~FRENCH WHITE CHAIR MAKEOVER...Oooh La La~

I'm busy helping my mother move today so this is a quick post!  

I finished redoing a few of those charming French Provincial Chairs I shared with you a few weeks ago and here is what the captain style chair looks like today...

Here's the before shot in case your interested!

Such a mix of cottage romance and French white charm!  I'm loving it so much I just MAY reupholster my chairs in my home to match.  (They need recovering anyway!)

I added this sweet painted cabinet to my website shoppe today and also the sweet hand painted vintage camping stool below...

Everything's coming up roses for me and for you!

And...if you are wondering about those of us here in Oklahoma who experienced severe weather last night~  Well...personally, we survived lots of wind and hail!!!  Our yard looks like a war-zone and we don't know yet if we have any other damage. :(  Everything's a big mess tho!!!  Tree branches and junk is strewn all about!  Lots of clean-up ahead!

More soon.  I'm off to carry boxes!

Love to you...

~COTTAGE WHITE DREAMING...FRENCH PROVINCIAL SETTEE~

I found out on Friday my wee little booth space at Edmond Antiques was photographed for the latest newspaper ad coming out on Thursday!  How fun is that?

I'm drunk with joy! :)

As incredible as it is for me, today marks my 900th post.  I first began blogging back in January 2009 so this December I'll complete four years of on-line journaling.  If I'm being honest here, I'm wondering just what, if anything, I have left to share with you that I haven't already yapped about many, many times before...

Last week I snagged this wonderful vintage French Provincial Settee (or love-seat) at our local thrift store.  Even though the old piece has been reupholstered with a horrible country blue Herculon (with pink braiding no less!) the bones are fantastic and the newly replaced cushions are in perfect shape!  The price was so far below it's value and so it was one of those no-brain-er purchases.  About $50!  Crazy, huh?  I snapped this picture just before taking my Miss Mollie for a walk...that's why she has her harness and leash on...  She is such a silly dog!!!!

Now...my cottatge white dream plan is to hunt down a soft white Trigger or a medium weight canvas-style fabric to reupholster the settee in.

No florals.

No pink.

Nothing but white.

(SWOON!)

Won't it be just the dreamiest thing once it's madeover?

I can do this style of work so it shouldn't take me too long once I begin...just need to make a place to work as my Mr. AGPMan's shop is a bit too dusty for white fabric!  Anyway, in place of the cushion cording I'd like to add tiny (truly petite!) reverse pleat ruffles and then double-welt cording for the outside trim.  Not sure yet.  Also haven't decided if I will paint this piece a matching soft white and gently distress it OR leave it dark wood.  Depends on whether or not I end up selling it or keeping it!

(I'm leaning towards painting it, of course!!!!)

I'm off to add more new things to my booth space and then this afternoon I'll be working on new things for my website!  I have my Miss K in tow with me until Friday and we have lots and lots of fun things planned today even though it's a working-week for me!!!

Hope your day is equally as wonderful!

Love to you...

~HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY~

REMEMBERING THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED WITH HONOR!  THANK YOU!

I'm so grateful to be an AMERICAN!

~~*~~

Love to you this Memorial Day!  Be safe and God Bless...

~THOUGHTS ON A SUNDAY MORNING...Dear God...~

Dear God...

Just for a moment, Lord, I want to pull away from my crazy-busy everyday life and tell you something...

You know I'm always coming and going and my head is constantly full of what I think is the latest, greatest, um...whatever!

My mind is seldom quite.

Seems I'm always thinking about the

Things I want to do~

Places I want to go~

People I want to see~

Thoughts I want to say~

I struggle sometimes to put you first even though in my heart I really want to.

(That stubborn love of yours never lets go of me, does it?)

Still you remain a gentleman, never forcing your way into my life demanding my attention.  Even when I mess up and you end up dead-last on my list you still welcome me back with open arms into your holy presence.

Thank you for your protective love that doesn't wait to receive before it gives.

What a blessed woman I am!  I just want to tell you today how very, very much

I love you back.

 (Amen)

~~*~~

 Love to you...

~NEW BOOTH REVEAL and HAPPY PINK SATURDAY~

I've been away for several days working on my new booth space here in my town of Edmond, Oklahoma.  I've been yapping about this on several posts now because lately getting the space ready has taken nearly all my focus.  It's almost stocked...ALMOST!  Still have some things to clean up and price...such fun!

For those of you who are local I hope you'll come visit me.  You can find my wee little booth at

Edmond Antiques!

