A TISKET A TASKET

           Since the spring bug is catching, I wanted to share a gorgeous outdoor wreath.


One August morning as I was going out front to retrieve the newspaper, a flash of yellow caught my eye.  The neighbor across the street had an incredible wreath hanging on her front door.  Days later, I walked over and knocked on the door to compliment her on the decoration.  I asked her if she would mind if I took a picture of it.  I told her about the blog, and she was delighted to share the wreath.

                                   The bright yellow sashes stand out against the black door. 

 

Isn't it absolutely stunning?

 

Here is a closeup picture of the basket secured by the drape of the bow.

 

 

 

                                 I just thought that this wreath was too pretty not to share.



REVIVING A POSTER FOR THE CHERRY BLOSSSOM FESTVAL

This year the Cherry Blossom Festival begins March 20th and goes through April 14th.

While living in Washington, DC, one of our favorite tourist trips into the city was attending the annual Cherry Blossom Festival around  the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial.  Here is one of my most favorite pictures of the girls taken during that visit to festival.

                                                                      

Every year there is a contest to design the annual official Cherry Blossom poster.  Here is a sample of the 2010 annual poster.  The emphasis always revolves around the beautiful cherry blossoms.
          

                                                    
Because of the beautiful shades of pink usually found in these posters, I wanted to buy one to remember our memorable trip.  Once home, the poster laid around in the cardboard tube until settling in Alabama.  Another memento was a conch shell that Mr. Thrifty found on a scuba expedition in Cuba.  The pink in both the shell and poster seemed to compliment each other, so after a few days, the choice was made to marry them into a bathroom decor for my younger daughter.

I couldn't possibly purchase one of those flimsy poster frames with the Plexiglas.  I wanted something much more substantial, so off to Hobby Lobby.  I found a fabulous very ornate white colored frame for the base of this project.  The mat that came with it had the most fabulous white polka dots on it.  The frame was 50% off, so it came to $25.00.

                                                              
A normal poster sized frame is usually 24x36 inches.  The actual mat area in the above frame is about 12x12 inches.  That meant that the poster had to be cut about 12x24 inches.  I wanted to take the colored areas out of the poster and eliminate the wordage.  Others might think to keep the date especially for a memory poster.  The challenge was to keep as much of the cherry blossoms into the area available.  Trying to use a scrap booking technique, I began laying pieces onto of each other to get a more dimensional effect.  This created an explosion of the blossoms. Unfortunately, the light in late afternoon skewed the pink and gave the picture a coral cast in the new two pictures.

             Foam dots were placed under the top sections to give the picture the layered effect.

                                                                  

                                                    
                    I love the almost impressionist white dots mimicking  the polka dots in the mat.

                                                                          

                                                             
  The picture hangs in my youngest girl's bathroom.   Mr. Thrifty found the shell on an expedition while doing a tour in Cuba. The coral pink in the conch shell looks great along side of it.  A coral hand towel completes the look.

                                                                

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY 2013

                                 Time for another virtual card to celebrate St. Patrick's Day

For each petal on the shamrock

this brings a wish your way.

Good health, good luck, and happiness

for today and every day.

(Author unknown)


HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

 

 

 

 



ST. PATRICK'S DAY FLOWER DISPLAY

Deals, deals today on reduced flowers at my Weds. trip to Kroger.  $4.99 for one dozen white roses and $.99 for lime green mini cushion flowers.  $6.00 for a beautiful St. Pat's Day display.

                                               Aren't they great for St. Patrick's Day?

                                                                           
I think that $4.99 for the roses was an awesome price.  I did have to take off the most outer petals, but they look perfect to me.  Grabbing one of my estate sale silver plated coffee pots served as an impressive vase.

                                                         
                             Here is a close up of one of Tara and Maureen's fabulous charms
                                              adding some bling to the arrangement.

                                                                          

I pulled out my St. Patrick's Day Collage/homemade greeting card from last year.

I still love the scene in the Beleek frame.  A rosary that I found at the estate sale hangs over the frame and a vintage Irish handkerchief is close by.



                                                                
Finishing the vignette is a stack of three very old, but gorgeous suitcases.  They end up being a great side table for the chaise.  The small one was too small to put on top of the stack, so I just butted it up against the front.  The colors go well with each other. 

                                                              

A cozy setting to read a book on these colder winter nights.      

