Handcrafted with love....

I spent the afternoon with a very talented gal today. Her name is Jane. Jane is an amazing quilter and seamstress. You would not believe her skill set! We decided to get together and get creative and what you see above is the outcome of two gals having an absolute ball! We stenciled and stitched. She taught and I learned. All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon with a wonderful lady.

We will be offering these pillows for sale at The Sassafras Shop starting tomorrow. To get started, we made two 12 inch burlap monogram pillows - R and M (both are SOLD). Plus, a small 8 inch W burlap pillow or M if you flip it upside down! We did two little bird pillows and a JOY pillow from burlap as well (both 8 inches). In addition, there's a black and white striped pseudo ticking fabric pillow, a "merci" pillow on a nice tan fabric, and tucked way in the back is a very cool pillow crafted from part of an old feed sack. The writing and stripes have nearly faded away with time, but some hint is still there.

We've got some other ideas in mind, but this lot got us well underway. Hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed making them! Have a good weekend doing whatever makes you smile!

P.S. Jane, if you are reading this, thank you!

Project Irish Pub

Our next project is well underway! It was my husband's dream to have an Irish pub in our basement, so we had our basement finished a few years ago, but then circumstances in life caused us to put this project on hold for a while. The walls were up, the floors were in, and that's where it ended. Since then, we have been collecting lots of pub stuff, and as my husband has had time, he's worked on building the bar. The main structure was complete, but we were having a hard time deciding on the details....trim, stain, rails. A few months ago, we found this wonderfully aged old door. It's pale green chippy paint with dark wood peeking through, it's extremely long (almost 9 feet), and it just spoke "bar front" to me. My husband, not so much. He didn't see the vision, but he humored me and we bought the door.

Last week, my new father-in-law and his brother who are both very talented and adept at construction, spent a few hours with my husband working on the bar. It has really come a long way! The door is installed as the bar front, the arm rails are attached, and support wood is in place. We are so thankful for their time and expertise!

So, now the laborious task of staining everything will ensue. Trimwork and molding will complete the look. Once the bar is complete, we have stacks of vintage bar signs and neon beer lights to hang, mostly Irish, of course. And then, I get to accessorize!

White Wednesday and weekend rescues

Very busy the past couple of weeks! My in-laws came for a visit, we had our community yard sale, and tried to fit in some flea marketing and junking. We were so busy trying to get things ready for our yard sale that I didn't have much time to go out looking for treasures.


My most cherished "rescued" item from this weekend is this awesome crock that my mother-in-law brought us. It belonged to my husband's paternal grandmother. We don't have much from that side of the family, so it was truly a wonderful surprise! In addition, the little dresser was a local yard sale find......it's nothing exciting.....just thin plywood......but it's got "storage solution" written all over it! I'll probably just sand it down a bit, add some fun paper inside the drawers and use it to store all my overflowing ribbon in my craft room. For $5, you just can't go wrong!


The fake hydrangeas came from my Aunt Polly's junk pile that was being hauled away on Monday.


During our yard sale, I snuck away for about 15 minutes and did some shopping myself. I brought back these two rose and burlap pillows. They are so "me"!


And that lamp is actually very cool, but I have a dilemma with it. It's kind of a pieced together thing with some sort of cast iron wheel for the bottom. I cut off the cord because it was frayed and not something I was willing to plug in! My original thought was to just remove the top and add a candle in the lamp shaft, but the bulb holder is actually holding the whole thing together! So, not sure what's going to come of it. We might try a new lamp kit....oh, I don't know! Something will come to me one of these days!

Don't forget to surf over to Faded Charm to check out the rest of the "White Wednesday" blog posts. You can find Faded Charm on my blog list. Happy Wednesday everyone, rain or shine!

Guest bathroom make-over

Our guest bathroom was in desperate need of an update. Here is how it turned out...










