Happy Trailing Wisteria

It has been forever since my last post, but I am back!!! I wanted to share with you the new garden trellis that my wonderful husband made for me. If you are anything like me, you have a stash of pages torn from magazines that have been waiting for project time! Well that came this week. I have a wisteria vine that finally bloomed this year after at least 8 years in the ground!! I had put it on a metal trellis that was way too small and flimsy so I went to my "stash" of ideas and pulled out the plans for this trellis. It is made of cedar. The plans called for using 1" copper pipe! Ouch! That would have cost more than the wood so we decided to use PVC and paint it with aged copper spray paint. We love the look and at $2.57 for 10' lengths of PVC, much cheaper. We (I mean he) drilled holes in the cross piece and I pushed in some blue marbles. My wisteria got a new trellis and my husband got to play with all of his power tools! I think they are both very happy!

I'm joining Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm

Sparkling Color

Is there anything more beautiful than a collection of Blenko Glass water pitchers with the light shining through them? I grew up about 10 miles from Blenko and as a child my family and I would go to the factory. I could walk onto the factory floor and actually stand next to the glass blowers! I could even go to the scrap pile behind the factory and find treasures like bottle stoppers and chunks of scrap glass. I had quite a collection. Then federal regulators made that a no-no. Bummer! I love these pieces and use them frequently. This is the original design and Blenko still makes them today. Enjoy!!

Linking up here

Make It Pretty Monday
Mopping Up Mondays
MET Monday

Burlap - not just for potatoes anymore!!

I am in love with burlap. And now there are so many colors that anything can look great when made from burlap! I still love the natural color the best, but I have used other colors and wanted to show you some of my latest creations.

These wine bags are made of burlap in potato sack and the labels are from natural burlap.

As you can see, I found this beautiful raspberry color burlap and used it for a pillow.

I used natural burlap for this pillow. There are different quality burlap out there too. You need to buy the best quality for the project you are working on or else you will be sorry. The looser weaves will shift on you if you are doing any seaming at all. Just experiment and have fun!!

Are you old enough to remember a "gossip bench?" Well, I am but now people call them telephone benches or tables. I bought this beauty at a local thrift store for $7.00 and proceeded to bring it into the 21st century! This one is probably mid-century. I love that term which means around the 50's or 60's. It has been recovered in mauve and teal and that just wouldn't do so I reupholstered the seat and back and painted the dark finish in a soft gray. I think it turned out pretty nifty! That's a word from the mid-century too!! Enjoy!!!

Windows open here and sunshine aplenty! Love the smell of the fresh air in the house after having everything closed up for what seems like forever!!!!!

I am doing my seasonal rearranging of my sewing/craft room. I finally got my shelf up over the window so I could display my treasures. I love seeing these things out in the open instead of in the closet on the shelf. The jack-in-the-box belonged to my oldest son who is now 39 years old. Yes, it still works! The ironing board was mine as a small child which makes itt, let's just say, very vintage!



 

Bluebird At My Window

It has been a few weeks since my last post but I am back!! Spring must be getting close for us here in North Carolina as I have had this bluebird fighting with himself in the window of my sewing room for weeks now! The bluebird house is a few feet away and Mrs. Bluebird has been redecorating and getting ready for the new brood. We have these bluebirds back every year and they are such fun to watch, but I wish he would figure out he's only fighting his reflection.

I have been doing a lot of sewing projects (while I watch the bluebirds) using burlap. I love working with this fabric.  I have made wine bags with drawstring tops and embroidered labels, also from burlap, to jazz up the bags. The first time I embroidered on burlap, it looked fine but it wasn't great. Then my sister gave me the tip that fixed it all. When you are embroidering on loosely woven fabric, to keep the threads from falling into the holes, use a piece of fun foam as your top stabilizer. The stitches sit up nicely and the foam breaks away cleanly leaving a very professional looking job. I bought a pack of foam in multi-colors for about $6.00 at Walmart. I have posted pictures below showing the process along with a picture of some of my finished wine bags.

Book Page Wreath

I am loving all of the projects using book pages that are showing up everywhere! I found a great tutorial at Makely Home for Girls blog. A trip to Habitat ReStore for some old paperbacks and a wreath form and I was set. My paperback book was really old and yellowed - just the way I wanted it to be! You really need a flat wreath form (in my opinion) for this to work properly and LOTS of glue sticks!! And I mean LOTS! But the most important item you need is a good ole #2 pencil so you don't burn your fingers like I did! I had blisters because I kept touching the same spots. Live and learn!

I have this hanging on the door of my sewing room and I love it.

Gilded to Chalkboard

I have been visiting the blog parties at Miss Mustard Seed and Elizabeth & Co. and seeing all the beautiful and clever things that other bloggers have done with furniture finds that I thought I should show you my mirror turned chalkboard. This began as a gold plastic framed mirror from the thrift store for $20.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but I loved the detail on it. I found a how-to for transforming a mirror into a chalkboard.

I sprayed the entire mirror and frame with a 2 coats of spray primer and let it dry.

Then I applied 4 coats of chalkboard paint (you can buy a quart at most home improvement stores) and one coat of red semi-gloss paint. After everything was dry, I used some fine sandpaper and began distressing the frame here and there so the original gold mirror would show in some places.

The cutouts in the mirror frame make the perfect place to put the chalk. When my grandkids visited last summer, I posted each day's menu. They loved it! So look outside the box when you are thrift store shopping. If it has great detail you can do something wonderful with it.

My Guest Room Redo

Welcome to my blog! Today has been a cold one here in NC. No gardening today, but I am in my sewing room where I can always find inspiration. I wanted to share a few photos of some recent DIY projects for one of my guest rooms.  I needed a headboard for a new set of mattresses so I was on the hunt at my favorite thrift store here in Denver. It didn't take long for the perfect one to show up! I bought this for $12.50! It was natural finished maple but that just wouldn't do for what I had planned. I brought it home - it barely fit in my car - then proceeded to transform it. I painted it and that was it! I also snagged a beautiful oak desk chair ($8.00) that really wasn't in bad condition but I wanted to use it in the same guest room so, you guessed it, I painted it red too! I love it. I added new casters and the burlap pillow. Of course, that wasn't all I bought at the thrift store that day. I also scored 4 shutters at $2.00 each. I painted one pair red and used them as window treatments. I love the look of the guest room and so did my first guests. I have lots of DIY projects to show you so come back again soon.