Mother's Day Gifts

You can count this as 2 weeks late... or 50 weeks early! I'll go with the latter. :)  
So, for Mother's Day here is my present from my husband:



















Yep, that's right - I asked for this entry set for our front door (which my husband kindly painted red last year, but I didn't post pics then, because with our brass door knob, it looked like a shiny Christmas present). I told the cashier at Walmart, when she asked, that this was my present, and she said "Well, that's not a very good present." I was like, "No, you don't understand. I pulled this up on KSL and said, 'Look honey, that's what you're getting me for Mother's Day. Thanks!'" :)
Here's a pic from farther away, so you can see the whole door in all of its cinnamon-y glory :)





















So, for my mom and mother-in-law, I had found a tutorial on these cute handprint trees (click here) and thought they'd be a perfect Mother's Day gift from the girls. Overall, for 2 of them, it only cost me $11. I found some ugly painting on board a little thicker than MDF and cut it in 2. Then stapled on some remnant fabric from Hobby Lobby. The handprints are from those table runners that are sticks with thread woven around them. I ironed it onto that cool fusable stuff before cutting them out (or they would have fallen apart) and then ironed it onto the blue fabric before I stapled it on. The flowers are cut from some scrap pink velvet I had laying around and the little middle parts of the flowers are old toille fabric from an old dress. Then I just used a brown very fine Sharpie to write on the text (Which is "Grandma: the charming gardener who makes our souls blossom)




















Then, from me, I had an adventure in trying to find good essential oils, then a good balance. I ended up getting mine from Puritan's Pride, they were having a sale (buy one get two for free). I will just say this, if you ever use Cedarwood, only use a few drops! Otherwise it smells like you opened up a cedarwood chest that had been closed for hundreds of years!

Anyhow, I just added Cedarwood and Jasmine essential oils to some meltable soap from Hobby Lobby and some Epsom Salt for... well, you know... soap and bath salt. Then made a book mark from the aforementioned velvet material and put jewelry charms at the end (Hobby Lobby had them on sale), and some make-up remover that I had seen on Pinterest (1 C water, 1 1/2 T Baby Shampoo (no tear, obviously), and 1/3 T Olive oil). Included some little cotton pads for the remover, put all the stuff in some old bottles and jars that have been collectin dust under my craft table, and called it good. :)

Luckily, both of these things can easily be done for birthdays or Christmas. Which is how I talked myself into posting this despite it being weeks late :)

Did Hell Freeze Over???

Because I'm actually posting on here again after almost 3 months - oops. AND I finished a project (finally!).
























 I don't have any before pictures. Well, I used to until our hard drive crashed. >: /
It was just a normal shadow box (without the front frame) with a medium stained wood on the sides and had a glass front and a black background. One day my then 3-year-old put her weight on the glass and shattered it. Instead of chucking it I set it aside and within months saw a shadow box "frame" at a store and immediately knew that's what I wanted to do.
So, I went to Michael's and picked out some decorative molding that I thought would look the most like a frame and had my Dad cut it and attatch it to the front. It sounds simple, but he had to deal with my cheapness and had barely enought materials to get the job done without any room for mistake - so thanks Dad!!! :) And he put a shelf in there while he was at it.
Then it sat in my office for months and months and months. I got Rustoleum dented copper spray paint and used almost the entire can. Then it sat again for a bit :)
Then I took black acryllic paint and painted it on and wiped it off with a washcloth and proceeded to freak out more than a little inside! It was NOT what I was going for. The black wasn't coming off ver well, so there I sat outside, spitting on it and then wiping it off in an attempt to get more off :)
Then I took the little that was left in the can and put it super close and VERY lightly and quickly sprayed random patterns and drops onto the frame. Then I mixed the black acryllic paint with LOTS of water, dipped my fingers into it and rubbed it on in small sections and then took a dry washcloth and in circular motions with varying pressure, rubbed it off some. Voila! The last thing I did was cover it in varnish to give it a little more shine (and protect the finish!)
Here's a close up.














 







For the background, I just took some leftover green canvas (ironed it, of course), then stapled it onto the original back. I could only do it on the corners, because as you can probably see in the above pic, my staples are slightly too big and stick through. But, again, cheapskate! I wasn't about to buy a whole new package of staples just for this.
Then I printed off a graphic from The Graphics Fairy  (www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com). If I had projector paper, I could have just printed onto that. But, cheapskate :) I don't. So, I put the paper in a plastic sleeve and traced it onto that, cut it so it was only one layer, then put it on a projector and traced it onto the canvas.

Put it back together and what've you got? A great new place for knickknacks once I get the hubby to hang it above the dining room table :)





















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Little lymericks for gifts

Want to write a cute little poem to give with a gift to a girlfriend? I have two - one for friends with a sense of humor and one for friends you aren't sure if they do. :) Let me preface this by saying that my husband has long been suspicious of women's motivations for giving sugary fattening gifts to their friends.  Sub-conscious (or conscious!) sabotage? I think the idea is wrong, but funny, so I wrote this one for a couple of my close friends I knew wouldn't be offended:

To thank you for being so sweet,
I decided to bake you this treat.
I'm glad that our friendship will last.
Now, EAT! So you'll get a big...

It's so much classier if you don't actually write the word :) And if you didn't make it, you could just say "bought you this treat" instead!

If you aren't sure how they'll handle that, you could just put:

I always love to see you smile!
You're one of a few with no guile.
To thank you for being so sweet,
I decided to bake you this treat!

Can you tell I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel just so I can have something to post on this little neglected blog of mine? :)

1st attempt at reupholstery and some helpful hints!

Well, I've finally completed it! I was hoping to post the before picks (I did actually take them), but our hard drive crashed and now they're gone :( My hubby is slowly getting pics off the old hard drive, but I wanted to put this up without waiting too long.

