Le Chien

For some reason I am having a real problem getting my photos the size I want them.  Is anyone else having that problem? 

This week I picked another graphic from the Graphics Fairy.  I knew the moment I saw this dog biscuit label I wanted to use it on something.  Next thing I know I found this old dog carrier.  I believe it's about 40 years old.  The gentleman I purchased it from remembers taking his dog an an airplane in this crate years ago.   For some reason, cages are big sellers at our shop.  Bird cages, rabbit cages, all sorts of cages.  People like to use them to put plants in which this would be great for.  The ends slide up and down.  As I did last week, I surrounded the graphic with black pin striping to show the label off a little better and painted the trim with black and then sanded it back.  I wanted it to be a bit primitive since the graphic was pretty old fashioned.  Also as I did last week, I used the wax paper transfer.  Here are a few hints to make it work for you.

If you are painting on a painted surface, it should be dry and sanded smooth before applying your transfer.  Make sure when you attach your wax paper to the copy paper, you have the waxed side out so that you will be copying onto the wax which will be warm and thus will adhere to your piece.  Also if there are words, be sure to reverse the image so it comes out spelled correctly.

This is how the carrier looked when I got it.  Raw wood.  Not attractive at all.

Here is our precious Cindy.  She says no matter how cute I make this thing, she is not getting into it.  No way, no how!

I am no longer using Google Friends Connect as I understand it is going away soon.  Please follow me on the Linky Followers Button or by email.  Thanks for visiting.

I have also attempted to participate in the blog hop party but am having problems with my margins now.  Not sure why.  So I have to delete the party from my blog.  I have spent a lot of time visiting the other blogs that are linked up and have found some great new blogs.  I will continue to check it out each day that it is going on.

Vintage Valentine Graphics

Before I do today's post, I want to thank Bliss  http://blissranch.blogspot.com/  from the bottom of my heart for making me my very own linky button.  Thank you so much.  I am also using larger text after reading Kim's message.  Her blog is Cheap Chic Home http://cheapchichome.blogspot.com/.  I have worried that my text was too small and now I am convinced it was.  Thanks, Kim. 

I know I promised French Typography this week, but before Valentine's Day slips away, let me share a couple of my own personal treasures from my ephemera collection.

I actually found this beautiful graphic cut this way.  Not sure why it was cut, but I have saved it for years.  It's very old paper and although I have seen similar images, I have not seen this particular one.  The second graphic is a vintage postcard and I actually used this one when I used to sell on Ebay.  My store name was Pocket Full of Roses and this was a great image to use for that.  Then my last image is a magnificent example of my friend Markell's calligraphy.  Would you believe this is her free-hand calligraphy?  She did it for some one's wedding a few years back and she was kind enough to share it with a few of her friends.  I have also saved this for years and will cherish it always.

 

Liebster Award

I am a week late in doing this post, but nonetheless I am so honored and humbled.  Last week the Liebster Award was bestowed upon me by Kirby Dunston.  She has a wonderful blog and I love the name of it.  It is Kirb Appeal.  Thanks so much, Kirby.  This is a very special honor and you are so kind to award it to me.

Here is a link to Kirby's blog.  Please stop by and visit her.

Now that this honor has been bestowed upon me, I am awarding it to five more bloggers.  In case you are not familiar with the Liebster Award, it is awarded to new bloggers with 200 or fewer followers.  If you accept the award, you must link back to the blogger who awarded it to you and then pass the award onto another five bloggers.  Liebster is a German word and means "dear one."   FYI, I had a heck of a time making my five choices but I had to narrow it down.

There are so many great bloggers out there and it is very difficult to pick just five, but here are my Liebster nominees. 


Kimberlyhites.blogspot.com authors the above blog.  She has a beautiful blog and great ideas.


I loved Sarah's topless table project.  I am not sure I would have persevered as she did.  Her blog is Adventures of our Fami-ly.  Click on her link above to visit her.



Bliss has some great projects and a hilarious sense of humor.

Last but not least, these two bloggers do not have blog buttons (neither do I - YET!)  but they are great new bloggers. Outjunking.blogspot.com and Betsy at coastal-colors.blogspot.com.  Outjunking just hit 200 followers but I think she should still be included here.   She is a fellow junker like myself.  Both of these bloggers have some great ideas so please pay them a visit.

All of these bloggers are relatively new.  Please pay them a visit.


 

French Typography

I recently came into possession of several antique invoices.  I have 6 of them from France that are around 90 years old.  I'll be sharing a couple of them per week.  I also purchased a lot of 75 invoices from the U.S. that date from 1920 and before.  I love old typography myself and I'm hoping all you creative types out there can come up with something fun to do with these.  Please let me know if you do.  I would love to see your projects.

 

Giant Finials

When I call these finials giant, I mean giant.  They are three feet tall.  I found them at the flea market a couple of months ago.  The only problem was they had a big metal pipe running through them that stuck out the top and the bottom.  I thought "no problem," I'll just have my husband remove the pipe and I'll add a small decorative finial at the top to finish them off.  Turned out the pipe did not come out.  So new lesson learned.  You can cut galvanized pipe with a hack saw.  Who knew?  Surely not us.  They sat in my husband's workshop for over a month before someone told us what to do to shorten the pipe.  Once that was done (and it was so easy), Steve did finish the tops with these smaller finials just to make them look like giant chess pieces.  I think these would be great outdoors as garden ornaments or on a fireplace hearth.  They are wonderful architectural pieces.  I'm considering these a great find now that they are finished and in  my space.

 This is what they looked like when I got them. You can sort of see the pipe at both ends.  And you know what is weird?  They are not wood either.  They were totally wood grained and even felt like wood.  They are not resin either.  A friend who is very knowledgeable told me in the 60's they were making a kind of wood composite material that had the look and feel of real wood but it was actually faux wood.  In other words, no trees were harmed in the making of these finials.  That's great news.

Chalkboard Valentines for the Garden

Years ago I purchased a little garden stake that said "Bee Mine," and I loved that little sign.  Unfortunately when Cindy was a puppy, she liked it too,  just in a different way.  She destroyed it.  She was going through her chewing phase, but I always thought it was so cute to have a little sign to welcome us for Valentine's Day.  I did a couple of ideas with chalkboard paint.  These are little wooden hearts I purchased at the craft store.  I glued them onto Popsicle sticks and tied red and white checked ribbon around them.  These are so easy, they would be a great child's project. They were also very economical to make, around 50 cents a stick.   In the second photo, that is actually a bee.  I just used one that was attached to something else because I was using what I had, but there are some cute bee decorations out there if you can locate them.