Cassandra Design

Valentine Candy Jars

2012-02-10T12:59:00.001-07:00

This year for Valentine’s I went with a mostly Red/White theme for my Valentine’s Candy Jars. Let’s face it, I still had peppermint lifesavers (red/white) left over from Christmas and White Chocolate covered pretzels (white). So it was easy to add a little more red for Valentine’s. I added kit kats (red of course), swedish fish(also red) and airheads (mostly reds, although there happen to be pink too… I didn’t know air heads also had a pink lemonade flavor but, BONUS!)

I hung my bubbly red heart from the lamp switch.

The Swedish fish candy jar is the one I packed in my suitcase (in between an encyclopedia box and rulers…ha ha…I know, only me right?) and brought back with me from Kansas. I love using it!

Can you tell what is the kids favorite? Sour red cherry balls from Brach’s. I would have filled them before this picture but, I can only find them at Smith’s Grocery Store and I am not going to this store for one item, so they will have to wait. They only come out at Valentine’s so, they are a treat for the kids.

Chocolate tree dripped in “Love” hearts.

I know this looks like a goofy decoration but, it’s my valentine alien that my parents sent to me while I was away at college. I was homesick and this has always been a happy memory. If you push it’s belly it says (in a far away, happy alien voice) “Happy Valentine’s Day” and if you push it again it says, “I love you!) I love my little red alien. SO, it’s gets a prominent display with all our families favorite Valentine Candies.

Happy Valentine’s Day (early) Everyone! Does anyone else have a sentimental Valentine gift that they have kept for years? EVEN COOLER, Does Anyone have a Valentine Alien TOO? Because to me, Valentine’s isn’t about the gift but, about the thought that was put behind it!

Together Mantle

2012-02-07T21:05:00.001-07:00

I finally get around to showing you my winter mantle and now I am changing it for the next holiday. Maybe, the next time a holiday is impending….. I will show it a little earlier. Well, here’s for wishing. (Ha Ha…~~we’ll see~~ do better next time).

I love the word “Together”. This word spells LOVE for me for and is very Valentine’s ish. It speaks of love with it’s meaning but, doesn’t just spell the word L-O-V-E. The most important thing for me is being together with my family. Man, I love them!!

These letters I bought a long time ago, painted them black and then covered with a basic grey paper line that you can no longer get. Although I am sure you can find anything on eBay these days, if you’re willing to pay for it. Then to finish the letters I added felt flowers, ribbon and brads.

The wood hearts were painted black. I added black glitter to one, bead board painted red and the largest heart covered in scrapbook paper. I used mod podge to adhere all of the paper.

My Mantle is now decorated for Valentine’s. It’s fun, simple and yet I am glad I have a mantle big enough to fit the word “Together” (hopefully our next house will too ). The word “together” has JUST EIGHT letters. LOL Good thing there is no holiday for supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Wow,now that would be a mantle display!

Spring Should Come No Matter What The Ground Hog Says

2012-02-02T12:55:00.001-07:00

I was a little bummed that the ground hog saw his shadow so I am on strike! I pulled out my spring décor and decorated my sofa table. I know this won’t make winter go away but, I can enjoy spring indoors. Although I shouldn’t be that surprised he saw his shadow, it’s only February and I do live in Utah…greatest snow on earth…it has that name for a reason.

I love the little splash of color (turquoise is one of my favorite colors)!

I moved the classical books from off the mantle to bring in some height for the family block. It needed to show above the blue bird plate on the easel. I love the shape of the blue bird plate, it’s decorative and still not too big. The books bring a perfect height.

The blue bird I had on the mantle now is nested with glazed ceramic robin blue eggs.

My favorite flower is tulips. I L-O-V-E love tulips! They scream spring to me.

So, I am bringing in a little spring….even if the groundhog saw his shadow.

Winter Mantle

2012-02-01T14:37:00.002-07:00

What is better in the long winter months than snuggling under a warm blanket by the fireplace and reading a good book. I love this time of year for this reason. I also get a little anxious for Spring to come but, I thought I would share my winter fireplace mantle. I have a stack of books (some of the classics, of course. Who doesn’t love Little Women?) With a 3-dimensional block with pictures and wording that describes my favorite people…my family of course!

The wood lettering was painted black and then scrapbook paper was mod podged on the front of some of the letters. I left three of the letters plain black and covered four of the letters.
I added a bluebird to the end of my letters so that it would remind me that Spring is coming next!
So now that Valentine’s is almost here, I guess I should change the mantle to everything Valentine’s. Which is fine because a splash of color around here is a welcome change to the grey dreariness outside.
Cassy

My Gallery Wall Has A New Addition

2012-01-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

I've updated my gallery wall because we finally got a new tv and it changed the layout of the wall. We've had the tube tv for a long time but, when I hung my gallery wall, I left space (apparently not enough space above it because I had to move one of the frames) for a flat panel tv so that it would blend in and not be such an eyesore. I got a killer deal on the tv at the Best Buy black friday sale. They opened up at midnight and I left the hubby home asleep with the kids and went to wait in the lines. After three and a half hours standing in line, I came home with this bad boy. The rest of my yard sale money was money well spent so I could finish my gallery wall that I always had in mind.

When the tv was hung, I had to rearrange a few of the pictures. The picture that was above the tv was too tall, so I had to move it to the left of the tv instead of above it. Once the big picture frame was moved, it left three HOLES or spaces without picture frames!! That meant, I needed to add three frames.

I found a lovely oval frame at target but it was a walnut color. Nothing a little paint can't fix.

I needed it black to add to the gallery wall so I painted it with some left over black spray paint.

I needed one picture above the tv, one to the side and a small one below the other small frame.

I added my new favorite picture of the girls (from the orchard photo session) above the tv. I added a picture of my oldest son from our winter photo session (for christmas cards) and our new winter family photo to the oval frame.

The oval frame fit the space perfectly!

The large frame of my oldest two fits much better to the left of the tv than above it. It would have touched the top of the tv and wouldn't have looked very good. So, moving it to the side and moving a few different frames above the tv works much better.

I added photos of our newest daughter to the wall and with the three extra frames I was able to add a few other new favorite photos.

I love the new gallery wall. It celebrates our family and the love we have for each other!!

After some looking in the archives, I found a picture of our first home's gallery wall. Boy, it's grown since then. We've had a few kids since then...which means they need to be added to the gallery wall too!

You can see the old tube tv that we had and the buffet we used to sit it on (plus the kids in a game of go fish). When this piece of furniture was moved to this spot in the room, the wall had to be hung higher because it went behind the tv.

Then I found this beautiful re-claimed cupboard and added black & white fabric to the drawers. The bulky tv was functional just not so pretty. The tv has found a new home in the basement so the kids can play their games on it. I hung the pictures around the lamp and the tv. I have been waiting for a long time for a flat tv.

I love the streamlined look of this wall. The tv almost fades away against the black and white wall. Love that!

Big News....plus a Little for Sale!

2012-01-27T12:09:00.001-07:00

Big News.....we are moving!! My husband got into Nurse Anesthetist Graduate School so we will be moving to Kansas for three years in May. We are excited and little overwhelmed with everything that has to be done to get ready to move.

Unfortunately....well, fortunate for all of you...I can't take everything with me. There are a few things that I know I can't take and am willing to sell. I will be posting things in the next while of things I have decided to sell. I am going to post it here first because I think you bloggers should have first dibs. I will post them here before I put them in the local consignment store or post them on the local classified. If you live in Utah on the wasatch front, then I am in your neck of the woods (Davis County).

The first thing I am going to sell is my winter lampshade trees. Here is my post about how I made them.
UPDATE: SOLD

I am selling these fun lampshade trees. It includes the lampshades, threaded rod, bolts, burlap, ornaments, and star tree topper. I have decided to keep the urns because I change them (example: for Halloween, I used them with black sticks).

