Happy Thanksgiving...

"So once in every year we throng
Upon a day apart,
To praise the Lord with feast and song
In thankfulness of heart."

~Arthur Guiterman, The First Thanksgiving~Praying you and yours have a very safe and happy Thanksgiving filled with all the love, laughter, sweet memories, and blessings this day will hold!

Blessings,
Miss Sandy

What's In The Boxes Guessing Game Winners.....

Oh my goodness what wonderful guesses there were for what was in the boxes on my shelves. I can only wish there were "love letters written in the 1850's, written in spidery script, tied in silky pink ribbon with a faint smell of lavender..." as Kathy guessed.

What fun it would be to find Grandmother's "elastics" for holding up her stockings like Mildred guessed.

Myrnie tickled my funny bone with guessing that there were pieces of wrought iron fences in one because they are beautiful and her aunt collects them.

Lala (sorry, no blog link) shared a precious memory of a cigar box filled with little plastic purses that held a rainbow of plastic rain caps.

LDH guessed precious remnants of babyhood might be tucked into one, "a small envelope with a milk-white tooth collected from beneath a sleepy head by a tiny fairy."

Nancy thought perhaps the rattling was a precious antique baby rattle.

Kathy B. thought there must be interesting buttons, lace, fibers, and trims, all the things needed for creating beautiful things.

Barb T. (sorry, no blog link) wished one held inventive ideas. Her paternal grandfather was an inventor and drawings, idea notebooks, and patents would be a fun find!

I loved each and every answer and the special little thoughts, wishes, and personal stories you shared. In my book, each one of you is a winner for helping to make an unpleasant task more pleasurable. Before I share the winners, I'll show what was really in the boxes. A dapper gentleman bows to a pretty little maid...Inside the box rests tiny crochet dancing slippers and pretty petals, gifts that were made for me by my dear friend Pam. This sweet lady was concealing...A trio of tiny silver plated trays, old tickets, vintage pale yellow velvet leaves, and a ribbon tied box of trinkets...This faded cream and gold beauty holds...Eggs... I wondered where these went. The paper mache ones are all ready to paint a pretty blue now that I found them and the shells were some I cleaned and saved for a project experiment. I must have put them in the box to keep them from getting broken.

A tiny trio of drawers...Tucks away itty bitty beads from broken necklaces...This diva had a fun stash hiding behind her fan...The card Beth gave me, a touch of lace, and a wasp nest...An Etsy purchase that I thought I lost...A card of lace...And lastly this old monogrammed leather mens wallet, I hope P.J.S. does not want this back as I am rather fond of it even if it is empty... A darling duck box shelters...A sweet stash... Of vintage post cards featuring more sweet tweets... Tick~tocks and tea pots... Cuff links, cameos, bobbles, and a mini photo...A baby bottle box...Holds a single wee leather doll shoe...A faded rose greeting card box holds... Nothing and everything, anything the imagination wishes to fill it with, dreams, hopes, desires...This satin handkerchief box hides bits of... Bitter sweetness, a small square of lace, a handful of shell buttons, and a card I found tucked inside my grandmothers Bible, a card given to her by a family I don't remember being in tact, myself, my mother, and my father. Our names are there, written together, a family. A handmade paper box...Filled with small squares of handmade paper, perfect for tiny watercolor paintings...A fancy floral box trimmed in satin ribbon...Spills out wide antique lace, dreamy creamy satin ribbon, and one lone shabby sheer ladies glove... A bonny blue Exquisite box...Houses a barley blue baby gown, a petite portrait, blue suede rose, and two tiny vials of vintage glass beads...A bright blue ribboned box...

Holds broken baby dolls, rescued from a dingy plastic bag, awaiting their turn on the work table to be put back together again.A satin padded glove box...Is full of blackbirds...Tucked in tissue paper...They escaped...And it started to get scary, kind of like the movie, The Birds, perching on the box rim...One poor bird lost his beak. I promised him I'd glue it back on...This one has a secret...He whispered it to me...

