knick knacks & ric rac

i just discovered this on etsy…did i just die and go to heaven!?!

(by sweet hayseed)

i especially love the pinecones tied on at the bottom of the braids. nice touch! i might try that on myself!

this past summer was a great one for scoring some awesome thrift store art. i can’t remember when i’ve found such good stuff in such a short span of time. here’s a look at some of the goodies i picked up in the last few months…

i think this one is my favorite. cross-stitched fox stealing a rooster! it’s pretty big, 11½”x18½”. jenny spotted it, thanks eagle eye!

just can’t get enough of those mushrooms…this one is about 8″x10″

cast metal deer on a burlap background, from continental art-craft 1966. 11″x16″. there was a buck that went along with it but i didn’t get it. the buck’s antlers had been broken and sloppily glued back on and i liked the composition of the deer better, but i did feel a little guilty breaking up the set!

two yarn embroidered birdies with fluffy yarn flowers…these little cuties are only 5″x6″.

and an old salzburg souvenir shadowbox with real edelweiss inside. cute!

i was just looking around on etsy and came across this great pattern for polish pottery mittens!

(photo is from SpillyJane Knits)

i guess i don’t need to mention how cute a pair of these would look with my polish pottery skirt! it might just be the thing that makes me take up knitting, although i think they’re a little (a lot!) too ambitious for a first try.

last night i finally updated my shopping cart to calculate international shipping up to orders totalling $350, so international customers can now check out through my website shopping cart instead of waiting for a paypal invoice. yay! all international orders are sent priority mail, you can take a peek at the rates here. and of course if you prefer a paypal invoice, i can still do that too!

i just added two new screen printed skirts to my website, the polish pottery skirt (which i already showed you a sneak peek of here)

and the wood carving skirt, featuring ‘carved’ birds, berries and hearts on a woodgrain background.

this one was partly inspired by this great candle i found at the thrift store a while ago.

it looks like carved wood!

(p.s. x-small ladies, i just listed the very last striped sunflower skirt in my etsy shop, marked down to $30 to make room on my website for the new goodies)

have you seen margaret’s reversible folkloric felt bonnet tutorial at resurrection fern? so cute! i had to make one right away. i still had all the felt and ric rac out from making the gingerbread hearts, so i figured i’d just make it before i put everything away. i should have been working on finishing up my new samples instead, but here it is!

i made a matching reversible headband too, just for kicks!

here are some fun and festive oktoberfest (or anytime!) decorations to make, felt and ric rac gingerbread hearts!

i made the hearts out of brown felt and lightly stuffed them. they measure about 7″x7″. i used ric rac for the icing on the edge, and made some mini ric rac flowers for the decorations. ribbon flowers would also look cute, and add some writing if that tickles your fancy. i strung some jumbo pom poms on baby ric rac to hang with them because i thought it looked extra festive!

or try decorating the hearts like one of these pretty hungarian honey cakes!

these ones would be great for valentine decorations. they will be up year round in my house! i love the red icing and the little mirror in the center (i used tin foil). for the yellow icing i curled chenille pipe cleaners.

one of my new prints for fall/winter. coming soon! inspired by polish pottery, but i’ll bet you already guessed that! it’s printed on my very favorite fabric, natural unbleached cotton duck. i love everything about this fabric…the little specks in it, the weight and texture of it, and i love the smell of it fresh off the roll before i wash it. it’s the same color as the stoneware so it’s very fitting for the print! i did this one in three colorways…

i hope to have them up on my website next week or the week after…i have a couple more new skirt prints on the way!

(PS-here it is!)

sorry the comments weren’t working the last 2 posts. i don’t really know what happened, but i think i fixed it!

the spot in front of my kitchen sink is kind of an odd size and i always have a hard time finding a cute, washable rug small enough to fit it. i was looking around on the internet and saw this one, which i thought was pretty cute, but too big. in the description it says ‘inspired by vintage tea towels’ and i thought to myself, why don’t i just make a rug out of a cute tea towel? it turns out a tea towel is just the perfect size…

for the backing i cut up an old rug i used to use in the kitchen, but had started falling apart around the edges. it fit the tea towel just right after i trimmed the ratty parts off. you could also use an old towel or blanket for a backing, or a layer or two of canvas.

first, cut the backing ¾” smaller than the tea towel all the way around. then lay the backing on wrong side of the tea towel. fold the edges of the towel around the backing and sew. the great part about using a tea towel is the edges are already finished for you!

you know i had to add some jumbo ric-rac around the edge!

i think it came out pretty cute, and it was super quick and easy to make, which i like. really, it only took about a half an hour to make. it took me longer than that to decide which tea towel to use!