                                                                              

                                                                            

BELEEK IN SHADOW BOX COFFEE TABLE

I haven't changed my 'vintage window/coffee table' for a very long time.  Wanting to change it up needed a theme.  ST. PATRICK'S DAY was the ticket. 

                    Last year, I hung my collection of Belleek bells on a 3 foot Christmas Tree.  The fragile Irish porcelain with its almost translucent finish  showed beautifully against the mini white lights of the tree.

                                                                
This year, I decided to showcase them in the coffee table shadow box that Mr. Thrifty made me years ago.  Initially, I went to the fabric store to find a heather-like rough linen to line the drawer with only to realize that the store had nothing along those lines.  Going to the quilting department because of the numerous options was the next step.  I found a somewhat Celtic looking fabric in dark green and black tones.  The ivory color of the china would contrast beautifully against this fabric.
                                   

                                                             
                          The white background of the fabric complimented the painted wood of the table.

                                                                  
            Using some of my antique lace items broke up a bit of the busyness of the background.

                                                    

                                                        
        The delicate Belleek china shows very well on either the lace or the fabric background.  The verdant green of the ribbons on the bells picks up the green in the background fabric.

The completed vignette.

 

    

                     A Belleek Christmas harp and emerald crystal Rosary lend themselves to the March theme.

                                                     

                                                                         
                                       At night, the lamps cast a beautiful glow over the bells.

                                                                            

An added advantage to having the see through window on the display is the ease of cleaning.  A bit of window cleaner on the windows, and the coffee table can show off its contents.

                                     
   This unique showcase doesn't have to be changed out after March 17th.  I think I might leave them in the cabinet for a few months.

French Postcard Pillow

Years ago, my friend Tara and I discussed making a postcard pillow that we had seen on other blogs.


Knowing that we loved the old French postcards, I hung out at an antique mall for about 1 hour searching for a French postcard.  After finding one and paying $1.00 for it, I was ready to begin the project.

This is not the original card, but a similar one.

I bought some tan linen.  After washing it in cold water and pressing it, I was ready for the transfer. Scanning the postcard into the computer will give us our image.  Keep in mind when you are transferring a picture to fabric, you must use the reverse picture mode on your printer.  Once the postcard was printed on fabric transfer paper, all that was left was the ironing onto the linen.  Make sure to center your picture so it can be sewn to the back of the fabric.

With right sides together, sew the three seams, turn inside out.  Carefully press your edges.  Add your stuffing and hand sew the final side.

                                                                      
                     This would be fun to do with a handmade card or a wedding invitation.

Updating the Mantle Mirror

Recall the vintage mantle mirror that I began last summer.

                                                                  

Remember the details?

                                                        
                 I am so embarrassed that it took me this long to complete this project.

I had a mirror cut to fit the opening for $25.03.  This was the same mirror that was the base for my Nativity scene this past December.

 

The mantle piece was given a 2nd coat of paint.  I can't tell you how impressed I am with the smooth application of this Lamp Black paint.  It is a true black paint color.  I will never use another kind of paint again for painting black.

           After the piece dried, I applied a coat of clear wax.  Easily, I could have skipped this step. 

At this point, it had not been buffed out.  It will have a very smooth surface once I get a soft cloth and buff.

The hooks were soaked in a solution of salt and vinegar for two weeks to start the rusting process.  One hook became much more rusted than the other two.  I then rinsed the pieces and let them dry. The last step was to spray a coat of matte sealer on them so the rust would not rub off items that would be placed on the hook.

Isn't it amazing how old the hooks look?  This salt and vinegar solution can make anything metal look vintage.  It's one of  my favorite tricks.


At this point, I dry fitted the hooks onto the mantle piece.  I realized that the back of the larger middle hook did not have a flat surface. It had a ridge down the middle of the back of the hook, therefore, it wobbled.  Enter, the Ryobi tool..........

                     Some things just need to be left to a man, Mr. Thrifty in particular. 

This tool actually grinds down the ridge of the metal hook.  Make sure that at this point that you give the hooks a good spray of a clear matte spray.  The existing rust will never rub off on anything hung of them  Now it lies flush with the wood of the mantle piece.  Once the hooks were screwed into the piece, it was ready to hang.

At first, we were going to hang it in the back hallway coming in from the garage.  Later, after we  re-arranged the office, I found a better place to put the mantle piece.  I will hang it in there.

                 Once on the wall, I think the piece compliments the military theme very well.

                                                  
                                     The mantle mirror compliments the 'Old Grey Line'.