drummer boy?

If you are in the area Saturday I will be at the Old Fashion Christmas show in Castroville, Tx. There will be over 250 vendors. Hours are 9 to 4.

A few of my favorite things...

Wow this is first for me, two posts in one day, but I saw that Thrifty Decor Chick is have a Favorite Things party over at her blog and I had to join in.

My favorite handed down Christmas decoration is the a ceramic nativity scene that my mother painted for my Great Grandmother and then was passed down to me....

My favorite boys, Avery and Miyagi...



My favorite things to paint are Santa's....

A few other random things.....Favorite Drink is a Fountain Diet Coke, Favorite Subway sandwhich is their new Chicken Floretine on flat bread (its fantastic!), favorite TV show is Ghost Whisperer, favorite Reality show is.....a tie between So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars, and Survivor. Dang I forgot I really like American Idol too....

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

Craft shows just make me happy. I know its a funny thing to say, but it's the truth. Nobody is ever in a bad mood (until teardown), you get to see lots of friends (customers and vendors), and you get to make new friends. Saturday was my second holiday show and it was fantastic. The weather was perfect and there was a steady drove of customers. With the economy the way it is, I didn't know what to expect. I think a lot more people where shopping for gifts than usual, so it actually helped sales. Charla from A Cowgirl at Heart stopped by, and we laughed about how blogs make the world a little smaller. She and her mom are some of my most favorite customers. After the show I had a really special dinner with some old friends. We live so far apart that we haven't been able to get together in years. One lives in Tucson, and the other lives in Canada. Saturday night we got to go to dinner and have a really nice visit. They are the kind of friends that even if you don't talk to them for months, its like no time has passed when you do talk to them. Hope every one had a great Thanksgiving!

Windy and Cold

Well I survived my first show of the year. The night before the show we had about 40 mph+ wind gusts, which made me pretty nervous. When we got up there was no wind, but by the time we got there the wind had started blowing pretty hard. Setting up was quite a challane, after one broken bottle, a shelf blown over, broken santa gourds, I was about to call it quits. I was close to tears. But we finally got everything semi secured, and the show went on. The wind blew most of the day, and it didn't warm up much, but it actually turned out to be a great show.
I saw lots of vendor friends that I hadn't seen in almost a year, and had great neighbors. Neighbor vendors can make your show great or cause you misery. Mine were really sweet, and told me to request the same booth next year so we could be neighbors again, which made me feel great. I didn't know what to expect sales wise due to the economy. I am happy to report sales were good. A little of everything sold, which is different than the past. Well back to restocking, my next show is in two weeks in Uvalde.

Sorry about no pictures, with all the chaos of setting up and things breaking I forgot to take any.

Christmas in God's Country

Isn't that a great name for a show? If you are in South Texas this Saturday, Nov. 15th, come join us in Hondo for Christmas in God's Country. It is an all day affair. The show starts at 10 am. They really stress handmade crafts, the food is excellent, and there is usually live music. They also have a special section with activities for kids. So fun for all shapes and sizes. I will have lots of painted ornaments, bottles, chalkboards, and other surprises. There is also have a night parade.

Great Weekend

I had a great weekend! The Texas Tech Red Raiders won a huge game Saturday, and I got to work in my workshop all weekend long. What more can a girl ask for, lol. I'm strange I know. First project was some cabinet doors I've had in my stash for years. They had a hole in the center of them, and I wasn't sure what to do with them until now. I picked up some iron pieces at Canton last weekend and waalah, key holders....

My next project was to paint this hutch top to use as a display piece in my upcoming shows. I bought it at an estate sale a few weeks ago. I love the "peely" paint, but once I got it home, I realized the paint was peeling way too bad. If you touched it the paint would peel off. So I sanded it down, a kinda gave it a white wash look. I think it'll work great...

The last project I got finished was these neat little bird ornaments. I cut the birds out of some scrap wood I had, used spray adhesive to cover them with scrapbook paper or wrapping paper, and then hot glued the greenery on....

It's funny how you can have something in your stash for what seems like forever and can never find the perfect pattern or idea for it. Last night I finally figured out what to do with this gumball machine that I've had on my shelf for over a year. Three more days until we leave to go to Canton!! I can't wait. Here's a picture of a Home Interior frame I transformed into another chalkboard.

And after (sorry pic is not the best):

A productive weekend

The weather was beautiful this weekend, so I took advantage of it. I painted 13, yes 13, cabinet doors with chalkboard paint. I need to find some more embleshments for the others. Another thing to add to my Canton list. Craft Shows are fast approaching so I am working like crazy to get ready. I had planned to cut out a bunch of Santa's to paint, but my scrollsaw decided to burn up early Saturday morning. So instead I finished up some ornies, did the chalkboards, and sanded and stained some bread bowls. I usually paint designs on them, but have been wanting to see what they look like just stained. I really like them.

This is what they looked like at first...

And this is the after....

Gotta Start somewhere...

After reading so many wonderful blogs, I thought I'd start my own. I look forward to sharing my projects and finds. I dabble in a lot of things, but my main hobby is tole painting. I love hunting for treasures at thrift stores, flea markets, and auctions.

So I thought I'd start with the gourds I just finished painting. Once a year we go to Canton, Tx to the trade days. A couple of years ago we took a different route and came across what looked to be a vegetable stand on the side of the road. Much to my surprise and delight, it turned out to be a gourd stand. It is run on the honor system, each table has a price on it, and you leave your money in a mailbox. It is run by the sweetest 80+ year old man whom we met the first year. Anyways here are a few of the craziest gourd santa's....