Chicken Scratch

Freecycle Finds

First, if you haven't heard of Freecycle.org, you need to sign up! Basically, you sign up for a group(s) local to you and then post if you're giving away something or looking for something... all FREE! I've gotten several cool finds over the years... antique cameras, a bookshelf, an old sewing machine table, and too many others that I can't remember right now. And I've given away lots, too. I clean out a closet or a room and post it on Freecycle and someone comes to pick it up. The concept is that we're saving landfill space and helping each other out.

Anyways, yesterday I posted that I was looking for vintage glass ball ornaments (to use in my Christmas decorting) and a lady responded that she found old ornaments in her attic from previous owners. So off I go this morning to pick them up. She had FOUR boxes of stuff for me. Score! I love digging. Also, at the curb were too old suitcases. I happily snagged those, too. ;)

So I get home and unload my boxes. Here's my loot:

These ornaments were exactly what I wanted and worth the trip alone. Love me some vintage Shiny Brite ornaments! Love the tarnishing and patina on them!

Plus I got these vintage bright fuschia ones. They won't work with my general Christmas decor but our bedroom has this color so I need to figure out something to do with them in there.

A cute little Santa. Love the distressing and aging on him. Not crazy that he plugs in and his eyes light up. Creeps me out a bit so I'll probably remove the cord and just let him sit out on display.

I got a ton of old Christmas lights... these four boxes plus another box full of loose strands. I love the old spikey plastic covers (is there a real name for them?) and the foil reflectors. I'll pull those off and use them for crafting somehow.

Some old wrapping paper and gift tags. Might be fun for a craft project.

Old green and silver tinsel garland.

Some vintage (and very plastic) floral pieces.

This is a plastic floral candle ring. I'm going to pass it along to my friend, Stacey. It'll fit her vintage shabby chic decor perfectly. :) It has one stained section, but I think it can be cut off no problem.

And finally the vintage suitcases I snagged from the curb. I had one already at home and was wanting two more to stack and make a side table with. The first one is in great shape. Just needs to be wiped down.

The second one I absolutely love but it may be too far gone to salvage. It's fabric covered with leather trim. The fabric is dirty and scuffed and the leather trim is falling off. The handle was missing, but I found it inside the suitcase. It's made of leather, too, and I need to see if I can reattach it. Maybe a good scrub all over and I can save it. I hope so!

I haven't been junkin' in forever so it was fun today to get a few new-to-me goodies. I can't wait to play with them!

The Embroidery That Almost Wasn't

I bought the cutest little craft book a while back at Borders. It's called *Little Birds: 26 Handmade Projects to Sew, Stitch, Quilt & Love*. In the book, one of the projects is for an embroidery project called *Our Flock*. You stitch a tree limb with enough birds to represent your family. It is so cute! So I took the pattern, scanned it into Photoshop, and altered it to fit my family of 3. I then printed it out, traced the pattern onto muslin, stitched, and framed.

Well, before I show you my completed piece, I will let you know this project almost didn't get completed. I had been stitching on it little by little while waiting on Kaleigh at dance class. One afternoon I left my project at home in my craft bag by our recliner. Well, our sweet-but-sometimes-a-turd-because-she-likes-to-chew dog named Belle got into my bag and chewed up part of my embroidery. Hubby came home first and found it. He scolded Belle and laid the embroidery on the counter. When I walked in he said, *Look on the counter and get out your emotion before you kill the dog*. I tell you what... that dog is LUCKY she's so cute and sweet. She'd be to the curb by now with what all she's chewed up since we've had her. LOL

The damaged front

The damaged back

I was so upset so I just tossed it into my studio until I could fix it. I came across it last night and decided to finish it. Luckily Belle didn't chew into the embroidery area so I was able to salvage it. She did tear off part of the batting on the backside, but I cut the jagged edge off and pieced together more batting. You can't tell too bad when you look at it. Luckily, the nature of the project is handmade/shabby/primitive so it works. I then glued the embroidery onto cardboard and glued into this thrift shop frame (I have another story to share on that).

