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Sunday 29 January 2012

Imagine the Impossibilities Challenge & a Valentine

Good Morning, I am working diligently on completing my "impossible"
challenge so that I can show off by Tuesday that I actually did it.  That
means the rest of my day today will be spent making a slipcover for one
of my wing chairs.  I will post photos later today or tomorrow on the
steps and the progress.
 
 
In the meantime - here's a little Valentine graphic made from pieces
from both The Graphics Fairy and Vintage Feed Sacks and my sheet
music.  I left a little banner for you to personalize it.


(Click on the image to enlarge)
This is Mr. Biff's and my favourite song!

Thank you to both of these generous bloggers for sharing their lovely
graphics - so much fun to play with.
 
 
Again, feel free to use this but if you do - be sure to give a shout out
to Karen at the Graphics Fairy and Vintage Feedsacks and please send
me a link to see what you've done with it!

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Nuts! I might be losing it!

That's right - I have, at least temporarily lost a bag of nuts
and bolts that are to have held together my new futon.  Have
you ever had that happen - you put them somewhere where
you won't forget them and presto-nutso - they are GONE!


Argghhhhh.....Mr. Biff is telling me to retrace my steps,
think about the evening I brought them home, etc., etc. and
they are not where I think I would logically put them (which
would have been with the futon no?)

Ever had that happen?  Any tricks to jog your memory?
*sigh* sitting on the floor in my family room is NOT
what I had in mind!

This is what it will look like - it's a beaut!  It will go in Mr. Biff's
office eventually for extra guest sleeping space  - that is
when we get a new sofa for the family room -
in the meantime......

Sunday 22 January 2012

To Ann @ Stylish Once Again

This post is dedicated to Ann @ Stylish Once Again
for featuring me from her linky party 2 Sunday's in a row!  For some
reason I have been caught in a blogger loop of not being able to
leave a comment on some pages - I can see the page,
link to the party but once I try to
comment - the screen goes blank.


The thing is - I can probably fix it - however I didn't want
another Sunday to go by without saying:

THANK YOU ANN!
 It made my week to see that I was featured!


Saturday 21 January 2012

I Love Mr. Biff....

I really do.....he is very good to me and totally supports
my thrift finding, curb shopping style!  He bought me this
lovely journal recently.  It's so pretty - I am contemplating
printing some of my blog posts and somehow hole-punching
and threading them into the journal.....



I got a bunch of thrifty finds today....I will upload the photos
tomorrow.  I will also update where I am at with the impossible
challenge.

Blessings my friends,

Friday 20 January 2012

Rosey Fireplace....

What do you get when you stick this:

 to this:


You'll have to stay-tuned to see how it turns
out.  Yikes - I also commited to:

the space between


and I haven't started.....I bought the fabric - does
that count?

Thursday 19 January 2012

Play Time with Postcards!

I am having a lot of fun just playing around with Adobe
Photoshop.  I wish that I could do this for a living and not
have to work (wouldn't it be nice?) *sigh*


In the meantime I will just continue to combine images to use
on pillows, table runners, tote bags, etc.  I think I am going
to make this little beauty into a cover for my I-Pad.

Thanks, as always to Karen @ The Graphics Fairy
for supplying the graphics to play with!
p.s. if you want to use this one - please go ahead - just don't
forget to give Karen the credit for the graphics and I would be
cool with a shoutout for the layering - not to mention
I would love to see what you do with it!

Wednesday 18 January 2012

100th Posting, An Award and A Bottle

Yeah - this is my 100th posting!  I know for some that might
not seem like much but I wondered, when I started the blog, if
this would just be a passing fancy (does anyone say that anymore?)
or a commitment to something good.....
100 postings later I believe I am in it for the long haul!  One of
the things I love about blogging is the recognition other bloggers
bestow - it is affirming to know that someone reads your blog and
thinks it is award-worthy!  So a BIG thank you to Lori at Bleak2Unique
for awarding me:
While I think about random facts about myself (that I want to share)
and try to decide on who to pass the award on to
- which I will do in a post later this week -
I wanted to share this little bottle with you.  I saw what Tracie did
 @ Fishtail Cottage and when I saw this little bottle with
the pretty little glass stopper at one of my local thrift stores
for $1.99 - I thought - hey, I know what Icould do.....and here it is:

A little lace, a bit of raffia, a label from Karen @ The Graphics Fairy
and the finishing touch - a little Eiffel Tower charm for bling!  Pretty!

It makes me want to make more of them (everyone should have
one - don't you think?)






Tuesday 17 January 2012

One Woman's Junk...

Is another woman's treasure.....

