diy {anthropologie tea towel art & a vintage hankie canopy}

February 16, 2011

***Quick note….there have been a lot of questions in the comments recently. I have not been able to find time to answer those. I’ll try to get to it, but if I can’t I apologize.

I know some of you have been waiting to see more of my chicken wire wall. Well I haven’t posted many pictures because I haven’t hung stuff on it yet, but I’ll give you more of a peek today. The night I went into labor with our firstborn Chris was at my grandpa’s building me 3 big oak frames. I point out that they were big & oak because at the time our income was tiny and building something out of oak was a huge deal. Thankfully when I called to tell him the shocking news that it was “time”, he had pretty much finished my frames. I got 3 new frames and a baby boy that night 🙂

Sadly, I’ve never used the frames. I could never decide what to put in them or if I wanted to stain them. I decided to hang them on my chicken wire wall, but still didn’t know what to put in them. I went to Goodwill, thrift stores, flea markets, antique shops….everywhere I could think of to find something to frame. I found nothing. I had an Anthro gift card, but I have the hardest time spending gift cards. Chris, knowing I’d find something, took me up to Anthropologie and I saw a set of tea towels. The first said “They Got Married”. The second said “They fell in love”. After reading the second, I looked at Chris and said, “It would be perfect if there was one with a bunch of little birds.” And then I flipped to the third one. It was folded and I saw 3 little blue birds and one little pink bird. I was sold…

I got home and unfolded them to find there were 2 more little pink birds. Hmmmmm.

So here are few very basic steps for turning tea towels into framed art. I did not want to hurt my tea towels (in case I want them for something different later). I also liked the idea of being able to pin things onto the tea towels.

I pinned cute paper clips holding the pictures to the foam board because I didn’t want to put a hole in my pictures. I don’t have many of us from way back then. This is from our senior year in high school (we weren’t dating)…there are so many comments I could make about this picture, but I am just going to leave it alone. I will, however, note that we were on a youth choir trip…hence the lovely matching polos. No, I am not a singer.

And there you go. I think I’ll add another picture or two to each.

During all those days stuck inside due to the snow I also decided to make a little canopy for my bed. I started by sewing every doily and hankie I could find together. I hung it up and decided it was too busy looking, so I took it apart.

When we got word that a second snow storm was headed out way, everyone headed to the stores for food. I headed to Southern Hospitality and April hooked me up with a bunch of hankies. I could weather being stuck inside after getting the essentials: hankies, thread, & milk.

To make the canopy I decided the width I wanted it to be and then just started pinning and stitching it all together. I used a long stitch so I could easily take it apart at a later date.