Salvaged Wood Signs, Romantic, Shabby Paper Collage and Travel Plans

 Hello Everyone..

We're oh so close to all that fall goodness!

Are you looking forward to it?

I think I finally am.

It's hard to say goodbye to the loveliness

that summer brings and I
 like to reflect on the time gone by.

It's been a wonderful summer with many
happy memories made and some work done
along with letting go of some things.

Doesn't each season hold a magic and

uniqueness all it's own?

I hope that your summer has been a 
peaceful and fulfilling time with many happy moments
and adventures along the way.

And....
 with open hearts shall we 
embrace the new season that's upon us?

 Here we come!

Pumpkin goodies...

cozy sweaters and warm, 

crackling, fireside gatherings with family and friends
or what ever delights each of your hearts!

And.... so begins my candle season and 
even MORE twinkle lights!

Don't you just love the warm glow of all those candles

and lights.. and the scents??

Oh MY! 

Farm Fresh Apple

Pecan Pie

Sunny Pumpkin Fields

I've been looking for a place to buy candles in bulk and
good prices in general.
I finally found one.
They also have dripless in many colors
Orange Black and Purple

~*~*~*~*~*~

 I recently enjoyed pulling out some of my

pieces of old wood.

Sign making is a lot fun

and one can be so creative.

I always enjoy seeing what designs people make.

 The first two are a combination 

of stenciled and free hand painting

I am always intimidated by hand painting as I'm just learning.

I drew the flowers on with a white Stabilo pencil. 

It worked very nicely and is easily erasable.

I'm always inspired by Miss Mustard Seed. 

Have you heard of her? 

She's very talented and so kind and helpful

 to share little tips!

Here's  a video that I watched awhile ago..

It was helpful and just fun :)

 Beads strung on a thin wire...

I use them whenever I can for a project.

They're one of my favorite ways to embellish something.

 This was an oak stool that I picked up.

The paper I used was Romance Novel by Prima.

Paper LOVE. 

I often find my papers at Hobby Lobby or

Scrapbook.com for a very good price.

Sometimes half off~

After the glue dried, I sealed it with several 

light coats of Krylon Crystal Clear.

~*~*~*~*~*~

With one of my many rounds of flowers that I planted this year,
(I think I am officially a crazy plant lady now)
came a beautiful rose bush that graces us
with PINK and WHITE roses
at the same time.
It was....
SO very Lovely.
And I finally figured out to care for them.
That's another story.Liberty wanted a drink..

I love how she looks like a giant dog. 
Silly~ 
But it made me think of fairy gardens.

And then I found this little friend on the bird bath.

I'm sure it thought she was a giant!

Do caterpillars have thoughts?

I guess they do in Alice in Wonderland ;)

We've had some beautiful clouds with our season of rain.

I really do enjoy a cloudy day. 

I'm preparing for a trip to our beloved

 Sugartree in Ohio. We leave Friday.

I'm preparing for that and getting a few things done

from my ongoing list. 

It will be wonderful to see my brothers and sisters,

some of our kids and grand kids as well 

as a new grand baby along the way!

Antique shopping

junking... good food and just getting away
and some 
JUST PLAIN ADVENTURE!
I do love hittin the road.

Willie Nelson CD singin..
On the Road Again

 It's been a great summer but one

of very hard work and I need some 

rest and inspiration.

I wish you the happiest first day of fall.

I will be gone until mid-Oct but will be coming 

and going online. 

Have a lovely week, thank you for coming

and I wish you joyous blessings.

Hugs,

Tamara

************

Oh... a little p.s.  here~ 
Do you like the Junk Gypsies?

They have a new book coming out.
You can watch a video about it here and you
can pre-order their book 
HERE.

I pre-ordered mine several weeks ago.
Can't wait to get it.
Love them girls spirits and the talents that they have.

bye for now..

Joining the lovely party at
Share Your Cup Thursday

Come make some new friends and 
enjoy all  the fun and inspiration~

An Up-cycled Denim Flower for Spring...

Hello everyone and 

Happy Spring!

Isn't it just so exciting to see 

those little green shoots

coming up around the yard?

And my, oh my! The birds are singing

such happy little songs. 

I hope that your spring is shaping

up to be a happy one. 

Filled to the brim with many blessings.

