Okio B Designs

It's that time of year again.

The time when I start dreaming of spring and want to give Old Man Winter a kick in the pants.

Granted, it hasn't been a horrible winter here. Still, I long for warm days, green grass and flip flops.

And did you notice Easter is early this year?

Easter in March.

MARCH!!!!! I know it comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, but there is something so un-natural about Easter in March in my mind.

So while I ponder if my boys will be hunting for Easter eggs in winter coats, I do my best to bring spring indoors...

And know that in just a few short weeks, it will officially arrive.

Jeanine

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Wishing you a lovely White Wednesday!

Jeanine

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Drawing inspiration from my last post and the sewing book, I whipped up some lavender sachets earlier this week.

I love when I have everything I need on hand because I'm not a big fan of driving in the winter. I used some leftover Osnaburg fabric pieces, TAP paper and some images I purchased from Etsy a few years ago.

I even had the lavender buds!

For each sachet, I used Polyfil and the lavender - finishing each off with some tea-stained seam binding.

They smell delish! And I love that they cost me exactly $0 to make.

Jeanine

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When it comes to sewing, most of my projects rely on what I learned from Home Economics and my mom. Truth be told, I wing it a lot of the time. So when I was offered the chance to review The Little Guide to Mastering Your Sewing Machine by Sylvie Blondeau (from Schiffer Publishing), I jumped at the chance.

You see, I've had a mini sewing machine for a few years now, but I barely know how to use it. Again, I've been winging it all this time. When the thread on the bottom runs out, I panic. If a project calls for a Zigzag stitch, I stare blankly. This book is truly for beginners or for those who want to become more familiar with their sewing machines.

I like the non-intimidating, easy-to-follow style of this book. If something reads like an IRS manual, I toss it aside. Blondeau speaks as if talking to a BFF, and I like how she covers everything from the basic anatomy of your sewing machine to how to comfortably sit while using it.

She covers everything from how to thread a needle to installing a zipper.

And check out some of these cool projects that for once I'm not intimidated to tackle.

I want this hat!

And these cushions.

The Little Guide to Mastering Your Sewing Machine is $24.99 and can be purchased here.

Jeanine

Note: I was provided a review copy of this book, however, all opinions, text, etc. are my own.

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Happy White Wednesday! I've been inundated with Etsy orders and boy activities, so I haven't had too much time to craft. Still, wanted to wish everyone a lovely White Wednesday.

Jeanine

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I'm not a winter girl. We've managed to dig out after the blizzard over the weekend, but I'm just not ready to brave the outdoors. So what do you do when you're stuck in the house? You do a little "shopping..."

I upcycled this bucket about three years ago. It's held everything from Xmas ornaments to decorative clothes pins. This time I added some of my French script candles for a new look.

I spied some Jeanne D'Arc Living soaps on Instagram over the weekend. Perfect for a quick copycat project. I had the bar soaps, the lace, the images - everything.

I love this look. I have them in a soap bowl in the bathroom.

Now they smell and look divine!

I'm hoping to venture out tomorrow because I do have a little cabin fever, and it no longer looks like this.

Jeanine

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Have you seen this adorable dairy bottles at your local Dollar Store?

Cute, right? I picked up two earlier in the week for my Valentine's Day decor, but I'm already imaging the possibilities for them for beyond Valentine's.

For now I have them filled with chocolate hearts and dressed up with some tea-stained seam binding. I also made a couple of Valentine's Day jars.

I printed off these two precious images (from The Graphics Fairy) on to label paper, and again, dressed them up with some tea-stained seam binding.

These are holding some jelly hearts. I grabbed all of the candy while I was at the Dollar Store. I already had the jars.

And finally, I made a quick love banner for my office/craft room using my Cricut. This will probably be the extent of my Valentine's Day decor as I have so much from previous years.

P.S. Hoping anyone in the path of Snowmageddon stays safe. It will be hitting us some time tomorrow. Ack!

Jeanine

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I've been sick in bed the past two days with a nasty stomach virus, so I haven't had much time to craft. Feeling much better today and sharing some random Valentine's Day touches about the house.

