allie~millie designs~Funky Country~

The Blog Guidebook 2012 calendar

2011-12-27T10:29:00.004-06:00

Have you heard of the The Blog Guidebook?

If not, you must go there now!

They're a great resource for blogging with tons of tips and resources for blogging and you can have your blog listed in the guidebook and search for other blogs by category!

Last year they had a calendar for 2011 available for download, that I LOVED and this year, they've done it again! It is so pretty! You can either download it or order a printed copy.

Check it out here: The Blog Guidebook 2012 calendar!

My shirt dress was featured!!

2011-09-01T09:22:00.005-05:00

my cute dress tutorial

as seen here in this post!

Every Thursday she has a link up party to show off all of your diy fashions!

Go check it out!

I was featured!

2011-06-02T09:01:00.000-05:00

Millie's bulletin board that I made using vintage sheets

http://vintagesheets.blogspot.com/2011/06/vintage-sheet-cork-board.html

frame memo boards

2011-02-24T10:09:00.000-06:00

These are going into the booth at Serendipity Market next week!

vintage frames turned memo boards, painted by moi'...

I used aqua paint and whitewashed this one

allowing some of the antique-y gold to show through

each has a few clothespins stamped with vintage script...

now I need to make one to keep!

"pillow of the week" at BeColorful!

2011-02-09T11:40:00.000-06:00

My pillows and Etsy shop were graciously featured on BeColorful!!

How awesome is that to have a "pillow of the week"! She also paints amazing furniture, not to

mention she's a cute little, sassy girl!! Thank you so much!

You must go there. now.

snowed in projects

2011-02-04T10:17:00.000-06:00

with all this cold weather & snow & having to stay in (because of the

weather and taking care of two sick girls-blech!), I've been able to get

some things done. This is one of them...

I spent hours dying and drying coffee filters in the oven.

{my family keeps asking why are we having filters for dinner}

trying to achieve the perfect shades of blush-y pink and coffee-stained cream

hung with off-white vintage-y looking seam binding

I think it was worth the effort...

love it

I'll be adding one to my shop

& putting one in Millie's room

feelin' the LOVE

2011-02-02T08:16:00.000-06:00

are these cute or what?! Yes, I know they are...I love them.

I made a set for the booth at Serendipity Market and I'm making a set for my Etsy shop...

and I think I'll have to whip up a set for my 13-year-old's room(they look pretty

cute on her bed, don't ya think? :)

an old project

2011-01-06T12:49:00.000-06:00

this is a project I LOVE that I did a long time ago but have never shared.

The chairs were found at Curb-mart (i.e. fancy way to say the curb) via my mom. Good eye, Mom!

I set them up and took a picture to give you the visual...

oooh! Someone's throwing away those chairs!

My amazing daughter could do something sweet with those!

Thanks chair-throwing-away-people!

I'll take 'em!

I put them side-by-side & gave them a light coat of matte mod podge

to keep the paint at just the right chippy-ness.

I found the perfect board/door thing combing the my grandma's attic

I added some padding and fabric to the board and finished it with black braided trim.

I bought this great black & white houndstooth suiting fabric at a

garage sale and covered a rectangle pillow form.

I love the way this pillow turned out.

Is this not the cutest little bench?!

check out the Blog Guidebook!

2010-12-27T13:09:00.001-06:00

I hope you had a blessed Christmas like I did, spending time with family & friends!
I can't believe the year is nearly over, can you?! Where did it go?? The start of a new year means it's time for a new calendar as well. I happened upon the cutest blog and calendar!

They offer a free listing to all bloggers!

They are also offering a beautiful FREE calendar that you can download & print out!

go here to download!

Thanks so much, Blog Guidebook!

and now my table sings!

2010-12-09T15:09:00.002-06:00

I've finally gotten to re-doing this hand-me-down coffee table that sits in our front living

room....it was that dated blond wood color in that classic early '90s style that I see re-done all over blogland.

Here it is before. Lovely. I know.

And here it is now!! All dressed up in vintage sheet-music!

I absolutely love it! I gave it a good coat of primer, followed by

a few coats of Krylon Ivory gloss spray paint (I didn't want it glossy, but I knew I'd be glazing/antiquing so

that would make it have a more satin finish).

Then I carefully selected the sheets of music (which I bought a BIG bag of recently at a garage sale for a steal) I wanted to Mod Podge on the top. I purposely chose

ones with varied tones from light ivory color to a really aged tan color.

I also chose some with titles and words that were pretty and some with just music notes so it would be varied.

some detail of the sheet music...

then I mixed up a grayish/tanish glaze to antique it...

I'm SO glad I got around to doing this! It's so...me.

linking this up at~

I'm submitting this post to Miss Mustard Seed's

go take a look! I'd love to win!!

a few Fall accessories

2010-10-10T10:19:00.001-05:00

These are some cute things I've been working on...

I just LOVE this sweet burlap pumpkin...

and the vintage "give thanks" tag on it.

I used a real branch that was nice & chunky for the stem. The first "stem"

I was going to use, my dog thought was a chew toy for her...