I find that when I'm feeling blue,

if I practice a little

~ GRATITUDE ~

****

it helps to change my outlook.

I did some cleaning up

and watering around the yard

and in my herb garden this morning.

I'm not feeling very well and so

it felt good to be out in the sun!

I've been using my essential oils like

crazy and they help so much. 

I'm very thankful to have them.

I have a little spring project that I'd like to share.

I really enjoy re-using and re-making things.

And denim is so fun to work with!

I was going through my scrap drawer one day

and decided to just gather some different

pieces of random things to try to 

put something together.

And I came up with this little sign 

and the flower seemed perfect for spring!

It's made of a side seam 

from an old pair jeans.  

I really like the quote. 

We are all so unique and

shine with a special light and have 

a beauty all our own!

Id' love to hear about any projects that you 

have going for spring! Are you planting and 

re-arranging plants outside yet? I know that it's a 

little early for some to be out but it's 

 great fun to be planning, isn't it?

Thank you so much for stopping by.

 Wishes for a peaceful weekend

and I hope you feel beautiful as well!

Tamara xo

A Salvaged, Weathered Wood Sign Embellished With Rusty Goodness

Making signs is one of my favorite ways to be creative.

I believe that I've mentioned before that we "inherited"

  a lot of wood when we bought our place. Which is 

perfect because I can use it for my wood projects!

 This piece has so much character. 

I wish now that I would have gotten some

close-ups of some of the details. 

But I'm sure you get the idea. 

I just love the rough edges and 

you can kind of see the broken knothole

on the left. The grain of the wood is 

so visible from the years of weathering.

I just dry-brushed the lovely gray with some

Antique White acrylic craft paint.

After that dried, I lightly brushed on some

Lagoon acrylic to add a little color. 

I really like that with the 

rust, white and gray.

And I didn't notice at first, but it actually matched 

the patina coloring in one of the rusty pieces that

I chose from my junk stash.

And I just happened to grab a shot of that

because I thought it was so neat.

There are some criss-crossed rusty nails

in one corner. (I'm sorry I didn't get 

more detailed photos. I get so impatient sometimes

that I forget that.) The rest pretty

much speaks for itself.

~ GRATEFUL ~

It's been one of my favorite words for 

awhile now. I just keep having so many reasons for it.

My life is so blessed. 

And in December, my husband, of

almost thirty years, survived a terrible

accident in which he totaled his pick-up.

He sustained only a few minor injuries and

was treated and released that same morning.

And that is just ONE thing.

And so I have 

adopted GRATEFUL to be

my word for 2015.

Here is one of my gathered quotes..

 Gratitude unlocks the fulness of life.

It turns what we have into enough and more.

It turns denial to acceptance,

chaos to order, confusion to clarity.

It can turn a meal into a feast,

a house into a home,

and a stranger into a friend.

Gratitude makes sense of our past,

brings peace for today

and creates a vision (of hope)  parenthesis mine

for tomorrow. 

{ Melody B. }

I hope you've enjoyed your visit and 

found it to be inspirational.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Blessings, 

Tamara

Joining the inspiration at:

Sundays At Home

Shabby Cowgirl Signs: Rusty Barbed Wire and Pretty Flowers Meet Re-Claimed Wood

Today, I want to share with you some of my favorite things to work

with. I can't resist mixing these ingredients to come up with this recipe for

 some rustic, shabby gorgeousness.

(at least I think so!)

*rescued wood

*rusty barbed wire

*thrifted lace

*yellowed fabric

Mixing these textures are rich.

 Creating an easy, rugged beauty

that speaks to me of simplicity.

The aqua sign wood was found just like that. The others I had

to cut from a board and paint and distress a little.

I wanted more of a white-washed look.

I tried gesso but it really soaked in and

 store bought is expensive!

And so I thought I'd try my kid's white tempra paint.

It went on very easily and the coverage was just right.

It dried very fast and then I just sanded it a little with

#60 grit sand paper.



There are a few other little charms for a splash of color.

The wire that I used for the hanger was too thick for the beads.

And so I used some of my dark brown jewelry wire to

string the beads on. I wrapped the end where I wanted to start the beads

 and then took a wrap and strung a bead..took a wrap...strung a bead

and so on until I

reached the desired length.

