I am blushing...

The other day I received my very 1st blog award from Susan at Peanut Petunia.
Thanks so much, Susan! I was so excited! I still am! I think I screamed the news to Mr. Hughes. I think Mr. Hughes thinks I am a little silly with the whole blogging business, but it keeps me out of trouble(sometimes!) I actually would have blogged earlier and passed on the love if our stupid wireless connection wasn't giving us grief last night! I hate it when technology doesn't work the way it is supposed to.

Well, here our the 5 ladies I would like to share the love with. Go visit their blogs, they are all so talented and entertaining! Oh, and don't forget to visit Susan too!
Rachel at alittlebitvintage She has been so supportive as I have started this blog.
Tara at blondiensc Great taste and a funny, funny lady!
Kristen at domesticease Great supporter of all us bloggers and her blogazine is so informative.
Marie at emmacallsmemama Loves black and white like me. Check out her schoolroom!
Beth at oldtymemarketplace
I believe we may be junky sisters. She has great finds!
There are many others too and I may sound mushy, but I really thank all of you readers out there. Every time I see that I have a new follower, I feel even more creative!

On another note, we have been busy outside the house working on the deck and landscaping. And, more importantly, we moved Mr. Hughes' office into our library. Have I mentioned that Mr. Hughes works out of our home and watches the adorable Baby Hughes while I am at work? Well, now they have much more room and it gives us a chance to create..... OUR CRAFT ROOM!!! YES! I am excited! But, I want to think of another name than "craft room." It makes me think of cinnamon brooms in the middle of the mall. So, do any of you ladies have any ideas?
Well, hope to show you some progress soon.

Spicy!

Okay, lately I have a problem. I am having a hard time throwing away these:

Is it because Baby Hughes is getting ready to turn one? Is it because I don't want to add to the landfills? I am not sure. We recycle so I guess they wouldn't end up in a heap. But I have been washing and keeping these baby food jars for about a month. I have decided that I will use these to sort my beads and other small craft supplies. Mr. Hughes (the upcycler) uses them to hold roasted red peppers for sandwiches. Then, I decided that they would be perfect for spices. And, if you only knew how many times that I have rearranged our spices and the different "systems" that I have for them.... Plus, we just happened to have this really cool old metal caddy. So, I made a spice rack and here it is:



It was pretty simple, just time consuming painting the lids. I spray painted the lids with primer and then covered them in Heirloom White. I cleaned the remaining glue and "fresh by" date off the jars with googone. Then, Mr. Hughes printed me some labels and I used my new circle puncher to punch them out and stuck them on the lids. I put the label for the caddy on magnet sheet so it would stick without being permanent. I sprayed the labels and magnet sheet with a clear coat to protect them from liquids before I put them on the jars and caddy. Then, I added the spices and rearranged the interior of 3 cabinets (okay, that isn't a "have to" but it was one of my steps!) If you happen to like my labels, here is a download that Mr. Hughes set up. It is a large pdf file and it may take awhile to download. We printed them on full sheet labels and cut punched them out with a 1.5 inch circle punch. Well, mommy duty calls! Have a great evening!

A Pirate Turns One

We are taking a break from our regularly scheduled projects to prepare for Baby Hughes' 1st Birthday. Wow, this year has flown by, it seems like it was just yesterday that I was uncomfortably large, sweaty and had cankles! It was all worth it for this little man though. And, we have been busy making decorations and invitations for his party. Here is the inside of the invite that Mr. Hughes and I designed. (well, Mr. Hughes did the drawing, I just pointed and told him where to put what.)

I really wanted to burn the edges, but Mr. Hughes refused to let me start paper on fire in the house. Then, I just forgot. The next thing I really wanted was some sort of centerpiece. And, we always try to make our decorations or use what we have. It is fun and normally cheaper. So, when we were at a antique store, I saw this:

What is this? I asked Miss Linda and she thought it was a planter. How much? $3. Sold! It, with a little work (mainly from Mr. Hughes... he sometimes hijacks my projects.) it became this:

Very cute if I do say so myself. I know it probably isn't in scale, but we haven't invited any shipbuilders, so we should be safe. Now I must go, Baby Hughes is lifting up all the small rugs and taking the nonskid lining from behind them!

Weekend treasures

Weekends in themselves are treasures to me since I get to spend them with Baby Hughes and Mr. Hughes. This weekend we went to my hometown and went to a few antique stores while visiting Nana and Aunt Ashley. Yes, I am one of those mom's who takes her child with her. Baby Hughes has been going with us since he was about a month old. He has always been very well behaved and we don't go for the whole day. Just in and out (that is how I like to antique anyhow!) He is very social and inquisitive, I actually think he enjoys it right now. Next year, that will be another story. It is always fun to go to new stores or stores that we haven't been to in months. The stores in our area get stale quickly. We had alot of luck in the first store. Great prices, air conditioned and not crowded. Plus, we found lots of treasures. Like,

this great vintage flour sack. I looked around for grain sacks, but they didn't have any. Her flour sacks were $1 or $2 each. I have seen them for much, much more at other places.