I added a little muslin "leaf" stamped with old script..

now a little accessory for me...

a tweed rosette pin

I love the unravelled edges...

this flower would be too cute on a jacket, hat, on a ribbon as a belt...I can't WAIT!

and this burlap lovliness...

a "harvest" pennant banner

just like the pumpkin, it needed a few little "leaves"

I wanted the letters to look like they were painted on there ages ago...

love it on the mantle...

sadly for me, this won't go on my mantle because...

all of these I made to go in my friend's booth.

You can find them all and more allie~millie designs

at Serendipity Market in Edmond, OK!

allow me to introduce you...

2010-09-25T19:03:00.000-05:00

to two of my little friends :)

my friend, who has a booth at a craft/home decor/gift store, is graciously allowing me

to try out putting some of my things in her booth! I'm going to put these

two little guys in there.

vintage sheet music tray

2010-09-24T16:19:00.002-05:00

I've had this tray that I got from the thrift store for about $2.00, like a year ago, waiting for me to finish it.

I had mod podged some paper to it a while back, but decided to take it a different route.

I just spray painted right over the other paper and printed out some vintage sheet music.

The "French Opera" music (and probably some of the others) came from The Graphics Fairy, of course.

added a sweet little nest stamp...

it's not perfect and I love it that way

a little light distressing on the edges and corners....

I {love} it!

fun, new frames in my shop!

2010-09-11T13:25:00.000-05:00

I'm slowly adding these

to my Etsy shop!

I just love them and the best part is....nothing to break!

I love to have pictures on low tables but I've had numerous frames break and then you have

broken glass to deal with...

The simplicity also adds to it's charm but the fancy bow with buckle

gives it a twist.

Go on, give it a peek :)

these little goodies will make you a better cook..

2010-08-18T16:13:00.000-05:00

Okay, well maybe not. But, they will be fun to look at while you do slave away over a hot stove!

They're now available in my Etsy shop!

attention shop owners!

2010-07-17T11:18:00.000-05:00

You must check out Remodelaholic!

She's kind enough to offer Etsy shop owners and the like, post about their shop!

my shop is blooming

2010-07-17T10:23:00.000-05:00

I just recently listed some new fabric flower pins/corsages and I'm so excited about them!

I LOVE the way this one turned out...it's made of a muted blush-y,

almost peachy pink chiffon fabric.

I listed it without a pin or clip, that way you could tell me what you want

or add your own!

look how cute it would look on a multiple chain/pearl necklace!

I can't tell you how much I love this fabric, I think I'll go buy the rest of the bolt!

I also listed a multi-textured black flower with a pin back. I used satin, tulle,

and pieces of a mohair sweater!

~like how I made my daughter be my model?!~

It will be fab for this fall/winter with the sweater-y texture...

and super cute on a long strand of beads as well!

go on, get them for a gift...or for yourself :)

vacation fun with Mickey

2010-07-13T11:14:00.000-05:00

I'm getting back into the swing of things after our two-week long trip to sunny Florida and our first time to Walt Disney World! We had the BEST time and I'm so thankful we got to go and spend that time together and make lots of new memories. We've been back for about three weeks and the girls are still talking about it!

Our first stop was Pensacola. We go there every year, but this time was a bit different seeing all of these down at the public beach parking area.

We didn't see any oil blobs at all and the beach was as beautiful as ever....

Our girls love the beach!

We loved Minnie!

Disney World was wonderful and it was so fun for me as a mom to see how magical it was for them. Even my 12-year-old!

They took this in Magic Kingdom while waiting for the fireworks to begin.

Can you tell it was like a sauna?? It was SO hot, I've never experienced humidity like that,

even in New Orleans in August!

Our last day at the parks!

Then we went to Crystal River and did some scuba diving/snorkeling!

Millie snorkeling!

Allie and I scuba diving!

Daddy/daughter diving!

When we started the long drive back to Oklahoma, we decided we'd go through Memphis,

do some sight-seeing there and of course, have some delicious bar-b-que!

The first thing we did was go here...

to the National Civil Rights Museum where Dr. Martin Luther King was shot and killed.

It was very interesting and extremely moving...

We saw the famous Beale Street...

Jeff and I'd like to go back there and hang out...sans children!

When I saw an ad for this

I had to make the family go see it because I LOVE old cemeteries!

This is the Elmwood Cemetery and has veterans from even the Revolutionary War buried there.

It was beautiful...

I just wanted to share a bit of our wonderful vacation. I just love spending time with these

people I live with :)

Since being back, I finished a little something that I'd started on. I made Allie be my model :)

I used some pieces of vintage jewelry, fabric flowers that I made and seam binding for the tie.

I had though that I would use more of the pieces of jewelry I had, along the chain but I couldn't figure

out a way that I liked it so I left it like this. What do you think?

new shop item & a project

2010-05-29T14:05:00.001-05:00

I listed these in my shop! Sooo cute with jeans and a tee!

they make a great gift too!

I've been playing with a new project using this stuff....

care to guess what I'm doing with it?

fun new linky party!

