Christmas gifts *handmade*

Several gifts were given over Thanksgiving weekend ... one day was Thanksgiving and the next, Christmas! :-)

I made a vignette for my sister and BIL's kitchen.

A distressed walnut hanger.

Chalkboard in barnwood frame (yikes! I didn't notice all of the fingerprints)...

And my first painting! A large (24"x36") abstract painting reminiscent of the seasons - spring to summer to fall to winter. Also parallels of life and its seasons. 

I painted a "Gone Fishin'" sign for my dad - distressed walnut with a green casual font - for those many more fishing trips he's going to take. :-)

Finally, I changed up my mom's kitchen vignette to reflect more of a wintry scape. 

A recycled antique book wreath and maple twigs.

Such fun. Can you see the influence the Market had on my gifts this year?

Thanksgiving fun!

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Iowa with Mimi, Papa and all her aunts and uncles on my side! We feasted and played and saw the moon ("moom" in Ladybug-speak) and tried to keep 2 year old fingers off things lots of interesting non-toys.

We also saw baby Asa! The girl was quite the helper. We got to feed him, change him, rock him to sleep ... all the joys of a 3 month old baby. :-)

:-) 

Now onto Christmastime...

a record player update (finally!)

(Breaking out some (new) old posts here.)

Sorry for the wait on the record player! I know you've been sitting at the edge of your seat for months now. Haha. Actually, I'm sure you've forgotten but I haven't! The record player, unfortunately, does not have a home upstairs in the natural light because 1) we don't have a good space for it yet and 2) Ladybug has pulled the glass tubes out and we don't want them breaking! That has made it difficult to photograph - it's pretty dark in the basement!

Here is my last post about it. (Really? Over a year ago?)

Anyway. I had to pull off and sand a bunch of glued on veneer. The point has never been to refurbish the wood (as this would be too pricey and over my head) but rather, because of the water damage and 25 cent price tag) to paint it whatever color I wanted.

I sanded the whole thing down and then glued my own veneer pieces to the sides. This brought the sides flush with the corner pieces (unlike the original) but I was okay with that.

Make sure you have enough clamps! I'd already glued it and then had to run (literally!) to the store before the glue set to buy more clamps.

Disaster averted.

Here is the BEFORE:

And the AFTER!

We brought it up to enjoy some old music with friends and family on the girl's birthday.

After it was glued and the holes filled with wood filler, I painted it in a flat Clark and Kensington "Yarrow Point" then aged it a bit with Annie Sloan's Dark Wax.  Then we took an old door pull from this project and screwed it in with a new screw.

I kept the inside its beautiful dark wood and the record player mechanism looks like it did 60 years ago!

It's far from perfect - I would love to replace the speaker fabric under the face (but that would require disassembly, perhaps with a crowbar!) and the floor of the cupboard is damaged beyond sanding and painting - but it's ours and it's lovely.

Now if there was only a perfect home for it upstairs. Maybe someday!

Here's a little taste of its sound.


record player from Lisa Shunk on Vimeo.

Cheers!

(Can you believe Thanksgiving is in a week!? November has flown by...)

CSA Week 22: Final post!

Last CSA post! Are you relieved? I am slightly. But, more on that in a minute.

This week...

... a bunch of turnips, red mustard greens, 5 pears, microgreens, large head of Chinese (Napa) cabbage, bag of lettuce and a head of garlic.

I'm not super excited about much this week except the pears! I have a pear galette on the brain for some reason. If they would only ripen quickly and at the same time!!

Anyway, week 1 held a huge Napa cabbage for us and I suppose what goes around comes around. Here in week 22 is another! I was not impressed with the taste (VERY bitter) at all. I'm slightly tired of trying to use up the root veggies and we're not big salad people. Hmm.

Not to complain. I've really enjoyed this experience and thanks for letting me document it on my blog! I wanted to keep a detailed version so when we decide in the future whether or not to do it again, I can go back and look.

Upsides of a CSA: fresh, local, organic produce. Supporting a local farmer was a very big motivator, not to mention feeding my family produce without pesticides! Getting to know the farmer by name and having to be creative in my cooking, and eating things we wouldn't normally buy!

