Clotheslines, Dog Houses & a Hint of Spring

We had a brief breath of spring this weekend-- the windows were opened, hallelujah~*

Image from here

It got us thinking, and even doing.  Tucker and Jeremy pulled down some brambles and sprouted trees that had taken root in the far corner of the yard we refer to as the nature preserve.  
We have just shy of an acre of property.  Not huge for rural folk, but pretty ginormous to this former city girl.  A large hunk of our back-forty is fenced in dog yard-- just a simple wire fence Jeremy & I strung up one long hot summer many moons ago.  That fence has been overrun with wild brambles, morning glories and berry bushes and actually looks quite lovely during the spring, summer and fall months.

Of course, right now it looks ghastly-- all brown and sad and dead.  But then, everything is right now so it blends in~*

Anyway.  

We've decided to do a backyard clean up this spring & summer to make it look a little more presentable and a little less wild dog habitat.  Jeremy and Tucker went and straightened up the back corner last weekend, as I said-- much easier to do when everything is dry and sparse.  Which is what got us to thinking.

We've got an idea for a luxury dog house.  And some gravel to span the entire width of the house out back and on the right side.  And a lovely clothes line outside the garage. 

So I started surfing for inspiration...so many cool ideas & pretties & oddities following the trails of thoughts in my head.  And here are my random finds in all there useless glory, for your perusal~*

Image from here

Garden succulents here

Damaged plates as border here

Colander herb garden here

A collection of gorgeous cottage gardens here.

How to make your dog more garden friendly.  Which we won't do because we are dominated by our pets.  Sigh.

A doghouse designed by Frank Lloyd Wright & other luxury pet homes.

People have been weird about pets forever. Seriously.  

Speaking of vintage pets...Sergeant Stubby.  Total badass.  Just FYI.  

It always comes back to history for me I guess...

In looking at the above post, its a bit frightening actually.  How my brain follows odd paths and one seemingly harmless idea can lead hither and yon.  Sigh.

You know they are calling for snow today (Wednesday)...how is the weather out in your neck of the world wide web?

The Middle of the Week

It is Wednesday.  Let's dance~*

Vintage Shoe Redo Deux

I'm on a shoe kick lately {lol...shoe kick...get it?}.

A few months back I got a pair of vintage shoes from Moonchild Vintage.  They are a late 70's knock off of Famolares, which were all the rage when I was an impressionable preteen.
Here are the real deals...



One of the great things about being a vintage junkie, is that it affords me the opportunity to hunt down styles that I thought were beyond groovy, but was too young to wear at the time they were fashionable.
Sadly, I have yet to find Famolares in my size {9}.  I did, however, find some Yo Yos.  They are almost, but not quite, a little like Famolares...

I thought I'd do this post on how I deal with vintage shoes as a general rule, using my Yo Yos as an example.  Now Toni at Moonchild always cleans & preps what she sells, so they arrived clean & lovely.  If they hadn't, I'd start by giving 'em a good clean with leather cleaner & polish/patch if necessary.
Next,  I remove the insert.  After all, they are generally worse for wear, & a bit gross in principle if not in fact.  The Yo Yos were in good shape for vintage, but they had lost their cushioning & were curling on the edges.

I took off the laces too, for reasons which will be self explanatory in a tic.  I then replaced the inserts with inexpensive generic non-gellin' pads.  I used the originals as a guide to cut the new pads down to size, then slipped them in, easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy~*
I wanted to replace the laces with ribbon of the same color.  I used the original lace as a guide to cut the ribbon, making sure to cut the ribbon about an inch longer than the laces.

I just love old leather..so buttery soft....sigh...

Anyway.

I laced up the shoe with the ribbon, then trimmed the end pieces-- they will fray a bit when you jam them in the holes, which is why I left the ribbon a bit longer to allow for trimming after lacing.  Here's a handy trick:  use a bit of Mod Podge or white glue on the ends of the ribbon to slow fraying {they will fray a bit over time regardless-- but the cool thing about using ribbon for laces is that it is cheap & easy to replace &/or to change to match an outfit *giggle*}.

And that's all there is to it!  As good, no, better than new!

