A New Toy...I Mean Tool

WARNING

PICTURE HEAVY POST

 

I have been wanting one of these for SO LONG!
If you follow me on Pinterest you probably already know what it is
because I have been pinning so much about it!

These aren't cheap by any means and because it was a WANT,
 and not a necessity, the money wasn't coming out of the household budget.

If I wanted one I had to somehow come up with the extra money

to buy one on my own.

 

This is my WANT.
A brand spanking new DSLR Camera!
I wanted to be able to have complete control over my camera.

Well wouldn't you know.
 I found a way to get one without even trying!

Isn't it funny how when you least expect it everything

suddenly falls into place.

 

I created something and took it to work to show it off.

I had a couple of co-workers asks me if I make them to sell
because they wanted to give these as gifts.

I had never thought about selling them, I just wanted to know
what other people thought of them.

After I received a couple of requests to make them I got to thinking,

maybe I could sell enough to buy my new toy tool I have been wanting.

 

I did just that!
I sold more than enough to buy my new WANT!
These practically sold themselves!
Word got around and I had people coming to me to order them.
Some people came back and ordered more!

I would show you what it is but because I received such positive comments,
I decided to give these as Christmas gifts and I don't want the recipients to see them.

 

I have been very busy learning how to use my new camera.

I went outside and started playing around and snapping pictures.

I think my pictures didn't turn out too shabby for

an amateur photographer if I do say so myself.

Bear in mind that I still have a LOT to learn about photography.

These are straight from the camera and the only thing I did to these

pictures was crop them, that's it!

 

 Here are a few pictures that I took.....o.k. more than a few.

 

Our Balloon Flowers

 

Our Shasta Daisies and Yarrow

Do you see the droplet of water?

 

Our Hydrangea

Showing our Patriot Spirit!

One of our wind chimes with the sky as the background

 

Playing with shadows

 

Our Stargazer Lilies

 

 

We went to our Son & DIL's house yesterday to cut up a HUGE

tree limb that had fallen.  They have a lot of old oak trees around their house.

Of course I took my new camera with me!

While there I snapped a few more pictures.

 

One of their many oak trees

 

Their Pee Gee Hydrangeas have HUGH blooms on them.

 

Can you spot the bee on their Black Eyed Susans?

 

Their Phlox are such a beautiful color.

 

And they have 2 new Russian Blue kitties.

Here is one of them.

Notice how they blend in with their couch?

 

Before we left home, Hubby said "Quick grab your camera

and come take a picture of this!"

This really was a quickly taken photo.

I think it turned out pretty good for a quick picture.

She was so focused on that chipmunk.

 

 Sorry that I overloaded you with pictures.

Can you tell I'm just SO EXCITED about my new camera?

 

Well, I'm off to learn and capture more pictures!

 

Until Next Time,

Veronica

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Gold to Concrete

While out-n-about yesterday I thought I would pop

into our local Thrift store and see what I could

 find.

 

Well wouldn't you know, I did find something!

 

I came walking out to the car with this.

 

 

Hubby just gave me that look, you know the one,

the one that says "what in the world are you

going to do with THAT thing?"

 

That THING costs me a whole $1.69!

 

I wasn't interested in the fake plant thingy,

I was interested in the urn.

 

Every time we go to a garden center I am always checking out

the concrete urns hoping that they would be on sale.

No such luck yet!

 

I was so EXCITED when I spotted this urn.

It was the exact style I was looking for!

 

 

Once we got home I got right to work on THAT thing.

 

I dug out my Annie Sloan Chalk paints.

I painted the whole thing with Paris Grey.

Then I applied Annie Sloan Soft Dark wax and gently rubbed it into the

crevices to give it an aged look.

The final step was to give it a white-washed look.

I poured some of the Annie Sloan Pure White into a container

and diluted it with a little bit of water.  Once it was thin enough,

I applied this to the entire outside of the urn and again gently rubbed it off.

 

After about 30 minutes of dry time it was ready to decorate.

 

Here is my new and improved urn.

 

 

Hubby was amazed that this looks like it is made out of concrete,

It's that real looking.

 

Have you priced those concrete urns?

There're not cheap that's for sure!

 

For $1.69, a little time and paint, I think mine looks just as good as the real deal.

I'd call that a good investment!

 

Isn't it amazing how a little bit of paint can transform something?

 

That's it for this week.

 

Until Next Time,

Veronica

 

 

A Burlap Topiary

 

The space under my DIY Botanical prints was looking a little bare.

