The big 3-0

Today is Jeremy's Birthday!  The big 3-0!  On Monday Jeremy was working late so i went out to target to pick up some things to make cupcakes and a few presents.  Yesterday i made some pretty bunting flags.  Remember my burlap/doily ones?  Well i made some triangle colored ones yesterday.  I decided that i would surprise him this morning, so last night while he was sleeping i made the cupcakes and put out my colored flags and a couple presents on the kitchen island.  I was trying to be all secretive, which is hard for me because when im excited about something i can't help but tell him.  Last night when he went to bed i told him i was going to stay up and read (which i have done a couple times this week) but really i made the cupcakes.  So i had to tell him this morning that i lied to him...i didn't really read. I think he forgave me ;) Here are the bunting flags i made...



I spy with my little eye....something staring at me.





My skills

  


Oh i got a new lamp shade from World Market!  This isn't one of his
presents...although it is on his side of the bed ;)

 

Nifty Thrifty

Last week we went out for a movie and sushi.  While we were waiting on the movie to start I did my usual walk through at Anthropologie.  I saw this book on sale and had to have it.



While i already know how to sew a button....it has a lot of other helpful tips.



It's got all kinds of helpful tips and how to's.  There are 10 chapters on Cooking, Gardening, Cleaning, Dressing, Nesting, Thriving, Loving, Saving, Joining, and Entertaining.

We saw The Help and it was a great movie!  I ended up buying the book yesterday.  When we were leaving Jeremy said that this book is kinda like "the help" and the newspaper article that Skeeter was writing.

Elephant Rocks

Saturday we went to Elephant Rocks State Park.  It was a really cool place with huge rocks that was fun to climb all over, under, and between them.  They had some paved paths but we preferred to take the rocks and just see where we would end up.  We took Ziva and I think she liked it.  She only freaked out a couple of times because she was afraid of jumping off the high rocks, but then she got over it.



Tight squeeze



Poor Pitiful Pearl

My sister in law gave me this dress over the summer, which was given to her from her sister in law.  I just received the belt in the mail yesterday so i was finally able to wear it.  Poor Pitiful Pearl(PPP) "is a mom and pop ran collection of recycled clothing for both Mamas and their babies. In all efforts to decrease our carbon footprint, look lovely and spend less money, we embrace the natural and artistic beauty in real people who choose to be different and progressive in a world that increasingly breeds "sameness". We strive to be good stewards of Gods precious gifts by not only renewing and recycling, but we also give back 10% of all our profits to benefit charities like Casa Hogar Orphanage. This is the heart of what we do. Please come by and visit us sometime to learn more about our company and how you can help these precious children."

Here I am in my own PPP dress. 




Gettin some love from Zivvies

 



"Ahh don't pull me off"



PPP is based out of New Braunfels,TX and you can visit the website here or Etsy shop here.

Dress Form Make-Over

I went out and got a dress form!  While i was driving to the antique store i told myself that i didn't want to spend over $75 (which really means more like 50).  After looking around for awhile i saw one and guess how much it was...$75!  I was toying around with buying it because i still wasn't sure if i wanted to spend that much.  I called up Jeremy and told him to see what he would say.  He told me to go ahead and get it because i would just go back the next day and get it anyway.  Which is probably true...its happened before.  As i was leaving this lady walking in told me that it was cute and asked how much i paid for it. When i told her she said that that was a really good price.  So i felt better.  I knew it was a good price compared to the $300-500 ones on eBay, I'm just cheap.  It wasn't exactly the kind i wanted, but i think now i love it more than i thought i would.  (Go to previous post to see which ones i liked).  Since i didn't like the gray fabric on it i decided to take it off.  It looks even more vintage with it all gone to me.  Yesterday while i was talking to myself about it, i blurted out the name Shirley.  I don't know where it came from and why i called her that, but i did and it seems to fit.  Soooo here's Shirley!

