The Apple Street Cottage

 Everyone is transitioning into Fall.  I don't know about you, but, in my world, Fall doesn't arrive until the day after Labor Day.  My birthday is the end of this month and believe me, I always remember the 'Dog Days of Summer' during my birthday parties as a child.  My mother wouldn't even bake a cake because it was so hot!  Don't worry, she'd run out and buy something..... The bottom line?  August is just too early for pumpkins in my world. But enough about that.  The lanterns I'm about to share can be used all Summer and into Fall so let's get started! This is a 'first' for me.  Last summer I decided to try growing birdhouse gourds.  The vines grew great, but the flowers weren't being pollinated.  The problem?  The flowers bloomed in the early evening and all the bees were already tucked in their beds!  I decided to take action and started hand-pollinating with a q-tip.  It worked - far be if from me to have to wake up the bees! These

Today I am joining a group of very talented bloggers for the Pinterest Challenge .  The purpose of this challenge is not just to pin ideas, but make them happen.   Since today is National Thrift Shop Day, t he theme is 'Thrift/Upcycle'.  Let's get started..... It was afternoon at a yard sale and there was this frame leaning against the wall.  It didn't look like this. It looked like this: It had pretty details. I wasn't looking for a frame and I didn't need a frame, but it was only $2 and I knew it could be pretty again.  I handed over my money and in the back seat it went! I knew I had a pin that related to frames and I was right.  This one from The Frugal Homemaker was the one I had in mind.  Of course, I decided to create my own version. A small piece of the detail around it was loose, so I took it off and immediately glued it back on.  It would be a shame to lose it since there were no missing pieces.   Time to digress and tell you a bit about this type of

  You may remember the Estate Sale that I went to 4 times ...yes, I need help - but that's a story for another story ...I finally got around to working on one of the doll dressers that I picked up on my first visit.  Do you remember?  Here they are as I found them: I decided to start with the one on the right since I wasn't really sure where I was going with this project.  The first thing I did was remove the screws holding the decorative molding on the top.   I wasn't a fan of those big screws. Much better! Remember looking at the holes in the top.  They will be reused. The painted surface wasn't smooth at all: A little Citristrip took care of that! The knobs on the drawers were pounded into the drawer fronts.  This was a first for me. They got the Citristrip treatment too! The original plan was to stain the top but when I got a good look at the wood, I decided against it. Not the prettiest grain I've ever seen. So a plan finally came together.  The body of the dre