Flea Market Finds

Okay, while we all wait on pins and needles

to see who wins -

let's take a look at some of

the projects accumulating in my garage.

*A QUICK SIDE NOTE:

if you don't happen to be the 

randomly-selected winner of

this great giveaway, don't fret.

I'll give you more information

about Amanda's little business

when I announce the winner on Monday.

I'll also help you get your questions

answered and/or help you order

some of Amanda's beautiful creations.

If you need answers before then,

feel free to shoot me an email.

Click on "View my complete profile"

next to my picture on the righthand side

of the blog to find my email address.

Alright - back to my garage!

 I got a voicemail the other day from a reader,

wondering what I'd found at the flea market on Father's Day.

So this post is for you Nancy!

These 3 beauties were my first purchases:

They are old pieces of crown molding that I just couldn't pass up!

I thought they'd be awesome hanging in any room,

with old hooks or crystal knobs attached

or maybe made into shelving.

Each one could be different -

Oh the possibilities are endless!

I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with them yet,

but I am sure that I don't need 3 of them hanging in my house.

Which is actually good news for you guys,

because I'll show you what I come up with and

if anyone is interested in having one,

we can work something out - 

or maybe I've just stumbled upon a future giveaway ;)

While I was tempted by a lot of things at the flea market,

the only other purchase I made was this:

You know I'm a sucker for old windows.

This one isn't nearly as cool as the leaded-glass window

that is hanging in my living room,

but I did do the same funny thing -

I purchased the window having only viewed it from one side,

and then turned it over after buying

and loved the other side more!

Why I never look at both sides

of a window before buying - I have no idea,

but this ridiculous method keeps working out well for me.

I've got plans to use this big window in my guest bedroom,

but it's not just getting hung up on the wall like my other window.

Anyways, I have a ton more stuff in my garage to show you,

 but Nancy, those were my only flea market finds.

They may not look like much now,

but hopefully I'll have some great "After" photos for you soon!

GIVEAWAY DAY

It's finally here -
my very first reader giveaway!
I'm so excited to show you what you can win.

Take a look at these necklaces:

Each one-of-a-kind necklace

was handmade by my friend Amanda.

She very generously agreed to give away one of her
custom necklaces to one of my lucky readers!

Are these beautiful or what?

 And as if those adorable creations weren't enough -

she can customize any necklace

with one of your own photographs!

Look at this sweet necklace she made me for Christmas.

On the front is a picture of Walter and a little W charm.

 On the back is Walt's birthdate.

 

You may have seen me wearing it

in two of my previous blog posts.

Here are those pictures again so you can get an idea of its size.

It quickly became one of my most favorite pieces of jewelry.

This is another example of a custom photo necklace.

Amanda made it for a young lady

whose mother had just passed away.

The back of the necklace.

Such a beautiful way to keep her mom close to her heart!

Another woman commissioned this little number -

a picture of her husband & child.

These cute little charms just finish it off.

And for all of you men out there -

(I know some men read this,

even if you don't want to admit it!)

This giveaway is for you too.

These necklaces make great gifts.

Surprise your wife with one of these photo necklaces,

and I swear she'll love you forever.

Or have something made for yourself.

I had Amanda create a keychain for Adam's 1st Father's Day.

One side is Adam & Walt when he was born,

and the other is a current picture of Walter.

Tell me you don't want one!

So the giveaway details go like this:

One lucky reader will win a custom necklace or

key chain made by Amanda.

Because each necklace you've seen here is one-of-a-kind,

you can't pick the exact one that's here on the blog.

But if a particular piece has caught your eye, 

Amanda can come close to re-creating it and

you can have a say by mixing and matching any

of the words, color backgrounds or charms you see here.

Or if you prefer a photo piece,

she will gladly use one of your own photos.

To be eligible to win all you need to do

is make a comment on this post.

Say "I want to win" or tell me what you think of Amanda's work,

or say anything at all - just keep it appropriate :)

Get your comments posted by midnight on Sunday, July 4 and

the winner will be announced Monday. 

Only one entry per person please,

but tell your friends and get them signed up too.

GOOD LUCK!

An Old Army Buddy

Know what this is?

