I Won...Let the Happy Dance Begin

If you heard screams of delight where you live and wondered what the heck was going on, it was because I happened to be the lucky winner of a Silhouette SD digital cutting machine from 

Lorie at Be Different...Act Normal.  

SQUEE!!

I may or may not have attempted several of these dance moves in my excitement.

I'm not sure Lorie or Silhouette understands the power they've just placed in my hands. My mind is swirling with all the projects I want to do, including making some vinyl mustaches for Baby Girl so she doesn't have to keep resorting to Post-It Note ones.

Baby Girl informed me that one of her Post-It Notes 'staches went missing from her work monitor. 

Seriously, who swipes someone's fake mustache? Rude.

First order of business will be to design a stencil for some drop cloths I want to use to reupholster my sofa. I bought a craigslist sofa that needs some love. I'm thinking of adding some grain sack type stripes in my new favorite colors.

My sofa is a micro suede in the green color here. I'm thinking of adding brown, green, 
orange and blue stripes to the drop cloth. However, I'm still working it out in my mind.

I also plan to reupholster the settee I bought from a garage sale this summer. I'll be using drop cloths as the fabric, but they need a little froufin' up first.

I'm about to reveal the dresser I did for my bedroom as soon as I can get some good pics. I've embossed some birds on branches on the front of the dresser and I'm thinking of repeating that pattern in the fabric for my settee, as it currently resides in my bedroom and I like it there.

On my list of Silhouette projects to make are some of these:

Mustache Drinking Glasses

  Idea from Jen at Tatertots & Jello

Temporary Tattoos

The Silhouette Group showing their street cred

Maybe a set of these to go by my new birdie dresser.

Vinyl Wall Art

By Amy at The Idea Room

And, if you're looking for an investment opportunity, I'd like to take this opportunity to suggest you invest in the makers of vinyl because their sales are 'bout to eXpLoDe!

I'm really so grateful to win this give away. While I have been wishing for a Silhouette machine, what I really NEED and want more is a new camera. Even though Christmas AND my birthday are coming up, there's just no room in our budget for both gifts for me. 

It is icing on the cake to me that this give away was won from Lorie's blog. If you don't follow her, you totally should. Be different...Act Normal has pretty much been the motto of my life, so to see a blog of that name appealed to me right away. Lorie spotlights a lot of projects out in Blogland. She has a great eye and there's always something wonderful to see at her site.

Thank  you again, Lorie and Silhouette for my early Christmas/Birthday present. 

I am one happy, happy girl.

How to Score on Craigslist

I have a love affair going on. Don't worry...Hubs doesn't mind much.  
I'm in love with Craigslist.
I have gotten some great deals off of Craigslist, like my $25 hutch.

Remember how I restored it? 

I've lost track of the number of deals I've scored off of Craigslist. There's this perception that Craigs is better in some locations than others. The thing is, I've used Craig in several different states/cities/towns and I've always been able to find things I've wanted for a really great price.

Am I especially lucky? Nah! But I'm persistent when I am looking for something and I have a few guidelines I use when I'm shopping with Craig.

Know What you Want

When you shop on Craigs, you need to know what you want to buy. Why? Because there is SO MUCH available. If you just start looking at every category, you'd be on there for days and never find something.  Here are some things I've been keeping my eye out for:

From top left, they are: Antique Typewriter as seen on Let It Shine; End Table 
Redo as seen on Recaptured Charm; Antique Sewing Machine Stand Table as seen 
on My Repurposed Life; and Coffee Table Redo as seen on Junk Market Style.

Looking on my local Craigslist, take a look at what I found last night:

From top left: Antique Remington typewriter for $60; Night Stand $15; 
Antique Sewing Machine Stand $Best Offer; Coffee and End Table $50.

Amazing, right? I could easily have the items on my wish list, if I were willing to part with $125 for all but the sewing machine stand. For the stand, I'd need to make an offer, but I'll talk about what I'd actually pay for things a little later.

Know How to Search

It's important to understand how to search for items on Craigs, because you never know how people are going to list them. Not all furniture items are found in the Furniture section. You can find it in the General, Garage Sale, Household or some other tab. If someone is selling a car and a hutch, they may only want to do one listing which means the perfect hutch for you may be in the automotive section! Go figure.

