Paper Doily Shamrock or Clover Tutorial ~ White Cottage St. Patrick's Day Crafts

Hello,

As promised in an earlier post

here is a tutorial for making 4 leaf clover's or shamrocks 

using left over heart shaped doily's from Valentine's Day. 

Materials Needed:

Heart shaped paper doily's

Lollipop Sticks

Stapler

Glue Gun

Start by folding just the bottom of the doily

in an accordion type manner ... 

hard to describe but like this...

Once folded staple the bottom at the fold.

Make 2 or 3 more...

((Yes I didn't know this but apparently there is a difference))

A Shamrock Ain't A Clover

Once you have enough "leaves" made

staple them all together at the bottom.

Then slightly bend the lollipop stick

and attach it to the bottom of the doily 

with a bit of hot glue.

I stuffed mine between the folds to hide the glue.

And that's all there is to it :)

So easy and they look pretty in a vase

or you could use them to make a banner

or add to your potted plants or whatever use you can find for them!

A pretty white cottage St. Patrick's Day decoration!!! 

I also went out into the field and dug up some

wild clover and planted it in an urn vase

to add to my decorations this year!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial 

and have fun decorating!

love,

Beverly

I will be linking up with

The Vintage Farmhouse ~ Creative Things Thursdays

Stiffened Lace Heart Tutorial for Valentine's Day

Hello,

Today I am going to share a quick and easy tutorial

for making wired lace hearts.

The first is a stiffened lace heart

made with same technique that I used

in my stiffened doily vase tutorial.

Materials Needed:

Clothes hanger or piece of heavy wire

Lace ~I used 6" gathered lace for this

Home made Mod Podge = All purpose glue and water

white spray paint (if desired for the wire)

I started by reshaping my wire clothes hanger

into the shape of a heart 

Then I spray painted it white so it would blend in with

the lace.  

Thread the clothes hanger through the little "pocket"

at the bottom of the gathered lace.

~this is like threading a curtain rod through a curtain pocket~

The amount of lace you will need will depend on the 

size of your heart... I used approx. 4 yards of lace for mine.

Once you have your lace threaded onto the wire

 dip your lace wire and all into a bowl of 

home made mod podge =

approx. 1 cup of glue to 1 cup of water

mixed well to the consistency of milk.

Or you could also use Aleen's or another brand of fabric stiffener.

Thoroughly saturate the lace with the mixture.

You will want to cover your table or work

area with saran wrap, aluminum foil or wax paper.

I used saran wrap for mine.

Then shape the lace around the wire heart

and let dry overnight.

Once dry add a bow and your finished!

I reused the pink bow from my Plant Stand Christmas Tree.

I hung this on my mirror in the dining room 

with a string of clear fishing line.

I also did some smaller wired hearts

by threading floral wire onto 1" gathered pre-stiffened lace

and adding ribbons, pearls and roses.

I used approx. 24" of lace for these.

After wiring the lace simply shape into a heart and decorate.

I hope you enjoyed these,

Love,

Beverly

I am also linking up with

Funky Junk Interiors

Show and Tell Fridays at My Romantic Home

Stiffened Vintage Doily Covered Glass Vase ~ Shabby Cottage Decor ~ Tutorial

Hello,

I am going to be sharing my first tutorial of the new year!

I had an old clear glass vase that had white water stains in it

and I tried everything to get the stains out.

I tried using vinegar, denture cleaning tablets, magic eraser

and even tried a Brillo pad... but I could not get the stains out.

I loved the shape of the vase and being me I did not want

to just throw it away... 

which as most people who know me personally ...

this would come as no surprise :)

So I decided to repurpose this by covering it 

with a vintage stiffened crocheted doily!!!

You will only need a few simple materials to do this:

Glass or plastic vase

Doily large enough to cover the entire vase

Home made Mod Podge = All purpose glue and water

Rubber bands

A piece of ribbon if desired

You will probably want to lay down a piece of newspaper,

wax paper or aluminum foil because this can get messy!

Now I never actually measure the glue and water mixture

I just add about a half of cup of glue into a bowl

and add enough water a little at a time 

stirring until it is about the consistency of milk.

It averages about equal half a cup of glue to half a cup of water.

Next add your clean, dry doily into mixture and make sure 

it is completely wet with the glue and water mixture.

Again this can get messy and  you can use rubber gloves

but I just squish it around in the bowl 

making sure it is completely covered.

Turn your vase upside down elevated by something...

I used one of my milk glass vases because it was tall.

Then drape your wet doily over the vase

and secure with rubber bands.

Since my vase was shaped at the top and bottom

I added 2 rubber bands to show the shape of the vase.

This is the time to adjust or shape your doily 

so that it is evenly distributed around the vase.

Let dry overnight!

When dry remove the rubber bands and add

a ribbon of your choice or it looks pretty plain too.

I added a pink wired ribbon to mine :)

These also look pretty with tea light candles 

or a string of lights inside!

Add some real or silk flowers and your done!

These would also make great Valentine's Day or Mother's Day Gifts.

