All you need is love, love, love..love is all you need. Upcycled signs and door

OK..so I lied..today is not sign tutorial day (still coming though) Today I am sharing a couple more upcycled things I made for the show this weekend in Clinton. I made 4 LOVE signs. I wanted the O to be something different. So I went and rummaged my stash and went with vintage roof tiles. These came off an old farmhouse in Indiana. The key came out of a bin on my living room floor..LOL..there is a reason why this is not a "pretty house" blog! (They will make it up to my studio one of these days).

I made one in pale grey ..or gray..

One in black..

One in aqua..

And one in cream with grey letters. I had wedding decor in mind when I made these, but really, everyone needs love in their life! I love working with vintage and antique tin, and the rusty old keys..always a plus. The key to my heart!

I like how this turned out. It was an old cabinet door frame that I got in Feb. in Indiana. I painted it a whitewashed shabby white. I added a piece of antique ceiling tin to the bottom opening.

It is magnet ready!The back was rustier, but I was afraid the rust would interfere with magnets.

I stapled chicken wire on the top. I HIGHLY recommend the Black and Decker Power Shot stapler. Love mine and use it a LOT. It is also great for simple upholstery re-dos.

I loved this original applique detail. I was considering adding more..some hooks or knobs or painted details but as I am selling not keeping, I had to remember the KISS ..keep it simple stupid..rule! You could display this propped as shown or turn it sideways and put it above a desk. I maaay be adding a few jazzed up papered clothespins..and maybe some jazzy magnets..lol..always gilding the lily! Lots more to share so stop back and see what I've been up to! (Followers appreciated!) Til next time! Julia

Signs, Signs Everywhere There Are Handpainted Vintage Style Signs..

 I was a child when that song was popular, so I may have mixed up the lyrics a bit.WHAT have I been up to? Last Saturday we went to an antique sale in Columbia, TN. The pic above is part of our trailer. It started down pouring at the end of the sale so we got to drag everying through a mudhole, and up a muddy hill to the trailer.We got filthy. We also got 2 harvest tables, 3 church pews,40 6 and 9 paned windows, 3 antique beds..one brass, one wrought wire and one Victorian gingerbread. There was a table with a tree branch bottom, 2 mirrors, a mattress spring and all the stuff we put in the back of the Explorer.  I did see the biggest snowball bush I've ever seen there. It was 10 feet x 10 feet x 10 feet and covered on blooms!

Gorgeous!!

 Also 2 buckets of barn hinges that I could not even lift. I was saving them for last for either Ed to haul up the hill or me and Jack would have had to break them up into 4 trips instead of 2. One of the young helper dudes just picked them up and ran them right up to the trailer! I said OMG I couldn't even lift those! He said "I can't feel my arms!" LOL Very gentlemanly.

 The mattress springs Ed cuts apart to sell the springs..much easier to ship! People buy them for upcycled art projects. I may save a few for me!

 Ed had to unload the trailer from out last trip before we left. I forgot what was even IN there!. There was this barn door I bought for no real reason. There was also a table that had a bad top that Ed bought for the legs...and now...

 Ta-Dah! I had him even up the end and  take the one remaining leaf off the table and we attached it on top..cool no? The rope doorpull will have to go. We have a large show this coming Saturday in Clinton, TN ( The Clinch River Antique Fair) It is always a good show and I am hoping for no rain! We have more things than we can even take.

 I am leaving the top as is so whoever buys it can stain it (or not) and wax or varnish it however they want.

 Also the chippy base stays. I'd sand it down and use some chalk paint on it if it was me.

 These 4 antique cabinet door panels were also hanging out in the trailer from our previous trip. Before...

 and after!I bought a stack of old wood there with the thought that it would make a good sign base.

 This one I used gold metallic paint..it photographed sort of white, but it is very gold. I did this font ONCE  and decided too fussy for any more! (Or I am too lazy!)

 I did a couple farmhouse signs. This one is black and grey..

 and this one shabby white.The glaze and tinted wax really change the color. (How tos to come next post)

 I used color on this one. I know you are supposed to keep things neutral to sell them, but dangit..I like color!

 I left the old chippy milk paint under and painted right over. It really adds texture and an old look you can't get with a new board.

 This stables sign is going to get an old rusty horseshoe on the top.

 This paint was really chippy. I stabilized everything with a wood glue and water mix first..it also makes the new paint crackle.

 The next 2 were old crate sides. They didn't have any graphics so...

 I went with black and white for these 2.

 This was a piece of oak from a piece of furniture..not quite sure what. I used a more modern font
and creme and brown paint.

 On some of these I added shadows for depth.

 Another chippy old cabinet panel. I tried to save some of the sage green under paint (hard to see here) Cottonwood Lake is the lake I used to swim in as a kid. By July it could be about as green as this paint! My "miles" got a bit wonky, but hey..authenticity!

 Another door panel. I did not paint the base of this just left it as is.

 I couldn't bear to cover those great crackles!

 This was an entire cabinet door. Again I left the original paint.

 I am going to add an old hardware drawer pull bit over this blank space.I have a lot of those.

 Again...great crackles!

 I think these last 2 are my favs. They are also cabinet doors. I left the original sage green paint.

They still have the hinges which you could hang them by. If they don't sell at Clinton, they will end up in my Etsy shop. Soooo much more to do before the show! Stop back and see what! Til next time! Julia

Dogwoods, antique lace angel wings and more vintage

 Hi guys! The dogwoods are blooming here today. I have 2 spindly ones along my driveway. Knoxville has a lot. They even have a Dogwood Festival and dogwood trails to drive and ooh and ahh at the dogwoods (they also come in pink!)

