Painted Pumpkins Craft Night

Our last craft night was all about pumpkins.

We painted them with craft paint, acrylic paint, paint markers and even some chalkboard paint. 

My friend Melissa made two of these ghosts. 

This masterpiece was by Ericka.

I used some gold and silver to paint the stems of my pumpkins. The idea was from the latest Martha Stewart magazine. It is a super easy and fun craft that works for adults and kids alike.

Maddie made these beauties.

And here they are around my house. 

This is the chalkboard paint gourd.

I used a few of them to add an autumn touch to the dinner table.

The Market East Pillow Collection

I've been selling them at my pop-up shop and at clover market, and posting about them on instragram and facebook, but haven't dedicated a post to them yet.

So here they are, the Market East Pillows!!




I designed the fabric and it printed through Spoonflower. Spoonflower is the greatest invention. You upload your design and pick the repeat type and voila, they print it for you. It's the coolest thing ever.

I used a photo that I took of the Market East train station in Philadelphia. Currently the station name is actually Jefferson station, but I seriously hate when buildings are renamed, so I will forever call it Market East. Anyway, the station has a two huge walls of tiles that from far away you can tell are trees, but from most vantage points they just look like random angled subway tiles. I took a photo and did a mirror repeat to make a this cool design.

This pillow was made with a full piece of the fabric on the front. The rest are a patchwork style. 

The quilting lines follow the lines of the tile at some points, then veer off at others.

Here is a little summary of the process. Not included is me struggling and struggling to sew invisible zippers! Sometimes they are really easy, and other times they are very, very hard.

First I chose some fabrics from my stash that coordinated with the fabric. A personal favorite is the shot cotton. It is a woven blend of two very similar shades of the same color, which gives it depth.

 The first cut. 

In the middle of this I had to move the sewing area to our living room while we were re-doing the flooring. The flooring needs it's own blog post, which I will do as soon as I get some decent photos of the room. Anyway, having the whole dining room to myself was great! It has giant windows on each end, which was lovely.

I started out making a big square. As you can see, this was in the spring :-) My method is to just work by adding rectangular pieces of fabric. It's an organic process and I don't use any patterns or have a real plan besides try to balance out the colors. Little bit of this, little bit of that and then it's complete. 

Then I cut the large shape into separate squares and added fabric as needed to make each the correct size for the pillow form. This gave each of them a different and distinct look, as compared to the modified log pattern that I started with. 

Then each was made into a pillow. I still have two left in the shop, so grab them while they last! I have a smidge more fabric left so there may be a few more in the future. But each one will be unique. 

 

How to Make Terrariums

Have you ever wanted to make a terrarium?  I have, and finally made a few this week! It is much easier than you think.



Click on for the instructions to learn how to DIY.

Well that was fun

A huge thank you to everyone who came out for my first POP UP shop on Sunday! I had a blast hanging out with you while you shopped in my house! The process of setting up for it was fun too.

Basically I redecorated my house with vintage housewares, plants, flowers and pillows from my shop. Also sprinkled in the mix was art by my very talented artist friends.

This area is usually our bar, but became a milk glass collection.

The pillow on the left is a quilted pillow. I designed the colorful subway tile fabric with the website Spoonflower. I used a photo that I took of the Market East (Jefferson) train station in Philadelphia. The station has a two huge walls of tiles that from far away are a trees, but from most vantage points they just look like random angled subway tiles. I took a photo and did a mirror repeat to make a cool design.

My friend Jason Koons, who creates papercut art, had several pieces hung throughout the house. This intricate tree was created by cutting paper with an exacto knife. 

And here is one of his large papercut stars. 

My photography skills do not do them justice, they are the coolest. The one above and two below are all sold. I really wanted the top one in the photo below, but my friend Ben snagged it before I bought it. Jason does custom work, so we are going to commission something cool. 

And here is the gorgeous pottery by Marilyn McCauley. That pot in the middle is now all mine :-) 

The brand*eye home vintage planters and plants were a hit.

The happy shopper Pia taking a break after a karaoke session.

