Friday, December 11, 2009

Two new things

I haven't been very productive of late, been a bit distracted with the remodel that has drug on for 6 months when it should only been 3 at the most. But here are 2 things I have completed. Above is a lingerie bag, it is in the style of a vintage one and is done in rose bud materials in pinks and reds. The eyelet is such a wonderful over skirt and is from my ever growing collection of fabrics in my rescued pile. I made the little ribbon rose also. It would be a lovely addition to any closet and would hold quite a bit, it could even be used as a laundry bag for the unmentionables.

I love this padded hanger it is just so cute, the kitten motif is also from the rescue pile it is vintage and was on an item that was beyond repair. The design is my own as I had no pattern and had to fit it as I went. The cluny lace is also from my stash , it is white, it looks a bit pink because of the back ground fabric.

A close up of those darling kittens, I did the feather stitch embroidery around the kittens and made the leafs and the yo yo's. I think this would so cute in a child's room, it would do well with the cottage look and of course the whimsy look would be perfect for it.

I love to re purpose things, and try to rescue as much of those vintage linens and laces as I can.
Have a great day TTFN.

You can find these on my Bonanzel site, and my Etsy site
both are on my side bar.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Bath Salts Apothecary Jar.

I wanted to show a close up of the bath salts container in my new bathroom, It is very simple to put together, a cute apothecary jar, bath salts, ribbon and luscious velvet strawberries. I made the bath salts myself with Epsom salts, food color and rose essential oil, just mix it up and put in jar, add ribbon bow and the berries. Below is a close up of the velvet berries, I make them from hand dyed velvet, add the seed beads for seeds, and several layers of ruffled seam binding for the calyx. I do so love the strawberries they add just the right touch to anything.

Below in this picture is the scoop, I have used a small tea cup and it works perfectly, could it be any cuter?

Well that was what I wanted to share, try doing it yourself I know you will come up with wonderful different ways to make it fun and beautiful. I would love to see what you do. Any questions just ask. Have a special day. TTFN


Friday, October 30, 2009

My new bathroom

I love my tub, it is just the right size, set here in this cozy little alcove it is a thing of beauty in my eyes. It still has a ways to go as far as decoration goes but this is my start. I don't have any before pictures but I think the end results is the most important, don't you? In the right corner is a darling corner shelf I got from one of my favorite places," Shabby Cottage" she has the most darling things and they are all recycled, and put to reuse. This corner shelf holds my soaps, bubble bath, bath crystals, and just some cute things.

This cute little wicker number was a garage sale purchase, and is perfect for towels in the bottom and bath powder and candles, and such on top.
A bit of a closer view of the corner shelf. It is so perfect, and I had looked so hard to find it, and I am really happy with it.
The picture that is leaning on the wainscoating is one of mine and it will just lean there untill I find something I really like to hang on the wall. I hate to make holes in a new wall. Speaking of the wainscoating, it is super, I have never had a room with it before and it is just perfect for this little tub room.

I have always, and forever wanted a bathroom big enough for furniture, now I have it. My slipper chair is in need of recovering but I draped it with some old linens and it will do for now. Won't you look at the silver feet on the tub, just too lovely.
If you look behind the chair you can see some of the detail of the door molding and the floor trim. You can't see the floor real good but it is tile and it has pink glass embeded into where some of the tiles meet but not visable in this pic. I could only post 5 pictures so I tried to get the best ones.
I must say this is the crowing touch, who doesn't like chandeliers, this little beauty is hanging right above my tub.
This part of the remodeled master bath was the brainchild of an old friend and he did a good job, on it. His idea was the best of all of the 4 or 5 other contractors. This is just one part of the master bath I will post more at another time.




Sunday, October 11, 2009

Last of the Roses

I am so sad to say good bye to my roses. I may get a few more blooms but not the abundance of summer. This is Graham Thomas, it is a beautiful yellow rose that blooms thru out the summer into fall. I have 2 of the above Graham Thomas rose bushes.

Pink and delicate, I don't know what the name of this one is, it was in the orphan bin at the nursery. You buy it at a discount and take your chances as to what it will be. This one was a winner.

