New Life to An Old Tray

This is a message center my oldest daughter made for one of her friends out of one of my vintage trays. I didn't take a picture of the back, but it was left "unadorned" so you can see that it was a tray from the 60s.



Her friend loves pink, pink hearts, dogs, and sparkles....I think she'll be pleased....



The round flower pieces are magnets made from poker chips and decorative paper. All the other collage elements came from 1940s and 50s magazines.



She painted the pink, swirls, and dots around the outside and the center was spray painted with chalkboard paint.



I just love how it turned out. ~~~~ So vintage-y sweet~~~

Wordle Word Art

I came across this post at Mimi-Toria's Designs blog. I thought it was neat, but wasn't really sure what it was. Soooo, I clicked on the picture and it took me to this awesome site called Wordle!



Consequently, I just spent the last half hour piddling (kind of a silly word, maybe I should add it to my word collage!) with words and art! Oh, my goodness, it's addicting!! It's somewhat limited, but for me that translates to easier, which is good! It also translates to free, which is even better!



My plan is to print one of them out onto transfer paper and make a tote bag. I think I may also make some business cards out of one of them. The site says feel free to do so, just include the website address. I can do that.
Tip: (1)make sure you copy your group of words because it isn't saved on the site, if you want to edit or start over.(2)If you want two words or more to stay together, type the ~ sign between them (3) You'll need to take a screen shot of it if you want to save it as a jpeg file on your computer.

From Our Home to Yours.....

We send you warm, but snowy wishes for a Very Blessed Christmas!! and a Prosperous New Year!!

More of the "Junk" Ornament Exchange

Cheryl Keyes had my name in the junk ornament exchange and she sent me a package full of fun. She made this tree from buttons---ahhh, I love buttons!




These are two little gift card or treat holders which of course were wisked off by my little gals toot sweet.



Her mother crocheted this snowflake. I know how much work goes into these. I made a tree full one year--in another life-- BK (Before Kids). Then, at our other house, our basement flooded and as a friend was helping us clean stuff out, she pulled up a wad of dripping white thread and asked "What the heck is this?" Yes, it was my collection of crocheted snowflakes. I guess the stiffening used was water soluble!

Stay tuned for more information on the junk ornament blog party/challenge/meme! I am going to do it. This will motivate me and make me learn to use the Mr. Linky Widget. I love that thing I've seen on others' blogs! The last week of each month will be the link up time.

So don't toss any good junk or items you can recycle!

Junk Christmas Ornament

Over at the Junk Revolution site, Hillbilly set up a "junk ornament" exchange. I enjoyed the challenge of coming up with an ornament made from "junk" around the house as Hillbilly put it. Of course everyone's definition of junk is a bit different, and it's fun seeing what everyone made as they post them on the JR site.
I made mine out of rusty canning jar lids that I hammered flat for the frame, vintage fabric, very old hooks and eyes, a snap piece, rusty ball chain from an old necklace...



and the backing was another flattened jar ring and a piece from a starbucks coffee cup sleeve. I love corrugated cardboard and those little sleeves are so cool---I keep them. Yes, I just admitted that publicly. And I have used them as paper embellishments.



I have this grand idea of making a blog challenge to create junk ornaments throughout the next year. We could link here once a month. If you don't have a blog, I could set up a flickr page to post pictures on. We wouldn't exchange them, just make them for yourself and share the pictures, ideas, and "how to's". Then, by December you should have enough to make yourself a small "Junk" Christmas Tree. Does that sound like fun or toooooo much pressure?! Let me know what you think in the comments or email me.

By the way, I sent my ornament off to Laurie at the Whistlestop Country Store. She's a fellow Nebraskan, only about 60 miles from me and I "met" her on the JR site. I can't wait for a chance to get to her shop!

Christmas Button Tree

I sorted through some of my sweet old buttons and picked out just the gold metal ones and put them into this thrift store find. (I did throw in a few other metal ones because I didn't have enough gold.) It has become our "desk tree" and I'm enjoying it.

Have a great weekend!

Gingerbread Houses and Log Cabins

Last week my sisters, mom, and I had a big baking day but didn't get to the gingerbread houses like we had hoped. So my kids did them instead. All I did was make the frosting!



If you're not using a kit, we've found in the past years that big pretzel logs are the easiest to build with and look really good!



Of course, my kids are incredibly competitive so wanted to know who's is "best". In true Mom form I awarded the best to each in different categories. They're old enough to know how lame that is but that's what we Moms do!