I have to make a decorating confession.....I am one of those people who is sooooo intimidated by and afraid of color! Almost every room in my house is cream. A safe and easy backdrop to which I can add pops of color with my accessories. But, in actuality, I usually don't add a whole lot of color. So, when I picked out this color at Home Depot called "Tide Pools", I was immediately thrown out of my comfort zone! When it was going up, I hated it. To me, it looked like it was neon! I was so ready to pull out a can of leftover "bleached wheat" and start fresh, but we kept trudging along. Once complete, I started to love it.

The shelf on the counter is actually two separate pieces that I painted cream and just stacked one on the other. The top one is meant for an office, but I think it works here! For an accent color, I brought in some of the vintage avocado green glassware pieces and then a few old, rusty industrial items like the old jack turned candleholder and rusty stove grate behind the blue apothacary jars. I'm still on the lookout for some interesting architectural salvage items to add to the walls, but I'll know them when I see them!

I'm still debating on whether or not to decoupage some random french pages as a border!?!?!? Right now, I'm thinking no, just because removing the existing wallpaper border was not fun! I think I'll live with it the way it is for a while and see what I decide!

I'm glad this project is pretty much done, because now we're moving on to finishing up our basement which has been a long time coming!

Goodnight all...

Polly

What I rescued this weekend Monday....

I picked up a few neat things this weekend while out and about with friends and family....


Aren't these vintage light bulbs neat? I am saving these for a house I'm helping to decorate for a Christmas Tour this holiday season.

Oodles of vintage millinery flowers.

These 2 oak table legs are big and heavy. They were still attached to their cross bar that held them to the table, so it took a little bit of elbow grease for my husband to pry them off and then saw off the wooden pin that held them to the table. Great salvaged candle holders!

a few old hankies....my favorite is this lily of the valley one.

awwww....a little Boston Terrier!

What's new at The Olde Shoe....

Strolling through The Olde Shoe Factory Antique Mall is like taking a trip through time! So many different eras and styles are represented. There are many treasures looking for a new home, and new stuff is arriving daily. Here's a sampling of what's new at The Olde Shoe....

Double vintage washtub perfect for chilling drinks at your summer soirees, a chippy white bed, garden gate, old windows and molding, and colorful vintage linens...


Lots of primitives!
A fun black and white area....

A sweet little bedroom area! The cast iron bed is really beautiful....and crusty and rusty! Lots of milk glass!
Funky! I think my Dad had this exact same chair back in the 70's! The coffee table is covered with yellow 60'sish flowers and is only $15! The green industrial shelf is very cool. And if you're into old advertising, that GE sign is pretty nifty.
So much fun stuff all under one roof! Stop by for a visit if you get a chance!

White Wednesday with Faded Charm

I'm joining Kathleen at Faded Charm in another White Wednesday. One of my favorite spaces in my house is my little craft room that I have decorated with whites and creams and browns. My craft room is located in our basement which we had finished a few years ago. We turned half into an Irish pub (which we're still working on!!!), 1/4 into my craft room and the rest is just storage. In the craft room, we had to use a drop ceiling to provide easy access to pipes and house guts, but we chose ceiling tiles that resemble old tin tiles. The floor is dark wood and provides easy clean-up for paint and glue spills. Here's a few shots from around the room:


The old metal compartmentalized drawer is slowly being filled with little white pitchers as I find them.

I have three of these white desks from Target forming an L shape. The one with the hutch houses my computer and supplies, while another is my work table and another holds my sewing machine.


I bought this grey cubby at Urban Farmhouse (www.myurbanfarmhouse.com), an amazing shop located in Thornville, Ohio.




And my big white closet that houses just about everything from scrapbooking paper to gift-wrapping supplies to tools and fabric.

I don't have any kids, but most of my friends do, so every so often, we schedule "Craft Night" where the adults and girls craft it up! Each of us works on whatever we want. Some of us scrapbook, others decoupage, others make jewelry or ribbon barrettes, or whatever strikes their fancy. I cherish those evenings hanging out with the girls creating "pretties".

Drop by Kathleen's blog to see what she's got up her sleeve for White Wednesday! You can find Faded Charm on my blog list.

Until next time.....

Polly

The Festival is coming!

