Vintage Hospitality Snack Set

More Gift Wrapping With Patterns Ideas

Simple Gift Wrapping Idea

Wedding Dress Update

I have good news!  Remember last week when I mentioned I was looking for a thrifted wedding dress for my sister.  Well she found one that is perfect for only $50.  It even has a few of the features we were planning on adding.  Here are a few pictures of what my sister was looking for.

Left: Style Vanessa    Right: Strapless A-Line

She really likes the top of the dress on the right.  She also likes the drop waist.  The dress on the right has another style of bottom she likes, big and poofy.  Originally we were looking for a halter style dress that we could add lace over to make the sleeves like the dress on the left.  Overall we want to combine a little from each of the above dresses.  Here is what we found.

The dress actually fits her really well so we won't have to do much tailoring.  The top has a few too many beads but that is an easy fix. The bottom is where we are going to have to fix a lot.  There is too much beading and craziness going on.  Also that bow on back has to go!  We wanted to add a pop of color by adding either a pink sash or pink tulle underneath the dress. 

Doesn't she look adorable!  What do you think about our plans?  Any suggestions?  Seriously I hope we are not in over our heads.

Green Week - Couch Refinish

I am tying this into green week by using the theme use what you have or use used. My husband is a Biologist with an emphasis in ecology, and he could go on for hours about this being the key to being green. As I am sure most of you aren't here for a Ecology lecture, we will move to the couch.

When I was at the thrift store last month I spotted this couch. I am not quite sure what the guy standing next to it thought of me when he heard me tell my little girl, "look Bethany it is perfect, we have to get that couch! I have been wanting a new couch and this one is just simply perfect!" To my credit, I have been wanting a new couch, but haven't been able to justify it. Our present couches were in good condition as well as, but just look at this beauty? Can't you just see what it could become? I get excited looking at it again.

When I texted a picture of it to my husband to get his approval before I purchased such a large piece of furniture, he simply replied back, "those cushions can't go in the house". So... I purchased it knowing I would have to start the cushions from scratch. I have to tell you what I paid for it... just 20$.

I got right to work! My husband is amazingly supportive, and he has a mathematical mind. He can't ever see where I am going with a project, or understand how I can see the end result, but he is 100% there to help. He is a huge part of the reason I can finish the projects I start. I can give him measurements or a problem to solve, and he can always figure it out. For this couch he was a huge help!

We started by stripping, priming, painting, sanding and lacquering the wood frame just like you have seen others do. Before the lacquer coat, I sanded the couch in spots to give it the worn and antique look that I am a huge fan of. Erica did a absolute wonderful job with her dresser, and in her post she explains how to get this look.

In a google image search, I typed in 'couch', and found a thousand results. I was trying to decide what kind of cushions I wanted. With a thousand images, there were also a thousand ways for the cushions to look. I really liked the 2 cushions on top and one on the bottom, and felt that it would go really well with the style I was trying to achieve. I also watched a couple youtube videos on how to make new couch cushions. After a night of research, I felt like a professional, and was ready to move to the next step.

My husband and I went to Joanne's to find some cushions. I am sure we were quite the sight! We laid all the cushions out along the back isle, and sat on all of them. It looked like a reenactment of the 3 little bears, "This one is to hard, this one is to soft." We went with a 3 inch high density foam for the back of the couch and a 5 inch high density foam for the bottom of the couch. I also ordered a 1 inch medium density foam online, to wrap around the high density foam. The medium density foam is to give the edges a nice round look, as well as give a little more squish and softness to the couch. We cut the foam to fit the couch using a very large knife, and then wrapped the 1 inch foam around it, and used spray glue to keep it in place.

Testing our foam choice

Wrapping the bottom cushion with the one inch foam

Foam was much more expensive than I had thought, but when it comes to comparing to the cost of purchasing a new couch, it was actually quite inexpensive. I spent close to $130 on foam. (Tip= make sure the foam is on sale if you are purchasing it at Jo-Ann's. I got my foam on a 50% sale plus I used a 20% off your total purchase coupon.)

