Florentine Boxes

Ohhhh ~
it's sooo good to see you all again!

Talk about dealing with withdrawal symptoms.
Whoooo weee!

(Am I obsessed with blogging? 
Ummm.....yes.)

After an entire week without my computer,
without my blog friends,
without any communication with you,
without any inspiration for my soul....
my computer has been cleaned up, fixed up, restored,
 full of memory, and is running smoothly again!

Life is good
and my world is once again right side up.  :)

 ♥

So, how did I keep myself from going wildly insane this past week?

I read a lot of old magazines,
cleaned the house from top to bottom,
dug a lot of weeds in the garden,
canned 100 more pints of homemade salsa,
periodically did a little whining and wimpering
while The Husband rolled his eyes,

and

dawdled in a little creativeness.


I've had a thing for Florentine boxes and trays lately
(as you can tell by this earlier post).

I love the soft combination of faded pink, aqua, and dusty gold.
They lend an ethnic bohemian feel to the decor which I am happily embracing.

(Wait til you see what followed me home from the latest antique market last weekend.
I'll give you a wee hint:  prints & color.
What?!
Prints and color at Heaven's Walk?
Yep.)

After seeing many beautiful Florentine boxes on Etsy and eBay for some crazy dollars,

I wondered if I could recreate the look with something I already had

buried in the depths of my basement.

I unearthed this little gray, distressed box 

and decided to try my hand at making it look Florentine.

The floral carved top was perfect for some color.

First thing was to add some gilding

using Rub-and-Buff in "Old Gold" with a tiny artist's paintbrush.

I carefully painted gold in the background on the lid as well as a few bands of it along the top and bottom. 

 

 The wonderful thing about Florentine treasures is that the color on them 

always look like they've been painted on by hand.

No perfection needed here.

Right up my alley.

 I used touches of ASCP in 'Antoinette' pink, 'Duck Egg' blue, and 'Provence' aqua,

and then distressed it a bit with a light touch of my sanding block.

I'm still trying to decide on what French or Italian words to transfer on the top in a beautiful, old flourished font.

 Maybe "Beautiful Life" or "Live Gracefully"...

I had so much fun playing artist with that little box, that I found myself anxiously looking for another one to transform.

This next one was purchased a while ago at the local Goodwill store.

It was just a plain little box.

Nothing to write home about - but for $1.99,
it had potential.

I brought it home and painted it with layers of 'Duck Egg' and 'Old White',

but stopped there because I couldn't decide what else to do with it to make it something really special.

So there it sat.

For months.

Until some Florentine inspiration hit me.

But since this box didn't have any floral carving on it,

I used transfer paper to create this flourish design on the lid.

Then filled it in using a Permapaque marker.

It took me about 20 minutes
while memories of childhood coloring books danced through my mind.

 Gilding came next,

hand painted along the top, sides, bottom, and legs.

Once again, no need for perfection.

Imperfection ruled instead.

I then added the same soft ASCP colors.

The next step was a light distressing,
followed by a coat of clear wax
and a tiny bit of dark wax
to give it an even more vintage look.

I had so much fun painting these sweet little boxes.
I think it brought out the child in me ~





or maybe the artist-wanna-be... 

and certainly helped quiet the whining and wimpering ~


much to The Husband's delight.

~  Blessings  ~

PS Thank you all so much for the suggestions, tips, and advice you offered
with my computer issues. You were right!

Linking to the parties on the lower right of my sidebar.

Just click on the buttons!

Sweet, Simple Pleasures

Ok.

Call me spoiled.

But I love buying myself a dozen roses each week at the grocery store

where I sometimes get lucky and find them on sale.

I love the simple act of picking out the blush pinks and whites,

or sometimes the lovely lavenders.

 I love the simple act of trimming them when I get home

and plunking them in various vases and vintage cups.

I love that they're real.

I've used faux ones before because they look so very lifelike now.

Hobby Lobby and Michael's carries beautiful silk flowers, btw.

But I bring in blooms from my garden as often as possible.

There's nothing like real flowers scattered throughout your home all year long.

Lilacs and peonies in the spring.

Roses and hydrangeas in the summer...

But with the drought this summer, blooms were far and few between.

I was in withdrawal.

So, I resorted to setting aside a few dollars each week for a small splurge.

And it had to be roses.

I love watching them slowly open their soft petals during the week,
and the way they eventually bend their pretty heads over the side of the vase

as if in prayer.

They grace various vignettes throughout Heaven's Walk,

even in a vintage mustache cup...

that sits in my favorite corner of the living room

on my favorite little table.

A new pillow slip carries through the pinks and greens of the roses.

See it peeking from behind the chaise on the slip covered church pew?

I first saw this fabric at Tausha's and fell head over heels for it.

I found some online and begged my sweet friend Shellagh at Ticking and Toile Linen Shoppe to whip up a nice, big, 28"x28" pillow slip for me.

I simply adore it.
(Thank you, Shellagh!)

Sweet, simple pleasures that bring a song to the soul

and 

make my heart sing.

