Monday Morning......

OK, my computer wire is fixed -- YAY!!!
Yesterday, I wrote this post on my daughter's computer -- it was nice to write a lighthearted, fun post for a change......

Oh, what a beautiful morning....!!! (you can read that as the song, if you are old enough to know it!  OR, if you are an Old-Movie-Junkie, like me!! :-D)

I'm sitting here by my living room window - which is open - before anyone else is up, and it's in the mid-60s and slightly breezy -- YUMMY weather!  For the past week almost, it's been in the mid-90s and muggy, so this morning the change in the weather is definitely Autumn-ish -- even the breeze smells different!!!

This summer has flown by!  Partly because we've had the mildest summer here in NC since I moved here 11 years ago, partly because I haven't done a lick of gardening this year, partly because Brian has been home recovering this whole time, and I'm sure partly because of the grief I've been carrying around -- I haven't really "looked up" to notice anything going on in my life except whatever was right in front of me.... I've been living in the moment, you might say.

I'm feeling very reflective this morning, because it's the first morning without Brian sitting next to me in FOUR MONTHS -- it's his first day back to work since hurting his fingers.  And actually, I'm feeling really lonely for him.... *Sigh!*  I am not the kind of person who EVER gets bored or annoyed or tired of my husband being around, or any of my loved ones, for that matter, but especially my husband.  And I am SOOOO blessed by God to have Brian who feels the same way!  I know many couples look forward to, and enjoy, time away from eachother, and even men more than women, but not us!!  We've only been apart ONE night since we were married, and we were miserable! LOL

My family (especially my sisters....except for Karen!) thinks I'm crazy and a little annoying, and they always make fun of how Brian calls me every day from work on his breaks, or when he's home and runs to the store how he calls me when he gets there, or when he's on his way home!  They've said that would drive them crazy.....but not ME!!!  Hahaha -- I love it!!  I wait for all his calls when he's not home (even for only 15 minutes! LOL), and I actually carry the house phone around with me so I don't miss them! :-D

*SIGH!*  SOOOO, that's the long way of saying I'm a little lost this morning without my husband home!  It will be nice to get back to his normal income, though -- I have a very delicate thread of finances arranged for us, and this slightly broke that up, but I can get that all put back together properly in two pay-weeks, I think.

While Brian was home, he wasn't able to do any kind of house-projects until this past month, but *I* have been a PROLIFIC CREATOR since my friend Cheryl went to stay with her friend before she died.  I had been spending so much time with her and doing things for her, that when she didn't need me like that anymore, I had nothing to do!  Well, except THINK and WORRY, which I wanted to distract myself from, so I started making things.....LOTS of things!

So....I am going to show some pictures of my creations, but only the finished products -- NOT the step-by-step pictures (YET!).  I can post those another time, but I still want to dazzle you all with my new "OLD" creations!! haha! :-D

HERE THEY ARE.....

 This is one of my very first creations.....

I got the design from an old "The Country House" catalog -- this is probably around 7yrs old!  I never liked how it turned out, so it got buried in my boxes of STUFF.  When I found it a few months ago, I sanded it and waxed it with dark wax, and suddenly I really liked it!!  Now to find a place to hang it....! :-D

Here is something I've wanted to make for SO LONG, this is the original (from PINTEREST, of course!).....

Isn't it GREAT...?!!
So I made one.....

*Sigh!*  Again, not-so-great....! :-(
BUT, Brian pointed out that the original is actually made of resin, not wood, so it's made from a mold -- I could never duplicate THAT.  So I sanded it and waxed it with my dark wax again, and voila! ....I liked it!  This picture doesn't capture the depth of the wood grain that makes it look so nice, but you get the idea!

This small chest I looked at for months....I couldn't close the page! LOL.....

And here is MINE.....

I ordered the rusty hinges online, and the latch is from Lowes -- it was gold, but I spray painted it with rust-colored, then brown textured paints, and it looked PERFECT!!

Remember me talking about hollowing out my own log....?

Here's what I came up with -- it took ALOT of work!!  Brian cut out the insides for me, but trying to sand the ridges in it was VERY hard!  It's another creation that I'm not really happy with, but after my dark wax, it grew on me a little more.

THIS was a fun project.... BEFORE.....

....and AFTER.....

Some black and then  "stone" textured spray paint turned my little thrift store find into a stoneware crock!!! :-D
I'm SO happy with how this came out that I have several other things I'm going to make into "stoneware"!!!  I can't afford a REAL collection, so I have to settle for these! LOL

Here are two other thrift store gems that were transformed with paint....

I LOVE the table "riser"!  It looks so nice anywhere in my kitchen!!
The salt box isn't as bright as my flash made it, and I didn't get the wooden pegs I used instead of hinges for the top -- I love pegs now!! :-D

Here are my "Redware" plates.....

These were HARD for me to do!!!  I am NOT a good free-hand draw-er!  I had to re-paint the top one because I could not get that pattern right!  I have to either use a stencil (like in the middle picture), or draw the design lightly in pencil (like the last plate).  I still have to "distress" these -- I'll sand them and add some dark paint specks to them, and maybe wax them (I'm just loving that wax!! LOL).
I have a few more plates that are spray painted and waiting for their "slip" design, so I'll have a collection of FAUX redware when I'm done! :-D

And the former APP Forum members will remember this.....