I adore them, & am looking forward to school starting so I can show 'em off.  That's not the only reason I'm looking forward to getting back to work, but, you know, it does factor in~*

Now its time to go finish cleaning up the basement.  We had a flash flood out this-a-way the other day-- fortunately for us, we did a major clean up of the basement earlier in the summer {our dumpster days}, so nothing valuable was damaged.  Also fortunately, we were able to sweep all the water out the door & it was mostly dry by Monday afternoon.  Today I'm just going to do a little mold prevention.
We were very lucky-- there were several people in our area that suffered major property damage...

Thing 2 jumping in the water in the basement...

The Things were out of school yesterday & are again today because the county school buses were damaged in the rain.  The schools not on a year-round schedule like the Things' were scheduled to start this week, but that has been delayed as well.  & to make it more exciting, they are calling for more rain.

Send dry thoughts~*

Blasts from My Past

I was born in 1970, so I can say with authority that seventies were a groovy time to be a kid ~*

Modern Kiddo {a fantastic blog} does a lot of posts about things from the 70's-- the designs, deco &, pop culture of my childhood.  Its pretty cool seeing the things I haven't thought about in years & years.
A while back they did a post on toys from the era-- the same toys my sister & I played with as kids.  That led to the Things & I scouring the web for pictures of the toys I had {at first to marvel at how much they are worth now-a-days, then to see if anyone else remembered the more obscure toys of my childhood}.

The coolest thing about the modern age is that nothing is ever truly forgotten...

So for today's free Friday, I'm taking a trip down memory lane~*

Little People Airport - The turnstile on the top spun around & that arm in the back moved.  How cool is that~*  Major flaw?  The airplane didn't fit on the runway.  Sigh.  The luggage cart thing was pretty awesome though...

And then there were these fellas:Kenner Family Treehouse for the Tree Tots.  We had fun with it {my sis & I...particularly the doggie bed thing on the right there...don't remember why we thought that was neat, but we did}.  Major flaw?  The people.  They were big & didn't fit in any other toys.

And they didn't.  Fall down, I mean. Unless you dropped them from the treehouse.

It had a basket that you lowered with a crank & string.  And  bike.  And a picnic table.  The weebles & the little people hung out together-- & took over the Tree Tot Treehouse.  

And then, of course, there were dolls.  We are all familiar with Barbie, & I had her too, but I also had others that I loved just as much {& maybe a little more}.

There was Darci....she was a fashion model, you know...

...and a disco diva...

She's Darci, cover girl Darci...

She was larger than Barbie, which was a drawback because there could be no clothing swaps.  BUT, she was big enough to date this fellow...

Who was sooooo way cooler than Ken.

{My folks took my sister & I to see Star Wars at the drive in.  Station wagon, sleeping bags & Sci Fi-- doesn't get better than that}...

Then there were the Saturday mornings.

Don't get me wrong, I love today-- & I love, love, love the ability to watch whatever I want on our computer/television whenever I feel like watching it.  I wouldn't change it back to what TV used to be for anything in the world. 

But there was something special about Saturday mornings in the 70's & 80's.  

I'd willingly & enthusiastically bound out of bed at the crack of dawn on Saturdays, wrap up in my Mom's old fuzzy bathrobe, heat up one of these bad boys...

...plop down on the rust colored shag carpeting in front of the huge television/cabinet combo that sat on our family room floor...

...and watch Saturday morning cartoons 'til noon.  

I won't go through the whole line up today {though I may on another Free Friday when I'm feeling nostalgic} -- but here were my absolute favorites when I was a wee lass...

Lots of my favorites were actually reruns of earlier shows, like the Banana Splits, or the Monkees, or H.R. Puff N' Stuff {seriously, is it any wonder my generation is a little odd?}

Sid & Marty Krofft were the bomb.  Everyone is familiar with Land of the Lost, but there were soooo many others.  I was particularly fond of Electra Woman & Dyna Girl...

Saturday mornings would feature a whole Krofft Supershow line up-- two shows that changed from week to week.  In researching this, I discovered it only officially aired for two years, though I swear it ran longer {maybe in syndication?}.  At least, the Krofft Bros. made one hell of an impression on me lol.

So there you go-- a trip down my memory lane!

What entertainments do you remember from your childhood?

One of Those Weeks...

Its been one of those weeks...

