Crazy About Crazing

What is crazing? According to Wikipedia it is a network of fine cracks on the surface of a material. You either love it or you don’t. I happen to love it. What’s not to love? It gives an ordinary piece some character.



I just love the fine web like texture it has. I won’t be serving mashed potatoes in it at Thanksgiving. So the more cracks to me the better.



We went to a few estate sales over the weekend. I wish I had gone earlier as so much was already gone. That’s the thing about estate sales. You either go early for a better selection or you go late for the markdowns. On Saturday everything was half off. How could I leave it behind?






It will be great to keep loaded with fresh fruit. A pot of some lacy fern would look good too. It will fit in just great around here.



Are you a fan of crazing or is it something you’d be dropping off at GW?

Come on be honest, I won’t be hurt.

Linking up with Kat @ Kat Eye View where she is discussing the rule of thirds. I think I'm partially following the rule for these shots.

see ya,

Oh Henry!

Debbie and Lucy are having a little pet party for us all to show off our furry friends. Or feathered or scaly. I think I’ll just stick to furry.



I’ll give you a little background on how Henry came to live with us. I’ll try not to ramble too much. My sister and I got it in our crazy heads that our parents needed a dog to keep them company. So we got online and started looking. I was in MS and she was in FL with my parents. I came across Henry on petfinders.com and he was not far from my sister.



The plan was that she and her husband would go take a look at him to see if he would be a good fit for our parents. Henry was already over a year old and he had been in 2 different home. The first bought him with akc papers, had him fixed and had him micro chipped. Then they got orders and this other family took him in. Anyway, when they got there and saw his sad state of living her husband pulled her aside and said, we’re not leaving without that dog!



He was living outside with another dog and was pretty skinny. There was all sorts of excuses about how they couldn’t take care of him any longer. My bil did not like the man that was living there and apparently neither did Henry. They were getting out of there fast with the dog. When they got Henry to their house he was covered in fleas. So, they cleaned him up and a few days later got ready to surprise my parents. We now know what a majorly stupid idea that was. My father, the stubborn Italian, was like NO. He did not want a dog. Prior to all this my hubby had volunteered us to be plan B if it didn’t work out with my parents.



So, plan B it was. When we brought him home we found out that he had tape worms and a urinary track infection. Which was causing the piddling problem that would occur when someone walked in the door. He would not have been a good match for my parents. And surprising someone with a dog is a dumb idea. I’m not sure what we were thinking. But let me tell you, he came into our lives at just the right time. Faults and all.



We already had a dog at the time. Our yellow lab Maggie was my baby. We got her as a puppy and she was such a good dog. They got along great. But Maggie started having health problems and it was getting worse. She was only 6. It was having Henry that helped me when I had to put Maggie to sleep. It was a long and crazy year.



Now he is my shadow. He is always right beside me. The vet is amazed that he is 10 years old because he is so energetic. His little nubbin of a tail is like a propeller. See how it blurred in the photo above? It’s goes a million mph!

 
He was getting very bored with me sticking the camera in his face. I was interrupting his nap. All that tail wagging wore him out.



see ya,

Surprise Package

One of the best parts of blogging is getting to know some really wonderful, kind and generous people. It just amazes me sometimes how we can connect with someone so far away and that we have never met.

One of the first people I met way back in April when I first started blogging was Maureen @ Cottage 960. We just sort of hit it off right away. She understood my obsessions with finding stuff and would get just as excited about my finds as I would. We both love the same casual style. And we share the same slightly twisted sense of humor. I was so excited to receive a package in the mail the other day from her.




She made these beautiful cards from some of the wonderful photographs she has been taking. She is always encouraging me with my own photography. I see how much her photographs have progressed over just a short period of time and it inspires me to keep going, learn more, practice more and hopefully I too will improve with time.




My pictures of her pictures don’t do her pictures justice. Did you follow that?  Some might end up being framed instead of given as a card. Oh the texture on the blackberry one is just so perfect. But wait, there was more.



 I also got these 3 monogrammed napkins. Some vintage sheet music. Candles. And these adorable little flash cards with Valentine inspired words  on them. What was hysterical to me about the sheet music was what was on it. Come in a little closer….



 Do you see the name? That’s my dog. Henry Hadley! I know, I’m a weirdo. I get such a kick out of strange coincidences like that. I emailed her as soon as I noticed. Do you know what she said? That she hadn’t even noticed it! (insert the Twilight Zone music here) She didn’t even try to fake it either. She could have been all, oh yeah, I found it just for you. Bah! She just happened to put it on the top of the stack of music. Pure coincidence. Made it even more hysterical to me.

There was one more gift included in the package. You may have noticed it already. I was so excited to unfold it. I love the colors. It is a perfect find for this Florida girl.



