A couple of garlands and a couple of finds

I was feeling a little creative yesterday, so I made a couple of shabby chic garlands for the house. These were inspired from the mound of discarded clothing and bits and pieces cluttering my bedroom. Can't show you a picture of that, but here is what I created and a couple of thrift store finds from a recent shopping trip. I have begun my venture into shabbying and chicing my home. Much to the dismay of my children and hubby! This is what my first garland consisted of. Simply pages from a poetry book, coffee filters, white embroidery floss and vintage buttons. I cut out flowers in about 3 inch diameter sizes from pages and filters with pinking shears. Crinkled the filters a little and sewed two to a page cutout with a button in the center. Punched two holes in top to slide jute rope through.

I hung the paper flower garland on my bedroom window valance.

This is a close-up of the paper flower garland.

This is a close-up of a rag garland I made. I cut up an old skirt into rag strips and tied onto a jute type rope. It's accented with two different sized yo-yo's in pink and white. I hung it below my mantle piece of my fireplace.

This is the full view of my rag garland. It drapes across a hanging cherub in the center.

My first find was this tiny little praying cherub. I believe she is chalkware. I have her on my mantle at this time.

Found this cute, pink cherub napkin ring. She just looked so lonely. And she's in my favorite color. She's up on my mantle with the little white one.

Cakes Galore!

My family has 6 birthday's in July. We usually get together for a family party. This year I decided to make each person a 6 inch personal cake. Yeah, I was on my feet all day, but I truly enjoyed doing it. Decorating cakes is a sort of passion for me. I'd do it professionally if I could afford a commercial kitchen! This is my stepsister's, Pam, cake. Didn't really know her favorite, so played it safe with vanilla.

This is my stepdad's cake. He loves chocolate. The cake is chocolate, the icing is and that's chocolate candy chopped up on top. He can't have this very often.

This is my stepbrother's, Derek, cake. I was told he like chocolate. I added a little bit of color with the icing.

This is Jazen's, my grandson, cake. I asked him what he wanted and he said chocolate, sprinkles and Spongebob. He is 4.

Mom wanted a cheese cake. I made her a New York style with blueberry, since mine below would have blueberries.

This last cake is mine. My mom used to make me a blueberry cream cheese cake for my birthdays. This has always been my favorite.

My venture into trashion!

I have this need to create new things from objects destined for the trash. My son and hubby recently had jeans that had seen better days. I wanted to try to get a second life from them, so I created a few things. Yes, the bracelet and necklace are a little outlandish, but their fun. We all need a little quirky-ish in our lives from time to time to break up the monotony. This bracelet was made by cutting six layers and cutting out the center to fit in your hand. I them glued on a faux pearl strand every other layer to dress it up a bit.

This is a headband I upcycled by covering with denim and I made a bow that I glued on the side with a found embroidered button that matched beautifully. All the more reason to hang onto all the little bits and pieces!

Above is a necklace simply made from circles cut from the legs and sort of quilted by spreading batting into the leg and sewing circles, then cutting out. I used a seam from the leg for the part that goes around the neck. I had some rhinestones laying around, so glued them in the centers.