Handmade Romance

As promised, I made more of the little tart tin magnets.

Inspired by a love story.

Romantic as tattered lace.

Sparkling like bits of vintage bling.

Drawn to each other.

Clinging.

So beautiful.

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

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

Green Living

I made a quick stop at the thrift store today and came home with some wonderful new treasures which I'll share with you on another post.  Today I want to ramble on about how I've decided to recycle more, waste less and just make an overall effort to live a greener life. Although I've been using recycled materials in my crafts for years, I'm now taking it to a whole other level.  My Mom called me yesterday to let me know that she has a big stack of old newspapers for me, but she forgot to save her used dryer sheets this week.  My daughter stopped in for lunch today and complained that she has "trash" all over her kitchen that she's saving at my request. I know this might sound a bit like I'm some kind of hoarder and I guess I am to a certain degree, but not the kind you see on TV. I try to keep it all organized and I actually use these materials, not hoard them. Here are some of the things that I'm recycling at this time.

These used tea bags make the most beautiful papers for my journals.

After they are dried I open them, compost the tea and save the papers for my journal.

They're pretty and they even smell good.

I haven't done much composting in the past, but it seems like such a waste not to, so today I started a compost pail. It will be used in my garden.

I bought my first dozen of free range brown eggs today.

I wish I would have photographed the eggs before I cooked them. They were such a beautiful brown.

The shells went into the compost pail and I saved the carton for packaging up some small handmade Easter gifts.

SIMPLIFY is my new favorite word.

Who knows, I may end up raising chickens next.

Hope your day is simple and comfortable.

See you soon.

Karen

Recycled Doily Sachets

If you ask me, nothing smells better than lavender.

I always keep a supply of French lavender buds on hand for making sachets.

These were all made from vintage linen doilies.

I picked these vintage doilies up at an estate sale for 3/$1.00.

These are about 10 and 12 inches in diameter and hold quite a lot of lavender.

These small sachets were made from thrifted doilies.

They are about 3 inches in diameter.

Each sachet holds one tablespoon of lavender.

I purchased all of them for just 29 cents.

They are adorned with tiny vintage flowers.

Jack likes the smell of lavender too, and fresh bed linens, and hamburgers and bacon and......

What's your favorite fragrance?

Karen



Creative Need

I became creative out of need.

I was hand sewing clothes for my dolls by age 5 and making a lot of my own clothes by age 12.

I couldn't afford the things I wanted , so the only way to have them was to be creative and make things for myself. My mother was my greatest  inspiration growing up, as well as my grandparents (my mom's parents). I remember my mom sewing things for me with an old treadle sewing machine, refinishing furniture and incorporating recycled materials into our home. My grandmother was an amazing fiber artist and my grandfather was always making something out of nothing.

Although life was kinda tough back then, I am grateful for that creative lifestyle that is with me still.

I don't think I would have this creative spark within me today if life would have been easy then and I can't imagine life without creativity.

I've come a long way and I no longer NEED to make the things I want.

Now, I want to.

My day doesn't feel complete if I haven't done something creative and if I create something by repurposing or recycling, that's even more satisfying.

I've made a few Valentine cards by recycling parts of old cards and scraps of pretty papers that I've saved.

And some card holders made from wire and repurposed shakers.

The bows were made from torn strips of recycled sheets.

I like these so much more than store bought ones.

Sometimes I wonder if I would have been creative if life had been easy.

How about you?

Karen

Crocheted Steampunk

I wasn't quite sure what to call this style, so I've decided on crocheted steampunk.

This necklace is titled

Do Not Disturb.

It has a ceramic face, some felted beads, an antique key, an antique leather button and 3 beautiful glass vintage buttons. It all comes together with a fine cotton crochet thread.

One of a kind.

Artwear.

Thanks for having a look.

Karen



Antique Pincushions

They're not actually antique pincushions, but are repurposed bits of antique and vintage items used to create new pincushions. Pedestals and silver spoons. Linen, lace, velvet and notions. Hatpins and pearls.

Even an old Victorian child's shoe.

You can purchase these HERE.

Thanks for looking.

Karen

Junk Art

As you probably already know...

I love collecting old stuff (junk).

It inspires me to create.

I guess you could call it eco friendly, since everything is repurposed.

These are some new pincushions I've made for my studio.

Made of all repurposed materials and scraps.

I borrowed the idea for these from the spoon pin cushion, made by Debbie Burkey.

This is some wall art that I created from some found objects and gifts from friends and family.

Now I just need to organize my studio, so these things will fit in there.

Happy Tuesday to you!

Karen