Rigours and constant, this rose blooms and blooms and blooms. It has hundreds at a time. I lost the name of it as all my name tags faded in the sun I think it is Reine something. I have several others but these are still going and I hope they will for a couple of weeks yet.
To all who love their roses, and I know few who don't I give you a quote " I would rather have roses in my garden than diamonds on my neck"Emma Godman, I am not sure about the last name, but that is exactly how I feel. TTFN


Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Where did my kitchen go????

My poor kitchen, it is all tore up. This is all that is left of the sink area, that too will be gone soon. Below is where the fridge was, it is to be moved to another wall, and sunk into said wall about 6".


These are the brawny men doing the rip and tear, notice the tattoo on Eric, it is not indicative of his kind and helpful persona.
We had soffits ( pic below) they are also gone with the wind, actually there wasn't much left after the demo. The extensive remodle was hubbie's idea, I would have been happy with just a new bathtub and leave the kitchen alone, but here we are, well here I am with no kitchen and dear hubbie and precious daughter are in Disney World for 9 days. Oh yes I could have gone, but I don't fly so I get to stay home and listen to the hammering. Life is good. :)


It will be all spankin' new in a few weeks,( I hope it is only that the master bath took 3 months). But it is a thing of beauty, and looks nothing like it did before.



Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The Tea House

This is my tea house in my back yard, I have had it for over a year and it is finally ready to use. It took most of that time for my hubby to wire it, insulate it, sheet rock it and we paid to have the sheet rock finished and textured. So it is just like any room in a house, but no water, I am working on that....... you know my hubby isn't going to like that. I put in the flower beds this year and have plans for more as time goes by.

This isn't a very good picture as it was getting dark when I took it. You can see the wrought iron fencing in the background, I got 5 sections of it at a garage sale, the gal said she paid $125.00 for all the pieces, she sold it to me for $20.00. What a bargain ...right.?!


I have been furnishing it with garage sale finds I want it to have that shabby look. We got the day bed for $20.00, they wanted $45. 00 but came down. We bought an almost new twin size mattress, no spots, she said she only used it a couple of times, I made the 2 embroidered pillows, and plan on adding more of different styles, as I get them made.
The chandelier, is also a garage sale find. I stripped it down and painted it white and all the dangles are made by me from semiprecious stones. The lone drapie ones are a necklace of semiprecious stone chips that I reconfigured, there were 4 strands I paid $1.00 for it. We had to hang it so high because the door would have hit it if it was any lower.




I got the mirror at a garage sale for $1.00 and I added the flowers and ribbon to cover up some boo boo's. The little table is also from a GS I have used it my daughter used it for a while then gave it back, so it is in use again. I like pieces like that, you can put them in any room and they look fine.
Well that is the update on the tea house, I posted last year a little about it, I think we were calling it the play house then. Stay tuned for more..



Sunday, August 16, 2009

Marie Antionette style swap, with Marie Antionette

I am sure many of you are familiar with Marie Antoinette's blog, she and I decided to do a swap, and this is my end of the swap. I hand painted the lace at the top of the crown with water colors, it makes it so vintage looking.


I made the crown from old wallpaper and trimmed it with everything I could think of. I used vintage gimp around the bottom and top, vintage sheet music, ribbon, lace, I cut out things with my Cricut, and glued and embellished. I used semi precious stones, feathers and glitter, I think it turned out quite well. I included this little shoe, I had such a fun time making theses shoes, I have blogged about them before. This one I made especially for Marie, note the M. on the shoe and the crown.

This is a wand of sorts, I just wanted to try some things with crape paper ribbon and glitter. Marie said she loved it all and that made me happy. I am so pleased with the cyber friends I have made. Who knew blogging could result in having friends across the U.S.A.
Thanks to all who check out my blog, I know I don't do as much as I did before, but I am busy with a remodel of half my home and it is very time consuming.
P.S I will post the crown Marie sent me, at another time.


Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Patio dinner party Jan's

My friend Jan had this fabulous dinner party last Friday, there were around 30 people, we worked all week to get it set up, it was so pretty. Everyone had such a great time. And the food wasn't bad either. The picture above is the view as you are coming down the stairs.

This is a closer view of the food table with no food yet. We had fun making the tissue paper flowers.

We covered the chair cushions with pillow cases. It worked out just fine and adds to the overall white look she was going for.


I love how the branches from the plum tree frame the picture. (with plums).


