Painted Chandelier

 

I am following the trend and painting my chandelier.  Originally I was going to go with a basic color...silver or black.  I found this paint color (Jamaican Sea) and loved it.

 

Before 

 

After

 

 

Up close

 

 

I took all the crystal off and painted it using a craft sponge brush.

Let the paint dry and put back the crystal.

That simple!!

 

Check out some more fun Blue things, including this...just click here.



Back To School Backpacks

 

 

 

 

Kids are already in school.  I remember as a child summers going so fast, it hasn't changed as an adult.  I love that they are in school, but I miss them.

 

For Backpacks this year we went to DownEastHome

 

They have these great canvas backpacks and lunch boxes that are seconds only because a company has made a mistake on monogramming. 

 

 

 EASY FIX:

 

I took some scrap fabric and used my silhouette machine to cut out my kids names and initials.  You have to buy the fabric blade for this, but I love to use fabric so it was a no brainer when I bought it.

 

1. Iron on interfacing.
2. Cut out pattern with machine.
3. Iron on fabric
4. I hand stitched it to give a little extra strength.
5. You're done!

Family Home Evening Chalk Board

 

 

 

FHE Chalk Board

 

 

I have wanted to create this for my family for awhile and finally got around to it.

 

 

 

 

I found an old piece of wood in our garage from other projects.

 

 

Instructions for chalk board paint:

 

1/2 cup acrylic paint (any color)

 

1 tablespoon un-sanded grout

 

I mixed them together with disposable plastic cup and spoon.  I used a sponge brush to paint with.  Easy clean up.  The paint can dry quickly.  I doubled the batch and painted this piece front and back with two coats and still had some left over for my daughter to paint a smaller board.

 

While the paint dried I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the white vinyl for the lettering.

 

After the paint was dry, I placed my vinyl on the painted surface. 

 

Next take a piece of chalk and rub it all around the painted surface and rub off the excess chalk with a paper towel.  Done!

 

This was so much fun and really took less time then I expected!

 

 

 

Rocking Chair Redo

Wow...it has been awhile since I last posted.  Vacation, sickness and just summer fun has slowed down my posting. 

 I have a fun new project that I recently finished.  I bought this old rocking chair at a yard sale for $15.00.  What a deal.  It did need some work and now it is all done!  Material and padding cost a total of $ 25.00.  So grand total for the new chair (to me) $40.00.

 

 

What you need:

 

1. Material of your choice.  I used upholstery fabric

2. Heavy duty stapler and staples

3. Foam square, I used 3 inch thick

4. Board that fits to your chair

5. Quilt batting

6.Hammer

 

 

 

 

This board was on the rocking chair.  Not in the best of shape, very thin and broken.

 

 

 

 

Luckily my Husband is pretty handy for me.  He cut out my new shape with some extra wood we had around the house.

 

 

 

I forgot to take pictures before I started.  This was the size of foam I used.  I traced the shape of the wood then used a serrated knife to cut my shape.

 

 

 

 

Finished shape.

 

 

Place foam and wood together.

 

 

 

Lay foam own onto quilt batting.

 

 

 

Pull batting taut on ones side and start stapling (I start on one side in the middle and staple that side.  I then move to the opposite side and staple that side).

 

 

Corners are tricky.  I fold one side across and then pull the other side up and over.

 

 

This creates a clean edge.

 

 

 

Hammer every staple that you have to make sure it is tight against the wood.

 

 

 

Cut off any excess batting.

 

Almost finished seat.  I didn't want to leave the wood exposed so I found some extra material to staple on the bottom.  With little kids crawling under things I wanted to avoid slivers.

 

 

 

I stapled this material and cut off excess then hammered nails once again.

 

 

 

For the finish material I folded the ends under to have a cleaner look.  Same steps as the batting.  Start on one side in the middle and then move to the right and left stapling. Then go to the opposite side.   I also had to cut off excess fabric along the corners.  It also helps to have an extra pair of hands.  My husband would pull taut and I would staple has he held.

 

 

 

Underside of finished seat.

 

 

My finished rocking chair!

 

 

 

Furniture Restoration Part 2

Remember the Before....it's starting to look better.  If you want to refer back to part 1 click here.

 

 

 

I need to remember to take pictures.  I had already put two coats of Primer on and waited a couple of days before I started to paint.  I started with my painting and remembered I needed to take pictures of the primed paint job.  (I will give all the information of products I used below).  

 

 

 

I had started painting and it was already turned over and I couldn't turn it over again because of the wet paint.  But above is the primed portion.

 

 

 

 

Primed drawer

 

 

 

 

I wanted to add some color, so I spray painted the inside of the drawer after I primed and before I painted. 

 

 

 

Above: This has been primed twice and painted once.  I got a little paint on the stained top portion and I will go over what I did if you keep reading!

 

 

 

The painted drawer.

 

 

 

 

Close up of the paint on the stained top.  I need to be better about touching already done surfaces with my hands for support while I paint.

