Paper Succulent Garden

What do you get when you combine the popular succulent gardens with the trend of decorating in creamy white color schemes and the desire to recycle thrifted treasures? The answer is a DIY paper succulent garden.

Designers Craft Connection - May Blog Hop

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for the month of May. The theme this month is Handmade Wishes. I chose to do a project that would showcase items that were handmade by others a long time ago. As always, almost all of the supplies used are thrifted.

I often find beautiful crocheted doilies at estate sales. I know these pieces take a lot of time to make so I  imagine that they hold many dreams and hopes within their intricately woven threads. I used several to create a wreath in celebration of the women who crafted these lacy pieces. This is my Mother's Day offering of handmade wishes to honor their handiwork.

I began with a wreath form and cut strips of burlap and wrapped it around the form. 

Next, I draped handmade doilies over the wreath while trying to vary the many shades of creamy white. I added lots of layers, including vintage {machine made} lace embellishments to creates  texture.

Next I draped several strands of faux pearls.

Then added handfuls of rhinestone jewelry to add sparkle. I love how this is dripping with lace, pearls and rhinestones.

My handmade wish is to honor everyone who patiently makes things by hand for the enjoyment of future generations.

Please use the DCC blog hop button on the right to view more awesome project created by a very talented group of crafters.

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Pieced Pastimes

Piece Pastimes 2013 Favorites

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504 Main, Beyond the Picket Fence, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, DIY Home Sweet Home, Elizabeth & Co, Faith, Grace, Crafts, French Country Cottage, From My Front Porch to Yours, Hey What's for Dinner Mom?, Lamberts Lately, Making the World Cuter, My Repurposed Life, My Romantic Home, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Pieced Pastimes, Savvy Southern Style, Sew Can Do, Sew Much Ado, Simply Designing, Somewhat Simple, Sugar Bee Crafts, The 36th Avenue, The Colorado Lady, The Shabby Nest, The Thrifty Groove, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse and Twin Dragonfly Designs

Tiny Tiered Tart Pan Tidbit Tray

The name of this post is a bit of a tongue twister.

I like tiered tidbit trays. They make me feel like a party is about to happen even when used as an everyday organizer. I decided to create a variation of a tidbit tray when I found some tiny tart pans at an estate sale recently. The largest tart pan is only 3 3/4" across.

Office Decorating Update - Button Magnets

I have been slowly adding more repurposed vintage items to my office at work. First I created my non-corporate nameplate using Scrabble tiles and an old ruler. Then I repurposed a painter's dropcloth as a backdrop to my cubicle walls and added rosette clips here. And then I repurposed a vintage doll suitcase as my inbox.

Recently I started using a vintage metal child's chalkboard desk as a bulletin board in my office. Here is what it looked like originally. I am using just the desktop part as the magntic board but it needed some special magnets.

I searched through my button stash and used almost all of the aqua buttons for this project. I glued them into stacks of either two or three button high and then onto magnets. I can also use them for the office Bingo game.

This project was so simple and it just brightens up my office wall.

This is linked to:
Bowdabra Blog, Cherished Treasures, Craft Envy, DIY Showoff, Hey Whats for Dinner Mom?, Homemaker on a Dime, I {heart} Naptime, Marvelously Messy, Mod Vintage Life, Sew Can Do, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative and The Southern Institute

Tiered Records Candy Display

A while back, I had bought a tiered, silver-toned, serving stand at a garage sale. The silver coating wasn't very good but I liked the fact that the stem could be removed.

Then last week I was at an estate sale and found a stack of old records of various sizes. I noticed that there were some unusual old 33 1/3 rpm records that were only 7" across plus some that were only 9 3/4" across, both of which are smaller than the full-size records.

I decided to combine the smaller records and the stem of the tiered serving tray to create a fun and unusual tiered candy display. Wouldn't this be great as a centerpiece for a 1950s themed party!

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Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Reduce, Reuse, Upcycle





The 36th Avenue




Saved By Love Creations

Cut Out + Keep

This is linked to:

504 Main, A Little Knick Knack, Between Naps on the Porch, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blue Cricket Design, Cherished Treasures, Coastal Charm, Creating a House of Grace, FaveCrafts, Finding Fabulous, Frugalicious Me, Home Savvy AtoZ, Homemaker on a Dime, Keeping It Simple, Life Made Lovely, Lovely Crafty Home, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, Mod Vintage Life, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Not So Simple Housewife, Passionately Artistic, Running With Glitter, Sew Can Do, Sew Much Ado, Simply Designing, Singing Three Little Birds, Somewhat Simple,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  The 36th Avenue, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative,  The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Southern Institute, The Trendy Treehouse, Thrifty Decorating, Vintage Wanna bee and What Allie's Making Now

Combining a Couple of Thrifted Objects

Years ago, as an art student in college, I once found a box full of shoe trees at a thrift store and used them for a project. Since then, they have always held a nostalgic creative spot in my heart.

