Melony's Whimsy Daisy!

Candy Colored Bad Perm Memories

I've had my share of bad perms. I would tease my mother about some of my childhood photographs where I am sporting an obvious "Mama-was-in-the-mood-to-try-a-Toni" do. Someday, I will do a search for all the family pictures with bad perms represented and post them. My sister, Wendy, is still haunted by one of her disasters, and my daughter, Molly holds a grudge to this day about a perm I gave her. To add insult to injury, I was so proud of my work, I carted her off to Olan Mills to have her picture made. I was overjoyed. Molly...not so much.

for sale on Robins Vintage Etsy

I'm thinking all four of us sisters proudly wore a perm in this picture from the 1980's.

In the meantime, I came across a box of Toni perm rods in some amazing vintagey- candy colored hues at an estate sale and just couldn't resist picking them up. I guess I have forgotten the horrible stench of the perm solution and how LOOONG I had to sit as a child to receive the perm, because the perm rods just flooded me with good memories. Lots of good conversation took place in those hours for the perm (or "permanent wave" as Maw-Maw referred to it) to be completed. Snacks and sweet tea were part of the experience, and I fondly recall a round or two of Scrabble while waiting for the solution to do its magic.

So here is a little craft project I completed with my "new" old Toni perm rods. I made one wreath for me for my 50's pinup bathroom theme, and here is one to sell. I also found an old jar and thought this would be perfect for the bathroom for a unique container for cotton balls, q-tips or false eyelashes!  If you love it and want it...$20.00 for the pair plus shipping! Wreath is about 12" circular and the vintage jar is about 4 1/2" wide and 5 1/2" tall.

Happy Pink Saturday! Be sure to check out all the other pink lovers here:

 

 

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Thrift Shop Shirt to Pinup Girl Art

Thrift Shop Shirt to Pinup Girl Art

My mother came to the end of her long battle with Alzheimers nearly two years ago and I just kind of lost steam on blogging. Alzheimers is such a mean disease and takes the one you love piece by piece. I miss Mother so very much, but I think I'm ready to begin writing again. Mother would be happy about that!

(Mother and me )

I thought I would start small with just a quick little craft project I did with a Goodwill shirt I attached to a canvas frame to add some Pinup Girl Pizazz to my closet!

This would be great QUICK project you could do with your child's old sentimental sport jersey or let your imagination go wild!

Below is a picture of my shirt. The pattern was on the front and back, so I could have made two of these. I saved the back for a future project. 

I then cut the shirt to a managable size.

I hot glued to a canvas bought with a 40% off coupon. (and not done all that neatly, I might add.)

I hung it on the wall in my closet where I have a 50's retro theme going.  I want to post later about my closet, so I'm not going to show too much. I have another project I want to show I did to keep all my old brooches in order.

Here is another shirt on canvas I made that I ended up not needing. Anybody interested? It's a large 11" x 14". 12 Rhinestones on this one for added bling. $24.00 ppd. in the USA. Paypal to [email protected]... Or let me know if you are a local follower and I will arrange pickup and that will save you shipping!  

 

Pearl and Viola: a craft project with history

****I found some very kitschy wall art this past week at the Highway 80 Garage Sale event. It made me wonder about the story behind it because the creator's name was signed on the back. I have no way to figure out the TRUE story, so I decided to make up my own tale! ****

Back in 1989 Pearl needed a special gift for her friend Viola. Viola was finally remarrying, after 30 years of widowhood, to Herbert, her new neighbor at the Green Acres Independent Living Center. Herbert and Viola had formed a fast friendship over the lovely potted garden Herbert was putting in on the deck of his duplex. Pearl was thrilled for both of them and wanted to make something special for her dear friend Viola.

Pearl carefully sorted through her fabric stash she had accumulated over the years and decided this cheerful print was just the thing for Viola and Herbert's wedding gift. She remembered making some lovely kitchen curtains from this fabric back in 1963. She must think of something really special for Viola's new kitchen.

 
She covered a round wooden disc (which she had intended to use under her ivy plant) with soft cotton batting, and then carefully folded and stitched her fabric neatly all around.

 
She added a little chain hanger so all that would have to be done was for Herbert to put a nail in the wall where Viola would choose to hang this special gift.

She decided she would sign the back in pencil.

 
Pearl turned her finished project over to admire her work and knew that it would be a special gift for her treasured friend. Frustrated, she noticed she missed getting the "Swing Your Partner" all centered on the front. Oh well, Viola would have to understand Pearl's eyesight was not what it once was and it was the thought that counted!

