My Girl Scout Brownie troop around year 2000 hamming it up in their super cool flying cow bandanas!
Today’s postis all about things we all like to do and wear that’s fun for our kids and for grown-ups too and with summer coming up and this weekend being Memorial Day… Patriotism and good memories of loved ones and fun times is on my mind and were the inspiration for this perfect beginning of summer post. I’m talking about something that is a staple in everyone’s drawers and camping supplies ~ good for washing dishes on a campout to making a mini backpack to tie to a little pole ~ it’s those wonderfully versatile bandanas!
One of the first times our girls washed dishes. This was many of these girls first time camping. 🙂
Bandanasaregreatformanythings!
So today we are talking about the
wonderfully handy sometimes a hanky
but often utilitarian
bandana
and
some of the other fun things
for which
a bandana can be used:
1. Tying back one’s hair
The number one use for a bandana
(and probably always will be)
ever since these darlings
were invented
is to tie back one’s hair.
Always wonderful for keeping that hair
out of one’s eyes when the wind is blowing,
bandanas come in such a variety
of colors and patterns now, it’s just plain
fun to wear them.
Pick up a few for everyone in the family like we did back during our Scouting days and be “twins”
with your kids for the day!
Our Girl Scout troop had these cool
flying cow bandanas
my co-leaders and I found at
the local Army-Navy store
one day when we were picking up
GS badges and other items.
I think we gave them to the girls that
first year we were together.
They were something the girls could
wear together which helped
gel them together
as a group and it was part of their
color-coordinated unofficial uniform
for when we went on hiking trips
and for this
our first camping trip.
A spring breakfast tea using the trustworthy bandana!
2. Bandanas as Napkins
A while back I had a post sharing
these fun pink napkins used
in place of other napkins I’d
normally use.
Because bandanas are usually made out of
100% cotton
that makes them perfect for
cleaning up spills
or for
wiping one’s lips
when jam or BBQ sauce
gets all over.
I just think it’s fun to change up what we
think of as a napkin!
Guess I’ve always done that.
How about you?
What do you like to do for your napkins?
Have you sewn any of your own?
It’s super fun to create something
to coordinate with an upcoming
party’s theme!
I’ve used leftover fabric when making a
tablecloth to create tiny fingertip napkins.
Check out an old Valentine’s post where
I’d made matching napkins.
🙂
While I wasstarting to write this post
I got to thinking about
where and when were bandanas invented?
Turns out that they have officially
been around for over 200 years!
There’s a really cool article online about
“Bandana History” by BandanaShop.com
which talks about how bandanas
have been used as giveaways
promoting political figures
{George Washington being one of the first to be thus immortalized!}
and as a promotional tool for
that newfangled invention
“the talkies” ~ handkerchief bandanas
with Snow White and the seven dwarves
likenesses being one of the first
out there promoting children’s films.
I found the article fascinating
and I think
you will too!
Do follow the link over and check it out.
🙂
3. Bandanas Belts
Tie or braid several together to make
an impromptu belt to coordinate
with a summer outfit…
With the 4th of July coming up
it’d be fun to sport
redwhite and blue bandanas
woven together into a belt.
The belt I whipped up for the photos
above is just
*two bandanas laid on an angle
*fold each opposite point inward
then fold the bandana in on itself
making a long rectangle.
*Tie together in back with a granny or
square knot.
*Slip through belt loops and tie in front.
Easy peasy!
If you want a PatrioticBandanaBelt~
you’ll need six bandanas (two of each color}
to braid together.
*These can be folded as above
or
they can just be scrunched
and tied to its twin lengthwise
*tie the three colors together on one end
*then braid all of three long bandana “ropes”
at once.
*When braided, tie the three ends of the
three colors together.
*Slip through your waistbands
and knot around in front.
4.Bandana Dog
I saw this hot diggity dog of a bandana
idea and knew it had to be
featured here at French Ethereal…
;)’
I contactedMarci at Stone Cottage Adventures
and asked if I could use a couple of her stories.
She was delighted to have
a few of her bandana posts
featured!
The blog link above will take you
to a quick bandana star story
she just posted.
The pink headlines and I think the
Pinterest photos
will take you to her posts, too!
