Organize My LIFE

I wanted to feature the up-cycled ceiling tiles that I have available at my shop! They're true antique! Rescued from the dirt at a Flea Market.
I cleaned 'em up, added rust-proof primer and added layers of paint.
I twisted on a wire at the top to hang it and fashioned it with a cute ribbon.

Use them as a magnetic board to organize, or display photos!
They look great behind your bed or desk!
Come and check it out!

Coming Soon!

I am so excited to announce that my awesome cousin Molly is going to join me at Simply Rooted! She has a degree in web design and a black belt in creativity.

We will be designing a new blog for the next couple weeks and hope to launch it early January!

And not to worry, I'll post the new site's address as soon as we have it up and running!

Anne Up and Go Green!

Come to Simply Rooted to find hypoallergenic, natural, great-smelling laundry soap!
It smells wonderful and is great for the environment, your "green home" and anyone who is prone to rash :) Give it a try!

Hand-made right here in Iowa!

Holiday Hours

Just a heads up. Simply Rooted be closed on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve -- with my family being in town and all :)

Have a good day.


Regular Store Hours:

Thurs - Sat ... 10 - 5

Yelp Me!

So, I am new to the idea of YELP. Since my phone is awfully dumb. However, my very smart husband just got a very smart phone. And YELP is an amazing feature that it contains. After I learned of Yelp's existence, I knew I had to be on it.

Here is what Yelp is. It is a database of registered businesses that can be seen on your phones "map." If you have the YELP App you click on it, and point your phone in the direction of Kalona, IA and ask for "everything" --since I'm not a restaurant. And the business should now appear! So, for people walking around Kalona, they would point up their yelping radar and could walk right to the store now.... amazing.

Feel free to check it out....

Reclaiming the Old

I just wanted to show a picture of a seed sack pillow that I created for the shop. It is a true "antique" upcycled into a pillow for rustic decoration!

Happy Friday!

New Items in the HOUSE

I have some BEAUTIFUL creations from "Pink Squirrel Studios" new to the shop on Friday! They are hand made glass bracelets and necklaces from a very talented lady! I loved her style and had to add her products to my shop. Stop by on Black Friday for 25% off everything in the store (and Small Business Saturday)! Check out these unique, one-of-a-kind items!

How To: Dress Form... so that's what it's called...

At my shop I had a little dilemma... too many necklaces and not enough cool places to display them. That problem was solved with this idea to get a "dress form" that is the fake bodice thing that looks like the silhouette of a woman... well, a fake woman... a real woman would never have that narrow of a stomach and that wide of a chest.

So, that leads me to my second problem. Those things cost HUNDREDS of dollars! Really. Vintage Dress Forms are very expensive and even a new one at Hobby Lobby was out of my range.

So I thought to myself... I could make one of those... easy... but how...well, with chicken wire and burlap of course!

I started with a tall spindle that was recovered from a house remodel (free :) ) Then, I screwed it to the bottom of two wooden discs from Hobby Lobby. I measured it to find center and drilled holes from the back side and then used 3 inch screws to secure it.

Next, I took chicken wire and cut a piece that was about 35 inches long. Then, starting at the bottom, I folded it around and twisted the wire onto itself to secure it. That created the bottom of the skirt. Moving up about where a waist would get skinnier I overlapped the wire more to make it skinnier and twisted the wire to secure it. To create the bust, I found the spot where the two ends meet and secured them, by leaving a space for... cleavage... can I say that here... :) I did. Now, push and pull the chicken wire to create your preferred shape. You can use other pieces of wire to hold the form. Next, place your form over the tall spindle and secure it with screws.

Now, you need to create the upper chest and neck. Take a second piece of chicken wire that is 1/4 the size of the other and shape it like so.... then attach it to the bigger form by twisting the metal ends.

Then, cover your whole creation with badding. Use hot glue where you can to secure it.

Now, cover the badding with any fabric of choice. This is a "sewing-free" option. All I did was glue burlap onto the badding in strips starting from the bottom and working my way to the top.

Then, I added a little disc to the top of the neck that I painted blue, added bulky necklaces and a cute ribbon belt to give it a feminine touch.

So, here it is: my ten dollar dress form.

a rose by any other name....

I wanted everyone to know that I have an online shop!

Click here to check it out!... I am so techno-inept...
I mean, copy and paste to check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/simplyrooteddesign

... darn links never work!

How to: Window Picture Frame

Here's a REALLY quick and REALLY easy DIY project - A 5 minute task....if you have an old 6 pane window lying around ;)

This old window was found at a Garage Sale for a real bargain. The lady put in new windows and wanted the old ones to go to a good home. I considered my home as good as any, I suppose, I'd treat the window right. This window was an easy clean-up. Just a little Windex really. Some older windows that I have gotten require MUCH more labor. Some have required bleach, sanding and/or layers of varnish.

Once your blank window "canvas" is ready, pick out your favorite 6 photos. It is important to pick pictures that will coordinate. Either in theme, or color, or people... or something. I chose my WEDDING photos! Yay! Shameless, I know... but I wanted something that would look elegant. And, I used photos that didn't show my husband or my faces to keep it intriguing.

Decide the layout of your 6 photos. My pictures included 3 that were up close pictures with texture and 3 that were people shots, I staggered the photos to make the over-all appeal balanced.

Next, use "Scrapbook Corner Adhesives" from Hobby Lobby. A cheap and AMAZING way to keep the photos in place. And they're clear, so it is an illusion that the photos are squashed between two sheets of glass, but no, this is SOO much easier!