Love love LOVE this primitive frame

Look at that cool old distressing

And now the finished piece - I love it! :)

And hung on the wall
 

So the story on the frame. My mom had bought that frame at a thrift shop for her home. But I stole it from her while I was house-sitting for her and my step-dad one weekend while they were gone. I'm a horrible daughter, I know, but I ***HAD*** to have it! ;) I had just bought the *Little Birds* book and knew I wanted to make the *Our Flock* embroidery and was looking for the perfect frame. Well, I found it. LOL But I'm going to repay her with a cool thrift shop find or maybe I'll make her something. ;) She loves me and I'm lucky she understands. :)

More Fall Decor and a Couple Thrift Shop Finds

I just wanted to share some more fall decor and thrift shop finds.

Just a quick photo of the vignette I made for our entry. I have this old screen door propped up behind this table that belonged to my husband's grandmother. I usually have a red berry wreath hanging on it with a framed embroidery but for fall I hung this cute button wreath I got on clearance at Home Goods a couple years ago. The garland is metal with acorns that say BLESSINGS (I got at a flea market a few years ago). I shared the pumpkin under the glass bell jar in this post. The little frame is one I got at the same flea market a few years ago and altered (you can see a closeup here). I like to replace the photo with one to match the current season/holiday.

I bought this wooden pumpkin at Hobby Lobby last year on clearance at the end of the fall season. It was defective (they spelled friends with an E) so I got it for about $2. I decided to wrap strips of burlap around it to cover the misspellings.

Before

After

I bought this white metal planter at a local thrift shop for $1.99. I loved the chippy white paint and the black paint peeking through. I threw out the ratty flowers and replaced with these fall-colored hydrangeas I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby. I added in a few sprigs from a fall floral pick I got on clearance as well.

Before

After

In addition to the white metal planter, I also found this old rolling pin for $2.49. I have two already and would like to collect a few more. I added it to a vintage enamelware pot with another rolling pin I have.

We're hosting our first Thanksgiving in our home and I have a couple more projects to do for that. I'll share when I'm done. :)

Thanks for looking!

Fall Wreath

So I finally got around to making a fall wreath for my front door. Only a week and half before it comes down and I put up my Christmas decor but oh well. Better late than never, right? At least it'll be ready to go next year. :) I had a hard time finding fabric for it which is what slowed me down. There just aren't that many cute orange fabrics out there. I finally found some at Hobby Lobby that worked. I was inspired by this wreath by Stacey. Hers is adorable. Mine I'm still not sure.

My wreath

I used two different fabrics and two different colors of burlap to make my fabric flowers.

I added in some fall picks from the floral department at Hobby Lobby.
 

I bought this trim at Hobby Lobby but it was plain so I hand-stitched a border along both sides.

Thanks for looking! Now to get started on my Christmas wreath. ;)

Stocking Holders

Jumping to Christmas just for a bit...

I was asked to guest teach one of the projects for the *12 Days of Christmas* class at Scrapfreak. I came up with an idea of making your own stocking holders. I have some snowmen stocking holders for our mantle that I've had 5+ years now and I'm getting tired of them. So I started brainstorming ideas for new ones that I could make.

Birdhouse Stocking Holder

The first one I created was from a wooden birdhouse. You can buy these at most craft stores for a dollar or two. I first removed the little peg on the front (tapped gently on it with a hammer and it popped right off). I painted and decorated mine with trims and papers. Then I added a small drawer pull where the peg was. This serves as the hanger for my stocking. Fill the birdhouse with pennies or small rocks so that it is heavy and won't fall off your mantle when your stocking is hung.

Here's the birdhouse before.

And after I broke the peg off.

And here it is altered.

Christmas Present Stocking Holder

I bought a 4.25" square box at Michaels in the gift wrap section. I wrapped it with kraft paper and punched a hole in the lower center on the front of it. Using my Crop-a-dile, I punched a hole in some ribbon (cute snowflake twill ribbon from Michaels) and inserted a small drawer pull into the ribbon and then into the box. I tied the ribbon around the box. (As I type this I realize I forgot that I wanted to make a gift tag to tie onto the box just like a real present.) Again fill your box with pennies, rocks, etc. to weigh it down so it doesn't fall off your mantle.

Here it is again but this time with my imaginary gift tag I'm going to go back and add.

Altered Frame Stocking Holder

This one is my favorite. My original idea was to alter a square wooden frame that you can get at Michaels for $1.

