Sharing a Little of Myself With My Blog Friends

I wanted to share a little piece of me with all of you. This is my living room that I redecorated myself in a sort of retro french country shabby cottage style sort of way. Everything in the room was found in antique stores and flea markets. I made the curtains myself using wonderful fabric that I found for only $1.00 a yard. All of the furnishings came from a retired doctors Victorian style home and had been in his formal living room that was rarely used.  The funky high backed chairs are my favorite with their blue and green velvet striped fabric. I love the mix of funky retro and that sort of french country. I love the golds and greens and blues and all of  the vintage colored glass.
   My bedroom is my pretty shabby cottage room. I painted the walls a lovely orchid inspired purple. I have a nice collection of antique quilts and vintage chenilles that I just love to alternate between when dressing up my bed. 
  The amazing antique quilt shown in nearly 100 years old and was hand stitched by my great grandmother. It is amazing, and I was in awe of it when my mother gave it to me about 2 years ago. It is a beautiful masterpiece of hand stitches done with love. It is wonderful condition and was very loved and well taken care of all of these years.
  After receiving that quilt from my mother my husband & I decided the handwork and old antique and vintage fabrics were amazing. We started collecting and have been very blessed in finding some amazing handiwork for bargain prices. It does something special for me to hold these pieces in my hands and image the people who made these beautiful masterpieces to keep their families warm.

Looking Forward to the Springtime!!!

I am so excited for spring this year. So many projects I would love to get completed. We have plans to "shabby cottage chic" my kitchen. I have chosen a very soft pink for the walls, and antique white with an aging treatment on my cabinets,and mounted in the center of each cabinet door there with be a framed print of vintage pink roses. We have collected many of the antique crystal/glass doorknobs and those will be my kitchen cabinet knobs. We have also acquired some old barn wood that will be whitewashed and then laid down as my countertops with heavy coats of lacquer on top to protect the wood.I saw this done on a home improvement show and it was beautiful! Hoping to get a new farmhouse styled sink as well. New hard wood flooring to top it all off!
I have this vision of it my head and can hardly wait until it is completed. I just know it will be beautiful.
Outdoors will be fun too this year...new flowers and new flower beds. I plant something new every year. Annuals and perennials all around. We have started a brick walkway that leads from the house to the shed, and want to continue it out to the firepit. We want to make a big circle of the bricks around the firepit and have seating around that as well. Along the sides of the brick pathway I want to plant all sorts of perennials. Delphiniums, floxglove, and more of my favorites like bleeding hearts and lily of the valley. It will be lovely!
These are just a few of many reasons I am so looking forward to springtime and the warmer weather it brings. Just to open up the windows and let the breezes blow through the house will be just wonderful and so refreshing!!!

New Offerings In My Ebay Store & Artfire.com Shop by Debi Jo Artwork

These amazingly beautiful pieces of altered artwork are done by a very sweet friend. Her name is Debi jo Ford of Debi Jo Artwork!
She uses some of my fabric blocks that I sell in my Ebay store and repaints and embellishes them with beautiful details. Bridal laces, vintage laces, rhinestone brooches and more and then sells them as framed prints that are just amazing.

I am blessed enough to have one of her beautiful framed pieces of arwork called Cakeabelle in my home!

Cakeabelle is the
framed print to the
right!

The other beautiful
embellished prints
are available
lovingly reproduced
onto 100% premium cotton fabric that is colorfast
treated. I have then available in my Artfire.com shop JRaesShabbyCottageDesigns. They look amazing when sewn into your very own creative projects such as pillows, sachets, quilts, table runners, placemats and more!

I also do special orders using any of these blocks. I am currently working on a special project for Miss Debi Jo herself using her very own beautiful artwork reproduced and sewn into a quilt.

For more infomation on Debi Jo Artwork please just leave me a request by leaving a blog comment with your email address.

There are links to all 3 of my shops to the right if you want to see more of my offerings!

FREE DRAWING FOR ALL OF MY BLOG FOLLOWERS!!!

The time is here for my free drawing for this lovely hanging heart lavender sachet pillow! It smells wonderful and is made with vintage chenilles, antique laces, and a reproduction of a REAL antique colorized photo of an adorable little girl. This is a large sachet measuring approx. 24 inches in length when hanging!

The drawing will be held on February 28th, 2010.

To enter the drawing simply become a a follower of my blog. For each comment you leave on my blog(starting from today, previous comments don't count) I will add another entry in your name. So that means you need to be one of my blog followers for one entry, and for each comment you leave you will be given additional entries in the drawing!

Good luck and God Bless!!

When the drawing is over I will email the winner and you will need to provide me with information on where to send you prize!

My Sweet Grandbabies w/ Mommy & Daddy too!

Well here they are, my sweet son and his precious little family!
Jared, my son, 27 years old, Rachel, my daughter in law, their oldest son Jeremiah, and the baby Draven!

I just love all of these pics. They all look so sweet!
The babies are such a joy and always a wonderful source of entertainment! You just never know what Jeremiah will say next. He is a corker that one!!
Draven is starting to talk....so cute. He toddles around with his short little legs and it is hard to believe someone so little is walking around the house! What fun it is to have then around!
Grandma loves you all so much!!!

My New Online Shop

A very sweet fellow ebayer contacted me with infomation on a new site for me to sell my pretties! It is called ArtFire and you can access it by going to Artfire.com. My new shop name is of course JRaesShabbyCottageDesigns. It has to be typed in just like it is shown here with no punctuation and no spaces. I only have a few items listed there right now, but will be adding new items daily. It is a great site with lots of hand created art, jewelry, decorative items and more. I will be adding a link to the right of this page to access my shop directly! Hope you have a super blessed day!

