A Bit of Christmas Decorating

 So this year I changed up my tree.  Normally, I decorate for the kids with toys, and candy colors, but I was in the mood for something a little more "grown up."   I took one of my thrifted doilies and set it on the table for the tree to sit on instead of the traditional skirt.  I stiffened a collection of smaller crocheted doilies and pieces of battenburg, a couple of white cotton angels with crochet trim, glittered spent light bulbs (FUN recycling project), made some paper ornaments, fabric roses, a 6 yard strand of faux pearls instead of garland, silver icicles, and the darling little candle lights clipped to branches were a Christmas in July gift from a friend two summers ago.

 The basket the tree is sitting in has for the last ten years has been a natural color.  Part of my change included the basket.  I painted it a rich chocolate brown, hit it in spots with black spray primer, then lightly sprayed over the entire thing with white.  For whatever reason, it came out this GORGEOUS blue-gray and it was the best as far as happy accidents go! :)  On the table, I have a mercury glass angel and two bottle brush trees that are normally part of my winter forest.

 A peek at one of the ornaments I'll share with you this weekend.  I found a set of 6 apples at one of my thrift stores for a whopping 50 cents.  I didn't want them red, so painting was called for.  At first I tried a soft aqua, but the red came through & made one purple.  Then I tried white...it went pink, which wasn't terrible, but it wasn't really what I was going for either.  Finally, out came my trusty can of Rustoleum metallic spray paint in CHROME and I ended up with these absolutely darling faux mercury glass apples.  I'm in love!

 This is the winter forest on top of my entertainment center.  I try to add something every year.  This year it's the milk glass cup with silver & white berries wrapped in pearls, a stacked paper tree (not shown), and that darling memory/tag book on the tripod.  I'll share a VERY detailed tutorial for that with you another time.

 And finally for today, this is the top of my microwave cabinet.  The glass collection is always there, I simply put my glittered bird and some pretty miniature blue ornaments under the cake dome, and put some pearl sprays in one of my hobnail milk glass cups.

I also made a really neat garland for my front window...I'll share that tomorrow with details on the ornaments.  Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Did some stitchin'

Hey there! I'm getting a jump on next week's Stashbusting September. I've had these patterns traced onto fabric for a while now just sitting inside my storage footstool in the ole she-cave, waiting for my "round-to-its" to come in...Saturday evening I decided not to wait for my "round-to-its" any longer. I just needed to sit down and get some stitching time.

The background fabric is a white on cream print, the embroidery pattern is called "Language of Love" from Tied with Heartstrings. I didn't use her recommended colors, because I wanted something a bit softer, so I chose ivory and a dusty rose.

I stitched it in French...

And English....
One the French side, I used two different laces layered up in the corner for a doily effect.
And on both sides of the pillow, I used a combination of true vintage and vintage-looking buttons (thanks, Lori and Sharron!) in cream, pearl, pale pinks, and clear dusty rose.Instead of filling the hearts with satin stitches, I filled them with French knots...I thought it was a pretty effect.
On the English side, I did an eyelet doily-style corner.
Now, I'm off to the next project...taking this 6'x9' canvas drop cloth from Lowe's (washed & softened up a bit)...
And turning it into curtains for 3 windows of my home like this one. They're a frustratingly horrible 48 inches wide and 22 1/2 inches high. I could dig it if they were in a basement, but...
this house doesn't HAVE a basement! *LOL* Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of your day!!

I've been M.I.A.

Sorry I've been gone...it seems like forever. Last week I got hit with a rogue trojan carrying what I call "ransom-ware" ~~ I'm sure you've seen it. Comes in looking like your virus protection, says it caught some bugs, asks you if you want it removed and if you say 'yes' it takes you to their payment page, basically forcing you to make a purchase you don't want or need.

Sad thing is, some people actually fall for this attack. They pay the ransom, the people holding you for ransom PRETEND to remove the problem, but really leave the problem in the background and take off with your credit card information to shop, spend, and shop some more. My middle son got hit with it a week before I got hit with mine, so we had two laptops down till this last Sunday.

A friend of ours came over & we tried doing a repair with the main OS (operating system) disc, but it was so deep in the registry that we had to scrub and rebuild everything. Sucks rocks! Especially when you have as much on your computer as I did. It's Wednesday & I'm STILL loading programs and websites in here.

