Welcome to Far Far Away

A little bit of Shrek for my friends. 

We live a couple miles from our local small town and about 40 miles north of Minneapolis, MN.  Our local family and friends think we live far out of town, and our Twin Cities family and friends think they are going to another planet when they come to visit!

Our driveway circles around a small forest of trees, so as they pull into the driveway visitors come to a Y intersection and right at the entrance is a perfect tree to post a welcome sign.

The paper pattern for the sign's outline shape was the fairy tale tag from the Silhouette shape store.  I broke out the MDF and jig saw to cut the shape to the pattern.  The sign is painted with the $2.95 Home Depot sample size of "Wild Raisin".

I painstakingly and patiently cleaned up a trace from a picture of the welcome sign from Sherk's visit to Lord Farquaard's castle. The stencil for the words were cut on Oracle 810 masking vinyl.

A little gold paint for the words.

Two coats of Spar spray varnish.

And, it's done!

Vintage Linen Coin Purse

I have a real passion for vintage linens. 

I rescue them all the time from estate sales and thrift stores.  I try give the ones that have stains, rips, or tears  a renewed lease on life.  Out of my stash I found one long dresser scarf that allowed me to create four of these sweet purses.

I found a number of websites that showed tutorials on how to use these snap type clasps and wanted to learn how they work.  U Handbags tutorial is my favorite. 

The clasps come in either sewing on or glued in. I think the glued ones have a much more professionally finished look.  I ordered a few from Bagsupplier on Etsy.  At first I was a bit worried that they were coming from Hong Kong all the way to my home in Minnesota, but after they arrived I had no worries. They came timely and in great shape. I used normal E6000 glue, a toothpick and patience. I glued in one side and waited a bit for it to dry before doing the other side and I think it worked out just fine.

U Handbag's tutorial did a nice job explaining how to create the custom pattern to work with the size clasp you have. It took 2 or 3 purses to really get all the techniques right and the remaining purses turned out great.

Garage Sale Chronicles #13

Went to an estate sale in Clear Lake, MN about 1/2 hour after it opened this morning.  The antique dealers were still there making huge piles of vintage stuff.  The garage was full of toys most of which were  still in their box.  There were unopened board games, model cars, doll houses, puzzles, star wars figures, and on and on.  I could have snatched up quite a few but nothing really jumped out at me as "I have to have this!"

There were a few of us junkers there as well.  I managed to pick out a couple cool things.  I loved the gray and chrome table.  They had the bigger dining room one as well but the chrome was stripped away from the edges of the table.  I think the set of had cardboard drawers will look good in my sewing room.

As a made my second round through the garage I looked under a table to find this vintage croquet set.  I swear the mallets are oak.  They sure don't make 'um like this anymore.

I'm going to try to make these cheese boxes into a set of drawers.

The two games above are from Milton Bradley.  I don't think I've ever seen The Lone Ranger, Sammy goes to the White House.  I think tin box is really old!

Cigar Box Storage

I loves cigar boxes!  

I picked up 16 cigar boxes at a garage sale that interestingly were all the same brand.  

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them at the time.

But, I love cigar boxes.

On the workbench.   

A crate from another garage sale and boards scavenged from my mom and dad's basement.

DONE!

Today, was Junk Bonanza in Shakopee, MN.  

It's a junkers paradise. Hundreds of booths of junk.  

Some just waiting to be repurposed and some already altered.  

There was a lot of "fixin's" as one vendor called their knobs, brass numbers, game pieces, stamps, etc.

 I have had it on my calendar for months to take the day off from work so I could go this year. 

I scored 8 porcelain knobs that were just perfect.

Cross Body Purse

Have fabric, scissors, sewing machine....go.  

Walking around a summer craft fair I saw numerous cross body bags and begin to check them out with interest.  I wanted one.

I went home, dug out some coordinating fabric and started eyeballing a pattern.  The biggest challenges:

1) Determining dimensions of the entire bag.  I held up various other purses to my hips and tried to find a size that wasn't too big or small.  "Does this size make my hips look too big?"

2) How long do I make the strap?  "If it hangs here, does it make my hips look too big?" LOL.

3) Matching up the strap to the curves at to bottom.  I should have marked the centers, but in the end I just cut the strap really long. didn't fuss with matching and just cut it off where I wanted it to stop.

