Thrifty Treasures and Metamorphosis Monday

I had a computer issue earlier today, and I have had to re-do this entire post. So I apologize to those of you who tried to view it and couldn’t.  And from what I understand from a friend who attempted to help me fix the problem, you pretty much COULD NOT see it!

I lost the comments I had before I took down the post, so please forgive me for not getting back to you. 

I’m linked to these two parties today to show you what thrifty finds I used to do a little transformation in my kitchen.

 

Please click on their buttons to see what everyone else is posting. 

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I ventured out in the heat and humidity to the little town of Tipp City, Ohio on Saturday to attend the town’s 6th annual antique and artisan show . The city closed down most of the main street in town to the 70 plus vendors who showed their wares.

One of my goals for the day was to try and find a galvanized metal watering can, but I had no luck finding exactly what I wanted. They were either too expensive or in poor shape. It was warm, even in early morning, so I ducked into my favorite shop in town, Feather Your Nest. So what do you suppose I saw first thing on the floor? A little red watering can! Now, it is a lot smaller than what I set out to buy, but its color and shape called to me. Not to mention the $6.00 price tag. Here it is sitting on top of my counter in the laundry room. 

 

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When I had cooled off sufficiently to brave the heat once again, I happened upon a booth that sold cute concrete gardening troughs. I made her an offer of $15.00 for it and she accepted.

 

 

 

It will hold the succulents that I purchased from Kroger for $8.95.

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I found a few more lovelies at the trough lady’s booth.  This $8.00 cross-stitched picture is now hanging above my laundry room sink.

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This bound journal will be a gift for a gardening friend. 

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Some of you may remember the rooster pictures in my kitchen that I previously posted about here.  After some thought, I decided that I wanted furniture on this wall. So I trotted off to our furniture store and picked up this half-round checkerboard console table. It looked lonely all by itself, so I borrowed the black stained shelf from the downstairs bathroom to put above it.

 

Yup, I think I like this better…

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I accessorized it with some of my thrifting finds ~  a chippy piece of molding, an old wire floral frog, and a tiny piece of glassware.

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An old lock and a metal picture frame accent the molding piece.

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This miniature footed piece of glassware was part of a big box that sold for $2.00. 

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I stuck an old postcard of the Eiffel Tower into the wire floral frog.

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This $6.00 post finial delights me with its cracked blue finish.

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I even treated myself to a little special something in this box….

It’s a coiled wire bracelet made to look like a wrist watch, complete with an old watch face. Isn’t it cute?

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I thought it was a pretty good day. The crowd was friendly and I even saw a few familiar faces. On the way back to Dayton, I stopped at an old friend’s house. She never minds a drop-in visitor so I didn’t feel guilty showing up unannounced. After a nice, cool drink of iced coffee and some good conversation, she handed me a jar of home-made jam to take home. She’d been cooking the whole time we had been chatting.

 

It was a good day, indeed!

Bette’s Garden

Bette is my sister-in-law and she has a green thumb, as opposed to my brown thumb which borders on being black! She took the Master Gardener course a few years back, but she has always had the knack for putting plantings and garden accessories together to make everything look spectacular. I’m sure you will agree once you see the following pictures of the garden path that leads to the lower level of her home. Do ya think it's fair to take just a smidgen of credit for this garden because I gave her a few pieces of garden art?

nah.......

The path begins at the side of her home and descends to the lower level brick patio. She used stepping stones and partially filled them in with ground cover. The little rabbit is the first one to welcome you into her yard.

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After meeting Mr. Rabbit, you walk under an arbor to get to the back yard. Here you see the arbor looking up from a lower part of her path.

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Sitting under the arbor are some architectural pieces and a wire trellis.

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A metal bee skep sits under a tree surrounded by hostas.

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On the other side of the tree she featured more rocks and concrete pieces, along with a chicken-wire cloche protecting one of her plants from garden intruders.

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This is the same area viewed from another perspective.

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Farther down the path, looking up to the arbor, ivy lines the sides of the rock stairway.

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A birdbath makes the perfect perch for this little metal frog.

