Butterflies - Theme I

Our Bride and Groom had three things they wanted to incorporate into their wedding.  The first was butterflies.  I'm not privy to how that got started, but I do know a necklace was involved early on.  Beyond that . . . well, it's ok not to know.  That being said, one of the visions for this wedding was for them to be surrounded by butterflies as they said their vows. 

 

For the record, the smaller butterflies were cut from card stock by Toni at  tonis-scraps.blogspot.com on her Pazzles.  The larger ones were cut by hand from a damaged Strong's Concordance and inked by hand.  Fitting for Bible majors don't you think?

Many thanks to Bonnie at bonniebphotography.wordpress.com for sharing her awesome photos with us!

images copyright Bonnie B Photography

T2T Blackboard

One of the things on the list for my daughter's wedding this summer was a blackboard. Don't ask me for what, that's to come, but since it was on the list and she's in Wisconson at college and Moi Momma is taking care of as many details as possible in the meantime, well . . . this is what happened.

This framed picture was found at a thrift store for $15. I thought it was too much, but in essence, I was paying for the frame, not the faded print, and even though it had been around the block a time or two and was scuffed up, it was still solid structurally.

From notsewnew

Rather than risk smearing the frame, I removed the print to paint the surface. My new best friend is Rust-Oleum Blackboard Paint. I gave it a good three coats before putting it back in the frame, and touched up the scuffs on the frame with gold paint. The back was recovered with kraft paper as it had been originally.

From notsewnew

So there you have it. I love the thing and plan to use it or make another for use at farmer's market this summer.

Blast from the Past

When I was a kid my sisters and I would occasionally raid our grandfather's little country store. No, we were not little hellions or hoodlums, but we would raid the nasty box at the bottom of the coke machine where all the bottle caps from the local farmers, the hunters and housewives would fall when they opened their bottled drinks. They were taken home, washed real good and left to dry. After that . . .

You see the photo. It's a trivet I made my grandmother when I was fourteen or fifteen. It's not rocket science. You cover a bottle cap with a circle of durable fabric, stitch it down good, then stitch them to each other.

Bottled soft drinks aren't common these days and we saved our bottled IBC root beer caps through the holidays to resurrect this craft. Seriously, it had been over thirty five years since I had covered a bottle cap with wool. It felt good. I think Memaw probably grinned from heaven. And I don't think she'll mind one bit when I call some bars about collecting their bottle caps. There's no way I'll drink that much IBC.

Ta-Da!

Maybe it's just a touch of schizophrenia that I decided to split my recycling/vintage/handmade/crazy farm woman identity from my Prima donna beekeeper identity, but for the sake of sanity, that's what this blog accomplishes. No apis millifera or hive configuration here. This is another kind of good stuff.

And to start things off on a good note, I want to pay homage to Little Ma (Florence Hendon Warren), MeMaw (Alpha Omega Warren Heard) and Momma (Francis Heard New), three great ladies to whom I love and owe so much. Without them I would have never learned to think, to learn, to love doing things myself and appreciating the past in the present. They taught me love, life, scripture, music, laughter, all the things that make up running a home: cooking, canning, sewing, gardening, etc. Their homes were handmade, from the flour sack church clothes for the children to the recycled clothing made into quits that kept the family warm. They were common sense, no nonsense kind of women and I am so thankful for each of them.

Today, I posted fire starters on Etsy. Thanks Mom for telling me about these! In in case anyone is game to make their own here are instructions:

1. Collect dryer lint - LOTS of it.
2. Stuff it in the scoops of a 2.5 dozen paper egg crate.
3. Pour melted wax from old candles, tarts, etc over it.
4. Let it harden
5. Cut or tear in pieces and use 1-3 to start a fire.

TA-DA! There you go! Trash to treasure - something useful from something destined for the landfill. You just can't get much greener than that.