Birdhouses and baskets

Michael just made these BIG birdhouses for outdoor decorating. LOTS of other small birdhouses for indoor decorating throughout the store.

We’ve got lots of primitive style twiggy baskets for Easter, or making birdsnests in.

I love the rustic twiggy looking baskets. But you can easily turn one of these into shabby chic style by LIGHTLY overspraying with some white paint; then sanding the paint off in a few places.

And a few pretty spring color baskets.

OUR WEBSITE : www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

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~ primitives ~ trash to treasure ~ shabby chic ~ cottage ~ Paris apartment ~ repurposed home goods ~ repaired ~ restyled home decor ~ reused ~ recycled art ~ handcrafted gifts ~ one of a kind ~ artist originals ~ second hand style ~ junk market style ~ flea market style ~ beautiful junk ~ beach cottage décor ~ unique home décor ~ vintage home décor ~ unique gifts ~ custom made gifts ~ custom made home décor ~ personalized signs ~ Sophie’s Cottage ~ grubby candles ~ how to craft books ~ Shabby Paris apartment ~ baby gifts ~ personalized gifts ~ AJ Finsand ~ upcycled ~ rebuilt ~ flea market chic ~ gift baskets ~ custom orders ~ vintage ~ collectibles ~ trash 2 treasure blog ~ gift store Hillsboro, Oregon ~ handmade gifts from Oregon ~ carved wood embellishments ~ shabby style chic ~ flea market finds ~ second hand style ~ cottage retreat ~ craft tutorials ~

New spring cards from Angi’s Angels

LOTS of new handcrafted spring cards from Angi’s Angels are now in.  Bunnies and chicks and eggs and tulips  . . . . everyday designs and mother’s and father’s day designs too.

And, as ALWAYS, 100% of the sales of these cards gets donated to breast cancer research.

Eggs . . . eggs . . . all kinds of EGGS!

Sophie put her Easter bunny ears on last week and stashed pretty Easter eggs all over the store last week!

Pretty pastel colored ‘chalkware’ eggs.

Solid marble eggs.

Tea stained rag eggs in three sizes.

BIG vintage decorative painted wood eggs.

Glittery little eggs in little pails.

More little glittery eggs. These eggs are hand tissue mached (for the color) and glittered. Each egg is one of a kind.

Primitive colors paper mache eggs with nest grass.

Regular ‘country style’ wood eggs’.

Pretty little speckled eggs.

Eggs in a little bag with nest grass.

Individual big eggs in ‘Robin’s egg blue’, white and ecru.

Little speckled eggs in a watering can with pink Easter grass.

Brown and green mottled eggs in a little bushel basket.

OUR WEBSITE :
www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

PURCHASE OUR E-BOOKS FROM OUR ETSY STORE :

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5876981

~ primitives ~ trash to treasure ~ shabby chic ~ cottage ~ Paris apartment ~ repurposed home goods ~ repaired ~ restyled home decor ~ reused ~ recycled art ~ handcrafted gifts ~ one of a kind ~ artist originals ~ second hand style ~ junk market style ~ flea market style ~ beautiful junk ~ beach cottage décor ~ unique home décor ~ vintage home décor ~ unique gifts ~ custom made gifts ~ custom made home décor ~ personalized signs ~ Sophie’s Cottage ~ grubby candles ~ how to craft books ~ Shabby Paris apartment ~ baby gifts ~ personalized gifts ~ AJ Finsand ~ upcycled ~ rebuilt ~ flea market chic ~ gift baskets ~ custom orders ~ vintage ~ collectibles ~ trash 2 treasure blog ~ gift store Hillsboro, Oregon ~ handmade gifts from Oregon ~ carved wood embellishments ~ shabby style chic ~ flea market finds ~ second hand style ~ cottage retreat ~ craft tutorial

New spring and Easter product is now in!

 OUR WEBSITE : www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

  PURCHASE OUR E-BOOKS  FROM OUR ETSY STORE : 

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5876981

~ primitives ~ trash to treasure ~ shabby chic ~ cottage ~ Paris apartment ~ repurposed home goods ~ repaired ~ restyled home decor ~ reused ~ recycled art ~ handcrafted gifts ~ one of a kind ~ artist originals ~ second hand style ~ junk market style ~ flea market style ~ beautiful junk ~ beach cottage décor ~ unique home décor ~ vintage home décor ~ unique gifts ~ custom made gifts ~ custom made home décor ~ personalized signs ~ Sophie’s Cottage ~ grubby candles ~ how to craft books ~ Shabby Paris apartment ~ baby gifts ~ personalized gifts ~ AJ Finsand ~ upcycled ~ rebuilt ~ flea market chic ~ gift baskets ~ custom orders ~ vintage ~ collectibles ~ trash 2 treasure blog ~ gift store Hillsboro, Oregon ~ handmade gifts from Oregon ~ carved wood embellishments ~ shabby style chic ~ flea market finds ~ second hand style ~ cottage retreat ~ craft tutorials ~

Is it Spring yet?!?!?

I am busily rearranging the store this week and putting out spring and Easter decor.

How sweet are this little vintage bird salt/pepper shakers?!?

Vintage bird pictures.