Flash forward to today and another pair of thrifted shoe trees. I decided to create something useful by combining them with parts from a photo tree.

I used the shoe trees to form a sturdy base then added the wire arms from the photo tree. The images displayed are from the Graphics Fairy. 

I added burlap rosettes and buttons as accents. These are such a playful, decorative display solution while being extremely thrifty at the same time.

I had so much fun turning these beautiful Found objects into useful, decorative items.

This is linked to:
504 Main, A Little Knick Knack, All Thingz Related, Between Naps on the Porch, Beyond the Picket Fence, Cherished Treasures, Chic on a Shoestring, Common Ground, FaveCrafts, French Country Cottage, Frugalicious Me, Homemaker on a Dime, I {heart} Naptime, Keeping it Simple, Lovely Crafty Home, Making the World Cuter,  Marvelously Messy, My Romantic Home, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Not So Simple Housewife, Paisley Passions, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Savvy Southern Style, Sew Can Do, Sew Much Ado, Simply Designing, Singing Three Little Birds, Skip to My Lou, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Tatertots & Jello, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Southern Institute, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Thrifty Decorating, Truly Lovely, Twin Dragonfly Designs,  Type A Decorating, Under the Table and Dreaming, Vintage Wannabe and What Allie's Making Now

4th of July Thrifted Decorations

Happy Independence Day! It is one day early but I plan to be celebrating with my family and friends tomorrow so I wanted to post a day early.

I created these table decorations using all thrifted elements or supplies used in other projects.

I started with vintage large spools. I wrapped some with white felt to cover the color of the thread still on the spool. I used bits of burlap to add texture and a little bit of lace. There are also two pieces of vintage, hand-crocheted elements used.

I wrapped one spools with Blue Chip Stamps and it became "Red, White and Blue Chip Stamps".

There is so much more you can do with these. I just had fun using so many thrifted supplies. Here is one idea on how to use these as a centerpiece.

I would also like to take a moment and thank Bree at Coupons on Caffeine. She did a wonderful Feature on my blog. And besides being so sweet to feature me, she also posts money-saving coupons which you can't help but love. So if you have a chance, visit her blog and Follow her for some great money-saving offers. Thank you Bree!

I hope everyone has a safe Fourth of July celebration.

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A Little Knick Knack, Between Naps on the Porch, Cherished Treasures, FaveCrafts, Homemaker on a Dime, I {heart} Naptime, I'm Topsy Turvy, Itsy Bitsy Paper,  Keeping It Simple, Life Made Lovely, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, Paisley Passions, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Sew Can Do, Sew Much Ado, Singing Three Little Birds, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Sue Loves Cherries, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  The 4Rs, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative, The Thrifty Home, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Southern Institute, The Trendy Treehouse, Thrifty Decorating, Type A and Very Merry Vintage Style

Thrifted Pin Cushion Tote

I decided to create a practical project this week. I seem to be doing a lot more sewing lately. For many years I've kept my sewing pins in a little wooden box which was not always convenient. I decided to make a pin cushion using something thrifted. I have a lot of found items so I started looking for the perfect base to begin with.

Here is my new pin cushion sewing tote.

I began with a small, old wooden tote. It is 6" wide by 7" deep so it isn't very large. I used Cosmo Cricket papers and Mod Podge to cover the outside.

I used a piece of fabric just slightly larger than one opening of the tote. First, I loosely gathered around the edges of the fabric then glued it with hot glue to three inner sides of the opening. I left the side closest to the handle open so that I could add stuffing. I packed a lot of stuffing so that it would be well-formed and then glued the last side closed.

Now I can keep the pins handy as well as have a place to store a pair of scissors, threads or buttons.

Here is what the tote originally looked like together with the papers and fabric that I used.

