Made this Wreath and I'm in a Magazine!

I made this wreath yesterday. By the time

I was finished, my hands were

raw from the burlap!

I made the bow out of burlap and vintage fabric.

The wreath is so gnarly and full, I love it

but am selling it in my

http://www.therobinandsparrow.etsy.com/

gotta pay the bills you know...

My star ornaments are in this current issue of

Better Homes and Gardens

in the grocery stores!

I sold these in my paper store

http://www.royalpaper.etsy.com/

last year.

they posted the instructions....

...and decorated this tree with them,

I love this idea, wish I had

thought of it!!!

Have a great day full

of wonderful surprises!

xo

xo

clare

Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah...............................

Remember that old song? We used to sing

it on road trips as a family as

we crossed the nation in our

stationwagon hauling a trailer behind!

Lately I've been collecting old kitchy

things and either putting them in

my little cottage kitchen, or

selling them in my vintage store

http://www.intodumpsters.etsy.com/

Here are a few of the treasures I've found...

Oops, that's my husband, he's not for sale LOL!!

I love enamelware!

A must have for any cottage or farmhouse kitchen.

Miss Piggy Creamer

Vintage Canning Jars

A darling tiny tea kettle!

The cutest spice shakers ever!

A pretty to put your gravy in.

Thank you for stopping by! I'm going to go

over to Faded Charm and see if I can

find some more fun things to look at

for White Wednesday.

xo

xo

clare

Old Bottles into Shabby Treasures

One of my many addictions along with vintage

linen, vintage rhinestone anything, and

vintage buttons, is vintage bottles!

Today I made, once again, a new trio

of vintage treasure bottles.

These usually don't last too long in

my shop after I list them,

we'll see how long these do.

I had so much fun creating them.

I should have taken a picture of my workbench

by the time I finished!

 It was the biggest creative mess ever!

 

The tops, for some reason, always seem to take

the longest for me to do. These corked tops

were made with vintage jewelry, hat pins,

beads, and chandelier crystals.

The inside of the bottles house vintage linen scraps, lace, faux pearls,

wedding buttons and lace.

This rhinestone piece was an old

vintage pin.

Marie Antoinette is a piece of vintage stained fabric.

The whole collection is so sweet, shabby, and pretty!

Make your own sweet set as this, or if you

are too lazy and have a little spending $$,

stop by my shop to pick them up!

xo

xo

clare

A Coverlet to Die For!

It was a cold, rainy, icky, day the other day and

so to lift my spirits I headed to one of my

favorite junky vintage shops.

I just about pee'd my pants when I picked this

coverlet up. It is so unbelievably gorgeous, thick,

and heavy, hand-made of cotton.

I grabbed it, brought it home, hugged it for

awhile, walked around my little tiny

house to find a home for it....

Sarah's room

...contemplated my college daughter's room,

pictured it wadded up in the corner somewhere on

one of her weekends home...

...looked in my studio, remembered, oh yeah I

have a coverlet on my studio bed already...

...and then listed it in my Etsy shop,

http://www.therobinandsparrow.etsy.com/

for someone else to purchase and truly appreciate!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

xo

xo

clare

Knock, Knock. Who's There? Burlap Wreath!

I was standing in my studio yesterday

staring at my bin of burlap.

I'm not sure how long I stood there

staring but an inspiration struck me and

this is what transpired...

I made the roses out of strips of burlap and kept

them kinda messy and stringy. I thought

it added to the shabby look.

The whole project took about 3 hours of

hard labor (hee,hee) and by the time I

finished my hands were a little

raw and dried out, gotta love that burlap!

But it was worth it.

Now, since I don't need

another wreath here in this tiny house,

I have it for sale in my textile shop

http://www.therobinandsparrow.etsy.com/

So if you're too lazy to make your own :)

you can purchase mine!

xo

xo

clare

Spring Has Sprung?

Okay, remember last Saturday I was so excited

about the sunshine? I gardened and trimmed,

and planted...fast forward to today,

it is cloudy and dark and rainy...

