How to Keep Calm & Carry On

 Several weeks ago I picked up this $2 vintage frame at a yard sale.

After giving a similar but larger frame a recent fun makeover as a bulletin board for my girls' room, I decided to stick with the same painting technique on this frame for their room as well. And yes, I let the girls help with painting coat #1 again.

But I had a different idea for what to put inside this smaller frame. Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably seen these "Keep Calm & Carry On" quotes everywhere.

The variations run anywhere from "Keep Calm & Go Shopping" to "Keep Calm & Call Batman." Just the other day I saw a little gymnast wearing a "Keep Calm & Tumble On" shirt. These quotes, like chevron, are the kind of thing I've sworn up and down I will not bring into my home simply because its too trendy. And, well seriously - how does one keep calm and carry on? I'll tell you later.

But first, here I am admitting that, just like the chevron, I caved. ONLY because I happened to stumble across this "Be Still & Know That I Am God" wall decal here.

It's a quote from the Bible in Psalm 46:10. I was very close to buying the decal but decided I'd save the $18+ and just make my own instead.  So I did a Google Images search for "Be still and know..." and scrolled down until I found the same image here. I simply right clicked to copy the picture, saved it, and inserted it into a Word document. I printed it, cropped it, and secured it onto a large piece of black construction paper with double-sided tape tabs.

I needed to give it some support and make it stay in since the frame didn't come with any glass or backing. So I used the double-sided tape tabs to attach the construction paper onto a piece of cardboard and cut them to fit into the back of the frame. I also ended up using a little masking tape to hold it to the edges of the frame.

The frame also had nothing to hang it by, and its plastic, so I couldn't really nail anything into the back. So I decided to weave black ribbon through some of the holes in the scrollwork to make a hanger. I think the black ribbon I used was included in this yard sale ribbon lot I paid ten cents for last year but I recently found the piece on the floor in our house during our current moving-in process. How it got there, I don't know. "Why yes, there on the rug in front of me happens to be the black ribbon I need for my frame!" Seriously. Meant to be.

Here's the finished product:

 

Here are the coordinating projects. Both are the same color, just photographed in different lighting:

 

 

So to back up again, how does one keep calm and carry on?

Wine?

Yoga?

ONLY by being still and knowing that God is God. Only when you renew your mind with the truth of His word can you rest peacefully in the fact that He knows, ordains, and controls of all your circumstances and in His love and faithfulness toward you.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul says of God, "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."

In John 14:27, Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

In Isaiah 55:9, God says, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

The Psalmist says to God in chapter 108:4, "For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."

Please, dwell on those truths. You can keep calm and carry on when you be still and know that He is God.


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Fancy Framed Bulletin Board

Earlier this year I picked up this frame at a yard sale.  I knew it was destined for glory.

I thought I might hang it in our school room but I changed my mind and decided to paint it to hang in my girls' bedroom. My oldest could use a corkboard to hang special pictures, Valentines, cards, mementos, etc. ;) She wanted an aqua blue to match their fabric, which turned out to be Benjamin Moore's "in the tropics." Both girls begged me to help paint. How could I say no?

At one point they were more focused on painting each other than the frame. Had to put a squash to that.

After they started slathering the paint thick on the top and bottom, I tried lightly brushing it on the sides and loved the dry-brush look of the blue over the brown.

(Anyone else have one of these pretty little 6-in-1 hammer/screwdrivers? I use mine all the time!)

Well it was too late to go with that dry-brush effect all over. I was sad. I had to make up for this error! So I let them continue to lay it on thick and I decided to just go back over and dry brush with black later. This is how it looked when I was done painting.

I'm psyched about the reverse effect. It really made the scrollwork pop. As I was finishing up with the black, I suddenly remembered a cork bulletin board about the size of this frame that I'd seen at Sally's a couple days before. I might not have slept that night wondering if it was still there and if it would fit.

So I zipped on over that evening 15 minutes before Sally's closed, hoping it was meant to be. And it was. $2.99 was worth taking a chance that it was the right size. And it (almost) was. To make it fit in the frame I just needed to remove its original frame and a couple of inches in the length. That was easy to do with a box cutter.

But that tan cork doesn't go with the color scheme in the room I decided to spray paint it black.

(I don't recommend spraying words before covering the rest.
You end up having to spray extra layers, including random lines and swirls, to cover it up.)

After a few layers of the black paint dried, I literally squeezed the perfectly fitting corkboard right into the back of the frame. I tapped in a few new nails around the edges to secure it in place Thanks to the original wire hanger that's still in tact, she's good to hang. Ta da!

