Rag Rug - No Sew

Hello, hello...I am so excited to share this project today. Ever since I found Pinterest, I have been wanting to make this project...the Rag Rug, or some posts call them T-Shirt Rugs...I wanted a little one for my main floor 2 piece bath, which has really cold floors in the winter. I had been looking for some rug hooking material all summer, and then last week had a brainstorm after purchasing some anti-slip material for some other rugs...I thought to myself, "well, that looks just like rug hook material" I purchased it at the dollar store and still had a large enough piece to work with. So, my intention was to do a large band of white with the rest being chocolate. I proceeded to mark out the band where the white would go with a marker right on the grip mat. As you can see, the middle would be chocolate, and the outside edge right to the end of the grip mat and the "framed" part would all be white...that WAS the plan...

 I had an old white t-shirt I purchased at a thrift store for the project...and began to cut it up...strips about 3/4" wide x 3" long...lots of cutting...used every bit of the shirt up, the body, and the sleeves

 I had seen on another post, to pull the strips so they curl, but I don't think it is necessary, as they end up looking more like tubes instead of fabric scraps...but I had already done it...so ya gotta stay flexible when crafting.

 I began by doing every "stitch" along the inner line with the white, and I tied each one as I went, cause I figured I will want to wash it and I didn't want it to come apart. It became very clear at this point, what I thought was a huge amount of white strips was not going to go very far...so being flexible again, I opted for the one row of white as shown.

 For the chocolate, I purchased some knit fabric at a local fabric store...I was able to match my ceiling color exactly...yes, yes, my ceiling is chocolate brown. The store had a sale, buy 1 meter get 2 free...so for $8.00 I got 3 meters (1m = 39" for you Americans) Plenty of fabric and figuring I would have some left over for something else....NOT!!! LOL

 You don't have to be particularly careful when cutting the strips, they don't have to be exact, as you can see mine above are not even, you won't even notice once they are on the rug. Then the time consuming part came...all the chocolate knots...now I did every other stitch (I kinda treated the grip mat like cross stitch material) with the chocolate...so I would work row by row...and do alternating stitches...kind of like laying bricks...hope that makes sense. I was plenty thick enough doing every other one.

 At the end of 4 days of tying single knots...not sure how many, but thinking about 2000...I had sore fingers, but it was done. I got the bright idea to "bind" the edge with a long strip of the chocolate, and threaded it in a large needle and as shown in the picture, went through 3 holes all the way around...

 Almost done...just trimmed the excess grip mat...now, in hindsite, I wouldn't have chosen to bind the edge as when you trim it, you end up seeing a strip of the grip mat, which I'm not thrilled about, but binding was a lot of work and I didn't want to take it all apart...so it is what it is...I think if you just leave it and trim to the last row of knotted pieces, you wouldn't see the edge at all...but, oh well, live and learn. Below is the finished rug in my little bathroom...it's perfect...I love how it turned out, even if it wasn't completely the way I intended...thats why you have to be flexible when crafting, roll with the punches...now I can rest my sore and stiff fingers...before starting my next project...the ruffled tree skirt!

Jewellery/Light Filtering Shutter Display

 So this is my little project. I woke up this morning staring into our master bath, thinking, why have I not covered that window...that morning light is too bright. Then in a whirlwind of a moment, it all came to me..."I could put those old shutter in the window ledge, and THEN I could hang all my jewellery on them...pretty and functional. Mhmmmmmmmm."

The shutters came from a yard sale a couple years ago, 50 cents a piece for 4 of them. Darn good price I'd say. Two I had repurposed as part of a headboard, but still had two left, just begging to be used somewhere in the house. I went a got some satin finish espresso spray paint, and went to work

 Here they are all pretty and painted up

 Oh yeah baby....awesome...love love love. I can see all my jewellery at once. I had hubby drill and install some small silver hooks for things like rings and bracelets and necklaces. I also made some cork pads at the bottom, covered them in fabric, and can stick all my stud earrings in them. I love this...and so quick and simple to put together

 Bonus...tomorrow when I wake up the morning sunshine won't be quite as bright...and...another bonus, is even though hubby insists no one can see in that window, cause its that rippled glass, now I know for sure they can't. LOL...he just rolled his eyes at me...

A Little Birdie Told Me...

Gotta love yard sales! Dh and I go every weekend, only for an hour or so, but we have so much fun and find so many cool things. This past weekend I nabbed this birdcage...it was early, and the stuff was out on the table, but the house was closed up, so I just left the moolah on the table, hope they got it.

