Things I am Selling at The Third Monday Trade Days in March

Posted by on Mar 13, 2013 in Blog, Living & Design, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments Here are a couple of items I will have in my booth this month at the Third Monday Trade Days in McKinney, TX. I’ve been busy curb-shopping, upcycling, cutting, sanding, painting and creating. I hope I can make it all fit into my booth! This month, I have: coffee tables, kitchen & dining tables, school chair, newly upholstered chairs, pillows, frames, framed potato sacks, pallet...
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Diy Wooden Candle Holders Pottery Barn Style (just nicer!)

Posted by on Jan 12, 2013 in Blog, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments I wish I still had a photo from those two church pews that I picked at the curb a couple of months ago. All I have is a picture I took after I turned them into two wall tables; I had them in my booth at the antique market in McKinney last month. They didn’t really grab anyone’s attention -if I don’t sell an item one month then I’d usually bring it back the next month, but...
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Taking Down our Christmas Decoration

Posted by on Jan 10, 2013 in Green Stuff, Living & Design, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments So sad, another christmas is over! Yesterday, I took everything down and stored it in our attic for our next christmas which will be in Portland!! Leaving Texas in October for good, woohoo. So I had to think what should go into the boxes and what I can donate or put on the curb. I decided that all the reds needed to go. When I was little, bright red was my favorite color (my first bike was dark...
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DIY Burlap Pillows, Ruffled Pillows, Pillows from T-Shirts…

Posted by on Jan 6, 2013 in Blog, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments As I am going through my stash of collected fabrics (old bedsheets, T-shirts, old clothes, burlap, old chef’s jackets, and much more) and I look at the pillows I currently have on the sofa, I started mixing and matching colors and began to think outside the box a little more. So, I am combining all kinds of fabrics with one another but I am keeping in mind that I they need to be washable...
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My This Year’s Christmas Booth

Posted by on Dec 19, 2012 in Blog, Living & Design | 0 comments How I missed the Third Monday Trade Days! After not setting up my booth in October and November, I am finally back. I wanted my booth to be extra festive, so I brought our christmas tree and decorated it with my crocheted stars and snowflakes, glittery light bulb ornaments, sewn fabric stars from leftovers and other cute items. Here’s some of the other stuff I had in my both: burlap...
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Christmas Star Ornaments from Scrap Fabric

Posted by on Dec 13, 2012 in Blog, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments Two months in Germany, taking care of my Dad who was in hospital with brain surgery! Between hospital visits, I helped my Mom getting work done in their house and she asked me if she should get rid of their sofa but I suggested that I could re-upholster it for them, so we went to look for fabric… Which was a trip itself already. We went to IKEA on a rainy Saturday morning when fall break...
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German Season’s Traditions: The Advent Wreath

Posted by on Dec 10, 2012 in Blog, Living & Design | 0 comments In Germany, we have the tradition of celebrating the 4 weeks of advent. It’s the 4 Sundays before Christmas Eve. Every Sunday, we light another candle, those candles are typically on a wreath called “Adventskranz” (advent wreath). The christmas tree isn’t up before December 24. These four weeks are filled with all kinds of different events and celebrations. So for the...
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Burlap Potato Bags turned into Pretty Artwork

Posted by on Aug 20, 2012 in Blog, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments I am always sad when the Third Monday Trade Days are over It’s the largest flea market next to Canton here in Northern Texas. In October it’s already a year when I started setting up my booth there. About 6 months ago, I moved my booth and my neighbors are simply awesome! To the right I have “Out on a Wing & a Prayer”, two sisters, and to the right “Now &...
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Dressers: Ideas & Inspiration

Posted by on Jul 23, 2012 in Blog, Living & Design | 0 comments Today, I picked up a Subaru-load of old deck wood from my friend who needed to get rid of it. Now, I am thinking about all the neat things I could build and immediately thought of shelf racks. For some reason, the web sucked me in and I found these fabulous dressers instead. I still have several drawers left from my previous dumpster-diving tours that I could use. They look like kitchen drawers...
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Upcycled Wine Bottles

Posted by on Apr 29, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, Upcycling & DIY | 5 comments Today, I made something out of old wine bottles. Maybe someone else came up with this idea before me, but I think it’s a great and unique one. Earlier, I turned empty beer bottles (Shiner beer, yum!) into hanging vases -and someone came up with this before me, too, as I found out later! So here’s what I did… Recycle wine first (that’s the best part), then use the bottles...
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My Latest Upcycled Projects

Posted by on Mar 30, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, Upcycling & DIY | 3 comments The last couple of days have been filled with picking up scrap wood at construction sites, building stuff, painting and getting ready for my next shows. I am so excited about all the cute stuff I made and that will (hopefully) find a new home this weekend. Here’s a slide show of some of the things I made this week from scrap to upcycled home decor: Materials I used: - scrap wood from...
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Can I Call A Blog Post “Miscellaneous”?

