simply vintageous...by Suzan

Last winter - on a cold gray Sunday afternoon - I snuggled on the bed flipping through channels and came across something I had never seen before -
It was a poetry competition - and it's called SLAM POETRY - now I know it's not for everyone but it had me mesmerized and I fell in love with it instantly - it's oral poetry - with raw emotions - more often then not performed by very young artists ( but definitely not exclusively young artists ) who pull out very real emotions from deep inside while " speaking " out their poems. The particular show that I watched were teenaged performers - Sometimes they cry - sometimes they're angry - and admittedly often there's a lot of profanity -sometimes they're very humorous but it's always " real " and you can't help but be moved by their words ( even if you don't understand where they come from or - or agree with them )
I fell in love with this one when it first came out - and then came across it again on Vodka Mom's site ( who is a teacher btw )

This is an example of Slam Poetry - ( profanity free folks )
I'm really curious to know if this is something that reaches you deep down?

Taylor Mali - my man, I have listened to this more times than I care to admit, and it gives me chills.
Every. Single. Time.

His message is brilliant - and the delivery ?

You tell me ( because I'm biased now and I think it's perfection - being an avid lover of words and poetry in particular )
And someone who holds teachers in the highest esteem

Being a lover of words - I am in awe of any kind of written or oral expression that can pound home a message this way.

Thoughts?

XOX

Good Morning Everybody!
I am so excited to show you this, I can hardly contain myself!
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble, LOL

Last week when Dorothy - John and myself went pickin' - John insisted on buying this

A disgusting filthy ancient breadbox - I hemmed and hawed and finally agreed that maybe I could do something with it - but actually in the back of my mind this was going to get thrown into the basement -
It was filled with cobwebs and well just look at it - I mean what could you possibly do to this?
The only positive thing about it was the fact that John is finally coming around to what we bring into the
house - there was a time not so long ago when he would have been horrified by this - I hope I haven't created a monster here, lol

Suzan says - What am I going to do with this?
John says - Well it's a bread box - just clean it up and paint it and sell it as a bread box
Suzan says - Who the hell is going to buy a painted bread box?
John says - SOMEONE will - it's to put your bread in you know
Suzan says - Oh, I didn't know that John (sometimes I try to humour him )
John says - it's vintage - people are getting back into that

Oh God - now he's an expert on what people will buy - and he certainly didn't know from vintage a month ago.

Suzan says - I have an idea - when I was a little girl - I would make doll houses out of the boxes that the groceries came in
John says - Oh God - here we go again, please don't be ridiculous - I picked this because it's a bread box
Suzan says - but it doesn't have to stay a bread box
John says - Listen - just paint it nice - put your fancy stencilling on it in french and sell it as a bread box -
people can keep their baguettes in it.
Suzan says - there's no profit in a painted bread box
John says - I PICKED IT - NOT YOU -
Suzan says - then YOU PAINT IT and sell it as a bread box - good luck
John says - FINE - I will
John says - You always have to make everything complicated - you can't even leave a bread box alone
John says - Don't touch my bread box - I mean it Suzan - I'll paint it myself

BUTTTTTT - John goes to bed before Suzan - and when Suzan gets an idea in her head - well you know what happens - and before you start feeling bad for him - he WOULD NOT HAVE PAINTED IT - remember I am still waiting for him to paint the ceilings 2 years later.

I'm warning you, this is a picture heavy post - but it's so worth it - I promise! Because I'm going to give you step by step detail on this one - so you all can make one for a special little girl in your life - I personally am going to make 3 more - these are going to be xmas gifts for John's granddaughters ( my precious granddaughters by default )
Did I ever mention that I'm Lolly and he's Pop? I'm far too young to be a granny LOL - ( not )

First I used wood filler to fill in the Pains/Bread - because this is NOT a bread box !!!