To be honest, I was least looking forward to putting together the fabric to go around the cushion. When figuring out how much fabric I needed and how it needed to be cut, both my husband and I had quite the brain cramp. I am sure all of you that sew and craft can relate to this feeling. The day I was planning on plunging in my sewing machine, I came across this tutorial on making pillows. It was perfect! I sewed the covers following this tutorial and then boxed my corners like you would a purse. I measured how much I needed to fold in to give it a box shape and then sewed them up.

I used 5 1/2 yards of material to cover the couch. This is a picture of my scraps, pretty amazing right? I told my husband I wanted to maximize my material by using as few seams as possible. If you have any questions on how we laid it out and want some more of the nitty gritty details, email me (thepolkadotumbrella(at)gmx(dot)com), and I will be happy to give you my how to.

Here is my end result. I am unbelievably happy with the way it turned out!!

This couch is my second favorite piece in the living room. Now I have to also show my first.

My brother (Erica's husband) drew this. I know right, amazing!! I asked him to draw the picture of the Tree Of Life Vision but with a few different depictions that you don't see in most drawings of this story. When I received it, he did a much more elaborate and spectacular job then what I had asked him to do. I love this piece and had to share.

Are you inspired? I hope so. Start browsing through the couch section when you go to the thrift store. I am not quite sure if I will be able to pay full price for a new couch after this experience. You might be surprised by what you can come across.

Mismatched Fine China

It all started with this. . .

My mother in-law is an amazing host.  Every time she has a party she always has the cutest favors.  This adorable tea cup was one of those favors.  She found them at the DI, a thrift store.  She grew some wheat grass in them, and had one at each place setting.

I immediately fell in love with the idea of having fine china.  When I got married we didn't register for china (who knows why?!).  I mentioned to my mother in-law that I would love to start looking at thrift stores for fine china.  I didn't want them to match at all, the more eclectic the better.  This was in April, in December to my surprise and delight I opened my Christmas present from her and fell in love.

She spent 9 months combing thrift stores in search of fine china.  I now had a place settings for 8.  Each place setting has a matching dinner plate, salad plate, saucer and tea cup.  Some of the sets even have a matching bowl, or an extra plate.

Even though they match within each place setting, all of the settings are totally different.  To top it off she also bought me 8 water goblets, 8 wine glasses, and 8 sherbet cups, all of which are real crystal.

 I couldn't believe she had done that for me!  At the risk of sounding tacky, I asked her how much she ended up spending on the whole lot.  I researched the china and found the price for each item if I had paid full price.  I was able to find all of the patterns except one, if anyone knows what pattern this is I would LOVE to know!!

For the main dinner plate she spent $1 on each one.  For the other salad plates, bowls and dessert plates, she spent $.50 each.  The saucers and tea cups were also each $.50.  When you add this up it equals $22.50!!  I couldn't believe it.  After all of my research, the estimated (due to the one mystery place setting) total is around $275.

I wasn't able to identify the crystal glasses, but I did research how much it would be to buy a similar set.  To average out the prices I am going to say around $10.  This would mean that all of the crystal would cost around $240.  My mother in-law paid $1 for the water goblets and $.50 for the wine glasses and sherbet cups.  Add this all together and you get $16!

 Now I have a whole set of shabby chic dishes worth over $500 for less than $50!  I am definitely going to keep building my collection.  Even though it takes a lot of time and searching I think it is worth it, who wouldn't want these awesome dishes for that price!

Shabby Chic Ladder

I thought this would be a perfect example of the "make it your own theme."

We just purchased our first home and it has been a complete joy to make our own! I came across this idea from craftsbyamanda and was in love!

I new I wanted to make something like it but wasn't sure how I was going to get my hands on an old ladder. I started spreading the word that I was looking for an old ladder and I got one. I couldn't wait to start.

All the frames I had packed in a box that I wasn't using. I chose a color that would match my living room, a burnt yellow and then used a red glaze to pull in a second color. I was so thrilled on how it turned out! It fits my style perfectly.