See his cheeky grin of glee?He loved each and every guess,

And could not choose one which he liked best,

This is what he suggests,

"Don't just give away prizes one, two, and three,

Include everyone whose name in this post you see!"

I wholeheartedly agree!

LDH wins the Mint Chocolate Dreams Paper and Ephemera Kit with added surprise goodies tossed in for her precious guess of babyhood memories!Myrnie wins the Anna Griffin Card Kit with added surprise goodies tossed in for tickling my funny bone with her wrought iron fence pieces guess.Kathy wins the Black and White Collage Kit with added surprise goodies tossed in for her romantic guess of love letters as well as her dreamy list of lovelies!Now, the rest of you listed will receive a little surprise handmade goodie from me too for your wonderful guesses.

If you will all kindly email me your mailing address, my email link is on my upper sidebar, and I will get your packgaes in the mail on Monday of next week. I will be taking a little holiday blog break to visit with family and will mail them as soon as I return. Thank you all for playing and a hearty congratulations!

I slipped one other box up on the shelf, a little gold foil one...It holds, JOY...Which is what I wish each of your holiday's holds too! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Blessings,

Miss Sandy

Let's Play A Game Give Away.....

Put on your thinking cap and come play a guessing game with me...In my last post I mentioned playing a guessing game. I also mentioned in an earlier post that I have a habit of buying interesting boxes or containers and filling them with smalls as I shop in flea markets. I try to unpack them as soon as I get home but sometimes I get busy and forget. These are the boxes I shoved up on the shelf last week to get them off the floor while I am in the process of the last push to get the studio in order.

I heard something rattle in one and took a peek, delighted at what I found. I shook a few more and heard them same intriguing rattle. I didn't have time to explore them at the moment so I thought we could do that together through a little guessing game.It has been anything but fun sorting through all the stuff that my daughter left for me plus reorganizing my own stuff, so, I need a little entertainment. The rules are simple, guess what is in the boxes pictured in the photos of this post. You can pick a particular box or set of boxes or all the boxes if you wish, then tell me in your wildest dreams what you think that box or boxes hold. Use your imagination, make up a story about the box, or just guess what you think it actually holds, just please entertain me while I finish the drudgery of sorting!In case you are wondering, yes, there will be prizes! Remember all that cool stuff my daughter left? I have sorted and set some aside to share a prizes. How many prizes you ask, there will be three wonderful art kits for your creative pleasure by days end. Anyone is welcome to play along, no requirements to have a blog and I will ship internationally. I will select three winners and post the results on Wednesday morning as well as the real contents of the boxes. Comments will close at 10:00 PM CST.
GIVE AWAY PRIZES:

Chocolate Mint Dreams Paper and Embellishment Kit...Anna Griffin Card Making Kit...Black and White Collage Paper Kit...I'll be adding some other goodies to these basic kits!

Have fun guessing and have a great day!

Blessings,

Sandy

Coming Unglued, In a Good Way...(3 mini tutorials included)

"When you give someone a book, you don't give him just paper, ink, and glue. You give him the possibility of a whole new life."

~Christopher Morely~

I know you are going to be as tired of this project as I am before it is finished. I am about to come unglued, in a good way, as I am nearing the end of the gluing process on the second project, the trunk, for studio storage.

Here is the finished bookcase! The old book pages gave this project new life...The two were married (see previous posts here and here) and the yucky backs were primed and then papered with a variety of old book pages and sheet music. I thought I would show you a quick how~to of doing this as well as the process I am using to revamp the inside of the trunk.YOU WILL NEED:

*Wallpaper paste
*Sponge brush
*Old credit or gift card ~ to use as a smoothing tool
*Variety of old book pages that vary is size
*Old sheet music
*Paint brush
*Non~yellowing clear sealer

INSTRUCTIONS:

NOTE: If the surface you are covering is soiled you may want to prime it so that any stains will not bleed through your book pages once they are adhered.

