A unique dried flower/shutter centerpiece with shutter linkup!

 When my mom passed away a year ago, Marian aka Miss Mustard Seed and her lovely mom Kim sent me this gorgeous bouquet of roses.

Right before the roses bit the dust, I hung them upside down to preserve them and enjoyed them in this very spot for a long long time.

(how I preserve real flowers is HERE)

However, over time, they started to just get tired, so I took them down.  I placed them on my bedroom TV top instead.

And then they just got dusty and I felt perhaps it was the end of their time.

But their dried appearance stopped me. They really were still gorgeous in their own right. The roses took on a paper crepe texture, wearing the loveliest weathered hue and the leaves were beautifully shaped. So, I tried them out with a new look instead.

Remember the cute $5 mini shutter I found during my birthday junkin' day?

How sweet is this?

The shutter is just the cutest thing ever and created a perfect base/tray for this centerpiece.

Check out the faded charm to these rosebuds. So many soft blended tones!

The leaves are truly amazing. 

They are in perfect shape, super thick and held onto the most graceful curves.

The cute enamel jug is from my recent trip to Ikea. 

I meant to take a hammer to it to bang off some paint... maybe I still will. :)

Here is a bit more layering with a touch of galvanized metal. 

(I'm told it's a pizza pan!)

But I think I prefer it just like this the best.

Marian and Kim, I still love my flowers. Maybe even more now! 

Wonder what's next for them? :)





I'm linking this up to SNS's themed shutter linkup.  Have you checked it out lately? Just for fun, here's the shutter portion again. If you have any new shutter project to add, please do!

 
And be sure to check the master list from time to time to see what else you can add to the vault. :)
(themed linkup button is located on the sidebar)

3000 Followers Event - How to vignette with JUNK (plus link up)

Welcome to Funky Junk's
3000 Follower's Event!

Wow! We're there! 3000+!  To help celebrate the event, over the next little while you'll see some fun interactive posts come up, with the intention to inspire, teach and encourage you. You're here for DIY decorating, so that's what I aim to deliver!

~ Junk Vignette Day ~

When I gutted my own home to restage my mom's (post about that HERE), I left empty holes everywhere you looked. It was pretty depressing. So... I finally did something about it.

And I'm happy to report, I had enough extra junk to fill up the spaces just fine. :)

Here are some junk vignette tips I have so you too can have one junkin' happy household! Just remember now... if someone looks at your stuff weird, you have achieved greatness, ok? :)

Need height somewhere? Stack'em up! 

And then hug it all together with a long dangly fake lovely lush green plant. Moral of this story is, if one is not enough, take a few and try stacking them.

Allow your vignettes to tell a story that make YOU smile.

Bet you didn't realize I had sculpture magic inside these rusty veins, eh? How sophisticated are these contraptions I ask? :) I scooped these precious beings from my big rust junkin' day.

Look closely inside the (whatever these are) on the right. Inside. That tiny steel thing is a dip stick. I won the Dip Stick Award when I went camping. How? All I had to do was ask what the Dip Stick Award was all about and BAM that baby was mine! I'll treasure it always. :)

Groups work

Ok, this one makes me squeal just a little. Some bent up metal basket hugging all kinds of typography goodness. Yum!

I love decorating in groups. Why, I even wrote a post showing you all my groupings not long ago HERE. Groups emphasis your treasures in a unique way, so group'em up!

Anything that holds anything can hold anything.

 If an object can hold stuff, put it to work. This pretty vintage mix master (get a load of that porcelain bowl!) provides the perfect display for a kitchen. (thanks Bec!)

 meat grinder = pencil holder

vintage something or other = plant base

rusty gears = office helps plus drink coasters

Cheat on your finishes.

This cute little curbside found bench is also sitting at my mom's house. In order to enhance the top, I simply added loose palette boards.

Now, I would not hesitate to screw down these boards if I wished the top to stay! Which is exactly what I have in mind for another piece I'll be redoing soon. So.. you don't always have to sand like crazy to reach wood. Why not attach your own top to your desired size and call it done instead? (so you can even change your mind later! cooler yet)

Pickets have feelings too.

 By this, I'm referring to substrates all on their own. This vignette (again at my mom's) needed some height to compensate for vaulted ceilings, so simple pickets standing on their sides fit the bill. Same deal with the loose palette boards I brought. I had NO idea where I'd use this stuff but I just made it work in the right places. You just need to play, make mistakes and do it again until it works.

As you can see, there really ARE no rules when playing around with this kinda stuff. You tweak things until they just feel and look good to you, tell a story, and show your little areas to their best advantage.

How to achieve this look

I actually have a secret to my vignettes. Wanna know what it is? 

Take a look at all the vignettes above. They ALL have something in common except for the first basket one. See if you can't pick it out before you read on.

Ready?

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None of the objects are crafted. 

The items you see here are displayed in their authentic form. Sometimes the item left AS IS is actually perfect. Painting, tweaking, adding this and that can actually remove vintage rustic charm. It's a very different take if you're use to tweaking everything you get your hands on.

Some things are better played with. But sometimes they're perfect as is too.

 Here's my little challenge to you. Try a new vignette with junk. And do NOT craft the objects. Just display them as is. Group them, put stuff in them, place them here and there. Just don't tamper with their originality.

Now, this is meant to be a quick fast one so please don't distraught over the linkup below. Whip up something quick and linker up if you wish! Or just do it on your own and enjoy the fact that the paint can wait another day this round. The link will be up for a week.

What do you think? Can you feel the love in all things rustic left untouched or do you tend to see all the help the objects need instead?

The Pleated Poppy Giveaway 

is still open for entries!