(Downtown Edmond, Oklahoma)

 Thought you'd like to see where I am right now with my space.  It's not big...about 10' x 10'.  I'm nowhere near stocked up or truly ready for selling...but I'll get there before long!  Lots of things base painted and ready for artwork so I'll be super busy over the next couple of weeks!  My Miss K is now OUT of school and is coming to spend all next week with me!  So...along with opening up my new booth I'm going to be visiting some fun kid-places around town!

For those of you who are wondering about my website...well...I've not abandoned it.  Truly not!  I promise I'll be getting back to stocking it as soon as I can.  Sweet new painted pretties are coming this summer!  Rest assured I still LOVE what I do...just wanting to expand a little!  Stay tuned for lots and lots of yummy hand painted pink roses!

I hope they will make you swoon!

Last month when I was in Cali visiting my brother, Bill, my sister and I visited more thrift stores than I can tell you.  I've never seen more second-hand stores than those on the West Coast.  We have tons of them popping up here in Oklahoma, but nothing like there is in California!

 

 Anyway...I snagged this darling not-quite-vintage pink wool and cashmere coat for $9.99 at a Goodwill in Whitter, CA.  Isn't it the sweetest thing?  It fits me perfectly and I can hardly wait until the weather turns cool so I can wear it!

I'm going to be styling in 

~P*I*N*K~

 

 Today I'm linking up with

Miss Beverly

over at

HOW SWEET THE SOUND

for

P*I*N*K S*A*T*U*R*D*A*Y

(It's PS 4th Birthday!  Can you believe it?)

Hope your day is wonderful.  My guy is OFF WORK today and I'm yippy-skippy-ing around because we have so little time together with him being in school and all.  Today is OUR DAY to goof off and have fun.  I'm sooo happy!  Graduation in November will be here before too long and I can't wait!

Love to you...

 

~FRENCH WHITE CHALKBOARDS MAKE MY HEART SING~

 Yesterday evening my Mr. AGPMan helped me attach wire hangers onto the backs of these two chalkboard signs.  He's been trying to teach me to use a new staple gun and like everything TOOL RELATED I've been in the

"I really don't want to learn this" mode of thinking! :(

  I've used electric guns many times in the past (lots for upholstery work!), but this gun is for smaller jobs and is really powerful and fast.  I nearly shot myself in the arm with it! :(  So...I've decided this time to really pay attention to what my guy is telling me.  I happen to like having eyes...you know?

 

I worked on my new booth space most of the day yesterday and was happy to get everything I had taken down to the Market tagged and priced.  I'm returning today with another load and probably on Wednesday as well.  Last week I worked on lots of new things....things I don't generally sell on my website due to their size!  Chalkboard signs are something new for me even though I've made a couple for my home.

Isn't the frame neat on this one?  I got a great picture on clearance at a craft shoppe and thought it would be darling transformed into a chalkboard.  I removed the glass and used the backing for the chalkboard paint.  The smaller one is a vintage frame and had an ugly print on the inside.  I just painted over the old painting with the same brush-on chalkboard paint (removed it first from the frame) and then whitewashed the wooden frame before gently aging it!

Hope to show you more pics of my new booth soon.  I'm loving it so much...I'm tired...but it's a good tired.

Hope you day is wonderful!

Love to you...

~ROMANTIC SHABBY WHITE CONES~

~~OOooooh La La~~

You know...it never ceases to amaze me how much great junque I can find when I'm pressed for time.  On Friday I only had about an hour to tag-sale-hunt and incredibly found more neat stuff than I can tell you.  But, since my guy's been busy working hard on my new booth space I didn't DARE bring one more thing home in need of his attention.  So...I passed on several items I would have loved to have in my space!  Seems like when I have days and days to tag-sale-hunt I find NOTHING and then on the days when I only have an hour or two to shop I find everything under the sun (and more!).

Anyway...today I'm going to brag a little about my latest SCORE!

My town only has a few thrift shops, but I make the rounds enough for the peeps behind the counter to know my first name. :)  Not sure that's a good thing or not.

Anyway...such is life on the junkin' circuit, right?

Do any of you remember the neat Victorian-ish looking company called THT (Tender Heart Treasures)?  They were based out of Omaha and they also had a retail division called Tender Heart Designs.  The company closed in 2008/09 and since that time I haven't seen anything like the products they sold which has been disappointing.  So many of us who love cottage decor bought from them so it was very sad when the company sold and/or folded.

