Happy Halloween week

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL,  I thought I should share in the fun of the" Not for the faint of heart Matchbox swap" just recently completed and hosted by JoAnne of Vintage Dragonfly.  My partner and I both had fun creating the Halloween matchboxes and the other 4 items that were to be handcrafted.  My partner really spoiled me and sent me many fun things.  First off the following is what I created!

Here is what I put inside the box. . . . . . 

and I also made some other goodies for her. . . . . .

a swag in a vintagey sort of display

 A Halloween choker for my partners neck.

I also made a little snap purse and filled it with dove chocolate.  Then I decorated a small bottle and filled it with brown rich which was suppose to be Goblins Teeth.  

My Partner completely spoiled me and sent the items in two boxes.  Here are some of the cute things she sent to me.  

My partner was Jeannie of  jeankneen flickr.   o The matchbox goes well with the first machbox I recieved two years ago, when I started doing this swap for Halloween.  

Just look at this cute stuff.  So retro and kitschy and I love it all.  She even included some cupcake toppers, which I gave to my daughter for her Halloween party.  She also sent me my very favorite dark chocolate truffles.  

I think that this swap was. . . . . . . . . . .(spooktacular) DON'T YOU?

Pretty Little Witches ATC swap

Hosted by Kimberly of Art Joy Stuff was this really fun ATC swap with pretty little witches.  It was part of the 52 weeks of ATCs

Here are the ones that I sent off.  We were to send Three, and I decided to do a Retro 

sort of theme with mine. . . . . . . . . .

And here is what delightfulness arrived in my mailbox.  

 This pretty little witch came from Liz Waring at lululizinlalaland.blogspot.com

The cute little sleeve that the above ATC was in came from Charlotte Smothers seahorseranch.blogspot.com

this one came from Peggy Recker  pmrecker1950@yahoo.com

And from Kimberly herself this way cool mixed media Halloween art.  I have it hanging in a special place.  

Thankyou Kimberly!

Recent swapping completed

Here are two swaps completed.  I was involved with a crown swap on the Altered Place site with some other gals.  Cissy Prestige was my partner and here are the crowns we swapped.  It needed to be adult size.  How fun was this.  I love crowns! 

 The crown that I created for Cissy.  I used the top of an old spoon and dangly earring to embellish the top, after I glittered it up with german glass glitter.   She said when she recieved it she wore it around the house all day!

 Here is the back of the crown.

 I wanted it to have plenty of bling!

Now here is the lovely crown that Cissy made for me.  It has plenty of bling too!  Ooh I love it!

 And then she sent me all of these goodies to along with the crown.

The next swap was the Vintage Dragonfly's "Oh you beautiful Doll matchbox swap."

I posted my matchbox sent to Mercedes in the previous post and here is the matchbox I recieved from Sandy.  It took me back to when I was little and the Campbell's kids adds, plus she had everything Kewpie doll in there too.  My Mother taught me all about Kewpie dolls as that was from her Era.  Thankyou Sandy for such a delightful little box with goodies from the past.

I adore all of these sweet Kewpie doll and campbell's kids images (ephemera)

Oh You Beautiful Doll matchbox swap

Hosted by JoAnne at Vintage Dragonfly, was this "Oh you beautiful doll matchbox swap."  Here is the altered matchbox that I did for Mercedes Scott.

 The dolls head and arms serve as a drawer pull with sweet things inside.  And pinned to her collar is a little vintage brooch. I enjoyed creating this matchbox so very much!

 The back side

 Inside the matchbox were placed these goodies, some pertaining to dolls or doll parts and other embellishments.  Antique buttons, lace, a thimble and a golden spoon.

Oh you beautiful Doll matchbox swap was so fun for me to get in on and worked my creative senses into a frenzy.  I have not recieved my matchbox yet.  I am still waiting.  I am excited to see what Sandy has created for me.  The anticipation is killing me!

Just finished this dining room beauty

Just finished this hutch yesterday.  I was so fortunate to find this at a moving sale and I offered the guy $35.00 for it and he took it. Yippee. It was quite dirty and it looked like some if the glass shelves were broken.  I cleaned it up before bringing it in to paint it. Here is the before picture  And please note that these photos are from my iphone, so they loaded a little bit blurry.  I wanted to post from my iphone to my blog.  First time!

           I decided to use chalk paint as I have come to know that when you have a piece from the 70's and there is veneer and non-wood mouldings, that the best thing you can do is to use chalk paint.  I made my own chalk paint in this case and then sanded it off for the distressed look and also added two appliqued elements.  And here are the results . . . .                  

           

 I loved loading it up with cottage whites. I am very happy with how it turned out.  Here are some more views.

           

 And so to make room for the new hutch I had to do some changes in the dining room.  First I had too move this piece by my front door and here is the new spot for it  

Next I had to move my teacup shelf to my craft studio

          And to make room for that, my old shelf for the rubber stamps had to be sold.  I am so happy with my new look in every room all because I wanted a hutch in the dining room and I did it for about $40.00 Whoo hoo.

Kitchen redo

We remodeled our kitchen in 2006 and at that time I loved red.  We put in an island and got granite countertops and then painted the walls a light walnut color.  Geraniums in the window and had black appliances put in.  The cabinets used to be dark but the wood was not pretty, so I painted them all and put on mouldings and appliques.  These photos aren't the best, because I could not find the originals

We took out a wall and put in some pillars that separated the dining room from the kitchen, and this really opened things up.

My mother passed away not even a year before this makeover, and I inherited her antique buffet that I painted black and left then stained the top.  I love the way it turned out.  I made the "Cuisine Francaise" framed collage, and framed some french works.  These were the before photos.  HERE ARE THE AFTER
Look what some paint can do and a few new craft projects.

 I took out the red and painted the island in a robin's egg blue chalk paint.  Have to keep some of the black accents because my appliances still need to work in this space.

 I might have posted some of these projects before, but all the new in the kitchen has been done this summer.

Found a new stencil at the Home Depot that was perfect for my new window treatment.

 Had lots of fun doing this transformation.  I had a one glass jar with the glass lid, and I found the other two at walmart and a local hardware store.put some tea cups in for scoopers.

 This used to be red berries.  They are actually styrofoam, but since it was painted with an enamel, then the spray paint did not dissentigrate the little balls.

 I love mercury glass so very much.

  I know I have shown the new makeover for this frame and have been having lots of fun with chalkboard art.  The other prints are the same ones that were up before, I just painted the frames, and took the red out!

Here is the buffet and I think I will keep it black too.  

 I dollarstore tin tray that got painted , decoupaged and hung up.  What a fun little magnet accent!

 the chalk paint redid my spice rack as well!

I had this spode plate for a few years

Okay I guess I kept one little red thing.  A gift from my daughter could not go anywhere else.

 My favorite spray paint is the Rustoleum, Hammered iron, and I use it on everything!  Love Love it!

I chalkpainted this wooden tray and then decoupaged the images on it.  

Again I found this drawer insert at a yard sale for 75 cents and turned it into this wonderful shabby french piece with french transfers from the Graphics fairy

I painted the walnut walls the same color as the dining room.  It opened up the room even more, and I asked myself why oh why did I not do this long ago.  I hope you have enjoyed the little tour.  I am always amazed what a new paint job will do for a room.  It is so exciting.