Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Tell Me Tuesday #3 & A Sweet Fabric Rosette Headband

How sweet is this headband?

I made right before the frenzy of our move got under way. I have yards and yards of this old muslin that has some age to it, and it makes pretty rosettes. The headbands I bought at Target.

I have been immersed in the rosette craze that has taken over lately--I started with fabric glue, migrated to hand-sewing and now am using a trusty glue gun.

Remember this tutorial I did for a Fabric Rosette Necklace on a Silver Chain?


This post has been visited regularly since I put it up. I think these necklaces are pretty popular on the web right now--next I am going to try one with several rosettes, I am just a little unsure of how to make it lay properly. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Now on to the party!


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Show me what you have been working on, and I will pick the three highest visited links and share them with you next Monday. Tell Me Tuesday!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Tell Me Tuesday Link Party #2 Faves

Happy Monday, and welcome to the Tell Me Tuesday Faves from last week's party!


Here is Fave #3, an Embellished Ruffle Top from Simply Step Back.

I have made several ruffle shirts, but this one is fun in that the ruffles are placed asymmetrically on one shoulder. Sarah says "Seriously, I couldn't think of an easier thing to make." and she is SO RIGHT! These are fun, quick and have a great WOW result.

Tell Me Tuesday Fave #2 is from Three Sisterz and is a Wooden Beaded Wreath.

I have to disclose of course that my friend Flan made this--I got to see it right after she finished it and was CRAZY in love with it. Now it is hanging in her front widow. A thing of beauty! Visit the Three Sisterz blog to get the how-to.

And finally, Tell Me Tuesday Fave #1 is . . .

Stephanie's Embellished Deer Holiday Pillow from Built to Last!


You must, must MUST zip over to her blog to read about this sweet little project. A re-purposed sweater and some favorite flannel and WOW just a wonderful holiday pillow. And the back is a little surprise--go check it out to see how clever Stephanie was with the closure!

Thanks ladies, be sure to grab your button for your blog to let everyone know that you were featured in the Tell Me Tuesday Link Party.


And to everyone else that participated--thanks for making this such a fun event! I look forward to everyone's contributions tomorrow--and please spread the word and tell your friends. If I can get 50 entries, I will host a giveaway!


Sunday, November 28, 2010

A Small, Beautiful Pantry Box


I have been meaning to post about a beautiful gift that my Dad gave me for my birthday this past October. It is a small, oval, antique pantry box. He has had several of them in his space over at Cabot Mill, and has been selling some in his Ebay auction as well. I am always admiring them, and he knew that I liked this particular one that I saw on a recent visit home.


My readers know that I have a chimney cupboard--I can envision it in an older time, filled with these boxes. Here is an excerpt about their history that I found online:

"Colonial women kept dairy products and grains well away from the cooking hearth, in small rooms called “butteries.” Like today’s homemakers, they fought an ongoing battle to keep bugs and mice away from flour, sugar, and other dry comestibles whose storage posed a problem until the introduction of covered stoneware crocks and their even more expedient successor, the pantry box." You can read more about them here.

This pantry box is not large, but in my eyes it is truly beautiful. It was made during a time when things were simpler.


Thanks Dad. I love it.

This post is a part of the following link parties:

Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Making the World Cuter Monday

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving from My Two Little Turkeys


We are settled in the new place! It was a pretty smooth move. Other than a few boxes and some window treatments to hang, it is feeling like home. Just in time for Thanksgiving!

I hope you have a wonderful day visiting with your family and your friends. Enjoy the day--the opportunity for togetherness, sharing love, and giving thanks for all that is important to you. I know that my day will be filled with thankful thoughts, too.

Best to you and yours on this day,

Allison

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Antiques Roadshow & Tell Me Tuesday Link Party #2


I have always been a fan of Antiques Roadshow. Whenever I was home visiting my parents and we watched it, I loved hearing my Dad and Mom guessing how much items were and usually being right on the money!

