Hello from “She Sent Me What?” headquarters.
I’m participating in a fun challenge….where a group of bloggers all purchased thrift store finds and sent them to each other. We were supposed to think outside the box and create a project and style it in our homes.
My project journey looked a little like this:
1. Get item in mail.
2. Exclaim with great joy when I spy the amazing tea towel with it’s intricate hand sewn stitchery.
3. Come up with a one-of-a-kind totally over the top idea for the tea towel.
4. Project crash and burn.
5. *sigh*
6. Watch the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Reunion Part 1 to clear my head and search for inspiration.
7. Realize the housewives all have more problems and make-up and sequins than I could ever dream of in my entire life.
8. Pour myself a cup of inspiration.
9. Come up with nothing.
10. Make this canvas.
Seriously.
I’ll go ahead and save you the trouble and say it for you…..
…this project is a total bless your heart.
*sigh*
And it’s not from want of trying.
If you could have seen the plans I had for this handmade tea towel that Mary sent me….
.…you would be giving me a standing ovation.
Instead of commiserating with me over a cup of coffee.
Here’s what the tea towel looked like when it arrived.
Linen and faded and wonderful and hand stitched with tiny red detailing.
And I thought that I would make a roller shade out of it. You know….I’d put it on a larger piece of material backed by canvas and create a pull-down-shade and hang it in front of the television upstairs and when the television wasn’t being used….
….you would just pull down the canvas to create artwork.
Brilliant….right?
Doesn’t that sound amazing?
But in reality? The shade was lumpy and the mechanism didn’t work right and sometimes when you pulled it down….
….the material and the towel would limply fall half-way off and just lay there mocking me.
Enter plan B.
I already had the canvas and the dowel rods and time was totally of the essence….
….and so I thought artwork?
And the question mark at the end of that sentence says it all.
Why did I think that bright yellow stripes on canvas were the answer?
Or hot glued dowel rods?
Or string?
And let’s be honest here….
….I totally jumped the shark with the daisy buttons.
And then…..after the project was finished I vainly tried to disguise it with barn doors and fresh daffodils from the garden and antique metal fireplaces hoping against hope you wouldn’t notice….
….but the daisy buttons could not be denied.
So in an attempt to redeem myself and represent at the challenge…..
.…I thought up a fun idea to add to your mantel instead of the striped-tea-towel-leftover-dowel-rod artwork.
Take a vintage spring…..add these vases to it….and fill them with fresh flowers.
The vases were only $1.97 at Wal-Mart.
Easy. Simple. Almost free.
Take that….daisy buttons. 🙂
PS And really….who needs tea towel canvas art….
….when this amazing nest canvas showed up on my doorstep last week from my wonderful friend Cheryl.
Thank you so much sweet friend!
I love it!
Oh honey, I did a bless your heart project the other night...I even woke hubby up to ask him if it was really that bad...it was. The daisy buttons, are, um, um. Yeah the daisy buttons. ;) I do love the spring and vase combo. My heart is loving the nest on canvas!
Vintage tea towels make wonderful throw pillows!
Bless your heart but you sure make me smile!! Think of it this way -- it has history and now it has a great story!! It is a wonderful conversation starter when you see people staring at it -- you can ask "Can't take your eyes off of it, huh?" Then smile and wait for their answer. I love the yellows in the picture makes me very, very happy!! :-)
Well call me crazy.....but I love it! Bless your heart for not realizing how beautiful it actually is! And the rest of the accessories are a great addition friend! ~Kim
I liked the tea towel wall hang you made. I would be very proud to have it myself. And the spring with vase too.
I have to admit…I like it…buttons and all. But I must say the spring vase idea..pure genius!
I daily read a couple of the other blogs that participated in this challenge, and so I've been systematically going through each of the 21 with mixed reviews. Then, I got to yours. It's obvious that you gave it your level best, but - man alive! - you really did struggle, didn't you? This project may not have been a win, but your *post* about it had me in stitches, and anyone who can be so hilariously relatable and self-deprecating over their own failure is okay in my book. You have earned yourself a new reader.
This is called blogging in real life! I actually love the artwork. The daisy buttons, well...:) I used to have a boss who always said "bless her heart" which just cracks me up to no end! Hugs to you!!
I like it, buttons and all! It's bright and cheerful! I love the Spring vase with Daffodils! You did an awesome job! This wasn't an easy challenge! Whew, you rocked it though!
I happen to think the button are sweet - just like you friend! And a very pretty spring vignette!
Good morning, Karianne, What an adorable project and a nice way to give the tea towel new life. Fun challenge idea too. Hope you have a great day, Lisa
You wrote a post about...bless your heart. Now it's time to write a post about...jumping the shark? What? I digress. I think you did really give it the old college try...consider what you had to work with! And...I like the daisy buttons...they are just quirky enough to go with it all! Thumbs up! ;)
Bless you sweet friend. That is precisely why I am not a DIY blogger. I would totally bomb on a regular basis. Frankly, I think you should have just sent it straight to the housewives so they could either wipe their ridiculous tears or have a cat fight with it. :) You still rock. C
I think you did a great job! Love the daisy buttons:) And the daffodils make it even better! We are calling our new home "The Nest", so of course I love the nest art!!
First, thank you for sharing your bless your heart moment. I have so many of those that it's nice to not feel alone. Second, even though your first idea didn't pan out, I think you still made it work. Third, you gave me some inspiration and at least a general direction for some gorgeous antique linens I bought at an antique mall recently. ~Cheryl https://snaps-of-ginger.blogspot.com/
I think it looks perfect and springy!! Thank you for joining in on the party!!!
