Vacuuming My Driveway and Destroying Vanity...

I just got finished vacuuming my driveway. I am now not only known as the Mama whose little boy uses the rhododendron bush in the front yard as a convenient urinal but the crazy lady who vacuums her driveway.

Although, one of my neighbors is a crazy cleaning lady. She washes her windows weekly. Her outside windows. Her outside GARAGE windows.  I'd be impressed if I wasn't so jealous of her mad scrubbing skillz.

I hope she saw me vacuuming my driveway. I hope she was impressed. That's right neighbor lady, I've stepped it up!

WHY was I vacuuming my driveway? OK, it's kind of a story. Keep reading:

Last week I headed into our local thrift store. After throwing the ugly mangly little kid chair into my shopping cart I wheeled right to my favorite section: Furniture.

Right away I spotted an ADORABLE little girl's vintage white dressing vanity and mirror. The paint was perfectly chippy and the mirror had a lovely curve and charming aged appeal.

HELLO BEAUTIFUL.

It was labeled $40 and I snatched that purchase sticker and clutched it to my chest, already dreaming of the many hours my Lil Chick would spend sitting by her pretty vintage dressing table playing dress up and being all girly and such.

I called my Mom (who lives really close) and said, "IfoundthisawesomebeautifulvanitytableforLilChickandIneedfortydollarscashcanubehereinten???"

Thankfully she understands a good find and said she was coming.

I continued shopping while I waited.....until the store director came to tell me that unfortunately someone had already purchased the vintage vanity the day before and that it was mistagged.

*(heart breaking)*

Fast forward a few days and a bunch of phone calls later from a nice lady in our church asking me if I was the one at the thrift store wanting to purchase the vintage white vanity and that she insisted that I should really have it. SO nice. REALLY nice.

I went to pick up the sweet vintage vanity today and smiled when I saw it sitting there.

HELLO BEAUTIFUL. I'm here to take you home, test you for lead, possibly refinish and repaint you, give you crystal cut knobs and a sweet little girl will spend hours and hours by you playing dress us and being all girly and such.

Finally loaded it and a few other treasures into the back of Lola and headed home. Pulled into the garage, randomly hit the automatic open back hatch button and opened Bubbalu's door to take him out.

THUNK THUNK THUNK......CRASH!

I screamed. Then cried. Then mentally groped for the rewind button on that dang life remote that is always lost.

Got the kids set up with a movie inside and sadly threw the biggest chunks in the garbage and vacuumed up the rest of the shattered pieces of a perfectly aged, bevel cut, vintage, curved mirror from our garage floor and driveway.

(Enter a poignant paragraph on the ironic circumstances of the vanity of decorating a little girls room that has led to destruction of a little girls vanity table.)

Being that I need to replace that shattered mirror, anyone know of a great, inexpensive mirror cutter?

*Sigh*

A

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Ugly Mangly Chair Gets a Makeover...

So I ran through our local thrift store last week and gasped when I saw this ugly mangly old chair.

I gasped because HELLO POTENTIAL!!! And for only $8 it was a STEAL. I all but dove for it and threw it in my cart, giving the ole hairy eyeball to anyone having the audacity to look at it sitting contentedly in my shopping cart. I've seen many upholstered little chairs for well over $100 at various stores. Lil Chick was anxious to sit on it but I refused to let her hiney touch that chair in its slubby state.

Fast forward three days. I've already ripped off and thrown away the previous disgusto upholstery fabric and purchased some pretty decor weight fabric, button kits and cording. My weapon of choice is a compression powered staple gun and I've got the craftin itchies. I told my hubby to keep the kidlets out of the living room and went to work:

New fabric covering cording and new padding:

Working on the back of the chair:

Only a SHORT time later (OK OK it took me six hours) I have a cute upholstered chair to adorn Lil Chick's new bedroom:

I FINALLY let her sit her hiney on it:

PERFECT.

A

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Plain Gray Tank Gets Sassy...

After finally seam ripping all of that punky, non-cooperative black lace off of my cheapo gray tank top I was left with blah tank top with three seam ripped holes in it.

Lovely.

Not to mention the frustration of a failed project.

After the tank top came out of it's time out (Yes, I punish sewing projects that don't work out as I have planned them. They get a time out. Sometimes they get a forever out. ) I decided to have another go at it.

