~handmade beachy summer pillows~

hello friends,

Well the little warm spell we had up north this past week sure put me in the mood for summer!! 

Today is cool and wet, but at least we know what we have to look forward to.

Anyways, all that sunshine really made me think about the beach and the ocean, and I thought I would show you some of the beachy and coastal inspired pillows I’ve been working on recently.

This is my “beach” pillow, I love the simplicity of it. Here it is in white.

 I’m also making this in the prettiest aqua, 

and another ~surprise~ colour {wink}.

The starfish is one of my favourites!!

I love the white on the natural background.

They look great together too!

I also pulled out some of my blue grainsack style pillows. 

Although I originally designed these with french country cottage chic in mind, I love how well they fit with a beachy themed decor too. 

I think the side ties are a nice touch. {I also make these in red and charcoal stripes}.

All of these pillows are made on a durable natural canvas with envelope closure at the back {except for the side ties}, and are listed in my raggygirletsy store.

And here’s a pretty shell just because….

happy dreaming of summer days!

linking up to Amaze Me Monday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Inspire Me Monday at Sand and Sisal
Share Your Stuff Tuesday

Tracey

xox

~blossoms in a bucket~

~Hello friends~

Well our spring break is truly over and it’s back to early mornings and schedules and work!

We were blessed with an incredibly long warm patch, blue skies and sunshine, and with that the trees all burst into blossom.

Of course I had to bring some of that blossom goodness inside,

 so off we went, clippers in hand.

Sadly I don’t have my own blossom tree, but I had scouted one out on a vacant lot, 

so I cajoled my youngest to come along for the adventure, 

just in case it included climbing fences.

Ahem!

Which it didn’t. 

Pity.

 I love an adventure:-)

We came home with armfuls of gorgeous spring blooms, and they were pretty white blossoms to boot.

So I plunked them in a big old bucket on my chippy farmhouse table.

And then I clicked away....

Sunshine and spring blossoms, doesn’t get much better than that.

There was enough left to fill up a couple aqua mason jars too, pretty!

So now it is raining again, and it seemed like the perfect time to post some pretty spring pictures.

{Oh yes, and there was a fair bit of this going on around here too!}

Hope you’re seeing some signs of spring where you live too!

Tracey

follow me on fb here and pinterest here

~links also on the sidebar~

~raggygirlvintage french grainsack style pillows~

Hello peeps, before we get to the french grainsack style pillows, let me show you my view the past 10 days....

Pretty sweet hey! I was sunning it up with my family in Palm Springs, we were l-a-z-y!!

I had all kinds of plans for how I would use the time, but sometimes a body just needs a rest, so I swam, read, played games with the kids, shopped a little, looked at the stars, and watched humming birds! Do you know I can no longer beat my 16 year old at Scrabble. It’s a sad day I tell you.

I tried blogging from my ipad while I was gone, but it went all squirrely on me and I even managed to lose my last post. I took it as a sign to just chill and spend my time reading all your blogs instead!

We almost missed our flight home, but not quite, they were closing the doors behind us and we lost our seat assignments. As I’m not a good flyer to start with I think I handled it all very well! So now I’m back in the rain up north wearing three sweaters, with the fireplace going, but spring is a-coming, I know it, and I have so many things to work on and share with you here at raggygirlvintage. 

~raggygirlvintage french grainsack style pillow~

So first up, with us all fluffing our homes for spring, I wanted to show you some pillows ideas. I’ve been making these french grainsack style pillows for a while now, but I don’t believe I’ve ever shared them with you here. Here I have a french grainsack pillow stacked with a blue stripe ticking pillow and two of my budget Ikea white pillows. They almost redeem my awful navy sofa. Almost.

The grainsack style pillows are really fun to make, I use a heavier, nubby fabric and handpaint the stripes. The fun part is you can vary the width of the stripes for the look you want. 

I prefer to do a lighter coat of paint so it’s a little patchy here and there, makes it look more like a weathered grainsack.

This pillow closes with two twill ties on the side, so it’s easy-peasy to remove and wash, and I love the look of the side ties.