The lampshade trees are usable in any type of containers. You can find containers almost exactly like these one(not painted) but, found locally at Tai Pan or any garden store.

The lampshade trees would be awesome displays, for a store/business or for your home. I had an idea to clip on sepia toned winter pictures of the kids with clothes pins or clips. It could be SO cute! Even without the ornaments this could be a year-round tree. It would be an awesome display for earings, small items, baby headbands, bows or scrapbook items in your studio. Man, now I think of all the possibilities...well, more possibilities for whoever wants to buy these.

I am willing to sell these for $30 a piece or fifty for both. Just contact me by email. cassandradesign30@gmail.com

It's big changes in my life but I am trying to see the adventure of it all! So, it's a good thing that the internet is everywhere because I can continue this blog no matter where we live. So...here's to the new exciting adventure!

UPDATE: SOLD

Update: Sister's Gallery Wall has REAL Pictures

2012-01-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

My sister sent me a couple updated pictures of her gallery wall. Her husband was glad that the pictures she ordered to fill her picture frames came in (side note: they live in a small town in central utah...so there are no picture printing stores in town). Her husband kept joking that they needed to replace the pictures of their african american brother-in-law or long lost cousin. I TOTALLY agree, it's fun to see pictures of YOUR family.

I love the mix of newborn photos with current family pics. It's fun to see your engagement picture too, although it doesn't seem that long ago to me but, you have had a few kids since then. (ha ha...like six). Time has surely flown. I love to see all the different times of your life displayed on the wall.

The only thing she has left to do is to paint the clock black. I left the quart of black paint (from the shelf around her scrapbook room) so it's a simple project on her To Do list.

She LOVES her family picture gallery wall and it looks beautiful. She even added transparencies over the mats on each of her babies newborn picture. It has their birth date, name and stats. Great Idea!

Thanks Sister for these Updated pictures! I had such a great time hanging out with you and getting some projects off your To Do list. Love ya Sista...It's looks great!

Craft Paint finds its home in the Library Card Catalog

2012-01-24T22:51:00.001-07:00

The library card catalog drawers are the perfect size to organize all my craft paints.

I originally thought about putting the paints in my numbered cubby hole cupboard but, finally decided that the library card catalog drawers were better...for now...but you never know, I could change my mind.

I started with my white and creams and progressed across five drawers (I know, I know..five drawers of paint....but, all I see is fun projects in the future) to the black paints.I had to keep moving paint bottles around to fit all the green and blue paint bottles. I guess you can all see what are my favorite colors!

I love that I can see all the different paint colors and that every color is right at my fingertips.

The drawers are deep enough to stack lots of craft paint bottles.

A rainbow of beautiful colors!! The library card catalog holds all my craft paint in only five drawers. I have ten more drawers that I filled with all my painting supplies, foam brushes and lots of other misc craft supplies. So, what color speaks to you?

Printer's Drawers FILLED and ORGANIZED

2012-01-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

My printer's Drawers are FILLED nd ORGANIZED!!

My printer's drawers cabinet has been set on top of the library card catalog and it's ready to be organized.

My magnetic boards had become the home for all of my "small" things. They were in every kind of package so I wouldn't lose them. They had been begging to be organized. Everytime I looked at my magnet boards I knew I needed somewhere to organize my "tiny" items. Because I truly believethat if you can't find them....you don't use them....and that wastes money....and I HATE wasting money!

Magnetic boards full of things in packages and needing a home.

I started with my buttons....and I got all excited when I was able to create a rainbow with all the beautiful button colors!!

One of the printer's drawer was already labeled with the alphabet and I have tons of scrapbook alphabets metalware. So...this made it easy to sort my metal alphabet.

Every drawer was organized with different items. The top drawer has brads, eyelets and a rainbow of beautiful buttons. The middle drawer is full of metal scrapbook items. Third drawer has the alphabet and odds and ends. Everything has a place and can be easily found.

All of the eyelets and brads got a home too! I kept them in little containers so that the teeny tiny pieces wouldn't have be lost.

All my MISC. little things now have the perfect home!

I found these little plastic containers, 8 to a pack, at the dollar store. So, for three dollars I was able to seperate my brads and they will stay organized.

This just makes me SQUEAL with delight!! Organized and GORGEOUS!! My husband was kinda chuckling at me when I dragged him over to see my organized drawers. He gave me a side hug and just said that "I'm glad your so happy about organized buttons!" (Love that man...supportive even about organized buttons. LOL)

Buttons are in their space, everything has a spot. Everything is all organized!! This is EXACTLY why I built this beautiful printer's drawer cupboard. Yep...that's right, I took the time to build this cupboard to house these antique printer's drawers. Now I can see all the "little" things I craft with and be able to use them. YIPEE!! One-of-a-kind piece and it's SOOOOO pretty all organized!!

Cassy

Beautiful Bridal HeadPiece and bonus Garter

2012-01-21T15:40:00.001-07:00

I MADE MY FRIST BRIDAL HEAD PIECE!! So excited to show you all!!

Here's my supplies: Vintage jewelry, silk fabrics, dupioni silks, silk satin, tulle, pearls, swarovski crystals, lace and a plain old needle and thread. I hand sewed the entire thing together!

The only headbands or headpieces that I had made before were for my infant daughter's newborn photoshoot. I have made some for my older daughter as well. I even made one to give as a thank you to my photographer/new friend (now my bride client) that shot our orchard family pictures. She did such an amazing job getting my vision that I wanted to give her a thank you.

As soon as she saw the one I made as a thank you she was ecstatic! She said right there, "You can make my bridal head piece!" I was a little hesitant at first but, she sent me a picture of one that she liked and it didn't look too hard. I had made the flower in the picture before out of fabric and they are beautiful.

So....I was up for the challenge!!

The first step was finding the vintage jewelry. I originally found some blue jewels (at an antique fair with my sister) and we were going to pair it with an orange flower but, when the florist in maui (Yes, I did say Maui....I know....GORGEOUS location!) said that she couldn't guarantee the orange blue bouquet, we didn't dare have those colors in the headpiece if there wasn't anything to match it. I agree....it would look funny to have orange and blue in your headpiece if your flower bouquet doesn't match. So....plan B.....match the dress!

We found a vintage broach/shoe clip and a pair of vintage square earings (the bride loves square). The back was perfect because I used the loop part that went around the ear to attatch it as the center of my flower by hand sewing it in place. I used wire cutters to cut the screw part that would hold it to someone's ear....so much easier to have peirced ears...don't you think? I didn't need that part so I clipped it off with wire cutters.

UPDATE

I finally downloaded some photos off my phone and found the picture of the vintage jewels. I found these three that would all work wonderfully on the Bridal headpiece so I texted this picture to the bride and she came and met me at the antique store. She chose the middle one because it reminded her of a seashell and she is getting married in Maui so it was perfect. It was my first choice too!

The flower is made from three silk fabrics. I used three slightly different colors/textures of fabrics to create dimension and depth. All of the fabrics worked beautifully together. I spent a lot of time making sure the flower was perfect since it was the main part of the head piece.

I added a ruffle, tulle, vintage lace, pearls, swarovski crystals and ostrich feathers. The back was finished with two pleats. I added these so the headpiece would be rounded and fit the shape of the head. Nobody has a flat head and I wanted the head piece to lay against the head with only the russian netting standing out and puffy and of course the feather.

This is the flower, ruffle, jewels and feathers all together and ready for the russian netting. The vintage jewels were perfect because she loves squares (the earings) and the larger jewelry was reminiscent of a shell......which is PERFECT since she is getting married in Maui!! Both vintage piece of jewelry were stunning and the best part is that the antique store was having a 20% off everything in the case of vintage jewelry...SCORE! Vintage jewelry and at a great price.

The russian netting is added and hand sewn. Everything...and I do mean EVERYTHING was hand sewn on this piece. I wanted it to be an heirloom piece that the bride could treasure forever.

When I finished the bridal head piece I was left with an extra earing. I wanted to do something special for her and decided I should make her garter to match.

