In the Mood for a Quickie

I was in the mood to create tonite yet I didn't feel like doing any needlework or mosaics. Actually I just finished a small mosaic table and now just waiting for it to fully set so I can grout it. But the point is, I felt like "doing" something yet I didn't want to invest a lot of time or start on anything to big. So I started just messing around in my crafting room and ran across a small, very cute, vintage candle holder. My mind started ticking as I looked around the room, trying to think of what to do with it besides the obvious use of a candle holder. And this is what I came up with.

In the middle is the candle holder. I broke off some roses and leaves from the shown rose basket. Found the pretty vintage rose cup in my stash and got out a cup full of  Mastic.

I wanted/needed to fill the cup with Mastic to secure the roses and leaves. But doing that was gonna use a lot of Mastic so I first filled it 3/4 with flat marble gems. I'm sure that I could have used a number of things besides the marbles; paper towels even. The idea was just to not have to use so much Mastic.

So here's the cup filled with the Mastic. I used one stick to scoop it out and the other to scrape it off. I got it all nice and even and cleaned off any access. Now time to add the roses!

Here we go...I simply stuck the roses and leaves into the Mastic, arranging them close together.

Next I filled in the hole of the candle holder with Mastic. It wasn't to large of an opening so I simply put in nothing but the Mastic. I built it up a tad high so there would be plenty to grab onto the cup,.

And here it is!! Now just to let it dry Hopefully it will be a success! If not, I will DEF let you know, lol!! (I've done many things similar to this so I'm pretty sure all will be good.)

Would love to hear any comments and of course I welcome questions! I would be beyond honored if you would join my site...getting your blog out there in the huge blogging world isn't easy and I would so appreciate any help! TY for being here!!

Thrift Finds, Flamingo Re-make, Me and My Puppy, and a Vent

I went thrifting the other day and can't believe I found some bakelite!!! (considering I had just recently posted about it!) They are not anything that "special" but are pretty...butterscotch napkin rings. I hung them with ribbon to this lace curtain.

I also found these pretty pink vintage custard bowls. Marked the good ole "USA" on the bottom. 

And my husband is on a "real" butter kick so we needed a butter dish. Found this one and just glued on the little mermaid. I'm hoping she will stick good and strong, and then will clean off the excess glue.

Also found this "thingy"...anyone have a clue what it is? All I know is that it's glass, pink and pretty! Wonder what it's use is and what I will do with it???

This very old concrete flamingo was not a thrift store find but bought many years ago on ebay. I had put it in the brick planter outside. Not too long after at all, my husband came along to do some weeding, pulled the flamingo out of the ground and flung him down on the sidewalk...he had thought it was just plastic. Of course it broke. I patched it up and put it back anyway. Just a week ago or so he planted my little alvacodo tree I grew from a seed and I put the flamingo there. In the process some of it again broke off. His advice was to just "pitch it and buy another". So I looked up some on Ebay and showed him how much they are going for...as much as 100.00 and above for some! Sooooo that fixed that and he went on a mission to fix my broken one up. Here is a pic of it all patched together again and it's new paint job. It came out way tooooo bright pink for a vintage piece, but I know the sun will fade it out in no time. We also need to get it some longer legs.

And finally I want to share a picture of me and my sweet sweet baby Dane. We were on our walk on the nature trail near our house and remembered to bring the camera. However we forgot Dane's water so the walk was quick. Next time we go I'll bring the camera again and get lots more pics; it's a beautiful trail! But anyway, before I post the picture I need to do a little venting...I also posted this picture on Facebook and was surprised to see some comments (which I have removed) regarding my weight; or "lack of weight". Yes, I have lost quite a bit of weight since a surgery I had over a year ago, There were complications which required medications, along with discovering I have Degenerative Disc Disease. On top of that I'm having some major tooth problems and have no Dental Insurance now that my husband has retired. So okay, I've lost some weight. But comments, such as "omg, why are you so skinny, are you okay?" and "are you ill?" from my "online friends" who have never met me in real life are just uncalled for. After all, if someone is over weight do you ask them "why are you so fat?" No, I don't think so. Anyway, here is the picture and I'm only sharing it because I want to share me being with Dane, the love puppy of my life. I may be skinny but I deserve to capture with photos the good times in my life without judgement. End of vent and thanks for (hopefully) understanding.

