Schmoozing my grandma

So I broke my Grandma Mary's green glass bowl. I was moving another bowl and wasn't being very careful about it. I knew better. But I broke it. I was so mad at myself for doing it because I knew better. I take pride in everything I own especially something so special to me. I literally found this completely covered in dirt on my grandma's property after she passed away.  It was like finding a diamond in the rough. The whole day I felt pretty crappy about myself. Until last night that is! 

I remembered that I brought home a shelf and 2 rakes that I thought I could do something with. I had an idea to make a necklace holder with the rakes and the shelf needed some new paint. Honestly they were stashed away and I completely forgot about them. My husband was in a "hanging" mood so I started finding anything I could to hang up. I had a few things around sitting along the wall as a hint for him. 

Here is the end results. Not exactly fancy but to my likings.  I plan on adding some other green colors to my room as well but thats another project. I recently changed my bedding because it was a bit boring. After trying to replace my comforter and failing I decided on just adding colorful decorations. Not only is this easier for me but its also cheaper. Queen size comforters are not cheap! Its a work in progress and maybe one day I will share the results when its done.

There is a story behind this shelf. Originally this shelf hung in my grandma's dining area.  We realized after she passed that she was a hoarder. She hid things very well! This shelf was full of little trinkets and literally had never been cleaned or dusted. I really just loved the size and shape of this shelf. It is handmade and constructed pretty rough which leads me to believe my grandpa made it for her. He had a wood shop in the back of their property and the two of them were pretty creative.  

I cleaned this shelf up as much as I could and went looking for paint we already had. Since I loved the texture of the old existing paint I decided just to spray paint it so i could keep it.  Plus I'm impatient and this was a quick project. 

My grandmother loved ordering things from Avon whether she needed them or not. Whoever sold Avon to her really didn't need many customers. Grandma was enough! She bought lots of necklaces because she was a tall lady and needed long necklaces. Avon had a great selection and sizes.  Grandma would also buy us grandkids lots of things from Avon. Usually soaps, bubble bath and Chapstick. What I didn't know was how much she loved rings. I don't really remember her wearing many but then again I don't remember much because I have the worst memory. But when we went through all her belongings we found so many rings. I have very small hands so I can't wear any of them.  Instead of giving them away I decided to display them. Also I recently discovered that one of them had lead in it and that completely freaks me out. These are up high so my children don't touch them but low enough they can enjoy looking at them. 

My grandparents were amazing gardeners. They had lots of structures in their back property that had to be gone through after she passed away. It was like Christmas for me. Some family members took furniture but not me. All I wanted was my grandparents garden equipment and her kitchen tools.  I knew I would use them daily and honestly I prefer older kitchen tools anyways. They made them way better back in the day.  

In the back of my grandparents garden was a small shed that looked like a out house. Inside I found several garden tools including these two rake heads. I'm sure grandpa was going to give them new life eventually but never got around to it.  Lucky me I snagged them up! 

One rake is for bracelets and the other for my necklaces.  As you can tell I love natural types of jewelry.  Pearls are my favorite but I also love silver,shells, leather, glass and natural stones.  I'm allergic to gold and nickel so I have to stick to these things or I will break out. Even my wedding ring is just silver.  That pretty blue necklace was given to me by my sister but I don't wear it because it too had lead in it. Most vintage glass jewelry does. I wore it up until I found that little toxic fact out.

I hope all this schmoozing has her looking down on me and smiling.  I hope she knows I was always there as a spectator taking in everything.  I hope she knows that I miss her and grandpa so much. They were the most hard working people I knew. It was them who made my single mother the hard working mother she was.  I owe my blog to them. Had I not grown up in that beautiful environment this blog wouldn't exist.  Many thanks Gram