Blah:



So I dug through my not often enough dug through fabric stash and found some goodies.

Anyone remember the Olive Hope Shirt???

I decided I needed one too. Yup, let's try a patterned fabric this time around:



MUCH better. Covered up the torn holes and added a healthy dose of sass to a plain gray tank top:



I'd call this one a success...

A

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Please Don't Set Your Teacher On Fire...

I was this close to pulling out one of my cheerleading outfits from way back when to help CHEER Bubbalu into this new age of education.

Yup, my baby's going to preschool.

And I'm certain he'd appreciate the extra effort his Mama would show by squashing her times two postpartum self into an eensy teensy cheerleading skirt and top.

Acutally, he probably wouldn't notice. I brought him to the door and before I could say, "let's hang up your coat" he was off and running. Uh, can I at LEAST have a hug or something? You know, show SOME recognition that it pains you to be separated from your Mother for three hours?

I'm sitting at home waiting for the phone call from the principal to have me come and collect my child.

So far so good. No teachers set on fire, no mass stampeding of the school and no ripping down the display boards.

There was one tiny thing I forgot to mention to his teachers. I do hope they hid all of their sharpies...

A

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Rebellious Black Lace...

So it appears that I am incapable of sewing luscious layers of black lace in a sloping angle down a plain gray tank top.

Picture unevenly bunched lace, lace flipping up on the wrong spots, lace sticking straight out from the, uh, ta-ta's and making me look about the width of a life size Mrs. Potato head. Not exactly flattering OR appropriate.

After three failed attempts I'm ready to throw in the towel and try something new. It's so frustrating when I have an idea in my head of what I want a project to end up like but cannot seem to make it happen.

It needles me to not be able to create it.

Get it? NEEDLES? Tee Hee Hee!

I have now temporarily abandoned lace and am now happily creating rolled fabric flowers. They. Are. Delicious. Lots of dramatic layers and no two are the same. Perfect for sassifying a t shirt, giving a bag some eye candy or even adorning an accent pillow.

Speaking of accent pillows, I am currently redecorating my living room. Many a day has been spent poring over paint chips and trying to pinpoint in my head exactly what look I'm going for and what will look good. If you come to my front door I'll probably drag you into the living room and tell you to choose a paint color for me. Then I'll second guess myself and doubt your advice and will end up more confused than ever. However, I need to trust my own instincts. I'm the one who lives in my house and I need to own the decision. My instinct usually steers me in the right direction.

Except when trying to sew black lace onto a gray t shirt...

A

**Didja know you can find me HERE on Facebook? True story. Like my page and get the latest Vintage Dutch Girl posts in your news feed. Oh, and it'll make my day! **

Decor Smitten...

*sigh*



This image by Laura Ashley has been haunting me for the past 10 days. I stare at it trying to piece it apart and decide what exactly it is about the decor that has me smitten.

Tealy fabric to cover my huge windows floor to ceiling? Already ordered.

Gorgeous cream sofa? Might be learning to make a slipcover or two....or possibly go shopping.

Double chocolate leather club chairs? Hmmmm, Costco is having a sale.

White/Cream walls? I've already primed the living room...with a slight adjustment that you'll eventually find out about...

New dreamy sofa pillows? Already surfing the net shopping for fabric and pillow forms.

This picture speaks to me. Actually it shouts. Not sure exactly what it is that is being shouted, but it's something good. Something very good. Something along the lines of, "Amanda! You ENJOY being a homebody!" or "Amanda, this living room is welcoming and friendly!" or "Amanda, curl up on your gorgeous cream sofa and re-read Pride & Prejudice!"

UM, OK I just looked again and found something in the photo that gives me a clue as to what I like about the whole room's decor.

Look closely with me:



Oh yeah baby! Prime blogging spot! Hmmm, I AM going shopping, maybe I need to purchase a laptop?

A

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Lil Chick's Room Redo In Progress...

A LONG time ago I posted about wanting to redo Lil Chick's room. Well, about a month ago I started painting and last week we started nailing boards to the wall.

Trust me, it's prettier than it sounds.

