GiveAway Winner...

Happy Weekend everyone!! Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of my Prim Prairie Giveaway. I had a busy day yesterday and then I decided to do the giveaway the old fashion way and write everyone's name on a piece of paper and by the time I was finished doing that last night, my youngest daughter(who wanted to do the drawing) had fallen asleep. Then we had two baseball games to go this morning. So finally, here she is picking the winner...

CONGRATULATIONS to Cher of "Prim from Scratch" !!!! You won the apron, bonnet, and star candle holder. Email me your address and I will get your package out to you. tcupps @ gmail. com
And guess what?? She picked a 2nd winner!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!! to Michelle of "Grannies Pantry"!!! You won a prim apron. Email me your address and I will get your prize out to you(after I whip one up :) ).

tcupps @ gmail. com

Thank you to all who entered, I wish I was able to give a prize to everyone. But keep checking back, when I reach 200 followers, I'll do another one!

Enjoy your day,

Tiff

Light Redo...

Remember I mentioned the church rummage sale a few weeks ago? Well, here is the chandelier that I got at it for $1. It had been painted in a cream color, not sure what the original state of it was. I thought it would be perfect for my mudroom entry, after a new paint job of course.

Here is the light fixture that came with the house. Nothing horrible about it, just not my taste.
And here is my new one. I know the pics aren't great, but I painted it a chocolate brown and putty color. Hubby hung it for me and I was surprised to see that the light bulbs it came with even worked! Though I would like to get some softer prim ones in the near future.
It gives off a ton more light than the original too. Now if I could just find 2 more at that price I would be all set :)
And Mason says "Hi" to everyone!!!
Have lovely day,

Tiff

Ps, Keep entering the giveaway. I may even pick two winners with a surprise 2nd prize!!!

Prim Prairie GiveAway....

I finally decided on what to give for my 100th member celebration giveaway. I made a prairie bonnet of a buttery yellow cotton and a simple one pocket apron in a federal blue calico. I primmed them both up just a tad by coffee staining and baking them. They would look cute hanging from a peg rack or displayed like I show them in the pic. Or you could actually use the apron if you wanted to :) I'm also including the wood and tin star candle holder. The wood hat form is not included, sorry.

So now for the rules...

1. You must be or become a follower of my blog.

2. Live in the USA, sorry, but shipping is too expensive elsewhere.

3. Leave a comment in THIS post.

4. You can get a 2nd entry if you post my giveaway on your blog.

That's it, pretty simple. Here is a pic/linky you can use for posting in your side bar.

I hope you all like what I made and good luck! I'll draw the winner next Friday, May 21st in the evening. Entries close at 7pm that day.

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED. Thank you to all who entered. Winner will be announced soon.

Good Luck,

Tiff

Best Way to End a Mother's Day...

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day. After breakfast in bed(french toast and tea), homemade presents from the kids, a prim rose bush from hubby, and a super rich and yummy chocolate fudge cake, I'm wrapping up my Mother's Day the best way I can think of... snuggling with a freshly bathed sleeping baby boy.

With lots of love,

Tiff

Quick Apron

I needed a new apron for working in the garden, so I made this one this afternoon. It's just a simple half apron made from osnaburg with a big red pocket and machine appliqued strawberries, cute and easy.

Oh, and I realized today that I now have 100 followers!! So I'm going to have a giveaway in celebration of that. In the next few days, after I figure out what the prize will be, I will make a post about it, so stay tuned.

And since I haven't shared Mason with you all in a few posts, here he is today. He is definitely coming into his own personality and loves to interact with us and giggle.

Have a fantastic day,

Tiff

More Thrift Finds...

I still feel like I'm playing catch up from my parents visit, trying to find places to put all me new treasures and just getting the house back in order, but I'm getting there slowly. I really just need to go through my whole house and get rid of a ton of stuff, I feel like it is getting too hard to keep it clean because of all my collections and stuff. But I'm going to hold off on doing that until my open house in November and do it then. Anyway, here are some more of the thrift finds I got with my mom....

This is the free ladder I got from the couple cleaning out their rental house. It was 12' long, so my dad cut it down for me(actually twice because we weren't sure how tall I wanted it) and then I stained the whole thing.

