Shop Talk, Garden Stuff and (more) Sam

Two posts in two days?  Wow, I'm on a ROLL! 

I was going through some of my photos this morning and thought I'd share some shop photos with you.  But first, get a load of this bumper sticker:



Can you read it?  It says, "Peace Hon".  Southerners are so friendly.

This is one of our booths (Hubby and mine).  I bought the little white cabinet at a garage sale, brought it home, cleaned it up, painted it and Hubby replaced the drawer front for me.  The original drawer front was (we thought) too thin and cheap-looking.  I had the teapot drawer pull in my stash and voila!  Cute, huh? 

 Would you believe I found a supply of these plates at another garage sale? 

These are only a few - some of the sayings were too funny or too true to pass up.

This dress form is to die for - but it's neither for sale nor is it mine!   It's the creation of Gail Schmidt of Shabby Cottage Studio.  I love her creativity!   She made the skirt out of paper that she rolled into cones.  She said she bought the wings off Etsy.  This table isn't ours, either; I saw it in another area of the shop.    I've seen similar on HGTV but thought this was just adorable.  It didn't last long - it sold within a couple days.  Now, this sofa IS one of ours: 

It's in absolutely beautiful shape!  We have a price tag on it of only $399.  I'm surprised it's still in the shop, as merchandise there sells so quickly.  It sits like a brand new couch, looks like a brand new couch but it is antique!  I told some friends that, if I didn't have a husband and parrots, I would keep this piece.  (I obviously chose my hubby and birds over the couch)

Now for a few photos of my cottage garden - these are all of the largest garden:

I never get tired of taking pictures of this angel.

  Puppy Sam seems to really enjoy running into the garden through the gate and out of it under this corner border, trampling my plants and everything else in his path.  I resolved that by "planting" a few boxlot plates that nobody wanted.  This fence is a recent addition:

Actually, it's an "unfence".  Sweet Hubby scored them at an estate sale.  They were twin beds in their previous life but the rails were nowhere to be found. 

Sam, by the way, loves to "help" me pull weeds.  (I do have fingers on both hands, by the way.  The angle from which this pic was taken looks otherwise.)

Problem is, he generally tries to pull the weeds out of my hand.  But, surprisingly enough, sometimes he gets it right on  his own! 





Puppies,Potatoes and Ponderings

Okay, so this little shed doesn't fit into my post title. I couldn't find a synonym for shed that starts with a "P".

Did you know that the words "want", "covet" and "desire" don't have "p" word synonyms, either? (I really want a shed like this one!) 

  
I saw it at a yard sale the other day. No, of course it wasn't for sale and I was by myself so I didn't have anyone to scheme with me on how in the world one of us could distract the owners while the other one loaded it onto the top of my van without being noticed. So, instead, I just complimented the older gentleman who had built it what a cool looking shed it was. Don't you agree it would really look at home sitting next to one of my gardens?

Speaking of gardening: I was tending to our veggie garden the other day and thinking about the first time I followed my former mother-in-law into her garden. I watched in awe as she stuck her shovel into the ground and unearthed a crop of beautiful golden-brown potatoes. We had a small garden when we were growing up but everything we grew happened above ground - you know, tomatoes, green beans and the like. I was so impressed that she knew exactly when to harvest something that couldn't be seen. I was later told that you delay the harvest until the green part of the potato that grows above ground dies. So...would someone like to tell me what in the world happened to my crop?

It would be difficult to find a pebble smaller than this!!!

Thank you for your cards, comments, emails, etc.of condolences you sent when I told you about losing Frankie, my pal and furry child of 17 years. I now understand the pain one goes through when a beloved pet dies. I still tear up when I think of him; we literally traveled alongside one another for the past 17 years. I told my husband I would never have another dog. Not ever. And then... We had to go to Knoxville for my rheumatologist appointment. It was on a Friday and we stopped at a flea market on the way home. It was there we spotted a young man carrying two very cute puppies that he had to sell. The mom was a full blooded pug, the daddy a combo pug and bulldog. Did I mention how very cute those puppies were? Long story short (okay, so the story isn't so long), we brought the black puppy home with us and named him "Sam". Here is Sam and Doc Jones. You can't even tell Sam is getting his first puppy shot; he's being so good. Yep, Sam and I are now an item!

