Corners of my home

This armoire is in a corner of my living room. I bought it years ago at a yard sale; all I did to it was paint the inside a deep green. It's one of my favorite pieces of furniture and holds all kinds of stuff behind its doors and in its drawer. Inside is our TV, dvd player, dvds & videos, as well as baskets of photo albums and catalogs. It definitely earns its keep!

Note Box

One of my favorite craft books is Charlotte Lyons' Between Friends: Craft Projects to Share. This notebox sitting on my vanity is one of the projects from that book that I did recently. It's great to organize letters, papers, notes, etc and can also hang as a wall pocket.
One of the the things I like the most about her projects is that you don't need expensive supplies or equipment. This is made from an old box--it was either a brownie or cake mix carton. I cut it to shape, added a piece of wire to the back for hanging and then covered it with a couple layers of papier mache. After sanding and sealing I decoupaged it with pieces of scrapbook paper and images cut from old books & magazines. I also added a little button to the front for decoration.

Charlotte Lyons' other book, Mothers and Daughters at Home: 35 Projects to Make Together also has a lot of good projects

Project

This is a new bag I've started to work on. I'm going to do a patchwork, with reds and blues, and a round bamboo handle. I still have to get some more pieces cut, then try to figure out a good arrangement.

I'm going to use some calendar pieces from the linen calendar I bought awhile back.

Hopefully I will get something accomplished on this tonight while I watch "Wives and Daughters" (disc 1) which just arrived in the mail today from Blockbuster Online.

Thrifty recycled blouse

I've seen some articles recently about recycled clothing and it got me thinking about a blouse that has been hanging in my closet for several years. I bought it at a garage sale for a couple dollars; a real bargain, I thought, for a new Banana Republic blouse with tags, never mind that it was two sizes too big for me--it was Irish linen and really nice! Of course, I never wore it because no matter how many times I tried it on, it still didn't fit! :) So, at the store the other day, I picked up this New Look blouse pattern figuring I could deconstruct the shirt and remake it. Why had I never thought of this before?! A lot of ripped stitches and a pile of scraps later, here's what I ended up with...
Annoyingly, I did not take a 'before' picture, being too impatient just to get started.

Corners of my home

This is a corner of my living room right next to the woodstove, so a cozy spot in the winter months. The chair, which was actually bought new, and the ottoman, a hand me down, are both slipcovered in white twill. The mirror, pillow, baskets and needlepoint footstool are all garage sale finds. The baskets are very useful for holding all my knitting needles and stash of yarns.

My day...

Well, I should be stripping wallpaper right now, but am posting here instead. It's been a busy day and I seem to be running out of steam. I grocery shopped this morning, worked on chemistry with Stephanie, and gardened in the afternoon, edging flower beds and hauling out wheelbarrows of sod then hauling in well composted manure. The tulips are coming up, the lilac bush is forming buds, and the grape hyacinths and the wood violets are blooming. Though gardening can be tiring, I love doing it and I love the beauty that comes of it.

Here's a picture of the beautiful tulips that my dear husband gave me for Easter...

Paper envelope sleeves

After seeing the ingenious paper envelope sleeves over at the Small Object some time ago, I finally found some time to make some. I used some scrapbooking paper that was on sale the other day for 4/$1--I love the colors and patterns.

After making the paper sleeves, I made some oval labels from a pattern in a clip art book. I had some old note pads of yellowed paper and that's what I printed the labels on for a vintage look.

All ready to get my receipts organized and nice to look at!

Easter Greetings

WISHING YOU ALL A JOYOUS EASTER!

Getting ready for Easter...

Today is a full day of getting ready for tomorrow. This morning I made Hot Cross buns--so yummy!-- and colored Easter eggs. I put together a Chili Egg Puff and a hash brown casserole to have with a ham and sausage for tomorrow's brunch. Also, made some dark chocolate Easter candies for the kids. The Rich Swedish Cream dough is made for the cinnamon rolls (a tradition) which I will put together tonight and bake in the morning. Now I'm off to make a Lemon Curd Cake with Stephanie...

Thrifty thinking

With a daughter headed to college this fall, I have decided to concentrate on being more thrifty. Soulemama and Wee Wonderfuls' creative and thrifty ideas offer lots of inspiration, as does Simple Sparrow's Use What You Have April challenge. So...here's my attempt at a handbag I saw pictured on Flickr, that I really liked.


The linen floral fabric I used was from my daughter's sixth grade graduation. It was such a beautiful dress, I never had the heart to get rid of it; for six years it's been hanging. The lining fabric I had leftover from another project as well as the elastic for the top casing. The chain handle had me stumped for awhile--I couldn't figure out how I was going to duplicate the handle in the picture. Then, one day at the store I saw it exactly--it is a choke collar for pets. Not something I would have come up with on my own, but it works.
Total cost of the bag...$1.20

Corners of my home

And this is my Mona Lisa! I couldn't resist the print when I saw it one day; I bought it and put it in a vintage frame I had. It's right above a bookcase in my dining room. On top of the bookcase is an old wicker tray and some interesting bottles I've collected.

Tote bag for the shop

I have finally finished up some projects that I have been working on. This tote bag is for my Firefly Farm shop.

It has lots of pockets in this outside floral section and then one large pocket inside. I trimmed it with some brown & white polka dot ribbon, and also used some of the ribbon with a vintage button for the closure.
I finished another purse for myself, which I will post pictures of soon.

My weekend

Here's some of what I did this weekend:

~watched the King Kong movie Friday night
~spent some time with Mike at the book store Saturday morning for tea, biscotti and some browsing; added Mason Dixon Knitting to my wish list
~stopped at a yarn store I've never been to and finally found the 16" size 7 circulars I've
been searching for--now I can finish "Cynthia"
~went to Palm Sunday mass
~made meatballs and baked peanut butter cookies
~worked on the reversible winter capelet by Julsey at peonyknits using leftover yarn
from two previous projects
~created this Easter garland after seeing the birthday garland in Martha's magazine; the
alphabet tags can be downloaded here

Corners of my home

This is a collection of old tins and a framed Cream of Wheat print that sit atop my Hoosier in the kitchen.

Besides storing my cookbooks behind the tambour doors, it also holds all kinds of art supplies.

Wee Bunny

Over the weekend I was looking to do a project just for fun. I've had a bit of a cold and haven't felt ambitious enough to finish the tote bag I had started awhile ago. I had downloaded the bunny pattern from Wee Wonderfuls (thanks so much!) and though I don't have any little ones I decided I would make it just for me.
I used some chenille from a thrifted bedspread and a springy floral for the back. I didn't have any buttons that would work for eyes so I embroidered them on. I did have a cute little pink button for the nose and embroidered the mouth in pink.

I made the pom pom for the tail using Bella Dia's wonderful tutorial and I was happy with how it came out, as I've never made one before.

Peeps

No not marshallow peeps...our baby chicks arrived at the post office this morning and I picked them up bright and early. What a lot of noise they were making when I walked in to get them!


Twenty-six packed into this little box for warmth. All are doing well now under a heat lamp to keep them cozy.