My "Spring" Banner

 

I have discovered that another name for a banner is a bunting.  I kind of like that better so I'll call this my Spring Bunting.  So, there aren't any spring colors in it, oh well~

I am just tickled that I've found a new use for all of my rough and stained linens.   I have a couple boxes full--labeled "to cut".....

...well I'm cutting... and tearing... and sewing...

....and using vintage buttons and rick rack!

There's also a little crocheting here...

...and I'm using some of my vintage wood spools.   I need to.  I have boxes of them!

I am linking this post to Lezlee's Prior Lives Party!

"Junk"le Bells in February

 

Here are my newest junk ornaments--I had the prettiest blue vintage necklace.  Now I have ornaments and a small pile of beads.

I've seen vintage silverware used so many ways.  I've done quite a few projects with them too, and now made some into these ornaments.

I've been wanting to learn to stamp onto metal; so I thought this would be a perfect project to get practice.

A project where perfection isn't necessary!

I watched a video on you tube and learned that it's really easy to stamp letters in metal.  It's the darkening of the letters that makes them pop out and look aged.  The woman on the video just used a sharpie to color in the letters, then a very fine grit sandpaper to clean off the excess.

 

I used fine steel wool and that seemed to work just fine.  I know a sharpie doesn't sound too sophisticated, but you've probably guessed that I'm ok with that!

 

I'm sorry I don't have the link to the video to give her credit, but it's lost in that abyss of book marks that I'm working on organizing.....

 

I flattened the spoons and fork first then cut them with our wizard tool, which is like a dremmel, and drilled holes in them with the drill press.  I think you could easily use hand tools to do the same if you wanted.  My jump rings to hold on the beads are just rustic ones I made from baling wire and then flattened.

Remember, you can join up and share your projects on flikr if you don't have a blog!   

Now, go ahead and link up with your "Junk"le Bells project.  I'll leave it open for the week, and I'm looking forward to seeing your projects!

"Junkle" Bells All Year Round Participants

1. kimmykats

2. TreasuresRenewed

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Fabric Flowers....Banners....Garland....It's All Fun!

I made this garland for my daughter for her dorm room so just hung it temporarily to take some pictures.

 

It's entirely possible that making banners and garland could end up being as addicting as fabric flowers!

I made the hearts and round flowers for this out of a clothing catalog the girls received in the mail awhile back, called Free People.  The images, colors, and the feel of the paper was just too pretty to throw in the recycling bin.  I save Anthropology catalogs too for projects.

I just cut freehand, four different sized hearts  then folded each one about 3 times.  I unfolded them, then stacked them and sewed them together with a vintage button on top and just let the floss I used dangle from the button.  Folding/unfolding the pieces helped give them some dimension.

 For the circular "flowers" I did the same thing, making sure my circles weren't truly round-like that was hard-  Then I crocheted red and black yarns together for the cord.  I made knots in the cord every so often and then by hand, I sewed my hearts and flowers on between the knots (yes, right through the paper) and mailed it off.

I love fabric, but working with paper like this as though it was fabric was really fun.  Especially, because it had such a nice feel to it and both sides were printed with beautiful images.  It's great not needing to worry about the "wrong" side.


Just a reminder that "Junkle Bells, February Edition" will be starting Monday!

Love Was In The Air.....(so was a lot of snow!)

My daughter received tulips from her boyfriend yesterday....so today, while she was at school, I played with them.  It was really a treat for me---I want Spring!  We had a late start for school again today because of more snow and wind yesterday--uhg.

Happy Monday to you!

So If You Haven't Been Out Shopping...

...for a card....for that special someone...I thought I'd get my Wordle Fix and help you out!

I think love can be expressed in black and white, don't you?

But, maybe you'd prefer pink and reds...

Just click on an image to enlarge it to save or print, and go  make a card for that someone special.  Not that they weren't special enough for you to remember to get a card for, or that they weren't special enough for you to go out and spend $5 on a card, but that they ARE special enough for you to send the very best--made by you! 

