Minnie's Milestones
  • Home
  • Milestones
  • Passions
    • Shabby Chic Decor >
      • Image Transfer Tutorial(s) >
        • Freezer Paper and Ink Jet Printer
        • Citra-Solv Method
        • Chalkboard Transfer
    • Outside Decor
    • Cottage Gardening >
      • Butterfly Santuary
    • Photography
    • Digital Scrapbooking
    • Mixed Media Art
  • Recipes
  • Advertise/Selling
  • Muse
  • Home
  • Milestones
  • Passions
    • Shabby Chic Decor >
      • Image Transfer Tutorial(s) >
        • Freezer Paper and Ink Jet Printer
        • Citra-Solv Method
        • Chalkboard Transfer
    • Outside Decor
    • Cottage Gardening >
      • Butterfly Santuary
    • Photography
    • Digital Scrapbooking
    • Mixed Media Art
  • Recipes
  • Advertise/Selling
  • Muse
Minnie's Milestones

A Very Shabby Christmas

11/30/2014

3 Comments

 
Picture
What a perfect little Santa for my new shelf from Alexander-Mead!
I think it adds so much more shabbiness to my stairway landing vignette for Christmas.
Picture
I have a collection of Santa's that I have been fortunate enough to collect through the years. I change/move them around every Christmas, this year one of my collection is gracing my chippy pink chair. Along with the Santa I added white and green bottlebrush trees and a little sparkle on the Battenburg lace placemat. A pinecone flower arrangement hangs off the side of the chair.
Picture
I wanted to show you the true shabbiness of this vignette. The luggage lid has seen better days, but the beautiful pastel colors added with the roses, lace, a rusty star and the old barbed wire used to hang the picture are perfect together.
The little Santa in white who has a bird on his hand fits perfectly on the shelf.
Picture
The perfect Shabby Christmas.
Joined These Awesome Link Parties
nifty thrifty things
Distressed Donna Down Home
DIY Show Off
By Stephanie Lynn
3 Comments

Garden Grots

11/25/2014

4 Comments

 
Picture
After seeing my first Grot on Blue Fox Farm blog, I fell in love with these little creatures.
But what is a Grot? A Grot is a mystical, fairy-like creature. They live in the forest or a garden.  When humans are around, they look like your average rock on the ground but in the evening, when no human is present, they pop their little heads/bodies out of the earth and dance in the garden or can even protect your garden. According to lore.
Picture
I seem to always have a little mix left over from making my concrete leaves. So I started making these little faces/grots.
Picture
Here is a close-up of some of the faces with a quick tutorial:
1. Make a ball of your mix.
2. Put the ball onto plastic wrap. (See above picture)
3. Work your ball into an oval or round face.
4. Using two fingers poke them into the mix for the eyes.
5. Notice all the lips are different, work the cement into any form of lip you would like.
6. Make a separate little ball for your nose, form it into a what looks like a nose and put onto your face.
7. Let dry for several days before moving them.
Picture
Picture
or in a container garden. What fun you will have when friends ask what they are!
Put them in your bird baths . . . . . . . .
4 Comments

Bentwood Chairs

11/19/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
What a find (I think) of my Bentwood Armchairs! I found them over a year ago at The Front Porch Antiques Mall in Ottawa, KS. Many years ago, when we bought our farm table, I had in the back of my mind, I wanted chairs like this at each end of the dining room table.
Picture
The chairs were in fairly good shape, except the veneer had started to crack. I sanded the veneer as much as possible to make it smooth, then using a liquid sander de-glosser, I was ready to paint. I used three coats of Anne Sloan chalk paint. I decided not to distress the chairs, instead to let natural wear and tear distress over time.
Picture
Beautiful in white!
History: A bentwood chair is a chair made from wood that has been bent into shape using a steam process that was invented in the 1800s. This type of chair usually has a simple design and is made out of about six pieces of wood all held together by screws and nuts. Its wooden back is rounded. As one of the characteristics of a bentwood chair is comfort, it is often found in restaurants, hotels and bars. The chair remains popular today and is one of the most mass-produced pieces of furniture in the history of chair making.
I used graphics from The Graphics Fairy website and here is my tutorial on using freezer paper and an ink-jet printer.
Picture
Finished! The Bentwood Chairs finally setting at my dining table.
Joined These Awesome Link Parties
Oh Heartsie Girl
A Delightsome Life
Creations by Kara
Outside The Box
Savvy Southern Style
A Stroll Through Life
0 Comments

