Vintage Swing Project

If you guys know one thing about me, it's that I love taking things that are worn or broken or ill-fitting and giving them a second life. My obsession with the plant clearance isle is proof of that. 😂 I recently had the bitter-sweet privilege of shopping my dear friend Rachel's yard/moving sale. I nabbed a bunch of great fabric and some vintage home decor (not that much because let's be honest... I'm bursting at the seams a little), but my excitement came from this old, beat-up rattan hanging chair. She told me she got it off the side of the road in a sea-salty town, and the wood really showed it. The seems were coming apart and the chair was brittle. Here's what I did to bring her back to life:


The two main things I used to revitalize the chair were this SunShield Wood Conditioner and leather cord. The SunShield was to condition the wood and hopefully allow some moisture to soak back in, and I used the leather cord to tie the unraveled spots on the chair back together.


This is the state of the wood as I was applying the conditioner. You can see the color difference in the photo, but what you can't see is how this dried out chair just sopped it up. It was pretty impressive.

Oh, and I did hang the chair before I started applying the conditioner because bending over for hours to condition the chair just seemed like a project I would never finish. These swing ties are hanging three of our swings now and holding up nicely.


After I used a cloth to rub all of the conditioner into the wood (don't be fooled by tidy DIY posts, this took two days), I used the leather to tie the joints back together. Honestly, it ended up creating a pretty cool look with the rattan and the leather. I'm into it.

I did, however, give myself many, many blisters the day before our band played 3 shows in two days. "And here we have ol' blister-fingers on the piano. Clap for her." 😳


My goal for this patio when we finally get it finished is a cozy boho vibe. We have ivy hanging down from the trees overhead, so this cushion cover I found on Amazon was pretty perfect.


One day when our fence is up (hopefully by the end of the summer) and we can put more furniture out, it will be so fun to have friends over to chat and relax in this setting. It's so dreamy at night already... I'm a little bit obsessed.

*Notes: there are affiliate links in this post. 
My shirt is from Free People, skirt and shoes are vintage, and glasses are Quay

Altering Vintage Dresses

If you're anything like me, your vintage dress obsession is still going strong, despite the fact that many of our purchases are anything but perfect in the fit department. It's great when you get to try a pretty piece on, but when you're on the hunt on sites like eBay, Whurl, and Etsy, getting something that fits like a glove doesn't always work out. So, how do we fix this? I've sworn off vintage before, but I always find myself coming back. Knowing your measurements is the first step in the right direction, but getting creative with alterations is another.

Take this dress for example: I bought it from a friend's closet sale and it's my absolute favorite color to wear in the summer. The problem came in when it arrived and I tried it on, only to find that the dress was made for a more petite woman and the zipper wanted to come high up the back... oh, and not stay zipped. Since it's usually not that cute to walk around with your dress half unzipped, I had two options: get creative or pass it on to the next vintage-loving friend. Here's what I did:


First, I put the dress on and zipped it to where it was comfortable. I had someone help me with marking where I wanted the zipper to stop and removed the garment.


Next, I took a piece of vintage silk ribbon that I had stashed away (my ribbon drawer is insane) and burned the edge and ironed it down. Then I pinned the ribbon in the desired position above the zipper stop and stitched it on.

You may notice that I left the original zipper completely intact. I did this for two reasons: A) The outer layer of this dress is pretty delicate and I liked having the extra weight there for when the bow is tied. I definitely don't want to rip this beauty! B) The existing zipper will be hidden by the bow. If I ever decide to pass this dress along, all I have to do is remove the bow and put the hook and eye closure back where it started.


After the bow was in place, I moved the hook and eye closure down to just above where I had the zipper stop marked. So easy!

 
Here is the dress all zipped and tied. You can't see any of the exposed zipper and the velvet ribbon adds a lovely peachy contrast. I adore it!

 
Obviously this specific alteration won't work on every vintage dress, but I hope it inspires you to get creative. Other options would have been to add a panel, add an exposed zipper instead of invisible, or to remove the zipper altogether and add bows or ties all the way down like this dress.

Alright, now who's ready to get out there and do some more vintage shopping?? xo.

DIY Fruit Bouquet

Tick-tock, tick-tock... do you hear that?  Halloween is getting SO CLOSE!  I'm looking forward to the parties coming this weekend and the actual trick-or-treating next week.  I'm also excited to be teaming up with Edible Arrangements® today to turn my little Poesy into a fruit bouquet just in time for Halloween!  Making this costume was super easy and super fun, so let me take you through the steps!


First, I cut out felt shapes for the strawberries, honey dew, and chocolate covered strawberries, bats, and ghosts.  Since I wanted an extra pop of color for the cantaloupe, I used a printed fabric and glued it onto some poster board so it would stay upright.


