(Bob) I've No Clue What to Do with This One . . .

I put together the box pictured above this afternoon.  I don't quite know how I am going to finish it, though.  I am tempted to just stain it and leave it at that. Hopefully an idea will come to me in my sleep tonight and tomorrow morning I will know exactly what to do with it. --Bob

(Bob) The Finished Quilt Inspired Box . . .

Here's a photo of the finished  box that I was working on yesterday.  I antiqued it to give it more of an old feeling.  I will try to get it on Etsy in the next day or so. --Bob

(Bob) A Quilt Inspired Design for a Box . . .

Here is a box that I am currently working on.  I base coated the entire box with white, and am painting a quilt inspired design on it in a shade of blue-gray. I draw the design elements on the box with a pencil, then mask off each element with painter's tape.  I paint each element one by one.  It is a slow process, but I don't mind it.  I will post a picture of the finished box tomorrow.  It is just about done. --Bob

(Bob) I Almost Left This Box on the Store Shelf . . .

I bought the box pictured above at a Salvation Army Thrift Store today thinking it was a handy little box that I could possibly stain or decorate in some way.  It had a sliding lid and four compartments inside filled with a kid's puzzle of some kind. I really liked it. I threw the puzzle pieces away because I really only wanted the box. Unfortunately, a child wrote all over the lid, inside and out, with a marker of some kind.  I wasn't sure if I could get it off, but the box only cost $1.99 and if I couldn't get it off I wouldn't be out much.  The first thing I tried worked like a charm.  I took a little bleach on a soft paper towel and gently wiped over a section of the marker to see if it would come off.  Much to my surprise it disappeared in a matter of minutes.  You can see where I tried it in the top picture. I then did the whole box the same way.  The pictures below show the box after I finished wiping it down. Apparently it was a water based marker, and came off quite easilty. (I don't know that this idea would work on a regular magic marker.) When I finished removing the marker lines, I wiped the areas I worked with a damp cloth. As soon as it dries, I think it will be ready for staining and decorating. I'm really glad I didn't pass this nice box up. I bet alot of people did because of the marks. --Bob

Buy It When You See It Cause It Won't Be There Tomorrow . . .

Bob and I both like our thrift shop finds. While he is hunting for treasures, I look for fabrics to add to my fabric collection.  Last Sunday I made some great finds at the Goodwill (see the photo above). When I find fabric at a thrift store,  I feel I can relax and not worry that I am ruining expensive material.  I also find myself coming up with creative ideas much easier with thrift store fabrics, because I can just do it and see what happens.  Do you find that is true for you too?  --Diana

These Tiles Screamed at Me to Buy Them . . .

If you are like me, you probably go to Goodwill and other Thrift Shops looking for things you can use to make sellable or usable stuff.   I ran across a stack of these ceramic tiles the other day at Goodwill and could hardly pass them up they were so cheap.  They originally wanted 50 cents each, but they were on sale for half price.  On top of that I got a 10% Senior Citizen discount making the total purchase price about 22-1/2 Cents apiece. Too cheap to pass up.  I don't know for sure yet what I am going to use them for, but thought maybe I'd put some on the top of a small table or maybe make one big table to accommodate all 8 of them.  They measure 7-3/4" by 7-3/4" square and are a nice neutral color. Which reminds me . . . last Fall my son-in-law and I went to an auction and I bought a whole box of the 4" tiles for a Doller. There must have been 100 tiles in the box.  My son-in-law said to put a saying on each one, attach a ribbon to hang it up, and sell them for $1 each at craft fairs.  I tried doing that, but honestly, couldn't think of that many sayings and kind of got bored with it.  I ended up giving them away to a family member and lord knows where they are now.  I hope I don't end up doing something like that with these. --Bob

It Took Me Awhile to Value Scrap Pine Wood . . .

When I was younger I used to throw scraps of wood like this away.  Of course that almost gave my Dad a heart attack on more than one occasion.  He was the type who would sort through the garbage to make sure no one was throwing anything useable away. Not long ago I sold 20 boxes of wood scraps like this to a guy who wanted to burn them in his wood stove.  Yikes!!!   What was I thinking?  Today I am not so wasteful.  You can make all kinds of useful and sellable things from scraps like these. I read on my daughter's blog how she has a "scrappy" collection of fabric pieces and uses them to make scrappy quilts.  Well, these wood remnants are my "scrappy" wood collection. A few months ago I cut out a bunch of little butterflies out of some scraps, painted them up, and attached a loop of fishing wire to each with hot glue so you could hang them up.  I took them to a Center we belong to and sold them all out at $3.00 each.  I guess I'm a slow learner.  I shudder when I think of all the good scrappy I threw away over the years. I've had other little ideas and I'll post them when I think of them.--Bob

What kind of pants would have Scotty Dogs on them?

You would think I spend all my time sewing crafts to sell.  Not so. My Mother-in-Law asked me to hem the legs of a pair of pajamas my daughter bought her for Christmas.  I know it has been five months since Christmas and I should have done this a long time ago, but I guess late is better than never.  If you sew then you recognize in the photo the hemming of a pair of pants.  It probably doesn't get you excited, but it shows I do other things besides crafts. lol --Diana

Another Thrift Store find I plan to fix up . . .

I know that the focus of our blog is supposed to be on crafts and stuff we make, but I just had to post a picture of these two wonderful bamboo? wicker? cabinets I found today at Salvation Army Thrift Store. They have doors at the bottom that open up storage areas.  I think they are really neat, and they were priced real cheap.  I plan to spray paint them, because they need some sprucing up a bit, I think.  We were going to do them white, but decided that was a little boring. Diana wanted to paint them Flamingo Pink and fortunately changed her mind.  We are now thinking about spraying them a honey color.  That may be a difficult color to find in a spray paint can though -- I may have to buy a quart of acrylic latex and use the spray gun.  I don't know when I will get around to working on them, as I have quite a few other projects going, but I will post a pic of the finished pieces when I get them done. --Bob