Anyhow, it was a pretty ambitious project, I have to say, for a first attempt. And although there are things that are a little shoddy, I've learned from them, and you can't see them right away either.

I got this material a while ago at a design fabric store that was closing their location and I lucked out and only paid 30% of the price. Not 30% off, I paid 30%! Don't we all live for deals like that? :) I was originally going to paint it to look like grain sacks, but then I thought, what if I hate that in 5/10 years? So, I'm going to put the more trendy stuff on the pillow I'll be doing next. If I could easily afford another chair, I would just go for it, but for us cheapskates ... :)

Anyhow, here's the final product - Voila!























I did manage to get a picture of a piece of fabric that came off it (just imagine the whole thing in this with really shiny legs):

And, yes, the whole thing was that dirty.

So, there are a lot of tutorials on this topic out there in blogland. The gist of it is take lots of pics/videos/notes and pay attention while you're taking it apart.

But, here are some things I learned (from many mistakes) that I haven't really seen in a lot of tutorials that I've read....


1. So you're using the old pieces as patterns to cut out the new ones? Good for you - make sure to cut them AT LEAST an inch bigger! Especially if there are curves on your chair. You can (and will) cut off excess after it's stapled on.

2. Along the same lines, if there are little cutouts in the old material, wait to cut them out until you start putting it on the chair and you can see EXACTLY where it should go.

3. Be careful with larger weave material, it's going to fray a LOT easier! Just plan that and maybe cut just a little more than that extra inch. And get some seam sealer!

4. Even if you think the seams will not show (when sewing the welting or cushion), don't use contrasting thread. It sounds super obvious, but I didn't think it would show, that's what was in my sewing machine and I lazily didn't want to change it. But, when I sit it pulls the material away just enough to see the black thread. Classy :)

5. To take the staples out, I ended up using a phillips screwdriver and needlenose plyers. I loosened them with the screwdriver first (as many in a row as I could), then went along with the plyers.

6. Number the pieces as they come off and write on the old material. Also, draw which direction faces up, front, etc.

7. If you decide to do nailhead trim - way to be ambitious! :) These are actually not to bad (not nearly the love/hate relationship I had with the curve-ease). If you start hammering it in and the head isn't exactly in line, you can gently hammer at an angle until it is in line.  I didn't use a marker (I didn't want it to show up), but if you have one of those fabric markers that dissapear, just draw a straight line.
















The bottom line wasn't too hard, but if you do a second one, or the first one isn't directly along the bottom, here's what I did:

Measure between the two lines, then go out 8-10 spaces and measure the height difference and put that in, then you can visually check the line as you further along.

But, you do have to be willing to take them out if it isn't working. Like, when I looked at the left-hand side and realized I actually wanted the right hand side,

And end up with a pile of unusable brads like this

To end up with the end-goal you want.

On the arms, they had used finishing nails or something to attach it (you have to put the material around the little insert and then connect it to the front of the chair. I didn't have access to one. So, I just used the brads to hold it in place.

I wanted to do the second row along the bottom to do something a little differently (I was inspired by a  chair on Restoration Hardware). Plus, because that first row was right in line with the bottom, you couldn't really tell. Here's a close up of the nailhead trim:

You also get a good look at the legs. I just sanded off the old stuff and got a sample-size paint at Home Depot (paint for $2.50? sure!) Then distressed it with sandpaper. Then lightly sanded over the rest of the paint as well to kind of blend it all together.

Overall, I'd say it turned out pretty darn good for a first attempt and all those blasted curves!

I knew for sure it was pretty good when my hubby (whom I married because I loved his willingness to be honest even when it would be easier to offer noncommital placations) tried to claim it as only his to sit on!

Linking up to:

Current state of undress

Every time I complete a stage on my first attempt at re-upholstery I get unduly excited.
Here's where I'm at now...

Actually, now that I'm finally posting this, I do have the legs painted. But, you'll just have to wait to see that :)
Now, comes the hard part - making the new material look good.
Wish me luck!

Craft organization for the kids

I've been wanting to have something to organize all my daughter's craft stuff. I had it all in a bin before, but that ended up being a big mess, of course. Then, it just was a huge mess all over the floor at the bottom of the basement stairs :) So, I was keeping my eye out for something on KSL classifieds and found this nightstand for FREE! Yay for KSL :) I forgot to take a before picture, of course. I'm still trying to remember to take pictures of any of the process at all. Anyhow, instead of trying to type between the pics and having to move everything around, I'll just type all the shtuff up front and then you can scroll through the pics. Or, just skip over what I type and look at the pics.
I didn't worry too much about sanding because it was just cheap plastic vinyl and the paint I used (Martha Stewart's "Popcorn") was a primer and paint in one deal. I just used a $2.50 sample and painted the front, one side, and drawer fronts. Then on the left side, I used chalkboard spray paint that I got at Home Depot for under $5. Actually, I sprayed the chalkboard paint first, then painted it white (it took several coats, but I didn't have to buy any more).
The top was a little trickier, as the veneer was coming off in several spots, so I knew even if I did sand it great, you'd be able to see the change in texture. So, I got a yard of fabric from Walmart for $4.50 and mod podged it on the top and inside the drawers. On the top, I sealed it with a few coats of varnish, but left the inside of the drawers as is.
The handles I spray painted copper, then brushed black acrylic paint over and used a soft cloth to rub some off. If I rubbed too much off, I just dry painted over that area with the black.
Anyhow, there's some shoddy workmanship (no painter's tape to be found in the house), and I do want to eventually wax over it, but I think it turned out pretty great. And now, all her crayons, markers, papers, coloring books, scissors, blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda are out of my sight :)

Linking up to these parties:

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