Halloween and Fall Crafts take 2 :)

SO Today I want to share with you some more of the fall and halloween crafting and decorating that has been taking place here lately.
Here you see my new to me corner shelf. Can you believe I got this for $20 bucks?!?!



I almost couldn't believe it myself! Anyhow, My fall display in the center there was really fun to do.

The clock frame I had in my cross stitching stash, only I just decided to do some fun Mod Podge on it instead! The paper was a bulk bargain from Tuesday Morning at the beginning of summer, and the glitter chipboard pieces and clock workings were from Michaels.

I'm sure you may recognize the halloween busts, they were from the dollar tree. I painted them with Krylon Ivory satin and then glazed over them with Ralph. The books are part of an old encyclopedia set that we inherited, and I just used some scrapbooking papers, stickers and my handy Podge to tunr them into Potions and spells books. The wire pumpkin was completed by following a tutorial I found online..But I can't find it again to give Credit to the writer! ACK!!


Next up is my buffet display. The runner was just finished on Saturday..I've decided to keep it because I like it so much :)I'm sure you also recognize the skulls. Who knew this would end up being a Pottery Barn Knock off? I certainly didn't when I bought these 2 months ago and dropped them in my hurricane LOL! I keep meaning to take them out and glaze them, and put them back with a bit of moss to create a true knock off. We'll see hehe.

The spider picture was just an old frame painted with flat black, a bit of the backside of my Tuesday morning paper, a beware sticker and one of the boys' old rubber spiders I salvaged from some toys we got rid of a couple of weeks ago. A little mod podge, a bit of glue and I think it turned out really cute!

The black and White gingham Pumpkins were a Target purchase..Aren't they adorable?!? I just couldn't resist them!

and Lastly The boo Blocks were created using some cut up 2x4 scrapbooking papers, Chipboard accents, letter stickers and..yep, you guessed it, Mod podge! There's also an exclamation mark but it wasn't working for me with 4 blocks so it's on standby until I make a 5th block.

Ok. So that's it for today, but I'll be back with more decorating, crafting and the after to this Freecycled before as soon as possible!

Halloween and fall Crafts anyone?

I've been crafting like crazy here lately, has a little something to do with a couple of herniated discs keeping me from sewing for very long I think, but still, it's been really cool to work with some other mediums.



I thought I'd share some of my finished fall and Halloween projects with you!


First is my Table center piece. I LOVE this! I got this gorgeous look for under $20, and I will use at least some of it year round!

I started with a large serving tray. The tray was a $3.00 yard sale buy. originally it was that very red not really cherry but supposed to be cherry wood. Some Krylon flat black (Krylon is my go to spray paint! LURVE it!) a bit of sanding and it fit the bill perfectly.

What makes planning a centerpiece on a tray is that it is easily moved for table cleaning (or like for in my case, pinning quilts)


The jute vase is just a salsa jar that was wrapped in twine, It turned out SO well. And who knew I would love this twine so much. I hope Target gets more next spring, I bought 3 balls of it when I found it in the dollar bins, but I'm already down to my last one!!



The white pumpkins/squash were from the Dollar Tree, I just spritzed them with a bit of Krylon Ivory, then Used my Ralph Lauren smoke glaze to deepen them up a bit. The other 2 ceramic pumpkins were also dollar tree buys, but I decided to leave them as they came for this year.


The orange "pumpkins" are round glass candy dishes with cable knit sweater sewn around them.
Stephanie Lynn at under the table and dreaming was the inspiration for them, although I made mine removable. In the large one I placed a tall candle stick with a plain emergency candle in the center, then I tucked a few dollar tree fall flower bunches in around it.


The tall brown vase is actually covered with yet another (removeable)sweater I picked up thrifting, and houses a vanilla scented candle. so yummy smelling! And the patterns it makes on the walls when lit is so pretty!



