Rainy Sunday, a Tip for Using Old Florals and (log) Cabin Fever
Yep, it's a rainy Sunday. It's one of those days that all you really want to do is light a fire in the fireplace, curl up on the couch with a good book and maybe take a long winter's nap. Problem is, we have no fireplace, hubby is sick with bronchitis (but he went to work today, anyway) and I have lots of pregnant projects (projects-in-waiting) to do.
It's been a while since I've given any recycling or trash-to-treasure ideas, so here's my most recent and extremely easy projects.
Take this old broken silk tree I bought the other day at a yard sale for $1: 
It may not look too bad from a distance, but trust me, it's ROUGH! It's broken in a couple of places and the flowers are faded, some with brown edges. That's okay, I can still use either parts of this piece together or dismantle the flowers and leaves and use them separately. I decided to do a little dismantling and use just a few of the flowers for one of my boxes.
The nice thing about silk flowers is, you can easily dye or paint them. Either way, they accept color rather nicely. Load up a spray bottle with some water (I added a little starch to the water because the body of these old beauties, much like mine, had gotten pretty droopy) and give them a good misting. Put a little color on the tip of a paintbrush (as I said, you can use paint or dye) and just lightly touch the petals. It doesn't take a lot of color, as the petals quickly absorb the color. I purposely left some white areas on some of the petals for my projects This is a papier mache' box I've had for awhile. I color washed it yellow, decoupaged some torn tissue paper and old music paper onto it, added leftover bits of lace and a few faux pearls, distressed it a little using walnut stain and shoe polish, added my newly colored flowers, and... .
I didn't even "perk up" the flowers with starch, as I wanted the box to have an old time, worn look to it.
This little cabin is one of my most favorite things. I'm so proud of it and love it, love it:
This is an exact replica of my husband's grandmother's old cabin, built in the 1800's when the Indians and the Whites were fighting over territories. His family built the original cabin (which still stands and is lived in by one of his cousins); my hubby built this one. Isn't it beautiful?
He actually built it as a surprise for his mother, who grew up in the cabin. He got it back when she died a few years ago.
The top lifts up for storage.
I think it's beautiful and just had to brag on him!
Don't forget to leave a comment to qualify for this month's giftaway! Next post: A partial peek at the prize! ;-)
It may not look too bad from a distance, but trust me, it's ROUGH! It's broken in a couple of places and the flowers are faded, some with brown edges. That's okay, I can still use either parts of this piece together or dismantle the flowers and leaves and use them separately. I decided to do a little dismantling and use just a few of the flowers for one of my boxes.
The nice thing about silk flowers is, you can easily dye or paint them. Either way, they accept color rather nicely. Load up a spray bottle with some water (I added a little starch to the water because the body of these old beauties, much like mine, had gotten pretty droopy) and give them a good misting. Put a little color on the tip of a paintbrush (as I said, you can use paint or dye) and just lightly touch the petals. It doesn't take a lot of color, as the petals quickly absorb the color. I purposely left some white areas on some of the petals for my projects This is a papier mache' box I've had for awhile. I color washed it yellow, decoupaged some torn tissue paper and old music paper onto it, added leftover bits of lace and a few faux pearls, distressed it a little using walnut stain and shoe polish, added my newly colored flowers, and... .
I didn't even "perk up" the flowers with starch, as I wanted the box to have an old time, worn look to it.
This little cabin is one of my most favorite things. I'm so proud of it and love it, love it:
This is an exact replica of my husband's grandmother's old cabin, built in the 1800's when the Indians and the Whites were fighting over territories. His family built the original cabin (which still stands and is lived in by one of his cousins); my hubby built this one. Isn't it beautiful?
He actually built it as a surprise for his mother, who grew up in the cabin. He got it back when she died a few years ago.
The top lifts up for storage.
I think it's beautiful and just had to brag on him!
Don't forget to leave a comment to qualify for this month's giftaway! Next post: A partial peek at the prize! ;-)
4 comments:
Wow, I'm impressed with that doll house cabin. Hubby built it? You are both talented!
Absolutely love it!! Great Job of building, wish I had the real thing out here. :-)
That's beautiful GG - Starch in history.
Good words.
Post a Comment