Something New For Me: Custom Made Lap & Crib Quilts

When I was first asked if I could make this I was not so sure. My projects are normally on a smaller scale like pillows, sachets, desk mats, place mats and other things like that.

I set to work on this and it turned out so much better than I had expected. It is beautifully and uniquely Shabby Cottage Chic one of a kind, never to be reacreated!!!

I used a different embellishment such as ribbon, Venise lace, antique crocheted lace, French alencon lace, satin & organza trim, foral appliques and more on each and every square on this quilt.

I have had 2 more special orders for these since making the first one, and would love to make one for you using any of the fabric blocks I have listed on ebay.


Please contact me at jraeburk@gmail.com or leave me a blog comment to get more information and pricing for one of these unique one of a kind lap or crib sized quilts.


I used only the finest materials I could find. Vintage chenilles, laces, and more to make this beautiful quilt.


The back which is not pictured here is one solid piece of high quality vintage pink chenille with a floral basket design on it.

It turned out so much better than I ever could have envisioned when I started it.

More Recent Pretties From J.Rae's Shabby Cottage Designs

I just adore making these sweet hanging sachet door pillows!
Available in my Ebay store and lavender scented, they are wonderful for hanging from any door knob, dresser mirror, or curtain rod finial.




















It is so much fun to create these using vintage chenilles, antique doilies and laces and more. I find the finest materials I can to make my one of a kind creations just for you!!


For these I used antique colorized real photos reproduced onto fabric and appliqued onto the hearts that are filled with high quality polyester filling and real French Lavender buds that have been enhanced with REAL lavender essential oils for beautiful frangrance.

Happy New Year!!!

Here is wishing all of my wonderful friends, family & fellow bloggers a wonderfully blessed New Year!!! May God rain down his heavenly love and blessings into your life throughout the upcoming New Year! Live every single moment with love and compassion in your heart! Make it a year of kindness towards our neighbors and those in need. Live every single day remembering what Jesus did for all of us. God Bless You!!!

My Beautiful Shabby Cottage Chic Altered Art Faerie Book

I absolutely adore the way this special altered art book turned out. I have worked on it for months finding just the right antique colorized photos to transform into my little faeries. I searched for antique laces, linens, and doilies to add just the right touches here and there to this charming One of a Kind heirloom quality book.
Whether you love, shabby chic, vintage photos & textiles, or adore the faerie realm as I do...you will love this precious book. I will never again create one just like this one.
I have it in auction in my ebay store, and will soon be listing it for sale in my Etsy shop as well if it does not sell on ebay.
I found the most beautiful antique laces, chenilles, buttons and more to make this beauty a touch of both old and new. I used fabrics from paris Bebe & Rachel Ashwell's Simply Shabby Chic Line.
Each little faerie has something special and unique about her from her wings to the Fairy Dust and Sugar Glitter she is embellished with. I used lots of satin ribbon roses, and silk flowers to adorn this book throughout. It is truly a wonderful conversation piece and treasure that can be passed down for generations to come....
For a lot more detailed photos please visit my ebay store with the link to the right. These are just a few of the pages in this sweet book.There are 10 decorated pages in total.

Please let me know what you think. I am considering making more of these wonderful books with varying themes. I was also wondering if anyone would be interested in a blank book so they could fill it up with their own special momentos or altered art.

Custom Designed Desk Mat From J.Rae's Shabby Cottage Designs

I custom designed this lovely little quilted and embellished desk mat for a dear friend of mine.

I made her one about 3 years ago and she loved it and used it and wore it out, so she asked me to make her another.

These are so much fun to do and you can choose any number of my fabric blocks listed to create just the perfect custom designed one of a kind shabby cottage chic styled desk mats just for you!!!

Price will vary depending upon size, how many prints are chosen...etc. If you are interest in having one of these sweet desk mats made please contact me for more information at jraeburk@gmail.com or simply leave me a comment here on my blog.

This mat was finished on both sides so she can change it over depending upon her mood that day!! I can do one for you this way or with just one side embellished and one side plain.

This one measured 20" x 11" as she requested it to fit on her desk just perfectly. The price for one similar to this is $35 plus shipping.

I offer many varieties of fabric blocks, mainly vintage and antique print reproductions on 100% premium cotton that has been color treated. My friend said that she washed the first mat I made for her many many times over the 3 years she has used it.

I make all of my items with quality and durability in mind so that you can enjoy them for years to come. I fully line these mats, my pillows and other items with white cotton flannel and triple stitch all the seams for added durability.

J.Rae's Shabby Cottage Designs Latest Creation

Here it is my latest pillow design for my ebay store: J.Rae's Shabby Cottage Designs.

This one features a lovely print by Victorian era artist Frances Brundage. What a lovely young lady all dressed in her finest attire. I used a beautiful cotton fabric featuring roses and stripes, then trimmed it in dark pink grosgrain ribbon that I folded to create a wonderful effect. I used a vintage pink chenille for the back and trimmed the gorgeous one of a kind creation with a pink feather boa.

Every now and then I just feel the need to trim my pillows with something new and different that the usual fringe, lace or hand made ruffles...So this one ended up with the feathers! I just love it!!! If you are interest in this pillow or seeing some of my other creations visit my ebay store with the link to the right!