A New Adventure

He's Coming Home! He's Coming Home!

2011-06-21T17:18:00.000-05:00

Ok, I only have a few days before the hubster comes home. I'm super excited that he coming home but that means I only have a few days to complete a couple projects and get the house completely cleaned up from all these projects. UGH! I guess I have added a couple too many projects in between the projects I had on my orginal list. Two more were added this past weekend. I found a French Provincial style upholstered seat and a solid wood night stand for a grand total of $10 at a yard sale.

So, aside from those & the black & white lamp, here are the other projects that have been added:

Etched Glass Magnets - I made 4 different designs but this gives an idea of what they look like...I found these tiles in a 4 pack for $2.48 at Lowe's.

Beverage Bucket Ottoman- My BIL & his girlfriend gave us this Steeler's beverage bucket for Christmas one year and it's been sitting in our back room collecting the papers that need to be shredded. I saw this on Killer B Design's blog and the lightbulb went on!

Painted Mason Jars & Jewelry Tray -I can't remember where I saw these at but I'm sure it was someone's blog...so sorry if it was yours!

Bird Cage-I found this ornamental bird cage at a yard sale for a whole $.10! Painted it with leftover black hammered metal spray paint. I will eventually get silk flowers or a real plant for inside. Please excuse the floral wallpaper border...it also wishes to retire but the landlords won't let it rest!

I think that is all of the miscellaneous projects that are completed.

Black, White and Glazed All Over

2011-06-14T21:43:00.001-05:00

Remember the beautiful wood lamp and frilly white lamp shade....you probably won't recognize them now.

The $3.49 Salvation Army lamp base and $1 thrift store lamp shade had a complete makeover. The base got a couple coats of white spray paint and then a couple coats of black tinted Ralph Lauren Faux Technique glaze. The shade was stripped of it's white frilly (and quite stained) fabric and then clothed in a textured black fabric and a strip of black and white ribbon on the bottom.

Mirror, Mirror, on the Floor...

2011-06-12T20:54:00.000-05:00

Another project finished and another technique attempted. I found this large mirror at a yard sale for a whopping $2.50. I used the same paint and glaze from The Green Cabinet project, matte white vinyl and glass etching cream. This is the first time I have used glass etching cream. I started by testing it out on a random piece of glass I had in the craft room. It looked great. I've found a great new technique! Now, I don't love it as much as glazing, but I love it! It's not hung yet because it seems that I've used all the heavy duty hangers for other things. Oh, and I like how this project turned out as well.

Before some elbow grease and a razor blade to get the sticker stuff off:

And after paint, glaze, vinyl & glass etching cream:

Close up of the vinyl/glass detail:

The Green Cabinet

2011-06-10T16:54:00.001-05:00

Well, it took a little longer than I expected....but it's done, for now. I was the grateful recipient of this cabinet on wheels a few years ago from my parent's neighbor, Ellen. It was used as a TV stand in our bedroom in our last house and since we've moved to Kansas it has been floating around the house without a true purpose. Our poor, drab guest bedroom is just crying for a mini makeover so the floating cabinet on wheels will now have a permanent home. It will now house our printer, modem & router in the guest bedroom...which reminds me, I didn't cut a hole in the back of it. Easy enough fix though, nothing the Dremel can't handle. At some point I want to add a shelf inside of it, that will happen when I have a bit of scrap wood laying around from some other project.
Here she is before her makeover. The ivy is just begging to be released into wild.

Top View

Taken all apart and given a light sanding.

Once I got the piece prepped, I primed with a spray primer(actually, two different types...I much prefer the Kilz Spray Primer) and then painted with one of the Valspar paint samples from Lowe's for $2.94. Once the paint was completely dry, I applied the vinyl that I cut with my Klic-N-Kut machine.

Top View

Side Angle View

At this point, I was ready to sing for joy at the top of my lungs! This is the first time I have attempted redoing furniture let alone applying vinyl to multiple pieces like a puzzle. I was stoked! After trolling a bunch of blogs, I came across the All Things Thrifty blog and fell in love with glazing techniques. I found the Ralph Lauren Faux Technique glaze at the ma & pa paint store and had them tint it black. This was the most expensive thing I bought for this project at just under $10 but it is going to last me a looooooong time. I doesn't even look like I used any out of the can. After two coats of the glaze, I topped it off with Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze. I am very happy with the way this turned out, very happy!

Front View, sorry it's a weird angle...the bed was in my way.

Side View Angle

The top is B.EAU.TI.FUL!

Closeup of the vinyl...I really like how the black tinted glaze makes the white vinyl pop!

So, there's my new favorite piece of furniture in the house and I don't think these pictures truly show her beauty....time to go shopping for fabric to recover the lamp and for glass etching cream.....

Projects, Projects Everywhere...

