Draw a Bunny - An Easter Banner!

A few weeks ago the Graphics Fairy shared this darling vintage "How to draw a bunny" printable:

 

One of these days I will pick up some fabric transfer printing paper or a bottle of Citrasolv to do some proper fabric imaging...but in the meantime I just spray my fabric with adhesive, smooth it onto a piece of paper, stick it in my printer and pray it doesn't get jammed!

After the bunnies successfully printed onto the fabric (only one minor printer jam!) I removed the fabric from the paper and made little snips with my scissors where I wanted the edges to be, then tore the fabric to give it the frayed look.  I cut my 5 polka-dot pennants a little larger than the template I usually use.  I also tore a long strip of the same fabric I used to print the images on to use as the ribbon to attach the pennants to.

After I had set everything out on the kitchen island just the way I wanted, I pinned it all into place and sat down at the sewing machine.  I used a decorative stitch in pink thread to attach the bunnies to the pennants and the pennants to the ribbon.

Last of all I added a few buttons by hand to the pennants and a couple strips of fabric and lace to the ends of the banner.  Total crafting time:  a little over an hour.  Mission cozy cottage-like banner:  completed! 

Of course I then needed to update the mantel for spring!  My Easter decorations are still in the attic.  I am hoping to get them down this weekend!  Sooo, once again I spruced up with things I had on hand.  I temporarily added this charming paperback copy of Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Jemima Puddle-duck" to the inside of an empty cream frame with scotch tape!  Have I mentioned my love for Beatrix Potter?

"She set off on a fine afternoon along the cart-road that leads over the hill.  She was wearing a shawl and a poke bonnet."  The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck

How exciting to see pink buds on my Camellia bush!  Spring is on it's way!

I have a couple pieces of this lovely pink Wedgwood-like pottery.  It's the perfect pale pink to tie in the pink polka-dot fabric from the banner...so up on the mantel it went!

I bought two of these little cherubs several weeks ago at a thrift store for under a dollar.  I painted this one cream and left the other gold.  The gold one was a nice accent to my Valentine's Day mantel and I like the cream with my Spring decor!  He is holding a nest of eggs and has a little bird on his shoulder...sweet little spring angel!

On a side note, our precious little puppy, our first born baby turns 6 this month!  Happy birthday Basil!  We love you!

Thank you for your sweet visit today!  Are you getting started on Easter crafts or adding bunnies, chicks and puddle-ducks to your decor?  I can't wait to see what you're working on! 

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

I will be linking up with these fun parties:

Transformations and Treasures at Pink Postcard

Linky Party at Tea Rose Home

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Home Sweet Home Fridat at The Charm of Home

Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound

Brag Monday with the Graphics Fairy

Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge

Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Easter Baskets on Parade!

Pretty pastel blooms, fuzzy little yellow chicks, pink twitchy nosed bunnies and most importantly the celebration of our risen Savior...oh how I love Easter!  When it comes to decorating and crafting, Easter is my holiday!  Love the true meaning of the Season, love the pretty colors everywhere I look and love the chocolate bunnies...mmmmm!  The stores are bringing out the Easter goodies and I am in a fluffy pink mood!  I kicked off my Easter crafting this weekend by putting together some baskets for the shop.  Between the Graphics Fairy and Miss Rhea's Free Clip Art Mondays, I have had plenty of vintage Easter inspiration for pretty tags to tie to my baskets.  Each basket is filled with paper shreds in a color coordinating with my handcrafted tag.

I was able to get out and do a little thrifting this weekend!  This sweet child's tea set is one of my favorite finds!  I can't wait to set it up at the shop!

Classic Winnie the pooh and Beatrix Potter stories in the petite hardback style are good sellers for me and work well with my displays as they almost always have pretty pastel covers.  I was fortunate enough to find a whole stack of them this weekend!  They make great Easter Basket fillers!

Reprinted antique Easter cards in vintage frames are a great way to add a touch of Easter to a display without investing in a lot of seasonal decor.  If they don't sell before Easter, I can change out the image.  I actually added little touches of glitter to these images but wasn't able to capture it in my photographs.

These peach pottery pitchers caught my eye and I knew they would be a welcome addition to my shop inventory.  A little larger than the average creamer, they are perfect for syrup when you're serving up a platter of waffles or pancakes!

A Big Big thank you to The Graphics Fairy and to Miss Rhea for the beautiful free Easter images!  I had the best time scouring through the amazing ephemera they offer and creating tags for my Easter baskets!

And I thank YOU for your sweet visit!  Do you love Easter crafts and decorating for Spring?  Stay tuned...there will be much more to come from the Girl in Pink! 

