Lampshades to LOVE

 I just can't leave well enough alone...

 I usually buy my home decor items - like lamps - at thrift stores and garage & vintage sales,
and they usually come with lampshades.
Thing is, I never like them! 
I love the lamp base, which is why I buy it,
but then I always have to add something or deconstruct something to do with the shade
to make it something I can live with... or sell.

Like MOST of my projects, it's not really complicated...

The lamp on the left has a perfectly acceptable shade, right?
I thought so too, but when I sat it in the vignette in my vintage decor booth*,
all of the lovely detail of the three 'candles' beneath that shade became invisible.

I knew I had to do something, so I looked around me to see what I had to work with...
and my eyes stopped on those rusty, crusty wire garden baskets 
hanging from a chandelier over the table.
There was one more of them sitting under the table, and I grabbed it,

flipped it over, and sat it on top of the lampshade (shown on the right).

The wire brought out the metal tones of the three 'candles' under the shade,
and the whole thing looked a lot more 'vintage' - easy-peasy.

This lampshade started out as a simple wire frame from a thrift shop.
I tore strips of red ticking cotton fabric and found some vintage red velvet ribbon,
and simply tied loops of each around the frame.
I think it took me a whopping 15 minutes from start to finish.

I like my projects to be 'Fast, Cheap, & Easy'TM!

MORE inspiration:

view more of my lampshade transformations

a super-quick lampshade treatment

one of the most drastic lamp transformations ever

I've used chandelier crystals, metal shoe trees, wire waste baskets,
aprons, vintage piano player music rolls, belts, stencils, sheet music,
vintage linens, wallpaper, vintage ceramic tea cups, and more
to 'foof' up lampshades over the years...

a few that I gathered up in 2013 to share here on HWF:

 I hope you find inspiration for your own unique lampshades here!
Have fun creating!
...we'll leave the light on for ya'... ;)

shared online:
one project closer | creativity unleashed

shabbyfufu | share it one more time
 .

Valentine's Day Sweet Tooth!

Deb's got a sweet tooth in more ways than one, let me tell ya...
today I was searching for something on my retail visual design blog

and found a 'blast from the past' old post sharing my Valentine's Day decor.
... and since we're already gearing up for Happy Hearts Day decor,
I thought you might just want to see it!

That was my little craftsman Cottage's kitchen window shown above, 

loaded with candy dishes heaping full of yummy tidbits 

(that I'll never really eat, truth be told....my weakness is chocolate) 

and a few trompe loeil treats.

One of them was inspired by THIS photo

from a past issue of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Magazine ...

I gathered up some round cardboard containers, metal tins, fabric, ribbons, and froufrou,
and got to work making my own versions of this 'stacked wedding cake' idea.
(I know, I know, this is not WORK. Let's call it a 'Creative Exercise' then, OK?)

I came up with two of them:

It's simply a cake pedestal with boxes, tins, and even a ceramic coffee cup
stacked up in layers and embellished with ribbons, flowers, 
and even my own REAL wedding cake topper!

 I shared a similar 'stacked wedding cake'-style idea here on HWf a few years ago:

Here are just a few more ideas for making your Valentine's Day sweet as can be....

More clear vases, domes, and candy dishes were loaded with 
pink and red candies from the Dollar Tree, an old heart pin made from buttons,
a 'cupcake' pincushion in a mug, and red marble hearts in a heart-shaped box...
it all added whimsy and charm to that little window in front of the sink
but took no time at all to create!

The truth was that although my Cottage kitchen was a retro dream,
the view out that window was utterly hideous - 
it looked directly at the garage of the house next door. UGH.
(you can see it right there in the background of the top photo!)
So I always created cute little vignettes in the window to look at instead!
.
Want even more Valentine's Day inspiration? 
See my '30 Days to Valentine's Day Countdown' posts from 2013!
View my Pinterest board: February Hearts

pssssssst..... I'm on Instagram, too!

Heartfelt Thanks

thank you all for playing along for the past month,

visiting the HOMEWARDfound blog, facebook page, pinterest boards, and HOMEtalk posts!

the countdown is over...

but you can still catch up on all 31 posts - just click here!

[ and stay tuned.... SPRING IS COMING! ]

tout de suite

Welcome to Day 29!

imagine if the shelves shown in yesterday's post were in a kitchen, instead of in my office.
 you could create a quick little display tout de suite*
just by raiding the kitchen cabinets & drawers:

 cake pans, cupcake wrappers & box, cookie cutters, and a few edible goodies
become decor items! easy. or, rather...

[*tout de suite ]
which is one of the most common expressions in the French language,
and is just one of several ways to say "right away, immediately."

now what if you grabbed a little bit more from the kitchen,
and pulled together a candy bar beneath those shelves?

it might look a lil' something like this:

the best part? 
the candy AND darling 'cookies on a stick' ALL came from the dollar store
and the glass vases & candleholders came from thrift shops!

This is a simple, easy idea for a family-time Valentine's Day dessert
that your kids are sure to love

* leftover Christmas candycanes fit the color scheme and fill up a huge vase

* smaller lidded jars hold cheap but cute dollar store candies,

and a tiny butter dome holds some jellied fruits wrapped in red & white wrappers

 * decorated cookies-on-a-stick stand in a cup lined with doilies

* dotted wrapping paper forms the base of the decor

* an overturned custard dish acts as a pedestal for a cupcake
[and a flattened cupcake paper forms a colorful 'saucer' beneath it]
* small red glass heart plates stand inside raised candleholders, secured with hard wrapped candies

several other ideas from HOMEWARDfound are shown above:

wrapped glass vases [view post here]

bakers' twine tags [view tutorial here]

shared online:
2016: one project closer | creativity unleashed link party
 

All Together Now...

