A Blog Post About A Blog Post

Wow - how cool is this?  I was contacted a couple months ago from Luna Bazaar - a great online company that sells great lanterns and other decor items.  I had purchased and used some of their paper lanterns to make a mobile in baby #2's nursery, they got wind of it and asked if they could feature my post as a 'guest spot' on their blog!  Well, time went by but yesterday I got word that they had it posted:

Luna Bazaar Guest Post

Luna Bazaar reallly is awesome - you can find ALL SORTS of great things for a great price:

paper lanterns in every size and color

glass vases

      

amazing pillow covers

sauce dishes - how cute to put jewelry in?

(ALL pictures sourced from Luna Bazaar's website)

Custom Owl & Wreath

Recently a friend asked me to make her both a custom owl as well as a Fall wreath for her own door.  The owl she said was for a friend who recently had a baby and had a pink/pastel themed nursery - I found some of these cute materials mainly from my stash that I used for baby #2's nursery... it turned out adorable!  

My friend's front door is a rust/maroon color so to stand out I used a marled khaki yarn - it has hints of rust and gray in it so I used those colors as accents.  I added a gray stripe and then some maroon and gold flowers.  A khaki satin ribbon finishes it off - perfect for Fall!

Fall Decorating - A Series: The Front 'Porch'

To dress up the front porch area for Fall I made a lovely grapevine wreath adorned with felt roses in gold and rust.  It really pops against the black front door that we have.  I think it's an 18 inch wreath which works really well since our front door is so large.

In addition to the fall wreath I used indoor/outdoor fabric in a 'fall-ish' print to create a slipcover for the outdoor pillow that sits on our adirondack chair.  I can't take credit for the design - my Mom came up with the idea for the envelope style and twig closure.  Isn't it adorable?  Thanks Mom!

A Crafty Failure

I found a fantastic tutorial/idea on Pinterest recently that I just knew I had to try.... how cool do these look? 

Source:Pure and Noble

In her tutorial/explanation she decided to use a hot glue gun vs. puffy paint as the original blogger did... I figured  - yeah, let's try it.  Unfortunately I was sloppy - all those little strings that happen when you use a glue gun?  They are VERY noticeable when you spray paint over the top of them.  Boo!  This craft project was a MAJOR FAIL!  Grade:  D-

Here's a better picture - see all the little strings?  Yuck.  This went into the recycle bin.

This vase was salvageable - I have it as part of my Halloween decor on my mantle but I don't 'love' it

Here are the black versions I did.... the first was a glass vase - I initially tried writing some words on it but that didn't work at all so instead I chipped that glue off and just tried putting on stripes.  Thankfully I only did one side!    The second version was just a soup can!  It turned out much better but only because I didn't use any glue on it!  ;)

Next time I'm trying the puffy paint.....

Do you have any 'craft projects gone wrong' stories to share?

Fall Decorating - A Series: Part 2 - The Mantle

I had so much fun looking on Pinterest to get inspiration for my Fall decorations.  I did a specific search for 'mantle decorations' because I feel lost when it comes to how to decorate this area in my house.  Here's what I was working with:

What do you suppose the builder was thinking when he left those huge gaping holes around the fireplace?  (I refer to them as 'cubbies'.  Maybe he has a special affection for silk plants/ivy?  Could you just see that tumbling out of each of the upper cubbies?  Unfortunately, I am NOT a fan of silk plants so I'm a bit lost.

 Here are some of the amazing Fall mantle ideas that I found on Pinterest:

Sweet Something Design via Pinterest

The Lettered Cottage via Pinterest

Parents.com via Pinterest



It's The Little Things That Make A House via Pinterest

Here is what I ended up with!

I incorporated some aqua (it's a main color in my living and kitchen area) but added golden yellow and orange to create a warmer color scheme.  The garland was made using silk leaves ($1.99 at A.C. Moore), felt penants cut with pinking shears and then sewn with a zig zag stitch onto brown and red binding tape.

I added some of the silk leaves to the sconces that flank each side of the painting over the mantle

Using some silk Mums that I purchased at Hobby Lobby, I cut them down and put them into vases.  The sunflower painting I orginally painted a few years ago as a Christmas gift for my Mom - not sure how I ended up getting it back!

This driftwood was a going away gift from friends when we moved from Washington state - isn't it amazing?  

The book pumpkins - aren't they fabulous?  

I found the idea for them on Pinterest using this tutorial: Book Pumpkin Tutorial.  I purchased books at the Dollar Store, clipped some branches in my back yard and used ribbon that I already had on hand.... did you notice that the pumpkin on the right... the book is upside down?  OOPS!

Fall Decorating - A Series: Part 1 - Weathered Pumpkins

Source:  homestoriesatoz.com

Using this as my inspiration/tutorial: Blue Pumpkin Tutorial, I created some distressed pumpkins using Dollar Store pumpkins to make a vignette for Fall decorating.  I bought eight pumpkins/gourds at the Dollar Store then purchased Crackle Medium from the new Martha Stewart Paint Line as well as some metallic paint in Copper.  I definitely got a weathered look but it didn't really 'crackle' like the example above...  I'm happy with the final results though and look forward to being able to try 'crackling' other stuff!

This vignette sits on the credenza in my entry way....

My Mom sewed me a 'placemat' using some awesome indoor/outdoor fabric we found at JoAnne's.  We also used it to make a slipcover for my adirondack chair on the front porch - look for that in a future post!

Custom Made Patchwork Bag

Awhile back a customer contacted me about creating a custom bag for her.  She was this wonderfully nice woman LaVerne who lives in Vidalia, LA.... she had a dress that was her mother's and was hoping to make something special from it.  She had previously purchased one of my smaller handbags and was hoping I could make a larger one using fabric from the dress.  She mailed it to me and I opened the package to find a dress made of panne velvet - something I'd never worked with before.... thankfully my Mom was visiting soon so I held off doing anything until she arrived.  :)  Really, she ended up sewing the whole bag and I'm not afraid to admit that!  It looked like a HUGE pain to sew the velvet, plus my sewing machine is acting up.... she pulled it off though and the end result looks great: