Hand Made Flower Seed Paper Plantable Heart Favors

Today I'd like to show you how to make a fun and Eco-friendly way to celebrate love: Plantable flower seed heart favors made from hand made paper.  Sure, Valentine's Day is just around the corner but these recycled paper hearts would make great favors for wedding guests, bridal showers or Mother's day brunch and making hand made paper is a great kids craft too! 

Stirring Up A Little Lighting - Paint Stir Lamp

If you follow Serendipity Refined on Facebook then, earlier tonight, you saw this photo with the caption "Anyone want to guess what this is?"

Of course, Chris figured out what it was, as did several others.

If you read blogs with advertising, chances are you've seen this lamp. It's from Shades of Light and it's $229. I saw it a while back and thought that it would be cute for the patio. I pinned it on Pinterest and forgot about it for awhile. So long, in fact, that I couldn't find it this morning when I looked for it but it's there now!

When today's weather forecast finally called for cooler weather and the chance to sit outdoors tonight. I decided that it was time to make it. 

 I grabbed a stack of paint stirs, an old lamp shade frame  and my hot glue gun.
 (Note: if I had this to do over again, I'd use a straight drum shade frame, I think that it would be easier to work with).

 

 I glued the stirs to the frame. Then I made a cup of very strong black tea. No, it's not because I'm nuts and I like a nice hot cup of tea when it's over a hundred degrees outside. It's even better than that. I made tea to paint with.  The tea was used to treat the paint stirs so that I could finally prove that I could age wood using the Steel Wool and Rust Method that I tried (and failed at) back in March

 I tried it out on an extra stir and it worked!   So, the next step was to use it on the lamp.  First, I painted the wood with tea, then with the "iron oxide" that I made from steel wool, white vinegar and a some rusty metal, back in March.  As you can see, the wood instantly turns a really nice shade of grey/brown.

 This would have been just fine had I wanted it to just look "old". But it was the color that I was after!

 First I brushed on a white wash.

 

 Then, a random mix of shades of blue and green to add to the white and gray. These are the colors of my patio and the table that I'm building which I hope to show you soon.

 

Then, I grabbed a light kit from Cost Plus World Market. (They also have them at Ikea.) 

Some rope from Home Depot.

I tried to use embroidery hoops to cover the metal rings on the lamp shade frame but I couldn't find any that were the right size so I decided to use white nylon rope instead.  I fastened the ends of  the rope using a little hot glue and some waterproof white adhesive tape.  I slipped the rings around the lamp and glued them into place.  Then, I simply threaded the light socket through the center of the frame and hung the lamp on the patio!

 That's all there was to it.

 

This is how it looked tonight when it was finally cool enough to sit outdoors!

The weather man was actually correct this time! At around 5:00, the wind shifted to the north and the temperature dropped over thirty degrees. Tonight, it was 77 glorious degrees and I was delighted to be sitting under the pergola, enjoying a cool summer's evening. (Even with the crazy Christmas Tree Lot Lights that are strung around the lower patio!)

For the record, (in case you really don't know me at all) the tree lot lights were NOT my idea. However, in the spirit of "equal representation", they're there, around the perimeter of the lower patio, on stakes that I need to paint with tea and rust so that maybe they'll "blend in" a little better.  Admittedly, everyone has their own sense of what may be considered "beautiful".  

For me, it's a paint stir lamp with a single, 60 watt, bulb. For the men in my life, it's 4,000 watts of lights that look like a Christmas Tree (or used car) lot and can be seen from a half mile away. 

I don't turn them on often. (Mainly because I'm afraid that a plane trying to land at O'Hare airport will mistake my yard for a runway!)

