Melony's Whimsy Daisy!

a book I didn't know about...and a pink dress

One of my favorite books, as a girl, was Little Women. Pure sweetness, tragedy, and love were on each and every page. Being the oldest of four girls in the family, I was very familiar with the emotional ups and downs of my own little tribe of "little women."

My Maw-Maw made each of us four girls a rag doll to represent one of the little women. My doll was Meg and I still have her to this day. I also read any Louisa May Alcott book I could get my hands on. I still have a few Alcott books displayed in my home. My sisters and I went to see the movie "Little Women" when the newest version came out some years ago and had a night out on the town with our Mother.

 

Last week I came upon this book at a garage sale and bought it purely for its beautiful dust jacket. I loved the name of the book and the colors are so pretty.

(I'm participating in Pink Saturday at Beverly's today. Go see lots of links to pink!)

 
If you judge a book by its cover, this one says...romance, history, intrigue, innocence, dancing, fashion, and genteel conversation. Then, I opened up the book and lo, and a behold...look at the author!

 
This is one of her books I don't think I ever knew about! I'm excited, except now I will look for the original version as this is the abridged version compiled for children. Some excited young artist decided to begin a masterpiece on the inside of the book by coloring in the illustrations.

 
Until I track down my mystery Louisa May Alcott book, I listed this dress in my Etsy Shop.   It has that same sweet Rose in Bloom sort of feel as the book. Isn't it dreamy? It reminds me of the brand Gunne Sax that was so popular in the 1970's. Oh how I loved those dresses when I was a teen. I don't believe I ever owned one as they were out of my budget!  
I can just imagine a teenager asking her mother to buy a beautiful Gunne Sax dress for a special occasion, and a mama looking at the price tag and putting her foot down, "No way honey, I can make that dress and for a lot less money!" This particular dress is made by a very good seamstress that added all sorts of details to make it special.

 
Hope your Tuesday is full of Roses in Bloom!

Linking up with this fun vintage blog: 

The Story of the Vintage Sky Blue Dress Tossed with Roses

A quick little post of a yummy 1970's vintage dress I discovered at a wonderful local Catholic Church Sale. It is on sale now in my Whimsy Daisy Etsy Shop!

 

It is so sweet and innocent.

I could love sheets in this print.

Or wallpaper.

Or a big overstuffed chair.

 
This dress is special and not off the rack. I like to imagine a cutesy Mrs. Brady Bunch-type mom purchasing her fabric from Sew-Fro and carefully cutting it out from a Simplicity pattern. With great care she sewed it on her new avocado green Singer sewing machine she received for Christmas.

 
She was making it for her daughter to wear to be inducted into the National Honor Society. It was a proud moment for her as a mother, as she had always been an average B student in her school days. It was going to be a very special evening indeed!

 
She put the finishing touches on the dress and proudly presented it to her daughter. Her daughter's face fell and she sobbed, "Oh Mother. I can't wear that! All the other girl's have store bought dresses from Sears!" Daughter then burst into tears and ran from the room. Cutesy-Mrs.-Brady-type-mom sat down in the midst of her pattern pieces and fabric scraps and wept.

 

 
Years later Mother and Daughter laughed over this memory. Daughter hugged now-wrinkled-cutesy-Mrs.-Brady-type as they looked at her pictures from the night of The  National Honor Society Banquet of 1972. She said, "Oh Mother, everybody else had store bought dresses from Sears and I wore the most beautiful dress in the world!"

Okay...so I get a little carried away with the imagined history of the vintage clothing I purchase.

 

 

 

Fancy Tickling...

Here are some items that have sold lately in my Etsy Shop that apparently tickled the new owner's fancy. I'm always intrigued because you never know when you list something if someone will actually want it enough to BUY it! Just because *I* was intrigued by something doesn't mean anybody else will give a hoot.

 
These two little dolls looked so forlorn I was worried if anybody would see their charm, but apparently someone remembered them from the past or had a soft spot for this little couple from Japan.

 
This little lady headvase was snatched up quickly with the new owner requesting me to please "wrap her up real good because she's so pretty!" I have a thing for lady headvases myself but decided I needed to part with this one before I became attached.

This sweet little vintage housedress below is winging its way to Australia and her new owner who has a love of yesteryear's clothing (one of my all time weaknesses.)

