Vintage Can Utensils Storage

  

We have been working hard restoring our 1950's trailer and I saw a project on pintrest that gave me an idea for utensil storage. I added some hooks on the bottom as well for hanging potholders. However I don't have the potholders yet so I hung some utensils on them for the picture.

I made six sheets of vintage looking fruit labels. I did them for my camper projects but they are now available at my little etsy store.

Also thought I would share a peek at our camper... it is a work in progress :)) but I am happy with how it is coming out.

Studio Progress

I have been so busy! Yes... working on the studio and getting my planting done.I have also been busy working on my studio.. I finished the "crate stack" for my printer. I added some vintage casters and a little lace curtain to hide my inkjet printer. 

 

and I have put some of the vintage locker baskets to use... I have been arranging and rearranged things a hundred times...lol. I even put the newspaper shelf paper on my bookcase. So here is another peek at that. 

I got much of my lace wound onto the printable spools that I posted previously. 

I just love to edge them with a gold paint pen... They look so authentic

Its all coming together now... I am so excited! 

Happiness in the kitchen once again! Free Printable Little Cooks... Chefs

I know you all think my hubby is the greatest but he does have a few quarks that really bug. One of those is that he insists on having a bunch of junk sitting on the counter all the time! So I put it all on a wooden tray so that when company came I could quickly hide it away in the pantry. But I STILL HAD TO LOOK AT IT!  Recently I saw a post on pintrest where a lady had put all her tea necessities on a silver tray and knew that was my answer. I found one I loved at a local thrift store and on went all his junk.

I put his splenda in a little silver sugar (of course) his creamer in a little silver overlay creamer jar. Not that he drinks coffee... he has to add it to his hot chocolate to make it creamer...lol. I found a silver swan napkin holder. Our butter has always been in a vintage refrigerator dish. I used the sugar shaker for his garlic salt and his vitamins and hot chocolate packets went in the silver biscuit canister. Now there is happiness in our kitchen once more!

Feel free to pin the thumb above but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

A Working Studio ... Free Scissor Printable

I am loving being able to work in my studio again. I made this cute little necklace with the tiniest little antique change purse.

 Not only am I able to create again but with all my supplies and tools in place I can now start getting things organized and decorated! I have just added a new "old" shelf that hubby made me from an old door and antique door knobs.

and I have to show off my latest find... a scissor light for my workbench. I was so excited to find this. I pictured it with an antique light bulb but I have ordered some reproduction Edison light bulbs to actually use.

I got some crates from the craft store. I distressed them and used vinegar and steel wool to age them. I think they are perfect for Fairyland and some of my little theaters. My other distraction you can see sitting on the crate below.... Yep... I got a Pazzles cutter! You can copy and paste any .jpg into it so if you have software to open the cut files you can convert them to .jpg and just copy them into this cutter. I have just been going crazy finding all the fun cut files available! I will be making some stencils for the sides of the crates too. Just as soon as I figure out the software for it.. lol.

Speaking of decorating and scissors... I thought this little graphic might look good blown up and framed. I think it would make a cute little card too. I hope you can come up with a fun use for it :) Oh and I almost forgot to say... check out the brand on those scissors she is holding :))

Feel free to pin the thumb above but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

Vintage French Chocolate Change Pocket Envelope Free Printable

I love this little change pocket. When a servant was sent to purchase something, the change was often put in a change pocket with the item to be given to the employer. I love this little French chocolate change pocket and I wanted to have it posted for Valentines day. It could be used to hold a little card or tea bag for a birthday gift too.

 

Studio Update

I am not quite ready to show the entire studio redo but I thought I would share a few pictures.

As much as I love my new-old sewing trunk, the sewing space is a little cramped. For everyday sewing and mending it is fine but for those time I need a larger surface it sucked. So we picked up this old sewing machine cabinet on Craigeslist and removed the sewing machine and turned it into a sewing table. Here is a picture of the before.

and then the after...

The top folds over for even more work surface and since this picture was taken I bought one of those little pads so your cell phone wont slip off the dash of your car and placed it on the treadle for my foot peddle...worked great :) 

Then my printer was a big problem. It is a professional version color laser so it was large and just doesn't fit the theme of the room. So we bought an old Victrola cabinet for it. I forgot to take a before picture but here is the after picture. 

   

 And then... check out what I scored on Craigeslist this week! Yep... a whole bunch of vintage locker baskets! I am an organizational freak and now I am going to have things more organized than I have ever had them before :))

Lace, Ribbon, Yarn, Trimmings Spool Organizer

I am working on getting all my lace and ribbon organized and designed this little spool from some vintage sewing graphics I had. The graphics are available in my little etsy store. 

To make it strong enough I print it on brochure paper or matte finish photo paper. Then use spray glue to attach it to a medium weight matte board... You can purchase medium weight matt board at your local office supply store. Cut it out and sand the edges with a emery board. This will give it a die cut look. You can also dress up the sides with a paint pen or heel and sole dressing that is normally used for shoes and that seals the matt board and really makes it  look vintage too.

