Can't Resist Antiques

Usually every week I have Thursdays off of work.  And most of them I spend at home doing nothing.  Well, this last Thursday, like some in the past, I decided I needed a day out- a day antique shopping.  Despite not having much money I headed to the best, and largest, antique store in Temecula "Granny's Attic."  I LOVE that store!  It's so huge I could spend all day there (and almost did).  I had to pull myself away after about two hours.  I had been going in just about every booth until I realized I juat had to get out of there before I spent too much money I didn't have, and I started to go into the booths that were having sales.  Yes, I am even frugal when antique shopping.  So, here's what I found:

I also bought a large wooden spool (I had displayed it already at my crafting corner and forgot to include it in the photo).

How, much do you think I spent?

$30, $40?

Nope, $18!  See, it pays off to look for sales.  A good time to go is right before or after any holiday when they want to make room for new inventory, or before Spring or Summer or Fall.  This time I hit some Spring sales.  Look for signs!  And make sure what you pick up has the same booth number as the one on the sale sign!

The milk bottle and Hershey tins have new uses:

Just a head's up: I work at night a lot, so most of my photos are kind of dark because I do a lot of my blogging and crafting at night.  Not ideal, but it works...most of the time.

Anyway, go buy some antiques.  Fill your home with things that have a story and a previous life.  And support local businesses!



 

Striped Skirt

I bought this gray and white striped jersey fabric at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago and decided to use it for a skirt.  It's so soft and comfortable.  However, a slip is required since the fabric is a little see-through.  I also decided to place the fabric on a diagonal for something different.  I'm a big girl and I'm not sure normal stripes would look good.  I didn't want to buy a pattern for the skirt either, so I decided to take a skirt I love and use it as my pattern.

I was a little nervous about how it would work, but...

it did!  And I love it.  It's so comfy.  I wore it for the first time not too long ago and it's great.  Except I don't have a lot of shirts to go with it.  Oh darn, I may have to go shopping :)



Beer Bottle Before and After

I've seen on a few different blogs the cute idea of wrapping beer bottles with yarn.  And so, I decided to give it a try.

They really didn't turn out exactly as I wanted them to, but I still like them.  They're also on a shelf in my craft nook.

Huge Canvas Before and After

About 3 years ago I painted this huge canvas with an abstract painting of, what looked like, yarn balls hanging from a string.  I got the idea from when I house-sat for a friend and she had something similar hanging in her guest room.

Clearly, I had it hanging on the wall horizontally I was just having issues taking a picture of it that way.  Anyway, unfortunately the painting doesn't match my decor anymore, but the canvas was expensive and there's no way I'm chucking it in the trash.  So, I had to come up with something.  And I did...



I had an old hardback copy of "The Secret Garden" that a friend gave to me.  I ripped out a bunch pages and glued them onto the canvas.  And that is a quill pen in the corner.  I free-handed it- don't judge!

Anyway, I love it!

Lampshade Before and After

I had this lamp in my room from Ikea that I liked but I wanted to do something different to it.

But the lampshade isn't the kind that I can strip down the wire and put fabric or anything on.  So, I stripped off the pleated fabric on top.

And underneath there was a plastic lining.  I thought 'I can work with this.'

I took off the rest of the fabric that was lining the top and the bottom of the shade and replaced it with white bias tape.  Then I grabbed a permanent marker and wrote on the shade. 



I used the lyrics to "I'm Alive" by Kenny Chesney and Dave Matthews. I love that song and think it's perfect to remind myself of everyday.

Goodwill Finds Before and After [2]

I showed you what I made with the cake pans and candle stick.  Now, how about the lamp and lampshade?  Well, yes, I did put them together, but it's not that simple.



Well, red isn't really my color.  So, I changed it a little ;)

 All I did was tear off all of the red fabric and inside fabric to get down to the wire frame.  **This only works with a lampshade that has wire connecting the top and bottom.  If you don't have that then it will pretty much just fall apart and be useless**

Then I cut a bunch of small strips of fabric then tied them onto the frame.  Easy easy!

Again, this is something I put in my craft/sewing nook. 

Goodwill Finds Before and After [1]

One day I went to Goodwill with the goal of finding some things I could repurpose.  And I was successful!

A lamp, a lampshade, a candle stick, and two cake pans.

The first thing I made was a stand with the candle stick and cake pans.

Pretty much one of the easiest things I've made.  The pan that's sitting on top in the first photo had one of those neat things that you turn around the pan to remove a cake easily, while extremely handy when baking it had to go.  So, I just removed that then glue the bottom of the candle stick in the larger pan then glued it to the bottom of the smaller one.  Then filled them with some of my sewing items.  The little baskets in the top one are from strawberries my grandma buys at the Farmer's Market.

This is going into my sewing nook, which I will post soon.

Have you bought anything from Goodwill that you've made into something cool?  I'd love to see it.



A New Start

Hey everyone!  I wanted to tell everyone about my new Etsy store.  There's a small preview of my items over on the left.  But, it's all changed from what I had in my previous store.  Even a new name!  "Add a Little Color" is my new store.  My step-sister, Jamie, even got me a new logo for the store, which I also used for my Facebook page. 

I'd love for you to head over and check it out!

Also, it's "before and after week" here on Sugar and Stitches!