McKinney - My Favorite Room

Yesterday we went on a little shopping trip to downtown McKinney.  These pictures are all from a new shop called My Favorite Room!  It's one of the most beautiful shops I've ever been in!  Enjoy!

Off to Dallas!

Tomorrow I'm off to Dallas to visit my dear friend, Jan.  She and her husband have recently renovated and moved into this gorgeous, old english tudor in McKinney, Texas - right outside of Dallas.  I'm looking forward to taking lots of pictures and featuring them here on my blog.  Jan is quite a decorator and they have done some beautiful things with this house.  They have torn down walls, put in archways, had all the hardwood floors redone, and completely renovated the kitchen.  I'll have three different posts - upstairs, main floor, and outdoors.  Stay tuned for some INSPIRATION!

Note holder for book lovers!

This is one of many ideas from the book, Playing With Books.
I bought mine on half.com for about $10.  The list price is $24.99.

What a great thing to do with an old mass market paperback book (the smaller, less expensive paperbacks).  If you can't part with one of your own, pick one up at Goodwill for about a quarter.  A 300 page book works out perfectly.  Just fold each page over halfway and crease.  I made this one on a long car ride last week - you can talk and fold at the same time.  I wish I had had more books along.  I could have made about 10 of these in no time.  They'd make great gifts for your book group friends.

After folding down the pages, you hot glue it onto a plaque.  I picked up my plaque at Michaels for $1.50 and stained it with Old English Dark Scratch Cover.

 This is a great place to tuck a sweet note to your spouse or kids.

  It can hold reminders, invitations, photos, or business cards.

Just squiggle some hot glue on the bottom pages and push it down firmly onto the plaque.  I think this looks a lot better than notes plastered all over the refrigerator!  It's also a good way to recycle old books. Even children could make these!

Happy Valentine's Day

I've been out of town for a week and, therefore, not around to do much decorating for Valentine's Day.  But I did fill my cloche with some springy, romantic fare . . . an old postcard picture of some sweet children (from the graphics fairy), a little nest with one egg (because it was 46 degrees in southeast Wisconsin today and nests = spring in Wisconsin).  But, best of all, check out those sprigs of my freshly budding pussy willow!!!  That's the real deal!  Spring really IS coming to Wisconsin and we're so ready for it!

Don't you love a cloche?  They are the perfect stage for showcasing every holiday!

Anthropologie's "Anniversary Kitchen Towel"

Anthropologie continues to be a great place to find inspiration for a project.  As I was looking through the kitchen section I saw this unusual cotton dish towel.  I wanted to find a few things to make for a dear friend in Texas since I'll be visiting her at the end of the week.  This was just the thing!  This would be a perfect project for a group gathering - it's easy and quick, and by pooling together everyone's paints and stencils, you could make all kinds of different towels!

Here is the towel as shown at Anthropologie:

       

The dish towel is made of 100% cotton, has a stenciled floral design, and a list of anniversaries and the appropriate gift traditionally given for each one.  Notice the little loop-tag on the left picture.  It's hard to see clearly in this picture, but it's kind of a black and white polka-dot cotton.  It sells for $18.00 - kind of steep for a dish towel!

So, I found some good medium weight, 100% cotton, turquoise fabric paint, a flower stencil from Joann Fabrics, a fabric marker, and a little bit of turquoise and white striped fabric for the loop. 

First I tore the fabric into rectangles about 18" x 24".  

Then I taped off an area on the top half about 14" square.

After putting some newspaper underneath the "towel",  I randomly started stenciling on the flowers.  Use a stiff round flat-topped brush or a stencil brush.  I think a foam "brush" would pick up too much paint for this project.

 Once you've filled in the square with as many flowers as you like, pull off the tape.  Make sure you put some of the flowers halfway over the tape so you get some partial flowers - it helps achieve a nice line for the flower square.

 This is the fabric marker I used.  It's a fine tip which is good for writing words on fabric.

 Then I wrote out all the anniversaries on the lower half of the towel and machine hemmed all four sides - I rolled the edge over 1/4 inch and then 1/4 inch again, stitching close to the edge.  You heat set the fabric pen part by just using a hot, dry iron.  The stenciling will be ready to wash in 72 hours.

  A lot like Anthropologie's towel - right down to the little loop!  (Although I think I like mine better!)

The stenciling supplies and fabric came to about $12.00  That's enough paint, marker, and fabric to make about 6 towels!

Wrapped up with the appropriate gift for the year being celebrated, I think it would make a fun anniversary present for a friend.  

Can't wait to decide what we'll be making on my visit this time . . . and  to feel that warm Texas sunshine!

Sharing at:
Freckled Laundry's "Air Your Laundry Friday"
Shabby Nest's "Frugal Friday"
Feathered Nest Friday
Time Travel Thursday

Mimicking Miss Mustard Seed

Miss Mustard Seed's

 

is here!