♥

~  Blessings ~

PS ~  May I ask for some advice from you computer techies out there?

My computer keeps telling me that I have "high CPU usage" and "low disk space".
I can't even defrag because there's not enough disk space.  Yikes!
I spent houuurrrs deleting old files and photos, and then trying to transfer a huge amount of photos to CDs to create more disk space, but I'm still stuck because there's not enough disk space to actually write them on the CDs! Help! 
What do I need to do....??? 
Do I need to purchase more disk space?

I have tons of photos (as I know many of you do). How much disk space do you have on your computer? Or do you keep your photos someplace else?
I'm not savvy enough to know what programs I can delete from my drive or how to solve this problem...
so I need some help here, peeps!
Thank you so much!!




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Gilmore Car Museum Flea Market

HOT.

HOT.

HOT.

(94 degrees on set up day) 

SWEATY.

SWEATY.

SWEATY.

(96 degrees on show day)

Hair up. Check.
Deodorant on. Check.
Lots and lots of ice water. Check.

FUN.
FUN.
FUN.

That's the kind of day we had at the Gilmore Car Museum a couple Saturdays ago.

Over 1,000 people came through the gates to oooh and ahhhh over 400 vintage cars, trucks, boats, and campers.

Now...let me tell you...

I'm not normally one of those gals who get all geeked over blingy cars.
I'm not usually impressed with fancy schmancy cars loaded with bells and whistles
that try to make a big statement.

I'm just happy that my SUV starts when I turn the key.

But, I've got to tell you that I had a ball watching all of the really old vintage cars rolling past our booth.
Motors softly put-puttering atop skinny tires.
Horns "wa-hooooga-ing" back and forth.
People in costume waving from rumble seats.
More people in costume riding antique bicycles around the property.
Old Cris Craft boats with their ultra shiny wooden hulls.
Retro music playing over the loudspeaker.
It was so much fun!

If you follow my Facebook page, you know that on that Friday morning at Doster Emporium,

Georgina and I stuffed these two trucks with our goodies to sell,
and took off merrily down the road on a blazingly hot morning.

We arrived nice and early, but I was immediately distracted by a couple of trucks parked close by.
I ooohhed and aaaahhed over them.
I stroked them,
and imagined myself rolling happily down the road hitting all of the flea markets and barn sales in complete boho style.   :)

I ended up buying this fabulous hippy chic truck

because it had my logo on it.

Hey! Get away from MY truck!

Juuuust kidding.

I really bought this one.

I WISH!!

[I've always had a thing for vintage pick up trucks.
Haven't a clue where it comes from,
but I'm totally obsessed.
I'm still kicking myself for not buying my SIL's perfect buttery yellow vintage truck
she had for sale many years ago...]

But we did have a fun day selling treasures to wives who were bored looking at vehicles and heard the flea market bug calling their name.

Here are a few pics of our cute little booth.

We were allowed a 20x30 space for a $10 fee.
Yep....only $10!

We seemed to be spilling over a wee bit,

but didn't have a close neighbor...

so we spraaawled. :)

 We busily got to work setting up before the morning rush,

and created vignettes here and there.

Three of my white end tables - sold.

My Aubusson rug - sold.

My old window box - sold.

Chicken wire cloche - sold.
A few framed pictures - sold.

My round oak table - sold.

Then, halfway through the day,
the "Rug Police" stopped by and informed us that we had to roll up all of our rugs laying on the grass.

Say what???

Since we didn't want to hauled off to be tarred and feathered and put in shackles,
we begrudgingly complied.

This French inspired mirror was transformed in my basement with ASCP in Duck Egg and Old White and distressed a bit back to the original gold.

Dry-brushed vintage frame with a photo of a woman who looks amazingly
like my grandmother did when she was 20 years old
on top of a 
pink folding table I painted with ASCP 'Antoinette' and stenciled a random damask pattern on top with 'Paris Grey' and 'Old White'.

Hmmmm....I'm thinking that Georgina's cute little footstool on the table

may be in need of a makeover at Heaven's Walk.

Lots of vintage jewelry - sold.

Plaid thermos - sold.

Blue & white Delft bowl - sold.

Brass swan - sold.
Some crocheted doilies - sold.

We had a pretty successful day.
Sold a few things.
Drooled over a few trucks.
Waved to a lot people.
Talked to even more people.
Handed out a ton of our business cards.
Didn't get taken to jail.
Drank a gallon of water.
Wished we had gallon of margaritas.
And sweated off about 5 pounds.

It was a fun day spent with my junkin' buddy.

♥

Georgina (from Doster Emporium) on the left and me on the right -- before we sweated our makeup off.

~  Blessings  ~

Sending hugs to all of my new followers!


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Romantic Ruffled Bedskirt

I ordered a five tiered ruffled bed skirt for my king size bed from Wayfair this past winter because I loved the romantic look of it.  They were sold out of white. I hoped that the "ivory" color wasn't too yellowy like I've quickly  learned that ivory can be.

Well....much to my dismay, it was.