Pay no attention to the bubble in the cork. We'll tack something right over that. Now to find some fun pushpins.

2 Lovely Ladies Get the Black Spraypaint Treatment

Last year I got these two matching prints at a yard sale for a quarter each. Yup. $0.25.

Wait, wait. Don't judge.

Yes, the yellow plastic frames are horrid. But I totally fell in love with the girls and their baskets and pots of flowers and the wicker stool and their embroidered and lace aprons and the checkered skirt and their blouses and their rosy cheeks. I want to be them. I knew from the moment I picked them up that I would somehow make these work in my house somewhere. Lucky for me my girls think these pictures are just adorable as well.

And well, well! Just look at that. Wouldn't you know it - they happen to coordinate oh so nicely with the fabric for my girls bedroom makeover!

 

 

Seriously, the color scheme is practically a complete match. Meant to be.

BUT...

...those frames. They are....um.... unique, that's for sure.

I opted for black spray paint since I'm trying to infuse a lot of black into the room to make their black rug work.

Final result:

Better, right? I can handle the frames now. Whatever it takes to get those lovely ladies on the wall.

A Break From My Yard Sale Break

It had been at least a month since I'd been to a yard sale. And I was doing so good focusing on projects instead of buying more stuff. But I had this long-scheduled yard sale date with a new distant friend, Annie, when she was going to be in MA. She wanted to learn the ropes. And she requested that all my girls come along because she's got 3 little girls too and she wanted to see how we all do it together.

My girls were not too happy when I announced the night before that I scheduled this yard sale trip the same day as their daddy's annual softball tournament and they were going to miss cheering his first couple of games with their friends - a tradition they much look forward to. I encouraged them to instead think about the great stuff they might discover and asked what they hoped to find. My oldest said she would like to find more Tinker Toys because the ones we got at a yard sale last year were missing a lot of pieces and they didn't really have enough to build much of anything good. So as I prayed with them before bed, I specifically asked God to help us find some Tinker Toys at a yard sale.

Saturday morning we drove around, hitting up a bunch of sales on my list for over two hours but it didn't take me long to realize that Annie didn't need to learn anything from me about scoring a good deal. She boldly low-balled every seller on every item she wanted every time. She proved that, hey, it can't hurt to ask. They just might say yes!

Annie's best score was a $2 Lenox Beatrix Potter pitcher she bought for her niece's Peter Rabbit themed birthday party that evening.  Annie texted me that afternoon that she discovered it was worth almost $100 on eBay!

I didn't come home with anything of value or to jump up and down about but I found a few things. And even if I came home with nothing, we saw a lot of cool stuff had fun. Annie - I think we need to make this an annual tradition!

Here's my meager loot:

$1 for a frame and $2 for a brass hand-held mirror:

I picked up the mirror because I've got this idea to hang a tight grouping of random small mirrors somewhere in lieu of one large one. The frame is already undergoing a makeover for the girls' room. Details to come.

$0.50 for a bag of PartyLite and Yankee Candle tea lights and votives. Perfect for fall just around the corner!

This bag of jumbo corn-on-the-cob handles for kids was in someone's FREE box. My kids thought they were "COOOOL!!!"

Here's something I didn't realize I needed until I saw them. Set of bed lifts for $2.

The only bed frames I have that work with the girls' "new" headboards (which I finally finished, pics to come) do not lift their beds up high enough to look right with the headboards or to have any storage underneath. I hadn't really thought much about a solution to this problem yet (we moved in October and the girls' mattresses are still on the floor) until I saw the box of bed lifts at the yard sale. Seeing them reminded me that I actually have another set at home from my old bed. Sweet! So I now have 2 sets of bed lifts and am motivated to finally get my kids mattresses up off the floor.

The girls picked up a nice doctor kit to supplement the one they already have. Then, at the very last yard sale we stopped at, what did the girls discover?  Oh yes! A whole bag of Tinker Toys and a box of Lincoln Logs as the icing on the cake. OH YE OF LITTLE FAITH! "You do not have because you do not ask God." - James 4:2   Thank you, God!

The girls were eager to share with their friends when we arrived at Dad's 3rd (and final) softball game.

 

So that was it. I still browse the yard sale listings I get in my email every Thursday and Friday, just in case anything specific catches my attention, but I haven't really been out much. I'm trying to crank out as many projects as possible, even though 3 kids cramp my productivity rate. I've got some fun stuff to share soon though!

Updating Yard Sale Silhouettes

Back in the Spring, I picked up this pair of round, chunky framed vintage silhouettes at a yard sale for $5.