Now, if you don't quite like what you see above, but still want to give it a-go---just copy all of the text below then go over the Wordle site and make your own version.  Remember, if you don't like a word in your wordle on their site, you can right click on it and get the option to remove it. 

love love love love     adulation, affection, allegiance, amity, amorousness, amour, appreciation, ardency, ardor, attachment, cherishing, crush, delight, devotedness, devotion, emotion, enchantment, enjoyment, fervor, fidelity, flame, fondness, friendship, hankering,  infatuation, involvement, like, lust, mad~for, partiality, passion, piety, rapture, regard, relish, respect, sentiment, soft~spot, taste, tenderness, weakness, worship, yearning,   admirer, beau, beloved, boyfriend,, darling, dear, dear~one, dearest, flame, girlfriend, honey, inamorata,  loved~one, lover, paramour, passion, spark, suitor, swain, sweet, sweetheart, truelove, valentine     admire, adulate,  be~crazy~about, be~enamored~of, care~for, cherish, choose,  delight~in, dote~on, esteem, exalt, fall~for, fancy, glorify,  have~it~bad, hold~dear, hold~high,  long~for, lose~one's~heart~to, prefer, prize,   treasure,  wild~for, treasure beloved sweetheart

Patina Soul Giveaway

 

There is an incredible giveaway going on over at Patina Soul and thought you might like to know about it.   She is giving away some really great gifts like gift certificates to Simply Me Art on Etsy where the photo above came from.

There's also a gift certificate to shop anywhere you want on Etsy!  (...and those printer's blocks she used on her blog just happen to be from my Etsy Shop!)

There's more, just head on over and check it out.

The giveaway continues until the 13th so you still have plenty of time to enter--and you can enter more than once!

Patina Soul

A Walk Around Around the House This Morning

  

:||||:

 

:||||:

:||||:

:||||:

:||||:

 

Happy Day!

Just Too Fun

I found these today on Etsy. Thought you all might get a kick out of them too!  All four can be found at Adoptabot's Etsy Shop

I have so many of these coffee pot parts because I can't leave an aluminum coffee pot behind at a garage sale.

It's fun to look at them and try decide what the part is.  This bottom is an ice cube tray.  Who'd have thought there would be a use for those!

I'm not sure what the guitars are made from.  You've got to love the fork hands.  I've made some creepy hands with forks when I've been pounding away, but these have style.

Now, the rock band is complete.

Pattern Party > Lines

Oh yeah, it's a party!  I love parties.  And, I love photography.  Here, the two go together!  Leah, at Moxie Photo and Design is hosting this one and it's going to be a new theme each time.  Today, the theme is "lines".

All together, "lines".  Can you tell I spend all day, every day with my 3 and 4 year old?!

 String.  

Strange thing,but, I really like string.  And, I like the lines that it makes when it's all wound up properly on the spool.  It's so orderly, and yet it goes in different directions.  Sad thing is, you can't reproduce this on your own.  Well, I can't anyway.  When it comes unwound, you just grab the loose piece and wrap vigorously in a circle around your spool of string and start to cover up the lovely orderliness.

So far this one has been spared the ugly fate of re-wrap.

 

....and, then there's the graceful dangling line..... mmm...

Check out Leah's blog to see more of the Pattern Party: assignment: lines

My First Banner

Another thing I've seen around the web and on Etsy a lot are banners.  And, I think they are just so neat.  I found one the other day on a blog that was all white on white.  She inspired me to finally make my own.  NOW, for the life of me, I can't find her blog or the banner!  I really need to work on the organizing on my computer.  Do you all keep track of ideas and sites in a really organized manner?  Would you like to share the best way to do that?!

I used all old (and stained) linens, pillowcases, and trims.

So, I let a little color in here, because I wanted to....

I used free motion machine embroidery over most of the pieces and put them on a stabilizer.

The clips are hair clips that I spray painted off white and white then glued a button on the top.

A little 'Bliss' was embroidered in....

I tore strips from an old pillowcase then joined them with the sewing machine end to end.  I then crocheted the strip with a length of very pretty white eyelash yarn to create the cord to hang the banners from.

  One of my daughters said, "I like it, I don't get the point of it, but I like it."  

I'm pretty sure there's no point, but I like it too.

Now, I'd like to create seasonal ones to sell in my booth and in my Etsy shop---then there would be a point, a purpose if you will.