Buy an American Flag made in China?!

Good for Gov. Ted Strickland. He and others like him are debating an Ohio bill that would outlaw the sale of foreign-made U. S. and Ohio flags. A father of soldier killed in Iraq had this to say to the Senate: "Unless you have stood before a flag-draped casket bearing the remains of your warrior son who gave his life in combat, you may never know of the pride and ideals that this flag instills in those of us who have." Pretty powerful words. Several others states, including Minnesota, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Tennessee have already passed similar legislation.

People opposed to the bill say that passing such a bill goes against free trade agreements. This guy they interviewed on TV said that passing this type of bill sends a negative message to China and could end up closing our free trade with China "which we worked so hard to open." And why is that, sir? Why did we work so hard to open free trade with China? So that thousands, millions even, of Americans could lose their jobs? What we have with China isn't free trade. It's unequal, unfair trade. What does China depend on us for, seriously? We depend on them for a lot (practically everything sold at Wal-mart), but I can't really think of a single that other countries really need us for. Here we have a problem. Buy American, people. (And don't even stop there. Buy handmade American!)

I have so many Americana items in my house.... here's a set of star shaped boxed I got at a garage sale that houses some of my sewing supplies


A Clock I received as a gift


A couple pitchers I just had to have, and an antique duck that was my grandma's

This is a picture frame I picked up for a few dollars at an antique shop. Yes, it has some damage, but I love it nonetheless. Framed in it are pictures of my Great-Grandma's family.


A rocking chair with a handmade Old Glory pillow made by yours truly. It was really easy. I took a thrifted flag and sewed it onto a pillow. The fabric covering over the pillow was also added by me... I chose blue and white fabrics to match the flag :)

Linking to: Someday Crafts Patriotic Linky Party 2012

Toilet paper can be cute too

Don't ignore the most important room of the house! Check out this flea market find. It almost blends in with the wall color because the two shades match so well. Funny thing is, I painted neither the walls or this bird house-TP holder. Both came as is. It also fits perfectly in the little spot between the toilet and the sink and is even the same height as the toilet. It's like it was made specifically for this spot. I can't believe my good fortune!

And who doesn't like birdhouses? I have birdhouse lamps, jewelry holders, Christmas ornaments... what else can we make out of old birdhouses? I have two birdhouses in the garage that my grandpa built before he passed away. He fully intended them to be used as bird houses, but I bet we could come up with some other cool use for them. They have flat roofs- it's made for a certain kind of bird but for the life of me I can't remember which kind. They have removable floors for cleaning purposes, so I could make one into a bank! Just put the money in the hole intended for the bird's entrance, and you have an instant bank! What else can you come up with?

This was also a flea market find, however it was from one of those tents where they're selling all new stuff. This keeper-of-the-TP is put to good use in the upstairs bathroom.

But what if we have company?

What if fifty people were to just drop by the house, and we felt the need to throw an impromptu tea party? Just in case that scenario should ever present itself, I need to be prepared!

Each of these vintage, floral beauties was hand picked from flea markets, garage sales, etc for next to no cost at all. I have a few more tea cups, but they don't all fit in the cabinet anymore (plus I have my great-grandma's matching china set but I don't really care for the pattern-- it's currently in a box in the basement). I have an idea. Instead of downsizing on the vintage china, how about I just buy another Hoosier cabinet?

Inspiration comes from the darndest places

So I was reading the blog on iwannanewbag.blogspot.com (and holy cow that lady is a brilliant master of the craft!) and I saw a link for a beer shaped purse. I thought, "Hmmm, my brother's girlfriend would like that." So I clicked the link but no beer shaped purse was to be found. I was very confused and began to hyperventilate because I really needed to see what a beer shaped purse looks like. Then it hit me. Duh. The thing said bear shaped purse, not beer. But alas, the wheels were already turning. I tracked down a photo of what I imagine a beer shaped purse would look like (cylindrical like a can of course) and am totally going to make one. I am going to use Coca Cola fabric though because I have some lying around the sewing room. I could make the top of the cylinder metalic silver (I have some of that too) and even hotglue a pop tab on top. (Is that taking it too far?) Oh the possibilities!

I was even able to find a free pattern for my Coke bag at http://www.mccallpattern.com/freeproject/index.htm. They also have eight other projects for free, all you have to do is give them your email address, after which they will surely bombard you with unwanted solicitation for the rest of your emailing life. But hey, it didn't cost me dime and it's a bag pattern, come on.

More transformations

The lady who made this is the bomb. She is my hero, seriously. You should totally check out her blog. This is the inspiration for me to do something with this, if I could just bring myself to cut it up:

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Here we have a small piece of wood, painted a lovely shade of green, to which I screwed in three vintage hooks. While I was still with my ex, his apartment building was being torn down to make way for a new university parking lot (that totally pissed me off but that's neither here nor there). Since it was being torn down, we took the hooks that had been hanging in the closet all those years. It was the least I could do save a small piece of history.