A recovering 3 yr old, a puking 1 yr old and Mama being woken up 3 times a night to administer medicine and soothe kids back to sleep has resulted in ssssllllloooooowwwww progress. However we are taking baby steps and see the end in sight.

Oh, you want a sneak peak? Here ya go:



I'm getting excited for it to be done! I still have a bunch of projects up my sleeve to do but Lil Chick probably wouldn't mind having her room back sooner rather than later. She slept in the pack n play in Bubbalu's room while I was painting. THAT was interesting, to say the least. A very effective lesson in patience!

Off to do some sanding and priming...

A

**Didja know you can find me HERE on Facebook? True story. Become a fan (or like) and get the latest Vintage Dutch Girl posts in your news feed. Oh, and it'll make my day! **

Top Tank Tops...

I have seven tank tops awaiting my sewing machine, free time and inspiration.

No, that's not a typo. Not several, SEVEN.

What can I say? They were only $3.50 each. Not too shabby if I can get some great individual everyday tank tops.

I often see photos of clothes or a sewing concept that I want to try and get all fired up and excited about it but forget about it the next week when the daily demands of keeping your children alive and well and the house sorta functionable gets in the way.

In an effort to harness and recall those creative thoughts before they escape out my ears I'm plastering them here in a post to be available for me when my free time decides to come back from it's extended vacation.

Hopefully, they might serve to inspire YOU as well:


(Anthro)


(Anthro)


(Banana Republic)


(Kate Spade)

(Kate Spade)


(Nordy's)

Whew! That's enough for now, more to come soon...

A

**Didja know you can find me HERE on Facebook? True story. Become a fan (or like) and get the latest Vintage Dutch Girl posts in your news feed. Oh, and it'll make my day! **

Black Edged Ruffle Tank Tutorial...

I'm loving my new Black Edged Ruffle Tank (or BERT for short) :



BERT pairs well with a casual denim skirt and snazzy flip flops. Yes, I wear bedazzled flip flops. Don't judge me.

So, ya wanna make one for yourself??? OK, here's the tutorial:

RUN to the nearest Walmart and pick up some of their Faded Glory tank tops that are now on sale/clearance for only $3.50 each. Confessions of a revampaholic: I just bought seven of them. SEVEN.

OK, you have your simple tank. You also need an old t-shirt to create the ruffles. I chose a flimsy tank (one on the left) that I never wore. Pretty sure it was a garage sale find:



Chop it up into three long strips....about 2 - 4ish inches wide by 10 - 20ish inches long, varying in width as you go. This project is extremely non-specific....so if you are a fly by the seat of your pants crafter, this project is for YOU. Here are my three oblong strips:



Use a rolled hem stitch in a contrasting thread along both short sides and one long side of each strip. Me? I chose black:



Baste (or use a loose gathering stitch) along the remaining unstitched long side 1/2 inch from the edge on all three strips. Hold on to the top thread and pull the bobbin thread to ruffle those up nicely.

Drape the widest strip along the tank top neckline and adjust the ruffles to fit to your taste. Layer #1:



It's already lovely but let's up the sassy factor, shall we?

Add the next widest layer and again adjust the ruffles as necessary:



Getting there!

Add the last and thinnest strip to complete the look:


Va va VOOM!

Finish adjusting the ruffles and pin all three layers to the tank top neckline:



Sew along your basting stitch to attach all three ruffly strips to the tank neckline leaving the raw edges out.

You are done! Throw on that lovely BERT tank and accessorize:



And yes, use a duckie peeking out from behind your rear. If that's not accessorizing I don't know what is...

A

**Didja know you can find me HERE on Facebook? True story. Become a fan (or like) and get the latest Vintage Dutch Girl posts in your news feed. Oh, and it'll make my day! **

Chili's Rocks My Palette....

Yummo chips and Salsa and some delish new burgers. Over on my review blog I finally change up my boring same-ole Chili's menu order and try something new. And you know what? It isn't half bad...

We Mama's Need to Stick Together....

You guys are awesome! So many awesome tips for traveling with kids in the comments section on that last post.

Love it when Mama's can stick together and share our often hard earned knowledge.

I must say, I'm not nearly so nervous about our trip now. Although I am guessing our trip will have at least three "you'll NEVER believe it" stories to tell you all about. Yay for blog fodder!

