A Few of My Newest Favorite Things

This whole week I feel like I have been on pause... or in slow motion.  I haven't really wanted to start any projects until after the New Year.  Why?  Not sure.  It could be the fact that we have all been sick for about 2 weeks... it is just lingering.  So, today, for my 99th post, I thought I would just share with you some of my latest finds.

About a month ago, I got it in my head that I needed a vintage display case.  It was one of those nagging things that just wouldn't leave me alone.  Then I found this one for a good price.  I will paint it.  After that, I really am not sure what I will do with it.  Maybe eventually I will get a store and I can display little treasures in it.  Until then, I will probably just display my jewelry in it.  Maybe like my bedroom is a cute  boutique.

Meet Sophia and Oscar.  This couple was passed up by Mr. Hughes and I several times.  The price was a little steep.  Then one day, one of us was pining for these plates, saying that we should've picked them up.  So, we went back and we couldn't find them.  Someone was quite disappointed.  Then, I spotted them in a cabinet.

Handsome isn't he?

She looks thrilled to be on her own plate.

I have never seen any like them, plus they are on ironstone... what took me so long to bring them home?

I picked up this little covered jar... it is some type of ironstone and is very apothecary-ish.  Looks like it had nitrous oxide in it.  Wouldn't be awesome to have a whole set of these for spices?

Then, would you look at what Mr. Hughes bought for me for Christmas?

So snuggly...

And Grey!  I love it.  Adore it. And, I was totally surprised.

So, my next post is my 100th post, complete with a giveaway to celebrate me keeping up with something journal like for this long.  I will post it on 01.01.10.  So, ladies and gents, have a wonderful, safe New Year's Eve and I hope you will stop by on the 1st to enter to win.

One Last Thing...

The presents are wrapped.  The cookies are baked.  We finally got a photo with Santa after a 1 1/2 hour wait.  The only thing left for me to do is to fiddle with our table setting for Christmas dinner.  It will be a small affair, just us three with my mom and sister.  So, I went simple.  I had Mr. Hughes make me some print outs of these Santas

 that I covered in glitter and added everyone's name to them and attached them to a ribbon and draped them over the chairs (they have since been removed, since someone can't keep his chubby little hands off of them.)

We have very plain, simple dishes and I just added some beaded chargers and the black and white plates (which I am not in love with here, but it needed some pattern.)  I will probably remove the green glasses too.  It will look better with wine glasses.  And, I will feel better with wine!

I know I didn't put out the flatware, but I decided that I didn't want to unload the dishwasher ;o

I put out these cute little plates for our rolls... love them!

Remember the rosemary tree that was sentenced to die?  Well, it didn't even make it to Christmas.  So, I stole the vintage light reflectors that surrounded it and turned them into napkin rings.

I added some of my mercury glass including these sweet little salt cellars that I got at Scarlett's.

So there it is.  No more creativity before Christmas.  We are spent!  We have all been sick all week and we are going to sleep in tomorrow and rest up for Santa!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Vintage Charm Stockings

I am fickle when it comes to some things.  And, stockings are one of them.  We made some the 1st Christmas that we were together.  They were cute and had all kinds of felt appliques on them.  But, they were small... hard to fit anything inside.  Then, last year, on a whim,  I bought some 99 cent red felt ones with ricrac from Target.  Baby Hughes needed a stocking and I was having a hard time not putting up the matching one for our beloved doggie that passed away before Christmas last year.  So, this year, I wanted something cuter and more personal than the ones from last year.  So, I made these vintage inspired stockings.  Mr. Hughes made a pattern and cut them out while I was keeping the monster busy.  Then I glued (yes, glue, I did not lug out the sewing machine) the front and back sides together.  Then I embellished them with little trinkets.

Mr. Hughes' stocking has a vintage handkerchief for a cuff...

and some pocket watch faces sewn on.  I used some vintage bias tape and a big button to make the loop.

Baby Hughes' stocking has a cuff out of ticking that I had left over from reupholstering a chair.

His charms include a little vintage cowboy figure and a rodeo charm and small round button (it may be a bell, let's call it a bell.)  Then, I made his loop out of fat ricrac and a big button.  His button reminds me of the ones on snowmen.

My stocking's cuff is made out of a doily.

I added some rhinestone broaches.  The loop on this one is made out of some silky grey bias tape and sewn on with a grey button.  I was going for feminine and may have ended up with old lady....

