Happy Mother's Day

Hope everyone had a wonderful mother's day yesterday (or Dia De Las Madres today) with the women they hold near and dear to them. My love of antiques definitely stems from my mother, so it was natural that my mom and I had a blast together at our local antique faire on Mother's Day. We were there for a few hours, and only walked down two rows of vendors. I think we were at the table right inside the entrance alone for 30 minutes. Lucky for us though - we found most of our treasures at that first table. It is always great to spend quality time with mom, but when that time includes something that we both LOVE, it is the icing on the cake. I loved hunting for treasures, talking with vendors who have that same fascination we do, all while laughing and enjoing time with mom.

I bought a pair of earrings that are in good condition that I think are unique. I also bought two pieces that I am going to use as focal points on future jewelry projects. Perhaps I'll wear my new earrings while I work on my jewelry-making for inspiration . . .

Practice Milk Vases & Mother's Day Preparation

As promised, here is a picture of the faux milk vases I made a week ago. Not shabby for a first attempt; however, I must say that I definitely need a "re-do".

1.) I was so quick in and out of the craft store that I bought the wrong type of paint. Hoping that it would still work, I was willing to test it out. Unfortunately, the paint is starting to come off on parts of the vases, particularly the baby blue vase.

2.) The opening of these vases are small so there was lack of control over where the paint goes once it's inside the vase which I think was part of the reason I used too much paint on my first vase - the one in baby blue. That, or I'm just not skilled yet . . .

Perhaps next month I will buy a larger vase, and make sure I get the right paint this time. Geez! Hopefully then it will work. On the bright side, I'm glad these were tested out on vases I already had, instead of ruining a vase I specifically bought for the project. Gotta look on the bright side, right? If anyone has suggestions on where to buy inexpensive, but uniquely shaped vases, PLEASE let me know. Of course, I will be checking out the antique fair, garage sales, or wherever else I go, but any tips would be appreciated.

Since mother's day is coming up in less than two weeks, I have that much time to get all of my mother's day jewelry done - four individual projects in all. Because I have a hard due date for those, that is what I will be working on mostly until then. Hopefully the moms will enjoy!

A Flower Fit For A Ring

Since I was home with nothing to do on a beautiful Sunday, I wanted to make something "spring-y". After searching online for some new fabric flower-making ideas, I found one that I wanted to try.

http://kindawonderful.typepad.com/pink_paper_peppermints/2008/06/rounded-petal-fabric-flowers-31-crafty-flowers-in-31-days--day-23.html

The directions are easy to follow and the flowers are easy to make. Using the instructions in the link above, I made a small flower out of fabric I had in my closet. I attached the flower to my ring base, using a hot glue gun. I then took one of the earrings that I purchased at the antique faire earlier this month, cut off the backing, and attached that to the center of the flower, using the hot glue gun.

This is definitely a great idea for someone who wants a new ring in minimal time.

Project Ideas?

If anyone has project ideas, I'd love to hear them.

While searching for more decoupage ideas, I came across a project that is so creative and awesome that I just had to share - decoupage shoes! As soon as I come across a cheap pair of shoes to try this on, I am so going to try it!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/28/make-old-shoes-new

Another idea, completely sidetracking, is lace decorative pillows. I've seen pillows like this at very expensive home decor stores. I am definitely going to have to make a note to self to make sure I check out lace at the next antique faire.

http://aneclecticblog.com/2010/03/a-little-glue-a-little-lace-a-perfect-pillow/

Musical Coasters

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I started working on my decoupage coasters. My first coaster experiment - "Beatle Mania"!

Earlier this year my Beatles' "1" album was damage. I have since received another copy as a gift, but obviously I didn't have a need for two of the same Beatles' album cases. The "1" album booklet has Beatles album covers on every page in different sizes. I cut out the pictures that I liked the most, and started rearranging them on a glass coaster.

Using Mod Podge Brand (I bought the glossy finish), I glued each cut-out onto the coaster. After letting it dry for a while, I then coated the top with about 6 layers of Mod Podge. (As instructed, wait at least 20 minutes between coats.) It may seem like layer overkill for some but I wanted to make sure it was sealed well since it will be used as a functional coaster, and I don't want water rings to ruin the collage. Using a razor blade, the excess collage around the sides of the coaster were cut off. I then coated Mod Podge around the sides of the coaster as an extra sealant.

Since I have four of these glass coasters, I started making another Beatles coasters (which is still in the works), and I'll probaby use another musical artist as the inspiration for the other two coasters. I'll post a picture of all four when they are complete.

If you don't already have coasters available, craft stores do carry small sets of coasters that are decorating-ready.

Paint, Vases, Decoupage, & Too Many Craft Ideas At Once - Oh My!

Last night I went to the craft store and bought paint to get started on my "faux" milk glass vases. I started on my baby blue vase last night. Even though I added paint to the vase in small increments as instructed, I could tell that I used too much overall. Once the whole inside of the vase was coated, I turned it upside down to allow any excess paint to drip down out of the vase. Even with that slight mishap, it is still turning out great, especially for my first attempt.

I started working on my lemonade yellow vase as soon as I got home from work today. Definitely trying to be even more careful on my paint use, and as of now, only a small portion of the vase is left to coat. Once both vases are completely dry, I will post pictures.

Another project that I have wanted to work on for a few days (since reading about a new brand from Stampington Magazine's Facebook) is decoupage. I got all excited about it since I haven't done decoupage in years. Only one problem . . . what do I want to decoupage? Somewhat important, right? It just took a few days of thinking and walking by my glass coasters for the lightbulb to spark. I'm already planning out ideas for my coaster makeover. More to come . . .

Silk Flower & Old Shirt Necklace

On Wednesday evening, I was going through my closest and weeding through shirts that I no longer wear. I found a light-weight white shirt with rows of embroidered white ovals. I thought the material & texture was lovely, but the style of shirt was no longer "me".

I laid the shirt out flat, and with sewing scissors, I cut three strips. I made a knot at one end, and then proceeded to braid the strips together and tie a knot at the other end. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this, but I figured I'd just go with the flow.



Sure enough after work on Thursday, I thought of something - I took the braid and made a tight curve, touching two rows of braid together. I hand-stiched them together with white thread. I kept doing this, making 5 rows with the length of braid. My end result was a square of braided fabric.

On Friday I went to a local craft store and purchased some silk flowers, chain, and oval glass pearls. I cut the stems off of the flowers, arranged them as desired, and glued them on to the braided fabric using a glue gun. I added the oval glass pearls to two pieces of chain using head pins, and then stiched each piece of chain to the top corners of the braided fabric. Since I was unsure of what kind of clasp to use, I just attached a piece of cream ribbon to each end of the chain to tie in a bow. And to add a little flare, I attached an antique embelishment as the final touch.

For not having the slightest idea of what my end result would be, I thought the necklace was an experimental success. Who knew it would all start with just braiding a white shirt from my closest . . .