There's one thing about working in or around antiques - you always have an abundance of "stuff". If you're one to frequent estate sales or auctions you know how easy it is to walk away with boxes loaded down with junk filled with wonderful treasures.
Such was the case a few weeks ago - okay, so it was about three years ago - that I ended up with about a truckload of wooden picture frames. It may have been more like 20 frames but when I got home and unloaded them it sure FELT like a truck load.
Anyway, my creativity instantly kicked into gear. Okay, so you caught me again. They've been shoved under my sewing table ever since I bought them. BUT, my creativity finally kicked into gear a few days ago and I basically decided to potty or get off the pot. Translation: They would have to be sent to another auction with all our other unwanted junk a truck full of our other really valuable items we no longer need or I was going to have to turn them into something saleable for our shop.
This is what I had to work with: 
Before you ask, yes, they are all the same. More than moderately ugly, wouldn't you agree? I had previously painted one black, added black and white toile and a few other things to turn it into a really cute bulletin board. It sold pretty quickly; I have no idea why I haven't made more since then. Anyway, you may remember the pile of old feed sacks I have (several have sold but we have what seems like another hundred or so more to go). I decided an old burlap feed bag would make a really cool primitive style memo board. Here's what I ended up with: 
I'll try to make a long story a little shorter. Do you have any idea how BIG an old feed bag is? Well, I don't have the measurements here handy, but trust me - they're REALLY big! And, by the way, have I ever told you about all the lamp shades in my storage room that need recovering? Trust me (again), there are a LOT! (Are you beginning to get a grim idea of how packed our storage buildings are?) Well, anyway, we have a lot of lamps, too. Here's one of them: 
Not necessarily ugly but not my style and probably not one that would quickly sell in the shop. So, a can of black paint and the remainder of that feed bag later... 
Well, I think it's kinda cute. Ya gotta admit it's DIFFERENT! Now I have to think of something to do with the lampshade I took off of it. Meanwhile, I decided to paint another of those frames black...
and give another a white wash...
and hope that one of our customers will be in the market for a naked wooden frame. When you have a couple thousand identical frames, you decide that selling one at a time might take awhile. So, I attached two of them together, decoupaged various papers and wallpapers to them, added some lace fabric and...
...ended up with a shadowbox of sorts. 
I like the look, think it's pretty but have no idea what to put behind it. Maybe a vintage embroidery? By the way, if you are drooling over having an old feed sack, I have plenty left. Email me at miller.sher@yahoo.com if you want one (or more). They're $5.50 each (such a deal!) and I'll pay for the postage (such a better deal!).
You all know how hot it's been but it's been just as dry here in the south. The other night we had a pretty fierce storm. It literally ripped apart a tent my husband had put in our yard (he was going to use its shade for working on furniture) and everything under the tent found homes somewhere else in the neighborhood. This table was one piece he planned to work on:
(Note the remnants of tent fabric hanging from shortened poles) And, of course, our peach tree suffered even more than it suffers every year. 
Because of the drought here, this year's crop of peaches looks more like crab peaches (no, there wasn't such a thing before this year).
Pretty pitiful, huh?
That's all for now, folks! Stay cool and be a Blessing to your neighbor! Love you all!
Good! I knew you'd understand! I couldn't refuse this sweet little child-sized wire dress form when it somehow attached itself to me this afternoon. Isn't this just too cute?
It's sitting in our home office right now, in back of my chair on the credenza.
Just look at that metal pink bow! (*Sigh!*) I love it!
Something similar happened a few days ago when Hubby and I wandered into a little nearby shop. This plastic form spotted me and told me to give it a makeover. 
It really did need one, too. She had a few knicks and scratches, but bless her heart - she had a punctured booby. I knew that old Readers Digest book that was missing some pages would come in handy one day. So...out came more pages that I tore in various sized pieces and... here is what she looks like to
day, sitting in one of our booths in the shop. (I could have never gotten that handmade leather belt around my waist, anyway.) Did you notice that she lights up? She has another light above her waist but we didn't have another low enough watted bulb (Okay, there's no such word that I know of but this is how new words get coined) that we could use.
Look what my Hubby
Thank Goodness he can look past the flaws and abuse some of these pieces have experienced and know they can be cleaned and fixed up to look like this:
It had been left in a damp place, maybe a basement or barn, etc. and the wood was warped in places, making it nearly impossible to open and close the drawers. The color had faded, the wood itself was really dry but he worked his magic and customers have already shown quite a bit of interest in it.
Finally, Halloween is a holiday I don't get overly excited over (unlike Christmas, for which I've been working on several weeks) but I did make a couple little decorative items. Here's a little witch I just finished: 
She is sitting on her broom which is attached to an old bed spring so she has a little "bounce" to her. 
I sculpted her head out of air-dried clay. As of right now, as I type this, I don't know whether to list her on Ebay, Etsy, or in the AB4B Marketplace OR put her in the shop. If you want her to come live with you, contact me and you can have her for $24.95 plus traveling fee.
Thanks for visiting, see you again soon!