*Lay book page face down on a protected surface, using sponge brush, brush a thin layer of glue over the whole page, making sure to get the edges.

*Place book page on surface and use old credit card or gift card to smooth out the paper, being careful no to put too much pressure or the paper will tear. You want to get out any air bubbles or wrinkles.

*Repeat this process with randomly placed pages mixed with sheet music until you cover your entire surface. Turn some pages sideways or upside down to get a more interesting look. You want to avoid to many straight edges lined up. If this occurs, just layer another page over the surface. You can even place some pages on an angle, there is no right or wrong way to do this. I even cut some pages in half and added them to the some of the edges.

*Allow to dry overnight

*Brush on a coat or two of non~yellowing clear sealer to protect your book pages, allowing to dry between applications.

Below are step~by~step progression photos of the process I used on my bookcase. I tend to do things the hard way, I didn't think of taking photos until I got the last shelf, yep, the one on the bottom. If the photo angles are a little strange or the lighting bad it is because I had to lay flat on my stomach on the floor to take them. Oh the things we will do in the name of blogging!This technique can also be used on flat surfaces, like a desk top. If you apply this to a surface that will be used a lot I recommend using a durable polyurethane of at least three coats. This could be a great idea for a child's bookcase as well, brightly colored storybook pages would make for fun fanciful storage. For a sewing room, why not use old pattern fronts? Why not substitute colorful scrapbook papers, magazine pages, old letters, or even a variety of vintage ephemera?

The trunk got gussied up with a few book pages on the exterior using the same process as described above.I wanted to restore the inside of the trunk as close to the original which was papered in a brown paper. The interior paper was so old, crumbling, and stinky that I stripped it out, all except the original little graphic, that I left in tact. After removing the paper, sanding, and priming the surface I chose to do another paper finish that resembles leather when completed.For this technique you will need the same basic supplies as in the previous project minus the book pages, instead, you will need a roll of brown wrapping paper, the kind you use to wrap and mail packages in.

Again, if your surface is stained, you will want to prime out your project or the stains will leach through your finish project. I primed all the interior surfaces not only due to stains but stink as well. I tried every remedy known to man and could not get the smell out of this trunk so I got a stain and odor blocking primer to treat the surface.

*To begin the project, tear the brown wrapping paper into pieces. You want a variety of sizes from a small, medium, to large range, the largest being no more than approx. 4 in. in size. Tear randomly not in straight pieces.

*Using the same gluing method as above, begin to randomly place the glued paper pieces on the surface of your project, over lapping the edges and smoothing out air bubbles as you go. You want to avoid any of the straight edges of the paper showing so always cover them up with a jagged edge overlapping them.

*Once your surface is covered, allow to dry overnight.

*Seal surface with one or two coats of sealer.

OPTIONAL: If you want a deep rich antique leather look, use and antiquing gel in a brown tone, found at most craft and hobby stores, before sealing. Apply the gel with a soft rag rubbing until you get the look you want. Allow to dry overnight before sealing. This technique looks fantastic on a wall or a tabletop for a leather looking surface.

Below are some photos of the steps in the process. If you see any shiny or white areas, this is the paste, I took these before it was dry.In the midst of all this trunk junk, my friend, Pam, stopped by and we headed to the kitchen to do some dying of tags, paper, lace and trims. We did up a big batch of grunge tags using QueenBe's recipe, found here. After we got tired of dunking tags, we started dipping papers and then moved on to trims, laces, and ribbons. Let me tell you, QueenBe's recipe works great for all of them and they smell so good!Then we invented our own recipe for making some pretty pink strawberry scented tags and trims. To make your own pretty pink strawberry scented tags and trims, you will need:

