Okio B Designs: August 2013

Hope everyone's holiday weekend is off to a great start! It's a bit overcast here today but I am hoping to get some garage sales in. In the meantime, here's a cute autumn/Halloween project I did earlier this week using an old tobacco tin.

I saw something similar on Pinterest (although I think the person made it for Xmas) and since I had some old tobacco tins lying around, I decided to give one of them an autumn/Halloween spin.

First I covered the tin with some vintage sheet music from The Graphics Fairy. Then I added the pumpkin image - also from The Graphics Fairy.

I wrapped some orange and black ribbon on the top and bottom, and some black tea-stained seam binding so I could hang it. I finished up by adding some Dollar Store faux moss and random Halloween pieces.

I love when I have everything I need on hand - especially for seasonal pieces. Next week is back to school here, and I'm looking forward to having more crafting time again!

Jeanine

3 comments

The winner of the Country Living magazine 101 Halloween ideas book as picked by Random.org is...

Barbara Jean from Treasures from the Heart!

Congrats Barbara Jean! I'll be in touch to get your mailing info shortly!

Jeanine

1 comments

Just a reminder, tomorrow is the last day to enter my Country Living magazine book giveaway.

I'll be picking a winner after 5 p.m. EST. Good luck!

Jeanine

No comments

This project literally took 10 minutes to do from start to finish. Since I'm pressed for time this week, it was perfect.

First I cut some old dictionary paper to fit my frames. I change out these frames every few months. They've previously displayed Christmas, Valentine's Day, beachy, etc. themes. And now it's time for Halloween!

I used my Cricut and some black cardstock for my letters. Since I only have the three frames, spelling out boo seemed like a no-brainer. Once they were cut out, I used some good ol' fashioned school glue (the purple kind that disappears!) to stick them to my book paper.

See what I mean? Super easy and a super cute Halloween decoration for our bathroom wall.

Jeanine

3 comments

**Don't forget to enter my Country Living magazine book giveaway here!**

It's a bit of a rainy, miserable kind of day here. The kind of day when you don't feel guilty staying indoors. While the boys were busy playing this morning, I broke out some jewelry pieces and whipped up these two necklaces.

Each is backed with French book paper. Then I added some of these lovely religious images. For this piece, I added a little bling by way of the bead and rhinestone.

For the second piece, I just kept it simple - adding the red faux pearl and French wording over the image.

Sweet and simple. I love dressing up my dress forms with them, although I'm sure one day I'll actually wear one! =)

Jeanine

4 comments

**This giveaway is now closed**

The folks at Country Living magazine have an amazing new Halloween book out. It's called Spooky & Bright, 101 Halloween Ideas. If you've been following my blog for a while, you probably know I'm both a huge fan of Halloween and of Country Living! So how thrilled was I when a review copy landed on my porch?!

It's loaded with tons of great Halloween ideas, including unique pumpkin decorations, spooky home decor and edible treats. How fun is this candle idea?! Love the skeleton hands and me thinks, the Graphics Fairy has a ton of vintage images that would be perfect to create your own version.

How about hanging some eerie plates for your Halloween festivities?! Or turning some black goblets into candleholders? Love how they are displayed on a tray!

And you can't have a Halloween party without some cobweb cake and poison cookies. Yum and yum!

Seriously this book is loaded with lots of spook-tacular ideas (sorry, couldn't resist being a little hokey!) and the best part? Country Living has provided me with a copy for YOU!

All you have to do to enter is become a follower of OkioBDesigns.Blogspot.com or let me know in a comment that you already are a follower. For additional entries:

1. Like Okio B Designs on Facebook and let me know in a comment that you did;

2. Follow @okiobdesigns on Twitter and let me know in a comment you did;

3. Blog/Tweet/Facebook/Pinterest about this giveaway and let me know in a comment you did;
4. Like Country Living magazine on Facebook and let me know in a comment you did;
5. Follow @CountryLiving on Twitter and let me know in a comment, you did.

Open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only - sorry! I'll pick a winner via Random.org on Wednesday, August 28, 2013.

Good luck!

Jeanine

Disclaimer: I was provided a review copy of Country Living Spooky & Bright, 101 Halloween ideas, however, all opinions are my own.

30 comments

I can't believe school starts here in two weeks! It's going to be hard to get some crafting in during that time so forgive me if I don't post a lot and don't get a chance to visit. Once the kiddos are back in school, I'll have more time to whip up some fall pieces like these.

Yup, these are Starbucks coffee bottles. A lot of fun to envision but kind of a pain to paint. I had to break out the newspaper, painter's tape and paint brushes for these. Way too much work for me. I'm more of a spray-it-once-or-twice-and-it's-done kind of gal.

But I have been wanting to make something like this all summer. First I started by doing the coat of white paint. Then I moved onto the orange. Those two coats were done with spray paint. Since I didn't have yellow spray paint, I had to hand-paint the bottoms.

They are a little sloppy in some areas but overall, you get the idea. Plus the black tea-stained seam binding hides a gap and an oopsie or two.

