Jar Wraps

Labeling and organizing...seems to be the focus for many these days.  The simple addition of a word can transform a work of art.  Now, these aren't works of art, but they are fun to wrap around a jar to get yourself organized or to just add bit of "cheerfulness" to a shelf.

Jar wraps to fit around any pint size canning jars!!

To make it flexible and adjustable, I closed it with buttons and string.  I love string.

I have a few more ideas of words and embellishments to add, but I'd love hear any suggestions that you may have!  I will be adding these to my etsy shop  as time allows.

The snow is melting a bit today...hooray!!

A Few More Wedding Pieces...

I thought I'd show you a few more wedding projects we've completed. We adorned this plain flower girl basket (bought new from a garage sale) to coordinate with the ring pillow I posted about here.

The champagne flutes are recycled ones that the groom already had.  We added vintage pearls and an earring to each one.  I really like these and just want to go sip some bubbly myself right now!

Lauren had seen this idea on Etsy.  How fun is this for the cake forks?! I took forks from my stash of vintage silver and hammered them myself.  (Which may be why the letters are crooked...)

I even found them a vintage knife in my bucket of silverware that will work perfectly for the cake knife.  Which by the way will only be a cake top.  Do you know that many people have fake cakes?!  You probably know that already, I didn't.  Then they serve sheet cakes to the guests.  Well, we aren't having sheet cakes, we are serving little desserts.  It didn't cost any more for desserts!  Yes, go figure!  I'm excited for the dessert table!  We're hoping to make a small tier of stumps to hold that cake top.  We'll see.  We're expecting quite a bit out of one tree and my husband!

Boutonnieres!

If you do a search on Etsy for boutonnieres you'll see all kinds of "out of the ordinary" boutonnieres and you'll see feathers.  Lots of feathers.

So my daughter and I went to work to make our own.

 This was one of THE most labor intensive projects I've taken on in a long time.  We kept saying it's about the process...the bonding time...And in the end we were both just so happy with the result!!

We had plenty of bonding time...hours...and... hours...but it really was fun.  Once we got the design, well it still took hours after that but at least we felt confident about what we were doing.
I'm not going to give you a step by step because how many people need to make boutonnieres?!

Seventeen of them.  The only purchased item was a feather for each at $.50 a piece. I also bought the baling wire which is a staple in my sewing room. Even the feather had to be re-worked.  I took each feather apart and made two from one.  Not that I'm cheap (well....that was part of it) but mostly we needed just a few feathers in front and in back of the leaf. That meant taking the feather apart and adding another stem to half of it.

Lauren wired each little bead separately. 136 of them.  The beads were in my stash from garage sales.

We both formed and hammered our little iron swirls and I made rose buds and the leaves out of book pages (what else?) .  We decided they needed a little "something" so white washed the buds and leaves with a mixture of matte medium and white paint.  Of course stems were added and then all of it gathered "just so" and wrapped with florist tape, burlap, and a ribbon.

Here's a sneak peak at the center pieces.  Flowers from someone on Craig's list and stump pieces from the farm!  We need to add a bit more yet....we think sticks...any suggestions?

Surprisingly...if you search for boutenniere on Etsy, you'll find some...I guess others have trouble spelling that word too.  I had to google it.  Yay Google and spellcheck!

A Tutorial and The Winner!

 I thought you might like to make your own book page heart garland for Valentine's Day so to save you a little "trial and error" time...Here is how we made them:

**Cut 1" strips from the old book pages.  We used two books with pages that were 8.75" to 9" long.  We tried shorter pages which made a fatter heart which wasn't the look we were going for...suit it to your taste.  Hint: Take a tape measure with you to your stack of books, to the garage stack of books, or to the thrift store.  Even 1" shorter changes the shape of the heart quite a bit. 
**You need 7 strips for one heart.  If making quite a few hearts and using a rotary cutter like I did, you can cut 3-4 pages at a time and zip along.  
**Cut 1.5" off of two strips.
**Cut 3" off of two strips.
**Cut off 5" from one strip.
If using a rotary cutter is easier to think about what you cut off instead of how long you  are leaving the strips. Then, also, the length you start with doesn't matter.  The length of the strips in relation to each other is more important than the actual length. 
You want:
2, approximately 9" strips
2, approximately 7.5" strips
2, approximately 6" strips
1, approximately 4" strip

Fold the 4" strip in half, add a hole reinforcer (optional, but good for old paper) at the folded end, punch with hole punch.

**Take two of the longest strips...

Ignore my old ugly tablecloth please...I use two old tablecloths layered on my sewing room table to protect the whole table when working.  My table is really nice, but I want to use it as a workhorse bench, so I protect it with the old tablecloths.  Sounds odd, but there is such freedom in covering the whole table with something I can get paint on, rub glue on, etc.  I just shake them out, wash them on occasion, and use them again flipped over.  When I want to clean up, they are whisked away and my pretty table sits there unblemished.

**Sandwich the folded tab piece between the two longest strips.  Keep the text right side up on the long strips and the folded edge down on the tab.