I'm going to hang cozy in my studio today and

make another mobile like this. I sold this one in

my paper store awhile ago and I

miss it hanging in my studio.

The gal that bought it hung it in her guest room.

It's so easy to make, you make one too!

This mobile had a music theme to it. I may change the

pictures to something different this time.

Let me know if you make one! I want to see pictures.

Have a wonderful weekend my sweet little

nest of followers...

xo

xo

clare



"Mom Isn't That My Old Sweater??"

Okay, I'm just going to say that

before you give away your sweaters

think twice! They make the fastest, easiest

pillowslips ever!

I dug through my bin of old sweaters

and pulled out nautical themed ones for

this project.

Take your sweater of choice and using a

rotary cutter, slice down the sides,

taking off the sleeves then across the top

taking off the neckline. Leave the

bottom alone for this style. Serge up the raw

edges and you are done!

For this one I first added a nautical compass

using fabric for my printer.

This slip seriously took 10 minutes to make.

This time cut all four sides away,

serge all four sides, open the buttons and

stick in the pillow!!

This sweet tiny pillow was made from an old

Ralph Lauren baby sweater.

Again, cut off the three sides leaving the

bottom alone.

Serge the sides, and slip your form in.

I added old military embellishments to this one.

Hope this inspires. I would love to see what you create

using a sweater. Do share!

Have a wonderful weekend full of blessings!

.....clare

Oh The PossiDOILITIES!

Years ago I would pass by the garage sales that looked
like they were selling doilies and ashtrays!

What was I thinking!!!
Now it's what I look for...
doilies, that is, not the ashtrays :)

Here are a few projects I've made using these sweet pieces:

bunting,

a white sweater pillow, and lavender sachet.

I was contemplating a doilie pillow project today. You can do the same...

I am all for shortcuts whenever possible.

Trot on over to IKEA http://www.ikea.com/us/en/

and race to the pillow section. You will find

a hundred possiblities of pillow slips

to purchase and embellish!

They are made of a muslin type fabric

 and are zippered.

And the prices are GREAT!

They also have great pillow forms.

Then......perhaps sew this on the front....

or this...

or this....

or perhaps this...

This is a fast simple way to make a shabby chic

pillow for your shabby bed or guest room!

Now, check out what I found on http://www.etsy.com/ the other day....

...a doilie Rug!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68629597/doily-bath-rug-beige

How fun is this!

I hope this inspired you a touch today or made you smile.

Please continue to pray for Japan every

chance you get.

 xo

clare

Think Globally!

A year ago I found this cheap globe at a garage sale. The body of it was slightly puckered from water damage so I had no problem refacing it to make something shabby!

I mod podged some cool handmade paper all over it for the base. Then I started to decorated with little treasures from my studio such as old photos, vintage lace, paper flowers, vintage rhinestones, etc.

When I made this, I imagined it in a little girls room or nursery so the photos are of motherhood or children.

It currently hangs all sweet in my studio until I sell it.

You can go see it at http://www.royalpaper.etsy.com/.

Counting Down to Christmas

I remember as a child the anticipation and excitement of Christmas.  We always knew that when the Christmas Calendar was brought out the first of December, Christmas was just around the corner.  I carried this tradition on with my own children through the years. The Christmas Calendar held it's own special place at the eye level of whatever the kids ages were at the time, in the kitchen front and center.  I decided we all need to hold that sweet sense of childhood anticipation in our hearts and lives even as adults, so I created a grown-up version of the Christmas Calendar. Use this idea as a template for creating your own Christmas Calendar.  Enjoy...

I used an oval board, covered it with a raw burlap and trimmed it out with vintage trim.  Depending on the size of your board, plot out where you want to place your nails.  I used gold for the nails.  Now it is so trendy to mix silver and gold in mixed media.

To make the calendar squares, simply cover a sturdy piece of cardboard, both sides with a strong canvas type material. Then rotary cut the squares to the desired shape and stamp each one with a number.  Then trim out with glass glitter.

Then start hunting for little treasures to hang on each nail.  I found alot of these treasures at vintage stores.  Then I hung each one with gold thread.