It's the beginning of autumn and a hint of coolness is in the air in southern Virginia.....well, barely a hint, but it's there!!  Autumn is my favorite season of the year and inspired me to start my blog posting again.  I've been away, living life in all its ups and downs.

The most important note to this blog is that the namesake for this blog, my Daisy, passed over the Rainbow Bridge this spring.  I read other people's blogs about losing a pet and I can relate to them.  I had the perfect dog, a Cairn Terrier with a social butterfly disposition and a heart of gold.  She was truly the perfect dog and we miss her so much.  The name of this blog will continue to be Down the lane with Daisy as an homage to this little sweetie.

On another subject, I understand that many people have switched to Instagram, Twitter, facebook, whatever and have dropped their blogs.  I happen to enjoy the blogs and subscribe to many, many of them.  Please subscribe to mine and I'll be posting more often with projects and ideas I've had.

Take care,  Eileen

I won a Stencil!!!

I'm a customer of maisondestencils.com and I follow her blog so I recently entered her drawing for a free stencil.   Imagine my joy when she emailed that I had won.  I love, love, love their designs and have made good use from the ones I purchased from her.  I picked the french stencil with the lettering, Royal Regatta at the top.  Go to her website and check it out the great sale going on at  maisondestencils.com   Thank you so much.

The beautiful part of these stencils is that you can use part or all of them.  This is the top part, Royal Regatta that I just stenciled onto a tote bag.  Fun!!

Dad's Oil Cans, Redux

My blog is something I think about and what seems to be at the bottom of my to-do list.  This needs to be corrected as I've been busy with some fun things and want to share them.  After I emailed these photos to Carol from thepolkadotcloset.blogspot.com, she suggested that I post this latest project so here it is.

I, (and I'm sure you will understand this) collected a lot of what my siblings felt were odd ball items when my father passed away, but what I recognized as treasures.  I collected all my father's oil cans and have had them stored until recently where they resided on my library shelf.  My brother suggested that they might look good in a basket I had just purchased.  Well, they didn't make it into a basket as they stand like little jewels on their own....at least my opinion.  I had so much fun transforming these.  First step, WASH THEM!  These were well used in their previous lives!!

My little Pumpkin:  I put a little glaze on the can and added one of my father's rusty keys.

This is original with a couple of rusty stars.  (Why do I love rust?!?)

This beautiful seafoam green oil can is the original color with a stamped fleur de lis, lace, roses and some bling.  I might change the flowers.  You know how it is....can't leave it alone!!

This was gray so I painted it and added glitter and bling!!!!  Is there such a thing as a classy oil can???

This was painted a mauve pink with a matching knob, Paris stamp, ribbon and a beautiful pin.  Carol said this is her favorite.  I think, me too!!!

Another original sea foam green with a knob and ribbons.

This is the original color, would you believe!  So pretty that all it needed was a pretty pin and ribbon.  All done!!

I have several larger ones still in storage and can't wait to repurpose them.  My father would enjoy these, I think!!!  Thanks to my brother, Terry, for the inspiration!!!

Partying with Common Ground

Dress Form Ball, Oh My!!!

Come with me and attend the prestigious Dress Form Ball at thepolkadotcloset.blogspot.com.  My dress form, Lady Jane, is dressed out in all her finery which is actually my finery.  It's my wedding dress and it's so pretty on her.  I've added rhinestones and, of course she has her gloves, hat and jewelry around her lovely neck.  This is an exciting event and Carol has gone all out for her guests.  This is her second annual event and Lady Jane is so excited to be there.  Check out Carol's blog.

I'm a Winner!!!!!!

One of the fun things about blogging is finding great blogs, being inspired by some out of this world creative bloggers, and entering drawings for free things.  Well, I visited one of my top favorite blogs, Knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com.  Angie's blog is helpful, fun and interesting.  I signed up to automatically receive her posts because I like her so much.

 I entered her drawing for a free candle from GooseCreekCandle.com and I WON!!!!  I was thrilled.  This candle is impressive, both in size, appearance and fragrance.  I received mulled cider and is it ever yummy!  I had thought that if I won this candle, it would smell as if I was baking, but without the calories.  I was right!!  It's a wonderful fall fragrance.  I can also reuse the container when I'm finished, although it looks as if this candle will last a long time!!

Check out Knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com and GooseCreekCandle.com.

Picnic, Anyone?????

I'm back after a long absence.  Nothing serious, just Busy, busy!!  Work on our house is progressing.  At some point, I'll post photos.  In the meantime, after a little conversation with one of my favorite, creative bloggers, Carol of thepolkadotcloset.com, I decided to work on a picnic basket and make it french chic!!! 

Does this happen to you?  When I am looking for something as I yard/garage/tag sale, it just pops up.  That's what happened with this basket.  I spoke with Carol and found this basket two days later.  It's in such beautiful condition so all I did was paint the lid, transfer a beautiful design from The Graphics Fairy, and decoupage copied sheet music on the inside.  Very quick and easy!!!  

Little Girl Dress Into Big Girl Apron

Hi Everyone!  Time has certainly passed while hubby and I work on our house.  I'll post progress photos at a later date.  My project today is the transformation of a little girl's sundress into a big girl's apron.  I picked up three pretty dresses at a tag sale and worked on this one since I don't know any little girl this size who could wear it.

Before

Before
 I took off the top of the dress to use as the pocket by reversing it, using the top as the bottom, and ending up with an almost finished pocket.  I reused the ties.  This was fun and used up almost every bit of fabric from the dress.

Top Of Dress Equals New Pocket
I turned the waistband under and hand sewed a finished edge.  The beauty of this is that the apron strings are already in place!!  So easy!!

WaistBand

New Apron
I moved a little flower from the dress front and pinned it to the pocket. Sorry the flower doesn't show better.  (My camera battery is now dead.)  Lady Jane,  my new dress form, is modeling.  The new apron didn't fit Daisy properly for a photo shoot, haha, and I was holding the camera.  It does fit me perfectly.