I finally got to list my french grainsack style pillow in my etsy store, so if you’re not up for making your own, head on over and check it out! I have a couple more new graphic pillows I’ll be listing there soon, including my all time fav. Here’s the link:

~french grainsack style pillow~

Happy spring fluffing!

linking up to these awesome parties:
 Feathered Nest Friday 
Air-your-laundry-Friday 
Home and Family Friday
Frugalicious Friday
Frugal Friday 
Show and Tell Friday

Tracey

 xoxo

~french farmhouse stylin’~blue ticking and lavender

Hello friends,

Ready for some more raggygirlvintage french farmhouse stylin”? I sure am!! 

Although french farmhouse stylin’ suggests a more neutral palette, it’s okay to include some color. Really.

And what is more french and farmhousey than striped blue ticking {or any ticking for that matter}.

Use as a feature pillow...

 or stack together with white pillows.

Doesn’t ticking look yummy with lavender, I cut this fresh and it dried out in the the jar.

There is something so classic and vintagey about blue striped ticking.

 Of course I couldn’t leave you without a ruffle too!

Happy french farmhouse stylin’

linking up to Penny Pinching Party @ The Thrifty Home 
Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts 
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
We Did It! Wednesday @ Sew Much Ado 
Primp your stuff Wednesday @ Primp 
Wednesday Wowzers @ Oopsey Daisy 
Sugar and Spice @ Seven thirty three 
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage

Tracey

 

other RGV french farmhouse stylin' :

~vintage milk carrier~

 

~blue and red ticking love~

~don't forget to check out my giveaway here~

Hi there! Let's talk about ticking shall we?

There is something so timeless and classic about ticking fabric. I love how it fits with so many decor styles. It comes in a variety of colors nowadays, but I like to sew with the blue or red.

These are large 20x20” pillows I sewed up in blue ticking for a customer. 

They look so good with the white pillows.

This is a smaller version with .…. a ruffle of course! 

A wide raw-edged shabby ruffle, why not! Great for tucking in with a bunch of pillows, or propping on a chair.

I’ll leave you with my red ticking pillow on my old rocker outside on the porch!

How about you, do you decorate with ticking?

linking up to Feathered Nest Friday
Home and Family Friday 
Frugal Friday
Air your Laundry Friday 
Show off your cottage Monday 
Take-a-look Tuesday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday 
Creative Things Thursday 

Tracey

~to brighten the day~

Hello peeps, we’ve had a lot of this around this week

and this

and while it’s pretty at first, after a while it does get me thinking about summer and warmth and pretty things….

Pretty things like peonies, my most favorite flower in the whole wide world.

 dreamy whites via paperbowlsnlemons

I love how full the flower heads are, layer upon layer of petals. Sometimes they look almost ruffled.

 via arosynote

The pink ones are pretty, but the white are breathtaking.

Reasonstobreathe via Megan Foster Corbett

In my own garden I have two peony plants, a pink and a white! I love to cut the blooms and bring them inside.

Don’t peonies make the most beautiful bouquets?

1.hanafloraldesign via Alexia Kedves

2.stylemepretty via Alanna Slusher

3.stylemepretty via Jocelyn Turcotte

Thinking pretty peony thoughts!

Tracey

~making french decor bottles~

Hello peeps,

I wanted to show you a really easy and effective way you can transform ordinary thrift store glass bottles into elegant french bottles. I had fun making these ones up for a vintage market. 

I don’t have step-by-step photos for you, but I’ll describe how I did it.

1. Keep a look out for nicely shaped glass bottles on your thrifting adventures. I especially like bottles with a squareish shape, but you can use any really. Give them a really good wash, I run mine through the dishwasher.

2. Make friends with someone who has an awesome vinyl cutter or buy yourself an awesome vinyl cutter. As I don’t own an awesome vinyl cutter I went the friend route! Decide what you want and pick out your fonts, sizes etc. I chose eiffel towers, fleur de lis, paris…..You could also use premade vinyl stickers if you find some you like.

3. Apply the vinyls to the bottles.

4. Wind jute tightly around the bottle neck and secure with a knot. I also added some wrinkled seam binding to some of mine for a more romantic look.

And that’s it, they look great with a couple of different sizes grouped together, or a single bottle on a mantel, and they also make a fab gift!

Have a great weekend!

Tracey

linking up to Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
wow-us-Wednesdays
Good Life Wednesdays