Quickies - Pink Berry Baskets

I completed several quickies projects this past week.  It was hard to select a favorite.
   
The vintage berry baskets from the peach farm estate sale were waiting to be beautified.

First I pulled out my music flash cards.

Yes, they were already yellowed manila paper,

BUT ...






 

They needed more distressing.

Into a hot bath of coffee and Rit taupe dye.

I let them soak for about ten minutes.

I stirred them with a metal spoon.




 

Placed them on a screen in the sun to dry.

See the creased marks?

While stirring I make sure to fold and unfold them.

Also scrape with the metal spoon.

Used one of my cans of hoarded Sweet Pea Pink paint.

Used a cheeky cherub stamp on each.

Finished with a torn cotton ribbon overdyed in Rose.

Sweet, but not complete.

A bundle of flash cards for each basket.

 Ready for you to tuck in a small gift or two.

No, I did not forsake my new Cool Ocean Breeze paint.

A bunch of baskets being beautified.

 
See y'all!

Use this discount code to receive 10% off your purchase at the Distressed Donna Etsy store:

DISTRESSEDDONNA16

SHOP HERE! 

Show and Share No. 309
Talk of the Town #15  
Amaze Me Monday #159 

Quickies - In The Pink!

This Sunday's Quickies post is brought to you by the color Rose Pink - Rit Liquid Dye.

First up are wooden clothes pins - bare wood, no varnish.

A big stainless bowl filled with hot water and Rose Pink dye.

Keep stirring the pins around to dye evenly.

I kept them in for about five minutes.

Next  torn French dictionary pages. 

A quick dunk - flipped front to back and out of there.

Drying on the screen outside.

I placed another screen over the top to keep the pages from blowing away.

I continue to dye as long as there is dye in the water.

Torn cotton ribbons soaking wet.

They dye better wet.

The dye looks stronger than it is.

Cloth soaks for about ten minutes.

Stirring to get into every crevice.

There was still dye in the water.

So I tossed in a handful of shipping tags - six at a time.

Stir these while creasing with a metal spoon to create distress marks.

Then out to a screen to dry in the sun.











The pages dried to a pale pink.

The clothes pins are more rosy.

Ready to use in various projects.

About forty minutes from prep to drying stage.

The cloth and the tags take the longest to dry.  

Plan on a couple of hours.

A sneak peek on what will happen to the pink tags.











A few of these projects will be at Magnolia Ridge.







See y'all!

Use this discount code to receive 10% off your purchase at the Distressed Donna Etsy store:

DISTRESSEDDONNA16

SHOP HERE! 

Amaze Me Monday #155
Show and Share No.306
Talk of the Town #12   

The Basket Bunch

Gathered up the dozens of baskets lolling about the house and decided to paint some and decorate others.


Here are a few of them before they left for the booth.

This one was painted in leftover greige chalk paint.

Before pic.

Forgot the after.

Painted 204 on the front.

Tied a torn cotton ribbon on it.

I saved this bunch for the weekly "Let's get rid of spray paint cans" Day.

And here they are.

Added ribbons to these.

The painted group all decked out in their new finery.

The dark willow baskets I left natural and added champagne satin ribbon torn from some yardage I had in Horror Monster, my beloved craft stash.

Other baskets received make overs but did not make the cut for a photograph on the blog.

So sad.

Off to round up some patriotic baskets.

See y'all!

Use this discount code to receive 10% off your purchase at the Distressed Donna Etsy store:

DISTRESSEDDONNA15

SHOP HERE! 

Show and Share No.262 
Share Your Style #14 
Feathered Nest Friday  

An Altered Stack

Not a single original idea in the post today.

To reduce the number of books sitting around doing nothing, I made altered stacks of books.

Used up quite a stack of them along with twine, lace, keys, and other bits.


 

I do not use my vintage photographs.

I copy them on vellum.

They are quite see-through.


Cut them out with deckle-edged scissors to fit the front of the stack.

Some vintage lace attached with glue strips.

A tag or a key or a rusty star.

The stack of loose pages is secured with thin twine.











 

I make sure the ornamentation is below the people in the photo.

 A fake hydrangea.

I think I love the sides as much as the fronts.

If you are going to alter one, you might as well alter a stack of books.

And decorate them in many ways.

Just think maybe a descendant will buy one and never know they are related.

If you are my age, you will remember the photographer who walked around the neighborhood with his pony.

We also had a photographer with a goat cart.

The stirrups are dated 1952.

Clever photographer!

The altered books are available in Booth W-10 (Riverfront Antique Mall) and in my Etsy shop where you can use the 10% off coupon below. 



See y'all! 

Use this discount code to receive 10% off your purchase at the Distressed Donna Etsy store:

DISTRESSEDDONNA15

SHOP HERE! 

Show And Share No.255
Vintage Inspiration Party #184
Feathered Nest Friday