Fluffy Flowers

Living with Dogs

Picked this fun book up from the library, Living with Dogs: Collections and Traditions, At Home and Afield by Laurence Sheehan.

It inspired me to put together a little dog collection of my own.

And I had a lot of fun doing it!

Slash, the resident cat, helped.

Scamper, the resident dog, approved.

Georgians, request Living with Dogs from your local library here. Folks outside of Georgia find out which library nearest you has it here. Hint: type in your zipecode so it'll pull the closest libraries with the book.

how to recover old camp stools

We have here a couple of not too pretty, old camp stools. I think its time they received a makeover.

Of course I'm going to do this the super lazy and easy way just like when I recovered Slash's chair. So first I pried off the ratty old covers with a screwdriver. A butter knife would work just as well.

Hey, speaking of Slash, this sweet kitty wants to help out.

Ah, much better with those horrid covers removed.

Now it's time to shine up that dried out wood!

I use a bit of Pledge extra moisturizing. Ok, I use A LOT of it actually.

While I let the wood dry I ran inside to cut out the fabric. Hum, might need to iron it too.

I used the old ratty cover as a pattern and just sort of cut around it. Then it was off to the the sewing machine to sew up the edges. Sorry, I forgot to get photos of me wrestling with the sewing machine beastie. Ya know, I was rushing along with this project, trying to get it done before dark and forgot to photograph the next step too: stapling the covers on. It's just as well that I didn't photograph it because in addition to the ginormous heavy duty staple gun it also required a hammer and a lot of the time I was sweating and grumbling and wondering why I took this project on in the first place. Yeah. Anyway, I did finally get them finished.

Ta da! Here they are all revamped in their new fluffy flowers fabulousness.

Aren't they awesome? Totally groovy even?

I adore them! And I'm delighted that they turned out so well.

They're perfect for an outdoor tea party to for a camp out. Best for children though, they probably wouldn't hold the weight of an adult. If you love them and want them to spiff up your cottage they are for sale over in my shop.

fall front yard

Every year I get pretty excited when fall rolls around. We're still a little ways from it here in Georgia with temperatures in the the 90s (30s C) but the calendar on the wall is telling me its time.

So I dug around in storage to find my girl scarecrow from last year and did a little shopping for pumpkins and mums and the like.

And I simply couldn't resist adding this cute character to the scene this year. Isn't he the cutest crow scarecrow ever?

Yep, I think this little lady is pretty happy with her new friend. Happy fall y'all :)

grown up furniture

It seems I'm not the only one around here who's been up to a bit of shabby chic home improvement.

This darling table recently arrived fresh from my sweetheart's workshop. And it's handmade from some delicious pecan wood.

Before, I was using a stack of old suitcases as an end table. The cases have now been relocated to the guest room and replaced with this oh so grown up piece of furniture.

And dig this groovy design he made for the top. I can't believe this is Mr. Fluffy Flowers's first table!

And of course shop helper Mr. Slashables has overseen the project from the beginning to the installation. I do believe he approves.

sailing bathroom makeover

This weekend I finally had time to put together a cute little boating corner in my fellow's bathroom.

I love how it turned out! I'd been stock piling boating doodads for months and I finally decided it was time to turn this corner into a sailor's paradise.

The bookcase was thrifted years ago for something like five bucks. It was dark wood and I painted it white.

Picked up that wall canoe with oars for six dollars at a local thrift shop. The vintage framed prints were acquired at some antique shop along the way somewhere for around twenty five dollars. The compass plate was thrifted for a dollar. And of course I used the ol' cheap Fluffy Flowers method of hanging it! Even the Old Spice deoderant has a sailboat on it.

Old, withdrawn library books found at the local book sale. I picked up the hand carved shelf in a Madison, Georgia antique store a couple of years ago. But it was the adorable little wooden tugboat that finally got this makeover underway. Isn't it fab! Found that in an antique mall this weekend in Newnan, Georgia. My mother in law painted the beach scene.

I'm pretty happy with how this corner of the bathroom turned out. Later on I'll probably add more sailboat gear to the rest of the room. In the mean time you can check out my other bathroom makeover here.

oops, forgot something

In my rush to get out the pictures of my new kitchen corner redo I forgot to include photos of one of my favorite parts of the kitchen.

Aren't they cute as cake? Both these treasures came from vintage sellers on Etsy. The delightful recipe cupboard came from Abi of Red Comb Vintage and the sweet table and chairs came from Kelly of The Vintage Butterfly.

I just love them!

Abi even included a recipe for some tasty sounding lemon squares. Haven't tried them yet but I aim to eventually.

Now, I think this scene needs just one more thing...

How about a lady gnome happily knitting away? My aunt sent me this little sweetheart a couple of years ago.