So I made a similar, simpler flower with the other square earing. Added some feathers, tulle and VOILA...a matching garter. I make it sound so easy but, this definetely took some time to complete. I think it took me a total of about eight hours for the head piece and the garter from start to finish because everything was made from scratch and sewn by hand. It was worth every minute because it turned out gorgeous!

I love the square vintage earing center.

The feathers and tulle add an element of flair.

The feathers are smaller than on the head piece. Nobody wants long tickly feathers on a garter. So I used regular, smaller feathers and didn't use the ostrich feathers like on the head piece.

The bride LOVES vintage and these definetely are reminiscent of vintage with a totally modern twist.

I finished by putting them in a plastic rubbermaid box since they will be traveling by plane to their destination and I don't want them getting SMOOSHED!

I called the bride as soon as I finished and we made plans to get together later that afternoon. I don't know who was more excited me or the bride? I LOVED how it turned out and she was THRILLED with having her vision come to life. She said "It's even better than the picture!" The flower on that one in the picture was really simple and this one has so much more detail.

View from the back so you can see how it hugs the head and curves with the russian netting and ostrich feathers sticking out....so pretty!

The jewels are so pretty and it is so neat that the one looks like a sea shell. It is perfect for her venue! Maui....how lucky!!

I've never seen a happier, more gorgeous bride....and she doesn't even have make-up on! She said she will send me a photo of the headpiece with her dress at their wedding in Maui so I will have one to show all of you.....just have to wait two weeks until the wedding. I am excited to see the bridal headpiece in pictures in Maui and can hardly wait...I can imagine how long two weeks sounds to the bride and groom!!

So, my first attempt at hand making a bridal headpiece was a HUGE success! I am glad she talked me into doing it for her and expanding my repertoire(not just doing baby and girl headbands). I am excited for my new friend to be getting married and can't wait to see the wedding photos. Maui....uh yeah....jealous...it's snowing outside my door right now and a warm beach is sounding pretty nice right now!! Congratulations and many wishes for a gorgeous wedding day!

Shannon Elizabeth Photo Booth

2012-01-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

Remember the yellow chevron chair I reupholstered for Shannon Elizabeth Photography??......well, here is the chair in her booth. I love how everything came together. I love the black, white and yellow colors. Such a gorgeous color scheme. The three old doors in the back she borrowed for her backdrop. Didn't it turn out gorgeous?!!? I definetely would have stopped at this booth if I was a bride (which I'm NOT but, maybe some day with my daughters...) Being a bride these days is SO COOL....so many choices that I never had. There are so many things I would have done different about my wedding: different cake (ivy is SO not cute), different backdrop and a different photographer.....oh well, at least I got the man of my dreams and that NEVER needs to change!! Shannon Elizabeth definetely would have been my photographer of choice, she is UBER talented. You can stop over at her blog to see more of her work at shannonelizabethphoto.com ENJOY!!

Sista!! We finally hung your shelf!`

2012-01-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

My sister has wanted a shelf around her scrapbook room forever....really like two years! I found the wooden brackets (a whole big bucket filled with these) over a year ago and we just never have finished this project. It doesn't help that she is a 3 1/2 hour drive from me so......I had to make a trip just for this project. I even had to haul the wood down in my tahoe so we would have the wood for the shelves (nothing in town... oh the joys of a small town).

Within the first half hour after I arrived in town, I started painting the wood shelf boards. It has to be at least 40 degrees to paint so I had to get moving so they could dry.

Then I painted the wood brackets black too. (side note: I even had to bring the paint because you can't get paint in this small town). My car was filled with kids, boards, paint, tools and miter saw.

The first step was to chalk the wall with a level line where the shelf would hang. I then added wall mounts 18 inches apart where each bracket would hang. I drilled the 1/4 inch hole then added the wall mount.

The shelf wrapped around three walls of the room. My sister wanted lots of shelf space to display all her mini albums, projects and memorabilia.

The shelf was 15 inches from the ceiling. Plenty of room for any size scapbook albums that she wanted to display.

In each wallmount (blue dot seen on the wall that allows you to anchor heavy items to a wall without having to hang in a wood stud) I screwed in a screw. We made sure the screw would fit the keyhole on the back of the brackets.

Each bracket is hung snug against the wall to keep the shelf solid.

In a short amount of time we had all the bracket hung and ready for the shelf.

Each shelf was cut so that any "joints" or where a board ended was where a bracket hung on the wall to support the "joint".

This corner was tricky because the doorway was set at a 45 degree angle which made the shelf angle 22.5 degrees. I now know this by trial and error! As you can see I even cut the angle backwards and had to flip over my board. Good thing they are identical top and bottom....only that we hadn't painted the top of the boards (the first side had just finished drying).

Once all the boards were cut to the right size we took them down and painted the top of the boards black. Once they were dry to touch we put them back up because they could cute up in their spots. It also kept them safe from the kids.

The corner tured out so awesome.....I was nervous at first with this corner....trying to figure out this angle (which, if any of you have a 45 degree angle doorway....it's going to be a 22.5 degree angle for each board......which makes sense because each cut is half the angle!! ha ha)

With nine foot ceilings, my sister really needed to use her vertical space to help organize her scrapbook room. Plus, now she gets to display all her really cool projects!

It looks so custom and perfect!

I wish I could have gotten pictures of items on her shelf and her room back together and organized but, the top of the shelf was still drying and curing.

I was only there overnight and I think we got a ton done. We hung her gallery wall (previous post) and we also build, painted and hung shelving around three walls of her scrapbook room. We were busy!!!

Look at all the space she now has to display all her NEATO PROJECTS!! Really, she's a very talented scrapbooker and is always coming up with new altered projects....I can't wait to see what gets displayed on her shelf!

The shelf even wraps the wall above the door.

The shelf wraps three walls! A great way to use all that vertical space!

I went to my sister's house to help her hang this custom shelving around three walls in her scrapbook room, hang her gallery wall (previous post) but, the best part about being there was spending time with you sister, talking late into the night and letting our kids play together! My kids played so hard that they slept the entire drive home! It was a great trip and I am so glad we were able to finish a project we have been talking about for.....forever! Good Times! Love ya Sista!

Hanging My Sister's Gallery Wall

2012-01-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

My sister has wanted to hang a gallery wall incorporating her baby pictures that she had hanging on the wall. Her husband bought her two packs of black picture frames and she also received a beautiful temple picture that she wanted part of the gallery wall.

This is the original wall. It had her baby pictures to one side of the tv unit (that now has its hutch removed to be more modern) and a clock to the left. It was screaming for a gallery wall!

To make a gallery wall super easy to hang the first step is to trace each of the picture frames and have a paper template of each frame. You also measure on the back of each frame where the nail would hang. This will be important for later.

We used any left over paper that we had available to make the templates of the frames and the "family" word.

Then it's play time!!! We started with making the gallery wall square on the left side and started to work our way to the right.....which we didn't like.....and kept playing with. We knew we needed to round the left side to match the right side. The ceiling slopes down so we needed to incorporate that slope.

We then moved the top left corner so it's not so square because it didn't balance the other side of the wall because the ceiling tapers down. We just picked up the peices of paper and would move things around until we liked it better.

My sister and I are picky about it being just right....so we kept playing...without putting any holes in her wall. The paper made it possible to move "frames" around without damaging the wall. Plus you get to see what it will look like without ever nailing a hole in the wall! Genious!!

The last step is the easiest! You use the template papers to know where to place your nail. Each paper was marked where you are to put the nail so all you have to do is to place the nail directly over the paper and nail it through the paper.

Then the paper rips right off and you are left with a nail in PERFECT position for your frame!!

Now.....just a few more picture frames.....simple because I already know where every nail is going to go.

Here is the wall all hung with the picture frames....now we just need to replace the "fake" people in the frames.

