Thrifty Burlap Pillow

Well like I said yesterday, i have been doing deep cleaning and hoeing out here around the cottage.

As a result I have done no crafting...except for this pillow that I did yesterday afternoon when my plans suddenly changed.

It started with this pillow that I got at the  thrift store for .99 cents a couple of years ago.  It was originally from Pier One.  We used it as is on our desk chair as a back pillow.  On a side note this combined with my boppy  makes the perfect spot to nurse my baby (while I check out all of your fabulous blogs) even though he doesn't  like it if I type.

 

Any who it was starting to look a little shabby and not in the chic way.

 

See what I mean.

So a few weeks back I was at an estate sale and spotted a pile of vintage burlap bags.  Well they were $3.00 each so I left them there.  They had some other great stuff and we got talking with them.  Turns out our son is in their grandson's class.  They said that they would be putting out more the next day and I wanted to see if they marked anything down.  Everything that didn't sell was half price or less and the burlap bags were .50 cents each.... I bought them all!!!

Here is the one that I decided to use for this project.  It is huge!

So I used my pillow as a  template and just cut.

Well I cut it crooked and then decided to go back and use the top.

I then took this and ironed it to  the burlap.

This made the burlap nice and thick.  I was then able to iron the burlap to the pillow.  This would have worked better if I hadn't needed to go through so much fabric but I only wanted to do one side and leave the back as is so that I could take out the pillow form if I decided to.

This is how it looked with the adhesive , before attaching the pillow cover.

 

I then added some trim from a yard sale free box.

All ready to stuff.

And here she is all done.

And back in place.  Of course now the seat cushion needs to be recovered.  Do you ever feel like if you give a mouse a cookie...or if you give a home decorator a new pillow!!

 

Linking to:

A few of my favorite things @ Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie

Re-doing the cottage!

I have been a very bad blogger lately.  I have not posted in such a long while.

Well I have been so busy around the "Full Cottage".  Unfortunately I have not done very many "fun" things.  I have been schlepping kids around, volunteering and cleaning out!!

I have an ever growing list of projects that I want to do and finally today I was able to cross one off the list.

 

I will show you that in a future post.

In the mean time I am going to show you an area that I cleaned and redecorated.

Behind our couch in our living room we have a very wide window ledge where I keep my plants and what not.

Here are a couple of before pictures that I took around valentines day.  It had changed a little but I forgot to take a real "before" shot :(

I ended up changing this out to accommodate this box that I bought for a $1.00 at a yard sale.

The "top" which you can't see says Curuso's cheese Utica NY this is where my dad grew up.  I had wanted to use it so you could see the graphics, but it wouldn't fit anywhere so this was my solution....for now.

The little boy and girl is a plaster statue/planter.  I got it from a garage sale for $5.00 last year.  In the "pot" is a ball of trim I got this year from a yard sale for free!

The plants were given to me.  The spider plants by my dear friend Bobbi and the other by one of my kids teachers at school.  The pots that they are all in are from yard sales, the large yellow one was $1.00 the rest were .25 cents.

The duck decoy was $1.00, the flower ball was .25 cents and so were the little vases.

 

The decorative balls in the hurricane were a gift from my oldest daughter, for Mother's Day.

The sad iron was my grandma's.

The statue with the love birds on top , I actually bought at a floral and gift shop here in our town.  It was $7.95 and full price...yes I paid RETAIL!!!!

The bird cage was a quarter last year at a garage sale.  It was brass.  I painted it ivory, the candles were on clearance after Christmas.  I took my wall paper sample book and covered them and added some jute.  the bowl was free and the little star stuff was a quarter.  The books that they are sitting on are actually cookbooks that I covered with a brown grocery bag book cover and trimmed with ribbon.

This large statue of St. Anne was $5.00 at an estate sale two years ago.  The sea shells in the apothecary jar were in a cigar box that I got at a rummage sale for a quarter last year, the jar was .10 cents at the same sale as the bird cage.

This shelf from a yard sale was $1.00 and the picture and small tin also came from yard sales, they were both a quarter.

I can't believe that I forgot to take a picture of the stuff under this little shelf.  So I took one now..at 10.30 at night!!

 

 

I added this planter that I bought last week for $1.00.

