What I Love Most About Owning a Chalkboard

Enough said!

These Boots Were Made For .....

Accessorizing?

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If you are fortunate enough to own a great pair of boots - flaunt them!

Don't hide your boots in the closet - a great pair of boots could look great anywhere.

Here is where I park mine...

And every time I pass through this corner I smile.

I love the boots with this union jack pillow made from recycled wool sweaters.

Here are a few more yummy examples.....

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And even if you don't own a great pair of boots

wouldn't a photo like this be adorable in a mud room??

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I hope you see your boots in a whole new way!

Finally! Something to Blog About!

Yes, I have been an extremely absentee blogger for a while now, but hey, life just gets in the way sometimes!

But for today anyways, I am back!

I decided to try to make a few recycled wool items to listed on Etsy.

(I haven't ventured into Etsy yet, so I'd be extremely happy to have any advice that you'd like to share.)

Here are few little owl's I've been working on - which one is your favorite?

I've been working on some sweater pillows as well,

and even a few recycled wool blanket pillows, too.

More to follow......

Subway Inspired Words to Live By

Ever since the first time I saw subway art I have loved it -

I guess I'm a sucker for typography.

A while ago I discovered a great post by Ashley at lilblueboo

on her amazing take on Resolution Subway art.

She was kind enough to offer instructions as to how she made it

and even included the artwork to reproduce it.

She creates amazing things!

I fell in love with Ashley's version and loved the idea

of having such positive words displayed in my home.

I ran it past my husband and we decided it was near perfect for us.

We wanted to make a little change to it to suit our family better.

So my husband made up a pretty good version on our computer

and I brought the file to the local print shop.

They printed it on to canvas for me then I stretched that around an artist canvas.

It now proudly hangs in my kitchen for our family to read each end everyday.

Thank-you Ashley for sharing your words!

Island Chick Vintage Sale

My sister and I went to Anacortes a week ago to the Island Chicks Vintage Show. It was a super fun and inspiring day and I came away with so many ideas and saw many items that I'm sure were inspired by my favorite bloggers!

There were a bundle of items that I hesitated to purchase and am now kicking myself for not buying, such as the perfect antique black typewriter in the case - the beautiful classic kind with the lovely round keys. Also, there were a couple of "old school" silver cup trophies that I wish I'd picked up. Darn, don't you hate that?

Anyhow, I did come home with this perfect little clock!

It still works and even has a snooze feature!

I didn't take too many photos but you can check out this link and there are many great photos for you to really get a good idea of what the show was all about.

The next Island Chicks is scheduled for October 29th if anyone is interested.

Vintage Industrial Metal Letters for the Cheap

About four years ago I saw some beautiful industrial vintage metal letters at a high end kitschy antique store. I fell in love instantly and haven't stopped thinking about them since! I knew that they would be perfect for my kitchen but was too cheap to dish out the $60 per letter. I knew I'd eventually find myself a set on ebay or somewhere - but no such luck. I was at Joanne's in the states last weekend and saw these great letters and picked them up for $1.99. Yeah baby!

I gave them a quick coat of black spray paint, then another coat of antique bronze - which to me looks more like an aged stainless steel. Then I finished them off by rubbing on a little black craft paint in a few spots to "age" them a bit.

I wasn't sure if they just looked good to me - but so far everyone who has seen them has asked where I picked up the metal letters from. Did I mention they are made from paper? Success for under $10.

Happy Easter Friends!

Our Spring-break Bedroom Re-do

My eleven year-old daughter Olivia and I decided to tackle redecorating her bedroom over the break. She is done with pink - so we removed all the super-girly stuff months ago and even sold her cute little Pottery Barn Kids bedding on craigslist. We then made a denim duvet cover to replace it.

That's as far as we got for a good six months.

We are now on a roll - here's a few images of our progression so far.

I hope you enjoy!

We bought an Ikea Ektorp chair in perfect shape on craigslist, and then we bought bright coloured fabric makers. My daughter took on the project of doodling all over the chair. It was a super fun project for her and she is so proud of it!

I found this old white painted wooden frame at a garage sale for one dollar. We turned it into a chalkboard and in no time she had that all doodled-up too!

That's Liv's own photography on her new violet wall.

We purchased some new sheets and shams, in multi-coloured stripes and polka-dots.

She is really happy with it so far and I notice she is actually keeping it clean!

Want to hear something funny?

I'm about to make you feel a whole lot better about yourself....

If you can believe it, these babies just came down yesterday!

Just curious, does anyone else still have Christmas to remove?

Mark Your Calendars All You Junkers!

I don't know about you but I drool at the mere mention of the Farm Chicks show in Spokane!

I have thought a lot about going, but with three kids, and an eight hour drive it seems like a bit much to pull off just.

Well now there is something for us in the Pacific North West -

The Island Chicks Vintage Home Garden & More sale.

This vintage sale takes place in Anacortes, Washington

which is about 45 minutes drive from our Vancouver - Bellingham border.

The show is on April 16th, and the doors open at 9 am with a $3 admission.

Exploring "deconstructed"

Did I tell you?

I've been thinking a lot about what to do with myself once the kids are all in full time school. So on the spur of the moment I rather impulsively signed up for a part-time Interior Design program at our local Technical Institute. I'm just starting with the intro class for now and I'm excited to see where that leads me.

My second class assignment is to research a hot design topic. So being the junk lovin' gal that I am I had to stay true to my taste. Here is a what I came up with.....

I love the casual comfort of the...

Deconstructed Chair

Can you relate?

These chairs look like they haven't been finished yet, or perhaps they've wore out and haven't been patched back together. Maybe some well meaning DIY'er had started to reupholster their favorite chair with the best of intentions but realized they were in over their head and gave up, or suddenly got distracted.

I can so relate to this trend - I may very well be ahead of my time on this one!

How it all began!

One Christmas a long time ago

Santa brought me the greatest gift!

Yup!

That's me on Christmas day with my brand new

Holly Hobby sewing machine.

I sewed many a make-up bag for my teenage sisters and thier friends

with that baby.

I'm pretty sure I was in third grade there.

After I mastered the battery operated chain-stitch machine I took a

Singer sewing course at the local mall and made the most hideous

outfit ever - complete with a pinking shear accident on the sleeve.

It was nasty!

The instructors made me model it in the year end fashion show regardless.

Thankfully I didn't give up after the pinking shear incident

but rather found a love for creating and carried on.

Where did you get your start?

What are your first creative memories?