Patriotic Rose Plate

Yes!  My Garage sale find A patriotic rose plate for all of us who are in love with all things roses, romantic and  shabby.

This is the American's Creed

Now, I will be honest with you, I didn't know there was an American Creed.  Hum, this blonde must have slept through that class!  Am I the only one?

The Creed is wonderful!

 I love the USA!

Ok, a little pricey for a garage sale, but who can put a price on patriotism!

Beautiful gold edge and flowers!

The important part is what it say's.  I love the last paragraph.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my

country to love it, to support its constitution, 

to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to

defend it against it's enemies.

Thank you to all you Moms who have children in the military.  We know you wring your hands and worry everyday about your precious children.  Please tell them Thank You for allowing us our freedom!

Happy 4th of July!

Carol

I am linking up with Debbie Doo's Garage Salen Partay

Debbie Doo the new Oprah Star!

Debbie Doo is the rock star of blogging, if you have not been to her blog run don't walk!

Debbie's blog reads like a funny 50's sitcom!  She always makes you smile.  She has now taken her incredible fun personality to the Oprah Show Auditions.  As many of you know Oprah is going to have her own TV channel and she has an online competition for someone to host their own show.  That's where Debbie comes in.  To see Debbie's audition tape and vote for her press HERE 

Vote Debbie

Copying Images Onto Fabric

Where Bloggers Create is available here 
I have reposted to add an addendum on how to make faux bubble wash (Scroll to end)


Copying Images onto fabric is so fun!
I would love to know how you do it and pick your crafty minds with a few questions.

This was my finished project.

I found a couple of vintage lithographs with a baby awake and one asleep.  Well, you know how our crafters minds work!  It was perfect for a door hanger for a babies room.

I took the two pictures and laid them on my copier.

Then I prepared the fabric.  The first thing I do is temporarily adhere the fabric to card stock paper with spray adhesive.

For this project I used a white cotton fabric, but you could use any fabric unless it needs to be washed.  We'll get to that question later.

Then cut away any fabric that is larger than the card stock paper.  Be sure not to leave any threads hanging that will tangle in your printer.

My printer feeds face down, you will have to figure out how your printer feeds.

Press color copy.  If you are printing a black and white image you will still need to do a  color copy as this will give you the true black and white copy.

Now just peel your picture off the paper and you are ready to finish your project.

I used some vintage lace, strips of fabric, buttons and a ribbon for hanging and

Wa La the finished project.

The front.

And the back

Now here is the age old problem of copying onto fabric.

Washing it!

This is how the fabric looked before and after a cold water hand wash.

The one on the right was after the wash.  It does not completely wash off or run, it just fades appreciably.

I thought I would experiment with Scotch Gard Fabric spray.  I was thinking maybe this will be a eureka step that will save the fabric from losing it's ink.

It will save the ink from running unfortunately it turned the fabric a yellow hue and the ink ran enough that it was not exactly a eureka moment.

Now, fabric that cannot be washed is Ok for some projects.  Maybe journal covers, framed pictures, or gift tags.

These are tags that I copied the image onto fabric then sewed onto tags.  I think it is a cute shabby look and no one is going to launder a gift tag.

When I do pillows I use this pretreated fabric from JoAnnes.  You print, wash, and then sew.  It holds the color and is washable.  It costs about $17.00 with your 40% off coupon.  The limitation is that it only comes in white.

So, here is my questions to all of you talented crafters out here.

One of my questions has been answered by

 Rebecca at A Gathering Of Thoughts. I have linked this right to Rebecca's post on how to make faux bubble jet!  A mixture of washing soda, alum, and fabric softener

click here

Warning! When I go to Rebecca's site I spend hours, it is all eye candy!  I hope you don't have anything planned! 

1. How do you copy images onto fabric?
2. Does photo paper come in any other colors?
3. I have read that there is something quilters use to wash the fabric first that will make it colorfast when you copy an image onto it.  Where do you buy it and how much is it?
4. When people make really fancy pillows with a photo image and add lace, buttons, and glitter do they use photo paper?  Are these pillows meant to be washed?  How do you wash something covered with buttons, lace, and glitter?

Thank you for any and all input.  We can all learn something when we put all of our talents together!

Carol

My creative space

I am linking up to a wonderful party Where Bloggers Create This is hosted by 

My Desert Cottage.  100's of bloggers have linked up to show their creative spaces.  

This is mine!

When I left pharmaceutical Sales a year ago the first thing I did was turn my 10 X 12 guest room into a sewing/craft room.  I was sick of pulling boxes out of every room in the house to do a project.  I now have it all in one place.

Now, if you go to Where Bloggers Create you will see the most magnificent, fluffy, dreamy, rooms, mine is a little more utilitarian.  

This is my sewing table with cabinet's on each side and ton's of storage  junk hidden underneath. 

