Cresent rolls packaging pendant

Cresent Rolls packaging as pendant?!

At first I am sure most people would think I have gone off the fashion deep end with such a comment but I assure you I have not. Upon rolling up my cresent rolls one night for dinner I couldn’t help but notice that the little silver cap ends looked an awful lot like empty pendants. Mind you the above picture is of pizza dough packaging and not cresent rolls as I did not have another packaging for my before photo so I improvised.

So I set them aside and cleaned them up, removing the ink date information and little bits of paper that are in the edging. This is what they looked like after I cleaned them up a bit, they are aluminum and clean up nicely and do not rust. They also accept resin fill without damage or rust. On the left is the end cap before I cleaned it up and on the right is cleaned up.

Here is what they looked like after I glued a scrapbook paper bird image in one and a leaf skeleton in the other and filled with resin.

Finally here is one I added to a beaded necklace I also made. Pretty nifty and a great recycle/upcycling if I do say so myself!

Spring

Spring Spring Spring, how I adore it so. Springs gradual awakening from its winter hibernation comes forth first with crocrus, forcynthias, tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. Followed by some of my favorite flowers – lilacs and lily of the vallies. Their smell is absolutely intoxicating! As I watch the trees start to emerge with their tiny buds and gradually become a canopy of green I can’t help but anxiously awake the bloom of lilacs and lily of the vallies. Below are some of beautiful spring floral additions to my home.
These are lilacs in one of my favorite ironstone colanders. The crackling and warm brown patina of the ironstone looks heavenly with the lilacs.

Here are some of my little birdy friends perched on my mantle.

I adore this cut glass cloche I got on clearence at TJ MAXX for $5.00. I set it upon a vintage floral plate and placed a single rose underneath.

Even more lilacs perched in milkglass.

Here I have a grey pedastal chicken wire topiary form with a spanish moss nest and the prettiest pale blue eggs inside. I admit the eggs are actually cadbury chocolate mini eggs. Not only do they taste mouthwatering but have such gorgeous muted hues. Perfect for my little nest.

Here I have an orange metal container with some faux ferns inside. I had this up for Easter because I thought it looked like a carrot. I thought is was too cute to take down.

I hope you enjoyed a sneak peek at my spring-i-fied home.

St. Patrick’s Day Subway Art

I created these 2 fun St. Patrick’s Day free printables. Just click to enlarge save and print. Enjoy!

Valentine-ized Home

Valentine’s day is sneaking up upon us. In light of that I have decorated for the upcoming heart filled red, white and pink hued holiday.

Even my chandelier did not escape un-scathed or should I say unadorned. I used a christmas clearance red berried garland to accent it.

On my mantle I painted wood letters L O V E , each in a different hue and sanded them to age them.

I took sparkly costume rings and slid them over an iced crystal white taper candle.

Perched on photo clips are vintage rose themed postcards.

I used a vintage wood tool box as my centerpiece and have it overflowing with red and white tulips and ivy.

My snowmen wreaths are still up but coming down tommorrow as the front of my home will be Valentine-ized…

“Pin-spiration” {Pinterest +inspiration }

I have a Pinterest addict for several months now and have inspired to do many projects that I have found. This is my first
documented Pinspiration. I saw several handpainted stenciled wall tutorials that left me itching to do. Since we recently played musical bedrooms at my house
my husband and I moved to my oldest sons bedroom and our old office as our new bedrooms. Previously his room was a very dark navy and ours was offwhite and pale pink.
I wanted to change it up and found a glorious pale grey paint in Home Depots OOPS! part of the paint department. I loved the color but it needed some oomph. Thats where
the handpainted trellis design came into play. For this I used Martha Stewarts mother of pearl craft paint. It only took one bottle for the whole wall! I started out using my cardboard stencil and penciling in the design then painting it in. However the paint I used was sheer and showed the pencil marks and because the paint went
over the pencil I could not erase some parts..gggrr. Good thing I only did this on part of the wall. For the rest I held my cardboard stencil on the wall and painted around the template as the guide. Not only did it avoid the pencil dilemma but the found the design came out better with a guide rather than freehand following the pencil. Below are some pics of my bedroom wall, due note that the paint overlay is a sheer pearl and looks stronger and more solid from the flash. Click on images to enlarge =)

Here are several of the “Pin-spirations” and their links.

The link to the downloadable and printable template I used can be found
here

I still have to accesorize the room and bed but the wall is my jumping point. I also made the headboard shown here from a roadside find screen. I
will be doing a post about that project as well. In the picture it is shown will only the base lined cover. I intend to make a slipcover for it and possibly tuft it…tune in for that one soon.

Clearance Shopping: thinking outside the box

One of my favorite places to shop in any store is the clearance section. Not only do I love a great deal but I find myself thinking more creatively about the items, possibly the idea of not letting a good bargain pass me by. All too often I see something and have thought “O great price, but what am I going to do with it?” only later to have an “Aha!” moment of how the item would have been perfect for something. So when doing any shopping , particularly clearance, I mentally dissect the items as to their possibilities not just what their intended purpose is. Most recently I picked up a bunch of Christmas picks ( picked picks…pun intended ) at Michaels arts and crafts for 80% off, making them roughly 20 cents a pick. When I was shopping I wasn’t thinking Christmas picks I was looking at their colors…they were available in a veritable RAINBOW of colors. Here is some pictures of my haul:

The swirly ones are a gorgeous dark green, perfect for St Patricks Day.

I got an assortment of red, white and blue picks to use for valentines day, labor day, fourth of july and memorial day.

These long glittery picks with stars are perfect for fourth of july! Love these.

Here are some more fourth of july colored picks, to me they look like fireworks.

As you can see Christmas Picks are not just for Christmas! So when I shop I think colors.
Red= christmas , fourth of july, memorial day, labor day, valentines day , thanksgiving
white= any holiday really
green= christmas, St Patricks day, halloween and autumn/thanksgiving ( or as I say falloween)
blue= fourth of july, memorial day, labor day , boys birthdays/showers/christenings etc
orange= falloween
black= falloween
pastels= easter, baby birthdays/showers/christenings
You get the idea…you can get more mileage out of you festive decor.

Pumpkin Initial Frame

Quick and easy projects from freebie items always make me smile. This “pump-tas-tic” initial frame is no exception.
I scored this never used round brass frame from a freebie tag sale leftover rummage.

Great condition , but brass. Not my style. It was a nice dimunitive (fancy smancy word for small) size for an accent. Being autumn my initial thought was PUMPKIN with an initial (pun intended). I spray painted the frame
a dark burgandy then orange. I sanded the paint slightly to reveal the burgandy underneath. I thought the plain orange was well too plain. I added a piece of decorative scrapbook paper inside and a scrapbook sticker for my initial. To further pumpkin-fy my frame I used green floral wire wrapped around a screwdriver to make my pumpkin tendrils.

I then added a piece of floral tape rolled up as my stump. It is slightly tacky so I just used its own tackiness to adhere it to the frame. I also added a couple of scrapbook sticker leaves as well. Now it sits on a shelf with my DIY Halloween poison bottles. I will be blogging about how to DIY on those soon as well.