Tag Archives: antique

It’s Time To Clean My House.

Posted by Leanne on July 17, 2012 12 comments

seriously. this house is a mess!! Today I spent all day on the kitchen, dining room and part of the living room. that’s only 1/4 of our house!

In 3 days it will be exactly a month since I went in for my lumbar puncture. It feels like yesterday. Although I feel 99% like my pre-lumbar puncture self, I was traumatized enough to fear doing something to bring that level of pain back. I never want to feel that again. And again, thank you all for your thoughts, love and prayers. One of my readers asked why I don’t blog about my personal life more often, and my response, after thinking about it, was that I feel bad when my loved ones find out what’s going on in my life from my blog instead of straight from me. But when I told this to one of my best friends, she thanked me for blogging about it…. we are all so busy in our little lives with our little kids and our crazy homes, we rarely have the chance to talk. Which is too bad, I know, but this is our friendship and we are okay with it. So, from now on, I will try to get a little more personal!

My whole lumbar puncture episode took about a week and a half out of my normal life. I knew I had a market looming that I needed products ready to sell. Praying I’d feel well enough to work it, I convinced myself I had enough product to pull it off (which I would have). But once I felt well enough, I couldn’t see things that way anymore! Wanna know what we did the last couple weeks???

Ready for it??

antique-pickin’

: pickin’-cleanin’

gross upholstry-tearin’

bathtub renovatin’ – ewwww before pic

custom table makeover deliverin’

3 nights of family campin’ and fire makin’

bird-watchin’ (this little bird house was above our cabin, and this little baby had its head out day and night, chirping away… we saw momma coming often to feed the baby, so cute!)

dirt-diggin’

football-playin’

frisbee-throwin’

tongue-stickin’-out (a family trait passed down to our children from my hubby’s side!)

running running running

s’mores-eatin’

sturgeon-fishin’ (okay, I wasn’t invited, but hubby and the men in my family went on my bro’s boat – the one in red – who is a fishing tour guide, went sturgeon fishing to celebrate my dad’s – the other guy – 65th birthday. the day before the market, I might add )

market set-up preppin’ in the carport

well, wouldn’t you know it, I can’t access my pictures right now. waitin’, waitin’…. I’ve been having serious issues with blogging since I’ve switched to this self-hosted blog. It’s very disappointing, and very, very frustrating, and extremely time-consuming. I love blogging, but it is getting easy to get discouraged, especially when I want to make a detailed post, like this one. Still brainstorming ideas… let’s try again…

yay, here we go! Market day!! the market was supposed to be outdoors, but the weather decided to turn bad on us. So we were nice and cozy indoors instead.

unfortunately the people weren’t there to buy. The vendor idea was new this year, and people didn’t bring cash. I sold 4 items, and I was one of the highest in sales. A little disappointing for everyone.

fortunately I was surrounded by fabulous vendors, many of whom I’ve been stalking for a while, admiring their work! And also met many great new people.

I created MANY new products for the show

it will take me forever to blog about all the new items I made, so if you see anything that interests you, Please Ask! Pictured here are some of the new magnetic boards I made.

…growth chart boards…

…a few masterpieces of my own

a gorgeous window frame with panes still in it (now on my mantle until someone snatches it away from me!) and some new “Keep Calm and Carry On” ‘s behind it

I’ll have a hard time when a buyer comes along for this antique chair planter (the same chair as the first picture!) it’s now sitting on my front “porch”.

Well, that’s it for today!! Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

and thanks for reading!!

xo, Leanne

Linking to:

Have You Ever Been?

Posted by Leanne on June 19, 2012 7 comments

Granny and Grumpa's Antiques - why have I never heard of this place before?!

I will apologize in advance for the length of this post!!! But I really wanted to share all of this with you! Friday we finally had a clear sky, and I couldn’t wait to take advantage of it…. so with baby asleep and hubby working from home, I picked up Anna from preschool, and hit up a place I only found about recently…

Granny and Grumpa's Antiques - why have I never heard of this place before?!

the first barn....

and many, many, more barns full!

