Father's Day Gift Idea

I have seen a lot of fantastic projects using free hardware store paint sample swatches. I finally thought of a project that I wanted to create using these freebies.

At work I see people who have their children's artwork pinned up on their walls. I thought it would be a cute idea to create some way that a parent could highlight their child's art on a rotating basis without putting holes in the artwork.

I created this using a thrifted clipboard and free paint swatches. I chose the colors to have a faded, beach theme.

The clipboard is roughly 9" x 12 1/2" so I first trimmed 23 paint swatches into 2 1/4" squares. Next, I cut each square into rectangles that were 3/4" x 2 1/4".

I arranged the strips in a pattern on the clipboard until I was happy with the color combinations.

I adhered them with Mod Podge. I had to add an additional row along the top and cut two little angle pieces around the clip to cover the board.

With three additional paint swatches, I die cut the word "DAD" and adhered them with Mod Podge as well.

I created this in honor of Father's Day but you can add any name or leave it blank. This could hang on a wall and new children's artwork could be easily added.

I'm honored to be featured at:

This is linked to:
A Little Knick Knack, All Thingz Related, Be Different Act Normal, Between Naps on the Porch, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blue Cricket Designs, Cherished Treasures, Chic on a Shoestring, Coastal Charm, Designer Garden, FaveCrafts, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, Homemaker on a Dime, Inspiring Creations, Just a Girl, Keeping It Simple, Lovely Crafty Home, Making the World Cuter, Paisley Passions, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Sew Can Do, Simply Designing, Singing Three Little Birds, Skip to my Lou, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Sunburnt Cow, Tatertots & Jello, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, The Girl Creative, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Thirty Sixth Avenue, The Trendy Treehouse, Truly Lovely, Type A and What Allie's Making Now

Late Night Estate Sale Run

Maybe I am getting a little out of hand concerning estate sales. At 10 p.m. on Thursday night I happened to read an email from one of the estate sale companies announcing that the sign-up sheet would be posted that night. My son and I drove out to the location at 10:30 p.m. to put my name on the list. Call me crazy but I was able to find some great treasures the next morning.

I found two vintage suitcases. The first one has old travel stickers from Cannes, Florence, Rome and Venice. It is huge. The second one reminded me of an old Barbie suitcase shape.

There was a lot of vintage Christmas ornaments at this sale. I went crazy and bought all of the Shiny Brites and then some.

More Mercury glass sprays to add to my collection (which is also getting out of hand by the way).

I also found two Christmas corsages still in their boxes. How sweet to decorate a Christmas present with these instead of a bow.

I found some vintage Rayon seam binding. Did you know that Rayon was invented in 1855? These aren't quite that old but the colors are beautiful and I can use them as ribbons in craft projects.

 I also bought a bag of old wooden spools (maybe my wooden spool collection is getting out of hand too).

I love this sweet, bisque and wood, jointed doll. 

I also love Found objects. These wooden shoe trees are such classic shapes. 

The last treasure I found was this floral frog in the shape of a lily pad. It was just a unique and beautiful piece but when I turned it over I discovered that it is by Dept. 56. Does anyone know anything about this particular piece by Dept. 56? I haven't been able to find any information regarding this piece.

What an absolutely fun day of estate sale hunting. But with my collections getting out of hand I have decided to sell some of my found treasures (read that as "my family has strongly advised me to sell"). You might have noticed the new button on the right sidebar near the top. My shop is called Stuff to Treasure and it is now open. I have been working to fill my shop with many of the wonderful treasures that I have shared on my blog. Many items will now be available for purchase. Check back often because I will be adding things on a regular basis. 

Honored to be featured at:

                                            

This is linked to:

Apron Thrift Girl, Between Naps on the Porch, Blue Creek Home, Brambleberry Cottage, Chic on a Shoestring, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Creating a House of Grace, French Country Cottage, Frugalicious Me, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, It's a Very Cherry World, My Romantic Home, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, Tales from Bloggeritaville, The Colorado Lady, The Thrifty Groove and Type A

Fabric Fortune Cookies

I wanted to make a unique Thank You gift for my friends and family. I made fabric fortune cookies with personalized thank you notes inside.

For these cookies, I first printed several images from the Graphics Fairy onto printable fabric but you can use any regular medium-weight fabric. I chose images in an English Tea Party theme.

Materials needed: fusible batting, fabric (or printable fabric), soft wire, bias tape (or ribbon) and E6000 glue.

To begin, I adhered the wrong side of the fabric to the fusible batting as directed on the batting. Next, I cut the fabric into 4" circles. I used a die but you can draw a circle using a cup as a guide and cut with scissors. The circle should be 3 3/4" to 4 1/2" in diameter.

I cut the wire and white bias tape so that they were slightly shorter than the width of the circle. Next I placed the wire on the batting and then used E6000 glue to adhere the bias tape on top of the wire. Set these aside to dry flat.

While this is drying you can print out the fortune to fill each cookie. Each fortune is about 3" x 1/2". The fortune can be a thank you or rewards for little children when they complete their chores.

Next, place the "fortune" in the center on the bias tape.

Bend the "cookie" so that the wire is folded in half with the fabric towards the inside. {I don't show it here but you can hold the fortune over the bias tape as you work through the following steps}

Gently fold up each soft side (sides without wires) so that the fabric is now showing.

Adjust the sides so that they are full like a fortune cookie. You may need to push the sides out with your finger.

Just a fun, simple little project.

I am honored to be featured at:

This is linked to:
A Little Knick Knack, All Thingz Related, Blue Cricket Designs, Marvelously Messy, My Backyard Eden, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Paisley Passions, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Savvy Southern Style, Singing Three Little Birds, Skip to My Lou, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, The Graphics Fairy, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Trendy Treehouse, Thirty Sixth Avenue and What Allie's Making Now

Estate Sales and Race Cars

I am late posting this week because it was my birthday and we were out of town. I want to share some of my estate sale finds and then I will explain the belated posting.