I plan on using these as candle holders for October. Okay, probably September. Yes, I'm one of those people who starts their fall decorating right after Labor Day.

Jeanine

2 comments

Have you seen H&M's new home collection????? I'm swooning over here as I try to decide what I'm going to get first.

Photo courtesy of H&M

Love these pillowcases for the bedroom. It'd be great if they came with matching sheets, but for $5.95, I don't mind!

Photo courtesy of H&M

These storage baskets are super cute and under $15 each. I love their Pottery Barn-ish look minus the hefty price tag. You could use them for so many different things.

Photo courtesy of H&M

This fab pillow is linen but I love the grainsack look it has to it.

Photo courtesy of H&M

I'm in need of a new shower curtain and this pink ruffled one is perfect! My Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic white ruffled one is from Target and is quite a few years old. And it was a bit pricier if I remember correctly.

H&M really put together a fabulous home collection! The best part? A lot of the pieces are $25 and under. What will you find??????

Jeanine

2 comments

Imagine my surprise last week when a writer from the New York Daily News contacted me after she saw the Jane Austen tags in my Etsy shop.

She was doing a piece on the new Austenland movie and wanted to chat about "Janeiacs." We talked about the movies, the books and of course some of the Jane items in my shop - all images courtesy of the Graphics Fairy.

The article came out today and you can find it here!

Jeanine

3 comments

Can you believe I'm still working on pieces that I picked up at AmVets a week ago?! This is the wood caddy that I got there that originally came from Michael's. It was pink and had the word spring on both sides. Here it is now:

I gave it a couple of coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Louis Blue. I popped over to The Graphics Fairy to pick some French text I could quickly add to the front of it.

Using graphite paper, I carefully traced it on. Then I sanded it down a bit so it looked a bit aged.

It's holding some faux cotton stalks I got from Decor Steals last week. I haven't found a place for her yet and I'm still figuring out what I'm going to display inside.

Jeanine

4 comments

Yes, I know I'm incredibly early for fall, but I just couldn't resist making some shabby fabric pumpkins this morning.

I've been seeing them all over Pinterest and they are just so darn cute that I couldn't resist.

I used some fabric pieces that I had stashed in my craft room for over a year (one of the benefits of never throwing stuff out!). I used some tea-stained seam binding a French fabric tag for this one.

I used cinnamon sticks and a regular stick for each of the stubs. This one has a hand-stamped fall tag and some raffia ribbon.

This one has a hand-stamped pumpkin tag and tea-stained seam binding.

I think I'm addicted and it's not even September yet!

Jeanine

6 comments

Just some quickie makeovers for White Wednesday.

Drawing inspiration from Petite Michelle Louise, I turned an ordinary ceramic canister (from AmVets) into a Frenchie piece.

I simply printed off the image onto label paper, peeled and stuck! Super duper easy. What's nice is, when I get bored with that image, I can just stick on another one.

This little flower frog I picked up at a garage sale over the weekend. It was a whopping 50 cents and was originally black.

Here's how it looks after a few coats of white spray paint. I also added some French book paper - after making it a little grungy with Distressed Ink - to each square. And stuck a French flashcard inside.

Jeanine

2 comments

In my ongoing quest to organize my craft room (so I can actually enter Where Bloggers Create next year), I upcycled these little metal baskets to hold some random crafty pieces.

These were another AmVets find. I gave each a few coats of white spray paint.

For the twine one, I just added a rusty clip (I did a post on how to give metal clips a nice rusty touch) and a hand-stamped tag that says, twine, of course. I love how my baker's twine fits nicely inside and I can see each color clearly.

For the other one, I added an enamel number with some twine, metal clip and hand-stamped glitter tag. Again, I can clearly see what color is what instead of having to dig around for them.

Not bad for 99 cents each basket!

Jeanine

2 comments

This is another makeover from my AmVets loot. It was/is a coat hanger that originally came from Home Goods.

First thing I did was give it a few coats of white spray paint (it was originally black) - hooks and all. Then I sanded it down around the corners to give it a more aged look.

Then I popped on over to The Graphics Fairy for the bee with wreath image. I needed something small to fit in the little wood slots and this fit perfectly. I used waterslide decal paper to affix it to the slots.

I think it looks so much prettier white. And the blue of the image works with the blues in our livingroom. I have it hanging on a livingroom wall behind our front door for easy access for the boys baseball hats, sweatshirts, etc.

Linking to The Graphics Fairy: Brag Monday.

Jeanine

2 comments

Here's the first of my makeovers from yesterday's AmVets loot. Remember these wood candlesticks before?

Not very pretty. And here's the after.

I gave each a couple of coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Louis Blue. Once they were dry, I broke out some sandpaper and just sanded them in random areas for an aged look.

I love how the original brown wood shows through now. It's just enough dark to play off the light blue paint.

I added some of my French script candles which I think look pretty against the blue hue.

This is the first of many makeovers I have in the works. Thanks AmVets!

Jeanine