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Shabby Flannel Roses for Valentine’s Day

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Have you ever had a love affair with an article of clothing?  Some things are easy to put into the donation bag and some . . . well . . . not so easy.

Shabby Flannel Roses

Sounds silly right?  But this little red flannel shirt and I go back a long way.  She’s experienced a lot of life with me.  Once crisp and new, she is now aged to the perfect degree of softness.  Once stylin’ with a pair of crisp black jeans she now looks better paired with faded ol’ blue jeans.  Once a perfect fit, she is now snug across the back and the front.  No, it isn’t too many trips to Cracker Barrel (though this new place we’ve found to eat since moving south worries my youngest daughter greatly), it is this strange shape-shifting thing that is going on now that I’m about to turn . . . EEK . . . 60!!!  But even with my renewed commitment to fitness (Water Zumba – so much FUN) this shirt is past it’s prime . . .  one sleeve is covered in paint, the color frayed, and fabric wearing thin.

Shabby Flannel Roses

So rather than toss my beloved shirt, I decided to make some flannel rosettes, especially since it is red and Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.  With a few strips cut and rolled, and a little bit of hot glue, it was a quick and easy project accomplished in just over an hour.

Shabby Flannel Roses

Voila!  Shabby flannel roses!  Here, I’ve attached them to a kitchen towel to add to my Valentine’s Day decor.

Shabby Flannel Roses

What do you think?

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I think there is nothing cuter than rosettes made of flannel.

Shabby Flannel Roses

I think they are good for my health because they make me smile!

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I think they add a great pop of color to my white kitchen.

Shabby Flannel Roses

I think they look perfect right alongside my Valentine’s Day towels.

Wool Shirt Rosette Wreath 001-001

There are so many things you can do with flannel rosettes.  I made these rosettes a few years ago for a Christmas wreath but for
Valentine’s Day you could make a heart-shaped wreath, or attach them to a Valentine’s Day card or gift, or put a pin on the back and wear them on the lapel of a jean jacket (cute right?), or make a whole bouquet of plaid roses and pop them into a vase!

Wool Shirt Rosette Wreath 015-001

For the complete instructions for making your own rosettes simply click on the link below:

Rosette Tutorial

Shabby Flannel Roses

I HEART Shabby Flannel Rosettes!

As a reminder, Farragoz’s Art of Patina is giving away a FREE online painting course to one of my lucky readers. For complete details (with pictures) on the course you can link back to my post HERE.

To Enter: Simply follow the directions on the Rafflecopter form below. The more boxes you check the more chances you have of winning! By entering this giveaway you are confirming that you are 18 years or over. Void where prohibited.  The contest will run through February 20th and the winner will be announced when all of the numbers are tallied!  And . . . please . . .  don’t forget to tell your friends about this fantastic giveaway!

This is not a paid post.

Blessings,

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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A Dropcloth Slipcover for an Old Bench

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      Here is the AFTER picture of the Dropcloth Slipcover that I recently made for a very outdated old bench.  I began this post with an after pic to draw you in . . . mostly because I was afraid that if I showed you the BEFORE pic first you might be scared away!

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Here is the BEFORE.  I’m ashamed to admit that this shabby (not in the good sense) little bench has been living in my master bedroom.  The trim has been a wreck since Sasha was a puppy (ummm . . . 5-1/2 years ago?), the color is no longer to my liking, nor the floral satin fabric.  So why have I kept it?  It is the little bench that catches stray articles of clothing and mail that needs recycling.  It is the bench that hides the electronics charging underneath.  It is the bench where my husband sits to slip on his shoes (when there is room to sit).  This bench is also a perfect match to my outdated bedroom which I have great plans for making over.  Maybe this transformation will be the first step.
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So here is how I made a new dropcloth slipcover for my old bench. After disposing of the trim (no, it wasn’t EVEN fit for a future project) I measured the length and width of the old fabric cover and cut my dropcloth fabric to the same size.

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 I laid my fabric over the bench, lined it up straight, and pinned the corners, pulling the fabric taut.

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I sewed along the line of the pins and trimmed close to the seam.