...so many signs! Don't let the "no parking" signs and "don't you even think about parking here" signs trick you! Go ahead and park anywhere!

when we pulled up, there was this adorable old dog, who howled so sadly... we couldn't help but give him some love (and maybe feed him some french fries. ahem).

The first room, Lanterns galore!!

these rides worked - without having to pay for them! Just press the button - made Anna's day!

a room devoted to coke memorabilia

...another for beer!

beware, there are these mannequins everywhere - especially around corners! This first one freaked the living daylights out of me!!

you won't believe the rooms dedicated to dolls! Anna and I spent a lot of time in here! Some I recognized from childhood, and some so scary we didn't want to look at them twice!

shelves of antique bicycles...

so.many.license plates.

baby carriage galore

horse carriage galore

I really wanted this box. Shopping with a 4-year-old doesn't leave much time for decision-making though. Oh, FYI, they only take cash. I didn't bring cash. (might have been a good thing!)

I love these big wheels. I've mentioned before I love garden knickknacks - these are no exception!

...there are so many of them!...

a very cool pulper

one of the barns has a second level, with so many books

...so many pianos...

...so many lamps...

..this table was there, and completely creeped Anna out! LOL!...

...so many frames!..

more and more fantastic junk!

this fantastic place is in the country, close to the Whatcom overpass, off of highway 1. It's number 1 on Abbotsford's Farm Circle Tour

cool things for Anna to play on...

Laundry washboards! I love these things! I will be going back for one!!

I haven't shown you anything compared to everything that's there! You really must take some time to check this place out! Have you been there before?? What did you think?!

so much fun!! I can’t wait to go back! Preferable without kids and with cash!

Can I show you more pictures?? I’m sorry this post probably takes awhile to load, but I need to show you what we did at the end of the day!

We live so close to the Greater Vancouver Zoo, and get there as often as we can, even if it’s only for an hour… and this time we hit it lucky!

we got to get up close and personal with the new baby zebra!!

there was a small crew in the barn, shooting for a commercial, and they let the kids and I in to get close to the momma and her baby! SO special!

I am a big fan of our zoo, and love every time I take the kids. It annoys me a bit that they always insist on taking their bikes, but when we get there, it's all good.

except for when Jordan's chain fall off, and Anna has to go pee. grrr.

but, I suck it up, and continue to be amazed that we can see such beauty, so up close...some time with Shadow the Grizzly Bear

...the bald eagles that have been injured in the wild, and now have a safe haven at the zoo...

...caribou..

more babies!! So cute!!!

most of all I love watching the wonder and excitement in my children.

my beautiful, happy children!

I just found this quote tonight: “I will spend eternity knowing my children as adults. But tonight, right here, right now, and for the next precious years, I have the rare privilege of knowing them as a child. What a gift to experience the children in our lives as children! For a brief moment during the journey of mortality, we get to watch them laugh, learn, experience, grow.” ~Author Unknown

Thank you so, so much for reading!

xo, Leanne

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Chicken Wire and a Giveaway!!

Posted by Leanne on May 22, 2012 17 comments

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend?! We took it easy most of the weekend… Saturday was an outside day, catching up on some yard work…Sunday was a movie day, as both Jordan and I were under the weather… Yesterday us Canadians had an extra day off! Yay! So we took advantage of the day and went across the border to Linden, Washington again. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know this is one of my favorite places to spend a day. My favorite restaurant, my favorite antique store, a candy store next door to bribe the kids, and on a sunny day there is the most amazing playground in town. One day I will take pictures of the playground, it is quite something! Yesterday was a very rainy day however, so they kids got a little extra candy!

I’m excited to show you a frame I repurposed! It will currently be for sale, on my For Sale page, but I’m kind of humming and hawing on whether I want to keep it or not!!

this frame went from this:

To this:

I love the contrast of the bright yellow (Martha Stewart’s Cornbread) and the dark fabric. And I am a sucker for leaf prints!

I don’t have good photos on how I did it, but I’ll try to explain along the way… this was my first time working with chicken wire though, so I was a little apprehensive, and too concentrated to think of taking pictures!!

again, a close-up of the frame... I took it all apart, and gave the frame a cleaning, sanding, and 2 coats of yellow... because I didn't think distressing it would give it much of an impact, being that the original color was white, I used "Distress Ink" to give it more depth and a distressed look...