LEFT SIDE (with Kung Fu Panda on the tv....ha ha....probably should have turned that off before I took photos....but, it wasn't worth disturbing five kids)

RIGHT SIDE (in need of pictures in the frame and poster tac to make sure they stay perfectly straight no matter who slams a door)

I love how the pictures look perfectly placed and all it took was making a template so it takes only 1 nail hole per picture frame. Simple and looks perfect!! Now she needs to fill the frame with family photos of her cute kids....now THAT will be the fun part!

Yellow Chevron Chair for Bridal Showcase

2012-01-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is the funnest...is that a word....I don't think so....oh well....it describes this chair perfectly.....because its the funnest chair!! This is a client's chair that I am reupholstering for a bridal showcase this next weekend. The chair is for her booth at the brideandgroom.com showcase in SLC, Utah January 14th!

Shannon is an amazing photographer and she has taken my family's photo ever since I met her! She does family photos but, LOVES Wedding photos even more! She's talented at whatever she photographs! Check her out at shannelizabethphoto.com !

This is the original chair with it's lovely pink upholstery and white washed wood. Great shape and details but, not a great colors.

The details on the chair are awesome but, the coloring has something to be desired!!

I spent a few hours pulling staples out of the upholstery and stripping it down to the bare bones. I pulled off the trim on the seat but, left the material on until after I had painted it. I wanted to save the foam from getting painted black. I saved the arm chair foam by covering with painting tape.

The painting tape kept the foam from being painted. I wanted to save the foam but didn't want to re-attatch it. Taping it off saved me from having to take it off a then putting it back on.

The first part of the chair that is upholstered is the peaking back. I upholstered it facing out and then added the webbing to add support.

Then I added the foam and upholstered the fabric to the front of the back of the chair.

The hardest part was making sure the fabric was exactly level....it gets a little tricky with the up and down pattern of the chevron. Then it was attatch upholstery staples, upholstery staples, upholstery staples......it's a lot of staple to reupholster a chair.

Then some trim to cover the staples and raw edge of material. This chair had trim around the seat, back and arms of the chair.

The Yellow Chevron chair turned out beautiful! So fresh and wonderful! The chair is such a breath of fresh air......it made me want one for my entryway....but, the next best thing is to just stage it there and SIGH!! So pretty and would be wonderful for a spring entryway!

I love the Chevron pattern on the old chair...a great mix of old with a modern fabric.

The yellow is SO yummy!

The peaking back is so pretty!

I like this style of chair because of the peakin' yellow from the back. It allows you to see yellow color even if you aren't looking at it from the front. It would look great set away from the wall because you can see this yummy yellow color and fun pattern even from the back.

I love the splash of yellow on the arms...so fresh!

Look how cute the Yellow chair looks in my entryway....what an entrance...now I'm ready for spring!! Fresh and Happy!! Too bad we're months away from spring! :(

Then I got playing around with different pillows. All the pillows looked so cute..I couldn't decide which I liked!

This contemporary grey and white damas pillow brings in the wall color. Love that!!

Or maybe just a simple grey patched wool pillow! Any pillow I put on it...looks awesome!! That's a sign of a GREAT chair!!

Or a simple white pleated pillow looks great too!! Good thing I don't have to decide....

This chair will be perfect for her bridal show that she has coming up. She is doing a booth in yellow, black & white. This chair will be P-E-R-F-E-C-T...........perfect!!! Who knows....maybe she will add a pillow....everything looks so pretty on this chair! I am very happy with how her chair turned out! Such a breath of fresh air!

Winter Wonderland Metallic Lampshade Trees

2011-12-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

This is my latest addition to my Christmas decor. I made winter wonderland trees to flank the back door! They turned out beautiful!! The ornaments are silver, gold and vintage metallic colors and they make the perfect lampshade trees!

I found all of my lampshades at the salvation army. They let me buy all eight that I needed for this project and only charged me two dollars a piece. Great buy!! You can always find the most unique items there.

I gave the kids some scissors and we cut off all the fabric off of the lampshade. You would have thought it was christmas already...they were so excited to cut shapes in the side of the lampshades before they tore it off. Such creative little kids!!

I used a saw that can cut metal and chopped the 10 ft. long threaded bar in half.

It was pretty easy to cut with my husband's saw...pretty slick!!

Each lampshade was threaded on the rod with a bolt. It took a while to thread the bolt down to where I wanted each shade and then to thread a bolt on top of it to secure it. It took a little bit of time and patience but, well worth it.

I put the lampshades inside the urns from Halloween. They had the moss and sand still from when I used them with the black sticks.

To make them more secure and less tipsy, I added a board that I drilled a hole in it to sit the rod in then covered it with sand.

Then my daughter, son and I wired on A LOT of ornaments!!

Each ornament wired on seperately.

They turned out awesome!!

I stuck fresh pine from our left over christmas tree parts to add greenery to the urns. Plus, they smell great!!

At night, the trees shimmer with all the christmas lights around..such a pretty glow!

I added strips of burlap around the threaded rod. It softens the look of the rod. Love that!

I left the lampshades in their original gold and silver metal colors.

This star was originally all gold so I added a blast of the silver glitter blast to make it look like the vintage silver. So pretty!! I love the vintage coloring. Each star is a different from the other. They have the same size and scale but, are different and unique, just like each of the lampshades.

My Winter Wonderland Metallic Lampshade Trees flank the back door and create an entrance into our backyard...AKA winter wonderland!!

Matted Picture Added to Lab Equipment

2011-12-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

Everyone has their go-to framing store but, I love this little unfinished wood store and it just happens to have a framing shop as well. They sell the insides of their mats (the part that has been out and would be discarded) but, they sell those pieces for CHEAP!! I picked up a green and brown mat..which they cut a window out for me (to fit my 4x6 pics) and paid about a $1.50 a piece. This included the new cut ($0.50 to have a new "window" cut) to make it able to frame my photos.

I knew it would hold a picture with two sides showing so I picked a mat for two different pictures.

I added a different family pic to each mat. Either side you look at would be a different photo.

I then glued them together.

with some glue dots.

I love that glue dots hold it all together without being bulky.

Then I used the clips (already apart of the lab equipment I picked up in Kansas) and added my matted picture.

The other side with the green matted picture.

I added the family in with my candy shop apothecary jar display for Christmas. It's so cute amongst the jars! (Too bad there isn't more swedish fish for the picture...they are red and went with the Christmas display....but, apparently they are the kids favorite snack!)

It also looks cute next to the Christmas card holder and M&M's!! So many choices! I really like that it can be versatile...being part of my Christmas candy display and it could also be used on any table for display. It's different and unique and I really like that it's using lab equipment for other things than what it was meant for!

Fresh Christmas Wreath

2011-12-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

Christmas is welcome at our front door!! I made a fresh pine wreath with a moss wreath inside...I LOVE THE COMBINATION!!

This is the bottom of our fresh cut christmas tree. I always get a tree that is too tall for our 9 ft. ceilings so that I can have extra pine limbs with which to decorate. Real pine = yummy smelling rooms!

I've had this wreath form for years....and my husband is SO glad I am finally using it and he won't hit his shin on it one more time. (thank you hubby....this is one of those things that I KNEW I would use...just not yet and he was very patient letting me keep it around...he knew I loved it!)

You add pine bowes in one direction and as you add a new set of pine, you bend the tongs down to hold them in place.

You keep adding until you finish your wreath. Simple and Elegant!

The back of the wreath.

Ready for a beautiful red bow!

I love fresh pine! So yummy!

This little 12 inch moss wreath has been awaiting it's debut. I found it at a second hand store for $1.50...REALLY...I couldn't believe my good luck! It's my favorite color of moss...beautiful, lush green!

I used a piece of ribbon with a cinch knot or slip knot to hold the moss wreath in the center of the pine wreath. I love the contrast in materials!

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!!??!! I love how it's modern yet used traditional supplies!

So everytime I open the door, I am greeted by fresh pine and a stunning red bow! LOVE IT!!

