New Special Edition German Scraps

 We've just added several new styles of scraps to our website and etsy shop that are part of a special edition reprinting of images from the 1950s.  The scraps above are not part of this reprinting but are a new addition to our shops.  We love the image of the girl catching stars and couldn't resist sharing it with you!

 The group above can be found here, here and here.  Most of the images from this limited edition feature charming scenes of children and their pets.

Other images feature children in traditional German outfits, costumes and Victorian wear.  You'll find this group here, here, and here.

This is just a small sampling of some of our favorites -- we're stocking even more than what you see here!

Cityscapes

Sometimes I'm guilty of taking photos then leaving them in the camera for ages.  Today I discovered this group from a visit north to the city a few weeks ago.

Being up several floors in a semi-old building gave a great view of other buildings.  I remember being quite taken with some of the intricacies of the older structures.

See the empty streets?  We were up there pretty early in the morning.  On our way out mid-day the streets were a buzz with both cars and pedestrians.

Christmas Gift Idea: Mixing Painting & Embroidery

Do you love to embroider? Do you love to paint? Well, then I've got a project for you! How about mixing the two to create pretty linens for someone special? These pack quite a visual punch and are sure to wow even your most hard-to-impress gift recipients this year.


You'll need fabric paint, brushes made specifically for painting on fabric (they have very stiff bristles and let you really push the paint into the fabric with a lot of control), embroidery floss and a needle, a transfer pencil, a design and fabric to put your design on (muslin, linen, and cotton work wonderfully).


When choosing your design, keep in mind that simple turns out just as lovely as something complex.  Color-wise, we like to stick with just a few paint colors and then embroider around them in a darker version of the same color -- it really makes the design stand out like in the leaves, petals, pollen and stems above.  Try using DMC's glossy rayon embroidery floss instead of the standard matte variety to add dimension and luxuriousness.


As far as choosing your fabric, we've found that Osnaburg muslin handles beautifully and has a great texture.  Linen is wonderful for achieving an heirloom-quality look and creating fringed edges, like in the runner above. Which ever fabric you choose, make sure to shrink it first and sew it into your desired shape -- it's much easier to align and transfer your design to a finished piece then to try sewing it after you've painted and embroidered.


If you have a stash of pretty laces, try incorporating some of them into your piece.  We used a crochet lace border, a swath of muslin and careful stitching to create the large, one of a kind doily below.


Because the lace makes such a strong statement, we went with a simpler design in just green so as not to overwhelm the eye.


The blanket stitch running along the edge is more than decorative - it also helps to secure the border in place.


While we clearly have a thing for table runners, this technique can be used on all kinds of linens... a set of pillow cases or napkins, hand towels, even pillow covers.  Most of the supplies you need are available at Michael's or Jo-Ann, and design inspiration is everywhere.

Happy weekend everyone! And happy crafting!

New Yard Project Part 4: The Blue Wall

Next on our yard to-do list is choosing a striking wall color. We're inspired by the above photo of a blue stucco wall somewhere in the Yucatan. A bold color sure makes the palms pop! And it's almost the exact same color as the sky. Below is our wall and a few color chips. The idea is to make our palms pop, too, with the vines creating an undersea kelp effect.

What do you think? Do any of these blues look like the "the one"? After a while, they all start to look really similar.

So far we're partial to the above chip, second from the bottom.

An Everlasting Topiary of Flowers

We absolutely love seeing how you use our supplies, so we were overjoyed when Stephanie shared the above photo with us. She used a mix of paper roses in different styles and textures to create a stunning topiary ball. Below is a closeup of the mix she chose -- red, white, ivory, dusty rose, gorgeous!

Getting Organized

A good part of today was spent organizing, something, I must confess, I LOVE doing. With an unexpected storm rolling in early bringing rain on and off, the weather was perfect for labeling, color coordinating, sorting, stacking and arranging. We thought you'd enjoy a tiny tour of our stock room:

Above, zooming in on a few drawers of vintage millinery and a group of blown glass bells. Below, carefully sorted smaller items.

A putz house extravaganza! Hard to believe these will all have new homes by December. Even harder to believe: we made each and every one of these in our studio, from scratch and by hand.

Drawers, drawers and more drawers! Everything from scraps to Dresdens and millinery flowers to mushrooms have designated places.

Each is carefully labeled for easy order filling:

Project Idea: Make a Hallowen Treat Bucket

With today being October 1st, we couldn't resist sharing a project for making decorative Halloween treat buckets. At just 3 1/2" deep and 4 1/2" across the top, these little guys work best as tabletop decorations as opposed to something to take trick-or-treating.

Tool wise, you'll need: glue, an x-acto knife, scissors, tape and a pencil.
And as for supplies, here are a few ideas:

Gilded Florentine paper from Italy, above, in festive harvest colors. I really like the middle one... reminds me of a pumpkin patch, and the one on the far right looks like a fall orchard. These are all available HERE.

