Making do ...

Making do ...

I needed to send our Grandson who was in College, a birthday present and a card, and did not have either on hand.

He prefers some handmade something over the $5.00 Hallmark card and of course ... $$$$.

So I wrote a check and made an envelope to mail it in.

I opened up a business size envelope ... laid it out on one of  Mr. Z's new Texas maps covering all the places that were important to the Grandson right now and cut out an envelope. 

I use a quarter for the size and circled each location.

Glued the tabs together ... added a paper label ... a stamp and off it went.
 

Kingsville, Texas where he was attending Texas A.& M. Kingsville.

Kerrville and Ingram, Texas where he calls home.

Uvalde, Texas where he is on the weekends, working and managing a game ranch.


Now that he has graduated, he can circle  San Antonio, Texas which is the large yellow spot at the top of the envelope. This is where he is working and living and he still works in Uvalde.

He liked the envelope so much, it took him awhile to decide how to open it and not damage it.

He loves handmade things and this was special to him.

He plans to frame it. 


Thanks for your visit.
Audrey Z.


Linking to: 
Vintage Charm  
My Thrift Store Addiction

Antique Swan Bench for the Master Bath

             Last year when we were remodeling our master bathroom, I shopped our storage for a bench to use. There I found this antique hand carved swan garden bench that I had bought at least twenty years before. I attempted to restore it once, but gave up on it. 

 

This is not really the "before" picture as you can see the repair to the bottom of the sides and all the cracks that I had filled. Really old, hand-carved and thick wood. Unfortunately it had sat in a yard for years and was truly weathered and falling apart. The major issue was the bottom of both sides had rotted.

  

Filled and rebuilt the legs with "Hard as Nails" filler ... added a piece of board to the bottom to keep the filler from breaking away. It is quite heavy. 

 

Swans make up both sides and another is the back.

I would have loved to let the natural wood show, but there was just so much damage and the filled places were not pretty.

 

Wood had lots of natural character on the bottom of the seat which I left unpainted. 

 

Solid white ... just did not show off the awesome carving.

Washed it with blue paint ... much better. 




Sorry, but this is the only "after" picture I got ... 
 

I loved it, but was just not the right bench for our bathroom.

Sold in our garage sale last year.  $70.00.

This is the bench we used. 

Part one of our master bath can be seen here.

Thanks for stopping by. 
Audrey Z. 

Linking to:
Vintage Charm
My Thrift Store Addiction