And lastly I took one of the dollar tree leave sprigs and pulled the leave sections off and scattered them around the tray bottom.
I like!

I am linking up to these parties!

DIY Dish "Basic" bag

This was actually a easy bag to make, You're afraid of the pleats you say?

Well, They do a very good job of explaining how to do them, and they are seriously easy peasy.



Just one thing, if you are like me and prefer a bag with a bit of substance and form, fuse some interfacing or batting to your outerbag pieces before you sew down the sides.



Also, even if you don't interface the bag, you might want to consider adding batting to your strap..I know my purse tends to get a bit heavy and the extra padding really does make a difference.



So here's my version, done exactly as directed in the webisode. Ok, I'm off to make one with my changes and see how it goes :)
Later!

:(

Pictures are apparently not included in the new mail format.

Here are the pics from the previous post, in the order in which they should have posted.

Blue and Brown blog bonanza and other crafty bits

I wish I had a big reveal for the blue and brown challenge, but alas the week on the couch kept me from working on our living room :(

I did manage to complete a few smaller things over the past couple of days. one of which is my contribution to the Great Blue and Brown blog bonanza that I shamelessly "borrowed" from Heather over at Me Making Do. I changed it up a bit for my version, shorter cans, fabric roses and a basket style handle, but one simply must give credit where credit is due ;)

There are plans for more of these in the future, I think they'd be adorable with herbs in the kitchen!

Heather's original version

I also made a tote..I had actually started this last weekend, but then my back went out and it sat just needing assembled, taunting me all week.

The fabrics are what was left of my green cupcake fabric after the quilt in the following pictures, 3 zip pouches and 3 snap pouches.

The quilt is just a simple tied quilt with a fleece backing.

And lastly, I finally finished sewing the binding on this quilt.

I just love this quilt. I used a vintage pucker dot for the back and instead of batting I used flannel, giving it more of a bedspread feel. So, that's it for now..It's time to get back to the sewing machine!

Later!!

Christmas Crafting from the couch

So I've been banned from the sewing machine this past week due to a muscle spasm in my back.

It's been kind of nice not being allowed to do anything.....OK, so that is as far from the truth as you can get!

It's truly amazing how not being able to do your normal daily thing makes you realize just how much you do without even paying attention!

Like Housework. I'm not talking about heavy cleaning, just the little things, Vacuuming, keeping up with the dishes, Taking out the trash, switching laundry....all these things you do just because they need done.

Or cooking..or sewing...or well...even normal movement in general for no reason than to shift positions!

My husband will tell you, this week we discovered that I am just TERRIBLE at the whole laying still and resting thing, unless I'm asleep from the muscle relaxers. Eventually I started listening and am not pushing myself to do more than I should though, and can feel improvement.

Anyhow, since I wasn't allowed to do much of anything I did some Christmas present crafting from my couch. 1 more nephew (I had to get more chalkboard paint, his is now painted and ready for some podge) to go and then I can work on their bags. There is still a bit of touching up to be done, and I'm thinking about adding a bit of ribbon..we'll see.

I've got a few extra clipboards I'm going to do up for the shop..so keep your eye open for those coming soon!

I also made up a pumpkin garland for my door that Hubby built me (oh that's right I hadn't told you all about that!)

Since most of the doorways in our house are arched, including the one to my studio, Hubby custom built this screen door to keep our cats out and away from my fabrics. I love that because it's screened and not solid I am not shut away from the rest of the household.

I had mod podged fabric scraps all the way around the door where the screen is attached. Then added the word create with a flower across the brace. The scraps still need some trimming done to them..I'll get to it eventually I'm sure LOL!

Time for a bit of breakfast,

Later!

Featured and more shop updates

I have been so very fortunate this past week by being featured in a few different places. First was my fall welcome featured by Stephanie Lynn over at Under the Table and Dreaming (Check out the side bar for the link!)


