Tweet On Twitter

Finally....I am a hold out I guess! Signed up to Tweet on Twitter, since I am always on my Blackberry (aka Crackberry). I put a link on the sidebar of the blog if you are interested in following my quick quips, or click on the little bird that I Photoshopped below! Have a super week, will be doing a more substantial post later on.....xoxo~ Janet

Junk In Her Trunk

Today I went JUNKIN' with a long time dear friend Cindy. We haven't gone junkin together in a good long while, as we are both so busy. If you follow along with the blog, then you already know what keeps me busy and Cindy works at a local antique mall and is busy with her family and grandkids. She found a literal motherload of things to sell in her shop, and I found some....mostly things for projects. My Killer find was this old French Sofa that I plan on redoing for my living room. I LOVE the lines and it's a nice long one at almost 8 ft.

Ms. Cindy hauling out the junk in the trunk!


I love Tattered, Elegant, Faded, Old Beauty:-)

Too bad that the fabric is so faded and worn, as originally it was a FABULOUS shade of French Bleu, but it definitely needs an extreme makeover and new overstuffed down cushions. Cost was only $120, so I just had to have it! Any ideas on the transformation? I am thinking cream matelasse or perhaps linen.

Mr. Fufu and I are leaving in the wee hours tomorrow for a long weekend at our beach retreat, so I will be taking the next few days off working to relax, read, and sketch out some project ideas to come.

Talk soon......enjoy your weekend
~XOXO~
Janet

Creative Packing With Recycling

Just a quick mid~Monday post, as we had a very busy weekend in Shabbyfufu land and there are a good couple of days of packing and shipping ahead! Like everyone, I am trying to economize whenever and wherever I see fit. There was a wonderful supply house that used to deliver the shipping supplies to us for the last several years, and sadly when I called to place an order this morning, they are no longer in existence. I started thinking of some ways to be creative and reuse, and had one of those AHA Moments as they say. Mr. Fufu is a builder who owns his own firm that specializes in mostly high end residential remodeling. He has oodles and doodles of old building plans laying around his office....that for some reason had never gotten tossed out. Perfect for packing, especially those large boxes I say!! He said..."sure honey, take all that you want". What a guy:-). Thanks Mr. Fufu!


And speaking of.....today is a pretty BIG Birthday for him. Happy Birthday, and you are sweeter, kinder, more loving, my best friend and just a wonderful guy........and just as killer good lookin' as in the days that we first met those many years ago~LOVE 'YA!


Mr. Fufu and his Dad on Sanibel Island



Back to work now, and will talk to you soon..... have a super great week!
~XOXO~
Janet

Spring Thing

Here in Miami, or as I sometimes call it...the end of the earth~since we are soooo far in the deep south, Spring is welcome but in a different fashion. We only have a couple more weeks of great weather ahead, and then the dreaded humidity, heat and daily downpours start to set in. We do need the rain, as we have been in a pretty severe drought this winter with it being nice and dry....but it does get oppressive and the air conditioner tends to be the only relief from about April through November. So my Northern friends....while you have winter to coop you up, we have about 8 months of heat to keep us indoors!

We have been getting the house and the gardens ready for hot weather, and while outside pulling weeds this morning I snapped a few photos of our tropical gardens to share.


The Orchids are in Full Bloom!


Pretty in Pink
A Nutmeg Tree Flower

I love to use large clamshells as natural birdbaths

Lots of Tropical Ferns. They last year round and do particularly well in Spring and Summer in Miami

A Massive Staghorn Fern. This could seriously do some damage if it fell on you!

We live on a freshwater canal. Time to put the old Sea Nymph in the water for some fun:-)


And finally, I love our street. It's lined with HUGE Royal Palm Trees and looks so regal when you drive down the street. Today is trash pick~up day~lol!

Thanks for reading and looking and have fun in your Garden this weekend if possible!

In Celebration of Spring, with every sale in the SWEET SPRING Boutique on the website at SHABBYFUFU this weekend, you will receive one of these Darling Flocked Bottle Brush Trees with Glittered Eggs........while supplies last. I will announce here if, and when we run out of the FREE tree promotion. YOU MUST LET ME KNOW THAT YOU READ ABOUT IT HERE:-)


Off to work in the STUDIO, I hope to list more of the Marie Antoinette and German Dolls perhaps later in the weekend or if not...then early next week.



~xoxo~Janet

Where In The World?

Been busy with familia this past week, and for those readers who visit the website; I will be posting lots of new (and old:-) items later this week!
Younger daughter Fufu was here on a whirlwind visit for a few days, spending the last part of her Spring Break from college at home doing this~

Mr. Murphy was very happy indeed to have his sissy home~

The weather here in Miami has been sunny and glorious~

Speaking of weather, I am a bit under the weather with what I think is a quick bug....so will talk to you soon!

~xoxo~
Janet

Such A Doll ~ Barbie At 50

Photo courtesy of About.com

Barbie....no surname needed and everyone who is not living under a rock will know who you mean! This fashion icon of little and big girls worldwide turned the big 50 on Monday and looks pretty darned good for her age. She has been the source of delight for millions of pre pubescent girls for all of those fifty years, and still reigns strong as a queen of imaginative play and collecting. As with probably everyone who might be reading this, I played with Barbies as a young girl...heck, I was born in the same decade! Back then we didn't have a whole lot of toys, so it was one Barbie for me and one for my sister....and we loved to give them bubble baths in the bathroom sink and dress them up, often crafting the outfits ourselves. My own daughters had many more Barbies when they came into the playing with dolls age, and found their own creative Barbie adventures to pursue. I will never forget finding a decapitated Barbie floating in our swimming pool, or the look on our younger daughter's face when her big sis decided to give her favorite Barbie a pixie haircut!