Because we were heading out of town, I found several estate sales outside of our normal shopping locations. My favorite finds of the day were several Paint-by-Numbers. They were still in their boxes with all of the little jars of paint. Two are unfinished but the one shown here is not only completed but the "artist" signed and dated the piece. It was completed in 1970. 

The paintings were found in an out-building that must have been someone's craft room. I also found these large wooden spools and some floral supplies. I used to love the straw flowers that were so popular in the 70s.

In the same building were these old, wooden game pieces and a large number of glass insulators.

Inside of the house I found an unused Strawberry Shortcake pillowcase and some vintage pink flowers.

I found a lot of other small items that I can use for crafting; more wooden rulers and Christmas items.

Now to explain why I am late posting. I always wish my parents had not only encouraged my dreams when I was younger but allowed me to pursue my dreams. My son has a dream to drive race cars. So I am encouraging him to dream big because some dreams do come true. This weekend, my birthday weekend, we were out at a race track in the California desert. My son built his own car and is now learning how to race correctly on a real race track. I want him to live the life he imagines and have fun in the process. He is driving the red car in the middle of the pack.

I got a little sunburned but I also got a chance to hunt at some different estate sales but most importantly, I got to watch my son as he reached for the moon.

This is linked to:
Apron Thrift Girl, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blue Creek Home, Brambleberry Cottage, Coastal Charm, Creating a House of Grace, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, It's a Very Cherry World, Tales from Bloggeritaville, The Colorado Lady, The Thrifty Groove, The Thrifty Home and Very Merry Vintage Style

No-Calorie Birthday Cake

My birthday is coming up so I decided to make a no-calorie birthday cake.

Of course the cake is made of fabric and bits of lace so besides being no-calorie it also has no-taste.

My self-challenge was to use only thrifted items but it still needed to look like a piece of cake. The "icing" is made from satin ribbon and trim so it appears smooth and creamy. The "white cake" is lace so it has a porous cake texture. The "filling" is pink trim so it appears more dense.

This was a fun, simple project using all thrifted items including tatted, handmade lace. I plan to use this as a pin cushion.

This is linked to:
504 Main, A Little Knick Knack, Between Naps on the Porch, Blue Creek Home, Blue Cricket Designs, Brambleberry Cottage,  Cherished Treasures, Chic on a Shoestring, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Creating a House of Grace, Creative Everyday, FaveCrafts, French Country Cottage,  I'm Topsy Turvy, Inspiring Creations,  It's a Very Cherry World, Keeping It Simple, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, My Backyard Eden, My Romantic Home, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Paisley Passions,  Passionately Artistic,  Running With Glitter, Savvy Southern Style, Sew Can Do, Simply Designing, Singing three Little Birds, Skip to My Lou, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Sunburnt Cow, Tales from Bloggeritaville, The Girl Creative, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Very Merry Vintage Style and What Allie's Making Now

Silver and Porcelain Treasures

Today's hunt began with a false start. The first estate sale was advertised as a Saturday/Sunday 7am sale. We got there at 6:30 only to be told that they had the first day of the sale on Friday and today's sale would start at 8am. That threw us off a bit but we just went on to the next sale.

My favorite find of the day were these silver plated pieces. I love the shape and detail of the urn.

Estate Sale Vacation Days

I took two, half-day vacation days this week. For both days I was up at 5:15am and out the door. I went to two early estate sales and would you believe there are people who park motorhomes outside of the estate sale locations and sign up on waiting lists beginning at 4:30am! {Hats off to any reader who might be one of these dedicated estate sale hunters.}

Although I wasn't the first person in the door, I did find some lovely treasures. My favorite find of the day was this biscuit tin with poppies and plaid. It needs a good cleaning but I love the vintage look. Luckily the inside is clean and the dirt is only on the outside surface.

I also found this green biscuit tin, also very dirty but the pattern is so quaint. Both of these tins need a good, gentle cleaning.

I love old world globes and have a small collection so I was thrilled to find this vintage beauty. I did a little research and believe this to be from the 1950s since it still shows Hawai'i as a territory.

The best deal of the day were these vintage games. I got them at a great price. I bought several more but these were the most valuable.

I also found a handful of mercury glass spikes and a few other Christmas decorations. This will be added to my ongoing collection of spikes. I'm curious about the gold spikes at the top of this picture. They have labels that say "Japan" and they look awfully shiny yet the bead at the very end looks like old Mercury glass.

These are Santa cupcake toppers. I love the three skiing Santas at the bottom.

I found a vintage tablecloth decorated with 19th Century scenery.

I also picked up an odd lot of toys including a vintage, wind-up walking turtle (marked Made in Japan), tin train, old hand-buzzers and a wooden Pinocchio toy.

I also bought three little jars of old buttons. In the first jar there were these strange looking buttons. Take a look at the bugs and worm buttons at the bottom of this photo. When I first saw the worm buttons I stopped to make sure they weren't moving before I touched them. Has anyone seen these before?

I returned to one of the estate sales that I visited during the week and found a few more treasures at half price.

This is a set of three pitchers marked Royal Holland Pewter. I loved the sleek lines. 

I also found this mid-century ceramic piece marked Frankoma. 

It was a great three days of thrifting. 

Happy Mother's Day!

This is linked to:

Apron Thrift Girl, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Creating a House of Grace, Finding Fabulous,  French Country Cottage, It's a Very Cherry World, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Thrifty Groove, The Thrifty Home and Very Merry Vintage Style