Our New Patio Set

While browsing Craigslist I found a beautiful 5 piece conversation set for our patio complete with beautiful cushions.  I had been wanting a new set, ours had lasted over 20 years.  So it was time to get a new set and these were in terrific shape all they needed was a little spray paint touch up.  And best of all the price was ridiculously low for this gorgeous set.  Under $300.00.

I have been looking in the big box stores but all the sets like this one where $700.00 to a $1,000.00 or more.

No way am I paying that much for patio furniture.

You can see in the before shot the worn finish

We rushed right over in the rain to pick up the set and loaded the 5 pieces plus cushions into our SUV.    It was a tight fit but thank goodness the seller gave us a bungee cord to keep our back hatch closed.  I learned my lesson always keep bungees in the car.  This set was much larger than it looked on Craigslist.
Besides who else would be out in the rain buying a patio set.  I know if the weather cleared it would be gone in an instant.

Structurally this set was in perfect shape.  So off to the big box store for paint.

before

Getting ready to paint.  The finish is dull and worn in places.  I knew a coat of paint would bring new life to this gorgeous set.

I bought 3 cans of Rustoleum Paint with Primer in oil rubbed bronze.  I only needed 2 cans on the furniture and will touch up a few other things around the yard with the 3rd can.

First I wiped all the pieces down to make sure to remove any dust or dirt.

It took very little time to spray these since the colors were so close I only needed one coat to freshen them up.

Now it looks like a brand new set.

after

And the cushion color was perfect matches everything else we have in they yard.

It is almost time to sit back and enjoy the summer.  

Happy Gardening!

Home Goods Bargain Plaque

I found this plaque at Home Goods last year.  It was in the bargain aisle with chips and flaws.  I liked the detail, so home it came.

It was so bad I didn't pay much for it and just left it outside all winter under the eaves of the house with the intention of painting it and hanging it on the patio wall for summer after a good coat of fresh paint.

I brought it in yesterday and gave it a coat of aqua chalk paint, then added a blue metallic to the leaves which I highlighted with bits of gold paint.

And a green center.

And now it is hanging on my patio wall.

I always check the markdown aisle, you never know what you might find.

Happy Crafting!

Spring is in the Air

We finally had a very wet winter with a great snow pack in the mountains.

And everything is blooming!!

Fuchsia

Geranium 

A few years ago we ripped out our lawn in the front yard and planted lots of plants that will tolerate our extreme heat and not need a lot of water.  The lavender is in full bloom.  There are 3 rose colored Crepe Myrtle trees in front of the lavender.  Shouldn't be long until they begin to show their color too.

I love flowers, as you can see almost everything in the yard has blossoms.  I try to stay mostly with purple, yellow and pink flowers except for the the roses.  This is a very colorful yard.

Lavender

I have a couple of these red rose bushes.  They bloom most of the summer.  And their color is the most vivid red.  I love to pick bunches of them for vases throughout the house.  They are so bright and cheery.  I had an aphid infestations a couple of years ago on all my rose bushes.  Went to the nursery and bought a huge bag of ladybugs and released them on the roses.  Their offspring are still around and there isn't an aphid in sight.

Roses

I have wanted to try one of these vines for years, so I planted this one yesterday.  I hope it does well.  I really like the blooms.

Mandevilla Vine

You can barely see the house on the west side.  The house is covered with climbing red roses all along our driveway.  It is so thick I need to trim it back after the blooms.  Not too much though as they provide great shade on this side of the house and they keep the west facing wall cool all summer.

I think this year will be a good year for my persimmon tree. It has a multitude of blossoms this year.

Last year's crop was 1.  Yes, only one on the whole tree.

Persimmon

Here is my dwarf apple tree.  I had enough apples last year to make a pie.  This year it was loaded with blossoms and small apples are forming in bunches all over the branches.  I am going to have to watch that the branches don't get too heavy as they grow.  May be supporting those branches before the summer is over. I get good sized apples from this small tree.  What I like about it is I don't have to climb a ladder to pick the fruit.

This is the front yard, soon the Jasmine by the front windows will be in full bloom.  I love the smell in the  house when I open the windows in the evening during the hot summer months.

More roses and lavender

Fifteen years ago when I moved into this house it was a flat field of grass and weeds.  After many years and long hours of gardening my yard is almost like a park.  I counted the trees I planted and we now have 21 trees on our 1/3 acre.  With just a tiny patch of grass under a couple of trees that only takes a few minutes to mow.  The lawn is growing in the dampest part of the property as is the curly willow.  They catch any water that might run off the property,

Anyway we can get shade lowers our A/C bill in the summer. This spot is still too sunny so we put up a EZ up pop up canopy in this spot today.  It will keep things cool on this side of the yard until the plants and trees get a little bigger.