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Gardens, Goodies and Good-byes

Isn't this a cool old door? The large middle pane and the bottom pane are broken out; the others are green with mold. Hubby said it was useless. Aren't men silly? After cleaning the glass, I painted some "fantasy flowers" on one side of the panes and lightly sprayed the opposite side with white. (I knew I'd be using it outdoors and didn't want the wild birds to injure themselves flying into the glass.) Once the paint was dry, I took some clear packaging tape and adhered it to one side of the glass - that way, if the glass gets broken we won't have a lot of shards to clean up. ...and - voila! A new door to replace the old screen door that had long ago served its purpose. Remember that box springs frame I put in my big garden a couple years ago? It serves a great purpose as a large trellis and for hanging baskets and items used for dressing up the garden. This coffee pot and cup were added this morning. How do you like my special hooks? I twisted an old spoon into an "S" hook; works great! We went to an estate sale Saturday and came out with a lot of vintage China and some great figurines. I especially love this old powder box/trinket holder! She's cleaned and tagged and on her way to the shop! The three figurines in front are all from occupied Japan. They've been cleaned and are waiting for their turn for tags.

The Colonial figurines were my Hubby's find from a thrift shop! I've said it before: He's a Keeper!

Our one large purchase for the day was this dining room table and chairs. We also bought the dinnerware, tablecloth and napkins at the same sale. On a sad note, my Hubby and I had to say goodbye to Frankie, our Chow/Collie mix. I pulled him out of a crawl space almost 17 years ago. He was only 5 weeks old when he came to live with me; I could hold him in the palm of my hand. We knew something was really wrong the night before he died. The next morning, I put him in our van and headed to the vet. I was stroking his head when he died. He didn't make it there alive. He's now buried in my biggest flower garden next to the angel. We put a solar light over his grave; he was always afraid of the dark. RIP, sweet friend and furry partner.

Lists and Lies Told to Me Growing Up

Bluebird in back of our house this morning. A branch is covering most of his head but it's the best shot I could get before he flew away. WHAA? Has it really been seven months since my last blog post? Yes, Sher, it has been. Stop acting like you're surprised. You know you've been doing other things ~ other things on your LIST and several other things that never made it to that almighty list. Yes, blogging has actually been sitting on my list of Things to Do for, well, at least six months. Other things like find, clean, repair and take items to the shop remain there as an ongoing task. Let me tell you, the antiques business is not one for get-rich-quick schemers nor is it a non-time consuming business. Actually, it's been a very busy winter for Sweet Hubby and me. The shop (the Corner Nest, Elizabethton, TN) continues to stay busy and our spaces have done extremely well. We ended up buying this made-over former U-Haul truck (It's either a 14 or 16 ft long truck, depending on how you measure) so we'd have a better way of hauling furniture. If you're on Facebook, I hope you "friend" the Corner Nest and me (find me under Sher Sison Miller). BTW, we're not D&D Hepard ~lol! ~ getting that lettering off is (hopefully) on my hubby's list. Something else accomplished: We finally got rid of that old hideous, embarrassing, worn and stained carpet that was probably in style at one time. We now have hardwood (okay, laminate, but we found it wears better and won't tear up under the stress of big bird cage wheels) flooring, a freshly painted room and a new couch! The wall is more yellow than it appears in this picture - I'll take more pics when I get everything back in place. Our NE Tennessee weather has been shifting almost as quickly as Hubby switches the TV channels. This morning was really nice and I took an opportunity to wander about in our yard and survey some of the havoc caused by winds we've had the last couple days. I kept a careful eye out for snakes. You know how terrified I am of the long, slithering, fangy things. This thought brought back one of the outright lies alleged truths I was told in my childhood. You know, the one about snakes being more afraid of me than I am of them. I'm also convinced that, if I I won't get hit by a truck if I don't have on clean underwear. (I choose to wear clean undies for other reasons. lol) While I was outside I shot a few more photos and made several mental notes. I'll share a few of my thoughts and notes for my "To Do" list. I sure wish I could blame this mess on the wind. Here's another clean up item for my list. (This is the NW corner of my largest garden) OMG! The most easterly end of the big garden. Having one of those "What was I thinking this time last year?" moments. Small flower garden between the house and back drive. Lots of weeds and wild strawberries in here. The wild birds like the strawberries. Am now wondering whether I should leave the strawberries alone. How did this happen over the winter? Where in the world did that broken bike come from? Why is Hubby dumping stuff in my garden under the old dogwood tree? (Adding to my list and not bothering to cross out bad words.) If you live in the area and feel like pulling weeds, come on over! Okay, even if you don't feel like pulling weeds, you're welcome to stop by!

