Vintage Suitcase Transformation

I FINALLY finished my vintage suitcase transformation.  Truth be told I finished it Sunday but just got around to posting it.  I bought these two beautiful vintage suitcases from my favorite thrift store.  These little darlings only cost $3.00 each.

We live in a small house and the living room has to pull double duty of living room and play area for my daughter.  Actually, it also serves as a make-shift office because my desk is currently in the room also.

Well, you can see from the photos that the play area section is not looking so great.  Not exactly the look I was going for!

So, I turned to the two suitcases for help.

I actually really liked the color and texture of these suitcases but there were some really ugly spots on them.

I turned to my old standby....chalkboard paint.  I started out using the spray paint version but switched to regular chalkboard paint because of all the rainy weather.

Here they are...all of that mess fit into these two suitcases!  The big one has all the toys and the small suitcase has all of my daughter's books.

As you can see, my daughter has already broke them in.  She was so excited to write on them.

They have made cleaning up at the end of the night so easy I wish I would have done this earlier!


Have a great week.

-Aaron {the girl with the boy's name}
     Mudpies & Marigolds

Vintage Farmhouse Chic Wedding?

So, I thought I would be done with my latest vintage suitcase project by now and have a post all about it.

 Mother Nature apparently did not care about my plan. 

All the rainy weather has kept me from spray painting so I've switched to regular paint.  Man am I inpatient...once you get used to only waiting 10 minutes between coats using spray paint, 4 hours between coats just doesn't cut it!  Put hopefully I'll have this little project done soon.

Wedding season is upon us and man has my Etsy Shop been busy the last couple of weeks.  As I type {as quickly as I can...so please excuse any and all typos} I have a total of 11 boxes sitting on my dinning room table waiting for their trip to the post office. 

Here is what I have been making the most of:

Making all of these wedding items has me jonesing to plan a dreamy vintage inspired, farmhouse chic wedding...any guinea pigs?

A lazy summer afternoon and a sneak peek

Yesterday we had a lazy Summer afternoon.  I took a break from filling wedding tag and cake topper orders.  I took a break from digging my way though my pile of unfinished projects and just played.  It was great.  I don't know who enjoyed it more...me or my 2 1/2 year old. 

It was a little cooler yesterday in STL and we took advantage and went out to the yard and filled up her paddle pool {I see a larger pool in our future} and hooked up the sprinkler. 

Daddy stopped by from work for a few minutes.  Just enough time to get splashed with a bucket of water.

And we relaxed.  It was lovely.  Until....


My little Punky Brewster here thew water AT the camera.  The camera survived {thank God} but the timeout that ensued lead to the following pictures. 

It looks like torture doesn't it?

Don't worry, she also survived.


Now, here is a sneak peek at my next project.  It's one that's long overdue.
It involves these two thrift store vintage suitcases that I bought for a whopping $3.00 each.  I'll give you a hint, it involes that tortured little Punky Brewester you see above.

I'll fill you in when I finish.  Hopefully it turns out like I hope.

Happy Weekend to you all!

The LAZIEST pillow covers EVER--- a tutorial.

The other day after I made my Vintage Grain Sack Pillows, I dug out some fabric samples I knew I had stashed away.  I had liked the fabric colors I just "knew" I could use them for something.

And the price was right.

So since I was doing pillows, I thought these would be perfect pillow covers to "summerize" the pillows on the couch.  But, I was tired and daylight was fading so I made the LAZIEST pillows EVER.  Seriously.

These fabric samples {which you can find at the fabric store when a print is discontinued} where already hemmed around the edges.  So I got out some left over burlap {which I always have from my burlap and lace table runners} and cut out burlap of the same size. 

I used my BFF Fabri Tac and ran a bead of glue around three of the sides of the right side of the printed fabric.  I then place it on top of the burlap.  You can use books or clothes pins to clamp the two fabrics together.

 ** Make sure you line your work space with wax paper!  The burlap is loosely knit and the Fabri Tac will leak a bit and you don't want it to ruin your table! **

Look!  I was so lazy I didn't even iron this poor burlap first.

Pick out some coordinating ribbon and glue down on the unsealed edge to use as ties.

I waited about 2 hours to make sure the glue had dried completely then I flipped the case right side out.

That's it...a simple way to change the look of a room.

Cheap, Easy and Fast...now that's my kind of project!

Also linking to:

Yum. Vintage grain sack pillows...and an amazing giveaway!

Well, if you read my last post then you know that I am on a mission to create, create, create with all the items I have stashed away.  I will be trying to work my way through the pile of "amazing stuff yet to be created" as soon as possible so that I can clean out my craft room. 

So yesterday I made some more distressed chalkboards, a couple of ring bearer pillows and two grain sack pillows.  I still have a few more to make but progress is progress, right?!

When I make pillows, I usually make the entire pillow...not just a slip cover. 

I see people on Etsy selling just the slip for as much if not more than I sell the entire pillow for.  I just don't get that.  Don't get me wrong I love pillow covers too!  I love to swap out looks easily but shouldn't the price reflect that lack of a pillow form?  I'm just sayin'.

Anywho, I'll get off of my high horse now.

I scored 3 old cotton sugar sacks before my buying lock down.  I was thinking maybe some mini pillows but would like to do something different.  ANY IDEAS?  Please share the love.

Next up for this week:  a tutorial for THE laziest pillows EVER!

**I also wanted to share with you all an amazing giveaway that's going on right now over at Dreamy Whites.  If you haven't checked out her blog before, go there right now...everything will make you swoon.  Right now she's having a giveaway for a whopping $250.00 gift card to her online store.  AMAZING!

Hope you all having a good Monday.  :)

Also linking to:

before you see me on an episode of Horders...

The other day my husband threw down the preverbial gauntlet.  I mean big time stuff here.

I had "started" cleaning the guest room/craft room...again.  It was a health hazard.  There is no way a guest could sleep in that room {or even find the bed to be perfectly honest}.  Well, when I clean it isn't the "shove things out of the way and go on your merry way" kinda cleaning.  NoPe.  I'm way to OCD for that.  When I clean it's a full on re-organization of every. single. stinkin'. item.  kind of deal.

So anyway, I had started cleaning the mess.  Which means I was emptying everything out of said room and placing them in massive piles {by category of course...you know, unfinished projects here...fabirc there...etc} in the dinning room when my hubby arrives home from work.  The look on his face said it all.  Now he had been not-so-subtling sugesting that I clean the craft room for a while so I thought he would have been pleased to see the evacuation in progess.  But no...he was not.  Instead he threw down the gauntlet. What unfolded next went a little something like this:

Hubs: Honey, this is ridiculous.  Look at all this stuff.

me:  looking at him in a "so what" kind of way.

hubs:  I think you are a horder.

Oh, no he didn't....Oh YES, he did.



me:  Are you freakin' kidding me?

hubs:  nope.  Look around.  That room looked like one of the rooms from that hording t.v. show.

me:  Mouth wide open, jaw on the floor looking like a deer in headlights...I could muster no response.  Which if you know me is a pretty remarkable feat.



hubs:  And it's not just the "craft" room, it's half the garage and basement too.

me:  but, but, but...

hubs:  You have to stop buying stuff just because "it's a good deal" or "it's so cool" and you think you could make something with it.

me:  but, but, but...

hubs:  I think you need to take like a 6 month break from buying things that don't have an immediate purpose.  If your not buying it to finish off an existing project or order then don't buy it.

Yep...THAT was the gauntlet. 

You know what really gets me?  He's right.  Man, you don't know how it pains me to say that...I mean really PAINS me!  It's yard sale season...St. Louis just got a Goodwill Outlet for goodness sakes.  Grrrr.

So, I'm starting a marathon of project finishing.  I'm going to work my way through the pile.  Start using what I bought and get those "some day" projects done.

Wish me luck.

First on the list:  Grain sack pillows.  I'll post pictures when they are done.