This Old Chippy Chair

I happened upon my first garage sale of the season last week and found this neat little chair for $5.00! I couldn't pass it up, as I saw too much potential. Better yet, no painting or sanding was required to get the rustic, shabby chic look I like!

Just the day before, I had been cleaning out a cabinet and found the rusty, vintage scale. For the life of me, I don't know why I've been storing  the scale. I mean what was I thinking? I decided to use a couple of old encyclopedia books to elevate the scale. After all, my husband insist we keep the books, so I should use them to decorate with! Right?

I decided to cut a few fresh jonquils from the yard and placed them in a fruit jar with a burlap tie. The jonquils have just about all bloomed in the yard and I was glad to enjoy the flowers indoors for a few days longer. A couple of candles completed the arrangement.

I love the shabby chic style chair and am glad I stopped by that garage sale.

 Tomorrow I'll share where the chippy chair is sitting and the bigger picture! Here's a hint...

Any guesses what room I'm redoing?

I'm linking to the following:

Vintage School Desk

We came across this vintage style school desk at a garage sale last November and its been sitting in our storage building ever since then, begging for something to be done with it. Farmall Man just could not pass it up for $10!

Someone had already painted it aqua blue, but hadn't done a great job of painting it. Instead of repainting it, I decided to distress it some and sanded down the rough places to give it a worn and aged feel.

Paul apparantly spent lots of time in this desk and carved his name on top.

 Lots of other students spent lots of time drawing and writing on the inside of the desk. I found a Jack and Clinton scribbled inside.

Someone must have been very aggitated with the teacher one day because you can see a Shut Up and Make Me!

Now that the desk is cleaned up and spider free, we've got to figure out just where to put our old desk! Our little house is so crowded. I really want to use it as my husbands end table beside his chair, but that would mean having to reorganize all his stuff and we nearly get divorced if I move all his books and papers! Maybe I can get him to fix up his space soon!

Turtle, Turtle

Turtle, Turtle!

I made my brother stop his four wheeler so I could take a picture of the turtle on a log in the pond (below) when the bigger turtle above tried to steal the show!

 Here's both the turtles together.

 My brother says I take too many pictures!

I had already taken several pictures of Creeks...

 Buzzard Eggs...

Trees...

And more tree reflections in the pond.

Oh well, he doesn't realize us bloggers like to take lots of pictures to share! We saw a pair of hawks and a pair of road runners, but I wasn't quick enough with my camera to get their pictures. Or should I just say dear brother didn't stop the four wheeler in time for me. Yeah, thats it!

Brenda Photo Challenge - Favorite Things

Today's Brenda's Photo Challenge theme is These are a Few of My Favorite Things. Whew, I've got a lot of favorite things, so this was hard to narrow it down!

Going to Antique Tractor Shows with my "peeps" and then sharing ice cream afterwards.

Daffodils blooming at the end of winter and spending time in my yard are always favorites.

Road trips to see the Texas Bluebonnets rate high as well. I can't wait to go back again!

Moe is my favoritest horse of all time ♥ Such a fun horse to ride!

I've got  a busy weekend planned, but I hope to visit all soon! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Grandmama

Today would have been my sweet Grandmama's 85th birthday. It's been 10 years since I last got to take her a bouquet of fresh daffodils.

Growing up, my brother and I would pick daffodils from her yard and run inside like we had this amazing bouquet for her birthday. Grandmama would always get a cup or mason jar and display the flowers on the table.



This is the best picture I have of the two of us. This was taken as we were leaving my cousin's wedding.

 Daffodils always remind me of her and when I started my own garden, I transplanted some of her daffies to my yard. They just hold a special place in my heart and garden.

The sweet smell of daffodils wafting through the yard and the bright and happy flowers always remind me of my sweet and happy Grandmama. Oh how I miss her…

New Hats

I added a few new Military Style Hats to my etsy store this weekend.

The first one has a fabric flower with burlap, sheer, and floral print  material. Rhinestones flourishes scroll on each side of the shabby chic flower.

 These caps with distressed crosses and rhinestone bling accents are always a favorite with my friends and great for bad hair days!

 Peace, Faith, and Love Cap

 This shabby chic cap has been in my store for a few weeks and has got several hearts! ♥  Who doesn't like burlap flowers and turquoise bling?

Don't forget for a short time you can use coupon code GYPSYXOXO to get 10% off each item as I continue to celebrate my one year anniversay sale!

Garden Ideas

Today was a cold and rainy day in East Texas, with a forecast and possible flash flooding this weekend, but this girl was dreaming about gardening plans, starting seeds, planting those freshly sprouted seeds in the yard, dirt in my finger nails (that's a good thing),  and what theme my yard will take on this year.

I look back on last years garden and look forward to this years crop of colorful blooms in our yard and I am thinking that vintage, rustic, shabby chic, recycled will be the prevelant theme this year.

I remember when I dug this shopping cart out of the junk out back and my husband saying I could use it "till he needs it for something else"! It's still in my flower bed and I hope he doesn't want to reclaim it this spring.

I think I will replant flowers in my old wash tub and in the gym locker attached to the vintage bicycle. I slipped multiple pots in the galvanized wash tub and  I was so glad I was able to change out the plants in the bucket as the seasons progressed.

 Ever since the gazebo makeover last summer, I have been pondering how the gazebo will look with spring flowers in bloom. I have visions of hanging baskets cascading with blossoms and rustic containers recycled with grasses and flowers spilling over the sides.

Suzy has sure enjoyed the gazebo and I will have to replace the chair cushion this spring. I'm thinking something burlap/feed sacks. I am ready for the warmer evenings spent outdoors with a glass of tea, lit with candle light and occasional sightings of critters among the plants.

For some reason Little House on the Prairie episodes come to mind when I think about our initials carved on the post of the gazebo! I loved Laura Ingalls and read all her books over and over when I was younger. (I still have the complete set.) I would dress up in my bonnet and skirt pretending to live on the prairie, and thought that the best thing about being sick and missing school was getting to watch Little House on the Prairie on television! I guess you could say I've loved vintage style since I was a young girl!

I'm ready for the lilies to be blooming along my rustic rope fence in front of the greenhouse

and ready for summer nights when the moths are fluttering through the yard feeding on the four o'clocks.

I patiently wait for the sunflowers to bloom and the frogs to show up again in the canna leaves.

 I have a sign in my greenhouse that reads "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." I am thankful for the rain we are receiving this winter, as it is helping to ease our drought conditions and it is encouraging the thought of planting spring flowers. I believe tomorrow and next season will be better and aided by flowers in the yard, the coming days will be more beautiful!

I am linking this post to Funky Junk Interiors.

Ready for Spring!

Ahhhhh! Valentine's is o-v-e-r!!! That means its time to look foward to Spring.

 Confused? As a florist, Valentine's week is our busiest week of the entire year and I seem to measure time by: before Valentine's Day or after V-Day. I am sooo proud that we are at the after point. Now I can look foward to gardening seasoning, the days getting longer, daylight savings time changing soon, warmer days and shucking the long sleeve shirts and jackets, flip flops and some sun on my face. I know its a bit early for all the items on my list, but now they are on the horizon.

 The past two days have been spent trying to relax after the insane hours we worked over the last week and a half, but now I am in the mood for spring and being creative. We had all the signs of an early spring, then we had a cold snap hit last weekend and Monday morning we had a light dusting of snow and some sleet. I'm glad it didn't last long and didn't stick on the roads.

Its just 33 days until the official start to spring!!! Are you ready?