UPDATES:  

• I decided that I should probably protect it from the elements so, this morning, I sprayed it with some clear polyurethane.
• A HomeTalk reader brought up a valid point about the socket and moisture from outdoors so I applied silicone caulk to the top of the socket where it meets the cord and added a rubber washer where the bulb meets the socket.

 xo,

Linking to:
At The Picket Fence
Beneath My Heart
Cherished Bliss
Coastal Charm
DIY Dreamer
DIY Showoff
Get Outta My Head Please
Homestead Simple
HomeStories A to Z
Hubby Made Me 
I Should Be Mopping the Floor
In The Old Road
Krafty Kat
Not Just a Housewife
Not Just a Housewife - best of 2012
SavvySouthernStyle
The Style Sisters
The Dedicated House

 Featured at:
 http://www.refabdiaries.com/2012/08/upcycle-paint-stirrer-lamp-shade.html (ReFab Diaries)

Crochet Cotton Washcloths with Free Pattern Link

 I love white cotton! From the sheets and lace draperies in my bedroom to the towels and cloths in my kitchen, I simply can't get enough of the stuff!   Yesterday, I had a few hours of "unassigned time" while riding in the car on the way to visit family in Rockford so, I decided to made productive use of it by crocheting some fresh, white, cotton, kitchen wash cloths.

I found the FREE pattern, here . Thank you, Design Sponge!

The only alteration that I make is that I use a size H crochet hook because I like my cloths a little larger. Using size H, my cloths turn out just under 12" x 12" square prior to washing.

The pattern calls for only chain and half-double crochet stitches. Easy peasy!  There's a link to a tutorial for how to make HDC, just in case you need a refresher! 

What a great way to spend a Saturday. I was able to see my family AND got four new kitchen cloths, too!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

xo,

S

Linking to:
Freckled Laundry

Vintage Market Recap - WARNING: HEAVY PHOTO CONTENT

This weekend, I was blessed to be a part of a wonderful, Vintage Market at the home of my dear friends, Polly and Steve from Counting Your Blessings. These gracious hosts not only cleared the first floor of their historic farmhouse for this event, they also assembled a group of incredibly talented, smart, funny and crazy-talented vendors in which I was humbled to be included. 

Valentines Day Felt Wreath and Pillows



Remember the cute felt wreath that my friend, Diane Passi told me how to make?  The hot pink one on the mantel in the prior post? Well, I liked it so much that I made another one! It's red this time, for the kitchen. Since a couple of you asked, here's a recap of the materials and a couple of close ups of the wreath in progress:

Materials: Heart wreath form, 1/2 yard of wide felt cut into 3 inch circles, ribbon in the same color as your felt, straight pins.

 Wrap the wreath form with the ribbon, fold the circles into quarters and pin them to the form...that's it!

Since I had some felt left over and my sofa was looking a little bland after the holidays, I decided to make a few felt pillows to make things a little more "cheery". Here's what I came up with for the family room:



I love working with felt!!!! It is pretty inexpensive, doesn't fray when you cut it, and it comes in fabulous colors! I used the least expensive felt at JoAnn's Fabric and had a 50% off coupon. I think that I ended up paying about $2.50 per yard for 72 inch wide felt. 

These pillows above are a combination of hand stitching and machine stitching but there's absolutely no reason that they could not have been done entirely by hand or using hot glue and/or spray adhesive. I decided to stitch mine since I hope to use them for a couple of years. I downloaded the pattern for the Cherub and made up the rest of the patterns as I went along.

I have a sewing machine that embroiders which I used to embroider the word "Love" on the cherub pillow and the "Be Mine" on the heart pillow. You could hand embroider or even use fabric paint for these.

I'm currently working on the family room mantel. Here's the ribbon and fabric garland that I'm using (it's easy to make. Cut cotton twine to the desired length leaving some on the ends to hang with. Cut 6 to 8 inch lengths of ribbon, felt, fabric, tulle, lace, or what ever else you have around (you may also want to add some hearts and wire "curls") tie the ribbons on the twine and, viola!, "almost instant" garland!

I'll show you the mantel and a few other projects that I'm working on in a few days. Until then, they're finally forecasting some snow for the 'burbs, so I should probably at least try to find my mittens! 

xo,

S