Last Project of 2010

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

I thought I would squeeze in one more project before the end of the year.  One of my new year's resolutions is to be more organized (it always makes my list) so I decided to make a new memo board to hang in my kitchen (by the door to the garage) to hold notes, coupons, keys, etc.

This project really had me digging through my junk stash.

I took this old cabinet door (the door shows some age with no hardware and numerous drill holes).

I added a vintage doorknob plate.

Some old hinges.

Some vintage hooks.

An antique strike plate (which I used as a label holder).

And finally, six McCaskey Register Co. receipt holders (I had three of these in my stash of "stuff" and found three more this week at an antique store).  I also added number stickers above each of the holders.

And here is the finished memo board (in my dining area to get a picture in good light).

And hanging on the wall holding our keys, some coupons, gift cards, photos and the dog's leash (I still need to conceal the screws holding the memo board with some paint).

I don't know what I like better.....the finished project or the fact that I was able to use some of the random hardware that I had stashed away in my studio.

That's a wrap on 2010.
A great big thanks to all of you for your support this past year.  I have really enjoyed this year of blogging and getting to know so many of you.  I look forward to more of the same in 2011!

Have a safe and happy New Year!

Jane

I'm linking this with several parties this weekend.
Debra @ Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday
Linda @ A La Carte for Junkin Finds Friday
Donna @ Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

Happy Holidays

Book Art

I really like the look of old books, minus the covers, used alone or stacked as part of a display.

For part of a Christmas display I thought it would be fun to dress up one of these old books for the holiday.

This is a super easy and inexpensive project that only requires a book, a color printer and glue (and embellishments if you choose to use them).

Take an old book (can be easily found at thrift stores) and remove the front and back covers.  Make sure that the book's front page has no printing on it.

Carefully remove the blank front page.  You are going to print on this page and glue it back on the book so you want the page to be intact.

Find a Christmas image that you like.  For my book I used a Christmas Word Tree Printable that Tara @ Just Devine Style created for all of us to use for our holiday projects.  Thanks Tara!  Tara has a wonderful blog full of great projects and printables, make sure to check it out.

I sized the printable to fit my book page (a lot of the sizing is trial and error) and ran a copy on a regular sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper.

Once I had the size I wanted, I aligned the book page over the printed area and taped (with as little tape as possible) the book page to the printed sheet.  With the book page secured, place the sheet back in the printer and run a copy.  The printed image will now be on the book page in the exact position that you wanted.

  Carefully remove the tape (the old book pages can be brittle so take your time removing the tape).  Run a line of glue (I used a glue stick) on the spine edge of the printed book page and glue back on the book.

With the image printed directly on the front page of the book, you've created a nice illusion of having an old Christmas book.

At this point you can leave the book as is or embellish with ribbon, tags, etc.

I had some vintage red seam binding and simply tied it around the bottom of the book.

Here's another one I did with an image from The Graphics Fairy.

This idea would also work well with a family photo.  In lieu of a frame, run a copy of a favorite family photo on the book page and reattach to the book.  Just a different way to display a photo.

I'm linking with a few parties tonight:
Debra @ Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday
Linda @ A La Carte for Junkin Finds Friday

Christmas is rapidly approaching!  I'm not finished with my shopping and haven't even begun to wrap.  Family starts arriving this Sunday so I guess I had better get busy.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Jane

Ironstone Platter Display

First I want to say that I hope all my blogger friends in the upper midwest are staying safe and warm.  I know you are getting hit with a big snow storm so please be careful if you have to get out tonight (and let's hope you don't).

No snow here but it is bitter cold and windy and it was a good day to complete some projects.

Working with this drawer was one of the projects.

I bought six of these drawers last spring at a vintage market and they've been sitting in my garage ever since.

When I purchased them I thought I would use them upright as a frame/shadowbox.

The metal piece is spring loaded and I thought that pictures and ephemera would look great positioned behind the metal.

I still think I will use a couple of these for shadowboxes but a new idea came to mind as I was thinking about how I could display some of my ironstone platters.

My house is pretty open, meaning very few walls for me to display my vintage ironstone collection.  I wanted to try and bring some of the platters into the kitchen but the eat-in area of our kitchen is surrounded by windows....great for natural light....bad for displaying much of anything.

