Thrift It/Gift It/Facelift It Challenge Reveal

So, some time back, Tania invited 5 of us to participate with her in a Thrift it, Gift it, Facelift it challenge. She gave us each a name and we sent them goodies to facelift.

Donna sent me mine and some gave me a little bit of a scare - I had no idea what I was going to do with them! Here's what she sent me:

Those shoe stretchers had me stumped. All I could see were hooves no matter how I turned them. So of course, I took one apart. hm, that's better. There is a big piece and a small piece to each one plus the handle. I painted them. Then I took another apart and painted those pieces. Now to put them together in an interesting way.

How about a card holder? Yes! I took the two smaller pieces, glued them together, then wound some twine about 1/2 way up. Stuck a fork in the top and voila! It can hold cards or recipes.

The larger pieces reminded me of wings. Let's see...an angel, a bird? I love owls so that's what I decided on. I used a wooden platter I had plus other odds and ends and here's my owl:

The hanger is one of the handles nailed onto the back. This lovely owl will go in my side garden on the fence.

One more to go - I know. I always need to prop up my reference photo when I'm painting so why not use the stretcher with the handle bent at a 90 degree angle? It was kind of wobbly so I wedged the other handle into the other end and now it's stable. It holds up a clip board perfectly. Whew, figured those out.

Next up was the old faded photo. It was so faded and just a bunch of men sitting on the steps of a house. OH! I know! I can turn it into a Halloween card. I painted a spider web and added some ghosts in the windows and turned the really faded man in the background into a ghost too. I painted a few other details too. Then I found the perfect graphics at The Graphic Fairy, printed them onto velum, and added those at the bottom and top corner. For the clothes pin, I added Halloween scrapbook paper and will use it to clip up my spooky photo.

The fabric was probably the easiest to decide what to do with. It wasn't big enough by itself but I had another piece of fabric that matched the small blue flower in it so I made a cute shirt using both.

Then there's the canvas bag. I had this larger bag I am using to put my stamps and ink pads in. I decided to use the little bag to put the ink pads in so I could easily find them in the bigger bag. I pulled off the lace since it didn't really go with my look, painted and added the details. Love my fox! Now, I can easily find the ink pads and it fits down into the big bag for easy storage.

Lastly, I pondered over the ruler. Should I cut it into several pieces and use it to make jewelry? Or a Christmas ornament? Then I saw a sweet saying on Pinterest - bingo! I made a sign from old fence pickets by cutting out a heart shape, then cutting the ruler into pieces to fill in the heart. Lastly, I wrote the saying.

This is probably my favorite out of them all. It will make a great addition to my love themed shelf/wall.

This was a fun challenge even if the shoe stretchers scared me at first. LOL. It really stretched my creative thinking. Be sure to visit all the other ladies to see what they came up with.

Vicky - Life on Willie Mae Lane - http://lifeonwilliemaelane.blogspot.com

Kim - Snug Harbor Bay - http://snugharborbay.blogspot.com

Kimberley - Seaside Ave. - http://www.seasideave.com

Donna - Distressed Donna Down Home - http://distresseddonnadownhome.blogspot.com

Tania - Little Vintage Cottage - http://littlevintagecottage.blogspot.com

Our City Backyard

Our city home has a nice backyard with a great back porch.

We had a green yard with our first border collie, Lucy

I was in the process of getting a puppy when we lost Lucy so I decided to get two Border Collie pups.  (you know, get the puppy stage over with at once. heh) What with the drought, the trees maturing and creating lots of shade, plus two rambunctious puppies, we lost most of our grass a couple of years ago.

It was a little disheartening; the yard being all brown (i.e., dirt). On top of that, I put fencing up to protect my potted plants and flowerbeds (they thought everything was their chew toys).  When it rained, we had a big muddy mess...yard and dogs. (We fixed that by putting hay down as mulch just washed away),

Don't get me wrong, I love my dogs! But it all added up to an ugly  uninspiring backyard. *sigh* 

I kept reminding myself and Bruce the dogs would grow up and eventually learn not to chew everything in sight. And guess what? They have (mostly)! Yay! Time to reclaim the backyard!