Select Your City

I make sure I have the closest city to me selected, however, it's surprising how often I'll be searching in a different city. Craigslist will remember the last city you searched in. When I was living in Utah and moving to Ohio, we accidentally listed a couch for sale in the Ohio Craigslist. Trying to explain to a guy from Ohio how to find 600 East, Ten Thousand South (A Utah address system) was a pretty funny conversation!
Don't be afraid to look at nearby listings. I live an hour north of Columbus, but because I'm down there a couple of times a month, I make sure to check their listings, too.

FruGal Tip: I've found KSL.com to be more popular than Craigslist in the Salt Lake City area. I you have a competitor to Craigslist in your area, these tips are likely to apply to those sites, too.


 Use the main search field first

You can see the Categories I search frequently (they're the purple ones). Every day I look to see what's listed in the Furniture, General, Household and Antique categories.

FruGal Tip: The Free Category is one that I've found does change by locations. In larger cities, you get more postings to the Free category, so it's worth checking out. You need to be super quick and make sure all your stars are in alignment, though, because the free stuff goes fast and it's rare to find what you want or need there.

I don't bother with the Free category too often. I live in a town of about 50,000 people. There's only about 5 listings a day and there's not a lot of quality Free stuff. It's a popular category for scammers. I'll check it a couple of times a week, but more out of curiosity.

Use Accurate Search Terms

Try to be specific with your search terms, but not too specific. If I'm looking for a piecrust side table, I may know that's what I want, but unless your seller knows that's what it's called, you may not find it by searching that specifically. 
 
If I search for a "table", here's what I find:

 If you are too general in your search terms, you'll have to read through baby formula ads and man tools to know they're not selling what you want to buy. Of the items shown above, the Nov. 24 "Quality Table - $30 (Lucas) is the only item on this list I'd actually be semi-interested in, but it's the 9th item on the list.

Refine your Search

I don't really want to drill down through 100 listings to find a night stand. To narrow my search, I put in "End Table" or "Side Table" in the search field. For the night stand I found that matched my inspiration piece, I didn't find that until I searched for a "night stand."


Filter Ads With Images
 Further refine your search by selecting the "Has Image" box. I'm not going to buy anything based upon someone's description of it. Remember that piecrust table? I found this piecrust side table, but the person called it a "small chairside table. Also heard it called a 'cigar or pipe table.'" This is why looking at pictures is important.

Enter Your Price Range

I don't bother with a minimum price because such a thing doesn't exist for me. Think about it, would you insist on paying $20 for a table? No, I won't pay you $15, I must pay you $20! Those $15 tables are simply too low-brow for my refined palate. pfffft.

I will put in a maximum amount in the search area. I know I'm not going to pay more than $20 for any end table. I may splurge and pay $25 IF I didn't have to refinish the table in ANY way. But I know that it'd be very rare to find what I'm looking for, in a price I'm willing to pay, AND in the exact color I'd want it in.

If I'm only going to pay $25 tops for the piece, I want to eliminate all the pricier options. I'd put a maximum of $30, thinking if something falls into that price range that I want, I'm going to try to talk the person down to my true price.

FruGal Tip: Only limit your search by price if you're likely to get a LOT of hits for an item. 

I don't always bother with price. For one thing, it can limit your search too much, and if people are selling multiple items, they may only list one of the prices, which may keep something you actually want from showing up in your search.

Another point to remember:  the more you refine your search, the more you're going to eliminate some possibilities. That may be a good thing if you live in a big metropolitan area where there are thousands of items posted. If  you live in a smaller town like I do, it may be an unnecessary step.

From Top Left: Night stand to give a Liberace Treatment to like Recaptured Charm; 
Hutch as seen on The Life of LouLou; Currier & Ives The Old Grist Mill by Royal 
China; Dining set like Miss Mustard Seed's.

Contact the Seller

Unless the seller gives a number to call them, I do my initial contact by email. I may a bit unusual, but I have several email addresses. Just to play it safe, I do not use the ones with my name in it when I contact sellers. I'm not comfortable in putting my personal information out there at first. There are scammers on Craigslist. It doesn't hurt to keep things generic until you know if you're even going to buy the item.

When I write, I ask/include the following;
1. Is the piece sold?
2. If it's not sold, when is a good time to look at the item?
3. If it's an electronic of some kind, I may ask for model or age or working condition.
4. For an upholstered piece, I ask if they smoke or have pets. I don't want to buy stinky furniture.

