Longing...

The beautiful weather is making me sad.  Yes, it's true.  Maybe not so much sad as just longing for the past. We moved into town 3 years ago to be closer to our jobs. 

This was our backyard before:

This is our backyard now:

Our front yard before:

Our front yard now (just the right-hand side - the left is the neighbour's):

Do you see what I'm getting at?  I'm longing for space. Breathing room. And tranquility.  The dogs go stir-crazy without enough room to run, and I get angry listening to my neighbour's rap music turned up to maximum volume every weekend. I feel bad for Tom (and me) because there is nowhere to work on projects except the tiny garage. 

But it's not as easy as buying another house.  It's nearly impossible to find houses in our area that have any sort of land attached to them. Other than the multi-million dollar mansions, space just doesn't exist anymore.

I never considered myself a country girl, but right now I'd give up all our conveniences to swing in the hammock just once without banging into the neighbour's fence.

My Kind of Yard Sale

My office is merging with another office across the city in June, so our photo studio has spent the last month sorting out rooms and rooms of props - keep, sell, trash.  I mentioned before about the yard sales they hold and some of the amazing deals you can get. 

Because there was so much to get rid of this time, they held several sales over the course of two weeks.  I was on vacation for the first week so I missed out on some things, but I did manage to grab some bargains when I got back.  And because the girl managing it was so tired of the whole thing by then, I paid less than I probably would have at the beginning.

First I found this crate.  It's about 18x12x12 inches. The wood is so smooth, and look how well the corners are reinforced.  Original cost - $16.99.  My price - free.  I would have paid full price for it.

Then there was this jug/vase/planter.  It is heavy clay and  a pretty good size.  There are a couple of chips around the mouth, but for me that just adds to the look. I don't know the original price but I paid 50 cents for it.

This tin with lid was also 50 cents.  Regular price $9.99.  It has a "15" painted on one side that I don't really like, but I'm pretty sure I can remove it or paint over it.

Here are my three little bargains playing nicely together. 

At least someone in this house behaves. 

So if you're keeping track that's $1.00 for all three items. 

Sounds good right?

Hold on to your hat.

At the final sale I bought this white bench for the whopping low price of two dollars. 

No one wanted it because the top doesn't open so you can't use it for storage.  I just want to use it for a bench on the back deck. There is never enough seating.  Plus I think the top could be removed and hinges added if I really wanted to turn it into storage. 

It needs some TLC but nothing too extensive.  Just some wood filler and paint. And the front panels are covered in a linen/dropcloth-type material.  Be still my heart.

Right now it's sitting in the front window upstairs and Sasha appreciates 

how much easier it is to spy on the neighbourhood.

Maybe I should be nice and sew a cushion for her.

Maybe she should stop being so nosy.



Painted Vases

Sorry for the late post - I was in an offsite meeting all day.  But I did get a free lunch out of it so no complaints from me.

One of my gluing stuff to other stuff projects involved vases.  I've been wanting to try this effect for a long time and spur-of-the-moment gave it a go.

All you need is a clear candle holder or vase of some kind, and acrylic paint. 

I poured some navy paint into the glass and swirled it

around to cover the entire inside surface. 

It looks kind of cool at this midpoint. Maybe I'll stop here next time.

Once the inside was covered, I poured the excess paint back into the bottle. 

Ta-da! A vase! 

I then repeated the same steps with a new glass and some slate green paint. 

I left them to dry for a few days.  If you're planning on putting water in the vase you'll want to spray the inside of the glass (once it's dry) with a sealer.

But I wasn't done. Oh no, there's more.  I then took my hot glue gun and glued a thick sisal rope onto the base. I started in the center of the bottom and spiraled the rope outwards, gluing as I went.

And up the sides about two inches. Make sure you end the rope at the same point as it left the bottom and started up the side so that your rope looks level.

We went grocery shopping the next day and I picked up some yellow tulips. 

I love tulips so much.  And the yellow is a striking contrast to the navy blue and slate green.  Plus the rope gives it a slightly nautical look.

It's spring y'all!

~~~~~~~~~

I'm linking to these parties this week!