Easy Gift Wrap...Burlap wine sleeve.

My friend Clara has been at it again. 

You know, my amazing friend who throws parties that rival Martha herself, as well as decorates, organizes, cooks and gardens better than any blogger out there?

(see This Post, This Post, and This Post to refresh your memory)

(look at her all barefoot and cute)

Tonight I felt like I'd stepped into a Country Living spread as we enjoyed a festive evening celebrating Clara and her Hubby Herb's 40th anniversary surrounded by the beauty of her late summer gardens, good friends and good food and drink.  

I'll do up a post with pictures from that tomorrow, 

but I wanted to show you real quick how I wrapped up their gift.

Easy Peasy Burlap wine sleeve.  

Just cut a long strip of fabric 29.5" x 6.5", sew up both long sides, turn right side out and voila.  Pop the bottle in there, turn down the top and add something to tie around the neck.

I happened to have a crocheted flower from the scrapbook store that I hotglued to the fold down collar. 

 I braided some jute twine, and added a wee wooden letter from Hobby Blobby that I quickly stained before threading it onto the twine.

I thought it turned out kinda cute, if I don't say so myself.  :)

You could easily use linen or cotton...leave the edges unfinished and use a grosgrain or satin ribbon instead of jute twine.  And how cute would a vintage brooch look pinned to the collar?  Or a small bloom tucked into the tie.  Or add some blingy beads to the hanging-downy threads. Lots of room for creativity and a great opportunity to use up stuff from your cra(p)ft room stores.  Not that I did that or anything. 

And do you notice that gOrGeOuS hutch in the background? 

 I'm pretty stoked to show that to you soon too.

(edited to add I linked this up to creative little daisy's impromptu linky for quick crafts)

In the freak chance

...that someone reading ::cottage instincts:: might possibly rent a home in the Orlando area...

I'm looking for a place where me and my boys (and hubs and daughter#3 for some of the time) can find respite from the tragedy that is February in NE Indiana.  

We're looking for 3 bedrooms and a pool.  Doesn't need to be near Disney per se, although I'm already pretty familiar with the Kissimmee area, 

having rented homes, condos and townhomes there for the last 10 years.  

We're kinda partial to a playstation and/or game room, and I'm most definitely partial to a large master bathroom tub.  

via

Anyway, just a shot.  

If you rent villas, hit me up with your info.  I've got a few places on a list, but thought I'd see if any of you southern readers are looking for renters who are pretty nice folk, overall.

Ok ok. I give up.

Will someone send me an invite to Pinterest?  

'Cause seriously, I have like so many hours everyday to gawk at other people's beautiful cottage spaces.  

via vintage simple

Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Repeat after me: Spray paint is your friend.

So I had this fantabulous entry light fixture, circa 1982:

I also had this Ballard Design catalogue with a couple pictures that gave me deja vu:

and

I also had a can of ORB spray paint.  Or three.
And a hubby who removes icky glass from 80's light fixtures.

And I gave myself a knock-off Ballard lantern:

I know.  Cuteness.

I also finished touching up the trim in this entry, the trim and walls in my cra(p)ft room, and burned a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich.  

It was a rather good day considering.

Room reveals coming soon.

Parties!
Tuesday's Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking
One Project at a Time @ A bowl full of lemons
Vintage Inspiration Friday @ Common Ground

What I'm working on. All. The. Time.

PSSSST...I'm no longer blogging here!

You can now find me at

www.acottagegirl.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------

So let me just say right up front that I'm a spaz when it comes to decorating projects. 

 I can't do just one project, or just one room at a time.  

I can't just do all the painting, all the sewing, all the organizing from start to finish. 

 That's just not how I roll.  

(living room got a new coat of paint, therefore furniture must be moved around. Ya know.)

So here is just a smidgen of the plethora of projects in the works.  

Please pray for my family as they don't have a place to sit and can't find anything, including their mom/wife.  

My poor dog thinks we're moving and hides on my bed dawn til dusk.

School Room/Office.  Actually almost ready for the big reveal!

 Sewed up a new shade...still needs some finishing touches though....

Organizing homeschool books on the shelves...

Gotta make labels for these...

Cra(p)ft Room.  Not even close, but at least I'm getting started on the furniture.  Finally.

Picked out and purchased wall paint and fabric too.

Dresser started as this as of this morning....

covered with citrusstrip crap and plastic so it won't dry out before I scrape the 3 layers of paint off..

See that there antique hutch back yonder?  I did the drunk person technique on it today.

(Love those old details! It'll look marvey with my crafting/sewing stuff tucked inside.)

Master Bedroom.  Getting a complete makeover.  Again not quite ready for a reveal, but I'll show ya a few things I've been working on....The walls still need painted, and a couple more things painted/sewn.

 $5 desk-about-to-be-turned-vanity...

Painted the nightstand next to it as well.  Need to sew up the stool cover as well as the closet drapes...

(how attractive)

This desk got a new paint job and I need to put these on...

Front Hall.  Repainted, including trim.  It was a mess, and I wanted it to match the office/schoolroom. The paint is an old Ralph Lauren color called Canvas Natural.  LOVE it.  Perfect warm neutral.

Other randomness.  Anyone else throw yards of fabric around the house looking for that perfect spot?

(used some of this in my master bedroom for awhile, but it will now reside in the family room)

These beauties got repainted heirloom white.  I'll show 'em to ya when I reveal the upstairs rec room.

(such an attractive chapel chair.  Eegads.)

Played around with vignettes in my spare time.  Remember the mirror?

It looked like this before:

 and now it sits on my antique walnut dresser in my living/reading room.

Everyday I start popping around from painting to organizing to decorating to sewing.  Keeps it interesting.  My daughter is moving into a smaller place, so lots of stuff I'd given her came back, and I got inspired again.  Plus I'm still cleaning out, paring down, weighing my likes and loves.  :)  

I think the school room will be done this week, and I'll do a full post on it.  We start school in a couple weeks, so it needs to be ready to go.

Short and Sweet.

I showed you this little number in my last post:

A less-than-stellar garage sale purchase my daughter made for her new office.  It obviously exhausted the previous owner's patience, and if my daughter hadn't actually paid money for it, I prolly would've chucked it in da garbage.  It was THAT gross, though it did have pretty lines and such.  Here's how she looks now:

I didn't do any repairs to the veneer other than use some spackle to fill in gaps.  I cleaned and sanded best I could, then primed the bezeeses out of it.  Maddie and I both did several coats of paint, then used a spray clear topcoat.  

She may cover the shelves with some fabric, like I did on this desk way back when, using the same paint.  

Which actually sits in Maddie's bedroom as I type.  

She digs this color of blue/grey/green.

I added a pretty vintage-type knob, which my daughter promptly removed in order to use a satin nickel pull on 'er.  Eh, whatev.

Sorry I don't have a paint color for ya.  It's something I mixed up from a plethora of blue craft and wall paints I had hanging around. 

She's a cutie.  My daughter, I mean.  Yeah the bookshelf turned out ok too.

I just hope she doesn't go buying anymore furniture for us to paint until I get my garage cleaned out.  

And Maddie, dear, for future reference, peeling veneer is not a good sign.....

(with hubby Josh)

Linky-dinked up with:
Funky Junk Saturday Nite Special
Common Ground Vintage Inspiration Friday
Perfectly Imperfect All Things Furniture