*Standard shipping tags ~ We used medium and small tags in a cream color, white will work too
*1 1/2 cups boiling water
*2 Moroccan Pomegranate Red tea bags ~ Celestial Seasonings is the brand we used
*6 drops red food coloring
*3 Tablespoons strawberry flavoring ~ found in the baking section of the grocery store
*Cookie cooling racks
*Shallow container ~ I use and old casserole dish
*Old Cookie sheet ~ be sure it is not rusty, if it is, cover it with aluminum foil
*250 degree preheated oven

TO MAKE TAGS:

*Pour boiling water into shallow dish and steep tea bags in boiling water for several minutes, stirring occasionally to distribute colored tea.

*Add food coloring and strawberry flavoring, stir.

*Place tags in liquid mixture and allow to soak for 20 seconds or so until they reach the desired depth of color of your choice.

*Remove tags from liquid and place on old baking pan in a single layer, make sure pan is not rusty or the rust will transfer to the tag and stain it.

*Place baking sheet in preheated oven and bake for 3 minutes, remove from oven, turn over tags, replace in oven for 3 more minutes. Tags are dry when they begin to curl. DO NOT LEAVE TAGS UNATTENDED!

*Cool tags on cookie cooling racks.

*Once completely dry and cool, store tags in a sealed container or zip storage bag until use. This will preserve the scent of the tag.

*Remove tags from storage and embellish any way you wish and enjoy!

*For trims, soak in liquid mixture until desired color is reached. Gently squeeze out excess liquid. Lay trim out on a flat surface covered with waxed paper and paper towels and allow to dry. I put some paper under some of mine instead of paper towels and it left the dye residue on the paper staining it, which will make a really cool background paper.

I am working on some other scented tag experiments, I'll let you know how they turn out. I am thinking peppermint for Christmas!

Well, I have not quite come unglued yet, I still have to tackle the inside of the trunk bottom before I can get to the old door project. Aren't the possibilities of a whole new life by the addition of a little paper and glue delicious? In the meantime, I hope you all have a very wonderful weekend. In the next post we will play the guessing game I mentioned and yes, there will be prizes!

Blessings,
Sandy

Work In Progress...

I know, not such a pretty photo to head a post with but hey, gluing is just not that glamorous and that is mostly what I am doing today.

I thought I would pop in while I am taking a break and post on the studio spruce up work in progress. I got all the pieces cleaned up, sanded, primed, and painted. Some of you asked where I got these items. Actually, they were all pieces I already owned that were no longer in use and in storage. My challenge to myself was to try and come up with replacement storage without spending any or at least very little money. That meant I had to scout out the storage building and the loft of the barn for potential pieces.

The bookcase with the spindles was a flea market find and the other one Handy Hubby built. The one was stacked on the other to make one large unit that I used as a display in a flea market booth I used to have. At one point I added fabric to the back it held all our home school materials and it also served as guest room storage for fluffy towels, extra blankets, etc. at another time. When it was no longer needed it went to storage and held tubs of Christmas ornaments. The Christmas ornament tubs stack just fine on the floor so I snitched it for the studio.The little door is one of a pair of closet doors that I salvaged from my grandmothers homestead before it gave way. The other door resides on an antique wardrobe that a friend gave me. All the drawers were in tact but it did not have a door. This little door was a perfect fit. My son is currently using the piece in his home.The child's trunk was a gift from my mother to my daughter but my daughter never liked the trunk and it was never used because there was no room for it in her room. It has been sitting in the loft of the barn for many years.Today I am papering the back of the shelf unit with old book pages and sheet music. The back has holes drilled in it where I had cords for lighting when it was a booth display. Not wanting to go to the hassle of replacing it I am just papering over them. Tonight I should be able to seal the pages with a non~yellowing sealer.I wanted this to match the previous build we did so I am keeping it simple with white paint and book pages. I'll tackle the door and trunk this afternoon. I am not sure I want to paint the outside of the trunk now that it is clean, I rather like the patina. What do you think?Hopefully I can get all the work done so that it can all be sealed today, that way it can dry the rest of the week and be ready to load up this weekend.

