Spring DIY Banner Kits Were a Real Hit!

 Hello + Hello!

How is everyone?

I hope you are well!

I just wanted to stop in here & share a little bit

 about what I did this past rainy & dreary weekend...

 

>>>>>--------------->

 

Honestly, I'd been craving some sit down crafty time for quite a while now.

So,

I decided to take some time out and make up a cheery

Spring banner with some vintage

 Contact Paper.

 I've had these rolls squirreled away

from my thrifting adventures

for quite awhile now...

and it suddenly seemed like the right time to use them!

 I had so much fun making the banner for myself,

that I made a bunch of

DIY Kits and sold them in my

Trisha Brink Design Shop

on Instagram.

They were a huge hit!

Each kit simply contained just the right amount of

vintage papers & string

(along with instructions)

to make these adorable banners

which total about 3 yards in length.

It doesn't take rocket science to figure out how to make these.

Finding the right combination of prints and colors is the difficult part;

and I simply lucked out.

I figured I'd spread the luck around

being it was St. Patty's Day weekend and all.

(wink, wink)

 

Pretty sweet huh?

I had so much fun making these....

I may have to come up with other kits soon!

Just in case anyone is interested in making their own garland...

I have a few kits left.

They can be purchased from me for $6.00 each

with free shipping within the USA!

(Just contact me via email at trishabrinkdesign@comcast.net

& I can send you an invoice via PayPal.)

 

>>>>>--------------->

 

So...

sometimes you don't need to make huge

leaps and bounds on a rainy dreary weekend.

Sometimes you simply need to

get crafty and create your own sun shiny cheer!

 

Cheers,

T.

xx

Play Your Vintage Cards Right; A Bunting DIY Tutorial

 Hello + Hello!

How are you all doing today?

I hope you are well?

Today I'm going to share a simple little tutorial with

old playing cards.

I seem to find these fun little sets of playing cards while I'm out thrifting.

Honestly, I don't play cards all that often,

but when I do it's pretty much

Go Fish, Old Maid or Uno with my sons.

Although my boys are learning new games that include regular

card playing....they have their own set of cards they like to use.

SO,

since I have no use for the cards in their original purpose....

I do like to purchase them for their fun design alone.

Now,

hmmmm.....what to do with these little cuties?

Well in order to enjoy the illustrations on a daily basis,

I SHOULD MAKE A BUNTING!

Want to know how? It's pretty simple, so here we go:

 

 HOW TO MAKE A PLAYING CARD BUNTING

 First: Gather your supplies.

- Assorted vintage playing cards

(You could also use scrap greeting cards; imagine a fun Christmas card bunting!)

-Thick string, bakers twine or yarn to match

-Piece of tape

-Scissors or cutting board

-Hole punch

-Ruler

-Pencil/Pen

 

 

 First,

measure to the center of the bottom on the face of the card.

From that measurement either free hand cut with a scissors or with the cutting board

out to each top corner. This will create your triangle.

 Then, hole punch the top two corners.

Next, wrap tape around the end of the string/yarn & begin to

thread your pennants on.

You can make your bunting as long as you like!

If you end up having a poker party....you can simply flip the bunting around

and enjoy your cards at face value!

I think this is a fun little tutorial,

and can be used for many different applications.

Imagine this in a child's room with vintage

old maid cards or memory cards....

birthday parties with vintage birthday cards...

in a classroom with vintage flash cards.

You can go on and on!

I hope this little project will inspire you to come up with your own

little buntings.

Remember, they are fun for celebrations....

but in my opinion, bunting is for everyday enjoyment.

Celebrate life, make and hang some bunting!

Cheers!

T.

xx



The 32 Things I've Been Doing Since We Last Spoke

 

 Hello + Hello!

How have you all been lately?

Long time no speak...

yeah, I know....my bad.

Quite honestly I needed a little break from the internet/blogging,

but...just for a bit.

I guess I should've given a warning...but you know...it just didn't happen.

WHAT DID HAPPEN HOWEVER

was a bunch of stuff!

