White Wednesday with Prior Lives

I have an old locker basket with a couple dozen old porcelain, brass, and glass door knobs.  I got them out to make some picture holders.  Amongst the knobs I had these two lock sets, that I'd forgotten I had.  They are off of doors from the old farm house my family lived in until I was 13.  

So heck I make them into picture holders as well!    

 

I even found some of my old skeleton keys that turn the locks!

 

Kinda makes me wonder how secure those old houses were if I should just happen to have

flea market keys that  work these locks.

 

Some pictures my niece sent me form Memorial Day Weekend at my Mom's house.

One of these is white so I'm linking up with  

Kathleen's White Wednesday over at Faded Charm .

The party guests aways bring some yummy whites for us to enjoy!

And since these 'picture holders' were door locks in their prior lives, I'm linking up with 

Lezlee's, Prior Lives Party over at her blog Prior Lives.

Go check out all the other reinventions and pictures of a beautiful old house you're gonna just love!

Master Bath - White Wednesday

Oh man, where does the time go, I missed last weeks White Wednesday!?  And I had taken these pictures 2 weeks ago!  All righty then..... 

These pictures are of the whites in our master bath.

This dresser is in the little jog/hallway off the bedroom with the bath on the left and the closet on the right.  I use it to keep purses.

Of the 4 dressers in our bedroom and bath, this is the only dresser that actually holds clothes.  Wasn't really conscious of that until now.  All the others hold good junk, stuff that I really need, nothing so insignificant as socks and undies!  Memo board made with different vintage laces. 

The niche my sink.  No pictures of our actual sinks, which are in fact white, they must have required more effort to make them picture ready than I cared to put forth at the time.  I keep my make up in this bottom cabinet.

It's not that I really had to have plates in the bath, I just really liked the birdie and flowers on this plate hanger and had to find a spot for it.  So here it is.

This, not so great picture, is in the WC, which is still white because I thought I might paint it a different color than the rest of the bath, why, I don't know, heaven forbid I should be done painting.  Anyway, the point of the picture is to show the curtain.  Not sure you can tell, the window is very high up, that mirror on the left is the door from an armoire, that I use as a full length mirror.  I used a vintage lace panel, one of 8 that used to hang in my Granma's LR.

Now don't miss out on the fun of all the other 

White Wednesday treats Kathleen has gathered for us all to see over at Faded Charm.

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Rosettes to the Rescue

I'm kinda messy, I mean food traveling from the plate to my mouth has a high probability of landing on my shirt.  So it was no huge surprise when my favorite white T-shirt turned up dingy at the neckline.  It's a favorite because it fits so well, a nice wide neckline and didn't shrink up to reveal my belly after washing.  As soon as I realized it washed up so well, I went back to Eddie Bauer to get another but alas, they had no more, so sad.  

All the more reason to save this one, the plan..... 
rosettes to the rescue!

I found this technique for twisted fabric roses on the  
Wonder How To web site, link here.

The gal demoed how to twist the fabric and glue onto card-stock.  I just used the same twisting technique only stitching the twisted rows to each other from the back instead of gluing to a base.  

Pretty simple, I did these on a car trip, with the help of Dramamine.

I tried a variety of trims for fabric.  Some ribbon, lace fabric, ruffles. 

 The one I ended up liking the best was a wide embroidered ruffle that kind of had a dotted swiss base.  I cut this in half which made some embroidered and some dotted swiss. 

I think I'll make more of each to see if I like it better with all matching rosettes, instead of the mix.

This project is not quiet done but I wanted to post and link to the Rosette Party going on over at The French Cupboard this weekend.  Do yourself a favor and check out the lovelies, so many beautifully creative women out there!

 

Wanna be Cloche

I'm a little late but these wanna be cloches wanted to go to the party.  

I tried to dress them up with lace, ribbon, and crystals.

 

 

But I just couldn't disguise the fact that they are not cloches but lantern lights. 

Oh well, 

my petite flower vases came together to share a big cloche, 

whatever it takes to get to the party, right?!

Check out  the Summer Cloche Party over at 

Marty's A Stroll Thru Life.

Mirror Hangers - How'd I Do That?

A couple bloggers commented on the vanity mirror display hanging on the wall in my last post.  And when Kristal asked how I hung them I had to go take a look before I could give a helpful answer.  I remembered using craft wire but had forgotten that I had also used picture hangers.  So here goes.....

Someone makes round sticky pads with hangers which I think were intended for plates but would work just as well for mirrors like this.  Either I was concerned about harming the decorative sides of my vintage mirrors, because I was thinking about hanging some mirror side out, or I didn't want spend as much as I'd need to, to hang all the mirrors I wanted to hang.  Which is probably more likely the case.  Good thing though since I have collected a few more mirrors I'd like to add to this wall.

So this is all you'll need.  

Well this and a pair of pliers and wire cutters.

Thin craft wire, 24 gauge, I used both gold and silver, which ever blended best with the tone of the mirror.  And these picture hangers that come in a wide range of sizes.

See, the hooks hardly interfere with the beauty of the mirror designs.

Use pliers to unfold the part of the picture hanger that the nail goes through and use these holes to attach your wire.  You may have to adjust the hook part of the hanger to fit the edge of your mirrors.

 

 

You have to get creative with where to place the hooks.  Each mirror will be different so you may  have to do a little balancing act to get it mirror to lay flat against the wall.  And it doesn't have to look pretty since no one will see this side. 