Then I glued four wooden drawer handles on the bottom -

Then I taped it up because I wanted to paint stripes - I painted the 2 side walls and the roof Paris Grey and and then stripes of Pure White - I dry brushed some sections so that it would look weathered ( I left the front white )

I then painted 2 windows and a door - using my Frog Tape - and now here is where the fun starts - do you see that handle on the front - that definitely had to be covered and I just happened to have 3 appliques - 1 large one - and 2 smaller ones - here's how I used them to add a little architectural detail

The 2 smaller appliques I decided would be perfect for either side of the front door -
I put some plastic grass I have in a container ( cut from the back where it won't make a difference )

I wanted to make this ~~breadbox~~ dollhouse 3 dimensional in some areas - just to give it a little extra
something - something - here's a close up

Now at this point I go to bed - thrilled so far with the results - the next morning

John says - Well actually that's a cute breadbox
Suzan says - It's a doll house
John says - Why don't we just sell it like this as a breadbox
Suzan says - What is it with you and the bread box? You got it for 2 dollars -
John says - Well we're supposed to be buying things to makeover and sell
Suzan says - WE?????
John says - OK JUST LEAVE ME OUT OF THE ENTIRE PROCESS THEN OK?
John says - DON'T ASK FOR MY OPINION - OR MY ADVICE
Suzan says - ok

And I continue on my merry way with my dollhouse

I painted bushes on each end of the planters - then I ran to the dollar store and picked up butterfly and flower stickers -

Suzan says - John can you cut angles on little pieces of wood for me please?
John says - huh - now you need me all of a sudden
Suzan says - I need flower boxes for under the windows
John says - You always go too far - you're going to make it look tacky
Suzan says - John can you cut angles on little pieces of wood for me please?
John says - There's NO ROOM TO PUT THEM ON THERE
Suzan says - John can you cut angl................................
John says - I can't believe this - the neighbours must think I'm insane
Suzan says - Why would the neighbours know you're cutting little tiny pieces of wood for crying out loud?
John says - Because I do my wood working outside - do you want sawdust all over the house?

OMG - this man is unbelievable - this is the size of them - he leaves more crumbs on the floor from eating than this could have ever generated LOL

and this is how they look on the house - I CAN'T TAKE IT - IT SO CUTE!!!

I added some stickers of flowers and butter flies to the window boxes( I also painted some greenery to rest over the window box so I left one exposed to show you
The lights on either side of the door are diamond stickers - and the address is glittered number stickers

simple, diy, dollhouse, details, flowers

There is still some touch ups left to do on this - some oops paint marks that shouldn't be there - but that's an easy fix - I have a drawer pull that will go on the front door ( as a knocker ) and which will also be how you open and close the front.
Now on to the side of the house!

again I painted some greener - and added sticker flowers -
and painted 2 more windows - with 2 tiny window boxes under each one - ( and yes he went outside to cut these also - too too funny ) this is very serious carpentry don't you know

again painting foliage on top - and added a little wrought iron feature in between tee hee!

Suzan says - Look John - isn't that cute? I made a wrought iron thingamajig between the windows
John says - Doesn't look like wrought iron whatsoever - just looks like swirly lines
Suzan - God you're getting grumpy as you get OLDER
John says - I'm not grumpy at all - just telling you the truth - ask your blog friends if it looks like wrought iron.

My own fault - 100% - I knew he wouldn't see it the way I do -
hmmm - have to fix the right hand window - a little sloppy - and I'm putting shutters on these windows made from popsicle sticks - but I have to eat the popsicles first and I don't feel like them right now lol
and the other side of the house has a side door - and little window but they aren't finished yet

Next I worked on the Patio - ( I haven't worked this hard on details on the exterior of my own house btw )

This is the front of the box that pulls down to open - which makes for a perfect opening! I painted a flag stone path way - don't look at that little amoeba shaped thing there - got carried away and wanted to make a place to put chairs - don't ask - I am definitely a little nuts - I'm going to paint it out - but isn't the path way adorable?

I can't show you the interior yet - this house needs to be gutted LOL -
Hoping I can have it done for it's first showing in 2 weeks, there's a LOT of renovations to do.
And that is how you turn a bread box into a dollhouse.............................

This is by far the most fun I have ever had redoing a house lol -
And if you want to bring out the little girl that lives inside all of us still - I highly recommend it - so what do you think - have I given any of you ideas?

Think I'll add a window to the top part of the door..............................

Suzan says - John if you happen to come across anymore bread boxes..........................

Pages

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Do we make a difference?

Ginger BREADBOX House story

pin it hover