Ah, that's better. It's just the right size too. Doesn't she look cute there?

kitchen corner

I think I'm finally done decorating this corner of the kitchen. You can see a before shot of this corner here.

I love how it turned out!

I found this Pennsylvania Dutch hand painted sign at the thrift store a while back for just a couple of dollars. Isn't it just perfect?

And of course I love how my potholders, tea house, and plate all came together to really perk up this corner. Let the shabby chic home improvement continue!

instant home improvement

The cold that drags on with coughs and sleepless nights will not keep me from my quest to pretty up the place around here.

For 1, 2, 3 shabby chic home improvement:

1. Select a bag of fluffy flowers cough drops.

2. Pick out a pretty little pixie dish.

3. Rip open the bag and pour those suckers right in.

Much better. Hope you're having a great weekend.

cheap home improvement

Thank you so much folks for your sympathies yesterday. I appreciate it! I'm still sick but in between naps on the couch today I managed to squeeze in a bit of shabby chic home improvement.

I've had a couple of groovy decorative plates sitting around the house patiently waiting to be put up on the wall. Trouble is, I haven't had time or energy to get down to the store. Plus, let's face it, I'm cheap!

A thought was stirring up there in my head, a memory really, of how I could get those plates up there without those metal plate hangers. A few years ago I read about a way to do it in The Complete Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle by Amy Dacyczyn.

I gathered together four small paperclips and a couple of rubber bands.

I twisted open those paperclips.

Then I hooked the small ends on to the plate rim.

I flipped the plate over to make sure that I liked the placement of the four paperclips.

Then I flipped it back over and attached the rubber band. I added an extra one for more security.

Ta da! All finished. Now to hang it on the wall.

Not bad! I doubt anyone can tell that it's paperclips and rubberbands rather than a metal plate hanger. If you try this at home please, please don't hang your favorite heirloom plates with this method. I've hung my ninety-nine cents thrift store plates so no big deal if one crashes.

I'm guest blogging over at Absolutely Small today. You might remember Claire's adorable Chickenpants meeting with one of my creatures a while back. Anyway, I've offered up some super simple organizational tips that will hopefully motivate you to get your abode all spiffed up this year. Hope you get a chance to check it out.

tea house in the kitchen

Houston, we have a problem!

Some how the tea zone has gotten quite out of hand. Even the aliens and the robots are invading.

Hum, possibly there's some room here to wiggle things around. A makeover seems in order!

And maybe there's even space for my groovy new potholders.

Yes, indeed, frog hooks to the rescue!

And a family of robots to watch over things.

Ah, that's better. A perfect little tea house to store all sorts of goodies.

in the bathroom

The Year of Shabby Chic Home Improvement continues with a trip to the bathroom. I rarely see home tours of bathrooms out there in the blog world so I thought y'all might enjoy a visit to mine. And you just know it's going to be full of fluffy flowers!

Here's an in progress shot where I seem to be in desperate need of some pretty towels to spiff up the place:

After a major hunt down I found some fabulous vintage towels over in Red Comb Vintage's shop.

I love these towels oodles and Abi is such a sweet person that I hope y'all zip on over there and pay her a visit.

This little bathroom is slowly but surely turning into a perfect little tweet's nest.

Complete with a little tweet that lives in the coo coo clock:

Had to ditch these horrid old towels:

For some much prettier ones:

And a thrift store picture or two fits right in:

Can't forget the all important bathroom reading material:

I am head over heals about The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket. Based on her blog, Yarnstorm, this book is so full of inspiration that I look forward to visiting the bathroom just so I can read the next essay. I rarely buy books, favoring instead to borrow them from my local library, but this is one that I will gladly add to my collection and cherish for years to come.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

gotta keep out the riff raff

I'm still hot on the crusade to spiff up the ol' homestead with never ending shabby chic home improvement projects.

My latest one involves this door that lets in all manner of prying eyes.

You just never know what kind of riff raff will saunter up and stare at you through the glass.
 

So I thought it best to install some sort of screening devise. And you know it had to involve some sort of fluffy flowers.

I picked up these fabulous vintage curtains a few months ago at a Madison, Georgia antique shop and I've been itching to find a place to install them ever since. I'm kind of loving how they look up there.

for the love of rick rack

Santa Claus was quite nice this year. He brought me several new crafting treasures that I'd be longing for. Ok, truth be told, mostly I had to play Santa Clause for myself but hey, I got exactly what I wanted! And I couldn't resist when my local craft store kept giving me fifty percent off coupons every time I'd go in there.

But sweet Santa did slip that potholder book all wrapped up and pretty under the tree and I've been itching to make some fab potholders for over a month! Can you believe that I don't own any potholders? I've been using the towel hanging on the oven door handle to snatch things out of the heat. And those linen towels are sometimes too thin to do an adequate job!