Here the second piece is now on, and you have a tab sandwich.

**Continue to build the sandwich with the 7.5" pieces and the 6" pieces: adding one on each side of the sandwich in that order.

 **Staple.  Or...for mine and for the giveaway, I sewed them with my sewing machine.  However, I don't think you should sew edge to edge with old paper, it may cut it.

**Line up the bottom edges of your strips, beginning with the shortest strip.

 **Do this on both sides and then bring the two sides together, opposite the folded tab piece...

...to form your heart.

 **Staple or sew again.

There you go. 

I used an 8" piece of jute to tie a loop onto each one for the garland.  Then tied them on to a long piece of jute to hang.

And, there you are looking into the depth of a box full of these....just waiting for each one to be strung on a ribbon and placed on the back of a chair at the wedding reception.

I really think making these out of an Anthropology catalog would be pretty too, similar to this one....

So, the winner of my book heart garland giveaway is....

Linda...of Linda Jo's Obsessions!!  I will be contacting you...  Up soon, more wedding projects!

One For Me and One For You

Over at Junk Revolution, Copperhead added a link to this lovely paper garland to a discussion thread.  I loved it and so did my daughter who's gettting married in June.

 So, we came up with our version of it and made some.

We made about 240 of them.

And, then, I made some more.

A garland of them for me, and a garland for you!

Just leave me a comment to be entered in the giveaway.  If you don't have a blog, be sure to leave an email address in your comment, so I can contact you if you win.  I will draw a winner on Tuesday, January 18.

You must check out this lovely Etsy shop that sells these paper garlands!

I really have to note that something has happened to me.  I'm trying to decide if I like it.  I used to "not like" hearts. (That's my gentle way of describing my attitude toward hearts).  I've been known to actually pull them off of a piece of decor so I would then like the item.  I believe I like hearts now, because I know I love these.  Leah, am I still a kindred spirit? 

I Was Like a 40something Year Old At Christmastime...

 

You could say I was excited...

Before Christmas I was the winner of a couple of awesome giveaways!  This is a beau soleil bag that I won from the Debbie at the Pink Pig Blog.  Her brick and mortar shop, the Pink Pig is located in Westport NY, but you can shop online here.  You'll love browsing her shop from home.  She has some beautiful items!  This bag has so many wonderful pockets and will hold such treasures while out junking...who needs that old fanny pack?!?!

Thank you Debbie!! 

On a side note I just made a pile of tote bags that need to hit the washer...This one will stay off the floor of the suburban and won't be used for books and toys!

But that wasn't all...I also won the big giveaway from Gina at Vintage Junk in my Trunk!  Gina is a vintage vendor and upcycler and I know you'll love her blog!

 

The box I received was full of vintage goodness.  Lots of Christmas items, tags, and ephemera.  Some of it, I've already used!  There was this pretty little pedastal plate that she made by adding a vintage glass candlestick as the base.  I love it and think it will end up in my bathroom to catch jewelry at the end of the day..not sure yet...it's soooo pretty!

And, look at the pretty ring in my package!!  It's has an adjustable band and even fits my big size 8 finger.  I would have modeled it but....I don't have the most photogenic hands.  No, I don't.  Isn't it just lovely?

Then there was this great art deco towel holder.  I think it will go in my sewing room, gosh, I love art deco!

And, that's the snow that fell yesterday behind my new awesome towel rack!  Thank goodness the wind hasn't blown yet!  Look at the pretty mounds!

Last, but not least...she included a vintage folding ruler!!

And, yes, I love it too!  I wish I could tell you that my mad photoshop skills allowed me to make this neat photo collage...but I cheated and used Picasa to make and edit the collage.  I did take and edit the photos in photoshop first though!  

Thanks so much Gina for the wonderful package!!

Out With The Old...

So purging wasn't my plan.  Just wanted to clean up the closet a bit so we could move in it again after using it for Grand Central Station of Christmas presents and house overflow.  My college age daughters said they'd help.  Yay!  I think.

It really was good to have new perspectives on what to keep and not keep...albeit a bit painful.  My little fanny pack I've had for years, years...had to be relinquished.  It was such a handy little fanny pack too and there it is tossed aside.  The rest really did need to go (except my black shoe/boots that I dug out of a bag  this morning before we went to Mass...my daughters didn't even notice when I wore what they said were hideous shoe/boots to Mass!  Hey, it was snowing and I didn't know where my boots were!)

All is boxed and bagged now waiting in the foyer to be hauled to Simon House in Columbus.  So, if you're from the area and your kids will still let you use a fanny pack....Ha!

I hope you've all had a great Christmas and start to your New Year!  Our oldest girls went back to college today, but their classes for tomorrow were just canceled because of the snow.  I'm thinking our sophomore and 5th grader may be home tomorrow from school too.  The snow is still falling and is predicted to continue.  

I sure don't care much for the snow, but you can't deny it's beautiful!  I hope you can enjoy your weather wherever you are!