Pix for the Breakfast Room

My breakfast room is not in shape to show you pictures yet, but I did order this fabric for the windows:

It's Covington Wilmington Multi.  I have 5 windows and have made drapes for two of them so far.

I wanted to hang things on the walls that go with the fabric and are happy and kitcheny.  I have this book that I purchased at a library book sale years ago.

And it has pictures like this:

So I cut four of them out of the book and purchased four black frames from Target:

Then I searched through my stash of scrapbooking paper and found this:

This one was not working for me.  So I tried this:

Much better.  This is actually a beautiful butterscotchy, goldenrod color.  Next I tried this:

I'm really liking this one with the script.  So I tried this:





I think this one with the dictionary page is really great too.

I only had two each of the script and dictionary pages so in the end, I opted for the butterscotchy, goldenrod ones because I had four sheets of it.

I put them all together and hung them in the corner, next to a window with my silk geranium and Angus on the cabinet below.

I think they look great with the curtain fabric:

What do you think?

Cindy

I'm linking to the following:

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia's Tuesday's Treasures

A Beach Cottage's Good Life link party

Fingerprints on the Fridge's Feature Yourself Friday

The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday

Fabric Flowers

We’re moving in 28 days.  That means I had to put all crafty and decorating projects on hold. 

But, you know what?  I finished packing the china in my china cabinet as you can see from the following pictures:

 

  



Empty, except for the dust.

I guess that means I can do something fun!

In the course of cleaning out my closet and finding a pile of clothes I can get rid of, I found these t-shirts that I don’t ever wear but are still pretty. 

That’s when the idea of making fabric flowers came to me.  I love how so many blogs show these flowers used for everything from decorating purses to baby clothes.  I really, really want some to dress us my wardrobe. 

I googled fabric flowers and one of the first blogs to show up was Little Birdie Secrets.  They have several different fabric flowers but my favorite was the one on top.  They suggest starting with a 20” x 4” piece of fabric.  I decided to start with an old piece of knit t-shirt fabric to see how it works since all the shirts I’m using are knit.

 This is what my first one looks like.

I also made one from a piece that was 20”x2 ½”.

  

Here they are together.

These are the steps I used to make them.

Cut a piece the length and width you want to use.  This is the one that is approximately 20”x4”.

Fold it in half lengthwise.  I turned the edges in a little before sewing because I don’t want the raw edges to show.  That’s up to you.

I sewed it using the largest stitch on my sewing machine.  I didn’t even bother to change the thread because it won’t show when it’s done.  I didn’t back stitch; just left the thread long for gathering.

After sewing, I gathered along the length of the piece.

  

Then I rolled it up.  Here is the front . . .

  

. . . and the back.

  

I’ll just sew the roll together by hand so it doesn’t show from the front, add a pin and I’m done!

I'd love to see what your's look like.  Leave me a comment with a link to your blog.

Cindy

Project Update

Before giving an update on my projects I want to show you something I made about 15 years ago that I still love and display in my home.

I made it out of a 10" styrofoam wreath form, two sizes of white beans and blue, wired ribbon.  I used tacky glue to hold the beans on the form and it took hours to make because the beans kept sliding off the wreath.  If I ever make another one I'll probably use hot glue.

Now on to my project update.  The first finished item is the coffee filter wreath for my daughter.  You might remember that I already showed the wreath form and the coffee filters here.

My daughter asked if I would paint the edges of the filters pink.  That way it would look like a carnation and also fit in with her decor.

They turned out real pretty, don't you think?

I'm not sure how she wants it to hang so I haven't added ribbon.  Originally I expected the filters to meet in the middle since this is a small wreath form.  That didn't happen, but I still think it looks a lot like a carnation.  It is different from my brown coffee filter wreath shown here.

I'm still working on my 'Fresh Eggs' sign.  Here it is in process:

More on that in another post.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your Thursday!

Cindy

Linking to:

The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday

Homemade Jadeite Napkin Holder

I love Jadeite but don’t like the prices of the old stuff.  I have no problem with buying the reproductions since it’s the color I like more than the value of the old pieces.  I don’t even mind a plastic reproduction just to get that color. 

For that reason I decided to paint a plastic napkin holder.  I got mine at Walmart for under $3 but I think I also saw one at the Dollar Store and you know how much it would be there.

I decided to use acrylic craft paint knowing that it can chip off easily but my napkin holder won’t need to be washed often.  (I don’t have any children at home.)  When it does need to be washed, I can just paint it again.

Here is the napkin holder with just the bottom painted:

I painted the underside so that the part that shows is the shiny plastic with the paint showing through.  You can see how I painted the inside of the sides; again so that the shiny plastic is outside with the paint showing through.

Here it is all done with some of my collection of reproduction jadeite.

What do you think?  What color would you paint yours?

Cindy

I'm linking to:

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia Tuesday's Treasures
Coastal Charm's Nifty Thrify Tuesday
Freckled Laundry's Air Your Laundry Friday Link Party