Inge Löök's Old Ladies

~ My first Inge Löök postcard ~

I got my very first Inge Löök postcard from Finland!  For those who don't already know, I participate in Postcrossing and have for a few months now.  Finland seems to have some really fun illustrated postcards available that you can't easily buy in Canada.  Inge Löök does these cards of two old ladies out and about on crazy adventures.  I was sooo excited when I saw a glimpse of it in my mailbox! 

I hope to receive more in the future so I can make a lovely grouping and put them up on my wall.  Thanks so much Riita from Finland!  You made my day :)

Garage Sale, Three Years in the Making

Yes.  Three years.  And it finally happened.  What a huge job it was to prepare this monster of a garage sale!  Thankfully, we had help (as you can see).

Sorry folks, the box on the left is priceless ;)  As for the pic on the right, just the tip of the iceberg, oh my!  At this point I was ok, but the room filled up more and by that point,  I could barely stand to look at all the 'stuff' clogging up my house!  I'm not a clutter person or a knick-knack collector, so 'things' everywhere drive me bonkers in my own home.  I was so stressed I felt like running from the house screaming... this doesn't even include all the stuff in our garage! 

We wrapped the garage sale signs I made up in saran because there was a chance of rain, had a giant party tent hanging around to cover the driveway and lend some shade (see?  I don't know where half of this stuff comes from!).  Borrowed folding tables from my in-laws, set the coffee maker to start perking in the morning and set the alarm clock for an ungodly hour.  I couldn't even take an in focus picture of my cup of coffee in the morning!  Even old Shadow the cat was wondering what we were all doing at such an hour.

Setup took quite a while... almost 1.5 hours on it's own.  We had a crazy amount of stuff!  So much, that people were asking if we were moving!  Ouch.

Remember this guy?  Yes, all my barbies, barbie clothes and all their teeny tiny accessories went in the sale.  But hey, Ken, your smile is still just as pearly white as it ever was.

 

Customers!  We had a lot of people!  Thankfully that means we moved out quite a lot of stuff.  I haven't participated in a garage sale since I was a kid.  I forgot how crazy cheap some people are!  The nice part was we got to meet quite a few more of our neighbours that live around the corner from us.  We're lucky, we really do have pretty great neighbours all around!

After we were done, we put the remaining stuff at the end of the front lawn by the street with a sign saying 'FREE', minus a couple things that will go onto Kijiji.  Whatever is left from that will go to goodwill.  Anywhere but back inside the house lol.

After cleanup, time for some BBQ!  My husband manned the grill to serve up some yumminess for all of us, including some family that dropped by for the evening.  Well deserved I'd say! 

The day ended with a bunch of tired adults, one tired baby and two pooped puppies.  Overall, a long, but great day!

Tips for a successful garage sale:

• Make legible signs from poster board in bright colours with the print in a contrasting colour.  All of your signs should be the same colour!  Make sure the text is BIG
• Detailed signs should be on the main road.  Put smaller signs with an arrow along the way to reassure your shoppers they are on the right path to your house
• If there is a chance of rain, wrap your sign in saran wrap so it doesn't fall apart / ink wont run
• Advertise!  You can post ads on Kijiji and Craigs list and some local news papers for free.  Take advantage of it and be detailed as to what you are selling.  Include photos if you can.
• Have change.  Make sure you have some small bills and coins ready to make change for people.
• Be courteous!  Smile and say hello and goodbye.  It will go a long way!

To Dye For Lamp Shades

So I'm on a dying binge.  This happens.  I go through phases of crafty and creative endeavours in cycles.  They always come back around.  Right now, it's fabric dye.

I did the pillow cases for my sofa throw cushions recently.  They turned out a lovely purple :)  Then I started looking around the house... what do I hate, but don't care to spend money replacing right now?  It's like spray painting.  You see something old, you spray it, it feels like new.  Well my eyes went to my ugly light fixture in our sitting room.  It came with the house when we moved in and four years later it's still there!

It's a chandelier type thing with five dingy mini fabric shades on it.  After a quick cleaning to remove some dust, they were ready to go.  By the way, if you want to clean your lamp shades, put them in a bag with rice or coarse salt and shake.  It pulls off the dust. 

This was definitely going to be an outside project.  Of course, I had to pick a sweltering hot day to do it on.  C'est la vie!  I chose Rit Dye in teal (powder form), and I used about a Tbsp of navy blue (liquid).

