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Valentine Blues - Upcycled Denim Heart

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  It's February.  Besides winter and cold weather, that means Valentine's Day will be here soon.  This year I decided to craft something using non-traditional Valentine's Day colors and since I'm all about upcycling....here we go! This post may contain affiliate links. I started by cutting out two heart shapes from an old pair of jeans.   With right sides together, they were pinned and stitched leaving an opening for turning. The curved seams were all snipped. Then the heart was turned right side out and pressed. A vintage earring was added to the center.  Some fiberfill was added... ...and the opening was stitched shut. Time for the lace! The lace was applied with a hot glue gun .   Silicone finger protectors are a must! There was still one thing missing. I made a tiny red rosebud from satin ribbon and surrounded it with some rolled/twisted fabric to finish the flower.   Just a small pop of red as a nod to Valentine's Day! A piece of ...
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Upcycled Paper - A Step by Step Guide

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If you do any shopping online, I'm sure you've had more than one order arrive with tons of packing paper.  Usually this goes straight into the recycle bin but, since this it the 'Do It Over' Designers challenge, I had other plans for it!   W elcome to the 'Do It Over' Designers blog hop.  We are a group of bloggers who love to recycle/upcycle/DIY.  I'm happy to host this hop and I hope you'll visit everyone to see what they have to share with you. This time our theme is  'Out of the Recycle Bin'   and I've challenged the team to take something out of their recycle bin and do it over.  It can be anything that gets recycled from paper to glass to plastic.  Please visit to see everyone's creativity.  The links will be listed at the end of this post. This post may contain affiliate links. OK, let's talk about packing paper.   You've seen it.   It looks something like this when you open the box:   Let's upcy...
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The Cookbook Rack Solves a Problem

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  No matter where you live, whether you rent or own, living spaces create challenges.  If you've lived in your home for a long time, you've probably overcome all, or most of them.  At least I hope you have. Moving into a new home means new challenges and our new home has a few, to say the least.  If you remember the first kitchen post, one of the those challenges was the dishwasher.   Its size and location were problems so we removed it and this is what we did: Adding the drawer cabinet gave us great space, but a standard cabinet wasn't quite wide enough and we were left with about a 3" space on the end.  Yes, we could have ordered a custom cabinet, but I wasn't willing to spend that kind of money.  No worries, I had a plan!  Here's how it looks from the front now: Before we move on, yes, I know there is also a space on the right side of the cabinet, next to the stove.  That's a countertop issue and a challenge for another day! I knew it...
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Join Me in 2026

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Happy New Year and welcome back to The Cottage.  When I started this blog in 2014 I asked you to "join me on the porch for the stories of this little cottage."  We're no longer living in that same cottage, but the stories have continued.   As we enter 2026 join me for: More 'Creating a Charming New Cottage' posts.  We have a 'to-do' list that rivals the length of Santa's naughty/nice list, so there will be house projects to share.   More recycling, upcycling, and recreating.  I still have a pretty extensive stash of goodies in need of makeovers, many of which can (and will) be incorporated into that 'to-do' list I just mentioned.  More posts stressing the importance of creating a home that is a reflection of you.  I've never followed trends and I'm not about to start now.  Have you heard the phrase:  'You do you'?  I'm a big fan! As I said in the beginning,  join me on the porch for the stories of this little cottage....
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Christmas at the Cottage

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 🎜 Christmas Time is Here🎝....can you hear the song from 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'?  I read that the lyrics were written to capture the blend of melancholy and hope from the special.   Hmmm, almost 60 years later and still so relevant. Christmas has come to the Cottage.... The wreath is on the door. It's a live wreath that I dressed up with velvet ribbon and some things from a former wreath that was taken apart.  This post may contain affiliate links. The candles are in the windows. They are battery-powered with dusk-to-dawn sensors.  I'm impressed since they've been in the windows since Thanksgiving and I haven't had to change the batteries. The kitchen window has this little lamp found on Marketplace. Yes, the windows are a hot mess.  This was a rental house and new windows are on the list.   Sadly, Santa will not be bringing them this year.   Maybe in 2026... My upcycled cutting board is now adorned with a little Christmas t...
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