Jute Hugging Curves

Summer, you have worn out your welcome this year.  It's just too darn hot and dry.

I'm retreating from the outdoors, which means I've been finally addressing some of the household chores that I ignored this spring, like hauling the glass to the community recycling area.

I'm pitching glass into the bin, when I notice that some of these bottles are pretty substantial.  And some have a great shape.  I'm seeing subtle colors.  Curves.  And jute.

And something my hands can work on while my husband and I watch his favorite cooking shows.  In the basement.

The cool basement.  And think of cool water, the color of this blue glass.

While everything outside is turning brown, I'll remember the greens.

I think the bottoms are my favorite part.

Both are available for sale in my Etsy shop.

Pineapple Lamp Love

Recently, I was a stalker.

A thrift store stalker.  Someone found some vintage watercolor prints before I did.  She called over her companion for a look.  She held one up, "Look, they are scenes from Rome!"

They were in a stack on the floor, and I had walked right by them.  Dang it!  I pretended to be interested in nearby shelf of candlestick holders, stealing glances over shoulders.  Hoping she might change her mind.  And ready to pounce if she walked away from them.

Win some, lose some.  More often than not, I'm hauling something to the cashier, and I can see it in everyone's faces...

"What is she going to do with THAT?"

Like this pineapple lamp I found at a vintage market.  Love at first sight!  It was a busy afternoon, and the store was filled with people.  I couldn't believe it was still there!

The lamp shade wasn't included, but I had the perfect black shade at home.  The price is right.  It was meant to be!

I think it originally had dangles from its leaves.  No matter, it looks much better without them.  Check out the patina.

Forget about those predictable three-matching-lamps-in-a-box found at the usual shopping center home stores. 

Vintage-glam-oversized pineapple lamp, you will be mine!

Repurposed Garden Orb

Hot.

Hot.

Hot.

That's all I have to say today.

Just kidding.  I've spent hours working in the garden.  Planning, planting, dreaming.  Now everything is wilting.  I did some pretty zealous weeding last weekend and discovered the next day that there is poison ivy or poison oak lurking somewhere in my backyard that I overlooked.  It made its way into my garden gloves.  Oddly, it doesn't itch too badly, but with my skin type, it's going to leave a nasty scar on the back of my hand.  There goes my dreams of being a hand model.

In my early gardening days, I loved hanging baskets.  I still do, but I don't even try them anymore.  Everything in them seem to wither in the hot Kansas winds.  Years ago, I tossed the coconut liners and abandoned the wire baskets on the top shelf of the garage.

I've seen several DIY orbs in blogland this summer, like this orb chandelier from Ballard Designs.   I love the shape, but I think these sort of lights throw off weird shadows.  Then a few weekends ago, I was doing a garage sale drive-by.  Is it worth getting out of my air-conditioned car?  I thought I saw something, a sundial or a ornamental orb for the garden?  I turned around for another look and realized it was just a stack of hanging baskets. 

But it got me thinking...I could take those old wire baskets in my garage, put two of them together with four black zip-ties, and I'd have a nice little orb.  I found an old curtain rod and finials at ReStore and made a trip to the hardware store for oversized washers to hold the whole thing together.  The washers received a quick blast of black spray paint.

Originally, I was going to use hot glue to hold the washers, but that wasn't working.  So I used black thread to keep the washers in place for the final assembly.  If I had four hands, I probably wouldn't have needed it because ultimately, the wire basket is squeezed between two washers, one on the inside and one on the outside of the sphere.  I rested one more washer at the bottom, just to add a more finished look.

I have two more hanging baskets in the garage and the other finial to make another orb, maybe when it cools down a little, like October.

I'm linking up...

Savvy Southern Style

Handy Man, Crafty Woman