Altered Art using painting canvas...

 Hey ya'll! I've been at it again.....these 3 canvas's have had so much done to them since I bought them that I'm starting to lose track. I had to do something because here it is May and I still had snowflakes on these. So I took another short break from finishing up my spring cleaning to do a little something different. I had wrote this idea down back quite a while ago as Suzie and I were brain storming one night and well...here is the final outcome! Thanks Suzie for you help!

 I apologize for the fact that I didn't write down which paper pads I used on this project but it was literally just ones that I pulled from numerous ones. I was thankful that the canvas's were already "primed" so I didn't have to wait for that to dry. I glued the paper on using a homemade mod podge and then put an extra coat on top to seal it really well and then as that dried I went ahead and started pulling things that I'd like to use that would be 3D as you can see there are keys, butterflies, a Tim Holtz name plate thing. For the paper that is under the words "sings" I had actually found an old songbook at the thrift store last year and simply cut it out, inked my edges and then ran it thru my paper crimper to give it a little more texture.

 I had some scrap papers that had pictures of vintage post cards on it so I just cut those out and inked the edges and added some felt flower borders in black and brown.

 And of course would one of my projects really be my project if I didn't add a little bling of some kind?? uhhh if you really know me then you would all be saying NOOOO! So I found this bling at Michael's on clearance and it even has little bitty butterflies in it as well! But my most favorite thing on all of these pieces is.....

THIS!!! The wings that I added on my son's back. I think these are from Melissa Frances and they are of a resin type material. I was going to use these somewhere else on this canvas and had moved them out of the way while I was arranging things when I looked down and saw where they were laying and well.....it was just meant to be! I'm so thankful that I have another set of these wings because I think that they are discontinued now but I'm going to make a scrapbook page and use the other set of wings for this picture.
Ok so tomorrow it really is back to finishing up my spring cleaning...uhh at least I hope so.

Guest room/Craft room gets a little makeover...

 Hey ya'll! As I was working on my spring cleaning I was removing everything from my guest room/craft room so that I could wash all the walls and every thing else in the room, my son's girlfriend walked in and said "oh are you going to paint in here?" and I said no not yet, it's on my list of things to do this summer but I'm just cleaning it right now. So as I walked out of the room with yet another load of things I was removing to place in the kitchen I thought. Boy oh boy Robin your about stupid to have this mess all over the house twice in one year!! Soooo what did I do?? I started painting! I so wish that the colors would show up better in the pictures or that I could find my before pictures that I took several years ago of this room. But I can't seem to locate them right now so I'll just tell you what all I did to it. The walls went from white to a buttercream yellow that is actually called Summertime Shasta Daisy. Now I'm not a big yellow fan but I like this soft soft yellow especially since I painted all of the trim in the room that was just boring ole brown to a starch bright white! And I found a new quilt to go on the bed that has all the pretty pastels that I so love in it.

 My bookcases were originally black so those got painted white and then distressed to make them more shabby. I stacked up my storage boxes in the corner of the room that house all kinds of different craft items and I moved the clear shoe rack thing that originally hung on the back of the door where you walk in to the back of the closet door. It cleaned things up a bit for when we have guests.

 As you can see....I don't have one of those big nice rooms that most of you girls have that is specifically designated for just crafting and sewing but I make do with what I have and it works. I didn't do anything different in this corner other than the fact that I hung a metal shelf to house some of my pretty chipboard letters and embellishments. But I did take my shutters down and repainted those and sanded them to give them that nice shabby chic feel like that I love so much.

The above picture just shows how I have my supplies in my bookcase that I just painted and sanded.

I'm thinking about making some little curtain inserts to fit the fronts of my bookcases so that guests don't have to see all my supplies on the shelves. But that can always be a project I can go back and take care of later.
Painting the room slowed my spring cleaning down a bit and now so has the stomach virus that I've picked up but I look forward to getting the other rooms finished so I can get to more projects. I plan on redoing my sons bedroom as soon as I finish the spring cleaning and am actually looking forward to it.
Have a great day everyone!

 Hey everyone! I just had to share with you one of the treasures I found at the thrift store last month. I've been wanting to find one of these forever and was thrilled when I saw it sitting there on the shelf. If you'll notice the price on it is $2 not a bad deal considering that if you buy one new they are $30! But that's not even the best part!!!! When I got up to the register to check out with my wonderful treasure. The lady rang me up and sweetly said "That will be $.26! Yes you saw that right....a quarter and a penny is all that I owed! I just happened to walk in on the day that all of the what knots were on sale for that! SCORE!!!

 So I brought this beauty home and started working on her. Here you can see how I'm altering this little rolodex.

I haven't finished the inside yet because I had another project that I needed to put as top priority.
See my best friend that I refer to as my sis over at (Happy Shack), well her birthday was coming up REAL fast and I had told her about the wonderful find I had found and what I was going to do with it. And she said "ohhhh I'd love to have one of those" ok enough said sis...your request in my new project!

 Here is what the inside of my box looks like. I haven't made all of the pretty tabs for it yet.

 But here is Suzie's rolodex! I think it turned out so pretty.

 and here is the inside of her box with all of the tabs and pretty embellishments on them. So Happy Birthday Suzie!!!!