...here you can see a bit of the effect the Distressed Ink gave to the yellow...

... I actually used the original picture to wrap the fabric around, and hot glued the fabric to the back...

before fitting the fabric board into the frame, I had cut a piece of chicken wire to fit in first, then fit the fabric board in next. I bent the chicken wire around the fabric board, and taped down the edges. I then finished off the back fully with a piece of cardboard, so the back is nice and covered....

Here is a photo of the chicken wire bent around the back of the fabric board, before I taped it...

...oh, and I forgot to mention I also stapled the chicken wire on the back, with a staple gun, before taping down the ends, just to make sure it all stays in place!...

...the back... in the "wrapping" process...

and done! it was a learning experience, but an addicting one, so I'm sure there will be more of these to come!!...

...so in case you don't quite understand how it works, the fabric is behind the chicken wire...

...the chicken wire sits far enough away from the fabric, so you can use clips of your choice, to clip your memos to the chicken wire...

...I chose to use clothespins, as they are adorable and inexpensive!...

I love how functional and sweet this piece is, and I love the rustic-ness the chicken wire gives to this piece...

If you LOVE it, be sure to check out my For Sale Page!! I’d love to pass this on to another loving home, before it finds a permanent wall in our house to hang on!!

Thank you so much for reading!! And by the way, my Facebook Page has reached 49 Likes!! I’ve decided that for every 50 likes on my Facebook Page, I will hold a GIVEAWAY!!… I’m just not sure what the first GIVEAWAY will be yet!! I better decide that before I get 1 more Like! Pass on the word, I’d love your help to help my Facebook Page grow!!

Thank you!! xo, Leanne

Partying at: Embracing Change, The Shabby Creek Cottage

It’s Magnetic!!

Posted by Leanne on May 8, 2012 None comments

The weather here has been SO amazing the past 2 days, it has been almost shocking! People are out in droves trying to soak it all up. We have had so much rain here since last summer, we take advantage of every sunny day we can.

On Sunday we had a fabulous day taking advantage of the sun. We had a picnic on the beach at Harrison Hot Springs, went for a walk around the water (which takes incredibly long with 3 kids, loose shoe laces, runny noses, birds to chase, flowers to pick, and pictures to take). Did some “window shopping” at The Back Porch (coffee, antiques and collectibles), chased the chickens there and fed the goats, drove up to Hicks Lake and took a little walk, had dinner back in Harrison, and stopped by my parents for a quick visit and some ice cream! It was just so great to get out of the house for a day!

Today I want to share with you a personal favorite of one of my creations… you can find this beauty on my For Sale page, which I just updated yesterday, by the way!

A Magnetic Board!

Oh, I so love this one.

I don’t have a very good selection of pictures on how I did it, but here’s a small glimpse. If you would like a more descriptive idea, then my post of Turquoise Twins might help you out.

This is what I started out with:

this is what I started out with. I picked it up from a local thrift store. this was another one of those occasions when the cashier said "oh what a beautiful picture!!" When I explained what I was going to do with it, she didn't seem too impressed. :/

a close up of the frame...

I carefully took the whole thing apart....

...part of the process of taking it apart...

I used this little thingy to help pull the staples out...

... and the frame. I gave the frame a quick sanding a cleaning, then gave it one coat of graphite paint...

and that’s it for the “during” pictures… but I’ll try to explain my steps while you enjoy the “after” pics

...after my one coat of graphite, I noticed some of the original color was peaking through, and looked awesome. It didn't need any distressing, it was just perfect the way it was... I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture, but watch for it!...

the frame received a thin coat of clear Annie Sloan Wax for protection

for the inside of the frame, I cut a piece of sheet metal to size...

... measured the fabric an inch wider than the sheet metal... and this is where I began to mess up a little...

before realizing I was messing up, I carefully hot glued the fabric to the back of the sheet metal...

...when I turned it over to admire my work, I realized I hadn't removed the store code sticker from the sheet metal, and it showed through the fabric! Darn it anyways...

... I carefully pulled back the fabric, and began to try to peel off the sticker...