4-Small Bench and Potting Bench 006

After turning the slipcover right side out and placing it back onto the bench I measured the bottom edge of the fabric along each side.  For the ruffles I tore (for a frayed edge) four  – 4″ strips of fabric, each one double the length of the side it would be attached to.  I sewed a long basting stitch  along the long edge of each strip, and  pulled the thread to gather to fit each of the four sides, matching the seams in the ruffle to the seams at the four corners of the slipcover.  Next, I sewed the four strips together along their short edges and then sewed the whole ruffle to the bottom edge of the slipcover .  Why four strips instead of one long strip?  First of all, there were going to be a couple of seams somewhere since the doubled circumference of the bottom edge of the slipcover was much longer than my fabric.  Secondly, it is tricky to pull gathers in a very long strip and even trickier if the fabric is thick.  I didn’t want to risk breaking my thread and losing my gather.

(Sorry, no pictures were taken for this step because everyone knows how to make a ruffle, right?)

After attaching one ruffle I decided I wanted a second one so I repeated the process except with 7″ strips so the bottom ruffle would peek out from beneath the top ruffle. 

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Just for fun I added a French graphic from The Graphics Fairy website, which I ironed on with transfer paper.

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For a final touch I added some handmade dropcloth rosettes around the top of the ruffles. (Rosette tutorial HERE)1-Slipcover redo for little bench 003

3-Slipcover redo for little bench 013I’ve enjoyed using drop cloth fabric for projects around my home.  My first experience with this fabric was my Drop Cloth Draperies which have been one of my top viewed projects.  I’ve also made pillows, and hand bags (which you can see on my Pinterest “Stuff I Sell” Board.  I have a whole list of other great ideas for dropcloths that I want to try in the future.  This fabric is great because it is inexpensive, washable (I always pre-wash my fabric), it has the look of linen but it irons up much easier and crisper looking, and it tears nicely leaving a great frayed edge that doesn’t continue to fray.

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Once my bench was finished I decided it was just too cute to be used as a catchall in my bedroom any longer and I took her along with me to the French Flea . . . 
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 . . . where she went off to a very good and very stylish new home.

So, have you tried using dropcloth fabric for any projects around your house?  What have you made?  I’d love to hear about it.

Blessings,

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Magnetic Board Tutorial

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My life is a whirlwind! We have lots of company coming and going this month (fun times), we are beginning to gear up for the class we teach starting in the Fall (Freedom Session) and I’m trying to get ready for the Queen Bee French Flea in September.  My posts will likely be a bit sparse over the next weeks and mostly about the things I’m making for the flea market.  
I shared in my last post a picture of a magnetic board that I have hanging on my Message Center Wall, and I promised I’d share a tutorial so . . . here you have it!
I started with an old frame,
added a couple coats of spray paint,
took an inside measurement of the frame,
 and, with some really good metal cutting tools, . . .
. . . I began carefully cutting the piece of sheet metal that I purchased at my local hardware store.  Notice that I marked my cutting lines with permanent marker. It is really important to get this the right size the first time because it is a little hard (and time consuming) to cut through a large piece of sheet metal.  I really didn’t want to have to go back and do any more trimming.
 Whew! Perfect fit. Someone IS definitely watching out for me!
 To hold the sheet metal in place I added a few small nails around the perimeter of the frame.
Here you have the finished product!
 Since this is for a French Flea I printed off a picture of a fleur de lis (from The Graphics Fairy of course), cut it out, making a stencil  of the piece of paper I printed it on, taped it down well with two-sided tape, and spray painted it onto the sheet metal.  IMPORTANT: Paint doesn’t adhere to sheet metal well as it has a protective oil coating. I prepared the surface by washing it well with white vinegar.
 I draped the frame with some vintage handmade Irish lace from my mother-in-law. Doesn’t this lace look sort of like a banner?

I added some rosette magnets for fun. These are made with old lace, burlap and drop cloth fabric (rosette tutorial HERE).

And here she is . . . ready for market.
Thanks for stopping by for a little market preview!
Blessings,
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Summer Porch Decor

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Welcome to my front porch in summer. The weather has been glorious, cool in the mornings and warm in the afternoons.  Perfect for “setting a spell”.  Walk on down the pathway to our front door     . . . under the apple tree, through the bird feeders, and past the bubbling fountain. 
This is the porch swing that Mr. OTN and a friend hung for me last summer.  I purchased the seat cushion from World Market and made pillows out of outdoor fabrics.

