$10 chest plus free paint! Total cost $10! Super Thrifty!

We stopped at only 2 garage sales so far this spring, I spotted a chest of drawers for $10 and knew right away I could do something with it.

I really needed somewhere to store my vintage lace and embroidery.

 I sure wish I had taken a picture before I put my freshly painted chest of drawers into my closet!

What a pain to try to get a good picture with artificial light and have it turn out to be the color that it actually is, sorry about the glare but I just can't seem to fix that.

It's actually a very light aqua and all 3 photos are off.

This one below seems to be the closest to the actual color.

But...back to the paint job. We have a county recycling place close by where we can pick up paint, stain, polyurethane, bug and weed sprays, deck wash even books all for FREE! 

We stop in about once a week and stock up because we have a ton of projects coming up.

I found a full gallon of exactly the color I had in mind for this chest. It was Dutch Boy and called Hawaiian Sky. Doesn't that sound pretty!

I also found a full gallon bucket of Plaster of Paris...it's amazing what people don't want.

Well, I have never seen (other than on blogs) anything painted with chalk paint.

Now I know I'm supposed to distress the furniture but on some things it just doesn't feel right and this one is so plain that I decided to leave it alone. But I still wanted to find out what the faux chalk paint was like so I looked around online and found that I could mix 1 part Plaster of Paris with 3 parts paint.

(Be sure to mix the amount of plaster of paris with a little water first 'before' adding the paint or it will be lumpy, add a little water to the mixture as needed while applying onto your project because it can thicken a little bit as you use it)

I do like it because the Plaster of Paris gives it some 'tooth'. It seems to adhere well and cover well. I can see it would be great for distressing furniture but wasn't necessary here. 

I found that the Plaster of Paris causes the paint to sand off more easily...great for easily distressing but not so much if you just want to give the paint a light sanding...the paint sands off very easily.  But at least now I have an idea what all the rage is and I will use it on future distressing projects, but I'll stick with my thrifty 'free' supplies. (At $40 a quart for 'real' chalk paint...I'll save that money to buy vintage treasures!)

I then stenciled dragonflies here and there using free white paint (I already had the stencil).

I did apply a coat of wax (already had that) because the paint is 'softer' with the Plaster of Paris in it and it needed something to seal it.

I was going to put on glass knobs but decided I liked the old wood ones.

The before...not bad looking here but it was painted green and blue, pretty nicked up and a bit dirty.

I even sealed the entire inside using 'free' water based polyurethane because I wanted to make sure I didn't bring any 'bad' smells into my closet.

I just love this...$10 chest plus $0 supplies...total remake...$10!!!

How can you beat that!

Now I'm in the process of filling the drawers, I have vintage crochet table cloths in one, vintage embroidered linens in another, it's so nice to be able to open a drawer and see what I have so I can stop buying more!

On top I have vintage goodies and an old chippy white shelf that I am putting more treasures on.

When I get it all looking good I'll post it...soon. 

It really makes me smile every time I walk into my closet, straight ahead is the pretty dresser and all the lovey vintage treasures.

Check around and you may have a recycling center near you....

and if I decide I don't like a color of paint I brought home, I can bring it back and they will recycle it again!

Now that's being thrifty!!!

(I wonder how many times I mentioned free!!!) 

Linking to:

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesday

Ivy and Elephants for What's It Wednesday

A Few Flea Market Finds

The weather is very muggy, the mosquitoes are so thick I can't even step out the door!

I was swatting bugs while trying to take a picture of my flea finds outside on the front porch.

Excuse the poor pictures but I had to hurry!!! Before the mosquitoes carried me off into the woods!

Mr. Wild and I went to Trader's Market yesterday, we were there before it opened because we knew the humidity was going to get worse.

I didn't find very much but then I also didn't spend very much and I can save it for the next flea market!

A sweet little book with some rather scary stories inside, they would never allow them now!

The first story is Jack Frost but then there are several more. 

It was the graphics that made me buy this book.

(copyright is 1888)

A little embroidery (child's pillowcase) and crochet, the colorful things to the right are crochet nut cups that were made but never used, they need to be starched.

Another birch bark canoe for my camping trailer, more crochet doilies and a vintage cast iron decoy anchor (I wanted more but they were too expensive!)

I'm still going with the cabin at the lake/fishing/shabby chic look. 

I need to condense that some way! 