 

The wire on the handles are barely noticeable on the decorative side and in the case of the last mirror, above, the wire is hidden between the cracks of the different mirror parts.

I probably got the idea to make hangers myself from Martha Stewart.  I've made hangers for plates out of black re-barb (that's what they call it at the hardware store) which is probably thicker than what Martha used in this tutorial.  Plus I like the look of the black wire as apposed to the typical gold tone of the store bought picture hangers.  You will be able to manipulate the re-barb some with your hands but will need pliers for tight bends and good sturdy wire cutters.

So there you have it.  

 

Necessity, who is the mother of invention (Plato)






I'm linking up with the July Silver Sunday party over with Beth at Gypsy Fish Journal.  Be sure to stop over there and see all the Silver Goodness.

Master Bedroom - White Wednesday

I found this chenille king size bedspread out thrifting.  Was thinking of using it somewhere else in our house then I got a wild hair to put it on our king size bed, maybe just for the summer.  The usual spread is a floral, bark cloth like fabric with a chocolate brown background.  Little girl is resisting my other idea anyway.  When I throw it on the bed I immediately think, White Wednesday.  And surprise, surprise there are alot of white things in the MBR, go figure.  So here's my offering, be sure to check out all the other lovely white ideas to be had on Kathleen's Faded Charm.

Only 8 pillows, my Mr. Wonderful doesn't mind, ha!

My side of the bed.  Otay, so, I made up this theme for our bedroom but I'm not really sure what exactly would fit with that theme.  So it's kinda like the rest of our house, schizophrenic.  I'll tell you cause you'll never guess it from my pictures, unless your Carnac.  

"Miss Kitty meets Sheriff Matt Dillion"

Feminine Victorian Sexy Cowboy?  I don't know the first thing about sexy.  I've tried searching online for pictures of Miss Kitty's boudoir but haven't had much luck.  Not up to watching, what 11 years worth of episodes, to maybe catch a glimpse.  I did find a 8 x 10 glossy of Matt on a horse, (down ladies) but I haven't put that in frame yet.  

Should I swap it out with our wedding photo?  

Would Mr. Wonderful notice?

This is probably my favorite room in the house, it's got some pieces I really like.  Like these.....

 And this lamp with the Three Graces, Charm, Beauty, and Creativity, the 3 beloved daughters of Zues.

I got this vintage dresser at my favorite junk shop.  I am such a sucker for French Provincial. 

I know I'm not alone on that one.  Happy White Wednesday!

Wore it out!

It's no wonder my house is busting at the seams.  I hate to throw anything out or give it to Goodwill because I'm afraid I might need it some day.  It's happened to me more than once, I finally had a use for something I just got rid of during the last purging.  Argh!  Tell me, has this ever happened to you? 

Anyway, I've had these ceramic candle sticks for about 20 years.  I remember I bought them at an antique store in Red Wing, Minnesota.  About a year ago I broke one while dusting or changing out an arrangement.  No biggy, I'll just super glue it back together, I'm not about broken china.

So while gluing I have one of my worst crafting accidents, ever!  I can laugh about it now, but at the time, it was a mess.  I'm gently  (I think) squeezing the super glue on a broken piece when it erupts all over my hand!  My figures immediately start sticking to each other and the broken piece of candlestick and the tube of glue!  (Why it is sticking so quickly doesn't make sense since it never works that fast when you want it to.) 

I'm all panicky and yelling, "HELP, HELP".  

My son comes running from upstairs, "WHAT?  WHAT?"  

The glue is everywhere, all over the pieces.  The Boy helps me get separated as best he can.  I have no choice but to putt the candlestick together, half @ss. 

 

Yeah, lovely, a big crack and drips of super glue.  Not the best repair job I've ever done.

 

 

So I broke the second one changing out a display the other day.  Max bummer, that's what we used to say in high school.

 

You'd think I wouldn't have such a hard time throwing these out now.  I mean.....

Use it up, 

wear it out,

make it do,

or do without.

 

I think it fits the criteria.

Vintage Black Friday - Can't Believe This Is My First

This started out with just one shot, actually of something that was in my first White Wednesday post, and the vintage black things just popping out at me.

I'm linking up with French Cupboard's Vintage Black Friday.  So treat yourself to a look at all the other beautiful black posts you'll find over in the French Cupboard!

This precious to me little black and white photo of my Dad before he married my Mom, he's on the right, sits on this little jewelry box with some old black rosaries.  This was in the WW post because of all the white things on this table.

This too was part of a WW post but here I'm focusing on the rosary.

Then I looked up and saw this hanging above an old chippy ceiling tin piece.  I'll have to find an  

"old, dusty, chippy, rusty, piece of tin party" to post that on!

Then this little guy called to me over my shoulder, "hey, look at me!"

Then this guy growled at me from behind, "don't forget about me!"

Then I remember these guys I've been trying to find the perfect spot for.  I don't usually like things hung diagonal like this but now that I pushed them close together like this to fit better in the picture, I kinda like them like this.  Hum, that might help with finding a spot.

Then just as I sat down to load the pictures on the computer, I looked down into my purse, sitting here by my little nest, and saw my little junk keeper bag.  This isn't old enough to be vintage, but it wants to be.  

Ha!  Wanna be vintage!  Well, I gave myself a little chuckle.