Vintage French Prints

There has been an overwhelming amount of drama going on here lately and I seem to have lost my spark for being crafty. I've been doodling and sketching, and have a lot of ideas floating around in my head, but just don't have the energy to create anything. I did manage to hang these vintage prints.

Wishing you all a great weekend.

Karen

Looks Like Trouble

Last Saturday, the day before our little tea party get together, I wondered out to pick up a few last minute goodies for my girls. While I was scanning the shelves of my favorite local shop of reconsidered items, I came upon this gang of kitschy cuties to add to my shelf.

Looks like trouble to me.

What do you think?

Thanks for visiting!

Karen

Chalkware Chick

I love the old chalkware pieces that I see at the antique shops.

I've seen so many of these little chicks lately since Easter is right around the corner.

Most of them have no beaks left, but recently I found one that was in perfect vintage condition.

It has a note on the bottom from someone named Granny Ruth, 1947.

To me that makes it even more charming.

Karen

Making Memories

Hi everyone!

As promised, I'd like to share some photos of my Tea Party from this past weekend.

It is a rare occasion that I get to spend a day with all 5 of my girls at once, so I planned this day especially for that reason.

I had so much fun decorating.

I made banners and a tower of tea cups.

There were vintage tea pots everywhere.

There was even one hanging from the chandelier.

Everyone brought some type of food.

I think the French Macaroons were our favorite.

We all exchanged handmade and vintage gifts.

There were paper dolls, vintage gloves and aprons for all.

Each of us wore vintage outfits and every one of us had some type of wardrobe malfunction.

There were fresh flowers for everyone to take home.

My husbands oldest daughter couldn't be here, but she joined us via iphone and I sent her a package of goodies to open at home.

We all had such a crazy good time.

We laughed so much our faces hurt and my husband did sneak home early from his fishing trip to have a peek at our silly little party. It was decided by all that we should do this again, so we are planning a garden party for sometime this summer.

Thank you so much for stopping in.

I wish every mother and daughter out there could experience a day like this.

It's one that I will never forget.

Karen

What? No Dish Washer?

After only 8 short years my dishwasher "shit the bed".

Have you ever heard that expression?

I heard one of the kids say it a few years ago about a car that gave up.

I swear, ( I do swear now and then) that I laugh every time I hear that.

I thought you might think it's funny as well.

I hope I didn't offend anyone by using the S word.

I suppose it won't kill me to wash a few dishes, in fact, I really don't mind at all.

I did notify Tommy, my husband, he's in charge of buildings and grounds, so I do believe this falls under the category of buildings. I'm house keeping and decorating, and I know it doesn't fall under one of those categories. He says he's looking, but I'm pretty sure he's "Gone Fishing" to avoid the upcoming, all girl, tea party that's coming up.

Speaking of grounds, I do care for certain portions of the yard as I believe they fall under the category of decorating. That being said...here's the first blooming plant for this year in the garden outside my kitschy kitchen window.

And these are the first seeds to grow this year.

Cat Grass.

It's like having a chunk of your lawn in a flower pot.

Thanks for stopping in.

Karen

Oink Oink Woof Babushka

Hello!

Hey, it's the weekend!

I'm busy getting ready for the tea party that my girls and I are having on Sunday.

There will be a lot of photos next week, so I wanted to take a minute today to introduce Oink 1 and 2, Woof and Babushka. Four kitschy wooden pieces that I've added to the kitschy corner of my kitchen.

This is OINK

and OINK,

WOOF

and BABUSHKA.

That's TRAINWRECK to the left of BABUSHKA.

He's shy.

I'm enjoying these more in my kitchen than I did tucked away downstairs in the Creating Room.

Someday I'll take them back there, but for now they are brightening up the kitchen.

Such a cute bunch, these reconsidered ones.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Check back next week for lots of tea party madness.

Karen

Kitsch In The Kitchen

I recently received a wonderful little book for my birthday.

"dottie angel"

"the peachy crafty world of tif fussell"

It was a gift from my daughter and was my favorite gift of all.

After reading it from cover to cover, I discovered that I am much like Tif in many ways.

She talks about the rescue of "forsaken souls on the shelves of despair".

I myself refer to this as the rescue of "reconsidered treasures".

Inspired by the beautiful photos in Tif's book, I put together a small display of a few of my "reconsidered treasures" in a corner of my kitchen.

Her book is filled with cute crafting ideas using repurposed items, which is something that I love to do as well. A few of my favorites are the bunting banners, aprons and crocheted pretties.

I do believe Tif uses recycled vintage fabric for her banners.

I constructed this one from a bundle of quilting fabric.

If you love everything vintage and thrifting is your thing, then I think you too will be inspired by this book.

You can find "dottie angel" at her blog and her Etsy shop.

I think you'll love her stories, photos and how to's.

I'd like to say thank you to Tif for sharing her world and thanks to all of you who stopped by my blog for a peek at my world.

As Tif would say "have a peachy day".

Karen

What Do You Do With Only One Shoe

What do you do with only one shoe?

I first learned of wooden shoes when I was about 7 or so.

I was in the 2nd grade and we were studying far off places.

I was fascinated by Holland with their windmills, tulips and wooden clogs.