Shabby cabin fishing?

Shabby fishing camping cabin?

Shabby fishing camping trailer?

And the first thing I found was this piece of heavy but not stiff floral fabric. It's going to make great cushions and pillows.

I also visited with Deb from Garage Sale Gal.

I knew she would be there!

Thanks for stopping!

Flowers in a Row ~ Done!!!

It's finished!!!

I did it, I actually finished something that I started and I can't believe

it took me only 4 weeks from start to finish. I love how it turned out!

I just love the three shades of pink with the soft green and ivory background.

It's an easy pattern to crochet and you can find it for free HERE.

So many of you have written and asked what colors and type of yarn I used.

Here it is:

Bernat Super Value Natural (cream)

Vanna White Sweet Pea (green)

Vanna White Raspberry (dark pink)

Vanna White Pink Poodle (medium pink)

Deborah Norville Baby Pink (light pink)

I just had to post it one more time for Pink Saturday!

Thanks for stopping!

Linking to 

How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday

Lots of painting, stenciling, crocheting and puttering around.

Last week we had decent weather! No rain for about 5 or 6 days so I made the most of it and enjoyed the outdoors as much as possible. Seriously, we are going to float away if it doesn't stop pretty soon...I wish it would move onto the western states where there are so many fires!

But anyway....here's just a peek at what's been happening and why I have not been blogging.

Now if I could spend less time on the internet and more time doing this maybe I'd get more accomplished????

I did some painting and a little stenciling. I moved this into my closet and of course had to drag a lot of stuff out so now the bedroom is a mess for now. I'll post about it when I have everything looking pretty. A total of $10 was invested in this piece...I'll tell you all about it later.

Then some time was spent on things I brought home last year.

A $1 homemade corner shelf was painted aqua, a cement garden decoration was painted white and then rubbed off to expose some of the old gray cement. A very old and very ugly bird cage was painted. I wish I had a before picture but the color was soooo ugly I couldn't even take a picture of it.

I painted it white and then wiped on some craft stain to age it again.

I finished my Flowers In A Row blanket/afghan.

Took me exactly 4 weeks from start to finish!

I brought out a crochet project that I started 2 years ago and I'm lovin' working on it! All those bright colors make me smile.

In the background is a simple quilt I made while in Arizona. It has an appointment with the quilter in early August along with 2 other small quilts.

I played around in my vintage trailer. I finally made up my mind and I'm going with the yellow throughout. I was so undecided until now but I love the warm sunny feeling when I walk in from the yellow Formica table and cupboards so I'm going with it!

Mr. Wild will paint the outside white with a yellow band and white shutters. Love it!

Things are not exactly where and how I want them but it's a start. Once I clear off my sewing machine I'll start sewing the curtains and pillows.

It will have a "cabin at the lake/fishing/shabby chic" look when I'm all finished.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE to fish, I was almost born in a boat, my mom fished, her mother fished and  the 3 husbands (Grandpa, dad and mine) just went along and tolerated it. Mr. Wild gets sea sick whereas I could live on the water.

I have my mom and dads and my old (now vintage) fishing gear and yup, lots of frogs because I like frogs!

Thanks for taking time to check out my blog!

Joining;

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesday

The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday

Taming The Wildlife!

Hello birds!

I just hand fed a nuthatch!

There is one that always comes around begging for seed when I walk out the door so this afternoon when I saw him I brought out the sunflower seeds and put some in the palm of my hand and held my arm straight out. Sure enough, after he watched me for a minute, he landed on my fingertip and grabbed a seed and flew off onto the tree to crack it open.

Then there is a black squirrel that watches for us and is not afraid, she was coming down the tree and looked at my hand and I thought no, their claws are a little too sharp for me but she sure looked like she was ready to jump!

Of course this is not THE nuthatch because no one was around to take a picture but I'm going to keep trying it every time it shows up mooching for food!

And while I'm at it here, a few Springs ago I took a break on the front porch, lying on my back and very still, a house wren landed on my shoulder and started picking at my long hair. I just stayed very still while she continued to try to steal some of my hair for her nest until she gave up finding that it was still attached!

I enjoy birds so much!

That nuthatch was my treat for the day!

I just had to tell someone....

Update today Monday, he's back! 

This time the nuthatch came to my hand twice and he took his time about it, he picked up several seeds each time until he has just the right one.