Since we had a break in the heat (90's versus 100+ degrees :-D), I got to work. Blocking off the end of the patio and adding the bench from the BBQ area,

Also, I pulled the rustic planters up on the porch,

Reset my stepping stones, laid landscape fabric and added pebbles,

Moved plants and the bird bath around then added in my old beat up wagon,

Placed my peacock chair in the flowerbed to hold a plant,

And got rid of the ugly but useful fencing. The BBQ area also got a few plants along the fence and side,

The area to the left used to be fenced off for my potted plants -
 yay, it's all opened up! Still need to set the brick edge.

We still need grass but we are too hot and dry for that right now. Eventually, we'll plant some.

Ah, much better!

On a side note (pun intended), I found a small bistro set at Wal-Mart on sale. Score for the side deck!

I am really hoping the dogs won't think the plants are play toys. I think I'll spray them (plants not dogs) with a bitter spray just to be on the safe side. :o) I'm finally liking my backyard again!

Sharing here:
The Dedicated House Make It Pretty Monday
The Dedicated House Before and After Wednesday
Fluster Buster Creative Muster Party 137

It's Hot (But We Still Went To Canton)

Ok, I may have passed the line from "Canton Market Days are fun; to "Canton-obsessed". You see, my twin sister and I decided to go to Canton a couple of weekends ago in spite of the 100+ degree forecast that day. We got there early, went into Laurie Annna's and found this for the guest room:

then we drove over to the Market Days grounds, parked close (but not close enough by the end of the day...we were so hot and tired!), and away we went through the flea market area.

I knew I wanted more wire baskets for the bathroom and I knew where that vendor was (in a building) so we started outside knowing we could swing by and get the baskets last.

It heated up fast. We looked through the first stalls. Mm, I found a wall pocket to use with my found roadside bike. I'll be attaching it to the handle bars for a planter/basket:

Plan on repainting this

 and a  pretty bluebird plate to add to the guest room:

Plate detail. It's so pretty!

It got warmer...we saw a vendor with hats so stopped, bought one and laughed, saying we'd become our mom. :o) Best purchase of the day! It kept our brains from cooking. heh.

Then I found two adorable rocking horses to use as Christmas decor - first a small one, then the larger one:

Not sure yet if I'm going to paint the big one...I'm thinking not...just sand it and maybe stain it.

Next, a milk glass goblet (or is it a vase? I'm using it for a goblet!) and a pretty silver tray for the bathroom:

Then a "Loved" sign made with an old tin ceiling tile, also for the bathroom:

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I was also on the search for a  blue glass teacup...the final one so I can finally tackle that chandelier project. It took awhile but finally found one! 

Here's all five:

Five glass teacups for my candle chandelier I've been wanting to make

Won't they be pretty with candlelight twinkling through them?

Theresa also found some cool treasures - a Pyrex butter dish:

 a tool box filled with plants and the initial "R":

She put it on her old bench and added the rest of the lettering to spell "RELAX":

A duck basket to use for chips out on her deck and a pretty photo of some chili peppers (you can see it to the left of the duck):

Butterflies to decorate her side yard...she intends to paint them:

 and this cute metal toy refrigerator - just the right size to go on her back porch (it has shelves!) and store their outdoor shoes in (bonus - it keeps the dogs from getting them and chewing them up).

It was nice being there on a Thursday- the first day the market opens for the weekend, as the crowd was very light. We went, got the baskets, then had to give it up as the heat was oppressive. We managed to stay to about 2:30 but we normally stay until 5:00. Still, we got our Canton fix and found things we really wanted. :o)

I can't say I'll go in August again as it was just too hot - I'm not that obsessed - haha! I won't go in September -  I'll wait until October to give it time to cool off a bit. But oh my! How I love the thrill of the hunt! What fun!

Progress on the Side Yard

I'm slowing making progress on the side yard but let's face it - it's way too hot to do much. I have gotten it weeded in front of the deck and have started further down the side of the house but it's slow going. I refreshed the gravel along the stepping stones and got some of the rock mulch down.

I need to go buy some more so I'm waiting for Bruce to be able to come with me so we can load it up in his truck.

I went yesterday and bought my succulents - I got them planted and I put a few decorative touches out also.

I put my little fairy in the succulent garden. I have a few other touches I'll add too:

My angel found a home under the rosebush:

And then some cute metal art:

Anyway, the bike will go against the fence as soon as I get the rest of my rocks down. Then it will be all about getting the deck restrained and the rest of the side yard tamed. Those two things may have to wait until cooler weather though. I'm pleased though with the progress I've made.

I hope you are staying cool! Have a wonderful weekend.

Hugs,
Cecilia