 


It’s saying summertime to me! Thanks so much Maureen. It just makes me smile every time I see it.

see ya,

Playing With Photoshop

The other day Tracy posted about photographing items with a white background while using Picasa. If you want to learn how to do this with Picasa, Tracy shows you how here. These type of photos make great shots for ebay or etsy. So, I thought I’d give it a try with a sugar and creamer. I have a lot of items that I would like to gather together and photograph so I can start up an etsy. This would be good practice.

Sometimes you get a line where the bottom and the back meet. I didn’t have too harsh of a line to deal with. I think it might have been that the lighting was coming from behind me. It was late in the day too and I was trying to hurry. It took all day to find my foam core!



I did my editing in Photo shop elements. I did the same as Tracy did in Picasa only the terms are different. In the photo above I did a levels adjustment, upped the brightness/contrast. I also duplicated the background layer, brought to to the top and changed the blending mode to soft light. I know that it might all sound Greek to you but it’s much easier to do then it sounds.

The photo below I lowered the brightness and contrast back down a little to give me the soft grey background.




And just for fun, here it is with a couple of textures added to the previous photo. I used warmly vintage and grey day 2. Both are Kim Klassen textures. It gave me reason to play around with all the textures again. See how the textures lighten them back up?





Here’s one more example with just a brightness/contrast and level adjustment. Nothing else. No books either. It was only 2 steps and gave me a great white background. Though it’s bugging me that the creamer looks darker which might be because in this shot the light was coming from the side. So be aware of where you light is coming from. I could fiddle with them to make them look the same but I didn’t bother. It’s the background we talking about right?


This was lots of fun. It didn’t take long at all. You can get a lot of different looks with just a little adjusting here and there.

I’m going to join Tracy with her link up she’s having. You can do this with lots of photo editing software.





see ya,

Dining Room Curtains

This is something that took a ridiculous amount of time to do. Why? I have no earthly reason. I really don’t. I bought these panels on clearance at Target when we moved here. A year and a half ago. I even painted the walls a while ago to go with the curtains. If you look closely you will see that my son used this fabric for the background to my blog. We just changed the tone a bit.



I had all sorts of excuses. I didn’t have a silver rod, I didn’t like the chandelier, I wanted a rug….none of it made sense really. I had this black rod and so I thought I’d just paint it silver. Then we had this crazy weather and that wasn’t going to happen. Not with spray paint. So, I said enough already. Let’s just get this done and hang them up. If I hate the black rod I’ll take it down another day and paint it. I didn't think the panels would be long enough so I was going to sew them together with another pair. But it was a miracle that they were just long enough. I'll have that project for down the road some time. Would you believe me if I told you I guessed the height of the rod? I did.

I’m not hating the black so much anymore. I like the glass finials and so it’s working out for now. The chandelier, it had some large silk shades on it in a tan and I took them off. I liked it better but not the color so that is going to get painted. I’m thinking it will be something like the silver mirror on the wall. It is silver but it has streaks or flecks of black in it too. Any opinions on what I should do with it? Rub and buff perhaps.



Sorry about no before shots. I think the hardest part of this whole thing was taking pictures of the window without looking like the sun fell from the sky and landed outside. The shot below is with a flash, not good I know. But now you can see all the dead plants outside. Gosh, I could have at least set the table or fancied it up somehow before taking pictures. My efforts were all on getting a usable shot, not decorating.



I also have my hutch to the right. You might have seen it with all my Christmas dishes in it. Sadly they are still there. I want to paint that hutch so I'll take everything out of that at once when I'm ready to paint. I'm thinking white or the color of the wall. I want it to recede as it's really too big for the space but I need the storage.

Then there is the table. I like the size of the table as it can get 108" with all the leaves in it. But the chairs take up so much space. They're very wide. I have my eyes open for different chairs. The room is not large as you can see so something without a huge back would be nice. I have thought about painting the chairs. Because I'd also like to paint the base of the table and darken up the top just a bit. To go better with the floor.

   
Let's review what still needs to be done in here shall we? Paint light fixture. Maybe even recover the shades with a light linen fabric. Paint the hutch, replace knobs. Paint the table base and darken the top. Either paint chairs or find different one. Oh yes, get a rug. And lets throw in some crown molding too. Am I forgetting anything? Ummm, the rod. Black is looking pretty good right now with the list I have going.



I am joining Marianne @ Songbird for her very first Gitter Done since taking it over from Donna @ Funky Junk Interiors. I will try harder to get more done for the next one. But I make no promises. Thank goodness Marianne agreed to take this over. I am hoping this will push me a long. I can always use a good shove!

Live writer went all wacko on me tonight and I had to redo this whole post. Since it's almost 1am I will visit everyone tomorrow, or later today, whatever it is. Nite all!



see ya,

A Little Bit About Me

I was tagged by Tracy from Tracy’s Trinkets and Treasures in a getting to know you better sort of a game. I am supposed to list 15 fascinating things about myself. I don’t know if you could call mine fascinating but I’ll give it a go. I also got an award from Barb at This and That (as I bounce through life) and she wanted me to share some things about myself. So, I’m combining them here today. I almost forgot about it until I saw Michelle from Emerald Cove’s post. Which leads me right into my first factoid.