All for today! If you are reading I'd love to hear from you! And if you like what you read, please follow me! Until next time!!

My Shabby Home

I was home alone the other day for the first time in ages! Every since my husband retired and my 22 yr old son moved back home, being alone just doesn't seem to happen often. So I turned up the radio loud and just did my own thing, and alone! Well the dog and cat were here but they don't count. I actually enjoy them being around, lol! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my husband and son too; but hey we all need some alone time!


Anyway, I took advantage of the situation and took some pictures of my home and some of my most loved treasures. My style is Shabby, although not what I would call "Chic." It's just my style and is ME. Most everything has come from estate/yard sales, hand make gifts from my kids, thrift stores and sometimes Amazon or Ebay. Take a look!

My Kitchen Window. Notice the vintage Colanders. I have a thing for old Colanders and can't leave one behind if found. The blue pottery was made by my son and is a cherished FAV! I'm also have an avocado rooting in a sugar cup. And of course Flamingos!!

Top of the fridge. Vintage jar, old baby weight basket which came from my Mom's collection of vintage, and a vintage mixing bowl. I also have a thing for those too and will bring them home even if they have damage...it's a sickness.

Kitchen wall with various treasures. Mosaic spoon holder by ME as well as the top of the blue cabinet.

I love this old doll head!! She had a huge hole on her head so I glued on the rose. This also came from my Mom.

Kitchen wall on way out. The surfer art by my son when he was 10 or ll.

This vintage hutch sits in the room off the kitchen...it's our "catch all" room, my mosaic room, and the pet eating place. It's the one room in this house we never got around to tearing down the wallpaper,. (this house was wall to wall wallpaper when we bought it) The painting on the top is my Mom, painted when she was maybe in her 20's, if that. Here sits some of my mixing bowls, a palm tree pencil painting by my son, various other things and the cats food and water.

The wall in our "office". This room was really to be used as the dining room but this is where we have the computer, printer and fax. We eat in the kitchen and/or in the living room. We are classy like that. The dog bowl with the greenery belonged to our now deceased Black Lab, John John.

Mosaic table, again made by me, next to the computer desk.

Now we are in the living room. I've had this old trunk forever!  My aunt restored it for me when I was just a teen and I have hauled it around all these years. (I'm now 51)  The green pitcher is a vintage "Hall" and the two babies pottery piece is from an Art's Fair. It reminds me of my two boys at that age.

Our coffee table...it's an old 2 sitter school desk. My Mom gave this to my boys when they were little for a play table. My husband wants to refinish it but I'm not sure? It just has so much history in it! This also doubles as my husband's "office".

I also have a thing for these vintage lamps as you will see as we move on. The swan painting was found at a yard sale for 1 buck. The peace sign is another of my mosaics.

My FAV thrift store find! I just love, love this painting!

Highwaymen artist AL Black's version of  "Eddie's Place". Read more about Eddie's Place here.

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Another vintage lamp! This one with mosaic. The drawing is of JohnJohn and I bought it for husband on Ebay's Charity Drive for Hurricane Katrina. The little frog is vintage McCoy.

Love this watercolor of dogs! The black one reminds me of JohnJohn. Another thrift store find.

Another mosaic table I made. The little vintage flapper girl sits in a teacup on a old lamp base. The pillow, a thrift find, looks like the flapper so I paired them together.

Mermaid window decal on sliding door to the pool area.

This is the hallway between the bedrooms. The vintage medical cabinet was from my Mom. The 2 paintings on the wall were done by my kids. (sorry they didn't photo well). 

Hallway bath...and yes, that is the trash can hanging on the wall. I try to pick my battles with the puppy.

Another Highwaymen painting; this one is Johnny Daniels. The painted signs were both yard sale and thrift finds.

Still in the bathroom...this awesome Mermaid painting was an estate find. It wasn't framed and I paid a whole buck for it!! It's a real conversation piece!