Velour Pumpkins

11/14/2014

9 Comments

 
Picture
Loving velvet pumpkins. So elegant and so shabby chic. I just finished mine after having the material now for several weeks. The suggestion by Patti of Old Things New, was to go to thrift stores and look for clothes made with velvet, I will do that before buying velvet again.  Velvet isn't cheap! Also her blog tutorial, (here) I followed almost exactly. I have a few tips though . .
1. Use a good quality thread when basting, I used some old thread and it broke when I was gathering/pulling the thread up to gather the sides of the material.
2. Do not baste close to the edge of the material, baste a good 1/4" in or even more, that way if you run into any problems the material will not ravel into your stitches. Nothing ever is quite as easy as it sounds or looks the first time I make things.
3. There are many things to use for the stems, such as sticks, actual stems that have dried from real pumpkins or made with material. I actually had made pumpkin topiaries from faux pumpkins (see here) so I saved the faux stems and used them for these velvet pumpkins. Worked beautifully! I think I will probably buy some pumpkins on sale at Michaels or Hobby Lobby, if I can find them cheap enough and use the stems for velvet pumpkins next year.
4. I did stitch under the stem from side to side to make the stem fit better, this was after I had put glue on the stem. The glue will get on your needle after doing this so the needle will be ruined. Time to get new ones anyway.
Picture
This is the biggest pumpkin and I used a pan that measured 16" across. After drawing up the basting stitches the pumpkins will turn out smaller than you think! I made a small flower with leaves from netting and tucked into the pumpkin with a couple of stitches.
Picture
The smallest pumpkin I decorated with a few flower petals. I sewed a pearl in the middle of the petal and then sewed it onto the pumpkin.
This pumpkin has some moss glued around the stem.
Picture
Picture
Joined These Awesome Link Parties:
Redoux Interiors
I want to make more of these beautiful, velvet pumpkins for fall 2015!
The Golden Sycamore
Natasha in Oz
Lou Lou Girls
Chic on a Shoestring Budget
Shabby Art Boutique
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Creations by Kara
A Delightsome Life
Oh My Heartsie Girl
House of Hipsters
Stephanie Lynn
Between Naps on the Porch
The DIY Showoff
9 Comments

Fall Chalkboard Art

11/10/2014

6 Comments

 
Picture
Chalkboard art on my  kitchen counter for fall. I change it seasonally, I thought I had better get it on the blog with Christmas just around the corner.
Picture
A peek at my art table tools and mess! I used my Cricut Cutting Machine for my template. See the chalk pencil? The pencils will make the outlines much smoother. I then fill in with regular chalk. I seem to have too many projects going on at the same time.
Picture
Tomorrow the Artic Vortex is supposed to be upon us here in southwest Missouri. I'm not much of a winter person!
Joined These Awesome Link Parties
D.I.Y Dreamer
Thoughts From Alice
Ivy and Elephants
The Style Sisters
6 Comments

The Shamrock Plant

11/6/2014

2 Comments

 
Picture
The Shamrock Plant or Oxalis regnellii is a great houseplant and here in southwest Missouri is a perennial if planted outside.
Picture
This plant is several years old and has resided in this planter for the entire time. The oxalis do require a dormancy period, of two or three times a year. The plant will get leggy and worn out looking. Then it is time to . . . . .
Picture

clip down too the rhizomes. I do take out the rhizomes and put new dirt in the pot and replant the rhizomes about once a year.

Picture
I then fertilize, water and in a few weeks the magic of the rhizomes happens again. Love the patina this planter has acquired over the years. The Shamrock Plant is happiest in lots of filtered sunlight.  
Joined These Awesome Link Parties
Oh My Heartsie Girl
2 Comments

Doily Table Runner

11/3/2014

9 Comments

 
Picture
Oh how I wish I had appreciated my Mother's beautiful crocheted handwork when she was still with us! She had made a tablecloth, Christmas ornaments and doilies for me. What has become of them through the years?
Picture
This table runner actually belongs to my niece, Bobbi. Some of the doilies may be my Mother's or my sister's, both are gone now and how we wish we knew who made the doilies. I do not crochet, unfortunately I do not have patience for this kind of work!
Picture
Bobbi has hand stitched the doilies together in a beautiful pattern. I love the bigger ones on the end and in the middle.
Picture
This picture was taken during the summer, look at that green! Bobbi has made me a table runner with doilies and it is beautiful, but this one is gorgeous on my farm table.
Joined These Awesome Blogs
nifty thrifty things- Featured
Distressed Donna Down Home
Redhead Can Decorate
Second Chance To Dream
Thoughts from Alice
Flamingo Toes
A Delightsome Life
The DIY Dreamer - Featured
Songbird
DIY Vintage Chic

9 Comments

    Picture

             The Lady  behind
        Minnie's Milestones

    ​Welcome lovers of whimsy. If you love chippy paint and lots of DIY we are kindred spirits!

    BLOGLOVIN
    Featured on Hometalk.com
    Visit Minnie's Milestones by Jonni's profile on Pinterest.

    Archives

    November 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013


    Since
    ​2016/3/24​

    Picture
    This policy is valid from 10 April 2018
     This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact  shellknoblakegirl@gmail.com.
     This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
     The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.
     The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
     This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
    To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org
​