Junktoberfest 2013 0 comments

All loaded up!

Here we are all set up and ready to go. A mob of crazy women was lingering just outside the door. We had just taken bets on what would be the first to go. I put my money on the ladder + crows…

If you look really closely, you can see a tear in Mary’s eye. Oh, why, Oh, why, will nobody buy, will nobody buy, the ladder and crows?!? She blows her nose. Who really knows, why someone bought those, but nobody chose, the ladder and crows.

Our new friend back there. She gave us lots and lots and lots of good advice. And then she gave us the eye for not charging more on some of our stuff.

Pa waving good-bye. See ya later McCook! It’s been fun!

#20 Rusty Wire Tree 0 comments

I finally got the chance to sit down today and make this primitive wire tree. I’ve had the idea {albeit I’m sure, not original} for a while now. This wasn’t the full idea, but it will have to do for now.

The wire I had sitting around, and the pulley I picked up at a pack rat sale last week. The guy threw it in for nothing. Score!

Okay, I know the photo makes the tree look seriously messy, but it’s really not! 

30 Projects in 30 Days: #23 0 comments

I cranked this little wall bookholder out so fast I forgot to take pictures along the way. So all you’re going to see is the end result. I had a lot of scraps lying around that worked perfectly for this so it really didn’t cost me a dime. The front typically has a board for the guard bar, but I opted for a couple lengths of rusty wire, capped at the end with a washer and old screw.

I got this tall shelf at an auction on Saturday and I loved the color so much that I had to try and match it for the little bookholder.

Dead dog.

I’m thinking this will work great for displaying books, old pictures, etc.

30 Projects in 30 Days: #24 0 comments

Ok, Dad, this one’s for you. Well, not really, but you’ll get a kick out of this. You know that table you brought me, the one you got for $1? Well, Tim insisted I put it upstairs in my office. I said “I will but only until I see what it looks like first.” So we put it together and afterwards I just stood there looking at it’s awkwardness. What a strange table. There was no way I was going to put that thing in my office. So Tim got mad at me and in dismay I dismembered the table right there on the spot. Oh what a lovely day.

Can’t say I regret it, though, after the things I’ve been making with the lumber.

I had this idea quite a while ago, to cut acorn shapes out of wood and write some Thanksgiving sayings on them. { I did try this idea last year, but it just didn’t pan out. I think the lumber wasn’t right. This time, I had a whole arsenal of distressed wood on my side, and woo-hoo, does it make a difference! }
I gotta say, these have been the most fun things to make so far. I love love love doing hand-lettering. I had to bring my white Signmaker’s enamel out of retirement, but it was well worth it.

Crazy thing? What you’re seeing is what used to be the underside of the table. These nifty little acorns are reversible. The flip side is blank, but with the nice deep mahogany color that used to be the top of the table. Reversible fall acorns. There you have it!

30 Projects in 30 Days: #27 0 comments

This was one of those projects — you know — the kind that was only supposed to take a couple of hours but ended up taking more like, six.

I saw a primitive-looking birdhouse a while back in Country Living, I think. I’ve had it in the back of my mind for a while that I’d like to make one. And…since we have all of this scrap lumber lying around I thought it would be a good idea to make it project #27. The Saltbox.

There he is again…

Anyway, the roof boards are actually leftover pieces of the cedar lap that we pulled off of the house, just flipped backwards. That piece of tin on the peak of the roof, it’s flashing we had to pull out from behind the siding up on the house dormer. TD laughed at me for keeping it, but I knew I’d find a use for it somewhere.

Keepin’ it real.

Since nobody knows what the heck this thing is, I decided to deconstruct it. I have another use in mind for it, but for this project I just need the screen.

A coat of thick coral chalk paint on the house and gray on the chimney and there you have it.

30 Projects in 30 Days: #28 0 comments

I found this shallow wall shelf at a garage sale over the summer for $2. It was kind of ugly, but I knew it had potential, I just didn’t know what. So it pretty much sat by the back door for a couple of months while everybody tripped over it and cursed at it.

Though very functional, it was still kind of plain, so I decided to add a crown piece at the top. That was kind of a challenge because there was really nothing to screw to. Lots of glue and 4 screws later, it was firmly attached.

A couple of coats of vintage kitchen green, some distressing and there you have it. It doesn’t look like it in the pic, but it’s actually quite big — 26" x 26".

Wouldn’t this be great as a display cabinet for old thread spools?
I’m going to have a hard time parting with this one, but, on the bright side I made a woodworking plan for it in case I decide to build one myself someday.

Fortune foretells of treasure in metal junk 0 comments

I had my fortune told during our family vacation in Branson a couple of weeks ago and it said not once, not twice, but three times I would find treasure at a garage sale, flea market or in a dusty old attic. It said to look specifically for objects of metal. I must have taken it to heart because it seems that almost everything I came home with from Saturday’s garage sales was made of metal. Did I really think there was a hidden money compartment in that old bread pan? No, not really. But it was fun thinking about it for a while. 

I found a couple of old passports for 25¢. I didn’t really stop to look at them at the time, but simply grabbed them and left. I didn’t know what was inside, but I knew I was intrigued. Abigail and I sat down and thumbed through them this morning. Turns out they were issued during the time of the Vietnam War, in the late 60s. This guy, who the passports belonged to, was allowed in and out of Vietnam during a time when travel was restricted to the country. Government agent? Defense? Military? Don’t know. Either way, for 25¢, they were a cool find.

Soap Packaging Ideas { No.1 } 8 comments

I like to give my handmade soap away to friends and family, but simply handing them an unwrapped bar or two seems, well, uncivilized. So lately I’ve been exploring unique but simple ways to package up bars of soap and I have come up with some easy and some not so easy ideas.

If you are lucky enough to be able to go to garage sales, chances are you will someday meet a nice old lady who has a box of wrapping paper scraps for sale. I’ve come across many boxes in the last few years, and each has been a treasure trove of vintage papers from the 40s, 50s and 60s. These bits and pieces are usually just the right size for packaging up single pieces of soap. Tie them up with string, put on a little tag and you’ve got yourself a very unique and inexpensive packaging idea.

This soap packaging is a little more advanced, but can still be relatively inexpensive. Using some old muslin scraps I had on hand, I made a quick box bag just a little bit larger than the bar of soap, then tied up the top with plain string. The letters were hand-stamped using an old child’s stamp set I found at a flea market. I thought this idea would also work very well with vintage ticking or even an old floral pillow case.

If you need to package up more than one bar of soap, you can make these simple boxes using heavy scrapbook paper or colored cardstock. These specific boxes I made can hold three smaller bars of soap. Print round labels onto adhesive sheets using bold + simple graphics, cut out and attach to the flap of the box.

Back Door Welcome 0 comments

While an old bucket of kindling looks very tidy sitting by the back door, wouldn’t it be nice to add a small greeting to welcome visitors who drop by?

Swedeburg Depot Sign 1 comment

I grew up in Nebraska, and have just discovered in the last few years just how much fun we can have here. (Oh, my heart and soul will always be in the Ozarks, but that story is for another day). The historic little town we live in has about beautiful old church and 11 houses, all built by the same company back in the early 1900s. We still have reminders of the old Chicago & Northwestern Railroad that long ago passed through our town. I wasn’t here then, but I can only wish that I had seen it. Very few remnants remain of the old train station, though I know there are stories to be heard from the old timers around here. Only a few photos of the depot are in existence and those, at best, are not high quality. I had the idea some time ago to try and recreate the old depot sign. With a little bit of research and some help from the local library, I was able come up with a good rough sketch. So I bought some boards and some paint, and went to work.