Will's has an attached garage...



With a sun deck on it!



Claire's was a kit that I found on sale at the grocery store. All you need- ready to go.



I'm telling you, if you have little kids---or grandkids---when you see these on clearance after Christmas, pick one up!! Who cares if the candy is old next year, you'll NEVER eat it. The ease of this for little kids is awesome and it turns out so cute! I mixed the frosting for Claire and gave a little "advice" but then she did the rest and she's 10. What's really nice with the kit is that you don't have half a bag of candy left over.

Now, to find a place for the creations is a bit of a challenge!

I hope all of you are finding time to prepare your hearts also this Advent for the birth of Christ. It's so easy to only get caught up in the "stuff". I know because I struggle with that EVERY year!

OK, Here It Goes

A picture of me. EGAD, never thought I'd post one on my blog, but I like seeing other people on their blogs so here I am. And, of course I had to take it in my laundry room, standing on a laundry basket with flourescent lighting so I'd have excuses for how I look! But, folks, that's where I spend my time so I guess that's really me. Bad lighting, weird hair day, and all.

This post though is because of the scarf. I made it yesterday and it matched my sweater I put on today, so I'm wearing it.



Scarf details. (For the record, my 18 y/o asked me if I'd make her one!) I used strips of fabric and yarn. Of course mine is all thrifted and vintage which makes me very happy! I just love to use a little of this and a little of that in a project.



I sewed 1" strips of fabric together wrong sides together. I let the edges stay raw because I like that look. I know that would grate on many people. If you're one of them, sorry. The ric rac is very old and so pretty. As is the black lingerie lace; old and beautiful. The black yarn I crocheted into a cord as I did with two shades of gray yarn and string together. Then I pinned them the way I liked to "wash away" stabilizer and sewed across with clear nylon thread in my machine and a light gold in my bobbin. I anchored about every 3-5".

I'm not sure the stabilzer was necessary; you could just feed each piece into the machine as you sewed. I washed away the stabilizer, let it air dry and then pressed it all back into shape. **If you make one and use the wash away stabilizer then think about what you put into it because a mish mash of fiber will react differently to the water when you wash it. I was nervous for a bit because the yarn all stretched out. But, after it dried and I ironed it, it's back to where I started. Whew!

I've been thinking about this for awhile but HuggyBear from Junk Revolution posted about this web site and that got me moving and gave me the idea to use the wash away stabilizer.

I practiced making a couple of bookmarks using the technique as described in the web site Favcrafts and I love how they turned out. But, because I used ric rac and fabric, it made my piece more "fabric like" and less scarf-like. They only used yarns and fibers in their scarf. That's why I decided to only anchor it ever 3-5" so it would stay softer and lay nice like a scarf. And, it did. Whew!

A Moment to Savor

Ahh.....new lights out of the box....they all work....no tangles......sa-weet!

Time To Decorate

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!!

Now it's time to decorate around here!

Junkin' Monday

I'm afraid no junkin' this past week here, but thought I'd show you the ties I bought at the auction I went to two weeks ago. Pretty, huh?



The patterns and colors are SO nice!



I like to imagine the suit these were worn with. AND, there was only one suit at the auction and I did bring it home too! Now, what to do with the ties....



I have a few boxes of great old wood hangers. So, here are the ties now in my sewing room held up on a couple of those hangers. So, if I want a snippet of tie fabric for something I can just go clip a bit off the back and still leave the great display of color in my room.



So many old things are just nice to display as they are.



I hung two of my antique pocket watches on the hangers and I think that's a nice finishing touch.

If anyone has any suggestions for projects with ties, I'd really like to hear them. I have another box or so of ties...

My mom made quite a few throws out of them and they looked quite sharp. I made a skirt for my oldest daughter for Sr. pictures, BUT ties are cut on the bias....and that was an issue. I wouldn't do it again without really good instructions. (I was winging it!)

Now, I'm off to see what everyone else is up to over at Clara and Marcela's!

Urban Habitat

I just got done painting my son's room. Long story which if I told would reveal way to much of how we roll around here. His room has been in an upheaval for a loooong time. 'Nuff said.

Two of the walls are Deep Bronze and gorgeous. We got a simple but sharp black coverlet to go on the bed and I think it will all look lovely but very masculine.