Until I know the item is available, I leave my communication as email only. Again, no reason to give out your phone number until you're ready to actually look at the item.

I'm hoping to find one of these some day.
 

Price Points

Don't waste your time and your seller's time by arranging to look at a $500 sofa, if you know you're only going to pay $100. Even if you think the sofa is only worth 100 bucks, the seller doesn't or he wouldn't be asking $500 for it. It doesn't hurt to send the seller an email and tell them you will pay $100 if they find they can't sell it for their asking price, but don't be surprised if you don't hear back from them.

You can talk price in your email, but I find it more effective to hold the price discussion until you are actually in front of the seller with cash in hand. If you are squeamish about dickering, remember this: you're a live one on the hook. If the seller is motivated to get rid of this item, they may be willing to take less than their asking price just to get rid of it. Again, be reasonable. Offering half or less is not usually going to be accepted. It never hurts to ask. All they can say is "No" so make sure you come prepared to pay the full asking price if you really want the item.

Here are my guidelines:

$5 - $50 Asking Price: Offer $5 less than Asking Price
$51 - $75: Offer $10 less than Asking Price
$76 - $150: Offer $20 less than Asking Price

Final Advice:

Never settle for this:

When what you really want is this:

Happy Craigslist Hunting!

Copperized Medallion Wall Plant Hanger Thingy

One of my garage saling adventures this past spring had me acquiring this little goodie:

If you're wondering what it is, I will tell you that it is NOT a torture device to shackle your wayward kids to the wall, as mine suspected it might be. Not that it couldn't be used for that, mind  you. Just  make sure you secure it to the wall really well, if that's how you want to use it.

It's a plant holder...thingy. There's three chains on it and they are meant to attach to a plant pot. 

Which is not to be confused with a Pot Plant. Speaking of pot plants, back in the '70s, when I was in junior high school (no sniggering, please. I'm not THAT old), my mom stumbled upon this cute little "tomato" plant growing by the neighbor's fence. 

This is what an actual "Cute Little Tomato Plant" looks like.

Being a lover of all things growing, she brought it in and watered it and took care of it for several day/weeks/months (no one really knows how long it was in the house). My oldest sister was getting a drink of water one day and spied Mom's plant. 

"Mom?" she asked. "Um, where did you get this plant?" 

Mom said, "I found it over by the neighbor's fence. Isn't it the cutest little tomato plant?"

 NOT a cute little tomato plant, but rather a bold impostor!

 Our Mormon mother was growing pot! 
 (If your religion prohibits the use of coffee and tea, you can imagine how cannabis fares)
It still makes me laugh--almost as much as the time my Mom watered a silk plant for a couple of months before realizing she'd bought a fake plant. 

I love you, Mommy!

Before  you think I'm a mean daughter for telling this story, let me assure you that my Mom is probably giggling about it, even as she reads this.

Back to the project. I bought this at the very beginning of my copper phase. I sprayed it with my Hammered Copper spray paint and did the same verdigris finish I have done. Look here, here aaaaaaaaand here.

The results?

Short of drawing you a diagram, let me try to explain the problem I have in my home. My entry way, kitchen, dining room, living room and sun room basically flow from the front of the house to the back. Imagine a long rectangle with light on only the short ends. I do have sky lights in the living room, but this time of year when Ohio is under cloud cover, they just don't let much light in. I do have windows in the rooms off of this main area, but if the doors to those rooms are closed, it's very dark in the main living area of the home. This is not an environment conducive to actual plant--or human--life. 

Enter, faux Buxus Sempervirens (read: fake boxwood). I copperized a plastic pot, but I did not do the verdigris technique. The chains on my medallion wall plant hanger thingy did not come with any hooks, so I made some simple S-shaped hooks from some copper wire I had on hand. I left them shiny because I was too lazy focused on finishing to break out the paints. I figured they'd be hidden by the plant, anyway, so why bother?

I stuck a plastic grocery bag in the bottom of the pot to make my styrofoam ball sit up a little higher. I stripped off the little pieces from some faux boxwood I bought from the Mother Ship (Hobby Lobby) when they had a buy-one-get-one-free sale. I had some moss stuff that was white that I spritzed with some dark spray paint I had on hand. I used the moss to cover the white of the styrofoam a bit. After I got all the pieces stuck in the ball, this is what it looked like.

