My Stepdad and his Cat–Tissue alert

I haven’t posted this yet, but I lost my stepdad to cancer last week. He was a tough old ox to the very end, and he never wanted anyone to know he was in pain. But this story I’m about to share with you isn’t about his bought with cancer, nor his life with us. Instead, it’s a story about  a man and his cat! It’s a good story, trust me.

My stepdad, Jose, a landscape artist,  was a cat lover!! I can’t even begin to tell you how much HE LOVED CATS!! I’m sure if he had his way, he would have adopted many cats, but my mom on the other hand, wasn’t exactly on the same page on that subject.  They had some cats throughout the years, but it had been a long time, until eventually he started to be vocal about having a kitten of his own again.

It was two years ago when we finally got my mom on board with letting us get him a cat. When we saw that he would get my nieces toy cat and pretend to love it along with her… WE KNEW IT WAS TIME! So she finally caved and we got him one that Christmas from the local animal shelter. Her name was Tuesday.

CHRISTMAS DAY:

Christmas came and like every year, we let the kids open their gifts then we all jump in. When everyone finished, we brought Grandpa Nati (his nickname) out his final gift…the cat.  He was so shocked and surprised and LOOOVVVEEDD his new little friend. It was the sweetest thing. We told him her name was Tuesday and that just didn’t do for Grandpa Nati, so he renamed her “Bonita”, meaning Beautiful in Spanish.  He had his Bonita finally and life was great!

Thrown Away Thursday- Lincoln Came Through for Me!

Sometimes I think you may get sick of my price tags on some of these things. Am I right? Well I’m not ashamed to tell you how much I paid, nor where I got it, nor what condition it was in when I found it. Heck,I think that’s the best part! And I’m more than happy to share my ideas, knowledge and even a table or two if that’s the case. I’m just that kind of girl! I share the wealth when I have it, which the last few months have not been the case, but that’s ok. Just know if I have it to share, I will!

So where does Lincoln come into play on this post? Well my five dollar bill of course! That’s what I paid for this table I found at a yard sale a couple of weekends ago.

I actually found this at my daughter’s friend’s apartment. Brianna’s friend had her phone and we went to pick it up. I started out being bothered that A. I had to go out of my way to pick up her phone, B. that it was super early in the morning, and C. Even though Brianna called the girl the day before and told her we’d be there first thing in the morning, the girl never came outside. And of course, Brianna didn’t know what apartment was hers.  NO… that would be too easy!! No, instead we sat outside as she kept calling and calling to no avail. But as oblique as things seemed, we turned the corner of the complex and saw a small garage sale. I picked this table up for five dollars. It’s missing a handle so I’m covering the holes but I see nice possibilities in it’s future. I told Brianna she was LUCKY that the garage sale was there or I would have been pissed!!  haha, I know you know what I mean.

I’ve started to work on this and will show you the “after” photos when I’m done.

Until then, see you soon!
Rita

Tossed and Turned Tuesday- Three Tables, Three Totally Different Transformations

Happy Tuesday and I hope your day is starting off well!! My\ Tuesday’s always do!!
Last Thursday I showed you three different tables I picked up for around the same $3.00 price tag. Each one was very different, but seeing the potential in each, I had to pick them up and add them to my collection of goodies. Plus I only spent $10 so that never hurt anyone right!!

1. First up was this weird little table I found that was very small and on wheels. This is what she looks like now:

 

For those of you who don’t know, this is a Herringbone design. I’ve totally copied it from others in blog land and totally love it too!! I did it free hand with a silver marker I picked up at Michaels a while back.  The blue paint is an oops paint color that doesn’t have a name (as with most of my projects),and the bottom base is painted with a “Metallic” spray paint color I usually use on handles. Total cost for this table transformation was $3.00.

Here’s the before so you remember what  I was working with:

QUICK TIP:
Rules don’t apply when you’re transforming!!. So in this case my table had metal legs but a random wood bar in the middle. I noticed that the inside of this bar was a notch that in my mind, gave it character. Again, who’s to say there wasn’t a shelf or something there before, but whatever, it’s not there now and this is MY playground remember!
I loosened the bolds and turned that puppy around .

.

 

If you like it better the other way, you can always keep it that way. It’s totally up to you!
Ok, since the base was metal I wanted the wooden piece to look metal as well and gave it a couple of coats of “Metallic” spray paint and this is what it ended up with:

VOIALA!

2. Second, is this tall table I found at a thrift store. I wish I had better pictures but I don’t (sorry). As long as you get the idea, we’re good.

I’ve learned not to shoot pictures on SUPER bright sunny days but this had already been taken . Oh and same for the ones you‘ll see on #3 (eek!). Regardless you get the idea of what a couple coats of white paint and a little distressing will do for a small cheap table. I love the elegance it brings to this table that was (ridiculously) priced for three bucks at a thrift store.

3. The last one is this small (once) yellow kids table that I found at a garage sale. It had such potential, just needed some cleaning up first.

I thought this table was too cute to pass up even if I don’t really have a need for it. Even if it did look like this when I picked it up:

 

I had originally given it a light sanding and two coats of primer thinking that ink wouldn’t bleed through, but it did (of course), so I resanded the top until all of the ink was gone. Sometimes it pays NOT to be lazy. In this case I ended up doing triple the work when I could have finished it the first time if I just sanded all that crap off to begin with!

Yeah a little elbow grease never hurt anyone!! Then just a little oops paint, any color will do and a flower stencil on top and your done!

Also, just to show you how small this table is, I had Brianna stand next to it for you!