Here she is with her "sweater" on

When i took it off this is what was underneath.  The bottom was

 already gone so that was a big chunk i didn't have to do. 

Started to remove each piece to take off the old fabric.

Starting to put it back together

I tried to get everything as straight and even as possible. 



I guess if she ever gets cold or I didn't like it or actually need to use it then i could put her sweater back on.  I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.  However, I'm not too jazzed about the big red top so i think i will look for something else for it.  Now to find a spot for her.

dress form decor

Lately i have been seeing vintage dress forms being used as decoration. I've seen a few around at antique malls but they always seem to be pretty busted and not the kind i like.  I didn't realize how expensive they are!  Most of them seem to be around the $300 range on eBay and other places online.  I don't want it that bad!  But i will still keep my eyes peeled if i see one for really cheap.

I came across this one here and she tells you how she made over
one of the not so pretty busted ones that i kept finding into the one in the
picture shown.  I may have to try it now!

Check out the dress form i made over like in the picture above...click here

Chair Redo

Over the summer i went back home for a couple weeks.  When my mom and I were driving around i saw a chair on the side of the road and so we pulled over.  It had a busted leg but i threw it in the back of the car anyway.  I knew my mom had redone some furniture before so i figured she would know what to do.  After we took it home and started to look at it it almost started to seem like it wasn't fixable.  It was missing a chunk of wood to glue it back together.  But we did it anyway and it seemed to hold pretty well.  I was mainly thinking about using it for decoration (or if fixed use it at my desk at the time...its too short now).  My mom came up with the idea of using L brackets to keep it sturdy.  So when we got back to STL i went out and bought some.  The glue seemed to have worked but Jeremy was worried if someone sat in it and it broke then they could get hurt.   




 This was the first chair i have ever reupholstered.  I didn't do really any research on how to do anything i started ripping off the old fabric and pulling out all those old nails and staples (and let me tell you there were hundreds) That was actually the fun part to me.  Maybe i should have started off with something more simple and not do the upholstery nails.

It took me forever to finish it because the store i was going to to get the nails from kept running out.  They would only have like 3 packets of 24 at a time.  Who is going to only need 24 upholstery nails at a time?  So while i was working on the back i decided to order some online.  Well they ended up being different colors...and the nail was humongous.  If it went in funny i would try to take it out and when i did it ripped the fabric.  I was getting frustrated to say the least.  I finally finished it yesterday and the back is kind of hideous, but im glad to be done with it.  I guess i will have to always keep it up against the wall or someday redo it again.  But for now it stays.




Two layers









I dont think i should show the back of the after...

 

Paper Mache Deer Head

I first saw the idea here way back in October.  Then i saw the paper mache animal heads at Anthropologie and decided that i want to make my own. It wasn't till December that i actually tried to make it; with it being all snowy, i was itching to do some sort of project.  I went out and bought the wood plaque and the rest i already had.  I didn't quite use everything the magazine said to use so i improvised a little. I only happen to take one picture of it before i was finished...

All i used was a plastic bottle for its neck, balled up newspaper for the head and base, and i wrapped newspaper around a pencil to get the antlers shape (later removed pencil). I also cut out cardboard for the ears.  I mixed Elmers glue and water for the paste.  Mod Podge would probably work just as good though.

It took awhile and it was messy, but i was happy with the final result.

 

Updated picture!!

Finally up on the wall

Bunting with burlap and doilies

I have wanted to try the whole bunting flag thing for awhile now.  I've been seeing them everywhere lately and just couldn't resist the urge to have pretty little triangles everywhere.  Since i didn't have a sewing machine i wasn't going to even try to do it by hand.  Although i did make some paper ones.  Little hearts for Valentines Day (and i just took them down like 2 weeks ago) and just a small strand for my bulletin board.

They seem pretty popular for wedding decorations...





And while i love the triangles and all the pretty fabrics, when i found this picture i knew i wanted to try it this way...




I like the idea of squares instead and the rustic yet feminine
touch with the burlap and doilies.


So here is my version...