You'll also need a selection of Dresden trims. The medallion shapes are for building the pumpkin medallion and the trim strips are for edging along the top of the bucket. You can find these same trims available HERE.

We also mixed in fancy fabric trims with our Dresdens. Wouldn't the ones below be lovely? You can find the fringe HERE, the pom pom & loop HERE and the lace HERE.

And don't forget the paper scraps! We used the large pumpkins from this German sheet, available HERE.


In addition, you'll need tinsel sticks, non-toxic paint, and sturdy paper board (like mat board used for matting picture frames.) We also used part of a tinsel garland to further embellish our pumpkin medallion. You'll need the following template, too:

Click on the template to make it full size, then drag it to your desktop and print it out. It fits on a standard sized sheet of paper. Next transfer it to your board, cut it out and glue the sides so you end up with a shape like this:

Once dry, we painted the inside of ours with festive orange non-toxic paint before covering the outside in Florentine paper.

With the paper on and dry, we next applied a tinsel stick handle, gluing it to the outside of the bucket then "hiding" it under rows of Dresden and fabric trims. Last but not least came the pumpkin medallion, which we made by layering part of a tinsel garland, a Dresden medallion and a pumpkin scrap. Our last step was applying the medallion to the bucket and, voila! finished treat bucket:


This is a fun and easy project that packs a lot of decorative punch. Try painting the inside a pretty fall hue like burgundy or sunflower yellow.... Make your pumpkin medallion a witch or cat medallion instead -- and you don't have to use paper scraps, different Dresdens layered also look great.

If you're keen to have a couple of these, but aren't feeling creative, we have the ones you see here available on our website HERE along with many more autumn inspired supplies and already made Halloween decorations.

Happy crafting! Hope you're all enjoying the fall!

New Flowers Day 1

Today was Day 1 of adding tons of new flowers, peps and stamen to our etsy shop. Here's a glimpse:

Funny how my eye was drawn to all the pinks and softer colors, especially considering that many of our new flowers are in pretty fall colors -- burgundy, pumpkin, cocoa. Here, let me show you:

Now we're talking autumn! Tomorrow will see even more new flowers added to our etsy shop.

Now if only this heat wave would break so I could get back out in the yard. There are painting decisions to be made and quite a few seasonal weeds that are starting to show up :)

Fall is in the Air

It always amazes me how fast autumn arrives; suddenly the air is crisper, the sky bluer and the mornings noticeably chillier. Our etsy shop is looking more autumnal as well... Halloween scraps, unique ribbons and trims perfect for costumes, running pumpkins. Here's a small sampling:


And in the yard: another palm was transplanted yesterday, more soil has been shifted around, lighting is starting to go in and there's a large tree fern that's coming out this weekend. Also, we're trying to decide which color blue to paint the wall. Pictures are coming soon!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Halloween Crafting Supplies, Cards, and More

Autumn is here and we've put together a group of fabulous crafting supplies, cards and ornaments... click the image above to see what we've chosen.

New Yard Summer Project Part 3: Labor Day

I'm super excited to say that we've accomplished most of the major removal stuff in the yard. The big palms are all out and the old lawn is dug up! Look above, can you believe there used to be three 20 ft. queen palms grouped just behind where the wall ends?

Speaking of where the wall ends... we terraced the layers and added a handsome yellowish pot that will soon be home to a fox tail palm. Below, you can see where we marked a potential planting area.

Pretty soon we'll be placing the patio stones and I can hardly wait! We found a molded cement style that mimics flagstone at a fraction of the price (love you Home Depot!). There are several different shapes designed to fit together so we'll have fun putting the puzzle together.

Thank You Amy!

We are completely humbled by the fabulous blog post Amy of Thirty-Six Ten wrote about us! She peppered the post with tons of beautifully arranged shots from our etsy shop and website and wrote such nice things, well... Amy, you made our day. Thank you!

After you've stopped by her blog, be sure to visit her etsy shop, too, where you'll find her gorgeous hand forged sterling jewelry. Her photos are beautiful, her work is absolutely exquisite and she makes every thing by hand in her Texas studio.

Fall Harvest: Vintage Composite Fruit & Stamen

It may not officially be fall, but judging by all the vintage fruit we've been working with lately, you'd think we just picked the bounty of the season! Berries, chili peppers, cherries, apples, peaches and even almonds are just a few of our new old stock fruit and stamen:

These are adorable for decorating bottle brush trees and wreaths and for making decorative napkin holders. Most were made in 1950s Germany and still have their original tags; a few are from 1950s Japan. All have been packed away for decades and are in excellent condition. You can find them here, in our etsy shop.

And More Glass Beads...

... are now listed on our website, too:


Click the image to be taken to our website.