LR Wall Re-Do

Hi Friends,

It's been a work in progress for several months

But it is finally finished (pretty much)

In 2003 when my husband first became ill

And I knew he would be spending more time in the LR so,

We decorated the living room with all of his favorite things

He and I were married in Bodie, CA 

His family settled Bodie in the 1800's 

They owned the Gold Mine and many of the businesses there

Mark always wanted to get married there even though it is now a State Park

The pen and inks on this wall were drawn by my brother David

He is a fabulous artist, I will always treasure these pictures

We also had many hunting, fishing and car racing items in the room

Mark has been gone to his new heavenly life for nearly 4 years now

So, I decided it was time for a face lift

Several months ago I found this sign in a little boutique that I love to frequent

I purchased it immediately and knew it was the start of a wall re-do

It took several months to find the other pieces to complete the wall

But I found just what I needed over the past two weeks

While visiting some of my favorite shops AND

Junk in the Trunk Vintage Market

I came home from work tonight

And quickly put together this flower arrangement

Not bad for 10 minutes :)

 And it only cost $11

 While at JITT I found those two fence posts which worked perfectly

above the sign with the flower arrangement in the middle

Here's the whole wall

If you remember my post about the new shop I found

I showed this photo below

And mentioned that I purchased two items shown

YEP, That would be the shutters right off the wall

LOVE THEM!!

They are so unique

Usually the shutter part would be horizontal

But if you notice, these are vertical and add more character

Well, there you have it

My LR wall re-do

I am pleased with the result

I have a few more things to do before I show the sofa it is above

What do you think?

Have a Happy Rest of your Week

Blessings to ALL

Sharing at Revisionary Life

A Bit Random Today

Hi Friends!

I am just sharing a bit of randomness today

Do you remember this photo I shared from 

My trip last weekend to Rusty Saturday

I mentioned that I purchased one item in the photo

I wish I had purchased the cute little pig

However I DID purchase this fun turtle

Because I thought it would be Perfect

For my granddaughters to have outside their Cottage

 

He was definitely a Hit

Lots of smiles today while they played with and on him

 

The above photo (sorry for the poor quality)

 Is something I received in the mail after my vacation

My friend Melanie of Melanie Dorsey Designs

Gifted my one of her canvas paintings

She has talked about doing a painting with a focus on:

"She Considers It Joy"

Melanie told me that she prayed for me the entire time she painted this

And wanted me to have it

What she didn't realize was the very difficult event we were walking through

 On the days she was painting it

It was Totally a God Thing

I keep her on my desk in my home office

She reminds me to Consider All Things With Joy

And to challenge myself to try new things

Love Her

You can find Melanie's Blog Here

 

A few days ago I received this sweet gift in the mail

From another blog friend

Carol from Art and Sand 

She was making some pillows and did not care for how this one turned out

Through a series of comments and emails she graciously sent it to me

As well as the fall banner that she made

So very kind and very much appreciated

There's a little something headed to her house as well :)

 

 I won a blog contest a couple weeks ago

I received this awesome emergency kit from

Kris at Junk Chic Cottage

It is filled with the greatest assortment of goodies

That every person needs to have close by

I've already used a couple of the items

(The Tums have come in handy the past couple of nights)

Kris has a super blog and is SO creative at decorating her home

 

When I ordered cards from Melanie Dorsey Designs

I had no idea that they would come so sweetly packaged

All of her orders are wrapped in vintage hymnal pages or other special paper

 

She also tucked in a special little sachet that I LOVE

Aren't these cards just beautiful

Melanie does an original water color painting

And then prints them on note or greeting cards

You can find her on Etsy here

 

I have been blog buddies with this beautiful lady for about 1 1/2 years

We have been talking about meeting up for at least a year 

But life just gets busy

I finally had the great pleasure of meeting her in person on Wednesday

Carol from An Oasis in the Desert 

Is a true joy to visit

AND her Craft Room is to die for........

Such a talented woman, she is!

She gifted me these hand crocheted dish cloths 

That I absolutely LOVE
I finally have my first bit of blue that I have been thinking about adding to my decor

Yes, totally random stuff today

But people I wanted to thank

And women I wanted to share with you

Every one of them is SO creative

You must visit their blogs/etsy shops

Have a super Friday and weekend ahead

I hope to finish my LR wall this weekend

But I'm also going to Junk in the Trunk Vintage Market

On Saturday so we'll see

Any body going to Scottsdale this weekend?

Love to meet up with you!!!

A New Favorite Shop

Hi Friends, 

I was so excited to find a new area to go junkin'
I ventured Way out of my comfort zone
And drove up to Cave Creek and Cactus
I know, Waaaay out of Ahwatukee :)

I've been following a blog for a few months

And it's writer just opened a booth inside a cute shop

So, I just Had to go visit during their monthly Warehouse Sale

The regular shop is open daily

But once a month they open the Warehouse

Rusty Saturday is the shop

And The Salvage Yard is their monthly special

Above is a photo of the booth that my new blog friend has

My Desert Cottage

I loved everything in her space

But only bought 2 items

They will appear in an upcoming reveal in the next week or two

You can actually see both items in this photo :)

I was happy to find there are several other shops

In the same general location

I believe I ventured into 10 shops

Within 1 mile of each other

Super fun place to hang out with a friend for a day

I also bought one item that is photoed above

Can you guess what it is?

