Groovy Vintage Ben Franklin Fabric

I bet you've never before seen "Ben Franklin" and "groovy" in the same sentence -- but that's the only way I could think of to describe this neat fabric. I found it over Memorial Day weekend (perfect timing!) at an estate sale. I love its 1970's Bicentennial vibe. I wish I had the perfect use for it in my house, but I don't. So, even though it's hard to part with it, look for it in the etsy shop soon -- just in time for 4th of July projects!

Ballet Inspired Mixed Media Collage -- the Sequel

I'm officially finished with teacher's gifts tonight! Hooray! Here's the second ballet collage I made -- this one is for Clara's ballet teacher. I'm pretty excited about it, so I hope that she likes it! I'm ready for summer -- how about you???

Cupcakes!

I think I'm in love!!!!!!! These supplies arrived today, and I am so excited! Cupcakes! Polka dots! Chocolate labels! Love it all! This wonderful line is by Collage Press -- it's their Sweet Shoppe line. This is the first time I've bought anything by this company, but it won't be the last! The cardstock is very heavy and high quality, and all of the papers and embellishments are perfectly coordinated and so cute! Can't wait to start creating with this wonderful line.

Let's Make the Laundry Room Pretty!

With a vintage linens business, and a busy family, I spend a lot of time in my laundry room. When we moved into this house a year ago, I picked a pretty, soothing blue for the walls. Since then, I've slowly been adding little touches to the room to make it more to my liking. I figure: if I've got to spend so much time in here, I might as well enjoy the view!

This week I hung a curtain over the window. This neat curtain is a vintage piece that I found at an estate sale. I'm not sure what it was meant for -- and it's not perfect (it's got a few missing stitches and a couple of holes), but when I saw it, with all of the hand stitching and darling fabric appliques, I knew I couldn't leave it behind. I wanted to use it as a curtain, but wasn't sure how. It was my friend Kari's idea to hang it with my favorite tiny clothes pins (from Ikea, long ago). Eureka! It couldn't have been more simple -- I screwed 2 cup hooks into the wall, close to the ceiling line. Then I tied a bright pink ribbon between the hooks, and hung the curtain with the pins. It turns out that it's the perfect size, and it has a lot of "cute" factor!

Other things I've added to the room include a tiny painting from a thift store,

and new knobs that look like pink roses (thanks, Anthropologie!). It's become a pretty girly room, but let's face it, the one man in this house rarely darkens the door of the laundry room. So, might as well girl it up! Hope you like it!

Mixed Media Ballet Collage

This is a ballet-inspired sign that I made last night as a gift for one of my daughter's ballet teachers. I used a handy MDF board (made for making banners) -- these work really well for sign-making! This is the first time that I've tried using all of these different materials on one piece; in particular, I usually don't use this much lace. It took me a lot of time to piece this one together. When I was finally ready to start gluing all the parts down, I was so excited that I forgot to ink the edges -- and, of course, once it's glued down it's too late for that. Oh well! I'm still not exactly sure about the composition of it, but in general, I'm really happy with how this one came out.

I need to make one more ballet teacher gift. This time, I think I'll focus on blues and pinks. Stay tuned!

Found Treasure

Found this cute little cross-stitched sign while I was at the thift store yesterday. I like the sentiment (something to keep in mind, I guess) but I admit that it was the roses that really got me. And the price tag -- $5! I scooped it up, and promptly hung it on the side of the armoire in my office (I added the bow to cover the hook, but otherwise it's just like I found it). You just never know what you're going to find at the thrift store!

Vintage Sheet Music Star

I wanted to delve back into my vintage sheet music stash for some new projects. This is the first one I've finished. Start with a plain paper mache star (I got mine at Michael's):

Decoupage sheet music onto star in sections, using adhesive (I used Mod Podge). I found this step to be more difficult than I expected. I was working with very old paper, which tore easily. Also, making the sheet music work on the different surfaces of the star was a challenge. For my first effort, I thought it came out okay, but I would probably apply the paper differently if I did another one. Then I inked the edges, and used a glue gun to apply vintage millinery flowers and an old sparkly button. And here's the result!

I'm not sure why, but lately I'm really into this color combination -- this bright blue mixed with vintage paper. Love it!

Here's the star hanging in my foyer:

Not bad for a first attempt..... What else can I cover with sheet music???? Hmmmm.