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An old piece of iron fencing sets the backdrop for her impatiens and another little frog.

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This is the side wall of the path taken from her patio door in the lower level.

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From the brick patio outside the lower level, you can see her side yard.

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This funny little gargoyle lives on the wall outside her patio door.

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To the right of the gargoyle is a pedestal featuring an urn of ivy.

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Bette, thanks for letting me show your peaceful retreat. It’s always a pleasure to visit.

This post is linked to Artie’s blog, Color Outside the Lines.

Click on the link to see other gardens.

Outdoor Wednesday

Outdoor Wednesday is hosted by Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer .

Visit her to view all of the other links.

One of our adventures during our spring trip to California took us to Big Sur and Pheiffer Beach.

I never expected to see such craggy rock formations .

The waves crashed against the sharp rocks and made walking on them a bit slippery and precarious.

This small inlet encroached onto the sandy beach.

We picnicked at the base of this hill and had the perfect spot on a group of flat topped rocks that served as our make-shift tables.

Water gushed through this opening which helped feed the small inlet shown below.

The ocean water was a bit cold but we ventured out into it, anyway.

The seagulls pestered us for food all throughout our lunch and they weren’t afraid to come right up to us and beg for scraps of bread.

Boys Can Be Stylish, Too, Mom!!

It's Wordless Wednesday @French Lique, Texas!
Shhhh... It's Blogger's Choice today, so go visit Dixie and see what others aren't saying....

... sorry for the grainy photo - it is an old Polaroid instant.

Three Little Pots

Once again it's Thrifty Monday where we can show off all of the treasures that we found during the week. Make sure you visit
Rhoda to see what goodies everyone has posted.






Yard and garage sales in the Dayton area typically start on Thursdays. So if you want the pick of the crop, you'd better be prepared to take the day off from work to hunt for bargains. However, this past Saturday, a neighborhood sale was held in an historic part of downtown Dayton. I was hoping for some architectural finds, since many residents are still re-habbing these 100 + year old homes.

While I never found what I went looking for, I made a single purchase from a lovely woman and her husband who had set up in their backyard and alley. I couldn't resist adding these items to my potting bench in my laundry room. They'll be my herb pots. I'm off to the nursery today to purchase some dill, cilantro, and basil. I thoroughly think that this $3.00 purchase was worth enduring sweltering heat and humidity for half a morning.

Three little pots rest on a tray.

A miniature watering can will help keep my plants growing.

A simple dragonfly adorns one pot and the watering can.

A butterfly adorns the other two pots.

Here is the set on top of my potting bench.

Cloche Party

 Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life is hosting a Cloche Party today. We have the opportunity to show how we decorate with our cloches and/or apothecary jars. Click on the picture or her blog name to see the creativity of other bloggers.


        

I usually keep this small cloche in this table  vignette  in my back hallway.  The hallway doesn’t get much natural light, so I often keep the small lamp lit to help the Baby’s Tears in the cloche stay alive.  Other times, I take it outside during the day. You’ll see  it out on the patio in  more pictures below.

 In this picture, you can see  a small,  heart-shaped  rock  propped  up against a terra cotta pot.

The pot is filled with sheet moss and topped with a small shell.

This are more shots of the cloche taken outside early this morning. You can see that  the Baby’s Tears are growing inside an egg shell.

My second cloche is really a mini-greenhouse on  top of my potting bench in the laundry room. I set a single potted plant inside of it and accented it with two metal keys.

  I don’t have to water the plant very often because the enclosure maintains an even humidity and moisture level.

The largest of my cloche collection sits on the bureau top in one of the guest bedrooms.  The room is decorated in a garden theme, so it was appropriate that I put the cloche  together using natural materials  ~ including moss, a bird’s nest and eggs, and a little concrete bird.

Mama bird watching over her eggs.  

  Speckled eggs sit in this grass-filled nest.

My  smallest bell jar covers a single shell in the beachy/shabby  chic  guestroom.

I had most of these cloches well before it became so popular to decorate with them.  Since I don’t have a very green thumb,  I usually use them to cover  other items besides plants.  And that’s not always a bad thing……   

Don’t you agree?