The Apple Street Cottage

It's time for one last project before taking my annual holiday break.  December sure is flying by, isn't it?  I've been collecting the pockets from old jeans for a while and finally decided on a project.   After cutting the pocket from the jeans, I cut away the back, so all that was left was the front and the stitched edge.  I started by gathering the pocket in an accordian fold. Next, I used some heavy thread and ran a stitch through all the layers a couple of times, then wrapped the thread around the outside and tied it off. A wood ball was glued on for the head and the outside edges were sewn together.  A piece of lace was tied around the middle and some scrapbook embellishments created a halo.   A small fabric poinsettia was added for a little color and the angel was done. Since I had the materials, I made a few more. I still have some more pockets left, so I'll need to think of more ideas for them.  What have you use...

Welcome back!  Thanksgiving flew by (Hope you had a great one) and it's December already - time for a Christmas project! I've seen some primitive angels on Pinterest, but I wasn't crazy about the wings, so I decided to design my own.  I drew and cut-out my patterns, then got to work with my jigsaw.   All of the pieces were sanded, painted and distressed.  Screws were used to attach the wings and the angels were done. As I looked at them, I felt they were missing something, so I added a pearl halo. A quick and easy project for Christmas...not sure where they're going yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.   What Christmas projects have you been up to? Linking to: Saturday Shuffle Snickerdoodle Bouquet of Talent Sundays At Home Sunday's Best That DIY Party Happiness is Homemade Handmade Monday Dishing It & Digging It Over the Moon Inspire Me Monday Motivational Monday Merry Monday Amaze Me Monday Show & Tell Tue...

November is flying so I wanted to share these velour pumpkins and wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.  A short post today since these pumpkins have been all over the internet and, of course, I had to make some! I made two sizes in two colors and there not real velvet or velour.  Go to the fabric store and ask for crushed panne.  It's a LOT less expensive! Since I saved some pumpkin stems from last year, I used them on the big ones.   The small ones got branches for stems, but they did get a bit "dressed-up". In case you're wondering how the stems were attached, I used tacky glue and a rubber band: That's it! It's that time of year when I take a couple of weeks off for Thanksgiving.  I'll be back in December with some projects, then it's off for Christmas.  Wishing you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving.   See you in December! Featured at: Snickerdoodle Linking to: Saturday Shuffle Sunday's Best ...

Welcome back!  Is it starting to feel like Fall at your house?  This morning our temperature was in the 30's.  It's official, summer is over, but let me reminisce about it though, by showing the silver bowl I found last summer at a yard sale: It didn't look that good at the sale...here's the 'before' picture: It was pretty dirty and tarnished.  I took this pic after giving it a washing.  Sadly, it looks like someone used it for a plant saucer to catch the extra water.  I'm not sure what to do about that, so if you have any ideas, let me know in the comments. It is made by Pairpoint and from what I can tell from my little bit of internet research, it's worth more than the $5 I paid for it. Here's a close-up of some of the detail...look at those leaves, before & after: All it needed was some silver polish and elbow grease to makes it shine as a great fall centerpiece. Thank you so much for stopping by the Cottage.  Have ...

Halloween is just a few days away and I want to share the last of my Halloween projects.  First up is the Witch's Boot: There are no step-by-step pictures, but this started with drawing a pattern and cutting it out of pallet wood.  Two pieces were needed, so the seam was filled-in with wood dough, sanded smooth, and painted black.  The edges were distressed and holes were drilled for the laces.   A piece of black scrapbook paper was cut to fit and heat-embossed with spider webs and spiders.  It was then decoupaged on the wood. The top 'brim' of the boot was painted purple and some black stripes were added.  At this point, the boot was sprayed with clear sealant. A piece of tulle was threaded through the holes and tied in a bow.   I'm pretty sure this is what every well-dressed witch will be wearing this season! Next is one for the kiddos: This little ghost was also made with pallet wood and painted white.  ...

Now that the transformation of that little chest of drawers is complete, it's time to share what I've been working on for Halloween! Since I had two sizes of pallet wood, it all began with making two patterns: The patterns were placed across three pieces of pallet wood, traced, and cut with a jigsaw. This is a great way to use up any small pieces that are left over from other projects.  This is the only picture I have of the beginning of the process.  Sorry, I get carried away... You can see the top of it, along with a pallet pumpkin and a bird ! The pieces were sanded and painted with white, orange, and yellow craft paint.  Once the paint was dry, they were distressed with 220-grit sandpaper.  I like how the wood shows through the different color paint - a little bit of bare wood and a little yellow tint! The pieces were wood-glued together and strapped with screws and a paint stirrer. I used jute twine and a staple gun to create a lo...

Welcome back!  Last week you saw a garage sale dresser transformed with paint and decoupaged napkins.  If you missed it, click here .  Today I have a little tutorial showing how it was done.  Let's get started, shall we? The drawers were sanded down to bare wood and the edges were painted black to match the rest of the dresser.  The napkins were found at the Dollar Store. Notice they are 2-ply napkins?  You only need one, so separate those layers! Iron the one-layer.  It helps when you are ready to lay it down on the wet decoupage medium.   Since the napkins were not wide enough to cover the entire drawer, I was going to have to piece them together.  These napkins also had a very definite pattern that was going to need matching, so it was time for some measuring.  I found the middle of the drawer and matched it to the middle of the napkin.  Then I marked the edges of the napkin on the edge of the drawer with ch...