 Then, there is Peter Pig. He is an old Fisher Price toy from the late 50's early 60's. I  bought this pig even though I had no memories of it personally...I loved a Buzzy Bee and still have her!  I hoped someone remembered their Peter Pig and would enjoy sitting him on a nursery shelf and reminiscing. His graphics are adorable. I didn't realize how well-loved he had been until I did some research. He's missing his curly-q tail, his hat, his pull string, and he once "oinked"! I was right. Someone saw him and wanted to give him a home. He is on his way from Texas to New Hampshire.

 
That's what makes Etsy such a fun place to shop and to sell. Now, will my Saucy Walker find a new home?

 

Or what about this vintage sequined and velvet vest? Will it tickle someone's fancy? Spark a memory? I don't know, but it will be fun to wait and see.

 
Or maybe it will be Dumbo the Elephant who pulls at the heartstrings...

 

 I'm especially thrilled if someone thinks something I've created it is worthy of attention. I know many of you artsy craftsy folks get the same little thrill when something you make sells. It is that Sally Field moment, "Someone likes me. You really like me!"

 
Hope you're enjoying this busy time of year and all the crafty fun vintagey goodness in your life. May there be lots of little tickles to your fancy as you recollect sweet moments of the past, make the very most of the present moment, and relish living out your future as God has planned! Happy Pink Saturday! I'm linking up at Beverly's today. I haven't in a while. She is featuring some great recipes and other ladies who love pink, so check her out. I always enjoy participating.

 

Back in the day...Pink Saturday.

Let's say it's 1976 and I am 15 again. I would have swooned over this dress in the store. Why? Well, first, it was from Riff's. Riff's was the exclusive downtown dress store where ladies who had social engagements...you know...teas, luncheons, country club dinners, galas, and other events (I imagined to be the most exciting soirees ever) shopped for their wardrobes.

 

My silly head was full of teenage romantic notions mainly brought on by my love of reading. I devoured books. We lived in the country and the library was "way across town" and not especially my mother's thing. Fortunately she did brake for garage sales! I would hide in the floorboard of our green wood-paneled station wagon begging Mother to "please don't stop" at garage sales. She stopped anyway. After she got out I would stay on the floorboard until I could accurately determine if the garage sale was taking place at a school friends' home. I did this on my knees and peering out with one eye out the bottom of the window. Once I figured all was clear and I would not be humiliated for life, I hopped out and thoroughly enjoyed myself. (Why was I so ridiculous? My poor Mother.)

With my hard earned babysitting money in my hormonal hand, I purchased dime-priced romance paperback books by the dozens. These were taken immediately to my lavender-painted teenage sanctuary and inhaled. Pages full of Harlequin heroines who wore creamy confections of lace ruffled dresses, dotted with blushing pink roses and mossy green leaves and whose hair shone like spun gold left me...

INSECURE, AWKWARD, UNREALISTIC IN MY EXPECTATIONS OF LIFE, and constantly DISGUSTED WITH MY DOUBLE-KNIT PLAID PANTSUITS WITH BELL BOTTOMS!  LOL!!!!

Actually, I'm fine...but oh, I would have loved to have owned this dress!

 
 

Oh well, I might could fit one leg into this dress now...but I sure enjoy myself more than when I was 15 and hiding from my imagined humiliations. I proudly brake for garage sales, realize spun gold hair is easily obtained in a box, and know first hand... teas and social engagements do not the woman make!  I never made it to Riff's, but I have my own little Etsy Shop with this dream dress for sale. I hope some silly teenage girl will buy it with her babysitting money. 

Oh, and I am very blessed to have romance in my life.

Blush.

Happy Pink Saturday to you! Check out all the other ladies who love a little pink in their life. It's a great color!

 

 

 

This Mayhem Needs a Little Organization!

It is so nice to be participating in Pink Saturday again. Click on the badge above to visit lots and lots of other ladies who love a little pink in their life. I am also loving all the great crafty ideas at the Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello!

My Craft Cottage is a mess! Don't let these pictures fool you for a second. I'm snapping the neat side of the room. The other side is a disaster with a capital D. It is overwhelming, so I am trying to tackle the situation one sack (of Goodwill treasures), one box (of old fabric), and one tub (of vintage clothes) at a time.

Accomplished:

Two old basket purses spray painted and hung on the wall. Every little bit of space needs to be used.

 
The baskets are filled with "stuff"... Mary Engelbreit paper goods bought on the cheap, cheap, cheap and waiting for a craft project or a party...whichever comes first!

 

Little by little, things are finding their place.

 
Hope you have a beautiful weekend! I am still enjoying my newly decopauged freebie filing cabinet. Read about in my blog post below!

 

 

Old Church Filing Cabinet gets Glorified with Decopauge!