2011-06-04T18:48:00.007-05:00

I now have three separate painting projects going. My medium cabinet, a large mirror and a lamp...all for the guest bedroom and all are going to match the quilt that my Mimi (grandmother) made for me. I have one more shopping trip to take in order to finish these projects. And my vinyl order should be here Monday! Love it! Here are the before pics.

The mirror I picked up at a yard sale for $2.50. It has double sided puffy tape on it and the exposed wire for a hanger.

The cabinet was a freebie from my parent's old neighbors, Ellen & Sam.

The lamp was $3.50 from the Salvation Army store and the beautiful shade (so beautiful, I might just keep it the way it is...or not) was $1 from a local second hand store.

Hopefully by next weekend I'll have all three finished...hopefully.

Face Lift for Lamps

2011-05-24T17:00:00.006-05:00

Project 2 is finished...well almost. I have to get more brown ribbon to line the inside top edge of the shades. Since we are having some severe weather here, I'm going to wait to go out to Hobby Lobby until later this week. The bases got a fresh coat of brown hammered metal spray paint from Rust-Oleum. The shades were covered with a bluish/aquaish/turquoisish home decor fabric. All for under $20! Oh, and excuse the wallpaper...it wants to be retired but the owners of our rental home just can't let it go!

Before...think Grandma's lamps:

The results after their face lift:

New Cushions for the Glider

2011-05-23T14:02:00.009-05:00

Project 1 is finished! It was a little more work than I originally thought but I think it looks great! I followed and adapted instructions from http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2008/07/summer-sewing-perfectly-portable-cushion/ I pinned almost everything since my cushions weren't square so it was time consuming but totally worth it! I might put in more batting eventually to "fluff" it up a bit but that will come after everything else on my list is done.

Here are the before pictures:

Some of the supplies:

The end result:

On to the next project....living room lamps.

When the hubby's away, the wifey will D.I.Y.

2011-05-21T21:36:00.003-05:00

So, the hubby is gone for 5-6 weeks for school/training soooo...... I have a list of projects that I want to accomplish.
1. ~~New cushions for the glider that I got at a yard sale.~~
2.~~Redo the living room lamps.~~
3.Rearrange wall art in living room.
4.~~Redo a small cabinet for guest bedroom.~~
5.~~Redo a large mirror for guest bedroom.~~
6.Make cover for file cabinet to use as a bedside table for guest bedroom.
7.Make wall art for guest bedroom.

I hope I can get all of this done while he is done! Before and After pictures will follow.

Survival Bracelet II

2011-03-19T20:07:00.003-05:00

It's done....it only took him until 1:00 in the morning, but it's done! Here is DH's survival bracelet using the 'cobra' stitch, aka half knot. In my opinion the side release buckle is a little on the large size but it looks fine on his wrist.

Crafty Couple

2011-03-18T17:57:00.007-05:00

My DH said something about making a survival bracelet the other night and he could tell right away by the look on my face that I had no clue what he was talking about. I count myself as a rather crafty person and also a bit of an outdoorsy person but I had never heard of a survival Bracelet....so in case you are as lost as I was, here's what it is: A bracelet fashioned out of a good length of paracord/550 cord so if the need ever arises you can tear apart the bracelet and use the length of cordage. DH and his old H53 guys used to make these when he was in the service the first time and since the annual canoe trip is coming up, he is determined to make one.

So for the past week he's been searching the local stores for 550 cord to make a bracelet....none of them had it. Today we had an RE appointment (They gave me the shot of Ovidrel today! YAY!) and hit up the BX and clothing sales for the 550 cord. On the way out we noticed they were selling these things at the counter in clothing sales. DH and another man exchanged comments about how they used to make those, then we were off to look for side release buckles. Hancock Fabric had 3/4" side release buckles for $1.49 each.

This afternoon, I did some research and found a site that sells the side release buckle in different sizes. http://cdwplus.com/singlesrb.html is the site I'll be ordering some buckles from in the near future. I also found out that there are several knots you can use to make your survival bracelet. My first try was at the rattle snake weave using a knot and loop for the closure. I'll wait until DH is done trying to figure out how he wants to make his before I start on my next bracelet....it may be awhile though since he's been 'planning' how he's going to make his for the past hour.

Netflix!

2011-03-14T19:31:00.003-05:00

I can't believe we haven't tried this before! NETFLIX! It's amazing...no more waiting in line outside of the grocery store or McDonald's at a Redbox for a movie. Instant movies through our Wii...it's GREAT! I know, I know...welcome to the technological age. I'm just loving it!

Well, it's a new week. Cleaning has been started, laundry is almost done and I'm waiting for DH to get home from work by watching a movie...via Netflix, of course! Let's see how much I get done this week....

~~~~ A New Adventure ~~~~