2010-05-29T10:09:00.000-05:00

One of the coolest blogs I follow is trying out a new linky party! Remodelaholic is allowing those of us with Etsy shops to post a link to our shops for free! This is REALLY helpful to gain more exposure and free publicity! Plus, it's a great way to find other shops that you may not have known existed. So if you have a shop, get on over there and list it! Grab one of these cute buttons too!

vintage spoons tea-towel

2010-05-18T16:45:00.000-05:00

I just listed my new vintage spoons tea-towel in my Etsy shop!

I just love the vintage image of the spoons! So cute for the kitchen!

the French Psalm pillow...

2010-05-12T15:05:00.001-05:00

is now added to my shop and I've already sold one and shipped it off to it's new home today! I can do a different verse or saying. I love how the words look old, like an old French feedsack cloth that's been around forever.

peonie love

2010-05-03T18:48:00.004-05:00

My first few blooms of the season....

needed a special place to go. So here's a little project I did today and I wish I'd taken a before. I got this adorable bucket at the thrift store a long time ago for like $2 on half-price day. It was a gross, ugly black but I knew I could give it some love and find somewhere to put it. I primed it well with metal primer and tried out the cheaper spray paint they sell at Wal-mart. It's a minty-greeney-blue color and for this project it worked great! After the paint dried I antiqued it and sanded it in a few small spots.

I tore a little strip of muslin to fray the edges and stamped it with a writing/script stamp all along in it then a little birdie stamp at the end and tied it on for a cute touch.

to put the peonies in I stuck in a ziploc bag which sprung a leak, I'm assuming from the rocks I put in the bucket to keep it from blowing around so much in this Oklahoma wind. Plan B was an old plastic gas station cup that I squished in but it showed through the cut-outs so then I put a small square of burlap along the inside to keep it from showing. Sounds kind of like "If you give a mouse a cookie...."!

The plus side of the wind combined with the oh-so-lovely smell of my peonies, means that every time I walk through my front door, I get a little whiff of heaven.

I'm linking up to...

I'm joining in..

2010-05-03T15:33:00.000-05:00

I'm joining in the Marketing Mondays over at the Trendy Treehouse! Every Monday it's a FREE way to promote your blog, shop, etc. and get to find out about other sites! That's so nice of her to do this!

I've been featured on Tip Junkie!

2010-04-29T16:47:00.001-05:00

Wow! I'm so honored to have my dress tutorial featured on Tip Junkie (if you're not familiar with this site, you must go check it out NOW)! And especially with all the other amazing projects featured! That just made my day!

Etsy shop finally up & running!

2010-04-26T17:29:00.001-05:00

Ugh! I am such a blogging loser! I've just been super busy trying to get my Etsy shop up and running (along with homeschooling my girls, laundry, yada yada) but I finally have a couple things listed and am working on more. Here are the items I have listed so far!

and here are some I'm planning to list soon...

faux grain sack pillow with French Psalm (I plan to do custom ones with the verse of your choice)

calling cards

I was featured...

2010-03-16T10:05:00.004-05:00

Wow! What an honor to have my book page wreath featured here!

Go check out this blog...she has a bunch of super cute ideas and I love it!

male chauvinist book trashing~a wreath tutorial

2010-03-12T16:09:00.018-06:00

I've seen all of these book page wreaths and I absolutely adore them so I decided to make my own Ginnie-fied version and share a tutorial so you can make your own. Honestly, it was a bit more work than I thought it would be....

You'll need:
a wreath form (mine was about 15 inches across at the widest point)
an old book (mine was over an inch thick and I used all the pages)
some patterned scrapbook paper and/or vintage images (check out The Graphics Fairy)
a hot glue gun and lots of glue sticks
burlap (about 4 yards of 4inch wide strips)
ribbon or seam binding(which is what I used, not sure how much)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink

First, you'll take your wreath and if it's like mine and you bought it for $1 at the thrift store (I seriously cannot believe anyone would think this was pretty! UGH!), you'll take all of the ugly junk off...

{click pictures to enlarge}

until it looks like this~

Next, you'll cut your burlap into 3-4inch strips (they don't have to be perfect or measured)

Using your glue gun, glue down the beginning end and start wrapping, overlapping as you go...

Overlap your strips and every so often put a little glue to keep it from sliding around. If your strip isn't long enough, just glue down another and start wrapping some more. This is not really going to show much.
Now you should have a wreath that looks like this...

Then you'll take your old school male chauvinist pig book...

and tear the crap out of it. It doesn't matter if they look "torn" when you tear them out (mine came out in neat sections), you can do that as you go...

When you start to make a roll for a bundle, take your Distress ink and 2 book pages or a book page and a piece of copied scrapbook paper (it's more pliable) or vintage image.

rub your stamp along the torn edges or you can use the neat page edges to age the paper

take your 2 pages and run a small line of hot glue (glue stick took too long to dry) along the top edge and stick them together. They don't have to be perfectly lined up and I actually prefer them to be uneven. It adds character :) Start rolling the paper into a loose roll.

When the paper is almost rolled up, run a line of glue so that the roll stays rolled up.

What you will have is this...