This is linked to:

All Thingz Related, Beyond the Picket Fence, Coastal Charm, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy,  Creating a House of Grace, FaveCrafts, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, I {heart} Naptime, I'm Topsy Turvy, It's a Very Cherry World, Keeping it Simple, Life Made Lovely, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17,  Running With Glitter, Savvy Southern Style, Screaming Sardine, Sew Can Do, Sew Much Ado,  Singing Three Little Birds, Someday Crafts, Southern Institute for Domestic Arts and Crafts, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Thrifty Decorating, Twin Dragonfly Design,  Type A, Under the Table and Dreaming and Very Merry Vintage Style

Sewing Bobbin Necklace

I love vintage sewing notions. Recently I found an assortment of metal sewing bobbins at an estate sale. I already had a bag of thrifted thread spools that weren't vintage enough to be collectable but I didn't want to waste good thread.

I combined the bobbins and thread to create jewelry.

I added the bobbins between some beads on my Pandora necklace. This idea would work with most beaded necklaces.

That's my thrifted mini-dress form modeling for me.



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Singing Three Little Birds

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A Little Knick Knack, Bacon Time,  Between Naps on the Porch, Blue Cricket Designs, Brambleberry Cottage, Chic on a Shoestring, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy, FaveCrafts, Finding Fabulous, French Country Cottage, Homemaker on a Dime, I'm Topsy Turvy, Inspiring Creations, Just a Girl, Keeping it Simple, Life Made Lovely, Lovely Crafty Home,  Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, My Romantic Home,  My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Paisley Passions, Passionately Artistic,  Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Screaming Sardine, Sew Can Do, Sew Much Ado, Simply Designing,  Singing Three Little Birds, Skip to my Lou, Someday Crafts,  Somewhat Simple, Southern Institute for Domestic Arts and Crafts, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Tater Tots & Jello, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Thrifty Groove, The Trendy Treehouse, Thrifty Decorating, Truly Lovely, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Type A, Under the Table and Dreaming, Vintage Wannabee and What Allie's Making Now

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.

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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

Thrifted Dress Form Remake

Isn't she beautiful. I first saw her at the thrift store last week but decided to purchase something else instead. She wasn't vintage and originally looked rather frumpy but there was something about her that got me thinking. Then, a week later, I had an idea of what I wanted to do with her if only she were still at the thrift store. I raced down there during my lunch hour and found her still sitting standing on the shelf.

I love the idea of a vintage dress form but I don't have the space nor the cash to own one. This dress form is not old and only about 25" high. It is the perfect size to use as a display.

Here she is all dressed up in her Easter finery. All of the lace is vintage. I rummaged through my mother's old jewelry and found some necklaces. Draped around her are some beautiful glass beads and a pearl necklace that might be real.

But to really appreciate her, you need to see what she looked like when I first bought her. Both the choice of fabric and lace (left photo) made this dress form look oddly misshapen but I saw potential.

I removed everything off of her, saving only the velvet around her neck and arm holes. Using the blue striped pieces as a pattern, I cut linen fabric to fit. I hot glued the fabric in place making sure to stretch it to fit the curves. This wasn't easy and the hot glue was really hot. I used vintage lace to cover all of the seams and then gussied her up for her photo shoot. Here she is re-dressed on the right. What do you think?

Please be sure and check out my GIVEAWAY going on right now. I'm giving away a little tote bag that I made in celebration of reaching 200 Followers. Check it out for a chance to win. This giveaway is now closed.

I'm honored to be featured at All Thumbs Crafts.

This is linked to:
504 Main, A Little Knick Knack, All Thingz Related, Apron Thrift Girl, Between Naps on the Porch, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blue Creek Home, Blue Cricket Design, Brambleberry Cottage, Chic on a Shoestring, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Craft Envy, DIY Home Sweet Home Project, FaveCrafts, French Country Cottage, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, House of Grace, I {heart} Naptime, Inspiring Creations, Just a Girl, Keeping it Simple, Krafty Kat, Lovely Crafty Home, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, My Backyard Eden, My Romantic Home, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Paisley Passions, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Savvy Southern Style, Sew Can Do, Simply Designing, Singing Three Little Birds, Skip to My Lou, Somewhat Simple, Sunburnt Cow Handmade Shop, Tales from Bloggeritaville, Tatertots & Jello, The Colorado Lady, The Girl Creative, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Thrifty Groove, The Trendy Treehouse, Truly Lovely, Under the Table and Dreaming, Very Merry Vintage Style, What Allie's Making Now and Wildflowers and Whimsy

Vintage Spool Placecard Holder

This placecard holder is part of a larger project that I am working on. Here is a tutorial on how I created this easy project.

