I am Alive!!!!!

We moved at the end of June and I've been busy and exhausted trying to get everything situated, but I'm back!! I did a "before" of these chairs on the last post and here's the final product. I got them on Craig's List and I liked the distressed white, but it just didn't go with my kitchen.

I love the detail on the backs and legs.

And my mom helped me pick out this fabric. Frenchy, yet functional. I wanted a full-on Victorian couple toile, but nothing I could find would stand the everyday wear of a kitchen chair complete with Dashiell and his fruit rollups.

We are really enjoying the house. I was sad to say goodbye to the Cottage on Linden, I shed a few tears as I was scrubbing the toilet out for the last time . . . but I haven't looked back. Here are Dash and Josie Mae, daughter of my dear friend JFlo.

Is this little diva cute or what? She and Dash got along great.

Here's a "before" of the front of my house. I hated the overgrown bushes and shrubs and had them ripped out right away and I hadn't really thought out a plan for the landscaping. I guess you could say I'm impulsive.

But alas, I proved to myself I could plant some stuff and here's a section that I tackled. I even started painting the outside of the house but I don't like the color. It's Light French Gray from Beher and would be great for an interior room, but not the outside of this house. It was more gray than blue on the chip and as you can see, I have a baby blue house.

Stucco is NOT fun to paint. You can see where I started to freak out and stopped.

I've decided to go with a darker, true gray; black gray and not blue gray. That will make the white trim pop.

I picked up some goodies at a sale recently at Urban Miners. This little desk will look great when I have my living room put together.

I got this at a flea market in Paola, KS. I have no idea what it is, but Dash found it and wanted to put worms in it.

I got four of these antique gym baskets on Craig's List. When I got back in the car after paying for them, Brendan said, "Mom! Did you just give that guy $40 for those? You got ripped off!" He just doesn't understand! For the Fall, I'm going to fill one of these baskets with pots of mums and stuff it with my metal Halloween art for the porch. I can hardly wait for the Fall and it's been a very mild summer. My plants are getting leggy and I'm just ready to replace them with mums.

Craig's List baby head, iron from Paola flea market and the wire brush was left behind by workers who did foundation repair on the old house, if you can believe it. My husband just shakes his head.

This old metal trunk was my very first ebay purchase. I thought "SCORE!!!" 10 English pounds is like $20, right? I never took into account that the shipping from the UK was over $200 . . . duh.

I heart flea market, garage sale, and thrift store art. The one of the left is from Maj-R-Thrift on 47th and mission. The other two are from the sale at Urban Mining.

More Urban Mining goodness. These are perfect in Brendan's room. He likes history, like his Grandpa.

I saw this in the window at the DAV thrift store and made Jason swing a u-turn in the middle of Wornall. It's in our bedroom, my new sanctuary where Dash no longer sleeps at the foot of our bed! Believe me, he is just as excited as I am.

I don't mean to brag, but isn't my new dining room set awesome?! I got it at Big Lots! Jason and I went looking for possible family room furniture and wham! Assembly required, but it was worth it!

I put this table in the foyer. I got the little statuettes at Urban Mining. I painted that wooden apple long ago. The silver is from my treasured Curious Sofa.

And I FINALLY made something! JFlo is picking these up tonight. These are not easy to make; my hands are cut up and they are time consuming, but I love the end result.

This drawer pull has special meaning; it came off of my baby brother's childhood dresser.

Don't get a rivet gun; they are addictive.

Bowl of "old" stuff (according to Dash) on my dining room table. The broom and bowl are from Urban Mining, holy water dispenser from Mission Road Antique Mall, candles from the Curious Sofa and I found the pruning shears outside in the yard sitting on the air conditioner!

And finally, a dresser in our room. Lamp from DAV thrift store and the book and kewpie are from . . . can you guess? It's good to be back.

I Love Halloween!!

Well, it's that time of year again when fall is upon us and Halloween is right around the corner. I love to decorate for Halloween and Dash and I made a trip to the Curious Sofa this last weekend to pick up a few spooking things. Check out this big, mean rat.

A long line of these creepy spiders were displayed crawling their way across a bed at the store. And I couldn't pass up the skull votive cup.


The cherry on the cake of my Halloween decor is this amazing doll of Anton Lavey, custom made by local Kansas City Artist Taylor Triano. She does incredible things with textiles and on top of that she's just an all-around groovy little chick.

I picked up this ghost named Schmoo from an artist at the Sparks Flea Market. She had some great things and I'll be sure to get her name in the spring and pass it along. I love the random way the bells and chains hang from his neck.

Last year, I cut several spooky shapes out of sheet metal and riveted them to a copper stem. This spider is right at home in his flower pot.

And the pumpkin and ghost like mixing in with the landscaping.

No garden is complete without a skull!

I made these ghosties years ago and they make a nice accessory for the mailbox.

And while I was at the Curious Sofa, I picked up this silver lighter for my collection. It's really hard for me to resist buying up everything I see in that place.

Another one of my favorite Sparks finds this year was this Big Ben clock. So cool!


And while I was walking around the house snapping photos, I snapped this one of yet another Curious Sofa find. I've noticed more work in the store lately done by artists, and this paper collage piece is one of those.