So, when I saw this lonely old wooden shoe sitting on the shelf at the antique shop without a mate it made me sad. I had to rescue it and give it a purpose.

This particular shoe is 13 inches long and had been made for wearing.

It's new home is in my kitchen and it's new purpose is a planter.

I think it looks happy now.

Karen



Just Like Grandma

As each year passes I find myself longing more and more for a simple life.

Not an easy, lazy kind of life, but more of a handmade kind of life.

I find myself being drawn to things that I loved as a child.

Things that I remember from my Grandma's farm.

Like these old wooden shakers and egg holders.

I remember very similar ones in my Grandma's kitchen.

They add such a happy pop of color to my neutral colored kitchen and they remind me of my Grandmother who was such an influence on who I am today.

I miss my Grandmother. I spent a lot of time with her when I was growing up and I am very much like she was. Umelecky was chosen as my blog name in honor of Grandma. It is the Slovak term for artistic.

My plan for the months ahead is to be even more like Grandma. To garden, sew, crochet and to even have a clothesline for drying the laundry. I want to pick berries and make jam, plant flowers and fuss over them and learn to bake good bread and pies. I want to wear aprons and big straw hats.

Just like Grandma.

Just simple.

Happy.

Karen

Tags and Apothecary Bottles

Together, my husband and I have five girls.

All grown, finished with college, and living their own lives.

It's a rare occasion, usually Christmas, when we can all get together at one time.

Next weekend four out of five will be here for a sort of birthday, tea party gathering, and I've been busy making little gifty things for everyone.

I've made special tags for putting on their gifts.

These little apothecary bottles are party favors.

I found the bottles at the thrift store of course and filled each one with dried rose petals. 

I decorated them with vintage looking pictures that I printed, recycled sari silk ribbon and old vintage pins.

The tea party is themed vintage and handmade as my girls and myself all love everything old , repurposed and handmade. We will all be wearing vintage clothing as well. Oh, and no boys allowed at this party. My husband will be away fishing  and we girls will be doing girl things for the day.

I can't wait! I should have lots of pretty photos to share.

Have you ever had a grown up tea party? I have one more week to plan and prepare and I'd love to hear any ideas you might have. Thanks for visiting!

Karen

Thrifted Easter Finds

Hi all!

If you've been following my blog, you already know that I rarely make it through a week without visiting a thrift store or two. I have quite a nice collection of stuff to use as crafting supplies and another to use as decor. Today I would like to share a couple of photos of thrifted Easter decor items.

This is Betsy Bunny.

She's a pretty ceramic hanger upper that I found in the local junk shop.

I'm loving everything pastel these days.

I found two of these vintage juice glasses and decided that they make lovely little candle holders.

The glass object in the background is an old water container that I purchased at a flea market last summer.

Have you rescued anything lately?

Karen

Ribbons and Rust

After the beautiful weekend we just had, I feel motivated to spruce things up a bit around here.

The porch was the logical place to start since it was warm outside today and I'd rather be out than in. I put away the antique skis and the vintage skates and sled. In their place is an egg basket all tied up with ribbon...

and some rusty old tins and wire baskets...

 some sunny yellow pales....

and a cotton quilt that is buttercup yellow with sky blue stitching.

It covers the bench where I sit.

In a old wooden bucket are some twisted willow branches.

Now it's all spruced up and I can have my coffee out there tomorrow morning and listen to the birds sing.

Have you spruced up your porch yet for Spring?

Karen

Pretty Posies

What a lovely weekend!

Sunday was my birthday and I was so lucky to receive some beautiful fresh flowers.

Pretty, pink tulips from my daughter.

Romantic, red roses from my husband.

Wouldn't it be nice to have fresh flowers every day?

Karen

What To Do

...when you're not feeling all that great.

Like when you have a cold and you just can't really concentrate, but you feel like you need to do something.

I don't know about everybody else, but I have to keep busy, so yesterday I made these.

The bright colors of the fabric cheered me up a little and making these made me feel better.

To make these I ripped the fabric into strips about 2 inches wide.

Then I twisted and rolled the strips while hand stitching them on the back.

This recycled sari silk worked well too.

I twisted and wrapped this one a bit looser than the others and really like the way it turned out.

If I use them as brooches, I will first glue felt to the backs to give them a neater appearance, but if I just stitch them to a garment or use them for a craft project where the back won't be seen, there's no need to glue felt to the backs.

This was such a simple project and kept me busy while I sat around feeling useless yesterday.

I hope everyone is feeling good and getting ready for the change of seasons.

I'll be putting away my winter porch decor later today and heading out to run some errands this evening.

See you soon.

Karen

Pins and Needles

I was  hoping to get some sewing done today, but woke up with a nasty cold.

I'm feeling lousy and drowsy, but still may head down to my sewing room to see what I can accomplish.

I hope you are having a good day!

Karen



Have You Ever Seen An Onion

I went a little crazy with the camera a few days ago.

I was busy making dinner and the camera was there so I thought "why not".

I'm just so amazed at how differently I see things when I photograph them.

When I look at something through my camera lens it's like I'm seeing it for the first time.

I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like I never really take time out to look at things.

I never really see them.

I mean, everyone sees a flower,

but have you ever seen an onion?

Karen