Dollar Tree Trash Basket Into Wire Cloche/Pinterest Challenge

Hi, Friends. 

Welcome to the Pinterest Challenge for August.

Can you believe that August is almost over? I'm so glad since it has been 100 million degrees this month. 

Our host is the adorable Cindy from County Road 407. Please hop over and say hi. 

If you are coming from, Thistle Key Lane, welcome. Those raffia pumpkins are adorable. 

Our inspiration this month comes from Home Stories A to Z.  It is not too early to begin thinking about fall decor. 

The first thing I noticed in the photo is the brick wall. So gorgeous but this isn't about the wall. 

We are supposed to focus on the cloche. 

What is a cloche? 

A cloche is a glass dome that was used to protect tender plants from frost. Cloche is bell in French. As is typical with fun garden stuff, they were brought inside and used for decor or as terrariums. I use glass domes for decor but wire cloches are a good dog deterrent for my garden borders. Several wire cloches were made this spring to keep Dixie out of the flowers. They look so cute in the garden. 

In the inspiration picture, I see the cloche, white pumpkins, hydrangeas, acorns, and an unexpected rope element. 

The rope and the brick wall add texture to this vignette. 

I've been watching a lot of YouTube when I take a break in the afternoon or evening. 

 (This is code for "taking a nap".) 

There is a genre of YouTube videos featuring Dollar Tree DIYs. 

Some are like, "Okay, I can see where you are going with that." Others are, "Wow! That's genius." 

That is what I thought when I saw a video that inspired my cloche.

I ran up to Dollar Tree to grab one of their black waste paper baskets. 

  

Heavy duty scissors cut through the plastic coated wire so that the bottom of the waste basket could come off. The bottom became the top of the cloche. 

With some floral wire and a needle, I began sewing through the top row of wire diamonds in order to gather them together so that a dome shape could be created. The floral wire wasn't working. Twine was the next option but it broke about half way around. Between the wire and the twine, I was able to gather the basket a create that dome shape. 

A series of washers was needed to hold a cute adornment for the top of the dome. 

I have a small collection of old cabinet knobs to use on projects like this. 

 

I went with something French Provincial. 

It sits in front of a watercolor that we found in France. 

Faux pumpkins from Hobby Lobby got a bit of gilding with some gold gilding liquid. 

They are nestled in with some dried hydrangeas. I order hydrangeas from Oregon off of eBay. Roses are a piece of cake to dry and these are from the new rose bushes that I planted during lockdown. 

The brass tray is a vintage piece from my mother in law. 

Gold accents warm up the space for early fall. 

The wire texture in black is so pretty. I'd just been looking for a wire cloche when I saw the YouTube video.  I love this spin on a traditional glass dome. 

My brick wall doesn't have the rosy glow like the inspiration picture but it will have to do. 

This was fun to make. Who knew that a trash basket could become a cloche?

Be sure to stop by and see Laura's cloche at Everyday Edits.  So cute. I love the leaves. 

Be sure to stop in and visit the rest of my Pinterest Challenge friends. 

Katie 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The Piano Corner/ Christmas 2018

 The piano corner was the last spot to receive some Christmas decor.  

This corner is weird. The house plans had it as an optional wet bar.

The people that built the house weren't drinkers. We didn't even have wine until our children were grown. 

I haven't been into a house in the neighborhood that opted for the wet bar. 

We would have had no use for it and it was already a dated element by the time this house was built in 1990. Wet bars seem like a 70's design element. We would have ripped it out.

Initially we had a little desk on this wall. It wasn't right but I'd been on the look out for a secretary desk. It would have been perfect. The closet kept games, puzzles and toddler toys. 

The piano was passed down to us two years after we bought the house.

I know pianos are supposed to be on an inside wall but we had no inside wall that would work for a piano. 

The previous owner had their T.V. tucked in front of this corner. They had a huge sectional that floated in the room facing the T.V. It was hard to visual this space and in fact, I didn't want this house. Bill did. This living room is a hard room for furniture placement.

I can play the piano but I rarely do. 

It sat in the corner like a big orange brown eyesore until I painted it.

I so scared that I'd get in trouble with the family for painting it but nobody even noticed. I have had zero regret about painting this piece. 

It sits not getting used except as a spot for my camera so it's always handy. 

I moved the ceiling tile art piece and had two options for the wall. 

The cute, green chalkboard won the day for me. 

Bill said, "Meah, It doesn't do anything for me." 

Oh well. I was so proud of it too. 

An old screen or an old window were the only other options. I love the pop of blueish, green for Christmas. 

I always need a reminder to have joy so the message was kept very simple.

Normally, the top doesn't get much attention.  

I stuck my cloche collection on it during the summer, thinking that I'd be packing them away for for a while but I loved them in this spot and pondered what to put in them.

