Two Junk Chix

Christmas Vignettes from my Mom

2011-12-24T07:11:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share some of my mom's touches of Christmas she has spread throughout the house. She has such a great design eye and everything was so festive and fun. I love how she brought out my grandmother's ceramic pieces she made when I was a little girl. My grandmother never finished this Santa but that's how I remember him and in my eyes, he is perfect!! Mom and I have a large collection of Wendy Addison glittered pieces and a few knock off artists' glittered pieces too. We love them all!

Here is my grandmother's nativity scene she made. The mantle is the perfect spot!

Mom, Andrea, and I have a thing for old glass cloches. My mom's collection has grown since I was last home. I love her snowy combination in this one below.

Merry Christmas,

♥

tia & andrea

Oh how I love this ;)

2011-12-24T07:07:00.001-08:00

Countdown to Christmas

2011-12-13T04:50:00.001-08:00

I was so excited to find this advent calendar that my girl Janae and I made before I moved from Chicago. I couldn't find it last year as it was hidden away in a random box from the move. We had so much fun making these! Boy do I miss our craft nights!

These were so easy to make. We purchased a metal tray from Goodwill and spray painted it black. We used random size and shape containers to make it interesting and covered them in different papers and embellishments. We both used a lot of leopard print since we both love some leopard!! Then we hot glued magnets to the backs of each container and voila....a magnetic advent calendar! You can fill each container with candies or little notes and turn it into a scavenger hunt for your children. The possibilities are endless!!

Happy creating!!!
Tia and Andrea

Some life lessons...

2011-12-12T05:56:00.000-08:00

Well..."they" are at it again. For a long time I stayed away from church. I was struggling with my first son's diabetes diagnosis (which unless you have experienced that, you can't begin to imagine how one would feel) and very angry that in my mind, God put this on us. And another reason I stayed out of church was because of all the hypocrites. Someone very important in my life once told me, "if you go sit in your garage, does that make you a car?". Meaning....just because you go to church every Sunday, does that make you a Christian? I have met so many hypocrites in my life that I can't even count them. They go around preaching scripture, posting it on their Facebook status yet doing things to others that are not very Christian like. And some are using their fan pages to show their fans just how insecure they are. To be such an unGodly person to sink so low as to post about me, making fun of my 2 sons' diabetes and the cause that I work so hard for, is one of the saddest things I've witnessed. Well, I choose not to go down that road again. As the quote below says "Never look down on somebody unless you are helping them up."

I am not a lucky person.....I am a blessed person. I choose not to be a hypocrite. If only the haters would spend more time focusing on their family and their own business instead of being so infatuated with me and what I'm doing, maybe they would be in a better place.

xoxo,

tia

Fabulous Chandelier

2011-12-11T19:35:00.001-08:00

I am in love with vintage French drying racks but they take up so much space. So since we needed (well, not really needed...you could say I wanted) a new chandelier for our morning room, I thought....why not incorporate a French drying rack with a chandelier?

This thing holds 40 bottles and let me tell you it is very heavy!! I highly recommend having a professional hang this if you decide to duplicate this design. We used a heavy gauge wire to secure the drying rack through the chandelier chain. It is definitely a show stopper and conversation piece and I absolutely love it!!

Have a great day and keep shining ;)
Tia

"Bedazzled" Fall Pumpkins

2011-09-23T09:10:00.001-07:00

Decorating with white pumpkins is one of my favorite things to do in the fall. I put a cluster of varying sized white pumpkins in my dining room and as much as I loved it, I just felt it was a tad blah. I lucked out and found a HUGE lot of vintage upholstery tacks and thought they would be the perfect thing to spruce up these plain pumpkins. And ya know what.....I LOVE them! I already have my black pumpkins ready to go for Halloween. Gonna add a spider web design in vintage nail heads. I think it's going to be so cute!

Happy Fall, Y'all!!

tia

Precious Time...

2011-09-18T17:32:00.001-07:00

It seems we are all so busy these days. And even though technology can make things easier for us, I also feel it makes things busier for us. I think about time a lot and how quickly it goes by...right in front of your eyes....poof!!

I finally took the time to take down all the summer coral and sea shells and start thinking about fall. Here by my front door, I did a very simple display with vintage clock faces and my vintage # 5 collection. I love the number 5 because it represents my 5 children. I can't believe how quickly they are growing! And paired with one of my favorite quotes, it's a great daily reminder to sometimes stop everything that keeps us so busy and embrace the time we are so blessed with here on this Earth.

Walk for a Cure 2001

2011-09-18T09:30:00.001-07:00

Headed to our first Virginia JDRF walk for a cure! We are so excited to be a part of this amazing event!! Thank you to all who have donated and supported this cause that us so dear to my heart! And thank you to all the Crimson Clover customers who support this every day!

Burlap banner wreath

2011-05-07T06:05:00.000-07:00

Hi all! It's been a while since I posted. As a lot of you know, our 9 year old son was just diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes so I have been taking some time off. Now with 2 diabetic children, I haven't felt much like crafting or decorating. I thought it was time to get the easter egg wreath off of my front door...LOL...but really didn't know what to put in its place. So I had my sweet friend, Amanda make this adorable mini burlap banner for me and just added it to this wreath I had covered back in the winter with jute webbing. It's simple and I love it. Thanks Amanda!! And thanks to my sweet sister-in-law, Andrea...my other "two junk chix" for keeping up the crafting and creating. It has really helped get my little spark back. Love you!!!

xoxo,

tia

Happy birthday wreath

2011-05-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

Michael's birthday was yesterday and he turned 11 years old. Happy Birthday to him!!!

To celebrate our family's birthdays, I have a yard flag that I put out for the week of the birthday. You all know me and know I like have something on my door. I have wanted to make one of these balloon wreaths after the first time that I saw it done online somewhere. Sorry I don't know who to credit. :(

It is really easy to make though. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of how to because I literally made it during one of Michael's baseball practices. So it doesn't take that long to make one BUT it does take a lot of balloons.
So here is what you need to create the wreath:

A wire clothes hanger

Wire cutters

Balloons in different sizes
(i used water balloons and regular size ones for mine)

decorations if you want to add to it

How to:
First thing you need to do is take the wire hanger and snip off the hook part of the hanger using the wire cutters.
Next you need to shape the wire hanger into a circle and secure the loose end.
Then take the balloons and tie them to the wire. Use the smaller balloons as filler on the wreath until it is full.
Add decorations if you like.
I used a Ribbon Rosette from the Bravissimo line from Making Memories that I bought from Michael's. I punched a circle and stamped "happy birthday to you" using the AE April kit from Technique Tuesday. Then added some stickles on the edge for some sparkle.

Happy Crafting!!!!
♥
Andrea

Color my front door....

2011-03-23T16:22:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get something different this Easter for my front door. I kept looking around not really finding anything that I had to have until I saw this egg wreath at Target. It was small but I loved the brightly colored eggs and I knew that I could add something to it and make it bigger and better. I did hear that Target does have bigger egg wreaths but I never did see them at mine. My wreath was only about 10 bucks. Fun little carrot bunch that I got a Pier One. I think it was suppose to be an ornamnet. I think it us super cute!!! I think it was $2-3
I added a grapevine wreath that I spray painted blue. I made a mistake when Paint shopping. I got the blue thinking it was the blue color that was actually the teal color that was in the wreath. Not a problem I popped off 3 of the eggs that were white and I spray painted them too so it all matched.
Problem Solved!!!

Cute little banner that I made. I used some glitter carstock from American crafts in a blue-teal color. I just handcut the triangles for the banner. You need a front and back triangle for each letter if you can see your wreath from the other side like I can on mine. Glue the triangles front and backs on a cord or sting to form the banner. I embellished mine with ribbon trim, alpha stickers and brads. I used hot glue to adhere the banner. The ribbon trim and brads are from Doodlebug. Letter sticks are from American Crafts and are made out of vinyl. I used hot glue and used floral wire to hold it all togehter.

Happy Easter and Crafting!!!

♥

Andrea

Lucky banner

2011-03-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

I had this idea last year to make this wreath for St Patrick's Day and then ran out of time. That is the story of my life running out of time. lol!!! I loved the wreath last year when I saw it it at Target and was super excited when I saw it there this year too!! I ripped it of the wall and ran. Just kidding!!

I was just going to make the banner and add it to the berry wreath until I saw the cute glittery shamrock at Target too so I picked it up to go with the berry wreath. Both were inexpensive. $15.00 for the wreath and $3.00 for the shamrock. Not bad if you ask me!

I made the banner from a piece of cardboard that I hand cut into the banner shape. Covered in burlap secured with hot glue (lots and lots of hot glue). Stamped the word lucky using foam stamps and green ink pad and hot glued that baby on the front of the shamrock.
So glad that I could get it made this year.

Finished wreath on my front door

Another view of the banner!!

Enjoy!!
Happy Crafting!!
♥
Andrea

old type

2011-03-01T15:56:00.001-08:00

My mother in law picked up this awesome old Underwood typewriter over the past summer and gave it to me. ♥ her and it!!!! Thanks Phyllis!!!

I cleaned it up and got rid of the old dirt that was on it.

It doesn't work anymore but that doesn't matter to me. I added a piece of paper that I stamped the sentence ...we are lucky onto the paper. I used a mini typewriter font stamp set to stamp the words. I think it will be fun to change up the "type" every once and while to say other fun things. I thought that we are lucky was perfect for the month of March.

Be lucky!!!

♥

Andrea

X O and hearts

2011-02-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

With only a few days to go to Valentines I thought I would share a little 'love"decor with you.

This is my hutch in the dining room filled with a mix of heart decor treasures.

Picked up this little sign and the X & O wood blocks on a little shopping trip with my mother in law at a great little store in Pomeroy Ohio called the Harmony House. Do check it out if you are ever in Pomeroy. Loved it!!

I love this little froggie prince holding a heart candy box. So cute!!!

Love much canvas from my previous post on the Ikea Wall unit.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

♥Much Love♥

Andrea

Chalkbord Canvas

2011-02-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

I ♥ this spray paint. Just spray a couple of coats on anything and voila you have a Chalkboard surface!!!

Over the past couple of weeks I have been cleaning out my scrapbook/craft room and reorganizing it. What a job but it looks great. I will share pictures soon. As I was going through things, I came across a 2 pack of inexpensive canvas from Michaels that I had bought several months ago. They may have cost $5.00 at the most. I sprayed a few coats of the paint on the canvas and the plain o'canvas was turned into super cute memo chalkboards!!!!

This one is just leaned up on one of the baskets on my Ikea Wall Unit. I wrote love much for Valentines day. It will change to Lucky soon for March :)

This one is in my hall and will have different quotes wrote on it from time to time.

Right now life has been a bit stressful and I need this for a little reminder ;)

Enjoy!!!!

