I Love Rust

 I had a few extra minutes between steps I was working on to fill some cracks in my front porch so I was perusing my screen shots and happened upon a "flower shop" sign I had seen and loved so much. I had a momentary thought of perhaps treating myself for my birthday until I looked up the price and found it was well over $100. I am sometimes willing to spend way more than I should if the item justifies the purchase but, for a decorative item that would only be in use one month a year, justification couldn't quite be found. And then, I remembered this!

This picture is from last year and kind of helps make my point. It is nowhere near as large as the sign I was coveting but, it was very much along the same lines. I bought it a few years back in Michaels. I liked it then but I almost didn't use it last year. I think it is because of how very bright and shiny it is. The contrast just seems too much!

And so, I thought I would get it out and see if I couldn't rust it up a bit. You wouldn't think that would be so difficult but this sign must have the image baked into the metal. No matter what type of sandpaper or rasp type tool I used, I couldn't get that shiny finish off. 

I probably could have found some kind of grinding attachment for either my Dremel or power sander but, considering the fact that I have lived a very long life without ever needing any of that-and probably would never need it again-I decided there had to be an easier way. Not to mention the fact that I probably would not be the best one to be dealing with cleaning up metals shards as my entire sunroom floor is pretty much covered in spilled cinnamon and I keep walking through it and dragging it everywhere. Lol

That is when I decided to try my "cheat" way of creating rust-good old ModPodge and cinnamon. I wasn't sure the ModPodge would even adhere to this shiny surface but, I knew that since it is water soluble, I could probably scrub it off if I hated it and I could work on another idea. I was pretty sure I could smear on E-6000 and then cover it with cinnamon and I would be good but that would be a last ditch effort as that stuff doesn't come off easily-if at all!

I was amazed at how well the cinnamon adhered to the metal with the ModPodge. After I shook off the extra cinnamon, I was kind of happy with the rust results but, for me, the sign was still too shiny. And so I decided that instead of just sealing in the cinnamon with more ModPodge, I would paint over the whole sign. The ModPodge I was using was a matte finish.

And, voila, I got my non-shiny look. And, something else happened. There were some places where I guess I didn't get off all of  the extra loose cinnamon so when I started painting the whole piece, it dragged through the wet ModPodge and gave the look of metal truly just starting to rust in some areas and really rusted in others.

And now I am happy and will use this again this year when the spring decor comes out. I have to chuckle every time I add more rust, chips or grunge to things. I have always been drawn by the "lived in" kind of look-the chippier, rustier or grungeier the better. Lol Whenever I would rush home with a treasure that I found that fit one of these categories-or better yet, all three-my husband would ask, jokingly I think, how much did they pay you to take that off of their hands? Lol 

I might be signing off for the rest of the week but if I am, I will be back with a picture overload. For a week that only had one thing originally on the calendar, the week is now almost full. Last night found us at our livestock pavilion for the youth fair where, for the first tine ever, we were involved. Grandson #2 decided to raise a steer this year with his school's FFA program. He had spent many hours, for many months-at least twice a day but usually more-out at the school where the agriculture department has a whole new facility with barns, pens, etc. He has worked so hard and become kind of attached to Big Chief.

Last night was the showing of the steer and today will be the auction-not something he even wants to think about.

I am so proud of him. He did this with no real prior knowledge of cattle and their upkeep and put his whole heart into it. Big Chief came in 6th in his division which was wonderful for a first timer. Hud didn't get medical clearance to actually "show" Big Chief because of the size and strength of the animal after his recent surgery but he was able to have a friend show him and Big Chief had on his best manners. I think Hud is already looking forward to this again next year.

The rest of the week is filled with another lacrosse game in Gainesville, a birthday lunch out with a friend, family coming to town to help me celebrate and then the Anchor Club fashion auction on Sunday where grandson #2 has been asked to be an escort of one of the Anchor girls. The escorts are usually senior boys but, following in his brother's footsteps, he has been asked as a sophomore. I'm guessing that's an honor? Lol

In any case, I will be one year older when this week ends so I'm sure I'll be ready for a rest on Monday and I'll be back to share. Until then, stay safe and stay tuned.

 

Catch a Lucky Charm

 We're having another bit of a rainy day so I'm staying inside catching up on a few things before I sit back and just enjoy Fri-yay! Let's head into the kitchen and see what luck we can find.

I love the carpenter's box all full of St. Pat's goodies and I'm glad I brought the little Irish cottages back out this year. I still don't have a spot to display the beautiful Irish themed bone china that my dad gave to my mom many years ago. The last time I had them out, I was dusting and couldn't see all of the shelf that they were on. I lifted something and the saucer that was under it fell to the ground and broke in enough pieces that all of my jerry-rigging talents couldn't begin to help. I was so sad to think that my mom had kept them safe oh so many years and then I had to be the one to break a piece. I immediately got online to see if I could find the same pattern anywhere but I wasn't able to. I'm thinking it's been long enough that maybe I will have to try that again.

