American Living

I have been working on a few patriotic projects for my shop. I love decorating with Americana decor! It reminds me of our freedom and of days gone by. Of carefree Summer days!

Yo-Yo Table Runner



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Petite Inspiration Swap

This past month I participated in a Petite Inspiration Swap-Spring Edition with Heather over at the Speckled Egg! I have been seeing these swaps all over blog land and have been wanting to join in. I came across the Speckled Egg and Heather just happened to be doing a Spring swap so I decided that I would join in on the fun! I was grouped with two amazing women, Cami and Melissa. It was sooo much fun putting together a box of vintage and vintage inspired Spring trinckets for these two fab ladies. I will definately be doing another swap!!! I took pictures of the boxes that I made for the ladies in my group and thought I would share them with you. I will post pictures of the boxes that I received from them in another post.

Anitque Linen and my hand dyed muslin that I cut and made into a flower and then added a
glass bead to the center.

 

All of the goodies! The other box I made was a little different inside but I had already
packed everything into it so perfectly that I didn't have the heart to take it all out to take a photo.



I made little envelopes out of wax paper hand stamped with paint
and added dried lavender from my garden!

I used vintage sheet music to make this small posie and placed it onto a
canvas that is hung by my hand died blueberry seam binding.

Vintage thread and a wooden clothes pin that I purchased at a local
antiques store called, The Star Mill, that was used by my ancestors as a flour mill.
So this store has special meaning to me! The ribbon is my hand dyed seam binding.

Paper millenery, a fabric rosette, two corked vials filled with flower seeds and vintage glitter
and then I sealed them with wax. I purchased the flower shell button, white bunny and spool of thread
at The Star Mill.

I also purchased the antique linen at The Star Mill! It was lovely linen. I made a small bag with
 lace and the same vintage linen that I will be posting on my Etsy soon!

Both of my boxes all finished! I added a handmade flower that I dyed and crinkled. I bought the paper
leaf from The Beautiful Life and added the vintage yellow flower that I purchased from Speckled Egg!



To dye or not to dye

I L.O.V.E hand dyeing anything that can be changed to a new color. So I got into a dyeing mood today and thought I would share with you what I have been recreating with color. I enjoy using items that are natural like fruits. Today I used cranberries, walnut ink, and black tea to dye ribbons, tags, fabric, paper, crepe paper rosettes, and paper doilies. Some of the things that I have made will be going into my Etsy shop!!!

 

 First, I gathered my supplies. I didn't take a picture of the cranberries
because I forgot and threw the bag away.

 Second, I mixed my elements to get them to the precise color. I cooked and smashed all of the
yummy goodness from the cranberries.

 Mixed my Walnut Ink to the desired darkness

 Finally, boiled my tea to the exact caramel goodness.

I dyed some doilies, coffee filters, seam binding, crepe paper rosettes, fabric and silk.

After dyeing the tags, I hand stamped them with acrylic paint

 I also stamped seam binding using my acrylic paint.

I love how my coffee filters turned out. The perfect shade of cranberry. Now it is your turn to go and dye a little something, but I am warning you it is addictive! The tags and ribbons will be going into my etsy shop within the next few days!!!





 

MIA and a few new creations

It has been a while sense I have posted. Lets just say that I have been MIA {missing in action}. I had to have emergency surgery for complications that caused internal bleeding and I have been trying to recover from that. Life continues to go on and therefore things still have to be taken care of. If life could only pause in times like these I think things would be a lot easier. Thank goodness for the gift of being able to create. It has helped me to find myself again and to get out of the funk that I have been in. I needed something to give those who have so generously given of themselves to me and my family while I have been down and out. A little "thank you" for such lovely kindness in a time when it was soo desperately needed! So here is what I created. I love hanging items from my door knobs. I think it adds warmth. So I thought I would create a little warmth for those who have helped me.



A little rosette love with linen and the French General.



Vinage French chocolate graphic with a burlap rosette.

 So if you want a little love or need to give a little love, you can get these oh so sweet door knob hangers in my shop! Have a great day!

Inspiration!

There came a time when the risk to

remain tight in the bud was more

painful than the risk it took to

blossom.  Anais Nin

May we all find the courage to open up and show the world our beauty. To try things that we have always desired to do. The courage to stand for what we believe and to remember where we came from and what we can become.

