Freaky Friday Framed Creepy Halloween Dollar Tree Portraits

For the next four Fridays I will be featuring

some of my Halloween projects on what I like to call "Freaky Fridays".

Today's Freaky Friday feature is Dollar Tree Halloween Portraits.

 I do not receive any compensation from Dollar Tree,

but I love DT and don't mind tooting their horn.

All scary portraits in this post came from DT (and of course were only $1.)

The outside pics I just trimmed to fit metal frames that I already had.

 This was my fave, I had this ugly 1990s oval frame

with a floral print.  I spraypainted white directly over the glass to cover the flowers.

That provided a nice base to apply the clear adhesive portrait to.

 I cut the zombie pic out of it's plastic "frame" and glued it inside this

actual frame.  The sturdy frame makes it look so much more authentic.

This bride and groom pic was leftover from my DT stash last year.

I loved the old fashioned look to it, I am not sure

if DT will carry these this year.

Sold the larger pics for $12.

Last Weekend's Vintage Finds -- TWO 1920s Maxfield Parrish Prints

I picked up TWO 1920s Maxfield Parrish prints last week.

I will be putting them on ebay, so I did a bit of research on them

and thought I would share some of it.

 In the 1920s an astonishing one out of four American households

had a copy of this Maxfield Parrish print "Daybreak" hanging in their houses.

He was known for using gorgeous blues in much of his artwork.

The standing girl was Parrish's own daughter,

the reclining girl is "Kitty" -- the granddaughter of William Jennings Bryan.

Kitty is also the model in the next print.

While you occasionally can find this print (because there were so many!)

many are faded and it is the vibrant color that makes them hold their value.

 This one is called "Wild Geese".

I don't know why.  

These were considered a fantasy genre,

 and he never volunteered a "story" behind any of his artwork.

He had a hard time being taken as a serious fine artist, so in later decades,

 he said he would never again paint "female figures on rocks".

I love that this little paper tag has survived almost 100 years

on the back of this print.

Both prints miraculously stayed in their original frames.

Sold for a combined amount of $257 on ebay,

Using Vintage Wallpaper On Furniture Pieces

I have had this roll of vintage wallpaper for over a year -- waiting to list it on ebay.  

It looks like something a 1940s homemaker would have put in her kitchen.

Then I pulled out this teatray project.  The center board of the teatray had rotted out, so I had to replace the bottom with some fiberboardish stuff that I had.  And wanted it to look vintage.  So I thought of the wallpaper.  I glued it directly to the fiberboard.  The glue kind of bled through and I thought I had ruined it, but when it dried it was perfect!  (I did lay a bunch of books on it to keep it from wrinkling).

I put the fiberboard inside the teatray frame.  Nice, but what if someone actually (gasp) uses said tea tray for tea? (Yes, I could have had a glass piece cut for it, but did not want to mess with it.)  I took another chance and brushed a poly over the whole thing.  It had just enough color to turn the project a little gold, and I LOVED it. If I had been super serious about waterproofing, I may have added another coat or two.

Next day I bought this little old cabinet.  Great little antique piece for $17. 

 Nasty looking shelves inside that someone had GLUED horrible paper to.

  I needed a quick fix.

Vintage wallpaper to the rescue!

 Same technique. Glue with book weights, followed by brushing on a coat of poly. 

This little cutie will be moving to our new Missouri Ozarks house with us. 

At this rate there may not be any wallpaper left to list on ebay.

Garden Windmill Repair

I bought this little beauty at the same estate sale where I purchased so many other treasures last weekend.  The windmill was leftover for the 50% OFF day because it was so damaged, so I managed to buy it for $10.  Many of the crossbar supports were dangling loose, which I had to bolt back into place.  All four horizontal ground supports were bent and twisted (I didn't do too much straightening, because I didn't want to weaken the metal.)

The tail and wheel were not original, but they were homemade and cool looking.  They needed to be reattached to each other, and then to the windmill stand.  I hope no one looks too closely, because now there is quite a hodgepodge of hardware holding it all together.

My favorite part of the windmill is the little wire ladder running all the way up the side of the windmill.  I can just picture a little tiny man scaling the side of the windmill to check the repairs.

Last Weekend's Vintage Finds

I went to a farm house estate sale last weekend that was organized by a friend of mine.  I have personally done estate sales before, and I know what a daunting task it was.  This sale was HUGE, and encompassed the house and several outbuildings.

 I got three of these American Poultry Journal magazines from the 1920s.

I may frame them and hang them in my future chicken coop.
(Doesn't everyone decorate their chicken coop interior?)

UPDATE:  Two were used on a cabinet in my Ozarks bathroom.