An old Victoria Magazine popped into my head when I was moving the little silver cup out of my craft closet. I plucked a tree inside and stuck it under a cloche from IKEA. 

IKEA has a couple of great cloches if you are in the market for one.

 Some vintage books rest under the largest cloche.

 A German daily devotional with the same tones as the chalkboard rests under another one. That one used to be a domed clock. I bought it with the intention of ripping the clock out of it. I threw the clock guts away.  It was cheap, fake brass. 

One of my painted cottages was placed under the remaining cloche. 

I love this vignette so much. 

 I always think I can throw a quick blog post up. It never happens that way. 

Last night I went to a dinner at a friend's house. She has the cutest house. I hope I got some good pictures of that to share tomorrow. 

Have a wonderful day. 

Katie 

Summer Under Glass

I am so excited that now my new camera actually will take good pictures of something under glass.

I have a couple of cloches. One isn't really supposed to be a cloche, but I made it one. 

I made mine because cloches were the new, in thing and they were priced exorbitantly.

I was not going to pay 30-40 for glass. 

Mine started life as a clock.

I got a clock just like the one below at a garage sale. 

I think I paid $2.00. These can be good clocks but the one I found was super cheesy, cheap and broken!

(I really wanted one as a new bride but never got one.) 

 I had been looking for a while for one to photograph for a cloche post and found this one in Colorado at an antique shop. They wanted $25.00 for it! It is very fake and blingy looking.

Here is another one I found while on the same trip. 

This one is a much better clock.

Since mine was so cheesy, I had no problem tearing it apart.

I safely set the glass aside and started unscrewing the three screws that held the guts in. It took a little doing but it eventually all came out. I saved the face for crafting and threw the rest of the guts away.

Here it is for...

Christmas

 Winter

 Valentine's Day

 Easter

  and summer. 

        The treasured birthday card is from my dear aunt. 

 Are you as wild about this bathing beauty as I am? 

 She is from Japan and was a souvenir from somewhere in Missouri. I wasn't aware that Missouri had beaches, but whatever. I picked her up in a little shop. I'm not sure whether it was a junk shop or an antique shop but I know I didn't pay much. I love her with the little sand castle from a fish tank.  

 I spent hours and hours one summer looking at mermaids, bathing beauties and fish tank decor on e-bay. Seriously days and days! I'm sure my husband was becoming concerned. I bought only one thing because all the items were so high. 

Finally, I found a few things elsewhere when I wasn't really looking anymore. 

 I got this cloche at a thrift store. It had a very vintage butterfly display in it. I guess it was popular in the 70's to make dried displays with real, dead butterflies. I didn't care to have something dead on display. Poor thing. 

 This little mermaid was $1.00 at my old favorite junk shop.

I think the owner was a storage auction hunter, like those popular t.v. shows. She really found some good stuff. Her husband would get mad when she slipped in little treasures for good deals. But as a frequent shopper, I loved finding a treasure in the midst of the more expensive items she had. This little gem would have been 
much more on e-bay.

The new owner of the shop has it with more pricey antiques, so I never go anymore.

 I bet she was a souvenir or an aquarium ornament as well. She doesn't have a mark on the bottom. 

 Small items like this have more presence under glass. 
So much fun. 

Katie 

Linking with,
A Stroll Thru Life: Summer Cloche Party

Cute White Shelf

 I have been at the lake all weekend but I did want to do a quick post about my shabby shelf project.

 I have had this shelf for years. 

I was going to try to get into selling thrifted finds and cute accessories. I got this cute shelf to resell but it didn't sell. I like it but the finish didn't quite coordinate with the rest of the house. 
I had three of these. I tried to spray paint one black. 
It didn't go well. For some reason the paint didn't stick. 
I wasn't about to try that with this one. It was the biggest of the three. Read about the sun porch here. 

 and here:
  I wanted this shelf to be white. 
I used some primer and White Duck paint by Sherwin Williams. It took one evening. Here it is dressed up for spring. 

 

The lamp is a $13.00 thrifted find. The lantern turned cloche was $8.00. 

 Bill gave me the clock for our 25th anniversary. 

 I love the vintage millinery flowers off of one of my grandmother's flapper dresses. 

  
I am loving the little wrought iron bugs this spring. 
I got this one at a salvage shop but I have seen them at Hobby Lobby. 
I know this craft store chain is throughout the South. I hope you have one near you. The weekly sales are amazing.

 I adore old keys. 

  This bit of white balances the white I've added to the mantel and the little cutie that I posted about last week. Here.

 Thanks for stopping by. 
Katie 

Linking with Debbie Doo's Newbie Party 
&Sunday's Best #25 @ My 1929 Charmer
& French Country Cottage Spring Link Party Blog Hopv
&Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch 
& Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style