Get Inspired!

It's hard to get inspired to start a new business when you've had one business that wasn't such a success (I'd call it a failure but others would disagree with that)

I'm a creative person who just loves to make things and then sell them. I've loved the idea of doing this as far back as I can remember. Today I'm doing just that with items that I find at thrift stores and giving them new life along with making accent pillows for the home. It's not easy to get a business going especially when the ghosts of past ventures rise up and sound off  causing a defeatism that starts to sink in.


What I realized is I need inspiration to get me going and keep me motivated.

The dictionary says this about the word inspire: to produce or arouse (a feeling, thought, etc.) 

 That's it! I need a feeling of "You Can Do it" to replace those ghosts I spoke about.

So where do I go to get inspired? 

 Les Brown's  posts on Facebook inspire me. Below is yesterday's post from him and it was exactly what I needed to hear.

"Are you overworked and underpaid? You don’t have to settle for this. Choose to develop your mind, your skills, your personality and your relationships. These are the keys for unlocking a world of possibilities and opportunities. If you’re feeling stuck, cast aside, inadequate, don’t just complain about it…make a conscious decision to develop yourself.

Do what you need to do so that you will get to do what you want to do. You might have to go back to school; volunteer in a situation where you can learn; or use your imagination to figure out what your next move will be. At any rate, you’ve got to keep moving. Don’t let life leave you behind. Check your ego at the door, and swallow your pride. You can begin again, create a new life for yourself. You have GREATNESS within you!"

I love Les Brown and it's worth liking him on Facebook to read each day his words of encouragement for success.

So where else do I get inspiration from?

My children John and Erica who both believe in me and encourage me all the time to keep at it. They also have so many talents and I'm in awe of them and well to tell you the truth those talents had to come from somewhere and I'm thinking it might be from me so there I go again getting inspired.

I've neglected my blog for a very long time and now I'm back and wrote my first coming back post and  Kathy at Honey Mountain left me a wonderful comment. She inspired me to keep going just by her thoughtfullness to leave a comment, thank you Kathy.

So I'll look all around for inspiration throughout my day. It's the energy I need to produce my products, list them on Ebay and Etsy, talk about it through social media and it gives me the strength to not give up.

Hotelware Dinerware Restaurant Ware Love Them All!

Back in the 90's I use to live in Scranton, Pa and on occasion I would take a ride into the city (to me there is only one city) and meet my sister-in-law and go shopping. This one day we happened upon a store called Fishs Eddy (read about it here how they got the name) This is the place that made me fall in love with Dinerware dishes.

It was just the type of funky shop you would expect to find in NYC and it didn't disappoint me. That day I became the proud owner of these dishes.

From that point on I just loved this type of dish. Wikipedia explains way better than I could how these type of dishes came about.

So then in my travels just recently I came upon these cups. Love love these cups! They scream Coffee Shop 1950's

They are a cream color with a brown transferware on them. They are your typical 8 oz size cup and I think it would make a great look displayed in a kitchen.

Then I just happened upon another store that had this dish from Syracuse China and again it's the same style and weight of the dish that makes them what I call Dinerware. This bowl was made by Syracuse for the Navy thus the anchor.

Here's my newest find that I got in a local thrift shop. These dishes are from Royal Doultan and on the underside marking it's called Hotelware. These have been heavily used because some of the gold striping is missing but my gosh how pretty would these plates look in a French Country kitchen.

So it's 2014 and I'm still in love with them and now I'm more on the look out for them to sell in my Ebay shop or my Etsy shop. There are many of you out there who loved them as much as I do.

Now if you haven't started your love affair with these dishes and might just want to then head on over to Fishs Eddy and check them out.

Want to learn more about this type of dish called Hotelware, Dinerware, Restaurant ware then take a look at what Wikipedi has to say about it.

Don't forget when visiting your local thrift store keep an eye out for some of these type of dishes, I'm pretty sure you will love them like I do.

How To Say I Love You in a Special Way!

How do you say I Love You to someone other than speaking the words. Do you give them flowers, candy, hugs, kisses, jewelry etc? I know all of these sound good but how about a new and different way?