And these.....

See the paper picture in the top pic...?  I'm going to make her next, I guess part of my "Home-making" series!! LOL  I can't help it, I LOVE those pictures of women working in their homes! :-)

This one is wonderful..... a FAVORITE!!
Here are the Pinterest pictures that inspired me.....

They are salt boxes!  I love this second one the best!!
Brian had been working on a lathe that we got him for Christmas - it was the one tool he could use when his fingers started healing! -- and he was making all kinds of "practice" bowls and things.

Well, without even SEEING these pictures, one of the pieces he turned was perfect, so all I needed to do was add a back, and a lid.

I LOVE IT!!! :-D
For the lid, I had him cut off the bottom of his little "box", and I attached it with little metal hooky-things I made myself (so they would look like the old wire hinges of the originals!).
SO FUN!!!!  Now I want him to make more! :-D

Here's a drawer box from Hobby Lobby that I modified.....

And a single drawer jewelry box from the thrift store that was ONE DOLLAR....

That's the top, and the holes are where a brass railing-type decoration was.  That had to be pried-out immediately! (it was so ugly!)
I filled in the holes with sawdust and wood glue mixed together, and found the perfect Pinterest pic to inspire me (it's bigger than mine, but I loved the knobs).....

....and VOILA....

I'm SO excited about my single-drawer piece!  It looks great on my shelf!! :-D

I LOVE love any kind of drawer chest!!!!  I'm obsessed with them!  So when I saw THIS at the thrift store for $2, I had to grab it.....

I wanted ring-pulls and a better color for it, so this is what I came up with....

MUCH better!!  *Sigh!* I LOVE little drawers...!!

This was a fun, easy project I found on -- can you guess? -- PINTEREST! Hahaha!!....

Mine are the bottom ones -- she used metal around the outside, but I used twine.  I like the look of it better!  I will also wax mine like she did, because I love the dirty look of her husks!!

THIS spoon rack was haunting my thoughts (haha!).....

I love her decorations in it!!!
Mine gave me a hard time -- I kept measuring wrong, and Brian finally had to rescue me!

I can't wait to put Christmas decorations in it!! :-D

Remember the candle stand....??  I FINALLY tackled rusting and gluing the tin pieces, so it's finished!
Here is the original....

Here is mine.....

Of course, I don't have candles in it, yet (I want to grunge some up for it!), and my flash made the color too bright, but in reality it looks JUST like it!
But.....now where do I put it....?? LOL

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Getting sick of all my pictures yet??  I'm getting sick of loading them all onto Blogger!
Don't worry -- I'm almost done! ;-)
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I LOVED this neat tiered tray.....

(LOVE that cutting board, too!!)
So I gathered the supplies from ebay -- funnel, fluted tin trays/"candle pans" -- and put them together and spray painted them....

PERFECT!!! :-D  Of course, it doesn't lean in real life.....I'm not sure what's going on with my careless picture taking lately! :-P

And I found THIS in a Country Sampler magazine....

See that neat cupboard tucked under her cabinets??  I couldn't stop myself from immediately measuring wood and drawing sizes to make it!
Brian had to help me again with a couple of things, but most of it was done by ME!! :-D

I LOVE it!!!  I'm trying to find a spot on my counter for it, but it could go anywhere, really!

And last, but not least..... I love this picture from the book "Seasons at Seven Gates Farm"....

*Sigh!*  Soooo beautiful!!!  And can you see what caught my eye....?  Not the very-cool green drawer chest (which I would LOVE, but it looks a little daunting to make!), but on the next shelf up, the VERY interesting chest-thingy??  Well, whatever it is, I love it....

Oh yeah, that's a MUST-HAVE!!! :-D
But I've been caught in the middle of it.....

I've got the knobs on now, but it still needs to be painted!  THEN I'll post a picture!! :-D

Of course, maybe everyone is sick and tired of looking at all these pictures by now!!! LOL

This post has taken me HOURS and two days to write!  I started on my daughter's laptop yesterday morning, just typing everything out, but I had to wait for that plug wire to finish with the pictures on my computer, which is what I just did.
PHEW!!  I really need to get up and move around! LOL

What these pictures don't show is that while I've been making lots of stuff, I haven't been doing much actual housework -- haha!!
And that's because it's BORING! blegh!!  :-D
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Well, before I go, I want to finish up with trying to figure out what to do about having a new forum.  No one has really commented about a preference of WHERE, so let me ask again -- would anyone object to a Yahoo group???  I went in to ProBoards after my post about it (earlier this month, before my computer went dead), and it looks like their forums are free because they have ADS in them.  I know I wouldn't like that.  Yahoo groups are EASY and FREE, but they aren't fancy at all, just a list of posts.  There are places that you can put images into files for others to look at, but no avatars or backgrounds or categories for posts.
Would that be OK with everyone?

I don't want to go forward with this without knowing if anyone objects to it!  Or maybe someone knows another forum-site we could use?

Let me know in the comments, and I'll get on it.

I hope you enjoyed my picture-filled post!  I hope I didn't go overboard with it....I still have BUNCHES of things in my head that I want to build, but if I do, I'll try to space those out instead of springing them all on everyone at once!

Enjoy these early Fall days while they last -- I've heard it's supposed to get to 90 degrees this weekend, so summer's not over yet! ^-^