So welcoming!! A modern twist on the classical pine wreath! Don't you love it too?

Doesn't it make you want to enter and see all the Christmas decor? (I'll post that soon...I've been working on a lampshade Christmas tree...I know....you need to see it so you don't think I've gone off the deep end! Ha)

I love the classic red and green!

To finish off the doorstep decor I added pine bowes with red ribbons behind the lanterns.

It's very merry around here! Our door is ready for Christmas...now I just need to wrap a few gifts!

I love this Fresh Christmas Wreath...it's a very welcoming entrance to our home for the holidays!

Printer's Drawer Cabinet is finally on top of the Library Card Catalog

2011-12-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

It's finally finished!! Yeah, the printer's drawer cabinet is finally on top of the library card catalog!! The Library card catalog was intended to have multiple units on top of the it but, I didn't have any more library units so I knew I could add a cabinet to the top of the library card catalog. The sturdy card catalog was perfect because printer's drawers are longer and wider than most dressers so I had been looking for something to be able to sit my future printer's drawer cabinet on and the library card catalog was the perfect peice of furniture to build a cabinet on top of.

These are the printer's drawers that inspired this cabinet. Perfect for all the small little scrapbook items and craft items I have that needd to have their own little special space. All the individual spaces in the printer's drawer's create the perfect way to organize all those little items.

Here is the cabinet in the middle of the build. It still doesn't have the top and the drawers have just been fitted to make sure we built it right...good thing we did....the drawers are a really specific size.

All ready for primer and paint. I want the wood on the drawers to be what stands out on the piece.

Primed

All painted and drying. You can see a small corner of the dresser I plan on working on to flank the other side of the window from this piece. It will have a hutch built on top of it also. I want maximum organization for a small space. So, I am building vertical units.

Here is the printer's drawer cabinet all finished and ready to be placed on top of the library card catalog. I am getting super excited to see it all finished...long time in process to finish this piece.

After everything was painted I attatched the back.

With a few small nails. We had cut it so precise that it almost didn't need any nails at all.

READY!!!!!!!!

Here she is on top of the cabinet that I built it for....LOOK AT ALL THAT STORAGE!!! Perfect for my studio! Although some have said that it's too pretty for just a studio but, that's what I built it for....to store my craft supplies.

I love how the wood stands out and shows the character of the old printer's drawers! They are such a piece of history and I want to preserve that.

The wood against the heirloom white is just so pretty!!

Each drawer had a lip on the front and we used this to our advantage so each drawer opening had to be VERY precise or it would have looked funny! We had to sand one of the drawer openings because over time one of the drawers wasn't perfectly straight anymore. With a little sandpaper the opening was made to fit the drawer like a glove!!

I love this detail of the drawers! So cool!

Each drawer was fitted with a runner inside so that when the drawer is pulled out clear to the end(or back) it won't flop down and spill the contents. The drawers are still able to be pulled out so that you can move it to a table to work with but, they won't fall out unless they are pulled the entire way out of the cabinet.

Look at all that storage space!! Wahoo!! This will be fun to move my stuff into!!

Love all the worn parts of the drawers...you can just image how many times each drawer was used to set print for a newpaper or printing! So cool!!

Using the same paint on both cabinets makes them cohesive and just plain pretty together!!

Doesn't it look like they were always meant to be together. We added extra bold trim to the top so it would look like the top of the hutch and we kept the molding on the library card catalog simple so it would be cohesive between the two cupboards.

I just love the wood on the drawer fronts! Such character!

Can't wait to finally get all my little things organized! Happy sorting!!

Sorter Cubby Hole Cabinet

2011-12-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

My Cubby hole cabinet that I picked up in Kansas has been decorated for Christmas.

I placed it on my handpainted blue side-board. It sits in front of my alphabet wall. I thought about putting it in my bay window but, knew it would block too much light. I wanted the sorter cubby hole cabinet somewhere that the children could have access to because we want to use it, not as a countdown calendar (although it could be used as that very easily) but as a visual reminder to what our family can accomplish this holiday season. We want our children to be involved in service and we will fill it with a reminder for each one.

Here's the sorter cubby hole cabinet as it arrived from Kansas. Ready to be cleaned up and each cubby hole numbered.

I wanted each hole to be numbered individually. I wanted it to look like a plaquer with a number on it. So I cut out a 3x5 card (or you could use a card stock, just something thicker than paper) and cut out a rectangle shape with rounded corners.

I used a foam brush to stencil on the rounded corner plaquer shape.

I centered the shape in the middle of each cubby hole.

Once the paint was dry I added numbers onto each plaquer with stamps I bought from Michael's (set was $7.00 but I used a coupon...of course) and staz'on Ink. The stamp set with the permanent ink made it the perfect way to make it look like metal plaquers.

Look how great each number looks at the base of each cubby hole!! Love this!!

This is the stamp set and the ink I used to create the numbers on each painted oval shape.

Now the sorter cubby hole cabinet has been cleaned up and ready to be used for the most memorable holiday of the year...Christmas!

LOVE the numbers.....SO CUTE!!

The cubby's are about 3 1/2 to 4 inches tall...so I should be able to find lots of tiny items to fill the cabinet. I also plan on using small pine peices from our real christmas tree tied with a peice of ribbon and a scroll of what our service we did. I really want our kids to learn the true meaning of Christmas. This will be a great visual reminder of what we should be doing this special season.

Lots of ornaments are the perfect size to fit in a cubby hole.

I even used one of my expandable rulers to make a star to decorate with the pine and berry garland.

I love the star made out of the expandable ruler!!

Topped off with a sign that says "Happy Holidays!"

Angel Ornament looks pretty in one of the cubby holes.

I love how the sorty cubby hole cabinet had been painted grey on the front of each row and a little bit on each side. I love keeping that grey paint. It adds an element of uniqueness!!

So beautiful on the blue hand-painted side board! Accessible to the kids so they can be interactive with everything we do this holiday season.

So beautiful for Christmas!

Christmas came from Kansas

2011-11-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

My package came in the mail!!! It's like Christmas showed up on my doorstep a month early. I sent the cubby hole cabinet and ceiling tiles by slow boat to save money and it came on Wednesday, only four days after I shipped it home. So excited!!

Here's my cubby cabinet, possibly a postal cubby hole sorter. When I came around the corner and saw this cabinet at the River Market Antiques, I got so excited! Possibly even heart palpitations....she had to come home with me.....it just didn't fit in my suitcase so I had to find a way to get it home and the UPS store helped me ship it home for cheap because this baby is a like thirty pounds. I shipped this home with some beautiful old ceiling tiles.

It's seven cubbies across by six rows...that's 42 cubbies of awesomness!! I know...not a word...but it definetely describes how much I like this cupboard.

This is everything I fit in my suitcase. I know it doesn't look like I could fit the large wood box in my suitcase but, with all the clothes stuffed around it and the glass jar...we finally got the zipper to close.

The wood box barely fit in my suitcase. Luckily, I had packed light so the clothes could be stuffed around the items that I took in my checked bag.

The expandable rulers(or yard sticks) are going to be a great addition to my christmas decor. They make perfect rustic stars....LOVE IT!!

I loved this old lab piece because I work in a hospital lab (once a week to keep my credentials....what I went to college for). I love lab stuff.....it can be used in so many ways....like flasks and graduated cylinders for mad scientist parties. This old old lab piece has clips on the end that would be perfect to hold a photo or a fun saying.

It's very industrial looking yet can be so practical...I really like how it has to many screws to move all the parts to different angles. I had two mats cut so I can put two pictures back to back. I need to get my pictures put in so I can show you all.

This is an old candy store's candy jar! I love apothecary jars and this candy jar was perfect for me!

I added a 3x5 card in the clips....can't wait to see it with a real photo.

I can't believe I got all this home in my suitcase!! I had such a fun time at an antique store that is so different from the stores I have around my house. So fun!! Then to have that package come in the mail.....it was like Christmas morning!! Christmas officially came from Kansas!