Again, take your ink pad and rub it on the end of the roll. You'll do this about 100 times!

Next, you'll begin combining random rolls together and tying them with your ribbon or seam binding. To make the best parts of the rolls show, I added a little glue to what would be the bottom side of the bundle.I made bundles of various numbers. I wrapped the seam binding around 2 or 3 times...

Begin gluing your bundles onto your wreath. If I did it again, I would probably glue single rolls around the whole wreath so there would be no gaps, then glue the bigger bundles on top. I wound up having to squish them in on the ends that were toward the center.

I wound up with spaces like this...

so I made some single rolls and cut them until they were the right length to fill in the space

and glued them into the space...

Keep making bundles and filling in the spaces....

until you have this! I love it's imperfect beauty~

you can see pieces of vintage ledger paper, french notes and labels...

I tried to give it an overall unifying neutral palette~

I love how the seam binding crinkles the more it's handled...

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and if you make one, I'd love to see pictures!

Edited: I'm linking this project up here!

Holy Cow!

2010-03-08T07:29:00.004-06:00

Oh my goodness! I'm so excited to be two of the featured projects on The DIY Show Off! I love Roeshel's amazing blog, she has tons of great ideas and is kind enough to share others cool DIY projects. Go check it out!

let's hear it for the birds

2010-03-05T17:41:00.007-06:00

I LOVE birds, nests, eggs, and birds and nests and eggs...

and I'm lovin' the spring goodies that Hobby Lobby is having right now!

look at these cute salt and pepper shakers I found!

they're what I had pictured in my head before I knew they existed :)

What can you do with a dollar store metal tray?

I wanted to make a little welcoming monogram to hang by the front door.

I was going to do a picture by picture tutorial but it didn't go exactly as I planned. I wanted to give it an aged look with some antiquing glaze but it wouldn't stay in the recesses on the flat tray part. so I took it outside and sprayed it very lightly with an off-white paint. that sort of gave it more texture for the glaze to stick to.

I then printed out the egg and birdie graphic that I had and glued them to the tray. using a font I liked I printed the monogram out and used a razor to cut it out and roughly trace it onto the tray. I painted it in using a charcoal grey paint. I mod podged over it all then used a little greyish blue paint around the edges in the recesses.

I broke out the hot glue gun and attached some burlap and satin-y ribbon bow to the front then about 2 feet of ribbon on the back to hang it with.

I love how it turned out! so spring-y and so me...

thrift store scores

2010-03-03T08:12:00.007-06:00

I haven't done much thrifting for a while but I went for half-price day to

a couple of my favorite spots and scored some great finds so I thought I'd share!

look at this cute sleigh I found for $25! My heart skipped a beat...

I want to take off the cheesy greenery, I want a more vintage-y trim with

silver-y, off-white colors... ideas please??

I found the wreath for a $1! Don't you just love the beautiful poinsetta?! kidding...

Who on earth would seriously hang this thing in their house? I have plans for a makeover for it...

the giant hat box for my daughter's french bedroom, to be recovered, for $2.

some old books that have good, worn edges for vignette props that I'm going to cover and for my wreath project...

some cute clothes for my eldest daughter, the skirt of course, to be worn with shorts or as a swimsuit cover. she loves stores like Abercrappie so buying them used is no different than buying them new, they look used when they're new! all the pink tags were .99 cents!

for my youngest, some brand new Limited Too/Justice pants for $2!

cute summer tops for my youngest, all name brands (which I am not a brand snob but when you buy them used, the name brands like Gap or Gymboree are

in much better condition). all of them half of the price on the tag!

and for yours truly, a cute pair of Gap espadrilles for 1 dolla! Yowza!
they may have been worn once...I don't think they're the height of fashion right now but I don't care, I still like them...

DIY Show Off fun

2010-02-27T08:13:00.004-06:00

I love this blog The DIY Show Off! It is amazing and full of fun ideas of what one can do with a little imagination. She's so sweet to have a blog Show-and-Tell, go check out all the fun bloggy ideas!

Follow Me Fridays at Trendy Treehouse!

2010-02-12T08:00:00.002-06:00

Come join me and all the other amazing blogs on the Trendy Treehouse! A fun way to find other blogs and see some awesome ideas!

I have a button!

2010-02-07T16:55:00.004-06:00

I finally have a blog button! Thanks to A Heart For Home and their super easy how-to. Go check it out!

my first tutorial of the cutest dress EVER!

2010-02-02T13:12:00.016-06:00

This is my best refashion and my first tutorial

{so forgive me for leaving out some pictures of steps}!

I used 3 different shirts and transformed them to

1 fabulous (if I may say) dress.

So I got a large men's collared shirt at the thrift store for $2.

I buttoned up and sewed the opening shut. Then I cut off the sleeves and the top collar

part as you can see in the picture below.

I cut it to where I could have the shirt pocket on the skirt without having to move it.

Then I took a stretchy rib knit tank top (given to me FREE!)

and cut off the bottom 6 inches

(this will vary, depending on the length of your torso) for the waistband.
I had to take this in a bit, to make it more fitted, but still stretch.