Whew...have I been a busy little bee.

In addition to my normal everyday job at

Grandiflora

this is what I've been up to while not

mothering...or wifey-ing

(is that a word?)

Ha ha ha!

 

>>>>>--------------->

 

Anyway...here goes:

Above you'll see that I painted a dresser for my son's room.
I also did a bit of fun painting for Etsy & Grandiflora items.

Next, I ripped up a neat old butterfly book and went a little

crazy with the gold and white washi tape!

I love how it turned out!

Then I started on some projects I can't reveal yet....at least not fully.

Isn't blanket stitching just the most relaxing thing?

I tried my hand at making a grocery tote from vintage sheeting....

it was actually going quite well

( I don't sew....no....frankly....I don't like to sew...not enough patience.)

until the machine decided to be stupid and I almost

threw it through a window!

(Well not really....but I thought it sounded like a good idea at the time.)

Needless to say,

I may be calling up one of my seamstress friends to finish it for me?

 I feel that I've been surrounded by books and magazines lately as well.

Truly I've not had the chance to really enjoy all of these lookers yet...

but everyday I savor a page or two!

I have been out picking and thrifting for finds lately.

Most of them go to one of my Etsy shops....but a few I either keep,

or send into Grandiflora.

I love shipping out orders from Etsy

&

washing and caring for the sweet vintage items.

A couple of other things I've been up to in my silly life are:

taking care of the t-shirt ninjas that seem to have invaded my life...

they demand fresh Asian food...mainly Spring Rolls.

I roll my eyes every time they get their swords out!

 

Our Chickens seem to have forgotten what a nesting box is....

or maybe they are practicing for Easter?

Again,

more photography for Etsy of this lovely vintage wallpaper.

Found a funny old photo strip pic of

hubby and I in 1992!

( Buah ha ha!)

Another chair that needs a little help...son picked it out for me.

(Frankly was pretty impressed with his selection!)

And....last but not least,

the new glasses arrived.

It's been mostly rainy lately....so it seems all I've been up to is

using the front of my shirt as a windshield wiper.

But there was a day or two when I was able to pull out the

new prescription sunglasses!

Whoo hooo!

 

>>>>>--------------->

 

Well,

I hope you're all enjoying your early Spring?

And....

that you're going to have an excellent weekend!

I hope to see you back again sooner rather than later...

but here is to a much needed break.

Cheers my friends!

T.

xx

Festive Ice Cream Sundae Flags Tutorial DIY

 

Hello + Hello!

How are all you lovelies?

Happy Weekend to you!

I thought I might drop in here and share a few more outtakes from the

little book feature I did for

Koralee Teichrob from Blue Bird Notes Blog

in

Everything Goes With Ice Cream

If you'd like to know more about this

awesome crafty ice cream book

HOP ON OVER HERE.

 

>>>>>--------------->

Today I wanted to share a few photo outtakes of

my ice cream cozy

&

share a simple tutorial on making my ice cream sundae flags.

Although the directions for the ice cream cozy are in the book

(Wouldn't want to spoil it now, would we?)

The simple instructions for the

sundae flags are not.

So,

here we go:

Gather your materials:

-bamboo skewers

-assorted ribbons (wired works best)

-ruffled confetti fringe paper garland

-extra sticky craft glue

-scissors

 

>>>>>--------------->

 

DIY

Cut a piece of ribbon about 7-8" long. Coat the inside of the ribbon with the tacky craft glue.

Lay the blunt end of the skewer in the center of the ribbon, and fold ribbon over on itself.

Allow to dry. Meanwhile cut a piece of the paper fringe garland about 2" long.

When the ribbon is dry, trim the end in an inverted V shape.

Twist the ribbon to look as if it's flying in the wind.

Glue the paper fringe garland snippet to the top and allow to dry.

(If you can't find paper fringe, use a pom-pom instead.)

and

Voila!

Festive Ice Cream Sundae Flags!

These work great for cupcakes and wedding cakes as well.

I hope you enjoyed this simple little tutorial.

Like I said earlier,

if you like these ideas and more....

you can find a ton of them in

THIS BOOK:

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers,

T.

xx

 



Love Jolt: Neon Washi

 Hello + Hello!
I wanted to share a little love jolt with you today....
neon pink washi tape.
>>>>>---------------->

I admit to a little bit of
Valentine's Day

wishi-washi-ness

goin' on right here in our little living room.

 So,

I've been waivering with painting my walls white for some time now...

frankly I've been feeling a bit too exhausted to do it lately ...

but maybe sometime soon?
Until then, I keep trying out new and wild ideas.

As many of you know, I've had this fun clustering of

embroidery hoops with different fabrics off and on for more than a few years now.
It's called a swatch wall.

I've changed out colors & added some doo-dahs,

but recently I got my hands on some

neon pink washi tape!!

It was more than a little fun going hog wild with it!!

 I'll be the first person to admit that many of my friends and aquaintances online

have inspired me...and my wishi-washi swatch wall.

Selina Lake, Jane Schouten of ATLITW & Tif Fussel of Dottie Angel

to name a few.

I am always so thankful that these lovely ladies are willing to share their

gifts and talents to inspire the rest of us!

 I thought it would be fun to inject a little love into the picture

for this

Valentine's Day Season!

 Armed with more ideas than time,

I started having all sorts of fun with tape, paper, yarn & scissors.

It was jolly good fun!
(sorry been watching a bit too much Downton Abby lately I guess)
Hopefully this will inspire you to
get your hands busy and crafty with simple little things like
tape, paper, yarn & scissors.
It doesn't take much really.
About an hour and you'll have your windows full of red hearts...
or your kitchen cabinets posted with love quotes.
C'mon....
it's fun to decorate for holidays isn't it?
I think this neon washi tape is what's gotten me through some of these
dreary rainy days of winter lately.
Give it a go...I DARE you!
Ha ha ha!
Let me know what you turn up with ok?
I look forward to your comments sooooo much!
Have a lovely week my friends,
T.
xx

Make Happy Hearts to Warm Your Winter Weary Soul DIY

Hello + Hello!

How have you been over the weekend?

I hope you are well?

I've been better than I was this past week...but still not great.

I tell you the stomach flu is really hanging on in our family...icky!

I was only gone from home for 2 hours but I was physically exhausted when I came home!!

The bad part was that I was mentally

WIDE AWAKE!

SO.....

I got some craft on!

If you are itching to make a little something fun this dreary winter, may I suggest these?

Here's the scoop.....they are super easy & you'll love it!

1. Grab some collapsed scrap cereal, pizza or granola bar boxes or similar light weight cardboard from the recycle bin.

2. Fold a piece in half and cut out "half" a heart on the fold. Unfold and lay flat.

3. Glue the heart to a piece of decorative vintage wallpaper with Mod Pod or watered down white school glue. ( Some of these wallpapers can be found at my shops on Etsy, at either Ollie Bollen or Wesley Asher by the yard if you are interested.)

4. If you plan to hang the hearts so you see both sides (like in a window etc.) just cover the backside the same way and allow to dry.

5. Last, punch holes in the top of the hearts and string with yarn or ribbons & hang...it's that easy!

 I'm thinking of making more to give away....these just turned out too cute!

I must be gettin' my craft mojo back after this long flu.

YAY!!!!

Until next time my friends, 

.....lot's of love!!!

T.

xx



Spreading JOY from a Pizza Box: DIY & Linky Party!

Hello + Hello

&

JOY

to

the
World!

How are you this fine Christmas-tide?

I'm having such a lovely holiday season so far...I hope you are too!

My little boys and I have been all over the place in this house doing all sorts of wonderful things with our Christmas Decor.

one of the things I had inteded to do this season was to purchase a huge

NOEL

sign from my own shop

Grandiflora Home and Garden

but...

before I knew it the signs were all gone.

(That happens more often than not for me! Oh well, you snooze you lose.)

