LittleMissMaggie: 3/10/13

Saturday, March 16, 2013

St. Patty's Day in Savannah, Georgia

Almost impossible to believe it's been a year since our trip to Savannah, Georgia, one of the prettiest cities I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. Next to Boston, they have the largest St. Patrick's Day celebration in the country.

They are so into St. Patrick's Day that they dye all the fountains in the squares green. Aren't these beautiful? That's right, beautiful and unforgettable.

I'm so glad we got to see the fountains at this very special time of year, and I'm glad I had the photos to share with you. Thanks for visiting.

I may be partying at...

Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs       The Graphics Fairy
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

Tuesdays          Knick of Time       Coastal Charm
                                      Boogie Board Cottage    A Stroll Thru Life
                                     Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Wednesdays   Savvy Southern Style

Thursdays        The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here
                                     Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday
                                     Rustic Restorations Homespun Happenings
Fridays           French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday   Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme
Saturdays      Funky Junk Interiors

Sundays

Friday, March 15, 2013

Chippy Paint Perfection

I know I have showed you several of my garden caddies that I have painted, but I'm sharing this one for two reasons. One, I tried a new stencil that I purchased a few months ago and I forgot completely about it. It's called "Typewriter" and I purchased it at Joann's. It's an easy one to use and I think I'll make a few more garden signs with it.

Now for the second reason I am sharing this. Do you see how chippy the paint is on this freshly painted caddy? This was my third project the other day, and I got lazy and marked my straight line with painter's tape. When I pulled the paint off, it left a perfect line of chippy paint. For anything in the garden, I don't mind a really aged look so what did I do? I took the tape to the whole piece and now I have a perfectly aged tote for my plants. Thanks for taking a peak. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Bailey's Irish Cream Milk Shake

Since St. Patrick's Day is fast approaching, I thought I would re-print our Bailey's Irish Cream milk shake that I shared last year. They were so simple. Swirl Magic Shell chocolate syrup in a chilled champagne glass. Just mix coffee ice cream and Bailey's Irish Cream, top with whipped cream and garnish with some chocolate syrup. Truly decadent and worth the calories.

Add a four leaf clover plant.

And some Bailey's Irish Cream cake pops and you're off to a fabulous celebration.

Thanks for visiting, and remember, we're all a little Irish on St. Paddy's Day

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe

This is my week for lettering projects and I'm trying some new fonts and stencils. I found this back splash at the salvage yard. It was so covered with mud and dirt I thought it had been in a fire and the wood was burned but I dragged it home anyway.

I scrubbed it down and painted it black and painted Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on it with gold paint. As soon as I found this piece I knew that's what I wanted to do with it and the words fit perfectly like they were meant to be there.

But there was still a matter of the roughness that remained after being saturated with the mud for so long, so I sanded it back to give it an old shabby look.

I think now it has a perfect authentic antique look.
By the way, the name of this lettering is Chancery.
Thanks for your visits.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

The Wild Rose Planter Box

I found this planter box at the Rose Bowl Flea Market a few months ago and never got around to doing anything with it. It was an ugly plain wood deep box that was very beat up. I painted it with Rustoleum's Leafy Green spray paint and then added a layer of old white. I had my husband take a piece of scrap moulding and tack it onto the front to give some definition and personality.

I did a reverse mod podge technique with a beautiful rose post card image from the Graphics Fairy and stenciled "The Wild Rose" on the front of the box with paint to match the green base coat.

Then I took my paint scraper and went to town on the white paint. It chipped off some of the white to reveal the green layer and it also left more nicks and dings thus aging the box even more.

The box is about a foot tall and only about 5 inches in depth. I'm glad I finally finished it along with two other projects today. It feels good to finally finish some things that were already started.

Thanks for visiting.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Steampunk Susan

Meet Susan. Susan is a dress form I purchased at a prop sale a long while back. She was wrapped in bubble wrap and I could not quite see how anatomically correct she was. I'm sure she must have been a model for one of those ~~Frederick's of Hollywood~~ swanky lingerie shops. At any rate, when Carol at the Polka Dot Closet sent out the invites for this year's annual dress form ball, I'm not sure Susan was the kind of guest she was hoping for. So I set out to try to make her a respectable lady. This is as close as I could get with the material at hand.

Her body was white and plastic. I used an old pattern and decoupaged it to her body thus giving her actual skin. One layer of the tissue pattern wasn't quite enough so I selected some graphics from The Graphics Fairy and took more of the pattern paper, cut out enough of the pattern to tape onto regular copy paper. I ran it through the copier to copy my script and graphic images and then decoupauged the patterned and scripted tissue over the original layer. The tutorial for making your own homemade script tissue paper can be found on my side bar.

I used Carol's wonderful tutorial on how to make this beautiful corsage. You can see it on her side bar when you visit the dress form ball.

I made the skirt following a simple tutu tutorial on the web, spiced it up with a pretty vintage clock, a skeleton key and some crinkly ribbon. Her adorable velvet jacket was purchased at the Goodwill.

I added some lace trim that resembled garter belts and adorned her with some of my own jewelry.

I used a little strip of the tulle and made her a halter top joined with a sparkly pin, or the tulle can just be tied like I did it in the following photo.

Here is the dress pattern paper attached to the copy paper. This time instead of using the spray adhesive, I used scotch tape to attach the tissue to the copy paper and just ran it through my copier.

You will get a smaller sheet of tissue paper than 8 1/2 x 11, but it's a great way to get a thin sheet of paper to decoupage with.

Now if you are wondering where Susan got her name, I named her after Madonna's character in the movie Desperately Seeking Susan. My Susan's character fits the character in the movie to a T. Thanks for stopping by. Susan will be attending the Dress Form Ball at The Polka Dot Closet.