Loved this dresser

I am planning on painting my very vintage dresser

That belonged to my grandfather soon

I hope it turns out this nice

So many fun things to look at

Almost bought this sign but it was blue

So, I may actually make one myself

My greatest pleasure was to actually meet 
Karen from My Desert Cottage
She is so very sweet and has a super fun personality
You can visit her blog here
And if you live anywhere in the Phoenix metro or surrounding areas
You can visit her space at Rusty Saturday

Rusty Saturday on Facebook
Rusty Saturday webpage

I'd just Love to take YOU shopping with me

What are you doing Next Saturday?
It's time for "Junk In The Trunk" Vintage Markey
And I'm Going!!!!!! 

She's Finished

Isn't it funny how certain pieces of furniture

Or even cars seem to have a gender character

This piece I purchased a month or so ago

Is definitely a She

As you may recall

I revealed her 'before' photo

And announced that she was getting a make over

The above photos were how I found her

At one of my favorite little antique/craft stores

'Tillies Attic' for only $20

I mentioned that I was going to use Anne Sloan Chalk Paint

For the first time

Well, She is Finished 

And I love her

She required quite a bit of fix it work

Her door was broken and needed repair

I wouldn't usually use E6000 for this type of project

But it worked extremely well

 Once she was prepped and repaired the process was rather simple

The paint went on very smoothly

It dries quickly so you can put 2 or 3 coats on in just a couple hours

The wax was a bit messy 

I preferred to use an old t-shirt rather than a brush

And then buffed it out

My biggest con regarding Anne Sloan Chalk Paint

Is honestly the price

$40 a quart plus $30 for the wax

It is true that I have enough left for at least 2 more projects

Of about the same size

But it is pricey for most of us

This beauty will sit in my dining area

The drawer will hold napkins and napkin rings

While the lower cabinet will hold other table linens

I do plan to find a couple of small baskets to place inside

That will keep everything looking neater 

And more organized

I LOVE my little $20 girl

I'm sure I will redecorate her surface in the days ahead

Just need to shop my house and find the right pieces

QUESTION:

In the photo above

The sign at the top of the photo

Would you dry brush the frame white???

So much of my home has black frames and black furniture

I'm trying to lighten things up a bit

What do you think??

AND

Inside the drawer I found 3 wheels for the cabinet

Now, I have to go shopping to find a 4th

Maybe that's why it was only $20

I am in Love with Her :)

Thank you for letting me share my Girl!!

Sharing at Revisionary Life
Coastal Charm

Reflecting

Almost quite literally 

Reflecting in the standing pools of water

All over the Valley

Originally I was to post my dresser make over

But I will wait until tomorrow for that

Because We Had:

The craziest weather I have ever seen in Arizona

It all started about 2 AM

Rain, Lightening, Thunder

And RAIN

Here in Ahwatukee

We got about 4.5 - 5 inches of rain in about 6 hours

Chandler got nearly 6 inches

Most all of the roadways had closures

At some point

I even had to detour on my 1.5 mile drive to work

 

I don't know if this was a stupid motorist

Or if he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time

But, fortunately he was rescued

 

Because we have amazing Fire Fighters

 

At this very hour

5:30 PM

There is a sub-division in Mesa that is being evacuated

Due to retention areas that are over-flowing

At least 3 evacuation centers have been opened in the Valley

 

And this is SO sad

This is the church where both my niece and my nephew were married

Totally flooded

They are working hard to clean it up

They are believing it will be open for services on Sunday

Only God!!

I'm thankful that I didn't fill my pool like I usually do on Sunday's

Because my pool is now FULL!!

 My back yard was flooded but nothing in the house

I'm grateful for protection for all of my family

And all of our office staff (some whom didn't make it to work today)

I'm praying for those most severely affected by this weather

Thank you for praying for our community today!

 

My Little Project

I've been working on this piece today

I found her a month or so ago at a little antique shop

For only $20

She's about half way finished

I hope to have her done and in place tomorrow!

I am enjoying my first experience

With Anne Sloan Chalk Paint

Have you tried it?

What was your experience?

Now, I must make sure the house is secured

As we are in the midst of a Haboob

(Major Dust Storm)

 YUCK!!!!!

The Fruits of my Labor Day

It was a busy day around CC's Place

Early to rise allowed me to work outside
Before it got TOO HOT
(109 today)
I was able to clean up the lawn area
Bagged up 5 bags of 
Weeds, pine needles, grass and other debris
That has landed in the yard after the monsoon

By 10 am it was too hot to stay outside
But I did go back out and hose down the entire patio

Once the weather cools down a bit
The little's will be able to play outside again
Their bikes are just waiting to be ridden
 

Yep,
It's a big patio with not much flare
Bulk trash pick up is this week
So I put all of my worn out, ripped up chairs
Out by the curb last night
They were gone in 20 minutes
Someone has A LOT of work ahead of them
 

I don't have much left out here now
But I'm hoping the tooth fairy will drop 
Some new patio furniture by while I sleep
 

While inside
I got 7 loads of laundry done
Washed, dried, folded, hung and put away

Linens are fresh and I will be ready for a good nights sleep
 

I was also able to shuck the corn
Make a roast
(well, at least put it in the crock-pot)
 

As well as clean the refrigerator out
And cut up the veggies for the week
 

I was able to chat with my mom for a bit
And talk to my bestie for an hour (that Never happens)

So, all I have left to do is
My day 1 Little Black Dress Challenge
(thanks MJ)
And make a bunch of flower pens for the office

I believe my Labor Day was Very Productive

Oh, you are supposed to Rest from your Labor today
Hmmm...I Forgot :)

I hope you enjoyed some fun time 
With family, friends and BBQ's today