Saturday 29 June 2013

my clock plate insperation

Hi ya'll, I have busy this weekend working on little project, I'm pretty excited about it as I've been wanting to get at this for awhile now. I love love love clocks vintage and , shabby, the bigger the better, so naturally I would like many clocks covering my walls, this thought inspired a clock plate project, and I have the first clock plate ready to share I, ll be adding it to the blog tomorrow! stay tuned.....
picture via internet (source unknown)

I also found a clock on Chez fifi a wonderful blog by phto sylist, editor, and author and one of my biggest insperations, in blogging , home decorating.. Lets just say she's fabulous here's a link to her blog the clock is about half way down the page,  I do know she got the clock from home goods but I doubt it's available as the clock Fifi purchased back in 07' so sad cause I'm so in love with this clock and have to have one or one very similar,  so I'll just keep hunting, but for know my clock plate will have to do, I'm making a bunch to put together on my dinning room wall, here's the first of many .
Here's the link to Fifi's blog chezfifi Enjoy, she is amazing you'll love her blog:))  Now for my clock plate......

Still working on the hands a little trickier than I thought but, I, 'll get there.  I made this plate with a sharpie marker, when it's done I'll put it in the oven for 30 mins @350 to make it permanent , while I was making this clock I made a few mistakes and learned you can use a majic eraser to fix it , works like a charm. So this is where i'm at with this project i have a bunch more clocks, and other cool sharpie projects to share later in the week, Have a fabulous canada day and 4th of july..... bye for now...
Elle

and here's the finished plate...... 

Wednesday 26 June 2013

I made a slipcover. ...

I'm pretty excited to share this post with you wonderful folks, you may remember awhile ago I mentioned that I was helping My lovely friend GG redo her living room, it's still not ready  for a room reveal, but as part of this transformation,  we needed to make slipcovers for her sofa, and chair, neither of us have ever done one sooo.. we did our homework and asked around,  then dove in . Please keep in mind that this slipcover is far from perfect, but you kinda learn as you go. We did get some great advice from Lynn @The shabby story who had just done her first slipcover and who also told me about a six part series on slipcovers by miss mustard seed, this was a amazing help. So thank you Lynn.. Xo.....We started with the chair, we figured we'll make our mistakes here-before we move on to the couch-this was the right choice as it turned out, we know now to make it a little bigger and adjust later...I'm pretty happy with the whole project as I'm not a big sewer, but I'm getting better one project at a time.

The seam  is a little out of place  little out of place, but it's just the way it's being pulled..
 A few puckers, but not bad for a first try.
 A pretty throw, and a little embroidered pillow.

Perfection

Till next time.......Xo Elle
The shabby creek cottage
my romantic home
French Country Cottage

Tuesday 25 June 2013

finally a day off.

well lately my schedule has a bit crazy, working way to much, but I thought I would get in a quick post today. I had a lovely day last week with my kids, and a girlfriend from work, we ran many errands with our girls during the day, as a norm for me on my day off ,trying to fit all the little things it takes to make our family life run smoothly in one afternoon of running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I'm sure many of you moms out there can relate, After all that running around we had one of those rare unplanned evening's you could not have planned better had you spent all week trying to put a nice evening together with your kids on that rare nite off. I think these pics speak for themselves, and mostly I just hope that this post inspires you to stop, slow down and enjoy those rare summer moments we sneak in on those not often enough days off this summer! ( wow that was a mouthful) lol....

My son chasing the ducks ( he took this picture)







so you see we had a lovely evening on Tirza's farm filled with swiming, jumping , chasing ducks and  donkey's, tractors and 4 weelers and little waterparks and a nice glass of wine for the mommies.. till next time...........hugs Elle))
                                             sharing  with ...            
savvy southern style http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/2013/06/wow-us-wednesdays-124.html?utm_source=feedburner
city farmhousehttp://cityfarmhouse.com/2013/06/inspiration-exchange-linky-party-5.html
The shabby creek cottage

Monday 17 June 2013

Vintage tea cup bird feeders.

Hello again, another rainy day in my neck of the woods, so I thought this is the perfect time to catch up on my blogging, yesterday I did a quick post on my front flower bed, and promised a tutorial on how I made my new vintage tea cup bird feeders. It was really simple and a lot of fun, these cuties also work realy well for a whimsical garden tealight holder. I have seen a few different ways to make these on the net, i.e. copper piping used for plubing, I've seen them hanging from tree branches using twine, very cute by the way,  I may have go do this with the extra teacups I have. another cute idea is to use old railing spindles,   I would have tried this for sure, but I did't have any on hand. I did however have some birch branches left over from my christmas urns. I thought these would work great and keep with a nature/outdoorsy vibe, here's what I did.
First I gathered all my supplies, old vintage tea cups, glue, I used PL premium  glue (found at the hardware store ) then gather your posts, I used birch branches, and lastly you'll need some old teaspoons for the little birdies to land on. The fisrt thing I did was glue together my teacups and saucers using my pl glue and glue gun thingy, I borrowed from the hubs,then glued the teaspoon on to the saucer.
 Next you'll need access to a skill saw, I had my hubby take my branches and cut them giving them a level surface for my teacups to sit on. you'll want your posts to be at least 2 Inches wide.
Next my hubby turned the posts upside down and gave the posts a point, so they would go Into the ground a little easier, this really did help when putting them In the garden, I never would have  thought of this ( sometimes our hubbys really do come in handy)
 once your posts are ready to go, you can go ahead and glue your teacups to the posts. You will need to turn them upside down while the glue sets, and probably have to prop them up somehow. Leave them to dry as long as you can I left mine over night.
 Now that your feeders are dry, place in the garden ,and add your birdseed and water to the feeders


 Now you can enjoy these whimsical bird feeders. I love mine and am getting tons of complements from passers by.

