The Apple Street Cottage

Fall has officially arrived, but I picked this hydrangea the other day, right before I started decorating the front porch with mums! This is not going to be my typical post since I've had major computer issues for the past several days.  My laptop decided it would be fun to freeze every page I tried to load.  Fortunately, I have tech-savvy husband who got right to work on it.  Long story short, he had to take it back to 'factory'.  I saved most of the important stuff on the cloud, and was able to save a lot more before the computer was wiped.  Now, I'm in the process of getting everything back to the way I like it.  My biggest issue is getting Pinterest to load properly.  It started right before things started to freeze and it still isn't right.  Whenever I open it,  the page starts to load, but as I scroll down, the pins start to form a single line down the right side.  It's so frustrating!  Is anyone else having issues? Give me a few days,  and everyth

The jigsaw has been getting a workout.  Last week I shared the Pallet Pumpkins and this week, it's Black Cats! I love Fall and I'm not really into scary Halloween decorations, so these little cuties are right up my alley.  I had the wood sitting in a pile, so, the first thing I did was draw myself a pattern. As you can see, I thought the bottom should be a little broader, so I had to add pieces to the original pattern.  After that was done, I placed it on a piece of wood and traced it with a marker. Out came the clamp and the jigsaw. Once the cat was completely cut out, everything was sanded and it looked like this: Now, came the easy part: paint, distress, embellish.  As you can see from the first picture, I made 3 different sizes and dressed up some wtih raffia and others with tulle ribbon.  I can't decide which is cuter! Which one do you like better? I'm really enjoying my jigsaw and before you know it, I'll be sharing some Christmas p

It's September and that means Fall is here or just around the corner. Since I still have a good bit of pallet wood to play with,  I decided pumpkins were next on the list.  I layed down 4 pieces of wood and was able to fit 3 pumpkins on them. I don't have a tutorial this time, since the pattern came from  Her Tool Belt .  - Great Site! I made a few minor changes from the one on Amy's blog.  First, I didn't cut out leaves.  I don't have a scroll saw and I like my fingers!  I wired each piece together from the front to the back so the wire is smooth on the front.  She used a paint layering technique, I just used orange paint, distressed the pieces, and rubbed a little dark stain over them. A couple of leaves from an old garland were glued on and a raffia bow was tied around the stem.  Pumpkins complete! Now, if you take a close look at the center pumpkin, you'll see that I painted and distressed it, no stain.  I like variety! Let's not forget,

I saw this telephone table on a fb yard sale site.  The sale was starting the next morning at 9:00 and someone had already asked about it (even though the post said, "No questions, just show up").  I figured this person would be an early bird, so I moved on. The next morning found me still thinking about it.  It was already past 8:30 and it was a half-hour drive to this yard sale. We hopped in the car. I figured if it was meant to be, it would still be there and, if I didn't go, I'd be kicking myself.   We got there about 9:15 and it was still there....in all of its pink-sparkly glory! Even the fabric on the cushion was sparkly.  Yikes! I practically ran over to it (my husband told me to slow down!) and snapped it up for $30.  It's 2-pieces, so it slid easily into our car.  I was doing the Happy Dance!  Here's a look from another angle: Those pink sparkles were not my style, so I grabbed a few cans of Blue Ocean Breeze spray paint and got to