Apparently if you vacuum your carpet,

these lines appear in the direction you pushed your vacuum.

News to me too.

I was perfectly happy living under the assumption

that brand new carpet didn't need 

to be vacuumed within the first year,
I guess that's not the case.

And check this out.

Our island -

completely free of all the clutter, paper and debris

that usually lives there, despite my best efforts.

Vacuum lines in the carpet AND a clutter-free island?

It can only mean one thing:

We're having company!

We got an unexpected visit this morning

from this little family of four.

They live a good 6 hours away,

but happened to be in the area for a family reunion,

and gave us a call.

We were so glad they did!

They came over for a few hours so we could catch up,

meet each other's kids,

and eat breakfast together before they had to head home.

About 5 years ago this lovely mother of two -

was hanging out with Adam and I in Baghdad, Iraq.

For those of you who don't know,

Adam and I were deployed to Iraq from 2004 - 2005

with the Minnesota Army National Guard.

It's actually where we met,

but that's a story for another day.

We made a lot of friends during that deployment,

but Holly was one of the best.

A deployment is definitely what you make it,

and having great friends along meant

we always found ways to make it fun.

Here's a picture of our platoon in Kuwait.

(We're in there somewhere.)

This is some of us ladies eating ice cream in Kuwait.

I was so glad to find that this tin hut

housed an actual Baskin Robbins

and wasn't just some cruel mirage.

(From the left: I'm 1st in this photo & Holly is 3rd)

Here we are inside one of Saddam's palaces

on our base in Baghdad.

(From the left again: Holly, our friend Trent, Me & Adam)

And  finally, on a break in Baghdad,

making one of our many excursions to the pool.

(Trent, Holly & Adam - I'm taking the picture)

Holly, I'm sure it seems like it was a long road from here:

To here:

but we're so glad to have been friends on your journey.
Great to see you and your adorable family!

Big Blogger Giveaways

I recently announced that I'm having my first reader giveaway.
I'm very excited about it!!
For those of you unfamiliar with the blog world -
giveaways are quite common.
Most require that you leave a comment on the blog post
discussing the giveaway,
and they usually have a day or two time limit
for you to get your comment posted by
in order to be eligible to win.
Then a random number generator,
such as random.org is used to arrive at a winner.
Like if you want to win this:

Look here.

This amazing

blogger woman

gives away some

of the most

fabulous prizes around.

They aren't even

donated by her

advertisers, she buys
the prizes herself.

Check out Pioneer Woman's site here,

but if you want to win this camera, you better hurry!

You only have until noon today to enter.

And for another amazing giveaway check here.

Who couldn't

use this

crafty machine?

And just

look at all

the fabulous

things it

can do:

It can cut out vinyl lettering:

Make heat transfers:

Do crazy things with paper:

(A scrapbookers dream!)

It even has a glass etching feature for pete's sake!

I admittedly have no idea how that works,

but you better believe I entered to win it.

Check out Thrifty Decor Chick's site 

before Tuesday and try to win one yourself!

I have a bunch of projects I'm hoping to

get after over the weekend,

as things I've found at the farm,

bought at the flea market,

and purchased off craigslist

are stacking up in my garage.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Let me know if you win one of those

great prizes above, otherwise

come back next week for a chance

at winning my first giveaway!

The Damage

It's tough to get a good picture of the

damage to the house caused by the hail storm.

It's mostly on the white aluminum trim that surrounds

the garage doors and that thick white piece

separating the shake from the siding on the garage.

Here's a closer look,

but you can't really see all of the dents.

One place you can certainly see the damage

is on the downspouts.

From this angle, it looks okay.

But here - you can really see the pockmarks.

That's basically what the inner white trim around our front door

and the garage doors looks like.

You can sort of tell on the inner left side of this window,

and here along the garage door.

Only one piece of actual siding got hurt.

It's high up so I couldn't document it well either,

but there's a small hole where it broke.

But in brighter news,
look at this little beauty -

It was given to me by a devoted reader my sweet sister,

who was sympathetic over the loss of all my plants.

I threw out my dead wheat grass and this new guy is just

hanging out in that pot until I can move it into it's new home,

the big red pot.

Apparently, we will rebuild :)