I was excited to have the opportunity to obtain an old filing cabinet from a local church. For many years it served faithfully holding the Sunday School rolls from each class. It had seen better days and suffered from some dents and bangs. Nobody seemed to want it, so I was the blessed girl to load it up in the Cherry Cherry Bang Bang (my little red car) and tote it home. There is something very therapeutic for me in giving something old and battered a new life.

 
I have a favorite tool. I never lose it. It is my fingernail. I used it to scratch off all the high-tech labels on each of the drawers. I decided NOT to paint the cabinet, as paint would have highlighted every "wrinkle" so to speak. It needed some major concealer with good coverage.

 
So, I decided to decopauge. I love to decopauge and it was the perfect "makeup" for my well-worn cabinet. I began to gather my supplies.

• four or five different fabrics
• Mod Podge (check out Modge Podge Rocks blog for other project ideas)
• paintbrush
• paper plate (I pour my glue on the plate and then dip brush)
• small jar of water (to dilute glue if necessary)
• a little miscellaneous trim for some rough edges
• scissors
•  iced tea and Peppermint Patties for sustenance and optimal concentration

I used one large piece of fabric for the top of the cabinet. I added several coats of Mod Podge to make sure it was sealed properly as I knew I would be setting lots of stuff on the top. This was very easy and went quickly.

 

Then came decopauging the drawers.

Oh the drawers!!! 

27 drawers.

Twenty seven drawers.

20 + 3 + 4 = 27 drawers.

I mixed, matched, and Mod Podged. For hours I snipped, slapped on and situated, scrap after scrap of fabric onto each and every one of the 27 individual drawers until they were covered in fabric fabulosity. Here is the filing cabinet making her debut in my Craft Cottage!  

I just love how it turned out. I think it looks something out of the Cath Kidston Store. Or, perhaps, Mary Engelbreit could be storing some of her cheery cherry artwork in a red polka-dot drawer? I am linking up to It's a Very Cherry World for REDnesday.  I think Sue will enjoy this Show and Tell.

Here is a side view where I have some wonky trim placement. No, no. Let me call it "handmade charm". I don't know what happened. Maybe I was one Peppermint Patty short in the concentration department after dealing with all those drawers, but I can live with the imperfection.

 

I wanted to be finished at this point, but throughout my childhood I heard, "if something is worth doing, it's worth doing right." So, I completed the back...even though NOBODY will ever see it, I will know it is looking good on the backside too. I admit I rushed through it willy nilly, so don't look too close.

 

At a recent Sunday School garage sale we were raising money for missions. My good friend, Nancy, was like a Queen Bee, buzzing around "staging" our merchandise to show it at its best and get it sold. So, I pulled a "Nancy" and decided to do some "staging" of my filing cabinet. The cherries, you saw earlier, in the glass bowl came from the aforementioned garage sale. I bought the cherries to replace one missing cherry on my red polka dot shoes. They were quite the bargain for 50 cents, as they repaired my shoes and are now serving double decorative duty on the cabinet.

Next, a 99 cent Goodwill old metal colander filled with some of my vintage hankies placed on the top of the jazzed up filing cabinet.

 
Pink roses are at home most anywhere...

 

Bob, my neat, orderly, Windex-lovin', all-the-world-should-be-chrome-and-glass-with-abstract-modern-art, wonderful, husband informed me he had been concerned about me when he saw me glueing fabric to an old filing cabinet. Here is our conversation when he saw the completed project.

~~~~~~~~~~

Bob (shocked): Wow! That looks really good honey!

Me: I know! *

Bob (surprised): You're supposed to say thank you when someone compliments you.

Me: I will thank you tomorrow. Right now I'm basking in the afterglow of a craft project that exceeded my expectations.

Bob (looking at the cabinet again): Honestly, it looks great!

Me: I know!

~~~~~~~~~

*note: I've had many many craft disasters, failures, malfunctions, so I promise I'm not being pompous. I'm just so happy with my filing cabinet! Please join me in my afterglow. Oh, and the pictures that are hanging above the filing cabinet are for sale in my Etsy Shop!

 

Hooking up to some great blogs parties. Visit them for some inspirational creative ideas for your home and the upcoming holidays.

 

Did the Craft Cottage Save Their Marriage? :)

 

What a surprise when organized, disciplined Bob with a Marine's spirit walked into this widow woman's unorganized, creative, spontaneous life. Bob was an empty nester with a quiet apartment neatly serving up abstract art in black lacquered frames on its pristine white walls. I still had two children at home (out of five) to raise and sported handpainted red, pink, and yellow cherries on my turquoise walls. (That was just the kitchen.) Bob worked out of neat folders and files in an office away from home, and I worked all over my house out of bins and tins, baskets and boxes that were in constant states of volcanic eruptions of paint, fabric, paper, and "vintage stuff." Bob just didn't understand the "vintage stuff".