I bought a fitted long-sleeved gray t-shirt (forgot before pic!) from
Target and cut it off where I wanted the waistband to start.
Save the piece you cut off for ruffles (*will add how-to pics later)

For the skirt part, I used a skirt I own that had a shape I wanted.
I wanted this dress to be a few inches longer.

I then sewed my side seams (about a 1/2 in.).

This is where I really forgot pictures, but if you sew at all this is very easy.

I matched up side seams and sewed together the skirt to the waistband, then top-stitched.

Then the gray tee to the other side of the waistband. I added the ruffles (which I learned from the many other tutorials out there) before this step.

Here is a close-up of the inside of the waist/skirt part that

shows the seam and the top-stitching

and here she is!!

{click pics to enlarge}

ruffle detail...

waistband

I LOVE it... if you have ANY questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them!

Linking up to:

cabin fever project

2010-02-02T07:10:00.007-06:00

This is what you do when you can't go anywhere for days & days & days....

You decide you're going to turn some perfectly fine

off-white muslin throw pillows

into faux french grain sack pillows

{click picture to enlarge}

O Lord, I love the house where you live,

the place where your glory dwells.

Psalm 26:8

DIY Day

2010-01-19T07:38:00.004-06:00

I'm linking up here with one of my old projects

Go check out the other amazing ideas and projects on A Soft Place to Land!

A wee bit delayed...

2010-01-18T14:09:00.003-06:00

as soon as Christmas was over, we had to get back in the swing of our homeschooling

and we've been at it ever since!

I wanted to share a couple of the cute little Christmas

gifts I did.

calling cards

{I made some of these for my sister, then I had to make some for myself!}

corsage pin

{I made these for the ladies in my life}

BUT...you don't have to be one of those to get one

because soon

I will be opening my

Etsy shop, allie~millie designs!

Family Rules

2010-01-10T14:00:00.008-06:00

I finally got around to taking pictures of my "Family Rules" canvas project...

I had alot of fun with this one!

little bird nest detail...

burlap and ribbon border detail. I love the contrast of the two...

birdcage embellishment~

the bottom verse sums up my prayer for our home~

I am still working on getting all of my Christmas put away (shhh...don't tell!) and

taking pictures of a few things that I made to post soon.

Christmas & Creating

2009-12-05T20:40:00.008-06:00

Okay, so I'm the world's worst blogger...I get too busy reading all the other amazing ones with amazing ideas and then my little brain is gushing with ideas which keep me so busy, I never keep up with my own blog...sheesh

I've seen all the cute cookie sheet Christmas advents/countdowns and I love them, so I decided I would make one of my own. I love the way it turned out and I think I'll make one that can be interchangable for the rest of the year to hang in the kitchen.

*please pardon my terrible pictures and the lovely date on them*

I'm working on a "Family Rules" canvas too and will try to get pictures up when I finish...if I'm not busy with some new project!

Getting ready for Christmas means...

getting out THESE beauties (yes, I stored them in ziploc bags!)

I just love the aged patina on some of them. I've been scouring garage sales for them before the became such a hot item. I could get a whole box of Shiny Brites for .25 cents! Now, they're a bit harder to come by. I can't have enough of them. Some of them hung on my grandparents' tree...

I love the little pinecone one...

I'm off to get more ideas!

A little project....

2009-10-11T00:13:00.006-05:00

I had modge-podged these paper mache' letters a couple years ago in leopard and red toile tissue paper but got tired of looking at them and stuck them away. I had a little inspiration when I bought this awesome paper, so I spray painted (which I am all about) right over the shellack and modge-podged the fronts. They'll look too cute taking up space standing on a bookshelf.

Ugly lamp shades...Before

2009-10-04T11:48:00.005-05:00

These are the lampshades I bought on Friday waiting for

their beauty treatment for Allie's room!

Miss Allie's Room

2009-10-03T09:09:00.008-05:00

We have been working on Allie's (my 11.5-year-old) room, scraping that lovely popcorn (with glitter, I might add!) ceiling off. Her Daddy's been working hard re-texturing it and the walls. Allie and I've been having fun thinking of and making fun accessories for it, deciding on the colors and fabrics for her new duvet, window treatment, walls. We have some super-fun ideas for wall art that I'm going to paint. We have several pictures of inspiration and yesterday I went to a garage sale and found some goodies to use for this picture...

photo: PBTeen

busy summer and my first re-do job!

2009-08-19T15:18:00.005-05:00

I have been SO busy this summer! But now that we'll get school
in full swing, hopefully we'll have some version of a "normal" routine...

I FINALLY finished a table and chairs for a friend of mine to go in

her little girl's room. It took me a while with all of our business but

I think the end result was SO cute. The sanding took forever, I wanted

to get it totally smooth and free of brush marks, since I'm a perfectionist
like that! I was going for a simple, antiqued, pottery barn-esqe look...

Here's the before...

and here's the after....

Ahhh...summer-time fun!

2009-06-22T08:12:00.009-05:00

Here's what I've been up to with the family...

And watching lots of these....

