From Shambles to Shiney New

Happy Friday & Hooray for Me!

I'm the first person to admit how non technologically intelligent I am, yet this is the first post on my newly re-designed blog here. Yes, I completely destructed my last layout without bothering to remember or research ((or save it, for that matter)) how to re-build it. But alas, two nights of frustration and my little blog has a face lift! As I told my Sweet Man, I am going to sign up for a class on creating blogs + website ((for dummies)) at the local community college at some point this year. I cannot be ignorant any longer!!!! :) 

Well, now it's finally the weekend and I've posted once this week about my upcoming projects and little jobs that I did in my house over the holidays. Next week I'm headed to Mexico for work ((rough, 8 days at ClubMed)) and I plan to bring the supplies for the little beauties below, with me to sew on the plane or at night / down time. So here's the upcoming project...

This week I ordered from www.cooking.com, a set of flour sack towels and in my greatest efforts to take an inexpensive ((but everlasting)) kitchen towel, I am going to sew ruffles on them and add embroidery in my own design. Momma couldn't make it sound any easier to draw my own design and using embroidery thread in various thicknesses & colors, to create something unique! After all, that's what I'm all about!! So I am taking hints and tricks from the EASY book + website "Sublime Stitching" and going to purchase some neat hand-dyed floss and give it a whirl. Now, I'm no drawing artist, so I'll stick to something with a simple shapes that will fit in with my kitchen. Perhaps a cupcake, cookie, or rolling pin doodle. These are some I'm considering trying to draw ...

Starting simple of course, I may need to buy a book until I can figure it out. Also, I've saved a lot of neat fonts from  the most awesome free fonts and should attempt to trace the letters onto my towels, and stitch over them. I'll be sure to post photos of the finished product! Here's hoping how they'll turn out: 

After these little buggers are complete, I am hoping to play around with transfer printer paper and some to-die-for images ((think, French, girly, whimsical, and vintage)) from the Graphics Fairy
I'm seeing pillows and hand towels for my bathroom, plus gift options galore!
Trust me when I say she is THE hot-spot for images to use. And they're free! Thank you fellow blogger Graphics Fairy! :) 

Well, I hope to blog another time or so before I head off in a week... if not, Viva Mexico and I shall return with pictures of projects :)

xoxo
 B

**Thanks to Fiskars Crafts  for ruffle instructions here!
**Follow http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/
**Ruffled Christmas towels here

No Shame - Inspiration Takes Time

Hello little world of blogging! Or rather, a big world (and seemingly growing bigger by the day)!

It's been about a month and a half since my last post, and I will not apologize for it. Between holidays, work, projects, traveling, and life in general, I've had little time to sit down and truly browse the blogs of the world while letting my own creativity thrive.


 Since my last post, I have done some small "projects" in my cottage ...

• While Momma visited one week, we made burlap wreaths for each of our homes. Simple enough, about 3 yards of burlap, some ribbon, and a coat hanger that is happy to bend in any shape you so choose. Momma added a finishing touch to hers with a gorgeous checkered brown velvet ribbon from Ballard Designs, and attached it to a shabby chic'd ((DIY)) creme gloss shutter.
• Meanwhile, my burlap beauty is perched atop my mantle, its neutral tones eluded itself to the remainder of the mantle being decorated in soft tones of  blue Mason jars, mercury glass candlesticks, as well as some cotton and wood architectural pieces from New Orleans. I'm quite pleased with my neutral mantle until mid-Spring when it will need some more color! 

• The pantry in my kitchen is host to a new organizational method, complete with the sweetest ((and most simple to make)) labels. Each cubby, canister, and snack bin has its own label. I was on a "whim" one afternoon and put together these labels from blank place cards. Admittedly, I smile whenever I open my pantry now, for a whole new reason!

 My dining room, with its ever so bold Robins Egg Bleu accent wall, has a new vignette atop my china hutch. While I'm debating on how and if to sell my antique china hutch for a smaller version, I went ahead and made it something I could live with. The wreath is a hand-me-down that graced my Momma's front door for several springs, paired with some mercury glass (can't help myself!), new dessert plates (from Mama B) and a garden finial. It's not quite spring yet, but I can't help but decorate as if it were.  . . or maybe it's just my love for pink and green!!






    

• And one final "DIY Re-Do" ... a simple ((ugly)) recipe box from the $1 spot at Michael's Craft Stores, met some pretty scrapbooking papers of mine, and some hot glue, and ribbon, and Voila! Cute recipe box that I'm not ashamed to have out on my counter :) 

Now, onto further projects and musings ... I have a list of about 10 things to try ... ranging from sewing simple buntings for upcoming holidays ((Valentine's Day in shades of pink were the starting point)) to a more complicated project of printing out images from the amazing website ((Vintage Graphics)) onto fabric transfer paper, giving myself the room to create neat vintage-y pillows and tea towels. And a few of the upcoming projects will require the Handsome Man to bring his drill and go on a "vintage hardware search" with me, I'm making an "Apron Rack". Time to display the heirlooms from grandmothers and great-grandmothers in my kitchen!

I'm traveling to Mexico for work in the next week and a half and will be gone for 8 days, so I hope to have plenty of time to muse on the planes and at the resort, for more projects. I have quite mixed feelings about the way my creative juices have been lately. On one hand, I feel that as a creative being, I should always be able to spill out ideas and projects. But on the other hand, I have the utmost respect for the creative side of my brain, as it works at its best when given time and space to freely create. We'll go with the latter, and call it a night.

xoxo
B