...luckily I didn't get too involved in this before I realized my other mistake...

and I clued in that I had fit the fabric pattern to run in the wrong direction!!...

... I was keeping the original hanging wire, so the frame was hanging horizontal... but at this point the fabric was vertical...again, a few curse words...

I ripped the fabric off, carefully started over again, checked it and double checked it before hot gluing the fabric to the back (which used to be the front, I remembered to turn the sheet metal upside down!)... I placed the sheet metal into the frame, and used the original picture, upside down, to fill in the void space. Taped it in place, and, sigh....

Ta-da!

…A gorgeous magnetic board, perfect for your kitchen or living room! Check the For Sale page for details, and otherwise, thank you SO much for reading!!

xo, Leanne (PS. Update: This item has been SOLD!)

Partying at: Not just a Housewife

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It Is Well With My Soul

Posted by Leanne on April 12, 2012 12 comments

Yesterday we were in a bit of a panic, when Jordan was sent home from school in the morning because he had spots… which they figured were the chicken pox. Suddenly my coffee date with my pregnant friend, and then a playdate with another family had to be cancelled, and we were on high alert. Chicken Pox?! Weren’t our kids vaccinated for this?? But after some research, I read it is still possible of get a mild case of it, even with vaccinations. Luckily we were able to get in with our family doctor, and he came to a much more relieving and believable diagnosis – Jordan’s allergies have been a little out of control this season, and now it’s coming through in his skin. This does not surprise me, as everything shows through my skin too… as an esthetician it was a bit intimidating to receive facials, as my co-workers were often able to tell what I was going through! But strangely enough, even though we know we are all-clear, I can’t stop itching! LOL

So, now that we are at peace again in our home, the following project is appropriate!

Another hymn that makes me sing! ”when peace like a river attendeth my soul, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well, It is well with my soul!”

It Is Well With My Soul

My How-I-Did-It:

...beginning with a scrap piece of wood, I sanded, cleaned, and then stained it with the Dark Walnut from Minwax... I love the way the personality of the wood shows up with stain. My application process is to wear gloves, use a rag to wipe on, and a rag to wipe off 5 minutes later...

...I had created my template on Picnik.com (which is closing in a few says, sigh), and printed it out on my printer... I cut the words and decided on their placing...

... oh, before I cut the words, I prepared for my transfer method... because of the darkness of the stain, I chose to color the back of my template with yellow crayon, instead of the pencil or newspaper transfer method that I usually use...

...taped the words into place, and I traced them with a ballpoint pen, which allows the yellow crayon to transfer onto the board...

I used my trusty Sharpie paint pen to paint the words on.... and realized I couldn't see them! I tested it on hubby, and he couldn't read them either.... he suggested I outline them in white paint...

...and I didn't like it. Hubby liked it, the kids loved it, but it wasn't my vision... this seems to be a theme with me lately! So it sat on the mantle for a few days while I tried to decide what to do...

...I decided to give it a coat of antique white, and I was planning on sanding it, and re-painting the words over top of this new coat...

...and as I sanded it, I started to love it!...

...as the white sanded away, the colors underneath began showing in a new way...

...I was loving the way the heart was showing...

...and we could all read the words!...

...there is still a hint of white, but the beautiful stain still shows...

...I have since waxed it and added a twine hangar to it...very sweet!...

...and it will be added to my For Sale page soon!

I hope you love it! Feel free to pin away!!

Here’s to a fabulous Thursday and a chicken pox – FREE home! Have a great day, and thank you so much for reading! OH! And before I forget, if you are a fan of Naartjia clothing for kids, they are having sales GALORE, and are opening a Canadian website April 19th! Whootwhoot! If you decide to make a purchase, I would be extremely grateful if you did it through the links below! Thank you!!

Naartjia Kids is opening a CANADIAN online Store!! If you are a fan, you must check out the following link!!

Grand Opening Sale!! Receive 25% Off Entire Purchase with code word: DELIGHT When You Shop Our *BRAND NEW* Canadian Webstore, April 19-25!

| ONE DAY ONLY | Summer 2 Collection Launch! Entire Stock of Essentials $8 EACH! (April 12)