The little shamrock cutting board is so cute-wish I could find a larger one somewhere. And this is where the $Tree Mason jar makeover found a home. I thought it was appropriate for it to land in the kitchen.

I laugh every time I bring out that picture of my grandson in that hat. He was supposed to be an Irish "gent" for his school's "Around the World" parade. And, he looked absolutely perfect when that silly green hair was tucked up into the hat-the only one close to what we needed that we could find. But, a friend of his spied some hair kind of sticking out a little and this is what we got. Let me just say that this was an event that parents and grand parents were not invited to or we would have caught this before they marched. Everyone thought he was supposed to be a leprechaun-which I guess is fine but that was not our goal. Lol

This is where the new little shelf sitter ended up-on a shelf. Lol

So that is the kitchen for this year.

I've had a fun and busy weekend this week topped off by our trip to Gainesville for grand daughter #5's first official lacrosse game. Since it was in Gainesville, lots of the family was able to attend and we had quite the cheering section-especially after Presley scored the first goal. Her dad, who is a coach on the H.S. boys' lacrosse team had to leave early as they had a game across town at another school. And, it was so sweet of her older brother, who is in college in CT, made a face-time call to congratulate her right after he heard about the goal and the win!

I think she has found her passion. She has tried many other things but none of them struck the spark in her like this has. Maybe it's because she has all of the equipment in their backyard and she has been playing for years with her brothers. I'm not sure, but I am so proud of her. She is a bit like me and doesn't always thrive on competition so just the fact that she is out there makes me so proud of her...and, I must say, she is scrappy-as some of these action pictures taken by my sister-in-law will show. That girl had the ball a lot and when she didn't, she was doing everything in her power to get it! Lol

Hope to be back soon but I have a list a mile long for the weekend and then on Monday we are going to the Livestock Show where grandson #2 will be appearing with the steer he has been raising. He won't be able to actually do the showing as he still hasn't been fully cleared after his surgery but he has found a friend who knows lots about cattle and he will be able to show the steer for him. This is a new one for me. I don't know a lot about FFA and what all it entails but he seems to be enjoying it so we will see what there is to see. If I get any photos, I will be sure to share. Stay safe and stay tuned.

The Wearin' of the Green

 I'm back after a busy number of days. Daughter #2 was here on Friday and even though we were doing a bit of a belated birthday celebration for her, she came bearing gifts for me. She stopped at the Fresh Market in Gainesville and brought me all of my favorite foods (we don't have one here in Ocala) and then went to The Upper Crust-an incredible bakery in the same plaza-and brought me pastries in my favorite flavors...and the of course, spring flowers. And just in time too as my other ones were beginning to droop a bit. The pussy willows from my brother and sister-in-law are still fine-as a matter of fact, when I am done with spring flowers I will dry them and you will see them many more times-so another beautiful bouquet is on my bar where I see it often and I have even been known to carry it with me when I'm going to be in another room for awhile. Spring flowers just make me so happy.

And then I started to take down Valentine's Day and put up St. Patrick's Day. We had a rainy weekend so it worked out perfectly. This is more of a swap out than I remembered because everything red is OUT and in comes all of the GREEN...including all of the candles. But, I got it done (except for packing up all of the Valentine stuff) so I thought we could at least start our tour.

Lucky for me the clover plants grow wild around here-even in places where I don't plant them. I used to dig them up from the gardens for the holiday but this year they filled almost every urn that I have-all on their own. Some of them bloom with white flowers and others have a violet colored blooms. They are so delicate and pretty.

This is where the new image on the dictionary page landed.

I still love the leprechaun hats that my grand daughters and I made many years ago to give to the family as gifts.

And this is where the faux tile shamrock ended up.

So that is the porch and living room for this year. Not really much change-just a few new crafts added to the mix.

And, I got the picture from grand daughter #5's first lacrosse game. It was cold and we were all bundled up-don't know how those girls could stand it in short sleeves and shorts-guess all of the running around helps! It is an interesting story about how she got to play this year. When she was in middle school, she played on a co-ed team and wanted to play in high school but her high school doesn't have a girls' program. She goes to a private school and our county has a plan where children who go to private schools and their schools don't offer a sport that they are interested in can play at a public school that does. As it turns out, this is the school she would attend if she were to go to public school so she knows lots of the kids and is so happy that she is getting this opportunity!

This is definitely lacrosse season for this gang. My oldest grandson just started his college season on Saturday-and actually got in for a few plays which was a surprise to us because he is just a freshman. Always fun to be watching the games on TV and see him on the screen! And then my son-in-law is coaching the high school boys' lacrosse team where grandson #2 is a player but out for the season because of an injury and surgery. That has been hard for him but hopefully he'll be back to full steam soon.

So, that is it for around here. Thinking I will begin to tackle some of the leaves later this week but I'll be back as soon as I can. Stay safe and stay tuned.