These hits can be totally random, not just from a new site you visit or an accidental click...I got mine leaving a site that I visit daily (sometimes several times in a day) so my friend figured that it rode in on a tracking cookie. EMPTY YOUR CACHES daily if you surf online a lot! Some of your browsers, like IE 7 & 8 or Google Chrome can be set up to dump cookies every time you close your browser (look under 'tools' then 'options')...set it up to do just that! Save yourself some headaches & lost files.

Now, while I was without my electrical lifeline to the outside world, I had some time to work in my office. I sorted out a few boxes lying around and was bitten by a crafting bug. I still have sewing to get done, and I'm working on it (HONEST!), but I had this papier mache dress form sitting on my work desk, and it started calling my name. So, I'd like to introduce you to...Yvette! (or maybe Holly Golightly, since I love "Breakfast At Tiffany's" so much...)

She LOVES everything vintage, and you can tell by the postmark that she loves to travel!
She has a deep appreciation of all things 'artsy'...
And all things 'timeless'...
She's classy, too. Loves her lace and gramma's pearls, like any proper lady should. Never mind the butterfly tattoo...she got that when she was young, carefree and a bit wild!
But, as you can see, she's settled and seems very happy living among the antique buttons and Prima flowers. I hope she decides to stay with me for a long time.
Thanks for stopping by & have a fantastic rest of your day!!

supplies used: papier mache dress form; tissue paper; stamps from Stampabilities, Mod Podge; Ranger Distress Ink (vintage photo); StazOn ink in black; wooden candle cups; E6000 glue; black spray paint; homemade shimmer mist sprays; flowers from Prima; tea stained vintage seam binding; paper doily cut to fit around neck; adhesive-backed half pearls

Challenge worthy?

This was a HUGE undertaking for me. Even more ambitious than my altered composition books. Usually, if I do a "big" project, it's an embroidered piece, furniture or curtains...something of that nature. I started out with an idea for Thespa's hymnal pieces over at Vintiquities Workshop and ended up with something that I could enter at Sir Stampalot, as well. Let's do the breakdown & you'll see the complete piece at the end of the post. Here we go:
Upper left corner: punched border made with MS 1" wide doily punch; cotton crochet lace; 8x8 square paper doily (grunged up with Ranger Distress inks & homemade glimmer mists); antique buttons from my Bestest Sistah; Scrapper's Floss; pearl swirl from Basic Gray; black cardstock; digital image from Digital Two For Tuesdays (colored, distressed, & antiqued with Ranger Distress Inks); background mat from K&Co, punched with Fiskars heirloom corner punch & distressed with Ranger Vintage Photo; wooden "button" from my friend Myrna in Oklahoma {waving}; punches under flowers two different MS branch & rose leaf; roses a mix of Prima & some I found at Big Lots a couple of summers ago, colored with my homemade glimmer mists.
Lower left corner: tag from K&Co, distressed with Ranger Tumbled Glass & Vintage Photo; pearl brad, antique buttons & crocheted flower from Sharron {waving}; Scrapper's Floss; butterfly stamp from The Angel Company (Life So Big), stamped in Ranger Tumbled Glass, flowers again a mix from Prima & Big Lots, colored with my homemade glimmer mists; foliage a mix of the MS branch punches & rose leaf; another pearl swirl from Basic Gray; silver pieces are flattened bead caps & spacers from Hobby Lobby's jewelry section
Lower right corner: vintage polka dot paper from K&Co; edged with Fiskars ladybug scissors & distressed with Vintage Photo; two pieces of my homemade vintage seam binding (1 pc colored with COPIC BG10 refill & 1 pc sprayed with my homemade glimmer spray mix #4); flowers from Prima; foliage two kinds of punched branches from MS
Upper right corner: hymnal piece "The Sunshine of My Heart" from Vintiquities Workshop; crocheted heart from Myrna {waving again!}, distressed with a touch of Vintage Photo & sprayed with homemade pearl glimmer spray; flowers from Prima & Big Lots; wood bead from Myrna; foliage, again MS punches; large white double flower with rose center from Prima; rose leaf punches; creamy white antique button with Scrapper's Floss; blue button from Making Memories

Here's a look at the entire 12x12 project....The chipboard in the back was painted Folk Art "twill" then antiqued with Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo, & Faded Denim, and finished with a light spritz of Walnut Ink. The brown paper is from K&Co. I used some antique pewter jumbo eyelets & my Big Bite to set them through all of the papers & chipboard, then used three strands of twine to make the hanger.
And here it is, hanging from a shelf in my she-cave.
I'm linking this to:
Vintiquities Workshop - contest to use Thespa's vintage hymnal titles - got one of 'em in there!
Sir Stampalot - punch it - punched the HECK out of it! *LOL*

While Chris is on a Memorial Ride with his Club tomorrow, I'll be crafting some more, so stay tuned. I have a poll over on the right & I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote & help me make a decision. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

It's Time to Get Your VINTAGE On!