I'm still working on my spring cleaning and I have even completely redone my guest room that is also my craft room. I painted the walls, trim, shutters in the room, and the furniture. I really like it now...it's totally brightened up the space and will make for a very cheery place to sit and create or sleep for my guests. I'll show you that room once I get some pictures taken.
Have a great day everyone and I'll be back as soon as I can with pictures. I'm not sure when but it will be soon. I can not hardly wait to get this spring cleaning behind me so I can jump into the other 3 pages of projects that I want to get done. See ya sooooooon!!

A Little Secret I found in Monroe, Ga...

 Ok so I don't know how BIG of a SECRET this place is for you all but for me it was HUGE! I didn't have a clue and my brother lives just right up the road from here. He let me in on it last month while my husband and I went down to visit with him and let me tell you....if you love to Junk as much as I do....this place is heaven! The entire town has pretty much turned into a little antique place and these old cotton mills and factories are being converted. So not only the stuff inside is neat to look at but the buildings themselves are neat.

 I took a few pictures from one of the vendors that I just loved. There was so much to see that I forgot to get my camera out and take more pictures to share even more with you. I was having so much fun with my brother and Mr. Candy Creek (husband) that I forgot.

Thought this was a cute little idea to refurbish and old lampshade and some scraps of old lace.
Well the cat is out of the bag as my grandfather used to say. I guess you all will just have to make a trip to Monroe, Ga yourselves and see how neat this place is. Just make sure that you plan on starting early in the morning and looking late into the afternoon, wear comfy shoes and enjoy! Oh and another note.....check out the little mom and pops restaurants there in Monroe. We ate at 2 of them and they were so GOOD! The one that I remember off the top of my head was The Butcher Block Deli and Grill. Yes it's in one of those old buildings as well. Now that's my kind of eatin'.....

Birthdays and Butterflies....

 Hey everyone! Since I didn't really have time to make anything for Easter to share with you all I thought I'd show you all this that I made for a friend of mine who had a birthday this week. May I also wish each and every one of you a very Happy Easter as well!
This little recipe file or photo file was an idea that Laura at Following the Paper Trail showed on her blog a couple of years ago for her 12 days of Christmas. This just goes to show that the basic concept can be adapted to just about any occasion and altered several different ways. I used paper from the DCWV Mariposa paper (I'm still in love with that line!)

 As you can see I altered using pale pink and white envelopes to hold the cards/tags.

 And for my pulls I simply cut out butterflies and put those on heavy cardstock cut out in circles.

I think she liked it......
Again HAPPY EASTER everyone! May God bless each and every one of you in a very special way!

It's that Time Again????.......

Hi everyone! Ok this is just to let everyone know that there more than likely want be any new posts on the blog for a bit due to me having to perform one of those lovely little chores called Spring Cleaning. I have already started by cleaning some drawers out and tossing things that I honestly am tired of cleaning. I'm learning that less is best! A perfect example is my walk in closet. We use that thing for more than just hanging our clothes...it's like a storage unit as well! So I'm tossing as much as I can possibly get rid of. I've decided that if I didn't wear it last season then I simply am NOT going to wear it and there is no need in it hanging or sitting in the closet taking up precious space. (where something pretty could be hanging that I WOULD wear ~GRIN~). I've also found that the best time to dig into my closets and drawers are either when I'm just fed up with picking up useless things around the house or right after I've watched an episode of Hoarders on tv! So as I'm cleaning today if you all hear someone continue yelling "LESS IS BEST" that would be me as I toss clothes over my shoulder that will land in a big pile on the floor and eventually no longer be part of my hoard. I figure this way once I get all the clutter out of my life then it will be much easier for me to roll up my sleeves and get down and dirty with the real cleaning. (I'm trying to make it sound worse than it probably really is for my own benefit here everyone just so you know). Ok so off I go to conquer this little thing we call Spring Cleaning....don't send out any AWOL's for me in my absence because now you know where I'll be.......dust bunnies put up your dukes...this chicky is coming to rid you of her life!

Where the name came from....

Hey everyone! Ever wonder where I came up with the name Candy Creek for my blog? I'm not sure that I've ever explained this or not. Well I'm sure that most of you all know that we live on the lake here in upper east TN but did you know that this very spot used to be where my in laws used to run a little boat dock? Well they did! Many years ago there used to be a candy factory up at the end of the creek and so that's where Candy Creek came from. Then this blog took on Candy Creek to represent the boat dock that used to be here. We just lost my father in law this month and while my husband and his siblings were going through some things at the farmhouse he ran across this sign. I had already told my husband that I wanted to make a pretty sign that said Welcome to Candy Creek for the entrance but was as shocked as he was I believe when he came home with the original sign from the old boat dock that used to be here. So Mr. Candy Creek immediately hung it prominently on the front of our house. I noticed him looking at it yesterday and almost felt I could read his mind. The grin on his face told me that he was thinking of older times and wonderful memories. He was just a little boy when the boat dock was up and running but can remember lots of things about his childhood.
So there is just a little history behind where I came up with the name for my blog. I hope that everyone has a great day today. I'm off to do some spring cleaning and enjoy looking out at all this beautiful sunshine!