Downsides of a CSA: the drive every Tuesday night was getting old. But the biggies were that it was pricey (cut into my food budget quite a bit after while!) and the produce we don't like going bad in the fridge ... then me feeling guilty for paying for it and then wasting it.

Like I said, overall it was good, but everything has downsides.

Tell me, if you read these posts, what did you learn about CSAs? Or buying local? I'm curious. :-)

the weekend Market

After a crazy day last Thursday (complete with rain and 3 hours at the pediatrician/x-ray lab/pharmacy for Ladybug), I finally got to my space at the Market at set up.

Oh, did I mention I got the spot right by the door? Chilly but SOOOO worth it! I sold more than I was hoping for!

I would've planned differently if I would've know how big my space was (bigger than the allotted 9'x9' I paid for!) but I made do with what I had. I arranged it so people might very well want to walk right through the center of my booth. And, they did. Some also got confused if one of the tables was my stuff, but I assured them it was.

Some kiddos walked a little too close to some of the signs on the floor and knocked a few over, but I made sure nothing super precious was down there. That's the good thing about rustic and distressed ... a little bit of kid or klutzy adult (a.k.a. me) won't hurt a thing. It'll just add to the charm.

my spot at the Market (main entrance to the right of the pic)

(sorry, Sharla, Jeremy didn't tell me that my collar was curled up!)

Christmas wreath plaques and barnwood frames

table runners

my clocks were the first to go!

this one didn't sell, so it's staying in the family. :-)

handmade lumberyard receipt box from the 1940s...

...turned chalkboard message center. (Didn't sell either but I love it!)

My mason jars looked super cute but only sold 1. Out of 30. Oops.

German bakery sign!

isn't the mint green ricer so cute?

love this old kitchen scale

signs and hangers (and pearls)

paper wreaths went over well too! Made 6, sold 4.

Overall, the Market was a great experience. I was surprised that my cards and lavender sachets got a lot of thumbing through but no takers ... and my signs in French and German weren't taken until later the 2nd day! But just because I love something doesn't mean someone else will.

I got lots of compliments from friends and strangers, so that made me feel good, of course. I was already pleased with the set-up job and my work, so the compliments and my spot sealed the deal! Thanks to everyone who came, who bought, encouraged me through the process, helped with the projects, gave me ideas ... for all of your support! I couldn't have done it without you all. Seriously.

(And, in case you are wondering, I wore the thrifted striped gray and blue shirt dress the first day and my vintage navy polka dot dress the next. I loved that I had something to dress up for... )

CSA Week 21

This week...

2 heads bok choy, a bag of arugula, slicing tomatoes, several sweet potatoes, sunchokes, and turnips. (sorry for the poor picture - I threw it up on the table and snapped after a VERY eventful day.)


Successful salads: a mix of lettuce, salad greens and arugula topped with dried cranberries, sugared almonds, mandarin oranges and poppy seed dressing.

and another of arugula, sliced pears, goat cheese, toasted walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette dressing.


One more week to go, kids!

Market Sneak Peeks!

Finally, I dragged several Market items upstairs to photograph. I snapped these quickly, so please don't judge the photograph quality. I'll get some better photos once I have everything set up this weekend ... especially for those who can't come see it in person. (But I wish you all could!)

Everything has at least one element of vintage, upcycled, recycled or reused material. (Well, everything except my cards, but I made an exception to see if they would sell.) 

I have a few clocks.

 And lots of handpainted signs.

Pretty hangers.

French (and German!) signs.

 
Linen lavender sachels with pretty vintage buttons.

And a few holiday items, of course.

Come if you can!! I have lots more.

This Friday and Saturday. More info here.

CSA Week 20

This week...

... 1-2 lb baby golden potatoes, 3 sweet peppers, bunch of turnips, a lb of tomatoes, 8 spicy peppers, a bag of arugula and 2 lbs of flour!


Trying some salads this week to get the lettuce (from last week) and arugula from this week eaten up. Yum yum yum!

:-) I'm not a really big salad person. Any "recipes" or additions that you put in salads to make them super yummy and filling?

The Market!

If you're in the area, come one, come all! And don't feel like you need to buy anything, please just come by and say hi. I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE your support and to see your happy faces. And, if you find something you must have - well, that won't hurt.