Decorative Wall Shelf

Hey! I know, I know, it’s been about a week since my last post and I use to post at least four times a week… But finals, my ex-boss calling me in to do work for him (which is very much appreciated, who couldn’t use extra $$$) and more finals. Oh and did I mention my grams (the best Grams ever) is having a triple bypass  tomorrow? Yup, and she is in her mid 60’s, young!  So needless to say I am wound up tight… Everyone pray for a successful surgery please!

 

Onto my project, I got these gold shelves from my grams.

And ever since I had done my wall art with Veda's old Easter dress I knew this wall needed to be dressed up to compliment the picture. But this gold was wayyyyyy to bright. So I pulled out my fav thing, crackled spray paint!!! Does anyone use this anymore? I am and forever will be in love with it, I have an end table I used it on as well… So a quick and easy application of crackle spray paint later,

 

LOVEloveLOVElove! I pulled some accessories from around the house, the shelf with the cross still needs some work, but not bad for using what I had lying around! I also rubbed a bit of the antique bronze acrylic glaze on, it is not super noticeable, but it pulled in the browns from my picture frame a bit.

(Please excuse the bad pic, I literally just finished and it’s midnight)

 

SO I am in love, and I think they work well with my frame that I love, what do you think?

And do you know what is underneath these wall decorations??? Only my mothers day present, but that, will have to wait for another post because I am still tweaking it! (Am I the only one who asks for “project” related things for mothers day?)

Easter Dress Turned Photo Mat!

Hello! I am still alive I promise, just been really REALLY busy, and needed a break from my rocking horse redo. 

So have you ever had an outfit that your child has worn that you fell in love with? Of course you have! And then guess what happens, THEY OUTGROW IT! I fell in love with my daughters Easter Dress right off the bat! It was supposed to be a Christmas dress so it was on clearance for 4 bux!!!! I love thee Target…

Look at that great fabric! So after Easter I started brainstorming ideas and came up with this! I would turn it into a mat for one of her photos! Lucky me I had this frame that I scored last year for 2 bux!

It had a Patina greenish color to it though, so I rubbed some antique glaze over top and love how it came out. I then took out the old picture broke the glass (I replaced it by buying another cheap frame….)  And purchased a mat for under 2 dollars. You then wrap the new mat like you would a gift and attach with spray adhesive!

See the slight difference in color of the frame? (If you need any more direction on adhering the fabric let me know). Make sure you iron the fabric first it makes a huge difference.

 

 

 

I had just shot her second birthday pictures so I had this blown up. (I ordered my print from Wal-mart, they actually use a very hi quality printer, I use to work at a portrait studio and it is the same one we used there!)

 

So what do you think???  I am in love, and now will have the dress forever!!! So do you have any old clothing you’d like to preserve?

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Rockin’ Redo (Day 3, 75% done!)

Hey! I am SOOO EXCITED to show you these next pics… We are 75% done! Well I think actually more than 75% but I don’t want to say that and jinx myself… Let’s take a quick recap…

Okay and are you ready for how he looks now?

 

HELLO!!! I am soo excited (why else would I be posting at 1am ;^)… I can’t wait for the hubby to wake up and see him!!!

I found new eye balls for .99 cents, what a steal… And the fabric looks pink here but it is burgundy, I was able to splurge because I only needed a quarter of a yard (and have some left over) so I went for durable beautiful fabric that was $17.99 a yard, the piece I needed was under 5 bux though! And you can’t see them well here but I added adorable buttons to the reins.

There is also a shimmer to it, I sprayed it with some type of enamel to make it more durable and to give it a girly glow ;^) (Please if you use this spray it outdoors… I am an idiot I know!)

Checklist:

Wood plugs

Brads for the reins (to hide the staples)

A “V” for my daughters name to embroider the saddle :^)

A Handle

HAIR!!!!!

I am so nervous to do the hair, this is the most intimidating part to me, I like the mop look but am not sure if you use an actual mop? I have e-mailed a “rocking horse expert” in England, so hopefully she gets back to me ASAP with some great ideas!!!!

Hope you like it so far, I am jumping for joy! I hope to have it done by the end of the weekend or Monday night!!!!

What do you think so far??? <3

Rocking Horse Redo (Day 2)

Well, time to show you how we are doing on the rocking horse I am redoing for my daughters 2nd Birthday! If you missed day one you can see it here.

This afternoon while Veda was sleeping I stained the base of the horse in Antique Walnut (the same stain used on my coffee table). Don’t worry I did it outside these are the after pics ;^).

(That would be Loki sticking her face in the shot)

I used two coats of stain here.

