Any hint we can elaborate on please feel free to E-Mail us.

An easy way to paint small pieces. 
The brackets above are trim under the
mansard of my Cambridge. 
Tape the ends of a piece of masking tape (sticky side up)
onto a piece or cardboard or any surface. 
Press the small pieces onto the sticky tape and paint.

A mirrored tray, made by adding a gold trim to a small mirror,
holds my lady’s jewelry. 
There is a star brooch, pearl earrings and necklace,
and a gold chain and bracelet. 
The brooch is a star shaped rhinestone.
Two pearl beads become earrings and
small pearl beads strung together serves as the necklace. 
The gold bracelet is a large gold ring and
the necklace is a piece of a gold chain. 
This piece will grace a dresser when my new house is completed.

Here is an easy way to “bake” your cookies. 
All these are punch-outs from pressed foam. 
We bought several punches of different shapes. 
These can be found in the scrap booking department
of craft shops.  We used crystal glitter to make sugar crystals. 
Tee shirt paint made the icing.  Nuts on the brownies are
 tiny wooden beads cut into small pieces. 
The Halloween drawings are made with a gel pen. 
One of the blond squares is covered with coconut
(tiny cuts of white embroidery floss). 
A drop of brown tee shirt paint will look like a
Hershey kiss atop a peanut butter cookie. 
A few of the cookies have already had a bite taken out of them. 
Let your imagination run free and
fill your kitchen with plenty of goodies. 

The cookie sheets and brownie pan are the pans
that hold your eye shadow. The chocolate chip and the
white chocolate chip cookies are easily made with drops
of brown and white paint. 
I used a double layer of the pressed foam for the brownies. 
A coat of brown paint gave an icing gloss. 
The nuts, again, are wooden beads cut into tiny pieces.

Muffins can be made from Kix cereal. 
We sprinkled ours with a little cinnamon. 
They are presented on a paper doily cut-out
that was glued to a woodsie. 
The little cherry accents are drops of tee shirt paint. 

The first “easy to make” dish is a button. 
A star punched out of construction paper cover the holes
 and spots of paint are added for accent. 
The second is a large disk found in the bead department. 
The center hole is covered with a small flower
 cut from an address label. 
This can be used as a fruit bowl or hold a flower arrangement.
The third is the seal from an orange juice carton. 
The cardinal accent is also cut from an address label. 
The rim is outlined with a magic marker. 

You can find wooden bowls and plates like these
 in packages in most craft stores. 
We have also used acorn caps for wooden bowls. 
You will have to trim the stem so they sit flat. 
Large and small caps make a very nice salad bowl set.

This tray of punch bowls or dessert cups
are bead caps on a fancy sequin. 
The tray is an oval mirror with a gold trim glued to the edge.

Once upon a time Valerie was a smoker. 
Here is her ashtray with actual ash in it. 
The cigarette is a bit of a toothpick. 
It looks pretty good to me.

Here are some ideas of what can be used for
 rugs, runners and door mats. 
 The first picture shows cuttings from plaid upholstery fabric. 
We like using this fabric because it has a rubberized backing
and can be cut without raveling. 
The weave can give many patterns depending on how you cut it. 
The second picture shows two hot pads that I thought
were too nice to use for their intended purpose. 
I think they make wonderful accent rugs for a bed, bath or nursery.

   

I use 2 cuttings about 1/8" each from
a left over piece of trim as pictured. 
I then cut a 3/4" strip from a tissue. 
Wrap the tissue around a thin dowel about 1" long. 
Glue one of the cuttings to the wall. 
Set the dowel into the first cutting. 
Measure the space for the second one and glue into place. 
 When dried place the dowel with the tissue
into the mounted cuttings.

 

To make the shelf seen in the entry way
of the Harrison use this concept.
I started with a round woodsie (small wooden shapes). 
I cut it in half (1) then cut one of the halves in half (2). 
 Glue 2 to the center of 1, paint and glue to wall.

   

Dental tools found at flea markets are invaluable.
The spatula type is great for spreading glue. 
The picks also come in handy for removing
tiny splinters and dried glue over runs.

         

    Rocking horse knick-knacks can be found it many $1.00 stores. 
They can be elegant or antique looking
and go well in a child's room. 
We saw the third horse in a miniature shop for $5.00. 

Insert a bent straight pin into a bead opening
for a soap or lotion bottle. 

    

Large crystal drops (like are used for angel bodies)
make drop lighting over a dining room or kitchen table.  

In a Christmas shop we found rattan looking chairs
that work on a porch or family room.  I added the cushions.

    Fan pulls work well as swag lamps over a reading chair. 

There are food pick swords, available in party stores,
that when painted and crossed make nice wall decorations.  

We have found many refrigerator magnets. 
They were very serviceable;
a wagon, a water cooler, and a lawnmower.  

We have found in the $1.00 Stores
packages of children playground equipment. 
Each package contains several items like
a slide, a teeter totter, a sandbox etc.  

In this assortment there was also a little doll. 
We took some liberties with her. 
We garbed her and gave her hair and here she is.  

We also came across some people in a second hand store. 
They were really ragged and dirty. 
We soaked them in a little bleach water,
allowed them to dry, painted their faces, added hair,
garbed them and are quite pleased with the result. 
They cost us $5.00.

    I'll be using the older couple in my Harrison. 
The first three will be in one of Valerie's houses. 
He is in pajamas and the females are in robes. 
They will be used in the kitchen where a breakfast
of pancakes will be served. 
The adults will have coffee, the child milk.