My first contact with Miss Mustard Seed's blog was a visit to her Furniture Feature Friday Party.  I love her sensible approach to decorating; her ability to take an old, worn-out piece and make it come alive again with her painting techniques and embellishments.  On top of that she doesn't keep her secrets to herself.  With a blogful of tutorials and tricks of the trade, she has made it a cinch for others to achieve that same elegant, yet unpretentious look.  

My first thought was to tackle a project I've had waiting in the wings and enter it in the challenge.  However, as a full-time teacher, time would not allow for that until summer.  So, I decided to take some photos of the room in my home that most resembles Miss Mustard Seed's look - my dining room.  With a few tweaks here and there, I think it comes pretty close.

    

Before . . .                and                        After

A few corners went from smooth to timeworn with the help

of some sandpaper and Old English Dark Scratch Cover.

     

Before . . .                and                        After

      

Before . . .                 and                         After

This piece started out as stained cherry.  I had to make the changes when my husband wasn't home . . . I do things like that.  He knows what I'm up to, but change is hard.   He loves it now, but I'm pretty sure he would never have gone for the whole paint idea in the beginning!  

(Sometimes you just have to make some changes 'on the sly'.)

And, finally, you can't go wrong with your grandmother's sterling.

Thank you, Miss Mustard Seed, for your Copy Me Challenge. 

You are an inspiration to many!

SNOW DAY . . . AGAIN

Yesterday's snow day was so relaxing - productive in a different kind of way.  But today is a bonus day.  Round two.  A second chance!
School was closed for the second day in a row, and today I am going to make something.  So.  To begin with, there's this book I found a few months ago at Anthropologie.  A book about books.  (So it has to be good!)

It's jam-packed with great things you can make with book pages; some useful, and some that are just fun to look at.  I'm going for useful.  Here are some of my supplies:

 Clear vinyl, spray adhesive, and some very old books (Boys' and Girls' Bookshelf) that my mother poured over as a little girl.  These books are filled with beautiful drawings, photos, poems, diagrams, and information that children just might wonder about.  There are articles on everything from, "How to make a cat's hair stand on end", to "Why your fingers are not all the same length".  There are "Fairy Stories", and an article to explain, "How goats and sheep fight".  All very important things to know when you're a child.

 There are beautiful illustrations.

 Poems

And I love this article on the 'art' of housekeeping!  Where are the men?  Oh. It's 1912.

So those are my supplies and now to put them all together and make something fun and useful.  A while ago, I posted a project idea to give myself incentive.  If I put it out there, then I really have to make it.
My goal is to get this project done before the weekend is over . . .

Stylish Blogger Award

I've been nominated for the

There are 3 "rules" for this award to take place.  They state that I am to thank the blogger who nominated me, so THANK YOU My Home Road for the nomination!   I am also supposed to list 7 things about myself:

1.  I have a wonderfully supportive husband who thinks everything I make is "FANTASTIC", as he would say.  Whether it is or not, he really believes in me, and that keeps me going.

2.  I work full-time teaching sixth grade in a Christian school to some really awesome kids.

3.  My husband and I have six grown children and 12 grandchildren. 

4.  One of my sons is courageously battling testicular cancer, undergoing chemotherapy, and inspiring our whole family with his positive, survivor attitude.

5.  I love to read in my spare time - I just wish I could read and make stuff at the same time.

6.   Some of the earliest projects I can remember are clothes I made for my troll dolls from fabric scraps my mom would give me.  I even made some out of large leaves and used pine needles for thread.  Yeah, I know.

and

7.  Finally, everyone needs a dream.  My dream would be to write and illustrate children's books in my retirement!

Last, but not least, I am to pass the award on to bloggers I have recently discovered and love!  Here are some blogs that I enjoy:

52 Flea

French Larkspur

and

Secret Garden Cottage

SNOW DAY!

Well, I didn't really make anything today!  I did spend a lot of time thinking about all kinds of things I could make, but that's about it.  I was perfectly content to be still and look at the loads and loads of fresh snow and drifts the storm left behind.
Bona fide blizzard.
No school.
No mail - not even a newspaper!
It was great! 

Our snowy abode - after the storm.

Even the birdhouse got a hat of snow!

No, I didn't make anything, but I did do something with creativity in mind.  I took my pruning shears out in the yard and cut a few branches off my Pussy Willow tree to force them into bloom.  I'm sure my neighbor, who was at that very moment snowblowing through the drifts about fifteen feet away from me, thought I was nuts.

But there they sit and they will be beautiful!  I'm hoping I'll have loads of little "catkins" busting out on the branches by Valentine's Day.  A sure sign of spring!

It will look just like this in no time.

     

And maybe I could make one of these pussy willow nests, just like Martha!  She'll teach you how right here.  You just need a bundle of soft, pliable, and fresh, pussy willow twigs.

                

Or some of these pretty little baskets made with felted raw fleece and Pussy Willow catkins. Directions for this project are right here.  Perfect for an Easter tree.  This would probably be a great project for a spring craft gathering with some friends.  

I would love to make THESE!