Best Wishes and Blessings,
Amanda



I will be participating in these fun parties...
Life Made Lovely Monday at Blessed Little Nest
Brag Monday with The Graphics Fairy
Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime
Craftomaniac Monday
Amaze me Monday at Dittle Dattle
Making the World Cuter Monday
Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Being Creative at Gorgeous and Fun
Pretty Packages Party at Black Berry Vine

Blessings Abound...A Great Start to the Month of March!

I ran into the antique shop today with my doll beds and a few other items I'd worked on over the past several days.  I spent some time arranging my display just so...and felt good about it as I walked away.  When I stopped by the counter to see how I did in sales last month, I was bummed.  Apparently February was a bleak month for a lot of folks in the antiques business, myself included.  I left feeling a bit discouraged but headed off to my favorite thrift shop in hopes of finding a few treasures...determined to turn my day around.

As I walked slowly through the store, I took everything in visually, trying to imagine the potential in cast-off pieces of furniture and home decor.  I picked up a few children's books, baskets and other smalls then made my way to the counter...satisfied, but not overjoyed with my finds.  As I walked to the register, I glanced in the glass case.  There, on the bottom shelf tucked behind a crystal water pitcher and an old camera was a lovely old curvy piece of pastel pottery.  I knew it at first sight...a 1940's Hull vase in the Wildflower pattern!  It was the perfect piece to add to my small collection.  It did have a chip on the rim, and was covered in a layer of ancient dirt but at $10 it was coming home with me and suddenly my day was looking much brighter!

Isn't she pretty?

I shared my corner cabinet and pottery collection with you not long ago, but since I had to do some re-arranging today to find the perfect spot for my new treasure, I thought we could do a brief revisit!  I am anxious to get my "spring" box down from the attic and do some real decorating for Easter, but for now I thought I would add a few small things I had on hand...just for fun!

I've discovered some charming Easter scrapbooking paper and look at how sweet it is in this pink frame?  The colors compliment the pottery and the bunnies add a touch of spring and whimsy to the collection.

I am fortunate enough to have both a mother and mother-in-law who raises chickens.  We are never in short supply of pretty green eggs at our house!

Not long after I came home I had a call from the antique store.  The sweet gal that had been working today and witnessed my discouraged look when I discovered how pathetic my sales had been, called in hopes of brightening my day with some good news.  One of my doll beds had sold along with a nightstand and several other items...just in the last couple of hours!  Wow!  Blessings!  I am no longer discouraged...things are definitely looking up!  Now I need to get busy and figure out how to fill in the new holes in my display!


Thank you so very much for your sweet visit!  Best Wishes and Blessings to You!
Amanda


I will be linking up with the following fun parties:
Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound

Inspired by Fabrics

Don't you just love shopping for fabrics?  Aisles of textiles, like rippled rainbows of glorious patterns and prints...loads of inspiration in every direction!  Back when the hubby and I had dual income and no kiddos, I would shop aimlessly, coming home with yards of fabric for which I had no immediate intention of using.  These days I try to avoid the fabric store unless I actually need fabric for a specific project.  Over the past few years I've learned to be practical and frugal when it comes to sewing projects.  For quite some time I haven't bought any new yardage because I have been committed to using the supply I had on hand first.  During the last couple of weeks I rewarded myself for sticking to that commitment by making two trips to the fabric store!  (Yay!)  As it turns out I had a few projects I wanted to complete for the shop that I simply didn't have enough fabric for.  I came home from the store with some very sweet and lovely prints and enough inspiration to get going on my projects!

I love making quilts and coverlets for doll beds because I get to design girly bedding on a small scale.  The idea of making a full sized quilt is overwhelming to me, though I would love to tackle one someday!  I enjoy sewing projects that can be completed in one evening.  I guess I like the almost-instant gratification of it.  And of course I love stepping back into my childhood to a world of make believe, where pretty little dolls slept in frilly, luxurious beds!  This little bed was simply a bare wood frame when I picked it up at the goodwill...I am guessing that most of the people who walked by it didn't even realize what it was.  Of course I spotted it right away and immediately tucked it into my cart!  I gave the frame a couple coats of my favorite cream paint and cut a thick piece of foam to serve as the mattress.  

The frame looked much better after it was painted but it still needed something.  I added this little vintage metal frame that I had painted in that same cream color.  I used a heavy duty epoxy to attach the little frame to the headboard.  The sweet little basket of bunnies image was offered by Miss Rhea two weeks ago in her "Free Clipart Monday" post.  I love this image so much that I will probably be using it for more projects in the near future!  Thank you Miss Rhea!