Kansas Shopping

2011-11-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

I just flew back from Kansas and had a great time. My husband had a three hour interview for a graduate program so I knew I would have three hours to do something with just the baby and myself. I looked online, found a flea market but, it was only going to be open in December. Drats!! I called the lady and she recommended River Market Antique's in the river district. She said I HAD to see it...it's fabulous! It didn't disappoint!! I spent the entire three hours in this HUGE store. The mural on one side of the building is like 5,000 square foot mural of Lewis and Clark Expedition. My arms spread out as far as they could reach was like smaller than one of their shoes...it's seriously is huge!

This letter sorter was SO cool!! I wish it would have fit in my suitcase.

This bench is made out of tail gate of a chevrolet truck and other parts. Very creative!

I love fingerjoint boxes. This one was really large, since it used to hold a typewriter. I did purchase one that held encyclopedia's....and just for the record...it BARELY fit in the suitcase...we had to pack our clothes around it and around the vintage glass candy jar that I bought and had to pack inside of it.

I love this houndstooth chair. It would look so cute in my friends bridal booth since she is doing a b&w with yellow booth. Too cute! Once again, this didn't fit in my suitcase either.

I love beautiful lampshades. I love the shape of this one.

The old building is so old that it has a freight elevator to take strollers up and down the floors with a cute bell to ding (each floor having a different bell, so the floor workers knew which bell it was and which floor needed the freight elevator). I started on the fourth floor and worked my way down. SO MUCH TO LOOK AT!! Probably over 400 dealer booths....so much fun!!

A vintage stamp holder.

I like the idea of putting fabric or paper in the bottoms of my printer's drawer to add color. We'll have to see. Cute idea though.

This cubby hole cabinet (looks like a post office sorting cupboard) and the ceiling tile(seen leaning against the counter) HAD to come home with me. When I turned the corner and saw this cubby hole cabinet it gave me heart palpitations and I got so excited. I could instantly envision it in my studio or a Christmas countdown. So many possibilities!!!! I looked into taking it on the plane with us but, it would be in the "ODD" size catagory so it would $147 dollars to fly it home. Yikes, on to plan B! So, the morning before we flew out we found a UPS store and shipped it home. It only cost $38 by slow boat. I can't wait to get it...it should be here any day now!! Yippeee..almost as good as Christmas!! It definetely was a fun trip to Kansas not so much for my husband, yikes a three hour interview....glad I found something fun to do while he was busy!

Printer's Drawer Cupboard Is Finally BUILT!!!

2011-11-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

The printer's drawer cabinet that I have been working on for a while is finally built!! YEAH!!!! I have had this in mind for about a year and I have been working on it once a week for the last two and a half months at my neighbor's woodshop. It started as a big sheet of high grade plywood with a hardwood exterior with a solid wood faceframe into this beauty. It's still amazing to me to see what you can build with some wood!! Wahoo!!! I love when my ideas come to life!!`

The library card catalog is actually a base peice and was meant to have another stack of drawers on it. So, I built the printer's drawer cupboard to be the hutch. Therefore I made sure all my router bits on the tops of each cupboard were the same so they would match.

It's amazing to thing that this was what it looked like at the beginning. Just peices of wood cut to size with shelf grooves and a dado joint in the back for the backing of the cupboard.

The beginning stages. Once it was cut we did a quick sanding to get rid of any splinters.

Glued the shelf peices in and reinforced with a few nails for stability. It is one solid piece!!

Glued together and held with clamps. We waited til the next week after this step to let it dry. By this point, it becoming a little heavy. It's a solid built piece.

This is the original plans that we drew up because the printer's drawers are such a specific size and you had to fit the cupboard exactly to them with only a sixteenth gap on each sideso the drawer could slide in and out. We had to be REALLY precise....definetely measured twice before each cut!

These are the three printer's drawers that I chose for the cupboard. I love the uniqueness of each one and that they are wood fronted. The later printer's drawers had metal fronts. I like the older ones with more character.

I LOVE the drawer pulls!! All original!!

The faceframe was made out of solid wood peices. It is the front of the cabinet. We had to match it up exactly to the cupboard because the drawers are only like 1.5 inches tall...we had to get it exact.

This is the cupboard without the face frame. We are making sure the drawers fit. We also added in runners along the top of the inside of each drawer so that when you are pulling out a drawer and it starts to tip down that it won't fall out. Nothing worse that picking up a whole drawer that would be organized.

The faceframe is made independent of the cupboard and put together with a specialty cabinet drill/screw peiece. It drills a hole on an angle and then the special screws tighten the whole piece together. It is quite the ingenious little invention.

The faceframe ready to be attached to the cupboard.

The faceframe is finished and we added a trim piece to the top edge. The top isn't on it yet. We used MDF for the routered edges because then they always turn out perfect. You don't have to worry about knots or imperfections in your wood piece if it's out of MDF.

Now you can see why we left such a large space at the top of the cabinet. Above the top drawer was taller than between the other drawers so that it would be more substantial. It is going to sit on top of the library card catalog and I wanted it to have more of a statement moulding so it looked the top of the piece. The routered edge is matched to the library card catalog routered top edge so that they are going to be able to become one piece.

This is the top all routered. I L-O-V-E love it!!! The distance between each drawer is kept the same above the top drawer because the moulding takes up the rest of the space. It looks more substantial with the added moulding piece. I love it!!

The back has a dado joint so that the backing sit into the cupboard. You can see the stoppers or runners along the top of each drawer. This is so the drawer doesn't top down too much when you are pulling out the drawer. Like I said, nothing worse than picking up a fallen drawer that was full of organized stuff. Mighty ingenious on our part.

This is the back. It is out of 1/4 inch hardwood ply and sits snugly in the back dado joint. It almost doesn't need a nail to hold it in place it's so perfect.

This picture show you the runners on the inside and if you look closely in the inside corner you can see the cool angle drill holes that were on the back of the faceframe. Quite the ingenious invention. No wonder professional cabinet makers use this...it makes getting your corners square really easy and so tight and perfect.

Now it's ready for nail holes to be filled with wood putty and then primed and finally painted.

I know the cupboard looks like it's floating but, it's not. I have it sitting on 2x4 blocks so that I could paint and prime it more easily. It is being made to sit on top of the library card catalog. I didn't want it sitting on the floor to paint it because it would possibly stick to the cardboard that I had under it while painting.

Aren't the routered edges beautiful?!!? I love how we made them to match the library card catalogs new top therefore this cabinet could be the hutch to that piece.

Primed with white primer because I will be painting it the same heirloom (or was it heritage?) white. Either way, it's going to be the same pretty creamy white as the library card catalog.

All primed and ready for the first coast of paint.

The first coat of paint is done and it has been moved on top of this dresser to dry and cure so I can still pull my car in the garage. I don't want to have to scrape windows if I don't have to...brrrrrr.

This is the printer's drawer cupboard all painted ready for sealer. I will use the same polycrylic sealer that I used on the library card catalog because they are going to be together so I better use the same finish. I love how the drawers are wood and will stand out against the creamy white color of the cabinet. I am SO excited about getting this piece finished and can't wait to put it to use in my studio!! It's gonna be purrrrdy!!

Hope you all have a great day...this definetely made mine!!

Decorating for Fall Church Events

2011-11-04T11:22:00.000-06:00

Lately I've been asked to help decorate a few church events. It's been really fun but, being so close together, it's been really busy. I decorated one of these events the same day of my halloween party...let's just say it was BUSY!! It's a good thing my brother showed up to my halloween party two hours early from out of town because I put him and his girlfriend to work. I never would have been ready for our halloween party without their help. Thanks again brother & girlfriend!! The Halloween Party turned out awesome but, wouldn't have happened without your help! Here's some pic's from a few of the table decorations.

