A Few of My Favorite Things of 2011

At the end of the year it is nice to look back at your favorite things you made. At the end of 2010 we moved into a loft apt in downtown Joplin. First time I did not a space or 8 barns to build and craft in. Yes 8 barns, we previously owned a farm with tooooo many buildings. So of course I was itching to craft again. One day I seen a old crib for sale for $5 and I thought that would make a fun headboard. So I bought it and laid down plastic on my wood floors and painted and made a headboard.

And then Joplin had a tornado that hit about a mile from here. But made a direct hit on my soul. I needed an outlet. Storage space was very limited and still is, but I found a 2000 sq ft. space in a building right behind me and the price was right. Oh, a big bright turning point in my life. Isn't it perfect?

I was off and running. But what was I going to do with all the projects? I decided to sell in an antique store. I found a new one that opened up that was clean, fun and had other creative people in it. I picked a corner booth and 3:00 am in the morning I put pencil to paper and sketched out my plans for it. My husband is a great sport with my wacky ideas.

I love my new job. Here are a couple of treasures that make me smile...

My son got married in October. And had a ball making and seeing all the beautiful things other people made. That is when I discovered Pinterest. You know what that is like :-)

Sorry, got carried away with my loves. And these are just from the past couple of months. 2011 turned out to be a fun creative year in just a few months. Can't wait to see what 2012 is like. God Bless.

12.29.11

Yesterday had a great time re-covering 4 office chairs for a shabby chic table. I was singing "its a beautiful day" lalala and then the sewing machine started messing up. After a couple of hours I finally got the sewing machine fixed and away we went again covering the chairs. I love love love channel bedspreads to re-cover chairs. I think they turned out adorable.

I bought these to lamps a while back, they were a beautiful brass(not) and dull beige lamp shades. Sprayed looking glass paint on the lamps and covered the shades with burlap. Now they would look great in a living room.

I love finding boring and turning it into beautiful.

Oh Boy Today...

Today started out great. I am re-upholstering four chrome and brunt orange office chairs to go with a shabby chic table. We have already put a new coat of chrome on the chairs. The other day I bought a lovely vintage white channel bed spread to cover up the beautiful brunt orange.

The bottom cushions of the chairs went great. It was one of those perfect times when you totally love what you do. It is sunny and beautiful outside, I love my big fancy scissors, my big white shabby chic table to work on, my pearl top pins, well you get the picture. All these things make me smile.

 I get two of the backs done and then..... My sewing machine stops working right. I take it a part and clean it. Still not working right. Call my mom, try the different things she says. Break another needle. Walk a way. Hopefully it will work when I go back to it, I will let you know.

December 26, the day after Christmas

I had a fabulous Christmas time. Started on preparing for a Holiday Loft Tour in downtown Joplin. This is the 2nd year we have had our loft apart of the tour. It is a crazy time preparing and then more crazy having people you don't know coming and looking at every little thing in your home. I love it :-) The people are usually very nice, they will take pictures of different things in your home. Some will say isn't your home different, and all I can think is Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful. Yup... This year was fun, I had one group  of women looking at all my treasures and saying how they loved it and then all of the sudden this women says I know who you are! EEK. Well she know who I was because of what I design and sell at Rangeline Antiques. That is a good thing.

Another exciting thing was that I submitted a Christmas tree to Country Living Magazine on facebook. They picked 99 trees out of I have no idea, but mine was picked. So many of the trees were gorgeous and a couple of fun trees, mine was part of the fun ones. I had an old cast iron floor lamp stand and an old large square lamp shade. We took both a part and painted and re-assembled and then hung vintage Shiny Brite ornaments. It was a fun way to display my one of my favorite collections(obsession). LOL

Now I am ready to head back into studio and create some more treasures. Oh I have so many ideas!