So here is the little beauty after I stripped it of its somewhat tacky flowers...

 And with a coat or two of Heirloom White Spray paint...which, btw...dh and ds insist is just white, but you and I know its totally not...lol

 So here we are all prettied up and sitting on my dining room table. I made a wood base for it out of some old cheese box wood I got at a guys house. I stenciled the scripture "I am the Bread of Life, all that come to me shall not hunger", and put some felty-protect-my-table-from-getting-scratched thingys on the bottom

 

As always, thanks for looking!!!

Laundry Room Decor

Ok...let's just say I don't have the prettiest laundry room...I'm pretty sure it will never be featured in Better Homes & Gardens...but...I have done my best to pretty it up.  It is in the basement of our 120 year old home, and the walls are uneven, painted, poured concrete...its that old adage about making lemonade...you have to work with what you have.

Below is a cute little sign that hangs by the dryer...saw it on Pinterest and knew it was perfect, and more functional than the lone socks sitting in a pile in a basket that no one goes through. Hoping the array of strays disappears once everyone sees them.

 This is in the corner, dryer on one wall, then laundry tub and washer on other wall. All the pipes are exposed, so when I painted the room...I just painted them too, to at least make them less obvious. Also saw the fabric wrapped ladder on Pinterest, they did it with a flag, but I just took some excess fabric and raffia and did the same thing. Found some extra decor items and voila...I think I like it...:P

 This sign I made...or rather re-made! It was a "Family" sign we bought at Hobby Lobby and got ruined in our move last year.  Only the paper top of it was destroyed, not the wood it was on, so I painstakingly punched all the squares out of paint chips ( our local paint store had a whole box they were getting rid of ) took me for----ever to punch them all out. The colors were chosen for my bathroom, but then I didn't end up using it there...so it sat...until yesterday. I mod podged all the squares on, and then took a brown ink pad and inked all over the top to soften some of the colors and give it a more uniform appearance. Cut out the letters with my cricut and mod podged them on top. It works as the adjacent room is my sewing room and it is tealish in color. The bottle is just a dollar store bottle I glued twine to, and some pine cones to finish off the display. Im thinking I need some greenery along the shelf yet, but Im not sure

Thanks for stopping in today and seeing my latest projects...thats what happens when you get out of bed and go on pinterest...I decided rather than pinning more projects, I would make some of the ones I already pinned...yay, I love completed projects!!!

Printer's Drawer Upcycle

Ah....being off work is wonderful...I get so much done...today I worked on an old printers drawer I purchased last weekend at a yard sale for $5.00...such a deal...after much pinteresting...I decided to fill it with family pics and a few embellies...especially after my daughter noticed that for how many pictures I take and being a scrapbooker and all...there are no pics of us on the walls of our home...GASP!!!!!!! How could this happen...well...I guess I haven't hung any up since we moved...but this will make her happy!!! I used various scraps of paper, some chipboard, wood letters, flowers, metal letters and a diecut to complete the project...hope you like it!

 I love how it fits perfectly in this little nook in our hallway, and although it is now on an existing shelf, I think I will have hubby hang it up

Headboard

This is my headboard...wanted to redo it to match the small dresser I just finished...so basically followed the same steps as shown below in the dresser post.  Painted with Fiesta Red...two coats, waxed in spots, and then two coats of cream, then sanded. The windows are covered in textured fabric, that I folded over to the back for a clean edge and then hot glued to the window, since they were already painted. The shutters I picked up at a yard sale 4 for 2.00 last summer and have been meaning to do something with them...so here is the finished product...

Ladder Pot Rack

Made this to go with my vintage window frame art previously posted, since they are in the relative same area of the house. Found the old ladder in someone's roadside garbage (love old wood ladders, they can be used for so many things)...cleaned it, painted it, distressed it and then dh hung it up for me over our counter in the kitchen...love it...and love the extra cupboard space I have!

Vintage Window Makeover

Ok, I am in love with the old vintage wood style windows. We have several around the house, 1 is a headboard, the others hang in our skylight with stained glass in them...and today, I did my very own project (usually dh does them) I am so excited to share this with you...these are two separate windows, although we hung them side by side...I searched the net for some distressing tips and found this site, check it out, she explains everything clearly and it is very easy to do. Dh took the wire brush to the windows first to clean them up and remove any loose paint. I started with brown paint for the base, and then used the candle, and then dark teal on top...sanded them and voila...they turned out awesome! I filled the panes with some scrapbook paper and cut out a few words and dh hung it up in the dining room...so excited to share