handmade holiday gift wrapping with paper doilies

I love coming up with new ways to use doilies as gift wrap! Today's project is a silver bow that is "lined" with the doily. The double sided cones  gives the bow extra sparkle and is super easy to make! Here's how.

This project uses kraft paper as a base wrap and two sizes of silver doilies to make the bow. Easy wrapping at it's best!

You will need:
kraft wrapping paper
4 inch silver or gold doilies
5 inch silver or gold doilies
tape and/or hot glue (low temp glue for safety)

Wrap you package in kraft paper and collect four silver 4-inch doilies and  four silver 5-inch doilies.

Fold the doily in half making sure to match the pattern for the neatest look.

Then, make a cone with one side of the folded doily and tape it place (tape the folded edge from the inside of the cone).

Next, make a cone with the other half of the folded doily by folding it in the opposite direction and taping. Continue making the cones with the rest of the doilies.

Place the four largest cone pairs in a cross on your package (you can tape or hot glue these in place).

Then place the four smaller ones together, again tape or hot glue, and add them to the center of the cross.

Pretty and pretty easy! This project also works great with 5 and 6 inch doilies or, for really big packages, 6 and 8 inch doilies!

pickin' and grinnin'- this week's awesome finds include longwy and blenko!

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be rough, so I will not be headed out to any sales to find more awesome finds... not that I left anything on the table. My faves this week include...

Lovely French faience, or majolica, pitcher pretty shades of green with that characteristic slightly runny look.
This piece will be headed to Hanna Antiques on Monday.  

Fantastic little Longwy dish from the 1920's. I love this scarab-type pattern! 

I cannot resist some Blenko owls! This rich amber color looks great with old books.

Set of 7 Laurel Burch plates- I love the colors and patterns, even though I am not much for cats.

Etsy pop-up shop- day one

Putting together an entire store takes longer than I thought. I am so used to everything being explained with nice images, keywords and good descriptions that to actually display items from my shops without these tools, takes a different way to look at things.

I got the giant crochet table cloth on the wall and the start of all the gift wrap items in place.

I have started with the shelves of boxes for gift wrap... coming up will be vintage items for gift giving.

And then, filling in with more silk dyed scarves!

pickin' and grinnin'- the best of this weekend's vintage shopping

It's been a while since I have posted some of my great picks... but "good" shopping has been light on the ground lately. This week was different and awesome! It is mostly headed to my Etsy pop-up shop at Hanna Antiques! More images on that to come from the shop!

From this week's shopping, I found, this fantastic unsigned painting- looks like Chinatown, maybe? Love the more you look, the more you see. It is on natural linen and looks quite old and more vibrant in person. I think I may live with this one for a bit while I do some more research.

Some fantastic house details from one of the sales this weekend. Really lovely home built in 1905 with period lighting and original tile coal fireplaces.

side door to the screened in porch

Wowza of an art deco half tester bed

I'd buy the house for this tile work alone!

And possibly for the fantastic brass sconces!

This image is from the Multiple Listings for the house- which I understand is sold.*

This is the other end of that glorious staircase! *

Front of the house... I think a porte cochere, on the right, would balance this view nicely. *

*I do not own these images that contain the copyright of RealtySouth. All rights belong to RealtySouth.

Etsy pop up shop- I'm going hyper local at Hanna Antiques

I am super excited to announce that coming November 17th, I will be opening an Etsy Pop Up shop at Hanna Antiques with items from my Etsy shops! This will only last through the end of December!

From Porch and Parlor, you will find items like this:

From Owl and Thistle, you will find your gift wrapping needs all met, like this:

All kinds of goodies to make your presents look like this!

From Laurl Designs, you will find fantastic felted and dyed items like this:

Felted and dyed, silk and merino wool

hand dyed silk

hand dyed softest bamboo rayon

hand dyed softest bamboo rayon

hand dyed silk

hand dyed silk

hand dyed cotton knit

hand dyed softest bamboo rayon

And, on Wednesdays you will find me there in the store, helping customers all over the store to find excellent holiday gifts, perfect vintage and antique holiday accessories, and the best in vintage and antique furniture and home decor!

Best selling brass is back- vintage faves return to the shop

I have just added two of my best sellers back to the vintage store on ETSY! I love finding these items and offering them to you.

Brass pineapple box is the best. It's a storage box, ice bucket, candle holder and all around perfect house warming gift!

These graduated brass candlestick work on thier own, mixed in flowers and table scapes... they are perfect for holiday gatherings!

Buying great vintage items is the best of living green! You will find them to be better made, stronger, and less expensive than their contemporary counterparts.

Easy Flower Arranging- breaking down the big one

For the past several years, I have been helping with an art auction that benefits the University of Montevallo scholarships for art students.

Part of my job includes the floral centerpeice. I'm no florist, but I'm not afraid to cut some stems and stick them in oasis foam.

This years them was shades of purple and gold. Since purple is a great color to find a variety of flowers,it was perfect for the shades of purple!


It doesn't look like my original inspirations arrangements, but I still love to look to Pinterest to find great inspiration!



I assumed everyone breaks down a large arrangement into smaller arrangements after an event was over. Flowers are not made to live in oasis for long. However, some folks seem surprised that I would do that. I guess the assumption is that once you go to the trouble of making an arrangement, you would want to keep it in that form.

Here are the flowers I was working with... the theme of the event was shades of purple and gold, our school colors. There are also to small cabbages from my yard in the arrangement.

So,  I thought I would share two of my arrangements from the larger arrangement. For tips on how I generally do arrangements check out this post HERE! And to see my inspiration for this year's arrangement, check out this post HERE.

The spray roses, caspia, and a purple cabbage from my yard

Since making the arrangement for this event for the University of Montevallo was not something I would bill my hourly for and the container was one from my antique space, the only cost was the flowers, which came in at under $80! That's a lot of look for 80 bucks!

Lilies, caspia, and some spray roses

The key to both of these arragments is to make one type of flower the stare of the arrangement and the rest as the back-up dancers. Each arrangement have different stars, so they relate, but do not look like the original arrangement or like each other!

When re-arranging flowers that have been in a less than ideal environment, remember to re-cut the stems and change the water frequently. You don't drink three day old water, why would your flowers want to either. To prolong their great good looks, keep them away from direct sun and heat sources, like the TV or other heat producers.

Fear the kefir? never again!

Fermented milk drink sounds dubious, like opening a bottle of milk and asking someone to "smell this and see if it's still good."



So, when my sister and I decided to try some of these "new" fermented drinks, fermented milk sounded this the best and the worst option. It took me a week, after this decision to buy a bottle. Then a few more days to actually crack open the bottle!

Strawberry Banana Kefir smoothie

Little did I know that it should be described as yogurt thinned with milk. I think it even has the same benefits as yogurt. So, want to give the texture a taste test before buying the bottle? Buy some honey yogurt, then add it to a nearly full glass of milk and stir.



Personally, I like it thinner than what's in the bottle. And, I think it would be great as the liquid in the smoothie above! I leave reading the blogs associateed with the Cultures for Health website. HERE you can find more info on how to make kefir at home!

So, Fear the kefir no more! Or just eat yogurt.