Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Easter Crafting

Well, I finally found a little time to get my Easter crafting on.  I WANT to craft for DAYS but often only find a block of 3-4 hrs per month! (very sad face)

Here is the sweetest spun cotton birdie keeping her eggs warm.

Ballerina bunny being adored by a fuzzy chick.

Kinda boring green bunny. I used vintage jello mold tins, (or whatever they were used for) for the basket bottoms. You've probably seen it all over pinterest too.

This one was fun to make. You can't see it very well in this pic but the bunny is dancing for 3 chicks who are spellbound by the performance! (oooooo! aaaaahhh!)

Another bunny in a tutu with her chick pals.

Blue bunny and chicks. I used peat moss from hobby lobby to give it a more "real" feel. 

I like this simple one. Two pals and a couple of eggs. I love that the bunny has pink eyes. 
I'm working on some chenille bunny pins styled after a vintage one that I found on ebay. Pics soon. 
Happy Springtime!! It's finally coming! :)
love 
rosie

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

First Church Rummage Sale of the Season!! & Vintage handkerchief dresses

Saturday brought the FIRST RUMMAGE SALE OF THE SEASON!!! (pant-pant!) In my tiny town garage sales are a bust so I don't waste my time on them. Church rummage sales, on the other hand, prove MUCH more productive for me. It was a very chilly morning but I was 1st in line when they opened the doors at 7am. (ugh. I am NOT a morning person.)

I was in and out of there in about 10 mins and spent a total of $3. I would say it was worth waking early for. Plus, its been a long cold winter and I was really jonesing for a sale. The pic above was taken w/my phone so its not very clear. Sorry. I got a bunch of vtg hankies for 10 cents ea., 9 tiny bottle aprons for 50c, a green Christmas apron for 50c, a couple hardboard canvases, some vintage crafting sequins (eyelashes!), a mini bunny chocolate mold, a Christmas bell and a shadow box.  

I knew what I wanted to do with the hankies. I saw these cute framed hankies in a gift shop last fall.

Here's the first one I made. It was WAY harder than I thought it would be to just whip out a perfectly folded-up dress! I looked on line for a tutorial and there were NONE! There was one for origami paper but it didn't work too well for this project. 

I had my iron at the ready and just folded and ironed til I got a shape I liked, then hand tacked it in places, then hot glued the embellishments on it. 

I used ribbon, rick-rack and bits and bobs. I still need to frame them, then I will see if they sell at the booth. The gift shop was selling them for $25 I think. Mine will probably be about half that. The antique mall where my booth is at isn't very pricey.

Well I guess I'll have to figure out if I want to make a tutorial so others can try it. But I have work on a better method first!
love rosie


Wednesday, March 4, 2015

IRMI Giraffe Nursery Lamp

For me, no baby's nursery is complete without a vintage IRMI lamp. They are the epitome of SWEETNESS! The wooden figures are always beautifully hand painted.  They come in all sorts of themes: Nursery Rhymes, Fairy Tales or just simple Whimsy, like the lamp below. (A dandy giraffe couple out for an afternoon stroll!) IRMI also made matching light switch covers, music boxes and other adorable wooden nursery accessories.

I bought the lamp above for $2 and it was broken & all scribbled-on and dirty. 

This picture shows the original colors that my lamp should be. Someone changed the orange and green details on mine to red and blue to better suit their decor. They did a pretty good job of painting, I must say! I didn't realize it wasn't original until I did a little research.

On my lamp, Mrs. Giraffe was missing her hat so I dug around and found a suitable button to use. (Sorry, I always forget to take "before" pics.)  

Then  I found some plastic flowers and some tiny netting to decorate the hat.

I also added some tiny ABC blocks painted just the right colors.

I added a felt necktie to papa and a felt bow tie to mama. Mama originally had a felt flower at her neck but I wanted them to match a little more. 

Here is a close up of mama's new hat.

I added a yellow gingham shade and now it is ready for the booth. 

I've had a lot of little IRMI items pass through my hands and it is always a pleasure to bring them back to life!

I can't wait for the snow to melt and the sun to shine so I can take a little stroll with my hubby. I hope its bright enough to break out my parasol. ;)
love 
rosie