Vintage Pretties

Cork Wreath Tutorial

I thought that I'd show you how I made my cork wreath, which I mentioned in my earlier posts.  I got the idea from a friend of mine, who also made one out of the corks that she'd been saving. 

First of all, you need a lot of corks.  I mean A LOT of corks.  I had a whole bowl full of them & thought "this must be enough".  Nope.  Collected some more.  "This must be enough." Nope.  I probably have about 150-200 corks on this wreath, which is about 20-24 inches in diameter.  I forgot to measure.

Next, you need a straw wreath form, like the one above (back of the wreath is pictured).  The color of the straw blends in well with the corks. Then, get out your hot glue gun & just start gluing!  I found that putting the glue onto the cork (rather than onto the wreath) worked better.  Remember to put the corks at different angles & overlapping, or it won't look right.  Even if some of them look sort of strange, like they are just sticking out of the wreath, that's OK because it will look good in the end. Edited to add: Only put corks on the front & sides, not the back, or you'll have a hard time hanging on the wall.

Then, put it up on the wall, pour yourself a glass of wine, and admire your handiwork.

Corks & Matchbooks

I was browsing through Blissfully Domestic recently & came upon a thread about one of my favorite decorating things, apothecary jars.  One woman had an idea that was like a light bulb going off in my head (more like "hello, why didn't I think of that????")...putting your collected corks & matchbooks in your jars. 

I've been collecting restaurant/bar matchbooks since, well, forever, and I've kept the cork from every bottle of wine that Glenn & I have shared (Ahem....the numbers are embarrassing....).  Its so cool to go through them every once in awhile & remember times that you had at a restaurant or a special bottle of wine that you had.  Or, a couple of bottles of wine that made the world a very happy place...

I've already made a wreath of some of my corks (a fun addition to the kitchen),
but I was looking for something to do with all of the rest.  And, those matchbooks.  I'm liking the two of them together -- it's all about thinking about good times! 

Give Her $11 & Look What She Can Do

Yard sale season has begun!  At 8am this past Saturday, I was out the door, with Hope in tow, looking for some goodies.  We headed straight for a neighborhood yard sale that I had seen advertised.  Just look at what I got:

The two books are travel guides to Florence & Venice, dated 1924.  And, the covers match my family room!  Bonus!  I'm going to paint the base of the photo holder another color (black?  red?  what do you think?) & put old postcards in it.  Or, old photos.  Or...ideas anyone???

The paper dolls include a set of male & female dancers, along with both costumes & day clothes.  They are dated 1955.  I'm going to try to sell them on ebay, though some of the clothes were cut out. 

I'm just loving this guy.  Isn't it adorable??  And, it was $2!!  I know!!  Its in banged up shape & all, but what were they thinking?  Of course, I grabbed it & wouldn't let go as soon as I heard the price.  Its now sitting on the dresser in our kitchen.

So, all of that cost $6 total.  Already, it was a good day.  BUT, this was the grandaddy of the bargains:

It was $5!! If you are my husband, you think that $5 is too much.  He said, quote, "It looks like every ugly 1970s bed that I remember".  However, he is lacking in imagination. It is *just* what I want for the guest room.  Imagine this--painted matte black, with the rosy walls and the black & cream toile bedding.  Won't it be stunning? 

Weekend Away

I'm so excited to tell you all about our weekend get away that I nearly posted on Wednesday, the day after my last post.  But, posting two days in a row might be too much of a shock for my readers (are there any still out there???  I think that most have given up on me....), so I held back for a few days.

We stayed in Fredericksburg, which is just about 30 minutes from our house.  Its a wonderful town with a college, lots of gee-oorr-geous stores, and restaurants.  It also has an adorable downtown neighborhood that I've nudged Glenn about moving to, but its just a bit too, too far from DC for us.  For the weekend, it was perfect--a great place to get away from it all, but practically no travel involved.