Stay tuned folks, Black Edged Ruffle Tank Tutorial up tomorrow...

A

Needed: Advice On Traveling With Kids...

Oh my lands, are we completely nuts?

I've just booked the flights and condo reservation for our very first voluntary destination family trip. That'd be my husband and I...and our 3 yr old and a 19 month old.

Are we completely nuts?

Yup, but we are bound and determined to have a grand ole time making memories as a family of four. We're going somewhere sunny so I'm hoping for days playing in the pool and catching rays, early bedtimes for the kidlets and take-out 'n DVD date nights with the hubby. There are also a few family and friends we will also hopefully see and maybe maybe I'll get some shopping in!? One can only hope.

SO, being that this will be the very first time our kids are on an airplane....I need your help. Your advice. Your warnings.

So lay it on me folks. Please give me some practical advice on flying with young kids...

A

Black Edged Ruffle Tank ReVamp...

I'm digging black edged ruffles right now. They have a lovely vintage Paris (the city, not the socialite) feel about them. Any idea what I'm talking about?

Here are some examples:


(D&G)


(Modcloth)

And this vintage sassy little number from Etsy:



Feeling all inspired I quickly ran up into my closet and grabbed a new but boring basic white ribbed tank:



Wallyworld. I think it was only 4 bucks. Thicker than the Old Navy ones. They seem to hold their shape pretty well and are nice and long. Perfect.

As soon as the kiddos were napping/quiet time I ran to the craft room and eventually came up with this:



However I though it needed a little extra sumpin' sumpin'....so I accessorized:



Ahhhh, MUCH better!

Things that are making me laugh about this photo:

A. the ducky peeking out from behind my tush.

B. The fact that I'm all dressed up on the top....with capri workout pants on the bottom!

C. My Hair. Pulled back and clipped up, with a huge yellow headband holding the massive stringiness away from my face. Quote from Bubbalu this morning, "Mommy your hair is big today". True story.

D. I took this picture with my CHIN. Yep, my face. My face took this picture. Loving my new iPhone4. It has many many features. But certainly, CERTAINLY someone could figure out how to do a vocal pic cue, right? Or maybe I'm just not cool enough to know about the vocal pic cue app. Does it exist? If so, please clue me in!

This black edged ruffle stuff is very fun. I'm thinking I'll attack a few more shirts before I switch the thread out of my serger because HELLO is that an ordeal.

Goodness gracious it has been FAR too long since I posted anything personally sewn by me. Tutorial coming soon, stay tuned!

A

**Didja know you can find me HERE on Facebook? True story. Become a fan (or like) and get the latest Vintage Dutch Girl posts in your news feed. Oh, and it'll make my day! **

Bubbalu's Morning...

I've had a busy morning so far.

I started out with some fun coloring and decided that coloring on paper was for babies and decided instead to color ON babies. And myself. That's much more fun:


( I don't think Lil Chick appreciated my artwork very much.)

Then I moved on to some lovely crayon scribbling on the glass slider door which Mommy made me scrub off:


(see my drawing on my face? I like it a lot.)

But that was boring so I started shredding the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser pad. Why not? It was fun:



Then Mommy went away for a few minutes to count to ten or something silly like that and I found this itty bitty bottle of fun white powdery stuff that smelled like babies...which Mommy AGAIN made me clean up:



She's such a party pooper.

And right this very moment I'm in my bedroom having a quiet time. Except I'm not being quiet...because that is NO fun. No fun at all...

A

**Didja know you can find me HERE on Facebook? True story. Become a fan (or like) and get the latest Vintage Dutch Girl posts in your news feed. Oh, and it'll make my day! **

OK Ruffles, Strike a Pose...

Finally discovered Picnik and have finally beautified the Vintage Dutch Girl Etsy shop. LOVING being able to accurately show my flower pins and new headbands in prettier photographs:









Ah, much better.

More ruffly headbands and polka dotty goodness to come. Also some scruffy casual flower pins. Yup, that'll be fun. I'm long overdue to have me some craftin therapy. Stay tuned...

A

**Didja know you can find me HERE on Facebook? True story. Become a fan (or like) and get the latest Vintage Dutch Girl posts in your news feed. Oh, and it'll make my day! **