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Here's my husband's not-so-attractive TV stand. We were getting rid of furniture when our two households merged, but I saw some potential in this one. I knew we would need more TV stands, since together we had six TVs. I knew just the corner where this one would work. Here it is mid-way to being done.

And here it is after it's paint job and new skirt (attached with velcro)

What the heck is this thing?

• What in tarnation is it? Awhile back, I bought it at a flea market for next to nothing. For the longest time, I proudly displayed four pillowcases (one hung in each hole), however I have decided to put the pillowcases back in the closet. Sometimes I sling a purse over the top, and I'm sure it would be good in a bathroom to hold a handtowel, but what else could it be?

I suppose you could glue round pieces of cork into the circles and have a very interesting cork board.

You could somehow place lace around the circles (perhaps with hot glue), and use it as a place to store earrings, but I don't really wear earrings.

If the circles moved, you could position them so you could put flower pots in it, but they won't budge. Who else has some cool ideas? Speak up, people! Let me know what you think.

My Chair Fetish

According to good buddy Merriam-Webster, a fetish is:

1a- an object (as a small stone carving of an animal) believed to have magical power to protect or aid its owner; broadly : a material object regarded with superstitious or extravagant trust or reverence
b- an object of irrational reverence or obsessive devotion

Yes, that's me. "Obsessive devotion." Why, oh why, do I love chairs so much? Big chairs, little chairs, wooden chairs, plastic chairs, metal chairs, upholstered chairs, chairs that match, and chairs that lack a partner. I love them all the same. Perhaps Dr. Seuss should have spun a little tale about chairs rather than his infamous "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish." Don't you think, "One chair, two chairs, Red Chairs, Blue Chairs" just has a better ring to it?

Yes, I do have too much time on my hands.

My husband is very good about my garage saling habit, however he now expressly prohibits me from bringing home anything that remotely resembles a chair. Well, he isn't exactly that harsh, but you know what I mean. A few weekends ago I came really close to bringing home a chair. My friend and I were garage saling at a huge community yard sale, and the sales were wrapping up for the weekend. This one homeowner had already gone inside and called it a day. And there it was. It was wooden with a broken cane seat. It matched almost perfectly the chair that my grandma gave me to few years ago, right down to the broken cane seat. And best of all, it was free. At least, I figured it was free. It was just sitting out by the curb like trash. But I didn't take it, and now it's probably taking up space somewhere in some landfill. I'm pissed off just thinking about it. Hopefully someone nabbed it, even if that someone wasn't me. Here's mine holding some vintage tablecloths since people can't sit on its broken cane seat:





I don't own a pair of these chairs, however the idea behind them are so cool I wanted to add them to the list. Click on the chairs, and you can visit their website. They recycle video game consoles and somehow make chairs out of them!



This one was sold to me back in college by a friend. At the time, it was covered in ugly black vinyl, so I covered it with green velvety fabric that I bought back when I worked at Joanns (loved that employee discount!) The pillows and blanket were second-hand finds.


This chair is temporarily holding this Sheriff's hat that I got for Jason. Suffice it to say, as a child, Jason used to collect little police badges, and I thought this would make a nice addition to his collection! (Fifty cents at a garage sale, and this hat was mine!)


I bought these little charmers at three separate garage sales/flea markets. I can't believe I was lucky enough to find three of the same type of chair! Inconspicuously printed on the chair is "Made in Mexico" ... my guess is they were hand-painted.


This rocker was a college hand-me-down from a roommate. She didn't want it anymore and gave it to me when we graduated. I recovered it and paired it with this pillow I made.


These plastic chairs were originally green and red when I was given them by a college roommate's mother. I painted them white, distressed them, gave them leaf motif stamps, and then placed a seat cusion on them (where is the other seat cushion?!)


This chair is being put to good use to hold kindling for this summer's bonfires.


I got this little beauty at an antique store for ten bucks. It's tiny and cute. I wouldn't spend ten dollars for a chair anymore, but this was one of my first finds.


This little darling came from a garage sale for a buck or so. My children will make good use of it some day, but in the meantime I set stuffed animals on it.


These shabby chic chairs came from a thrift store years ago and cost ten bucks for the pair. When covered with the cushions I made to go with them, they are really comfy.


Here's a another garage sale find


This bentwood chair has a mate downstairs in the kitchen. Both came from garage sales.


Some don't care for these chairs, but at 1.50 for the pair at a garage sale back in college, I couldn't pass them up. I recovered them and painted them white and now they look like totally different chairs. My dentist's office has these same exact chairs.



You might think that's all I have *cackles with laughter*, but honey, this is just a mere drop in the bucket!