We stayed at a beautiful inn, the Kenmore Inn, pictured above.  I selected it for not just its looks, but -- get this -- there is a pub ONSITE.  Yes, indeed, we could have our drinky-poos & just stroll on upstairs.  Love it.  Here is a photo of our room:

This is the beautiful garden that was just under our window.  This photo doesn't do it justice.  Look at how beautiful the flowering trees were:

We spent Saturday strolling around town.

Yum.  You should have smelled the brownies baking in there. I, of course, couldn't leave without a dish of "Death by Chocolate", which contained those same brownies.  Had to check out if they tasted as good as they smelled, doncha know.

This drug store still has a soda fountain!! 

This store!!  Oh my gosh, I could have spent hours & hundreds of dollars in there.  Vera Bradley, Crabtree & Evelyn & April Cornell heaven.  In addition to so many other goodies.  Here is a peak inside.  If you click on the photo, you can see all of the delicious displays close up:

Glenn walked in & immediately said "Uh, honey, I'm going to wait for you outside" My response: "Too Froo-froo for you?" Him: "YES"

There was also a  to. die. for.  clothing store called Monkees that was more than a wee bit out of my price range.  But, I had fun looking & figuring out mentally how I could copy the looks when I went to TJ Maxx :)

After shopping, we spent a few hours on the patio of a restaurant, reading.  Anyone read The Glass Castle ? DO.  I read the entire thing that evening.  After that, browsing in a used bookstore & then dinner at the Inn's restaurant.  Really, just perfect.  It was so wonderful to spend time with Glenn & just be a couple.

Of course, the next day, we returned home & the sweetest thing in the world was to have Hopie shout out "Mommy! Mommy!" the moment that I walked in the door.  Life is good.

 

So, whatcha been up to?

I know, we've got to stop meeting up like this...only once every two weeks!  I've had this post in my head for two weeks & even took the photos, but then it took me two weeks to get the pics off of my camera.  Now, I have enough photos & ideas for two posts, so I'll be back here in the next couple days as well. 

So, what have I been up to?  Work mostly.  But, there's been more too.  My parents were down here again. Hope has started calling the guest room "Nana & Grandpa's Room".  If they are down here again in the next month, I'm going to throw in the towel &  tell them to start leaving a set of pjs & clean undies.  :) Seriously, they were here for several reasons, the most exciting one being that Glenn & I went away for a weekend alone.  Imagine that.  More on that in the next post.   

Also, I'm making the most of my weekends by doing less in the way of errands & more in the way of fun.  For instance, I recorded the activities of a recent rainy Sunday....

What's the best thing to do on a rainy Sunday?  Bake cookies of course!  Peanut Butter this time.  Yum. 

I made plenty...go ahead & have one!

After that (Hope took a long nap), I started on this SUPER CUTE project from Amy of Inspire Company .  She has resumed her online "magazine" recently & this is one of the ideas in the first issue...check it out .  As soon as I saw it, I knew that I needed to translate that onto kid's birthday cards....here are the results:

Amy's are waaaay cuter, but these will do!  I also made a pink set for the girls.  I try to make a bunch of simple kids birthday cards to have on hand because a) we are constantly being invited to kid birthday parties b) I always (always) forget to buy a card & c) cannot stomach spending $3 on a card for a 3 year old who won't even notice it & it will get thrown out anyway.

I also spent hours catching up on my blog reading & emailing.  It was so fun to see what everyone has been up to & get really inspired by all of the great ideas that I saw.  You people blow me away! 

I'm really excited to tell you about our little get-away, so I'll be posting again very soon!

Quick Tutorial for Covered Lampshades

I've been asked to give directions on how to cover a lampshade, so I thought that'd I'd share.  It's actually so quick & easy that you'll be looking for more lampshades to cover :)

-I make a pattern by placing a large piece of paper (paper grocery bag, whatever) over the shade & tracing it

-I cut out the fabric using the pattern

-I use regular white glue that I've watered down a bit & paint it on the shade.  You'll want to paint on just a small section & then smooth the fabric over that section.  Then, paint on more glue in the next section & smooth the fabric over that & so forth. I usually start near the seam in the shade & work from there, smoothing the fabric over one section, top to bottom of the shade & then going the entire way around the shade.