SO,

we improvised instead!

This was probably meant to be anyway as it turned out to be a really fun time for

the two boys and myself.

First we found a few frozen pizza boxes in our recycle bin.

Then we went to work

"making a little (er...or....a big) JOY!"

 After finding the boxes and ripping them open, we (2) traced out some large letters. Then (3) cut them out. Next (4) we painted the letters with white Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan. From there (5) we punched holes in the tops of the letters & (6) coated the letters with Matte Mod Pod and mica glitter flakes. Last (7) we strung the letters onto ribbon and hung on our 1898 Eastern Hemisphere Antique pull down school map.

Voila!

JOY TO THE WORLD!

It was so much fun!

After the sign was hung we went to work placing our ever growing collection of globes around the bottom of the map on our antique Scottish buffet.

 Of course, we needed to use up some of my collection of

vintage and antique ornaments in the display....

....how perfect they mirrored the look of the round globes!

 It was fun to continue on to the bookshelf that holds our random collection of whatnots.

 

 I flipped my (normally wallpapered) star around and gave it the

royal treatment with mica glitter as well!

Each and every nook and cranny has been filled with

Christmas Cheer.

So,

what about you?

What fun things have you been up to this season?

Are you all decorated?

Or....not so much?

I'd love to hear from you!

>>>>>----------------->

Also,

something exciting is happening here today with a bunch of wonderful people

 who I so fondly

refer to as

Inspirational Folks!

All of us

Gatherings Magazine

contributors have started linking up to eachother's blogs so that you can

peek in and enjoy what we're up to this

Merriest of Seasons!

I hope you'll get the chance to head over to

Liz Loves Vintage (blog)

to see what all these lovely folks are up to all over the globe at Christmas time.

Cheers to each and everyone of you....

&

happiest of decorating!

T.

xx



Advent Calendar Class at Grandiflora

 Hello + Hello!

How's everything going?

I hope well!

I've been trying to get back to doing some normal things since spending the last few weeks engrossed in everything going on at our shop

Grandiflora Home & Garden

here in Lynden, Washington.

I did however...

have to show you this one thing we have going on there....

at the shop.

It's an 

Advent Calendar Class

I created from an inspiration found over here on

my Pinterest Christmas board.

( Sorry, the link doesn't connect through...if you know who to credit, I'd love to know!)

 

 This was such a fun project to create!

Time consuming...but fun!

My hubby was kind enough to cut all the lumber

&

I had a good time coming up with all the decorative aspects.

So,

what about you?

Do you have an Advent Calendar at your house?

We have two...and my little boys

LOVE IT!

It's always a great reminder to me

to count down to the night when

our

Saviour Jesus Christ was born....

the REAL reason for this blessed season.

...

Well,

If you're local, I'd love for you to

come on in to the shop and sign up for this great class!

You can find out all the details over

HERE

Cheers!

T.

xx
Update: Class is now closed, sorry.

Filing Away the Distracting Creative Clutter

 Hello + Hello!

I've been slowly but surely picking away at the creative clutter in my

newly painted studio...

It's been quite the fun and crazy adventure to say the least.

Retro drainboards become filing cabinets...

 ...doors become table tops...

 ...your child's rocker becomes office furniture...

...and wooden shoes become vases.

***

In the meantime...

 ...friends give you all this distracting junk to play with!

 I'm totally in love with this vintage crepe paper!

The colors are delicious!!

 The wooden spools with dreamy colored threads?

I could play with them all day!

 Oh..

if only I could find the key to putting

"time in a bottle"

...er...

...uh...

Well,

anyway...

If only I just had more time to play around with all the lovely goodies I keep finding

whilst I'm going through the piles.

***

All photos above are a sampling of what you'll find over on

Instagram.

You can find me as @trishabrink,

or

if you don't have one of those gadgety doo-dahs which accepts Instagram...

you can find my Instagram photos on the web at my

Webstagram

page.

 

Maybe I'll see ya over there sometime?

xx

T.