Once again it’s been a WHILE… since I last posted. I think of my blog often, but usually don’t have time to sit down and type up a post or don’t feel I have anything to share or get sidetracked on Pinterest or Facebook. Today I finally have a few things to share! First of all, I’m a Pinterest addict. I can’t go a day without perusing the new Pins on my wall, and get upset (not really) when no one has pinned anything new. If you aren’t on Pinterest, get on it. It’s a close 2nd to Facebook as far as sucking you in and next thing you know an hour has gone by and you’ve done nothing productive. I have, however, been inspired by Pinterest and here is my recent DIY project involving spray paint (fyi you can spray paint anything according to Pinterest. Spray paint it, cover it in burlap and attach it to a pallet).

These are old planters that we had at our old house (the house we moved from last July). Planters are expensive, along with everything else involved in moving in to a new house. I was inspired by Pinterest to throw $10 in to these planters with a couple of cans of spray paint.

BEFORE:

I got a couple of cans of this Rust-oleum textured spray paint from Home Depot. I may have even gotten a 3rd can to finish the job. Can’t remember. Anyway, I scrubbed the planters with a brush and water to get the flakes of terra cotta (sounds right?) off and all the dirt and dust. I let them dry and then spray painted away. They were originally a dark red and ended up more orange and faded as the years went by. They matched the brick of our old house, but that’s beside the point.

Here they are at our new casa, and I think for my $10 investment they will work for a while!

They are now a textured bronze-ish brown color and coordinate well with our house. Anyway, that is my DIY project for the first quarter of 2012. I think my pansies look pretty nice too. The angel planter was a wedding gift we got almost 11 years ago!

This, my friends, is POLLEN on our front porch. It’s really disgusting.

I’ve been working over the past week and here are some of the shirts I’ve done. The SHARK is an AC design and the crab is an EB design. My customer told me what to do with all the fabrics/colors and I think they all turned out great! I LOVE SIMPLE!! These are tees and rompers from Monag and are super soft. I don’t stock Monag btw, my customer brought these to me. They are for big and baby brother.

These will go with matching blue gingham shorts. I love the shark with contrasting thread.

p.s. we now have a mini embroidery shark (aka all thread), which is great for polo type shirts for boys.

These are all Applique Cafe designs ~ String of Fish, Pirate Ship and Sailboat.

p.s. Kelly’s Kids is using a similar fish design this season. Maybe mine inspired them, since mine came first?? I like to think so. I love red and turquoise together.

This is a great summer shirt! I like these color shirts too because they won’t show as much dirt as white (if you are my kids).

More AC designs ~ Raggy Anchor, Sailboat Patch and the Lizard.

Again, I love the lizard with a contrasting thread color! It’s also no secret that I am obsessed a little with orange.

In Sewing Room news, we are CLEARING OUT so that the room can be PAINTED!!!!!!!!!!!! Painters arrive at 7 AM in the morning to paint this room and also our stairs. I’ll post pics of that too. Valances aren’t being made yet, but I hope to get the fabric ready asap.

 Jeff is literally moving stuff out of here as I type, so I had better go! If you don’t know already, we are having a great Spring Sale on applique designs! I just sampled 4 new ones today, so they will be listed asap! It’s a great time to stock up on designs for Easter, Spring and Summer, and that is my sales pitch for the day! www.appliquecafe.com