I made the picture in the back with vintage sheet music, a photo from an auction that I got in a box lot and a post card, some buttons,lace and a skeleton key.

The picture of the baby is number 2 who is now 11 years old.  The little red bowl is lined with a little doily and has some vintage keys in it.  It is flowered shaped it was  .99 cents at the thrift store.  The duck came in a set of three for $3.00 at a yard sale.  The milk glass was $1.00 at an estate sale.

The wood box was $1.00 and the picture underneath is a placemat.  The large vase and the stuff in it is from target on clearance after Christmas.  The St. Patrick statue came from Bouckville antique  fest a couple of years ago it was $25.00.  The other is St. Rosallia it is from a yard sale for $5.00.  The candle on the upside down urn was Target after clearance Christmas.

The stained glass also came from Bouckville that same day the toile curtains from a rummage sale for $1.00 the white ones from and estate sale for another $1.00.

Of course my favorite thing up there right now is.......

Linking up to:

Favorite things Friday@A few of my favorite things

Show and tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Frugalicious Friday@ Finding Fabulous

Flaunt it Friday@ Chic on a Shoestring

Shadow Box Shelf

Well if you know me in real life, you know that there are a few things that I hold near and dear.

MY faith and my family are the most important things in my life.

Well as my profile states I am the proud mama to 7 beautiful children.  Well the baby has been sick all week with high temps.  So yesterday I took him to the doctor and they thought it may be viral but he isn't voiding so we had to go to the hospital for a CBC (Complete Blood Count) and urinalysis.  We got the blood no problem but while I won't bore you with the detail getting the urine of a  ten month old who will not pee well that's another story. 

Long story short he was back in the doctor's today fever free and his blood count looked good so even though we are still working on getting the urinalysis he seems to be on the mend.   So now he is getting back to his normal happy and adorable self.  Just see for your self.

  

Boy does he love strawberries!!!!!

Well for today I thought I would show you something else that has meaning to me.

This is a shadow box shelf that my Grandfather built and had mounted in the home he built for my Grandmother and himself back in the late 30's.  I don't  when he put it in but I remember it my whole life always being in the same spot on the wall. 

After he died and my mom sold the house we went through and claimed what we wanted.  I'm glad that I took what I did since I was only 21 at the time and did not have the appreciation for it then that I do today.

As for the shelf I knew that I wanted it.  It was special to me because my grandfather made it so I unscrewed it and tried to take it down.  It stuck!!!!!  So here is me with all my might pulling it off the wall, with one foot on the wall.  I can picture it like it was yesterday.

Anywho I got my shelf!!!  On it are some things that I have picked up along the way at yard sales or that were once my grandmothers.

 

The two middle books were my grandmothers and so is this tea cup and saucer.  The little blue bird my mom and dad bought me at the state fair when I was little the Jim Beam bottle is my husband's it is his initials.  The little white bird and the other books and "fake" glasses are all thrifty treasures.

This egg cup and the egg were $1.00 a month or so ago and the German mug was also $1.00 last summer.

This cup was my Grandma's and the transferware pot I picked up a couple of weeks ago for .25 cents.  It has some damage but I don't care I love it!

This bowl was my Grandma's all the rest is for Garage sales and cost .25 cents each.

The cup on the pedestal was my Grandma's as were the two on the bottom of the stack.  The top one was .50 cents as was the little sugar? bowl with its original spoon.  The pedestal was $1.99 at the thrift store.  The ladies vintage gloves were $1.00 a couple of weeks ago at an estate sale.

 

The brown transferware butter pat was .25 cents last month and the birds are salt pepper shakers and were my grandmother's.

These were both .25 cents a couple of years ago.

This is what hangs next to my shadow box shelf.  The mirror was $10.00 at an estate sale last year.  I made the wreath myself from scrap fabric and a straw wreath that I picked up for .50 cents.  The Plate was a quarter, I think it may be majolica.  What do you think?

 

This is a thrift store frame I painted and distressed used scrap fabric an put in a serving fork from the thrift store.

The "Say Grace" sign came from our honeymoon!

So are you sentimental?  Would you rip something from childhood off a wall?

 

Linking up to:

Show and Tell Friday At My Romantic home

A few of my Favorite Things  at Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie

Estate Sale Finds

I have been trying to put myself on a thrifting diet as of late.  I decided to do this for two reasons.  First I need to take care of what I already have .  Second I need to spend less money.