My plant has Bald-man-itis! I got a little too carried away in getting them so close together. I  thinned the plant and rearranged the pieces.

Much better.

Like my attempt at branding here?

I put it all together and this is what I have:

This medallion wall plant hanger thingy has a very small area in the back to attach it to the wall. If I wanted to hang the weight of a real plant off this hanger, I need to invest in some Hercules Hooks to do that. It's kind of a strange-looking/interesting plant hanger. I just stuck it up on a blank space of wall I had to see how I liked it.

Ack - "You do not see all that dust on her table top," she said doing her best Obi-Wan Kenobi impersonation, complete with Jedi Mind trick hand wave.

Besides realizing I need to dust, I see I need to pay some attention to this area. I just set a bunch of my black and white pictures in this area and threw some other things on there that I didn't know where to put and then ignored this spot in my living room.

The window with the Ikea print in it is from the 60+ windows I rescued back when I lived in Idaho. You can read about that here.

My copperized Medallion Wall Plant Hanger Thingy is growing on me. I think it may actually look better outside. Since everything is kind of temporary in this house, I'm not all that motivated to move it. But I love the copper finish on it. It's so much better than the bronzy-gold/black "antiqued" '70s finish it had before.

So, if you ever come across a medallion wall plant hanger thingy some day, you now know what to do with it.

Cost Breakdown:

Medallion Wall Plant Hanger Thingy- $.25

Plastic Boxwood Bush - $7.99 for 2

Styrofoam Ball - $4.00

Spray Paint, Moss and Wire - Stock on hand

Total Project Cost - $12.24

Total Project Time - 1 hour

Be sure to check out the parties on my sidebar to see where I'm linking up!

Hobnail Milk Glass Lamps, Part 2 - Shades

Is It Hot In Here, Or Is It Just Me?

As you may have read, I recently redid some Hobnail Milk Glass Lamps that I found at the thrift store.

I finished the lamps several months ago, but it took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do for the lamp shade. I thought about a burlap shade. Meh...there's a bazillion burlap lamp shades out there and I wanted something a little different. I have a quasi-beach cottage theme going on in my house, and I wanted to find a way to make the lamps feel beachy.

 I was looking out my window, pondering what I should do, when I got a vision of my lampshades. Literally.

Take a look:

I bought this sun catcher for $5 many years ago when I was at a garage sale. It wasn't actually for sale.  It sparkled and caught my eye. The woman offered to sell it to me. Yes, please!

I've wanted to make my own for years. I've just had too many other projects, and you may know I suffer from P-ADD
(Project-Attention Deficit Disorder--it's not widely diagnosed, but far too many people suffer from this disease. The cure may involve chocolate and dancing, or so I'm told).

Wait, what was I saying? Oh yeah, I wanted to make a beaded lamp shade.

I did. Wanna see it? I'm thrilled, Thrilled, ThRiLlEd THRILLED with how it turned out?
 Can you tell I'm happy?

I know, right?
How stinkin' PRETTY is this lamp "shade?" I may even have cured my P-ADD!
Okay. I'd admit I have an overflowing love for glass + light = Shiny Love, but it just pushes my Happy Buttons all over the place.

Want another look?

Hello, Lover...

Yes, those are sea shells on there. 

Here's what it looks like at night, with the light shining through it.

Now, to be real honest, this project thwarted me for MONTHS!!! It is sometimes hard to translate what you see in your head into an actual thing. Especially when you kind of shoot yourself in the foot.

 I have to admit, that I now understand Thomas Edison a little better after this process. I did not fail, I just discovered 500 ways to NOT make a beaded lamp shade.

Finding the Right Shade is KEY. Sadly, I did not have anyone to tell me this and I, um...bought the wrong shades. In my defense, the P-ADD still had a strong hold on me at that point in the project. I spent several weeks hitting the Goodwill in hopes of finding the exact size and shape of shades I needed.

I'd forgotten the first Law of Thrifting, which states that Need and Supply are conversely related. The more desperate you are to find a particular item, the less likely you are to find it. Ever. I finally gave in and started shopping the stores for a cheap Frugal shade. I found some in the right shape and size that I wanted, but $15 is too steep to pay for a shade I'm going to destroy.

I settled on this shade thinking I could make it work.

