Hi out there!  A whole lot has been going on around here.  Sunday we picked our exchange student up from

the airport and it has been a whirl wind ever since!  He is adorable and such a happy kid, we love him!  One

of his first observations was our "garden" (yard) was so different than what they have back home......

My husband is loving these elephant ears and banana plants, especially with the weather lately, these plants 

are even bigger!  Now he is talking about planting bamboo -I think no he wants to live on an island 

somewhere, not me.   It really is  pretty in person and you do get the vacation feel while drinking morning 

coffee!  

I am also posting on

 http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

http://www.shabbynest.blogspot.com

Best Wishes for everyone for a fabulous Labor Day  weekend!  We are hosting a potluck dinner, I hope the weather is good!!

Until next time, 

Trisha

My bff Angela and I go out pretty much every week for "thrifty Friday.  Well, she's in Florida visiting her mom so I was forced to go without her.  Good thing I did..............or I wouldn't have found these!!!!!  I am so excited!  Tom is going to hang them over our kitchen island/bar...I'll show you in a future post.  Sorry Angela, I had a great day on West Chester Pike!  Sorry you couldn't be there!

Until next time!

Trisha

I give up!  I am no longer going to waste hours trying to get on to Wow us Wednesday -- Sorry all the people out there who are just dying to see my work!!!!!!!  Maybe it was just too big of a party for me to attend - I'll stick to the ones I can easily attend!!!!!!!  And just continue to enjoy reading Kim's blog @ Savvy Southern Style --

Now it is good evening!!  Thank God it is 5 o'clock somewhere so I can soothe the nerves with a glass of wine while I attempt to figure this out!!!!!!


Here is a tricycle that I picked up roadside (no dollar shopping!!), brought home and painted with Rustoleum's brightest red I could find.  We just recently had a yard sale and everyone wanted it, I had to put a tag on it "not for sale"!!  I am going to try to join Wow us Wednesday - this seems to be the hardest party for me to join - I'm hoping to one day figure it out in less than 5 hours!  I should be doing something more creative in that time!!!!!  If anyone has any tips - I'd sure appreciate them!

My favorite "lawn ornament!!"

We'll see if I was able to link up -- If I wasn't - you should still go to Savvy Southern Style to see all the creativity out there!!

  <br><a border="0" href="http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u87/auntdoi/SavvySouthernWOWButtonReverse.png" /></a><br>

Until next nervous break down!!!!!!!

Trisha

Good Morning!  I have changed my blog name back to the original Happy Hands at Home DIY because that is truly me.  I thought it sounded corny and wanted to sound more sophisticated with the creative collaborative redo's - but the problem was, I'm not that way!!  I am who I am.   I am truly happy at home doing what I do best, creating!  This will be the last time I change it!  Besides, when someone would ask me the name of the blog I couldn't remember exactly!!!!!!  My sister-in-law's mother used to call herself happy hands at home and I thought that was both funny and appropriate so I asked her years ago if I ever started a business, could I use that name, she said yes!!  Thanks Kitty!!

It is a beautiful day here in the Philadelphia area, cool and 66 degrees!  I hope that you enjoy your day and until next time........thanks for listening/reading!

Trisha

MMS Luckett's Green Armoire

Good Morning All ( hopefully there is more than me reading this!!!!)   Today I am going to link to the http://www.somuchbetterwithage.com/2013/08/give-me-the-goods-party-no- 21/%E2%80%9Chttp://www.somuchbetterwithage.com%E2%80%9D party and hope you will check it out!  This armoire was a real deal, a local craft store was closing shop and I had been consigning there, she offered me this for a price I could not refuse - I had always wanted one, had no use for it (like all the other "junk" I have), but never the less, it came home.  It was dark brown - not my favorite.  Before chalk paint was in vogue, I painted this off white with the intention of doing some decorative painting on it - never happened.  Then a few weeks ago, before blogging, I had discovered MMS paint.  I tried the Luckett's Green and really liked it.  It did not chip, bubble, crinkle, peel, etc.  It just went on in a variety of tones of green, blue, ochre.  I don't know if the picture does it justice - After painting it I then sealed it with AS clear wax - I still might accent it with some decorative painting -

I lightly sanded these edges  to add some scruffiness to it

Maybe I'm doing something wrong when I mix - too thin?  But whenever I get to the bottom of the cup of paint, I always end up with all different shades of ochre, the beginning is always blue hues.  Does anyone have any ideas on why this always happens?

Best wishes for a wonderful week!  Thanks so much for dropping over, until next time.......

Trisha

24 hr pass

THANK GOD

For good friends who invite you to the shore !!!!