 

 

So, after we married and had several exuberant discussions about my "vintage stuff", he so kindly offered me his old storage building. I graciously accepted and immediately thought of it as my Craft Cottage. This is how it made its debut appearance at our newlywed home.

Bob worked really hard getting the Craft Cottage's plain interior up to my cuteness criteria. Many hours of love went into putting in electrical, insulation...and other details that did not pertain to the cuteness factor. It was really what I call yucky on the inside at first.

But, the plan started coming together.  

 

Once Bob completed the inside job, he left me to turn my creative space into my dream Craft Cottage. What a guy!

What do I create and enjoy doing?

• collage with vintage greeting cards, magazines, and materials
• I sew- in a so-so sort of way- especially like using vintage fabrics and patterns
• paint - simple but kitschy is my style
• decopauge- anything that stands still long enough
• love to wear, buy, and sell vintage clothing
• collecting old wallpaper, wrapping paper, fabric for my projects
• buttons! crazy about vintage buttons, oh and trims too...rick rack and such
• love the art on old patterns
• aprons are divine
• reworking, redoing, saving old worn out furniture, frames, boxes,
• things that just catch my fancy!

 

The fun began when I started moving in! Here is a part of my sewing area.

I began sorting through fabric and moving in my new space...this is a teeny tiny portion of my stash. There is more. Lots more.

 

 

I obtained a freebie desk and gave it a makeover.

That became a work area in my Craft Cottage. Drawers are full of cards and all sorts of paper crafting supplies.

Here is one of my favorite spots in my Craft Cottage. I could just stand and look at all the goodness.

My little inspiration board:

My dress form with my handkerchiefs displayed:

My old phone that serves no purpose except to make me happy:

Yummy paints, pom-poms and whimsy...

 Fun storage:

No sew curtains added to the wall with gigantic clothes pins:

My Craft Cottage is still a work in progress (as is our blended family.) So many things  to look forward to accomplishing together. I'm so grateful for my creative space to do my thing. Knowing it was born out of my husband's love makes it very special. Yes, AND and his insatiable need for order and sanity in his life. Who knew sanity could be so cute?

Make sure you visit Where Bloggers Create by clicking on the button at the beginning of this post and then participating in Pink Saturday at Beverly's over at How Sweet the Sound!
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

  
  
 
  
  

 

 

One Big Ol' Pink Mess! It's Okay Though...

Tractors run in my  family. Some families grew up stopping at historical markers on trips...my father, the dad of four girls, pulled the green station wagon with wood panels over at every heavy equipment and tractor yard he passed. We might inwardly groan and dream of a Dairy Queen, but he was the dad and that's the way it was. Mother usually got out and joined Daddy being the loving wife and showing interest in backhoes and bulldozers.

We learned how to drive a tractor as kids. All of my kids have had their pictures made on the tractor.We went to tractor pulls, antique tractor shows, and tractor parades. A trip to my parents still includes Daddy hooking up the old tractor to a trailer, us all loading up in it and heading down to the fields for fireworks and fun, or just a tour of the farm. Tractors are sentimental in our family!

So, when I saw this tractor fabric, I thought what a great dress it would make to wear to an auction or even to go to the rodeo with my pair of pink and brown boots. A little pink. A little denim combined. Easy peasy. Done. What could be more perfect?

Wrong. Never have I made such a hideous concoction that had to be ripped out more times than this dress. It was a disaster from beginning to end. My seam ripper put three holes in the dress which I decided to cover up with the above sash. Sadly, my hemline was so unbelievably wonky and without every boring detail...I decided the perfect fix would be some decorative stitching. Yes! That would be the ticket.

 
Wrong! It was NOT the ticket and only highlighted the strange hemline, and the bizarre fit of the dress...part tent...part paintsmock. I would say I spent the better part of three days on this disaster of a dress. This was an outfit which no cute accessory could possibly save. So... I wadded it all up. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

....and started over with this cheerful fabric. I am calling it The Swiss Miss meets Flower Child. My rose necklace is right at home, and I feel like yodeling.  

I found these sandals that I think match perfectly at Hancock's Fabrics for less than $10.00. Aren't they cheerful?  Who needs cowboy boots? Grrrrrrrrrr.