♥

Andrea

Bedroom Before & After...

2011-02-07T06:18:00.000-08:00

We've been givin' our master bedroom a little TLC lately. It all started with this yummy Anthropologie bedding I purchased in Chicago before we moved. It looks fabulous and feels even more fabulous but was just a little bland for my taste. I found this gorgeous deep robins egg blue quilt at Target and put it under the comforter for a layered look. It breaks up that sea of beige and was just the perfect shade I was searching for. Anything too light would have gotten lost with the beige. I love Euro shams but for me, they are kind of difficult to work with.

While unpacking, I found my body pillow I had used for many of my pregnancies. It just so happened to be the perfect size pillow I needed for the bed. I had my very talented friend make a slipcover for it in this gorgeous vintage Hollywood Regency pattern. It just so happens to be the same shade as the quilt. And now I think my favorite burlap Mr. & Mrs. pillows stand out even more!

We are still looking for that "perfect" chandelier but just wanted to share with you the ceiling. I had it painted in my custom mix of robins egg blue paint that I have used for years. Why mess with something that is so great, right? It is so dreamy...I'm not really a taupe kinda gal, but my friend picked out this gorgeous shade of taupe for me that matches our curtains that my friend made so very well. I could not have picked it out myself. It has just the right amount of gray in it that I love so much.

I'm not much of a photographer like my awesome sis in law is, but wanted to give you an idea of what the curtains look like. The room has 5 of these panels. The fabric is a vintage cream and taupe with robins egg blue birds. And yes, my hubby actually loves it! It is very flea market meets Anthropologie.....just what I was going for.

This is just a small corner of the sitting room. I have some grand plans on vintage built-ins in here but this will have to wait for a while. First things first!!!

Happy Decorating!!

xoxo

tia

On Hold...

2011-02-06T18:39:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to say thanks for all the awesome comments and emails I received today on my Karma Karma Karma post. What a nice surprise. I will repost it shortly. I'm doing a fantastic giveaway tomorrow and want all the focus to be on that!!

My fans and supporters are truly the best!!! We at Crimson Clover ♥ YOU!!!

tia

Valentines love.....

2011-02-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, I was in our local Hobby Lobby Store and I got an idea for this wreath. I love to walk through Hobby Lobby for ideas and I'm known to be spotted there at least once a week. I was shopping with my friend Valerie this time and we were looking at the Valentine Decorations. There was a wreath that was really cute but had been damaged. It was similar to this one but it was made out of rolled wood to make the "rosettes". l looked at it for a minute and said to her that I bet it would be cute to make that out of pages from old books. I had seen similar ones in a traditional round shape but a heart shape was perfect for Valentine's Day.

To make the flowers I did google the best way to make them and I found an awesome Tutorial here. She gives step by step instructions with pictures. :) Thanks Stephanie for inspiration and Hobby Lobby!!!

I bought books at Goodwill for 50 cents to make the flowers with. The wreath took about 250 sheets out a book to make all the flowers to cover the wreath form. The heart form was hard to find in sytrofoam so I used a straw form from Michaels instead. This wasn't my preference but it what was available. I did wrap the wreath in a leopard print ribbon to hold all the straw in because it was coming out all over the place. The ribbon helped keep the shape of the wreath too. Made lots and lots of rosettes. I added a bit of Bling to the wreath by adding glitter to the paper rosettes. I was going to use some homemade glass glitter from ornaments but it really had some sharp edges so I opted for some chunky red glitter from the craft isle at Michaels. I used glitter glue from Martha Stewart to hold the glitter. That stuff is great for holding glitter in place and it even has a brush built in the lid. Once all the rosettes had been glued down, I sprayed the entire wreath with lacquer several times. I thought that would help keep the glitter from falling off and protect it from the weather.

Close up of the rosettes. Please excuse the glue strings. I didn't even really notice till I loaded the pictures on here.

I do have a love/hate relationship with this project.

I love it hanging on my door!!

I love the flowers are made from old romance books ( not that anyone would know that!!!)

I love that I did complete it before Valentine's Day!!

I loved playing in glitter!!!

I loved working on it with my friend Valerie. (She made a super cute one too!!!)

I hate that it took forever to make all those flowers. I am an instant gratification kinda girl!!!
(brighter note: I did make them while watching my favorite TV shows and I did get a rhythm to making them.)

I hated cleaning up all the red glitter!! It was everywhere!!!!

I hate all the burns from hot glue that I got. Even said a few bad words on that ;)

Enjoy!!!

♥

Happy Crafting!!!

Andrea

L♥VE frame

2011-01-31T21:22:00.001-08:00

Ok so this has to be the easiest, least expensive, fastest craft I have done in a long while!!!
I L♥ve it though!!!!
I picked this gem up at AC Moore for a whopping $1
spray painted it the Heirloom White spray paint
added glitter glue and chucky red glitter to the frame backing and it was done!!
L♥ve it!!

Happy Crafting!!!

Love Andrea

All you need is love...

2011-01-27T09:04:00.001-08:00

Love is all you need! I just L♥VE that song! And as you all know, I also LOVE burlap! I've been very very busy with the jewelry business, Crimson Clover these days so I haven't had a lot of time to do my usual decorating. But I wanted to share with you some burlap that I dyed pink. It turned out fabulous. It is the yummiest shade of bubblegum pink! This necklace has been one of my top sellers this year. I just finished dying a bunch more burlap and getting ready to start making a wreath, so stay tuned for that. I found these cute little mini picture frames in the dollar section at Michaels last year and stenciled the number 14 on burlap and framed them. It just adds a subtle touch to my entryway.

The burlap banner with red glitter letters and hearts made by my sweet friend, Amanda is the perfect addition to what I call "the love nook".

An antique pewter compote dish holds numerous strands of pearls and red glitter hearts...

Another mini frame painted red with a burlap and stencil 14 has a home under the cheese dish that I painted winter white.

Happy Decorating!

♥

tia

What a Deer!

2011-01-08T07:09:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, I ♥ deer! They are so stinkin' cute. Must have something to do with my childhood and Bambi. Who knows, but whatever it is, I just think they are so sweet. This time of year always presents challenges for me in the decorating department so this year since we are in a new home, I've decided to go with a neutral winter theme. It's all about winter.

I found these gold paper mache deer at Michael's in the 50% off section. I was surprised they were 50% off before Christmas, but yay! I'm not a big fan of gold but I liked the shape and size of them.

With quite a few coats of Heirloom White spray paint, I just love how they went from cheesy shiny gold Vegas deer to these classy neutral winter deer. While I was taking down my Christmas decorations, I decided to leave out the German glass glitter deer and love how they look with the new winter white deer on my dining room table. And no....our chairs still haven't come in.

Using a little burlap ribbon, the large deer got his own natural winter scarf. Voila!

Happy Winter!

xoxo,

tia

Snowball Wreath

2011-01-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

Two Junk Chix got to ring in the New Year together! Whoo hoo! Andrea came to Virginia to visit me with a big bag of goodies so we could make these fabulous snowball wreaths. She found a similar wreath on Tatertots & Jello blog but we can't find who made the original one. If you all know who did it, we'd love to thank them and give them a shout out. I went with a large size wreath since my front door is really big. This was a great project for this time of year. I always struggle with what to put up after Christmas so I decided to just decorate in a neutral winter theme.

Andrea gathered up most of our supplies from the Dollar Store and different craft stores.

Since we both love grays, we purchased our yarn in gray tones, white, and off white.

We wanted to add some natural elements to our wreath so we spray painted these fallen sweet gum balls a stone gray color. I just LOVE sweet gum trees!

Andrea was certainly a pro at wrapping her styrofoam balls in yarn. In fact, I've never seen anyone make as many as she can. She did all of these in a matter of minutes!!

As for me, here is my lonely yarn ball. I wasn't as good at it as my sidekick. I think I should stick to making jewelry. But in my defense, I did have a few texting conversations going on, bathing kids, putting kids to bed, etc. But since I have such a fabulous sister in law, she came through for me and helped me get all of my yarn balls wrapped. ♥

Once we wrapped all of our styrofoam balls in yarn and we did a few in jute, we wrapped our wreath forms in burlap, of course. Then the fun part was assembling all the goodies onto the wreath. This project uses a lot of hot glue and whatever hot glue Andrea got from AC Moore...well, I just have to say that stuff is crazy strong! Shhhh....don't tell my husband we had a time getting it off of his precious hardwood floors. :)

Andrea and I went shopping the day before and we found these beautiful snowflake ornaments on sale at Potterybarn. We thought they looked great hanging down the middle of our wreath. Here is Andrea's final product hanging on one of my back doors (below pic). I just love how they both turned out.

Happy Crafting!!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

I'm dreaming of...

2010-12-22T17:30:00.000-08:00

...a white Christmas? Me? No, I'm dreaming of a robins egg blue Christmas. After spending many Christmases in Chicago, I have had my share of white Christmases. As much as I love Chi-town and always will, this cowgirl is certainly glad to be back in the South! Spending our first Christmas in a brand new house has it's challenges. Where do I put this? Where do I put that? So this year, I did put up two trees but kept the smaller pencil tree in the dining room just for me. This is where I can add some of my robins egg blue treasures. I love how the old skates look in this vintage frame with the robins egg blue tinsel banner that says "winter frolic". The robins egg blue glittered Santas have found the perfect spot on the dining room table. Unfortunately I didn't get out all of my beloved Wendy Addison stuff this year but that's OK....there is always next year.

I was so excited that the Restoration Hardware table arrived on time for Thanksgiving, but we weren't so lucky with the chairs. Looks like they will be here the end of January. Once the chairs arrive and the vintage ceiling tins are up on the ceiling, it will have all been worth the wait!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!!

♥ tia

Silver and Gold

2010-12-07T18:16:00.001-08:00

In my dining room I decorated with a silver and gold color scheme. It started with the Christmas sign that my mother in law (Tia's mom) got me several years ago. It is covered in German glass glitter and it happens to be one of my favorite Christmas decorations.

When I was in Chicago this summer visiting with Tia, she gave me the glass dome and cheese dish. I gave it a quick white wash finish. I am going to leave it up after Christmas and just change the sign to something with the word winter once Christmas is over. I love the little tree in the glass cloche with the snow glitter.

I also love Santas!!! I have a love affair with Old Saint Nick. I picked this one up at Target for only $3.00. Gotta love Target!!! Platinum colored jingle bells are in the dish for a festive look.

Close up of the bird. I got it at Michaels.

Monogramed T ornament

Little trees that I made. I got the Idea for them From Shanty2chic. Will share how to and link this weekennd.
Hope your Holidays Sparkle!!!

Andrea

Santa Gift Tags

2010-12-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

I made some fun Santa Gift Tags from a cute stamp set that I got from Stampin Up. I love Santa and this stamp set had the cutest little Santa stamp in it so I had to have it!!!