Our bedroom. Okay, this may look very un-classy but for me it's VERY special! This is my memorial to our JohnJohn. He was 12 when he passed, and alone in the backyard. NOT because he lived outside but because he had doggy doors to come and go. He went out to "go" and never made it back in. It BROKE my heart into a trillion pieces!! We knew he was ill but he was being treated and doing soooo much better. It was just so sudden. I tied together all his bandannas together (and yes, he wore every one of these at one time or another. They usually hang all the way to the floor but Dane, the new puppy, has gotten interested and so I pulled them higher to keep him from them.)  And his collar is hanging on the Door Crown above the bed. I slept with that collar for months! And yes, the bed is on the floor with no bed frame. Also because of JJ. He had two knee surgeries back to back when he was 6 yrs old and we took the frame off so he could get up and down on the bed. Yeah we are crazy in love with our dogs like that. :)

An old drop leaf table with mosaics. The cross stitch pillow on top was an unfinished piece I found at a thrift. I finished it up and made into a pillow.

Also in our bedroom. Notice yet another vintage lamp. The house drawing is of my Mom's house, a Victorian in Mobile, AL.. The other two drawings are of my Mom and me, back when I was maybe 3 and living in NY. Of course I have lots of puppy Dane pictures also.

So wow, guess that is it!!! Hope you've enjoyed looking around! If you are here, and have a blog, please post a link so I can visit. Better yet, join my blog!!! I'll be back later with a before and after post of my vintage concrete flamingo that my dear husband did for me. He was after all the one who broke it! Come back to hear that story!

Love Bakelite???

Today I'm going to post about one of my very FAV things...Bakelite!!! Know what it is? Never heard of it? Either way, I think you will enjoy seeing it! Bakelite is FUN! Bakelite is Colorful!! Bakelite is Funky!! Bakelite is Vintage! Bakelite is Shabby!! Bakelite is..." a castable, fire resistant plastic that was invented by Leo Baekeland in 1909. It was originally used for industrial purposes, until jewelry makers found that its light weight made Bakelite a perfect choice for designing and manufacturing inexpensive bracelets, rings, pins and other jewelry.
Bakelite jewelry became especially popular in the 1930's and 1940's, after a wider assortment of colors was introduced. The new batch of Bakelite colors captured the imagination of more and more jewelry companies. Coco Chanel was one famous designer who offered Bakelite jewelry and accessories.*"
*Source

It's EYE CANDY!!! There is just nothing more fun then to load on an armful of funky Bakelite Bangles! Way back when, in the early 1990's, I set up a booth every Sunday at the local flea market. I sold anything and everything that I had found during the week at thrifts, garage/yard sales and estate sales. But I mostly wanted to find and sell costume jewelry and Bakelite was my FAV!!! Of course these were the days before Ebay and Amazon, and so Bakelite was easier to find (although still not easy, easy) and we (me and my flea market buddies) bought and sold it way lower then market value. I literally sold bangles right off my arm! As much as I loved wearing tons of Bakelite Bangles at a time, more then not I was made an offer for them that I just couldn't refuse.

 

Of course Bakelite wasn't just used for bangles. There are also pins, necklaces, earrings, beads, etc. And not only jewelry either! Lots of kitchenware such as spoons, forks, knives, serving pieces, pie cutters, etc often had Bakelite handles. Telephones were made from Bakelite, game pieces too. The list could go on and on. Of course I LOVE the flamingo pin above! But please note that I don't own these pieces shown although I wish I did! Sadly the only Bakelite I own now are some kitchenware and one large green Bakelite bangle...the bangle was given to me from my Mom, only 2 months before she passed away. Of course I could never part with it. She paid 25 cents for it at a yard sale!

Over the years I've had many many Bakelite finds. But I'm a seller (first before a collector) and have sold all I've had on Ebay. Lately it has gotten harder and harder to find Bakelite as so many more people are in the "know". I mean sure you can find  it on Ebay and Amazon, but rarely these days at a yard or estate sale. So if you find yourself loving Bakelite, buy buy buy!! I think it's a great investment; I can't ever see it losing it's appeal or value.

There are two women in history that had a huge influence on Bakelite jewelry. They are Coco Chanel and Josephine Baker.

Josephine Baker inspired bangle.