 
My Pink Saturday is not a loss! (Make sure you go visit the other ladies who enjoy a little pink in their lives over at How Sweet The Sound.) I will tackle the pink tractor dress another day and in the meantime enjoy my successfully completed ensemble! I'm over the pink tractor disaster. Really. grrrrrrrrrr

   

A Well Placed Rose: Then...and Now!

This summer my goal has been to make a summer wardrobe without going to some of the larger stores and spending ten or fifteen bucks on a cheap shirt that I "kinda" like and will also be owned by ten million other people and ends up at Goodwill next year. I have a gigantic stash of wonderful fabric I have basically just been caressing over the years, (and you girls who love fabric will know exactly what I'm talking about) and I said to myself, "Melony, this is pure foolishness! Cut into that stuff and make you some clothes." Like the Little Red Hen...and so I did.

{It's Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest and I think you'll enjoy other inexpensive crafty ideas.} 

NOTE TO ALL: I don't do zippers, buttons that go into actual holes, plackets, brackets, twists, turns, facings, or bracings.

MELONY'S SEWING STYLE: Lay some heavy knives on the pattern pieces, cut them out as quickly as possible. Put the pedal to the metal and hope nothing goes wrong with the machine. Pray whatever I make fits. It doesn't get a second chance. Basically I sew 37 versions of peasant dresses and tops or upcycle things somebody else did with a peasant top attached (as in Wednesday's post below.)

WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE DAY: Most anything looks better with a well placed rose.

 
A well placed flower is not a new idea. I discovered this when browsing through my beloved worn vintage patterns.

As if the hat, gloves, pearls, heels, and ear bobs were not enough for this dame's ensemble above! But perhaps, she was like me and the seams didn't quite come together as smoothly as she had hoped, and what better than to slap, I mean, carefully place a lovely rose right there on her wispy waist?

 Or maybe it's best if one isn't completely pleased with the way the outfit turned out, the best thing to do is just keep your back to the camera and carry the full fledged well placed boquet like the mysterious girl in blue. But take a look at the superior look on the blonde's face. I guess her dressed turned out so perfectly no flowers are needed. There is some pencil writing on the pattern noting the four yards of blue fabric to make the dress cost a total of $3.93.   

Below is a very simple peasant dress I whipped up in about two hours. I wore the rose necklace with it, but chickened out on the humongous rose on the waist area. My waist doesn't need anything more of dimension to bring any more attention to that particular area. I do love this dress. Throw it on, added some summer sandals, jewelry and I'm out the door. You really can't beat a good peasant dress.

On the other hand, if other areas are lacking......then, perhaps this girl has the right idea in placing her large rose. But, then, the other girl seems quite shocked by the whole situation, so maybe you should proceed with caution when placing your rose in the center of your chest. I'm thinking it could cause quite a stir...then...or even now!

 
 
 Happy Pink Saturday to you! Go visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to visit all the other girls who love a little pink in their life!

Of course you don't want to see our septic tank!!!

Happy Pink Saturday to you! Today you will see plenty of pink in my silly but true post below. Please visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see other ladies who enjoy a little pink in their lives.   

My husband took vacation time to get our sewer system working. Isn't that a lovely vacation? I am VERY grateful that the nastiness will soon be done, buried, and just a stinky memory. So between bringing him glasses of tea and taking care of life's other little ups and downs, I am posting a few pictures of my Spring table and a funny story and you have permission to laugh with me. I KNOW you don't want to see our new septic tank!

Now, I'm going to tell something I may regret...but...oh well. My husband bought these flowers for me and had them delivered to church where I volunteer on Benevolence Tuesday. I was shocked. It was not my birthday. It was not an anniversary. I was totally puzzled until I read the card and then had to burst out laughing.

If there are any of you that sleep talk or sleep walk, surely you will understand?  My daughter had competed in a UIL contest for her 5th grade class the weekend before. Apparently I dreamed I wrote a poem for my "own" UIL event and actually woke my husband up during the night reciting it to the judges in my sleep. I then asked hubby if I had good eye contact. He said he told me I had great eye contact (although I was sound asleep) and that I had won the contest. I never woke up. He told me about it the next morning. I vaguely could remember my dream and we had a good chuckle. Thus, later in the day...these flowers arrived with congratulations. I had to laugh at the sweet gesture, and it will be a funny memory for years to come!

Talk amongst yourselves about how strange I am...but, don't we all have our quirks? I am glad I have a husband who will celebrate mine!

Click right here to visit a great blog full of Show and Tell Inspirations!