My plan was to use them in my girls' room. I've been trying to find several things in pairs to create small, complementary displays over each girls' bed. I knew I'd paint these frames and I do love vintage silhouettes but wasn't sure if I'd replace them with something else. (Like doodle stitching, my new dream hobby!! As. If. I. Have. Time.)

Either way, I knew I'd use them to compliment their rug, which so happens to be black...because its the room my hubby grew up in, and back in the day his parents let him choose black. We're not spending money replacing carpets now so I'm choosing to embrace the black rug and work with it. It's actually turned into a fun challenge!

For now, I've opted to keep the vintage silhouette prints - both for vintage charm and because I don't have anything else ready to go.  I simply painted the frames a bright pink to match the new room colors.

Ta-da....

Not a bad custom match paint job, eh? The ladies at the local paint shop rock my world. I was going to paint the hooks...handles....whatever they are....black, but my eldest said no, keep'm gold.

Now my girls get to fight over who gets the picture with the girl that has the fancy hat and parasol hung on their side of the room.

Something Painted, Something New

First - something painted.

To be honest, this will be more like a sneak peak at something I started painting. I shared here a while back some of my inspirations for decorating the bedroom that my two oldest girls share. It's been SLOW progress.

As of last week, all I'd managed to do was take down half a wallpaper border and fiddle with rearranging some furniture.

So I officially declared this past weekend project weekend. I dragged all three girls to the local hardware store for paint last week and together we picked out all the colors we'd need for their bedroom projects. I'm beyond happy that they are excited about my design plan. I was afraid they'd think there wasn't enough pink but that wasn't the case.

My goal for the weekend was to paint our matching rod iron headboards. One of them I picked up at a yard sale for $5 several years ago and the other one I picked up off a curb several months ago.

They so happen to be practically identical, rust and all. But I see beyond the rust to the potential.

First I brushed off any rust and scrubbed them down. Then I covered them with this spray primer that converts rusty metal to a paintable surface, preventing future rust.

That resulted in a matte black finish. Then I started painting them in Benjamin Moore's Vine Green, high gloss. I love that any paint can be put in a spray can. Only I should have had more than one can filled to get further along. Oh well.  So here's the sneak peak....(or a sneak peak again, if you're friends with me personally on Facebook). What you see is about all I got done so far.

I LLLOOOVVE the color. I can't wait to finish them up this week. I'm still iffy on whether or not we'll use the footboards too. More on that another time.


Second - something new.

Unless you're new here you know I'm not a big fan of buying things new. I don't really do retail therapy unless, after patiently waiting and looking, I can't find something second hand. Or, if it doesn't exist second hand. Or, if its something I'd never buy second hand (like pillows or mattress pads). I'd place myself at a yard sale or in a thrift shop over a HomeGoods any day.

But thank God for friends like Kelley and Becky that DO shop HomeGoods and spot toss pillows in one of "my" fabrics that I'm planning on decorating my girls' room with and alert me with text pics to confirm.



I was so surprised and psyched. First, if trendy retail stores are now selling pillows made out of the Waverly fabric I Pinned from the Joanne Fabrics website 6 months ago I must be on to something - right? Second, if I can buy the pillows then I don't have to make them. Because at the rate I'm going this room will be done by the time my oldest graduates.

Well, I didn't get the text until after they left the store so it was up to me to go out and snag them. The first HomeGoods store I marched into a few days later didn't carry them at all and I got worried. Thankfully the second and third stores I tried did. Score!

Turns out the pillow fabric is a mock of the Waverly fabric I'm waiting to go back on sale for 60% off at Joanns.com. The colors are the same but the pillow fabric is washable and the long, rectangular pillows I ended up choosing have zip enclosures for easy cleaning. Win-win. I guess buying something new isn't so bad after all.

I Just Can't Drive By Yard Sales

I recently confessed that I really shouldn't be allowed to run errands on Saturday mornings because I'm incapable of just driving by yard sales when I have the time to stop.  I've been trying to take it easy on the yard sale shopping for a little while to instead spend time working on some projects.

Well, a couple of Saturdays ago my oldest two girls went shoe shopping with their Grammy (isn't she the BEST?) and my hubby was busy studying for his "Planning for Business Owners and Professionals" test (and since passed so he's now a Certified Life Underwriter - CLU. Financial Advisors like to have lots of letters after their name), so the "baby" and I headed out to get my oil changed and deliver some freshly picked strawberries to a friend.

And wouldn't you know it. The house directly across the street from my friend's was having an estate sale! I played ding dong ditch with the berries (her daughter was sick) and I b-lined across the street.