 

AHHH well that was quite long for me for a Tuesday. I have to go tend to a recently fixed cat now so I’ll see you soon and don’t forget to let me know what you think! By the way, thanks Deb and Tami for all my comments, you’re like my only commenters and I love you for it! If that’s not pathetic, I don’t know what is haha!

Thanks,
Rita

Creating With The Stars

This is just a quick note to ask you to check out the contest I’ve entered over at EastCoast Creative Blog.  It’s like, super amazing and I realize I don’t have a chance in hell, however I’m gonna ask anyway.

It is the Oscars of the DIY world that I live in and it would be like me ranking my blog to someone like Oprah. Yeah, that’s not gonna happen, but in this case, even to be nominated is an honor. I believe you get what I’m saying.

So if you have the time and love me, Please pop on over and “like” my entry. It’s number #304. I’d seriously be happy to have a few “likes” but hey, I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t ask. I don’t know at what point in this contest you can actually like the photo so hop on over often please and thank you!!

Thanks guys and come back tomorrow for three cool table transformations!!

Love, Rita

Garage Sale 101

  You’ve seen them, you’ve attended them, you’ve “woo hoo’ed” at good prices and gasped at the bad ones.

     Yep, you’re like me...a Garage Sale-aholic . We love you “place your name here”.

Thrown Away Thursday–Three Dollar Tables

It still amazes me sometimes when I’m out thrifting or hitting garage sales, how much bang you can get for a buck. In the case of today’s post…three bucks! It’s also amazing how you can get things anywhere from super tiny to sometimes jaw droppingly huge and awesome, for the same price! Lord knows I’ve come across a few of those!! But regardless of what I find, I still take into consideration the price I’m paying and the piece I’m purchasing. I don’t buy something for the mere satisfaction of reselling it. Nor do I buy high end pieces for top dollar. Nope, for me it’s the creative process and outlet that it lets me hatch into. I typically find pretty poor looking pieces for a great price which in my mind, that means nothing over $10! To me those are the best kind of finds!

Which leads to this post of a few of my $3 dollar finds. Again, all different sizes, different ideas for each, and all for the same price, or close to it!

1. Random small table on wheels- I have no idea it’s purpose, but it has a thin wood top, metal legs and wooden bars between.

PRICE $2.99 – Thrift Store

Tossed and Turned Tuesday - New Coffee Table!

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that my living room is really rectangle and finding a coffee table has been ridiculous! The tables I’ve run across are all too small or too square. Which is why when I found this table…the light bulb went off and I knew it would be mine!! BUT FIRST…lets get this guy cleaned up shall we!!

Contest Winner Revealed!!

Congrats Sam!! You be getting a set of greeting cards handmade from non other than Susie from Papier Sanctum. (follow her on Facebook here!!)

Thrown Away Thursday- Art Class In Session

Maybe “out of session” should be more like it.  I’ve taken a class or two in art and never did the teacher say “place your brushes on any clean surface.” However, I don’t think that was the case with this table as you can see from this array of colors going on in this photo!

I mean this is a fairly good looking table. Right?!  It’s pretty massive and sturdy except for this one side that’s been replaced by a piece of particle board. Seriously, other than that it’s a good solid table. AND…it also just happens to fit in my living room that currently has a huge gap of space right smack in the middle. 

Yep, this baby will have a home…my home that is!

Yeah that particle wood is really attractive isn’t it!! But I guess if you can get past that paint all over the table, that’s a good sign. I have my work cut out for me for sure with this one! But hey, Mama needs a coffee table REAL BAD!!

Come back on Tuesday to see what I do with this Art project gone bad! Until then, stop back by on Friday for the CONTEST winner and SurPRIZE! (do you like what I did there)!

Love you all and HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!
Rita

My Birthday at Tillman’s

This Saturday me and some girlfriends/family celebrated my birthday.  This is big for me!  I‘m not a big time party celebrator as one would think. I love celebrating others “big day’s” just not  mine. In fact, I’m quite good at planning a good party or shower but when it comes to me however, I’m so low key it’s not even funny.

The last few years I’ve celebrated my birthday by eating dinner with immediate family and typically at Olive Garden (sad I know). I don’t like to stray from what I like and VERY seldom do I eat something new (really sad… I know). So this year for my 39^th birthday  I decided to let myself be celebrated, “Rita Style” that is.

Tossed and Turned Tuesday–I “Union Jack”–ed

I seriously never thought I would do one of these because, this may sound weird, but I wasn’t fond of the bold colors.  Then one day as I was blog hopping from party to party, I saw one someone had posted that I absolutely LOVED!!! All three colors she used were green. They went from darker green to a lighter shade of green. I LOVED it!! I don’t know who it was out there that inspired me, but it was awesome!! 
This is how mine turned out!

Birthday Contest–Take 2!!

Sorry Guys!!!! I deleted my post and it is NO WHERE to be found. Comments are saved thank goodness but I can’t find the freak'n post anywhere!!~ UGH Computer Illiteracy sucks!
EASY RULES ARE:
Answer the questions below (find your category: Friend/ Family). Enter by copying and pasting your questions and answers in a comment. As long as you answer one question, you’re entered.
Winner will be announced on Friday as well as answers to these questions and your surprise gift will be revealed!!

Thrown Away Thursday- One Friends Trash

If you ever ask yourself “what’s better than finding great furniture for a great price?”, well great furniture for NO PRICE of course! That’s exactly what this is.

Tossed And Turned Tuesday- The Key To Success Is….

…well KEYS of course! And boy am I loving mine!

Guess you could call this my “Christmas present transformation” seeing as how this fabric was part of my sister Olivia’s gift to me, and the paint is Ann Sloan Versailles that my mom gave me, which I’m absolutely in love with! I’m ready to paint everything with this color!