My only problem was figuring out how to anchor it so it would sit on the mantle and hold your stocking. I brainstormed and brainstormed and couldn't quite figure it out. Then I was walking through Walmart and saw these plain stocking holders. I guess they're meant to be used alone if you want the minimal look but I knew they'd be perfect with a cute altered frame sitting on top. They come 2 to a pack for $6. I think they even had a couple different finishes maybe?

So I brought them home, altered my frame, and glued on top.

We have 5 stockings (the 3 of us and 2 dogs) and it just so happens our last name is 5 letters long so I will be spelling our last name with ours inside the opening of the frames. You could do the same or maybe just a monogram letter for that person. Maybe spell a Christmas word like JOY, LOVE, PEACE, etc. Or you could put in photos or a handmade embellie. There are lots of possibilities!

Here's a closeup of my embellishments. I made this layered flower using these instructions. Next, I took two pieces of greenery and rolled them in glue and Diamond Dust for a snowy look. Then, I stuck in two pins and some berries. The papers on the frame are pages from an old hymnal. I tore pieces and Mod Podge-d down for a collage look.

So there you have it. Three ideas for stocking holders you can personalize for your home instead of the same ol' boring ones in the stores. I hope you'll come join us in the class making these or any other of the fun projects. You can see the rest of them here.

 

*Thankful* Framed Embroidery

I stitched this framed embroidery for my fall/Thanksgiving decor. I found a pumpkin image online that I modified a tad and, using Photoshop, combined it with the *Thankful* word (using the font 2peas Handwritten). I printed it out and traced on muslin fabric with a washable pen. After I stitched, I rinsed out the washable pen and ironed. I don't know how/why but the iron left these (burn???) marks on the fabric. I love how it turned out though because it gives it an aged/stained look. I added the three buttons and matted on a piece of cardboard that I hot-glued into a thrift shop frame (which I painted black and distressed). I love how it turned out. :)

And here is our buffet vignette where I displayed my embroidery along with other fall decor. I do want to swap out the flower art on the wall and the framed button heart on the easel with more fall-ish decor. But this works for now.

I took the three wooden pumpkins from the center of my mantle (which I like my mantel so much more without them - it was looking a tad cluttered) and put them on each end of the shelf. The charger I bought today at Walmart on clearance for $2. I also bought 12 others to use for my tablescape on Thanksgiving. They are so pretty! I'm going to spray them with a matte clear coat to protect them as the paint chipped off the edges of the ones I bought a few years ago for Christmas. :( I layered a tin star in front of the charger and my framed embroidery next to it.

My fall-themed Scentsy warmer and a mini pumpkin under a glass bell jar.

Here's the candle I shared the other day and some floral picks in front of my framed button heart (I have a fall-themed project in mind to replace this with).

So there's some more of my fall/Thanksgiving decor. Thanks for looking!

Fall Decor

Since I didn't blog much in October I didn't get to share any Halloween projects and decorating that I did. :( So I'm going to try and share some of my fall decor.

For Halloween I bought some mini orange pumpkins to decorate with. They were great with their bright orange color for Halloween but for fall they're a bit much. So I toned them down with a faux glaze of watered-down brown acrylic paint. It's really a simple project but for those who are visual and like pics, I made a mini tutorial for you. :)

Supplies:
brown acrylic paint
water
foam paint brush
paper towel

1. Add water to brown acrylic paint in a small dish. I honestly never know the ratio. I just eyeball it, but it's roughly 1:1. Just enough to thin out the paint so it's runny and not thick.

2. Using the foam paint brush, brush on the watery paint on the pumpkin.

3. Take the paper towel and wipe off the paint. I like to leave more paint in the cracks for added dimension. I found I liked the paper towel better when it's more saturated after a few rounds of wiping. When it's dry in the beginning it tends to wipe off too much. And the beauty of this project is if you don't like how the paint turned out, take a tooth brush and scrub the paint off under running water and go again!

All my pumpkins

And to show you the contrast of the faux glazed pumpkin vs. the regular one

I put one of the pumpkins on a plate with moss under a glass bell jar.

I put three more on my mantle with other fall decor. I should've taken a photo of the pumpkins on the mantle before I faux glazed them to show you how bright they looked with everything else. The glaze tones them down just enough.
  

