Hoping to Score Some Points with this one!

Amy over at Junkologie is hosting a party -- A Junk Potluck Party! Well, actually, she already hosted one last weekend in Oronoco, Minnesota. But some of us just weren't able to RSVP to such an event. And being the gracious hostess that she is, she provided a way for us to particiapte too -- virtually! Not only that, our party doesn't end until Friday. So I thought that I had PLENTY of time, until I realized that I'm leaving in the morning and will be away from a computer for 4 days. So....it's time for me to party!

This is what I'm bringing to the party (again, virtually of course). Since I'm in a bit of a time crunch, I went to my go-to standby procrastinator's potluck dish -- Taco Salad. And did I mention that this is a JUNK potluck? That means that there's not junk food, but the food IS served up junk style. And for me (again taking the quick and easy route as I head out of town) that meant making a little Scrabble board platform to set my taco salad bowl on. Very easy to "construct" (okay, I didn't even attach together, but don't tell the judges that), I found a simple metal thingy and set a Scrabble board on top. It's not only easy, but fun and informative. You can spell out words on the board itself or on the letter stand. So there you have it!
But....beep....beep....beep......back up a second. Did I say "judges"? Why yes I did! You see this virtual potluck is also a contest, with prizes awarded to the top 3 entries. And word on the street is that these are some super cool ones.
So...what do you think? Who doesn't like a good potluck! And junk?....Even better! To participate, all you have to do is link up your blog or JunkMarketStyle post. Visit Junkologie to check it out.
Junk appetit!
Midge

I'm linking this up to Becky's Under $100 linky party.

I kinda LIKE Mondays.

I so often hear people lamenting how much they "don't like Mondays!" Now, I'm not saying that I'm crazy about Mondays, but there are some things about them that I like. The main one is that around here it's GARBAGE DAY! I'm happy I can set my accumulated trash out to the curb. AND I can check out other people's curbside deposits.
I don't cruise around town every week (I have to get up pretty early to beat out the variety of trucks squealing their brakes), but today I had "that urge". I think I did pretty good....

so this picture isn't the greatest, then again, neither is this dining table. Pretty unimaginative BUT is was free, sturdy, and all the parts were there.

Next up (and hopelessly sideways) is this pile of vintage cabinets doors. 19 in all, and in all variety of sizes.

And finally, as I was returning home on my new and improved "route" I spotted this large white board. A little warped, but I'll be cutting in into pieces for memo boards anyway.

AHHHH. What a great start to another week of junking. And I was feeling so full of myself that I thought it'd be a good day to visit my beloved Goodwill Warehouse. So far, I've spent $0, but this is the time you might want to start guessing my $$ amount if you want to play along.

I'll reveal the total at the end.

The real goal of my trip -- glass and plates. So I grabbed a white plate and 2 vases.

3 Vintage books -- always good to have on hand either straight up or for the pages. 2 Dictionaries (check out the awesome artwork) and 1 hymnal.

5 wooden frames (ignore any artwork, it will be going!) -- good for chalkboards, organizers,etc.

5 miscellaneous metal pieces, including a lidded bundt pan.

2 silver (you know what I mean!) trays -- perfect for chalkboards, 2 small glam purses, and some faux pearl strings.

Misc. pieces with decore potential.

More misc. pieces -- Christmas tree stand, muffin tin (great for organizing hardward), a softball (can never have enough), and a very tiny ball glove (my daughter works with kids who'll love this!).

Thanks for looking.

Peace.

Midge

Oh, yeah. You want to know the grand total for my Goodwill haul?.........$7.00. :)

"Mom always liked you best!"

I'm going to keep this short and sweet, because quite frankly, this post is going to be a little bit painful. Donna is at it again with her Saturday Night Special linky party. And this weekend, she wants us to choose the favorite of our projects -- AAARRRGGGHHH! You may as well have asked which is the favorite of our children! Who could ever pick a favorite!! Afterall, these projects are like extensions of ourselves and we often fall in love with them and don't want to let them go.
So, truth be told, I have several "favorites" but chose just one to spotlight here. And here it is .......

This iron wheel was waiting for me at a farm auction a few years ago, and I spent the day waiting for it! But when the end of the day came and they started buttoning things up without mentioning it, I got a little nervous and spoke up (I think they thought it was junk -- can you imagine). With no one interested, I got it for $1.00 -- that beautiful, chippy, rusty iron wheel. And I knew from the start that it would make an awesome mirror. Initially I was bummed that there was a flat spot, but lately realized that would make it perfect for setting on a shelf or mantel.

So where is this beauty now? Probably adorning some cottage on Lake Michigan. A feature article in our local paper included a picture of it and I was promptly called by someone wanting to know if it was for sale. Yes -- sniff, sniff -- it is. It was time for that one to head out into the world.