We brought this tree home in our car a few years ago.  My has this one grown.

These two trees help shade the east side of the house in the summer and loose their leaves for warmth in winter.  They where both gifts from the birds.  People tell me I have a green thumb.  Just about everything I stick in the ground it grows.

Last year I was taller than this little tree in the foreground.  It came home in a plastic bag from the state fair.  There is another one by the fence from the fair the year before. The tall light green one behind came from our local tree foundation.  You pick out the type of tree you like and they bring you one about 4 feet tall.  I choose a Tupelo tree.  Wow, that one has grown, too.  Looking at the pictures this year I can really see how much everything has grown over the winter.

This one on the left is a curly willow.  It started life out in a bouquet from the grocery store.  I just stuck it in the ground and now it is taller than the house.  The tree on the right is a mystery citrus tree.  I say mystery because we thought it had died, forgotten about it, then all of a sudden it reappeared and this year is covered with blossoms. We can't remember what kind of tree was there.  Hopefully there will be fruit so we know what kind of citrus we have  There are blueberry and strawberry patches off camera.  And a couple of lemons trees off to the right, one is big enough this year to have blossoms.  Looking forward to fresh lemons.  Behind the small white fence on the left will be my vegetable garden.  That is another project for next month. You can see one of my two compost bins in the center of the picture right in front of a fence covered with honeysuckle vines.

This one started out from a seed a bird dropped.  When it was about 1 inch tall I moved it to this location.  Seems to love this corner of the property.  Just to the right if this picture is a Bay Leaf tree.  It grows extremely slow.  I think it is about 4 years old and only about 24 inches tall.  But I love having fresh Bay Leaf for cooking all year long.  So much better than the dry stuff you get in the spice isle at the store. There are herbs growing all over the yard too, thyme, sage, rosemary and a lot of medicinal plants.  It is like having my own pharmacy growing right in my backyard.

I have more yard projects this week.  Time to get the major work done before the heat sets in.  It will probably be hot until October.  When the projects are done it will be time to enjoy the garden.

Happy Gardening!

Purple Earrings

I woke up this morning and decided I needed a new pair of purple earrings, so into the studio I went.

I rummaged through my beads and findings and came up with a few beads that were just the thing.

Here are the components I used for each earring.

For the filigree component at the top I flattened out 1 bead cap for each earring.  Then wired a purple crystal to the center of each.

On the backside I made 2 tiny loops and flattened them against the filigree piece.

For the bottom teardrop I used a  Swarovski crystal teardrop in deep purple with a small bead cap at the bottom.

I love the color purple.  I even have a front yard full of lavender that is in full bloom right now.

And here is the finished earrings.

Happy Crafting!

Week in Review

Here's a review of this week's posts.

Monday

Making Progress

Tuesday

Urn from Plain to Shabby Chic

Wednesday

Angel Candle Sticks

Thursday

Tina Arched Mirror

Friday

Vintage Shabby Chic Swivel Frame

Happy Weekend!

Vintage Shabby Chic Swivel Frame

I love it when I find one of those old vintage swivel picture frames.  I never pass one up in a thrift store if it has a reasonable price.

Sometimes you find a cool vintage picture and other times they are empty.

This project is super simple, I started out with an empty brown frame.

I took the glass out and carefully cleaned it, the edges are really sharp.

Next I painted the entire piece with white chalk paint.  Then I went to my scrapbook papers and decided to use this French themed paper.  I used a couple of pieces of paper to make a collage to fit the frame.  Replaced the glass and secured the backing to hold the picture in place.

On the left side I made a white tulle net ruffle and hot glued the ruffle to the side.

That is it, simple, pretty and easy. Perfect for a bedroom or vanity table.

Happy Crafting!

Tiny Arched Mirror

This is another find from the estate sale from before last Christmas.

It is a very small arched mirror.  Again it was in pretty bad shape. with chips and dings and scratches.  But the glass mirror was in perfect shape.

So out comes the chalk paint.  I painted to match the angels I painted yesterday.

 And yes, I finally was able to get a good picture of all three.

Here is the poor little mirror before.

I taped the mirror with painters tape and got started.

Again painting it white and covering about 98 % of the original finish.  

after that dried I highlighted the piece with pink chalk paint.  And when that was dry I misted the piece with the pearl mist I created by mixing pearl acrylic paint with alcohol in a mister. 

If you make your own mists remember to shake often to keep the mixture consistent.

There was a hole in the top of the mirror, something was missing.  I placed a tiny pink rose that covers the hole perfectly.

And here are all 3 on the shelf  at the top of my stairs with the mirror hanging in the background.

Happy Crafting!