 I also use these at night as tealight holders, it's very pretty and has a nice romantic feel

I have even been getting orders from friends and family asking for these lovely feeders, :)) thanks for stoping by today, see you all again soon ....hugs Elle

Sunday 16 June 2013

June showers bring big beautiful flowers!

Hi guys, I know it's  been awhile but it's been really busy around here. My best friend had surgery so I've been pretty busy with her little guy, who she cant pick  up for 7 days, this has been super hard on her- but her trial has been  my pleasure. Gage is such a happy fun little guy and I''ve had a blast hanging out with him this past week . We have had a lot of rain this past week,  so a lot of indoor days, but the garden and flowers are looking pretty great.

These lovlies are looking pretty big and vibrant, with tons of blooms, they even make my homemade butt bucket look good:) I know it's a bad habit but at least I have somewhere pretty to put my smelly butts.
These pretty pink mini roses are sitting pretty, and looking fabulous on the front porch,  they sit in two matching pots I got at Canadian Tire a few years ago, they are defiantly among my favorite pots I'm always switching up the plants in these but I love the pink roses in them.

I planted this climbing rose bush last year, it had about 10 blooms on it, but this year it has doubled it's size and is about to expload with pretty red blooms I am axiosly waiting any day now:) So over her even thou we are getting alot more rain than usual I'm making the best of it and enjoying my happy garden .
 All and all the garden is looking pretty good, but is never really finished ,I'm always playing around with it. I planted some more poppy seeds, as well as definium, and also made these vintage tea cup bird feeders/ garden tealight holders
 Come by tomorrow for a step by step on how I made them .

And check out these cool garden markers I threw together this year to help keep track of my new seedlings (so I dont pull them thinking they're  weeds). Time to go for now, see you tomorrow..........hugs Elle

Wednesday 5 June 2013

sweetpeaschicnshabbies now has a Facebook page

Hi ya'll Sweetpeas chic n shabbies now has a Facebook page, I know , I finally joined the rest of you . But you should stop by, it'll be fun I promise,  lots of between post- tidbits, and honest mommy moments. And  sometimes" frustrated wife moments", let's face it we all have them. So swing on over to https://www.facebook.com/SweetpeasChicnShabbies?ref=hl Dont forget to like me..... I like you:))




Totally loving all the spring time blooms, I have pretty vase's filled with fresh flowers all over the house. I picked my first peonies of the season the other day, I usually favor  the pink and white ones but  I'm loving the deep red peonies, they are so stunning.still picking lilacs but they are pretty much coming to a end now,how I'll miss them till they return next year.I planted the pumkins ,sunflowers and monnflowers i had started in the house today I've been very busy bee over here this past few days. I'll post again this week sometime, I have a fun new window treatment to share and a first attempt at a slipcover for GG's room redo..................
                                                         Till next time stay shabby and happy... Elle

Tuesday 4 June 2013

A little of this and that.....

Hi guy's todays 's post  little bit random but hey that's just how. I  roll. May is one of my favorite monthes of the year, mother nature is at her best. casting her  magestic spells all over our wonderous planet.Just the other day I was cleaning up the porch and took down. my old window to spurce it up a little for the season and found that a Robin had made a nest. The kids and I are pretty enthralled with this little life miracle and are keeping a close eye on this busy mama birds progress.
After a few days of watching and waiting patiently we found these beautiful aqua colored eggs, the color is so pretty, and the eggs so delicate.  Aqua is the color of the season at our place this year. (I seem to buying alot of aqua lately without realizing it) 
When mama bird is done with her nest I'm going to take a que from her and decorate my old window around her nest, I think I got lucky with this really precious gift from Rory (thats what the kids named the Robin)


Still can't get enough of the seasons favorite gift lilacs, I have them all over the house, I like to enjoy them while I can a few more days and they'll be finished for the year
The veggie garden is finally planted, it has been a slower process this year as the weather has been a little wacky! but it's off to a great start, we have tons of tomatoes this year, we have lots of cherry tomatoes, I just love them while i'm out weeding they are the perfect snack.
Here the cabbage and beans the cucumbers and zucinni is't up yet but we have pumkins and they are off to a great start. I love growing pumkins and gords I use so many in my fall decorating that it makes more sense to just grow them myself. I would grow corn too if I had the space.
This Is a plant  that Is growing In gg's garden, we dont  know what it's called, If you know please leave it in the comments below. It's a really pretty plant I think it looks like a blazing star, but I could be wrong.
Anyway, I fair warned you this post was a little all over the place, but before I go I wanted to show you this cool new plant holder we got at a yardsale, I filled It with a plant called twister I think he looks cool with his crazy hair, kinda like mine with the crazy rainy/ humid Weather  we've been having.... Have a great day Elle