We had the BEST family vacation ever, driving from Oklahoma down to the Sunshine State, along the beautiful gulf coast. We saw everything from the mighty Mississippi in New Orleans, where we walked down Bourbon Street (with blindfolds on the girls, of course), to Fort Pickens in Pensacola, which was used in the Civil War and once held Geronimo!

We snorkeled with manatees and went scuba diving in the Rainbow River.

We saw the foothills of the Appalachians and had some awesome bar-b-que in where else but Memphis, Tennessee!

So, I've been resting and recovering from our vacation adventure. I'm back to normal now so of course, I'm going thrifting and will post pics of my finds later!

What's blooming in my beds??

2009-05-05T18:14:00.004-05:00

Clematis

Snapdragon

and since it's been so rainy, these are the blooms I have to

enjoy inside. This is the metal cone basket that I bought while thrifting

and put in a post a while back. I painted it off-white and antiqued it.

The raised pattern really made the glaze stand out nicely.

It's so fun to make something pretty out of something so cheap!

I had a pretty awesome day thrifting yesterday. I just love half price day! I'll

post my finds and things to redo soon!

ahh...spring!

2009-04-20T22:39:00.006-05:00

this is what I've been up to...flowers! I got this white metal thing at
the "big garage sale". I think it might have been a table base or plant stand
maybe you would put round glass on it...anyway, I loved it and I'm a sucker for

anything that's metal with chippy white paint and a little rust, so I paid

$1 for it. Then I had the genious idea to put my galvanized bucket that I

plant flowers in every year, in/on the white thing and I LOVE it!

Also, in an effort to be "cool" and follow the trend of "being green", I did this

cute little project. It was a pickle jar and I took off the label,

spray-painted the lid, printed out the cute vintage looking label and

used rubber stamps to stamp the words. Then I used this stuff from

HL that can make any paper a sticker and stuck it on. I think it looks so cute

and vintage-y!

my "Big Garage Sale" finds

2009-04-13T14:22:00.007-05:00

I got a whole roll of pretty pink floral wallpaper for 25 cents

that I can use to line shelves.

The bird, I'm going to attempt

to make one of those pretty big tassles

and put him on the top.

The mossy heart wreath is just like something I was going

to attempt to make but for 50 cents, why bother making it myself??

I just thought the bunny was cute.

I LOVE this frame! I love the flower detail and how it's

partly chipping off...ahh beautiful.

The fancy gold frame is just the right juxtaposition with

the chippy, old one.. my favorite combination.

This is a great black frame, both were 25 cents each

or something ridiculous.

I LOVE old platters like this, it makes me wonder

if this was once some young brides wedding gift.

It has the perfect aged beauty to it...

I also found a white chippy metal plant stand, table base, thing. Right now it's on my porch with an old galvanized bucket that I had which fit right in. I was thinking of planting some flowers that would spill over the edge in it.

I got some neat vintage jewelry pieces to remake into necklaces and some vintage seam binding. I bought Millie a half set of little Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit series books and some old books that had pretty colors to use for decorating. I didn't get much but what I did get, I really love!

This is what....a french grain sack table runner

2009-04-06T08:09:00.007-05:00

I wanted it to look like it was made with an old french grain sack

for the floral fabric, I sewed it so the wrong side was on top

because the right side looked too new I let the raw edges show in the center on purpose to look old and I didn't hem the side edges

These are the materials that I used. The ruler for the edges of the stripes and the make-up sponge I used to dab the ink on the fabric.

I made this to participate in Lindsay's $5 challenge at http://www.livingwithlindsay.com/. Take a look at the other awesome posts. This was so fun and I can't wait to do others like it!

What can I do with these???

2009-04-01T12:02:00.006-05:00

I found these at the Dollar Tree for yes, $1.00 each. I'm going to whip something up to participate in Living with Lindsay's

Half-off Day Thrifting

2009-03-17T21:35:00.003-05:00

This really great thrift store has half-off day on Mondays with certain color tags. Yesterday the colors were blue and white. My girls and I scored some awesome stuff! I didn't pay over $2.00 for anything! I loved this little pitcher and I plan on painting the metal cone and putting dried flowers in it. The black metal thing, I have NO idea(anyone know?) what it is but I thought it was neat...

as you can see, Millie thought it made a fabulous hat! Not sure what I'll do with it, but I'm sure I'll think of something~

Allie found some really cute, spring skirts yea!

I found Millie some adorable dresses, mostly Old Navy and Gymboree

some cute pants for Millie from Gap~note the price tag and half off of that!

and for moi, a cute Express skirt and Gap button up, both half off

ahh...I get such a thrill out of the hunt!

(click on pictures to see them bigger)

The "After"...and another "Before"

2009-03-11T07:08:00.007-05:00

Ta-da! I LOVE the way she turned out! I put her right by my front door, now maybe my guy won't lose his keys anymore! I painted her a minty green color, then antiqued it with a stain/glaze. She was beat up and had a lot of nicks and scratches, which is good for antiquing. So, yeah I just love her...