I used some craft glue and yarn to give the chocolate strawberries a little more dimension and detail.  Once the glue dried I simply trimmed the edges.


When I finished cutting all of my shapes, I glued them together to make the arrangement.  Once the glue dried for this step, I safety pinned the fruit to one of Poesy's tee shirts and threw together some adorable accessories (including a little felt cut-out for her strawberry hat) to complete this simple and fun costume!


Who could ask for a better costume model, right?  Poesy had a blast dressing up and having her picture taken.

Edible Arrangements® is typically my favorite way to tell someone "thank you" or "I'm thinking of you" but their bouquets and arrangements are also great for parties... such as a Halloween get together!  Check out their site to see all of the delicious things they offer!

New Projects for April!

Welp, it has been a week of radio silence here on the blog.  Why?  It's not because I've been too busy to keep up with posting, but because my darling dear Poesy accidentally kicked my laptop off of my bed.  Thankfully she just killed the screen.  I was afraid I had lost a bunch of files once again.  I'm here now on a loaner computer and playing a big round of catchup!

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I'm regularly contributing on ABM again!  I'm excited to get back to a more consistent schedule.  If I don't make time for that creative brainstorming, I often find myself in a creative funk.  Setting that time aside to plan and make is so important to me!

Anyway, here are a couple of the posts you can find over on ABM this month!


My theme for this month has been simpler, more practical crafts.  I am often guilty of being overly-ambitious when it comes to DIYs, so this first project was perfect for simplifying.  This bunny is "half-way homemade" meaning the doll was bought at a craft store and I went about customizing it.  She was a hit for Easter, but really you could make this doll any time of the year.  You could even switch out what type of animal you're making!


Again, with the overcomplicating: when I first started this wall hanging, my plans for it were so unnecessarily involved.  Stepping back and allowing myself to use good old fashioned wood, yarn, and hot glue turned out to be something lovely to display in our home!  Actually, my craft group is getting together next week to make their own!  I'm so excited to do this with friends!

You can find the full tutorial for the Bunny DIY here and the Statement Wall Hanging here.  Happy Monday, friends!  xo.

Craft Night: Fabric Flowers

 
I don't know if you've picked up on a theme here, but craft night with my gals is one of my favorite nights of the week.  Last week, my talented friend, Lauren (check her Etsy shop-- gaaaahhh), taught us how to make these beautiful fabric flowers.  She's a florist by trade and an everything-else-creative by nature.  My new favorite night-time craft is to make these lovely flowers after my kiddos go to bed.  You've gotta have the art-release, right?

We had a much smaller crew than normal for our last craft night and it actually ended up being the perfect number.  (Which reminds me... I have a "Craft Night Tips" post coming soon!  I've learned tons over the last year.)  Anyway, Lauren brought some of the wine bottle candle holders she's been making for weddings, and I took a LOT of pictures (Johnny helped, too). When your dining room looks this cozy, how could you not?


It was SUCH a fun night and I'm so thankful for all of these talented ladies I get to call friends.  I'm in the process of making a bouquet for my entryway and I can't wait to share it with you all!  In the meantime, what kinds of crafts would you like to see here on this old blog?  I've been making more creatures (building my stock for a proper update), but what other types of projects are you interested in reading about?  I have a whole list and I'm trying to decide what to tackle first!  xo.

Craft Night Wall Hanging

My Crafty Babes group just celebrated a year of gatherings!  To refresh your memory: we started out as a beginner's knitting group.  (Also, holy cow!  Check out those bare walls!)  To make it more inclusive, I switched gears a little and turned it into a general craft group.  The whole goal is to build community here in Springfield, and I definitely feel like that's happening!  I adore bringing people together and I've met so many rad local ladies!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we made these pretty wall hangings at one of our gatherings.  It's SO easy and I thought you guys might like a peek at how it's made!


There are so many different ways to customize this, so let's just stick to what I did for this one.  Grab a metal hoop and some pretty yarn from the craft store.  *I actually snagged this yarn from Michaels over a year ago.  It was on sale and too lovely to pass up!*  Cut lengths of yarn twice as long as you want them to hang.  Fold the middle section of the yarn over the hoop and pass the ends through.  This is called a larkshead knot.  Then repeat, repeat, repeat!

I wanted a little extra texture to mine, so I added some square knots in the upper area.  They aren't as noticeable with the yarn as they would be with string or rope-- it's just a nice bit of texture.  I finished mine off with some vintage millinery flowers I had laying around.  See?  So easy.


We're getting together tonight to learn to make beautiful fabric flowers!  I can't wait to show you how it goes!  Happy crafting, friends!