Craft, Interrupted

Look how sweet they are.

Docile....

Well-mannered....

Right?

Not always.

Just when you're trying to lay burlap out for a project....

Or tie some toile cloth....

Or transfer letters onto a wooden sign...

Or photograph something for your Etsy shop....

or for your blog....

....they slip in and, well, interrupt.

I love my cats, but when I craft, this is the only sight of them I welcome:

You can see Amos and Rush at the Pet Party!

Signs of Spring--An Entrance Table

After the opulence of Christmas and the overwhelming sweetness of Valentine's, I'm ready for a refreshing spring entrance table....

A fresh white tray, a yellow Vera Bradley plate, and a bluebird plaque, neatly stacked, all atop a green burlap and yellow toile runner.

Silk tulips in a metal tin (from back when I worked at PB, those were the days!), and a framed-with-toile bird egg print from The Graphics Fairy.

I removed the lid from my DIY apothecary jar and filled it with moss.

Happy Spring!




To see what parties I link to, see my Blog Parties tab! I'm also linking to:

Dreaming of "Mon Jardin"

I studied French in high school, college, and graduate school, so it's always fun for me to throw some Francais around my home.  Combine the fact that I am DYING for Spring to chase away the last of Winter so I can get out in my garden....and you have my latest craft:  a handpainted "jardin" sign.

I already made a farmhouse sign from the reclaimed wood I got from a family barn in Georgia.  I used the smaller piece I cut last time for this project.

I painted on a smeary mix of brown and black acrylics to cover up the red.

It soaked into the grain beautifully. I almost wanted to leave it like this!

I applied a crackle medium, warm white paint, and then used an oak gel stain to further distress the corners of the wood.

The paint and crackle medium worked beautifull with the old wood.  For the letters, I used the same technique I did here and filled them in with "Tahiti Blue."

So to dispell the rest of winter's drear, I will dream of "mon jardin."

To see what parties I'm linking to, check my Blog Parties tab.  I'm also linking to:

This is also my first week of linking up at Sunday Showcase and Favorite Things Friday!

Home Management Notebook

During this period when I get to be happy homemaker, I'm trying to make the most of my time and start good habits that can last me a lifetime.

At some point (and some place) recently, I read about starting a "home management" notebook.  I love managing things, and I love notebooks, so of course I made one!

This was another one of those projects where I was determined to use ONLY what I already had. That way, I wouldn't go to Michael's and go crazy on the scrapbook aisle.

My husband has tons of notebooks left from grad school.

I just hot glued yellow toile onto it.  I kept wanting to doll up the front, but I reminded myself that this is supposed to be FUNCTIONAL, so too many embellishments would get in the way.

I visited The Graphics Fairy and just went to town!  She has pretty banners that I downloaded and typed my categories into.

I decided to make sections for monthly bills, expenditures, appointments, and garden (I like to keep track of when I plant what!).

I took dividers (I'm so glad we have a well-stocked home office) and scrapbook paper from my stash and set up my pages.

Look at these beautiful graphics I included from The Graphics Fairy.  They fit right in with my sections.

I could easily just grab an accordian file or spiral notebook to keep track of things, but where's the fun in that?

I do love being organized!

I'm linking up to the parties on my Blog Parties tab as well as: