Freckled Horse

Epoxy Yeti-type Cups

2017-02-18T12:52:00.000-06:00

I have had so much fun making these epoxy cups! It does take awhile. The whole process takes about 4 days! But the result is so worth it! I got a cameo silhouette for Christmas and have been making monograms and all kinds of stuff with it!... There are tons of really good you tube videos that can give you step by step instructions. I watched Mad Mugging Momma! She is my favorite! The only product listed that I have since started using is Triple thick spray before the epoxy. It really makes a bi difference! Thanks for looking!.

Countdown to Santa

2016-12-01T07:13:00.003-06:00

So much Fun! Countdown the days til Santa comes! I did not take a lot of pics as I went but these turned out so cute... Used Chalkboard paint to write in the days. I used a stencil that I created using my silhouette.

Dream Bedroom

2016-09-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

I forgot to take alot of photos as I was going... So sorry. But the short version is this, Rip a pallet apart. Paint all the boards whatever colors you like. decide how big your sign needs to be and put them together with a couple of strips on the back. I got my letters at Hobby Lobby. I would go when they are half price, because they can get expensive at 7.50 apiece. I love the finished product! I have this one in my own bedroom, but I am going to take orders for more!

Reusing stairway bannisters for fall!

2016-09-21T14:50:00.000-05:00

Are these cute or what? All it takes is a little imagination and some stair rail banisters. After I did the scarecrows, I decided to do some witches as well. They were a tad more difficult because of their hats. I made them out of felt and they turned out pretty good too!. Plain banisters, then paint..... For the scarecrows hats, I went down 1.5 inches and painted black. I thought that did not look quite far enough, so the next one I went two. Add a little wooden nose..use your imagination... and a block for the hat bill. I have a tiny brad gun I used to attach the hat bills, but i ended up just using wood glue on the noses because a busted a couple. Make a little bow for the hat and fashion a scarf out of whatever fabric or ribbon you like. I did rub some glaze on the scarecrows to age them a little. I put a couple in a basket of mums on my daughters front door, and the others are at the shop on display in a bushel basket. Have fun!

Hello Fall Pallet Pumpkins

2016-08-25T14:36:00.001-05:00

Happy Fall Ya'll!. Well I'm a little early I know, but I am trying to beat the Alabama August heat by daydreaming about fall and football and sweaters and pumpkins..... you get the idea! I haven't posted in quite a while! Work has a way of getting in the way!. But... I have quit my full time corporate gig and I am working from home FULL TIME! Can you say YIPPEE!! In my fall quest I decided to rip apart a pallet and make some fall decorations.

Aren't they adorable? I did not get all the pics of every stage. Ikr? I wasn't thinking blog until I was finished, but I will do my best to explain the steps. If you have never worked with pallet wood you are going to love it! You just have to know a few things about pallets... First, most are nailed together with some kind of screw nails. Which means you literally cannot just pull them apart with a hammer. You will need a deck wrecker, you can get one on Amazon. They are not too expensive. Or you can cut the nails with a sabre saw. I like to cut them because you can reuse the rusty nails. I like the way they look on certain projects. If they come out, you can just tap them back in. I always save rusty nails. I have drawers full of them. An old pallet project can look terrible with new nails. You can just lay your pallet wood out and draw your pumpkin. The first couple I did looked like apples. You gotta make the sides not so round. I think it looks more pumpkinlike.

Then you take a jig saw and cut out your pumpkin (or do like me, and get your husband to cut them out for you). I use a small brad gun to put it together. I just found a couple of thin wood strips to lay them on and nail them together.

I forgot to say that I also cut out a stem. just make it part of the center boards. Then comes paint. You can do this however you like. I mixed my red and yellow to make orange. I used a small block of wood to put the paint on the pumpkin. If I want a really layered chippy look, I don't use a brush. Its so easy and you just throw away the block of wood when you are finished. I let the orange dry and painted my stems green and then added a little gold. I found a pic of this technique. You literally just smear it on. Just let each layer dry before you add another.

Here is a rough paint pic.

After it dried I used some stain, maple I think, and went over the entire thing. This ages it and makes the colors really muted and the wood that is bare, will absorb at different amounts. I added the words HELLO FALL with a black paint marker. White might have shown up better? Maybe on the next one. Then I sprayed a clear sealer on the whole thing and added a burlap ribbon. I did put hangers on the back. You can lean or hang.

China cabinet redo

2013-10-24T11:57:00.001-05:00

My yard sale china cabinet... Before and after!!!

Roll Tide! Office chair!!

2013-10-08T12:31:00.001-05:00

Looks pretty awesome with a sign I also painted!!

Here is a before picture. I forgot to take it before I started taking it apart. I bought this chair for 9.00 at the thrift store. Pretty sad...

The chair was in pretty good shape as far as functioning, but it was really dirty! As you can see I took it all apart using an electric drill and a crowbar! Ha ha! No seriously. The back kind of pops off, but it was super tight! I purchased my "hounds tooth" fabric at Hobby Lobby and used my 40 percent off coupon! I got 1.5 yards, I did have some left. I was just sort of eyeballing it. Depending on your fabric choice, you need to make sure you have enough to keep the pattern going in the same direction. All total it was about $15.00.

I used a nail gun and some screws to cover the seat and back. Some of the plastic was do thick, I had to screw it on.

I was thinking I might have to paint the black parts, but I just cleaned it up with 409 and then shined it up with some "son of a gun" I really enjoyed this quick and inexpensive project! $25.00 not bad!

Reclaimed wood projects!!

2013-10-04T10:27:00.001-05:00

I came across an old pier being dismantled, the owner was going to burn all that wood!!! I told him I wanted all of it! So I have been working like crazy to come up with some new projects! Most of them use my charcoal pencil technique for the lettering. The other stuff comes from my pile of salvaged treasures!!!

Pallet wine racks!!

2013-05-25T10:39:00.001-05:00

Easy, easy!! I will post directions later. Wanted to get a pic up!

Pet Bed!

2013-04-14T17:27:00.001-05:00

I had some mismatched chairs, and some had a few problems....well as you may know, I painted and repaired some, made garden planters out of others, but I had one that had some problems with the legs. So I decided to chop off the legs, and with my husbands help, make a pet bed! My husband converted the seat into more of a box. I really thought a lot about how to do the bedding itself. One day I was standing in my basement, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a chair cushion and thought duh! That would be perfect, they are very changeable, can pick them up pretty cheap, and they perfect! So I primed, I painted, I distressed, and a stained! Kirby loves it! I might have to look for a larger chair! Ha ha! ( but don't tell Kirby! He is very sensitive about his weight!)

Wooden crates!

2013-03-20T21:15:00.001-05:00

Ok I am officially addicted to the graphics fairy! I have been painting crates! So easy! You need to go to www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com and find some art you really like! I purchased the crates at Micheals for 14.00. Use a forty percent off coupon on your phone and get one even cheaper. I stained the box. It looks so much better! Then use a charcoal pencil on the back side of the artwork you chose. Then tape it to your box. Use the sharpie permanent marker to trace the artwork. You have to really bear down! Then take the paint marker and paint what you traced! Tada! That's it! Now stack them up and use them for shelves, displays, towels, wine bottles, whatever. Have fun!

Insulator candle holders!

2013-03-16T09:53:00.001-05:00

I love this project! Easy and fun. The hardest part is finding the insulators.
But I had several laying around. (I never throw anything that looks useful away) I also hard some jute and fabric strips! Use whatever you have! Coming together pretty nice! Have fun!

China cabinet redo!

2013-02-18T13:48:00.001-06:00

I recently bought a china cabinet from one of my cousins. At first I tried to just clean it up and sell it at the antique mall. It was in pretty good shape, and I thought someone else might see the "diamond in the rough". Well I'm convinced some people are just not fixer uppers like me, so I brought it back home for some new life!!!

Well I think it was really worth it!

I used my liquid sandpaper trick and decided I would prime. Then I chose a really nice off white color and glazed. I had thought I wouldn't distress, but changed my mind... I do that, a lot!

My husband put chicken wire where the glass was on the front an we embellished with some decorative wrought iron. (See him working away!) love the finished project!

Have fun scrolling through the pics!

French inspired bread box....

2013-02-15T11:50:00.001-06:00

Fast and easy project! I have done several bread boxes. I have found them at yard sales and thrift stores! Fun and quick!
Some of the before boxes are pretty funny!
But the afters turned out pretty good! I used free art I found online for the designs. The French one came from www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com

Link to a great how to!!! <3 First A Dream: Chair Weaving Tutorial

2013-01-31T14:09:00.001-06:00

I saw my next project online today! I have two chairs I bought at a yard sale, well actually my friend/neighbor picked them up for me, for $1.00 each. They are ladder backs with no seats. I have decided to try my luck at weaving the bottoms myself! I will post pics soon, but here are the directions I am going to follow!

First A Dream: Chair Weaving Tutorial

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Picture of plain primed chair!

New paint!

In progress!

Finished product! <3!

Wine cork coasters!

2013-01-28T21:56:00.001-06:00

I love this idea! You can recycle your corks or buy them at an arts and crafts store. I usually have a few around so this craft is next to free! I made mine around Christmas and gave them as gifts! Just now getting around to adding photos! Pretty simple, just hot glue them together and finish with some burlap twine!

Art is Everywhere!

2013-01-28T10:23:00.001-06:00

My husband and I were browsing through the thrift store and had an interesting find! When he held up this huge commercial mixing beater, I saw Chandelier! My husband being a fireman/electrician, he wired it right up! Don't you love it!

Desk and vanity Stool

2012-07-17T21:28:00.002-05:00

These two pieces might be some of the best before and after pics yet! I got this desk out of an old abandoned house. It had been sitting untouched for about 20 years. The vanity stool came from the Salvation Army Store.

You wouldn't know it by looking at the pics now! Here are the before!

Pretty rough huh?

At first glance I admit, I thought it might be a lost cause. I started with the vanity stool. As you can see, it had an awful fabric and some awful paint. I took the seat off and used some fabric that I already had, and my staple gun and recoved the stool.

Looking better! I had never used stripes before, so I had to be a little more careful to keep them in line and not stretch the fabric too far. Once that was complete I decided I didn't want to spend a lot of time sanding. There were several layers of paint on this stool! So I used one of my favorite products! Deglosser!

This liquid sandpaper allows you to take off the shiny finish with no sanding. Just follow the manufactures instructions. I decided not to prime. The deglosser had left it pretty sticky so I did not think it would be necessary. I painted it a nice off white and let it dry. It took two coats to cover the green!

Next I distressed using my ryobi sander that my wonderful husband bought me! I have literally gone through 3 sanders since I started this venture! I wanted it pretty chippy. because it had so many layers of paint, I was able to distress at different depths for different color tones.

great little tool! Really does the trick!

Next i used some stain. I think it was dark walnut. Anything you have on hand will work. I usually use a q-tip or small brush and only stain the sanded areas, but because I want to distress this alot, I rubbed those areas first and then came back with a soft cloth and rubbed it all over. It creates the look of glaze, a little more distressed.

Put the seat back on and Tada!

Now the Desk..... The laminate on the top was in really bad shape. It had alot of water damage.

So I had to remove it. I was left with a pretty rough finish. I decided to sand it lightly, but just leave it pretty rough. I had painted a buffet for my daughter's wedding, and it turned out really good, so I decided to use the same colors. I really pretty green, with a black glaze for the drawers, and a cream color for the body of the desk. The desk was covered in a really thick coat of some kind of poly or something. I sanded the drawers pretty much to the wood and then primed them.

The red mahogany kind of bled through, but I thought it looked pretty good, so I only primed on coat.

Then I painted the drawers green. Two coats, drying in between. (hardest part)

Then used my sander again to sand the edges.

I like to sand a little extra where the handles would naturally be worn.

I took some stain and carefully rubbed the sanded areas to age. I decided to use the original hardware, because it had kind of a vintage look, and the green was just right.

I painted the rest of the desk a cream color, then glazed it.

I used Mahogany red stain on the top til I liked the color.

Love!

Display Cabinet

2012-06-02T07:57:00.000-05:00

My latest project.

I was in need of a display cabinet for the booth. I had several pieces of furniture in the basement, that I thought might work. Below is the finished product first. It turned out so great! Lots of room for all my plates and glass. It is lighted too, so that was a bonus!

I have to admit, I have never painted any furniture with this kind of finish before.... It is sort of laminate over particle board? I guess? The finish is shiny and slick. I wasnt sure paint was even going to stick at all.

I hate to use the word ugly, but this thing was really ugly! It had really brass gaudy hardware, a very fake looking finish. The doors were beyond ugly and really heavy. They actually made the piece feel heavy to the front, like it might even tip over! So I decided to take all the doors off. I took all the glass out, and pretty much just stripped it clean. I wasnt sure if my usual liquid sanpaper would work, but I decided to use everything I had to try to prepare the surface to paint.

After cleaning with TPS and then the deglosser it still felt completely slippery!

This is Most of the time when you use the liquid sandpaper, it breaks down the finish and allows paint to stick. It will feel very sticky. Sounds crazy, but its exactly what you need to happen. Well.....not this time. Sooooo I decided to use the best primer I had and see what happens.

This is really good stuff. I try to use older brushes because I think it tends to dry out and make mine still no matter how much I wash them. It cleans up with water, and goes on thick!

Looks rough huh? I was a little nervous, but I waited a couple of hours for it to dry. I had two colors of paint I wanted to use. One was a light tan and one a little lighter, almost ecru. We painted all the trim on the top and around the edges with the darker color, and used the lighter color for the inside and the "body" of the cabinet. I let that dry. My helpful husband said. AI think we should make it look a little weathered. You know? We took some of both colors and just kind of sparingly spread them on in a random way. It went really fast! I think using the two colors in two different layers had a really nice effect. I was really dry as soon as we finished.

Looking a little better, but still not distressed enough. We both grabbed a sanding block and started distressing the edges. the more distressed the better, in my opinion.

I use a mouse sander too. Goes much faster!

Anytime I distress, I usually follow up with a q-tip and some stain. Only on the sanded areas. Put it on really light and wipe it off immediately. I go into great detail on some of my other blogs. I also used some copper rub and buff on the brass wheat thing that I had completly painted over.

This is an old photo of some hardware. You just wipe over the area with your finger. Turns out great! I used "copper"

We finished up with a coat of polycrylic, and Tada! New display!

Ethan Allen Table Makeover....

2012-05-13T10:53:00.000-05:00

After!

This color seems to be everybody's favorite. Everything I have done using this combination of paint and antique glaze sells really quickly!

The table was in good shape to start with. Just some scratches on the top. The top has a thin laminate over wood. I have found that if you are really careful, you can sand the topcoat off the laminate and get rid of most, if not all, the scratches. You do have to be very careful because you can sand right through the laminate if you are not careful.

After sanding down the top i picked out a pretty color of stain, This one is a little red, which matched the table perfectely. TIP,,,Dont sand the edges of the top! It is just too hard to get around all the edges. If they are in pretty good shape, you can stain to match the top.

While that is drying, I used a liquid sanpapaper and cleaned all the bottom of the table. Everything you are planning to paint. This will leave you a sort of sticky feel that the paint will adhere to.

It dries fast, and really saves tons of time and work! After that I used a primer. I dont always prime everything, but if you are going to really be using the table and it is a really nice piece of furniture I would prime. Especially with this newer furniture. The finish can be really hard. The last thing you want is to spend all your time painting and it just chip off... very bad.