I have several styles available so stop by my little etsy store and check them out!

 

Studio Update Sewing Trunk Free Sewing Printable

I know this studio redo is taking forever! I have so many projects and I keep doing a little on this one and a little on that one... and nothing is getting done! So I decided to just get one completed : )

This is what I started with.

First I darkened the interior metal with jewelry blackening, then painted the inside with a dark cream paint. My thought was to paint sign graphics from an antique sewing store sign on it but then I found this fabric and I was in love. Hubby built a shelf that sat on the metal brackets you can see in the picture to hold my sewing machine. It has a drop down cover so I can pull the machine out to sew. We added some large casters so that it would be the right height to sit at and also so that it would open and close easily. 

This is with the drop down desk closed 

... and this is with it open

Oh yes... and the free printable... what else could I post :))

Feel free to pin the thumb above but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

Enjoy!

Inka 

Studio Progress

I wanted to wait and show pictures of the completed studio but things are not going quite as quickly as I had hoped. I keep apologizing for not posting and making up excuses, but the truth is my health has not been great. I had hoped that I could keep up but it really has slowed me down. So I am going to have to just admit that I just can't keep up the pace I have in the past. I love sharing my free printables and I do have so many goodies to share so please forgive me and I will post them as often as I can. Once I get the work on the studio done, I should be able to get some goodies up a little more often.

This is what I started with. I found this awesome bedroom set on craigslist. It had fallen off the truck while being moved so it was in sad shape. The amour's door was missing and someone had put shelf's in it to use it for a bookshelf. There was trim missing on top. a broken drawer in the bottom that did not even match and one foot was badly worm eaten. The trim on the headboard had been busted and some of it was missing. There was a foot board too but it did not get into the picture. The set of drawers were missing some of the nobs and had the top replaced with an odd marble.

But my hubby is handy dandy. He cut the top down on the amour to eliminate the missing trim and also because it was too tall for my studio. The foot board had the same carved feet as the amour so it took one from it and replaced the destroyed foot on the amour. Then he took out the drawer and replaced the shelf's with some oak that he stained the same color. Since I haven't gotten to the decorating stage, it is covered with junk so the finished picture will have to wait.. but it is good!   

Then hubby used the headboard and the piece that went across the bottom of the foot board to make me a desk. We used legs from a table that I had picked up at the thrift shop and some antique picture frame trim that I had found at a yard sale a long while back. He designed a keyboard mechanism so that it disappears up under the desk when not in use.

I have ordered a glass top to fit but for now I am just using a glass cutting board to protect the top until it comes in. As you can see by the pictures, I had a hard time choosing the wall color but after painting three times, I settled on chocolate brown :))

 

 

These baskets have really taken me some time since there are eight of them. I found them at Homegoods and made some altered art fabric liners for them. I will be putting on some antique library label holders on them too. They are sitting on an old wardrobe trunk that I also found on craigslist.... but more on that later :)  

My Table Top Mannequin and Bortree Corsets Paper Doll Free Printable

I really have a treat for you today :) I don't know if you have noticed but I always try to post something that goes along with what I am working on. Well I have been working on my studio. I had planned to make one big post with all my studio projects but things are taking a bit longer than I had hoped... so I thought I would just start posting some of my smaller projects.

I bought this mannequin bust on ebay but as you can see it is not quite my style. A redo was in order. I hated the thought of having to sew a new cover so I thought I would try painting it first. Because I did not want to loose the softness or texture of the fabric, I used some textile medium with my acrylic paint and gave it a whirl... it worked! I added a candle stick to the bottom and then had my son cut me a stencil that I took from one of my favorite paper dolls for the wording.

It now has a home on top of my favorite project so far.. but more of that later.

 

The paper doll that I took my inspiration from is an advertising paper doll for corsets made by Bortree manufacturing. I hope you love her as much as I do :)

Feel free to pin the thumb above but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

Tattered Lighting

Although I have not been blogging much and I had a ton of junk going on, I still somehow found time to do a few creative things around the house and I thought I would share one of them with you today.

I finally got hubby to run the electricity for the wall sconce I picked up on ebay. The shade it came with looked ridiculous. It was an oval but it hit the wall and was obviously too large. I wish I had taken a picture of it before...

So I picked up a round shade at the thrift shop and removed the paper from the wires. Then I cut a third off the back and straightened the wire that I removed, resoldered it back on so that it now had a flat side to go against the wall. Then I wrapped the entire frame with strips of torn muslin.

I sewed on sections of fabric and lace from my scrap bin, added some kewl buttons and...

I ended up with this... I was pretty happy with the outcome.

This is from the side. I wanted you to see how I sewed some of the scraps inside the frame and some on the outside of the frame... it really worked for that tattered effect I was after.

