DIY "Chocolate" Bunny and an Easter Quilt

This is a zero-calorie "chocolate" bunny. It looks good enough to eat, but it's a thrifted figurine painted to look delicious.

This is how he started out- gray with a white tail. I saw his chocolate potential though.

I gave him a quick coat of gesso, and then a couple of layers of chocolate brown acrylic craft paint that I had on hand.

He's finished with a coat of matte-finish Mod Podge, which gave him just the right amount of chocolatey sheen.

And here is a quilt I made- with Helen. Helen made the zig-zag quilt with a wide green border.She didn't like it…but I did! I cut off the border leaving just a thin strip of the green and then added my own wide  patchwork of bright squares to repeat Helen's colors in the center piecing. 

 Terry did the long-arm quilting in edge-to-edge straight lines an inch apart.

The softie bunnies are by designer Mimi Kirtchner. (These were available from The Land of Nod, but you can see Mimi's originals on her website. I love her lumberjacks too!)

Here are a couple more pics of the quilt…

 Polka dot binding and backing…

…and a bunny who makes an annual appearance in our kitchen.

I also found some thrifted (Value Village) eggs too- some decoupaged, some painted wood. And crafting with supplies already on hand made for some inexpensive (and no calorie!) additions to our Easter decor.


Make it a wonderful day!

Shibori, K, and Me

A few weeks ago, I spent a fun weekend with my college friends, K. She lives over an hour away- too far for getting together as often as we'd like. We have a great time going to see art, making art, and just hanging out. One of our activities this time was shibori. That's Japanese fabric dying with indigo. 

We prepared our cotton fabric by securing it with rubber bands or tying it with string- around stones, folded, fanned, scrunched, bunched…

We then dipped each piece in the bucket of indigo dye, moving the bundle with our gloved hands. (*Note, if you try this at home, make sure your glove doesn't have even the tiniest hole. My index finger was blue for a week! K used different gloves…her blue thumb lasted for days too.)

We strung up a make shift clothes line in our garage studio to let our fabric, t shirts, onesies, (and even a full-sized table cloth!) dry. And then we stood back to admire our work.

The one below was a gray t shirt- it took the dye a little differently…

We loved how each piece was a bit of a surprise when we opened it- with more practice, maybe our results would be a bit more predictable.

K had some onesies on hand- I dyed this one twice so the circles on the bottom half are more subtle than the larger one on the top.

I sewed my shibori squares to make napkins, complete with mitered corners.

And I found some napkins at a thrift store (Value Village) to add to the mix. I think they'll look great with my plain white dishes and some bright yellow daffodils for our Easter table.

Thanks K, it was a fun and productive weekend. :D

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Paper Cut Art- A Fabulous Find!

I found this the other day at my local thrift store. (Value Village). I think it's a great addition to my Halloween decor.

The paper cut artwork is signed- I think it's "Blecko". Or "Bleeke". But I couldn't find anything about him or her when I searched those names. 

Adding a spider and some web, along with some Halloween lighting, gave it just the right amount of creepiness. 

And there was nothing creepy about the price- original, signed art for under $5. I'd love to know something about the piece. It's one of the things I like about thrift store shopping- a little history, a little mystery. Who made it? Who owned it? And why did they decide to give it away? 

Afghan Awesomeness

 I make quilts. I even keep a few of them. So what am I doing buying an afghan?

 But I couldn't help myself.  All that color. All that pattern.  I talked myself out of buying it, but when it was still at the thrift store (Value Village) a few days later, I had to have it. I paid $5 for it, which is half price. It was a steal even at full price if you ask me.

It was in brand new condition. Like someone made it and then thought, "What was I thinking?"

It was a bit stiff, but once I threw it in the wash and pulled it from the dryer, it was perfectly soft and cuddly.

Someone went to a lot of work making this. And then changed their mind? Maybe they just loved making it and gave it away so they could make someone else happy. And that would be me. :D


Make it a wonderful day!

Toy Box for Peter

I found this great wooden box while thrifting. (Value Village)

I didn't measure it, but it's a good sized box, perfect for a little boy I know to store his cars and other treasures.

The top was embossed with a logo, but I figured I could work with that. I didn't have a plan when I bought it, but I wound up using a couple of the same techniques I'd used with my Art Club for this project. 

I lightly sanded the top of the box and then added some blobs of acrylic craft paint. 

I used a credit card to scrape the paint over the surface. Once the paint dried, I collaged letters cut free hand from an old street map. I also cut small squares from the map to add as a border (and to cover the logo.)  I added a couple more coats of glossy Mod Podge to make sure they were going to stay put. I gave it to him for Christmas along with some also-thrifted metal Matchbox cars.

And when we visited the grands last month, I saw that Peter was putting his box to good use, filling it with the toys and treasures a boy (who is five years old today!!) loves to keep.

Grand kids grow even faster than your own kids. Did you know that?


Make it a Wonderful Day!

Russian Thrifting and Other Finds

We really enjoyed watching the Olympics. Did you find yourself leaning with the downhill skiers and swaying with the speed skaters? Or holding your breath when the ice skaters did their jumps? (For me, watching the mogul skiers just made my knees scream with empathy.)

A few months ago, I came across these Matryoska while browsing at a thrift store. (Value Village) Someone must have been getting rid of their whole collection. (During the Olympics, they had a short segment on how these are carved on a lathe and then hand painted. Very fun to watch.)

I passed on a few that were in poor condition, but brought these home with me. They aren't all complete, but I don't think my grands will mind that. Now if I can just get them to come visit…It's not easy having them live so far away. :(

Oh, and here's another little piece I've had for years, also thrifted. (Value Village) 

It's a hinged box that holds doll house furnishings currently. But in the past I've used in to hold embroidery thread and other sewing notions.

This large dollhouse was a fabulous thrifted find! (Also from Value Village) 

Made by Ryan's Room, it was marked $15- and I got a discount on top of that, so I could not pass it up. I might let the grands paint it the next time they visit, just for fun. Yes, I like it the way it is, but wouldn't they have fun painting it however they wanted?? (I just found the same selling online for $159! Wow, I really did get a GREAT deal on this! Maybe I won't have the grands paint it after all…) 

The cool wooden dolls were not thrifted. I paid full price for them over at Land of Nod. I know. Not cheap. But I love them and rationalized that the grands would love them too. (I saw a couple of negative reviews for these having to do with quality, but our set is just great- no problems at all.)

 Have a wonderful day!