I needed something that would fill in that empty space between

the prints and the trash bin.  I wanted something that had a

little height to it yet would blend in with the prints.

 

I've been wanting to make a topiary for some time

now and thought that one would look good on the trash bin.

 

I decided to use a galvanized bucket, burlap and faux moss

to give my topiary a natural feel to it.

 

I think that this was the perfect fit for

that empty space.

 

Here is a closer look.

 

 

 

These were super easy to make and only costs me $2.17 to make 2!

I had everything except the buckets and dowel rod.

 

Here is how I made my topiary.

 

Supplies:

 

 

1 - 4 inch Styrofoam ball

Container to place your topiary in (purchased 2 from Michael's for .79 cents each)

Material of choice (I used Burlap)

dowel rod (purchased 1 from Michael's for .59 cents)

paint or stain

square piece of Styrofoam (this is to anchor the topiary)

Hot Glue Gun

*I tried using straight pins but they wouldn't hold the burlap

Stones or marbles or anything to weight the topiary down

 

Let's get started!

 

Paint or stain your dowel rod and set aside to dry.

 

Cut your material into 5 inch squares (I used approx. 50 squares per topiary).

Grab a  squares and fold it into a triangle shape.

 



 

Place a drop of hot glue at the bottom point and bring the right-hand point down and adhere.

(I use a wooden screwer so I didn't burn my fingers)

 

 

Turn your piece over and repeat the same process.

 

 

Add a drop of hot glue to the bottom point and adhere to the Styrofoam ball.

 

 

(Ignore the straight pins) 

Continue making your points and adding them to the Styrofoam ball until the ball is completely covered, making sure that you leave a small area open on the bottom to attach the dowel rod.

 

The next few steps I didn't take any pictures to show.  It was getting late and I was in a hurry to get these done.  I'm confident that you will be able to compete these without any visuals.

 

Once your Styrofoam ball is completely covered, insert your dowel rod into the bottom and hot glue in place.

 

Stand your topiary up in your container to determine how tall you want it.

Cut your dowel rod to size and place in the center of your Styrofoam square and hot glue into place.

 

Hot glue the bottom of your Styrofoam square and adhere inside your container.

 

Add your stones to the container.

 

If you are adding moss to your topiary, place hot glue on top of the stones and add your moss, being careful not to burn your fingers.

 

You now have a beautiful topiary to display.

 

 

That's it for this week.

 

Until Next Time,

Veronica

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Classical Timeless Style

Last week I mentioned that I purchased a second item

from Pottery Barn and would show y'all this week what it was.

 

Here is what I purchased.

 

 

The minute I saw it I just knew that I had to have it!

It is such a classic looking piece.

It reminded me of an old pocket watch.

 

Well wouldn't you know the name of this clock

is the Pocket Watch Clock!

 

I had a hard time deciding if I wanted the black one or the silver one.

As you can see I chose the large black one.

 

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, I just knew I liked it

and had to have it.  It kept calling me back to look at it!

It was meant to come home with me!

 

I didn't do anything with it for about a week after I purchased it.

It sat in the box on the kitchen counter taunting me every time

I walked by it.  Even though I got it on sale I still paid good

hard earned money for it.  I needed to do something with it

instead of leaving it sit in the box.

 

As I was sitting enjoying a cup of coffee one evening facing

our curio cabinet, inspiration hit me right up side the head!

 

I could place it in our curio cabinet!

 

I carefully placed it on the top shelf (this clock is heavy).

I stood back and looked at it.

It didn't look right in there.

So I started rearranging replacing items in the curio cabinet.

 

This is an old picture but the layout is the same.

We rearranged the living room furniture awhile ago and moved

the cabinet to the other side of the room.

 

This is the before picture of the curio cabinet.

 

 

Here is what the curio cabinet looks like now.

 

 

A completely different look.

 

I realize this isn't the best of pictures.

I was taking these late at night and the lighting wasn't the best, plus I was tired.

 

Let's open the door and have a look inside.

 

 

Here are a couple of close ups of the shelves.

 

 

 

Did you notice how easily your eyes flowed from one shelf to the next?

I will show you how I accomplished that in another post.

 

This curio cabinet has a light in it which we turn on every night.

It has such a pleasant look now at night, as well as, the daytime.

I'm  so happy with how this turned out.

It now coordinates with the rest of the room.

 

 

That's it for this week.

 

Until Next Time,

Veronica