Here are some interesting by the number facts about this mid century diva. Barbie....Happy Birthday to you!

1 BILLION fashions have been produced for Barbie and her friends since 1959!

Do you have an Original Barbie in Mint Condition in the box? Estimated worth is $27,450!!

There are over 18 MILLION girls registered worldwide on Barbie.com, 1,000 YouTube Channels and 300 Facebook pages dedicated to Barbie.

Barbie has had over 100 careers in her lifetime.

Barbie has represented 50 nationalities.

It takes over 100 designers, seamstresses, pattern makers and stylists to create a single new Barbie outfit and look. It takes fifteen artists to work on one Barbie, using water based acrylics and tiny sable brushes.

Seventy famous fashion designers have outfitted Barbie.

The average number of Barbie dolls owned by U.S. girls aged 3 to 6 years old is 12.

So apparently while Barbie continues to get older (no Botox needed) the girls who play with her continue to get younger. Let's stimulate the economy and buy a Barbie Doll for someone that we love....or just for ourselves. She really is such a doll!

~XOXO~
Janet

Thank you for this Blog Award to my sweet friend Rita over at Tesoro Fino that I hope to pass along soon.

Vintage Barkcloth, Sweetness

I have decided that if I live to be 1,000 years old (not sure that I would want to!!) I will never use up all of the vintage barkcloth, ribbon and bits that I have in my studio. I have spent the last several days cleaning out and organizing a collection of textiles (and other things) that I accumulated over a couple of decades. What a good feeling to get organized! I am going to be photographing and listing some of these on the website soon.....and hope to be back at 'em working on some projects later this week.

Sweet daughter Fufu is on Spring Break from college and will be home tomorrow, so I also will be spending some precious time with her. Speaking of Spring and Sweetness.....there is a 20% OFF SALE this week only on the website in the Sweet Spring Boutique, as we make room for new items coming next week.

Talk soon.........have a beautiful week SWEET friends:-)
~XOXO~ Janet

Wanderlust

It's getting to be that time of year again when I seem to always get the wanderlust to take a trip. With the economy being what it is at the moment, I am not sure if that will happen this year. I say yes, Mr. Fufu says no. We will have to see who wins out!

I thought that those who are newer to reading my blog might like to catch up and read my brief tour of our trip to Europe last Spring. You can be taken away by clicking on my collage below~where you will be able to read both posts by scrolling down the page.

Enjoy your weekend, for me it's going to be spend working in the Shabbyfufu Studio and cleaning out closets and cabinets in my quest to be more organized.

If you are a Shabbyfufu customer, watch for a SALE coming this week in one of our Boutiques!

~XOXO~
Janet

Blissful Bird Basket Project For Spring

Are you freezing in the Northern tundra? In just checking the weather reports while having my morning warm up cup o' joe I am ever so grateful to be enjoying life in South Florida....where we are having a cold snap today in the 50's! I actually feel so energized with this weather, and it's as cold as I eva wanna bee!

I am posting a project for you today. I made a few of for the website (all SOLD) and thought that my creative readers may like to try for themselves. Please, for personal use only. Thank you to my dear friend in Australia, Gail McCormack for allowing me to use her images, which are not for share....but these will work with any images, scraps, ephemera that you may have. Enjoy feathering your nest with these:

These Blissful Bird Baskets have been crafted from simple peat pots and make for a festive table accent when grouped together. Fill with candies and let your guests take them home as party favors. Wrap in cellophane and tie with pretty ribbons: they make sweet and inexpensive gifts for any occasion!

3” square peat pots

White primer spray or brush paint, or gesso medium

Pale acrylic craft paint

Decoupage glue and sealer

Hole punch

Bird images

Wired tinsel

Seam binding or lightweight pastel ribbon

Paper flowers

Paper shred to fill baskets

Hot glue

Instructions:

1. Begin by priming both the inside and outside of the peat pot with your choice of primer paint or white gesso. For our project we used white spray primer, but any primer will do. You can give your peat pot a second coat if desired with a pale toned acrylic paint. We chose a pale pink for our baskets.

2. Once the paint is dry, cut out two holes on opposite sides of your basket about ½” down with the hole puncher. These will be where you wrap your tinsel for the basket handles, so try and keep them evenly spaced.

3. Cut out a bird image to fit the front of your basket and adhere with decoupage glue. Be sure to press out any air bubbles with your fingers. Once dry, seal the image with the same clear glue. You may wish to give the image a second coat if necessary.

4. Hot glue paper flowers on both sides of the basket. We layered our flowers for dimension.

5. Cut an 8” piece of wired tinsel for the handle. Insert the tinsel from the outside of the basket to the inside and tie or wrap a knot on the inside to hold the handle in place. A dab of hot glue over the knot will keep the handle from pulling out.

6. Fashion bows with seam binding or other lightweight ribbon on the handle at the top. For a festive look feel free to embellish with small butterflies, buttons or other pieces from your craft stash.

7. Fill your basket with pretty paper shred and add your assortment of scrumptious candy treats.

Hope that you stay warm~ Sweet Spring is on the way!

~xoxo~
Janet