Mixed Blessings, Mixed Media and Woman-Eating Snakes in Tennessee

Cell phones. They fall into the "Mixed Blessings" category here in the Grinnin household. We finally bit the proverbial bullet and changed our T-mobile plan from one that offered unlimited talking to one that offers unlimited talking, texting and web stuff. The texting is actually for the grandkids and myself. It seems to be the best way to stay in touch with the under age 25 bunch. My eldest grandchild is 17 so I thought I'd better get into the groove of things. Wait, they don't say that anymore, do they? Basically, I decided to get into the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" texting movement. We traded our handy-dandy flip type phone for a Nokia Nuron. It had one of those touch tone screens that turned into a disaster. Both GrinninGrampa and I hated it. We now have a Samsung Gravity3. It doesn't have a touch screen; it has numbers on the front so Hubby can make his calls and it slides open to expose a keyboard so I can text the grandkids and occasionally play on Facebook from the phone. Half of us hates it. I, on the other hand, am getting used to it. GrinninGrampa wants the now outdated flip type phone we had before back. That's one thing about cell phones - they are outdated quicker than you can say "SIM card". Okay, now for the scary stuff! Look what I spotted when I was pulling weeds next to the house this afternoon: (SHRIEK!!!) A snakeskin! Thank God the snake wasn't still in it. To make things worse, Hubby wasn't home to save me from it. Yes, I DO need to be saved from a snakeskin. OMG, I am SO afraid of snakes! And, look how BIG this thing is! Hubby tried to tell me it's a Black Snake. I don't care if it's Black or White or Oriental or Swedish. A snake is a SNAKE! And, I happen to know that Black Snakes bite. One bit my friend, Steve, who lives in Nashville. It was apparently trying to get back at him for stepping on it. Anyway, I've decided to never even get near that side of the house anymore as I'm 100% convinced it's either an Anaconda or a Rattler. Either way, it's bound to be a woman-eating snake. Well, my cell phone experiences left me totally weirded out as I pondered all the things it is supposed to do. My brain needed a release and I ended up making this mixed media piece. Here's a closeup of the highlighted definition above the man's head - it defines "thinking" and regardless of how smart these phones are, I really prefer to fall back on the old tried and true brain power that the good Lord gave me. While I was feeling creative, here's another piece I did using a piece of house painter's canvas that I stretched and stapled to an old wood picture frame. The woman's picture I used is a vintage photo that I plucked off the net several years ago. I've used her image many times in my art; this time, I aged her somewhat. A more mature beauty just seemed to be more at home in this garden. Oops, gotta run - our dog, Frankie, managed to get sprayed by a skunk and Hubby and stepson are giving him a tomato juice bath. No, I'm not hurrying out to help. This is an event that HAS to be documented in photos! lol

Furniture, Forms and Funny Witches

You know what it's like to wander into a shop stuffed with all kinds of cool items but ONE thing jumps out at you, clings to the hem of whatever you're wearing and begs you to take it home? 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 today, 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 dragged in brought in from a thrift store the other day: 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!

Frames, Feed Sacks and Frail Fruit

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!