Loving Woven Wall Hangings

My "wall carpet thingy" is finally validated, thanks to Decor8.

The first time I saw one of these wall hangings was over at The Brick House. I was instantly in love, so I filed it away in the back of my mind for future thrifting trips. You can bet I was pretty excited to come across one in the basement of one of my favorite flea markets here in Springfield. I was even more excited when I learned it was priced at $6.00 and everything in that booth was 50% off. 

So I hung it above my fireplace. 

I love this thing, and I'm feeling pretty satisfied after I came across this article on Decor8 and this article on The Design Files about artists who are currently making these kinds of lovely woven wall hangings. Here's a look at what they are talking about. I think they are insanely beautiful.

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This past weekend, on our Thanksgiving trip to Warsaw, Missouri, I picked up this guy and gave him a dowel rod:

SCORE!

My husband sometimes appears to think I'm insane. But I'm going to keep buying any reasonably priced woven wall hangings (and paint-by-numbers, Rand!) I can, because I think they are lovely, and they can really amp up a room. Does anyone else out there agree?

Thrifty Finds // 7

This weekend we had Rand's side of the family's Thanksgiving celebration, and we all gathered together in Warsaw (Missouri, not Poland) for family time and flea market time. Here are the few little goodies I picked up while I was there:

Woven Wall Hanging, $15.00
This is on the upper end of what I would call a thrifty price. But I love these! In fact, I'm going to write another post about how much I love these.

Vintage Bullet Planter, $10.00
This thing needs a good cleaning and maybe some spray paint on those shabby legs. But I still like it!!

Records-Cat Stevens, Bing Crosby, and Rod Stewart, $1.00 each. We like to rock.

So this corner of my living room got some special treatment after this thrifty trip. I just stuck a pot of bamboo in the planter for now, but hopefully soon I will get time to plant something directly in it. Here's what this corner looks like now:

Have you had any good thrifty finds lately?

Lately I've been doing better than I can afford to be. I need to cut back, but it's tough when I keep finding good stuff! By the way, I passed up A LOT of paint by numbers while I was there. That took some restraint.

Do you think there will be any drainage issues when I put a plant into that bullet planter? 

Have you had any of your Thanksgivings yet?

Vintage DIY Books + My Crafty Story

I'm pretty sure my craftiness started because I watched Gone With The Wind in the sixth grade. I know I was too old to still be playing with Barbies at that time, but I was so in love with the clothing in that movie that I started buying fabric and sewing antebellum-style dresses and accessories for my dolls. It got really out of control when I discovered the remnants bin at Hobby Lobby.

Anyway, I got crafty, and at some point I developed enough crafty courage that when I came across my mom's set of Better Homes and Gardens DIY books, I bought a few supplies and taught myself to knit and crochet. Suddenly my Barbie dolls started getting scarves and beanie caps.

Next I moved on to embroidery and eventually to knitting human people-sized things, but it wasn't long until I had moved on and all those things I had created and learned were packed away somewhere.  It was only a couple of years ago that the box they were in finally resurfaced and my mom let me take them home. They've been with me ever since.

I've been crafting and thrifting it up real nice lately so I decided I better step up my photography game a little by building a light box. I took these photos this weekend during my first photo session with it and I love it! It makes things so pretty and bright. I thought my little collection (See? I've added two more books, so it's a collection!) would make a nice subject.

I haven't picked up knitting since that short time when I was a kid, but I did create my string art project recently using ideas from String Things You Can Create, and I want to make a rag rug at some point, like the happy lady in the picture. And even though I have no interest in appliqué or needlepoint at the moment, I am in love with the photographs inside of fifties and seventies interiors and crafty turtleneck-wearing friends gathering to braid a rug.

Where can I find friends who want to do that on a Friday night?