Many years ago my Mom and Dad went to visit my Aunt and Uncle who lived in Shreveport, La and upon their return they started a new tradition in their home.

My Aunt Angie had made a special dinner for my parents and set the table for my Dad and Mom with 2 red "You are Special" plates. My mother loved the idea it made her feel special and thought it was so great she purchased her own plate to start this tradition with us.

Just recently I gave a plate each to my nephews Danny and John for Christmas.I was pleasantly surprised how much they loved them. John just celebrated his 10th birthday and was excited when his mom made his favorite breakfast and served it to him on this plate.

The tradition of the "You Are Special Today" Red Plate has for generations been present at great and small moments of joy, struggle and growth. This blog The Red Plate Stories is well worth a stop over to read the stories.

Memories of love are created when we start a tradition that conveys our feelings to both the young and old and this red plate has done just that for my family.  With my own family I've used the red plate for birthdays, good grades, graduation or just because I wanted to say I love you.

So on one of my trips to a thrift store I came upon this I Love You plate and at first thought it might make a nice addition to a home on a plate easel. I resell some of  my finds. Then I remembered my red plate and thought why not? How cute would this be as a shower gift to a bride so she can convey her love to her new husband on special days with a special dinner?  We all love to be loved and this is a great way to say it.

Right now I have this plate up for auction at Ebay but you can easily create your own I love you plate with a white plate from the dollar store and some Porcelaine  markers. Here's a link on how to paint on ceramic that will show you the how and what to use all you need to do is come up with your own special design.

So I hope you enjoyed this post and think about adding a new way of saying I love you to those who you care so much for.

Linda 

Making Pillows Out of Fabric Napkins

I'm known for visiting thrift stores and one of the first places I head to in the store is the linen section. I just love me some fabric napkins.

This love of napkins started way way back when I inherited a linen table cloth and napkin set from my aunt. It had some embroidery on it in grey and it was just a so so design in my opinion but there was something about those napkins that I loved.

Those napkins became the pillows that you see below and I have not stopped making pillows from fabric napkins since then.

To make the grade the napkins have to have the following:

1. Be attractive to me whether it's the fabric or the texture of the fabric
2.  No stains because once there is a stain it's so hard to remove or should I say impossible and I'd really rather be designing and sewing then trying to get a stain out. 
3. A good size that would translate well into a pillow. Some are just too small and some are too big. Perfect to me is an 18" x 18" napkin.
4. The napkins need to be uniform in size so that when I size them up together one isn't bigger than the other, unless I'm making a different fabric back then it doesn't matter

Below is a picture of some new ones I just made.

I loved these napkins the minute I saw them and the seller at the flea market knew what I wanted them for but was surprised that I didn't care that they were a polyester blend fabric. Nope didn't care because the texture of the material and that little stitch border was calling my name. Size was a perfect 18" x 18".  I got the set of four napkins for $3.00.

First up was finding some images that I could iron on to the front of the pillows. Found some great ones at The Graphic Fairy site and also purchased some on Etsy.

The Transfer Artist Paper from Amazon  is my go to product for iron on. This product works great!

Because I loved the look of this fabric I made the backs of the pillows in linen fabric with the envelope style for ease of inserting the pillow so I could get four pillows instead of two.

Here's a closer look at the texture of the fabric and the stitch on the edge that I love.

Stay tuned for my next post and I'll give you some easy instructions for making your own fabric napkin pillows.

My New Sewing Machine

I love to shop at the local  thrift stores, in fact I love it so much I've been known to drive 1 1/2 hours if someone whispers to me of a good place that they scored some good items.

At the thrift stores I'm drawn to the household items that are made of fabric, such as napkins, tablecloths, doilies, blanket throws, sheets etc.  If the pattern of the fabric attracts me I start to envision how I can transform it to something new and attractive for the home.

I have a large stock of doilies and fabric napkins just waiting to be remade but my 20 year old sewing machine was just kicking and screaming each time I used it.

So off I went to get a new one, just something simple, inexpensive that would do the basics but this Viking machine kept calling me plus the saleswoman was very good at her job of selling and so this not so simple machine came home with me.