I LOVE decorating with... antique tool totes

On the weekend, I went to stage a friend's living room and was on the hunt for a table centerpiece. They know me well and allow me to walk their property and junk shed for my kinda 'loot'. :)

I came across a lovely old wooden tool tote that was long forgotten, full of old nails and such. After I removed the content, I hosed down the little cuteness and requested some jars of all sizes.

And was VERY delighted when I was handed some old bottles as well!

And then my friend handed me two jars of buttons! With old galvanized lids no less. Well... now THIS would be my kinda cool indeed. The buttons did not get dumped. :)

So I continued to walk through the garden and found pretty this's and that's for each jar.

Happy with my gatherings,  I tweaked the arrangement until it all looked great from all angles.

The centerpiece looked adorable on the woodsy table, which I didn't get a shot of. Whoops!

Why tool totes make great centerpieces

The handle makes it so easy to lift the works when it's time to dine.

This one is shallow, allowing for conversation over top.

It can be changed on a whim, and even used for cutlery in the center sections if desired.

 At Christmas I also did up another wooden tote for a centerpiece for the same friends. Gosh I love these things!

If you're fortunate to come across one of these wonders, just be smarter than me and ensure you convince the owners it's JUNK and you should bring it to the dump FOR them. Lesson learned. :)

I melt with these things. Anyone with me? 

What cool thing have you done with these tool totes?

Did you win?!?

The 10 winners for the Shaklee giveaway are now posted! 

Visit The Sponsor Store 

~ HERE ~

to see if you won!

There's a cool DIY before and after contest being run by One Project Closer! Only 2 weeks to go. You can read more about it on my writeup HERE.

Wed Sept 8. See ya then. :)

Decorating with "what are they?" objects.

I have all kinds of 'what is it' things flanking every nook and cranny in my home.

I suppose one of the bonuses of not knowing what something is, is the fact that it gives you official permission to make it become anything you desire. I practice the same trend  when I waltz down tool and hardware isles. I just love unknown oddities because the creative explosion goes off and the sky's the limit!

Here's one of my latest acquisitions. Remember my grand junkin' day awhile back? My special treasure was in this pile. Somewhere.

It's a metal screen of some sort and I'm in love with it!  I use it as a tray on my coffee table. Isn't it wonderful?

And it's no lightweight variety either. There's official weight to this piece. It's heavy AND it's visually chunky too, in the most delightful of ways for any metal lover. :)

I mean, look how it fit on the coffee table! Perfect! It turned a standard schmandard table into a layered metal/wood/fake-plant-lover-so-I-don't-kill-it's dream!

Off topic: Can I just say this? Everytime I see my sofa in a picture like this, I'm glad I didn't slipcover it. You can add your whites via pillows galore too! Amen.

white So You Think shutter project in this photo is HERE

I love my screeny metal tray display thing! Whatever it is! Anyone have any idea of it's origin? I'm curious to know! I think...

Never underestimate any found object. Especially if you can use it to layer with. Layers add an additional dimension to your vignettes and just give you the opportunity to create more of an impact on one given area. I've written a past post about layering vignettes HERE.

How about you? Are you equally intrigued to plant most anything in your home and wonder after what on earth it was originally for? If you have any such items in a post, feel free to add your url so we can take a peek. Maybe we can help you figure out your own little mystery. :)

Good news! I've been working on my Workshop Photo Series post bit by bit! Stay tuned for Part 3 soon!

Preserving real flowers

There appear to be 101 ways to preserve real flowers. Those little powdered packets from the florist or write ups promise an aspirin in the water will cure all. However, I've never had great luck with any of those methods.

When I receive real flowers and wish to hang on to their memory for a long time to come, this is the way I do it.

1. Take action on first wilt

At the first sign of a flower wilting in the bunch, this is the time to take immediate action or you'll loose the effect. Remove the flowers from their water source and place onto a flat surface.

2. Arrange

Take note at this time how you'll be displaying them. Mine will be displayed from up above hanging upside down, so I nudged the top flowers to be higher, and the bottom flowers lower. Bind together.

3. Hang

My plan is to leave them here, however you could separate the bunch and do whatever you wish although they are extremely fragile once dry. I've found the best method is to dry them in the arrangement of your choice. If you wanted to display the roses separately, I'd hang each rose upside down without having them touch each other.

Dress them up with raffia, twine, ribbon, whatever you have on hand. My secret stash of raffia has disappeared so tangled ribbon found in a box was my quick chosen method this round. (I am so going to build a craft area!)

The outcome will be a very dry, slightly time worn weathered appearance. And they are as beautiful dry as alive, just in a different sense.

The above method works with other real dried flowers as well.

Hydrangeas

Here's a real cheat sheet method of drying! The hydrangeas in the above picture were left on the bush since last fall, and I picked them in spring. I loved the sepia tone to them for this picture. Pick the wilted flowers on a dry day and they'll stay like this forever.

Another fab tip for hydrangeas is, pick them when in full bloom when they are the colour you desire the most, then display them how you wish them to stay. They will slowly move and dry in the perfect position.

Status

 

The above picture is an example of what I prefer NOT to do with status. I like to pick status fresh, arrange how it will stay, and it will naturally dry in the exact shape you desire. If I had done that to the above arrangement, you would not see any green stems, just glorious flowers curving around their container.

However you don't always know in the months ahead what you require. So, this works in a pinch. :) 

Baby's Breath

And the exact same holds true for baby's breath. Pick a massive bunch, and place them in an old crate and let them dry. They will dry perfectly in place and look like that for as long as you don't rearrange them!

Keeping the dried flowers out of direct sun will prolong their colour moreso as well. And they do get dusty so I just blow on them from time to time. :)

Do you have any special methods of drying flowers that have worked well for you? Please share! 

Friday is the last day to vote for PAINT. See you Sunday night with a new entry!