First, let me apologize for not being here Sunday for KISS or posting before now. Sunday was my wedding anniversary & it was such a weird/crummy weekend that I couldn't bring myself to do anything but watch old movies and blog surf. I've not been very good at shaking it off, like I normally do. Definitely a "MIBAD!" for that one - I should have crafted to get myself out of my funk!

School is ending tomorrow and all three boys are absolutely WIRED...not sure where I'm gonna stuff them for the summer...I'm thinking maybe the crawlspace (don't flame me or call child protective services -- I'm just KIDDING!).

Our weather's been crazy, which is not helping my moods, & Al Gore's theory of Global Warming has been soundly DISPROVED yet again...I drove Chris down to Mapleton EARLY Monday morning & once we hit "Point of the Mountain" (just south of Draper, UT) we drove into....SNOW, of all things! It snowed on me so bad through Provo that I couldn't see past the hood of my car (traffic was moving at a rip-roaring 25mph). It was like that all the way back UP till I got to Layton (just over an hour's drive on a clear day), and by the time I arrived back home in Ogden, the clouds had parted & the birds were singing. *LOL* Just gotta LOVE springtime in the Mountain Desert region!

Now, I normally put blog candy alerts on my Candy Jar page, but this one needs some front page time because it has the vintage girly-girl in me jumping up and down, waving her arms in the air in a VERY un-lady-like fashion, squealing "OH, PLEASE....PICK ME! PICK ME!" *LOL* You can see why...just LOOK at all of these pretties...
Doesn't that look DELICIOUS?!? Don't they make your mind just WHIRL with the possibilities of fun projects you can whip up...or is it just dorky ole me? I know that my fate is going to be up to a random generator, but oh, to win this would be such FUN! Click the pic to go enter for your chance to win if your vintage girly-girl is squealing now, too. {winner's name will be announced Monday}

I'm off to work on a project for the CONTEST that the Vintiquities Workshop is having - some really fabulous prizes being offered and the pieces that she's challenged us to work with are just amazing. Chris is riding with his Club to California for the Memorial Day weekend, so in addition to doing the "Summer Widow/Biker Boogie," I'll be crafting in the ole she-cave, so I'll be back soon to share what I've made...I've got so many ideas running through my noggin that I may have to enter over there a couple of times, since I've got till June 14th! *ROFL* Oh, if you have a bit of extra time, be sure to look around her blog & if you'd like to, become a follower like I have...she has so many different inspirational crafts to get your mojo hopping in excitement - you'll be glad that you did.

Thanks for stopping by, good luck to ya & happy crafting!!

We'll always have Paris...

*sigh* Bogart & Bergman...I just LOVE the classics! Don't you? I was playing around with my newly made vintage seam binding this morning, uncovered a little digital stamp button and a photo of the Eiffel Tower in my pile of "clippings" and it hit me....I had to make this:I used papers from My Mind's Eye; the dress pattern from Little Birdie Secrets & my sunflower decorative edge scissors (the sleeves and the bottom scallops); my yummy new ribbon colored with my homemade glimmer spray in Mix #3; distressed the edges of the photo & inked them with Ranger Distress in Vintage Photo; some homemade pearl glimmer spray on the butterfly; COPICs to color the digital stamp (E04, E50, & BG10); two crocheted flowers from friends; half pearls; Ranger's Liquid Pearls around the neckline. For the ribbon, I just did a double row of 1/4" tacky tape, slightly layered over each other (NOT butted), then scrunched the ribbon as I laid it down. I made sure to leave some on the ends to wrap underneath - it's not bulky at all!I love my little crocheted flowers...I need to use them more instead of just admiring & putting them back into the jar! *LOL* When I finished with the project, I wasn't really thinking about Ingrid Bergman, although that famous line from 'Casablanca' was stuck in my noggin. I actually pictured...{bowing} Your Majesty....
Ingrid probably would have done better in a navy wool or black/gray tweed ensemble, I think.

