spring ideas house

{this is not my house}

these photos were taken at Bachman's Spring Ideas House, a 1920's house transformed just for Spring ! the vast majority of the items are for sale - many of them one-of-a-kind, as you'll see...




front porch

the vintage consultant was Ki Nassauer who blogged about some of the fabulous details here & here

let's go upstairs...



a corner in the master bedroom - love the colors & textures, love the vintage dress form & love the rug




girl's bedroom - white painted branch with paper flowers & butterflies above the bed



hanging birdcage in front of painted framed canvas (butterfly nets were turned into curtain rods)



ditto



entrance to the craft room



general view of the craft room



ribbons & wrapping papers hanging on the wall


vintage post with funnels storing string & yarn




lazy susan craft goodies organizner



old wood ladders were turned into wall shelves



old lamp turned into a ribbon holder



I Make Things window is such a clever idea



storage & closet


screen door became a large inspiration bulletin board


PS Bachman's Spring Idea House is still open May 1-2, Summer Ideas House will be open June 3-13

flower embellishments

layered circle flower embellishments, how-to found here

bon weekend mes amies ! see you at the next post :)

for the birds

wool yarn scraps

for the birds

literally

i took a paper egg carton leftover from a science project & filled it with wool yarn scraps leftover from my knitting projects, put it outside for the birds, to help build their nests, got the idea from here:






A Nest Full of Eggs by Priscilla Belz Jenkins suggests in the spring to leave some: shredded newspaper, grass clippings, string, hair, cellophane, dried weeds, or yarn in your yard to help robins build their nests.

bon week-end mes amies ! see you at the next post !

vintage swap

i received these lovely vintage goodies from Kyndale who blogs @ earthy crunchy.
this was for the Vintage Swap Winter 2010 organized by Heather who blogs @ Shivaya Naturals.
i sent Kydale some 1970's orange kitchen items, she blogged about it here.

so with these lovely vintage sheets i have plans to sew a wonderful beach blanket/quilt, something like this, using bamboo batting i already bought. beach season starts June 11th, so i have a few months to sew it. i need some time to muster up the courage to cut into those lovely vintage sheets ! i will have to think of something special to make out of the super sweet matching vintage pillowcases, i'll have to look through the Craft Challenge: Dozens of Ways to Repurpose Pillowcases book. the crochet doily will make a wonderful addition to my crochet doily obsession, i mean collection - oh, how i love crochet doilies ! i look forward to reading the How to sew for Children book, it's from 1966 !!! what treasures ! thanks so much Kyndale !

as you can see some of the above photos were taken outside & we are so enjoying this sunny & spring-like weather :)

day 20 :: 2009 craft books

2009 craft books :: One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric! by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins

this is another fun post for me because i got to meet one of the authors, that's Rebecca Yaker in the above photo standing next to her famous sock monkey dress ! isn't she cute !?! she's also got a really great sense of humor !


One-Yard Wonders contains 101 sewing projects that only require one yard of fabric, what a great concept ! when you think about it most fabrics cost under $10 a yard, so here you have a book full of projects that you can create each costing at most $10 to make... what a deal ! be sure to check out the One Yard Wonders flickr group.


i met Rebecca at the No Coast Craft-o-rama & she signed my book :)


so far from this book i've sewn the strapless bandeau shorty jumper for C --- i sewed it out of some new fabric that i came across recently & this project was relatively quick & simple (oh, how i love quick & simple!) i think this will make a perfect beach cover-up for this summer...

well, that ends my month long blogging about 2009 craft books, i had fun sharing some of my favorite crafty type books from 2009 & what i created from them --- although i didn't finish making everything that i wanted to from these books, so i will probably blog about a few more 2009 craft book creations in the future...

day 19 :: 2009 craft books

2009 craft books :: Itty-Bitty Toys: How to Knit Animals, Dolls, and Other Playthings for Kids by Susan B. Anderson


Itty-Bitty Toys contains 27 knitting patterns including 5 reversible toys. i wanted to be sure to mention that the lamb pattern is available for free on the internet, so be sure to check that out...



this is a super fun post because i got to meet the author ! Susan came into town for a book signing & she signed my book... that's Susan sitting behind the table in the above photo --- isn't she cute? she's also friendly & down to earth & not to mention a very talented knitting pattern writer ! this is her 3rd book, by the way, i really enjoy the way she writes her knitting patterns, the step-by-step directions are always very clear... anyway, back to that 1st photo... every single knitted item photographed in Itty-Bitty Toys was on this table, it was nice to be able to see how all the toys compared in size, also to be able to touch them, i think you really have to watch the reversible toys being reversed to see how amazing they are...


so far from this book, i've knitted the hippo (although i used worsted weight yarn instead of doubling sock yarn) the purple hippo was a big hit ! it's a great pattern & makes such a unique toy (you don't see too many hippo knitting patterns out there).


the other project i knitted so far from this book is one of the reversible toys: the Egg to Bluebird and a Little Nest, Too


actually, i knitted a robin's egg --- from natural wool yarn that i dyed with blue Kool-Aid to make it robin's egg blue :)


OK, now this is the really fun part, watch this... turn the egg upside down & see that the eggs tranforms into a bird. here you can see the bird cracking it's beak & head through the egg shell...


it's a Robin ! the first sign of Spring (does this mean Spring is right around the corner?) since i knitted a Robin, i made it orange breasted...


also i used a bulkier yarn for the nest, so i only cast on 40 instead of 60 & for the decrease rows i skipped of few knit rows. it made for a smaller nest, doesn't the Robin look all nice & cozy & snug in her nest ?


this little robin/egg/nest will be an Easter gift/decoration, so this is probably what it will look like Easter Sunday morning on the table with the 3 paper nest bowls/Easter baskets filled with goodies in the background. oh, how i love all things Spring !!!

see you tomorrow for day 20 (the last day of 2009 craft books month) !

day 18 :: 2009 craft books

2009 craft books :: Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art by Jennie Hinchliff & Carolee Gilligan Wheeler


be sure to check out the Make Every Day a Good Mail Day blog


this book is filled with many ideas & techniques so you can make pieces of art to send through the mail


here's an idea i took from the book, using the envelope template from the back of the book, i cut out water color paper & water color painted a rainbow... leaving the white cloud blank, so a can later add who it is to...


another idea i used from the book was stenciling --- by using a paper doily & sponging with rubber stamp ink, lovely results !

see you tomorrow for day 19 !