This is really good stuff! Let it dry! Probably best to wait overnight.. Then pick your paint, I use an eggshell finish. I got this fabulous color at Lowes. I will have to get back to you on the color... I didnt write it down..One great thing Lowes will do for you, is keep up with all your paint colors for you. You get a card that they scan when you check out, and next time you go back, they can look up all your purchases. Really nice!

I used 2 coats. Let that really dry. If you don't, the paint will soak up way too much of the glaze and be too dark...

Get some glaze....

I brushed it on. I wanted to get in all the detailing on the table. You can work with it for a few minutes, so take your time. I did one section at a time so it wouldnt dry our too fast.. Like one leg at a time. Take a clean dry cloth and wipe the glaze off. This is personal preference. Take as much or a little as you like. You cant really mess up, unless you start going back and re wipe places that are dry. You can spritz with a little water, and wipe again if you wait too long.

After it dries, Paint the whole table with a coat of polycrylic. You might want to put two coats on the top. Let dry completely in between!

Love!

Coffee Table

2012-05-05T15:32:00.001-05:00

Great Project! When I got it at a yard sale it was a little banged up! It had milked spilled on it, lots of marks on the top from toys and blocks, one wheel missing and a drawer out of whack. I could tell it was a diamond in the rough!

Here's a before pic. I let it sit im my basement awhile, contemplating what to do.....

I fianally decided, with the help of my husband, to sand the top and paint the rest.

We really liked the way our buffett had turned out with two different colors of paint, so we decided to go that route again. We knew we were going to have to sand the top all the way down to get to a nice even surface. So, in the deal I got a new belt sander! Yay!

Here is a pic from the side. We wrapped the color all the way around. It really turned out nice. My husband fixed the wheel and waxed all the drawers and lined everything up and tightened all the rails the drawers glide on. We put about 3 coats of polycrylic on top and one coat on everything else.

Vanity Stool

2012-04-14T07:50:00.001-05:00

Vanity Stool

Really nice re-do! this vanity stool was in pretty good shape. I don't have a before picture:(

Let's just say the wood was in pretty good shape. The fabric was rotten and ugly! I found this really nice fabric at Hobby Lobby. It was a little expensive, but it only took about half a yard. I bought some new foam, and cut it to fit. Used a staple gun to secure everything. I did sand the rough edges. The prevoius owners covered alot of their furniture in some really thick awful sealer of stain of some kind. It was almost like sanding paint. Once I got it smooth I decided to distress the edges a little and restain the whole thing. Used polycrylic to seal it all after it dried. Lovely!

Bedroom Suite

2012-04-07T08:55:00.002-05:00

I know I say all my projects are my favorite, but this one really has been one of best ever!

This furniture really did seem like a lost cause! I was in a really old abandoned house. The bed was actually in an old store.

This is how I found it!

pretty rough! I had to pull off alot of vaneer and do some sanding!

The drawers were a little sticky on both the vanity and the chest, but the vaneer was in really good shape. So we decided to clean it up and use some poly, and they turned out really nice!

so our color combination was born.

Took lots of time! but worth the effort! <3

Garden Chairs...

2012-03-29T08:22:00.004-05:00

Fun Garden Chairs!

I found two old chairs that had been stored in an empty building for more that 20 years. They were in pretty bad shape. I removed all the webbing and painted and distressed!
I used some stencils and scrapbook paper for the lettering. The baskets complete eith chains came from wal-mart. They were easy to attach and hang where the seats were! Add some nice flowers and your done!

Pretty Picture Frames

2012-03-18T07:06:00.001-05:00

Pretty Picture Frames

I have seen these all over Pinterest! Loved them, but had a little trouble finding the frames. I think they have become so popular, everyone is grabbing them up!

The before pics kind of tell the story.... Very old, very dirty.

No, you are not seeing double! I have two! I cleaned thep up with TSP, and put on a coat of my favorite color paint!

I used a brush an put the glaze on one side at a time. Pretty thick so I could get in the cracks.

Take a soft cloth an wipe off the excess.

When your finished, and its all dry, either use some polycrylic or some sort of spray sealer.

Really easy and looks great! Good Luck finding your frames!