Low Country Crawling With Leia

Why was Leia just standing around on a street corner in Summerville, South Carolina on a Tuesday afternoon?

She was taking a short rest while we decided where to eat our very late lunch.




We had been on a Low Country Crawl through several thrift shops.

We started at nine in the morning.

It was after three, and we were waiting for an estate sale to start at four.

We had already scored the ugliest piece of furniture either of us had ever seen.

If you were the one who created this...this...this...
thing, then you need to learn restraint.

Yes, under all that fabric I do think there might be a bit of beauty.

We shall see.

Since our planned restaurant was not open, we settled on Montreux Bar & Grill.  

Leia had been there.  

I had not, but hope to go again.


The atmosphere is great.

And the food delicious.

Leia had a smoked shredded chicken sandwich with jalapeno mayo.

I had the salmon/strawberry salad.

Here is the front of the grill.

See the lady hiding behind the tree?

She was in every shot I took - before and after eating.

It became a joke of where she would show up next.

Montreaux is filled with artwork.

There is an old bicycle hanging over the bar.

I did take a pic of it.

That lady walked right through the shot and sat down.

Really!

I had planned to abandon some journal tags for this week's art abandonment.

Our waitress had a nice quirky attitude, 
and I felt the "It's good to be the queen" tags would suit her perfectly.

I abandoned the tags in the chair next to me so she would find them when she cleared the table.

Now it was time to go find the estate sale.

I was surprised at the quality of the items even though it was the second night of the sale.

I bought the huge Mark Twain Compilation.

The basket of silver - mainly for the assortment of fish and pickle forks.

And one baby spoon.

The sales manager threw in the plastic silverware hiding in the back.

Well, it will come in handy stirring small batches of paint.

The largest glove mold I have seen.

Size 14 - used to mold men's heavy duty industrial gloves.

I have been looking for a dainty ladies mold, but had to have this giant.

It looks great on the mantel with the heads already there.


I also bought a wooden ladder and some advertising yardsticks.

I will show these and all the other items we found along the way on our Low Country Crawl in the next post.

It took all day to unload the truck and take photos.

I am off to bed so I can rise bright and early to clean, sand and paint.

Does anyone know how to remove ugly from a piece?

See y'all!


 

Use this discount code to receive 10% off your purchase at the Distressed Donna Etsy store:

DISTRESSEDDONNA14

SHOP HERE! 

The Cottage Market Presents Junkin Joe Every Friday

How I Spent My Spring Break

Our niece Olivia came and spent her spring break with Chucks and me.

We had quite a lot of fun.

The first night Olivia went right to work on her art pieces to abandon in public places.

Here she is hard at work.

I am just going to list all the things we were able to cram into one week - so sad it is her last spring break before college.

It is hard to believe she is that old.

Artwork and quote by Olivia.

1. Went to Kroger's and The Fresh Market to load up on grain-free vegan food.  The diet we decided on for the week.  Also hot tea.  She had made me a believer in it.

2.  Found a Free Little Library kiosk in downtown.  I found a book to take and Olivia left several.

3.  Painted and played Group Love and Janis Joplin music very loud.  Added a little JT also.

 Artwork by Olivia

4. Walked several miles with the dogs.

5. Went to the gym for weights.  Olivia has a stress fracture in her foot and cannot run at this time.  She wears a very fashion-forward ortho boot!

6.  Ate at the New Moon.  She had coffee and I had hot apple cinnamon chai.

7.  Went thrifting.  Yes, I bought a carload.

Olivia's prepared artwork for abandonment.

8.  Went to the library twice to make sure we did not run out of books to read.

9.  Went to two bookstores.

10.  Ate and drank more hot tea.

11.  Olivia made herself concoctions of cocoa powder and peanut butter and cinnamon and yogurt.

12.  Ate sardines - she for the first time.  Don't even ask what she paired with the sardines!

13.  Played with the cats.

 Can you guess where her first piece was abandoned?

14.  Traveled to Columbia Museum of Art to see the Effect of the Jazz Age on Japanese culture.

15.  Ate at Good Life Cafe - all grain-free and vegan food.  Delicious!


16.  Made more art pieces to abandon.

Olivia created a journal of a cardboard chocolate wrapper, chalk paint, and paint sample pages.

I was in the middle of restocking my handmade tags so I chose a few to abandon.

I made the bird stamp from foam core.

We left haiku graffiti on the magnetic boards in the children's section of the museum.

Mine




Hers.

We abandoned our journal and journal tags in an old book store.











 



The store is a wonderful place to spend an afternoon.

I will post about it soon.







Yes, I noticed I quit numbering what we accomplished, but sometimes memories pile up and you want to just treasure them. 

I hope Olivia had as much fun as Chucks and I did!

We miss the nightly serenade of violin music as she practiced for her recital.

Next week it is Leia's turn.  We will be celebrating her birthday with one of our now-famous low country crawls.  She is already scouring the area around North Charleston and beyond for treasure places.

See y'all!

Use this discount code to receive 10% off your purchase at the Distressed Donna Etsy store:

DISTRESSEDDONNA14

SHOP HERE! 

Abandoned Art

Can we say "Cluck, cluck"?

Yes, I was chicken.

I was nervous.

I called Chucks twice to make sure he was available in case I got into trouble.

This was way out of my comfort zone.

I created a piece of art and abandoned it in a public place.

YES, I DID IT!!!

It was exhilarating.

Yes, I will do it again.

It was all part of the Art Abandonment Project.  It is a world-wide group on Facebook.

Anyone can request to join.  LINK

Here's what I did:

Found a board.

Painted it red.

Mod Podged an old bag to it.

Made some unsanded grout/paint mixture.

Poured it on the board.

Made a big puddle.

Plugged in the hair dryer.

Turned it on high heat.

Blew the heck out of the paint.

It cracked and creeped into a wonderful pattern.

Used Distressing Ink to age and make some dots.

Used a sponge to stamp a heart.

Used a wide blade chisel to scrape the surface smooth.

Used sandpaper to bring out some details.

Added a saying.

Added some black lines around the heart.

Added some more chips.

Found a dog image (Graphics Fairy - thanks!).

Found a tag (Horror Monster - thanks!)

Distressing Ink and varnish over and over and over on both.

Found a star stamp to put on the opposite of "dog".

 

Found some leather lacing and eye hooks and some rusty wire.

Assembled the whole thing.

The easy part was now over.

I am always comfortable when creating.

But the abandonment is scary.

What if no one takes it?

What if it is thrown away?

What if?

What if?

What if?

Just do it, Donna.

Stop distressing over it.

So I made my official label with the official logo.

Followed other directions of placing it in a sealed, clear bag.

Wouldn't want Homeland Security and the FBI after me!

Gathered my art, my camera and my courage.

Called one more time to make sure Chucks was at home.

Walked right into a place where true animal lovers are found.

The receptionist was distracted and had to leave the desk for a minute.

I quickly propped the bag against the counter.

I pretended to take photos of the plants and murals in the new lobby.

She told me to walk about the facility and take all the photos I wanted.

I wanted to leave and let someone find the art piece.

I was there for about twenty minutes, but no one had found it yet.

Have you ever participated In Art Abandonment?

Have you been the lucky recipient of found art?

I am proud I participated.

See y'all!

Use this discount code to receive 10% off your purchase at the Distressed Donna Etsy store:

DISTRESSEDDONNA14

SHOP HERE! 

The Cottage Market Presents Junkin Joe Every Friday