I have been home not feeling well for the past several days... awful time of the year to be sick. UGH!!!! My Doctor told me to rest and do NOTHING for the past couple of days. I have been resting at home I did sneak in a little craftytime tonight. Creating something is good medicine too!!!! LOL!!!!
I used Cardstock in red, green and white. The Stamp set is from Stampin Up. Polka Dot stamp is from Hero Arts. Copic markers in cool grey , Dark red,Lipstick Red Pale Fruit Pink , And Blush.

I stamped the polka dots on a punched tag for some background texture to the tags.

Used red ink to stamp Santa's hat on red cardstock. This made it easier to cut out the hats. After the hats were cut out, I used the red Copics to add some shading to the hats.

I stamped Santa on White cardstock.

Next colored Santa using Copics. I used the pale fruit for Santa's Face and added Blush for his cheeks and nose. I added some of the Cool grey to the outlines of his beard and mustache.

I cut out Santa once colored in. I trimmed the curls off his mustache because it was easier to cut out.

Once assembled to the tag, I stamped To: From: on Santa's beard. I added some stickles to the trim on his hat. I used a dot sticker for the ball on his hat because it is what I had on hand. I added some sickles to the ball too. I think it would be super cute to use pom poms but I didn't have any.

Thanks for Looking !!!

Andrea

Before & After...

2010-11-29T11:27:00.000-08:00

Five years ago, my awesome mom had these metal packages that I designed come to life by having them cut in metal. And for five years, they have been lime green and cranberry to go with my Ballard Design Christmas look. And as much as I love that look, these metal packages have seen better days before going through a bunch of Chicago winters. Now that I'm back in the South (yee haw) with much milder temperatures, I decided to bring them back out and revamp them. Since my favorite combination is robins egg blue and gray, I decided to paint them those colors. Many of my Christmas decorations are robins egg and silver, so I thought this was the perfect compliment.

I just love how they look now! It's still not finished.....gotta get the hubby to drape lights down the urns for that cascading effect. Revamping is the Two Junk Chix way!!

xoxo,

tia

Slowly but surely...

2010-11-26T15:03:00.000-08:00

the morning/breakfast room is finally coming together. My sweet friend, Wendy made these gorgeous black and cream panels for me. I love how they compliment the gray walls. Once the plantation shutters go in, the fabic is going to pop even more! I just received these beautiful gray latte bowls from Anthropologie as a gift and thought they were too pretty to put in the cabinet so I decided to display them in the 3 tiered stand.

Thanks Wendy for doing such a fabulous job on these!! I'll post the bedroom curtains you made for me as soon as I can get on the ball. Now I'm off to look for Christmas decorations!!

xoxo,

tia

Scored Flower Tutorial

2010-11-14T19:06:00.000-08:00

These flowers are really easy and only take a couple of minutes to make each one.

First you need to strips of paper cut in the same size. You can cut them in what ever size that you want your flowers to be. For this flower I cut the paper in 12 x 2 inch strips.
Next score the paper strips in equal measurements. I used 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch increments for the flowers. I scored this flower in 1/2 inch increments. I used the Martha Stewart Score board. Makes scoring super easy and it has the measurements right on it. Once your strips are scored, fold them into accordian folds.
Glue both strips together. I used hot glue. I like to use hot glue because it fast drying and it holds well. Glue the other end to form a circle.

Flatten the circle and form it into the flower shape and add some hot glue in the middle. Hold the flower until the glue dries.

Add an embellishment in the middle of the flower to accent the flower and create the center.

For the flowers that I created on the wreath, I used punched circles, burlap circles, and buttons to accent them.

Enjoy!!!

Andrea

Door for hope

2010-11-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month along with Juvenile Diabetes Month.
I was asked by a friend of mine from school that is asking everybody to "paint" their door purple during the month of November for awareness. In January of this year she lost her mother, Sherry Shumaker to Pancreatic Cancer. This month she wanted everyone to decorate their front door for awareness and to show support to those affected by this cancer. So I created this wreath for my front door.

I wanted to add some orange and greens for the season. The leaves also made it more seasonal too but still kept the majority of it focusing on the purple.

I used a green Styrofoam wreath as the base. I covered in in burlap fabric that I cut in to strips and wrapped around the wreath. I created all the flowers from scrapbook paper then scored and folded the paper to form the flowers. I added buttons and burlap circles to create the center. I die cut leaves and added some distressing ink on the leaves for some texture. Then I layered the flowers to create the surface of the wreath. I added a berry wreath behind it to add some more texture. I am so pleased with the way that it turned out. I can see myself making one in Christmas colors for next month. :)

Check back this weekend I will post a tutorial on how to make the flowers.

Thanks for looking!!!

Andrea

November is Juvenile Diabetes Awareness Month!

2010-11-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

November is national juvenile diabetes awareness month and this month is a very busy month for me. As most of you know, my son, Bryson was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes 4 years ago at the age of 8. Like any other parent, the news of this was devastating....it still is. But as we go through life, we have choices to make. And the choice I made for myself was to be proactive and this is when Crimson Clover was born. I have spent the past 4 years making jewlery and donating a big portion of the proceeds to the JDRF in my sons name and every year we create a special piece where 100% of the proceeds are donated to the JDRF research project. I am so blessed to be able to stay at home with my 5 children and create pieces for all of you to enjoy and know that I'm doing what God has put me on this Earth to do. This is my mission and my passion in life and I won't stop until we find a cure!

I wanted to take the time to share with you some of my favorite diabetes products on Etsy. You can buy the Crimson Clover diabetes necklace HERE.
I just LOVE this awesome cuff bracelet! It is so cool. I think I'm going to have to get one for Bryson. You can check it out HERE.

This diabetes bracelet is simple yet eleagant.....so pretty. Check it out HERE.

This diabetes bracelet is very cool, as well. I love the rustic feel of it with the pearls. You can find it HERE.

This shirt is just fun. Bryson laughed when he saw it. Sometimes you just have to have fun in light of a not so good situation. You can find it HERE.

What a great solution for sleeping!! Bryson's clip that holds his pump is just not comfortable when sleeping. This is fabulous!! I love it!! You can find it HERE.

This is such a cute necklace and it has my favorite black and white damask print! So so cute!! Check it out HERE.

And this necklace is just beautiful! I love how it is very unisex feeling and reminds me of the Lucky Brand jewelry that I love so much. Just gorgeous! You can find it HERE.

Help us find a cure for this devastating disease!

For more information on juvenile diabetes, please visit JDRF and ADA

xoxo,

tia

Halloween Decorating

2010-10-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

Every neighborhood always has that one house that is decked out for Halloween where they have transformed their yard into a graveyard and their garage into a haunted house. I have to say that I absolutely LOVE those houses. And all the kids flock there and it turns into a neighborhood gathering. Well, that just isn't my house....maybe one of these days. I've always wondered where those people store that stuff the other 364 days of the year. I'm more of a vignette kinda gal with simple Halloween touches scattered around. Meet Helga Henson! Isn't she fab?! She is the witchiest of all witches. My mom just had her cut out of metal for me and surprised me last weekend with her. She is almost life size and even holds a real lantern!

The Witching Hour by the front door

Vintage inspired paper mache masks

Even the butlers pantry gets a little spooky!

Happy Haunting!

xoxo,

tia

I ♥ Halloween

2010-10-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hi y'all! This is my favorite time of year and I L♥VE to decorate for Halloween. But with the recent move, I'm not doing a ton this year. My crafting buddies are in WV and Chicago and oh how I miss Janae stopping by my house with a big ole Starbuck's and helping me put up my Halloween decorations. We had so much fun together. I miss you, Janae but can't wait for you to come and visit and we can play decorating! :) One of my biggest dilemmas is that I can't find all of my Halloween decor because of the move, so I'm keeping it simple this year. I did manage to find my awesome vintage paper mache cat. She is so cute on the vintage plant stand that I found with my girl, Janae at the antique fair in Illinois and I can't wait to fill her with tons of candy. Well, not a ton considering my son is a type 1 diabetic but the cat will definitely be filled with some fun things. You get the idea.

Not sure if you all remember the huge white pumpkin I had out last year with the orange damask print.....well, can't seem to find it in all the boxes in the attic. So this year, since my walls are painted gray and everything is muted in the house, I decided to go with a black pumpkin and put this adorable white witch on it. I think I'm kinda lovin' it!

So I'm off now to the attic in search of more Halloween decor. Hope I find some more treasures!

xoxo,

tia

T's and 3's make it personal

2010-09-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

I love to decorate my living room with T's and 3's. The T's are for our last name Thompson and the 3's represents the number of members in my family. My husband teases me and tells me that it's because I like terminator so much that I wanted to decorate it with T3 after the last movie, Terminator 3. NOT!!!! I never even saw it. LOL!!!

I think that it makes our space personal and monograms and numbers are everywhere right now.

This is a picture of our mantle and all of the T's and 3's.

This is my mantle decorated with a mix of T's and 3's and other things that I love. I love the eclectic look of the mantel. It makes me smile with all the mixes of textures and colors.

This T and 3 are paper mache letters that I got at Hobby lobby and spray painted them chocolate brown. I think that they were only like 1.99 each.

I love the Giant T made from paper mache. I got it at one of my favorite stores at Easton Town Center in Columbus Ohio. It is called Nest. Very cool store and it is the one of the only family owned stores in Easton.

You can see that I have been in the dollar bin too at Michaels. I had to pick up a T ball.

I LOVE 3 sign!!!!! I wanted this the first time that I saw it at Anthropologie but the original price kept me from getting it. I went back a few months later and it was on clerance for 14.50!!! It was meant for me to get it because it was the only number left. I just recently got the letter print stamps on a camping trip to Ohio. We went to an antiqe mall and I got all the t's that they had. The little 3 ball is from Pier 1.

This little shelf is above my couch. I have a small collection of vintage cameras that I display there along with a few more t's.

I added a vinyl T on this candle holder. I cut it out with my cricut to dress up the glass and make it personal.

Have a great day!!!!

♥
Andrea

Make it personal

2010-09-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm not doing a ton of decorating right now because of the move, I always try to find a way to make my space very personal. Here are just a few things I've put up so far. My husband and I have separate closets and I've adorned the doors with oversized wooden letters. No need to drill into your door, because the 3M Command picture hanging strips are one of the best inventions ever! I also added a zinc D that I purchased at my favorite store, Anthropologie a while back and added it to my bar area in the kitchen. I love how the zinc looks with the galvanized metal tiered stand. Andrea has an awesome #3 metal sign from Anthropologie on her mantle that I hope she posts real soon. I just love it! It represents her family of 3 and it looks great!

