Pet Bed From Repurposed Blankets

I made a pet bed today using a queen sized vellux blanket (as the insert) I didn't have need for anymore, and a fluffy throw (for the cover) that is being replaced by a hand knit cabled blanket I have in the works.

A few photos showing how I did it are after the jump.

A Little Birdie Told Me

I created this little thing today with materials I had on hand.

The base was the leftover part of a piece of oak that was used to transition the hardwood floor to the kitchen tiled floor.  The birds were made with a heavy coarse weave cotton and then were dry brush painted with acrylic. The branches fell out of our trees during yesterday's storm.

Oh the Thinks You Can Think!

I might be late to the party but did you know that you can transfer images onto fabric directly from your printer?  Yes we can. 

I just finished this project doing just that:

I used broadcloth fabric which is a poly/cotton blend lightweight fabric and ironed it,  then cut it out to fit on a sheet of cardstock.

I taped the fabric at the edges on all sides, chose some images, then hit print.

I cut out the images, then used spray adhesive and smoothed them down over the covered board that sits in the frame.

Done!

I can see a lot more of this type of printing in my future.  Think of the possibilities! Endless!  <3

Necklace Organizer

I put together a necklace holder similar to the earring holder I posted last week.  I'm putting a few tips and a close-up behind the cut.

Me And My Shadow

I cast a shadow of Justin and traced it, then painted it on a wall.  I'm going to be painting a few of the beginning notes of St. Louis Blues cascading out of the trumpet. It's sentimental to me because that's the first song he performed as a duet accompanied by piano in public.  He was 16 at the time.

 

My Sweet Rufus

Glass Vase Grouping

I gathered clear glass vases that have accumulated over the years and poured about 1/4 cup of white acrylic paint inside each one, and rolled them around until the paint completely covered the glass.  I then inverted them onto a paint tray and let the excess paint run off for a few hours.  The last step is to remove the paint that's left on the rim and then you're done.

You can still use these vases for fresh flowers by putting a small glass inside. 

This project cost me nothing which is my favourite amount to spend.  Little things like this ramp up my happiness more than I can say. 

Earring Organizer

I put this together today using a frame that I painted then distressed, a leftover scrap of fabric that I used to make some accent pillows for my bedroom, and regular window screen.

Simple Pleasures Brought To You By China

I just can't tell you how many shades of happy I am when I relax with a cup of blooming tea.  It's 3:00 am and I haven't slept yet with this on-again off-again insomnia, and I'm not going to drift off any time soon, but I have all the windows open and I can hear the wind blowing hard through the leaves outside. The fresh air has just a touch of coolness to it. It won't be long before fall takes root and bursts with colour and I can go to the mountains and pretend I'm a tourist.

It's so very peaceful, there is no traffic on the street, there are cats sprawled about and napping, Jazz is beside me purring his face off, and I have soft jazz playing on a vintage cathedral radio and you know?  Life is simply just good at this moment in time.

 I had my mother over this week, and I served her a cup of the Jasmine tea - she'd never heard of it and she couldn't believe her eyes. She thought it was so pretty that she took the flower home in a glass that I covered with plastic so that it wouldn't spill in the car.

She called me yesterday, I guess it would be three days now, and she says that the flower is still holding up.  I had thrown my first flower away, but I'm going to keep this one in water like she did because I like pretty things in my life that make me smile.

Faked Out Philodendron

I love houseplants but I just can't seem to keep them alive unless they are cacti. I decided to try to find something that could pass for a real leafy one and put together this today.

I found a styrofoam ball, Spanish moss, and Philodrendon clusters at the dollar store and got busy with a glue gun.  There had been a live plant in the clay pot but I sort of killed it slowly, like every plant I try to make friends with.  


I'm not sure if I should thin out the leaves though. It seems to me that when I lived in a sunnier house, the Philodrendon I had was bushy like this. 


This project cost four dollars.

I recovered this lamp shade with sisal cord and spray painted the stand black today.

Here's the before:

I needed 100 feet of sisal cord and applied it with a glue gun.

Seashell shadow box wall art.

I put together this seashell shadow box for my beachy bathroom recently.

I purchased four shadow boxes from a dollar store and a bag of various shells.

I glued the shadow boxes together and then painted them with acrylic paint in a creamy colour.

I mixed up some sand I snagged from a playground, and mixed it with invisible school glue and more of the cream acrylic paint.

I carefully applied the sand mixture using a small paint brush to the backs of each shadow box and after it dried, glued the shells to the sandy paint using a glue gun.

 

I finished off two little projects today.

This vintage clover botanical came from the wonderful Graphics Fairy. 

The frame was previously gold (ew, I really hate gold these days) so I painted it off-white.  I covered a board with a fabric that is a textured woven cotton blend, then transferred the image onto pure unbleached cotton.  I covered a smaller board with the image and then glued crocheted cotton lace around the boarder.


Love how it turned out!  It hangs in my
insanely girly guest room which I used to read in last night when I couldn't sleep and my God, it's so peaceful and cosy and wonderful in there and I feel so grateful that I was able to refinish that whole room for fifty dollars.

This is a grocery store plastic bag and vegetable bag holder.  My other half calls it a bag-bag.  The vintage balsamic vinegar ad comes once more from The Graphic Fairy.  We don't use many of these type of environmentally unfriendly bags anymore but they fit perfectly in my kitchen garbage can and they're free and we'd be buying plastic liners anyway so whatever.

Since I am ridiculously organized, I stuff the vegetable bags at the top, and the grocery store bags at the bottom so there's no putzing around to find the kind I need.

Bedroom Furniture Makeover

I wish I had before photos of this room to show just how awful it was, but try to picture St. Patrick's Day green screaming at you every day.  A teenager previously called this room her lair, but now it's a guest room and a place to read with a cat or two by my feet.

Refinished Windsor Backed Chairs

Here are after shots of a chair I recently refinished.

I put these Windsor backed chairs in a garage sale last year but they didn't sell.  I stored them away, thinking I'd sell them on Craigslist but then decided I really loved them, just not done in honey maple finish.  Here is the before shot of one of them.