Sweater Happy Birthday Bunting

I thought I'd find a greener way to decorate for the many family birthday celebrations that happen in our house each year!

I decided to make a reusable Happy Birthday bunting from old sweaters and some old mens shirts.

I ironed on some fusible interfacing to the back of a some scraps cut from old men's shirts.

Then I typed the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" on my computer, selected a font and enlarged it to the size I wanted. I printed the letters out, cut them out and used them as a template to cut the letters out of fabric.

I cut out triangles out of old wool sweaters then stitched the letters on with embroidery floss.

I found a woolen looking binding tape at our local fabric store

then stitched all my triangles to it.

A new tradition of having this banner hang at each and every birthday celebration has begun!

(I suspect one day the kids will be fighting over who gets to keep it - maybe I'll make a few more - some day...)

I'm linking up to Cindy's "I made it for Monday" party at www.cottageinstincts@blogspot.com.

Happy American Thanksgiving Everyone!

It is a tradition to say what you are thankful for each Thanksgiving, and even though our Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone I feel the urge to partake with my new American friends in blog land!

I am so very thankful for all your kindness, words of encouragement, helpful hints, understanding. You inspire me daily (too many times to count), silly as this sounds you have enriched my life.

Thank you for the blessings you give me and have a Blessed Thanksgiving with your families!

PS. Canadian Friends - This applies to you also.

Peace

The Good, Bad and the Ugly!

As you probably already know I love to scour garage sales, flea markets and thrift stores. Some times I bring home these things and display them so nicely and then it happens..... the doubt creeps in and I start to question myself! I begin to hear voices in my head......

Is this good?

Or is this so ugly that it's good?

Or is this just plain ugly?

Maybe it was never good and that's why it was in this garage sale in the first

place. So why am I now bringing this stuff into my home now?

Lately I've been on less of a junk kick and more of a retro kick. Here are a few of my new retro bits around my home. For some they're here to stay and others their days maybe numbered!

Some I have no doubt about, others I seriously question.

See if you can decipher which is which!

Everyone knows you have to put your coolest things into your glass cupboard,

I change this regularly.

Right now I have this silver retro canister set that I picked up for a buck,

an old Corningware "Cornflower" coffee perk (this actually makes really good coffee),

some blue Fireking mugs that I just found at the local thrift shop,

and my grandmother's old mixing bowl.

This is a picture of my Grandfather, he was at a carnival and that is a wooden painting of plane he posed behind for a photo.

A Brownie Hawkeye for $3!

OK, this is pretty new but it has a retro feel don't ya think?

This light fixture is from Pottery Barn Kids and it hangs above my kitchen table.

Again, I'm thinking retro!

This retro phone is probably the best purchase I made for our home and one of the thing I love most in our house. Maybe this sounds really silly, but I love the way it sounds when it rings, I love the really long cord that gets all tangled and twisted up while I walk around the kitchen.

And I also love the fact that it never gets lost,

I never have to look for it,

it never runs out of battery power,

and I never have to look at an ugly docking cradle on my kitchen counter.

I'm linking up to Donna's anything goes party!

Thanks for hosting Donna!

When Life Gives You Stuff - Make Stuffies!

I'm linking this post to Cindy's at Cottage Instincts "I made it with what I had Party".

Actually, we (my daughter and I) made it with what we had.

You may have seen these little creatures on a previous post, if you have then you already know their story ....

My funny little creative nine year old daughter always wants to do something crafty. Last weekend she drew this sweet little puppy and told me that she wanted to make a stuffed puppy that looked like it had been loved for years and she wanted it to looked like a crazy old lady that couldn't see very well made it! She is a funny one! Looks like she like likes things with a soul to them too!

She went through my scraps of fabric and buttons and here is the results!

I absolutely adore this little guy and think this is the most brilliant design ever!

Isn't this sweet? We'll keep this one forever!

My son put an order in for a monster so I made him out of some old sweaters I had.

Then I made this little rag doll out of my daughters old clothes and the body and head is made out of an old wool blanket. Total cost for all three stuffies - a big fat zero! (Cuz' we made it with what we had!)

End result - priceless!!!!

We've been busy!!

We finally got Halloween behind us, then I spent an entire day organizing my attic of it's sweater collections, boxes of thrifty finds, old kids toys and outgrown kids clothes. Every year I sell what I can at a local Kids Swap.

I love getting rid of stuff

almost as much as I like collecting it!

That is a bit weird, even I have to admit!

I listed a few things on ebay, and then spent a day cleaning house.

There is nothing better than a clean house to make you want to break out the crafts!

So we started sewing - just my daughter and I.

I made a doll from her old clothes, an old wool blanket, and some felted wool sweaters.

My daughter came up with a design for the cutest stuffed dog that I ever did see! I actually think it is brilliant! I love how the tail is off to the side. So sweet!

Her original design.

She's really funny, she said

"I want this dog to look like it has belonged to someone for a really long time,

and to look like a crazy old lady that couldn't see very well made it."

I think that is sooo funny and I think she actually achieved that!

My middle boy (for lack of a better description) put an order in for a monster - and I did not want to disappoint!

My youngest says that he scares the nightmares away - that's pretty cute!

His name is now Mr. Monster.

I often find her cuddled up with her youngest brother as I did last night, and I was touched to see that she had given her new creation to him to cuddle for the night.

The weekend was a success!

Sweet, nightmare free dreams precious children.