I am loving the mix of birds and cabbage roses on the fabric I found for this coverlet and I think the white lace added a special touch to the overall look.  Of course I covered the foam mattress and backed the coverlet with a soft flannel.  Must be the little girl in me that worries about dolly being warm and cozy!  I have a good feeling that this bed is going to be purchased for an American Girl doll because it's the perfect size.  How do I know this?  Well, I have a Samantha doll...(Christmas gift when I was 18...long story!)  I thought about taking Samantha's photo with this bed, just for fun, but sadly she doesn't own any pajamas...so she wasn't appropriately dressed for the photo shoot.

I also completed a patchwork quilt for a baby doll cradle!  This cradle was a thrift store find.  It looks to be handmade and before I gave it the creamy paint/distressed treatment, it was dark brown. 

I added a painted metal frame to the headboard just as I'd done to the other doll bed, only this time I decoupaged fabric beneath the frame and sealed it up with a matte finishing spray.

I love the whimsical look of polk-a-dots mixed with florals!

Whenever I take a doll bed into the shop, I notice that when I return to work on my display, the bedding has been completely rearranged.  Once I even found a little bear from another display carefully wrapped up in one of my quilts just dreaming away.  Hmmm....either those darling little girls who frequent my space are enjoying my doll beds, or the dolls and bears at Camas Antiques come to life after hours and make their way back to my booth to curl up with one of my tiny flannel backed quilts!  Maybe it's time to do some investigating...could be a topic for a future post!

Speaking of darling little girls, this is Maggie...isn't she beautiful?   She and her mom are dear friends of ours and she was nice enough to model one of my fabric bow headbands for this post!  She comes to play with the little boys for a couple of hours each week.  I must say, it is fun to have a little girl around the house! 

This little wooden divided basket is a piece I recently painted and distressed.  It makes such a nice headband display that I really hope it doesn't sell right away!  I am in the middle of working on a tutorial for these floppy fabric bow headbands.  I should have it posted sometime in the next week if you're interested!

It's amazing how far you can stretch a couple yards of fabric...  I try very hard not to waste a single scrap!

The beds, headbands, wooden basket and several other items will be making their way to the shop this week!  And I might just make my way back to the fabric store for a little more inspiration, because there really isn't enough of any of those lovely prints left to make another single craft project!

I hope you are having a wonderful week!  Thank you so much for your sweet visit!

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

I will be linking up with the following fun parties today:

White Wednesday at Faded Charm

Wow us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

All Things Inspired at All Things Heart and Home

Transformations and Treasures at Pink Postcard

Wednesday Link Party at Tea Rose Home

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage



Feelin' Like a Rhinestone Cowgirl

I'm a romantic, Victorian, shabby chic kind of a girl but I'm a little bit country too (okay, maybe a lot)!  I spent the first 5 years of my life on a farm with horses, goats and chickens. My dad was a farrier when he first met my mom and he paid his way through college as a rodeo photographer!  Hubby was born and raised on the farm where his parents still live to this day!  Why am I telling you all of this?  Well...I won a giveaway...the first giveaway I have ever won and it's a gorgeous Rhinestone Cowgirl Necklace created by the talented Tanya of Bead and Needle!  My favorite boots are my Laredo's and I love to pair them with a ruffled skirt and denim jacket!  Now I have the perfect accessory for my cowgirl chic attire!  Thank you, thank you Tanya for the generous gift!

 

I just had to share this photo from Tanya's blog.  I thought the cracker jack box idea was so clever and can you believe she even included two boxes of cracker jacks for my little guys?  So thoughtful!

Just look at how beautifully Tanya packages and presents her artful jewelry!  Lovely!

Tanya has cleverly titled this piece "Rhinestone Cowgirl" and boy am I feelin' it...Yee haw!  It's a vintage cowgirl image behind a crystal chandelier prism surrounded by ritzy rhinestones...I am smitten!

I must say a heartfelt thank you once again to sweet Tanya for the generous gift!  Now, I know you're anxious to check out her beautiful creations on Etsy, so here is a link to the Bead and Needle shop.  And please visit Tanya's blog here too and be sure to tell her I sent you!

Thank you for your sweet visit today!  Several of you have asked how I liked the movie "Coco Avant Chanel"...it was so wonderful!  The acting was great and the imagery was gorgeous!  It was an intriguing story and overall very well done.  I haven't returned it yet...I am tempted to watch it again!  I also highly recommend the French salted caramel ice cream (wink!) 

 

Best Wishes and Blessings!

Amanda