Pillows for Pennies

A few weeks ago I dropped by my favorite GW.  I was thrilled to find this great French inspired wall clock, I have a thing about clocks, I have them everywhere.  That sounds like another post for another day.  But on this day not only did I find a beautiful clock but I also picked up two pieces of designer fabric.  Each piece was pretty small. The large check was about 1/2 yard and the smaller check was just less than a yard.

And they both matched my color scheme  They were not marked and when the clerk said fabric goes for a 1$/yard I was thrilled.  Quality designer fabrics for a 1.50.  Does thrift shopping get any better than that?

I really liked the way the checked fabric looked with the dining room curtains and I immediately started figuring out what to do with this beauty. 

I had two of these tuck in pillow forms so I decided to make two lumbar pillows for the cane dining room chairs.

The material was about 1 1/2 inches too short so I patched a few pieces and added it on to the end of the material.  Yes, I do need a new ironing board cover, this one is from the 80’s.

It was a bugger to match this plaid but can hardly see it.

If you haven’t tried these pillow forms you might want to check them out.  No sewing and you can easily change the material for a different look.

I tried using the floral from the window panels for the end pieces

but I liked the plaid better.  Eventually these chairs will be white and the pop of color will be great.

I am crazy about how these turned out.  Not too shabby for 25 cents a pillow.

Thanks for reading,

Traci

I will be partying at

Finding Fabulous

The Best of the Month at Beneath My Heart



Curtains at Last

It all started with the wood floors and has snow balled into the never ending project.  And that project is our dining room.   It has been the “If you give a mouse a cookie” of home improvement.

I usually start with the before pictures but I can’t wait for all of you to see my almost finished curtains.  I say almost because these panels are so heavy I have decided to let them hang for a week or two before I hem them.  I am pretty sure that they are going to “grow” a bit.

Here is a close up of the floral print.  The fabric has a bit of a shabby chic texture and I feel in love with at first site.  And it was on sale.  Not just any sale, it was on the $2 per yard table.  For designer material.  Unfortunately there was not quite enough fabric to cover the length I needed.  The ceilings are very high in my dining room so I needed 90 inch long panels.
But as luck would have it they had a coordinating stripe fabric.  Also on sale for $2 a yard.  My purchase totaled a whooping $18 plus tax. 


I also needed lining for these panels but I didn’t have to wait long before the fabric store had, you guessed it, an other sale.  It was $4 per yard, which was a bargain since it was the black out lining.  As you can see it is on a bolt.  Some of you fantastic seamstresses out there might already know that the store will cut it for you and then roll it back on to a bolt.  They even covered it in plastic.
So finally after a few months of planning work on the panels started.

Even with all the leaves in my dining room table, the panels hung over all the edges.  And these beauties are heavy, that is why my silver champagne bucket is holding it in place, otherwise the weight kept pulling it off of the table.

So I moved my work area to the kitchen bar but that was only a tad better.  I had panels folded up in the bar stools to keep it off of the floor.  And I was terrified that I would get something on them while I was cooking.

I decided that I wanted a third pattern for these curtains and I found a beautiful green with red and gold dragonflies woven in to the pattern.  I placed a 4 inch strip of this green fabric between the floral and the stripe.  I am using the same dragonfly material to cover the seats to my dining room chairs.
I made a coordinating valance for the bathroom right off the hall from the dining room.
So here are my new panels.  I am so glad they are done for now because I have so many other projects to complete this room.

I am thrilled to say that these panels are done.  I usually work at a snails pace anyway but the weight of these panels really slowed me down the process to a half my usual pace. 
Up next, recovering  my dining room chairs and making lumbar pillows for two of the dining chairs in the saga of the never ending dining room,
Giveaway Reminder.  I am having my first giveaway.  To be given a way is $50 GC.  So pop on over to read about the giveaway HERE.
Thanks for reading
Traci

I will be partying at these wonderful blogs.

Novica Review and Giveaway!

Recently I was asked to review a product from Novica, a company associated with National Geographic.  They offer a line of free trade items from artisans from all around the world. 

They are hoping to create an attachment to the product and the hands that created it.  And their website does a great job at helping you create that connection.  They have an enormous selection of beautiful and unique items at just about every price range. 

I was offered a $100 gift certificate to purchase something from their line and to review their service and products. But I couldn’t keep all this goodness for myself so I accepted a $50 gift certificate for my review and a $50 certificate to giveaway to one of my lucky readers.

Here are some of the beautiful things I considered.  Love this beautiful silk scarf.  See this beauty and others here.

And I was intrigued by this purse make completely out of soda can lid tabs.

I thought the purse would look great with this gold belt also made out of soda can lid tabs.  Check this belt and others here.

They offer many beautiful  types of tableware.  Who wouldn’t want to pick their morning banana out of this stunning bowl.

With so many beautiful items to pick from I felt just a bit like Cinderella.  It took me a bit of time to look at all the beautiful merchandise.  I finally narrowed it down to a Necklace from Thailand.  I have a “thing’ for necklaces.  I just love them and I can turn a pair of jeans and a t-shirt into an outfit with the right necklace.

