$1 Vintage Tablecloth

My friend, Wendy, and I frequent all of the local thrift stores weekly. Our favorite is the Salvation Army in our town. We are both in mourning because we saw the local headline which informed us that our Salvation Army is closing. It may have been our saddest day ever. Now we'll have to travel to hit any Salvation Armies. The closest one is about 3/4 an hour away. Whaaa!!!



Last Thursday, we went to a bag sale at a nearby church and found this beauty. Actually, I thought it was butt-ugly, but Wendy saw some charm in it, so we bought it for $1.



A vintage tablecloth:







Today, I cut it up and for just about $13.50... including the lining fabric (~$9), the corduroy shirt I cut up for the apron strings ($1) and the tablecloth ($1), the belt I got at Sally's ($1), and the ($1.50) D-Rings, I made the following....


{a pretty purse}

AND

{an apron with funky fringe}

{the back}

How fun is that?

Blog Candy Win

I won! How cool is that? I won the blog candy on The LemonDrop Tree. This girl can craft! You have to go check out her blog. She makes these cute little chipboard, epoxyed buttons and sells them in her Etsy Shop. They are so shiny and brightly colored. I have them in my hot little hands, so I can vouch for them! They are great for paper crafters! She is also making magnets now too I see!


These are the wobbly buttons. Aren't they cute? They're hand drawn!


These are the Flower Bites. Great for cardmaking and scrapbooking. I love the little bit of bling in the centers of the flowers. Glitter, of course!

What Imaginations....

I was listening to my boys play the other day. I quickly started taking notes because I knew I'd never remember the details of this one. You have to hear this...

G. (8) was a white blood cell named Splash. He had an antibody cannon to shoot at viruses. He also had a long tail for constricting and his special ability was shape-shifting. He could also jump up, slam and bounce as well as turn black and blue.

V. (6) was a nerve cell. He had spiky things on his head for mind control. He had fins, one eye and no arms. Oh... and two tails with claws at the end. He could fire thunderbolts and carry senses to the brain.

What happened to kids playing school?

A Thank You

Doesn't this make it all worth it? This is my kids' friend, Logan, who wanted one of the

aliens I made. He loved it and this was his thank you note. SOOOO sweet, don't you think?

Monday's Projects & Boys' Rooms

I wanted to sew more today, but decided that our house was getting more and more in need of a good scrubbing, so I did the whole house this morning. Top to bottom as well as most of the laundry. G's room turned into a huge project that wasn't meant to be one. I was just going to vaccuum, but I started organizing books and moving furniture and it went on and on from there. It is all nice an clean and organized now and of course, I can't do one without the other, so V's was cleaned and organized too.

Then I picked up the boys, came home and started sewing these little stuffed guys.

As long as the boys' rooms are all organized and the beds are made, I took a few pictures.

This is V's room. Very bright (he picked the turqoise) and Pokemoncentric. I just got them the shaggy blankets that are on their beds and surprised them with them when they got home from school. They are super soft.

Reading before bedtime.

This is G's room. This is what you see when you look in the door. He actually has two side-by-side rooms joined with a pocket door but the other room has toys everywhere, so we're going to clean that up together this weekend.

I put the bulletin board under his window so he can have secret messages under the curtains.

The wall above his bed. I painted these canvases for him.

The shelves I rearraged today. These dresser drawers were beside his stereo under the window. I moved them around today.

Also a Pokemon room.

Reading before bedtime.

That was my big day. Whew hoo.

XXIP-IT

I sewed my first zipper today! V. wanted me to make this little guy from the Monsters sewing book I mentioned a few days ago. I didn't realize he had a zipper mouth until I had him all cut out. {Way to read those instructions, hu?}



I looked in my tin that has a bunch of old sewing stuff in it... from the 50's. There were a few zippers in there, but none the right size. SO... I found a tan one that told me how to make it shorter on the back. {who knew???} So, I did and fit it to this guys' mouth and sandwiched it between the inner mouth and his outer mouth and here he is! V. LOVES him. He is supposed to feed him marbles and loose change.



Mouth open....



Mouth almost closed! He reminds me of a Boobah. I wouldn't have chosen this one, but V. loved him.

Featured Blogger

I've been a featured blogger on a few sites and I've decided that it feels great to be featured, so I want to pass that feeling on to others. It's a great way to learn of other awesome bloggers out there. I'll try to do this every Sunday.



