hats and hat shops

Photo source Madhatters and Friends

Isn't this blue hat fabulous? With Easter just a few days away I started thinking about hats. I wish ladies here in the US would wear hats more often like they do in the UK. When I first started crafting and selling at fairs years ago one of the things I made was garden hats. I still love them and will find any excuse to wear one. I also love old millinery flowers, especially velvet ones. I try to keep an eye out  for them at antique stores and thrift shops. They are getting harder and harder to find and becoming pretty expensive too.

Photo source BBC Homes and Antiques.

Hat shops just fascinate me. There's something whimsical and magical about walking into one. Peeking in a hat shop window is like looking through the looking glass. You just know there's something extraordinary on the other side. Maybe it's the appeal of becoming someone different when you put a hat on. Nothing can make you feel like a heroine from a Jane Austen novel more than a wide flower drenched picture hat. So I think I might see about reworking one of my old hats this year. I'm sure I've got something stashed away somewhere. It's time to go digging in the old junk closet.

Photo source BBC Homes and Antiques.

tea and azaleas

Once in a while I get a day I like to call my perfect weather day. A mix of sun and clouds with a cool crisp breeze. I'm more of a cool rather than warm weather person. Probably because we get long unbearable 100+ days as early as May going all the way into September. I think a little cloud cover makes all the colors pop and there's just something magical to me about sunlight peeking behind gray skies. Having spent the last couple of days preoccupied with cars needing repair and getting my son ready for a regional science fair I finally allowed myself a little time to play.

It started with an innocent cupcake. I had planned to share just a few pictures of my cupcake and a handful of pink things. Well once I realized the weather was MY perfect weather I couldn't resist.

I found a trail of bright pink azaleas so I ran in and grabbed my sparkly pink slides (fabulous thrift shop find for $2.98) and matching bright azalea tights.

It was such a lovely, lovely day I brought my cupcake outside and indulged in a garden tea.

I picked up this vintage cotton canvas rose covered shower curtain about 17 years ago! I love using it as a table cover. Aren't the azaleas yummy?

To see my cupcake and the rest of my Tea and Azalea frolic  just click here. Turn your volume on if you'd like to hear the music too. Make sure to stop over at our hostess Beverly's place for more pink.

Happy Pink!

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And the gift tag giveaway winner is.....

#10 Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage!! Congratulations!!

Everyone who left a comment was entered,
excluding myself and any double posts  for a total number of 27 entries.

the luna bonbon belly workout

Even better than pilates! Miss Luna finds a more effective way to use my husband's weights. At least she's not chewing on them!

spray paint and pixie dust

I might have mentioned once that my 'workroom' is just a part of my dinning room. A wooden hutch, a small table and a rolling cart for my sewing machine are where I keep all my creative stuff. A few years ago I picked up this painted iron stand and used it near the kitchen for about a year. When I changed everything around I put it out on the patio where it's been rusting and weathering for at least 4 years.

Now I actually love the rusted patina it's taken on which looks great with all my plants and gardening stuff.

But I'm going to bring it back in and use it for my crafts so I picked up a can of 'Heirloom White' spray paint and after giving it a good brushing and washing I sprayed on a new coat or two.

Since I literally had to watch paint dry I grabbed my camera and took advantage of some pretty spring sunlight.

I love how you get a completely new perspective on old familiar things when you look through a camera lens.

This amber glass candle lantern casts the most magical glow at twilight, my favorite time of day.

I think that little corner under the nectarine tree would be a perfect spot for tea!

There's even a little fairy waiting in the shade.

I wish I could stay and visit a little while longer. I can tell she's full of ideas and stories after her long winter wait. But today is for getting things done and even a Pisces dreamer like myself has to walk away every now and then or things just start to pile up! Time to check on that stand.

I'll miss that lovely old rusted patina but I'm also excited to try this new look. As soon as those nasty paint fumes go away I'll put it in it's new home.

Lots of places to hang gift tags, banners and all that good stuff!

Voila! Several hours later I have a new place to hold supplies and display a few favorite things.


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♥ Like the Dress Gift Tags displayed in my pic? ♥


You can still enter to win them in this week's GIVEAWAY!
Click here to go to it.

pink saturday #2 and a gift tag giveaway

Happy Pink Saturday and Happy Spring! My blog is full of so much pink that I thought I'd share something from an older post and a couple from recent ones too.

I was visiting my mom a month ago and found her old sewing box. I took a few pics including this collection of pink items. Going through her sewing box was one of my favorite things to do. It was fun to find things again that I haven't seen in ages.

I rainy day trip to Target last week. I wish these came in my size!

This is from a recent post but I had to include it. Luna checks out my latest thrift store find. This set of pink melamine cups were just 2.98

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And here is my Pink Saturday giveaway!

"4 dresses from Mademoiselle Amelie's trunk"

These oversize gift tags are 3 3/4in x 5in. They are handmade by me from scrapbook paper, tissue flowers and my favorite thrift store raspberry ribbon. I embellished the dresses which are from a gift bag from my collection. Use for wedding, birthday, mother's day, or any special day. Label your own pretty things or decorate your favorite creative space.

If you would like to enter just leave a comment on this post and

mention that you're entering the giveaway.

You don't have to become a follower but I would love it if you do! I'll leave the contest open for a week and announce the winner on Saturday the 27th. I'll use a random generator to choose the winner next Friday night. Happy Pink!

You can see another project with my raspberry ribbon here

'soar' gift tag garland banner

Another fun banner I'm working on. I couldn't find ready made letters I like so I made these from a font on my computer. I love the word 'soar'. I thought of letting your creative voice sing and taking flight.