Roadshow came through Las Vegas in 2007 when I lived there and I told Mom and Dad they needed to ship me some great items so that I would get picked to get on--and I did!

Here is a link to my personal blog--you can see a You Tube video of my appearance!
Don't Blink Or You'll Miss My Roadshow Appearance

Now on to the party!

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Show me what you have been working on, and I will pick the three highest visited links and share them with you next Monday. Tell Me Tuesday!



Remember, please grab my button for your post, or at least put this post as a hyperlink in the text of your post. Please visit at least the entry before yours and after yours to say hello!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Tell Me Tuesday Link Party Faves and A Great Old Milk Jug

Happy Monday! What a weekend we have had! We spent last week finishing packing up the house, on Saturday we packed the moving truck (thanks to all of our friends and family that lent a hand) and Sunday we started settling in. Now Monday is here, I am sitting in our new family room next to the pellet stove writing this post!

I was so excited to have as many entries as I did in the link party last Monday--I have always felt like crafty link parties have given me great inspiration--and hosting one myself is so much fun! But before I share my three favorite entries, I wanted to share with you a great antique that we picked up in Maine a few months ago.


The shining star of the new place is a stone chimney and fireplace. (Pics of that to come) and it has a great mantle and hearth. We knew the minute that we saw this old milk jug that it would look great on the hearth!


The best part? It says "Christopher" on it, which is my husband's name!


I like the old paint on it, too, and the great wear and tear from over the years. The top is stamped "Rodar So, Cal." It was $15 bucks!


Nice little sneak peek of the stonework I gave you on the fireplace, eh?


And now to my three favorite entries from last week's party:

CoBabe in Suburbia's Coffee Filter Wreath:


I made some coffee filter peonies last summer in preparation for my daughter's Lemonade and Sunshine Social Birthday Party, and this wreath reminds me of the simplicity of the project!

Oopsey Daisy's T is for Thanksgiving Kid's Packet:

I was happy to share this link with my friends on Facebook--so many of them have young children that will be home for vacation this week, and I thought that all of the fun printables, coloring pages and food crafts would be a hit!

And finally my favorite, Pleasant Home's Scrappy Selvage Quilt:


Seriously-- I am drooling over this project! A friend just turned me on to all of the small selvage edge projects that are all over Etsy--I can't imagine the work it entails to make a selvage edge project of this size!

So thanks to everyone for participating--and if I featured you as one of my faves, please grab a Feature Button from my Buttons page.


I hope you found a new project to inspire you--and don't forget to join me tomorrow for Tell Me Tuesday!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Thanks and See You Monday

First of all, a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone who participated in my Tell Me Tuesday link party!! I was very excited to have so many entries my first time out of the gate. I also learned about a lot of fun new projects, browsed around some incredible blogs, and hopefully made a few new friends in the process!

As promised I will post Monday on my top three faves from the link party. But in the meantime I have to get back to PACKING. We move this Saturday to a bigger home about 25 minutes away from our current home. I am knee deep in boxes, boxes, boxes!

So keep working on those great projects, and don't forget to visit other people in the link party if you haven't already. And did you take advantage of the Shutterfly offer yet? I will (as soon as I find out what box I packed my camera in . . .)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Tell Me Tuesday Link Party #1

Introducing . . .


Vintage Pollyanna's Tell Me Tuesday Link Party!

I have been inspired by so many great link parties that I have decided to start one here at Vintage Pollyanna. I enter several parties each week, and have made a number of great bloggy friends doing so. Maybe you will too!

Special Offer from Shutterfly


To begin this week's link party and as a thank you for participating, I sharing an offer that bloggers can get for posting about a great giveaway from Shutterfly! Simply put, you blog about the new line of Shutterfly photo card designs, and you get 50 free holiday photo cards!

Some years I design my own card, some years I use Shutterfly, and other times I find a blank insert-your-card-here type of set up from Costco. This year I am going to use the Shutterfly promotion.