Drop Cloth Curtain Tutorial

This is one of those projects that I have had in the works. We moved into our beautiful home almost two years ago and I am working on getting each room finished. Right now I am working on a bedroom that we are using as a "toy room." It will soon be my babies room. So I have painted the walls, which I will show you pictures of later, we are in the process of adding chair rail and I have just finished the curtain!! I thought I would show you the process of making a drop cloth curtain.
 

I bought this package of drop cloths at Lowes that came with 2 different sizes.  The window needed the larger drop cloth {6ft x 9ft}.  The one thing that I love about these is that they are already hemmed. So that takes away one step in making the curtain! I decided how wide I wanted the rod pocket to be, measured and then sewed. I decided that I wanted it 3" because I wanted a chunky look.  Next, I hung the curtain on the rod, then decided how long I wanted the curtain. I wanted it to drag slightly on the floor. I figured that I needed to hem 10" on the bottom of the curtain. I again measured and sewed.

 Here is my  rod pocket all sewn.

  

Here is the 10" I folded up and then sewed all the way across and on the sides. The reason I sewed the sides is because I don't want any toys being stuck inside, and there would be all sorts of stuff believe me!

Here are my supplies. Painter's tape, tape measure, and a Mark-B-Gone. I ran out of FROGTAPE so I ended up using blue painter's tape, which I liked better for fabric.

I then measured in 1" all the way down the length of the curtain.

I then applied my tape so that it just covered my marks. I then measured 1/2" from the edge of the tape and applied another strip of tape just covering my marks.

I then applied my paint. I used French Grey Blue by Americana. Make sure that you only move your paint brush in an up and down motion to keep the paint from going under the tape.

I removed my tape. Then I measured another 1/2" from the edge of my paint line and applied more tape. The tape will cover your painted line but that is ok. We want it to look faded and old. :)

After I applied the tape, I measured from the edge of the tape 1" and once again applied tape. {I hope this makes sense} I then painted and removed the tape. Now you have a paint line that is 1/2",  a 1/2" space, a 1" paint line. One more to go. Are ya still with me? Now you are going to kill two birds with one stone by making two marks at once. Measure once again at 1/2" and also at 1". {Marks are pictured above}

This is what your last tape line should look like. Then apply your paint and remove the tape.

All done!! Now you can shout for joy :) It is ready to hang. {I promise that my lines are straight, it doesn't appear to be so in the picture}

Looks soooo good! Don't mind the toys in the picture, it is still the playroom! The window will soon have a blind.

Perfect hem and length. I haven't sewn this straight of lines EVER!!!

Perfect chunky rod pocket.

Privacy please! I could have painted stripes on the other side but I wanted it just on the one. So after a sore neck and carpet burned elbows, I have a perfect and new curtain that I L.O.V.E.!!!!!!! Now it is your turn ;)

{When the paint is completely dry then you can remove the marks with water. Only if it is a water soluble pen}

 Edited to say that I am linking this post to

http://www.freckledlaundry.com/  {Air Your Laundry Friday}Textile Link Party #14





Spring

I am READY for warmer weather. As I have been thinking about Spring I had a creative idea come to mind to make a spring wreath. So I stopped all other projects and went to work before the idea left my thoughts. So the projects that I was working on are now forgotten  put on the back burner (for a moment) and I now have a BEAUTIFUL wreath in my etsy shop waiting for someone to take her home!



You can hang it on a wreath hanger,

 

or your front door, or anywhere else you can think of!





Sunset

I have some projects to show you that I am working on that will soon be finished, I hope....so in the meantime I thought I would show you a picture of a sunset that I was able to capture. Even in the depths of winter when the earth seems so bleek, we are given a masterpiece! Although it only lasts for a moment, we can capture it in picture to last forever.

Happiness!

Custom wreath for a customer

I made this beautiful wreath for a customer of mine that lives on the East coast. She is sooo great!!!!! It is now in my oh-so-sweet shoppe!

I am linking this to

http://www.freckledlaundry.com/

I just wanted to thank Jami at Freckled Laundry for featuring my wreath on {Air Your Laundry Friday} Link Party #12!!!!