Each letter has mini wings. A little girly, a little vintage with a wee bit of an edge.

The organza ribbon was a thrift shop find.

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GO HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S GIVEAWAY!!

 

 

thrifty finds

Went to visit my favorite thrift shop today and found a couple of great deals. Of course the ever curious Miss Luna had to check everything out to see if they met her approval.  The set of blush pink melamine teacups were 2.98 and a package of odds and ends that included the paper and crochet doilies and a few rolls of ribbon that I forgot to put in the pic were .99 cents. (I'm thinking tea party props!) It was worth it for the paper doilies alone which were nicer than the ones I've seen at the party store and even came pre-aged! Best buy was the Tracy Porter decorating book for 2.98.

Crunch, crunch! Better than that silly bunny's ear!

I'll take this one then!

curious

The last thing I remember was staring at my computer screen struggling to keep my eyes open. Another late, late night working on my crafts. I wanted to check the schedule for the new Alice movie, hoping I would find time to see it this week. I clicked on the theater link and the little hour glass started spinning....and spinning. Yawn. Still spinning. When did that icon change to a pocket watch? Maybe my son was playing with the settings again and thought this would be nice for a change.

Did he change the desktop too? This is definitely not the theater website. Curious.

Must be some new Flash application. Yet something was oddly familiar about that birdcage...

Zooming in on something shiny I found this treasure behind the cage door. 'Open me!' Did I just hear that? I clicked to turn up the volume but in a blink the image had faded away. Somehow I had nodded off and caught myself tipping out of my chair in that way you do when you catch yourself just falling into a deep sleep. What a curious little dream. I shut everything down, called to Luna and crawled into bed. I'll check on the movie schedule after a few hours of sleep.

Bright and early Monday morning I vaguely remembered a fading dream about a very familiar birdcage. It was my old birdcage! Tucked away in a corner still holding the silk flowers I threw in there too long ago, gathering a shameful layer of dust and cat hair. (Note to self: Pick up one of those fluffy duster refill thingies later.) Out of the corner of my eye something sparkled in the morning sunlight.

Reaching in I smiled and giggled out loud. I think Mrs Bunnie is up to something again! I opened up the pocket watch and found the tiniest little note tucked inside. I will tell you all about it very soon....

springing forward

"I'm late...I'm late!" I felt like the White Rabbit this morning. Losing that extra hour is never my favorite thing. Especially when I stayed up waaay past my bedtime. Let's just say I acutally watched the clock on my computer go from 1:59 to 3:00! But one cup of hot chocolate later I felt more like myself so I popped over to my workshop (really just an itty bitty corner of my dining room) to review my late night project.

Oh dear! I forgot to put this wee bottle in the oven last night. I was feeling a touch of Alice in Wonderland when I started painting it. I also worked on a new set of tags that I made into this little garland.

I never knew making tags could be so much fun! I think it's the little size that appeals to me.

poor mrs penny bunnie

Greetings Pink Saturday bloggers! I decided to include this entire post for my first Pink Saturday offering. It's the accidental second part of a little tale I started the day before (see Creative Inspiration and Buttered Toast). You'll find a touch of pink if you choose to read it or if you like you can just scroll down to the end of the post and see a pink craft project I made this week. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Pink Saturday!

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It seems that my dear friend Mrs Penny Bunnie had a bit of a mishap following her last visit with me. After I finished with my photos I took a break and popped into the kitchen to have my toast and cocoa. I left everything on my table with plans to tidy up after. Luna happily munched on the tiny piece of toast I gave her then trotted off to start her morning hunt for Mr Mau, her toy mouse. I didn't notice how quiet things were until I heard an unfamiliar crunch. There on the table was Luna with her mouth around one of Mrs Penny Bunnie's ears, furiously crunching away!

Poor Mrs Penny Bunnie! I've had her for 9 lovely mishap free years. Every Spring she pops out of her cupboard and makes herself at home in my little Easter displays. My last 2 kitties have never had an interest in her except for a passing sniff every now and then. But Luna, being the very curious kitten that she is decided a sniff wasn't enough. So I quickly wrapped Mrs Bunnie's ears with a pink velvet ribbon and a scrap of old  lace.

Since my garden was fresh out of rabbit holes I offered Mrs Bunnie a hat box to burrow in while she was on the mend.

Word of her misfortune quickly got around. Soon Miss Hyacinth Peep waddled over to console her best friend and to keep her company.

Hyacinth was such a good listener that she didn't mind Mrs Bunnie repeating her woeful tale 22 times. She even brought her friend more lace and a pretty pink button to cheer her up. After all nothing makes an ailing friend feel better than something pretty and something pink!

Mrs Penny Bunnie started to feel better after awhile. Even deciding to forgo having her broken ear mended as she was due for a brand new look anyway. Hyacinth couldn't agree more which made Mrs Bunnie very happy because a good friend always supports your personal fashion choices no matter how daring they may be.

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Later (much much later) that night I eventually got around to starting the gift tags I had been planning to make. Inspired by Mrs Bunnie's tale and because I decided to participate in my first Pink Saturday this weekend I made a few color changes. Mrs Bunnie was kind enough to share some of her vintage lace and the pink button she received from her dear friend Hyacinth Peep. Here are my first collage gift tags using the Distress Ink pad I recently picked up. The color is called Tea Dye. I think it's my favorite new toy! I'm really excited about trying it on lots of other projects. Perhaps I'll send a tag over to Mrs Bunnie.

See more Pink Saturday blogs at Beverly's.