Filled my really big pot with super hot water and added the dye.  Stirred it up with an old stick and dunked my first shade!  Oh and of course, rubber gloves were ON.

Hung to dry on the clothesline... blowing like pretty little blue bells in the breeze.  Aren't they lovely?  I dipped them for about fifteen minutes each as I wasn't sure how they would hold up in the hot dye bath, but they did great!

Awesomeness!  They are not perfectly, evenly dyed, but that's ok.  I think it adds a little charm to it.  I find it's harder to get a perfectly even dye when doing the 'dip' method.  None the less, I'm very pleased!

 Love!!!
 

Sooo much going on...

My brain is on overload as there is so much going on right now in general, in life, at this time of year... so that's why posting has been a little erratic lately.  Hang in there with me.  I've got some stuff coming shortly!

We've got this huge garage sale we've been working towards for a long time.  I'm talking years.  As in, oh darn... we've run out of weekends to do the yard sale this year... and oh... there is too much to deal with because we're getting married this year...and oh it's too hot and I'm big pregnant, we'll do it next year... and oh... yeah, you get it!  Once it's all over and things get back to 'normal', my head will be able to focus more.

Thanks for sticking with me!

DIY Fabric Dying

Whether it's faded black clothes or other drab linens, fabric dying at home in your own top loading washing machine is a great way to add some new life to old material.  Bed sheets, curtains, pillow cases, tote bags, clothes, shoes, you name it.  If it's fabric you can probably dye it.  My mom used to do our clothes all the time.  It was like getting a whole new wardrobe!

What?  You've never tried??  It's soooo easy!  As long as you know a few tips and tricks.

Click on the post for complete instructions!

Baby Fingerpainting

Wednesday's fun was;  finger painting with my little guy Foster!  I had a sturdy wood 'canvas', tempera paints ready for my little man, throw in some toys and a basting brush... have the pool filled and ready for the aftermath and away we went!

 He did pretty good with it until he decided to taste the paint.  He didn't like the taste that's for sure!  After a little upset moment... he got back into it.

He conked out for a pretty good nap after all the excitement!  The final missing piece to this work of art.... I'm going to add his hand or foot print in a contrasting colour.  Just had to wait for the masterpiece to dry first!  I'll have to post a pic of it when it's all done, framed and hung up in our home.

You can also do this with a piece of paper secured to the highchair tray for something of a smaller scale, which we might do next time!

Easy Decor Update

I have these teapots displayed in my kitchen in these simple display boxes that my dad made for me years ago, against the perfect grey wall (I think it's perfect!).  I'd almost bet you have similar boxes in your own home too.  In my efforts to interject some more colour around the house (baby toys do not count), I thought I'd do a quick update.  Off to the craft store!

Pretty paper, CHECK!  49 cents a sheet, can't go wrong.  Wrapping paper would work too.  I cut out some cardboard the same shape as the openings of my display boxes (used empty cereal boxes), wrapped them with the paper, popped them into the openings and voila!

Since the paper wrapped cardboard is not permanently attached to the display boxes, I can easily take them out and wrap them in a different paper if I want a change.

Kind of addictive... now I've got my eye on the bookshelf in my bedroom....

Take a look around, you might have something you can pretty up in your own home in just a few minutes like I did!

Cheers :)

Vegetable Pickling 101

Ever had homemade pickles?  Aren't they way superior to store bought?  I think so!  I started making my own pickles a few years ago and I don't think I'll ever go back.  The great thing about it, is you can pretty much pickle anything.  If you have a garden that is starting too brim with fresh veggies, take advantage of the abundance and do some pickling!

Here is the most very basic brine recipe.  You can add anything to it you like to season it or flavour it in different ways or leave it just as is. 

Click on the full post for the complete recipe and instructions to make your own pickled mini cucumbers.  Alternatives and additions are listed at the end of the post to give you some ideas!

Cocoa Haystack Refrigerator Cookies

Remember these?  I don't think I've had them since I was a little kid.  I mentioned them to my husband and he had never had them ever.  Tragic!  Well that was enough convincing for me to search for and make these no bake, coconut packed, cocoa cookies.  Perfect on a hot summer day when you want a treat without having to cook the entire house with the oven!

Click the full post for the complete recipe and instructions.