Another Brimfield Adventure

This weekend we took another adventure to the Brimfield Antiques Show.  Usually I go with a list, because let's face it, there is just too much to see if you do not have a plan!  But, this time I had only one thing on my list...and I got it, from the exact seller that I wanted to visit to get it from :-)

 

A mid-century Ice-O-Mat ice crusher.  I cannot wait to make a nice cool summer drink with some crushed ice.


I also picked up some Bakelight dice and made these...

Two necklaces!

The day was a fantastic hit and we had a fun time, even though it was hot, it was very worth it!

And after hours of wandering around looking at things like this...

We took a rejuvenating rest and looked at this...

It was quite helpful!


What would be on your list at a giant antiques market?

Happy (Belated) Birthday America!

I hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July weekend.  We surely did.  First up was a day at the Annual Litchfield Pet Parade.  It is sponsored by the Litchfield Historical Society and everyone seemed to have a great day.  There were everything from hamsters to puppy dogs and the only downside to the day was that it made me want a puppy!  There were dozens of different breeds there and it was so hard not to go home with the little beagle who was wearing an "adopt me" coat in the parade :-)  But alas, our tiny apartment and our two cats would never allow it.  So, we went home without any extra pets, and headed towards the local fireworks...which, as always, were my favorite part of the day.

To gear up for the Pet Parade and the general patriotic mood of the day, I made a red, white, and blue cockade.  I found the tutorial, here, at American Dutchess.  The best part of this project...I used things I already had!  Since it did not require a large amount of ribbon, I was able to do it with scraps I had lying around.

I quickly found that having something to pin the cockade onto, that had a whole in the middle, ended up being a VERY important part of the process.  I did not have a cork board as American Dutchess suggested, so, I pulled out an old piece of cardboard I was saving for something and cut a small hole in the middle to allow me to sew the cockade together in the center when I was done pleating it.  Even though I kept getting my thread caught on the pins, it still worked far better than trying to hold it in my hands.

After doing another layer in red, I stitched the two together and added a white vintage button.  I added a pin to the back so it could be easily attached to a white t-shirt for the Pet Parade.

I think I may have to make some more of these!  


Did you create anything special to celebrate America's birthday?

Woodland Baby Favors

This past week my sister gave me a challenge...unique woodland-themed baby shower favors for less than $5 a piece.  Hmmmm....  I had a lot of fun brainstorming some ideas and these were the ones that made it to the try-it-out-and-see round.  Now, my sister just has to pick one!

First up, a felt squirrel pin in the colors of the shower....green, blue, and brown.

Along a similar line, I tried my hand at a needle felted acorn with an attached pin back.

Jessica carved this adorable rubber block stamp for us to use to decorate the next two ideas.

This mini brown bag would be perfect for giving out little bags of trail mix!

This is another option I thought of for distributing some take-home goodies.  A mini flower pot holding a fake topiary (made out of a pom-pom using some of that crazy style novelty yarn) and some woodland inspired treats.

So, now my sister must decide....we'll wait and see what she chooses!


Have you been in charge of baby or bridal shower favors?  What did you design?

Decorating Yourself for Spring

I love how inspiring spring is!  Everything starts blooming, the weather turns nice and the people and animals come out for some much needed sunshine.  Oh, and my favorite thing happens...the lilacs start to bloom :-)

With all the inspiration coming my way with spring finally in New England, combined with the fabulousness of the Royal Wedding (particularly all the hats and fascinators), I decided to get out some of my favorite hair decorations. 

I like this one because it is simple and it goes with everything since the feathers have black, brown, and white.

I love wearing this one with a ponytail so the headband gets hidden and all that's left to see is the wire and beaded flower. 

After all the inspiration from this week, I think I'll be making a few more fascinators before the spring is over!


Did the glamour of the Royal Wedding inspire you?

Earth Day and Puffins

Happy Late Earth Day and Happy Early Spring!!!!

In celebration of Earth Day, I decided to wear one of the earth-inspired felt pins I made this winter.  They provided a great way to think of the coming spring in the middle of the cold snowy winter we had this year.

I had a hard decision to make...ultimately the tree won out because it celebrated Earth Day and Spring.

I hope everyone had a happy Easter, and is having a great start to Spring.  This is what Spring looks like around here...

These were taken across the way at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center.  They have some beautiful grounds.

This morning, before continuing our early spring activities (taking walks and spring cleaning) we tried a new recipe....Puffins!  A puffin is a tiny pancake-muffin from Bakerella.  And they are delicious!!!

We had ourselves a little Puffin Picnic with real maple syrup, peanut butter, butter maple syrup, and blueberry syrup.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :-)

I hope you all had a great weekend.


How do you celebrate Earth Day and Spring?

Leaf Pins and Sandwich Bread

For the last few months I have been on the hunt for a great sandwich bread recipe...and I think I finally found one!  It is from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.  And it is delicious.  I think the hardest thing about making homemade bread is finding a place to let it rise.  Luckily, our apartment has huge old radiators that provide the perfect warm environment for rising bread dough...who knows what I'll do once summer hits!

This is the resulting golden brown loaf of bread.  Mmmmmm.  My favorite way to eat it is toasted with hazelnut spread.

Well, baking bread is not the only thing I did this weekend.  I also did some crafting with a few things from my "leftovers" box.  After finding these fabric leaves I tried making months ago (the original project didn't work out...but oh well, it happens!), I thought they would make great bases for some new pins.

The first one I made using a crochet chain stitched flower, some buttons, and two of the green leaves.

The second one I tried using an orange leaf as the base for some beautiful buttons.

I love digging into my scrap bucket and figuring out fun things to make from things I didn't think were much use anymore!


Do you have a "leftovers" pile that you create from?

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

After making some creative valentine's, I decided that there needed to be a little something special in everyone's envelope.  I have been working on making different felt pins, so I thought some valentine themed pins would be appropriate :-)

For my adorable little niece, I made something special.  I got this new book from my sister and brother-in-law for Christmas called Softies: Simple Instructions for 25 Plush Pals by Theresa Laskey.  Since my niece is potty training at the moment and enthralled by everything that involves, I made her "Lonely Dollop" designed by Shawnimals.

I added a special note just for Mary to make her Valentine's Day complete!

I hope you all have a fantastic Valentine's Day!!!!!!

There once was a napkin...

When I got married back in October, my spouse and I decided to do a lot of the wedding DIY...(which you will see pieces of throughout the life of this blog)...including the napkins.  Since we were only using them once, we did not hem the napkins, just washed the fabric and cut them with pinking shears.  Now, we have these random squares of green and orange fabric.  Today, two of those napkins turned into something else.

The first thing on the agenda was to make this awesome Rummikub bag. Now we won't have to pass the big box around when it is time to draw tiles, we can just pass this cute little orange bag!

I still had a little bit of orange left, so I combined it with some green and made a simple ruched flower pin.  I started out with a strip of fabric and sewed a zig-zag line to create the basis of the ruched flower.

After pulling the thread tightly to create the ruched line...

I sewed the strip into a circle making one layer of the flower.

I repeated the steps with a strip of green.  Then created a green yo-yo for the center and finished it all off with a now un-smelly button! 

It isn't perfect, but it's cute. 


In what kind of creative ways have you reused bits of fabric?