 

Sooo, I have stopped even looking for sales that start on Friday.  I have completely given up that day.  This is big let me tell you.  Friday is the best day to go to sales in our small town.

Well I wanted to go out on Saturday but again didn't want to spend any money.  So I slept in and took only twenty dollars and went to just 1 estate sale .  Oh I got there 3 hours after it opened.

 

I went with daughter number 2 who is 11 years old.  Figuring it would A. be dead and B. be picked over I figured I would be ok and have money left over.

 

Wrong!!  On both accounts.

First I found this vintage egg basket full of dried gourds for $6.00.  I will probably throw out the gourds and then give the basket a bath.

I then found these vintage lusterware salt and pepper shakers for $3.00

This is my favorite find of all 6 vintage red polka dot and white striped drinking glasses for $4.00

This set was $3.00 and has cute little dogs on them.

This was $1.00

And so was this carpenter's ruler.

This book from 1941 was just $2.00.

It is just chocked full for photos.

All this came to exactly $20.00.

 

Then we were leaving and I found this on a table outside marked $3.00 so i dug deep and asked if he would take $2.00, he did!!!  Yea!!!!

I could have spent much much more at this sale and there were a ton this weekend in our area that I wish I could have went to.

 

Oh well there is always next week.

 

I'm linking up to:

Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays No.19  At Coastal Charm

Second Time Around Tuesday At A Picture is Worth a 1,000  Words

Garage salen Party at Debbie doo's

Cheap Transferware

I really have been neglecting my blog as of lately.  I have had so many irons in the fire and this month is sure to be just as busy.  After I disinfected the house I got to it and did some deep cleaning.  So far I have cleaned out my pantry and waxed my dining room and kitchen floors after I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed.  Next I am going to do the floors in both bathrooms and re-do number 2 and number 6's room.  Hopefully I will be done in the next couple of weeks.  We have 3 weeks of swim lessons which is everyday.  I am one of the volunteers for this wonderful program which our community provided  free of charge  for over 40 years!

We also have our 4h fair.  Another great program for kids.  We have to get our baking done and our entries in.  One year number one daughter ended up having an entry go to state fair this was quite exciting!!  So that has set the bar pretty high for the rest of the gang.

On to transferware!!!

As I mentioned in this post.  I picked up all this transferware at a yard sale a few weeks back.  I spent $20 for everything you see here.  There are 14 dinner palates, 15 small cups, 11 saucers, 4 salad plates, 2 dessert plates, 3 bread plates, 4 soup bowls, 2 creamers 2 sugar bowls one with a lid, one large cup with saucer, 1 med. cup,  1 small bowl, 1 serving bowl, 1 gravy boat, 1 med. platter and two very large platters.  replacements.com sells the large platter for $239.95.  You can see it here.

I also found out according to the mark that this set in from 1917.  I just love it!!! 

Here is a close up of the platter.

Some of the pieces have some crazing and a chop or crack here and there.  The lid to the sugar bowl also came in two pieces.

I completely cleaned out my corner hutch to make room for it. 

I lined the back of the cabinet with a black and white diamond patterned wrapping paper I got on clearance after Christmas at Target.  It was $1.15 for the roll and I still a little left.

It was hard to get a picture with the door shut.  I kept getting glare.  I was so excited when I got it done I couldn't wait to take the pictures and actually took them at 1:00 in the morning.

The cracker jar was a gift from my parents a couple of years ago at Christmas, I just added some potpourri inside it.  I also added some of my white milk glass vases that I have picked up at the thrift store and yard sales for $1.00 or less.  Some cost as little as .10 cents and most were about .50 cents.

Here are some pictures with the door open.

You can also see the pattern of the wrapping paper better. 

These salt and pepper shakers were my moms.  They are lusterware from Japan.

 

Here is what I did with the rest of the plates that I  couldn't fit in the corner cabinet.

This crate came from a garage sale two weeks ago for $2.00.

Well now I need your help.  Should I paint the corner cabinet or leave it  and if I should paint what color should I paint it?

I'm linking up to:

Debbie Doo's Garage Salen Partay

Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality

Show of your cottage Monday at The House in the Roses

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays No.19  at Coastal Charm

Second Time Around Tuesday  At A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words