The last one I framed and it graces a shelf in the Stonecrest Cottage guest house.

 Speaking of chickens -- I also bought two large egg baskets

(purchased for $10 each, sold for $24 each)

and a great scale for $5.

I already had the basket, but purchased the 

"grocery cart" and owl #1.

It is the perfect time of year to be selling owls.

Paid $5 for this owl, sold it for $15).

 Owl #2 inside a milk crate "cage".
Paid $1 for this owl, sold it for $15.

+ 6 more metal milk crates with gallon jars included,

for $5 a crate.  And paid $5 for the sled on the right, later sold for $36.

Giant ball of twine for $1....

and the cutest little birdhouse for $1 (keeper).

 Bird nests.... they are a weakness of mine.

 These had sat in cardboard box in the barn for years.

 I also bought a garden windmill,
but had to make some repairs on it.
You will have to check back in a couple of days to see it.

Setting Up At Ladies Night Out

Each fall some friends of mine sponsor a "Ladies Night Out" on the square in our town. They do an awesome job.

This year 77 small home-based businesses (tupperware, candles, jewelry, etc) set up inside brick & mortar businesses, on the square sidewalk, and on the courthouse lawn.  It is free to be a vendor, and helps bring people to the square to explore businesses that are permanently there.

I set up on the courthouse lawn. It was the first year that the courthouse lawn was open to vendors, so I didn't know quite what to expect.  The response was overwhelming. We had a huge turnout.  It was so much fun to watch herds of women walking around and visiting.

I had a $1 table, and it was very popular!  I did sell some "better" stuff, 

but the majority of the $200 +that I made was from the $1 table.

I know that isn't a fortune, but from the time we left our house, to the time we got home was only 4 hours.   Plus, as I said -- it was a free event.  Not bad. I left the van packed, and did a flea market on Saturday that was sponsored by my vintage mall.

Still Painting Our 1895 Painted Lady

Last Fall I started to paint the first floor exterior of our 1895 house.  Painting it, for the third and last time.  And because of that, trying to do a great job.  We owe it to the house.  She has been good to us for 30 years.

Last fall I got almost all of the main floor exterior completed, plus two second floor porches. This summer my husband did the front second story, lots of dibbly work there.  He still has to do some on the east and west sides of the house. This fall I am doing all of the painting I didn't "quite" get to before the snow fell last year.  She is lookin' fabulous.

This week I have been working on this alcove, and getting alot of exercise.  Each time I move the ladder I run up and down the ladder six times (at least) with six different colors.

 (Which does not even include our seventh color, a lighter green.)

We have something like 54 acorns decorating our house.

This is the only area I have deal with this many colors, 

because most of the "detail" is on the second story where my husband is painting.   

 I am now officially done with my assignment, the main first story -- 

but by no means done with working on the house.

Last Weekend's Vintage Finds

Last Thursday I visited my father in Nebraska,

(and managed to visit several garage sales as well.)

This was the coolest item I bought -- a large sterling silver pendant.

After research, I think the purple stone is called charoite.

I will be listing it on ebay.

Paid $1, sold for $54 on ebay.

 Saturday we picked up items that I had won at a local on-line auction.

I got this rag basket for $2 and ....

this Watering Can for $6

(probably due to the bullet holes.)

Adding A Pierced Tin Cap To Our Garden Shed

I don't have alot of things that you would be jealous of.

But I do have a 1895 killer garden shed.

This is the view from the south side.

I don't know if it was originally a shed,

chicken coop or privy.

Love the moons on the back.

 We had purchased two strips of decorative roof strips earlier this summer.

We immediately decided that they would look great....

 adorning the mossy shake-shingle roof.

 I only got them attached to the edges of the roof

that I could access on a ladder without climbing the roof.

I think my shed is enjoying her new roof-do.

Wreath Goes From Autumnal To Skeletal

Sometime during 2017 I picked up this wreath for cheap.  It has a nice natural fall look.  But I am looking to add a bit of black and a few faux bones to anything this time of year.

In fact, I had already hotglued a skull in place before

I thought to take a photo.

Where's Waldo?

 Here he is!

Since it had such great natural elements to begin with,

I spraypainted some water lily pods black and added them.
A couple of skulls and a skeleton makes it Halloween worthy.

Last Weekend's Vintage Finds 09.01.2017

i have been busy. 

i have been sick.

i have been out of town.

but i still managed to grab a few things at a garage sale last Friday.

  portion of tree that grew around bottle that had been stuck in it.  keeper.

stacked wood lamp.

i can imagine some kid making it in woodshop sometime in the 1940s.

ended up keeping this and using it in our Ozark home.

Bell Telephone first aid kit for lineman from 1957.
Bought for $5.