I added our initial by using silver Rub and Buff over a set of tiny vintage stencils.  The paint we had was too transparent, but I like the look of the Rub and Buff on the linen like fabric.

I may continue to use these and just add on each year as I find different small treasures

I also made a little banner after Mr. Hughes ordered these really cool grey toe tags.

Right now, it is hanging on the mirror wall in our entry... not entirely sure I love it there, so it may move.

I used some old unmatched printer's blocks to stamp "Joyeux Noel" on the paper and metal round tag.  Then, I cut out some tiny, tiny snowflakes.  I traced the edge in glue and added some Martha Stewart glitter.  Then I put it all together with the same silvery, silky bias tape.  I then tied them all on a big fat grey grosgrain ribbon and hung it up.

And, even though this was entirely Mr. Hughes project (I just okayed the idea and chose grey as one of the colors) I thought I would show you what our Christmas cards look like this year.

When he puts up a tutorial on The Upcycler, I will link to it.  These are one sided cards that he made by making block cuts and stamping them on the paper.  It was a process and I am making it sound much easier than it was.  But, I think they are cute... don't know if they win Coco's Cutest Christmas Card Contest or not, but we like them.

Well, I am off to wrap some more presents!  Can you believe Christmas is next week?

Saw That, Did This

Isn't this just the busiest time of year?  I realized that I haven't posted in a week, and I have been doing stuff.  We went to a paint your own pottery place so that I could have a custom Santa's Cookies plate.  I wanted this cookie plate WAAY before I even had a child.  And, let me say Baby Hughes is a pro at handprints and fingerdots... and throwing his adorable hat into the paint.  I,  on the other hand, am not so good with the paint... have you ever done this?  It is ridiculous how hard it is to write with that glaze!!  But, I have our cookie plate in all of its imperfect glory.  And, we also met a dear friend in Franklin to go to the Dickens of a Christmas festival... Baby Hughes had a blast with all the dogs that people brought.  And, totally off the subject, but tying into my last blog post of being a fortunate girl... I (Mr. Hughes) scored some David Gray tickets for April... not easy to get in these parts.  Now, let me get back on track...  here are a a couple of simple projects that I completed that were totally inspired by other bloggers and etsiers.

Found at The Newlywed Diaries

I just adore this photo.  And, I happened to have some vintage silverware around so I did 

this:

I just wired (I like that the wires show) some spoons and forks to a wreath.

 

I added some bows in bias tape in a silvery color and tied it to our curtain rod in the breakfast nook.  Very, very simple.  I like to call this "A Can Do While the Baby is in the Room Project...." I probably need to shorten that!

Then I saw this:

 

 This genius idea found here 

So incredibly cute! I love terrariums, so naturally I fell in love with them!  (I even had made a large one in a glass jar until I got scared of the plant that was growing out of control inside of it!) But, they were all sold out  and I already had the tree finished. Next year!  So, I decided to take this:

 

A mirror that I had been stalking for months at antique store and 

these:

 

A couple of these adorable vintage baby bottles...  

plus some moss (that I scraped off a pile of bricks in our yard) 

and some greenery from our bushes and the Christmas garlands

threw in an apothecary bottle and some vintage bias tape...

for this:

 

So easy!  And, I didn't lose any blood!  The best kind of project.  So far, the moss is holding up nicely inside the house.

Well, hopefully we will get enough sunlight so I can take some photos of our vintage charm stockings that I made the other night.

ps the countdown to the 100th post giveaway is on... this is 96...

**linking up with sweet Gina at The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday!

 

Lucky Girl

First off, I don't really believe in "luck."  Except in dealing with bingo and raffles... gambling of all kinds basically.  And, of course, the elusive blogging giveaways.  So, I am here to tell you that I have hit the giveaway jackpot!!  I am even going to brag a little bit... hope you don't mind... I am not a very good winner! First off, I won this apron a few weeks ago:

I won it from Miss Mustard Seed, but it was donated by the fabulous Caroline Joy.  Miss Mustard Seed picked my (our) studio out of all the fabulous entries that week.

Then I found out I won a surprise from Gypsy Brocante... I am waiting on pins and needles!

And, do you know why I won it?  Because we have the same vehicle... well, I guess it is Mr. Hughes' vehicle, but I talked him into it, so it totally counts!  It is an '89 Jeep Grand Wagoneer.  Ladies, let me tell you, it is a man magnet!!  You would think it was a Porsche or something... they cross parking lots to talk to him about it.  So, if you are single and want some dates, look up your local Craigslist ads to find you one!