Oh yeah, there was also karaoke, hot dogs and chili compliments of my husband Dave. We can't invite people over to our home without feeding them, and as soon as anyone mentions karaoke it's on. 

Thanks for hanging! 

Silk Dyed Easter Eggs

If you're looking for a very easy, but impressive easter egg project, this is it! I have to give credit to the infamous Martha Stewart Show, which is where I learned this technique.

Materials:

• Patterned Silk. I used silk scarves, but you could use any silk fabric (ties, scarves, shirts)
• Raw eggs (they will cook while they are being dyed)
• White cotton
• Twist ties or rubber bands or string
• Non reactive (glass or enamel pot) although I don't have either of these so used metal and it works
• White vinegar and water

Directions:

Cut your silk into squares that will fit around the eggs. Also cut the white cloth to the same size. You can eyeball all of this, it does not need to be exact.

Wrap each egg in the silk and tie with a twist tie, rubber band or anything that will tie it tight (I used baking twine). The tighter you tie it, the more pattern you will have.

Wrap each silk covered egg in white cotton. I used an old t-shirt that had seen better days. The layer of cotton helps to keep the dye in place.

Place the eggs in your pot and fill with water so that they are covered. Add approximately 3 tablespoons of white vinegar to the water and bring to a boil.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove the eggs from the water and let them cool. Unwrap each egg and see your work of art.

Each one will be unique. An optional step is to add a little bit of vegetable oil to a paper towel to wipe each egg to make it shine.

You can also paint or use markers on the eggs after they are dry. I added some green marker to the one on the bottom to add some extra interest. I should also add that you can save the used silk to use again. The purple pieces were previously used a few years ago for the same project and still came out great!

What's your favorite way to dye eggs?

DIY pine cone wreath

The best crafts are made with what at least one item that you already have. This wreath was made with the pine cones from our yard and a store bought wreath form. You can wither use a plain metal one, but I was digging this white one, so I bought it instead.


Ingredients:

• pine cones
• metal wreath form
• florist wire
• latex gloves (optional, this helps to keep the sap off of your fingers)

Directions:

• Start by winding an end of a piece of wire around the frame.

• Or you can also start by winding the wire around the cone and then twist the end of the wire around the frame. Do whatever works easiest for you.

• Place the pine cones where they looks best. 
• Wrap the wire around each and then around the back of the wire frame until it is snug.
• I worked with wire pieces that were approx. 18" long and you can wrap it around the cones multiple times (twice is good, one at each end, or one in the middle if it's small).
• End the piece of wire by wrapping it around the wire wreath form a couple of times so that it is snug.
• Continue to work your way around the wreath form until it's covered.

And there you have it, a beautiful wreath. You can also add berries for a pop of color.

 

 

craft night!

I've been slacking on the craft nights lately, but this weekend I had my wonderful gal friends over for some good old fashioned crafting and eating pizza. Make it easy on yourself and just order take out and have  a couple apps to nibble one. A couple of cheeses and crackers are a great appetizer.



My friend Jenn made this "reef." She came prepared with some store bought greenery which she gave up on. I couldn't let a friend fail, so we went foraging in the yard for the holly and used some of the leftover bottom-of-the-Christmas-tree-braches to make a cool off-center wreath.

rock and roll quilt

i could have cried when i cut up 22 vintage rock concert t-shirts.

this past summer my neighbor gave me her collection of AMAZING rock concert t-shirts to make into a quilt. she was a busy girl in the early 80's, going to every awesome show that came to philly. i called her before i started cutting last night and she gave me the OK, with slight hesitation. apparently these shirts are worth a small fortune, but they are her memories, and she wants to be able to enjoy them instead of having them stuffed in a drawer.

this one is dave's favorite.

and i had to cut them in order that i liked them. yes, i'm sure this is weird, but i started with the ones i liked least and the last one i cut was this one. i mean, how cool is this?!?!? she actually called me again just before i cut this one and i answered the phone with "you didn't change your mind did you, because i'm on the last one!".

she is also the coolest and let me wear them until i made the quilt. i figured i better start it before it gets warm, so i'm not tempted to wait another few months to make it :-)