Murry Lane Memories

If you’re like me, Nature is mesmerizing! What is more beautiful than God’s handwork? Not only do I love nature in all its glory, but I LOVE decorating my house! I’m not a millionaire, so I don’t have endless cash to spend on home decor; and honestly, I probably wouldn’t any way.

Yard clippings, fallen branches, sea shells, bark, pine cones… I mean the possibility is truly endless. I always find myself dragging some treasure I’ve found meandering around and usually find something to make out if it!

This is my latest project, a wreath made of palm frond droppings! I have 3 HUGE palm trees in my yard and they are constantly seeding and reseeding leaving behind an abundance of wonderfulness!! See what they look like in their natural form here :

As you can see, they are fabulous alone or clipped and gathered and wired to form a wreath! It was sooo easy! Here’s how I did it:

Gathered the clippings so that the bend of the fiber was flowing in the same direction.

Next, I just started attaching in the same direction using floral wire.

The best part for me, NO HOT GLUING! Although I love hot glue in all its crafting glory, I always and I mean always burn myself!!

After about 45 minutes, I’ve got myself a beautiful wreath made by nature and assembled by me!!

The possibilities truly are endless. Go for a nice long walk, you never know what you might find! Below I’ll attach some of my other finds from nature. If you make something fabulous, please share! We love to see cool ideas!! Happy hunting!

🌿Laura & Kim🌿

Today I made a pillow out of some vintage linens I bought at one of our local Vintage Markets; The Venice Mercato. I love vintage linens so much. The workmanship and craftsmanship that goes into these beautiful pieces mesmerize me. This beautiful piece was all handmade on a linen piece of fabric and even had the makers initials still intact!

MSW.. who are you? Were you a beautiful, young bride-to-be preparing for her new home? Maybe you were a grandmother and this was made with love as a Christmas gift! The possibilities are endless and the scenarios of days-gone-by fascinate me!! Whoever you are MSW… you were a skilled artist!!❤️

In order to preserve this original piece, I gently tacked to a pillowcase using a simple stitch. It can be easily removed with no holes or permanent damages to the vintage textile.

Once I stitched carefully to the pillowcase, I just slipped in a pillow insert and put it on my bed. I love the wrinkled linen and didn’t choose to iron my linen!

The most fun part of thrifting or keeping family heirlooms is the history that comes with the item. I love the patina or the wear that comes with something old. With a little bit of make believe, we can imagine anything we’d like about these pieces and their history!

MSW, thank you for your hard work and for the love you obviously put into your masterpiece ❤️ Linens and Make Believe… 2 of my favorite things! 🌿

🌿NOTE🌿

The lovely sewing jar belonged to my Mom who was truly a master craftsman. We didn’t have money for prom or homecoming dresses, so our Mom made ours by hand! They were perfect and no one EVER knew our dresses didn’t come straight off the rack. She even made her own patterns and was never trained to do so. Unfortunately, I didn’t inherit her sewing skills, but Laura certainly did! 🌿 I think I got my love of vintage linens from her. She always had them in our house and on our bedding. Some made by her, but times they were thrifted pieces she’d found. Thanks, Mom. We sure miss you.. but you are with us every day.

Happy Vintage Hunting and lots of Linen and Make Believe 🌿

🌿 Laura & Kim 🌿

We are two vintage loving sisters! Do you remember that song by Barbara Mandrel? “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool”?, well we were Vintage when vintage wasn’t cool!!

We traipsed garage sales, barn sales, flea markets and attics with our Mom way back in the ‘70s. Our Mom had a love for all things old and from the past. All of the furniture we had growing up was stuff our Mom found second-hand and refinished in our garage, with our Dad. Each piece had a story, and it usually involved Mom talking her way into some old farmhouse attic! We learned the love of the hunt from our sweet Marilyn and to this day, we love nothing more than digging through a pile of vintage, second-hand stuff!!

We are both Moms and first-time Grandmas or Mammaws. We both have full-time jobs and full-time families. We love nothing more than our family as well as the Memories we cherish from Murry Lane, our family home. We dedicate this site to our Mom who instilled family, home, and hard-work into us and our brothers. We’d love to have you hang out with us! You never know what we might find! 🌿

Happy Vintage Hunting!

🌿 Laura & Kim 🌿

I started this wreath on a whim after an afternoon walk. We have so many beautiful trees here in the south, but a beautiful Magnolia is one of my favorites! I’ll tell you how I did it here:

1. Gather your leaves off a Magnolia Tree. The bigger leaves work the best, and those with a shiny coat.

2. Gather the leaves in groups of three. As shown below :

3. You can either wire this grouping together or you can hot glue them directly to your wreath base. I used a wire base I got at Walmart, but any base will do fine!

4. Attach the leaves in rows and try to line up the middle leaves, creating a uniform line around the wreath. Of course, nature is perfectly imperfect, so it won’t be exact! It won’t line up perfectly!! But don’t worry! It will still be beautiful 🌿

5. After you’ve completed your rows all the way around your base wreath, you may take extra leaves and fill in any holes or blank spaces. Just glue right on the stem of the leaf and stick it in the hole! Just make sure you line it up correctly with the neighboring leaves.

Enjoy your wreath! I hung mine with a simple burlap ribbon, but the options are endless! Happy Gathering!! 🌱🍃🍁🌿

🌿 Laura & Kim 🌿 September 2018 🌿

This is the way I’ve approached most things in life! Although I have no idea what I’m doing on this blog, I just love being a part of this fun community!! Please join me on this journey and please, please, please send me tips if you have any! Happy Thursday! See you soon! 🌿