 

Here's to happy days full of Swinging Your Partner, new beginnings, special friendships, and blessings to Pearl and Viola wherever they may be now!

Linking up with Sue at It's A Very Cherry World to enjoy a spot of red along with some other ladies! This Kitschy Kitschy Koo Kitchen Art is on sale in my Whimsy Daisy Etsy Shop!

 

 

 

 

 

You have been MOUSED!

This is another true-from-my-life story on how two very different people manage to live together and even laugh!

My husband, Bob and I went on a shopping extravaganza to our small town "mall" (Family Dollar) for something really boring like dog food or detergent. I was delighted to discover some charming garden personalities that stole my heart. I just thought they were so cute, and decided I had to have a couple. Then, after rethinking it and being blown away by the adorableness of them, I decided I would purchase the entire six pack of creatures. After all, it was the Family Dollar and these "garden personalities" were not a huge investment. I envisioned the way I could fru-fru them up a bit, maybe paint a few polka-dots, add some glitz, hot glue some ribbon embellishments. The possibilities were endless.

 

With great excitement I met Bob at the check out counter with three of these precious couples. Bob was not so thrilled with the six pack of garden mice. I thought I would never hear the end of it. I described in detail how I could bejewel the girl mouse's dress with my Marie Osmond Glitz Gun, and add some Martha Stewart glitter to the mister's gnome hat. I assured Bob once I had these rodents "glammed" up a bit I could sell them online, double our money, and he would regret the grief he was dishing out. Bob stubbornly remained blind to the vision I cast. So, as the days went by, I decided to try to win him over. How could anybody resist the faces of these creatures?

I began to sit them in unexpected places at random times...perhaps in his recliner, or by his toothpaste in the morning, and it usually got a laugh.

 

Then, he began to do the same with me.

 

It was sort of a silly way to say, "You have been moused! I'm thinking of you and wanted to make you smile."

 

This past Sunday, Bob brought Mrs. Mouse to church and sat her in a chair for Small Group time! It made me laugh. We got to thinking how much fun we had with this silliness and decided to continue on with our class. We would start "mousing" the members of our Sunday School Class. It is just a little something fun to do in a life that is often full of bills, illnesses, and other stresses.

 

We have told our friends...at some time in the future...it may be a year from now...when you least expect it....you may get moused! If you get moused, you need to take a quick picture of where you got moused and I will post it. Then, they need to find another member in the class to mouse!  They can leave a little note, if they choose, to let them know by whom they were moused. Or it can be an anonymous mousing. This is to let our friends know in Small Group  we care about them and wanted to make them smile. (We also said NO breaking and entering as we all want to remain friends!)  Eventually, hopefully everybody will be able to say...

 

I wanted to pass this on to you, as maybe you might want to adapt something like this in your family, workplace, or church. Sometimes life gets so serious, it is good to have a good laugh!

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.

 

Knee-High Hose Victorian Primped Pumpkins

I've been inspired with all the crafting going on in blogland. TESORO FINO had a tutorial on a Vintage Inspired Pantyhose Pumpkin. She did a beautiful job using textured pantyhose to cover a fake pumpkin.

I used her project as a jumping off spot to make some cute pumpkins to give away. I started off with some Michael's pumkins in their 80% off bin. They were less than $2.00 each, and then I spray painted them white. This was totally uneccessary, as I covered them in a cream colored knee-high later on, so it didn't matter what color they were. I wish I had fishnet stocking to go over these. They weren't in my stash.

 

I put each pumpkin in my Dollar Store knee highs just like you would your foot if it were pumpkin shaped...first a cream colored one...then a black or brown one layered on the top. (By the way, I prefer the contrast of the cream and black.) You are left with the band up around the stem. I selected and glued some trims from the bottom to top, and formed the tops of the knee highs into "rosettes" or shall we call them "pumpkin blossoms"?

 

I keep my broken jewelry bits and bobs for occassions such as impromptu pumpkin primping. So I added some buttons, bits, bobbles, and brooches here and there.

 
I tied some mossy green velvet ribbon around the top stem and "pumpkin blossoms" and then added some vintage-look millinery leaves.

 
I coiled up a broken fake pearl necklace and hot glued it into place on the knee high rosette as its center along with a vintage rhinestone button. A broken earring and a seashell topped it all off.

 
It was a sweet fun craft which helped me use my accumulated stash. If I had known to save bachelorette knee highs I could have saved two dollars on the two couples I had to buy. So, I'm giving you the heads up...keep an eye out for those single textured knee highs or messed up tights.