I think this is the funnest idea! I want to do it with my friends. And I like your little creation. I think it's fun and spring-y. Oh! Did you see what I did there? I was talking about the season that isn't here yet and you did your vase/spring thing...OK, I 'll just stop talking now. Have a jolly day, sweet lady. The Other Marian
You have me laughing out loud this morning. It's really not all that bad, and those Daisy buttons take me back to a dress that my mother made for me when I was about four, so I got very nostalgic seeing them. This is really a fun linky party, and if you want to feel better about your tea towel art, you need to take a look at some of the other projects. ;-)
This is just TOO fun-love what you ended-up with.
bless your heart! You did it again. Talent, unfolded!
You can think what you want but I completely and totally LOVE what you did with this tea towel!!! It has spunk and spark and personality! It is cute, quirky, bright cheerful, and it just makes me smile!! Simply adorable!
Bless your heart. Are you still speaking to me? I think it looks beautiful in your spring vignette.
I totally adore you. :)
I love it KariAnne- perfect for Spring and I think it turned out so cute!
FU KariAnne! Oh wait, we aren't talking about the RH of BH are we? I love your idea of the shade and might try and make it work somewhere, maybe using a different technique. I have so many really pretty linens like that but have no idea what to do with them. Some are family pieces so I don't want to cut them. Can't wait to see what the others did!
I LOVE how you styled it!!! Yellow makes me happy :)
I think your project is charming, Karianne...and a fun way to display old scrap pieces of linen. I can just imagine how sweet it would be in a little girl's room...and she would love those daisy buttons, too!
Oh SURRREEE...find perfectly adorable daisy buttons and yellow and white striped fabric to make your backing to make your tea towel into a wall hanging! Dang it...I KNEW that I should have made mine into a cute wall hanging instead of an apron!!!! Thanks for sending me such beautiful stuff to work with. :)
May I just say, the daisy buttons were what I noticed FIRST? I think I had a dress with buttons like that when I was a little girl . . . At lease I would have definitely PICKED them! :) I think it's cute. Your creativity never ceases to amaze me! :) Snow? REALLY?
Call me crazy but I like the tea towel canvas and the daisy buttons are very "cute"! You are so real Karianne!
Hahaha, well you'd never know you had glitches, your artwork is beautiful! And you can just send me those spring things any 'ol time the mood moves over you... goodness...
Having been up the "bless your heart" path more times than I care to admit, I can truly relate. I am my own worst critic, as nothing seems to look as pretty as when someone else creates it. The little towels embroidery is so pretty!
So cute!
Well I think your spring vignette looks lovely! I sure wish something would start blooming around here. We are in for a little snow this evening :-(
Love it- I can totally see this, daisy buttons and all, in a little girl's room. There are these huge awesome fabric daisies I have seen in store windows here from time to time which would pair perfectly with it and you could throw in some butterflies too. You are hilarious!
Your description of the process had me laughing :) I think it's sweet! Nice job, KariAnne! xoxo Melissa
You did good!!! you are so creative and daisy's make me happy, love it! XO Kristin
I'll admit I don't like the daisy buttons, but I really LOVE the contrast of soft, faded colors/fabric on the bright, bold stripes! I find the whole vignette just beautiful! There *are* a couple "bless your heart" projects in the lineup (at least to me, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?), but I really don't think this is one of them!
Well you certainly turned that tea towel into a great piece of artwork and glad you jumped the shark for those buttons..cute, cute, and cute....great idea for a series!...
The thing about your "bless your heart" project is that you rose to the occasion of phenomenal staging, celebrating spring and reminding us that Yoda can be wrong. He says "Do or do not. There is no try." This was a good try. Thanks for reminding us all there is great fun in trying and finding humor in our less the fabulous moments. Thanks for being adventurous. Love the daisy buttons by the way! Have a wonderful day!
Ok.. so it's not my favorite project ever, but it is in the running as the best "oh no, how can I salvage this" to "hey, not so bad", especially with the beautiful backdrop and display you have it with! I do have a tender heart for daffodils so really you could have just sat your awesome spring vase on top of the tea towel and I would still swoon.
love the idea, I have several vintage linens with embroidery, and have wondered what to do with them. The tea towel, how did you attach it to the canvas? Glued or is it just attached with the daisy buttons, love those buttons. What a great way to reuse these linens that are just sitting in a container, and need to be displayed. Had thought of putting them in a frame but just don't like the look, love what you have done.
I love the daffodils so much I didn't even notice anything else! I would have probably folded it neatly and placed it next to my sink anyway. Ta-Da! "It's a towel!" Perfectly perky!
I will take your tea towel canvas art! You know I love it. You rock my face off. ;}
I love that tea towel. I have one very similar I turned into a pillow cover with a napkin for the back. You did super job making it prettier. Love what you did. Been fun seeing what all of you do with your "surprises.
I absolutely adore what you did with this awesome tea towel. Just perfect to show it off and the daisy buttons MAKES IT! Wow love this piece. Thanks so much for sharing. :-)
Hilarious! My oldest is named Daisy...so needless to say when she was born I was given countless little outfits with those very buttons. So they hold a special place in my heart! Which makes me love this project! Life to the full! Melissa
Truly? The daisy buttons don't bother me as much as the yellow stripes, however, I don't know that I would have been able to half as well with your sent item. So while this may qualify as a "bless your heart' moment you were at least brave enough to own it.