Then one of my quilts was selected for an artisan collection on Artfire, and now April has featured my Fall welcome on her blog as well(also a link on my side bar...I know I'm being lazy!)!
Thank you Ladies, I was honored beyond belief!


I also updated the store some more (HA!..Am a poet and didn't know it...I crack me up)

Time to get back to work..
Later!

New Shop items

I *have* actually been sewing in addition to all of the thrifting, furniture refinishing, cleaning, Laundry, and other multitude of Mom and housewife stuffs. I even finally got most of the way caught up on my quilting and hand sewing!

Just 3 more finished quilt tops to be pinned and quilted, one set of bumperpads to close up and I'm working on sewing down the binding on a quilt that I finished quilting yesterday. In the meantime, I managed to get this baby quilt, throw pillow and 2 runners completely finished for my Etsy Shop, and am working on orders and other store items as well.

Needless to say I've been keeping as busy as possible!

Time to finish dinner..

Later!

More thrifty Crafting and decor finds!

I should warn you, this post will be long and picture intensive, Hubby totally spoiled me this weekend and well, there's a lot to share!


It all started on Friday. While I was in Dayton for a Doctor's appointment, Minions 2 and 3 went to their Grandparents for the weekend leaving Me, Hubby and the almost 18 year old Minion 1 at home...which means I didn't have to do ANYthing!


On my way to the Doc's I stopped by a yard sale and picked up a couple of things:

These will all get a coat of paint, I haven't decided for sure what colors yet for the mirror or card holder.
The frame is another for my frame wall.

And then yesterday Hubby went with me to do some yard sale-ing and thrifting. We didn't get very far..one tag sale and 1 thrift store, but you will understand why we cut the day short by the time you get to the end of the post LOL!



This was was the thrift store haul. Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb is my favorite author..and I didn't have this newest In Death book yet..3 bucks for a *new* hardback? Sold!
Come Spring is a historical romance I have in paperback and have read many, many times..When I saw it for less than 2 dollars I grabbed it.

The frame is yet another for my frame wall, I really liked the shape of it. The little yellow crockery is for a gift for a reader of my blog, so no details or close up pictures of it for right now.


These sweaters and glass bowls are for THIS idea from Stephanie Lynn over at Under the Table and Dreaming

And I just love vintage sheets, and these are FAB! The tiny jelly jars were a steal at .50 a piece and will be used for notions storage in my sewing area.

Before we'd hit the thrift store, we stopped by the tag sale and let me just say...I'm glad Hubby was with me because I very likely would have passed a couple of these up due to them being box lots. I do want to say that as we arrived we were informed that we should take 20% off the marked prices so everything was actually cheaper that it would seem by the price tags.

These were the individual pieces we bought.

I just love the Spider! I know it was intended for a terra Cotta style pot, but I plan to use a round glass bowl on it and fill it with candy. The large glass vase is also for the recycled sweater deal, There are 2 vintage sheet music books, and another gift for another blog reader so no specifics, sorry.

Now for the box lots...

This one was packed FULL of stuff!

Here's a run down of most of what was in the tote.

79 FQs

21+ yards in yardage

25 zippers

24+ packs of elastic

3 vintage ric rac packs

9 bias and hem facing /tape packs

7+ packs of velcro

6 packs of buckles

5 pks of hand sewing needles

vintage buttons, machine needles and various other sewing notions and crafty items.

The second tote was all yardage..60+ yards to be more accurate!

I hit the jackpot on this trip, and pretty much wiped out my thrifting budget for a couple of months, but I think it was well worth it!

After the thrifting trip and a quick run to the grocery I sat down with hubby and we watched some tv while I finished up hand sewing the bindings on a baby quilt and table runner which I will post about after they've been through the wash and had pictures taken for the shop listings.

Now I am off to work on this:

The cross stitch is one I stitched a couple of years ago, and the quick cuts FQs were in my stash. The rest is from the Box lots :)

Check back later to see what they become!

Later!