Handcrafted shabby primitive angels

I’m not much of a sewing gal. I can sew. But not profitably when it comes to crafting items to sell. Sewing is a relaxing craft to me, and I much prefer to hand sew than use a machine. Maybe I just got burned out on sewing after having sewn all my own clothes for high school? Certainly since having a good portion of my spine surgically fused, sitting hunched over a sewing machine is very painful.

But now that the store is closed and I have more time to sew, I’m trying to branch out a bit. First I started with some really simple hand stitched hearts for Valentines.

These silly little things have been selling like HOTCAKES at my space in Stars!

So, after warming up my sewing hand on the hearts, I decided to tackle some DOLLS. I’ve been wanting to make some for eons! Even have a big stack of stitched, but unstuffed doll bodies ready to go; that were sewn by a friend. One of my sewing friends wanted a bunch of my painted wood stuff a few years ago and we worked out a trade whereby she paid me in doll bodies.

I had tea stained all the doll bodies I have last summer. Always best to tea stain and let dry in the sun whenever possible. The stain ‘blotches’ up much better in the sun. AND it’s easier (and more economical!) to stain BEFORE you stuff, as the stuffing will absorb a lot of the stain.

*** You can buy my stain recipe HERE or in my etsy shop.

I stuffed several of the bodies one evening while watching TV, then had to ‘talk to them for a while’ to find out what they wanted to be. This particular shape seemed very angelic to me, so they became angels.

For the wings I used some scrap cardboard and covered it with burlap (glued on with tacky glue). Designed my wing shapes on a piece of paper, folded in half, to make each side match. Then just opened them up and traces to the back of the burlap coated cardboard piece, and cut out.

A bit of tacky glue to adhere the wings. You can see the ’stuffing seam’ here on the back. After I put the wings in place, i set a heavy book on top of them to keep it pressed firmly in place while the glue dried.

I decided on uber simple faces for these first two. Small upholstery tacks for the eyes (pushed in with a drop of tacky glue) and a larger tack, stitched on for the nose.

I didn’t get pictures of ALL of the next steps, but they are all fairly simple. I hand stitched some burlap threads on top of her head for hair; one or two at a time until it ‘looked right’. Cut out a burlap halo from the scraps from my wings. You can see her ‘petticoat’ but it’s a strip ft tea stained cheese cloth under her tulle skirt, glued into place. For her tulle skirt, I just did a running stitch across a strip of tulle; then glued on a strip of muslin for the belt/bow in the back. The ‘hope and love’ banner in her hands is some trim I purchased. (Currently available for sale in my etsy shop)

I used some tea stained cotton yarn to ‘cross wrap’ her wings from the front and around to the back. And tied a little key and heart to the front.

Here you can see how I cross tied the wings; tied her skirt bow and attached her halo, but punching two holes and using a safety-pin AND some tacky glue.

Her dainty little feet were begging for ballet slippers. I used some more of my burlap thread and just tied it around her feel and lower legs.

Her fellow angle here was created in much the same way, but with different materials in some instances. Different style of wings; burlap to tie the wings on; a tea stained doily for her halo; shorted hair, but still made with burlap thread; tea stained cheese cloth for her skirt; and a bigger key around her neck; and ‘live love laugh’ banner in her hands. (which is also now available in my etsy shop).

Both of these sweet gals are currently for sale in my etsy shop.

Hand stamped tea stained muslin ribbon

Hand torn and tea stained strips of muslin. I don’t actually use TEA to stain with, rather my own special recipe of stain (you can buy the recipe in my etsy shop) but it LOOKS like tea and I can’t think of a different name to call it other than tea stain!

Anyhoooooooooo . . . . . I tore my strips of muslin and dunked them into a bowl of my stain just long enough to fully cover. Remove and wring out.

My strips were as long as the muslin was wide (45″). It just happened to be a dry (although still cold and cloudy!) day so I was able to lay my stained strips outside to dry. You get the BEST color striations by letting them dry in the sun. I just ‘hand smoothed’ my strips so they were still fairly wrinkled once they dried.

