Vintage Book Love

Anyone else have a thing for vintage books?

I actually have to resist buying them all the time so I don't become a book hoarder. There are some I just needed to add to my book shelf.

Some are absolutely hilarious like this one!

I especially love the old children's books if you are into this kind of thing, old books are actually pretty easy to find and really cheap (if you are looking at the right places). I think this kind of thing would be really cool in a baby room.

Broken to Beauty

I just wanted to post this quick easy little DIY I did today.
My mom bought me this huge deer head a couple weeks back from Home Sense with only one antler! I have always loved these over sized chrome deer heads but was definitely not willing to fork out $40-$50 on one for my place. This one was obviously really reduced to $10 and the person ringing my mom through probably thought she was insane buying this broken thing. During the holiday we always loved looking at the Roots windows where they decorated christmas trees with bright pompoms and wrapped really vibrate embroidery floss around sticks to create a really awesome take on the holidays. We pointed it out a few times thinking of different ways we could do something like this!

This is what I started with. A poor little one antlered deer.

I picked up a stick from outside and cut it down to what size I liked.

All I did is wrap different colour embroidery floss around the stick in various areas until I liked the way it looked. I used super glue to hold the ends in place.

I then taped the stick to the broken spot and made sure it would all be held together strongly. I wrapped the tape in embroidery floss until you couldn't see it anymore.

All done!

Upcycling Boy Addition

I wanted to share with you a really cool upcycling project my brother Travis did.
Travis lives in Nova Scotia where he is attending school. He is pretty crafty himself and whenever he is home he often has some sort of project on the go. He definitely is into more industrial and rustic DIY projects which is a lot different from what my mom and I do. I love his style. I always love to see what he is working on. Over christmas break he was working on some leather coasters and a few summers ago he was making rings out of old coins.
He gave me this one for my birthday years back! I still love it!

The project I really want to tell you about is this bar he made last summer.

This bar is made all out of recycled wood, more specifically pallets. He took apart all of the pallets that him and my mom found on the side of the road, so basically wood for free! He stained all the wood with different colours and planned everything all out. He did all the staining and planning in London then brought everything back to Wolfville and put it all together.

  

I haven't seen the bar in person but the pictures look really awesome. I especially love the carvings, makes it look one of a kind!

Loving Love: DIY Lavender Eye Masks

Since Valentines Day is coming up, we wanted to post one or two DIYs that could be given as a little gift to someone special.
I know there are a lot of Valentines Day haters out there, let's be honest some years this holiday is just the worst! If that year is this year for you, why not take this day to pamper and love yourself. You always have to love yourself first!

I am making these lavender eye masks for the great volunteers at my work!

These things are seriously a simple way to feel amazing. We used to get these at yoga class and they would just make you feel so relaxed and flipping good. The lavender in them makes you feel so calm and the flaxseed gently weighs on your eyes giving you a really grounded feeling. If you haven't used one of these masks before all you do is lay down close your eyes and put it over your eyes. In a few seconds you will feel AMAZING!

All you need is:
*Scrap fabric (I am using some old linens my Grandma gave me over christmas, hooray for Grandmas!)
*Sewing machine
*Lavender
*Flaxseed
*Some lace or any kind decorative trim laying around your place to add to the ends of your mask
*Embroidering floss and needle (if you want)

Here is what you do!

Measure and cut your scrap piece of fabric into a rectangle that can be folded over to form a sleeve. You can just measure the size you want by putting the piece over your eyes to see what works for you. Be sure to make it a little bit bigger because you will be folding a little in when you sew!

If you want to embroider on the mask do so now! I did little eyes on one of mine.


Iron your piece of fabric so it is nice and flat.

Vola!

Sew the bottom of your sleeve together inside out (the longest end).

Turn your mask right side out.


Measure or cut out any trim that you want to use.

Fold one end of your mask in and add the trim, then sew together.

Mixed together lavender and flaxseed. The flaxseed is used as a weight so add as much flaxseed to lavender as you'd like.

Fill up the pouch with your mixture. We personally like the mask to kind of curve to your face so we don't fill it up too much!

Sew the last side together with the trim just like the previous side.

All Finished!

Don't forget to add a few little things with this gift, like handmade chocolates or a note.

I really hope this all made sense to you! If you have any questions just ask!