While visiting Dawn I followed this link and found this storage idea...and I want to make one for my studio. I love this! I even have some of my grandmothers canning jars with date stamps from the early 1900's that I could use. I also have some salvaged wood pieces that would work well and I can raid Handy Hubby's stash for the clamps.

Have you seen any clever storage ideas lately or do you have any you would like to share? I'd love a link! Break time is over and I have to go glue. Have a great day!

Blessings,
Miss Sandy

Sprucing Up the Studio.....

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."

~A. A. Milne~

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that now that Darling Daughter had moved out that all things not studio related have moved into her recently vacated closet. So, that left me with more space to reorganize supplies. Formerly, the closet looked like this...If you want a full glimpse of the former space you can visit this post.

We installed shelving all the way across the space and I am still in the progress of figuring out exactly how I want it all arranged. This might have been simpler to do if I would have had time to plan it all out before the move.

Darling Daughter needed one of my cupboards for her art supplies in her new home and I had promised her any or all of the cupboards if she wanted them. I had to quickly empty this one...

for her to take with her, so all the stuff from it got shoved in a box or in the closet. Then this one and the one in the closet needed to be emptied...to be taken up to my grandmothers for a laundry room project, so all their contents also got shoved into the closet. That is why the closet looks like a some what of a messy jumble, just a small peek mind you of the part that looks pretty good...

I did not like looking at the empty space evacuated by darling daughter so I shoved some of the stuff up on the shelves like this...I probably won't leave it this way but at least the stuff is off of the floor! It is mostly books and boxes that need to find a home, possibly not mine. I have a crazy habit of buying interesting boxes and filling them with smalls when I flea market. I sometimes forget what is inside each one and it is like a treasure hunt to open them. I will honestly tell you that I don't have a clue whats in some of these. Maybe later this week we will play a game of guessing what's inside.

I still have to sift through the stuff Darling Daughter left behind. Shall we take a peek and see if there is any good stuff? In drawer number 1... just junk!In drawer number 2...JACKPOT! Yummy rubber stamps!She knows how much I love and used her feather so she left it for me, so sweet.In drawer number 3...pretty papers left over from her projects! Underneath, more paper and card kits, and beneath that decorative scissors and other fun stuff!

Cabinet number 1...a container full of cards, a lot them handmade by her!Also, this container full of fabulous papers, stickers, and embellishments that she says are no longer her style, lucky me!And this one...full of stickers and embellishments!And yet another container full of paper kits and embellishments she has assembled!A drawer full of ...bright cheery Christmas goodness! That solves this years card making idea, I'm using this stuff! I love hand~me~downs and leftovers like this don't you? I asked her a thousand times if she was sure she wanted to leave this stuff. She got very exasperate with me and said, "Yes, I am sure! Now go play and have fun with it all."

Underneath I found two scrapbooks that were nearly finished that she says she has outgrown, girlhood stuff. I'll finish them, save them, and give them to her in ten years when her twenties have slipped into her thirties and she will once again be sentimental about such stuff.Lastly, I found this...an album almost complete of precious girlhood memories with more finished pages yet to be added. I'll finish it too and save it for her.Now I have to sort through her stuff and my stuff and combine all our stuff but first I have to have a place to put all this stuff now that my cabinets are gone. So, that is where this stuff I dragged out of storage comes in, two tatty old book cases...An old door...

A very dirty stinky antique child's trunk...

Add to the mixture some primer and white paint, a few brackets and old book pages, boards, some scissors and glue, plus a paint brush and I will be sprucing up the studio for the next day or two! All this disorder really did bring about some exciting discoveries. Hmmm, maybe I won't clean it up after all, exploring is rather fun. I hope you all have some lovely plans for this week.

Blessings,

Miss Sandy