New Use for Vintage Drying Racks

For those of your who frequent the thrift stores like I do, I come across quite a few of these babies:

Image thanks to Cottage Farm

Well, this is a folding drying rack for clothing and such - and I bought one for $1.00 at my local Value Village.  When I got home I didn't have any clue what I was going to use it for - so I nailed it onto my kitchen wall. Typical me. As it hung there I decided to hang a few pots on it - and it looked terrible. So I tried my vintage/antique collection of aprons! 

Love the way it turned out and so it continues to be nailed to my wall. So, go ahead, nail all of your junk to your walls without any idea of your plans. Sometimes it works out great!

Packaging treats for the holidays

I was taking some photos for Etsy to show off these cute kraft tags and I found a really cute and affordable way to package cookies and treats for the holidays - take a look:

I purchased this red/white baker's twine from an Etsy shop called bellacreationz4u. 

I punched these tags at home with quality kraft paper and used black ink to stamp.

 These natural wax sandwich bags are from Whole Foods and are only $2.99 for 60 - and they are compostable!

A few more ideas:

A cute way to close these little bags with miniature clothespins.

My friend Kelly owns a bake shop and so I used her name :)

Hope you all enjoyed!

How to label mason jars in a stylish and simple way

I have done my fair share of organizing and my cabinets never look like those from magazines - so here is a way to label your mason jars with their contents in a super easy way:

Step 1: Cut out as many tags as you need. I free-handed it which worked well. 

Step 2: Hole punch each tag

Step 3: Write on each tag in a black pen. Personally, I like Martha Stewart's ebony pen.

Step 3: Pull jute twine or any type of twine through the hole and wrap around each mason jar. 

Step 4: Tie a bow. I didn't want to knot the twine because many jars need to be washed after use and this way the twine comes off quickly.

Voila!

Clothespins have relocated

I have moved my hand dyed clothespins to a shop I recently opened called Clip & Pin, if you are interested you can take a look here www.clipandpin.etsy.com. Here is a little taste of what is up:

New items up this week!

I am now selling custom wedding place cards. You just give me a list of names and I mail you completed place cards!

Rusty wire soap dish which would hang from a claw footed tub. 

Sweet little empty cardboard box.

Antique spring from an abandoned home in Oregon.

Some more rusty antique parts from the abandoned farm/home.

Antique scissors.

Antique Dutch Pepper shaker, pristine condition. He's lookin for a Salt.

Small, perfect condition drawstring bag found in an antique dresser I purchased. So sweet.

Rusty, antique key hole.

Vintage parts from a refrigerator/freezer.

Knife Fork Spoon anyone?

Check out the new items I am listing right now on Etsy! Let me know what you think! I will post some photos here on my blog and if you want you can check them out here at my store: http://www.itsjustshabby.etsy.com/.

 Knife Fork Spoon Tags - Lime Green

Knife Fork Spoon Tags - Orange

Knife Fork Spoon Tags - Black

Knife Fork Spoon Tags - Chocolate Brown

The Coffee Cup Tags - Orange

The Whole Set

Set of 4 Vintage Wooden Spools of Thread

Set of 3 Vintage Wooden Spools of Thread

Cake Decorator Part-Time (there isn't a word for less than part-time right?)

After watching close to a hundred youtube videos on decorating cakes and using fondant I decided one day - about three years ago - that I would drive my butt to the closest Joann's and Michael's and buy all necessary materials to make myself a fondant cake. (I warned you all in my first blog post that I do this on a regular basis)

After spending all of my money for the week on materials, I went home and possibly spent more than a few hours on this little beauty:

Simple, polka dot two layer vanilla butter cream cake. I am personally not a big fan on the taste of fondant, so I usually end up peeling it away before stuffing it into my mouth.

Warning: what you are about to see next was a sad sad attempt at a 3-tiered cake. At the time, and with my lack of expertise, I had no idea that you had to use supports in order for the cake to stand straight.

Up close, I'd think it was a winner...

Next up, I was asked by a family member to make a small anniversary cake for their 50th.

This next cake is preeeetty original. I was asked to make a Halloween cake for party and this is what I came up with. I'm sure you will be shakin' in your boots.

The next 10 cakes were all completely handmade, no mixes, no premade frostings - nothing. So you can imagine how time consuming they were. These cakes were for my mom's wedding reception.
Flavors consisted of:

• dark chocolate with chocolate ganache frosting
• cinnamon apple with apple butter frosting,
• vanilla vanilla
•  yellow cake with dark chocolate frosting
•  chocolate cake with vanilla butter cream frosting
•  toasted coconut
• banana cake - think banana bread, with homemade caramel drizzle
•  peanut butter cup cake with chocolate ganache on the inside layers and cream cheese frosting for the outside - it also had butterfinger and reeses crumbled on the top
• strawberry cake - made with an entire box of real strawberries
• finally - my favorite white cake with an entire package of oreos blended and stirred into the batter



This next photo is a close-up of the Banana Caramel cake

Last, but not least, is the mecca of all requests. A friend of mine asked me to make her wedding cake - now please keep in mind that the cakes shown above are the only cakes I had ever made. This was the end result:

Voila!
I can supply any/all recipes used for these cakes if anyone would like.