As much as I L♥VE my Anthropologie bedding, they just didn't have any decorative pillows that looked quite right with it. So I had my very talented friend make these yummy burlap pillows for our bed. Go check out her other awesome goodies HERE. And tell her Tia sent ya! She has done a lot of custom stuff for me and I've always been so pleased.

So I was in Michael's the other day waiting in line when I spotted these ceramic balls in the dollar bin. They only had 4 left. When I looked at them, they had a T (for Tia), B (for my husband Brian and boys Bryson, Brett, and Blake), P (for my girls Piper and Paige), and a D (for our last name). I thought it was meant to be and they soon became mine! Still not quite sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but I thought they were so cute since I'm doing a lot of black, cream, and gray in this house. And just another way to add a personal touch to the home!!

So thanks for stopping by and stay tuned.....more to come!!

xoxo,

tia

Home Sweet Home

2010-09-14T15:56:00.001-07:00

Hi y'all! I'm back! Well, kind of :)
Been busy on the road visiting family and friends and oh yea, moving our family of 7 to our new home in Virginia just 1 week ago. So here it is, folks....our new American farmhouse.....minus the farm. My hubby did an amazing job finding the perfect house for us. It was being built for a family who also had 5 children and not sure what happened but it became ours. We were thrilled because not a lot of people build houses to fit a family of 7 and when this became available in the short time frame we had, we just knew it was meant to be. I can't wait to put my spin on it. I'm definitely going to need some help in the back from you all. It has a huge screened in porch attached to the guest suite and then another big attached deck to that. I have no idea what to do with it so I'd love to hear any ideas.
With 361 boxes to unpack....and no, that is not a typo.....361 boxes to be exact, I haven't had a lot of time for decorating but I couldn't wait to get my kids' painted silhouettes hung up by the front staircase. They are some of my most treasured pieces. My cousin, KiKi did an amazing job on them. They are going to look even more fabulous once the yummy gray paint goes on the walls.

Here is one side of the entry way. The neutral color is fine for now but I can't wait to get that gray on the walls!

I love how the vintage watch face collection and my vintage # 5's look in this old wooden bowl by the front door. I can't seem to find my other watch faces, though. In fact, there is a lot that I can't find but there is also a lot of things I hadn't seen since we left Dallas several years ago! These movers are great but I sometimes don't understand their reasoning behind their packing. My best piece of advice for all of you getting ready to move.....set aside your toolbox before the movers pack it away.

And here is a vintage metal chandelier that I can't wait to hang up in the guest suite! My mom has the other one and I never did anything with mine in the other houses because the wiring was messed up. But when I was back home last week, my cousin, Jared, who is an electrician fixed her right up for me. I am grateful for his talent. Now, let's see if I can get my hubby to install it soon. I can't wait to see it hanging up in there and casting it's glow!

My fellow artist friend who I had the pleasure of meeting while we lived in Chicago paints these gorgeous art tiles. Her work is beyond amazing and I just love her style. I finally bought these from her before we moved and couldn't wait to find the perfect spot in the new house to hang it. We put it in our breakfast room and I just love it there.

I just love how they have a very aged and grungy feel with a bit of that Anthropologie flair that I love so much.

She sells the poles in all different lengths and then has different knobs from which you can choose. I went with the creamy vintage looking ones. The tiles are hung from big aged metal rings. So unique!! I have some of her Christmas tiles so I can change out the fleur de lis and crown during the holiday.

So with all that said, looks like I'm back to the drawing board with decorating and I just have one thing to say about it.........I'm lovin' it! There is so much to do in this house and I cannot wait to keep going. So thank you for letting me share this journey with you all. I'd love to have feedback on decorating ideas or other inspiration from you all, so send it my way!

Giddy up!!

tia

Blue Jean ReVamp

2010-08-18T15:33:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I know what y'all are thinking? How in the world is she crafting right now while she's getting ready for the big move? I know, I know! But a girls gotta craft when a girls gotta craft. And this craft is one FAB project. This is by my sweet friend and Crimson Clover sidekick, Marisa. Thanks girl for teaching me how to make these. We had so much fun doing this project! I can't wait for her to visit me in VA so we can make some more fabulous goodies! I started out with an old pair of Seven for All Mankind jeans that were a little big on me. {Slightly larger jeans, i.e., go up 1 size, work best for this project}. Decide how short you want your skirt to be and cut off each leg. I guessed a little long. You can always cut it off shorter when you are done. And girls...don't be afraid of the sewing machine because seriously...you cannot mess up this project.

Me and Marisa working on our skirts

So once you get the legs cut off, you will need to set them aside as they will become the center of your skirt. From here, get out your seam ripper and rip the seams on the cut off jeans {see below}

The legs that you cut off earlier become the center piece of the skirt. Make sense? In order to do this, we cut the leg fabric in half and laid it out flat so the seam was down the middle.

And then you just pin it in place. You will use the other leg for the back of the skirt.

Yes, I do own a sewing machine and no, I don't know how to do anything other than a straight stitch. But this project is so easy and you honestly can't mess it up. Here I am sewing the pieces back together. After you sew the back and front pieces, just cut off the excess fabric and you are done.

Here is Marisa wearing one of her fab skirts and holding the one we just made. This is in raw form. Once it is sewn, you just cut off the excess fabric. And after 1 cycle in the washing maching, you will get these awesome frays.

Here I am holding my finished product! I was so excited that I put it in the washing machine right away!

And Voila!! This skirt is a bunch of groovy cuteness!!

Peace out,

tia & andrea

Silhouette Art

2010-08-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

You know how you have people in your life that you just "click" with? I am so blessed to have MANY. And one in particular is my cousin and best friend in the whole world, Kiki. She is an amazing mother, friend, artist, and decorator. Our styles work so well together. I was so fortunate to have her help me with my new home in Chicago 3 years ago and looking forward to getting her design eye in my newest home in Virginia in a few weeks. We have so much fun talking decor together. Her talent is shining through with these beautiful handpainted silhouettes! Look at what she did for me below! She handpainted my 5 children and they are just precious. I am in L♥VE with them! Since we are moving in a couple of weeks, I didn't want to put anymore nails in the wall, so I hung the canvases in our master bedroom with the 3M Command picture hanging strips. These things are genius. I love how the canvases pop against my pale Tiffany blue walls. My office space in the new house has a gorgeous fireplace and I'm thinking these will have to take center stage above the mantle. Not sure what the wall color will be yet, but I know these beautiful works of art will look fab against just about anything.

Ok, so I just had to throw this picture in because I thought it was too cute. You can see my daughter, Paige in the mirror dancing around wearing her Minnie Mouse ears as I'm trying to capture the right angle.

Kiki is also in the middle of a move herself but if you are interested in contacting her to purchase your own hand painted silhouette, just click HERE. You'll be glad you did!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Recipe share

2010-08-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe for Lemon-Basil Pasta with Grilled Chicken at thepioneerwoman.com blog. I made it tonight and my family and they loved it so I wanted to share with you. Even my 10 year old loved it and he is a picky eater.

I liked it because it didn't take long to make and it is really good. The only thing that you have to do in advance is marinate the chicken.

Enjoy!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia

Subway Art

2010-08-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

Last month when we were together in Chicago, Tia and I had were lucky enough to get some crafty time in during our visit. One of the projects that we worked on was Subway Art. Subway Art is popping up all over craft blogs everywhere so of course we had to make our "own" versions that meant something to us and our families.

Tia and Andrea being Crafty!!!

Tia working on her Art. We got carried away and didn't take a picture of me working on mine. lol!!!

Here is how we made our Art:

We bought inexpensive canvas at Hobby Lobby while they were on sale. We sprayed painted the canvas using London Fog spray paint from Rustoleum. It is the a great Muddy Taupe color that we both could use in our homes. It is on clearance at Hobby Lobby right now so even better!!! We did use several coats of paint on the canvases.

We thought of the text that we wanted to use on our Subway art pieces. Tia used all the places that she has lived with her husband & family plus a couple of other places that are special to them. I used all the places that we have traveled to on vacation on mine.
We used my Silhouette Machine to cut out the letters out of white card stock. We cut them out while changing up the fonts and sizes to make them interesting. I love the silhouette because you can cut out any font that is on your computer.

We carefully layed out how we wanted our canvases to look and then glued the letters down using Mod Podge. I love Mod Podge because it is easy to use and cleans up just as easy plus it acts as a glue and a sealer in one. We used several coats of Mod Podge and let them dry before hanging them up on our walls.

Our Subway Art

Andrea's

Tia's

Have a great week!!!

♥

andrea and tia

Greetings!!!

2010-08-03T15:48:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!!! We have been enjoying the summer with our families and we hope you have too. Tia and I have tried to fit some creative time but things keep us from doing or completing some of our projects. I promise new projects and pictures coming soon but until then I have a couple of cards to share that I recently made.

Butterfly Card

Hero arts stamp, copics, glimmer mist, bazzil card stock and ribbon from Michaels

Birthdays are good for you

Bazzil cardstock, inakadinkado stamps, copics, distress ink, clear embossing powder

Enjoy!!!!!!

♥

Andrea and Tia

Down by the Seashore...

2010-07-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

...is really where I want to be right now, but instead, I'm here in Chicago preparing for our upcoming move very very soon! Yay!! Since Andrea isn't here with me and my other crafting partner moved away I have packed up the craft supplies for a while and just doing touches of decorating here and there. I found this lovely vintage flash card that says "Coral Reef" on it and I thought it made the perfect addition to this vignette. My mom sent me this beautiful and sparkly glittered anchor from Wendy Addison {one of my favs} so I hung it under this huge glass cloche. We've kept all the shells we have gathered from past trips and I love to sprinkle them around my house in the summertime.

Sally sells seashells down by the seashore...

Faithful and true

I love how this wooden 7 looks like it was found washed up on the seashore! It's creamy and chippy all in one and looks great on my robins egg blue walls. I was so happy to find it. It is huge and measures 2 feet tall!
For those who are wondering what the #7 means to me, it represents my husband and 5 children. I just love love love it!

Happy Summertime!!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Beach & Fireflies...

2010-07-17T11:57:00.001-07:00

Two of my favorite things about summertime are going to the beach with my family and watching the kids catch fireflies! We've caught a ton of fireflies this summer but as for the beach, well, I think we will have to pass this year because we are actually moving MUCH closer to the beach! Whoo-hoo! Yep, that's right....the Dowler 7 are moving down South to Virginia in a few weeks so I'm going to have to pass the torch to my sis-in-law, Andrea for a bit to keep up with our blog. I'm so excited to decorate a new house! I can't wait to browse all of my favorite blogs to get ideas and inspiration!

So....the beach will be put on hold this year but that is ok, because we are gaining so much more with this move. I'm so excited to be near old friends, closer to my family in the South, and make new friends. Plus, it's a whole new Crimson Clover market for me! Giddy up!!

