Mosaic Monday - more strange skies

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I'm house-sitting this week, and next week, and the week after that. I'm watering plants, feeding a Samoyed and a cat and plugging my nose when I get a whiff of the 4,000 chickens. Yep. Seriously. Thankfully, I don't have to take care of those guys...and gals. They are all pretty newly hatched and kinda cute, but even the cute can't cancel their...um...aroma.

I probably spend 90% of my time taking photos pointing my lens to the sky. I love wide open spaces for just this reason. Last week I shared the skies from my house, so this week I'll share the skies from my temporary home.

Be sure to visit Little Red House to see all the beautiful mosaics!

PetiteThrela etsy review

Petite Threla is the smaller sister-site/etsy shop to Threla (their main webpage). I came across their shop on etsy while searching for a lip tint. I've outgrown lipgloss (and why in the world are they SO shiny? Which reminds me of this video at 1:19- 1:31) and most lipstick shades look terrible on me so I'm trying out lip tints instead. I'm a lip balm addict anyway so this seems like a good in-between. :)

I ordered the Threla lip glace in Earl Grey - I love tea and citrus and lip balm so could this get any better? As well as a bar of soap in Bartlett pear. I was sent a "conversation" (etsy's version of a direct message) right away, thanking me for my order and letting me know I was getting a free lip glace with my order! So generous! And though we are on opposite sides of the country I got my order in just two days. Incredible. And shipping was only $1.75 for my entire order.

It was nicely yet simply packaged:

And included an invoice and a handwritten thank you.

I could smell the Earl Grey before I even opened the package and it smells divine.

The free lip glace they sent me is their pink grapefruit flavor/color so it is in my skin tone range to wear. It smells juicy and looks beautiful with just a kiss of color.

The Earl Grey lip glace, as I mentioned, smells really good, but it's not an overpowering scent. The color is the absolute perfect color for me and I couldn't be more thrilled with it. I will definitely be ordering this again. And at only $4.00 per tube I can afford to.

The lip tubes also have a safety seal, which I appreciate.

The soap I ordered is a smaller bar, but perfectly sized and reasonably priced at $3.50. The fragrance is not the sort of knock-you-down fragrance you'd get in a store-bought bar. It is light, sweet, and juicy yet noticeable and lingers on the skin for a while. It has a nice, rich lather and makes the skin soft too.

My next order I'd love to try their face masks and facial mist.

George is getting a face-lift

Some makeover projects are bigger than you expect. Take George for example.

Long, long ago I introduced you all to George, my 1973 Chevy truck. I also sang the praises of Armor All in that post because WOW was this poor thing neglected and in need of care.

The interior was dusty and dirty, cracked and ripped and best of all...full of that 70's faux woodgrain.

But I removed that and used a gray door panel from the parts truck and painted it black with vinyl paint (that vinyl paint is magic!!)

That little strip of faux wood is growing on me I have to admit. Not sure I want to completely obliterate the 70's from this truck.

The carpet was ripped and filthy and made the truck smell. I didn't waste any time in ripping it out. I found some really interesting stuff under the seat too. Credit card receipts from the 70's and about $1.38 in change! :)

Some rust spots were under the carpet where it looked like moisture had got in and never taken care of. I scraped and vacuumed out what I scraped. Rust can continue to spread if you don't take care of it properly.

When I'd vacuumed it out I applied some Rust-Oleum as a spot treatment.


Then I applied this next:

With sponge brushes. This stuff is INSANELY smelly so be sure to wear a mask. Also, be sure to really mix it well because it's pretty thick and if you don't mix it properly you won't get the "grippy" stuff in your paint.


This should work until I can afford a carpet kit!

Next was the poor cracked and faded dash in this "lovely" butterscotch.


A few screws undone and it pops right out.


I took this opportunity to really clean under the dashpad and as far as I could reach in the vents.

I took the black dashpad out of the parts truck because it only has the crack you see the in the background of the next photo and really, you can't see it when sitting in the truck and these things are $$$.

I cleaned it up with Armor All.


And also replaced my woodgrain gauge cover with the parts truck's black one. Better? :)


With all the interior (and some exterior) cleaning you know what my two favorite tools were?

An old toothbrush.


And these.Now that my interior is back together


I guess I need to start work on the exterior!






Linking to:

The Shabby Chic Cottage

Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party

No Better Time Monday - how long has it been like that?

I was walking down the hallway the other day and happened to look up.

And I had one of these moments.

How long has it been like that? No idea! I guess I'm short enough that I don't think about the ceiling much. Believe it or not, I was actually too busy at the time to take care of it. I left it like that for a few more days. Are your mouths hanging open and you staring in round-eyed disbelief? Because that's what I'm picturing. ;)

I finally tackled it with the vacuum. Here you can see one clean and one really not. Ewwww.


Now that it's all clean...

I notice I've been eyeballing other things around the house at odd angles. We'll see what else I can find that really needs cleaning. Ack!

Be sure to stop by A Sanctuary Sought for...

Mosaic Monday - summer skies

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While I've listened to everyone in blogland talk about how hot it is and how they can't wait for autumn I've been eyeballing the calendar hoping to make summer last longer somehow. It's been the cloudiest and coldest summer of recent memory. It rained the entire month of June and I didn't even get my garden planted. As I type this it is overcast and chilly enough for me to be wearing a sweatshirt. BUT I do have to say that cloudy skies give some spectacular scenery.