 I was planning on sewing cord covers for the chains until I saw what Laurie over at Heaven’s Walk did with her porch swing.  Her “whimsical gypsy swing” is gorgeous.  I think she did a lot more wrapping of the chains on hers, and she has wonderful flowy curtains on her porch and . . . well . . . you really should just go over there and take a look.  Don’t forget to come back though . . . her blog is addicting!
 This was so easy to do. I simply tore strips of leftover fabric and started tying them onto the chains.
 Aren’t they pretty when they blow in the breeze?
My Rosette Wreath is still hanging on the porch but I’ve added a wild grapevine wreath behind it for more layering.
 If you haven’t seen the tutorial for this wreath you can link up HERE.
 Next to my swing is a 3-tiered succulent planter made from a Goodwill find.  Directions for this are also on a previous post that you can find it right HERE.
I’ve added just a few coastal touches to my summer porch.  Fossils we’ve collected on past vacations,
A sign pointing the way down to the lake,
 some curly branches I found while beach combing,
a lantern and a driftwood wreath.

No tutorial needed for this wreath.  I simply made it by glue gunning pieces of gathered driftwood onto a purchased grapevine wreath.
 I won’t say it was hard to do but I did tear it apart a few times to get the driftwood to look like it had collected naturally into a pile rather than being perfectly placed.  Perfection is my enemy!
 Here is a look at the other end of our porch,

with one of our Beagles, Cozy, contemplating escape, and our porch guard dog, Beauregard.  He is often relegated to holding the collections I bring home until they dry out and the bugs crawl away.

 I’m so happy you came by for a visit and I really hope you’ll come back  soon.  There is always something new happening at our place!
Blessings to you,
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Goodwill Wall Planters

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 I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend!
   One of the Mother’s Day traditions when my girls were still at home was for them to head out to the nursery with my dear hubby to buy flats and flats of summer annuals for my garden.
  It was always such a treat!
This post contains a few Mother’s day flowers and another lucky Goodwill find, along with a few personal reflections at the very end.
 These metal planters were a two for one deal, marked half off on the day I came across them.  I wasn’t sure exactly what I would do with them but I knew I couldn’t pass them up!
A little time spent over at The Graphics Fairy gave me the inspiration needed to transform them into something special.  The first one is decoupaged with some fancy script and an adorable page out of a rare Victorian children’s reader.
 I added a few colored birds, lace across the top and a mixed fabric rosette (instructions for making rosettes can be found right HERE). The hanger is simply a torn strip of drop cloth fabric.
The second planter is also decoupaged with pages of script, topped with the title page of a rare book entitled The Poetry of Flowers (also from The Graphics Fairy). To this urn of beautiful cascading flowers I’ve added a couple of buzzing bees, more lace across the top and another rosette of mixed fabrics.
Oh the wonders of ModPodge!  
Have you done any projects with it lately? 
I have a wee bit of an obsession with it myself as it turns so many of my Goodwill finds into great items to add to my French Flea Market repertoire!

Now for a few personal reflections, a little overflow from my heart.  Last night I said to Mr. OTN, with no small amount of wonder, that I am living my dream right now and I didn’t even know what that dream was!  
Though I don’t have my two girls close to home on this Mother’s Day, I am so proud of these beautiful young women who are each, in their two opposite corners of the country, impacting the lives of those around them by being the kind, generous, caring people that they are. My family makes my heart full!

As we come upon another Freedom Session graduation (May 19th) and look forward to hearing our hard working Participants share amazing testimonies of lives transformed, I feel so blessed that Mr. OTN and I get to be a part of this awesome ministry, as Directors in our local church.  This also, makes my heart full.Then there is this other part of my life (creating and blogging) which is secondary to family and ministry but is also a dream come true. I feel so fortunate to have the freedom to work at something I enjoy and I’m very excited about being given the opportunity to participate in my first ever French Flea Market in September.
 I am loving this season of life so much and I need to remind myself not to take it for granted.
So TODAY, I will embrace this moment in time and thoroughly enjoy the process of making OldThingsNew!
 

       Blessings, 
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