Well, while out thrifting on Friday I found these sweet METAL CONES tossed in a large bin of metalware.  I knew immediately they were from THT because I purchased some just like them several years ago.  Incredibly there were fourteen CONES with twisty-wire-handles for the picking and so I brought all of them home with me.  Some have the little ruffled edge at the top and some do not...but, I love them all!

Not sure WHAT I'm going to do with them.  I may save them back for a Christmas project, but who knows!?  I think they'd be darling filled with dried hydrangeas because they really remind me of old Tussie Mussie bouquet holders!  But, for now I've filled them up with reprinted vintage music shreds and I'm loving how they look!

Pretty sweet huh?

Now...I own a good cross-cut paper shredder (good for destroying the gajillions credit card applications I get each month) and also one that just cuts in 7mm (about 1/4") strips.  I made the music shreds by scanning some vintage sheet music and then printing it on both sides of my paper.  Then it was fed through the shredder!  It makes WONDERFUL FILLER for lots and lots of sweet projects.  Can't remember where I got the idea (it certainly isn't new or my own), but I thought I'd pass it along just the same!  Try it....you'll love it!

I'm off to work!  Hope your Monday is filled with good things!

Love to you...

~THOUGHTS ON A SUNDAY MORNING...WRITTEN IN RED~

My daughter and I are very close.  I thank God every day for her precious life and the beautiful, giving spirit she carries inside her.

It's God given.

Heaven sent.

Although we are vastly different, we are definitely bonded at the hip heart.  As time permits, and if given the chance, the two of us can wile away the hours chatting about lots of stuff or absolutely nothing.

One day last week I was having a real

bummer-of-a-day

when the doorbell rang.  When I opened the door the flowers you see at the top were waiting for me.

I knew immediately who they were from~

She is my girl-child and I know her well.

And...

Since the day she was born I've proudly written out her given name of

A*D*R*I*E*N*N*E

with love.

Early Saturday evening while I was having some quiet time I reflected upon a passage of scripture that brought to mind the loving relationship I have with my only daughter.  I had just been thanking God for the blessing of her life and telling Him how grateful I was for our close bond when I came upon a verse found in Isaiah.  It says this:

"I have written YOUR NAME on my hand."

(Isaiah 49:16)

For whatever the reason, at that very moment I was overwhelmed with the thought that as much as I know and love my girl, God loves and knows me (and her) even more!  

Isn't that just amazing?

Your name is written upon the hand of God Himself.

The Creator of life

and all living things

knows you by name!

WOW!

How is that even possible?  It's true.

And to prove it to you He selflessly wrote it out in

RED.

~~*~~

May you always remember there is nothing you can ever do that can separate you from the love of God.

Blessings for a beautiful Sunday.

(Thank you for the flowers, Adrie-Girl!)

Love to you...

~WHITE SCROLLY EDGING...The Perfect Accent~

~SCROLLY TRIMWORK~

For the past couple of days I've been down at my new booth space getting it ready to fill up!  It's taking me a lot of time because for the first time in my LIFE I'm learning to use a screw-gun all on my own.  I'm going to skip telling you how it took me over five minutes to figure out how to turn the stupid complicated hi-tech silly thing on and jump right into what I did with it!

(Hey...I sew and paint!  That's enough!)

See that decorative scrolly looking stuff in the picture above?  Well...I found a huge box (36 pieces) of vintage garden edging at an estate sale about three or four years ago and it's been hiding away untouched in my storage shed ever since (incredibly it matches some I'd previously bought at a tag sale, only at that one I only snagged 10 pieces)!  I spray painted it Heritage White (Home Depot) and then all on my own-some screwed it to the pergola style awning my Mr. AGPMan fashioned for my space!

~AFTER BUILDING PERGOLA FRAME~

Let's start from the beginning!  OK?  Here's where I left off...

The photo above is what the pergola style frame looked like a couple of days ago!

~WITH SCROLLY EDGING~

It's hard to see with the lighting but here is a shot of the framework with the scolly edging.  It's across the front and both sides!

~SHEER FABRIC IS NEXT~

Once the scrolly edging was screwed onto the pergola frame I grabbed a roll of drapery sheer fabric I found at an estate sale for $10.  The roll was huge and I almost didn't buy it.  Glad now I did!  What I didn't realize was that it was folded in half on the roll so what I THOUGHT was 54" wide sheer fabric was in reality 108" of fabric.  I wove it over and under the awning and it was an easy camouflage for the UGLY florescent lighting!

