More Thrift Store Finds

Hi!
Things are going crazy here! My apartment needed  so many repairs, and finally the landlord decided to do it. First were the plumbers to re pipe, them the dry wall guys, the carpet cleaners, today is floor replacement day. Soon they will send the painters.

Since all I do now is clean a mess after another, I will just post some fun stuff from  Salvation Army.

First, a granny square blanket in very good condition, looking like new! I just love Thrifty Stores, don't you?

Them this cool room divider. I am still working on the pictures. I love it! Great way to display family pictures.

The Hallmark Family Tree. I got the set of ornaments on e-bay. I am trying to get another one.
Sometimes I am very lucky there.
Hope soon I can have a normal life again. I started decorating for Christmas, but things are going very slow.
Take care!

Recycled denim backpack

Hi!
As I promised, here is one more handmade Christmas idea.
Usually when my daughter's clothes don't fit her anymore, I donate to charity or give to a friend.
But, there are some stuff that I just can't do it.
So, sometimes to put it to good use. How? Making something new! Recycling!
Here is an example.
I had a cute denim baby dress that Brenda wore just a few times. Too cute to get rid of!
I am a teddy bear maniac, and this little cutie is so adorable...I had to save her somehow.
I got some scraps of flannel from Brenda's baby quilt.

She loves bags to carry her things. So, I made her a backpack.
The dress was very small, I had to be creative putting the pieces of fabric together.
I used some crazy quilting embroidery stitches. I had fun making this!

As you can see, I used the material from a tiny baby dress and flannel scraps the best I could.
The pattern is very simple, A drawstring bag  as a backpack.
Brenda loves it. She can carry a little snack , toys or a book.

My suggestion is to make something similar as a gift bag this Christmas.

I plan to make Brenda a new one and put a book and some little treats inside.
That's my idea for a fabric gift bag. A green gift bag that can be used long after Christmas.

Thanks for reading my blog! I hope this can inspire you as many of you talented ladies inspire me.

Garage Sale Finds

Hi!

Today I want to show you something that I found some time ago at a garage sale.
If I remember correctly the lady of the house was going to a assisted living place and her nieces and nephews were there to clean up the house.

I looked around, was already very picked over, but them I spotted a pile of collectible plates covered with dust.

I am a huge Hans Christian Andersen fan.  So... there is no need to say how excited I was to find it.

Everything was very dusty. I started to pick up the plates.
I saw some vintage crochet doilies and a tablecloth.
They told me that I could have all 10 plates for 10 dollars...I asked about the crochet stuff and all was included on the deal. Nice!

I feel sorry for someone that collected these plates for all those years...she loved them, I am sure. I always think how sad is when you get old or you die and your family sell your treasures . These are my favorites.

 The little Mermaid

The little match girl. It is my favorite Andersen story.

I love this one too. I love all of them.
Looks like this plates were made until 1999. About 30 plates. I believe the 10 plates I got are from the first year they were made.
Now the crochet. I gave them a good soak.
The tablecloth has some holes, but the doilies are in good condition.
I will probably cut parts of the tablecloth to use in some Shabby Chic sewing projects.

Not bad for 10 dollars! What do you think?

Mini Quilt and Doll Bed Handmade Christmas Gift Idea

Hi! With the holidays approaching I decided to share some handmade gift ideas. Things that you can make using scraps,recycled fabrics, thrift store finds, things that you already have at home and very little money.
Some time ago I made this for my daughter.

First, I found this cute bed at Salvation Army. I have a weakness for doll furniture.

Them I painted it white. I used a gloss white craft paint from Michael's.
I made the mattress using a recycled Laura Ashley fabric from a pillowcase and some fiberfill.

I had  some Flower Fairies Fabric squares from England that I got on e-bay. I used the cutest one and some scraps to make this little quilt. My own design.

I also made a matching  little pillow, and invited a little bear from the toy box to sleep on the bed!

She (it's a girl) likes her new bed, don't you think?
Please check back soon and I will have more handmade Christmas gift ideas.
Thanks for reading my blog.

Mystery Christmas quilt

A couple of years ago I found these pictures on the web and just felt in love with this project.
The problem is that I don't know where I found it. If someone out there owns the pictures, or if you are on the pictures, I apologize in advance for using them without previous permission.