Now, not to give anything away, but I will tell you that I am interested in this design:


Hey, I've got two kids, I can shoot nicely in black and white, and my kids will smile nicely right after Ella pinches James so hard he cries and then punches her for the camera! (But maybe I won't use it so that family members that read this will remain surprised!)

Shutterfly also makes a nice line of bi-fold Christmas cards. Take a look!

Every year I also make a personalized photo calendar for my Dad, sister and grandparents. You can to! Here is the link for the customizable photo albums.

Want to get in on the fun? You still have time to apply for this great deal for 50 Free Photo Cards from Shutterfly!

Now back to the party!!

So link up your latest and greatest, and each Monday following the link party I will highlight the top three favorites! And be sure to grab a button for your post--we want people to know where they can go to find great inspiration, or just post a text link in the body of your post.

Please follow me and leave a comment if this is the first time you have visited Vintage Pollyanna! I'd love to get to know you all better--I will visit each of you that links and or comments later this week!

Here are two of my very favorite Tuesday link parties--so I know I will be in great company!

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BWS tips button

Whatever you did recently--be it craft, design, bake, draw, or sew--please share your creation with us. And don't forget to at least visit the entry before and after yours to say hello and introduce yourself. Welcome to Tell Me Tuesday!


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Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...

Monday, November 15, 2010

Join Me On Tuesdays for A New Link Party!

Well, I am doing it--I am taking the plunge and hosting my own link party on Tuesdays!

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So come back tomorrow and read all the details, grab a button for your post, and Tell Me Tuesday about all of the great new projects you have been working on!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Vintage Pollyanna Featured on Yellow Blackbird

I am excited to report that my Vintage Button Necklace was just featured (or should I say her necklace) on Yellow Blackbird's blog!


A few months ago I followed Aubree's tutorial for making one of these beautiful necklaces. You can see my necklace here. Yesterday she did a round up of people who had sent her photos of projects they had made based on her tutorials, and my necklace was one of them! The post is called You Tried It!!

Thanks Aubree! Aubree has a fantastic blog, filled with refashions and great tutorials, plus her writing style is great. Oh yeah--and she has a sweet Etsy shop. Go see for yourself!

featured

Today's post can be found over a Market Yourself Monday On Sumo's Sweet Stuff!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Fabric Rosette Necklace on A Silver Chain Tutorial

I have been seeing fabric rosette necklaces all over the Web, but they are usually pretty big pieces with three or more rosettes. I wanted something really clean and simple with just one rosette.

I have made vintage button necklaces in the past, and so I had some hardware, but when I was in Target yesterday I checked out the clearance jewelry section and found this necklace for $4.99.

It is cute, and there was a time when I used to wear a lot of hammered silver, but instead I got to thinking that the circle would give some nice structure and a little bit of weight to a fabric rosette necklace!

Here is the rosette I used--I made a few from muslin scraps and I liked the way they came out. I went to You Tube and looked at a few videos and then combined methods.


What works for me is tearing 2" scraps about 15" to 20" long out of fabric (I really like using muslin.) Tearing creates more natural fraying and looks great. Then I take one end of the strip and using hot glue I fold each side to the middle, and then I fold the strip in half and start rolling and gluing the center of the rosette. Next I twist and turn the rosette gluing as I go along. Trust me--go to You Tube and look for fabric flower tutorials.

I ran some hot glue around the outside of the circle and pressed the rosette onto it. Then I ran hot glue around the backside of it,


And I added a denim circle to cover up the mess. Lastly I added a little hot glue around the outside and sort of pulled the rosette toward the back to make the muslin meet the denim. (Truthfully it's not pretty--but hey, its for me and it doesn't have to be perfect--just sweet!)


And here it is:


Do I look pleased with myself, or what?


I was wearing my new favorite tee shirt yesterday--a charcoal boatneck, and I think it looked great. Stay tuned for another post about the pin and the headband that I made with the remaining rosettes!