And here is the little chair he made with the pieces he cut off of the ladder...
I got this paint by number horse picture with the wood frame at a local antique/junk store for $5. It will go in my two boy's room(it's done in a horse/western theme). The chair it's sitting on is from the salvation army(I took off the fabric woven seat and I'm going to replace it with a woven burlap seat).
Got these two little vintage boys outfits at a yardsale for $2 and the precious crocheted hat was a $1.
And at the same yardsale, my mom bought this baby sled for me, I have a thing for old sleds. This one was $15.
At another yard sale, I found this old desk and chair for $5 !!! Brought it home, washed it and added coat of stain to freshen it up and it turned out great. Oh, and those are the original boards from the school room, they show the worn spot where the kids got in and out of the chair. I have another school desk in the basement and I would like to get at least 2 more so that I can have my own little one room school house when I home school the younger kids next year(which I'm 90% sure I'm doing, any advice would be greatly appreciated).
Still have more to share, including the stuff from the church sale that I went to last week, where I was happy to run into a fellow blogger, Julie, from Dog Trot Farm. Actually, she recognized me thanks to baby Mason(who I was wearing on me in his sling). Go check out her blog, her home is so lovely looking and she has a whole little family of chickens. I just love meeting fellow bloggers in real life. I would have loved to have gotten to talk more to her, but you all know how it is at a church rummage sale... crowded and frantic and you don't want to miss out on a treasure! So Julie, if you are reading this, I would love to get together one day, and you are welcome to come thrifting with me(I'm an old pro at it!).

Until later my dear blogging friends,

Tiff

New Table Top and Stove Board...

I thought I would give you a break from thrifting posts and share with you two projects my dad did for me. The first is a new table top for my kitchen table. It lengthened my table by a whole foot(so now it's 9' long) and it gave it the wood top that I wanted instead of the painted black top. I did paint the legs black though. And it will age nicely over time, after all, kids don't hurt country furniture, they only enhance it.

And that is the dough bowl, now painted black sitting on the table.
And here is the huge dough/stove board that my dad made. My dad had never seen one and kind of misunderstood me about the dimensions, so instead of sitting on my stove top, it completely covers it. But that is totally fine and I love it! And there is Mr. piggy from one of my previous posts.
He even built the board to sit on the counter on each side so that it is slightly raised off the stove, just in case I put it back on before the stove is completely cool, which makes it a bit safer.
Have a great weekend everyone!!

Tiff

Thrifting With Mom Part 3....

Mom and I hit goodwill multiple times during their visit. Here are my treasures, my mom found plenty of her own but I don't have pics of hers.

This first pic is a cluttered with stuff, I was in the process of painting things and quickly cleaned off the table so we could eat and the mess ended up on the floor. Anyway, I got a wood basket, several wood candle holders, a wood spice/paper towel rack,and a small doll chair(all to be redone and for my sale). The little high chair is from another excursion months ago.

This pic shows a small basket, a box of vinatge chenille stems, a star candle holder, and 5 packs of basket making supplies and instructions.
I found a new oil lamp(never had been used, and will be great for when we lose power in the summer with thunderstorms) and this cute wood boat shelf(that is going to my friend Anatoli).
Lots of crocheted items...
A solid copper bowl for my collection(a steal at $2.99) and a Peterboro basket and casserole dish that is also a lazy susan, it still had the original tag on it(I will admit that I paid more than I should have for it, but I still think it was worth it, $19.99)
Went back another time and found another box of chenille stems(I love the box and the fact that they are made in the USA). Also found some stripped wool.
And last but not least, this hooked rug for $9.99. It was in an aweful dirty state. But after a night sitting with Borax all over it, then soaking it with rug cleaning and jet spraying with the hose, then sitting in the sun for 3 days, it is beautiful. This is a before shot, I will share an after shot later. I am amazed how after a good cleaning that the color came back, almost as good as the back of it looks and it smells totally fresh. I'm sure if it had been cleaned, they would have asked a lot more for it.
I still have a lot more to share from yard sales and junk shops. Right now I'm trying to put it all away and figure out what will be getting redone and such.

Have a great day,

Tiff

Thrifting With Mom Part 2....

This day of junking happened by total accident and was a result of a miscommunication. I thought my mom wanted to go back to a junk store that we had been to the day before, but my mom thought we were heading to a yard sale we had seen the day before. My wrong way led us by a house that had a gentleman carrying a white dressing table to the curb. My mom yells "Turn around quick!!"(I get my junking spirit from her), so I did. Turns out that the wife was there too and the couple was cleaning up the outside of their rental house. They said we could take whatever we wanted. So here is our haul....

A dozen or so garden tools. Which I put a few out as decor around my picket fence and the rest our going to get bird houses attached to them for my sale in November.

An old tool box, flour sifter, and miter box(all getting made over for my sale). Two big pots, which geraniums will be going into. A muffin pan and colander that my mom took. And a bog old basket that I have already spray painted in a pretty nutmeg color(I'm keeping it).
And of course the dressing table, which the drawer was filled with old sewing supplies, including a red painted wood sock darner. I was going to redo the table and put it in my youngest daughter's room, but she doesn't want it, so it will go to the sale after a makeover. Oh, and a blue glass canning jar.
So our little miscommunication turned out pretty well :) Oh, and we ended up going back for a 12' wood ladder and a pair of wood steps. My dad cut down the ladder for me and it's in my kitchen now(pics coming later) and the wood steps were redone and now are steps into the playground area. Have to love FREE!!!

