Jessica Flores Design

Stencil-mania

I opened my new Country Living magazine yesterday to this page, and my crafty wheels started spinning.  

I instantly remembered the vintage stencil set I'd picked up at a farm auction last fall and dug it out of the basement this afternoon (despite the fact that I should be sewing on 3 custom bags, but hey, technically, this is still a holiday for me).

I thought I'd put the set in my Etsy shop, but when I started working with it, I knew it was quickly going to turn into a new craft tool obsession (and they just might sneak into my decorating too).

Although I do want to eventually make a bag like the one in the spread, I started with some new key tags,

and then moved on to embellishing this medallion I had sitting on my Hoosier cabinet.  

My friend, Jodi, gave me the antique lined paper with notes from a nineteenth c. science course.  It ended up being too brittle to use as a hanging do-hickey, so I think I'm just going to use a series of the center circles for a long hanging garland of X's and O's for Valentine's day.

Keep an eye on my Etsy shop for the finished product and the keytags above!

Collecting Eye Candy

I've always had a bulletin board in my room as a girl, in my dorm room in college, and now in my studio at home.  Once they were filled with clothing tags and amusement park tickets, then art postcards and snippets of love letters.  Now mine has been painted red and filled with magazine clippings of bags I'd like to make and selvage strips, but a bit of my "I 'heart' Bethel" sticker still peeks out from a corner. I am a collector!  

Earlier this week I had the great honor of seeing one of my Etsy items make it to the front page of the site in a fine "Earth Day" inspired treasury.  It seems like a little thing--a tiny blip on the screen, but I just about hit the ceiling on my lunch hour when I stopped in to check my account.

Treasuries are "curated lists" which Etsy members pull together from the vast expanse of well-photographed handmade and vintage items available on the site.  It's a clever way for fans of the site to showcase a cross-section of listings--from the quirky to the practical--that have a common thread.  I still haven't figured out how one of these makes it to the front page, but it is a fun past time, if you're an addicted Etsy browser. Head on over to the site and try it out yourself! I've only ever made one treasury myself, because I'm not much of a web surfer.

I'm getting there though, with the help of a nifty little tool called Pinterest.  Still in Beta, this site is like your own virtual bulletin board for gems you've found online.  For each account you can have a bunch of boards with different topics. I've had the most fun building my "style" board with spring dresses (this one's from Boden),
 a fantastic pair of red heels and accessories from Ruche (which are not formatted to post here), and pretty accessories.  I still prefer clipping from magazines, but admit that being able to store ideas and pictures on an online board is so much easier to access, and it really helps you create a vision for your personal style, a specific project or space in your home.  

I'd love to go do some pinning right now, but it's back to the drawing board for me while Nora's at school.  Today's project:  a new bark cloth wristlet to match a coordinating bag: 

Shopping Tip:  I have so many new items to list on Etsy, but I won't be putting them up until after my Junk Evolution visit.  Mark your calendars for May 12--my next Housewares showcase on Etsy.  I'll be thinking up a deal to help sweeten the pot, so watch my Facebook Page for details.  

 

Repurpose, Reuse, Recycle

Spring is less than a week away, temperatures are predicted to reach 60 degrees by Thursday, and a few little knobs of sedum have begun to poke their way through the dirt near my patio.  I can almost hear the sap surging through the maple trees outside my window and the worms creepy crawling in the thawing ground.  In honor of the slowly-emerging green around us, I bring you some new “green” products and projects!

Chances are you’ve cracked open a can of blackboard paint at least once in the last couple of years and turned a wall, door, (or perhaps a car hood, if you’re my husband) into a canvas of sorts. All the cool kids are doin’ it. So what are you swiping it with?  Don’t tell me a paper towel!  Gasp!  How about one of these little ditties made from vintage yardsticks and old felted sweaters?

This idea has been flickering in the back of my mind for months, and I finally had the chance to put it together this weekend.  Yay! (Check the Etsy site for listings soon.) I’m hoping to make some with a twine loop for hanging too.

In anticipation of my visit to Junk Evolution and in order to use some of my tablecloth scraps, I decided to whip up some simple cloth napkins.  This is a nice way to eliminate waste paper in your home and add a special touch to meal time.  Only problem is, hemming all four sides makes for super bulky corners.  If you want them to turn out really sharp, you’re going to have to master the art of mitered corners . . . and whipping them up is not going to happen.  It will probably end up taking you about 2 hours to finish a set of four and yield you about as much dough per hour, if you plan to sell them.  I don’t care.  Is it crazy that I get giddy every time I finish one of these perfectly pointy corners? It’s magic!  

I’ll tell ya what else is magic: this set of coordinating no-sew napkin rings made from a Saran wrap tube and strips of scrap fabric.
I have discovered a new non-toxic epoxy called “Liquid Fusion,” which I used for these.  Good bye glue gun!!

While I was working on the projects above, Nora was playing with this. 
I’ll bet after this long cold winter, your cocoa container is almost used up too.  Why not turn it into a sweet-smelling log cabin for your Little People?  Just wash out the container, cut a door (and maybe some windows) with your trusty utility knife, and decorate with stickers.  I stuck a push pin in the door for a handle and bent the prong back with pliers to secure.  Little miss imagination was transfixed for an hour.

I also spent the weekend working on a special birthday surprise for a special little "seester." Check back after the spring chicken turns 26 on the first day of spring! 

 

Bloom Through the Gloom

Another Mini Boden catalog came in the mail yesterday, and I found a page inside that made me smile.

