Touches of Spring

I don't know about you, but I am in love with Kevin and Layla's home over at the lettered cottage. So much so, that I will go to great lengths to copy their lovely coastal cottage look! I really admire Layla's Spring mantel looks and this is what I came up with:

The word art was made using a poster stencil and the same paper butterflies I made for my friend's salon wall treatment. The bird art was inspired by Layla's own homemade art with a paper bird on a piece of canvas fabric that I found in the scrap booking department at Hobby Lobby. 

Would you believe that mirror cost me less than $10 to make? I found a great tutorial on dollarstorecrafts.com that shows you how to combine 9 individually framed mirrors, at a $1 each, to make a pottery barn knock-off. 

:0)

Reupholstered Thrift Store Chair

Finally getting around to posting this: 

Last fall, I scored these two chairs at my local Goodwill for $22 each! Their shape reminded me so much of the Crate and Barrel Chloe chairs I really loved. But not the $1000 price tag!

So, of course I saved a bundle making my own version. I bought the Dwell Studio Gate fabric in charcoal and used Molly's helpful reupholstering tutorial on her blog, formerly Creative Maven, now eenymeenyandmoe.

Let me just say that this was NOT, I repeat, NOT an easy project! I did not complete this in one day, more like a week and half!! I now have an extreme appreciation and respect for upholsterers. It took me hours just to take off the old fabric and remove most of the staples. My arms got a good workout. I spray painted the legs using oil rubbed bronze. It took me another week working a few hours a day cutting and sewing. If you are an experienced sewer, then it might not take as long. But, this was my second sewing project ever using a sewing machine! LOL

Was it worth the time and effort to save a few hundred dollars (that it would have cost) to have professionally done? Yes and no. My chair is not perfect. But, the mistakes aren't noticeable and it will never be heavily used in my bedroom. If I had planned on using them in my living room, then I would definitely invest in a professional job. Overall, I'm very proud of myself and I think it turned out pretty nice. The other chair still needs to be done. Not sure when I'll ever get around to that one. :0)

Valentine Wreath

Heeeey,

I've been missing in action again. Working on an upholstery project and helping my parents paint their kitchen cabinets. I'll blog about that. Eventually. LOL

In other news, I recently made a Valentine's Day Yarn and Felt Wreath:

Complete with felt flowers and a love bird set free from it's cage. :0)

I love the bright red and soft pink colors against my black front door. 

Poinsettia Yarn and Felt Wreath

I don't know about you, but I've been admiring all the pretty yarn wreaths on Etsy for a LONG time now. I've been wanting to make one and I finally did. It wasn't that hard either! Just time consuming. :0)

Poinsettia Felt and Yarn Wreath 

Poinsettia Felt and Yarn Wreath

My inspiration for this one came from an etsy seller named ItzFitz, who made a beautiful poinsettia wreath.   I followed the advice of another yarn wreath maker, who I think is an amazingly creative person, Agnes from  Knock Knocking. See the cute tag? That's a holiday freebie typographic gift tag template (try saying this really fast) from Eat.Drink.Chic.  I love it! I'm using them on presents too.

Suzy :0)

Holiday Decorating

I'm almost done decorating for the Holidays, one craft project at a time. I've been busy since the day after Thanksgiving. LOL Just as soon as I finish a crafty project, I quickly load up my plate with more. It never seems to be enough!
I found some great tutorials on how to make your own glitter houses and white bottle brush trees here and here. I love miniature things. I don't know why, but they are just so enchanting to me.

Everything in my little village was bought at Michael's Crafts. The dollhouses are kits you assemble. I painted  one of them ivory white and  the other, soft white. Then, I brushed on Elmer's glue and sprinkled them with silver glitter. I couldn't resist adding little details, like the "lights", tiny wreaths, candy canes, and gems decorating the trees. I reused the peace sign and dove ornaments from last year. Which I blogged about how to make here.

My sweet Grandma, who has since passed away, painted this lovely scene when she was in her eighties. She was also a quilter, raised 11 children and loved to put together jigsaw puzzles(just like me). We also share the same Birthday. I have fond memories of her and I'm glad I have something to proudly display that she created. :0) I thought the snowflakes were a nice way of making the scene look a little more festive and wintery. 

My husband made these plates when he was 4 and 5 years old. My kids love seeing them and I'm thinking about having them make some too. :0)

I decided to keep things bright but simple on the mantel. 

I convinced my hubs to let me buy a white tree this year. It's so bright and cheerful!

Happy decorating! 

Suzy :0)

The New Stools!

Here they are:

I Love them!

New Kitchen Table

I bought a new farmhouse style table and two chairs for the kitchen. 

Both from Ikea, the table is the Stornas and the arm chairs are majby. The x-back chairs I already owned. 

I love it! 

Notice the paint samples on the walls? I wasn't happy with the grey looking so blue and cold. I wanted it warmer and more greige. LOL Gray + Beige = Greige.

I settled on Hazy Skies, (which has a green tint to it too) a Benjamin Moore color. But, I saved myself some money by having it mixed with Behr paint.

Here's the simple table-scape I came up with for Thanksgiving.

See that sample of fabric? I'm thinking of making curtains for the window. I think it coordinates nicely with the colors of the kitchen and with the existing fabric I used on the other windows and stools. Speaking of stools, I bought 4 of these to replace the old ones. I love how they look in Edie's amazing kitchen: 

They will arrive in about a week, probably right after Thanksgiving. Can't wait to see how they look! 

Suzy :0)