Painted Bottles and Mason Jars

One day last week I saw a post on Facebook about some painted Mason Jars. I've seen painted bottles before, of course, but I really liked the look of the ones I saw last week. So imagine the serendipity of the moment when I was in Michael's over the weekend and happened upon some chalky finish paint by Americana Decor. It was perfect for using on bottles to give them that vintage and aged look. I especially loved the pale mint green color, so I bought a jar of it and decided to give it a go on a couple of things in the studio yesterday.

This first pic shows the paint I used and the painted Mason Jar that I did. I didn't add anything to this jar yet, other than the paint. But I LOVE the finish of the paint. Please note: the color in this photo is NOT accurate. It really is a very pale/pastel mint green color in real life, which I love. So you just have to kind of imagine it the way it should be.

Americana Decor also has some finishes you can purchase as well to use on top of the paint, but I just opted for the paint this time. I love the color and the chalky finish! I also painted a small milk bottle and added some pip berries and jute to it, to make it a bit more prim looking. Again--remember that this isn't blue, it just looks like it in the photo (I think they did have a blue paint option, but I liked the green more).

I'm going to try this on something wood, I think, at some point. It would look great on a shelf or a picture frame or something like that. But I do love the look of the chalky finish on the glass, and these were fun to do.

Roosterific

I just wanted to share this fun gift I got for Mother's Day from my daughter. It's not necessarily prim, but it does have a wonderful vintage look that I love. And since we'll be moving in the next couple of years to "the farm" (as the Hubs calls it), I think he will live nicely in my farmhouse kitchen I will have there.

And he's really the best kind of rooster...he won't make any noise! LOL.

With a Chick Chick Here

I'm not sure I've ever shared these before, and it may seem silly...but I have a few little chickens in my kitchen and I love them. 

Let me start by saying that no, I don't have a thing for chickens. :) I just noticed one day that I had several little chicken items, so I grouped them all together on a shelf in my kitchen. And that is now the kitchen chicken shelf! 

I have a clear glass chicken dish (left) that used to belong to my great grandmother, so that's a fun bit of Vintage Goods and a nice part of my family history too. Then there are several little chicken knick knacks in there, four or five, I believe, and also a chicken tin (back right). There are other little what-nots on that shelf too, but it is mostly the chickens. Seems fairly appropriate that the little chickens should reside in the kitchen. 

I love antique items, prims, and vintage goods in my home. I especially love them in the kitchen, so we have a lot in there. When we get to move out to our farm property in the next few years, I imagine we'll have even more. And if the Hubs has his way, we'll probably have some real chickens too. Lord, help me. ;)

Vintage Bottles

I love old vintage bottles. They are probably some of my favorite Vintage Goods in my home.

Vintage bottles look primitive without having to do anything to them, and they tell a story about the past...even if we may not know what the story is. You can put them anywhere and they add a wonderful touch to your home. Add them in a group and you have a collection. Add them individually to someplace you need a little contrast in texture or height in your decor and the bottle will balance things out for you. 

Some people like to clean their bottles up and make them shiny, but to me that defeats the whole purpose of using vintage bottles. I want them to look old and grungy! I want them to have character. I want them to echo their story from the past, even if it's just a tiny, mysterious glimpse. Don't you?

Vintage Cookie Cutters in a Vintage Jar

I love Vintage Goods, especially if they have been passed down through the family. One of my favorite vintage treasures is this Vintage Jar full of Vintage Cookie Cutters that belonged to my grandmother and my husband's grandmother.

I've used many of these to make Christmas cookies with my daughter and my grandson. And my two-year-old granddaughter will be making use of them with me as well one of these days. There's just something warm and wonderful about having a little bit of family history sitting here in my kitchen, and in knowing that our hands have made cookies with the same cutters that their hands used as well. You just can't put a price tag on stuff like that. And the cutters look so nice sitting in that vintage jar too. Gotta love it!

Uses for Rusty Bed Springs

Have you ever come across Rusty Bed Springs and wondered what to do with them? They are great Primitive Finds and perfect for creating all sorts of Primitive Home Decor and other primitive craft projects. I've been scoping out primitive blogs and websites today in search of inspiration to share with you, just in case these fabulous rusty Vintage Goods find their way into your craft room.

Below you'll find several photos with great ideas for how you can use Rusty Bed Springs. By clicking on each image, you'll be taken to the website or blog where I found the image. 

Rusty Bed Springs Table Settings

Rusty Bed Spring Flameless Candle

Rusty Bed Spring Bunny

Rusty Bed Spring Tulips

Rusty Bed Springs Hanging Lights

Rusty Bed Springs Votive Holders

Now how is that for some awesome inspiration?! Hope you'll check out those ladies' websites/blogs...who knows what other inspiration might await you there.

Uses for Vintage Wooden Spools

A reader asked me for some ideas for using Vintage Wooden Spools today. I put a lot of thought into it, and made good use of Google, and found lots of inspiring ideas. So I thought I'd share those ideas with all of you, in case anyone else might be interested in this too.