So, I hauled out my trusty lavender scented bleach and bleached the dickens out of it.

(Like for 15 hours).

Then used White Brite to remove any remaining yellowy tinge.

Oh...just wonderful.

It turned a pretty shade of yellowy cream with alien green thrown in for good measure.

So, I bleached it again.

For another 15 hours ~

and used the whitener for about 8 hours.

It ended up being a tolerable shade of creamy white,

so I threw it on the bed thinking that The Husband and I were the only ones that had to look at it.

This photo doesn't show the sickly shade it truly was.

 

You guessed it.

By this summer, I was sick to death of it.

The "too many ruffles" that my eyes now saw, consistently looked wrinkled and scrunched up ~ which in my book ~ isn't romantic at all.

Nobody wants to look wrinkled and scrunched up in bed, do they?

I knew that I had a couple SSC duvet covers that I had successfully bleached to creamy white perfection that were just sitting in the willow trunk in the guest room.

Hmmmm.....I wonder......?

I called upon my favorite West coast seamstress/buddy/beloved blog sister for help.

 Shellagh at Ticking & Toile Linens was patient with my frustrated whining

and agreed to create a bed skirt from the duvets.

It arrived the other day.

I eagerly ripped open the box.

I think I heard angels singing.

And bells ringing.

Yeah.

There were bells ringing

(like on Christmas morning).

I placed the lovliness in the dryer with a damp towel and a couple Gain dryer sheets

(my favorite)

and let it rock and roll for about 20 minutes to get the wrinkles out

and then wrapped myself in those creamy ruffles, and pranced up the stairs to the bedroom.

I was going to manhandle this king size bed myself

because I wanted that bedskirt on in the worst way.

I HAD to see those ruffles in all their glory ~

and The Husband wasn't around so I could supervise him to help.

This is how you do it solo, girls:

1. Grab pillows and sheets and throw in hallway.

2. Stand on one side of bed and take a deep breath while grabbing side of mattress and heaving upwards.

3. Fall back against wall while mattress thumps back on bed.

4. Repeat #2.

5. Take deep breath and grunt loudly as mattress bends in middle and moves one measly inch.

6. Repeat #2.

7. Go around to opposite side of bed and try pulling mattress toward you.

8.  Repeat #2.

9. Stand there and say naughty words under your breath while trying to catch your breath.

10. Repeat #2 while simultaneously grunting loudly like a caveman woman and pushing
(glad that there is no one there to hear you).

11. Watch as mattress miraculously lifts.

12.  Quickly step up on box spring and push up with all your might.

13. Do NOT look at arm fat swinging like an apron in the wind.

14. Look up to see ceiling fan 1" from your head.

15.  Duck.

16. Get angry at arm fat and as adrenalin spikes, throw bed against wall.

17. Make sure bed does not fall on top of you and squash you and your arm fat.

(THAT would not be pretty.)

18. Step off bed and realize......mattress is now blocking doorway AND
beautiful new bedskirt is in the guestroom across the hallway!

(sugarjets!)

19. Try to burn off swinging arm fat and position yourself at end of mattress and push.

20.  Squeeze through opening in doorway and retrieve beautiful bed skirt waiting for you in guest room.

21. Squeeze back into bedroom and watch as beautiful bed skirt gently floats down upon the box spring - marveling at the delicious double ruffles flowing and draping onto the floor.

22.  Spread out beautiful ruffles on floor and look up to be greeted by wet nose and furry face.

23. Kiss furry face and place her back on floor.

24.  Turn to grab camera to photograph ruffles and realize camera is on hallway floor.

(sugarjets!)

25.  Squeeze back through opening and retrieve camera.

26. Realize that you could'ave waited to take photos.  

Duh.

27. Grab one end of mattress and slide it slowly toward bed

making sure cute furry face is not on box spring.

(Do NOT want to squash cute furry face.)

28.  Let wobbeling mattress fall back on box spring with a crash

as you take out the lamp on the side table.

29. Make note to pick up new lamp at store this week. 

(Smart move, cave woman.)

30. Scootch (yes, that's my word and I'm sticking with it) mattress across box spring inch by inch until repositioned.

31. Dance around bed as you tuck in clean linens (smelling deliciously of Gain) while sweet furry face helps by patting out wrinkles.

32. Lay on floor like contortionist and take photos of beautiful ruffles while cute little furry face (who somehow made her way back on bed) looks over the side at you and rolls around on freshly made bed ~
as deliriously happy with the new beautiful ruffles beneath her as you are.

(A bath in the ruffles sounds quite nice...

and a little more sprawling, of course.)

33.  Continue to contort on floor to photograph beautiful romantic ruffles..

(*sigh!*)

(*big sigh*...)

until Husband's voice behind you warily says,   

 "What...in...the...world..are...you...doing down there...???"

And that's how it's done...

solo.

 ~ Blessings ~

[Want another laugh today?  Check out Suzan's blog.

But be sure you're sitting down.

And don't forget to visit Shellagh's beautiful blog and linen shop!]

 

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Just click on the buttons!