Serving Tables

Dessert Table

Centerpeice of 1 of the 25 tables

Room ready to serve 200+ ladies

Pumpkins made from decorator fabric and stuffed! I have a lot of these pumpkins and they have been put to good use this year!

All of the Events turned out beautiful and I was happy to be able to help!!

Halloween Ideas...before it's too Late...MAD SCIENTIST

2011-10-30T21:42:00.000-06:00

Mad Scientist Party Favors

These are my AWESOME Mad Scientist Party Favors....I'll show you how I did them...

These are my party favors this year. They are skeletons bought from the dollar store. So, since it's a garland and four came to a pack....this makes them a quarter a piece. I bought some simple white fabric from Wal-Mart along with fray check, and some buttons for the lab coats and I was set to make my party favors.

This gives you the general idea...they would be tied together with black tulle. I LOVE this idea!! Original and yet goes perfectly with my theme.....since I was dressed up as a mad scientist myself!!

I came up with the pattern after prototype 1,2 and three had failed. They looked more like marshmallows instead of lab coats. This design came to me a few days before the party and I knew it "should" work and have less seams, which meant less sewing (which was very important when you are making twenty barbie sized lab coats)

Prototype 3....better yet flawed!

I cut them out five thick at a time...good thing I have good fabric scissors.

This is all the lab coats cut out and ready to start being sewed.

I would take each one fold it in half then sew down the left and right side of the "T".

The turning them inside out was the hardest part because I had to use a stick to get the arms inside-out. They were too little for my fingers.

I had to cut up the front of each one before I put in the skeleton in. The only bad part about the skeletons were that there arms were not movable and stayed to the skeletons side. So I had to put the coat on the arms and then shimmie it up on the shoulders.

The cut across the top is for the collars. The skeleton only had a back bone for a neck so this design worked best for the muscles-less skeleton.

I had to fray check the edges because of the cotton fabric. Then I glued on tiny buttons (two for each lab coat) and glued the lab coat part that overlapped. That way they would be permanent. I had almost exclusively black/silver skeletons but had one set of tan/green skeletons.

I even made a lab coat for Fred....my purchase while in my hometown...I even have a picture of him seatbelted in the child seat of the shopping cart. I need to get my mom to send me the pic of him in the shopping cart. It was really funny and we were having a great time hanging out as sisters and Mom. I really need that picture!!!!

The Skeleton's with their labcoats and their test tubes....ready to be party favors! If I had done a sit-down dinner, I would have had each place set with one of these with their name on the test tube.

For one of the side dishes I bought sterile, disposable petri dishes online and then made jello to fill the petri dishes so they looked like microbiology agar. I made Cherry, Raspberry, Lime and Peach petri dishes! I even had bug juice on the side to grow on their agar (AKA cool whip).

Jell-O Petri Dishes ready for the party!! They were a hit!!

Tons of flasks and graduated cylinders full of colored water to set the laboratory mood on the kitchen island. It was VERY festive...complete with black light and a ghost lampshade. I even had lit candles this year...good thing it was adults only. Everyone could put their side dishes and desserts on either table....the kitchen island or the dining room table. They were only a few feet apart.

Some of the side dishes were GUTS (AKA spaghetti squash)

Swamp Water....seriously....it's delicious! It is actually Cherry-Limeade flavor....I know it looks gross but, it is SO YUMMY!

The table was set with everything mad scientist and flanked by the urns filled wtih moss and black sticks.

Remember this score from Michael's for last year's urns for $13.

Then they were painted silver metallic.

Then glazed with pitch black glaze. I used a foam brush to get it in the crevices and then used a cloth to wipe it off. While wiping, the glaze gets all over the rest, even if I hadn't put it on that spot with the foam brush. Then let it dry and it's ready! Now I can use these for Halloween and Christmas.

Pitch Black Glaze of the Metal Paint

I put a foam circle down in the urn after I had put some sand in so that the sticks couldn't fall to the side and had to stay in the middle.

The urn was filled with sand, the foam circle and then filled the rest of the way with sand. I then pushed the sticks down in the sand.

The sticks were sprayed black to be in the festive halloween spirit!

The sticks were added to the center of the urn. Now, the only thing I needed was moss and it was added around the sticks to create a truly authentic look.

I found all this different types of moss at the dollar store....I was already there buying skeletons and found the moss...SCORE!!

I love that I can use these urns for my halloween party and for other things as well. They are really multi-functional.

Behind the table was a window filled with x-rays! They were SO RAD!! You can purchase them online or get them from somebody in the medical field. You never know until you ask!

The last part of the night was GAME TIME! I made-up a game(every year I do a different game and haven't had to RE-DO a game yet...you never know...I may run out of ideas) using a periodic table and each "element" had a game to play. (You can see it vaguely taped to the tv on the opposite side of the room. He white poster board below it was for the pictionary words)

I titled the game: Halloween Periodic Table of Elements. Each color section of elements was a different game: Science Experiement, Pictionary, Charades, True/False, and ABCD questions. Each team took turns picking an "element" and then playing the game they picked. They had to "pictionary" a halloween word or phrase, charade it, or answer a question. My favorite was the science experiements.

I got the science experiements off a kids easy science experiement webiste. One of the science experiments I came up with myself...... a molecule race making the structure we all had to make in junior high school. Each team had to use toothpicks and gumdrops to try and built the tallest molecule structure in three minutes....MAN...talk about competitive!! The winning team won by a gumdrop. It was really close!!

I wish I could invite all of our friends but, sadly our house can't fit them all. I guess that's a good problem to have....too many friends. Still.......I wish we could have invited more.

Behind the table I had X-rays that were lit from outside by my husbands work light. It looked really cool until they started falling if we hadn't put that one up with duck tape. I guess they are too heavy for cheap masking tape. Oh well, it looked cool before they fell down. Most did stay up.

It was an awesome MAD SCIENTIST PARTY!! I know it's probably too late to do these ideas this year but, it's never too early to start planning for next year!!

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha....Ha Ha Ha Ha (Can you hear the thriller voice here.....)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

Custom Beatiful Blue Chairs

2011-10-30T19:17:00.000-06:00

These were a custom order from my friend. She wanted to have beautiful blue chairs to go with her light wood table. She picked a custom color that was two shades darker than her wall color. It turned out beautiful!!

The chairs are mid-process getting primed.

The chairs were sprayed in a dark primer because the paint color would look better with a darker primer.

This is the first coat of paint. I did two coats of paint and four coats of sealer because these are dining room chairs and are going to have high usage. I wanted them to be really durable.

The chairs are all done with four coats of sealer. I had to redo one of the fronts of the back of one chair. So it took me a few extra days to finish that chair before I could take her the set of chairs.

When I got the custom paint chip color and put it next to my dining room chairs....it was REALLY similar to my own dining room chair color. Her's had a hint more of green in it but....we almost have the same chairs....she has good taste in colors!! Ha Ha

The chairs look different when they are paired with a light colored table and bench top versus pairing it with a black table (like mine)...both looks are really pretty but, pairing it with the light wood gives a nice light and airey feel. Very Pretty!

The one chair is different yet really similar. With the same paint color, it helps tie them together even more.

I love that the bench ties the table top in to the set. Just perfect!

The blue looks even more blue in bright sunlight.

I snapped a few photos when I delivered them to her house.

I love this set!! SOOOO pretty!! I love how the chairs contrast with the beautiful wood floors.

The bench customizes the whole look by having the table top's light coloring and the blue color of the chairs.

I love how the blue chairs bring contrast and interest to her dining room. I should have got a picture of the table against the wall color but, maybe she will take a photo for me. (wink, wink :)

The chairs give such a custom look to the dining room! Personal and perfect for their family!

Thanks for letting me do this custom set for you.....I really appreciate you giving me a two year deadline...thank goodness it only took me two months instead of two years. (You might remember previous posts of me being able to sand only one chair a day after exercise because I was already sweaty and these chairs had so much detail that they were quite the workout! Plus the baby was usually napping/or still happy then and I could get one chair done before it was time to shower and get the baby ready for the day) I don't think I've ever taken this long on a project....EVER...but, it was nice being able to work on this in my free time around my babies schedule!

