DIY Product Packaging & Branding

The Cotton District Arts Festival is only 4 days away!  I have been quite busy trying to finish up my notebooks,  my display and my packaging.  I recently ordered new rubber stamps with my brand name and Etsy address on them for my packaging and to stamp inside my notebooks.  

 

    So let me know what you think.  Any feedback would be greatly...

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Before & After: DIY Vintage Painting Headboard

Right after we first moved into our house, our yard flooded into our neighbor's yard and garage.  Ben went over to introduce himself,  help clean up and apologize.  He returned with this painting. He said that she asked him if he liked it and mostly to be polite, he said yes.  She went on to tell him that her daughter in law painted it and she hated it but had kept it up for years.  We decided that we couldn't get rid of it. A year later I had an idea. Ben and...

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Preparing for the Cotton District Arts Festival

With the Cotton District Arts Festival right around the corner on April 23rd, I have been quite busy.  Preparing for an arts festival is a lot of work.  Although I started preparing earlier than I did for the Prairie Arts Festival, I still feel like I have so much to do.

Here are a couple of things I have been working on lately:

 

 

 

   

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Before & After: DIY Woodgrain Fridge

A couple of weeks ago I ran across this tutorial on Delightfully Tacky and found the solution to my ugly fridge problem.  When my husband and I bought our house, our current refrigerator came with the house.  The previous owners painted the front of our refrigerator an ugly beige color, leaving the sides white.  I hate it.  Not only because it is ugly but also because the light in the fridge has a short and only works sometimes randomly.  So until we can afford (maybe...

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Easy No-Sew Drop Cloth Curtains

Recently I have been trying to find ways to make our living room look brighter and more inviting,  which is a challenge with our wood paneling.    The obvious answer would be to open the blinds and pull back the curtains but we live on a somewhat busy street and I enjoy my privacy.   While looking at a home tour on either Design*Sponge or Apartment Therapy (sorry I can't remember which one) I noticed that someone mentioned their curtain was actually a drop cloth.   So I measured my windows and off to Lowe's I went on a...

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Before & After: Vintage Mirror

My friend Jillian had this really neat vintage  mirror in her guest bedroom.  She said that a friend had given it to her and she had been meaning to do something with it.  She told me that I could have it if I wanted it.  Of course I was overjoyed.

The mirror was so awesome but needed a lot of work.  The frame had a thin laminate covering that was peeling in some places, it needed to be cleaned and needed a couple coats of paint.  After reading...

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Before & After: Mail Organizer

I bought this charming little mail organizer at the Salvation Army with the hope of painting it and making it wonderful.  After the first coat of paint, I realized that there was nothing charming about this dumb mail sorter.  I underestimated its cheapness really.  Also I hate sanding, so I skipped that step which was my first mistake. The paint of course did not stick. Skip ahead 6 months.   I decided to dig my failure of a mail organizer out of my closet and try again.  This...

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Handmade Valentine’s Day Cards

Happy Valentine's Day!  I have been having so much fun making Valentine's Day cards for my friends and family. Here are a few of the Valentine's Day Cards I made this year: After scanning the vintage early readers for cute images, I used my sewing machine to sew the images onto cardstock that I had previously folded and scored using my bone folder. Next I glued patterned paper to the inside of the Valentine using rubber cement to cover the exposed string and make the Valentine look more neat and clean. For this Valentine, I printed off  a Niagara Falls WPA poster image...

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Before & After: Jewelry Organizer

Last night I decided to make a jewelry organizer for my bathroom, since I have a habit of getting knots in my necklaces and misplacing my pretty pins.   I found this old picture frame in my craft room.  It was missing the glass and I have been holding on to it for just such an occasion.

First, I wrapped a piece of cardboard in pretty tissue paper.  Next I added ribbon and Chantilly lace and  secured everything on the back with duct tape.

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DIY Stationary

This past Christmas, I made stationary sets for some of my friends and family.  I hand stamped notecards then added pretty vintage postage stamps, upcycled floppy disc labels, thrifted vintage greeting cards and lots of random stickers.

I put their stationary in hand painted boxes which the exception of my friends Dawn and Nikki.  I put Nikki's stationary in a cigar box and I put Dawn's stationary in a vintage...

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