There is a little wall space between the windows and I've had these pictures hanging there since we moved to this house 9 years ago.

By now I think you know where I'm going with this.

I took down the pictures and hung three of the drawers on the wall.

I then placed an ironstone platter in each of the drawers behind the spring loaded metal 

piece.

To give you a better perspective, here's a broader picture of the room.

Since I have very little Christmas going on in this room, I dressed up the platter displays with some Santa's, greenery and ornaments.

I'm thinking I could add the word "Joy" on the plates but I'm not sure if I'm going to do that or not.

You might also notice that the drawers have a richer look to them now as compared to the first picture I showed.  I cleaned and oiled them and they really took on a nice rich color.

I am really happy with my new display.  My husband's comment, "are you going to leave those up all year or just for Christmas"?  I had to explain that the platters in the drawers were staying.  I don't think it was the answer he was looking for.....they'll grow on him!

I'm joining some great parties: 

Donna @ Funky Junk Interiors for SNS

Stephanie Lynn @ Under the Table and Dreaming for Showcase Sunday.

Stay warm!

Jane

A Christmas Decoration For The Office

A rubber stamp holder......

 Repurposed for the holiday.

 A fun decoration for the office.

I'm joining Kim @ Savvy Southern Style for her wonderful Boring to Better party!

Hope you're enjoying your week.

Jane

Yardstick Christmas Card Holder Tutorial

Yes....it's another yardstick project. 

There's just something about old yardsticks that appeals to me.  Whenever I see one for a good price it comes home with me.  

Today's yardstick project uses four yardsticks to create a "tree" to display Christmas cards or photos.

 
 This is a simple project to make with very few supplies.  

Materials needed:

4 yardsticks

6 nuts and bolts

Hangers for cards or photos 

Glue 

The first step is to cut the yardsticks for the branches of the tree.  

Only two of the yardsticks will need to be cut so take the other two yardsticks and put them aside (the uncut yardsticks will be used for the base of the tree and the bottom branch).   

Take the third yardstick and cut at the 28" mark.  Put aside both the 28" piece and the leftover 8" piece.

Take the fourth yardstick and cut at the 20" mark.  Put this piece aside.  Cut the remaining 16" piece so that you have a 12" and a 4" piece.

You now have 7 pieces for the tree (2 - 36" pieces, a 28" piece, a 20" piece, a 12" piece, an 8" piece and a 4" piece).  

Assemble as follows (I didn't take pics of each step but you can refer to the finished tree in the first photo):

1.  Take one of the 36" yardsticks and lay it vertically with the 1" mark at the top.  This is the base of the tree.

2.  Take the second 36" yardstick and center it horizontally at the 32" mark of the base yardstick. Drill a hole through both pieces and attach them with the nut and bolt.

3.  Take the 28" piece and center it horizontally at the 26" mark of the base yardstick.  Drill holes and attach.

4.  Take the 20" piece and center it horizontally at the 20" mark of the base yardstick.  Drill holes and attach.

5.  Take the 12" piece and center it horizontally at the 14" mark of the base yardstick.  Drill holes and attach.

6.  Take the 8" piece and center it horizontally at the 8" mark of the base yardstick.  Drill holes and attach.

7.  Take the 4" piece and center it horizontally at the 2 1/2" mark of the base yardstick.  Drill holes and attach.

Now all you need to do is add some clothespins to hold your cards and/or photos.

I had these small clothespins that I found in the office supply section of Walmart.  They come 12 to a package for around $1.99.  I only had 12 on hand and need to go back and buy some more.  I'm guessing that I will use approximately 30 clothespins for my tree.

Glue the clothespins to the "branches" of the tree.  Once the glue has dried the tree is ready to be displayed with your holiday cards, photos or ephemera.

I cut a star out of an old cutter quilt and simply poked a small hole in it and placed it on the nail that the tree is hanging from.

I also added painted house numbers and draped them off the first branch of the tree.

I could also see using cup hooks in place of the clothespins and using this tree to display ornaments.  Or nail small tacks into the yardsticks and use the tree to display tags or numbers for an advent calendar.

Well I think I've pretty much used up my stash of yardsticks.  So rest easy....no more yardstick projects!