It was not quite warm enough outside for them to have dried by dark, so I brought them in and draped them over a plastic hanger to finish drying overnight. Once fully dry, I ironed them to smooth them out a bit. A dry iron will leave you a bit of wrinkles. You can use steam if you want them wrinkle free.

Then I just used a regular rubber stamp pad and some stamps and stamped away!

Thses are currently for sale in my space at Stars.

All moved in!!!

Hallelujah!  It took me nearly ALL day, both Saturday and Sunday, but I am finally all settled into our new, BIG space at Stars!  Take a peek:

To find my space just look for the ReVamped Vintage sign as shown here, or ask someone at the front desk to direct you to the space for “Vendor #2″.

Plenty of Valentine goods still available.

White and cream colored hearts for year round decorating.

Sweets for the sweet!  Shown on top shelfare goft wrapped boxes of chocolate covered cherries.    On second shelf are mini silver plated pedestals with glass cloche top, filled with chocolate truffels; and a grubby ‘with love’ tag.

Here’s a closer look at the mini cloches.

Vintage paper shred.

Hand stamped tea stained muslin ribbon.

That’s a BIG “B”!!!  The frame is 36″x36″.

There are 2 of these vintage blue bowback chairs.

Shabby Paris bistro table.

Angel wings. (Mannequin in not for sale.)

Eiffel Tower lamp.

Kicked to the curb

I am always SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO envious when I read about (and SEE!) what great stuff other bloggers have found laying at the curb for FREE.  That just isn’t done that much around here.  And we live so far out in the boonies that we only have ONE neighbor.  And when country folk DO decide to get rid of stuff, they toss it onto the ‘burn pile’.  Breaks my heart!

The area of Portland that the Stars Antique Malls are located,  is an older neighborhood.  The kind of neighborhood where people buy ‘fixer upper’ old homes.  And, once in a while, will put stuff at the curb for the taking.

I decided it would behoove me to ‘travel the neighborhood’ en route to the mall, instead of taking the main roads, to keep an eye out for curb side treasures.  And this week it paid off for me!

At first I just saw the two old doors propped up against each other at the curb, with a free sign.  As I went PAST (the doors would not fit in my car, so I had to pass them by)  I noticed this awesome big old table leg!

No one behind me.  Slam the car into reverse and back up to the curb and grab my new treasure.

What do you think I should make of her?

Just TWO DAYS left for our HALF PRICE SALE at Stars Antique Mall!

I just restocked on Monday, so there are STILL  LOTS of goodies to choose from.  Here are the most recent pictures.

Just listed in my etsy shop:

Click here to visit my etsy shop:

Here are the items I’ve just listed:

A yard of lightly tea stained cotton trim with imprinted wording; two different styles.

Shabby one of a kind folk art angel.

Another one of a kind angel.

Shelf sitter heart with wings.

Grubby felt Valentine hearts with word tags.

I also listed a pound of assorted papers/ephemera and some vintage ric rac.  Hope to be getting more of the vintage trims listed soon.

MY ETSY

Currently in the works . . .

SO many of the blogs I read are ‘into’ creating Pottery Barn and Ballard Design ‘look alikes’, and I must admit that I’ve been ‘bitten by that bug’ too! Here’s my current recreation ‘obsession’ :

I think my heart LITERALLY stopped for a few seconds when I saw these on another blog. It had been mentioned that they were from Pottery Barn. Off I go to the PB website in search of them. And while I find a PICTURE of them on the site, there is NO product listing. I’m curious as to the SIZE and price of the items.

The round one just looks like a wood fence post topper, painted and distressed a bit. Could it REALLY be as simple as that?!?! I’m a newbie to Pottery Barn, so I really have no idea. But with nothing else in the photo to give me a size reference, I’m thinking BIG, like garden gazing ball big.

