USA, USA, USA!

My house is buzzing about the Soccer World Cup...my sons and husband  have been looking forward to this all year! Soccer is HUGe in my husband's family and big in mine -- my great uncle had the privilege of playing in the first ever World Cup game...he's even in the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame (yes, there is one in Oneonta, NY, very close to Cooperstown, NY)! In case you haven't heard, the U.S. tied England 1-1; it was a great game and we had a houseful of people who really appreciated the game and the level of play. 


Aside from watching soccer  (and lacrosse),  I've been working on several wedding presents for people -- even sold a few items on my etsy site -- Where the Grass is Greener!! Very excited and hoping that the trend will continue. 


My other shop, Country Tag Sale, a vintage shop, is doing great. I make at least one sale a week and have so much fun finding the items (the thrill of the hunt!) and photographing them. Speaking of which, I got a fantastic deal on a tripod for my camera. 


I have two small tripods that I use all the time, but some for some shots, I really wished that I had a taller one -- well, I found one, the perfect tripod -- one that sells for $40-$60 retail-- for only $2 (that seems to be my magic number at garage sales, lately). Now my shots may look somewhat professional. I also found the funniest father's day gift for my husband (don't worry, he never reads this) -- a beer mug with a bell ringer attached! 


I also found these adorable easels (see above) for my mini collages. I'm going to offer them with each as an option.


Wednesday, I'll be posting on Country Chic Cottage again to show what I created with my giant spool (Still working on that). Tune in...

What Would You Do With It?

Okay everyone, please check out my "guest blog" at The Country Chic Cottage today! "It's What Would You Do With It? Wednesday" where each Wednesday a guest blogger (that would be me this week) asks readers, "What would you do with it?". This blog is a great place to wander because Angela has some fabulous ideas along with a ton of other links. Her blog is where I want to be in a year! So stroll over to her blog and let me know what I should do with my find...you have to go to her blog and scroll down a bit to see what I'm talking about. Just click here or above. 

Fabulous Finds and a New Sign

Oh I had fun this weekend even though I had a limited amount of time to yard sale. I found these really cool old window frames (with latches still attached). I have no clue what I'm going to do with them yet, but for a mere $15, I couldn't pass them up! I also found some very cool old vintage kitchen items and I will be putting some of them in my etsy vintage shop, "Country Tag Sale." Some, like the Sunbeam stand mix, I will keep for myself. Among my finds, a hand potato ricer with just the right amount of vintage charm, a restaurant style creamer, a metal cake decorator and a huge collection of vintage buttons that I can use for my collage work...let the fun begin!

Here is one of my creations that I crafted from vintage hinges, jewelry and watch parts (on the right). It's a pretty cool welcome sign, don't ya think? Of course, it's for sale, but my house is really getting decked out in the meantime. I'm now working on a new welcome sign for a customer that will be personalized...a wedding gift for her friends.
Note: This Wednesday, I will be on someone else's blog as a guest...stay tuned for more information!

Dream on...

Okay. I’m in love with this sign I just finished. I really want to keep it, but I do need to make some money. I wish I could make one for me and one for sale, but as you know most of my stuff comes from my fabulous finds, so they are all unique. I’m putting it in my Etsy shop tomorrow, but here’s a sneak preview (see above). I used paper scraps, Swarovski crystals (I bought those), buttons and letters that I found in a clearance rack.  I stamped some French lettering and flowers in strategic places. Then I painted a coat of matte Mod Podge to seal it all. It wasn’t hard, but it did take some time to arrange the papers and consequently there were a lot of “do-overs.”

I’m working on another sign that will be created with a creme and grey palette (again leftover paper scraps). I’m also trying my hand at making paper flowers – we’ll see if I actually include them on my sign. I used regular old card stock paper on my flowers and they turned out pretty good for an amateur.  (If I say so myself!)

Pretty tired after painting 101 third graders’ faces at the school’s Native American day. I think I’ll put up my feet, have a glass of wine and then cook dinner.