{the pink links for sure!}
Marci shared how to make this incredibly
cuddly cute dachshund
that she made for her granddaughter
out of just one bandana
per dog
plus a little from a coordinating color
for each of the sweet pup’s ears.
Naturally, she made several of these
hot dogs…
{pun totally intended!!!}
Stop on over to see the other cute dogs
she made.
I could totally see a 4th of July dog…
yep
{or is that “yelp!”}
to go with our theme.
;)‘
5. Sweet Dress for Your Baby
I also saw this darling baby dress over on
Stone Cottage Adventure’s blog
and knew it had to come on over, too ~ just check out how adorable Marci’s sweet granddaughter looks with her purple bow and matching purple bandana skirt!
Marci gives a whole tutorial on how to cut pieces of bandana to create the bow and then how to create the dress. Several other photos show this cutie modeling a couple of other outfits. She is quite the fashionista which is part of the title. An outfit for your baby or for a family member’s or friend’s new baby out of patrioticcolored bandanas could be just the ticket and a real crowd pleaser!
Happy Memorial Day thisweekend, Remembering the fallen… Barb 🙂 *The red is for the poppies… since 1919 when Memorial Day was called Armistice Day.
Sharing with Wow Us Wednesdays ~ Savvy Southern Style Share Your Style ~ The Painted Cottage Friday Favorites ~ Creatively Homemade Friday Features ~ Oh, My Heartsie Girl! Sweet Inspiration ~ The Boondocks Blog Friendship Friday ~ Create with Joy Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage Friday at the Firestation ~ A Fireman’s Wife Vintage Charm ~ Blue Willow House
The roof of this home, which is massive {see photo above},
was really in need of repair and replacing. The house was originally a red brick Tudor and much smaller;
however,
in the late 1700’s, the architect and designer
Capability Brown
said that red brick was bad and ugly, so
the home was made grander and the red brick banished.
A second major restoration happened back in the 1890’s,
I believe Earl Spencer said, and
his father Edward Spencer ~ the 8th Earl of Althorp ~ had gone about attending to other restoration work around the house.
However, that roof still needed repair.
Well, when asked about it one time, Earl Edward Spencer
said,
“Well, I’ll leave that for Charles.”
Please forgive the terrible photo and cropping ~ luckily the beauty of Althorp shines through despite my wonky shot of the screen from where I sat and final editing! 😉
And this is how the current Earl Spencer came to
become really involved in the caretaking and
history of his ancestral home.
Restoration work and taking visitors on tour around the
house as a kid for pocket-changeled to
his writing about the home.
He has written one
main book
Althorp: The Story of an English House
All photos from Earl Spencer’s speech at DBCLA, 3/7/17
Lord Spencer already had a love for history
this being his major in college and
writing books about England’s history and
his home’s small part in that were just
natural extensions of this love.
Here Lord Spencer is talking about some of the different rooms within his home.
In one room’s hallwaythere are these
incredible busts of famous British figures,
{you know me and statues!}
on the doorway side are hung paintings and
busts of Spencer family ancestors.
Photo taken of a slide Earl Spencer shared from his book ~ Althorp, The Story of an English House.
Earl Spencer doesn’t usually put his family
especially his children
in the spotlight or use them in his work.
He does this out of respect for them and to keep
their family life private.
However, that being said, Lord Spencer shared
that two of his seven kids
are on social media.
One of his sons, who is still pretty young,
interviewed someone rather famous one day, and
this interviewee asked him,
“Well, how many followers do you have?”
“Four,” was the reply.
Holding back a smile, the man made a comment
or other to the effect that
he thought
Earl Spencer’s son might have a few
more followers soon.
By the morning after young Spencer published
his video blog interview
with this rock-star gentleman,
the next day he had
thousands of followers.
So, this is his son’s break into journalism.
😉
Earl Spencer talked about the house
being open to the public 60 days per year.
It was open when he was a boy, too, and as a child
his father would have his children
lead people around the house
if they were home and
this was how he learned his home’s history
and earned a little pocket change
at the same time.
Every large estate needed a way to generate revenue
for its upkeep
and
Althorp was no different.
With the restorations going on and the roof
finally under repair and replacement,
Earl Spencer collaborated with
Theodore Alexander
a furniture company
in recreating 650 pieces of furniture
at last count in its
Althorp Living History
collection.