This post is a part of the following link parties:

Marketplace Monday at Finding Fabulous

Sew Cute Tuesday at the Creative Itch

Lucky Linky Tuesday at Lucky Star Lane

Hoo's Got Talent at Night Owl Crafting

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts

We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado

Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies & Jellybeans

Let's Sew at Whimsy Couture

Get Your Craft on Thursday with Life as Lori

Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest

Frugalicious Friday at the Shabby Nest

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Sweet Vintage Tablecloth

I feel a new urge coming on for another vintage collection. This time for vintage tablecloths. Look at this new (old) one that I brought home from Maine a few weeks ago.


It was in a great pile of miscellaneous textiles that my Dad had. He asked my sister and I to go through it and pull out any items we wanted. I saw this tablecloth and knew I had to have it. While my sister went through the pile first I crossed my fingers hoping she wouldn't take it. Boy was I lucky!!


Doesn't it make you feel happy and sunny? On closer inspection it does confuse me a little--I think the larger red fruit is cherries that are running around the inside border--but around the outside I am pretty sure those are bunches of grapes. What do you think?


I already collect vintage and antique kitchen tins, buttons, storybooks, homespun and laundry items (oh, and baby clothes, fabric, pillowcases and canning jars . . .) Hmm . . . looks like I am going to need a bigger house!

Monday, November 8, 2010

A Vintage Fabric Rosette Wreath for Thanksgiving

I was so excited about the sewn fabric rosette pin that Flannery gave me last week that immediately I taught myself how to make the rosettes and I got busy making a Thanksgiving wreath for my front door.


These sewn rosettes are made on the machine by stitching a long ruffle from 1 1/2" fabric, and then sewing them on a circle of fabric, starting along the outside and twisting and turning the rosette beneath the sewing foot until you get to the middle.


I used vintage green upholstery fabric and plain muslin for the flowers. I finished them off with vintage buttons and a few new wooden beads from my stash that I had purchased to make these vintage button necklaces.


I purchased the grapevine wreath from Michael's for $3.99, and the two ribbons I used were on sale in the $1 bin.


Welcome to my home! And Happy Thanksgiving!

This post is a part of the following link parties:

Making the World Cuter Monday
Market Yourself Monday with Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Just Something I Whipped Up at the Girl Creative
Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou
Mad in Crafts' Mad Skills Party

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Rosettes from Fabric and Zippers

I love it when a crafty friend writes on my Facebook wall first thing in the morning, "Rosettes tonight?" That means I get to look forward to an evening of inspired crafty fun all day! And a fun evening it was. Flannery from # Sisterz came over after all fo our little ones were tucked into bed for a fun night of rosette making.

I've been taken with the whole zipper rosette trend that has been spreading across Etsy like wildfire. While scrounging my vintage fabrics for material for last night, I ran across a bag filled with zippers! (Thanks Dad!) Here is my first zipper rosette-turned barrette:


I tried a few tutorials to make them, including this one that uses hand sewing and this one that uses hot glue. I tried both methods and found that the hand sewing was less messy and I had more control in how the flower turns out. This tutorial at That's Sew Me is another great resource, especially when it comes to how to affix the rosette to a bobby pin or a brooch pin.

Flannery started making fabric flowers out of scraps that she brought over--she got the hang of it right away. This is the best tutorial I could find on how to make them. Flannery used a tutorial from Little Birdie Secrets, which also works well, but the one I found today utilizes a cardstock baking, which I think would do wonders in helping me to keep my attempts flat.

Flan made three and grouped them together for a pin:


Here it is close-up. I found that they look great on everything from jean jackets to blouses, plain t-shirts and bags!


Here is a flower pin that she brought over with her, a different tutorial that requires machine stitching.


Doesn't it look FABULOUS on my bag?


And GORGEOUS on my blouse?


As soon as I can find the tutorial she used I'll post it! Meanwhile, go visit her over at 3 Sisterz for her wrap-up from last night!!

This post is a part of the following link parties:

Tuesday's Get Your Craft on at Today's Creative Blog
Sew Cute Tuesday at Creative Itch
Take A Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee
Topsy Turvey Tuesdays at I'm Topsy Turvey