Then, I won this:

from Jessica of Living Better Together.  Now, I like my wine... and now it will be even easier to get my glass half full ( ahem... overflowing!)

THEN, I was reading early, early Sunday morning and I found out that I won Jana's (from Twig) giveaway.

 

A handmade banner

A bottlebrush wreath

a gift certificate to Ruche and a cute surprise pair of socks!

So, yes, be jealous of me in all my winning glory!  I am a little disappointed that I didn't win a certain gift certificate from Anthropologie... you know who you are... don't worry, I haven't deleted you from my bloglist yet! *wink*  And, don't think I will forget all of this swag I am getting.... my 100th post is coming up in 5 posts and I will have some lovelies to give away!

And, speaking of lovelies, my wonderful husband surprised me by looking in my etsy favorites and getting me this for my birthday yesterday.

 

it is from BKMHattitude  and I love it!  I also got a very sweet silhouette necklace with my favorite little guy's profile.  Mr. Hughes actually made it.  And, a wonderful photo book with photos from our Where the Wild Things Are photo shoot.  My mom and sister got me some clothes and mom gace me some cash for the studio... can't wait to buy some supplies!

So, keep reading for my 100 post giveaway... I will try to time it that the winner will receive it after all the holidays are over so that there will be something to look forward to!

Joy: A Tutorial

I thought a good long time about what to title this post.  I settled on this one.... though, you may wonder why when you are finished reading.  Have you guys seen the lovely, sparkly Christmasy words that you can use all over the house?  The really pretty vintagy glittery ones?  I decided that I would make one... I had a space near the tree that needed something.  So, I asked Mr. Hughes to print out "joy" really large in a flourishy font (Mr. Hughes knows his fonts!)  He went one step further and printed out registration marks so it would be easy to put all the pages together.

I decided to put it on the back of the cardboard from a watercolor paper book.  I thought that cardboard from a box would be jagged and rough.  I applied rubber cement to the back of the word and applied it to the board.  I decided that a X-Acto  knife wouldn't cut through the board, but a Dremel would.  I then went outside to use the  Dremel since Baby Hughes was taking a late nap.  It was cold!

I then cut off the majority of the board as close to the word as possible with the really big scissors ( they may be metal shears, I am not sure.)

I then used the Dremel with the same bit that Mr. Hughes used to carve MDF with a few days prior.

  I want to stop here to let you know that I have used a Dremel every day for about 5 years.  Every. Day.  (I use one at work to trim acrylic for retainers and to cut metal for orthodontic appliances.)  So, I was pretty excited when we got ours recently.  I thought I would show Mr. Hughes a thing or to about THIS power tool.  I was pretty confident that cutting through cardboard would be a lot easier than metal or acrylic.  So, I started cutting... it was cold.  It was messy... I had on some reading glasses for eye protection, but I didn't have a mask on... it was dusty.  It was taking a lot longer than I imagined.  Then it happened.

Once.... I went inside to wash it off... no biggie...

Twice... what is going on?

Three times.... why does this Dremel hate me?!?  After the third cut across my knuckles, I decided to try a different bur that almost caused the paper to catch on fire.  In five years, I have never, ever gotten cut. But,  I kept going, I wasn't going to stop now...

Here is the rough cut... I took a break here to take a shower and get a blood transfusion.  I was dusty and my hand looked terrible... much worse than in the photos.  I went inside the house and Mr. Hughes said a few words about my injuries that I will not repeat since I know that my mother reads my blog.

After the shower, I sanded the edges of the devil board with some sand paper to get it smooth.

Next, I coated the front with a thin layer of tacky glue.

I then transfered it to a box where I could contain the German Glass Glitter in all of its glory.

I didn't take photos of the glitter process, but you can probably figure that part out.

Here is the finished project:

I hung it in a chippy vintage frame.  I simply attached a little bias tape to the back of the sign and then hung it in the frame from this:

A cute little vintage tack that was used for storm windows or screens.

I wish I could've gotten a better photo, but it has been grey outside.

All things considered, I think it turned out pretty well (I have 5 bandages across my knuckles as I type.)

I have refused to look for a photo to compare mine to since the Dremel debacle... mine is PERFECT!  Please don't tell me any different.  And, please don't tell me that I could have just bought one for the price of a box of bandages and some Neosporin.  Oh, and please don't tell me an easier way or how you would have done it... it would take away my JOY!

**if you happen to want a PDF of the letters so you can try this, just let me know!**