Valentine Pockets

For years I've been gathering old lace and linens, hankies and ribbon.

Pretty bits and pieces from flea markets, thrift shops and estate sales.

Perfect for making Valentine pockets.

 Scraps of vintage papers for writing a little love note are in each pocket.

 There are antique photos and tiny doilies.

 Very old buttons made of glass and pearl.

 Broken jewelry bits and sewing notions.

 Hat pins and

 tattered hankies.

 Bits of old wedding gowns.

Some have pockets in the front and some are in the back.

Some are for hanging up and some are for wearing.

I love how all the layers of fabric and lace look all tattered and torn and pretty.

These are almost ready for shipping out to loved ones.

karen

Jar Of Hearts

Last year at this time I started a Jar Of Hearts.

They were tattered hearts adorned with bits of lace and blue silk from an antique dress.

This years tattered hearts were also made from bits and pieces.

An old sweater, torn doilies and scraps of this and that.

The jar is only half full, so there is lots more room for tattered hearts.

I'll be adding to the jar until Valentine's Day.

You can never have too many hearts.

karen

Primitive Valentines

Hi.

I'm taking a short break from the jewelry making as I wait for some supplies to arrive.

I don't usually do much decorating for Valentine's Day, but as I rummaged through my craft supplies, I figured, what the heck, I have all of this STUFF,  I may as well do something with it. So, my next few posts will be devoted to handmade valentines.

This is my rusty heart tart tin hanging thingy.

It consists of three rusty heart tarts, a piece of driftwood, some jute twine, antique tattered lace, a couple of white stones, vintage dictionary text, and some Martha Stewart clear glue.

I drilled holes in the ends of the driftwood and the tops of the hearts.

Then I glued the lace and text to the hearts and hung them from the driftwood with the twine.

I like the way the rust was soaked up by the glue and is peeking through the lace and paper.

It gives it a real primitive look.

The stones add some interest to the overall look.

It's been a while since I've played with ink and stamps.

In the past I had used coffee or tea to give my tags an aged look, but this one was soaked in vanilla and smells wonderful.

You can't get more primitive than this.

Valentine's Day is less than two weeks away, so I will be posting more ideas on making valentines using recycled odds and ends.

I hope I've inspired you to make some decorations of your own.

See you soon.

Karen





Bits & Pieces

Since I'm having crocheter's block and I felt the need to do something creative, I grabbed a handful of scraps from my sewing room and settled into my favorite chair to work on something different.

Valentine's Day is just a month away, so I thought, why not make some simple hearts.

I used bits of fabric and recycled wool felt to make these.

Love

Karen

Heaven Scent

Yesterday, I worked on some lavender sachets for me, my Etsy shop and for gifts. I found some lovely old garments on one of my recent thrifting adventures, so I laundered them, cut them apart, and recycled the fabric. I purchased the cute little brass "hand made" charms from Etsy. The blue ribbon is from the Martha Stewart collection at Michael's and the brown ribbon is seam binding (love that stuff).

Today I plan to finish some recycled wool hearts that have a bit of embroidery and a bit of crochet added to them.

The fragrance from the lavender is just HEAVENLY!