They were under $5 at a local discount store. They even look kind of cute on the lamp.
If Baby Girl  wasn't 19 and out on her own, these would  have been perfect for her room.

The problem with this shade is that the only support between the top of the shade and the bottom is the fabric. The very stuff I'm about to tear off and send my P-ADD into overdrive.

I'm not going to lie. I had several failed attempts to figure out how to secure the bottom hoop of the frame without any supports. To spare you the details of my project fails, I'm simply going to say BUY A LAMP SHADE WITH SIDE SUPPORTS IF YOU PLAN TO DO THIS PROJECT!

Phew! I feel better now. I really am that cheap Frugal, that after all my misfires, I wasn't about to start over and buy different shades. I was determined to make this work.

I came up with some side supports on my own, using a very heavy electrical copper wire. I had to strip the plastic off of it. I cut four pieces the exact same size. This step is critical to ensure the bottom is parallel to the top. I used a jewelers wrap to attach the wires to the top and bottom.

I did the same paint treatment on the frame of the shade that I did for the lamps, using Krylon's Fusion for Plastic spray paint in the Hammered Copper Finish and True Value's Color Made Simple paint in Fairytale to give them a verdigris finish.

All my boo boos "practice" lead me to another conclusion. I needed to break out the Big Daddy of Craft Supplies. Me and Big Daddy have a love/hate relationship. I love his strength, his durability. He's quick.
He. Gets. The. Job. Done.

 Big Daddy punishes me for my clumsiness, though. Those same qualities I so admire him for, tend to be annoying when it's you he's sticking together.

Big Daddy, can you let go of my fingers, please?

Even as I type this blog post, I will tell you that I have an "interesting" manicure going on, which consists of abstract shapes of Gorilla Glue on my nails. It's not coming off. I've whittled most of it down with an X-Acto knife, but I stopped when I realized I was in danger of injuring myself.
Shhh....don't tell Hubs I did this. He'll come unglued!

Pick a pattern for your beads. Here's how I did mine:

 I had some glass beads left over from a purse I made. I bought them from Wal-Mart, back when they actually had a good selection of beads. These are the large shiny beads you see on the shade. I didn't have very many of those so they are only on every fourth strand. I basically did fourths for my beads. Four dark teal, four blue, four light green, four light teal. In between each of the main strands it a strand of little chips of Amazonite and sea shells.

 I used Gorilla Glue to secure the knots at the top and the bottom.  
This was critical to the project.
I tied the line onto the frame using a tautline hitch for the top knot and a jewelers knot at the bottom. If your knots loosen up, the weight of the beads will cause the lines to sag and change the shape and look of your shade. It's why I risked gluing myself together!

While it did test the very ends of my patience, I'm so happy with the results that I'm willing to do it all over again for the next shade.

Cost Breakdown:

Lampshades - $9.98 ($4.99/ea)
Frosted glass beads (Wal-Mart), Amazonite, Sea Shells and seed beads - $25
Clear Glass beads and line - stash on hand

Total Project Cost - $34.98 or $17.49/shade

Total Project Time - Gah! Don't make me add this up.
Once I figured it out, I averaged about 4 strands of beads an hour for the main strands and 2.5 and hour for the shell strands.

The lamps are going on my piano where I have sacrament trays filled with rocks and shells from all our beach trips over the years. I need the light in that area, but I need to buy lower wattage bulbs for the lamps. I bought faceted 40w bulbs and they are too bright and give off too many shadows.

These lamp shades may not be for everyone, but they are perfect for me!
I'd love to hear what you think of these. 

Be sure to check out my link parties on my side bar. 

I'm also entering this months:

Hobnail Milk Glass Lamps, Part 1

Hobnail Milk Glass Does a Girl Good
I love going to thrift stores and seeing what treasures I can find. However, I have to be in the right frame of mind to go into one. Some thrift stores can be down right scary - and not in a fun way. That said, one of the most beautiful things I ever found was in a Salvation Army that was in one of the most hole-in-the-wall, this-building-should-be-condemned, I-need-a-shower-after-I've-been-there-to-wash-the-cooties-off-of-me buildings I've ever entered. I posted the dress here.

Here are some vintage hobnail milk glass lamps I recently stumbled upon at our local thrift store:

I paid $4.94/each for them, which is not much, but it's really at the high end of what I want to pay at a thrift store. For anything. I'm not even kidding.