But as for the fireflies....they continue to light up my life no matter where I am!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Tia & Andrea

2010-07-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Two Junk Chix together in Chi-town!!!

We had so much fun last week together hanging out in Chicago!!!

We had some creative time together and will be posting our projects soon!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia

a cupcake...

2010-07-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

A little cupcake yumminess for your Thursday night!!!!

This cupcake is one of many that I made tonight for a shower that is tomorrow. I made the little pick with a circle punch, some cardstock and a "a" stamp.

Enjoy!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia

Anthro Style Wreath

2010-07-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

Craft night with the girls resulted in these adorable wreaths inspired by my all time favorite store....ANTHROPOLOGIE. They were so fun to make but more importantly, they were so easy! I just love projects that give you instant gratification!

Up close and personal with some of the details...
For mine, I decided to stick with a more neutral palette with touches of lime green, yellow, and robins egg blue.

We started out with these straw wreaths. You could use the styrofoam ones but we wanted ours to be really big and these were the perfect size. We gathered pearl pins, burlap, cloth flowers, vintage sheet music, ribbon and anything else we felt inspired by.

Vicki cut our strips of burlap for us. We needed 2 strips per wreath.

Once we got all of our burlap strips cut, Vick and I wrapped the burlap around the wreaths to cover up the straw.

We decided to leave the plastic packaging around the wreath so the straw wouldn't poke through the burlap. Using a straight pin, the burlap is held in place. And now the fun begins!

Here is my dear friend, Deanne embellishing her wreath with my daughter, Paige. Even a 5 year old can do this! So much fun!!

Using pearl pins and hot glue, we just kept adding yummy treasures to our wreath. Here is a rosette using white and natural coffee filters and topped off with a big pearl.

All 3 of our wreaths turned out very differently but all were quite fabulous! Here is what mine looks like hanging on my door...

Hope you have enjoyed our Anthro Style Wreath!!

Thank you so much, Jen! It is always a pleasure to work with you. I'm so excited to give away another original Crimson Clover design. Crimson Clover is unique handmade jewelry that is vintage and vintage inspired with a hip and modern feel...and sometimes a little edgy. I'm a stay at home mother of 5 who loves to create and everything that I design, make and carry is made here in the fabulous USA!

xoxo,

tia and andrea

Happy Independence Day!!

2010-07-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to celebrate this year's Independence Day. Why? Well, besides the cookouts, sparklers, and fireworks, this year, I get to celebrate it with my Two Junk Chix sidekick, Andrea. She, my brother and my nephew are coming to visit and we are so looking forward to it! This will be my last Fourth of July here in Chicago so we have some fun things planned. And hoping to get a little crafting in, as well. So to all of you from us...have a very safe and wonderful Fourth of July!! God Bless America!!

tia & andrea

And the winner is...

2010-06-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

Michelle over at Faith Trust & Pixie Dust!! Yay!! I hope you love your new Crimson Clover necklace! Thanks so much to my sweet friend, Jen over at Tatertots & Jello

for helping to do this fantastic giveway! I can't wait to do another one, Jen! And thanks to all of our readers for your wonderful comments. I truly appreciate it.

xoxo,

tia & andrea

A Fun Giveaway & A Little Tatertots & Jello L♥ve

2010-06-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hello guys and a big ole warm welcome Tatertots & Jello fans!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Since most of you are new to my blog and to Crimson Clover, here's a brief summary...

**************************************************************************

My name is Tia and I'm a stay at home mom of 5 amazing kids. I have been making jewelry with my mom since I was 5 years old. But Crimson Clover came at a time in my life when I needed it the most. My son had just been diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes and this creative outlet was something I needed to get me through the day. I have since been blessed with a booming business, a wonderful customer base and followers and am able to donate a large portion of proceeds to the JDRF in hopes to find a cure for Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes.

*************************************************************************

I also share this blog Two Junk Chix with my sister in law, Andrea. We have had so much fun with it, too!!

Thanks to the lovely and talented Jen at Tatertots & Jello who has become a dear friend and so much fun to collaborate with, I am so excited to offer this one of a kind necklace to one lucky reader!

It is a dainty oblong soldered charm of vintage ledger paper with a pink and green vintage metal flower. It has an aged key and lock charm on an aged small ball chain.

HERE'S HOW TO ENTER TO WIN:

1. Leave a comment here on my blog ~1 entry

2. Leave a comment on Jen's blog Tatertots & Jello ~ 1 entry

3. Become a follower here on my blog ~ 1 entry

4. Become a fan of Crimson Clover on Facebook and post about this giveaway~ 1 entry

PLEASE LEAVE A SEPERATE ENTRY HERE TELLING ME WHAT YOU HAVE DONE SO I CAN KEEP TRACK OF IT.

Thanks again, Jen for your friendship!!!

xoxo,

tia

Galvanized Planter Redo

2010-06-10T18:09:00.001-07:00

If it's silver and galvanized, chances are, I'm gonna buy it. Here is my favorite planter from Anthropologie I got after having my 5th child. I love the metal #7 tag because it represents our family. It has found its home in my kitchen window filled with hydrangeas from my yard. I can't wait for the new blooms! I had been meaning to go back to Anthropologie to get more planters until I was in TJ Maxx the other day and spotted these for only $3.99! Not exactly the same, but close enough. So of course I had to get the #5 and #7. This one holds some of my yummy vintage ledger paper from the 1800's.

As much as I hate to cover up anything galvanized, I saw something similar in a magazine and so I became inspired. I just covered this planter with a bunch of old magazine pages. With just a few folds....well more than a few....and some hot glue, I think this is the perfect container for my studio to house all of my vintage flash cards.

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Giveaway #2

2010-06-07T20:21:00.001-07:00

Hi y'all! I'm giving away another fabulous Crimson Clover necklace! Become a fan of CRIMSON CLOVER on Facebook to enter to win this vintage chandelier crytstal necklace with vintage flowers!!

Join HERE

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Glass Vase Revamp

2010-06-02T06:29:00.001-07:00

I have always said, "Don't bring me flowers to my funeral....bring them to me now while I can enjoy them." Well, apparently that has caught on because I get the most beautiful flowers from my hubby. But what's not so pretty are the plain glass vases the flowers come in. So I decided to take this plain vase from my Mother's Day flowers and dress it up a bit. {No, these weren't my Mother's Day flowers...these were some random white roses for no occasion :)} With a bit of hot glue and a roll of jute twine, I just kept wrapping it around the vase and gluing it in place.

The top seemed like it was missing something so I added some fluffy cream crepe fringe. My dear friend, Sarah back home sent me this gorgeous Fleur de lis chandelier crystal that I thought would be the perfect thing to dress it up! Thank you, Sarah. I love it! And I love the burlap chandelier canvas you sent me, too. ♥

xoxo,

tia & andrea

a little Americana...

2010-05-31T15:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day!!!! So happy with the way that this little wreath turned out that I made last night just in time for Memorial Day. I plan on leaving the wreath up most of the summer. Close up of the pinwheel

Enjoy!!!!!

Andrea & Tia

Memorial Day

2010-05-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day, y'all! Today is a day to celebrate all of those men and women in our country who have sacrificed their lives in order for us to have a better life. We at Two Junk Chix would like to say THANK YOU! Here are a few pictures of how I have brought a little patriotic red, white, and blue into my home.
A white washed wooden star plaque that I attached to an iron stand

Love stars and stripes! Found this cute vintage flag flashcard from 1951

Some fun red, white, and blue pinwheels in a vintage sundae glass filled with sugar

I decided to put red, white, and blue flowers in my urns on the front porch this year, too

God Bless America!!!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

baseball and the birds

2010-05-27T17:01:00.000-07:00

We have been super busy in my house too. Still busy with Baseball. If we haven't had a game we have had practice. The days we haven't had anything baseball, I have had to play catch up around the house.

But Baseball is sadly coming to a close for us this season. Last night was the last regular game before playoffs begin. On a happy note for Michael, he got the game ball from Monday night's game. He had great play from the outfield and was recognized for it with the game ball. And speaking of nesting....... I love this birdhouse. It is old and in my backyard. It has been there for many years and was put there by Roman and Tia's great Aunt and Uncle Thompson many years ago. Every spring there is a bird family that makes it their home. I love listening to the baby birds and watching them grow. It makes me happy.
A did a scrapbook page about it.

Basic Grey papers and stickers, Bazzill cardstock and jillybean journaling cards.

Enjoy!!!!

♥

andrea & tia

Nesting...

2010-05-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

Hi y'all. Sorry I've been away for a while. Just been so busy with Crimson Clover and so many changes in my life. With the kids almost out of school, I've been busy nesting around the house.....no, baby #6 isn't here. Just spending time out in this beautiful weather, enjoying my kids, and spending time with friends. Speaking of friends, we have had a lot of nature friends around our house this year. It's our 4th summer here in Chicagoland and this is the first year we've had squirrels and bunnies and birds in abundance. I wanted to share with you this gorgeous robin's nest in the tree in our front yard. The kids and I have had so much fun watching the mama bird take care of these beautiful and fragile eggs. We can't wait until they hatch!!

Happy Nesting!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

God Bless America

2010-05-16T05:55:00.001-07:00

With Memorial Day right around the corner, just thought I'd add a few touches of red, white, and blue to my entryway. I love the patriotic garland that my sweet friend, Vicki made for me during our craft night last week. It's just the right mix of neutral and color for me. Thanks, Vicki! Close-up of my patriotic garland

How cute is this 1951 flashcard of the American Flag?!

God Bless America!!!

tia & andrea

Become a Fan!!

2010-05-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

Become a fan of Crimson Clover on FACEBOOK!!! I'm getting ready to start some fun giveaways thanks to my fabulous customers. The more fans I get....the more giveaways I'll do! Who doesn't love free jewerly, right? So come on over and see "where great design reigns"!!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Blog L♥VE

2010-05-10T07:38:00.001-07:00

My dear and talented friend, Beth over at Patina White made this lovely necklace for me! I loved it so much that I wanted to share it with you. I wore it proudly yesterday on Mother's Day. I've been so blessed to have such wonderful artist friends in my life. Go check out her blog! She is one talented gal that I'm so glad to have in my life! thanks Beth!!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

I'm back!

2010-05-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting for a couple of weeks because I have super busy and my newer lap top's motherboard decided to stop working. :( After couple weeks visiting with the Geek Squad I have my computer back!!! Who hoo!!!

My son turned 10 on April 30th. The weekend before his birthday along with my sister and her husband I took him to see Cincinnati to the Aquarium and to see Reds Games.

Here he is in the Scout Box at the Reds vs Padres game.

