I really do exist! I have a follower!!! (Thanks, Jane!)

I guess I really am a blogger now & not just talking to myself (or thinking out loud as I like to call it). I actually have a real follower! So, in honor of this auspicious occasion,  I'd like to share a couple of things I made that were inspired by posts on HER blog, Mamie Jane's.

Old printer's drawers are great. I have several & come across them often. Admittedly, a bulletin board is one use that never occurred to me until I saw Jane's post on a Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Night Special Link Party. Here is one I was inspired to make, using scrapbook paper, vintage jewelry, lace trim & small vintage metal letterpress type. (Ignore the knobs above the middle... I had to lean it against my bathroom cabinets to get good light for a photo & couldn't crop them out of the photo.) The letterpress type words are "ideas", "notes", & "share". Obviously most of these letters are backwards (they had to be for printing), but the "d" is not. That's because it looked like a "b" & just didn't work. The antique store I got them from was closing; I wish now I had bought more from her when I had the chance.

I have another printer's drawer that I had the back replaced with a mirror a few years ago, since the back already had a hole in it. (It's hard to get a good photograph of that one because of the glare.) It looks really nice over our old piano that my husband refinished about 12 years ago.

I know I'm a couple of days late with Fourth of July pics, but I loved next project so much I think I may change it out for several holidays, though I don't think it will make it through July in its current configuration. Once I discovered Jane's blog & had a chance to read earlier posts, I found this one: A Thrifty Photo Holder, she filled her oil lamp with jelly beans for Easter (adorable, BTW). After finding a lamp at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago, I had hoped to find small shiny red, white & blue loose pom poms that would fit inside, with no luck. But I did find Hershey's Kisses in blue foil with silver stars. Added a red, white & blue star pick that looks a bit like fireworks & a small flag. I  printed a vintage postcard for the holiday from The Graphics Fairy. It took some thought to figure out how to get a front & back to print the same size & in the right places but luckily I managed without wasting much ink or good cardstock in the process. Here's what it all looks like:

One more Fourth of July pic, this one of one of my FAVORITE things - an ice cream parlor chair. I went to a Friends of a Feather outdoor sale last month, held in an area near where I grew up. My husband dropped me off while he went on his own "junk" hunt (for car parts) so I was there quite a while. The ladies running the sale were very nice and I saw many people come & go, including a current neighbor of mine! I bought two of these wonderful blue chairs (among other things) which have metal seats & can be left outdoors. I remembered seeing red & white striped petunias at the garden center earlier in the week, so I went back to get those. Now I just needed a container to put them in! I was thinking white would do nicely... I bought a wrought iron bowl at The Salvation Army Thrift Store that I painted, distressed, & then lined with leftover coco mat & plastic, then added the flowers. The only bad thing about waiting to buy flowers is they get a little leggy at the garden center but you do get a good price. A little creative trimming & they've grown back nice & even. I stuck a couple of flags in the pot for the holiday. We've had rain this morning, which may be keeping the red from being as bright as usual.

Stuff that needs to get done...

I'm finally getting somewhere with this blog! I have so many things I want to do... the problem is I just can't decide whether to work on projects, shop, read blogs, or work on this one. Junking and reading other blogs seem to have won the battle lately!
But housework needs to be caught up, and a garage sale had before my family calls a hoarding intervention as they don't share my passion for junking - at least not as much... Mostly I need to get rid of the things my children have outgrown, toys and clothing, and some household items. Typical garage sale stuff.

(Later today....)

I actually worked on the blog today - but now I may have overdone it! The background is nice but I can't see the sidebars very well. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know!!!

I want to get started posting pics and sharing ideas. Thanks! (BTW, The house is still a mess...) :-)