Southwest style

I have a very old Pendleton wool navajo jacket that I got at a thrift store years ago.  It has plenty of moth damage.

And I had an even older vest - probably had it at least 20 years.  I love Pendleton wool.  Can't get rid of it no matter what condition it's in.

The very last thing Kerry bought me was a Pendleton Wool blanket in Bend, OR.  It had denim hues to it and we both thought it would look great in our denim-themed art pod.  When I sold the r-pod, I had to keep the blanket.  The pattern is called "star watchers".  Kind of appropriate as we would sit outside and watch the stars at night on that last trip.

I started out with the tan jacket at the top.  When I took the lining out, the inside was primarily black.  I had enough to make an entire pillow and an insert to put on a denim pillow sham.  There was absolutely no moth damage on the inside and you cannot tell that it wasn't the outside.  One of the things I love about Pendleton wool.

And I was able to make a pillow insert from the vest.  I think they turned out perfect.  You can see the front side of the original jacket on the left, the inside is the black pillow and the pillow on the right is the vest.  I've had the bear for years.

I'm trying the bed out as a "daybed" in the event I move into a studio apartment

Think I have enough pillows? Those tan "wedges" in the back also allow me to convert the bed into a recliner or lounge.   They each have 4 possible positions.  We had them in the art-pod as well.

The rug is hand woven - we bought it in Hualtuco Mexico on our last trip there in 2009.  That's the year Kerry had his first heart attack.  I am surrounding myself with memories of places we've been and things we've done.  I really like the pendleton pillows.  Never throw anything out!!

What does your eye see?

There was this lamp at Hobby Lobby and it was half off, but I didn't like it.  I didn't like the stark white shade or the silver post.  But I bought it anyway.  You know, it was half off!!!  LOL!!

In my "mind's eye", I could see it completely different!

So, did you know you can spray paint a lamp shade?  It works just perfectly and is a great way to revive an old, dusty, stained lampshade!  But this was brand new and white and I just used a can of spray paint.  Looks a bit like burlap.

For the stem of the lamp, I sprayed it black matte, then I hand painted some acrylic turquoise paint and wiped it off before it dried so the black showed through.  Next I spritzed it with water, then used Krylon's mirror paint to get the silver look.  It is so shimmery and is simply perfect now!!!

The bird below was hot pink!  Seriously - neon hot pink.  Same technique as the lamp and now I just love it!

I made the sign using my cricut as a template.

Wrapped jute and hot glued flowers to old spindles:  (and the mason jar above)

and my little lamp corner is complete!

If you had seen this lamp at Hobby Lobby, would your eye have seen this?  Mine did.....and I have to wonder why!  Seems these days, I never look at things the way they are....but at how they could become!  I simply love living in an artist's world!

More recycled denim

Mom painted wonderful pueblos and I hung them in the MBR and decided to make some pillows for the bed using leftover denim.

Got the red bench off craigslist and it fit perfect at the bottom of the bed.   On our last trip to Huatulco, Mexico, we met a young boy who was hand weaving the blue piece.  He finished it and we brought it home.  I've been wanting to display it and this is the perfect spot!

The background on the pillows are from a very long dress and the pockets from jeans - great way to clean out my closet.

And I'll be keeping the remote controls inside the pockets.....hoping they don't get lost!

My only cost for  the zippers I put in the bottoms.   I love the whole idea of southwest and denim....such a comfortable room!

The other bird

I promised to show the design for the other bird on my pavers and pillows - it's not from cricut.  I found this adorable little chest at Hobby Lobby in the 80% off isle!!!  I simply had to have it.

Next, I took a photo of the front (above) and photoshopped it so I'd have paper to print in any size.  I used this bird as the pattern for my pavers and pillows.

The little dresser has 2 drawers and is next to my chair, so it stores all my remotes and my camera and dlownload cables - hopefully I will start blogging again if everything is close by!  The silk flowers are at least 25 years old and I still love them.  I have loads of Willow dolls sitting around in my little collections.  The dress form is a recent $5 garage sale find that I will alter sometime in the near future.

The YHWH wall hanging was also 80% off at Hobby Lobby.  Now, I had seen this when it first came out and knew that I wanted it, but wasn't sure where I'd put it.  When it got to 80% off and was still there, I decided it was meant to be!  I truly love how it all ended up.  The lamp was $9 at the local thrift store.  Next up, I'm looking for upholstery fabric to cover my chairs.  The sofas are fine, but the SW look of the chairs has got to go!!!

I'm so pleased to have this section of the living room where those who come to visit will know how much I love and adore Jehovah - who rightfully goes by all these names (I looked them all up!)  I happen to think if you love someone, you should let the world know - which is exactly what I'm doing through my home decor and my art!

I love Hobby Lobby's 80% off sales at the end of the season.  I can always find something.  OK - I can always find way too many things!  This year, they had this big pillows with words like "Relax", "Sit", "Rest" on them.  While I didn't like the words, I thought the pillows had great potential.  The one on the right is as sold.  The 2 on the left are just pillow covers that HL has half off every 2 - 3 weeks.  I used my cricut and the Home Accents and Decor cartridges to get the bird on the left and the flowers.  I'll blog "tomorrow" about the bird on the right!

So those 2 pillows were the inspiration for the birds on the bottom of the pavers in my last post.

Below, the lamp is another HL find, but it was silver with a white shade.  I used turquoise acrylic paint and the new Krylon mirror paint and simply love how it turned out!

Here's a close-up of the lamp - it is just perfect!  Oh, and I just spray painted the shade with some tan paint.  Who knew it would turn out looking so much like burlap?