This is a Slatwall commonly used in retail stores.  Look at those baskets and bins all filled with luscious flowers, laces, paints, and ton's of ribbon's.  The Slatwall is great because this is a small room and the Slatwall uses minimal space.  I painted the Slatwall the same color as the room so it would blend in.

The table tucked under the Slatwall is on wheels and opens up to a generous

 4 X 6 crafting table

This is the desk area, hidden under the table is file cabinets and more junk!

Me and Billie the cat my crafting companion

You should see the room tonight it looks like it got hit by a wind storm!!  This was the one time it was all tidy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Apron Giveaway

My Dear friend at Sweet Kathleen's is having a give away!  If you love baking you will love Sweet Kathleen's cooking blog,  Every time I read her blog I just want to eat the computer screen!  Kathleen was  featured in the May/June issue of Tea Time Magazine!

Sweet Kathleen's is giving away an Apron made by Annie G Aprons and Bags  Annie is as skilled at sewing as Kathleen is at baking.  Annie has an online store, but most of her business is referral and return customers.  Annie's attention to detail and ability to match colors is something that keeps people from all over the world coming back for more!  Annie doesn't use patterns so, what you buy is truly something unique.

Lookie Here!

The drawing is June 30th

Hurry on over to Sweet Kathleen's and tell her Carol sent you!!

Making a Graffiti Memory Pillow

I just got back back to Orlando after a vacation to see family in Minnesota.  I grew up in Minnesota then moved to Florida 20 years ago.  The whole time I was home it was cloudy, cold (compared to Orlando) and rainy.  Lets just say it is not the Sunshine State, but the people are bright and sunny!

I went to my niece Stephanie's high school graduation party.  Besides the much loved gift of $$$$ I made her a memory pillow.  Now, with teenagers you never know what they will like, but it was a huge hit with my niece and her friends.  Since she lives out of state I had no idea what her favorite things were!  So, I went to Facebook and there it was.....Her favorite show, food, restaurants, movie star, sport, etc.  

Bingo!  Anything we want to know about someone we can find!

I was thinking of other occasions you could give a Graffiti Memory Pillow.  This could be filled with the names of friends, family members, classmates, pets, sports teammates?

Going off to college

Summer Camp

A long hospitalization

Moving away

Kindergarden, grade school, middle school graduation

I embroidered this onto the pillow, but not everyone has an embroidery sewing machine.  You could easily type it all out and copy it onto fabric.

Are you interested in a tutorial on how to copy onto fabric next week?

Painting Tips

I know what your thinking ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Painting Tips, but hang with me.  I have just 3 tips that may save you time and money!

 Besides my online store I have an antiques booth at 

Orange Tree Antiques in Orlando, Florida.  I have had the booth for 7 years and have done tons of painting in that time as most everything gets a coat of white.

I hate sanding so this is my alternative.   I use Gloss-Off  by Krud Kutter.  I found it at Sherwin Williams and the best part is it smells like soap.  No strong odor, the store said they use it in schools because it has no odor and is so safe.  Not having to sand is especially wonderful when you're painting something with curvy legs or embellishments.

I love the finish and ease of spray paint but, if you're doing multiple projects or one big project it can get costly. This Rust-Oleum Heirloom white is my new love!  I took the cap of the spray paint to the paint counter and had them mix a gallon of paint to match the cap.  Now I base coat with a brush and give it a top coat of spray.  This is also great when you have projects that have curvy legs or a wicker top, you don't have to spray the whole item.  A brush coat of paint gives a good base.

Here is my last little tip.  I never wash a paint brush! I seal them in a Ziplock bag and put it in the crisper drawer of my refrigerator.  I have had brushes last a year.  They stay soft and moist (Sounds like a cooking blog).

So, there ya have it!  I will be on vacation for  10 days, nothing exotic.  I am going home to Minnesota (I hear the snow is finally gone) to visit friends and family. 

Happy Painting!

Carol

Thrift Store Dress Transformation

I am linking up with DebbieDoos Garage Salen Partay


Honesty begins right here, what do you think?

I saw this dress at the thrift store for $4.00 and I thought it had good bones!  

It had a cute back, with a tie at the top, it is a little hard to see.

I didn't want a dress I wanted a shirt and that was super simple to do!

I just cut it short and added a sheer lace Polka Dot Ruffle....There's the polka dots again!

I decided it was a little plain so I went through my bling boxes.  I just love looking through all of these goodies!

I found the perfect vintage black pin

I thought it was so cute and then when my son saw it He said it looked like an old lady shirt!

Well I Am an old lady, but I don't want to look like one! 

 So, what do you think?  Now you have to be honest!  Usually everyone is so sweet on all of their blog comments and they say everything is wonderful and beautiful......We know everything isn't so, lets have honesty start right here!!!  What do you really think?  It was only a $4.00 investment, and I will still visit all of your blogs and leave nice comments and I will still call all of you my friends!  This should be fun!

Carol