Then, grab the corner stickers place them on two corners of a photo (I start with only two corners with stickies so it doesn't get out of hand with four stickies getting in the way). Now, from the back side of the window, I "eyeball" where center is for each photo in the frame (if you are a meticulous type, then grab a measuring tape already!) Do that to all 6 photos. Then go back and stick the other two corners of each photo.

And viola! There is your 5 minute picture frame... Or, in my case, the 2 hour picture frame. Between cleaning the window, picking and printing my FAVORITE wedding pics and fighting the corner stickies!

Also, consider what hardware you'd use for hanging the window. I prefer thick gauge wire strung between two sturdy screws.

Hours

Since I'm not techno-savvy..... I will put my hours as a post for now and I'll try to put it on the side wall later...

Thurs - Sat.... *10:00 - 5:00

*ok, ok, sometimes I'm a couple minutes late.... mornings aren't my strong suit.

Hook Me Up

Awesome websites for inspiration!

theletteredcottage.com

100layercake.com (click on the blog)

younghouselove.com

Just some of my favorites :)
Enjoy!

How to: Hymn Christmas Tree

Well, I thought I'd add a few "how-to" guides of some of my creations. My new invention is the swirly hymn tree.

First, you take chicken wire and wrap it into a cone. About 14 inches tall.

Next, I cover the entire frame with full hymn pages. Then, I cut 1 1/2" wide x 4 " long strips out of pages of an old hymn. Then I curl just the ends of them up when they're in a stack. Using a hot glue gun, start gluing from the bottom up. I go around the base and then add the next layer on the joints of the layer below it (like a brick layer puts new bricks on the joints of the bricks below them). And keep working up until you're to the top! At the top you may have to adjust your hymn cuts by making a triangle cut to fit the top point, and you may even need to cut some fatter or thinner strips to fill in gaps as you go. Just work with it.
You can also hot glue a piece of black felt to the bottom to make a soft base.

And Viola! Twenty minutes later and you have a fun and swirly DIY Christmas tree:)

Growing Old Ain't for Sissies!

It was my 27th birthday on Saturday and one's never too old to get excited for their birthday like an elementary school girl! I just love birthdays :) My girlfriends all came to the shop with me during the day to celebrate!

They take their lives very seriously!

Birthday Sale!

Birthday Sale! Yay! Ok, so it's my birthday is on Saturday and I wanted to celebrate it with everyone who came to my shop! :) Everything is 25% off! This Thursday, Friday and Saturday (Oct 27th, 28th & 29th). I just love birthdays!

New Items coming each week! Come and seek out new treasures :)

New Found Addiction: Pinterest

Ok, everyone needs to join pinterest.com It is the ultimate idea book :)

http://pinterest.com/

Here's today's favorite pin.

It's Miranda Lambert! So cute!

Darn Technology

Well, I have been attempting to upload new photos of my shop with no success. So, to stay more intouch with SimplyRooted, "like" my page on Facebook. Simply Rooted: Country Chic Boutique :) Thanks.

All Ready for the Big Day!

Oh, I'm so excited! I feel like every thing came together wonderfully!
I need A LOT more items... but that will come with time.

Work, Work, Work

These are the finishing touches to the room.

I'm just so excited!
And here's my stellar old roommates going builder:)

And here is my $20 counter. Cut from two doors and four 2 x 6's, stained, varnished and fastened together! LOVE IT!

And my cute honey building a shelf! He'd kill me if he knew this was on here :) I guess its a good thing that he doesn't care to follow my blog! :)

Three Doors Down

Well, first was painting, then stenciling the little bursts around the room. Next, came hanging the backdrop to my front counter -  the three doors!!!

Project 3 Doors:
This was my favorite part of the room :) They were free from my parents basement... neglected since circa 1937. I thought I'd give them fresh coats of paint and purpose.

To hang them I took a pine 2 x 4 and had my dad use his table saw to rip it down the center at 45 degrees (fyi: "cutting" a board is using a saw to shorten a board. Like cutting a 6 ft board can make two 3 ft boards.... while "Ripping" a board is sawing all along the board making it skinnier...like ripping a 6 ft board now makes two skinnier 6 ft boards... that's not a technical definition). So anyway, my dad ripped the 2 x 4 at an angle... so now I had two pieces of board one for the door, one for the wall, then they held the door up....

I used my measuring tape to mark on the wall where I wanted the doors to hang and then on the doors. I then used my drill to drill pilot holes, where sturdy screws could then attach one angled board to the door...  Then, I found the studs on the wall (by looking at the holes in the baseboard where the previous carpenter put nails and used a level to go up the wall where I wanted to screw)...

Once I had all of the boards screwed to the walls and the tops of doors I added spacers at the bottom of each door... so the didn't hang tilty. Then, I lifted the doors to grab the boards on the wall. And, there they were...

In all their glory :)

The Journey

     Here is the shop three weeks before the grand opening! 

Yikes, I had LOTS to do!!! I love the black ceilings - a great space to work with!

Taking the Plunge!

So, I'm going to open a shop in Kalona, IA. I have been struggling with this, I mean, juggling this idea for years, but just haven't had the gumption to do it. Until, I got married, moved to a lonely town and was bored out of my mind. And here was a space for lease in a little Amish village and it was just the right price and just the right distance away from the city, so I thought I'd take the plunge. Opening in just a few short weeks, I'm getting ready for the revealing of "Simply Rooted: Country Chic Boutique". That is where I will display my creations to the world... or at least eastern Iowa.

Come and visit during the Kalona Fall Festival on Sept. 23rd - 24th.
P.S. Kalona ia 15 Miles Southwest of Iowa City.

Stay tuned for many photos. Everything from painting the shop to laying out inventory. There is so much to do!