Midge

I'm linking this up to http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/2010/08/sns-44-brings-you-your-most-favorite.html

It's something, anyway.

Well, I'm still struggling with being a consistent, hardcore blogger. But I did get a project completed and thought that was a good excuse to post. I had to buy a new camera a few months ago and I'm still not too smooth with retrieving photos, etc. SO, here's my one shot of my recently completed project.

It is made from an old headboard that sat around my shop for awhile because there was no footboard and it was quite big and clunky to haul up to my loft. After, seeing a corner bench someone else had made I thought "Well, yeah, it's cool but I'm not going to break up a set. I'd have to wait til I had ONLY a headboard". It took me a while to put that all together. Duh. But glad I eventually did.

In my mind it was WAY cooler. I was trying to go for something "classy" (not my typical route). I had no fabric that seemed to work, so I went to the store and BOUGHT some (ouch that hurt to say -- on many levels). What an ordeal! I was there forever (and I think made some new friends along the way, or should I say met people who will be on the lookout for me in the future!). I finally made a decision I thought I was happy with, but now I'm not so sure.
It just seems a bit boring. Maybe it just needs to grow on me.

Oh, well. Enough of my babbling. There's more junk that needs some love! But this time -- more whimsy!

Midge

Just reread all that. Wow! That really had a whiny tone all the way thru. Sorry about that -- not sure what my deal was. Cheers!

I'm linking this up to Lezlee's linky party over at Prior Lives Party .

A Quickie -- and some diamonds!

Just a quickie post for now because it's been too long since I've posted. And I've been negligent in my blog visiting and commenting. Sorry -- I'm trying to get back on track.

So where have I been? Well, nowhere special. I've just been preoccupied with my sale I had last weekend. It went pretty well, EXCEPT (and here's where the diamonds enter the scene) --

I started the day with the shattering of a giant (3'x7') pane of glass, all over my head and all over the parking lot (don't worry, it was tempered). Sometime after, someone pulled up and shouted out their window "So what are you going to make out of THAT?!" At which we first laughed, and then we both looked at each other with that "you're right!" kinda look. Afterall, it really did look like a pile of sparkling diamonds lying there in the parking lot, and who wouldn't want a junk project made from diamonds?

So the diamonds, I mean thousands of pieces of glass, have been saved and are waiting for their next life. I've got some ideas.....but I'd certainly welcome more.
Midge

Monday was Ladies' Day!

Monday was Ladies' Day at Michigan's Fowlerville Fair. It's a small town fair about 1.5 hours from my house. I was invited to be a part of it and boy, am I glad. They put on a great Ladies' Day!
The day's hostess was Cindy, the local Homemaker of the Year who was in charge of announcing the new homemaking queen and handing over the crown (don't worry about Cindy, now she's on to her next gig as Michigan Homemaker of the Year. Who knew?).
There were a lot of people there.....

They probably hoped to enjoy that and some door prizes and the free lunch! Or...

maybe they came with the kids to see this guy.....

Or maybe they just wanted to see some of the animals....

But I hope some of them were anxious to see my presentation....

This is where it went down (of course there were a FEW more people at the time, I still haven't mastered the art of snapping photos and talking at the same time). Just a nice setting for events like that.....

I talked about things like this....

And this.....

And shared secrets about things like this....

They "oooh"ed about stuff like this....

And they "ahhhh"ed over things like this....

And nodded their heads over things like this.....

And giggled over things like this....

And they "hmmm"ed over things like this....

And of course, no presentation would be complete without my "Don't be afraid of tools" demonstration.

Overall, I'd say the audience wasn't just great....attentive....engaging....and fun....I'd say they were a bunch of.....

So have you been to any fairs yet this summer?

Midge

How's It Hanging?

This "Tool School" Tuesday post it inspired by Elaine over at Love2Junk. She left a comment on one of my posts about the best way to attach a door headboard. I got to thinking about how challenging it can be sometimes to hang projects -- especially the big, heavy ones. So, Elaine, I'm not sure if this will help for your particular piece, but I thought I'd share a few different ways in which I've attached/hung some past projects.

#1. Well, I do have to say that my favorite of all methods is whenever possible to screw directly through the front of the piece right into a stud in the wall. This is quick, easy, and very secure. Unfortunately, you will leave marks in your piece, but sometimes I don't mind or it can/will be hidden.

#2. If I don't want to mess with the front, my next thought is usually key holes placed on the back of the piece. They will give you a very secure hold using nails in the wall. There is a special Dremel attachment for making them, but my local store did not carry it so I have a similar program.
I first drill a hole maybe 1.5-2" from top of piece. The drill bit should be slightly bigger than the Dremel bit (keep reading!).