Be sure to visit Little Red House to see all the beautiful mosaics!

Fan Mail - the story of a necklace

This is the story of a necklace. The necklace was one of those "experiments" of mine in putting to use, my many pearls (glass, not real, I'm afraid) and bits of shell.


My mom's knitting group had mentioned wanting to see my case of pretties so I sent it along one Friday afternoon. The lovely ladies bought some pieces from me, one of which was this necklace. The trouble was, another lady wanted the same necklace! I was able to make a duplicate - as I said, I have many pearl and shell beads. In any case I received a note from her the other day with a request for yet another necklace of the same kind but made out of a pearl necklace she already had and she asked me if I'd share the story here on my blog. Here's the note she sent.

More of a Good Thing...

Molly made some beautiful necklaces and sent her sample case to the Friday Women's Fellowship at church to make additional sales. Two ladies loved this one necklace so much that one was an instant sale and one was ordered.

Ramona took her necklace home with her and kept thinking about her sister's upcoming visit from Canada and what a wonderful surprise this necklace would be for her.

We all met at the Oregon Coast and when our picture was being taken, Ramona slipped it around her sister's neck.

Darlene loved this necklace so very, very much and it matched her earrings, ring and her blouse.

This beautiful necklace now resides in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada and Ramona would like to have a duplicate made for herself.



Isn't that so sweet? How tickled I am to hear about something I made becoming such a thoughtful gift to sister. I love to hear stories of where my jewelry goes, and who it goes to.

Thank you very much Ramona for sharing your story!

And the winners are...

I said I'd get this posted by 7 am but my internet service decided to make a liar out of me. Argh.

Thanks to everyone who visited and purchased from Lovie and Boo! Unless you've got an etsy shop it's hard to understand that wonderful feeling you get when someone thinks what you make is worth spending their hard-earned money on.

The winners of the earrings - according to random.org - are...

Congratulations Megan!

and

Congratulations Kamie!

Email me at mollythepirate (at) yahoo (dot) com with your mailing address and tell me your first choice on color so we can figure who gets what pair, then I'll pass the info along to Natalie.

Didn't win? Well, I think you did win because the Lovie and Boo pretties are SUPER affordable - treat yourself and pretend you're a winner! You won't be sorry you did; I wear my Lovie and Boo earrings all. the. time.

Mosaic Monday - nature's lace

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Weed though it may be, I'm quite fond of Queen Anne's Lace. It's such a lovely shape and silhouette I just can't help but be drawn to it. At the Barn House flea (as if I haven't blabbered about that enough) it was filling vases and containers in every tent and it looked right at home amongst the elegant junque.

I remember how surprised I was to learn it is also called a wild carrot. I've never eaten one but have you ever smelled the root? A delicious carrot smell. :)

Be sure to visit Little Red House to see all the beautiful mosaics!

Cluttered, useless desk becomes functioning craft station

I had a piece of furniture that had become a complete dumping ground for everything. Bank statements, crafty supplies, letter-writing supplies, decorative items, old junk, etc. That piece of furniture was my desk.


It's a nice little roll top so let's open her up and see inside!

Oh. My. Gosh. What....what is....what the....huh?



Yes! Because these are so useful now!


My top drawer full of ... I don't even know. I see hair thingies. A box of buttons, ribbon, beads, my soldering tool.


My second drawer for ribbons and trims. Also apparently my Garfield ruler and dental floss (to be fair, I DID use that dental floss for a craft project.


These are all the trims and junk that were in the back of the drawer.


I also found these. I saved them because ... why?

The instructions for my very new up-to-date stereo! That I got new probably 15 years ago.

Let's try this again, shall we? How about we open it up.

Hey I can actually work here! And I have a chair! (albeit a chair that needs recovering).

I used some little glass snifters a neighbor gave me "because they knew I'd do something with them" - well you were right! They are holding my push pins, rubber bands and paper clips.

A $1.00 napkin holder holds notes or mail or papers I want to hang onto and not forget. These notes came in my package from the Crafty Tokyo Mama.

This little pirate ship was a gift from a student and is sitting on the notebook I use to keep track of business info.

A vintage Ball jar holds my paint brushes and a Goodwill find faux mercury glass candle-holder stores my decorated pens.

The divided spaces between holds my glues, my three most-used paint colors (black, white and burnt umber), some extra beads, etc.


I saved this fortune because with my shop being called "Molly the Pirate's" it just seemed fitting! :)

I saved this bottle cap because it makes me laugh.

This little slot perfectly holds my mailing envelopes for sending out packages.

Some empty food jars with a great shape and spray-painted lids make the perfect storage for my ribbon scraps and buttons.

One of the drawers holds my thank-you (and other assorted tags) which I use to hand-write little notes to buyers.

Another drawer holds my postal slips so I can have everything filled out and ready to go when I get to the post office.

The larger drawer makes a great spot for my jewelry tools. Do you not love my mini anvil? :)

My ribbon drawer (once I found the other dividers) is now MUCH more organized. I used cardboard scraps cut into rectangles to wrap loose ribbons around.

I've heard a clean desk is the sign of a disturbed mind (jokingly) but a messy desk can't help me get anything done!

In case you were wondering, what didn't get thrown away or donated was put into this crate, or this wire basket and slid under my bed.

Linking to:

The Shabby Chic Cottage