 I left a little space between to tie on the strips of

lace and fabric. It worked well and the strips covered the wire nicely.

 Perfect!

(which is not always the outcome with my ideas)



And some clear glitter for some sparkly goodness.

After I stenciled, and the paint was dry, I just brushed on some

craft glue and sprinkled the glitter on.

 Soft rufflles on chippy wood.

Do you like it?



Cutting the barbed wire was a little tricky. I had to ask my husband

how to do that. I first tried regular heavy duty wire cutters.

There was no way they would cut through a

wire of that thickness.

We have done some fencing and so we had

 some fencing pliers. I was concerned about

being able to cut it because my hands aren't very strong.

But they worked great without hardly any effort and

it didn't hurt to use them either.

I also wore a pair of leather work gloves.

How to attach the wire to the wood was another question.

I tried E6000 but I couldn't get the wire to lay flat.

I decided to try using some small rusty nails and just bending them

over the wire and tapping them down.

I only had a few small ones though and so I had to find something

else. Down to the garage I went to look through my Honey's nail

I'm going to have to figure out to rusty up some nails before I

can make any more of these!





There's just something about old, rusty barbed wire...

All the wood and wire was found here on our place. I have piles of wood

that I choose from and there are tangles of rusty

wire (barbed and baling) that I cut my pieces from.

I not only love working with these materials but

it's important to me to create another life for things once used.

  It's an old farm/ranch that sits at the foot of a mountain.

A wonderful Dr. and his gracious wife generously sold a part of it to us.

 They were from Holland.

(Just think.. the barbed wire I used for re-creating was once used to keep

these dear folk's horses corralled! To me, that makes it special.)

I would love to hear about some of your favorite things that you create with!

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Blessings to you,

Tamara

 I'm linking up at:

                                                          http://shabbyartboutique.com/

My Girlish Whims

Harvest Blessings~ Re-Purposed Barn Siding Wall Hanging

Hi everyone. I hope you had a good weekend. There's a wonderful gray-blue sky today and I'm ready to jump into my week working on some Christmas projects.

But first, I want to say that the harvest and Thanksgiving season is such a special time. My thoughts go to the abundance of my blessings and the goodness of the earth. It's one of my favorite times of the year. Warmth of the brilliant, firey colors that blow in the wind. Family times gathering wood for the winter. Watching the birds gather to begin their long journeys to warmer places. Hot cider and woodstove fires. I do, indeed, feel blessed to have family and friends about.

I love long walks in the late afternoon sun while just beginning to feel the coolness of the air right before the sun sets. What a delight to my soul. Those walks somehow feed my spirit and my gratitude swells upward to God as I enjoy this simple stroll down a dirt road.

What a blessed life I have. Even though there are some very difficult family situations that we are working through, I'm so thankful that I can take some time and reflect on the many blessings that gather in my life.

Anyway, here's a photo of one of the projects that I enjoyed working on this season. 

 

The details were a lot of fun. I have a large pile of rust wire and I really enjoy finding ways to use it in  adding little touches. I had never made the little scrolls so this was fun. And I like the way they turned out!  I also made some of the old-fashioned yo-yos. Here's a tutorial if you'd like to know how to make them.  Click on this link to watch the video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVOp3iAgWs0

They're very easy and a great little travel craft or something for your hands to while watching a movie or even sitting and visiting.  They're a lot of fun to use when embellishing so many things. Purses, headbands, clothing, and crafts. This would be a really good beginner project for a young crafter for sewing. Plus it's a great way to use up some of those scraps. I've made many sizes to add to my different projects. Just remember that the finished yo-yo will be half the size of the circle that you cut.  You can try mixing different types of fabric yo-yos to get a more fancy look.  I've made them out of lace and they turn out very elegant looking!

Have you ever heard of Liquid Nails?  I hadn't. I was looking for way to attach two pieces of wood together by putting them edge to edge. It worked VERY well! The odor is very strong though so I would recommend using it in a well-ventilated area.

I put it on consignment and it must have been well-liked because it sold right away! It always makes me happy to know that I can make something that people want to use in their homes! Next year, I'll make some more.

I hope you're having a beautiful fall and that you all have someone to share this lovely time of year with. I would love to hear about some of your fall experiences and what autumn delights feed your soul!  Thank you for stopping by.

Blessings,
Tamara