Sunday, April 25, 2010

Fun at the Flea

This sweet old quilt was purchased for my mom. I thought it was made of feedsack fabric but she said no, just really old cotton. It is in great shape, she will just do a couple of things to it and she will have a "new" old quilt.
Some tea towels to dress up for my etsy, a child's reader and a cute bunny doo-dad.

Buttons! Oh my! I love me some buttons!


An adorable childs apron made from 2 vintage hankies....soon to come to my etsy...
And then I had to throw this picture in!
This little rascal curled up in my closet, I closed the door and she didn't even care, she was cozy. (Please no comments on the messiness...I choose to think it is a wonderful grouping of colors!)
Have a happy end to your weekend and a great start to your week! karen.....

Monday, April 19, 2010

Petite Inspiration Box Swap- my gifts

I wanted to share with you what I made for my wonderful partners.....
Here are their boxes....
Here is one all stuffed with goodies.... millinery, lace, a fancy little bird, yo-yo's , cute cards, buttons etc........


I also made each of them a spring banner using Mary's wonderful Logomachy images....


And here are all 3 banners together.....I love making things pretty for people!


This was a great swap, if you have a chance to join a swap, jump in! and have lots of fun!
Happy Monday! karen.....

Saturday, April 17, 2010

The Spotted Hen

My friend Jean makes these wonderful children's and baby quilts and I wanted to share them with my etsy customers. But since I already have a following for my inspiration kits and vintage goodies, I decided to open a new etsy. Our new etsy is named The Spotted Hen and will carry handmade by Jean and Me and also some vintage children/baby and home items.... Come by and visit, we will be adding to it over the next couple of weeks but please go visit to see Jean's quilts, they make a darling gift for a child or baby....

Jean has been unable to work the last couple of years due to health issues and was very successful with these beauties but cannot get around to sell them anymore so this will also help her financial situation, something many of us can understand in this in our economy...

Here is here sassy poodle quilt:

A darling blue quilt:

And of course, a rubber ducky quilt:
She makes these a generous size: 38" x 50", made out of flannel and chenille so they are very soft and adds a little pillow which usually becomes the child's " softie or blankie" so that they can carry it around instead of the whole quilt.... They are well loved!
Also in our new etsy, I have added this darling vintage lamb planter:



I will be back soon for another post....I am busy updating my etsy's, I also have some new kits that I am adding to my other etsy...I will let you know when they are ready!

Have a great Saturday! karen.....

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

I'm a lucky girl!!!

I was lucky enough to be part of Heather of Speckled Egg's swap, we decorated a large matchbox and filled it with inspirational goodies with the theme of birds and nests.... I had 3 great partners and recieved wonderful goodies from each of them. They are all so talented!

My first box is from Kathy of Country Chintz
She made a darling bird and nest box, using a glaze on the nest and bird to give it dimension.

My box was filled with a nest, a cute bottle of buttons, wonderful ribbons, a magnet she made from a domino, a darling pendant (which I took a separate pic of but it didn't turn out) And look at that collage she added to the box and the library pocket filled with pretty tags and images...so many wonderful nature inspired goodies...these are just the highlights!

Then there was this pretty collaged box from Diane of Altered Book Studio
Those bluechip stamps brought back fun memories of my childhood (I am showing my age!)



Diane had a color theme of reds and blues and added some darling ladybugs to the bunch! Look at that cute trim card and butterfly and all the button and bead goodness. There is a little book alter, some lace and and she made us each some clay birdies that I just realized I forgot to photograph! (I immediately put them in the living room in a little dish because they were so cute) I will show you them when I show you what I made them!


And look at these darling earrings! I think I will be channeling Frida Kahlo when I wear them! If only I could channel her talent! I love these and have the perfect red peasant top to wear with them!


And last but not least, a cute handmade birdie box from Lynne of A Romantic Nest
Isn't that little bird darling?


Lynne filled the box with lots of pretty flowers, a speckled egg, hand-stamped ribbon. a cute cut heart and lots of pretty inspiration. She also sent along some millinery, mica, darling recipe cards and a great little bracelet!
Look at this cute bird and egg bracelet! I love it!


This was a really fun swap and I was lucky to have 3 very talented partners for it! Thank you Heather for hosting and thanks to Lynne, Diane and Kathy for all the wonderful gifts!
I am a lucky girl!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Easter Bonnets.....

I got these pretty hats in the mail the other day, ordered them off of Ebay. I was feeling like my millinery supply was dwindling and fell in love with the bottom hat... I don't know if I will be able to tear it apart, it is just so yummy as it is!
Today is the first official day of my spring break, I have tons of running around that I am trying to get done but I promise to post this week a couple of times at least!
Hope your monday is wonderful! karen.....

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Miss Rhea's Easter Basket Swap!


I participated in Miss Rhea's Basket swap and it was really fun! I had two wonderful partners who created cute, sweet baskets and filled them with Easter love....
I wanted to post the baskets I gave at the end but waited till this morning to do this post and am still half-asleep and posted it backwards! So... here are the gifts I gave:
I made banners for each of the girls, this one says bloom....


And then this one says spring......



And here is a pic of what was generally in each basket....a little penant, a chick, some candy, a banner and a package of goodies to create with...
Oh yeah! For those of you who didn't do this swap, we had to decorate a yogurt container as the basket. I used fabric and yellow crepe paper, some trim and a millinery flower.....

Now...here is what I recieved from Suzie of Suzies Button Creations.... She made a cute easter tablet with some sparkly pencils, a mini stamp set, a little birdie eraser (love this!) a cute little birdie tile and a candle...and her basket was made to look lik a cake on the sides with sparkly eggs and chenille chicks....darling!


And here is my basket from Marcia of Vintage French Hen.... She made a cute pastel basket with a darling vintage tag (wish I would have photographed that better!) It had yummy candy (sorry I ate that!) A cute faux cupcake which looks great on my my tiered plates, a vintage candy container, some vintage earrings to create with and some easter cupcake picks and cute chenille chicks.......

Here they are together.... There's the tag!


Thank you to Rhea for hosting this swap and go visit her site to see all the other swappers! This was a fun swap! If you haven't done any swaps because you are afraid, Jump in! You meet new friends and it is really fun! Have a great Easter tomorrow! karen......