Vintage Crafts: 75 Do-It-Yourself Decorating Projects Using Candles, Colors, and Other Flea Market Finds

Vintage Crafts: 75 Do-It-Yourself Decorating Projects Using Candles, Colors, and Other Flea Market Finds

Decorate with the flair of yesterday and create the house of your dreams. Vintage flair isn’t just classy and cute; it’s fun to create and perfect for any budget! So let your creativity run wild on trips to the flea market, and don’t back down from that deal at the yard sale. With Vintage Crafts , use paper scraps, teacups, and a splash of paint to decorate your house room by room. More than just a craft book, Vintage Crafts features recipes fresh from the countryside, lessons for safe and easy outdoor improvement, and tips for keeping your house eco-friendly. This is the ultimate home decor resource from Sweden’s number one lifestyle blogger, Clara Lidström. Learn to liven up secondhand clothes, turn old fabrics into patchwork projects, and interject some ’50s-era chic into your thrift store finds. Elegant, old-style country projects include: Champagne box bookshelves - Wallpapering with maps - Silhouette frames - Baby shoe flower planters - Bark and twig lanterns - And so much more to make with your two hands and flea market bargains! So look around: if your house is full of scraps and never-used knickknacks, turn them into something beautiful, useful, and made by you! With Vintage Crafts at your crafting table, your hands will never be idle again! 125 color photographs Clara Lidström is a professional photographer and journalist, and she writes one of Scandinavia’s most popular blogs, UnderbaraClara. Encouraging an environmentally friendly, country-living lifestyle, she blogs about cooking, home decorating, home-growing food, and crafting. She lives with husband Jacob, son Bertil, a dog, two pigs, and some chickens in Västerbotten, Sweden. Vintage Crafts 75 Do-It-Yourself Decorating Projects Using Candles, Colors, and Other Flea Market Finds By Clara Lidström, Anette Cantagallo Skyhorse Publishing Copyright © 2012 Clara Lidström All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-62636-103-4 Contents To Make Something Out of Nothing, 9, Commandments of Crafting, 13, Good to Have at Home, 14, Bedroom, 17, In Good Taste?, 44, Children's Room, 47, Regarding Flea Markets, 57, Kitchen, 63, Living Room, 83, Recesses, 95, The Dream of Having Your Own House, 113, Garden, 117, There Are No Right Answers, 136, Index, 140, Acknowledgments, 143, CHAPTER 1 Commandments of Crafting I hear many people say that they'd love to createsomething with their hands, but they don't knowwhat to make. People seem to sit on a lot of pent-upcreativity that never gets a chance to comeout. I think this is a shame, and so I've gatheredmy best advice to anyone wanting to get crafting. • Hoard materials. It's hard to be creative whenyou have nothing to work with, so it's a goodidea to have materials ready and on handwhen inspiration comes. Actually, it's requiredfor inspiration to come at all. Personally,I hoard fabric pieces, picture frames, boxes,and ribbons from the flea market, even thoughinitially I may not know what to use them for. • Collect scraps. Cans, gift wrap, ribbons, oldshawls, newspaper clippings, and brokenbrooches ... Old becomes new once you fix itup a bit. • Begin with something existing. It's much easierto start with something you already haveinstead of creating something completely newfrom scratch. Alter an existing skirt instead ofmaking an entirely new one. Or why not makea miniskirt from a pillowcase? This way you'lllearn to create step by step, and nothing willbecome excessively difficult. • Shorten the distance to the start. Keep yourcrafting supplies nearby as often as possible.When I see a pile of thread spools, my imaginationstarts racing. And if the sewing machine isset up already, it's much easier to get started. • Don't be too obsessed with how you "ought"to do it. I have no idea how I "should" sew apillow case or repaint a chair. I try and see—itcan't get worse than going wrong! If I followinstructions too strictly, I get so anxious thatI don't dare do anything and the creative processbecomes a chore rather than a joy. • Avoid craft stores. Or rather, go to beinspired—but don't buy everything there. Craftstores are often too darn expensive. A dozenfabric flowers for scrapbooking can cost you fifteenbucks, but at the flea market you can findmore unique options for less than a dollar. • New perspectives give new ideas. Try turninga lampshade upside down and see whathappens. Drape a fun fabric on a chair youhaven't thought about dressing. Stack objectson top of one other and see if you can't findnew uses for them. Put things in new places.Stand on your head and take a look at yourhome. • Accept that nothing will be as you imagined. The final result is not worse—just different. • And remember —creativity is a muscle thatstrengthens when you exercise it. Don't waitfor a flash of genius; that will come whenyou're in the midst of creation. Good to Have at Home To create and be creative you need some toolsand materials, so I put together a list of thingsth