Me & Michael
He choose to go to Cincinnati instead of a having a big birthday party. Me being the mom that I am I couldn't let him not do something witha few of his friends so last night we had a sleepover at our house. We also took the kids bowling. Here is last night at the bowling alley.

We have a birthday party to go to today. I made this card this morning.

I used polka dot background stamp from Hero Arts to make the background. I heat embossed the dots with clear embossing powder to make them pop a little. I cut the circles were cut from card stock that I stamped using the $1 stamps from Studio G. I colored the images with my copic markers. I added a few star stickers from K & Co just because I thought the circles were plain by themselves.
Enjoy!!!

♥
Andrea & Tia

BLINGED OUT METAL

2010-05-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

I am just loving my new BLINGED OUT METAL line from Crimson Clover. Andrea and I here at Two Junk Chix are big fans of rustic metal. I love the juxtaposition of aged rustic metal with shiny Swarovski crystals. It's a match made in heaven!! These pieces are very lightweight, too!

3-1/2" x 1-1/2" peace sign with wings

2" initial charms

Place your orders HERE

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Vintage Wooden Stamp Picture Holders

2010-05-05T07:43:00.001-07:00

What to do with all of these awesome vintage wooden handle rubber stamps from the 1940's? Yes, they look great in my vintage metal Achilles stamp holder but they don't really serve a purpose for me other than to make it harder to dust around. So here is a fun way of turning these gems into something useful! I started out with this great collection below. And then I used my drill and drilled 2 tiny holes side by side in the tops of the handles. With some fancy wire, I wrapped it around this big Sharpie 1-1/2 times and snipped the ends.

With just a tiny bit of glue in the holes, this is what it looks like

This would be a fun way to display place cards, too. I love using vintage flashcards mixed in with my dear friend Cari's vintage inspired cards. Go check out her shop HERE.

Go Cubbies!!!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

2010-05-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I'm doing a trunk show tomorrow at Occasions in Naperville, IL. Since Mother's Day is just around the corner, stop by to see all of the great pieces you can get for your fabulous mother....or for yourself. I'll be introducing some new initial charms and some fabulous new rings. I'll also have some great new vintage chandelier crystals! Hope to see y'all there!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Welcome to Holland

2010-04-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, my son Bryson was diagnosed with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes 3 years ago. It was a devastating day that changed our lives forever. Ever since, I have become an advocate in the fight for a cure and have used my business (Crimson Clover) to bring awareness to this horrible disease that affects millions of children and adults in our country every hour of every day. Those with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes will be dependent on insulin for the rest of their lives. Insulin is not a cure for the disease - it is merely life support.

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My dear friend, Laurie back in Ohio who has an amazing daughter, Leah with spina bifida goes through more challenges than I can even imagine. They are the strongest people I have ever been blessed to meet. I didn't know that spina bifida is the most common birth defect and effects 1 in 1000 births! You can lower your risk by taking folic acid during pregnancy, however, it does not prevent all cases. Those who suffer from spina bifida deal with many neurologic and orthopedic problems. Laurie is such a wonderful mom and Leah does not let anything slow her down.

*****************************************

When I was at my lowest point, Laurie sent me this poem and I wanted to take the opportunity to share it with all of our readers. It truly put things into perspective for me and I hope it will help others, as well.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning for a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland".

"Holland?!?" you say, "What do you mean "Holland"??? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around...and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy....and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned".

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things...about Holland.

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Bling for Mom

2010-04-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! It's Tia....finally taking a little break from Crimson Clover to post. Mother's Day is one of my most favorite days! I have been blessed to have 5 amazing reasons to celebrate. Here is a peek at some fun Crimson Clover ideas to wear not only on Mother's Day but for every day.

GLITTER PEARLS & LACE MOM NECKLACE

PINK GLITTER MOM CHARM ON MEDIUM BALL CHAIN

ONE OF A KIND ROCKIN' MAMA NECKLACE WITH VINTAGE RHINESTONES AND VINTAGE GUITAR PICK

OBLONG MOTHER NECKLACE

OBLONG DAUGHTER NECKLACE

TATTOO INSPIRED MOM CHARMS

CUSTOM DANGLE MOM NECKLACE

MY KIDS ROCK MOM DANGLE NECKLACE

AGED PHOTO CHARM (THIS ONE IS MINE, CAN YA TELL?)

ANOTHER OPTION FOR A MOM NECKLACE

YOU CAN ALSO CHECK SOME OF THESE THINGS OUT IN MY ETSY SHOP!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

happy birthday Jeremy!!!!

2010-04-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my brother in law Jeremy!!!

I made this little card for him using my cricut and some stamps. He loves baseball like we do!!!

You can see the old baseballs in the apothecary jar on my mantle in this picture too. I found them out around the ball fields while my son practices. I love the stacked up in there!!!

Enjoy!!!!

♥

andrea & tia

paper and glue

2010-04-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

My sister and her husband have been visiting with us for the past week so I haven't had much time to really work on much lately. We are having great time spending time together. They are visiting from Las Vegas.

I did scrap Sunday night during while watching Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters. I love those shows and you can bet I am scrapping on Sunday nights when they are on. I call it my "me night". :) I did these two layouts on Sunday night.

This one is of my son while I am trying to get a good smile of him for a snapshot. He does this almost every time I try. He is funny and poor thing he has had a camera in his face for 10 years. LOL!!! I thought it was funny and was a cute way to remember all of the "takes" to get the one good one. He has a fake, too much smile, silly, and then normally we can get a good one. These pictures were from Easter Sunday when we had dinner at Tia's moms house. It took us like 15 times to get the self-portriat family picture. I set the timer you can see how into my husband was...check out the remote in his hand!!! Just keeping it real people. LOL!!!

Close up of the banner title.
Enjoy!!!!

♥
andrea & tia

Another Crimson Clover giveaway!

2010-04-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I'm doing another Crimson Clover giveaway for the wonderful and talented Jen at Tatertots & Jello! Check it out HERE!! It's perfect for Mother's Day and you get to pick one of 4 different designs!

Good Luck!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Have another cupcake + new spring bright initial charms

2010-04-16T16:44:00.001-07:00

I love love L♥VE cupcakes! And Andrea's cupcakes she just posted below look amazing! And I'm quite sure they taste as good as they look. I wanted to share with you one of my favorite charms in my Keep Calm line. It says "Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake". It is on the new Tri Cluster chain that is so much fun to wear because you can switch out all of your charms. It's very versatile. You can find all of my goodies HERE. These are my new hand stamped and hand painted metal initial charms in the new bright colors. You can choose from: lime green, turquoise, and raspberry. You can wear just one or wear your entire family's initials for a fun look.

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Keep calm and have a cupcake

2010-04-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

I just finished making yummy Strawberry Cupcakes for a friend of mine from work for her birthday. They are so good and they turned out really pretty. I love sprinkles!!!

I am working on a project with the keep calm theme. I will share pictures this weekend!!!

Till then Have a Cupcake!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia

Are you happy?

2010-04-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

This is a question we often forget to ask ourselves. I found this image online (sorry, I can't remember where) but I loved it so much and wanted to share it with you. I love it's truth and simplicity. As a mom of 5 kids running my own business, I always seem to struggle with the balancing act of life and time management issues. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. Am I happy? You bet I am! Is my life crazy? Absolutely it is, but I wouldn't change a thing. On days I feel overwhelmed and stressed (as we all do), I like to go back and take a look at this message because when I need to find more happiness in my life, what should I do? CHANGE SOMETHING!

what makes you happy?

share with us what makes YOU happy...

have a very blessed and happy day!

tia & andrea

Yo-Yo Flower Tank Top

2010-04-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

I was so inspired by the lovely and talented Jen over at Tatertots and Jello when she posted her yo yo flower pillow redo. Check it out here. As a little girl, I remember making a ton of these fabric yo yo flowers when we would go visit my aunt who was an avid seamstress. They were so much fun to make. So I decided to embellish this gray tank top that I just purchased from Old Navy. I L♥VE tank tops...especially gray ones. And this was the perfect backdrop for these vintage fabric yo yo flowers. Various vintage fabric yo yo flowers in 1" and 2"

With just a few basic stitches with some thread and a needle, this tank top has been transformed! This could even be a no sew project, but I was enjoying hand sewing them on.

Here is what it looks like on. With a pink tank top layered under it, I think it has that Anthropologie/J.Crew look that I love so very much! More projects like this to come, so stay tuned...

xoxo,

tia & andrea

spring in bloom

2010-04-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!!! Hope everyone is out enjoying the weekend. I've been working out in the yard today and getting ready to head out to our first baseball game of the season.

I snapped a couple photos of the flowers on the tree in the side yard. It is so pretty when in bloom and I had to share!!

Enjoy!!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia

All Tied Up

2010-04-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

I'm kind of into belts right now and wanted to share with you this belt I made from a gentlemen's necktie. Now, I'm not real saavy on the sewing machine but this was so easy to do. I found a couple of vintage rhinestone loops and folded the necktie over them and with a stitch, a new belt is born. Once you loop the tie through the two rings, just pull it as tight as you'd like.

A cute way to spice up a plain tee shirt

xoxo

tia & andrea

T is for Thompson

2010-04-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

I am loving Monograms right now and have several "T"s for Thompson( my last name) and "3"s for the number that is in our family around our living room. I saw this idea I while back on another blog(sorry I can't remember where) of a moss covered Monogram. I couldn't' wait to make one for myself. I picked up some supplies at Michael's and in about 15 minutes I had a moss covered "T" for my mantle. I love it and it looks fresh and springy to me.

supplies

a wooden letter

moss (I got the kind that will stay green and it is in sheets)

hot glue gun

glue sticks

scissors

I used an old pizza box to catch all the moss pieces that fell off while glueing the moss on the letter.

I forgot to take a picture of letter as I was covering it until it was almost done.
You glue the moss on the letter in small sections. I used my scissors to cut the moss.

Finished Product on my mantle.
Love it!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia

Robins Egg Blue & Vintage Flowers

2010-04-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

It's officially spring.....well, at least I hope it is here in Chicago. And as much as I love anything robins egg blue, I especially love it in the springtime! Vicki and I are doing a Crimson Clover trunk show this week at a dear friends' house and I needed a cute display for all of my vintage enamel flower parts. I found these plastic frames at Goodwill for only 99 cents each. I do love off white, but plastic? Not so much. And they had all of these plastic flowers all over them, too. Not exactly what I'm looking for.

With a little sanding and a few coats of my all time favorite spray paint, I think they are the perfect piece to house these vintage metal flowers. What do you think?

The metal is perfect for hanging the flowers. I think I'll use if for some of my other jewelry, too.

I have reassembled these flower parts into new pendants to wear on a necklace. I have some gorgeous pearl chains that go fabulous with these, as well. They just scream spring.

A few displayed in a tarnished vintage silver compote

xoxo,

tia & andrea

2010-04-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter

From

TWO JUNK CHIX!!!!!

