Lilly's Room in a Fun-kin

 A good day to you all!  Some time ago I ordered a sweet little felted mouse from an artist in Russia.  She is a little girl mouse that I have named Lilly.  When I ordered her, I knew it would take some time before she arrived and had the idea to make her very own room. I had a mint green faux pumpkin that I had bought half price after Halloween the year before.  This was the perfect thing to use for her room.

BTW, Lilly's Room will be a two or three part blog posting.  So stay tuned.

Here I have already cut out the design for the opening.  You simply draw the shape you want and cut it out.  Then you can shape it up with your knife and a fingernail file to smooth the edges.  I also painted the inside pink.

Here is a picture of me levelling the floor.  I have another tutorial on how to add a floor to your faux pumpkin HERE.

I wanted her to have a window so I traced a soup can and cut it out.  In this picture I also have added gold polka dots to the walls. 

Skipping around a touch... for the flooring I cut strips from a cereal box and painted the brown side white.  Then I used mod-podge and the top layer of a floral napkin.  I went over the edges or each cut piece with a brown ink pad to define the edges a bit.  I learned this technique from Jennifer's Miniatures on Facebook.

Then you simply cut the pieces to fit your flooring area and glue down.  I always like to start in the middle of the room.

Flooring complete!

On to the lighting!  I made this little chandelier from wire then painted it white.  There is a bead in the center that the light cord will go through and the flowers in the middle are hot glued on to hide the bead.  The plastic flowers for the lights are super old.  I got them at a garage sale.

The chandelier design is not my design.  Cinderella Moments taught me that one.  You can find her tutorial HERE.  Also I purchase my LED lights from Evan Designs.

In this picture the fun-kin is upside down.  I am gluing the chandelier base to the ceiling.  I planned to run the wiring along the ceiling and down the wall to the left of the opening to I can easily turn the switch on and off and get o the battery.

I used strips of the white part of the left-over napkin from the flooring to secure the wiring.

After the glue dried I simply painted the covered wiring.  You truly don't even notice it unless you're looking for it.

This is where the wiring, switch and battery holder are.  Right inside the pumpkin.

In this last picture you can see the coin cell battery holder on the left.  

It's beginning to look like a sweet room for her!  Oh... I also used a piece of clear plastic packaging for the window and just cut a circle and panes from cardstock.

Have a great day my Dears!  Stay tuned for the next visit to Lilly's Room!

guest bedroom curtains

this is the second post this morning that I am writing and having trouble getting started on.  I have been on internet lock down and have gotten out of practice.  maybe it's too early in the morning to find my words.  i added a bit of cinnamon to my coffee because as i sit here on the porch it is ever apparent to me that fall is coming.  the tulip poplar trees are beginning to yellow already.  i hear plenty of bird voices from the woods but the summer birds have flown the coop for the most part.  the tanagers and the hummers are the last to go it seems although i haven't heard the tanagers lately.  i know it will be months before their beautiful songs grace my ears once again.  my soul takes comfort in the voices that do stick around.  despite the heat of summer still lingering and the lack of rain the temperatures will soon change and bonfires will be our hang out.  some folks love it... the fall weather and i do admit the break from humidity will be nice but i remain a summer girl. 

i recently found the urge to make some curtains for our spare bedroom.  i had sewn a good set from old fabric scraps for our bedroom last winter and decided it was time to give our guests some privacy as well.  I didn't have enough of the colored scraps to make a set so I decided to stick with whites and creams.  I cut up old feed sacks, a Martha Washington bedspread (that I also swiped the fringe from) and a dishtowel here and there, bridge cloths and old quilting squares.  They are very makeshift and homey which I like.  I don't like shopping for shit like that... home décor... and spending unnecessary money.  what I come up with works just find.  I managed to get two sets made for the windows and have had problems finding the time to finish them.  I came home from work after a twelve hour day with all intentions of slapping the final two panels together.  when I sewed six squares together instead on five I ripped the sixth square off and tossed it aside.  that was three weeks ago.  maybe i will finish them today.  it is easier to do inside projects when the summer creek is not calling my name and you have no choice but to stay inside and find something to do. 

my old computer here has taken the liberty of sucking our gigs of internet like booze through a straw and I have had to stay off except for quick peeks at my crappy emails or facebook.  i have a new plug in modem thing now and we got some more gb whatever that is.  at least it may allow my hobby of blogging to stay afloat.

 

 

 

they turned out quite nice although one or two is longer than the others.  i really don't care.  I'm not much of a perfectionist. 

Around Here

This post could partially fall into the Around Here category because it involves what has been happening around here but also Image Inspiration because my decision and confidence came from pictures found on the internet.  So, here's the scoop.

When we built our home five years ago we chose not to install blinds on our windows.  We have no neighbors and if anybody is out there peeping in chances are we heard them get here or the dog soon will alert us.  I quite enjoy the openness.  But... sometimes I find myself wanting to shut out the light and take a nap and sometimes I get a little edgy when the mood is right that there are open windows right there knowing there are lights on in here and none out there which means at night you can clearly see in here.  You get the picture.  So I finally decided to put some curtains up in our bedroom.  I didn't want to go drilling holes in the wall for something big and fancy... that's just not me.  But I wanted something more than sheers.  After finding a lovely picture on the internet of patchwork curtains made from vintage hankies I knew what my project would consist of.

Last summer, my sister Mary Evelyn and I ventured to an estate sale in which I came home with many items.  Such items included an old charcoal grill in which we proceeded that evening to have what I called an "Old Fashioned Charcoal Grill Out Party" with my sister and her husband, and a big box of vintage fabric.  I do own several old handkerchiefs but not near enough for what I needed.  When I started pulling the old fabrics out and ironing them I got pretty excited.  When I began sewing them together I got even more excited and as of today I have one more to finish and our lovely curtains are done.  Oh, and I chose tension rods to hang them by.  I like the price of the rods (at $2.47 each and WalMart) and I like that if I get tired of the curtains I can easily take them down.  And I like that I didn't drill holes in the walls and buy big rods and hangers and all that.   I did use one hankie per curtain and I wound up cutting out seventy something, thirteen inch squares.  On the up side I have plenty of practice when I go to making my quilt this year.  I just miht need to hit up another estate sale for more vintage fabric!

Here's the picture of the inspiration curtain.

Mine is not sewn near as perfect looking as these... but I am not a perfect girl and care nothing about perfection.  Here they are.

I do like the fact that light can still come through.  The hankies were a bit tough because they were different sizes that the pieces that I cut.  I hemmed the sides and bottom of each curtain and simply made an inch and a half loop and sewed it also at the top for the rod to go through.  

P.S. Sorry about Juanita's appearance.  I had just turned her and watered her so she wasn't much into smiling.  

Image Inspiration

Image Inspiration is a new series where I share images found all over the web.  Sometimes they are images that inspire me to make the craft shown, maybe something in home decor that inspired me to make a change in my own home and other times it may just be something I found beautiful and wanted to share with you.  A lot of time I will print out images for my journal and write down what about the picture inspired me.  I have a whole lot of fun doing that!  And here's where my sharing it begins!

Felt Heart Garland

Photo and craft credit: www.danamadeit.com    

I am always looking for new ways to decorate the day care for different holidays and months.  Since it is so early in January and I have plenty of felt pieces on hand, I believe I have plenty of time to create some heart garland strands... if my sewing machine will act right!  I spent this afternoon at the day care cutting out my hearts from felt.  I wound up getting 12 and sometimes 13 out of one sheet of felt.  I used red, hot pink, light pink and white.  Now to the sewing machine when I get home.  Then all I need is a red string of lights and I am ready to decorate the DC for February!

Lake Cottage Bedroom

Photo credit: ROSE HIP on Flickr, found on nestprettythings.tumblr                         

I stopped and googled at this picture for a minute then swiped it for my journal.  I love the yellows in the picture above the bed.  I also like the washed out wood walls, the hobnail bed side lamps and the array of pillows.  I want to make pillows from all the vintage fabric that I have.  Probably needed to be on my goals list.  

Meal Planning List

Credit: Liz at Lifeinyellow.com

I love this idea!  I would like to order one pad of these please.  I am a big list maker (although I vowed when I turned 40 to stop making lists... didn't happen).  This one you can take right to the grocery with you and when you get home it goes on the fridge so everyone knows what's for supper!  I went through a meal planning phase where I planned ahead for a month.  I really enjoyed not having to worry about what to make when I got home from work.  It was already planned out and the ingredients were all there.  Maybe I need to start that up again now that I think about it.  This list would help tremendously!  It has a free printable too.  Or you can copy and paste it into Word or whatever, turn it and get two on a page.  I do wonder why the list has only four days.  I generally cook all seven days... most of the time all three meals.  I need a notebook!

comfort and joy

There are a few things about are home that seem a little more comfortable right now than usual.  Maybe it is the change of seasons with cooler nights or the sun fading earlier.  Could be the house plants being back inside from their summer on the porches giving the house an almost tropical feel as I have an abundance and adore their company.  A new slight curtain in the form of a lace shawl with fringe that I purchased for a dollar at a yard sale on our bathroom window above the tub.  I haven't fussed over the bed remaining unmade in weeks just merely pulled together inviting it's next rest as early shadows of dusk dance about the walls.  Possibly it is the tunes coming from the record player from old records scored at summer yard sales and forty-fives found in my attic filling the air and rooms with familiar yet not often heard songs that prompt a slow dance in the kitchen while supper is being made.  

Sorry about the wash rags M.E.