Lights, Fabric, Action!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend! We had a very relaxed Easter Sunday over here. Church, then home to cook and spend the afternoon hanging out with my oldest daughter and son-in-law. 
It was very casual, and just what I hoped for our day. 

Spring is taking its sweet time getting to western Colorado,
as it usually does. But we're finally seeing some green appearing in the neighborhood!  

I'm a little all over the place today, as I'm getting ready to have a little trip to Denver with my 16 year old, Mikayla, tomorrow. I'm super excited and I'll tell you what we're up to at the end of this post!

I just wanted to share a few of the creative things I've been up to the past couple of weeks. I've always been in love with fabric. I know I've said this before, but a stack of pretty linens really is like a work of art to me. The last couple of weeks, it seems to be all about the fabric and lamps! 

Remember my junk style garden fencing shade? 



This photo is a little distorted, but I've been working on updating it a bit by replacing the fabric strips with some panels of vintage feed sacks. You can find the tutorial for this unique shade over here. 




Yes, this is my dining area. Sigh. I really did have it straightened up for Easter, but somehow it always reverts to being the creative (super messy) space. 




I have a pair of these vintage Alacite lamps. I'm working on shades for them and plan to sell them when they're ready. 

A friend gave me this great old tattered lamp shade awhile back. I actually had it on one of my lamps 'as is', but my family really thought it crossed the "shabby" line- even for me : ) 

I'm really getting more comfortable with the sewing machine the past couple of weeks, and I'm working on making a new cover for the shade from an old laundry service bag. I will try to have it listed in the shop next week : ) 

This is the lamp I did have the tattered shade on at one time. I picked up this simple linen-looking shade at a thrift store for only $2.00 recently. I know it's a little over-sized for the lamp, but I can live with it until the next round of lamp shade shuffling! 

I'm really enjoying these scripture cards by Jones Design Company. Vintage flatware card/photo holder available here.  

I always seem to be a little slow on trying the latest 'popular' decorating elements. This is my first ever drop cloth project! 

I simply cut a drop cloth in half, folded the top down to achieve the length I wanted for the curtain rod already in place there, and hung them with ring clips. So easy it's almost embarrassing. I do think I will add another panel for extra fullness, but I really love the natural, soft look of this fabric and am looking forward to using it again. 

A few more fabric projects in the works...
I can't wait to show you what I'm working on for the shop, soon, including some never-done-on-the-blog-before baby items! 


And lastly today....my vintage "darling".....

Back in January, I shared the story (and a call for help) for this vintage chandelier my brother had given me over the holidays. It got broken on our trip home from California and I was not sure how I would proceed to get it repaired. You can see the original post about that here. 

Thanks for all the great advice you guys gave me about repairing it! I decided that since it might be a long time until I had money to have it professionally repaired, or even order replacement pieces for it, that I would go with what I already had on hand to at least attempt the repair myself. I knew if it didn't work, there would be no real harm done, and I'd just have to wait to get it repaired. 

What I already had on hand was two-part epoxy, and I'm happy to report that (so far) that seems to have worked just fine for reattaching the broken parts! 

I am fantasizing about how pretty this would look over the kitchen island, or replacing the unattractive ceiling fan in my bedroom! My friend Katie {a.k.a. the 'chandelier queen'} would have had this knocked out long ago : ) 

But to be realistic, living in a rented home makes it pretty unlikely that I will go to the effort of taking down an existing fixture and having this chandelier wired in. 

When I finally choose its perfect spot, I'll wire it up with a swag cord that plugs into the wall. Have I mentioned how much I love this thing? : ) A special thanks, again, to my brother and sister-in-law for this awesome gift. 

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So what in the world am I making a six hour round-trip drive to Denver for tomorrow? Well, a Switchfoot concert, of course! (hehe) Yes, we did just see them in Aspen in November {a little about that here} but my teenager is the world's biggest Switchfoot fan, and she admires these guys so much. I sort of love the idea of the two of us heading out on a little adventure and making some super fun memories together. (A huge thank you to my friends for keeping the younger kids!)

Can I ask a little favor of you? If you are a praying woman {or man- wait, ARE there any men here? speak up! :) } As we head off in my "iffy" van, into the "iffy" weather and with my "iffy" sanity-ha! would you be willing to pray for us? 

You guys are just the best.

See you soon!

Jeanette


Sharing over at
Thrifty Life Thursday at Revisionary Life
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm