Save it for later....

I have run away and let my treasures down one too many times.  No more excuses...today I will fulfill my promise to one of them.

We recently repainted our bathroom and now, of course, the items that once adorned our walls just do not seem to look right.  So, I ventured down to the dungeon. (I really wanted to post a picture here, but my husband would have a heart attack if anyone actually saw our basement.)  Each item begging to be selected, I heard the pleas the loudest from a set of triplets crying from under a pile of life vests, kayak tie downs and paddles.  Three white shelves that were ripped down from someone's home and sold in a garage sale for a mere 50 cents each.  I remember the day I saw these beauties.  Although I had no idea where their permanent home would be, I did know they had potential.

I really like the old, worn look so these babies will be an easy finish.  I sanded them just a bit more before I decided to pop the brackets off from one to make a rack to hold my hand towels.  After drilling four holes equal distance apart, I ran out to my Jeep where I found four porcelain knobs that I had just picked up at the Restore.  I put them in a viola! A place to hang the bathroom towels!  The other two shelves begged me to stay together, so I joined them to make a more interesting piece.  I again removed to brackets from the first shelf and  flipped the other shelf upside down.  I screwed the brackets of the second shelf to the first shelf.  There! But they looked a little plain and I felt that they hadn't quite lived up to their full potential.  I decided to type in "transferring images" to the Google search bar and found I had everything I needed to put a cool decal on my newly transformed pieces.  I wanted something French, just because it looks pretty.  Again, a Google image search tuned up perfect results.  On the towel rack, I decided to put "Laves Les Mains". (Wash your hands. I know, not soul inspiring, but it looked cool, fit the space I had and let's face it...really is important to do.)  For the shelf, I found a cool ad for glycerin soap.  It was not in French, but I liked the look and it did say Paris on the bottom.

Look at these gorgeous pieces!  Junk?  I would say not!

*I didn't plan well for my first transfer and the "s" got cut off, so it really says "Wash your hand" but how many would have known that if I didn't tell you?  That's the beauty of using foreign language transfers. :)

 Hanging in my newly painted bathroom. (The wall color is Antique Silver by Glidden.  Isn't it beautiful?!)

The jars are old shades from outdoor lights. I need to make lids for the other two.  I will teach you how in another post. :)

Directions for easy transfers:

1. Select the image that you would like to transfer and save it to your computer.
2. Open the image and hold down the ctrl, shift and h key. This will flip your picture horizontally.
3. Cut a piece of wax paper to the size of your computer paper.
4. Insert the paper into your printer and print the photo. (You will need to guide it through at first to make sure it doesn't wrinkle.)
5. Make sure the wood that you want to transfer the item to is handy. You must work quite quickly before the ink dries. You can either dampen the wood by wiping with a wet cloth or you can leave the wood dry. If you dampen it, the image will appear darker. Dampening painted wood may cause the image to smear. Or if it is too wet, you will risk smearing the transfer. It smeared on mine, but I decided I liked it as it enhanced the "aged" effect I was going for.
6. Put the image face side down on your wood. Once you set it down, you cannot remove it. Be sure to place it exactly where you want it. (You may want to print a "test subject" on a piece of printer paper before flipping your picture with the ctrl, shift, h trick. You can use this to find the exact placement before printing the image on wax paper. )
7. Holding on to the wax paper so it doesn't move, take a credit card and standing it on its side slide the edge over the wax paper until you have covered the entire surface a few times.
8. Gently pull off the wax paper and your transfer should be done!
   
    Here is the great site that taught me this process! 
         http://www.unexpectedelegance.com/2011/09/01/wax-paper-transfer-tutorial
   
   Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. 
   -Lord Chesterfield
   
   
   
   

That's what friends are for...

I attribute my pack rat behavior to two of the most wonderful women that blessed my life.  The first is my mother.  She saved EVERYTHING!  She was known to iron wrapping paper, save pie boxes, reuse ribbons, remelt candles and had more Imperial margarine containers than the manufacturers themselves.  Nothing was ever thrown out because "you just never know when you need it".  That school of thought was unfortunate to unsuspecting refrigerator raiders in her home.  She always answered "yes" to the question: "Is this still good?"  As the raider was wolfing down whatever leftover they may have found, Mom would think back aloud to figure out just what day she had it for dinner herself.  She usually determined the meal was eaten at least a week in the past. 

Another woman that I was fortunate to love, was a dear flea marketing friend.  Her home had impressive stacks of thrift store finds that reached from floor to ceiling, with just narrow paths to walk through.  She was generous with her treasures,  although often times others did not recognize their beauty as she did.  My fondest memory of The Bear Lady features her gifting me the ugliest owl lamp I had ever seen.  Her huge smile and encouraging confirmation of how perfect it would be in my living room convinced me to take it.  I must confess, it was not long before I dropped the creepy thing off at a resale shop.  Time passed, and one day The Bear Lady came into work excited to show me the riches she found for me that day.  "You will never believe this!" she enthusiastically exclaimed as she opened the hatch of her van which was bursting with her newly found prized possessions.   "It is a perfect match to the lamp I gave you!"

As you can see, after being mentored by these amazing women, I was destined to be the lover of all things used and cast aside.  When they left this earth, they bestowed upon me the super power to attract and accumulate any item needing love within a hundred mile radius.  I am also pretty sure they pulled strings up in Heaven to create craigslist.

I am now an "empty nester" with a basement full from years of hunting and gathering.  Although I had good intentions at the time, my hunting trophies were set carefully in the basement with the empty promise that I would come visit and help them regain their luster of days past.  My hubby thinks it is time to pitch everything...I need to prove him wrong.  With my mad creative skills, (aka Pinterest and Google), I vow to make use of all the garbage lurking in the basement. (Along with anything else I will inevitably collect as days go by.) Since I know I am not the only hoarder out there desperately trying to show others just exactly why they need 17 chairs without seats, I thought I would share my projects to empower my fellow collectors to rescue their junk from dark, damp basements everywhere. 

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.

-C.S. Lewis