Have a lovely day and stay tuned for more of our thrifting,

Tiff

Thrifting With Mom Part 1....

The past week and a half has flown by with my parents here. My dad has been busy doing projects for me and me and my mom have been junking and thrifting.

Our first haunt is always Goodwill. We went to the big new one that opened up recently. While I found it a bit dirty and very crowded, I did manage to find some things...

I found this old hearth basket, in the same patina as some of my other old baskets.

A wood match stick box, a small broom, a wood embroidery holder, and 2 battery candle sticks.
This neat wood and metal candle holder.
A wood plate rack that I was going to prim up. Turned out that my Pfaltzgraff Folk Art dishes wouldn't fit properly in it, but my mom's Village dishes worked, so I gave it to her.

And last was this gorgeous tablecloth that was in perfect condition.
After GW, we found a yardsale that was all new stuff from the Sturbridge Yankee Workshop. I got this long dough bowl for $10 (which is now painted black, I'll share pics later)...
This wood trash bin for $10. We are using it as a can recycling bin. I may paint it black or red, I haven't decided yet...
And this metal chalkboard pig for $10. He is now hanging above my stove.
My mom got a pig, a shelf, and a lovely camel back bench. The bench retails for $279, but she got it for $40.

This was just the beginning of our finds, stay tuned to see the rest!

Have a fantastic day,


Tiff

Thrift Finds, Crafting, and Answers...

Happy Wednesday everyone! I'll warn you, this is going to be a long post...

I'll start with answering some questions from the comments....

About my front door vegetable garden, this is only the 2nd year we have had it. Last year we learned what did and didn't work for us, so this year we are only planting green beans, zucchini, squash, beets, tomatoes, and an assortment of herbs. The boxes in the middle are approximately 5'x5', I wanted to make it so I could easily reach the middle of the boxes on all sides for easy weeding and picking of produce. The long boxes along the fence are about a foot wide and that is where we plant the beans. The boxes are made of the cheapest rough sawn wood at the lumber yard(not pressure treated) and are nail gunned together. We then put weed blocker and mulch on the pathways. This is just a small garden to produce a small supplement to our food bill in the summer. I'm not a gardener by any means, so this is all I can handle right now.

About me and my family, nope, we aren't Mormon. I just like kids and like making things.

And about the ketchup and the tin foil trick. You just rub some ketchup onto the rusty chrome and gently rub with a wad of tin foil. Wipe away the residue and continue until the rust is gone(doesn't take long). If the rust hasn't eaten through the chrome finish, the piece will look like new(as was the case with the bell on the trike). But if the rust has eaten through the chrome, this will only take off the rust and you will see the metal base below, but at least the rust will be gone. This also works with coke and tin foil, but I find the ketchup easier to work w ith. It's something about the acid in the ketchup and I'm not sure why the tin foil, but it does work.

I found out yesterday that my parents will be arriving a day earlier, which is tomorrow!! So I am in major panic mode and am running around trying to get the house in order. So I probably won't post again until the weekend, after yard saling and thrifting with my mom.

Oh, and did I mention my string of household unfortunateness(is that a word?) ? First, I lost one of the diamonds in my wedding ring, which hasn't been found. Then our dishwasher broke this weekend and hubby can't find out what's wrong with it. And my one of my rear tires keeps going flat. So after spending $50 at the auto shop this morning, he couldn't find a hole in it but tells me I need a whole new set of tires soon. He was surprised they passed the state inspection last week. So that is close to $700 !!! UGH! I just hope that hubby can get the dishwasher figured out this weekend and this is the end to this streak.

And Catherine, if you are reading this, I promise I will email back you this weekend!!!

Now for the pics...

Here are my GW finds. A wool blanket...

These old wood skis, I Love the pointy tips on them and they still have their leather bindings...
A whole bolt of quilting fabric(11 yards) and a bag of tin cookie cutters....
Then my yard sale finds. A very old rocker that is so incredibly comfy and totally hand made...
A wood trunk with some history. Written on th inside it says it was bought for Calvin Stone of St. Johnsburg, VT in 1811. Then in another person's hand writing are different dates of when and where it traveled. Plus, it has its original first coat of paint on it. And I did some research online and this person really existed.

Oh, and I found this basket at GW. It was an ugly 70's ratan color, so I spray painted it chocolate brown...
Now for the quick craft I had to do at 10 last night because my 3rd grader needed a going away gift for his intern teacher. I made a tote bag and put the work "inspire" on it. I just stitched the word on and them cut away the fabric and left it fringy...
Lined the bag in red dot and added a pocket.
And I couldn't let another week pass without sharing Mason with you all. Here are two pics from this morning. He was being goofy and smiling at me and making faces. I just love black and white pics lately and love picnick, it makes it so easy to change pics....

Have a great week everyone!!

Tiff