Hope you are in enjoying the day with your families!!!

Much Love from Us!!!

Andrea & Tia

whoo's birthday????

2010-04-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

I love owls and this little stamp from Hampton Arts.

I made this card for my friend's birthday. I cut out the card on my Silhouette using the scallop wave square card from the Silhouette online store. I trimmed the card down to make it into a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card. The paper is from Hobby Lobby. I colored the images in using my Copic markers. I love my Copic markers. Their blending ablities are truly amazing!!!!

Enjoy!!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia

Chicks and Chocolate Bunnies

2010-03-31T06:01:00.001-07:00

Just like Andrea said....Easter has snuck up on me this year, too. I didn't really do the spring crafts I had intended this year since Easter is so early, doing Crimson Clover shows, and traveling has taken up most of my time. But I wanted to share a few of my spring/Easter touches around the house with you.

Here are some "chocolate" bunnies that my mom and I started collecting years ago. They always have a home on my dining room table.

This glavanized tiered stand is one of my all time favorite purchases from Pottery Barn!!

Of course you know I have to have flashcards in a vintage floral frog. And how cute is this fluffy chick?

Here are the chicks' babies.....tweet tweet! I bought these when I just had 2 kids. Looks like I need 3 more!

Cute little vintage inspired chick cupcake

This is an egg wreath I made years ago before crafting was cool and blogging didn't exist. I love the muted color combination and the addition of a burlap bow.

I was so excited to find this vintage bunny stencil at the antique market last year. I think I paid 25 cents for it! I knew it would be perfect in flower frog!

My mom and I started a chocolate bunny collection years ago when I lived in Texas. (Hopefully we'll move back one day). Here are my 2 largest bunnies. They are a husband and wife and they stand about 26" tall!

Mabel adorned with her bunny ears

Happy Spring!

xoxo

tia & andrea

Hippity Hoppity Easter's on it's way!!!

2010-03-29T16:32:00.001-07:00

Easter snuck up on me this year. I didn't really have much crafty time to work on anything handmade for Easter. Spent last week with Tia and her family and we are in Baseball mode in my house. If you have a child that plays Baseball you know the routine....work/school, ball field, sleep and do it all again the next day. LOL!!!

I did manage to get some Easter happiness in my home before Easter got here. One of my favorite things that I have is this old tin ceiling tile that is on my mantle. I tied a little Easter wreath on it with the ribbon that it came with. I picked up the wreath at Joann's and it was super cheap. I really liked the natural look of it with the muted colors and the moss. I switched out the shamrock's that was in the Apothecary jar for St Patrick's Day for some grass and an Easter Egg.
I love the bunny. I bought it 2 months ago when Michael's got their Easter Decor in. I ♥ it and had to have him in my home.

These candle holders are always on my dining room table. They are from Signature Home. I love the bottoms filled with grass and a few eggs in each.

Quick Arrangement that I did for my front door. I love the mix of spring wildflowers, forsythia and grasses. I got the bucket from Tia back in the day when she sold Southern Living. I added some eggs to skewers for Easter.

Happy Easter!!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia

Shrimp & Corn Chowder with Fennel

2010-03-28T15:29:00.001-07:00

Hi y'all. Lately I've been in a food rut. As a mother of 5 children who never seem to eat the same things, meal time is my least favorite time of day. It seems I'm so busy making the kids what they want {or will eat} that I'm just too tired to try anything else different. And the sad thing is that I L♥VE to cook. And I mean L♥VE! One of my favorite channels is the Food Network, but while being a domestic engineer and running Crimson Clover, I haven't had too many dates with Mr. TV lately. But I got inspired today (must be the weather) to try a new recipe with some different ingredients that I normally wouldn't use. And I love any recipe that allows me to use my fabulous and huge robins egg blue cast iron pot!

So here is a Shrimp & Corn Chowder with Fennel. It literally took me 30 minutes to make! Bonus!! Scroll down for the recipe...

Saute leeks and fennel in butter.....yum! Loving my vintage Texasware bowl to use as my "garbage" bowl! Thank you Miss Rachael Ray! You rock!!

Add clam juice, whole milk, and potatoes

Jumbo shrimp

Voila!!

Decided to make some beer bread to go along with it!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 leeks (white & light green parts) chopped

1 fennel bulb, chopped

Kosher salt and black pepper

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 8 ounce bottle clam juice

3 cups whole milk

1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces

3/4 pound cooked peeled and deveined shrimp

1 10-ounce package frozen corn

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Heat the butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and fennel, season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, 4 to 5 minutes; stir in the flour

Add the clam juice, milk, and potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 12 minutes. Stir in shrimp and corn and cook until the potatoes are tender and the shrimp and corn are heated through, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice. Serve with bread, if using.

bon appetit!!

tia & andrea

Crimson Clover

2010-03-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

West Virginia ♥ Crimson Clover!!!!

Hi everyone!!! Tia and I are still enjoying spending time together. We wanted to share a few pictures from Tia's Crimson Clover Show. The show was amazing and it was a lot of fun doing it together!!!

Tia and I

Tia busy showing her jewlery to some of customers. Notice in the picture how cutely her jewelry is displayed. I love all the vintage containers and dishes that she uses. Even check out the mirror...way cute!!!

♥
Andrea & Tia

Two Junk Chix

2010-03-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

Two junk chix are back in the same state again!!!!

For those of you that don't know...Tia is on the Left and Andrea is on the right.

Tia and I are having a great time together visiting and spending time with our families together.
We will have more pictures to share tomorrow after Tia's Crimson Clover show in WV!!!

Till then.....

♥

Andrea and Tia

Is it spring yet?

2010-03-19T08:38:00.001-07:00

Not exactly here in Chicago but I'm lovin' the few spring like days we've been having, so I had to get a jump start on getting out my spring decorations. My dear friend, Donna who owns one of the local boutiques called Occasions here in Naperville which carries my Crimson Clover line just got these adorable metal yard stakes in. I gave her jewelry and she gave me these! We do trades all the time. It's a win-win! I just L♥VE them!
I'm headed out of town to meet up with the other "Two Junk Chix".....my sister-in-law, Andrea in West Virginia who is sharing this blog with me. We came up with a clever way to share the posts. At the bottom of each post, if you see "tia" appear first, you know that it is my post. When you see "andrea" first, you know it is one of her posts. Clever, huh? Just wondering if anyone caught on to that, yet?

So...my wonderful hubby and I are packing up our 5 kids and my Crimson Clover jewelry and headed back home to see my family and friends. Tuesday is the big Crimson Clover trunk show and I'm so excited to have Andrea and my cousin, KiKi be a part of it. I'll be posting pictures once we return home.

And I just had to throw this picture in for a few good laughs. Coming from a mother of 5 little kids, I think it's pretty indicative of how my life is. Can you see my reflection in the glass? Towel on my head, baby on my hip, no shoes......it's chaos, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

So now I'm off to pack, but I'll be back real soon with pics from my trip and more pics with my sidekick Andrea......my other "junk chick"!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2010-03-17T07:01:00.001-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Two Junk Chix! And a special happy birthday to my wonderful mom and Andrea's mother-in-law! We love you, Moppy!!xoxo,

tia & andrea

Happy Birthday, Miss Piper!

2010-03-16T05:45:00.001-07:00

Today I'm wishing my oldest daughter, Piper and Andrea's first neice a very happy birthday!! We l♥ve you, Miss P!! You are such a blessing!!

Mommy (tia) and Piper

Having fun at the Chicago Children's Museum

XOXO,

mommy (tia) & aunt andrea

Tatertots & Jello giveaway

2010-03-15T05:56:00.001-07:00

Hi y'all! This week, I was asked by the lovely & talented Jennifer to participate in her giveaway for the week. Tatertots & Jello is an amazing blog, so please check it out! I'm giving away a $75 gift certificate for either pieces in my shop or a fantastic custom necklace made just for YOU!. Remember, Mother's Day is just around the corner! Check out this fab piece for all of you proud momma's out there.

So sit back, relax, grab a cup of java and enjoy reading through this fun, creative, inspiring blog as much as I do!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Lovin my new lights

2010-03-09T17:10:00.001-08:00

I ♥ my new lights in my scrap room!!! I ♥ how bright they make my workspace.

I started looking for the lanterns about a month ago and one evening I found these at Pier 1 while shopping with my friend Michelle. I looked down and the light kits were in a basket and lanterns were hanging above them. YAY!!! They were super affordable. Only $3.00 for the each of the lanterns and the light kits were $10 each. I used the true light energy efficiency light bulbs inside the lanterns.

I made the pompoms a few weeks ago using tissue paper and styrofoam balls in my favorite colors and my favorite print. I ♥ pink & lime together and what else goes with those colors???? ZEBRA PRINT!!! I hung the tissue balls by pink ribbons. I hung the lamps by the hooks that came in the light kits. I made the curtain that is behind all of them too. I pretend to know how to sew.

I ♥ the tissue balls and the lanterns together and hanging above my workspace. I ♥ my room too!! It is my creative escape!!! Will share more pictures of that soon!!!!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Andrea & Tia

Lucky girls...

2010-03-08T09:19:00.001-08:00

...wear Crimson Clover jewelry! Please leave a comment if you would like any of these necklaces shown or send me a message on my Etsy site.

1-1/4" glitter 4 leaf clover on vintage ledger paper

1" horseshoe beveled glass shadowbox

Vintage brass horse shoe & clover necklace

German foil 4 leaf clover on vintage ledger paper with "lucky girl" double bubble

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Lucky

2010-03-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

I was walking through Michael's a week ago and saw a package of green flowers from Prima and I loved the color and thought wow those look like shamrocks. Short story I bought them not know what I was going to do with them. Then I looked at the Michael's ad last Sunday and artist canvas was on sale 40% off and you could use an extra coupon for another 20% off and it hit me......I will make a canvas for St Patrick's Day!!!

I ended up using 2 packages of the flowers from Prima, 8x10 canvas, Distress ink in walnut, canvas stamp from Stampin Up, parchment craft smart paint, ink garden green from CTMH, scalloped punch, grunge board chipboard from Tim Holtz, foam adhesive squares and my favorite glue ever, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.

I painted the canvas in a parchment color paint. I used the ink and stamps to distress the edges of the canvas. Next I cut off one of the petals of each of the flowers and then rolled the cut off petal to make the stems of the shamrock. I saved one to keep as a four leaf clover. I layered the shamrocks to create a collage of the shamrocks. I added the "four leaf" clover to the scalloped punch and raised up using some foam squares. I inked the letters with the distress ink to spell lucky and added it to the canvas.

♥ it on my mantle!!! I put some cut off shamrocks from a pick from Michael's in the apothecary jar next to it.

