Decorating with vintage linens~

With the new year in full swing, I've been working on cleaning out and organizing the basement.  The hardest part is deciding what to get rid of, and what to keep.  I found this vintage tablecloth down there that I must have picked up from a yard sale.  I almost stuck it in the Goodwill bin, and then I decided to take it upstairs and see how it looked on the table.  I felt the pink was perfect for Valentines day, and the pine trees still looked winter "ish" to me.  The more I looked at it, the more I decided it reminded me of something that I would find at Anthropologie.  So, I kind of felt like I had just gone shopping there but didn't spend a penny!  Sometimes we just need to look at things with a fresh eye before tossing them away.  Do you ever "shop" your house?

Isn't this milk bottle candle cute?  My friend gave it to me for Christmas.  I love it.  The blue straws with snowflakes on them came from the Dollar Tree before Christmas.  I thought they were a great find.

Long ago, I saw on Pinterest how someone had painted textured wallpaper and cut it into heart shaped ornaments.  I have been meaning to do something similar with a roll of the same wallpaper that I picked up at a yard sale a while back.  I finally got her done!  Instead of ornaments, though, I made a banner.

Just taped the back of them onto a long piece of fishing line with scotch tape like I did here.

Another thing I found downstairs was my old raspberry painting.  I stuck it in another frame, and added it to a little Valentine vignette in the windowsill.

My sweet friend decided she wanted one of my birds nest drawings, so this week I was busy making one for her...

As well as a love sign...

In going through my fabric stash, I found this embroidery of Spanish dancers.  I'm sure I picked them up from a yard sale.  How do you get rid of something like that?  Yet, what do you do with it?  I wasn't sure that it was really my style, but when I took it upstairs and laid it on the couch, I realized that it might make a cute little pillow.  What do you think?  Maybe with a tiny contrasting red and white floral on back, or blue and white?

 I can't believe I've never covered my kitchen windows, because they look so cold and dark at night.  I guess I just could never decide what to do, and since our backyard is lined with trees, we haven't had to worry much about privacy.

When I was re thinking what fabric to keep and what to get rid of, I ran across two sweet vintage white Swiss polka dot curtain panels.  I just slipped them on a tension rod, and hung them in the middle of the window like I did with the linens on my front windows that I get compliments on all the time.  (see four pictures down in this post) Anyway, they really soften and cozy up the kitchen.

I was honored to be asked to make a donation of my art to our local Hemophilia Foundation for part of their fundraising auction this spring, so I put together a little basket of spring goodies...

I hope they will find a good home!