 

After that I had to prime the body of the horse,

And let me just tell you, I am a SUCKER for bargains, so I grabbed a bag of sponge brushes from the dollar store… That was a big no-no they were horrible, I went through the entire big bag. On the other hand, I bought a bristle brush from there which I used on the stain portion and it was amazing, so live and learn!

Next was the first coat of Creamy White by Behr, (which was left over from a previous project)

Ahhh! I am SO EXCITED! It is really coming along! I think one more coat (at least) of creamy white then onto accessorizing! As you can see I still need to get those little wood plugs to replace the ones that fell off with age. But I will paint those separate and glue them on.

SO HERE IS THE QUESTION: What color for the mane? I was thinking a deep red for the saddle but that could change, I need YOUR help!

Thanks!!! Hopefully I will be working on it more tomorrow but it all depends on Veda’s nap time ;^)

Rocking Horse Redo (Day 1)

 

Alrighty! I have started my Rocking Horse Redo!

I found this at a thrift shop when I was about eight months pregnant. I can’t remember the exact price but it was UNDER TEN DOLLARS!!!! Can you believe it? I figured they’d want at least thirty and I just asked about it on a whim… Needless to say, MINE!!!!

I put off refinishing him for a while because I was busy re-doing our house, but my daughters 2nd birthday is May 22nd, so I figured this would make a great present!!!

Step 1 was to sand him down and strip him, here you go, beware he is naked!

I am amazed at how beautiful the wood is underneath!!!! Here are all of the tools I used and all of his parts:

 

He is almost all the way sanded, but I ran out of sand paper, so this is it for today.

 

You can see his little eye balls laying there, I was unsure if I was going to replace them, but I sanded over them on accident so I had no choice.

 

As far as the finish, I was surprised at the beautiful wood grain, so stain seemed like a good option, on the other hand when I think of a little girls rocking horse I think of a pretty cream color. So here is my solution:

The bottom of the stand will be stained, and the horse will be cream! Perfect! I will also more than likely stain the handles to bring some of the base color up. And look at the red seat! How fab!!!! Obviously my horse is of a more basic design, but great inspiration!

Stay tuned! Next I need to touch up on the sanding, put some wood filler in and tighten him up! Then onto painting/staining!!!

Everyone cross your fingers that this keeps on going well, I think my daughter will love it!!! <3

Coffee Table Spruce Up!

I figured it was time to introduce you to one of my fav pieces. It does not look like much, but for whatever reason this big chunky old table caught my eye.

The price tag at the garage sale set my love in cement. EIGHT DOLLARS! WHAT? *sigh* it is love ;^)

This table had layer after layer after layer of shellac on it. (enter hubby and electric sander)

So after sanding and SANDING and sanding We were ready to stain. We used Minwax Polyshades (stain and polyurethane in one) Hello! One step? Even better! The color is Antique Walnut Gloss and to achieve the richness we wanted we used two coats.

Oh simple sturdy coffee table I LOVE you! It looks perfect with the first piece of furniture my husband and I ever bought, our Big Red Couch!

And look at these adorable flower arrangements I made (we are having a fundraising party tomorrow for March of Dimes March for Babies). They are half live/half fake (enter Dollar Tree), in simple mason jars.

So I hope you like my simple sturdy old and loveable table as much as I do! Remember, when you’re out, if you see something you like, squint a bit, think a bit, create a bit, and get ready for a piece of furniture you will love all the more because you helped create it!!! <3

Entryway Art

So after a very stressful week (longgg story) I figured I’d take a break from cursed, YES CURSED, window treatments and work on something simple and adorable!

My grams had this key in her house a longggg time ago and I fell in love with it in High School. I was going through some old things at my mom’s and found it again,

I wanted to make it into entry way art, so even though the gold was okay I needed it to match my laundry room (light green walls/white trim/ black and white accessories). Our laundry room is also the “mudroom” at the back of our house. I found this cute sign at the Christmas Tree Shoppe,

Okay so the sign has a few bubbles on it, but it was only 2 bux!!! So we will call it “aged”…. I painted the key black and as you can see in the above picture I hung the sign from the key with ribbon.

(When hanging something with ribbon,I always “mock” hang it, by that I mean actually nail the pieces up separate and make it look like the ribbon is holding it.Otherwise the ribbon will stretch and not hang correctly).

So here it is!

I am in LOVE! And what a great reminder. Those are words we should all live by, so seeing it every day should be a great reality check!

(P.S. please ignore the hole in the wall, it is from the art that was there before ;^)….

And so you know I have been garbage picking! <3 lol, meaning my project list is growing HUGE! After this stressful week is over I will be starting something a bit bigger… Rocking horse, or “timeout” chair, or bakers rack….hmmm?