Prairie Princess up-cycle

I have this passion at the moment. Up-cycling denim with vintage crochet and lace. I love the softness and charm old lace brings to the rugged fabric. So far I have up-cycled four jackets and am on the hunt for more. Funny thing is that I have not really been hunting for them...they are finding me when I am out junking and treasure hunting for something else.
So Today I am sharing 3 of my "Prairie Princess" jackets. One I already sold, but these below currently are in my etsy shop. (Links below each picture)Also I stumbled upon an embroidered denim jumper that I created a awesome handbag with.

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/125457304/prarire-gypsy-cowgirl-boho-demin

https://www.etsy.com/listing/121256197/prarire-gypsy-victorian-boho-demin?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/125458361/prarire-gypsy-cowgirl-boho-demin

https://www.etsy.com/listing/124739625/praire-cowgirl-demin-and-lace-handbag

Joining in the Etsy Cottage Style Blog party!
Click on the pic to join us!

Vanity bench reborn

Some of you may remember my $5 find early last summer....I was so excited to find it and the ladies selling it thought I was nuts to buy it. But so much potential:) and it had the most beautiful, but dirty barkcloth fabric on the seat.

Here is the"as found"

Viola!

Stripped, sanded and a can of Heirloom white spray paint did the trick. Added gold shimmer acrylic paint on sides really brought out the vintage style, and the fabric colors popped.  I washed the fabric, it was in pretty good shape. There was also 2 more layers of fabric underneath that I removed. I added extra padding, and this vintage bench is ready for it's new digs. Stay tuned, because this was part of a total makeover of my guest room that my granddaughters will use when they stay with us. I have given you a couple of narrow peeks in the last post. But the total reveal will be in the Shabby Lane Shops Magazine New Year edition. If you haven't heard of the magazine, there have already been 3 editions jam packed with great articles, recipes and tutorials. You can purchase them thru my website too...Marionberry Cottage.com

The vintage alphabet party for August

It's time again for the August Vintage Alphabet Party at Etsy Cottage Style Blog

This month the letters are N and O

For me this was easy! Out junking and garage sale hopping this weekend I can share some of my finds!

This vintage rhinestone Necklace is a beauty!

This vintage waterfall Nightstand is ripe for stripping and refinishing...

This Oval mirror is gonna be so shabby romantic when it gets a white coat of paint

and finally, the Oneida dish, painted white will be an awesome shabby soap dish.

I will be looking forward to showing you the finished versions of these lovely weekend found treasures in a future post. I hope you enjoyed. And if you have some N and O vintage treasures to show off, won't you join us? The party is all week, hop over to Etsy Cottage Style Blog to find out more!

My recent treasure finds

This project has a story to go with it....Before we went on our Caribbean vacation, they tore the old barn down just up the the road from us. Sitting out on the property was this old church pew that must have been inside the barn. Well as you can expect I got pretty excited and hoped no one would get to it before I did, but every time I drove by the property no one was there. My DH said he would watch too and offer them 20 bucks if he saw someone...well that day finally came...and the guy told us to take it. We wheeled it home on our hand dolly, the neighbors got a real kick out out of watching us...and one guy just shook his head...another who thought I might be a little nuts....Yes, it is chippy, but a little too chippy. This one is gonna be a lot of work. Right now I am using for my seedlings, but hope it will serve as seating on back patio.

you can click on the pics to see more details

Okay, now I am in a serious treasure hunt mode....last weekend I made myself go out to the garage sales. I really didn't think I would find too much, since the weather was iffy, and not too many sales going on. But with a short trip to the grocery store, the corner signs beckoning me where too much to resist. I was right on most accounts, lots of junk out there that did not interest me. The  last place I stopped at was poorly marked and I almost drove past it. What the heck, I stopped. Four elderly ladies sitting in the garage, it was apparently a group effort. I thought wow, this could be some good vintage stuff here. But I was wrong, just old junk. I turned away to leave and right behind me, under a table sits this little vanity bench for FIVE BUCKS. The seat is covered with vintage barkcloth fabric. I tried not to scream or show my excitement, I told the ladies I would take that bench, that I loved the pretty barkcloth on the seat. They all looked at me blank. I think they were happy I took it off their hands..and a little nuts LOL.So what you are about to see is the BEFORE pic. I plan on stripping it and painting it a soft cream color. And gently laundering that barkcloth and reusing on the seat......

I hope I will have these both finished before summer ends! I promise to show you the finished product too:)

...some new things....repurposed

It is fun to repurpose!
I recently got into the "pretty hanger" mood....and it was so inspiring to repurpose some of these pieces of vintage crochet and embroidery. Today I thought I would share these with my blogging friends! Below are two of the several I created.

A vintage crochet collar repurposed with lots of pink roses!

A new use for hand embroidered southern belle dresser scarf with vintage crochet!

I hope I inspired you today to create something pretty from something that is no longer used because it is out of style or something is wrong or broken on it.
To see the rest of the hangers, check out my website

Marionberry Cottage.com

Tagged by a friend!

I was tagged today by my friend Carol from Etsy Cottage Style ning! I have to tell all of you 10 things about myself--some that you may or may not know already--hummm, this might take a while!

1. For starters--the above banner for Carol's blog--I designed for her!

2. I work a day time job for a grocery marketing company and have a website and 3 etsy shops

3.I have a wonderful hubby Jim, 2 grown children and a 21 month granddaughter Lynsie

4.I love David Austin and old garden pink roses and grow several in my cottage garden.

5. I love vintage textiles and it is a thrill to create beautiful home decor that can become new treasures.

6.. I collect vintage German porcelain (of course it has to have pink roses!) preferably the MZ Austria or Leuchtenburg marks

7. I am a Star Trek fan! Loved all the series!

8. I enjoy camping in the mountain forests of Western Oregon

9. I have a passion for traveling to Kona, Hawaii (the Big Island) I think I lived there in another life, it feels like home to me. Andmy dream is that some day we will have a second home there

10. I am a Christian and believe that we are all saved by God's grace

I am going to tag 4 of of my Shabby Lane Shops Friends today!

Janet at Graceful Rose

Theresa at Cottage Violets

Mimi at Mimi's Rose Chenille Boutique

Lynn at The Vintage Nest

Summer tote sale

I have been busy creating summer fun!

pop on over to Marionberry Cottage and take a peek!

Cottage Style container gardening

I thought I would share this post that I contributed as a guest author on The Vintage Journal blog last month--I am still planting and maybe you still are too!

As an avid container and cottage gardener, I am always on the hunt for something unusual to plant in besides a run of the mill plastic or clay pot! Below are some interesting and fun container gardens I have created in the past. As you can see you can plant in almost anything except gas cans. I have even planted in cowboy boots and tennis shoes. Your imagination is your only limit to the creative reuses for many container gardens!

Enamel roasting pan overflowing with marigolds--I added a little toy shovel accent

Metal canisters are perfect for narrow places where you need a splash of color

And the stand by metal watering can, overflows with blue lobelia.
(I slid in a gallon size plastic pot inside the watering can)

An old wicker purse lined with plastic was perfect
for bacopa and varigated geraniums

An old rocking chair placed in the garden~the pink
fairy rose loved to spread its wings here!

Old enamel refrigerator drawer is perfect for herbs

Toy rocking horse repainted hosts a basket of yellow marigolds.

I hope I have tickled your imagination for this years potted plants, as I enjoyed sharing it with you too. Visit me at my website Marionberry Cottage to see my other passion, textile art and my love of pink roses too!