Enjoy the weekend!

Fun-filled Weekend (with a little creativity involved)

Once again, we had another fun-filled weekend with the Zemanski crew. Greg's parents, brother, sister-in-law and their kids joined us Friday for dinner out at Cantlers (famous for crabs), then on Saturday we spent the day in DC and headed out with my other nephew, his girlfriend and Greg's other brother  to watch my nephew Ben (who plays for Chivas USA) play DC United in soccer. (Did you get all that?) We had a lot of fun even though Chivas lost. Sunday, it was back to our house for croquet, Baggo and soccer games, plus a bushel of crabs that we had no problem finishing. Monday, we headed to Annapolis to show off our wonderful little city. We sat by the city dock in the shade slurping delicious ice cream from Annapolis Ice Cream (the BEST ice cream--seriously). Most of us had my favorite, apple pie, a flavor where they stir a whole homemade apple pie and cinnamon into the ice cream - yum!

Monday, I still had some company, but did manage to sneak up to the craft closet to finish this sign for my etsy shop. After much research, I see that signs seem to sell a lot better than collage work, so I thought  I would combine my love for art into functional signs. Here is the first of my series of "welcome" and "home" signs. This one reads, "Home is where the heart is." (I substituted a vintage heart pin for the word "heart.") I had a lot of fun creating this. It all started with a piece of wood and this vintage BINGO card. I cut the card into a house shape and just started working. After I was almost finished, I realized that I needed a roof. I told my sister that I wanted to find some copper to cut into a roof (triangle) shape, and guess what? She had it! Wow, her craft room has everything. I swear if I said that I needed an antique spider web, she'd say, "oh, go look in that box over there..."

Anyway, here is the finished result. It's now on sale at my etsy shop. The next sign I make will be very shabby chic...I actually am falling in love with it and may decide to keep it...we'll see.

Taking Time to Breathe

I love being creative, but sometimes I need a break and this weekend I will take a nice long one. My husband's parents, brothers and families are coming down for the weekend and to watch my nephew play soccer against DC United. Yep, my nephew is a professional soccer player. He was one kid who had his dream come true (he worked very hard to make that dream come true). He plays for Chivas out of Los Angeles, so we don't get to see him play in person (but, we do watch him on television). So, this weekend, all 13 of us will be wearing our Zemanski Chivas jerseys and cheering on Ben!

In the meantime, here are a few of the things I've been working on.. I finished an old vanity that I've been working on forever. I found this sweet little vanity at an auction and it was in terrible shape. I took on the challenge of stripping it to the bare wood, sanding it, priming it, adding a piece of wood and a wood embellishment to the back. I then painted it a beautiful shade of creme. It is distressed, so it has a shabby, but oh so chic look! I added antique crystal knobs and some fun black trim to cover the imperfections and to add a touch of glamor.


The collage on the right is one of my favorites. I created it on a wood block that I painted and decoupaged. I then added some vintage finds -- a brass letter "C," an antique bobbin, antique buttons, some vintage beads and twine. It's for sale, but it's also hanging in my art room.

Linking to: 

It's that time of year...graduation!

A friend of mine commissioned me to design a very special present for a very special Navy midshipman whom she has sponsored over the past four years (providing a home away from home). I'm almost finished, but I'll let you take a sneak peek. What I did: Painted a wood jewelry box I found at an antique sale; then I used a special embossing pen to write the equations and calculations (she was a math major). I now know more about equations and formulas than I ever wanted to know!
The inside is really cool, too. I used vintage math books, graph paper, cards, music and arranged them to form a collage. Then I decoupaged them into the interior. I love how it turned out. Now, I just have to finish by adding the drawer knobs and add another coat of protective finish!

I also (finally) completed a child's beach-themed table and chairs that I've been working on forever, in between other projects. It's so vivid and cheerful and I can see it brightening some little kid's play area! 

Soon, I'll be posting a very shabby, but chic vanity for you all to see...it's looking good, but I've got to find the perfect drawer pulls...yard sale anyone?