 
I have one more pumpkin to primp and then I will move on to something else fun! I've been listing lots of vintage fun dresses in my Etsy Shop like this adorable June Cleaver Fifties Dress. Hope everyone has a wonderful Lords Day tomorrow. It is my favorite day of the week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She felt like trash...but she was His treasure...

This will be a different makeover post and I wanted to share for REDnesday at Sue Loves Cherries Blog! ! My Sunday School class had a costume party a few weeks ago, and I LOVE dressing up! I challenged myself to make my costume with bits and fluff I already had. I put my thinking cap on and settled on the characters from one of my very favorite books of all time... Redeeming Love , by Christian author, Francine Rivers. It is one of the most romantic books I have ever read and is a love story to top all love stories. Based on the book of Hosea in the Bible, but this romance is set in 1850's America. I have bought this book and passed it on again and again. I even asked my future son-in-law to read it before he married my daughter. He did!!! (I get no credit for mentioning this book, I would just love for you to read it too and it goes with my craft story.)

So, I began assembling my costume for my interpretation of Angel using what I had at home. My 11 year-old daughter decided to "help" clean up my camera and deleted all my pictures of how I made the costume. She couldn't understand why I would want to keep pictures of glue, scissors, cake rounds and such. ugghhh. So I will show you the finished product. I enjoyed my night of fun wearing my costume and have now listed it in my Etsy Shop for someone else to enjoy.

 

I had a dress from Cato's (5.99) that hung in my closet forever and combined it with a very vintage Goodwill red petticoat (3.99) that I have stashed for years. Then, I just kept adding to it. I had the purse in my closet too. I thought it looked like it went with the ensemble, but I've never really been a saloon girl, so who knows?  This is the first time I've linked up to Apron Thrift Girl's

 
I layered with a red lace camisole from my lingerie drawer and a beaded shawl that's been around forever and I never could figure out what to wear with it. Now I know! Old vintage red buttons and trims gave the teal and black lace overdress a scallopy effect over the petticoat.

 
 
The cameo necklace was pulled from my jewelry box and the hat was so much fun to make. I started with a cardboard cake round and covered it with some extra fabric from the dress, and then added roses from a recent bridesmaid boquet, some Dollar Store tea-stained birds, some feathery boa stuff, and all of it just hot glued to the round and then hot glued to a lace covered headband.

 

I made a bustle by sewing on layers of netting and fabric and ribbon to a big ol' wide elastic and then I just cinched it to the size I needed. I hot glued roses to the bustle too. A vintage, or in this case, a Dollar General Store brooch cinched the elastic bustle and holds it together. Easy peasy...just took some time.

 

Closeup of the hat:

 

We had  such a good time at the party. I carried a copy of the book and sure enough found someone who hadn't read it and got to give it away. Perhaps some are surprised at a Sunday School teacher going dressed up as a prostitute/saloon girl, but it was a blessing to be able to share the story of Angel and Michael, her husband, who chose to love her unconditionally and stood by her as God changed her life. It is a beautiful story of God's unconditional redemptive love for us and I would love for you to read this book! I won't even ask you to write a book report!  
 
Much love to my husband, Bob...who is my Michael Hosea with his unconditional love. He looks so serious and gruff here, but he is as sweet as pumpkin pie...most of the time. :)  

Linking up with:

Life as Lori at Get Your Craft on Thursday!

Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursday!

The Shabby Chic Cottage and Transformation Thursday!

Great costume ideas here: Costume Link Party at Mad in Crafts and also to:

 

and Apron Thrift Girl's Make and Share.

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.

 

He will eventually need a place to sit...

but not now. We all line up to love on the new addition to our family! Welcome to the world my first little grandson!

 Kent Shepherd

 

 
Eventually, he will need a place to sit...so, Cookie (that's my name if he will cooperate) painted him a little chair. Don't you love the Michael's 40% off coupon? That's where I bought the chair. Cookie will continue to be thrifty so she can make her Grandma Dollars s-t-r-e-t-c-h!

 
My artistic abilities are limited, but since my daughter-in-law did the nursery in bright Skittle colors with dots and stripes, I managed to pull off something that matched. My white paint came from a fun promotional that Glidden Paint offered. ( http://www.glidden.com/products/paint-testers.do ) They were giving away two testers of paint. I was going to choose some out of the ordinary color, but I'm a ding-a-ling and pressed the wrong button and got plain white! It worked out perfectly for this chair, and I had more than enough paint...for free!

 
A few simple (and sometimes wonky) polka dots, some little letters later spelling out his name, and Baby Kent has a special chair in which to sit. But, I don't see him needing it anytime soon! Do you?

 

Linking up today with these two Crafty Parties below. Go visit these blogs and find some great inspiration!