Ok, strictly speaking I guess I do own a pair of potholders. I found them during the great Rummage and Purge of the Winter of '08. They were shoved way down at the bottom of the kitchen linens cupboard and were scrushed and squashed into near oblivion. Those jokers were stiff little balled up roundness that looked more like modern art than a useful kitchen tool. And they had a funky smell. How they got into that condition I'll never know, but to make a long story endless, I knew I wanted to make my own. And not only did I want to make my own but I was obsessed with the idea of edging them with rick rack.

Now, rick rack is not a trim that I'm very familiar with. In fact, the Ginger Girl I made a couple of months ago was the first time I'd ever used it. I've never even bought rick rack. The sweet and generous Karyn sent me some in a yummy box of crafting goodies quite some time back.

So while I was flipping through my delightful new potholder book I spied several designs that included rick rack. I was smitten! Had to have it! But I needed to figure out how to actually make the magic happen and for some reason I was stressing out about sewing on that rick rack. I just kept fretting about it and putting the project off over and over again.

My procrastination was full of excuses like I couldn't find the right fabric. Uh, there are four, six foot tall bookcases in my studio stuffed to the gills with fabric. Clearly, fabric wasn't the real issue here. Somehow I'd built up the fear of the rick rack in my mind until it became this sort of big, dark unseen monster in the closet. Lucky for me this monster wasn't the mean, sharp toothed, snarly kind. It was, in fact, a big overgrown teddy bear who only wanted to be let out and brought to the table for milk and cookies.

So I took that big ol' burly monster fear by the hand and lead him out to the craft table were he sat with me while I searched and found the perfect fabric. This turned out to be a few scraps of a left over pillowcase from which I'd used to make a zipper pouch.

It was pretty and inspirational and just exactly right. And practically right next to it was an old blanket that I cut up and used for the insulating material. So I forged ahead, the monster next to me all the while, as I pinned that rick rack, then basted it, then finally took the plunge and sewed the layers together.

Now all I can say is, wow, I love these potholders. Love them! They are so pretty and so perfect and I love to look at them. For now I have them hanging at my eye level on the refridgerator so that I get a surprise jolt of joy every time I see them there. Eventually they'll migrate over to the stove area but for now I'm just happy to see them there.

And that monster fear? He wasn't ready to move on just yet so he quietly slipped off while I was deep in concentration bent over that beasty sewing machine. I'm pretty sure he moved back into the dark closet but I think he's pretty far back in there so I won't stumble on him when I snatch open the door. But I'm glad to know where I can find him for the next time I want to invite him out for an afternoon snack as I try my hand at something new and scary.

kitchen surprise

This year I'm bound and determined to do a bit more decorating around the ol' home stead.

I've been slowly but steadily acquiring pretties from thrift shops, antique malls, and, of course, Etsy. I bought this delightful stoneware mug set from LaVogue.

And I've also found a few quirky things that give me a little giggle. Like this little fellow here for example.
 

Somehow I think it's kind of funny to tuck him away down low where you might get a little jolt and then a laugh when you notice him!

how to repair a torn slipcover

Now here's  a really cute rascal.

Pretty irresistible with that adorable face living like a king on the couch, eh?

Too bad he's got big ol' ginorous, sharp toenails! We've gotta do something about this problem.

They don't make these slipcovers any more but Luckily (ha ha) I had some similar fabric on hand from the same Rachel Ashwell Rosalie line of sheets from Target. So its off to cut and sew a replacement piece!

By the way, did you know that Rachel has a blog? If you want to be inspired then head on over and check it out.

I measured the seat area and cut a plain white sheet and the print sheet to size. I sewed those two, right sides together, leaving an opening to turn inside out. I turned the whole thing inside out and sewed to the original seat part of the slipcover.

It took me a month to finally get around to finishing the project but, hey, better late than never! I love the way these patterened slipcovers brighten up the room. Its so cheerier to look at these newly repaired beautiful roses everyday!

Oh, I almost forgot! My Tiny Chair Makeover is featured on the Hallmark Magazine Carnival of Green Crafts blog today. There are a lot of other awesome green crafts links too so please check it out when you get a chance.

tiny chair makeover

I love thrift store shopping. You never know what you're going to find!

When I discovered this cute little creature chair I had to bring it home. But I wasn't in love with the seat. Not quite Fluffy Flowers enough for me. So it's time for a makeover!

Supplies needed:

• thread
• scissors
• scraps of pretty fabric

I just eyeballed the fabric before cutting. Didn't bother to measure anything.

Just cut an over large square piece of fabric, laid it on the chair seat and cut out around the chair posts.

I didn't remove the original chair seat, just left it in place.

That made it easy to sew the cover to the old seat.

