ONCE UPON A CIGAR BOX #2

One Upon A Cigar Box #2

I have finished my cigar boxes.  I first posted about them on my blog on January 20th.  You can see my original post here:  My Sweetheart Ball Gown and Some Cigar Boxes. 

Last week I finished the first one and you can see it here:  Once Upon A Cigar Box.

I painted the first one and I decided to mod podge this one with some pretty paper I had with vintage images on it. 

So I took off the hardware and covered the box. 

I added a pretty piece of paper on the inside top of the lid. I also added a pretty piece of soft felt to the bottom. Then I added a small decorative mirror in the top of the lid. 

I put the hardware back on and it was time to have fun.  I added lace, flowers, ribbons and a rhinestone button. 

And here is my box...

I plan to use my new box to keep my hankies in so I don't have to dig for them anymore.  Yes, I carry a hankie ALWAYS and it must be a pretty one.  The photo below shows my box open with two of my hankies. 

I think my box will look beautiful with my Ladylike Vignette.  And I am so excited I finally found some beautiful pink vintage ladies gloves to add to my vignette. 

Do you remember my Ladylike Vignette Post...

I have one thing left from my Christmas decorations to put away.  My beautiful Shabby Chic Baubles.  They are so lovely I just hate to put them away...

Shabby Chic Christmas Ornaments by Rachel Ashwell

I am working on a special post which will include 2 free vintage Valentine's Day cards. I will take them apart and post them so that you can print,  cut them out, assemble them and actually use them as cards to give to your Valentine's Day Sweeties....

You can see one of them here: 
Valentine's Day Decor and Tablescape

Be sure to keep an eye out for my post very soon..

Hugs, Beverly

Tea Cottage Pretties

You can now follow me on Bloglovin'

FOR THE LOVE OF VINTAGE POSTCARDS

For The Love Of Vintage Postcards

I have a collection of vintage postcards and I have decided that I want to share them with my blogger friends.  I want to do a series of post with images that you can use for your craft projects.  I will give you the original images front and back as it scans into my computer but I will also offer them in my cleaned up versions of the postcards.  So without further ado, here is my first postcard.  

Original Card

(click on postcard to enlarge and save to your computer)

Back of Card

Cleaned Up

Bright Highlighted

Blank

Vintage Soft

Faded In Time

You can use these for your own personal use or for your craft projects.  I do ask that if you post them online or your projects that you please give me credit for the images by offering a link back to this post.  That way others can also see and use the images for their projects.  

Enjoy, 

Beverly

Tea Cottage Pretties

ONCE UPON A WOODEN CIGAR BOX

Once Upon A Wooden Cigar Box

I have always seen things not for what they are 
but for what I dream they should be....  

In my last post I had shared my wooden cigar boxes that we found while cleaning out our garage.  As promised I have been working on them this past week and I have one of them finished and ready to share. 

I decided to work on the black box first because I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.  First I sanded it and painted it using some chalkboard paint primer and paint.  I had the primer and chalkboard paint from a previous project. 

First the primer.

Then several coats of chalkboard paint. 

  

I also painted inside the box with chalkboard paint. 

Now with the painting all finished it was time for the fun stuff.  Time to decorate my box.  I decided I want it to have a chandelier on the top and space to write in chalk whatever I may feel like writing. 

For the inside I wanted something to soften it up so I made a small pillow for the bottom using my Paris canvas fabric and I used some mod podge to line the inside top with the same fabric.  

I think my box turned out really cute. 

While working on my box I was trying to clean house in between waiting for the coats of paint to dry.  Sometimes I feel like I am fighting a battle I will never win when it comes to cleaning.  You know how you clean and clean and you are kind of proud of your progress and you look at the picture hanging on the wall and it is covered with dust.  Not just a little dust but a lot of dust.  For me the more I do the more I realize all the things that still need to be done. 

 Does housework ever end???  

I am tickled pink that we are making some progress.  Our garage looks so much better and we have cleaned out and donated 41, 33 gallon bags of clothes, toys, shoes, handbags, games, puzzles and housewares to charity. 

While we were cleaning the garage I found two big bins of fabric.  I knew I had them out there but I had forgotten about some of the different fabrics I had inside the bins.  

One piece is a vintage upholstery fabric that I found at a thrift store.  There are tens yards of it and I am thinking that I can take it to Korea and perhaps have something made for my living room.  I have a sofa, chair and two ottomans from Ikea that have slipcovers and I think I might want to make something for the sofa.  Hope it is enough fabric to make a new slip cover.  

I got all ten yards for $3.99, now that is a bargain.  

What a great find!

Don't you just love a great find at a great price. 

Well I am off to work on my other cigar box...

Gentle Hugs, 

Beverly

Tea Cottage Pretties

I was featured at

MY SWEETHEART BALL GOWN AND SOME CIGAR BOXES

My Sweetheart Ball Gown

and

Some Cigar Boxes

We have a Formal Ball to go to on February 13th, it is our Sweetheart Ball.  I have found it is easier for me to search for a gown online, have them sent to me and try them on at home.  So I found four dresses that I liked and after trying them all on I choose a navy blue dress form Nordstroms.  