The earl said that 40% were direct copies with every
nick and dent recreated. {he says he has to get up really close and study
the pieces to be able to tell if its the copy or the original, these reproductions are “that good.”}
Another 40% are pieces with some adjustments and the remaining 20% are pieces inspired by originals at Althorp.
His parting advice for us Tuesday afternoon was
that when creating a brand as a designer
one needs to be authentic ~
be to true to one’s self and don’t collaborate
with a partner that doesn’t fit you.
Good advice, indeed!
🙂
In closing, I want to share how warm, charming
and funny Earl Spencer was.
His love for his children and family,
and for British history work harmoniously together.
Jickie Torres ~ editor of Country Cottages and Bungalows
Hello from Beverly Hills and the
Design Bloggers Conference!
Today I thought I’d share a little about styling your own
photoshoots like a professional.
This was the talk Jickie Torres and Courtney Allison
two of my favorite photo stylists and designers
gave on Sunday afternoon.
Jickie is the editor of Cottages and Bungalowsmagazine
and
Courtney is the photographer and blog-author of
French Country Cottage
one of my favorite blogs out there
in Blog Land.
Together they spoke about creating
good quality photos and the differences between
creating photos for your blog -vs-
creating photos aimed towards
magazine publication.
Two slightly different ways of photo shooting
that I think most bloggers wouldn’t just
intuitively realize.
Courtney of French Country Cottage
In this slide, Courtney compared two
of her photographs and talked about how
the one on the left is more of what the industry
calls “a vignette scene.”
See how it’s more of a “close-up?”
It shares more details like the pompom ruffle
around the chair pillow,
the thick plush down seat cushion
and of course
the ever sweet doggie!
These kinds of photographs work great
on your blog, but for editorial print work
there needs to be more of a “room shot.”
Editors also need your photos to
“tell a story.”
Jickie mentioned to make your photos
realistic ~ have a cup on the table,
drape a blanket over the chair’s arm.
You want those things in your scenes to draw a
reader in and make him or her
want to jump right into the picture and just
plop right down making oneself
right at home.
🙂
Well, those are just two of the big takeaways
from Jickie and Courtney’s talk late
Sunday afternoon!
There’s sooo much more to share from conference and I’ll be sharing more in tomorrow’s post.
As always, feel free to share this post and any others and please sign up if on my sidebar and follow along on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as I’m posting video and other photos there.
I looked for a way to contact Sandra Foster now to see if I could use her photos ~ I ended up taking a photo with my iPhone to share this photograph with you. On her sidebar, Sandy has a message that says “she is flattered if anyone wants to use her photos. Just please give me credit!” Always! All rights reserved ~ Sandra Foster and My Shabby Streamside Studio.
Blogging or any journaling,
like a diary of old,
is an ethereal and elusive thing.
One moment we wax prophetic, another we are off on a
Such is how I came to write my own little blog; my son saying I would probably like blogging.About seven years ago, I found a blog that tugged at my heartstrings ~ this person was just like me!
She loved the peaceful etherealness of whites and had turned an ordinary hunter’s-blind-of-a-cabin into an ethereal white Victorian cottage.Her décor included white Christmas fairy lights, tissue paper valance puffs to hide nails and the ordinariness of a thrown-together building, and furnishings all wicker-ed and linen-y.Bone china set behind repurposed door frames became a built-in china cabinet and some erstwhile pieces with pale pink roses scattered about were forgiven for not being completely white because of their beauty.
Photo taken off my computer with my iPhone ~ used with permission, My Shabby Streamside Studio.
Decorations mirrored this etherealness with vanilla candles flickering and gleeming away on silver trays, and crackled mirrors with ethereal rose swags reflecting their warm fiery glow.
Favorite old books and decorating magazines were just a ladder and a quick grab away up on the cottage’s tiny loft alcove’s whitewashed shelves ~ Lucy Maude Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables” being an especial favorite for summertime reading.
Sandra wrote of these reads and writers on occasion ~ her writings about these authors being favorites of mine to go back to to read.Sandra wrote of the original publishing of Victoria magazine and some authors whom whose writings she enjoyed, sharing those writing with us readers over and again, making us wish to go and reread those Victoria back issues once more.