I hope you enjoyed this and thank you for stopping by!

love,

Beverly

Sharing this at

French Country Cottage

Pink Saturdays At How Sweet The Sound

Show and Tell Fridays At Romantic Home

Rook no17 cinnamon-spice-everything-nice

Inspiration Friday At The Picket Fence

Common Ground

Thrifty Things Fridays at The Thrifty Groove

The Charm Of Home

Potpourri Party 2805

Flamingo Toes Think Pink Sundays

Cozy Home Scenes ~ Your Cozy Home

Pink, Silver and White ~ Vintage Tiered Plant Stand Christmas Tree

Hello,

As promised I am going to share with you my

vintage metal 3 tiered plant stand 

that I transformed into my dining room 

Christmas tree!

I usually put up an artificial tree in my dining room

but I was looking at my plant stand that is already there

and sits inside my vintage picket fence tree base

and thought that is almost the shape of a tree!

Not sure if it came from pure creativity or pure laziness this year :)

As I said in my previous post I found vintage

silver tinsel and icicles in my Mom's attic...

so I started wrapping the metal plant stand with the tinsel.

It was still lacking the shape at the top of the "tree"

so I had a small lattice and turned it upside down to make the top!

I wrapped the lattice with tinsel and topped it with

a pink wired bow.

I covered my flower pots with aluminum foil

and added lights and cotton snow.

I added some of my pink satin Christmas balls

and put my Angel dressed in white and silver beside it.

Added a few left over strands of silver icicles

and it became my Dining Room tree!  

Had to laugh because the angel moves and 

when I plugged it in our dog started barking at her :)

(((Now if I could only get rid of that ugly rust colored carpet)))

♥Looks really pretty with my table top pink and silver tree♥

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed this!

love,

Beverly

Gold Tone Thrifty Finds Repainted Cottage White

Hello,

I wanted to share a few tag sale finds 

that I repainted white.  

First is a set of vintage metal Homco wall fans.

These were previously gold tone.

I had originally planned to add vintage rhinestones to the fans

so after I painted them I put them in this metal picture easel (also originally gold tone)

so they wouldn't get scratched.

But for now I think they look so pretty just the way the are!

I paired them up with a metal teapot that I had previously 

painted white (originally gold tone too!) that I had decorated 

with ribbons, pearls and roses and I think they look great together!

I have them sitting on a glass cake plate on top of my hutch♥

These were all tag sale finds

and with only a few coats of white paint...

turned them into beautiful thrifty cottage style decor!.

Thank's for stopping by,

Beverly

I will be linking up with
Dumpster Diva Cute and Creative Link Party
French Country Cottage Feathered Nest Friday
Faded Charm White Wednesday
The Charm Of Home ~ Home Sweet Home
The Thrifty Groove ~ Thrifty Things Friday
Romantic Home ~ Show and Tell Friday
2805 ~ Potpourri Party

Aqua and White Christmas Decor

Hello again,

Well as promised here are some more links for aqua and white decor to inspire you...

only this one is focused on Christmas.

Seems I am not the only one loving aqua and white!  

Notice the tree is in an urn type flower pot instead of a tree stand!

And instead of a star or angel they used a disco ball with ribbon suspended above the tree!

Beautiful!!!!

Simply Beautiful!

This inspiration can be found at

My Home Ideas

I love the painted pine cones with just a simple aqua ribbon!

The painted sleigh, birdhouse and snowballs... so easy yet such an impact!

These snowballs would look so pretty in a large glass vase with a little artificial snow mixed in.

These simply adorable handcrafted houses, snowmen (check out their scarves)

candy garland, snowballs and all of this incredible 

aqua-ness can be found at

Patchwork Pottery

Look at these little houses... last year they had red roofs and she repainted them!

These beauties are from a shop in Melbourne Australia.

I found these at Adeline Country Cottage

I would love to visit this shop!

I think this peacock feather tree topper would look stunning on a white tree with aqua balls!

This can be purchased at Webrevolutionary

This beautiful mantle scape can be found at Southern Hospitality

I have some of these insulators and never would 

have thought of adding them to my Christmas decor!

But they do look like mini trees in the display.

And here is a beautiful wreath that you can make yourself out of sea glass.

Bags of sea glass can be purchased at most craft stores and often at Dollar Stores.

Instructions to make this simple yet elegant wreath can be found at

Fave Crafts

Again I hope you are inspired by these... I know I have been.

I have already decided to do Valentine's Decorations in aqua, white, pink and red!

More of that to come!

A few Vintage Post Card Images for you!

I am adding a linky to this post

and please share a link if you have a blog post or website 

with Christmas Decor in aqua and white!

The link will expire Feb. 7th.

Previous Post

Decorating In Aqua and White

Stay tuned more to come soon... 

aqua and pink, aqua and red, 

aqua Valentine's and aqua Easter!

I have also decided to host a giveaway coming soon....

yep you guessed it.... 

Aqua!!

Thanks for stopping by and check back soon.

Love,

Beverly