Today is my first featured blogger and I've decided to choose someone that I think is VERY talented and has some beautiful Etsy products to offer. It's my MOM and her blog called That's SOap Cute! She has been soapmaking and selling for about 8 years now! Her products are being sold not only on Etsy, but at some shops about town and at a site that is just getting up and running called Diva Entertains.



I can vouch for her soaps. Not only do they smell great, but they are made with the finest ingredients she can get her hands on. Oh... and did I forget to mention that they are as CUTE as they smell? See for yourself!

Here are a few soaps that are featured on her blog:

This happens to be my favorite soap... I love the chocolate fudge scent. YUM! Well, this and the oatmeal eggs she makes in pretty, soft blues, greens and tans! LOVE those.


Can't you imagine this as a Wedding Favor with the bride and groom's names on the paper. Or how about "To have and to hold" or something cute like that? Also great for a gift with "I love you" on the paper.







Or this one....







Or even this one!




My kids love this puzzle soap. Grandma let V. make some of his own when he was there. He won't use it in the tub because he likes to put it together every which way. Hours of entertainment!






And what goes with a BABY SHOWER better than soap? Get it? A shower with soap??? LOL! These are great decorations for the table and you can give them to guests as they leave. Or give them to the mom-to-be at the end because they can be made fragrance-free which is perfect for soft, little baby bums!




If you get a moment, check it out. My baby neice is on there wearing the new bonnet my mom made for her. She just came home from Children's where she has had her 3rd brain surgery in her 4 short months on this earth. She's a sweetie and worth dropping by to see!

Next week I'll feature a blog that I'm not so biased about!

Saturday's Project and a Giveaway!

Today I made a purse for a good friend. I hope she likes it. I love the way it turned out and I'm getting better and better at making these, so she is getting some quality work. LOL! The button is a vintage one that was in a jar of buttons I got at an antique store and it matched PERFECTLY! I love it!!!

You have to get in on this awesome GIVEAWAY on Domestic Divas Fancy... get on over there! She has hit her 100th post. Congrats, Ashley!

New Sewing Projects, Thrift Store Finds and Bad Kitty

I was actually able to get some sewing done today because not only is my Pool House Project done, but today was a half-day of school!

Here is the cute little apron I made from a valence I found at Salvation Army ($3.99 each). I had to rip it apart much more than I thought I'd have to in order to get the bottom striped layer to show more. It was a real pain, but the results are worth it.

Here's the front. I put a stripe of a different fabric across the waistband and a row of rickrack for some added interest. The material is sort of a really fine courduroy.

The little aliens below are door guards for G.'s room. I got a book out of the library (see picture below) with directions to make TONS of these little guys. My boys have been shopping the book for days and I went to Walmart today and bought some flannel, fleece and felt so I could make them for them. It looks like there are two below, but actually, one is the front and the other is the back.

Now I'll leave you with a few Thrift Store finds. The blue bowl below and the pink one were recently found at a Thrift Shop. I love them!

This pink pretty was found at a little shop in our town that buys thrift stuff and sells it. Isn't it cute? I think it will look great on my dresser in my bedroom.

I found the cake plate and the pie plate below at SA. The little crystal owl in the middle isn't supposed to be there. G. got that for Easter from his Grandma Gretchen and put it there. It has been there since.

Vintage Gucci purse $2.99 at SA. Scarf from SA , $.99.

Pretty butter yellow purse SA as well as this scarf. Can you tell I love to tie scarves on my purses?

Vintage Hankie and Pillowcase for future sewing projects... $.59 each.

Kitchen Cabinet at our local antique/country store. $30! LOVE it. I needed some more counter space in my sewing room. This is working out nicely. And there is a bread drawer in the bottom should I need to store a carbolicious snack!

Ralph Lauren pink raincoat. Originally $6.99 at Salvation Army. I got it on Wednesday and oly paid $3.50! LOVE it!

And here is my kitty, Mika, getting her shedding fur all over the back of this chair. I have a blanket that I generally keep over this pillow just for that reason. If the blanket is on there.... do you think she will sleep there??? NOOOOOOO.... as soon as the blanket is in the wash... up she climbs, snuggles in and curls up into a ball.

Wow... that was a long show and tell! I've gotten more things, but I'll save them for another day!

Happy Friday!!!