♥

Andrea & Tia

Happy March!

2010-03-01T06:37:00.001-08:00

Happy March, y'all! Gettin' the house ready for spring is one of my most favorite things. Especially if you live in Chicago, spring could not come soon enough for this Southern gal! March is one of my favorite months with 2 special birthdays. Piper's birthday is on the 16th and my mom's is on the 17th, so I'm a big fan of St. Patty's Day! Here are just a few of my St. Patty's Day touches.

Love the burlap and glitter shamrock banner! And with Vicki's cupcake banner {thanks, girl!}, I think the combo looks FAB!

What would decorations be if you couldn't add some leopard print?

Here are just a few of the wands that Denise, Vicki, Anna and I made the other night. How cute are these?!

Mr. Leprechaun sittin' under the glass cloche

Denise, Vicki, and Anna sittin' in my dining room working on St. Patty's Day crafts. The beer wasn't green but everything else was!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Back in the day...

2010-02-23T17:57:00.001-08:00

...I used to L♥VE going to my grandmother's house and play with all of her Avon goodies. I think every lady back then was an Avon representative. There was just something that I found so glamorous about it. And their packaging was just as good as their goodies! So I thought I'd share with you one of my random collections. If you are in your 30's, you'll probably remember these. I remember I used to "bathe" in this cupcake perfume. Too bad it didn't actually smell like cupcakes. I had a love for cupcakes as a little girl and still love cupcakes today. It still has the perfume inside!
How funny is this? The #1 Hit record with 2 lipglosses inside. This one was from the late 70's and early 80's.......rock on with your lipgloss!

And how can you forget the Funburger?! Isn't it funny? This one is circa 1977 and still has the lipgloss inside, however, I won't be wearing it. I'm sure it would make a great science project now!

And this one is my all time favorite! The Berry Nice Lipgloss Compact. I remember being a little girl when I got my first one. I went through several of them but have held onto this one. I just L♥VE it.

And we all know that Andrea has a love for owls. She purchased this vintage Avon perfume bottle....not for the perfume but for it's owl cuteness. Isn't is so cute? We think it is circa 1960's to early 70's. Avon had the best packaging!!

Hope you've enjoyed taking a little stroll down memory lane. Avon calling...

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Celebrating blue and gold style

2010-02-21T16:18:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from our Cub Scout Pack's Blue and Gold Banquet as promised. I was super pleased with the was that it all looked once together. This year is the 100th anniversary of scouting and we wanted it to look like a birthday party for scouts. I made all the "word sticks" even though they are wands but I didn't think that was a good term for them since they were for boys. LOL!!! I had help with decorating from some of the Moms of our pack and my friends. Thank you all for helping set it all up!!!! ♥ Love you all!!!!! My friend Jessica made the stars that were hung on the wall and I loved how it looked!! My friend Angie snapped this picture of me as we were decorating and I wanted to share it. ☺We are scouting families and we are thrifty so we used some things that the church had already on hand. The tables had ivy bowls with the marbles already on the tables. We switched the flowers that were in them for the wands and added a balloon to the center for the centerpieces.

The boys had a great time at the banquet along with their families.

Had to share this one with you.....he happens to be our favorite Cubscout!!!

Andrea & Tia

Front Door Redo

2010-02-20T10:58:00.001-08:00

Hi y'all! I was getting kind of tired of wreaths and metal door pockets and since I L♥VE banners, vintage papers, burlap, neutrals and German glass glitter, why not put them all together to make this pennant wall hanging. It could really hang anywhere, but I think it has found its home on my front door. First, I cut strips of burlap to approximately 6" wide.

I found these great heavy cardstock pennants at Michael's, so I used these as my form. With a touch of hot glue, I attached the burlap strips to the pennant. To make the ruffles, you just fold over the burlap and glue and repeat to make a ruffle.

I didn't really like the backside unfinished like you see below, so I attached a second pennant to cover up all the not so pretty stuff. Plus, it made it more durable and just looks better.

Now to the fun part! Piper and Paige helped me with dressing it up. We used vintage papers from the 1800's from my collection. We then added vintage game pieces to spell out our last name. I knew I'd have a use for these one day. We thought it needed more ruffles, so we added yummy gray {my favorite color} crepe ruffles around the inside. For a little bling, we added a few German glass glitter 5 point stars. We love stars in our family....reminds us of our time in Texas and it represents our 5 kids.

Giddy up!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Up to my elbows in blue and gold....

2010-02-18T21:26:00.001-08:00

I thought I would share what I have been up to this week.

I have been VERY busy this week getting decorations ready for our Cub Scouts' Blue and Gold Banquet this weekend. I have been cutting & glueing and embossing and tying ribbons to sticks for 3 nights this week while watching the Olympics. GO TEAM USA!!!!! I would call them wands but that doesn't seem appropriate for boys so I am going to call them "word sticks". They are going to be used in the centerpieces on the tables. Each one has a different rank and was cut out in the color of that rank in Cub Scouts. I am super excited how they turned out and I cant wait to see them on the tables on Saturday. I will post pictures after the banquet.

I have some ideas brewing for some Cool Craftiness next week!!!

XOXO

Andrea & Tia

Big Ole Cowgirl L♥VE

2010-02-16T11:19:00.000-08:00

Howdy Y'all! As most of you know, my sister-in-law, Andrea is posting with me here on Two Junk Chix and I'm so excited about it as she is one talented gal. I found this picture of me and my brother, Roman {Andrea's husband} and thought it was so cute. My mom had it mounted on a vintage tin tray years ago and it has now found its place in my studio. It looks great next to my "vintage" cowgirl boots that my hubby just bought me and a vintage trunk.

Seeing this tray has sparked some new photo project ideas.....very behind on my photos with now having 5 kids. That's a project in itself! Shew! It seems my scrapbooking days and photo displaying days have suffered because our life is just very hectic. But I have been seeing some really cool ideas that play off of this tray photo of my brother and I. Once I get some completed, I'll post so y'all can see.

No, I don't live in Texas anymore {still wish I did}, but still a Southern cowgirl at heart....always was and always will be. So no matter where I go, I'll always take with me a big ole piece of Southern cowgirl l♥ve!

A Valentine for you.....

2010-02-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day from Two Junk Chix!!!

Owl Stamps from Hampton Arts and Copic Markers.....How do I love thee??????

Oh my gosh!!! I love this stamp set because all of the cute owls that it has in it. I added the heart to the owl to use it in this Valentines Card.

In case you didn't know...Copic markers are FANTASTIC!!!!! I just started using them and they are the BEST markers that I have ever used. The colors ares so vibrant and they blend so well.

A few place that carry them are Hobby Lobby, Achievers and Copicmarkers.com.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

XOXO

Andrea & Tia

Hugs & Kisses.....oh, and cupcakes!

2010-02-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Some of my favorite things.....hugs and kisses and cupcakes! Who wouldn't love that, right? We just had craft night #2 and wanted to share with you some of our yummy creations. Here is the cupcake liner garland that we made to coordinate with our coffee filter garland. I love the layered look. Kind of reminds me of wearing layered jewelry.
Just wanted to throw this picture in because I was thrilled to find pink hot chocolate! Yes.....PINK! How great is that? And the tin is so old school and fabulous! Reminds me of when I was a little girl.

Here is Vicki's cupcake garland and I love how she strung it on her hanging pot rack light above her kitchen island. It looks so cute!

Vicki also did the cutest cupcake wands and I just love how she placed them in a clear glass pitcher filled with flour! Such a cute idea! They look great in her entryway.

I was able to find these adorable leopard print {cause y'all know it's my fav} and pink zebra print cupcake liners. These were so much fun and once incorporated with vintage paper.....so cute!

We all 4 did different heart banners and since I'm all about the hugs and kisses this year, XOXO seemed so appropriate! I hung this one in my kitchen window from jute twine and fun clips.

Vicki made some cute chipboard cupcakes and I had to keep this one for myself and thought it was perfect in one of my vintage floral frogs. Just so ya know....she did these by candlelight cause we had a blackout that day. Great job, Vicki!

I got busy with Photoshop and printed out this cute cupcake on pink leopard print paper and framed it for my display. With the addition of some heart lollipops, it looks good enough to eat.

A vintage inspired XOXO flashcard in a vintage floral frog

Denise and Deanne getting busy on their cupcake garlands and heart banners. I never thought I would be able to have 4 adults and some of my kids in my studio to craft, but it was perfect and so much fun! We can't wait for our St. Patty's Day projects!! Love you girls!

Vicki and me gettin' our craft on!
Love you girl!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Happy Birthday Scouts!!!!!

2010-02-08T16:18:00.001-08:00

Today is the Anniversary for the Boys Scouts of America and is celebrating 100 years!!!!

We are a scouting family and it is a big part of our lives. Scouting is a wonderful organization that teaches boys about citizenship, responsibility, and builds character for life long values all while having fun. My husband and I are Den Leaders and our son is a First Year WEBELO He is in his 4th year of scouting. Michael is the 3rd generation scout in our family. Roman (my Husband) was in boys scouts and I was in girl scouts. Roman and Tia's dad was in scouting as well.

We are proud of of our scout and all of his achievements in scouting.

Support your local scouts!!!!

Andrea & Tia

Crimson Clover Trunk Show & New Burlap Badge

2010-02-08T11:19:00.001-08:00

Hi y'all! Crimson Clover is doing a jewelry trunk show this Thursday Feb. 11th from 12-7 at Occasions in Naperville. I hope you all can make it! I'll be launching some of my new pieces.

Here is a cute burlap badge that I just made for myself to wear at my shows. I used a light burlap, vintage paper from the 1800's, vintage seam binding ribbon, and of course a big blingy crown. Hope you all love it as much as I do!

New "cuff" bracelets

Valentine Shadowboxes

New pewter hand stamped wax seal initial charms

More bling shadowboxes

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Bouquet of Love

2010-02-02T16:41:00.000-08:00

I made this little arrangement for my kitchen table. I love all the bright colors and it just makes me smile when I see it.

I used a fiesta vase to hold the arrangement. It is one of my favorite fiesta pieces that I have...love lime green!!!

I put a Styrofoam ball down in the face to hold it together. The sequence sprays were reused from Christmas. I had them on top of my barbie tree. I made the flowers from ribbon.

The flowers were a technique that I learned 2 weeks ago from my friend Amy Moore. Check out the tutorial below on how to make the flowers. I attached the flowers using hot glue to wooded skewers that I had already on hand. I added some chipboard die cuts from Basic Grey to the centers of the flowers and plan on reusing them on scrapbook pages after Valentines. I tied some ribbon in bow and added a tag with the saying "love is everything" (i love that)!!! I added the heart plate that I picked up from Target.

Happy Valentine's Day and Crafting!!!!

Enjoy!!!!
Andrea & Tia