The depth depends on your item, you just don't want it too shallow -- 1/4" is probably okay.

This is the Dremel bit (sorry for the lousy photos, closeup shots never seem to turn out for me -- even with my new camera! What? I didn't tell you about my new camera? We'll talk later.)
It's a round disc looking thing with zig-zag edging all around -- like a tiny little saw blade. You will need a drill bit slighly larger than the stem.

You need to create a canal of sorts. Probably a better tool for this, but I just drill a few holes close together, drill through the "walls", and run the bit back and forth a few times.

Not the most professional looking, but it does the trick. This "canal" should be about the same depth as the hole and should be on the top side of hole.

Now, using that Dremel (I think that bit I described earlier is in the engraving category), place in bottom of hole, turn it on, and travel up the canal. Run it back and forth a few times to create a nice underground slot. The idea is that a NAIL head fits into the hole and slides into the slot.

#3. Another one of my favorite methods of hanging, especially with something quite heavy.

I used it for hanging this (which is heavier than it looks!).

Sorry no photo for the first step, but you need a board that is almost as wide across as your item. The board should be shallow -- like 3/4". The width doesn't matter as much, but should be at least 4" -- so a 1x6 or 1x 8 is great for this. Cut this board in half long way (2 long pieces when done), using a table saw on a 45 degree angle.

One of the halves will be mounted on the top part of the item and the other on the wall. You want to mount it to the wall with screws into studs.

The placement might be a little tricky, so plan on some measuring and figuring. And you want to make sure that the cut is on the top, with the shorter side touching the wall.

The board you attached to your piece should have the cut edge down, with the shorter side touching the piece. The pieces will then "nest" together.

You just place the item's board into the wall board and it holds amazingly well. Just get it on the board and you can slide it where you need it (of course, you don't want the wall board to show!).

#4. Here's something I've, done once or twice.

I had this piano shelf that I certainly couldn't and wouldn't go through the front. And there was not a back area to use. But.....

There was a cavity area in the back.

So I attached to the wall a board approximately the size of that gap. Then I just slipped the piece onto it.

To secure it, I screwed down through the top (which I didn't mind as much) into that piece of wall-mounted lumber.

#5. One last method.

This 4' x 4' window is super, super heavy! And I hope you can see in the photo, is resting on two big nails/screws. The top is secured with some rope we attached and secured from above. I'm not saying to do things EXACTLY like that, but similarly...

A very heavy piece should be supported from underneath, simple L brackets can usually do the trick.

You can simply mount bracket to wall, place piece on top, and secure with screw through holes.

If you don't care for that to show, simply decide where you want it to go and first attach one arm to wall, stem upward, then place item on it, then secure with screws from below. Use this same technique to secure from the sides or from the top, too, if needed. If you plan carefully you can place brackets so they will barely show, but they give a very secure hold.

I hope these ideas were helpful and clear enough to understand. I basically just wanted to give an overview of a few ideas that have worked for ME (as opposed to them being the best). There are probably a lot more out there, (but mine, of course, required they be done "on the cheap".)

So....did we ever answer the question...How IS it hanging?

Midge

Kicked to the Curb?!! Really?!?!?!

Last weekend as I was driving home from the store, I saw something that you KNOW caught my eye!!!!

Since I had already passed it, it took my mind a few moments to process it. "Oh, I've got to go back and check that out."

Boy, am I glad I did! This is what I saw on the circle back.

It definitely was some sort of cabinet. A little out of date, but we junkers just call that VINTAGE.

This front section was with it. A little worse for wear, but it was still there!

It had this big lid on it. Hmmm..... I wonder what's inside?

Well, it does lift up. Is that what I think it is????

Yup!! An old "phonograph"!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? Someone had tossed out an old phonograph!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but my wheels are spinning! I'm thinking some kind of cool "beverage" cabinet for starters.

But I could even restore it if I wanted, the owner even included all the necessary parts.

So why did they throw it out? Did they think the cost of repairing it would be too great? Or was it just too much bother? Maybe they just wanted a newer model, or were tired of it, or maybe they no longer had a place for it? ...............They may have kicked it to the curb, but I'm glad they did. I scooped it up and am excited to have it!

Sadly, too many people feel like they've been "kicked to the curb" and are hurting from broken relationships. Is the cost of repair just too great? Is it too much bother? Or maybe people are searching for something new, or have tired of the people in their lives, or no longer have room for them..... So sad...... They seem to not even realize what they already have.

People can let us down, but God never will. He is always there for us, and we never have to worry that he might "kick us to the curb"....

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. -- Deuteronomy 31:8

Midge