Wooden spools are such wonderful Vintage Goods and are relatively easy to find at antique stores, garage sales, estate sales, and craft shows. They are great for repurposing to be used for Primitive Home Decor. The most obvious use of these great Primitive Finds is as candle holders. But in case you need some more ideas, I've created a collage from photos I found on the Web. And below that you'll find links to the websites where you can find these Vintage Wooden Spool creations. (Be sure to click on the image to view it full size.)

Wooden Spool Lamp (Top Left)

Wooden Spool Glass Votive Holder (Middle Left)

Wooden Spool Chick Make-Do (Bottom Left)

Wooden Spool Candlestick (Top Center)

Wooden Spool Snowman Make-Do (Center Bottom-L)

Wooden Spool Angel Make-Do (Center Bottom-R)

Wooden Spool Welcome Lamp (Top Right)

Wooden Spool Dried Flower Vase (Middle Right)

Wooden Spool Mouse Pin Cushion (Bottom Right)

Of course, there can be many other uses for these types of wooden spools. If you have some other ideas, leave a comment and share. Would love to get some more creative inspiration! With the holidays upon us, you might be able to use some of these ideas to make some fabulous primitive Christmas gifts!

Vintage Rocking Horse and Butter Churn

These are two of my favorite vintage and Primitive Home Decor items in my dining room. My vintage-looking rocking horse and my vintage butter churn.They are wonderful Vintage Goods that I treasure in my home.

Now the rocking horse isn't truly vintage; it's a reproduction that I just fell in love with because I think it looks so primitive--and so much like a folk art piece. Love it. But the butter churn is definitely vintage. The Hubs and I got it at an auction years and years ago. I've always loved it. Both of these sit on top of the hutch in my dining room. It's hard to find just the right spot for things like that since they're so big, but my hutch seemed like the perfect place for these special treasures. What are some of your vintage treasures?

Primitive Mason Jar Sewing Kit

If you love to sew, or if you know someone else who does, here's a great project to keep on your list of Primitive Gifts you can give. It's my Primitive Mason Jar Sewing Kit. It combines my love of Mason Jars with my love of primitives and Vintage Goods, and some Rusty Tin too!

To make this you just need a vintage (or vintage-looking) Mason Jar, a rusty tin frog lid, a rusty tin heart, light gauge rusty wire (or any light gauge craft wire), fiberfill, a circle of your desired fabric--cut to the width of the inner top of the frog lid, scraps of fabric, an old spool of thread, various sewing notions, and hot glue.

The first thing I did was to work on turning the rusty tin frog lid into a pin cushion. I did this by first cutting 2 lengths of rusty wire a bit longer than the width of the lid (an inch or two longer or so). I attached each piece to the wire on the frog lid using needle nose pliers from underneath the lid. Once they were both attached I left the lid upside down, and then I took the circle of vintage-looking floral fabric I used and laid that on the mesh of the lid. Then I took a handful of fiberfill and formed it into a ball, and then pressed it into the concave area of the lid to make it fill the space. Once it was where I wanted it to be, I took each length of rusty wire that I previously attached (one at a time) and bent it back and forth and around over the exposed fiberfill, pushing it down so it would be flat and as even as possible with the base of the lid. The wire holds all the fiberfill in place, and helps keep it from being visible from the outside of the jar, so you want it tucked in as flat as possible. And using wire made it a quick and easy way to get all that fiberfill and the fabric to stay put.

Once the work of the pin cushion part of the lid was finished, I added a coordinating scrap of fabric to the edge of it, and then hot glued on a rusty tin heart. Then all that was left was to add the sewing notions to the jar. I added two scraps of fabric, each tied with torn strips of muslin. I also added a vintage clothespin tied up with homespun. I added a vintage spool of thread, a vintage thimble, and some wooden buttons too. You could add as many sewing notions as you want...needles, straight pins, tape measure, rusty safety pins, whatever!

Everything in this Mason Jar could be used for a prim or vintage sewing or craft project. And of course the top can be used as a pin cushion. But it would also just look cute as Primitive Home Decor in someone's laundry room or sewing room.

Prim and Vintage Egg Basket

Time for another spotlight on some Vintage Goods and Primitive Home Decor items in my home. This time it's one of my favorite Primitive Finds, my vintage-looking egg basket.

I found this vintage style egg basket at a garage sale. I don't think it's actually vintage...I think it's just made to look that way. But I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it so I knew I had to buy it. I think I only paid $1.00 for it too. I was going to put some plastic eggs in it, but then I thought of a better idea: egg gourds!

Egg gourds are just gourds that look a lot like real eggs. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes too. I found mine on Ebay. I got a whole big batch of them for not a lot of money. Some look more like eggs than others, so I just picked out the best ones and put them in my egg basket. I'll use the rest for some future craft projects.

Vintage Cream Bottles and Peonies

Well, I just couldn't resist posting some of this year's peonies for you. I just love peonies. I have some pink ones and white ones in my front yard. I think they look and smell just beautiful. I love picking them each year and putting them around the house to make the house smell good! So here's a photo of my latest pickings.

I have these sitting on my Hoosier Cabinet table, next to some reproduction vintage cream bottles. It adds such a pretty and delicate touch next to the rusty bottle carrier, don't you think? Any time I can add a touch of nature to my Primitive Home Decor, I'm always happy.