 After stopping to take the dogwood pic I looked down and saw this...appaently it is also poison ivy sprouting season. It is pretty bad around here. My daughter is very allergic. She doesn't even have to touch it, just touch something that touched it and bam..rash. I am not very allergic to it. I even pull it out of my flowerbeds barehanded. I usually go for the stem and avoid the leaves. I have gotten a tiny bit of a rash once. Alexa's last bout she had to go get a steroid shot! (I need to wear garden gloves!) Leaves of three..let it be!

 This is my latest from my studio. I used old vintage or antique lace curtain panels from my stash. They had some holes but lots of "good places". The framework is wire.

 The middle looked a bit bare so I added a handmade flower that I made and never got listed. It is stacked singed edge organza and satin with a melted satin center...part something I saw and part something I figured out on my own. I think I am going to do a heart on the next one.

 I got these 2 folk art yard art pieces a few weeks back. They are painted on both sides and would have hung from a tree..swinging kids!

 I think they would be cute inside as wall decor..I like the shabby pale yellow paint!

This is a antique framed perforated paper embroidery piece. It says Sweet Heart Mary is my Salvation. It has dried pressed flowers and the Mary image is Victorian scrap. Sweet! Tons more vintage to share..stop back and see what I am up to! Til next time! Julia

Quilt tops, mannequins, vintage finds and hand grenades

 Hi guys! Lots of tales to tell from the weekend.We went estate sale-ing on Saturday. I found this fabulous vintage double wedding ring variation quilt top. The fabrics are feedsack and other depression era prints. The rings are huge! The main ones are 29" across. The small polka dots are what I love about it and what makes it unusual. They are ping pong ball sized and there are over 500 of them on the quilt top! Circles are hard to applique and small ones even more so. Truly masterful.

 I got a bag full of vintage children's clothes too. This Roy Rogers and Trigger shirt was inside.

 And this Hop Along Cassidy shirt and skirt. The skirt appears to have had its vinyl fringe trimmed off the bottom but oh well.

 There was this vintage reversible child's silk souvenir jacket from Japan.

Kid's generally got these when their military dad's were stationed there. I remember a kid in my 2nd grade class having one that I thought was pretty cool.

 I like the inside even better!

These cute kid's boots were in the bag. They are leather and shabby on the inside so I saw no maker..cute for decor! I had a pair that I got as hand me down's from my older boy cousin that I wore until they absolutely didn't fit anymore. I was about 6 and I generally wore them with dresses! I had a little toad jump in one once when I had left them outside the front door..that is an unpleasant surprise on a bare foot! The toad was fine..I was traumatized!

 This cute small purse was also in the bag. I think it is a child's purse..a bit big for a doll purse. Black patent leather..I love the shape..wish it was me sized!

 It is marked "Mighty Midget" on the inside with a patent number. I need to do some sleuthing.We got a lot more things I will be sharing later.

Oh YES..the hand grenade. Left you hanging. At this sale I was poking around in a tool shed attached to the car port (some in the South use these rooms as laundry rooms..small room at the top of the car port)It was dark and there was lots of tool-y rusty junk (that I like) so I was digging about. I saw the rim of something poking out from under a shelf and thought..that looks like an army helmet so I pulled it out. It was a WW2 German Nazi SS helmet. Inside were a bunch of things so I was looking..a morse code "tapper", a small French dictionary, post cards, silvery braid insignias that looked like they had been torn off officer's hats, a hand grenade..A HAND GRENADE??WTH? I quit poking and took it out the door and called the sale dude over. I said, "There is a hand grenade here!" He said.."Oh the family said if any military stuff showed up, they wanted to keep it so I can't sell it." I said, "I don''t want to BUY it..it is a hand grenade!" I told him the last sale I was at that they found a hand grenade (yes there has been more than one!) that they called the bomb squad and they came and took it and said it was live and very unstable. He didn't seem too concerned..oh just leave it there and I'll put it up. Okkkaaayy. I didn't hear of any explosions in Chattanooga this weekend so I guess it turned out ok. It may have not been a live one, but I wasn't going to try to find out! Never a dull moment.

I sold these on EBay yesterday..old incense boxes. The top one was dated 1934 and was almost full of incense. I loved the graphics on these..almost kept them!

This is what I have been doing in the studio lately (besides watching Outlander on Starz ..read all those books and love that series!) This is a new twist on one of my "heads".

I think she looks like she is wearing one of those vintage floral swim caps!

 My other projects.The pix are bad..it is grey and rainy this morning so bad lighting. I made this one with all vintage wallpaper in creams and pinks..

..and this one with all old text, sheet music and ledger paper. Not sure if I am done yet..I am considering adding wings!

 This is what is blooming outside this morning..this is Luminaria also known as honesty or money plant. It gets papery white quarter sized seed husks that when they dry and the outer husk is removed, there is a pearly translucent "innard". People use the dried ones as floral decoration.

 This is something I planted once and it just keeps reseeding (I scatter the seed a bit in the Fall to help it along). Pretty flowers in shades of purple..they just grow next to our driveway near the trees.

Also the lilacs are blooming! They are just startingbut I snipped a few to bring in and sniff.Hope your week is equally sweet! Til next time! Julia