sometimes, i really take the cake....

today is my birthday!

what better day to share a birthday cake idea?!

the photos here show an original product that i developed back in 2007, called

foo-foo Faux Food TM

i sold this line in my booth at vintage shows and vintage stores,

and now i'm sharing the idea with you here at HOMEWARDfound

because it's a fun craft to make, 

an easy way to decorate 

and can be customized for a birthday or holiday...

my secret? 

these are made using recycled metal cans and tins 

and recycled chenille bedspreads.

yup... clean fruit cans, tuna cans, cookie tins, and cracker tins in various sizes. 

here's the how-to:

* wrap the tins in the fuzzy, textured chenille fabric in any color, and glue on

 cookie & cracker tins are used with lids covered separately (so they are still usable for storage)

tuna cans and small fruit cans are used upside down

* glue on fuzzy yarn trims (like this white 'caterpillar' yarn) to the edges and tops 

 (swirl it on cupcakes, for example)

* you can use the fringed edges of the bedspread on the sides of the cake

so that it looks like piped frosting

* add a few details on the tops and sides,

using pom poms, beads, rickrack, and other trims

* stack the assorted sizes of tins to create fanciful faux cakes!

* using red pom poms or round beads gives the look of cherry toppers

i bet you'll find a bunch of ways to use them!

please note that if you make these for sale, you can not use my product name
'foofoo Faux Food'. it is copyrighted & trademarked.

___________________________________________________

since it's the first day of a new year for me,

i'd just like to offer a little 'shout out' to some very lovely friends

who have made the past year something wonderful.

in the face of huge changes in my life, they have been a

remarkable support and encouragement to me professionally,

always challenging me to

 keep moving forward...

and i could not have done that without them.

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors

David at BROADWAY+THRESHER

Michael at Inspired by Charm

Ruth at The Beautiful Life

Trino at Atelier de Campagne

Janet at ReStitched USA

Sharon at Launch Your Creativity

__________________________________________

a Sweet Treat Party!

Welcome to Day 26!

the photos in this post are from a retail display that i created

one Valentine's Day in a vintage boutique... 

i was inspired by my own 8th birthday party

[one of my favorites, and i remember it in great detail!]

from the pink streamers overhead to the kitchen setting,

and the strawberry 'ice cream' to the pink 'cake',

[some of my original 'FooFooFauxFood'TM designs]

so i had a lot of fun putting this together!

first, here's a look at the whole 'party':

 

second, some of the details:

 * a pink child's skirt is the lampshade cover, with a sweet ribbon bow to hold it in place.

     *  'ice cream' in bowls is made from chenille bedspreads and topped with fuzzy white yarn
 * 'ice cream cones' are Christmas ornaments in vintage paper cones with crepe paper ruffles

* party hat is a dollar store purchase, dolled up with vintage papers & ribbons

 * 'bon bons' are tiny Christmas ornaments in cupcake liners

 * stacked glass plate, casserole lid, and footed bowls create a pedestal to hold the bon bons

 * round notepads with pink design look like cookies on a cookie sheet in the open vintage oven

 * the 'cake' is a round tin, covered in chenille from a bedspread and a lace doily

 * sweet favor flags (and banner on back wall) are made from sheet music and stickers

 * this photo [up in my February banner image and used a few times in other posts]

was taken in this display setup, too...

the chair hung on the wall, to the right and above the white vintage stove.

shared online:

project inspire{d} | cupcakes and crinoline

Happy Weekend!

now go create somethin' !

On Lucky Street

Welcome to Day 13!

as expected, the event i attended yesterday in the San Diego, California area

was OVER THE TOP INSPIRING!

the building has been transformed from an old printing company warehouse to a vintage mecca,

the perfect location for vintage markets, craft classes, photo shoots, and event prop rentals.

here are just a few of my photos of the amazing sets, decor, and props:

the next event will be held February 22-24 and even more details will be in place then:

the interior is being built out to resemble a charming country hamlet!

the marketplace hosts @ 20 vendors of vintage and re-purposed furnishings, decor, and apparel.

i could LIVE there. seriously!

visit Lucky Street Productions on facebook for more information about events, classes, and rentals.