~If anyone out there has any old furniture they want to give me or redo for them, contact me!~

The Story of a Sad Chair

There once was an ugly chair who nobody wanted. She was sat on and mistreated. She was trying to find another home, but still no one would take her. Even when she was marked down to $12, still she just sat, until one day a girl who had an eye for junk saw the potential in her and brought her home. That girl gave her the beauty makeover she deserved....

Fabulous Finds on Friday!

2009-03-06T23:37:00.009-06:00

I went to a garage sale and found the awesome "Lord's Prayer" poster for $1 and the vintage blue and white metal box AND the clothes, all in really great shape for $1.oo a piece! The cream-colored sweater is so cute, with a tie around the waist and I love the salmon-colored cords.
The poster, which I have seen at a boutique here in OKC and they sell it matted in leopard and framed for like $100 or something crazy, so I went to the RINK gallery to check out their sale table and look for a frame for my poster. I found the frame for $20 and I have leopard fabric in my scraps, I can totally do this for WAY cheaper.
The RINK is my new favorite place!! Today, along with the frame, I found another ironstone bowl, which I think is so beautiful and aged, for $1 and something that I'm having my guy pick up tomorrow and I totally scored on it. I'll post before and after pics when I get it. EEEK, I am so excited about it....!

Saturday garage sale steals!

2009-03-01T10:34:00.006-06:00

Despite the freezing cold, I braved it to go look at this garage sale I saw online. They had pictures and in one of them I saw what looked like, a dress form, possibly vintage. I got there and found that they had sold it the day before and that it was very old, ugh!! Oh well, however I DID find some really cool vintage goods~ A big bunch of beautiful old silver(not the pitcher, that's just what I'm putting it in to display in my kitchen), a vintage flower frog (these are so cool for using to display an old photo or postcard), and a wire shoe(I LOVE that, thought it would be cute in one of my girls' rooms with something in it)! The nice lady told me to give her a price so I got it all for $5.00! ...and Jeff told me not to spend the whole $50 in one place..Ha!

The "Before"~My Sweet $5 Find!

2009-02-22T07:05:00.008-06:00

Yes, you heard right, she was a steal at $5! Isn't she a cutie?! I found her one day when my sister and I were shopping at a thrift store...I spotted her from about 20 yards away and literally gasp when I did. My sister looked and she knows me so well, she immediately knew what I had seen as I raced over to my little table. So, I took her home with me and here is her "before" her big makeover...

Our home verse

2009-02-18T08:35:00.005-06:00

This is in our entryway...it took some time to get it straight. These are vinyl letters from Hobby Lobby(I LOVE that store) in a beautiful, gigantic,(it's about as tall as me!) old frame from an antique store, that I bought for about nothing. It's a huge 2-story wall, so it needed something that made a huge statement. I love how it's the first thing you see when you walk in our front door. This is really my prayer for our home...

chalk board and robins

2009-02-16T11:47:00.008-06:00

This huge frame (it's over 3.5 feet by 2.5 feet!), hung over my Grandma's couch and had a not-so-pretty print of a man on a horse. So, I just spray painted the print itself with chalk board paint. It had a texture already so I thought it would work well. This hangs over the blue chest of drawers that I redid in my kitchen. I'm going to think of an eating theme Bible verse to put on it...

I've been playing around with some art lately and the two robin-themed ones are what I've done so far. For the egg one, I used the "egg" definiton out of an old dictionary. On the robin piece, I aged some pages out of an old french book. You could do all different kinds of themes for different vignettes.

I entering Miss Mustard Seed's

I love, love, LOVE her blog & all of her amazingness

Antiqued Chest

2009-02-16T11:34:00.006-06:00

I think this chest turned out awesome! It was my best experiment in antiquing with a tinted glaze. For the blue, I just used spray paint and it was so easy. I bought a stencil and mixed several colors of paint and just used a rag to dab it on. It makes great storage for table linens, etc. in my kitchen.

Valentines Day Fun!

2009-02-16T11:02:00.005-06:00

This was a fun craft to do! I started with a paper mache' heart from Hobby Lobby(I just LOVE that store..), they were about 60 cents. Then I color copied the "heart" and "love" pages out of a vintage children's dictionary and tore around the edges. Used Mod Podge to glue them on randomly and some pink tissue paper. Painted on some taupe metallic paint, glued on some vintage tassel trim. For the beads, they were various old necklaces that I cut apart, mixed together and strung them on ribbon. Lastly, for some glitta and voila'!
(click the pictures to enlarge)

bulletin board

2009-02-13T17:51:00.005-06:00

This is a bulletin board I made for Millie's room out of an old window I bought at an antique store. It was already that color. The floral fabric is an old bedsheet from a garage sale and the stripe is a remnant. I covered 12x12 cork tiles found at Hobby Lobby and hot glued them to a foam board piece cut to fit. Then I glued pink ric-rac across.

I had bought some vintage buttons a while back and so I had the thought to hot glue them to thumb tacks to make cute push pins. Now she displays her favorite art work and can change it out when she wants! It would also be cute to use a paned window frame that's missing the glass.