 

 

 

 

 

Not the best picture, but this is after I sanded the painted areas on the top and the sides where the tape didn't do so great of a job.

 

 

 

 

After I sanded the top, I re-stained.  I didn't worry about getting on the white paint because I had a baby wipe handy.  I simple wiped it off.

 

 

 

 

 

The wiped clean edge.

 

What I used

 

Stain:

Min Wax Dark Walnut Stain

 

 

Primer:

Zinsser Oil Primer

 

Paint:

Rust-Oleum Oil Gloss White

 

 

Spray Paint for Drawer:

Krylon Island Splash

 

 

Of course you will need Paint brushes and for the oil a paint thinner to clean the brushes if you want to keep them.

 

 

Part 3 The finished product will be coming soon!!!

DIY Wall Art

I need something to cover a blank wall.  I need to make it inexpensive and quick.

What to do??

I built this canvas about 10 years ago.  I was bored with what I had painted on it back then.  So I spray painted over it with gray spray paint. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found some old material that I had tied into a long strand.

 

 

 

 

Wrapped it around the canvas in no particular order and started to spray paint.  I used turquoise (official name: Island paradise) spray paint.  For some reason I have recently really loved this color.

 

 

 

 

I sprayed turning the canvas after each coat, so I could get each side. 

 

 

 

 

And the finished piece of art!  

 

 

 

Now my wall is not so open and blank.  The thing I love most it didn't cost me a cent.  I already had all the supplies. 

 

Even if I had to buy the supplies, the spray paint would have been $6, canvas $10 (or less with coupons) and material or tape maybe $2.   A project less then $20 if you have to buy everything.

Furniture Restoration Part 1

 

I'm not one to take things off the street during neighborhood clean up week, but I made and exception just this once.  Honestly, I was running to the grocery store after all the kids were in bed.  It was raining but almost cold enough to snow.  I saw this lovely side table on the side of the road and on my way back from the store, after contemplating should I take it or not, I told myself if it was still there I would pull over and get it.

 

Well, it was still there!  So in the dark of the night and the freezing rain I get out and put it in my car.  Now my trunk was full of groceries and it barley fit into the back seat of our little sedan.  I was just about to leave it behind because it was that difficult to squeeze in.

 

And several months later as it sat in my garage I finally got the energy to start on this project.

 

Of course I started this project and thought, "oh pictures".  So the top of this table looked normal other then some black like stains you see on the drawer.   I also had to use some wood glue and nails to help repair the drawer. When I got it home the drawer wouldn't open at all.

 

 

 

 

I was about to hand sand it when luckily my father-in-law came over to help with our basement and said he had an electric sander.   That made my day!  It took all of maybe 15 minutes to sand the top and get all the varnish off.

 

 

 

I didn't worry about the base and legs because I am going to do a little sanding on them and then prime and paint those.  Stay tuned to see the color.  (should I go white or some fun color?)

 

 

 

 

After I sanded, I cleaned the top and put one coat of dark walnut stain on.  Sorry for the poor picture.  I was outside and the shade of our trees ruined the picture. 

 

 

Part 2 coming soon!

 

 

Paper Flower Wreath

My New Spring Wreath!

Material you need:

1. Styrofoam wreath

 2. Scrap material to wrap wreath (optional)

3. Old magazine (I used 3-4 small Magazines)

4. Sizzors

5. Glue gun or Craft Glue

6. Spray paint

7. Ribbon of some sort to hang with

I wanted a new spring wreath.  What I thought would take an hour surprised me to take several more.  But I REALLY like the result. 

I wrapped the wreath with scrap material. 

 I like gluing onto the material rather then straight onto the styrofoam.

I then ripped out the pages of the magazine and cut them in half and then in half again. My magazine was a small one.  

I bunched them in sets if 2, 3,4, etc.   I didn't count I just grouped them and cut.  The more pages together, the larger your flower can become.  

 I cut them into oval/circle shapes.   For better pictures I drew the  circle on the papers.  I didn't do this on all of my circles.  Then the cutting began again.  This process happened several times, as I realized I would need more magazines to complete my wreath. 

My circles were not cut perfectly, they had jagged edges and were not all that pretty, but I like the way it turned out.  Some flowers were larger then others and all were different. 

I started wrapping with the outer edge.  I tried it both ways and I preferred working from the outside in. 

Start wrapping tightly.  When I got near the end I would rip off the last little bit if it didn't fit well.  

You can glue them on the wreath or get a little pile and then glue.  When you let go they will not be as tight.  I did both.  Glue the tight ones right on and put them down and let them grow a bit.  

Once your flowers are all glued, you can spray paint it.   I took my wreath outside and spray painted it several times, giving it time in between to dry.   I bought my spray paint at Walmart the cheap stuff for $1.  

Now if you have a door that faces East and it gets REALLY hot between the screen and door, don't use a glue gun.  The heat will melt the glue!!!  Trust me not fun to see parts of your wreath on the ground and glue that melted and then hardened dripped all over your door!  This might become a Christmas wreath!

Have fun and Enjoy!