Welcome to Day 28!

this Valentine Vignette  

sits above my desk, and is the first thing i see when i walk into the office.

it's a small space that benefits from very little 'tweaking'

by adding new elements each season / month, along with just a touch of color.

you probably have a windowsill, or an entry table
that is the first thing you see when you walk into your home or kitchen...
it's a perfect place to create a seasonal vignette!

elements like the white ironstone pitchers & mini bowls and the white silk tulips 

are used almost all year long.

the simple addition of some aluminum heart-shaped cake pans

[picked up for 25 CENTS each at a thrift shop],

the L-O-V-E letter tiles, 

and the red & white striped hearts and cupcake papers

makes this arrangement say 'Valentine's Day'.

the photo above brings together two previous ideas from HOMEWARDfound:

 gift tags and hearts, cut from an old box [ see tutorial here ]

and

giant letter tiles [ see tutorial here ]

Stop the Presses!

Welcome to Day 27!

i had a completely different post ready for today...

then i went to Barnes & Noble yesterday, and spied something SO FABULOUS

that it is just too good NOT to share!

i don't know why they do it, 

but Barnes & Noble offers reprints of the original 

1800's - 1900's Sears, Roebuck & Company catalogs!

yes, the same ones that used to be dropped with a THUMP onto your porch each summer,

just in time to pick out 'back to school' clothes and dream over toys for Christmas. 

i spied that volume on the sales shelf and grabbed my phone to take a shot to share

[while an older gentleman on the same aisle looked at me suspiciously...]

inside the book are hundreds of pages with thousands of vintage images 

and words in antique typography

that would be PERFECT for paper crafts! 

do you create collages? mixed media art? 

are you like me and wrap everything that's boring in paper of the vintage variety?

this is just a fabulous solution that saves you the time and trouble

of rooting through boxes in barns, antique stores and thrift shops 

to find old magazines for your projects.

those paper crafts shown in yesterday's PARTY post? 

you could totally make that stuff with these catalog pages - instead of sheet music.
for any holiday or season!

Think Outside the Box!

back in November, i was rummaging through my Mom's holiday decor stash,

 and i found a bunch of old ornaments inside

a Miller's Outpost box, shown in the photo above

ok, i'm REALLY going to date myself here by saying that 'back in the day', 

Millers was THE place to shop for cool clothes.

it was like H&M or Abercrombie are today. it was COOL.

but looking at this old, faded, tired-looking 25-year-old box, you'd never know that.

i decided that even though [or maybe especially because] it was OLD, 

this survivor of a Millers Outpost box had some redeeming qualities

[not the least of which is the faded vintage paper color]

and needed to be re-purposed into something else.

well, i couldn't figure out a single thing to make out of it at Christmas...

but shortly afterward, i had a brainstorm:

those red stripes would be perfect on hearts & tags in February!

continue reading for not one but TWO 'Fast, Cheap & Easy' tutorials:

how to turn a shirt box into gift tags and hearts!
[and shirt boxes are FREE with a purchase from department stores,
so even if you don't need one, get one as craft supplies! ]

continue reading for the tutorial...

The Lollipop Guild

every year, the sweet-faced girl shown below

chooses an equally sweet theme for her 'Farm Chicks' antique show.
in 2011, she chose a candy theme - and i loved the graphic so much

that it was my inspiration for the little gift i made her
[just to say thank you for having me as a vendor]

i found some red and white cording at the fabric store, and used it to make two little lollipop pins.

i cut some words out of vintage sheet music and added them to the pins

['serena' was actually 'serenade' on the sheet music]

then i nestled them in a tiny box and embellished it with vintage trims.

this craft is so very simple, and makes a perfect accent on a gift tag, place card, 

or greeting card. here's how it looks on a manilla gift tag:

 and here's the easy 1-2-3-4 to make your own:

i used cotton baker's twine for the tags. a drop or two of glue is all it takes!

make 'em small for tags and larger for pins, like the ones i made for serena.
just cut out a circle as the backing for a pin, instead of using the whole tag.

It's a Wrap

make easy seasonal changes to your clear glass vases with paper

whether you use an assortment of vibrantly colored wrapping paper as shown here,

or the subtle tones of vintage sheet music and book pages,

it only takes a minute - and makes a big impact.

 the two papers used here are the remains of a roll of Christmas wrapping paper

[red on one side, and white with red polka dots on the reverse]

and a piece of 1970's era heart-print gift wrap that was unearthed in an old box

 there are two methods:
* cut a piece of paper to fit INSIDE the glass vase if you are using silk flowers or twigs

* cut a piece of paper to fit OUTSIDE the glass vase if you are using a candle or real flowers in water

a few small pieces of double-stick tape will hold the paper in place

[the small hearts shown on two of these vases 

were cut from the opposite side of the paper and taped in place]

 you can also use ready-made paper items:

these small vintage-look cupcake/candy cups fit perfectly 

the outside of small glass flowerpots,

creating a sweet setting for a tealight candle

one more idea:

after you've inserted the paper INSIDE the vase for use with faux flowers,

place a white heart-shaped doily between the glass and the paper

[or perhaps a special love note or photograph!]

shared online:

Be Inspired Fridays by Common Ground