I used a match box and some Washi-ish tape from Ikea to make this little love box. I lined it with French book paper and a random Bingo tile.

I break these frames out every year. I picked them up at Michael's a couple of years ago. This is the little vignette I have on our tv stand.

I always dress up our corner cabinet. Lots of vintage Valentine's all about.

I used some Romeo & Juliet book paper as the backdrop for this frame and added the Special Delivery tag I found on Pinterest.

I'm sure I'll be adding a few more touches in the coming days. In the meanwhile, I'm just trying to take care not to get sick again.

Jeanine

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I'm trying not to go overboard with cow decor in the kitchen, but how perfect are these new touches?

Found this vintage image on Pinterest (links to FindingHomeOnline). I printed it out and added it to this Ikea frame that I've had for a while.

And then I found this one (The Graphics Fairy). Again, I printed it out and added it to a clipboard that I had painted black last year.

Two quick and easy touches to my kitchen farmhouse theme!

Jeanine

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It's Friday and you know what that means: my favorite local thrift store is open for business. I popped in this morning and scored a ton of...

Vintage seam binding! You can't see but there are some vintage shoelaces and Singer sewing needles behind all that goodness.

I also grabbed the Pyrex bowl. I never saw this color before. It's like an olive hue. You can see the color better in this photo.

I also picked up this little candle holder - mainly for the winter theme and coloring. I'm already putting out Valentine's Day decorations, so the red works nicely with everything.

The bag of craft boxes was $1. I don't have any immediate plans for them, but it's always nice to have them around.

And there you have it. Five dollars well spent!

Jeanine

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Just when I thought I'd heard about all the different transfer image methods, along comes a new one: the packing tape transfer method.

I read about it on The Graphics Fairy (click on the link to go directly to the post tutorial). Since I'm always looking for easy, new transfer methods, I got on this one right away. All I can say is: OMG, love it!

This has to be one of the easiest methods I've ever tried. Here's a brief rundown: 1. Print out your image onto paper; 2. Cover it with a piece of clear packing tape; 3. Burnish the image with a wood stick; 4. Soak in warm water for 2-3 minutes. I'm going to stop here...

Because...the tutorial says to peel off the paper after soaking it in the water. Lucky me got a phone call during this step. When I turned around after hanging up, the paper had pulled away from the tape. Winning! No scraping off paper for me!

Continuing: 5. Let tape image dry and 6. Adhere to your glass jar/candle holder/glass anything.

So stinking easy and is seriously my newest obsession. Definitely give this one a go!

Jeanine

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I know, I know - pretty hokey title for this post, but I couldn't resist! I hope everyone's new year is off to a great start. I've been slacking on the blog lately, so one of my resolutions was to get back into blogging instead of just posting projects to Instagram.

This is my first project for 2016. I'm always making Frenchy tea towels, but I wanted a little change for the new year. So I found this great butcher's cut cow image on Etsy and immediately added it to my shopping cart.

I printed the image in reverse onto TAP paper, cut out the cows and then simply ironed them onto each tea towel.

I already have them hanging in my kitchen!

Something new to my blog: I'm going to be listing the where to buy for all projects this year. For the cow image, go to: JLeeLoo2 on Etsy (or click the link), $1. The tea towels are from Ikea and are 79 cents each.

Now to catch up on some much missed blog reading.

Jeanine

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Wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year!

Jeanine

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Wow, has it really been over a week since I last posted?! Between the hustle and bustle of the holidays and the fact I have my first cold of the season, I haven't been able to get much crafting done. Well, I did have time to stop by the Dollar Store earlier this week...

And I did find a little time between bouts of rain to give these Dollar Store candle holders a little Mercury glass makeover.

This was almost an epic fail.

You see, once I gave each holder a few coats of Krylon's Looking Glass spray paint, it started to rain. Except I didn't realize it was raining and left my garage door open where the holders were drying.

So the paint got wet and took forever to dry. It got a little gloppy too and then started peeling. UGH! I didn't panic and let the paint completely dry overnight (in a closed garage!). When I came out the next day, I was able to fix most of it.

Phew - that was a close one! I added some tea-stained seam binding to each holder and called it a day.

Jeanine