It's Official!

I am officially selling my wares at a real life shop!

I am so nervous. 

 I am working on sprucing up this space but I had to start back to school this week so I can't do anything until Friday when I am off again. Plus I ruined my back on Sunday so I am currently walking at about half my upright height. I'll post pics when I get something done but for now I am just happy to have some of this out of my foyer. It means more can come in!!!

Always being renewed,

Communion Table shelf Winner #1

 And the winner of the first Communion Table Shelf is...

Congratulations!

and

Here is her rockin' rhyme:

oh, how i love a good hack
yours, is surely on track
to find a bright place
in my own salvaged space
next to the door, not the front, but the back

Keep entering your radical rhymes for your chance to win the second shelf here. The second shelf will be chosen on August 28th!

Always being renewed,

43

Today is my 43 Birthday! Somehow I am not sure how I got here so fast. I know as a parent you say don't blink when they are babies because the next time you open your eyes, they'll be gone. That is what I feel like today. Where have those years gone????

I know I have some boobie prizes for those years.....new reading glasses,

 unexplained male pattern baldness, snap, crackle, pop when I try to walk first thing in the morning, ta-tas that take a forklift of under wire to get them back in their rightful place. Oh, and a nice permanent furrowing of the forehead has begun in earnest 

Good times

But I am not a dweller, I find it no good to think of the things I don't have or I have lost. Actually, those things mentioned above are all things that mark my living life, and living it fully with lots of laughter and love. So I really don't mind that I have wrinkles. It adds character to my face. The snap, crackle, pop have added some music to my normally boring morning routine. Plus the kids can hear me coming and stop doing what they know they are not supposed to be doing. The ta-tas I mind a little, it makes it hard to buckle my pants.

 But c'est la vie. The lesson?

I have won some amazing prizes in my life so far

I know we bloggers tend to say we have great husbands and I worry that it doesn't come off as genuine. I truly mean it when I say my guy is a good man. He knows me so well.

He took me antiquing yesterday for the first part of my birthday present. He told me to meet him yesterday at noon across from the Consol Energy Center in Downtown Pittsburgh. 

Very cloak and Dagger, I love surprises. I pull up and I get a text that says "exit the vehicle". Ok. "turn left" and there he was. He led me and the kids down about 10 feet and we are in front of a 5 story building filled with Antiques

He had already scoped the place out and told me which floors he thought I should hit first and what I might find that tickles my fancy

I wish I had taken a picture of this place. So many nooks and crannies and amazing stuff to be discovered. The basement was the best.  Nothing had prices on it so it was hunt and peck and then ask the owner

 He took the kids down the street for a pizza lunch and I was left to browse for an hour 

uninterrupted

I have great sweet babies that make me homemade birthday cards

so I can smile more and increase the number of laugh lines around my eyes. 

And they help me eat my birthday breakfast and a special treat....fresh doughnuts

I get chocolate on a regular basis and more on my birthday

I didn't have to lift one finger to cook today

 or clean up

I am blessed with food on my table, in abundance, everyday

I feel cared for on a regular basis but I got pampered today like I have never been before. Hair shampooed and styled and a mani and pedi, at the same time

So if this is 43....

Then I know something profound that these few short years have taught me

I'll walk everyday in the Lord's grace and wisdom knowing

it's just a number.

Always being renewed,

Mirror, Mirror

Please have an intervention soon readers!  I am now about to deface another religious relic!!! This has got to stop I tell ya!

Pretty soon the Pope is going to make a home visit and present me with a supeana to search my house for any other churchy like objects that I might not yet have had the opportunity to mar.

Here is the evidence....

And here are the accomplices....

a bottle of Holy Water (juuuuust kidding), Krylon Looking Glass spray paint, Rustoleum Oil-rubbed Bronze spray paint, 320 grit sand paper, and a paper towel

You already know my MO: Find a religious object and use it for parts! I am like a Chop Shop for Relics! Oh, I can't take the guilt. 

So I am going to confess how I did the dirty deed.  Found the Last Supper print and frame at the Goodwill today for $7.95. The frame is awesome but I needed it to be a mirror and an old, vintagey one at that.

I removed the Last supper print and gently placed it in the trash can face up. I had to return and turn it upside down to hide Christ and all the apostles faces. 

Then I got to work on my glass.

 Spray one thin coat of the Krylon Looking Glass mirror Spray paint on the BACK of the glass

Spray the glass lightly with water

Second coat with the mirror paint

Dab with a paper towel

Sand in a few places lightly

Add 3rd coat of mirror paint

Spray again with water

Spray Oil-rubbed bronze spray paint. Make sure it spits and doesn't spray. Do this by using short bursts.

Add 4th coat of mirror paint

Dab lightly 

The above picture is the back of the glass

Here is the front! 

I know these photos are a bit dark but I do not know how to photograph mirrors and this was the only way I could edit them to show how it turned out. 

I think by layering the mirror glass in between the aging layers is what gives it the right look. I don't think I would have gotten what I wanted if I had done all of the mirror layers and then sanded etc. And you need that first layer of mirror glass before you spray with water so you get more depth as well.

It looks just like another mirror I have that is about 75 years old so I will be using this technique again I am sure. 

Just hopefully not on anything holy for a while.

Don't Forget to check out the Communion Table Shelf and enter to win one of two! The giveaway ends August 28th

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!