The cord was so old, it was brittle and breaking when bent. The metal was rusty in some parts and shiny in others. While I really liked the juxtaposition of the rust with the milk glass, it wasn't uniformly rusty and that was irksome.

Copper-ize It

When I first saw the lamps, my mind immediately thought of how pretty they would be with some ORB (Oil-Rubbed Bronze) and a black and white brocade drum shade. While that would certainly be a lovely option for these lamps, I wanted to go in a different direction.

If you've been following me, you know I've been in a copper mood for awhile now. I knew that I wanted all the metal to be a copper finish. It would be a close look to the rust, and would also incorporate the colors in my home.

I started by taking the lamp apart. Just unscrew the nut at the bottom of the lamp and all the pieces will slide off the hollow metal rod that runs through the lamp.

Next, I cleaned up the milk glass.
There was rust and some stains on the glass, and a good scrubbing got them all purty again.

Next, I busted out my well-used can of Krylon's Fusion for Plastic spray paint in the Hammered Copper finish. I had just enough in my can for this small amount of metal. I threw away my can before taking a picture, but here's what my can looked like:

Imagine a copper colored lid, and you know what I used!

Before you get all confused, you can use the paint made for plastic on other materials, too. Krylon says so. I originally bought the paint for some plastic planters, and it's what I had on hand.

Here are the pieces that needed painting:

(Insert BPA--Bad Picture Apology--here)
I then threaded the lamp back together to see how I liked it. I tried several variations of the layers, but liked the original composition the best.

While I like the copper on it's own, I also love the patina of the verdigris look. I dry-brushed on my True Value, Color Made Simple in Fairytale paint (note to True Value: Consider renaming this color Verdigris, Oxidation or Tarnish. It'll be a big hit!). I sealed the metal pieces with some clear acrylic sealer to give them some shine.

I put the lamp back together again. Ahhhhh......Much better!

Rewire Your Lamp

You will need to buy a new cord and a socket. I've already experienced the trauma of an electrical fire in my house, so I'd rather play it safe and spend the few bucks to rewire a lamp. It's not hard and why pay someone else to do this, when you can do it yourself? It's easy. I promise.

FruGal Tip: If you have a Menards, they have a wonderful selection of electrical parts for lamps and they're prices are much lower than the "other" box stores.

The copper socket cover and the copper washer looking piece (it's cardboard) above are from the old lamp. I can reuse these pieces since they fit together with the other lamp parts. There was also a cardboard sleeve that fits inside the socket housing that's not in the picture. I reused that piece, too. I could have spray painted the new socket pieces for my lamp, but I wanted to use the original hardware.

Thread the Cord Through the Lamp

The cord should go right through the bottom of the lamp and out the top. Easy, right?

BPA - I'm seriously sorry for the bad pictures. It's the best my cell phone camera can do.

You're doing great. You're almost an electrician. Let's go to the next step. This part is only hard in the it's-annoying-if-you-have-to-try-a-couple-of-times-to-get-the-wire-behind-the-screw kind of way.:

Like how I drew on the wire so you could see what it's supposed to be doing? I'm very helpful like that!

That's it, Ladies. You've done the hardest part. Pull the cord down tight from underneath the lamp and put the socket housing (with that cardboard sleeve piece) over the socket. Snap the housing firmly into the base and you're done. 

You've successfully rewired a lamp.

To Convert or Not To Convert...

I decided I wanted candle lightbulbs in this lamp, so I bought a little socket converter do-dad. It looks like this:

It just screws into your lamp.

Put it all together and what do you have?

Copperized Vintage Hobnail Milk Glass Lamps
 I may have to work on the name.

 Cost Breakdown:

2 Vintage Hobnail Milk Glass Lamps - $9.88 ($4.94/ea)

2 - 8' Electrical Cords - $6.98 ($3.49/ea)

2 Push Through Sockets - $5.58 ($2.79/ea)

Socket Reducer - $3.99 - 2 in the package

Paint & Sealer - Stock on hand

Total Project Cost - $26.43 or $13.22 per lamp

Total Project Time - About 1 hour - but mostly for paint to dry

Be sure to check out Part 2 to see what I did for the shade!

I'm linking up to the parties on my side bar. Check them Out!

I'm also entering this month's: