I Heart Grain Sack Stripes

Okay, so let's just get this right out of the way at the beginning of this post...I am terrible at remembering to take "before" photos.  I get so excited about the project at hand that I just dive right in, kinda like a little kid.  Maybe when I grow up I'll do better.  Yeah, sure thing.  Not certain when it's gonna happen, but I'll be a big girl someday, I just know it!  But enough about my childish ways...

I have pictures of a couple of neat little items to show you today, because as you might have heard, I heart grain sack stripes.  No "befores", just "afters".  First, for those of you who don't know what grain sack stripes are, they look like this:

source: Second Shout Out

Antique grain sacks are worn and faded, sometimes hard to find and can get pricey. But they're fabulous.  Tres Francais, n'est pas?  I love to paint them on things. Chairs, stools, fabric.  I'd put them on pretty much anything that's not nailed down or breathing. They come in all widths and numbers of stripes.  Some grain sacks even have hand-embroidered monograms on each side of the stripes.  Be still my heart!

I've done several grain sack projects.  I love them all and am always sad to see them go when they sell because truthfully, I want to keep them all for myself.  But sharing is caring, so I share.  Here are a few of the ones I've done:

This one is by far my favorite.  The chair was a $3 find at Goodwill.  Isn't it amazing what a little chalk paint and some dark wax can do?

I think I paid a dollar for this stool at a yard sale.  It was a hideous color of green, but a few coats of regular flat latex paint in blue and some chalk paint stripes turned this ugly duckling into a sweet little swan.

This pretty chair was another Goodwill find while I was at the beach back in the spring.  The seat was an ugly camel-colored Naugahyde vinyl and it had to go.  I knew the stripes would really make it pop.

I taped them off and painted these stripes on an old drop cloth and I love the look. The drop cloth kind of looks linen-y.  I painted this chair to sell, but it would look so cute at my dressing table....hmmm, what should I do?  Oh, right, sharing is caring. Sell it, I will.

Do you heart grain sack stripes as much as I do?  Tell me all about it in the comments.  Enjoy your day!

Toodles,

Industrial-Style Mason Jar Vase Tutorial

Folks, as this week draws closer to an end, I'm getting more and more excited about heading to the beach for some fun and family time.  But I'm also feeling a little overwhelmed with all that I have to get done before we leave Saturday.  Of course, all the laundry has to be done so we don't go nekkid the whole week.  I don't like to come home to a dirty house, so I'll need to do a little cleaning too.  The Hub and Bub both need new swim trunks and I have a lot of food to buy and pack.  Trust me, fighting all the tourists at the one nearby grocery store is not something I look forward to, so this year we're bringing everything we can with us.  And of course, I need to schedule some posts to run while I'm gone so y'all don't miss me too much! ;)

But, as promised, today I have a tutorial for you on how to make Mason jar vases.  I love these because they're kind of rustic and industrial looking.  The best part is, they're SUPER easy to make.  Here's what you'll need:

Mason jar - any size you want
Stainless steel fasteners (found in the plumbing dept. of your local home improvement store)
5 1/2" x 7" piece of wood or wood cut to size for your jar
Paint or stain for wood if you choose
Hammer
Small nails or screws
Flat head screwdriver or drill
Eye hooks
Wire and/or twine

So, you start with your piece of wood.  I painted mine with CeCe Caldwell's Simply White chalk paint and then used some dark wax to age it.



I used really small nails to secure the fastener to the board.  You could use screws here, but I didn't have any small enough on hand, so I went with the nails and they worked just fine.

I got six of these these awesome Ball Mason jars at Wally World for about $10.  This green is so pretty. They also have them available in blue, but I think you have to order them from their website.  I haven't seen them in stores lately.  Of course, best case scenario would be to use an antique blue mason jar if you have one.  I heart the old ones...

Place the jar inside the fastener, slide the fastener together and tighten the screw with a flat head screw driver.  I actually ended up using my cordless drill and it worked great.

Screw two eye hooks into top of board to attach wire or twine for hanging.  If you didn't want to do the wire or twine, you could always place a picture hanger on the back

Here's one using twine as a hanger.  The green eye hooks came off of something else and I thought they were the perfect shade to go with the green jar.

And now, just because I love y'all...a bonus project!

I made this one as well, with just a little twist on the original.  I got these faceted jars at Goodwill and thought they'd be cute painted.  I used my favorite color, American Paint Company's Liberty, and sanded them lightly.  This board is 6" x 12".  I wrapped the burlap around the board and stapled it to the back.  Cute, yes?  I love it!  I hung it in the hall bath to hold the Bub's stuff that is usually laying all over the counter.  We'll see how long he uses it.

These little vases can be used for so many things - flowers, herbs, silverware, utensils, makeup brushes, paint brushes, pens - the list goes on and on.  Next time, I think I'll use some old barn boards to make these, just to give it a little more rustic appeal.  What do y'all think?  Let me know in the comments and have a fabulous day!

Toodles,

THANK YOU and A Mason Jar Sneak Peek

Hello, my loves!  Happy Hump Day!  I'm going to be heading to the beach house for a week with the WHOLE family in a few days - that'll be 12 of us in one house plus another family that will be visiting off and on throughout the week - I'll need a vacation to recover from my vacation!  Just the cooking and cleaning for that many people is exhausting, not to mention all the sun and fun. So, I'm going to try to get a few more posts done this week before I leave and have some scheduled for next week to keep you company while I'm gone...

But first, I have to tell you about the HUGE surprise I got this morning.  I've been doing this blogging thing since last August, a little here and a little there, but have really been trying to step things up lately.  I really enjoy doing this and am excited to see where it will go.  In the past week, this little blog has gotten about 2,000 views and I have finally reached over 10,500 total.  I gotta tell ya, I'm pretty shocked!  But I'm also pretty humbled and grateful for the readers who have checked out Holly Crescent Cottage - I can't thank y'all enough for the inspiration to keep HCC going and growing.  Y'all are the best-est ever!  I didn't have a post planned for today, but because I really needed to say thank you, I thought I'd add a little sneak peek for you...

So, let's get to it!  I did this little project yesterday in my "spare time".  Spare time...I crack myself up...meaning, I had to wait for some paint projects to dry so I could finish them up and had an extra half-hour or so (chalk paint dries FAST, ya know).  I was antsy and looking for a quick little something to do, so I grabbed a couple of Ball Mason jars in Spring Green that I had on hand and put this together:

It was super easy and I'll be posting a quick tutorial on how to make your own tomorrow.  Isn't it adorable? I have an abundance of Strawflowers in my garden that need to be cut - I can't wait to put some in this little jar.  This will also be a great way to keep herbs in water and close at hand in the kitchen since we're about to be overrun with bushels of Basil too!  

Okay, now let's review.  The main point of today's post was to throw out an enormous THANK YOU. Consider yourselves thanked - immensely.  And where will you be tomorrow? Back here to check out the tutorial, right?  Tell me in the comments what you like best (or least) about my blog and offer any suggestions you may have to make it better - I promise, I read every single comment and take them to heart. Keep coming back and we'll take this fun journey together!

Toodles,

DIY Laundry Sign and Free Graphic

Afternoon, folks!  I'm a little late getting this post up and going today, but better late than never, right?  I only got a little work done on the laundry room this weekend. The Hub wasn't feeling well and couldn't help me get the cabinet painting finished - they're really high and I can't reach the top so I'll have to have his help.  I did get the doors painted and ready to be put up though.  I'm so impatient too when a project is this close to completion - it PAINS me to have to wait!

Anyways...I got one of the signs made that I plan to use.  The big one didn't work out, so it's back to the drawing board on that one, but this little cutie was easy peasy:

I just printed the graphic out onto some pretty scrapbook paper and placed it in this picture frame that I got for 10 cents at our local Rescue Mission.  Man, I love that place!  The frame was already the exact distressed/pickled finish that I wanted, so it literally took me about 30 seconds to put this together once I got it sized to fit.  See? Easy Peasy!  Now, for your viewing pleasure, I am providing the graphic so you can have one to look at of your very own!  Ain't I sweet?  Awww, stop it! 

LAUNDRY

Drop Your Drawers Here

My source for the hand was The Graphics Fairy.  They have a great selection of all kinds of vintage graphics and clip art, all for free.  F to the R to the E-E people!!  So this little sign is adorable in my new laundry room.  And did I mention - I actually enjoyed doing laundry in there this weekend?  It's so nice to have a place to sort and fold.  Whatever makes doing laundry a more tolerable task works for me!  How about you - are you a laundry junkie or a laundry avoid-er?

Toodles,

A Last Minute Laundry Room Project

Hey y'all - Happy Friday!  Hope you've all had a great week.  I've been so busy trying to get lots of inventory built up for when we move into our booth space at Key City Antique Mall and Shops.  Even I'm surprised at how much I've gotten accomplished because I'm usually such a procrastinator - I create better when I'm under pressure or on a deadline.  And I managed to get a lot done despite the last minute laundry room project we tackled last Saturday.

So here's how this story goes....about three months ago, the Hub saw a little sketch I had done of an idea I had for the laundry room and he really liked it, but that was the last mention that was made of it.  I still had it in the back of mind though as something I'd like to do eventually.  Well, last Saturday, the Hub woke up and declared "Today is the day we re-do the laundry room!" - just like that, out of the blue!  Now I'm no fool - I know when he offers to help me with a project, I'd better jump on it before he changes his mind!  So off we went to look for the materials we needed....

Here's the only before picture I could find of my laundry room and of course, it's a bad one.  I guess I just don't regularly snap pics of the dumping ground it had become - go figure?  And as usual, I forgot to take any pictures until we were nearly done painting and rearranging.  But here it is in some of it's mustard-colored glory...

Not much detail, I know...sorry.  But look how cute those fat kitties are!  The room was painted a color that came from the Oops bin at Home Depot.  All of my laundry and household supplies were crammed on the shelves of the baker's rack and it also served as the cat's feeding station.  We have to keep the food up high enough that the dogs can't get to it or they will devour every morsel.  My washer and dryer were stacked on the other side, making for a very tight fit.  It was pretty ugly and like I said, a dumping ground for everything my family couldn't shove anywhere else.  It's not completely finished yet, but I just couldn't wait to show it off!

First, we purchased paint, stain, two unfinished wall cabinets, and a hollow door from Home Depot.  Hollow door, you ask? Why yes - it will make a wonderful countertop since we're doing this on less than a shoestring budget and it only cost $28.00!  Plus, the counter needed to be 33" to cover the appliances and standard counters are only 25 or so inches.  I started by painting over the mustard yellow with the color Rain Wash from Behr. We unstacked the washer and dryer and placed the door on top after I stained it a lovely shade of gray.  I wasn't sure how the stain color would look, but it turned out exactly like I wanted and I love the color with the blue walls. Hanging the cabinets was a challenge because of something to do with the studs - still not sure what the Hub's issue was, but he got it done with the Bub's help.  The cabinets were $75.00 each, the door was dirt cheap, and the only other things I bought were the jars for the laundry pods and Oxyclean and that adorable laundry basket from Home Goods.  All in all, it cost us about $207.00 to do this little makeover and I think it looks pretty good!

So without further adieu...what do you think so far?

Umm, disregard the laundry detergent and cookbooks...the cabinets will get painted this weekend and the doors put on.  I'm not about to have open cabinets in here!  I will be on the lookout for more attractive containers for the pet food - maybe some tin buckets from IKEA.  This still has to be the cat's feeding station and they are having a harder time hauling their fat selves up because it's higher than the old baker's rack. Oh well, they need the exercise, right?  

There are still a few little decorative touches left to do, like the cutest laundry room signs that I'm making. The washboard is a really old one that I've had for a long time. The white tin holds fabric softener sheets and of course, I have to have a little bowl for all the spare change I find - Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers! Also, the tiny lamp is an awesome little night light.  We're thinking about removing the doors altogether now that it's going to look so lovely.  I know I'm going to love having this surface to fold clothes on too and I've warned my family that this is NOT going to be their catch-all spot!  You don't have that problem at your house, do you?  I didn't think so :)...

Have a great weekend, my sweet readers, and stay tuned for final pictures of the project!

Today I'm linking to:

http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/

http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/2014/07/welcome-to-184th-masterpiece-monday-and.html

Toodles,