I have a habit of clipping favorite (or "favourite" as it's spelled in Boden's native UK) outfits from magazines and taping them inside my closet door for inspiration.  Nora and I agreed that this was a keeper for her own closet door.  Since we can't possibly afford the $90 outfit on the page, we'll commit it to memory and shop for pieces at spring garage sales and Old Navy or Target.

As I glanced at the page lying on the kitchen table throughout the day, I thought about the words too:  "It's Time to Bloom Through the Gloom", it says.  Far off in England, even Johnnie Boden and crew are looking for the gumption to make it through this last stretch of winter.  It's like the last 45 minutes of an 8-hour car ride.  

So, how am I finding ways to "Bloom Through the Gloom?"  It hasn't been easy today.  Even though the sun is shining brightly, Nora has found her way back to the couch with a fever that's been flaring since 8pm last night, and our plans for a weekend spent with Grandma and Grandpa (Dan's traveling) and a Saturday morning Fancy Nancy tea party are squelched.  

On the bright side, while Nora snoozes and soaks up the cartoons, I've had time to work on a new custom Farm Girl card

Finish up my first pair of rosette hair pins

and spiff up the house with some elbow grease and springy pretties pulled out from here and there.

That's my grandma on the right at Girls State in 1953.

So, until the literal blooming season comes around, I'm working on another level of contentment and trying not to despise these days of small things: thinking about the little girls who might wear the dresses I stitch up from the vintage pillow cases on my sewing table,

discovering that my electric candle is flickering in the broad daylight now at 5 pm, and sharing a laugh with a feverish little kid who, feeling like poop herself, still manages to squeak out a genuine giggle when Curious George fishes out his toy from the toilet.  Here's to salvaging something precious of our own from any gloom this weekend.

 

Studio Spiff-up Begins

Back in October I posted an entry about wanting to update my dark, cramped studio/mud room/closet/office.  I told you to look for updates in the next couple of months. I didn't quite make my deadline.  Three months later, I'm back to share some shots of the grand re-organization of the beloved Johnny Bob room.  (Did I ever tell you the story about how it got it's name?  We'll have to save that for another day.)

I had dreams about "pickling" the knotty pine walls with white stain, but the thought of sanding everything down and filling my house with sawdust and paint fumes in the middle of the winter kinda squelched that idea.  So, I'm left with the mid-50's den look in here for a while--at least on the walls.  The furniture and accessories are so bright and cheery that no one could call it dreary, though.  Note the lovely artwork on the shelf by my little artist--a Christmas gift to Mommy, and the reappearance of the fantastic red $10 Junk E. chair.

My mom provided some gumption, and Dad brought in the muscle to move around some furniture and bring in a couple of old pieces to maximize the work space.  Who would have thought that adding two more piece of furniture to this 100 sq. ft room could actually open it up?! My IKEA organizer now works as a message center along with a new calendar from my hubby and the good  ol' mail organizer I made a couple of years ago.  Man, I need to add some of those to my Etsy shop, pronto.

 I picked up some bargain vinyl from JoAnn's and a few boxes of upholstery tacks, and Dan and I (mostly Dan) went to work covering the top of a cruddy old table my parents had in the garage.  We topped it off with an old bookcase that I got at an auction for less than $10 a few years ago.  A fresh coat of white paint turned up the charm, and when it sits on top of the table (well, it's actually screwed to the wall) it looks a little like a vintage hutch.  It's all about the vertical real estate, people.  If only I were a few inches taller!

I couldn't stand the sight of the printer taking up space on my pretty shelf, so I covered it with a dish towel, and all of my scraps are now out of sight under the table in a $10 rolling bin from IKEA.

This might not be every girl's dream for a studio makeover--no big-budget shopping sprees or wall knock-outs, but still, I can't stop peeking into the room every 5 minutes!  I'm giddy about working in there.  It is amazing what a little creative thinking, junk purging, junk reviving and $20 worth of cosmetic fixes can do for a room.  There are still a lot more updates to make and share (like more red gingham!), but as we move into the new year, this little spiff-up is going to be a reminder to me that a lovely "space" is always within reach with a little help from those we love and a heart that is happy in simple pleasures.

 

Keys to My Hearts

I dreamed up a new creation in the quiet of bedtime this past weekend. Today I searched my parent's garage for a rusty old tin full of keys, which I knew was lurking there on a back shelf, to complete my project. My mom picked these up at a garage sale years ago, and they've just been waiting to find their place in a work of art by the Graverson girls.

Here are a few of my favorites. See the one engraved "fixit shop?!" Here's how I used them:

See my Etsy site to purchase the garland of hearts.

One for the Pot

This afternoon I have a pot of potatoes on the stove and a pot of feedsack on the table. What an unusual site! Have I ever shared my secret for brightening antique linens? It's not really a secret. It's a bath in OxyClean. It does wonders! The bathing beauties in the pot are the fabric selections for my next organizer. Check my Etsy store for the latest version in Kelly Green and Brown. I'm off to the kitchen!

Treasure Box

How could I be so lucky as to have this fabric come to me?!  Oh the bliss!  My friend Adelle dropped off a shopping bag full of it early this week, and just today I received a stash from my dear Aunt Bev--all gratis!  It is all fabulous feedsack and/or 40's & 50's vintage.  How will I ever decide how to use it?  This is so thrilling! Sewing machine here I come!  ... . . . . . 

Eureka!

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Originally uploaded by djflores99

I got some major steals at one of my favorite antique stores today. Three huge bags of vintage buttons for $2 each!! Oh the thrill! Nora and I had so much fun sorting through them. Also found a few bundles of cute old fabric for $1 each. Yippee!

Here's some more exciting news--I'm working on a new batch of handbags for the Nashville Clothing Company in Nashville, TN. Will have some more pics on those soon.