Vintage Christmas Postcard Ornaments

2009-01-29T11:48:00.007-06:00

These are vintage Christmas postcards that are all around 100 years old that I bought on ebay for really cheap. I used old-fashioned glitter and ribbon on them and hung them on my vintage style tree. The next ones I make, I'll add more embellishments with vintage paper and things.

More Christmas...

2009-01-29T11:13:00.008-06:00

I made these stockings and used leftover leopard from my sofa and some pretty jewel-tone green satin that I got for .50 cents from a garage sale! I could make these in whatever fabric combinations to match different color schemes. The pin is a vintage brooch and since I took this photo, I found some other clear colored brooches at an antique store and put them on others which I think is too cute!

Christmas Mantle

2009-01-07T07:09:00.003-06:00

Here is my Christmas mantle. I collected the bottle-brush trees and the other little trees from various places this past year. The wreath was a joint effort between my sweet husband and I.
I had the vision of a square ornament wreath but couldn't find any kind of square form. So, I thought of using pvc pipe. I bought 18 inch pipe pieces and the L-joints and started wiring all th ornaments on. I got quite a few on and realized it was going to be way too big and I wouldn't have enough ornaments. I took those off and had Jeff cut the pipes down to 12 inches (with the joints, each side was about 16 inches long) and I started wiring again. The problem was when I stood the form upright, all of the ornaments fell to all sides and messed up my careful placement of each color throughout. I was about to chunk the whole thing down the stairs (and my dear husband was going to chunk me down the stairs for it taking so many hours and having to listen to my whining). So, my brilliant husband suggested that I let him drill holes through both sides and the ornaments would stay put! A few more hours later, voila'! My vision is complete! (Thanks honey)

Christmas Kitchen Display

2009-01-02T15:13:00.007-06:00

Here's my little kitchen shelf vignette that I did for Christmas this year. (Ignore the hideous '90s wallpaper and stain, if you can). I used all vintage balls and I LOVE how the 3 balls turned out hanging them on the faux grapevine. I even filled an old milk bottle on the very top with balls.

Vintage Christmas Postcard Pillow

2009-01-02T14:56:00.004-06:00

This is a gift I made for my sister-in-law. I bought a bunch of vintage (this one is about 100 years old!) Christmas postcards on e-bay. I found fabric that can go through the printer at Hobby Lobby. I used the cotton poplin since it has the finest weave. I scanned the postcard, set the size, printed it and then found coordinating fabrics and trims. I machine stitched the picture onto the red fabric and mitered the corners on the sage fabric, then sewed on the trims by hand. It was so fun putting together the fabrics and this could work with any holiday postcard or maybe a botanical photocopy out of a book

Letter

2008-12-17T15:25:00.004-06:00

This is an easy little gift that I made for my daughter's teacher. Her last name starts with "D" so I got the letter at Hobby Lobby. It's paper mache' and only cost $2.00! I painted it black with a brush, used a tan color paint mixed with antiquing glaze. I painted that over the black then wiped it with a rag to give it the antique look. Then I used the tan color to paint the little motif that I designed. Then I tied on leopard ribbon in a bow. I think it would look cute on a bookshelf mixed in with other objects.

Picture Pillow

2008-12-17T15:16:00.004-06:00

This is a pillow that I made for my Mother-in-law for Christmas. I used a picture that I took of all of our kiddos and printed on fabric that you put in the printer, rather than using iron-on transfer. Then I found the fabric and trims and viola'! a picture pillow! I'm going to make one for myself but change the photo to black and white instead of sepia to go with my decor better.

window art

2008-11-28T08:58:00.003-06:00

Here is my window art that I made for Millie's room. I dug around in my Grandma's attic so it was free and the best part was that it was pink! I was so excited...Millie helped me tear pieces of fancy paper and I used a glue stick to paste it on and then put a wire hanger on the back.

Millie's armoire

2008-11-12T20:51:00.008-06:00

This is the armoire for Millie's room that had been sitting in our garage waiting to be painted for 2 years! I was waiting for my husband to put in shelves in the door part. One night, I decided, you know what? this is it, I am tired of it just sitting there!.... and I dragged it up the stairs with my 10 year olds help! I was going to paint the whole thing so I sanded it all down (what is cream now used to be hunter green). But then Jeff and I both kind liked the wood distressed, sanded looking, so I just decided to spray paint the green parts cream and then distress them slightly. I bought the cool green glass hardware at an antique store. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

My latest project!

2008-11-11T22:53:00.008-06:00

Before~ you can kind of see the old upholstery underneath....

Here is my latest project...a sofa that used to be my Grandmothers, an ugly green plaid but with good bones still. I took pictures along the way...kind of a before and after. I have never done anything like this before (only a wing-back slipcover without piping)...It was alot of work but I had tons of fun doing it. Let me know what you think...I would like to begin a business redoing furniture for other people.

First Post...

2008-11-11T18:59:00.004-06:00

I'm new to this blogging thing, although I've been looking at others for awhile. My love for recreating/sewing/decorating is how I came to find the cool ones. I am so amazed at the talent, creativity and the awesome ideas that all of the creators I come upon. Soon, I am going to post pics of some of my own creations....