Once the back side is cut and sewn on then I cut the front side.

I wanted a little ruffle in the front so I cut a piece and sewed it to the front.

I love this fabric. Its from a thrifted little girl's dress and the colors are so pretty.

Once the front and the back were sewn on, I turned the sides in like wrapping a present and sewed.

Ta da! Not bad. I did cut the fabric a wee too narrow on the left and the original chair seat was showing through. I just cut another small piece of fabric and tucked it up under the main fabric and sewed. No one will notice.

I love it! Turned out better than I expected. But what do the creatures think?

Uh, based on that little smile I'd say she was pretty pleased too. A sweet little chair for a shabby chic gal!

Halloween decorating

Here's a pile of Halloween goodies in need of organizing.

Ah, that's better. Isn't she a cute little scarecrow waiting patiently for Halloween?

And why, you may ask, am I using pine straw bales instead of hay bales? Well, hay bales are a little tough to come by round these parts. But you can buy pine straw bales for three bucks each just down the road. Best of all, you can break them up and layer them in your garden after you're done decorating with them.

I love Halloween.

how to recover an ice cream parlor chair seat

By now y'all have figured out that the Fluffy Flowers household is animal friendly. Yep, dinner time can be quite the raucous adventure with several four legged creatures running around!

To try to keep the carnage at bay each critter has his or her own feeding station.

This happens to be Mr. Slashables's assigned area. Those of y'all with both dogs and cats in your homes know why its essential that kitty food be up on a table. Goodness knows how much weight Mr. Lucky Cowdog would gain if that tasty bowl of kibble was within his reach!

Anyway, to make Mr. Slashables's dinning accommodations more comfortable I've placed a chair conveniently located for him to haul his bulk up to his feeding station.

The problem is that the chair seat is looking a little worse for wear. He agrees with me that its high time we go on and recover the thing. We're gonna do this the lazy way y'all. Nothin' too fancy for us. Ready? Here we go!

You will need:

• pliers
• tacks
• butter knife (not your best one)
• small hammer
• pretty, thrifted napkin to match your decor

I hauled this project outside so I could avoid too many animal assistants. But since this was for Slash's area I let him participate. Uh, ok, actually, he insisted on supervising! You'll be seeing him a little later.

First thing you've gotta do is turn this joker upside down and unscrew the nuts.

One big tip here: You DON'T have to unscrew them all. I just undid half of them and the seat slid right out.

Ok, now that the seat is out its time to remove the old cover. I put this cover on years and years ago when I first got this ice cream parlor chair. I'm pretty sure I acquired this adorable little chair while dumpster diving when I was in college.

You see, back then I was pretty poor and the rich students would move out at the end of each semester and leave behind hordes of still extremely useful stuff. My friends and I would pile into a car, pass around a thermos of hot chocolate and make the tour of student apartment trash cans. Often the good stuff was sitting in massive piles outside the cans. Once I found a very fashionable shirt with a dollar still in the pocket. Another time one of my friends found a box full of china. It was incredible the amount of stuff that was destined for the landfill. I'm so glad I did my duty by rescuing and recycling.

Ok, anyway, sorry, I got off track. I pried the tacks I'd used before off with a butter knife. Works like a charm.

I left the original cover intact because we're doing this the lazy way. Anyhow, spread your thrifted napkin on the ground with the wrong side facing up. Lay the seat down on top of it as close to the middle as you can get.

Now its time to break out the hammer. Tack on four corners first. Think north, south, east and west here. Then fold up the loose fabric in between and tack those too. You can use some duct tape too to hold down any especially poofy sections. No need to concern yourself with prettiness. I promise you no one will flip this chair over to see what it looks like underneath.

Once you've got all the fabric tacked down flip it over and check out your handy work. Yippee! Better than I expected.

Ok, now comes the crummy part. You've gotta put the chair back together again. Make sure the loose legs are turned the right way before you screw the big bolts back on. Oh, and just so you know, some of the screws might be longer than others. Thats because the longer ones hold on both the seat back and the legs. Best to notice this before you unscrew and then rescrew. Um, I speak from experience here.

Oh, we interrupt this tutorial for a brief Slashables supervisory photo shoot. I hope that yawn wasn't boredom with this project. Anyway we're getting mighty close to the end!

I'm not quite sure what he thinks of this redo yet.

Seems like he's still mulling it over...

Or maybe he's got an itch to scratch...

Or perhaps he's distracted by something. Anyway...

Ta da! Here it is, finally finished!

Looking mighty good too! We'll have to see what the lord and master thinks.

Uh, Slash? Slashables! Where are you Slash?! Hum, he's no where to be found. Probably outside supervising the bugs.

Well, that's ok. I like it. And after all, he's a boy so he'll probably be happy however it turned out!