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Hello!  Today I'm going to share a mailbox I painted a few years back, my friend was selling real estate at the time and she wanted me to paint a mailbox as a gift for her clients -- with the help of Ros Stallcup and her decorative painting book, this is what I created.

Hopefully the new homeowners enjoy getting bills in this new box!!   

If you have been reading my posts for the past week (its been one week since I became a blogger!) you will know that I have a backround in decorative painting.  I have sort of put down my decorative brushes to tackle a new type of painting - O I L S!!   I don't know if any of you paint with oils but I have to say what a challenge!  Just learning to mix your own colors and paint what you see, not what you traced!  It is right up there in the challenge department with learning to blog and navigate your way around the whole system.   Both, I really enjoy for the challenge and the sense of  "WOW", I did that!    I have been oil painting for about 2 and a half years now on Wednesdays at the Community Arts Center in Wallingford.  We paint every Wednesday morning from 10-1 ~ It is so challenging that when I come home sometimes my brain is fried~!!  Completely different than acrylics and decorative painting.  Anyway, I am linking up to the party @ I Gotta Create http://igottacreate.blogspot.com/2013/08/wildly-original-link-party-64.html - So, stop over to see what everyone else is creating!

Thanks for dropping in and until next time, have a wonderful weekend!!

Trisha

PS:  Sorry my picture quality in all my posts stinks!  No excuses!! hahaha!

I've been trying to join the party @ Savvy Southern Style since 8am!!!!  I am having a hard time linking back to her - this is all so confusing!!hand painted santa chair  I hope I got it this time!!

I had actually picked up two of these red chairs at a yard sale, but again, the other picture is in my photo album!!  Someday I'll ask my husband to somehow put them on here (or one of my kids!)  I got the pattern from Maxine Thomas and her Primitive decorative painting books - 

It already came chippy, even before chippy was in vogue!!   I just painted the design right onto the chair with acrylic paints and did two coats of matte varnish!  I also have many other pictures of other painted chairs IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!!!!!!!!

Well, thanks for stopping by~until next time!

Trisha 

More hand painted "rugs"

Hello!   I had posted yesterday the Mackezie Child's insprired 8ft runner - Well, before I came up with the correct varnish to use I had painted these and a few others. (My husband emailed me these pics so I could post them, all the others are in a photo album!!)  Any way - if you choose to create a mat made out of vinyl flooring make sure that the back is smooth and hasn't any dimples - I used 3M's blue painters tape to tape off the border and a Corelle plate to make the curves.  Very carefully with a very sharp razor and a cutting mat underneath, cut around the plate and use a straight edge to use as a guide for the sides.  I don't recall if I put a primer down first - but just use your imagination or story books or anything else to come up with ideas, and paint!!  Let it dry completely then apply several coats of Jo Sonya's Matte Varnish for the final step.  Wash with soap and water - no vacuum cleaners!! Enjoy!

Someone asked me to make her matching placemats to go with her rug pictured above - I don't know why, but I didn't do it.   

Hope all is well with you and yours, until next time, thanks for stopping by!!

Trisha

Mackenzie Child's INSPIRED 8' runner

Hello!  Again, being a new blogger, I am showing past projects.  Below is a floor runner I painted using vinyl flooring, compressed  foam, acrylic paints, and Jo Sonya's matte varnish polyurethane acrylic sealer.  I have painted numerous floor mats over the years and have pictures in my real life photo album, not on the computer.  

This used to lay in front of my kitchen sink until I started yoga and needed a mat!!  Because of the vinyl flooring attached to a compressed foam that my husband brought home from the scraps at work, it is firm yet soft - perfect for yoga!  So I have since purchased a indoor outdoor rug for in front of the sink.   The beauty of using Jo Sonya's polyurethane acrylic sealer versus all the others I have tried......it does not crack when rolled, bent, etc.  It wipes clean with soap and water, I don't recommend harsh cleaners, it will however come off when the vacuum cleaner goes over it....found out the hard way!!  :(    

Again, pennies versus $$$$$  !

Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful day, it feels like September in the Philadelphia area.

thanks for stopping over!!  Until next time,

Trisha

Name Change! (Already!)

Hello to anyone who might have checked out my new (old) blog,  happy hands at home diy, thank you.   But the name has been formally changed to Creative Collaborative Redos!!   I will be showing most of my own stuff/junk/finds/creations......but I have creative friends who also have the same "sickness" and would love to show their finds as well!  I will be starting a Thrifty Friday themed gig, once I get the hang of this blogging.  It is very time consuming and quite the computer learning experience for this old lady!!  Thank God for my kids!!   I went out these past couple of days and brought home some great stuff I'd like to share, just have to figure out how!!  Until then.......................