I have been up to a few more projects too! I think I mentioned I was working on a major redo of my studio so here is a sneek peek.

and this is a peek and one of the projects that I am working on too. This is a before glimpse however. I will be posting the before and after of all the projects soon!

Serving Up Silver Platter Paper Dolls

Did you know you can have yourself made into a paper doll? I have not had these listed for some time but just decided I would list them again. These are dolls I did of some of my friends sometime back but I just made some new sheets that you can steampunk any paper dolls with so I used them. This is such a fun idea... Just because I used my paper dolls you really can use any paper dolls.

I just love tarnished silver and I have been looking for ways to merge my art with my decor! Anyway... every time I see a piece of old silver plate in one of the local resale stores... I just have to buy it! Since I don't have a lot of storage in my little house, I have started to just put it on the walls.

Recently I discovered that magnets will stick to some of them. You do have to be careful though, not all silver plate platters will accept magnets. It depends on what base metal they were made with so test them before you buy them. Here are a few ideas I have come up with to give them a little more pizzazz. I have use the magnets to attach old photos and papers, I have added magnetic hooks to hold my jewelry

Or how about hanging scarfs on those hooks!

 

 and now of course... I am dressing them up with paper dolls.

 

 

I just added some magnetic strips to the back of my dolls and instant steampunk decor! These are kinda a grown up version however this would be such a fun way to decorate a little girls room too.

I colored them with watercolor crayons and then added some printed graphics from some of my other collage sheets to steampunk them out. I also added some real gears, feathers and chain to give them an additional layer of interest.

DIY Vintage Bohemian Chic

I hate to keep repeating myself but just for any new followers I will... lol. I lived in a Victorian home in California for 20 years. At that time I love Shabby Chic, but as I aged so did my love of color. When we moved here several years back, I decided for the first time in my life that I wanted new things. We had a house built and I bought the main furniture new. I still had a few old pieces that I just could not give up but I thought I could mix them with the new and come up with my "style". I just felt like I was living in a hotel, so I looked at my art (since that is what I love) and noticed that I just love things that are earth tones, old, rusted, tattered and worn. Looking around the net I discovered what I really wanted was something between Steampunk (Victorian with a futuristic twist) and Vintage Bohemian... I think I am leaning more toward the Vintage Bohemian.

 

 I had a ton of those vintage pink rose shabby chic sheets in storage... just not my style anymore. So I got out my bottle of brown dye and went to work. They came out more of a mauve than they did brown but I still loved them. I think they totally look great on my bed and I really feel I have captured that Gypsy feel with the mix of textures and colors. I also had not realized how much I missed the feel of those vintage cotton sheets... there is just nothing like them :)

Just me and my art, tutorials and free printable

 

Well I guess it is back to "All about me" :)) and things around this house has been just crazy. I did get this frame done and I am also adding a tutorial on how to make authentic looking cab cards below and a free printable to start you off.

The about me part, I have had company for the past couple of weeks and the last of them went home on the 3rd. Whew I thought! My son called me the next morning and told me my beautiful little grandson was sick. It did not look to serious but he was taking him to a doctors appointment. I told him to call me and let me know how he was. Shortly later my son called again and said that the little guy had Fifth disease, a virus that most children get. Between the time he had called me and the time he got him to the doctor he had broken out in the most awful red rash and even some blisters. So he had it to a more severe degree than most. It is not a virus that will really harm him as it will run it's course but if his momma who is 4 months pregnant contracted it there was a risk of significant harm to the unborn baby : / The doctor said it would be best if our little guy and his momma stayed in separate houses... sooo I have a sick little guy for the next week and his momma is in tears too since she can't be there for her sick little one. My son has been running back and forth between the two houses but each time he goes home he has to shower so our little momma doesn't catch it. I just keep saying "Gosh what next!" ... lol

How about how to make authentic looking cab cards! 

First you will need to print your image (and you can use the one below) on semi gloss brochure paper. Then you need some light weight matt board, like the white gift boxes you can get from the dollar store. Oh yes, you will also need a can of craft spray glue.

Cut out the image you are going to use for the front of the cab card and spray glue the backside. Stick it to the light weight matt board and let that dry. Cut out the image you are going to use for the backside leaving about a 14 inch extra around the edges. Spray the backside of your image with glue. Then lay the image already on the matt board onto a light box or hold it against a window so you can see where the edges of the card will be. Align the front image with the back image. Once dry using your already cut out image, cut the matt board and the backside image to match the front.

Use a heavy emery board to sand the edges and round the corners.

Use an ink that matches the print all around the edges also touching it here and there direct to the paper on both the front and the back. Then blend it all with a blending solution or a blending pen. Since I had used a laser printer, I could just use alcohol.

 

I also bend it here and there and bang the corners to give them the look of having been handled through the years.

I placed mine in the frame above with some originals and as you can see it is difficult to tell the difference.

 

 

Now for the printable :)

Feel free to pin the thumbs below but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

Enjoy!

Inka