 OUR WEBSITE : www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

  PURCHASE OUR E-BOOKS  FROM OUR ETSY STORE : 

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5876981

~ primitives ~ trash to treasure ~ shabby chic ~ cottage ~ Paris apartment ~ repurposed home goods ~ repaired ~ restyled home decor ~ reused ~ recycled art ~ handcrafted gifts ~ one of a kind ~ artist originals ~ second hand style ~ junk market style ~ flea market style ~ beautiful junk ~ beach cottage décor ~ unique home décor ~ vintage home décor ~ unique gifts ~ custom made gifts ~ custom made home décor ~ personalized signs ~ Sophie’s Cottage ~ grubby candles ~ how to craft books ~ Shabby Paris apartment ~ baby gifts ~ personalized gifts ~ AJ Finsand ~ upcycled ~ rebuilt ~ flea market chic ~ gift baskets ~ custom orders ~ vintage ~ collectibles ~ trash 2 treasure blog ~ gift store Hillsboro, Oregon ~ handmade gifts from Oregon ~ carved wood embellishments ~ shabby style chic ~ flea market finds ~ second hand style ~ cottage retreat ~ craft tutorials ~

Painted paper mache boxes ~ cottage style

I am finally getting around to paring down my paper mache box ’stash’ and getting some of them painted and ready to sell. 

 I used to paint tons of them primitive style.  Then when I switched to more cottage style I wasn’t sure what direction to go with the boxes.  I fianlly just decided to paint a few of them in the cottage colors even though I wasn’t sure how to ‘finish’ them.  Figured it would ‘come to me’ eventually . . . .

So they sat like this for a while.  Then I took them to the store where I have all my foam stamps and other fun stuff to play with.

And here is what I ended up with.  I added painted wood spool ‘feet’ and a painted wood knob on the top box and a different stamped design on each box.

Then lightly sanded the edges and surface to make them look a little ‘worn and loved’.

OUR WEBSITE:  www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

 

Some thoughts on Easter . . .

Since it’s just a week away.

In despairing times . . . in a despairing world . . . may the true message of Easter bring you:

This next picture isn’t my idea, but a beautiful one worth sharing.  I don’t remember whose blog or website I got it from though!  (I TRY to always give a link back to the sites I share ideas from, so it this is your picture, let me know so I can oblige!) 

Old wooden bowls

I’ve been painting old wooden bowls for a long time.  They are plentiful at garage sales, thrift stores and estate sales.  Some I’ve painted just plain colors.  Some I paint black first, then a color, then sand and distress.  If I’m feeling VERY patient, I’ll even paint a design inside the bowl.  (Painting on a curved surface is a SLOW process!)

I had a big ole stash of bowls that I wanted to do ’something different’ with this time though.  Here’s what I came up with. 

Dug out some old wood candlesticks that were painted in ‘out of style’ colors and overpainted them black.  You can buy these unfinished at craft stores.

Got out some wood bases from my stash (these, too, you can buy at any craft store)

Basecoated the bases black, painted the bowls (which I forgot to take a ‘before’ picture of !) black also.  Then picked out an assortment of blues and greens to paint all three components.  Sanded them, epoxied them together and here is the finished product:

I’ve used them in my current ‘birsnest’ display and filled them with eggs, but the blues would be pretty filled with seashells too, or even a candle (but not to burn!)  Or pretty glittery ornaments at Christmastime!

OUR WEBSITE:  www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

Shabby pantry cupboard

Vintage wood framed screen.  Michael built a tall shelf to attach it to.  You can see the shelf to the left there. 

Since I decided to paint the shelf yellow and the door was white, I needed a way to tie the two together.  My first thought was to ‘dry brush’ the shelf with white over the yellow.  After sitting on that idea for a few days I decided to add white to the shelf backing instead.

Using my regular acrylic craft paint and a sponge stamp with a design that looked good ‘right side up’ and ‘upside down’ I stamped away!

It was TOO bright and sunny outside (TOO?!?!?!) to get a good picture of the color once Michael finished putting the whole thing together.  But the white door against the yellow shelf was too stark; so I dry brushed a little of the yellow paint over the white screen frame. 

I DO soooooooooooooooo love the way that backing turned out!!!  Can’t you just see this cupboard filled with vintage TURQUOISE dishes???

OUR WEBSITE:  www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

Spring has SPRUNG at Sophie’s Cottage!

 SPRING 2008

The weather was soooooooooooooo amazingly wonderful on Sunday and Monday, I couldn’t keep myself from going FULL ON spring in the store! 

Michael planted some colorful primroses in the outside flower pots.  (my Valentines day surprise!)

The front window is filled with bunnies and flower pots.

More bunnies inside!  Bunny wreaths.  Bunny garden stakes.  Bouncey bunnies.  Rocking bunnies . . . .

And of course, an Easter TREE!

Giant handpainted paper mache eggs.

Little glittery eggs.

And of course, GRUBBY eggs!

And how cute ate these little egg shaped wood bowls?!?!?!  I was so tickled when I found these at the thrift store.  Been waiting patiently for spring to come so I could paint them up and put them out.

Little ‘decorative’ chocolate bunny.

OUR WEBSITE:  www.cscrafts.com/aj.html