Melony's Whimsy Daisy!

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.

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!
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

  
  
 
  
  

 

 

Goodwill Skirt + Favorite Fabric = Kitschy Retro Dress!

This may be one of the most favorite things I've sewn for myself and it all came about by accidental thriftiness. (Click on the link above left to visit some other great thrifty projects!) I have a habit of buying just a bit of fabric I think is wonderful. It's sort of like having just a "bite of chocolate". It's supposed to leave me satsisfied, but often it leaves me frustrated because it isn't always enough fabric to do what I envision...like make a curtain, a bedspread, or a dress. Such was the case with  this great Michael Miller fabric. Isn't it cute?

 

I just loved its cheerful print and the retro 50's mix of red, yellow, and green.  This fabric been sitting in my stash for some time and it screamed it needed to be a dress. Sigh. Not enough of it. But...tra, la, la... hiding in my stash was this Goodwill skirt, which I took apart. I'm a sucker for gingham and consider it a neutral. (Second Time Around is a neat blog who showcases other bloggers who enjoy repurposing used items.)  

I took off the skirt's original buttons and added some vintage ones that reminded me of old jadeite dishes and coordinated with my little bit of fun fabric. I also had to save some of the skirt's fabric to add to the sleeves of the top of the dress to squeeze out enough to make the whole thing work. Quite the frugal project, so I'm going to participate in Frugal Friday over at The Shabby Nest.

...and it all worked out to be this this little number!

My eleven year old curled her nose up at the whole creation and wondered what the "crooked stuff" at the bottom of the dress was, and noted she would have never added THAT! Oh, well...it is actually just quirky enough for me that my enthusiasm shall not be dimmed by the modern tastes of my perfectly normal daughter. Oh, and since the dress was cheap to make, I spent $11.99 at Compass for the matching necklace and earrings and I am one happy retro girl!  

Happy REDnesday to you, and please go visit Sue at It's A Very Cherry World  to enjoy some other blogs with a touch of red. It's a fun color! If you are needing some creative inspiration in your life, I can always find some on over at the aptly named awesome blog The Girl Creative!   

Vintage Robe Makeover

Happy Pink Saturday to you! What a special day it is as we celebrate the second year of Pink Saturdays at How Sweet the Sound! Be sure to check Beverly's blog out for a special giveaway and lots of ladies partying with pink.

I love vintage clothes. I adore the fabrics and the femininity of the styles. Sadly, my curves don't always fit into the tiny sizes of the 40's and 50's dresses, but I was giddy to find this lovely summer wrap robe on ebay with such a pretty print and in my size!   

Isn't the fabric yummy? I wanted to enjoy my find to the fullest, so I gritted my teeth and took the scissors to it and cut off some of the bottom. Just wearing this around the house as a summer robe wasn't doing the trick for me...but a summery wrap dress???? Oh, yes!  

I also took off the pocket, which hit at a really unflattering spot. I added some eyelet lace to the bottom and sewed up the "wrap" part, so the dress doesn't have me having a Janet Jackson wardrobe malfuction.

 I may never be a size 9 again in this lifetime, but it is wonderful to be able to wear something pretty and feminine. Plus, my husband liked it, and that is always an added bonus. I would love to link up to My Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday. It feels so good to have a project actually completed!  

So, there is my touch of pink for today. Happy Birthday to Beverly who has been so gracious to host Pink Saturday for two years now!    
 
 

The Glamorous life of Recycled Dryer Sheets

This is probably scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as exciting posts go...today I am sharing, I'm almost embarrassed to say, well, here it goes...how to make something beautiful out of a recycled dryer sheet. Sigh. Yes, I am easily amused and I'm quite content with my simple life. Really. I was inspired by these dryer sheets, and liked the faint scent they still had after use...perfect for a loverly frugal craft! I shared with other ladies on Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest.

  

Please imagine, or maybe don't, me lying on the floor on my belly encouraging these dryer sheets to strike a pose. Never did I imagine I would aspire to finding "the good side" of a dryer sheet box. By the way, I buy cheap detergent. These were cheap only because they were buy-1-get-one-free and I had coupons. Otherwise, alas, this craft project would have never been birthed. Born? Created!

 ...and as if you couldn't possibly imagine what the dryer sheet looked like after its spin in the dryer, I photographed an actual genuine used dryer sheet...

Then, I gathered my dryer sheets and cut out willy-nilly petals. I stitched them to each other and stacked them in layers, and then secured them in the middle with a few stitches.I painted, just sort of dabbed would be the more word to use, with pink craft paint to the middle before I hot glued my vintage rhinestone button. Yum...love these glamorous vintage buttons! I then added some wired pink ribbon to the back and attached a couple of leaves made from green velvet ribbon.

I attached my flower to this corsage bracelet, which I puchased with my 50% off coupon at Michaels. I found it in the wedding section, and said "I do" to doing something with it, and now, I think I would buy another one. It is stretchy. So, here is my corsage. I don't think I would wear it for a corsage bracelet, personally...or who knows...the older I get, the more I seem to not mind being a little eccentric.

 
 I think it is much more fun to add them to an old jar. Here is my corsage posing on my favorite Lipton Instant Diet Tea jar. It gives it some class, which is quite funny, since I layed on the floor on my belly to take these shots too.