Whaddya think? These two papers & some more of my pretty ribbons for the next KISS? These are DCWV papers & two 1-yd pieces of ribbon that I dyed the other day, using mixes #1 & #5. Mandy was right in her video on how to make this vintage ribbon....it just wrinkles so beautifully and looks perfectly aged. I just got some COPIC various ink refills in the mail today...think I may dye up some more ribbon this weekend...This is a sneak peek of tomorrow's post...any ideas on what it might be? Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

K.I.S.S.

Happy Sunday! I hope you're having a lovely day. The sun is shining, we've transplanted some veg into peat pots & played with the neighbor's new baby chicks. While the boys are at the park with Aidan, I figured I'd make a couple of cards to share with you today. My goal was to get at least two cards out of an 8x8 sheet of cardstock. I really like this textured paper by DCWV, called coral brocade...it's not really orange-y, but more of a grungy, peachy-pink with rusty tones in it. Kinda reminds me of a wallpaper that you'd find in a beach-side bed and breakfast.

For this first one, I used the next to largest square Nestie & cut out a deep coral from DCWV's Spring Mat Stack, then inked the edges with cream & jumbo java chalk inks. I also had a square paper doily that was 8x8...I quartered it, cut the center ground out & misted it with Mix 5 from yesterday's glimmer mist project. I also misted the round tag from MS with the same spray. Now I can stamp on the medallion when I know what I'll use the card for, or just leave it blank.

This one uses a heart doily from the same pack as the square one (I think I got them in the decoupage section of Michael's). I used wheat & pink chalk inks to tone down the bright white & some of the satin ribbon from my first dying experiment.

I'm not sure which one I like best...they both turned out nice. I've got another project to share with you this week, so I hope you come back by. Have a great rest of your day!!

Ribbons

Last week, when I made my laundry detergent, I figured since I was in "experiment mode" I would continue with a project that was inspired by Little Birdie Secrets. They showed how to dye your own vintage seam binding ribbon. When I saw LBS' video, it made the vintage girly-girl in me jump up and down, squealing! *LOL* It really is pretty & I can see me using it on so many different things.

They never said what type of ribbon they used, other than seam binding ribbon, and I have sent them an e-mail asking for the brand so I can locate it. Their blog post directed me to an Etsy shop & after spending the last two weeks looking around, I've learned that there are OODLES of rayon ribbon out there. Now the question is...WHICH rayon ribbon did they use?!? As soon as I have their answer, I'll let ya know so you can try this too.

For my attempt, I had some matte satin seam/blanket binding. It was a little stiff, so my concern was getting the wrinkle, since that was the effect that appealed to me the most. I didn't want to use my homemade glimmer mists just yet for this project, so I just dug out some retired SU re-inkers that I had in a box. {I'll be buying some Ranger Distress re-inkers to use with my glimmer mists once I get my hands on that ribbon!} I wet the ribbon with water, then only used 3-4 drops of re-inker per ribbon, crunched them up really well, and just left them sitting on styrofoam plates till they were about 90% dry & I was sure that the ribbon had absorbed the ink. The first time I blotted them with towels, most of the ink came off...I think that because the way this particular satin ribbon is woven, it doesn't allow for much absorption.

Here they are drying:


I had seven re-inkers, so I tried a little ribbon in every color.
This is the purely pomegranate.
River Rock. I used this on Sunday's card that I shared with you yesterday. It's an interesting khaki/greenish-yellow color.
Wild Wasabi
Groovy Guava...I really liked this color...kinda reminds me of the coral/red/aqua combos that are being used in cards right now. It's pretty.
Ballet Blue. Pretty, but a tad too bright for me. This one would be nice grunged up with a gold or bronze glimmer mist to tone it down.
Blue Bayou. Really liked this color...I think it would make a more elegant vintage look with some lace and flowers....
And finally, Soft Sky. LOVED this shade of blue in the ribbon! It's right there in that NOW color scheme that everyone's trying. I can just see this with some creamy ivory/yellow and a bright cherry red...maybe a pop of granny smith apple green. {Did you hear that? My vintage girly-girl is getting jazzed again! *LOL*}
Think I'm gonna go have some lunch, then make a couple of cards with this ribbon, even if it is a bit stiff and not as wrinkly as I'd hoped for. If I can get them done today AND find out what kind of ribbon Little Birdie used, I'll be right back to share!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!