Here is my dress that I will be wearing to the ball.  The photo does not do it justice.  The lace is so very pretty and the dress is well constructed and so lovely.  I plan to wear it with champagne colored shoes and wrap.  I will be carrying a vintage navy bag.  The dress moves so beautifully when you walk and it drapes when you are seated.  So very pretty and ladylike. 

I have everything except my wrap and I am still looking but I am leaning towards a champagne colored wrap in a silk.  Here is one that I love to pieces and it matches the fabric under the lace on the top of the dress.   What do you think?

Update:  I meant to add these photos before anyone saw this post and I just could not get around to it, so better late than never.  Here are my shoes, handbag and some of the jewelry I plan to wear. 

The bag is a vintage pleated navy blue bag with a silk lining and a matching coin purse inside.  It is in mint condition.  I am so tickled to finally be able to put it to use.  

The shoes are by Unlisted.  I have a thing for Unlisted shoes specially if they are designed by Kenneth Cole.  

My Jewelry

My jewelry is all vintage.  The brooch is actually the oldest items here and it is one of my favorite things.  It is gold and has beautiful pearls and sapphires on it.  The bracelet and earrings almost match perfectly but they are not a set.  They are also some of my favorite pieces.  I love pearl and sapphires.  I plan on wearing a pearl necklace because the dress just screams for understated pieces. 

I am almost ready for the ball but right now I have been super busy.  I haven't had much time to do any crafting this past week because we have been cleaning out closets and our garage.  We donated 36 - 33 gallon bags of clothes, toys and housewares to charity.  I am so very happy with our progress thus far.  We have to purge the house so that we can put it up for sale and hopefully move to Korea in July.  Excited and hopeful at the same time and a lot overwhelmed but taking it one day at a time. 

While we were cleaning out the garage, we found some wooden cigar boxes that I had forgotten about.  I brought them inside the house and I plan to redecorate them and use them.  They are beautifully made and each box has a cedar lining.  

Here are my boxes

Cedar Lining

I will work on these beautiful boxes this week and share the process and the finished product with you all here on my blog. I am thinking decoupage and French influences.  So excited and can't wait to share. 

I want to extend a warm welcome to my new followers and send out a special thank you to Wilma at 
Shabby Royale. 

 I have had lots of new visitors this weekend thanks to my friend Wilma.  

See you when my boxes are all decorated and ready to share. 

Hugs, Beverly

Tea Cottage Pretties

VALENTINE'S DAY SILVERWARE POCKETS AND SOME REALLY BIG NEWS

Valentine's Day Silverware Pockets

And

Some Really Big News

I love crafting and I really love simple crafts that I can do in an afternoon just for fun.  I wanted to finish my Valentine's Day Tablescape and I decided I wanted some cute silverware pockets.  I looked through my holiday images and I found this cute vintage card. I have no idea where I got this one from and I had to clean it up a lot and I added the crown.  The crown is from The Graphics Fairy.  I highly recommend The Graphics Fairy.  You will find tons of beautiful vintage images for your crafts.

  Click here to visit The Graphics Fairy. 

Once I cleaned up the image I printed them out on printer fabric and then I cut them out along with a backing for them.  

Once I had them all cut out I stitched them and left the top end open so that I could slide the silverware inside. 

Then I added lace to each one of my silverware pockets.  On the top side I only stitched the lace to the backing fabric.  This left the pocket open so I could slide the silverware into the pocket. 

I added a little bow to each one of my silverware pockets. 

Then I added these sweet silverware pockets to my table. 

If you would like to see my tablescape and missed it, click here to see my original post. 

These adorable Valentine's Day silverware pockets were super easy to make.  You could even give them as a gift to dinner guest.  Maybe fill them with cinnamon sticks and lavender, etc.  Makes a great gift.  You could even sew them closed and make sachets out of them.  The possibilities are endless.  

My Silverware Pockets were featured at:

Some Really BIG NEWS!!!

As you may know I am married to a soldier.  We have been in our current home for over 10 years.  My hubby has gone many places during our stay here but we have not had to move our family during that time.  He recently returned from a year long deployment and we have been waiting for orders.  Last week he received his orders for his next duty station.  We hope to be going as a family but there are some things to work out before we know for sure that we all will be going.  If everything works out we will be moving to Korea. 

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT????

Yes, I may be writing to all my blogger friends from Korea here in the near future.  I am excited and overwhelmed at the same time.  It is my hope that we can stay together as a family and experience Korea together.  One of my wishes is to travel and visit other countries and I may actually get to fulfill that wish. 

We have lived in Puerto Rico and it was a true adventure.  I am very excited that we may now get to live in Korea.  

Here are a few more photos of my Valentine's Day decorations. 

My tablescape all finished.  

A pretty pink vintage serving dish.

My pretty vintage doll.

And again...

My light pink vintage doll. 

Be back soon with more Valentine's Day ideas and crafts. 

Hugs, Beverly

Tea Cottage Pretties