Pumpkins on Parade!

I spent Thursday on the road with a van full of Sweet Sweater Pumpkins,

 delivering them to two of my FABULOUS local retailers here in Southern California - 

let me share them with you!

 One was A Beautiful Mess by Kymberley Fraser, located in Agoura Hills.

Her daughter took one look at the orange pumpkins and declared that the front window needed one...

I think she found the perfect place for it!

[although if it were ME, I might have tucked the pumpkin under his ribcage, in the place where his heart would be....'cause, well, these babies are the heart of my business right now!]

Kymberley's store is beautiful, and the neutral pumpkins fit perfectly

with all of her soft, warm, colors and the elegance of rustic industrial style.

I love how she has them displayed in this old wooden goat cart on a harvest table...

Kymberley has a selection of pumpkins in a neutral palette in sizes from mini to Extra Large
[the Extra Large size is ONLY available from these two retailers]

and now, she has some very special pumpkins made from Angora and Cashmere sweaters!

I delivered 12, and half of them sold before they even went into a display!

I so enjoyed meeting Kymberley's husband and daughter,

her store manager Amy,

and her really sweet customer Heather and daughter

(thank you so much for your enthusiastic support of my little product!)

_______________________

I want to let you know about a VERY special event this weekend

over at Julie O'Keefe Home & Garden in La Canada

[um, that's pronounced "Lah Can-yah-dah" for those not from the Southland. It has nothing at all to do with our neighbors to the North!]

Julie is hosting a party on Friday & Saturday, and Sweet Sweater Pumpkins were invited!
She's all stocked up and even has some new colors and sizes to offer,

please click HERE for information about her event.

Her shop is as lovely as her booth at the Remnants of the Past show was... 

speaking of which, here are a few photos from last weekend!

 Julie is an incredible floral designer with applause-worthy original ideas,

like these darling vintage linen flower pockets...

I can just see this on a doorknob, a doorknocker, an armoire handle, 

or filled with flowers as a sweet hostess gift for ANY season!

 The Limited Edition 'Luxe' collection Cashmere & Angora Pumpkins were very popular,

and perfectly presented some one-of-a-kind artisan button bracelets...

The regular Sweet Sweater Pumpkins nestled into several displays, 

showing how they coordinate with many kinds of decor:

 All of the vintage linen accessories you see here are handmade by Julie...

beautiful lavender sachets, cell phone purses, tote bags, aprons, flower pouches,

pillows, tea towels, tree & gift package ornaments.... I don't think Julie ever SLEEPS!

I am just so very grateful that Julie had my pumpkins in her booth at this wonderful show, 

and allowed me to come and be her booth helper.
We had so much fun working together to set up the booth, and then during the show!

This is the very best part of being in business - 

the amazing people I meet, the support I can give AND receive, 

and the wonderful experiences & opportunities that come my way.
______________________________

and just think...

it all started with a pumpkin ;0)  my grandpa would love that! 

I've been collecting pumpkins my whole life, and I love to decorate with them in fall.

my grandpa used to call me, his first-born red-headed granddaughter, his 'Little Pumpkin Eater'.

his nickname for me started a collection that my mom and I have been adding to for decades.

that's what seasonal decorating is to me: meaningful.

Inspired by Charm likes Sweet Sweater Pumpkins!

 in the last few weeks of september, i was on a pumpkin-making mission

(i called it pumpkingeddon!) to prepare products for a huge corporate order.

but it was very 'hush-hush' and i couldn't share what it was for.

so i cut and stuffed and tied and tagged a few hundred pumpkins

and bagged them up in sets of three, one from each color palette (Light, Bright, and Neutral)

it was a special package created just for this company...

loaded them into boxes

and then shipped them off to chicago on a wing and a prayer.

from the corporate office, they would be re-boxed individually 

and sent off to customers who had ordered a 'grab bag' sort of offering.

yes, sight unseen!

i was finally given permission to share the news today:

my Original Sweet Sweater Pumpkins are featured

in Michael J. Wurm's 'Inspired by Charm' October offering for 

LOST CRATES !

