Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Besserina at Country Living Fair ~ Columbus, OHIO









Besserina is going to Country Living Fair in Columbus, Ohio September 14,15,16, 2012!


Tickets are on sale now here. I recommend getting some girlfriends together and making it a weekend.  The shopping is amazing, so many great vendors. It truly is the magazine come to life!


I would love, love, love it if you'd stop by my tent and say Hi!



Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Washi, Washi, Washi Washi Washi Tape








                            
                             I wanted to recommend a great source for washi and fabric tape. 

                                                                     Moose Art

        In addition to all sorts of pretty tape, they have kits, cute cards, doilies and paper flowers....








Super fast shipping from a far, far away land. 






I've already used all of this, and I can't wait to show you what I did with it!










Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Have you joined Love Club?




Have you joined LOVE CLUB?



Oh man. Look what I got in my mailbox today. :) 

I've been thinking of collaborating with Heather of Just Lovely Things and new subscription service called Love Club.  So I joined up to see what it was all about.  

You can read all the details here, but basically you subscribe and get a sweet little box of freebies, samples and coupons from some amazing creative indie businesses.  

Super fun, and the packaging is beautiful!



Monday, August 20, 2012

County Fair Love




I love our county fair.


What I love most is that every year, it is almost exactly the same.  


The rides, the games, the corn dog stand...each are just where I left them last year. 


 I love to find out who canned the best green beans, who grew the biggest  pumpkin, and the most perfect tomatoes. 


Cotton candy. Tractor pulls. Dairy cows. 4-H kids. Half pints of chocolate milk. Barrel racing. 


I love seeing the people that I seem to only see at the fair. 


Gyros. Draft horses.  Little red wagons filled with happy sleepy kids.  


What do you love about the fair?


Source: ffffound.com via Tara on Pinterest


Source: flickr.com via Bob on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Stephanie on Pinterest


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

School Clothes





Our family was just a little behind on back to school shopping this year. We got all of the school supplies together last month, but we still needed jeans, tops, dresses, shoes...Oh! I still need to order a backpack for #1, remind me to do that! :)  

My daughter was always pretty laid back about her clothes.  She would wear just about anything, but now that we are getting into middle school, that has changed. She has kind of developed her own style. 



We went to Kohls the other day, and they have the cutest line of clothes in the Juniors department. Princess Vera Wang.  



Love them.  



 We are waiting for the black and white dress to go down in price, it's currently {on sale} for $50....
She loved the pink skirt above too, but it needed at least another 4 inches to make it the appropriate length for school. 

I can't believe I'm saying this (slap me please) because I  feel like such a "m o m" here.....

Do you know they have those leggings now with the lace on the bottom? The ones we wore in 7th grade? That we wore with little jean skirts, 3 pairs of scrunched up socks and white Keds?

I swear, I hope they never start making those awful one piece leotard shirt things. You know what I mean? That snapped?  I had many. 

My mom had saved a ton of her old clothes from the 70's.  When I was in high school, I wore her old bell bottom jeans all the time. I loved them. 




What about you?  What memories does Back to School shopping bring back? 
Was I the only one that wore her mothers flares?



Friday, August 03, 2012

GreenCraft Magazine Feature {Crazy Excited!}






I wrote an article for GreenCraft Magazine this month, and I am so blissfully happy about it.  I loved the entire process.  

There are some really great ideas in this issue! 

You can see the all of the instructions for my Hardware Wreath that was featured in GreenCraft here. 

Go here to see where you can purchase an issue of the Autumn 2012 issue







Hardware Store Wreath {Tutorial}


I made this wreath entirely of hardware store materials, I love how it turned out! It's whimsical and fun, and the mix of white and silver make it perfect for the winter months.

Check to see if you have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in your community.  They have surplus building materials and often lots of hardware at great prices. 
Procedes fund your local Habitat!

 



4 - six inch chimney pipe elbows
copper wire
7 various wire wheels 
2 glass coffee percolators
3 screws
3 springs
a large nut
clear plastic mirror flowers
a small light bulb to fit into one of the wire wheels
Primer
Heirloom White spray paint
canvas drop cloth
E6000

You will also need a hot glue gun, wire cutters and a drill





I fitted together 4-six inch elbows of shiny metal chimney pipe. 
When you fit them together, make two halves then put the two halves together. 



 Attach a hanger on the back by marking the center, then marking 1" on either side.  The holes were drilled with an electric drill. {wear safety glasses, the bits of metal fly everywhere!} Feed a piece of bent wire through one hole and bring it up through the other.  This you will need patience for! { I have none, so I had my husband do it for me. Shhhhh!}


Then I hung it up to prime it from a rafter in the basement. Let it dry for about an hour.



Then I laid everything out that I wanted to place on my wreath.  I knew I wanted some canvas flowers, so just to get an idea for space I cut some paper circles. 



 I marked where I wanted holes drilled for the "flowers" and wire.






My husband drilled the holes.  He's actually taking credit for the entire project.
He's such a great assistant.  


After the holes are drilled, hang it back up and give it a coat of spray paint.  I used an off white called Heirloom White -  I didn't want it to be bright white but I didn't want it to be cream either. 
I really liked this color. 


Lay everything out, and lets start putting it together!


Make the drop cloth canvas flowers by cutting some flower shapes, nothing fancy.  Take a needle and thread, gather up the centers tightly.  Use hot glue to attach a glass coffee percolator. 

I cut the copper wire in 10" pieces, then twisted one end around a pencil so it looks like a spring. Sort of twist it around and around into the hole in the wreath, put on some hot glue to hold it in place.  I attached the clear plastic mirror flowers by bending the copper wire around and gluing them in place.


For the wire wheel flowers, I put some E6000 around the part that is sticking out the back and put them their holes. In one of the flowers, I hot glued in a large nut and springs,in another a light bulb.  One has a small light bulb.  You might want to wear gloves when handling the wire wheels, they are very sharp!


I hot glued on the canvas flowers over the copper wire swirls and flowers so that they hid the holes and the glue.


Just keep layering and arranging, bending and twisting the wires until you like it.

If you make one, I'd love to see it!







 This tutorial is for personal use only.  You may not sell this tutorial, or wreaths made from this tutorial.  Please do not copy this tutorial to your own site, or distribute in anyway. If you'd like to mention this tutorial on your own site, please do! But please link back to this post. Thank you very much! Questions? You many email me at Besserina at msn dot com ©besserina 2012