And we had our own entertainment. This beautiful man is 80 years old.




Monday, July 13, 2009

PaperShoes Marie Antionette style

Don't you want shoes like this, only real. I know I do. This is my interpretation of the darling paper shoes in the new Marie magazine by Somerset Studio. You can find them on pages 10 to 13, there is also instructions for making your own as I did here. This is the biggest shoe it is about 9" from heel to toe, and aren't those square toes just too cute?
I made the paper bow from vintage sheet music, and cut the fancy M with my Cricut machine, added the crepe paper ruffle and a bit of lace.
I wanted to try different sizes so this one is smaller 8" from heel to toe. I used organdy ribbon for the bows, and a seam binding flower with a bead center and some sheet music for trims. On the heel I cut out the mini rose from some older wall paper and covered it with transparent glitter for some extra sparkle.




This little guy is the baby, 7" long. I used crepe paper that I pleated and gathered, some battenburg lace, and other vintage laces. The crown effect is again cut on my Circut machine. These were such fun to make and quite easy too once you got the hang of it. I think they would be so pretty added to a package, You could fix them so you could hang them, and on and on. Get the Magazine and give them a try. BTW the whole magazine is beautiful. TTFN

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Victorian style needle case

This precious needle case is just too sweet. I made it from recycled velvet, silk, and flannel. I love to use bits and pieces that have been rescued from the land fills, because that is where so much ends up after it has passed thru garage sales, goodwill and other donation thrift stores. So I rescue what I can and use it in my crafts and home. This little case is just about a 3" square, I did a photo transfer on dupioni silk, I printed the picture from my computer, it is free clip art.

The ribbon embroidery is one of my favorite things to do it is so beautiful, and looks so vintage.
The lace is a bit that I had from a sale, I have boxes of it, I just can't pass it up, and it adds so much to any craft project.
This is the inside, it has 2 flannel pages and the ribbon down the center is just to bring some detail to the inside. I have been sewing ever since I can remember. I will tell you a little sewing tale.
When I was in High School ( Oh so many years ago) I wanted a new dress for something I cant remember now. I had no sewing machine, no real scissors I did have a couple yard of material, and a pattern. So I laid out the pattern on the material cut it out with manicure scissors and sewed it with needle and thread, it wasn't half bad, that included putting in a long zipper, as it was a sheath dress. Now you can guess how long ago that was. I encourage all to enjoy some kind of crafting, needle work
( my computer won't let me stay on that line) scrap booking, we all have that creative urge, who knows what lovely thing you can come up with. TTFN

Thursday, July 2, 2009

My first Swap


Again my computer is not allowing me to comment with my pictures. This was my gift from my swap partener Char who resides in Arizona. The swap was a 3 part deal it had to include a flower, birds nest, something beach, and it had to include something handcrafted, it could relate to any of the themes or be something in addition to the 3 items.
So I got beach tags, and a shell soap, and beach swizzle sticks. I forgot to get the pincushion in the picture it is one the of her handmade things and just darling, she also made the seashell tags. Don't you love the eggs in the nest so cute with the glitter and the roses. the big star is just a close-up of one of my swizzle sticks.And the napkins are part of the flower theme, along with the print on the pincushion. The cookies were just a bonus, and good I might add.
Well I tried to put a picture with this post I hope it works. TTFN

My first Swap





I am not sure what is up with my computer. This is my swap, she did so good. I explained it on the other post as I can't see my pictures and comment on them in my posting window. All I have is all the computer jargon and no pictures, they come up when I post but I am totally in the dark as to why I can't see them here.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Tea at the garden

Hi, I am sorry there is no comentary with the Tablescape post, but my computer is not letting me write with the pictures. It was a wonderful tea in a beautiful garden.

Garden Tea Party




Saturday, June 20, 2009

My first on line trade

I have just made a trade with another on line crafter. We became acquainted via Etsy Cottage Style. I joined her group a week ago and already I am in a swap with a lady from Arizona, and have many on line friends. This is my end of the swap, several yards of vintage lace and some new as well. I in turn receive a darling tea cup pincushion, the tea cup has such pretty roses on it, if it has roses on it I like it for the most part, especially if they are pink, and these are.

You can join Esty Cottage Style also just go to the button on my side bar, it is a fun place.
TTFN