My Newest Hang Up; National Photo Month, Day 16

Recently, my makeshift jewelry hanger collapsed and all my necklaces ended up in a heap on the floor. What a mess!

I laid the mish-mash of chains on the daybed in what we fondly call our "Patriotic Room" and planned to create a new hanger.

At an artisan boutique the following weekend, I came across this eco-friendly hanger made from a birch branch and equipped with rustic nail heads. Perfection!

Now I needed a unique to display the hanger, so I set out to find something at the local craft store. I found a nice burlap square with a black metal hook. Right piece. Wrong finish. Nothing I couldn't fix, though.

I also bought a couple of inexpensive rusty keys that coordinate well with the rusty nail heads on the wood and the wire hanger. And, I decided to use the artwork I recently created for my peat pot project so the hanger would coordinate with the peat pot.

As much as I like the natural look of burlap, I decided to paint it antique white. I like the way it blends with the birch of the jewelry hanger.

The black hook definitely didn't work. I mixed a couple of different brown paints with gel medium and dabbed on a fairly heavy coat. When it dried, it looked pretty close to the rusty, crusty finish on the keys I had purchased.

Finally, using Mod Podge, I added the scrolled crowned bird image I created using three wonderful images from The Graphics Fairy. You can find the individual images I used here, here and here. I printed my creation on medium-weight card stock, tore it into a shape I liked and lightly applied stamping ink to the surface and edges to create an aged look.

The natural jewelry hanger works well with the rustic burlap hook. And, it's great to get my heap of necklaces off the daybed.

Make it a great day!

Linking to:

Thursday Favorite Things
Home and Garden Thursday
Transformation Thursday
Be Inspired
Feature Friday
Brag Monday

Ahhhh, Simplify

After we returned all the tubs of Christmas stuff to the attic, I left the mantel bare for short time. Every year, I am amazed at all the holiday decor we've amassed. What's even more amazing is that I actually use most of it.

After the holidays, it takes me a while to recover from the over eating, over socializing, over thinking, over worrying and over decorating.

Now that I have had time to catch my breath, I've simplified the mantel in our family room. It started with this:

This homemade box was a garage sale find from last summer. The wood is rough and splintery. Late last fall, I was working on a couple of other painting projects and decided to put some paint on it--doing something between a dry brush and full coat.

I liked the way it looked after simply slapping on the paint, so I left it that way.

It sat in the garage without a handle until this past week when I brought it in and added burlap ribbon and filled it with pine cones--some that I had salvaged from my live Christmas wreaths when they were past their prime, and some I painted myself.

I added some other wintery looking items to the mantel. The linen-covered French books are unusual and have a special story that I can share in another post. 

The little bird is a terra cotta votive holder I found at a garage sale--for 25 cents. It had potential, but I didn't like the terra cotta look, so I gave it a light brushing of white paint.

The beautiful painting over the fireplace was created by my husband's great uncle and given to my husband's parents as a wedding gift in 1947. When we brought it back this summer after moving his parents out of their house, it was in nasty condition--dull from years of dust, warped from the moisture in his parents' basement and flawed with a couple of tiny spots of chipped paint.

Here it is in its glory after we had it restored. It's a perfect backdrop for the winter mantel.

The stars I crocheted for Christmas still work with the winter scheme and add just the right amount of twinkle to the vignette.

Make it a great day!

Linking to:

Nifty Thrifty Sunday
Sunny Simple Sunday
Motivate Me Monday
Cowgirl Up!
Mod Mix Monday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Tweak It Tuesday
All-Star Block Party
Time Travel Thursday

What Do Burlap, An Antique Wedding Dress and Scrabble Have in Common?

They're all part of a cover-up.

It's now been about three years since our youngest son played baseball for the University of Arkansas. (Hope you don't mind, but I just have to brag for a second: As a Razorback, he pitched in the College World Series in front of a hometown crowd in 2009). He's now graduated, earned a master's degree and earning a living wage (whoo-hoo) in Texas. But, when he was with the Razorbacks, Hubby and I could rarely resist the temptation to add another wild hog to our wardrobes. Isn't he just the cutest?

One of my favorite coats is this lightweight winter jacket I picked up on the clearance rack one weekend in Fayetteville. Nice embroidered hog. Visible, but not too in your face.

And, even though I love this darling mascot, there comes a time to move on. Our son certainly has.

My coat is the perfect weight to take the chill off a winter's day when running errands. Heavy enough not to be chilled to the bone, light enough to shop indoors comfortably without removing it. I wasn't about to ditch the coat. So, what to do with the hog . . .

I hatched a plan for a cover-up.

I could have made this sweet burlap flower myself, but on a recent trip to the craft store, I found it in the clearance bin for 99 cents. At that price, I couldn't justify the time and materials to create it myself. Off to a good start, eh?

To add some pizzazz, I pulled out a couple of scraps I had left from another project. Both pieces are from a 1940s wedding dress--netting from the crinoline and organza from the underskirt of the dress. The burlap and the wedding dress scraps create an interesting contrast in texture and weight.

I have thousands of vintage buttons and a sizable stash of vintage costume jewelry that I could have selected a flower center from. But, that felt too predictable. A scrabble tile seemed to be the perfect finishing touch. I picked my own initial, of course.

Sewed on a pin back and the cover-up was complete.

If, from time to time, I want to sport my darling Razorback, it's as easy as shedding the funky disguise.

Make it a great day!

Linking to:

Time Travel Thursday
Frugal Friday
Everything But the Kitchen Sink
Frugalicious Friday
Feature Friday
Tickled Pink
Creative Corner Blog Hop