Hers was a world filled with Nordic white sleds, warm cocoa, tea and scones, cream-colored dogs Zuzu and Bella, and curious clucking chickens wandering in and out ~ a world at once surreal and SO real as to blend happiness on this Earth and the spirituality of Heaven into an enchanting whole.
Sadly, this beautiful blog is no longer written due to some unfortunate personal events, but Sandra Foster’s blog lives on as a place to go back to whenever one feels the need to wax poetic and to rekindle one’s decorating soulfire again, leaving us wishing for more.
In a way, Sandra created what she most liked to read ~ a place forever populated by characters and events frozen in a moment in time ~ just like her favorite Green Gables and Victoria issues of old.
Our little drum table set for tea a year ago at Easter… 🙂
For some reason,
I’ve always thought that everybody
could decorate,
kinda like
doesn’t EVERYONE collect
home/shelter magazines?
Does this happen to you?
A January “Snowman Tea” I held at our house a few years ago.
Well, over the yearsI’ve learned that NOnot everyone can style a beautiful table so… perhaps that’s why we have those aforementionedshelter magazines!!!
Magazines like Romantic Country Style, Romantic Homes, French Country Style, Country Living and [British] Country Living, and my old favorite introduced to me by my mother when I was newly married, Victoria, help us “see” elements of good design.
Setting a beautiful table begins with bringing out your most beautiful china. For someone who has just moved into their first apartment that might mean using your parents’ hand-me-downs and a few new pieces that you found at HomeGoods while browsing with your mother. For someone just married, maybe you received a few place settings towards your eventual goal of twelve.
Bring these out and try mixing and matching with your usual kitchen china to start! Begin slowly (like most things in life) and when you go out with the girls to shop at thrift stores or flea markets, see what interests you and buy a few pieces. 🙂 One never knows where our hearts will take us when it comes to the pitter patter palpitations that finding a lovely old Haviland plate with tiny rose garlands encircling the edges or a Bavarian pre-WWII creamer & sugar bowl set with the tiniest of lavender pansy bouquets on each side. I don’t know about you but these lovelies make my heart swoon! I know my china has evolved from my first set of Villeroy & Boch called Botanic. I still use this set as my everyday china but I tend to use my white china more often now. 😉
See the white china here? I found these at TJ Maxx several years ago. You can find similar pieces at HomeGoods and other retail centers.
The next elementof setting a beautiful table involves having a lovely tablecloth (or two or three!) layered on your table. It’s up to you if you like your tablecloth ironed or not. I like mine ironed, in truth, but I’m usually running around trying to get the food finished on tea mornings, so… Mine are usually not ironed and per Ms. Shabby Chic herself, Rachel Ashwell, rumpled is just as beautiful! (Thank goodness!)
Spend some time at after-Christmas sales gathering a small but mighty collection of linens. When you go antique browsing, tag sailing (my pun on “sale-ing”, sorry!), and to everyone’s favorite thrift-shopping, look at the linen aisle and check out potential diamonds in the rough! Many stains can be washed out with a lemon juice soak or with today’s oxygen removal detergents. I love my OxyClean! Most old linens can’t hold up to soaking in bleach. Bleach tends to break down the already weakened fibers that are just weakened with age and use.
I have had to soak some tablecloths up to a week in a bucket or in our former laundry room’s laundry sink tub, but that’s an amazing way to save a ton of money on table linens o you don’t have to always buy new. 😉
Lastly, set your table with the prettiest in-season flowers from your yard or flower market. Grocery stores and big box grocery places do carry good flower bouquets, and I know I will go to my local Ralph’s and pick out what I want and just pay per stem. I’ve done this for years and then I get exactly what I want in my bouquets.
Please DO share your table-settings with me! I’d love to see them, your china
patterns, your bouquets! French Ethereal is on Instagram and Twitter
as well as my Facebook page:
@BFrenchethereal, #Frenchethereal, and just French Ethereal on FB.
Share your lovelies!!!
And, as always, feel free to share my posts with your friends.
🙂
Have a lovely day today and have fun dressing your table! I’ll be creating a new Easter table-setting for you later this week, Blessings to you always, Barb 🙂 p.s. I will be working on getting InLinks back up and running for you so we can share posts here!
*Just wanted to let you know, this will be Stephanie’s last linky party as she needs to step down for a while. Do please visit her site and if she has been an inspiration for God for you, let her know. Thank you. 🙂