Posted by on Feb 27, 2012 in Blog | 1 comment It’s my blog, I can call it whatever I like! This is a little visual review of random things I did, that kept me busy in the last couple of weeks, days… Here’s a sneak-peak into the life of Franziska! Enjoy Can you change the color of your leather boots? Hell yes you can! Will they last? I don’t know but I painted my boots from purple to brown to glossy black: I made...
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How to Prepare For A Garage Sale

Posted by on Jan 28, 2012 in Blog, Living & Design, Upcycling & DIY | 6 comments Today, I had my very first garage sale and here I am giving you tips how to prepare one! It was a great success, so I guess I must have done something right and why not pass on my suggestions? 1– First you have to check if you need a permit for your area (or if you are allowed to have one). 2– Set a date, preferably on a weekend (I read somewhere that the beginning of a month is...
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New Addiction For Artists, Creatives & Visuals: PINTEREST!

Posted by on Jan 26, 2012 in Blog, Living & Design | 23 comments Who’s tried it yet? Do you have an account? Yes, there’s another forum on the market and I am usually the one who watches the benefits first and analyzes its pros and cons. Kinda like facebook. I was on facebook when they just started and I had 5 friends for 1 1/2 years. How often did I use it? Not at all! If you have just 5 friends who post as much as you do, you can imagine how...
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Days Like These…

Posted by on Jan 19, 2012 in Blog, Food, Living & Design | 1 comment Today’s one of those days when nothing exciting seemed to happen. But when I look back, a ton of stuff happened, why not share? Thursdays and Fridays are my hubby’s days off and so am I -thank goodness I am self-employed! In the morning the best news in a long time came in: my parents are coming to visit in March, woohoooo!! First time since I moved here from Germany 4 years ago....
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Stylish Winter Decoration On A Budget

Posted by on Nov 14, 2011 in Blog, Upcycling & DIY | 6 comments When it comes to decorating the house, I am always in favor of change! I usually change the decoration every couple of weeks, rearrange furniture, artwork and just love to move things around. And sometimes, I do a little too much and the house looks a little cluttered with all the pretty things I like to put on display. Then I know it’s time to get started again and clean up, remove some...
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Working With Clay & Concrete

Posted by on Aug 29, 2011 in Art, Blog | 18 comments In the last couple of weeks, I decided to explore some new materials that I haven’t used as much. My focus is still on painting on canvas with oil (and my favorite), so don’t worry, my colorful paintings will be around! I don’t have a clay burning oven, so I looked into some other durable materials like concrete. The items I want to make should last and take different weather...
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How to Make Your Guest Room Inviting

Posted by on Jun 28, 2011 in Blog, Living & Design | 17 comments After I have renovated our bedroom, it was time to have a look at our guest room. It’s quite a dark place because it has only one window to the North, so when I painted it first, I used a bright yellow to lighten it up a bit. The furniture I used in there ranged from dark to light wood. And above all, I mostly used it to store stuff that I don’t use much or not at all -ok, I threw my...
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How To Choose Artwork For A Bedroom

Posted by on Jun 24, 2011 in Blog, Living & Design | 10 comments Last week, I decided to give our bedroom a make-over. Here are some pictures how it looks like now: My husband chose the wall color long time before I moved in and even though I like brighter colors better, I thought it was a calming and nice choice for a bedroom. So, I decided to keep it and not repaint it. I chose to put only few artwork into the room because it’s the place where I get...
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Why Should You Surround Yourself With Artwork?

Posted by on Jun 5, 2011 in Art, Blog | 14 comments Did you ever wonder why people buy artwork? Did you wonder why some spend millions on one piece and others a few pennies but treasure it more than their bank account? There are many different types of personalities and their motives differ from one another in many ways. Recently, I wrote about why art is a great investment, so I don’t want to delve into this subject in this post. There are...
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