I found this funky wire basket at our local recycling depot.  It,
along with several other items, was a whopping $5.  The gal that
works at the depot gave me a very skeptical look when I said "oh,
how great is that - look at all that rusty goodness".  I think she
thought I was crazy (yeah, crazy in LUV).  Throw
in a few vintage bottles, some daisies and some
vintage linen.....it's all in the display - no?

What's fabulous is that Mr. Biff (my better half) totally gets
it.  He brought home this float (the kind that
holds up fishing nets - plentiful on the Island) the other day -
and topped with a dried hydrangea.....wow....
simply beautiful!


Never underestimate the potential of something old to become
something new and beautiful!

Monday 16 January 2012

This Little Word ....

The Lettered Cottage
I felt compelled to join Layla and such a huge chunk
of blogland buddies.....thank you for the inspiration!

I have, over the past years,
selected a word for the year.  Interestingly the word
I have chosen in the past is often something that has eluded
me and therefore represents a "chase" as opposed to the
comfort of having a word in hand that, well, just "is".

Last year's word was "commitment" and while I was
committed to a lot of things - I am not sure the "things"
were all that committed to me.

This year I am choosing a word that sustains me,
that lifts me up, that makes me happy, and gives me
hope.  The word is:

I will let my little word speak for itself.




Sunday 15 January 2012

A Rose by Any Other Name....

I have wanted to rename my blog for some time so I
finally had some time to play with the header.  It's not
perfect but.....ta.da......The Painted Pear comes to be!


Hope you will continue to read and enjoy!

Peggy

Curb Shopping Luv.....and...the Answer....

This old dresser travelled across the country with me - crazy
I know - but I found it on the curb in our neighbourhood in
Toronto and I just could NOT leave it behind.  I've been
carting it around for almost 4 years so YEAH ME - I finally
finished it!

Here's what the poor old dear looked like before:

And here's how she turned out.....


If you read my post (here) I might have picqued
your curiousity on the "bling" teaser.

Here's what I
did with the gems.....




And here's how I did it. (Please forgive the out-of-focus
pics - I was the do-er and the photographer!)






I found these ones for 25 cents each but I have seen
them at Fabricland (if you are in Canada) sold by the box.

I don't think they would stand up to kids pulling on them but
for my purposes - a server in the dining room - they will be
just fine.  I have lots of treasures to share this week - some
of which you can see on top of the dresser.......

So be sure to c'mon back to see more!
Have a great week!








Saturday 14 January 2012

Pop a Wheelie.....

Ok, that might be the stupidist title I've yet dreamed
up - but I could not resist.  These little beauties came
off of my latest project - it should be finished by
tomorrow......
This is what they looked like "after" I cleaned them - they
were too gross to photograph before.  I kind of like the
chippy paint on them now.

The project is also going to use these: 
These were 25 cents each - there are six in total - any
guesses as to what I am going to (try anyway) to use
them for?

Stay tuned....more to come....
And nope, that's not me on the bike...hee,hee....




Thursday 12 January 2012

I can imagine....can you?

the space between

Karah at the Space Between invited me to participate
in this challenge she and the bloggers listed above
have started....now I am inviting YOU!

I had to think about what I would consider an
impossible challenge at this point and it was actually
easy - almost a "no-brainer".  Back in the Fall I purchased
 two wing chairs with the intention of slipcovering them.
Hmmm.....everytime I think of about getting it done I get
kind of worried, then scared and then, well, I just walk away!

I am going to face my fear and tackle at least one of them
and commit to getting it done by the 31st of January!
I will post my progress after this weekend (my plan is
to start tomorrow....wish me luck!)

Hop on over to Karah's blog to read more - here's a little
piece to get you interested.....you are interested - right?

What would you try if you had no boundries?
What ideas do you have floating around that you (or others)
think are just nuts?
  What do you really just want to try even though a big
 part of you thinks it’s just not going to work? 
It could be anything people! Skydiving, mountain climbing,
creative writing, closet organizing, gourmet cooking...
Is it lamp painting, table decorating, long distance running, kayaking?
Your impossible is just that, YOURS!
There’s no too big or small, right or wrong.
What limitations have you set for yourself that you might,
just maybe, be able to talk yourself out of?
Oh, just Imagine the Impossibilities!

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Table Runner

While I was playing with graphics the last few days
I spotted this border art (again at the Graphics Fairy)
and thought it would look good on a table runner....


I made the runner out of linen and left all the edges
raw and frayed (luv it!).  I added the text "Love is
Spoken Here" as the finishing touch.  I am happy
with it - now if I could just dig out my dining room
table from all the crafty stuff I've got going on - I
could actually put the table runner on a table
(what a concept!)
Here's the graphic ready to print out as a "jpeg" - again, if you use it
please give credit to Karen at the Graphics Fairy for the background and
a shout out to me for the overlay....enjoy!

What have you been up to.....