I've caught a nasty cold.  Thing 3 broke her toe.  The cat got in poison ivy, then got on the hubs & I {we are both itchy, & I'm allergic, so I'm also hive-y...which is lovely}.  We had a massive rainstorm that flooded our basement.  My parents had a pipe burst which damaged their ceiling.  Thing 1 has had a really hard time as of late {but she is strong & will persevere}.  

I'm so ready for the weekend & a fresh start~*

Speaking of fresh starts...

I picked up this sweet little square frame on a thrifting adventure a while back.  I'm not too in to gold, but I do like the look of silver leaf, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Leaf itself isn't too expensive, but paint is cheaper & cheap is the whole point in thrifting after all.

Here's a tip: silver paint doesn't look silver, it looks gray.  Metallic pearl white, however, looks silver...go figure.

Just brush on a thin coat of metallic, let dry, then gently rub with fine grit sandpaper.  If you want to get really fancy, you can chip at the paint with a putty knife or distress with steel wool.  Because the frame was so tiny, there wasn't any need to get too elaborate.  Print up a pic to frame, & there you go-- quick & easy, just the way I like 'em~*

The flowers are one of the million reasons I love my husband.  That, and the Advil Cold & Sinus that came with them.

Here's to a rest & recovery weekend for all~*

What I found on Wednesday

I'll be going out today.  I think a little thrifting trip is in order.  The sort of quiet trip at a leisurely pace while the kids are in school & the husband is prepping lectures. Then back home, hopefully with treasure in tow, & back to working on fall's classes.  

Art Block collection

I wandered through the virtual thrift store that is etsy {thrift store & craft fair & flea market} to prepare for my trip out & to avoid working this morning-- shopping as a stall tactic.   If only I can stumble across something as wonderful in our brick & mortar shops.

Meadow Bowl / Stained Glass Bird / Quill Box

Ordinarily, to avoid working from home I'd clean or do laundry- the perfect excuse {its not like I am avoiding work to have fun, its laundry after all, or at least that is what I tell myself}.

Don't get me wrong, I adore my job-- really & truly.  But today my brain is fuzzy & I need to get out of the house for a bit, just because...

Chandelier / Wildflower Bouquet / Embroidery Necklace

How do y'all procrastinate with panache?

Bones

One of the tricks I learned back when I did faux finishing &  trompe l'oeil was to let my eyes go fuzzy when looking at what I was trying to copy.  Hold on, I swear this will make sense in the next few sentences.  If you blur your vision, you will see the object only in terms of light & dark, shadows & lines.  You'll see its bones.  Then the rest is easy.  

It seems relatively obvious-- that you can purchase something for its bones-- its shape, its figure, its lights & darks.  It might not fit into your decor as it is, but that doesn't matter.  Its the bones that make it.  The rest is up to you.

Resin objects {the inexpensive figurines, lamps, frames & whatnots you can pick up cheap at any discount shop} are the easiest to customize.  A little cleaning with some good quality paint prep {like this one} & your set.  I've got some other projects that require a bit more work {glazed pottery, for one}, but these little candle holders only took an hour or so all told.  Acrylic paints in your choice of colors {like these or these}, some brushes & a nice spray poly {like this}, and that's it.

I gave them a quick undercoat, since the original finish was so dark.  I just used a light paint {linen for the Buddha & pink for the monkey}- the color doesn't matter, just so it provides a lighter base.

Thing 3 informed me that the Buddha wanted to be green.  She said it went with nature & grass & things that Siddhartha would have approved of.
Monkey wanted to be purple, because that is what monkeys like.  I don't know why.  But who am I to disagree?

To highlight both pieces I used a dry brush technique.  The alternate would be to do a dark glaze, which would fill in the creases and add depth.  I prefer the highlight version that dry brushing gives-- at least for these pieces, & for what I as trying to accomplish.
Just mix the base color of the statue with a lighter shade {you can do it by adding white paint, which lightens the original color-- but I prefer to add a bit of a different shade of the same color-- for example, I mixed a bright lime green with a bit of the apple green to create the highlight for the Buddha}.  Coat a nice square brush in the lighter shade on both sides of the brush, then wipe off the excess.  Then gently brush the surface of the figurine-- don't dab the paint, just run it over the surface to highlight.  It makes for a very nice, subtle effect.

Then take them outside & spray them with the poly seal to finish & they are ready to go.

See?  Much happier.

What color do you think monkeys prefer, I wonder?