Michael and i 'met' when we were both contributing writers for FOLK Magazine

[not in person, just in lots of word-y posts, comments, and emails]

and he has been very generous in sharing word of HOMEWARDfound with his fans.

[the man has over TWO MILLION Twitter and Pinterest followers!]

he's a 'style spotter' for Better Homes and Gardens Magazine,

 a contributor to home decor and design websites and resources, 

one of his bffs is Kim Myles (yes, the DesignStar winner!),

so he's truly a design STAR himself...

and I am so honored that he chose my product for his Lost Crate offering. 

Thank you, Michael at Inspired by Charm!

Thank you to Jack at Lost Crates!

Halloween Inspiration: Mad Science

 Welcome to October at HOMEWARDfound!

Let the Halloween Decor Inspiration commence...

I was recently at an local store's event taking photos for a magazine story (more about that in a bit),

and was delighted when I saw the ghoulish Halloween display shown above.

I knew as soon as I saw it that this would be my October 1st blog post,
 because there are so many creative ideas shown here that we can learn from...

This mantel has some terrific cost-effective ideas:

*the taxidermy bat. 

 it's a primitive DOLL hung on a board! and it looks for all the world like taxidermy because it's ratty, old, dirty, and beat up. ok, so bats aren't MY thing.... maybe they aren't yours, either. but take an old deer or moose mount, spray paint it matte black, then rub some dirt into it, scuff up the nose and antlers, and you have a creepy old animal thing to hang over your mantel. stretch some cobwebs between the antlers, put a few spiders in there.... positively ghoulish.

[i am NOT advocating killing animals. do you know how many dirty old head mounts there are at garage sales, thrift shops, and antique malls? someone else killed them, let's just make use of them.]

*the draping.

simple cheesecloth dyed black - you can buy it at fabric and costume & party supply stores.
it's lightweight, so it can go just about anywhere without a lot of support needed. you can stretch this stuff out, rip it to shreds, and it just looks even better. i'd have taken a length of it and created a ratty scarf for the mannequin, and tucked a bat into it like a brooch!  

*the specimen jars

these are simple big old glass canisters and pickle jars  - stuff you can find at every garage sale, thrift shop, even at Ross and Marshalls stores. gather up a few (and old & dirty is PERFECT for this!), then start working on the contents...

inside the jars, you can have any kind of scary, grotesque specimens you want. the dollar store and Walmart are a great place to grab plastic and rubber spiders, snakes, cockroaches, eyeballs, fingers, skulls, sponges that look like brains....

[ok, I love a good movie reference. and that just made me think of  a scene from 'Young Frankenstein', where Igor tells Doctor Frankenstein which brain he grabbed from the lab: 

"Abby somebody".
"You brought me an ABNORMAL BRAIN???".

so i'd put a sponge brain in a jar with pink tinted water, and a label that said 'Abby Somebody'. that would make me laugh every time i looked at it!]

the jars could be filled with cheap plastic bones from the dollar store - femurs, hands, feet - but they don't LOOK cheap because of what you do with them: simply paint them flat white, then use a dry brush technique to smear some flat black paint into the crevices, making the details stand out. take them outside and roll them in the dirt, too, just to make them look like they came out of the ground - then pop them into the jars and close the lid.

a humorous tag will make people smile, too.  
do ya' see what i did there?

over on a cabinet next to the mantel, more specimen jars gather...

*old medical books

used as a base for more specimen jars, this just adds another layer of creepiness to the decor. the whole book doesn't even have to BE a medical journal - just the two pages you have it opened to. buy ONE ratty old medical book or magazine at an antique store, then tear the pages out and glue them into regular dictionaries. (THOSE are pennies on the dollar at thrift shops).

you can also add lettering to the cover and spine of old books, turning a plain old dictionary into a CREEPOLOGIST MANUAL or an EMBALMING GUIDE... just use a black sharpie marker and write right on the cover!

the photos you see above were all taken by me at

Down Home American Country Antiques, located in Orange, California 

it is owned by Peggy and Don Arentz, and Peggy is the mad scientist who thought up this display!