It was a super fun one. Totally up my alley. Old wooden crates (which I don't need more of since I've picked up two more after these). Vintage tools. Antique furniture. Milk glass. I fell victim to the following items. (Just try and disregard the girl who insisted in posing in most of my pics. In her winter pajamas. On an 80+ degree day.)

I just couldn't walk away from this pair of little side-tables in one of my favorite shades of vintage green. $8 for the pair.

No, I don't decorate tables with doilies. That's one of the only few I've collected so far for my shower curtain project. (Anyone else besides Gram have vintage embroidered linens they want to give me?)

I can see these tables side by each (I married a Frenchman. It rubs off.) nesting potted plants on the back porch or maybe tucked in the corner of the girls' bathroom holding baskets of bath toys. We'll see. (And that time is getting closer....the in-laws' new house is speeding along! Almost close enough to taste but not quite.)

I know I recently came home with a big frame, but that one has "clean lines" (the 2nd most over-used phrase on HGTV, topped only by the word "space" - right?? At least it was back when I used to watch a lot more TV.) This frame, on the other hand, does not have clean lines, but ornate details. So its different. And it was only a few bucks. So I needed it. ;)

My plan is to paint some mis-matched frames a matching color and hang them together to display an ever changing selection of academic best efforts or artwork.

When I decided to buy these next couple of items, they belonged in that category that I have been pretty good at avoiding lately - the "I'm-buying-these-and-have-no-earthly-idea-what-I'm-going-to-do-with-them" category.

 

Apparently I just have a weak spot for rustic wooden boxes, especially when they're practically giving them away.

 



After having a week and a half to mull it over, inspiration has hit. I'm going to install them low on the wall in my homeschool room and use them to display books facing out.  Sort of along these lines but longer:

I like the idea of me choosing and displaying a rotating collection of books to encourage the girls to read some that are on subject with what they girls are learning in school. Or even just ones they usually skip over in lieu of their few favorites.

This next item, I absolutely could not leave behind. It was my favorite score of the day.

$25 for a solid wood, cedar lined chest in great condition.

Are you freakin kidding me??

Only TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS!!!

 I like the details on the front.

P.S. This (large) rug is looking for a new home. Contact me for details if interested.



 

I've decided I'm using this chest as a toy-storage coffee table for now. My previous toy-storage/coffee table/ottomans have seen their better days. I plan to paint this and I'll share when its done. (You've heard that before!)

Oh yeah....and my poor kids.... I didn't have a chance to haul the chest out of the van before we had to go somewhere that afternoon so they had to squeeze under the chest when they got in and out of the van.

I want to have a cedar lined hope chest to give each of my girls when they fly the nest. You know, filled with stuff like the hand-knit sweater sets and hand-quilted blankets given them at their baby showers. And their first hair cut and their lost teeth. And their baby/memory books. And baby jewelry and keep sakes from growing up.  ETC.

I picked up (a more expensive) one at a yard sale a few years ago but that one was a Lane chest that locks and has a drawer. This one is still good quality though. But I guess that means I'm still on the lookout for a third one. She deserves one too!

By miracle of God I only drove by one other yard sale that piqued my curiosity on my way home that morning. But as soon as I stepped out of my van into their driveway all hope was drained. An old sheet was littered with bed pans and OLD plastic kitchenware, all individually priced $1 and up with masking tape labels. The elderly couple sitting behind the tables tried their best to sell me their wares. I was about to turn around, when suddenly one treasure shone like gold among the rubble:

An antique egg scale. How cute is that?? And in my favorite vintage green. We plan to join the club next spring and raise our own chickens so how fun for us to weigh our own eggs! Only $5. Couldn't pass it up. What cracks me up (no pun intended) is how my 7-year old keeps walking up to this at my counter, pushing down on the scale and commenting on "how cute it is" and how much she likes it. Yup. Officially created that monster.

Well, I don't know what on earth prompted me to scan the plastic ware again at that sale, but on second glance I noticed a stack of sectioned plates and matching cups that we actually could really use for out by the pool.

Three of the four cups still had the original packaging on them. The sellers' masking tape label said $4 for the set but as soon as the sweet old blue-haired saw me pick them up for a closer look said she'd give them to me for $3. Fine. Sold.

Then I got home and as I was taking the plastic wrapping off the three "new" cups I noticed the original price tag from the store.

Marked down to $0.58. The old biddy actually made a profit on them! And to top it off, after washing them in the dishwasher, I tried out one of the cups with some ice water and it smelled slightly like moth balls.

Eh.

You win some, you lose some.