Supplies I used:
Wooden Spool (vintage or new)
Lace (length varies depending on the size of the spool but approximately one yard should work)
Alligator clips (mini, 1 1/4" Test Clips, available at Radio Shack)
Chopstick (pointy kind. A small stick might work as long as the end is thin enough)
Saw (or some way to trim the chopstick to length)
Various embellishments

Begin by inserting the chopstick through the spool. Keeping the point flush with one end, mark the length so that the piece will be the same length as the spool once it is trimmed. Using the saw, carefully trim the chopstick.

Next, attach the Alligator clip to the narrow end of the trimmed chopstick. I used needle-nose pliers and pinched the clip to the chopstick. I also used a bit of hot glue to tightly secure the two.

Insert the alligator clip/chopstick piece into the spool and carefully add a spot of hot glue into the top hole to center the clip and some glue into the bottom hole to secure the piece. Be careful not to let the hot glue overflow on the bottom of the spool or it will not sit flat.

Now comes the fun part. Start wrapping the lace (or other embellishment) from the bottom upwards. I used a bit of handmade lace that I found at an estate sale but you can also use ribbon. Note: If you cut handmade lace be sure to add a tiny bit of glue (I used Glossy Accents) to both of the cut ends so that they do not unravel. When you reach the top of the spool, add a spot of glue and secure the end.

To embellish my final piece I inserted a pearl-headed pin and some millinery flowers. The little card on top is from a card game I had thrifted. I liked how it mentions "a second-hand store". It is held in place by the alligator clip. There are so many ways to embellish these. I plan to share more when I complete the bigger project.

Don't forget to comment on my GIVEAWAY post here and become a Follower for a chance to win some vintage ephemera. {Giveaway is now closed}

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Linked to:
A Little Knick Knack, All Thingz Related, Between Naps on the Porch, Blue Cricket Designs, Brambleberry Cottage, Chic on a Shoestring, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Finding Fabulous, House of Grace, Just a Girl, Keeping it Simple, Krafty Kat, Lovely Crafty Home, Making the World Cuter, My Backyard Eden, My Romantic Home, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Paisley Passions, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17, Sarahndipities, Skip to my Lou, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Tales From Bloggeritaville, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Under the Table and Dreaming, What Allie's Making Now and Very Merry Vintage Style

St. Patrick's Day Rosettes

A bright shade of green always reminds me of Spring and I'm ready for Spring.

I gathered up lots of scraps of various shades of green paper and die cut them using the Sizzix, Paper Rosettes die. I also die cut several Scallop Circles #2 to add some variation.

I created larger rosettes by doubling-up the Rosette strips (see tutorial below). I printed out the sayings on my computer and used a circle punch. I glued everything together and wanted to find a unique way to display them for St. Patrick's Day.

I recently thrifted some silver sugar bowls and had several mis-matched lids. I used 26 gauge, silver wire (24 gauge might have been better for more stability) and wrapped it around the knobs on the tops of the silver lids. Next I worked the wire until I had a nice, wide arc and used some pliers to create a hook on the end.

I punched a tiny hole in the rosette and balanced them on the hook above the silver lids.

Now all I have to do is wait for St. Patrick's Day.

HOW TO MAKE EXTRA-LARGE PAPER ROSETTES:

To create the larger Rosettes you will need to die cut two pieces (step 1). Glue them together leaving about 1/4" overlapping (step 2). Accordion fold in the same way as a regular-size Paper Rosette (step 3). Glue the ends together to create a tube (step 4). Following the instructions for a regular-size Paper Rosette, gather the ends and gently press down to fan out the sides. You will need to do this part very gently because the outer edges are being stretched and you don't want this to tear. Once it is flat, hot glue the die cut round piece to the center on both the front and back. (step 5).

I attached several Rosettes to a piece of ribbon and created a banner.

Please comment on my GIVEAWAY post here and become a Follower for a chance to win some vintage ephemera. {Giveaway is now closed}

This is linked to:
All Thingz Related, Between Naps on the Porch, Blue Cricket Designs, Chic on a Shoestring, Craft Envy, DIY Home Sweet Home Project, FaveCrafts, Finding Fabulous, House of Grace, I {heart} Naptime, Keeping It Simple, Krafty Kat, Lovely Crafty Home, Making the World Cuter, My Backyard Eden, My Romantic Home, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Paisley Passions, Passionately Artistic, Simply Designing, Skip to My Lou, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Tales From Bloggeritaville, The Girl Creative, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Under the Table and Dreaming, Very Merry Vintage Style,What's Allie Making Now, Wildflowers and Whimsy and Young Nesters

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