I made the vase two years ago and went out this year and got new tree limbs for it. You can see more pics of it here. I loved the original limbs I had with acorns attached!

This is the garland I made last month. In case you missed it, here's the blog post with more photos and the link I used to make it.

I saw this idea earlier this week that I want to do for the center of my mantle instead of the 3 wooden pumpkins. I need to find some more flower frogs first and then get some cute fall-colored scrapbook papers and alphas. I want to spell *Thankful*. 

A quick fall project. I took a mason-type jar and put moss in the bottom. I put a glass votive candle on top of that and surrounded it with mini pine cones I bought at Hobby Lobby. I tied with this yummy ribbon I bought at Jo-Ann's. I absolutely love this ribbon. It screams fall. :)

I'm currently working on a fall wreath for our front door, a fall framed embroidery, and doing a simple altering of a defective wooden pumpkin I bought at Hobby Lobby. I'll share as soon as I'm done!

Halloween Wreath

 

  

I made this Halloween wreath for my front door last night. I used this tutorial from the Shanty2Chic blog for making flat folded rosettes but I used burlap instead of fabric. Burlap is bulkier and stiffer to use than fabric so I had to play with it a bit. It wouldn't stay folded and some of the raw edges show which I like anyways for its texture and rustic-ness (is that a word? LOL)

Anyways, I made 3 rosettes. The black one has a pearl brad for a center. The large orange one has a black button with cream embroidery thread. And the small orange one I played with for a bit trying to get a layered look. I ruffled and hot glued the lace trim to the  back. I tucked in and hot glued loops of black burlap ribbon between the rosette and lace trim. Finally I made loops of tulle and tied at one end. Then I cut the loops at one end so they fanned out. I hot glued black rhinestones for a little shimmer. I hope that all made sense! I was just playing around and came up with this. I'm happy with how it turned out. I can wait to get home today to hang it on my front door. :)

Thanks for looking!

 

Pumpkin Garland

I saw this adorable garland on a blog and knew I had to make it! And it's made from toilet paper rolls! I'm on a scrap retreat this weekend so when I get home I'll take a picture of it on my mantle. :)

 

Happiness is...

Vintage windows...

 

...and yummy fabric.

My mom sent me a link to a craigslist ad selling 3 vintage wooden windows for $5 because she knew I was wanting one for our powder room. It sounded too good to be true but I called and they still had them so off I went this past Friday afternoon to pick them up. I got there, saw the windows, and nearly squealed in delight right in front of the guy selling them. LOL It was a graphics shop that evidently does photo shoots with props and they had used the windows for one of their shoots and no longer needed them. As I was loading them up a woman walked by and told me I was getting a deal (ummm, yeah, I know!) because she was the one who had bought the windows for their photo shoot and paid $65 alone just for the diamond pane window. I have no idea why the other guy sold them so cheap on craigslist other than it was work-related and he had no personal interest vested in them. Oh well. Whatever the case I got the deal of a lifetime! I'm hanging one of the regular windows in our powder room to do my bird artwork with and then need to find a place for the cool diamond pane one. I'm giving the second regular one to my mom for finding me the deal. :) I love love LOVE old windows, and I especially love a good AWESOME deal on them. ;)

Now the fabric... I'm starting my first quilt class tomorrow with my mom. :) This past Saturday we went up to the quilt shop to purchase our fabric for the class. It was a bit intimidating at first. Bolts and bolts of yummy fabric lined up and I had to pick? I was a bit worried about how to pick fabrics and put them together and which ones to use for what areas of the quilt pattern. But once I picked out my favorite pattern (the bottom one in the stack in the photo above) I got in my groove and started selecting coordinating fabrics and deciding where in the quilt pattern I wanted them. We're making a throw quilt, and I'm so excited to get started! It's bittersweet to be taking this class. My Nanny was a BIG quilter and it hasn't been until lately, a few years after she passed, that I started getting interested in it. I would love to be quilting with her now. But I have my mom, who inherited all of Nanny's sewing stuff after she passed and started quilting herself, to share this new hobby with. And it's cool that we'll be taking the class at Quilt Country, my Nanny's home away from home. To be in that shop, quilting, and surrounded by the ladies she quilted with and was friends with... it'll be like having her there with me. :)