Thursday, November 17, 2011

Mini Moochers!

I am blessed to have 2 very great daughters who are an inspiration for my work, and for the name of my blog and business, sweetgirlcrafts.  I am, however, learning that this crafting lifestyle has proven to be too much temptation for my little girls, or my "mini moochers", as I like to call them.

Not only are they fascinated with everything that I make, they love when I bring home my "flea market treasures" as well.  One of my most prized finds is an old Royal typewriter that is just beautiful.  It is in perfect condition and even came in the case with the original "duster" used to clean the perfectly round glass keys.

This typewriter looks great in my living room, perched on top of a bar.  Unfortunately, one of my mini moochers discovered it and decided it was a play toy.  "Mom, I like that new thing in the living room, that you can push buttons on!" she exclaimed as she was moving her fingers up and down.  Great.  I didn't know whether to be more upset that she was playing with my treasure or with the fact that she had no idea what a typewriter was! (now I am sounding old!).  Needless to say, when the other "mini moocher" heard this, she immediately had to check it out.  I let them play, while I supervised, until one of the moochers typed out POOPIE on the piece of paper I had in it....okay, now we are finished! No more touching!

But the mooching is really a way of lifestyle for them when it comes to my crafts...

Case in point, my recent fascination with making my rhinestone bling-bling bracelets,  Every time a new one is finished, one of my daughters will get their little hands on it and claim it as their own! 

Thus, making my efforts at actually selling  some of my treasures, a mute point. There is an upside to having them confiscate these.  I have insisted that if they pilfer these bracelets, they must at least put themselves to good use and become spokesmodels for my product! 

So recently, my daughters started coming home with lists of friends who are waiting to purchase one of my bracelets! I have a picture in my head of each of them in class, modeling their bracelets, twisting it this way and that to catch some sunlight and make it really bling!

I am aiming to have these cute bangles on my new Etsy store, sweetgirlcrafts, within the next couple of days, so come check it out!  That is If I can make enough bracelets to actually fullfill the friend requests while keeping the mini moochers at bay!


Sweet Crafting!

Dee Dee

Monday, November 14, 2011

Dumpster diving!

Tuesday is trash day around here and as I drive through the neighborhood on my way to work, I always take a lap around to see if there are any good finds!
I made my two daughters get out of the car once and grab what looked like some nice Lego boards (they were!) what a score!  I also picked up an old chest of drawers once that proved to be a very useful storage piece for me!
One day a couple of months ago, I spotted a real find.  I have been looking for awhile for a small stool to repurpose into a side table for my family room.  Nothing special, just a nice wooden stool.  Well, lucky me, on a Tuesday trash day, I found just that.  A small wooden stool sitting out by the curb, just waiting to be picked up! I wasted no time and snatched it up! (My daughters were with me but this time I decided it was my turn to dive!).
This stool was in good condition, didn't need much work.  A light paint job on the legs, then a little scruffing to look "nicely" worn-in.  The light wooden seat needed something special though.  This took me some time to figure out what to do with it.
At first, I thought about painting a clock face on it.  I worked hard to find the right face to copy to paint on there, but nothing really inspired me.
Then I thought, maybe some vintage style numbers or a mural of some sort, but no, it was still not right.
I have been a fan of the vintage prints on The Graphics Fairy and during one of my browsing sessions, I happened upon a really great French Typography Image that I just loved.  Finally, this was my inspiration!
Some painting and scruffing later...I had my finished stool/side table. My one daughter saw the finished product and said "Cool table Mom! Where did you get this?" I had to remind her that this was the same stool I picked from the curb and that I "fixed" it up! She couldn't believe it!
Check it out!



It looks really great and it looks even better sitting next to my chair in my family room and is a great little resting place for my glass of wine!  The best thing is that it practically cost me nothing...have to love that! 

I am writing this Monday night, so tomorrow is Tuesday and another trash day.  Who knows what treasures I might find!

Happy crafting!
Dee Dee