1. I have a horrible memory. I have to write stuff down or things slip my mind. Which is sometimes scary since my father had Alzheimer's. So, if I ever don’t get back to you on something, I’m not ignoring you, just remind me.

2. I went to a Catholic school for 8 years. I wore a uniform every day and I hated it. My fashion sense was stifled at a young age which might be why I can’t seem to put together a decent outfit even after all these years.



3. I was never athletic. I could not do a head stand during PE class and my teacher was dumbfounded that I couldn’t and proclaimed to everyone that I must just have a wobbly neck. I was crushed.

4.When i was young my father saw my Seventeen magazine with Phoebe Cates on the cover and said it looked just like me. Mainly because we both had braces and dark hair and chubby cheeks. Oh, how I wish I could say I looked like her now. She hasn’t aged much. I hope someone remembers her! Michelle’s look alike is Hilary Swank. Lucky girl. Don’t you think everyone has a look alike?



5. I only lived in one house growing up. But after I got married at the young tender age of 18 we ended up moving 10 times. I don’t think we’re done yet. No, wait, I know we’re not done yet.

6. We lived in Germany for 3 years. I cried a lot that first year from being home sick but now I wish we could have lived there longer.

7. I got pregnant with my first son while camping near the border of Germany and Austria. Coincidently, the couple that went camping with us had their baby two days before we did.

8. I am a mad google’er. I research everything before I buy it or if I want to learn something.

9. I over analyze everything. Probably too much but I’m learning to go with the flow more and what happens happens.

10. I’m an excellent driver. But I get very annoyed at people who choose to drive slowly in the left lane. I secretly wish I was driving a bumper car, or a mack truck, and could just push them out of my way.

11. I laugh at inappropriate times. I can't help it. When I'm nervous I just laugh.

(Are you still there? I did warn you they wouldn't be fascinating)

12. I am a visual learner. I have to see what you are doing in order for me to understand.

13. I am a Procrastinator with a capital P. Which is why I’m sitting here typing this up and not cleaning my floors.

14. I love the smell of weird things like wood, dirt, cut grass and paint. But I don’t care for the smell of paper whites which are a flower.

15. I am torn between wanting to live in new places and having our forever home so our one day grandkids will have a place they want to visit.

I thank Tracy and Barb for thinking of me. I’m not going to pass these on but instead if you’d like to state something new about yourself in the comments feel free to do so. I’d love to find out more about you. And you can go here if you want to see a previous post of mine where I mention even more tantalizing tidbits about myself. You could save it for tonight when you're having a hard time falling asleep.

On another note, today would have been my parent’s 60th wedding anniversary. I have them both on my mind today. Especially my mom since this is the first year for her without my father.

Their 50th anniversary party.

Thanks for letting me share. :)

see ya,

Overstock.com Discount

I did a lot of online shopping over Christmas. I really find it more convenient. The only thing that stops me is the shipping cost. Do you love to shop online but you hate the thought of the ridiculously priced shipping costs? You should head over to Overstock.com and see what they have to offer. They have a flat rate of 2.95 for their shipping. Sometimes they offer $1 shipping. Right now they seem to be offering free shipping for first orders. I can’t seem to get that to show up again for me since I had something in my cart and well, lets just say I’ve ordered before. ;) It will say on the top of the page what the shipping is.

They have a fabulous selection of area rugs. I bought this one for my master bath to cover up the cold tiles. I love it and it brightens up the whole room.



They also have some great indoor/outdoor rugs. A lot of patterns and colors that you just don’t find at stores like Home Depot, Lowes or even my favorite, Target. I am in need of a rug for my kitchen and may just use an indoor/outdoor one. Just hose it off.
Even though a lot of you are covered in snow it's nice to think ahead to some warmer weather. Perhaps a new chaise lounge chair for your outdoor space so you can soak in a little sun. This one would look great poolside don't you think?





Don't forget to protect your eyes as you are soaking up those rays. A good pair of sunglasses is a must. These ray bans are a classic.



I’d also like to add that Overstock has a easy web site to navigate. You can narrow your search very easily to find just what you want.

Overstock.com is graciously offering my readers a discount.
The discount code is: 121745, good for 10% off Overstock products (excluding movies, books, and electronics).  This discount code never expires, however, it can only be used once per email address.
202234 - free shipping promo code for electronics.

All the ideas and opinions expressed are my own. No monetary compensation was received for doing this post, however, I was provided with a discount code.

 
I’ll be back with more of my mini makeover for the upstairs bath. I’m leaning towards painting the cabinet. :)

see ya,