I used my cricut again to cut out these designs, then traced around them on fabric and filled them in.  Used a fabric marker to start, but a sharpie works just fine!

I have 2 very long sofas in my tiny living room.  So for the other sofa, I bought more of the big pillows with words on them and then added ribbon and flowers to cover the words.  Easy to sew it on - these pillows had zippers in the covers, so easy to remove.

The tiny printed pillow was 80% off at HL and the lamp shade was half off.  So a whole new look for not much of anything!

The pillow in front is a plain cover where I added ribbon and flowers.  Some of those flowers were from the jewelry and hair embellishment departments.  The pillow in the back - that's a piece of printed burlap from the fabric department.  The Cali-lillies were 99 cents at the thrift store and they are down in a group of lighted pussy willow stems.  99 cents!!!  All I had to do was iron and re-shape them.  One of my favorite flowers!  

and mom painted cali-lillies for me years ago - I am so blessed to have a home full of her wonderful art!

Now, decorating my home really isn't an excuse for not blogging.......but just wait!  I love using my cricut, hot glue gun and other craft tools to create a nest I love coming home to!

Rearranging Life

What do you do when you have to rearrange your life?  Well, I gave it some thought and decided to play with that thought a little bit!  How many times have you gone to a thrift store or a garage sale and wondered what happens to all those out-dated flower arrangements???  This one was $1.99 and pretty old and dusty:

Start by taking it all apart.  Pile each type of flower/leaf/green piece into it's own cluster:

If you want, make some silk ribbon flowers, or even flowers out of old netting to add to your new arrangement:

Then, sort of put them together how you think you like them.  I do this on a craft sheet.  I can easily start over and try this a hundred different ways.  Obviously, I've decide to only use the white flowers and green leaves for this project:

Next, I took 6" wide white netting and wrapped it around my craft sheet which is on a glass mat.  The weight of the glass mat held this in place.  I can then place a drop of warm glue (I no longer use a hot glue gun as it's a weapon for anyone over 60!!!) on the netting.  Place a flower on it and press down.  When the glue cools, you can easily pull the netting and flowers up off the table.  Pretty darn cool!!!

 And when it's all put together......doesn't this look much better than that old arrangement I picked up at the thrift store?  And it cost me $1.99!!!

I did add a cut little dove....and of course, some stickles glitter.

For now, it's an arch over a painting mom did. But I'm getting new furniture for the bedroom and everything will get moved which means I'll be rearranging what's on the walls....puttying holes, painting.....

it just NEVER ends!!!  LOL!!!  But oh!  what fun!!!

Jubilation!!!

A week ago, I had a lumpectomy done.  I've known about the lump since March.  But with the move, Kerry's health, Mom's health.....and just life....I guess I didn't know how much I was worried about this until the surgeon called and said the all the cells were benign.

Who knew one could feel such jubilation??  Such praise to God for His grace and glory!  Kerry and I celebrated most of the day.

How?  By driving 9 miles to a neighboring village and having lunch at a BBQ place we had seen.  And then I spent 2 hours wondering through the antique stores this little place is known for.  More about all that later.

I came home inspired to play.  I'd seen this done in one of the cute little shops.

Take old lace that you have and wind it up loosely, then pinch one end and tie a ribbon around it real tight.  Fluff open the other end and it sort of looks like a flower!  I did it with some old doilies first:

used 2 doilies for each little flower

And I took apart some silk flowers to add to the mix

Thinner lace looks a little like rose buds

And I made a rose from silk - you can buy it by the yard from Creative Impressions

and then I stuck it all in a cut glass bowl I picked up at the thrift store ($.99)

It's great to go antiquing if you want to get inspired!  And what a great way to store my unused lace.  Now, if I look at it every day, how long until I decide to use it?  One must live in creative surroundings in order to live a creative life!!!

Finding way too much!

I have been so busy and just having so much fun!  Colleen was here for a week and we hit the thrift stores.....and found way too much stuff!

One of the best buys was this photo wall screen.....

in mint condition for just $9.99.  Now, how could I pass it up?  I attached it to the wall just between the entry landing and where I have my studio.  And then filled it with photos.  But the back......well, you know, it was just those black photo backs with hinges to put them in place.  Not something I wanted to look at from my side.

So I've spent a bit of time engineering just the perfect backing....and I'm happy.  Simple, yet soothing.  Pretty to look at....

Each panel has something on it that I like.  This one, upper left hand corner, a gold star of david embellishment from EK Success that I painted white and adorned with lots of beads:

This next one has a little girl that was a blue ornament - took her apart, painted her white and she's a perfect match:

Just click on these to enlarge.  The engineering.....these are 1/8" thick hard chipboard panels, covered with paper, most of it by "Lost and Found".  I inked the edges, then put velcro in the corners on the back.  That way, they will come off when I want to change the photos on the other side.

this piece of paper has a glittered dressform on it - I added a gold Star of David pin

Every single background is covered with gliter, then each of the elements has bling on it as well.  These little chipboard dresses are from Crafty Secrets....don't you just love the hangers???  We stickled them as well....so they really look like rusted shimmery rods.

One of my favorite Hallmark ornaments.  In the arch it says, "you inspire me"

I just thought this menorah was perfect next to the Eiffel tower.

and since I love dressforms and patterns....

all little things that make me smile when I look at them....

I'd love to find another panel just like this one, attach the 2 together and actually make a wall.  But for now, I'm happy with this new divider.  It will actually fold up flat against the office doors if I decide it's in the way.

And just think.....this is only ONE of the many things we found last week!