I found these great linens with a taupy grey trim.

I also found this oval frame, no need to paint this. I love oval frames. They always seem to be priced higher than others. The pretty aqua towel is the softest linen. I think I may put this on the front of a pillow.

I got these old tin loaf pans that have such a great patina. I found a few more flour sacks that were towels. As always, I found a few pieces of ironstone with a great patina. The ironstone in my old hometown seemed very pricy. And, probably the coolest (or strangest depending on your perspective) that I found was this bleached turtle shell. It has found a home in my conservatory. I also found a really narrow mirror that I think came off of an old buffet table. It needed to have some screws removed before it came in the house. Well, I am going to enjoy Baby Jack now that he is awake again. Hope all of you enjoyed your weekend.

Creating a Chalkboard for a Lonely Spot

www.seejanework.com

Isn't this great? I was looking at seejanework and I found this great removable chalkboard. Removable sounds like the best part. But, the design maybe not quite what I was looking for. You see, I think this area in my kitchen needs love.

It used to be home to my beloved doggie's bowls. But, sadly, it is now bare. So I was thinking that I could encourage Baby Hughes' creativity from the very start and paint a chalkboard there. What do you think, those of you that have chalkboard paint on the walls? Is it a dusty mess all of the time? I have even thought about buying the magnetic paint to paint on first and make some cool magnets for him to play with too, but that paint is a little pricy for such a small project. And, I was thinking, if I am going to paint it, why not do it in this brackety design?

www.scrapsandmoredesigns.com

So what do you think? I am not usually this indecisive. I know it is just paint, but I just painted those cabinets. Still, it needs something.....

PS. In unrelated news, look what else I found on seejanework. Wouldn't these be the best wedding gift? Even though I am not a newlywed anymore, I may have to get these for our luggage.

Creating a Butler's Pantry

I really want a Butler's Pantry (and Butler too!) Currently, we have a pantry behind 2 doors in a hallway between the dining room and the kitchen. And, you do not want to see the mess behind the 2 doors. I have always felt that we keep things more organized if they are out in the open. Mr. Hughes is certain that he can rip out the pantry wire shelves and give me the Butler's Pantry that I want. The plan is to remove the doors and have open shelving above a mini counter. Below that mini counter will be more shelves, behind a curtain. This project is most likely a long way from getting started, I just can't resist thinking of the next way to give this cookie cutter house some character. So here are a few photos that are giving me inspiration:

House Beautiful

Love this one.... not the most practical in terms of storage, but look at all those Dundee jars!

Country Living

I love the look of this one. I may use chalkboard paint as a backdrop or blow up a couple of recipes in my grandmother's handwriting.

Country Living

I love the baskets in this one. I want to get some to store some of the unpretty packaging.

I forgot where I found this! Claim if it is yours!

I want a curtain with inverted pleats like this or hang my vintage grain sacks with the little pinch clips. I will put the larger items and canned goods behind the curtain. I don't think I would like the look of everything out in the open.

Country Living

This is close to how I think the finished project will look. We plan on having the shelves open and supported on corbels/brackets and not boxed in.
So, what do you think? Do you have open storage? Do you love it and does it help keep you organized?

More Numbers

I love numbers, as I am sure many of you do. So, when I put in "number" in the etsy search box I found this treasure:

They are vintage cow tags. These are the tags that go on the ears before they go to auction. Kinda morbid, I realize, but aren't they great? I believe these were unused, so maybe the cows got away. (I have a small preoccupation with some cows near our home. I am certain they are dairy cows, while Mr. Hughes assures me that they are beef.) Well, I couldn't order these fast enough and was so happy to get these. Think of all the incredible things these sweet tags can embellish. You could nail them to drawers or key racks. Tie them to baskets. Use them on a coat rack. The possibilities are endless. Me? Well, I used 6 of my tags to make napkin rings for my new tuxedo ruffle napkins from shoestring home. I just tied black and white gingham ribbon around them in a bow. If you HAVE to have these numbers, you can get them from salvagenation.
Check out her other stuff too, she has other metal numbers. But, don't order all of them. I just realized I need more!

Boots at Target

I am a sucker for a pretty package. Last week while running to Target for essentials, I saw this line called Boots. Now that I looked it up on the Target site, it seems that they have been around for awhile. How could I have missed the great vintage look packaging? I think I may have to experiment with this line. I love leaving pretty things out on counters. I also like to have pretty things in drawers, just for me. Like a cute lining on a jacket or coat... it is just for you. And that is what makes it special. Sometimes if it is grey or rainy, you can think about that special lining that only you know about. So, I am wondering if this line is really good or is it just the jar? Because there isn't much better than a pretty package with pretty insides!