4) Interfacing and strap innards.  I wanted the body of the bag soft and not too stiff.  I sorted through my stash of interfacing and came up with one that felt just right.  For the strap I used a stiff webbed strap inside the fabric.  It's not bunching up on my shoulder yet. 

Love IT!

Indian Head Nickel & Turquoise Wrap Bracelet

Ah, a lovely vacation day spent hiding in the studio on a sweltering 90+ degree Minnesota day!  Went into the studio to just see what could be made with some of the stash and came out with a wrap bracelet.  I love it.  The hubby thinks I should have added more silver beads.  Hmmm.  We'll have to see how I feel about it after I wear it a few times.

The Buffalo or Indian Head Nickel coins were minted in the US from 1913 to 1938.  This particular one is actually a button that I purchased in Rapid City, South Dakota.  It's been waiting a few years for me to do something with it.  I think it'll be happy around my wrist.

Vintage Linen Tote

Once again, I've dipped into my vintage linen stores and used a piece to make this nice tote from a table runner.  I made the size custom to the linen I was using and added some new fabric and handles to complete it.

I encased heavy cardboard in cloth and placed it in the bottom to give it some structure.

 I also added a pocket on the inside and one on the outside.

I played a bit with some stitch variations on the inside and the top of the pocket on the inside.

Mother's Day Terrariums

All because I found a 

centerpiece brandy sniffer at a garage sale. . .

I stopped after work at a garage sale and picked up a $2.00 brandy sniffer 

because I thought it would make a great terrarium.    The elf above is another garage sale find.

I came home and talked my son and husband into going to the plant store to make a it a family project.  Unfortunately, our local greenhouse didn't have miniature plants. 

However, I told my husband if he would go back to the garage sale and pick up the other two brandy sniffers they had for sale, I'd make our mom's each a terrarium for Mother's Day.

Since he hates going to garage sales, I was surprised to get a call at work that he actually had gone and bought the other two!

A garden center near my work had a terrific selection of small plants.

My son and the kitty helped put together our presents.

They were so easy.  Layer of rock, layer of soil, plants, and moss.  Done.

Now I want to make MORE.

A new look for my mailbox.  

The name was cut with my Silhouette Cameo using 651 Oracal vinyl.  

I actually did paint the post a deep chocolate brown after taking this picture.

I just love the font.  Doesn't it looks like a old department store logo?

Amelia Island Shell Necklace

We recently vacationed on Amelia Island in Florida.  I picked up some shells from the beach and created some necklace charms for new friends we met on the trip.

I brushed the front and the back with Diamond Glaze, drilled a hole with my flex shaft, and attached a jump ring.  

I used a Krylon 18K gold pen to coat the edges and give them a bit of bling.

This one I coated the entire thing with Krylon 18K gold.  I really like it!

Thought you'd like a glimpse of what a trashed out space I work in!

Pretty Vintage Linen Tote #1

Another Vintage linen sewing project.   Isn't she lovely?

I created the pattern to fit the vintage embroidered table runner I cut to size.

Using duck cloth as an interlining made the bag stiff enough to stand on it's own.  A thick piece of cardboard covered with fabric inserted at the bottom to makes the bottom stay flat.

There is a pink polka dot lining with an interior pocket as well as covered buttons on each end to draw the  sides together.

I just think she's adorable.  

I made her a pocket on the front of the bag.

Oh this picture makes her look so wrinkly! I'm off to the iron.

Garage Sale Chronicles #11 - Books and Butterflies

My latest find was a color plate book of Renoir prints.  Opposite each print is a short "review of the artwork by a leading scholar of the times."  I bought it for $8.00.  I thought it was expensive until a realized if I was actually at a museum the price would have certainly been 10 times that!

I continued to dug through the pile of old books and found the beauty above.  Aren't the colors and gilding wonderful?  I  briefly thought of doing an altered book, but the thought vanished quickly as I realized it didn't need altering at all!

Tucked into a box of sewing notions that contained a fabulous pink tatting shuttle, was an envelope containing this set of butterflies.  Won't they look great framed up?  I can't decide if I want to frame them together, individually, or create silver bezels and use them in jewelry.  I think I'll just consider the $2.00 spent on the box as the cost of the tatting shuttle and these are FREE.  Thoughts about ideas to use them?

I haven't taken a real close look but the wings look real and the bodies appear to be printed paper.  The detail on the bodies appears to simulate the real colors and patterns.