Our Hopeful Home: February 2013

French Inspired Burlap Willow Bottle Basket

February 27, 2013

Well, we've finally had our first real snow of the season out here in the midwest. Boy, was it weird to have a relatively snowless winter. So weird that I found myself actually wishing for a snowstorm! That wish came true and now it's a veritable winter wonderland. And only 21 days until spring. Go figure.

That being said, I guess it's about time I shared with you one of my Christmas gifts from Mr. CBD. It's a willow bottle basket and I absolutely love it.

But of course I couldn't just leave well enough alone, now could I? I had some burlap left over from a previous project and I literally heard it calling to me. Has that ever happened to you? Anyway, after I pulled it out I saw that it was already the perfect size to fit right around my basket. But it just seemed a bit too plain, you know? So I added a little French-inspired sumpin' sumpin'. And there you have it.

I thought it looked especially good sitting between my shabby chic stamped candles. You can find my tutorial for those HERE.

It was so simple to do. I just whipped out my Martha Stewart stencils and stencil brushes and got to work.

Typewriter Stencil Set

Stencil Brush Set

They both came from Michael's. As did the black acrylic paint.

I really love how it turned out.

I know you usually see these types of bottle carriers made out of metal and not wood. But I'm liking mine just fine.

How about you?

Hope you're all safe and warm, wherever you are.

xoxo

I'll be linking up here:

The Charm of Home ~ Home Sweet Home

Common Ground~Inspired Friday

The Shabby Creek Cottage~Transformation Thursday

No Minimalist Here~Open House Party

French Country Cottage~Feathered Nest Friday

My Repurposed Life~ Catch as Catch Can

The Vintage Farmhouse

Inexpensive and Low Key Valentine's Decor

February 14, 2013

I've never been one for decorating when it comes to Valentine's Day. But last year I did create something really simple and really pretty to mark the day. It went over so well and became one of my most viewed posts so I thought I'd share it again this year for those of you who missed it.

{The following content is a repost}:

I'm not a big Valentine's Day decorator. True confession: I'm actually a NO Valentine's Day decorator. Until now. Have you seen these yet? I'm in love. I recently ran across a blog that introduced me to these lovely rose petal soaps, a la Dollar Tree ~ Polly at Motley Junket. Her first idea as to how to use them gave me inspiration of my own. She later added other ideas here. (Between you and me I think she's hooked....sshhhh, so am I!)

I can't imagine how I missed these, since the one place I frequent almost as much as Goodwill is Dollar Tree. Anyway, I brought some of these pretty things home and immediately used them to fill a vintage white ironstone bowl, a cloche and a vintage silver pedestal bowl. I'll probably do more with them later but I wanted to share them with you before Valentine's Day is just a sweet memory.

I liked the combination of pink and white, but you know me, I L.O.V.E.D. the white all by itself.

Update: You can find my tutorial for this darling "bee" adorned clay tag project HERE.

For more inspiration I did some research, a.k.a. googled, and came up with two other sites that have fab Dollar Tree flower petal soap ideas. One is The 36th Avenue. The other is Pleasant Home. Their ideas are genius and you've got to check them out. The only thing I don't understand is how these two posts were written in January and May of 2011 and I missed them altogether? Oh well, I'm just glad I found them now and can share them with you all.

Hope you've enjoyed my attempt at Valentine decor. I know it's not very elaborate but I prefer shabby chic (and frugal!) over commercial any day.

UPDATE: Dollar Tree has the rose soaps again this year, hope you got some!

Have a great weekend!

xoxo

Vintage Valentine Cameo

February 7, 2013

It's been a while since I've posted anything decor-ish. Looks like its going to be a while more......but in the meantime I wanted to share my latest vintage jewelry creation.

I added the pretty blue vintage cameo to the mother of pearl shell and framed her face with vintage rhinestones. I really think it's one of my most romantic creations, don't you?

I can never get enough sparkle. Here I've added faceted crystal beads and rhinestone rondelles to give it a bit more bling.

And the piece de resistance is a vintage French rosary connector. And we all know anything from France is romantic, right?

Speaking of romance, this might just make a nice Valentine's Day gift for yourself. What's that? You never buy gifts for yourself? Me neither {insert tongue in cheek here.}