Saturday, November 28, 2009

Backroads Georgia.......

What is more fun than wandering the backroads on gorgeous fall day? Well, how about coming across an abandoned old southern mansion that you can actually go in (no front door)!!!!

With the show over, and no projects finished to post about, I take the liberty to indulge myself in sharing my photos (in the next five posts) of this great old house and surrounding area that I discovered while doing what I love the most--riding the backroads!! It was an interesting step back in time to be able to wander around this old house and imagine the stories of the people that had lived there. (It brought to mind my favorite film "Trip To Bountiful")

(Now if someone could tell me how to post lots of photos in one post---I seem to only be able to do five per post, making things a little disjointed when you have to do a bunch---I'm sure it's easy...I just haven't been able to figure it out)

I love the niches (sp?) by the front door.


Backroads Georgia......

View from the back--great old split-rail fence.


There are lots of cotton fields in the area.




Backroads Georgia.....

Interesting to see the construction when the outside layer is gone.



There is an old store across the street....


How long do you suppose it will be before someone steals the fabulous front door?? Never, I hope!!

Backroads Georgia......





Backroads Georgia......

Just behind the house on a side street I stopped to take photos of a little shack, and these curious horses came to visit.....

They were all really pretty, but I fell in love with this dark brown one with a blaze----he was very friendly and good-natured. I really enjoyed talking to him......


Isn't he a beauty? I hated to leave--it's interesting how much of a personality some horses have. My former riding instructor told me that a horse will never forget you....true or not, I'd like to think that......I will have to try to get back and see this beauty someday soon....

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Alabaster photo holder........

When I found this nice alabaster lamp base, I could see it as a hat stand or photo holder, so I started playing with the wire and came up with a new design for displaying photos....

It is much more decorative than my usual round photo clips, and can display one large photo (or book), with 6-7 around it depending on size.....


Friday, November 13, 2009

Vintage Winter Photos.....

For seasonal decorations for the show, I put together some photos that will hang around the booth....the above one is of my sister and I (I'm the short one) with our snowman in Illinois......I added sparkle snow dots to that one....haven't decided whether to put snow on all of them.....

I like them in a banner, but I am going to hang them all over a tree we have at the show.

There are so many fantastic paper artists out there in blogland, (myself not being one of them) and I can just imagine what you'all would do with these.

A lot of these are from my own family photo albums......

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Playing with lamps again.....

I don't know why I enjoy taking lamps apart so much! You can use these lamp collage pedestals for so many different things.....

This is my rainy day project (we are getting lots of wind and rain today--hurricane remnants, I think).

I only had one round globe for the pedestals, and I wanted to do them ALL with round globes, but I am trying to stick to the "use what you have" plan, so pickle jars, a cloche and a vase is what I ended up with for this display idea. (The brass lamp will get painted when it quits raining)

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Vintage handbag project........


I have been collecting black vintage handbags for awhile, but couldn't formulate an idea of how to use them until I had this brainstorm while thrifting. I love vintage little stamped metal frames, and thought they would be cool on the bags. (It is hard to find the old ones, so I had to incorporate a few newer ones, but I rubbed black magic marker on the edge and then wiped it off quickly to just highlight the design and give it a more aged look.) I put holes in the back of the frames and wired them to the bag, then added my favorite dried weed....Chinese Tallow!!


I really love how they look in a grouping on my "chocolate milkshake" wall color in my office.
I had so much fun creating these, and love how they turned out...I am going to put snow scenes in them for the Lakewood show coming up and hang them down a tall iron porch rail.


(Figuring out which setting on my camera to use for the best photo is still challenging--this auto setting doesn't show the brown of the wall color.)


Sunday, October 11, 2009

Shark's in the water and Mom's on the beach!

Looks like a shark, but these are really dolphins!!

I got a chance to go down and see my Mom in Sarasota after the Crabapple show, and while I was taking my early morning run down the beach, I was thrilled to see the dolphins playing very close to shore!!
I've never seen them so close and shallow! By the time I got back and into the water they were farther out, but it reminded me of the times when we would swim in the cove off the marina in the evening when the dolphins were there. (We were always told that there would not be sharks around if there were dolphins).


This is amazingly just a dozen yards off the beach. I will never get tired of seeing the dolphins, and always look for them when I am there. (I REALLY want to be a mermaid when I grow up and hang out with these guys all day!!)




I love these pictures of my Mom on the beach------she certainly appears to be the center of attention....and her hat is so cool!! (miss you already Ma)


Sunday, October 4, 2009

More Crabapple show.......

It was great to run into Mark again--he does the most unique, high-quality, and functional repurposing treatment to old trunks (they tilt to open for storage!), and is really making a name for himself in the art world! Before he heads off to Baltimore for the ACC Wholesale market, you can catch him locally at the Chastain show next weekend in Atlanta---then he's booked for prestigious shows out West like Beaver Creek, Vail, Telluride, and Crested Butte. Check out his website (www.antiquetrunktables.com).


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