The less simple the machine the more of a learning curve there is and I've come to realize at my age I hate, hate learning curves. Having to learn how to use this machine has proved to be a bit exhausting along with my memories of learning to use my new computer, phone, even my rug shampooer. So I set a goal to use the machine a bit each day until I mastered it!

I bought the machine because I really want to keep buying these things I'm drawn to at the thrift stores but to do that I have to start making some things.

So below are two pillows I've made. They are my first with the Viking. The side ruffle one was from an embroidered doily which I made into an envelope pillow with added ruffles, so very shabby chic. Then in my stash of napkins I found the perfect white napkin with a bit of texture that made the perfect companion to the envelope one. I got to use the ruffle attachment to create the flower center. I'm pleased how they both came out, though they are not perfect. 

My son gave me good advice "Just keep at your craft until you are really good at it" and that's what I intend to do. So I look forward to becoming really good at using the Viking sewing machine and  creating new items with my stash of fabric items from the thrift stores.

House Staging For A House Sale

For the last month my home has been on the market with no offers and I am surprised that I didn't have it sold in a week. So after many showings and no offers I had to take a hard look at the home and see what I could do to improve the look of the home so the showings would go better and possible get an offer.
After a review of my home I found three areas that need attention.

1. My lanai.porch. My lanai is a small enclosed screened in porch that is the perfect size for an outdoor sofa and two chairs.
2. My office. This room is really the guest bedroom but I opted when I moved in to use it as my office. It has a closet that spells bedrooms but some buyers might miss this.
3. My guest bedroom is really the office and it's very small. So I need to switch the two rooms so that buyers will know for sure what is what. 

This morning I decided to tackle the lanai.

I have to say that I know better yet I allowed potential buyers to see this lanai this way

With a little bit of time (2 hours) and some fabric and flowers I created an inviting spot to enjoy.  Here's how it looks now

 My goal was to make this room inviting so that potential buyers could see themselves in it. Here's what I did. The sofa and chairs that I had in this space was very tired. So to improve the look of this set I covered the cushions with fabric that I had on hand. Instead of sewing I just used some safety pins to hold the fabric in place and made sure the pins where at the bottom so they couldn't be seen. I could of also used duck tape but didn't have any on hand. I went shopping in my garage and found some (4) accent pillows I had that just happened to be a perfect color so I used them. What was missing was another small accent pillow on each side. I made these accent pillows (the small ones) with coordinating fabric that I also safety pinned together. Then just a quick trip to Walmart for the  pale pink gereniums and I was done.  Total cost $13.00

Tuesday I'll tackle the office and guest bedroom with the help of my son-in-law/

Fabric Rose Pins

My new label pin for my denim jacket

I had a yen for making some fabric roses into label pins. I did it but I have to tell you I'm not so impressed. I was looking to make something a bit bohemian that would look so great on my denim jacket that woman would stop to ask where I got it.

I was inspired by these fabric rose key chains done by InkyPinkies that I saw on Pinterest.  What's a bit different about her technique is that she just starts with a knot which becomes the center of the flower. Here also TatortotsandJello  has a tutorial on how to make them with the knot. Previously I've made fabric roses with a rolled center following the tutorial from My Sparkle. 

Fabric rose made with the rolled center

Each way works great but my personal favorite is the rolled look. The above photo is my first attempt at the rolled center rose. After comparing the two photos for me the rolled technique is the winner.

One of the hard parts for me about making these roses is the hot glue. I've tried all different types of glue but hot glue is the quickest and just overall works the best. Oh but the burnt fingers are not fun. So to save me from the burnt finger syndrome I devised a way to get it done without suffering. So instead of gluing as I go along I tried pinning. I would have two flowers going at the same time and would make about 1/4 of the flower pinning as I went. Once I was happy with it I would hot glue the underside and wait for it to set. Meanwhile I would do the same thing with flower number two. I believe this takes a bit more time this way but the saved fingers are worth it.

I made quite a bit of them

  
 I made a flower template that I sized to fit the rose and then made a cardboard pattern out of it. But first I spray glue some fabric on to a green felt square. Then traced my pattern and then just cut them out hot glued to the bottom of the rose.

 So it's back to the drawing board on the label pins. I might just do something a bit different.