~HALFWAY DONE~

Here's another shot of the space with half the fabric in place!  Little by little the space is coming together!

~UNDERNEATH VIEW~

Here's what the inside of the booth looks like looking up from the center!  I love it!  Softens the entire space and diffuses the harsh lighting!

 ~SETTING THINGS IN PLACE~

OK...the fabric is up, the scrolly trim is up and the vines I bragged about getting a couple of weeks ago accent the front edge of the awning!  My guy has leveled the back alcove area of my space (where you see the vintage doors propped up the floor angles upward) and the old painted doors are hung in place.  They will be used as a wall on the booth's right side!

Whoot!  Whoot!  Whoot!

This is sooo exciting!  Almost as good as being a dealer in Country Roads way out there in Orange, Cali! :)

(Hi, Tanza!  Miss You!!!)

~LOTS TO PRICE & TAG~

The photo above is what the space looks like right now!  Lots of things to price and tag!  Next to writing online descriptions for product this is my least favorite thing to do!

 Now...a little something extra to tell you....

While working on my space I met a sweet blogger friend, Cheryl, and her hubby, Todd (the one who asked my guy if he was 'Mr. AGPMan' a few weeks ago).  They came into the shoppe to browse around and I was sooo happy to finally meet them face to face.  Cheryl has been a customer of mine and now she is my friend!!!  How cool is that?  And if that wasn't enough another lady came in I thought I recognized from wayyyyyyyyy back and come to find out she was one of my customers when I had a booth about 17 years ago.  Isn't that something???

All in all it was a FUN DAY!

For those of you who have been waiting to hear about the APRON DRAWING...well, I drew the name for the winner of my latest giveaway a couple of days ago.  The winner is Danielle Rader and her comment was sent to me directly as she doesn't have a blog and I don't accept anonymous comments!  As soon as I connect with her (she hasn't responded as of yet) I will let you know more about the winner!  Thanks to all of you who joined in!  I'll have another giveaway soon...maybe one to celebrate the opening of my new booth space!

Hope your Friday was awesome and the weekend coming is full of fun things to do!  Summer is almost here...WOW!

Love to you...

 

~MY WHITE PAINTED WOOD PERGOLA BOOTH SPACE~

   Today I'm showing you really crummy pictures taken of my new booth-space-in-the-making!  Since I left my trusty old camera at home (what respectable blogger does that????) I had to use my daughter's camera phone instead!  So, forgive me in advance for the not-so-great photos!  Promise...better shots are coming soon! 

 Anyway, on Tuesday my Mr. AGPMan and I went down to the Shoppe where I'm going to be opening up a new booth space and got to work!  Together we unloaded almost all the painted wood pieces for the pergola style framework with plans to return on Wednesday to assemble it all.

I'm so loving all my guy has created and I'm so grateful that SOMEHOW he finds time to squeeze in his wifey projects while being in school.... 

Well, today, as fate would have it, our SILove, Micah the Wonderful, showed up just in time (with our beautiful daughter in tow) to SAVE HELP us put it all together.

 Micah is almost a foot taller than I am and it was MORE than fabulous having his rough and tough self to help out!!!  Our two guys had the framework all screwed  together (nope, no nails!) in no time.  I have no idea WHAT I'm doing in front of this cabinet...looks like I'm trying to keep it from falling over or something....????

 While Adrienne and I stood around and watched our men work the two of us did little more than scream out the occasional WATCH OUT! and BE CAREFUL!  Nearly owned myself a broken curved-glass cabinet and LOTS of damaged $pottery$!

EEEEEEK!

So...the picture above it what my space looks like at present.  Still have the vintage doors and windows to hang along each of the booth's sides and some other architectural things as well.  Before long I'll be working to fill-'er-up...

Sooo exciting!

Now...I didn't get a picture of my beautiful girl, Adrienne, helping us with the booth space so I'm showing you the one taken on Mother's Day.  Now...you might not believe this, but my daughter is several inches taller than I am.  Generally she wears flats while I'm always wearing heels...  So~ she almost always looks shorter than I am!

(My poofy hair helps, too!)

 :)

I love this girl SO MUCH and I'm sooo terribly proud of her!  Beautiful on the outside, but I promise you she's just as beautiful and lovely on the inside as well.

Not many pictures are taken showing my guy's gorgeous blue eyes.  Well here's one that makes me swoon!  After 33 years of marriage I'm still in love with this man!

(Keeper of my heart!)

I'll be back soon with more to share!  Hope your week is going great!

Love to you from a tired and very, very sore,