Josephine Baker wearing Bakelite and not much else. :)

Josephine Baker commissioned Bakelite gifts for friends and these pieces are very sought after. These pieces are fun and whimsical. Click here to see Google Images.

Coco Chanel Bakelite Bangles.

Coco Chanel wearing the above bangles. LOVE this picture! Actually I LOVE all things Coco!

 Coco Chanel helped to popularize Bakelite when she made ‘costume’ jewelry acceptable and affordable by using Bakelite. Prior to Chanel, genuine gemstone, pearl and metal jewelry wasn’t affordable for the average woman, along with the fact that  precious metals and glass were sacrificed for the war effort.
Believe it or not, Bakelite is still being produced. The worst thing about the Bakelite reproductions is that it is actually being produced, using the original formula. This procedure is very dangerous and is only done overseas. To me, these pieces are not really "fake" as they are truly being made in the same way and are really Bakelite. It's just that they are not true "vintage" as many sellers would have you believe. But if the seller is upfront that what he/she is selling is "new" Bakelite, not "vintage", and if you love the piece, I say go for it!!

The hazardous risk from Bakelite is in the manufacturing process. Since Bakelite is a manufactured, synthetic plastic containing incredible amounts of formaldehyde, asbestos and other extremely toxic polymers, those who produced these desirable products, put themselves at risk. At the time Bakelite was being made,  safety and health precautions were not mandatory. These hardworking men and women exposed themselves to the toxins, through exposure. I read somewhere that if Leo Baekeland knew how hazardous his invention was before he died that he would roll over in his grave; he just had no idea!

I would love to hear any comments...do you own any Bakelite? Send a picture! If you want to own your own Bakelite, go here!

Home Sweet Home ~ SpaceCoast, FL

We live in a fairly small yet cozy home. We bought it at the end of 1999, right before the huge housing boom. (Thank God for that!) We were living in a townhouse but when we got our (now deceased) Black Lab, JohnJohn, we figured out that townhouse living was just not for dogs! What brought us to this house was the location (close to the kids' school at the time as well as their friends), the yard and the pool. And although the actual house isn't that big, it still has lots of room; 3 bdrms, 2 baths, large kitchen, living/dining as well as a small den. So it works for us. And it worked for JJ and now works for our puppy Dane as well as the kitty Max. (We have installed dog doors so this house is very pet friendly!)

Anyway, while hanging outside late this afternoon with Dane, I decided to get a few photos of our little world outside. So here we go:

This is the front...there is actually another window to the right and a garage to the left not shown. But at the time of taking the pic I was more interested in getting a shot of the front porch area.

Our Texas Olive Tree...it was more like a twig when we first got it. It has massive pretty white flowers almost all year long. We love this tree, mostly cause we thought it would never grow...it took years to get this way.

This is an old glider iron bench that was my Mom's. People always want to buy it when I have yard sales. The pink flowers are wild and just appeared on their own...more about that further down.

A mosaic birdbath and birdhouse.

Front Door...notice even more flamingos???

Pool and back privacy fence...and yep, more flamingos!

More of the wild pink flowers.

And this one flower is how it all started. We were walking with JJ on the bike trail near our house a few years ago and I spotted it. Hubby dug it up for me and planted it and now we have pink flowers everywhere!! They are awesome cause they are pink, pretty and seems you can't kill them. Love them!!

Side yard and struggling tangerine tree. The fence around it is to keep Dane out, lol.

Hubby's prized Pomelo or sometimes called called Shaddock tree. There is no fruit on it now but when it does produce, the grapefruit are about 3/4's the size of a basket ball. From the net: "An oversized grapefruit, often with delicate pink segments. The difference between grapefruit in pomelo is that one can eat pomelo plain. Many people who hate grapefruit actually love pomelo. It tastes sweet and sour."

Back yard showing Max the kitty and Dane. Behind Dane is another side yard, not shown here. They both have it made!! (Right after I took this pic Dane chased poor Max behind the shed. Sometimes it is like Tom and Jerry around here.)


So that's all for now...I've taken some photos for my post about Mosaics and will have it ready in the next day or so. Please come back and take a look!!

Oh and one more!! Playing with Dane earlier...he's growing and growing and growing!!