-I put the trim on with a glue gun, along the edges of the shade.

It actually goes very quickly.  I've done this on numerous shades & I've loved everyone of them!

Another, photo filled post is soon to come!

I'm Still Here & Decorating

Hi there!  I'm still here & keeping busy as usual!  We were away for a long weekend over Easter & then launched into the nutty last week of the quarter at work.  Hope also got sick, so Nana & Grandpa drove down to save the day.  Yay Nana & Grandpa!  They have since gone home, but with promises of returning again soon. 

Despite the many booorrinnnggg things going on, I've found time to squeeze in some decorating & crafty bits.  For instance, I brought some scrapbook supplies to Indiana & caught up on some pages in the evening while the rest of the family was watching tv.  It was so nice to have the time to spend on a creative project, with no obligations nagging in the back of my mind. 

I also put up the little plates that my aunt gave me for Christmas.  I pulled two small tole trays from another room & voila!  An adorable little vignette on the wall!

Thank you so much, Aunt Vicki!  I just loved opening up that gift & knowing that you had thought of me when you saw them.

And, just 'cause, here is a photo of the bedside table in that room.

That photo is such a hoot.  Its Glenn as a baby, maybe 6 months old.  The photographer propped up his fist to his face, which gives his mouth a sort of lop-sided look.  I decorated the lampshade, of course, because I just can't leave that sort of thing alone :)

Its shaping up to be another busy week!  Its the first week of the new quarter, which is almost as fun as the last week of the quarter at my job, but there are plenty of bright spots.  Including, drinks with my friend (the best ever co-worker--Jen, can't we work together again???), and lots of episodes of Brideshead Revisited.  I was forced to put a hold on watching it while other stuff was going on, but it has only served to spread out the dreaminess longer.  I hope that you are having a great week!

Let Me Entertain You

This weekend was all about parties! A dinner party, a birthday party & a baby (shower) party.  We hosted two couples for a small dinner party on Saturday night.  It's been awhile since we've had a grown up dinner, so it was quite fun to put the table together.  I made a little centerpiece of roses & tulips (above) and pulled out some of my etched glasses.

The birthday party was for a friend's kid at a play room at a local rec center.  I had nothing to do with the planning or decorating of that party, but it did produce this super-cute photo:

On Sunday, I was in charge of decorations for a friend's baby shower.  She isn't a very "cutesy" person, so I wanted to keep the decorations as sophisticated as possible.  I took my new apothecary jars & filled them with lemons & rosemary and made a "baby" glittery "banner" for a wreath that I already had.  I love how it all worked out.


Maybe one of these days, I'll be as amazing at this party thing as Tracey.  I'm having fun getting there!

Brideshead Revisited

I am in the middle of watching what must be one of the most lush visions of England between the wars, Brideshead Revisited.  The scenery, the estate, the engrossing story...I really can't believe that I haven't seen it before.  What a perfect thing to wisk me away from my ordinary life...sigh!  I'm off to snuggle on the couch to see what this evening's episode holds....

Back to Vintage Pretties

First of all, thank you so very much to everyone who left such kind messages & sent such nice emails to me regarding my last post.  And, to those who left hilarious responses as well (Christine, you rock!).  A big kiss to each & every one of you!!!

I thought that I'd return to vintage pretties as a welcome relief from all of that stress :) I mentioned in an old post that I'd picked up some things at an estate sale & also, had found a use for another of those gorgeous apothecary jars that I received for Christmas.

The apothecary jar is above.  I found a packet of vintage postcards of Washington DC, with lovely watercolor images, which I put inside the jar and then hung some skeleton keys from the neck.  I like how it looks with the typewriter & books.  Up close:

My finds at the estate sale included this great camera, which I love beside Glenn's grandfather's camera:

I also found this vase at the same sale.  Pale sage green is one of my favorite colors & I love neo-classical shapes like this.  I'm thinking that it would look great with long forsythia branches in it.

I hope that you are having a good week!