But, this post is about these. Paint samples--aaarrrrhhhggg--I love them! and Yes, I know I've posted about them before. (Whoops, If you click on that link, you'll know how long this project has been in the works!) But none of those were what he wanted so yesterday we went back for more. This time to the lumber yard in town. Which means new paint samples. I took so many I had to tell them because I felt guilty. Store guy says "go ahead". Now, if Valspar paint goes up in price we know why. Because I know all of you are going to want to get your own too.

This collection is called "Urban Habitat" by Valspar Medallion. Of course the display was much of the beauty. Each one very evenly spaced all lined up in glorious color splendor. It's like all my favorite vintage colors with a new twist.



And, look at some of the names! Under Construction..... Arbitrary.....Poetic Justice.....!!!

I don't know what I'll do with them---HA! big surprise right?! For now, I'll leave them in a stack on my sewing room table to thumb through and enjoy.

Mid Life Mini Crisis

So I went to buy myself a new wallet. The old one had broken and was quite shabby. I went in search once again for the perfect wallet. I knew what I wanted because I have carried the perfect wallet for about 24 years. It holds everything and has room for a bit of expansion as you stuff it, and believe me, I stuffed it! I've carried black, blue, and brown, but basically it's a plain (but perfect) wallet.
24 years!--it hit me there in the aisle of Target. I don't care if it's perfect! I don't want to carry the same ugly wallet while all the cute ones continue to taunt me with their style. Even though I know they'll NEVER hold everything I need. So, I bought a stylish fabric wallet that looked like it could have come from Fossil--but my midlife crisis wasn't that bad. I wouldn't come up with the money for a Fossil wallet, so I settled for "similar".

So--now I had no place to carry my checks--I couldn't even find one of the cheap ones lying around the house. Besides, I didn't want boring.



So, I ordered from Etsy some of those plastic checkbook covers that you can add your own paper in. I used fabric collage instead-- some from that lovely big bag I bought on Sunday and posted about yesterday.



I even used vintage text from an accounting book I bought on Sunday. It was from an example page of how to record your transactions and it mostly listed shoe purchases--fun!



More vintage fabric for the liner.



Here's the checkbook opened up flat. I used a rubber stamp on fabric for the bottom layer just to give it all some depth.

NOW, I still have to find something to carry all my pictures which used to fit in my perfect wallet too.....at least now I have something interesting in my purse!

Junkin' Monday

I was able to get to the last day of an estate sale yesterday- my favorite time to go as they want to deal and love someone buying in bulk. The books are just a small sample from the 3 boxes I bought. He made me a good offer what can I say? I only bought one suitcase, but was oh so tempted to come home with about 3 more!



This book cover is very rough but still so beautiful.



Look inside--to Rosa from Santa Claus in 1894. (Does that make you all sentimental? It does me!)



This little note was tucked inside. "Are you mad at me for being late?"



And the reply on the back side, "Yes, what are you going to do?" ....I picture this note being passed in an old small country school house between Rosa and ...maybe his name was Andrew...and he was supposed to meet her to walk with her to school....



I can never pass up a typewriter at a reasonable price. This may be one for parts. It's a little sticky and no black ink left. But, I don't know. Otherwise it's in such good shape. I just love how a typewriter looks. In my opinion that's enough. It doesn't have to be used for anything. I have two that are so lovely they have their alloted shelf space just to sit and be admired.



More buying in bulk--bling!



One big bag of vintage scraps. I'll keep them in a clear bag and just pull out and iron what I need-- when I need it. There are a couple of really lovely pieces in that mess!

I'm joining Clara and Marcela again for Junkin' Monday. You can check out what they found this past weekend and many other bloggers as they share their new treasures here.

Transformation Thursday

I bought these glass canisters at the thrift store on Tuesday. Glass containers that I used to walk by not giving a second thought to---now make their way home with me to house lovely vintage supplies and collections.



Here they are now in my sewing room holding spools, clothes pins, metal hooks, and glass door knobs. This was a pretty fast project, but to be honest--I can't even believe that I did it right away. Seems like I have to let things sit for a long period of time before actually doing something with them. This is a record for me---next day! I feel a change coming on---it might not last--I better enjoy the moment!!



I popped off the round ball knobs and painted the lids. Then, I replaced the ball knobs with vintage spools of thread that I stained a bit to darken.



After painting, I used a rubber stamp for the image of the woman at a writing desk.



I don't own many rubber stamps, but this one is my favorite among those few I have. I clear coated the lids after everything had dried so they have a nice finish on them now.

I'm joining in on Transformation Thursday over at the Shabby Chic Cottage. So head on over and be inspired!