Who doesn't just drool over the clothing and accessories from Anthropologie? The price tags don't exactly fit into this single-mom's budget. With a little ingenuity and the right materials on hand, I did (in my humble opinion) a fair job of replicating one of their fun t-shirts. I took a plain black tee and added some ruffle down one side. Cute enough, thought I, but why not go a little further? I popped a few silver buttons on the ruffle and VOILA! Drab to fab in less than 15 minutes. Oh, for the ruffle I just cut strips (2" wide) off of one of my daughter's outgrown t-shirts, sewed them together to make one long strip (approx. 4' long). I handstitched down the center of the fabric, then gathered it up into soft ruffles. Easy shmeasy!
Thanks to Jen, at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, I went on another spray painting rampage yesterday. Being the QUEEN of immediate gratification, I have had an ongoing love affair with spray paint (speaks volumes about my love life:-). I just discovered Jen's fabulous blog, which is packed with great ideas...from soup to nuts! I went back to some of her earlier posts and discovered a few projects she did, refurbishing items she had, with spray paint. I forget that most metals are spray paintable (better check on the grammar there), so I went rummaging through my garage for hidden treasures. I found an ugly old, metal urn, originally destined for G.W. or S.A., grabbed a can of off-white paint and set to task.
When the urn was sufficiently dry, I simply added a tulle bow (dollar store) and some lovely silk roses that were a gift from Monica. Simple, but pretty, I think. I have to continually rein myself in, as I tend to want to over-do with...well, you name it and I want to over-do it! If I decide I want to put the urn in another room, I can take the bow/ flowers off or substitute other. The beauty of a neutral palette. For now, it's going to hang out in my bedroom, filled with silk hydrangea...until the real ones start to bloom. Thanks again, Jen!
In my haste to get to spraying, I forgot to take a "before" picture, so you'll just have to imagine...ugly!
***my 100th post give-away winner will be chosen tomorrow morning. Don't forget to leave a comment if you would like to be entered.
Here is the second tutu I made. This one has a touch of Hawaiian flair, don't you think?
Oh, the fun I am having playing with my new shipment of ribbons! I can't say enough about Deb, the owner of Just Because Ribbons
I gave Deb carte blanche to choose the specific colors, although I did give her an idea of what I was looking for. Her choices were perfect! I wanted to take a picture of the whole lot, before I send some off to my friend, Monica: The White Bench
I took advantage of my "free" weekend and spent quite a bit of time working on finishing up several projects (in between updating my resume, applying for jobs, getting ready for an interview tomorrow morning & cleaning for a baby shower I am hostessing next weekend). I proudly took pictures of all of the completed masterpieces, in anticipation of sharing them with all of you, and my camera/ Picassa just are not cooperating. I'm afraid I have switched the setting on my camera so many times that it doesn't know whether to snap a picture or scrub my bathroom floor! Although the pictures, clearly, did not come out as I'd hope (as evidenced through the viewer), I thought, surely, I could make them more presentable with Picassa. Not so much, I'm afraid! As I type this posting, I'm holding out hope that the pictures will magically transform between now and the time I hit "publish post".
:::crossing fingers:::
The basket was an ugly red and brown, heart that I glued silk rose petals to. I added my favorite, double ruffle ribbon to the top and made a pretty light blue/ green fabric lining. A bit of sparkle was added to the rose petals with some silver mica. An adorable cherub pin sits angelically on the front of the basket.
The collages are prizes I made for baby shower games. I think they turned out rather well, considering I was assembling them at 1:30 this morning!
Thanks to a "signal error" with my local cable company, I was without a phone and computer for nearly two days. No need to focus on the frustration it caused me because I am up and running again. It's amazing how those two "luxuries" are actually staples of daily living. I had to laugh, at one point, when an automated voice recording suggested I report my technical difficulties on the cable co.'s website. Why would I be waiting, on hold, for 1/2 hour if I had access to the internet???
I digress...
Last week I ordered some double ruffle ribbons from my new favorite etsy shop, Just because ribbons. I haven't worked with these ribbons before, but have been inspired by various projects I've come across, through blogs I follow. The ribbons arrived yesterday and they are absolutely beautiful! Sadly, I had only ordered 3 colors, because I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them. As soon as I opened my little package, the creative juices were flowing. I started with a rather plain cardigan sweater that has been hanging in my closet for....well, for TOO long (as a personal organizer, I try to stick with the "if you haven't worn it in a year, get rid of it!" rule, but I don't always practice what I preach). The sweater is an odd, muted brown and lacked any "oomph". I piggybacked the "lemongrass" and brown ribbons, added some vintage buttons and my once drab cardigan is now a piece with panache!
Of course, I had to order more ribbon right away. I contacted, Deb, the owner of the shop to see if she could customize an order for me. She responded right away and we've been emailing back and forth, deciding what colors/ amounts would best suit my needs. Aside from the fact that her ribbons are lovely and very reasonably priced, Deb is so helpful and beyond accommodating. She has over 50 colors to choose from, so I gave her an idea of what I'd like, but am letting her gather a variety for me. I can't wait to try the ribbons out on my embellished baseball caps and hope to get them up on etsy as soon as possible!
Deb doesn't (yet) have a blog, so I told her I would gladly share my finds with all of you. Stop by her etsy shop, Just Because Ribbons, and see for yourselves :-)