I'm linking to several parties today:
Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Jan @ Bobbypin's Boardwalk for Boardwalk Bragfest
Kate @ Censational Girl for The Christmas Craft Linky Party

There is so much inspiration on all of the blogs this time of year!

Jane

Favorite Things

Tonight the theme for the SNS party with Donna @ Funky Junk Interiors is "Favorite Things".

I have a long list of favorite things......but just yesterday I received two new favorite things and I had to post about them tonight.

My first new favorite thing is a giveaway win from the very talented Pammy @ Up In The Attic.  Pammy creates beautiful jewelry pieces (amongst other things) and she recently hosted a giveaway of one of her "Santa Baby Bubbles".  

I love Santa's (I posted about part of my collection last week) so I was very excited to win one of Pammy's jewelry pieces.

Look how beautifully the gift was wrapped.

The paper cone made from Christmas sheet music with a beautiful Glad Tidings medallion is a gift in and of itself!

And I love how Pammy used her business card to secure the Santa Baby Bubble necklace (isn't that the cutest picture)

The bubble is two-sided.  Santa on one side....

and "guess who's coming to town" on the back.  

Thank you Pammy for this beautiful gift.  You can be sure I will be wearing it all month!  Head on over to Pammy's blog, Up In The Attic, and pay her a visit, you won't be disappointed.  She has a website too where she has lots of beautiful things for sale, including the Santa Baby Bubble.  You can access the website from her blog.

Oh....I almost forgot....Pammy hosts a monthly meme called Project Monday.  It is held on the second Monday of every month.

My second new favorite thing is Christmas related as well.

Late last year I found a Christmas tablecloth at the thrift store.  The tablecloth was square, sized for a card table.  I gave it to my mom and asked if she would make an apron out of it for me.  Here's the cute apron she gave me yesterday.

 I just love the jolly Santa's on the fabric.  To mimic the black belt running across the bottom of the fabric, she gave the apron a black waistband and attached a big silver buckle.

She was able to make two aprons out of the one $4.00 tablecloth and my SIL is the lucky recipient of the other one.

Thanks Mom.

The old saying goes "It's better to give than to receive" but in this case I'm glad I was on the receiving end of these two wonderful gifts.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

Jane

Incorporating Vintage Pieces into Holiday Decorating

What a busy time of year this is for the holiday blog parties!  I am linking to several of the parties today and they are listed at the end of the post.  Let me know if there are any I am missing.

I spent some time decorating in my dining room last night using a mix of vintage Christmas ornaments and everyday vintage pieces.  

The base for my vignette was the vintage printer's drawer I turned into a tray.  I posted about it here. 

Using several of the vintage pieces I had in my fall display, I switched out the autumn colors for the traditional red and green of Christmas.

An ironstone bowl filled with red and green Shiny Brite ornaments.

 A vintage shoe form nestled among some greens.

 Three vintage ornaments sitting on silver napkin rings with a Homer Laughlin pitcher displayed behind them.  They are all being reflected by a round antique mirror.

 A second antique mirror displays a rooster planter made in Japan holding some old silver forks, a Santa creamer, and a vintage winking Santa.

 A tarnished cream and sugar bowl sitting atop a small ironstone platter displays more vintage ornaments.

 Three antique wood mashers are transformed for the holiday with red and green ribbon.

 An ironstone platter displays a pitcher with more old silverware, another winking Santa, and a holiday letter "E" (one of my collections) which is a new gift from my SIL (thanks Susie from Des Moines).

 The vignette also includes a thrift store wreath embellished with another "E" and one of the Santas from my collection.

The display is anchored by a little silver tree on the left.

And a small white tree (thrift store find this week for $1.00) sitting in a silver champagne bucket on the right.

 I really enjoyed incorporating all of my vintage and thrift store finds into my decorating.

And if you're wondering why I didn't show the vignette from the front....this mess on the dining room table is in my way!  The plan is to get the decorating finished this weekend and the mess put away.....we'll see.

Happy Friday!

I'm joining the following parties:

Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality for The Christmas Vignette party
Debra @ Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday
Linda @ A La Carte for Junkin Finds Friday
Chania @ Razmataz for The Vignette Photo Challenge

Tammy @ Tinsel & Company for Deck The Halls Friday

Jane