I ordered a PB catalog, but cannot wait for it to come to start on my re-creation efforts. And once I started making them, I came up with all kinds of ideas for variations! Here’s the first few:

These are BIG; as in soccer ball size. This is actually the second one I did, and I decided to leave it more ‘textured’. Wanted it to look like old concrete. It is just sitting atop a thrifted pillar candle holder.

The one on the right is my first attempt, and a much smoother surface; and it’s attached to it’s base.

So, I finally get my PB catalog in the mail and it IS indeed just a little fence post topper. And today I found a blogger who just went to Home Depot and bought an unfinished one and painted it and sanded it a bit. harumph!

Oh well, I’m lovin’ the look of my ginormous ones, and I’m happy with the smaller one even though it’s quite different; on a taller base adn with the bird on top; more of a ‘garden statuary’ look, and have several others in the works. I’ll be turning this project into an e-book soon.

How to make Valentine cone trees

I just posted the  “How To’s” over on The Dollar Diva Blog

for the red cone Valentine trees:

Just click on the above link to take a peek.

5 minute basket make-over

Seriously.  Five minutes is all it takes to give an old basket a fresh new look by dry brushing on a fresh color of paint.

This is what I started with. Have had these baskets for a good TEN years. Nice big ones that I have used to hold magazines. Still in great shape, but I’m redecorating the living room to a ’softer, cozy cottage feel’, and these dark baskets just don’t work for me anymore.

YIKES!!! What’s up with THAT ‘Grinch green’ color?!?! I wanted to experiment a little. I had two of these baskets, one slightly bigger than the other, and wanted to see if I could make them slightly different shades of the same color. So, I undercoated this one with some green spray paint before adding my coat of dry brushed Robin’s egg blue.

Here’s the end results. The top one was just painted ‘as was’, and the bottom one is the one I base coated with the green. Just a very subtle difference.

Dry brushing is the easiest technique ever:

* Load your paint brush with a MINIMAL amount of paint.

* Swipe your brush on a piece of paper a few times to remove some of the paint. Your brush should be looking DRY, but with a little bit of paint color.

* Start painting! Use a VERY LIGHT hand, just barely touching the surface you are painting. In the case of these baskets, my paint went on the raised parts of the basket weave.

* Don’t worry about not getting enough paint on your item. You can always go back and apply more. But, if you use TOO MUCH paint, you can’t go back and take it off.

Here are a few more things I dry brushed:

Another rustic basket. Gave this one a touch of light tan paint.

This thrifted heart shaped bowl had been sitting in my ‘to do’ pile for quite some time.  It was just a tad too plain looking.  I gave the outside a bit of the same tan paint as the basket, dry brushed on the outside.  Voila!  Highlights the ‘carved’ features perfectly!

In less than half an hour, I dry brushed four baskets and the bowl.  Don’t you wish ALL your projects were this fast and easy?!?

BLOG PARTY: 100 ideas under $100.00

In keeping with my resolution to join more blog parties this year, here’s another great one to check out! Even if you don’t want to participate, it’s worth a trip over to Beyond the Picket Fence to see all the wonderful and inexpensive ideas submitted.

Check it out over at Beyond the Picket Fence.

NOW, for my submission, hmmmmmmmmmmmm. . . . . what shall it be????

I think I’m gonna do THIS ONE!

Click on the link above to see the whole post and the ‘how to’.

This pair of angel wings was fairly fast and easy to make, AND total cost of the project was UNDER $3.00!

MATERIALS USED:

Fabric rose petals from Dollar Tree $1.25

Be sure you get the 300 pack of petals. They also have smaller packages (100 pieces) in the wedding supply section.  But they get the bigger packages in for Valentine’s day, which makes this time of year the best time to try this project.  I used one package of 300, plus a handful from another package.

Aleens tacky glue  (always have it on hand!)

Poster from Dollar Tree $1.00

I bought the poster and used the cardboard backing for my wing backing.  I tried the styrofoam poster board (also from DT) but it took a long time to cut.  Either would work okay though, and the price is the same.

How cute would it be to hang a pair of these above a child’s bed with a little ‘Guardian Angel’ tag or sign?