Lancaster, Ohio is host to a wonderful celebration each year known as The Lancaster Festival. The Lancaster Festival Orchestra performs on both Saturdays with this years headliners being The Temptations on Saturday, July 25 and LeeAnn Womack on Saturday, August 1. It is an outdoor venue that includes music, merriment, and dinner all under the stars at Ohio University's Lancaster campus. In addition, during the Festival's two week presence in our little historic town, there will be many activities for kids and families. To honor this annual event, we thought we would do a music and art display at The Olde Shoe Factory Antique Mall. We pulled together a variety of artwork, some musical instruments, old sheet music and records, and of course a bistro set depicts the outdoors aspect of the event. To learn more, you can visit www.lanfest.org. It's truly a great time! For those of us who grew up in Lancaster, it turns into a mini class reunion as we run into and connect with old friends! We just have to hope and pray for fantastic weather as the Festival gets closer!

What I rescued this weekend Monday....

I am almost too late for my own "what I rescued this weekend Monday" post! Sorry, but it has been a long day! I had to work over the weekend, so I didn't have a lot of time to go out gathering up goodies, but I did manage to squeeze in a little junking on Friday. My "rescued" items include: little grey outdoor table, some rusty hanging baskets, 2 white pitchers, awesome flash cards from the 60's (both numbers and letters), Paris sign, 3 cool rectangular wire baskets (hard to see- they are in the back), a wire canning basket, silver hand mirror, Homer Laughlin restaurantware platter, apothacary jar, white and blue enamelware square something or other.....not sure what it was, but guess what? it's magnetic so it would make a GREAT bulletin board!, and a little zinc lidded container.

A few of these items have already met their new owner.....ME! In particular, the Paris sign and apothacary jar will go in my guest bathroom that is nearing completion. The remainder of the stash will find their way to The Olde Shoe Factory one day this week.

Don't forget to share your rescued items with us! Just mention my blog in your post! Thanks, and goodnight all.

dreaming of clocks and boxes and bedrooms

a few new finds now available at my booth....

A VERY cool clock! it is huge.....probably about 3 feet across! It isn't old, but is sure makes a statement! SOLD

A few ladders here and there! (The white ladder is SOLD).

Five old chippy and peely paint boxes. They stack perfectly and would be great for a craft room or office! ALL THE BOXES ARE SOLD

The little bedroom area I set up this week boasts a full size turned post bed, the water jug sand and seashell lamps (SOLD), a gorgeous quilt with green and floral pattern, a bright turquoise bench (SOLD), and several sweet cottagey accessories.

and this sweet little turquoise blue wheelbarrow! So cute!

Happy weekend!

drab to fab!

We had a new chandelier installed today in our stairwell leading to our 2nd floor. We found the chandelier on clearance at Lowe's for just $37! Ugly yellow floral shades included!! Just added silky cream shades to class it up a bit. A very simple and elegant look I think.....not too girly, not too modern, it's just right. I didn't realize how boring this stairwell was with that little recessed can light! It doesn't take much to transform a space!

What I rescued this weekend Monday!

It's Monday and time for my new weekly blogging buzz called "What I rescued this weekend Monday"! It wasn't a weekend yielding a truckload of awesome stuff or anything, but I did manage to find a few things....

cast iron birdbath was so rusty. actually too rusty. what? did I just say that? just gave it a little spray with some cream paint.....sorry, I had to do it!

finally, a perfectly tarnished old trophy vase! i found a little one a couple weeks ago, but this one is the real deal! it's engraved and must have been an award to a salesman back in the 40's for a quarter well done. this trophy certainly doesn't compare to that whopper Roger Federer won at Wimbledon yesterday, does it?

glove mold, meshy drawer (in the back), ironstone platters, urn thingy, meshy heart

a wicker chair that is desperately crying for a new paint job! big old water jug turned lamp.....there's two of these lamps......they were filled with the most hideous dried flowers......pulled those out and added some sand.....shells and starfish will finish the look.....they just screamed "beachy" to me. Heading to the shop once they are done!

and this little lamp bottom makes a great candle holder in my kitchen! another one of these lamp bases is available at my shop already.

Please join the fun and share photos of what YOU rescued this weekend!