rethinking: vintage shelf liner

i'm a sucker for ephemera. ephemera is any transitory written or printed matter not meant to be retained or preserved. for example cards, packaging, paper, playing cards, twine. i don't know why but i almost always buy these things when i find them. i'm worried they will be thrown out unappreciated. vintage packaging or playing cards are so much cooler than what is around today. i have found myself with a small collection (ahem, hoard) of shelf liner. some of it i used as shelf liner, but some of it (the stuff i love) i've used in art projects.


here's the deal:

you'll need scissors/x-acto knife, shelf liner, fabric (for backing), and an embroidery hoop. i had all these things on hand because i buy fabric and embroidery rings like no one's business.

cut out the pattern you like. i knew i wanted mine to kinda grow up from one side so i had that in mind when cutting.

place fabric in embroidery hoop, peel shelf liner and adhere to fabric. i actually had to add glue because my liner fell off after a bit.

 

 

 

vintage diy

ever since christmas my poor shelves in the dining room have been empty. we had company over last saturday and what is better motivation to get your house together than guests? nothing. its a priority for me to have pictures in my house, so.... that's what i put there. unfortunately i didnt have any more frames or time to go get some. so i made something instead. i'm always the most creative out of necessity.

all you need is a piece of wood that will sit on its own (we have lots of stuff like this lying around), washi tape, and pictures (mine are from prinstagram). this is easy enough. i spaced my pictures evenly and hung them with washi tape. i thought it was feeling a little too rustic so later i added some gold leafing. which i love.

supplies

vintage beauties

i've been trying to challenge myself in photography. i found some of this black paper (that i'm gonna make notebooks out of) and it inspired me. i am really liking how these turned out. i also used the "pretend" macro setting on my camera, which i had never used before.

also, i use this string for everything: bunting, wrapping, tassel-making. if you ever run across vintage thread/string grab it! it always comes in handy and then you can say "i wrapped everything with vintage stuff" this makes me really happy. i love reusing things that would ordinarily get thrown out.

also, i recently went to a church estate sale that had piles and piles of sheet music and old sunday school books. i wanted to take them all home with me. and do what with them? just look at them i suppose. obviously i didnt buy all of it but am sad to think that most of it will probably be thrown out. i did buy some old attendance forms that i cut up and will soon be notebooks that i'm really excited about. i will do a post about them when they are finished. the will be in my new etsy shop this spring! don't know what etsy is? you have to check it out

also, just kidding, that's all i got.

re-diy

here's a little re-diy idea for you. are you like me? not much time on your hands? itching to be creative? noisy kids sucking up all your time? well you are in luck this diy is so easy you can do it while your kids are running around (like i did).
the kiddos really, really wanted to help me with this one, but i said, "get out of town! paint pens are NOT for kids."

we've been using this vintage laundry basket in our room, i love it. as you can see, it has a cool little diamond pattern on it. and i thought "wouldn't it be cool if you could see that better" so i put a bird on it got myself a paint pen ($4!!) and colored it. suPER easy and suPER fun. i used a paint pen so that when i get tired of it i can spray paint over it easily. i picked gold because, well duh its beautiful. also this diy totally turns my cool hamper into an on trend masterpiece (metallics + geometric shapes = on trend)

before:

after:

this got me thinking. what else could i "on-trend" with a paint pen? you got any ideas?

Dining Room update

i took these pictures FOREVER ago and totally forgot about them! this is how our new dining room is set up currently, though it usually has toys and food on the floor :)

my neighbor totally gave me the old ironing board! i'm very excited about it. i have a friend who used hers as a sofa table, super fun.

did you spot the truck?

re-diy

do you remember this picture? i put it at the end of a post FOREVER ago and said "here's a sneak peak at a diy coming up"? well i said that thinking it would make me DO a diy post. that didn't really work out, obviously. and i actually took that picture even longer ago than i posted it! see my iced coffee in the background? yeah it was LAST summer. ha
what you see in the picture above is film from some old film reels. i cut them all off so that i could use the frame. every once in awhile i come across vintage film reels, at an estate sale or someone gives me one (don't ask me why people give me stuff, it just seems they always do). i always grab them because they are so handy for projects. here's one way i've decorated with them:

 i also use them as my base when i make wreaths. its super easy and a good way to re-purpose.

here is my latest project. all i used was some film reels, pastry tins and chain.

can you think of any other fun ways to reuse film reels?

rethinking

here is a small tour of different things i am using/have used as coffee tables. i hope that it inspires you to reuse interesting things in your home.

3 days and counting....

here i am; sitting at my parents, the kids are being entertained/held by other people, i have a cup of coffee and the husby next to me. all our gifts are wrapped and under the tree, my house is clean as a whistle and we're snuggling in for a couple days of fun and rest. i hope you are all doing the same. here's a quick peak at my presents. they are filled with mini-cookie-muffins that i passed out to friends. i lined my boxes with parchment paper, tied some vintage twine around them and finished them with vintage gift tags.

how did you wrap your gifts this year?

m

christmas wreath oh christmas wreath!

wreaths are super fun and easy to make. i made this one with a little left over bunting and some tinsel garland. you could make it out of anything really.  

like this:

or this one would be fun:

and you could put something like this in the center:

i just wrapped the garland around an embroidery hoop and tied my bunting in place. super easy and fun! be sure to share if you make one:)