Oops. That corsage is posing on a stemmed glass, not the empty tea jar. Here is the back. You do want to see it from every possible angle, don't you?

 
Oh, here it is striking a pose on my tea jar, and in the cabinet with some of my kitchen stuff. But, I can picture it in the bathroom around a jar of bath salts.

 So, there is my dryer sheet craft. If a Dryer Sheet Corsage Bracelet isn't your cup of tea, then I did make one other little project. Here it is...and I really should have added a little something to it, but as with most of my projects...I was getting bored with dryer sheets. Happy Pink Saturday to all of you!

 Please visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to find a whole bunch of other ladies who enjoy a little pink in their lives.  The Inspired Room has a ton of links to check out and enjoy others' inspirations!  

 

 

These decopauged boots were made for walking.

 
Don't you hate it when you love wearing something...sweater, shoes, or in my case, boots, and they start looking a little too shaggy? That was the case with my favorite brown boots. They are so comfy to wear, even though they have a heel. I was sad to see the "pleather" was finally beginning to tear.

 
I decided to experiment with my good friend, Mod Podge, and see what I could do to cover up the tears. I found some faux patchwork fabric in my stash and cut out pieces to apply to my boots using a brush and Mod Podge, and then Mod Podge to seal the fabric covered boots...several coats.

They may be a little too wild for your sensibilities, but it was an experiment worth trying and gave me more mileage out of my trusty boots. I usually wear these with jeans and my brown sweater, not a dress, so mainly the print shows.  I have had lots of compliments, as well as, interesting conversations about one of my favorite quotes (although I don't follow it nearly as well as I should.) "Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do, or do without."

 These pictures were taken after wearing them probably five times...once in the rain. So, they are holding up better than I expected. I did re-glue one little part on the side, but it was no big deal. My favorite boots have a few more miles left in them.
  

Check out the Shabby Chic Cottage for some inspirational transformation projects:

Click right here!  

There is also a new blog I just discovered I want to share and link up with:

Click right here!

REDnesday Macy Shirt Makeover!

If I were a cussin' woman, you might see some right now, but alas, I'm not. So instead, I will say in my "nicest" East Texas drawl, "Bless my little camera's heart. It just can't take a good picture of the color red. So please forgive my attrocious pictures and enjoy my Happy REDnesday post anyway!" 

I found this shirt at Macy's. It was marked down from $54.00 to $9.99. There is no way I would have bought this simple thin cotton shirt for $20 much less $50, but for $9.99, I took pity and thought I could do something with it. 

 
A couple of turquoise vintage buttons added to the front placket and some little tiny new buttons added around the bottom here and there gave it a fresh look. Some little embroidered stitches were done around the neck during last Saturday night's Olympics. 

 

 Then it was time to accessorize! I decided it still needed a little sumpin' sumpin'. A corsage was in order, so I fiddled around with some of my vintage handkerchiefs but couldn't bear to cut into them. I remembered some fabric in my stash which looked like vintage handkerchiefs. I cut into it and layered some "petals" together with a running stitch. I then added an old crocheted table napkin "ring", stitched on some matching buttons, tied the crocheted flowers around my petals, and glued on the pin back. 

 
 I was tickled to get out my Christmas present purse my daughter purchased for me from GeorgiaPeachez. I just love it and think it went perfect with this shirt.  
  
 
Here is my newest "favorite" bracelet that my friend Bobbye encouraged me to buy at Dressin' Gaudy in Longview, Texas. What is it about shopping with friends that make you buy? She said I would wear this all the time, and she was right! I DID not wear the earrings...they were just overkill-silly-too-much-going-on with everything else. 

 My husband took this final picture of me in my Macy's Makeover shirt. It's sort of blurry, but I was happy, and was off to teach Sunday School in my latest craft project.

 
  

Make sure you visit the other Red-lovin' ladies at It's a Very Cherry World! Sue has a great blog and just opened up an Etsy shop.  

Sad Shed, Happy Shed, Sad Shed Makeover

I am linking up with The Shabby Chic Cottage for their Transformations for under $5.00 or Less. Here is my first contribution:

SAD SHED:

This was the really pitiful cheapy little metal storage shed in our back yard when we purchased our house. What an eyesore.

HAPPY SHED:

I was lucky enough to find some barn red paint made for metal buildings for $2.00 on the Lowe's Oops paint shelf. I then set out with my little containers of craft paint to spice things up a bit.

 

It cleaned up pretty good, huh?  I painted very simple sunflowers, hollyhocks, bee hive, butterflies and a picket fence. I added lots of ladybugs to the fence.

 

SAD SHED ENDING:

The story of my Ugly Duckling storage shed ended badly. After working on it for about a week, a storm came and a gigantic limb from the tree (seen in the picture) crashed down on the roof. It was totally crunched. It's one of those things you just have to laugh about. These pictures are several years old, so I'm over the disaster and grief, I promise!

With Spring around the corner, I was hoping my little shed makeover might provide a bit of inspiration if you have an ugly old shed in your back yard. (Just make sure there are no threatening limbs hanging above your building before you put in hours on the paint job!)