I would love to see the finished quilt, that looks like a wall hanging to me. It must be gorgeous. I am not really a quilter, but if I can find out who the designer is, I will get this pattern and try it out. I don't think is that hard.

So, please quilters, if you know who is the designer, I would like to know.

Please leave a comment.
The ladies on the picture did a great job! Nice to see their choices of fabric.

I would love to hear from you. Maybe I can make this in time for Christmas!
Thanks.

Christmas elf

Happy Halloween!
With Halloween almost over, is time for Thanksgiving  decor .
I started to stitch  Lizzie Kate's pair of pilgrims but it will not be done by Thanksgiving.

Well, Friday I went to Michael's to get this little guy.
I had seen him before, but since at the time I did not had a coupon, I had to come back to get him.
Even dear husband that is very hard to please on this things likes him.

Look his little face...just adorable!
They have other kinds, like a baker and a toy maker, all very sweet.

Now, I just have to think where to display him when the time comes.

Thanks for reading my blog!

Beautiful pictures on Flickr

Some time ago I found  some beautiful pictures on flickr.
Flickr has lots of cool talented people, and this lady from Craft and Creativity is just amazing.
Lovely little girls, lovely crafts, lovely everything.
Take a look here and you will agree with me.

Flower Fairies birthday party

I am  finally posting about my daughter's birthday.
It was on a Saturday in June.
Because we all love fairies, the beautiful Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies were the theme.
I tried  to stick with the theme as much is possible, with some variations.
I saw a cute fairy ring cake and toadstool cupcakes at Cathy Gaubert's blog.
Also, I loved the idea of girls sitting on toadstools that I saw on flickr.
So, I had to mix Flower Fairies with toadstools.
We got the Flower Fairies Postcard book at Amazon. It is a cute little book with 30 postcards that you can tear off. They are so cute that I had a hard time picking the ones to send to the guest as invitations. I had some left that I used on frames and on plants - Lavender fairy on a lavender plant, Rose fairy on a rose plant and so on.

I made a Flower Fairy costume for my birthday girl... and she was so cute!

We live in an apartment, but I was able to use a little bit of space outside.

I made almost everything for the party. I love to make things for my sweetie and we had a small budget .
I think this cake was not only a very cute idea but also great for someone like me with no talents on cake decorating.
The fairy is an ornament from San Francisco music box that I already had.
My friend Jodie made the wooden mushrooms.

I made a Fairy Garden using a bowl, a silk plant, Spanish moss, two big mushrooms from World's Market, more of Jodie's mushrooms and another Flower Fairy ornament from San Francisco Music box.

The fairy wand cookies were made by my friend Anniece. I gave one to each girl as they left .
I made a little bag with their name on  for each girl . They put the prizes they got after each game in it. They also took home their felt "toadstool".

The party favors were fabric yo-yo hair clips, bead bracelets, crayons and gummy candies.
I hanged some paper tag ornaments (freebie from a card making magazine) on silk flowers and twigs that I put on a pitcher.
I got the Flower Fairies mobile online. It is decorating my girl's  room now.

We had a hard time choosing the games.
The birthday girl has some limitations because of her condition. We needed fun games with no running or jumping.
We decided  to have Packing for Fairy Land, Spin the fairy wand and Fairy freeze. We planned two crafts but had time only for one.
The food was finger food ... fairy food. Strawberries, grapes, melon, veggies and cheese sandwiches in a flower shape.

The girls had a great time and I had so much fun planning and making my cutie's special day.

Halloween Fabric Bunting

Hi! Yesterday I made a fabric bunting. Very fast and easy. I got the fabrics at Joann.
I am really trying to make more fall projects this year.
I like the fall holidays, but not as much as Christmas. Because of that I have the tendency to make lots of Christmas stuff. Until end of fall I plan to squeeze a couple more fall projects while making Christmas gifts.

One more Cross Stitch Finish

Hi!
This is French Country Pumpkin from JBW designs.  I really enjoyed stitching it.

I wanted to make some new fall stitching this year and this is my first one. I am working on other projects but I don't think I will finish on time, since I have to start on Christmas stitching very soon.