So on Saturday morning I placed my order with Novica.  The ordering process went very well.  I used express shipping and was told that my order would arrive in 3-5 days.  That sounded almost too good to be true, something from Thailand could not get here in 3 to 5 days.  I received tracking info all along the route from Thailand to my mailbox.

My necklace arrived right on time and was wrapped very well.  I hate receiving a package only to se that it is damaged.

Inside the package was a beautiful handmade paper envelope.

Inside the envelope my necklace was carefully wrapped and arrived in perfect condition.   This would be great if you are sending something as a gift.

And finally here is my new necklace.

I love my new necklace.  It looks even better in person than it did on the website and I am wearing it to a play tonight.   

I was very pleased with Novica’s service from beginning to end and while Novica gave me a gift certificate so that I could review their site and services all the opinions are mine.

So here are the details on my first GIVEAWAY.   I am keeping it real simple.  All you have to do is leave a comment.

If you want a second chance to win just mention it on your site and let me know  including it in your comment or by leaving me a second comment.

The GIVEAWAY will be open until Thursday, March 29th at 11:59 pm and the winner will be announced on Friday, March 30th.

Good Luck to all of you.

Thanks for reading,

Traci

Spray Paint Changes and a Mystery Project

Valspar, the spray paint line from Lowes has been updating their product line.   They started with updating to a larger “spray actuator”.   For those of us not in the spray paint industry that is the button you push to make the paint spray out. 

Then they added a bunch of yummy colors to the line.  Tons of colors I want to try.

But on my last trip to Lowe’s this is what I found locked behind the screen doors.

Lowe’s has rolled out a new spray can.

You can see the old style in this picture below.

Here is a close up of the new can.

The color cap doesn’t come off like the old spray cans, this is good I thought, I have trouble getting those caps off and so I usually just recycle them.  And then when it is time to find the spray color I want I have to put my readers on so I read the color.

You just turn the colored lid to open the can.

So I picked my colors and home I went.

Gloss black for this project and a warm gold for another project.   I spread out my drop cloth and went to work. 

The first thing I noticed was that there was no way to attach either of my spray paint triggers.  And after a few moments of spraying I realized what a big problem that was going to be, my hand started cramping.  Oh no!  Not good, spray painting is supposed to be fun not painful.  According to the new can designer the button uses 35% less pressure but I found it very awkward. 

As soon as I use up the black (can’t waste spray paint) I am going to try to take off the color lid and see if I can attach my trigger.  If not I hope someone designs a comfort trigger for these new can soon.

You don’t know what the item I painted with the glossy black is?  You will never believe it so you better check back tomorrow.  If you have a guess I would love read it.

Thanks for reading,

Traci

Prepping the Patios

Hello everyone!  Real life kept interrupting my efforts to blog this week.  I had four migraines, a photography class and a night at the theater.  Let me tell you the theater was much more fun than the migraines.

Friday brought no obligations nor headaches, only beautiful weather and the need to start sprucing up my back yard and patios.  It all started with a trip to Lowes and two different Home Depots to find all the plants I was looking for.  Not only did I buy the garden standard Sweet Alyssum and Lobelia but I finally found a  hardenbergia vine and a few yellow Ranunculus.  I also purchased a Jasmine vine,  and a dozen  Marigolds.

Zoey was pretty happy to see all the flowers,  she loves it when I work in the yard.

So after all the planting I decided to rearrange some of the patio furniture.

Right out side our family room is the “formal” patio.  We moved these comfortable rocking chair here because of the view out to the yard and pool.

Next I moved our massive man BBQ around to the side of the house and the freed up a nice corner for our bistro table and chairs.

Moving the BBQ also freed up some room for a sweet little vignette just outside the sliding glass door.

Around the corner from the covered patio is a area  just perfect for a few chairs.  It is usually the coolest area in the yard so we often sit there when the days turn warm.

Even Zoey likes it.

The final “porch” area is right outside our master bedroom.

This area is not covered so we have purchased an umbrella to  give us the shade we need.  This is one of my favorite places to do a little blogging.

It is been a really long time since I got a good shot of Bella so here she is.  I know that this post is about the patio but I got got such a such a great picture of her I just had to included her.  And she is sitting on the patio.

While I was arranging and rearranging I noticed just a few things that I want to change.  Surprise, is anything every final at your house?  Not here at my house.

Now that I have the table and chairs in this corner I want to find something the cover up the light switches and something to add height to the area behind the table.

This is the pergola behind our pool.  I hung a chandelier above the table but you can’t see it.  It just blends right into the background.  And I think it is a bit small.  So I picked up a larger chandelier at GW.  Now all I have to do is decide on a color that will go with the flowers in the yard and can be seen from the house.

What color  you do suggest?

Thank you so much touring my patios.

Traci

I will be partying over at

From My Front Porch