My friend LOVES her new chairs and bench and they look PERFECT in her dining room!! Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful friendship...with projects that is!! We are already good friends!

The bench coordinates so nicely with the table. It pulls the whole look together!!

Remember this BEFORE.......

TO THIS AFTER

B - E - A UTIFUL!!

Catching Up!! Busy, Busy, Busy!

2011-10-24T12:36:00.000-06:00

The kids were off track for the last three weeks so we've been doing lots of fun family things and doing projects in between all the fun!

The kids decorated my driveway....the ENTIRE driveway...luckily it just rained a few days ago and finally washed it off. I love drawings I just don't love when the kids shoes are covered in chalk all the time because then it makes it into my house.

My friend let me paint her high chair so I can use it to take six month photos of my daughter. I will show photos of it all done.

I had this picture frame that is 12 by 24 inches and would look really cute with some of my daughter's new photos we just had taken. I need to get the photo printed now...it will be really cute in their room.

It's the pink color from their room. I just used left over paint. It's the Krylon watermelon paint.

I painted these folding chairs black so they will be ready for our Halloween party coming up this weekend. We are doing a "mad scientist" theme this year and I have a lot to get done to be ready! I can't wait to show you guys! I won't be able to show everything because some of it will be a surprise for the party but, I will show you after!

This is the custom order I am doing for my friend. This is the chairs primed. I have them painted now and am sealing them. They are turning out beautiful!

This is the bench ready for primer. I taped off the top because it will stay the same wood color as the dining room table.

All primed and ready for paint.

These are the urns that I got for a killer deal and they are ready to be painted so I can use them for the halloween party. I will be painting them silver and then using a black glaze over the top.

I painted them silver and they are ready for the black glaze. I also painted some pumpkins and will be glazing those also.

I also spent last tuesday decorating a church cultural hall for a young women's meeting. It turned out beautiful but, I didn't get any pictures myself because my camera was out of batteries that morning and I left it home to charge. I also didn't grab any pics with my camera phone because my boy was playing angry birds on it while I decorated SO....I will have to see if I can get any pictures of it! Hopefully, it was beautifully fallish!!! I know fallish isn't a word but, it was SOOOO...fallish.....just seemed perfect way to describe it.

Aren't these urns going to look beautiful glazed with black and then ready for Halloween?

B & W Halloween Chair Set for Halloween

2011-10-11T11:20:00.000-06:00

My black & white halloween chair looks SO AWESOME with my halloween decor!! This year I made it center stage as you enter the great room! It's the perfect entrance to all the fun halloween spooky-ness!!

I added my "spooky" pillow to the chair and it is PERFECT!!! I made three of these pillows (one with the word spooky, a raven in a tree and a flying witch image) last year for halloween.....out of drop cloth fabric and some black paint....yep.....paint! I used an image printed off the internet, cut it out with scissors and exacto knife and used the peice of paper as the stencil since I was only going to be using the stencil once, the peice of paper works for a one time deal.

The tree was wrapped (at the bottom) with purple and black tulle and sheer fabric to help the purple lights glow around the base of the black halloween tree!!

The purple lights illuminate the chair at night and give it a spooky glow!! How wonderful!!

Eat your treat....at your own risk.....if you dare!!

Raven atop the halloween tree overlooking the festivities!

The Spooky pillow brings the whole look together. I love how perfecty it works in this chair. SOOO SPOOOKY!!

I love halloween and this is the perfect entrance into the living room. You are met by purple lights, a black tree with treats (if you dare) and the black & white halloween chair....great way to set the mood to enter the room. You can see I took down my traditional drapes and put up my black shredded drapes for halloween. I love halloween and setting the mood for a spooktacular season!!

I love my halloween tree!

I love how you can see the stripes on the side of the chair and how it adds an element of sophistication to such a fun chair!

It looks wonderful all lit up at night!!

So inviting!!!!!!! Want to sit for a Spell!!! (LOL...I just love halloween)

I decorated the rest of the house for Halloween....I'll show you soon!! The Black and White chair is the perfect entrance into the great room...SO SPOOKTACULAR!!

Black & White Spray Painted/Hand Painted Tufted Wingback Halloween Chair

2011-09-30T12:28:00.003-06:00

I am in love with this beauty! I love halloween and YES......this chair is spray painted and hand painted to create this one-of-a-kind halloween chair!! This was SUCH A FUN project!!

Even if this chair came about by using a different project that just didn't work out...it still turned out great! This chair came about after I tried the new "fabric paint"(new marth stewart paints mixed with fabric medium) that I had seen on a few blogs and on the internet. Let's just say that it turned out just the same as my spray painted purple tufted halloween chairs last year. What a bust!!! I think the paint would work fine if you were stenciling a small amount of paint on a linen/canvas type fabric and made a pillow out of it but a soft tufted wingback chair didn't work...bummer!!

I already painted all the nail head trim white and the legs white so I covered these with tape so I could paint with the black spray paint.

I used the thin car tape I bought at a specialty car painting store....this roll of tape has come in handy more than once!

I used another roll of tape I had laying around to make the stripes on the back and sides of the chair. I love the mixed-match look on the chair with the solid black on the tufted inside and the sides and back in stripes.

Then it was using left over black cans of spray paint that I had lying around. I didn't buy anything extra to do this chair. Once I realized the fabric paint wasn't going to work....I pulled out my left-over supplies to make it into a halloween chair...perfect and didn't cost me anything extra. Just used what I had on hand!

I love the MOODY BLACK with a slight blue undertone (from the blue color I had originally painted the chair) that the chair took on.....too perfect!

I started the black painting with the stripes after I had everything that I wanted to stay white, covered. The tape didn't stick that well...but I just hurried and stuck it down and then painted. So the stripes aren't perfect but, nothing with halloween is about perfect.

Here she is all painted black....ready to have the tape removed.

I then used acrylic craft paint to paint on a design/owl onto the inside of the chair.

This is how the tree and owl started....I just kept adding until I was happy.

I tried to make a trunk but, it ruined the look I was going for so I painted that back black and kept with the side tree design that I originally envisioned.

Looks much better with the side trunk!

The tape taken off to reveal beautiful imperfect stripes.

Not perfect because the tape doesn't stick well to fabric but, worked out well enough!

Pulling the tape off the back and sides to reveal black and white stripes.

Pull the tape off the nail head trim to reveal the white detail.

I wanted to add a "spooky" detail so I added the word spooky on the back of the chair to add a fun, small halloween detail. I used stayzon ink to get it on the fabric and then had to use black paint to fill it in to make it stand out more.

I had to add black paint to make it stand out more.

These are the supplies I used to add the "spooky" word to the back of the wingback chair.

This is the finished look of how the owl looked all hand painted with the white paint. I just kept added and added until I was happy with the finished result.

The owl was pretty simple to do although the button was a little hard to get it all painted white.

This is the white nail head detail and white legs. Love this detail!!

This is the legs, nailhead trim and stripe details.....LOVE IT!!

I love all the accents in white!

This is the hand drawing I did on a scrap of paper from the internet. I had to look at a few images and then draw my own......since nothing was EXACTLY what I wanted (of course! ha) Then, I had to draw it backwards from my drawing because I wanted the owl to come into the chair from the right not the left. So, it was a little tricky to redraw my own sketch onto the chair but, it worked out beautifully!

I changed the tree a few times because I couldn't decide if it would look better wtih a tree trunk coming from the bottom or from the side like I originally envisioned. The original vision won out!

The stripes aren't perfect but that's one of the things that are fun about halloween....imperfection is PERFECTION!!

This is such a fun chair and SO PERFECT FOR HALLOWEEN!! I am just tickled pink with how it turned out!! I LOVE IT!!!

The owl is fun and spooky!!

The stripes add such a fun element to the painted wingback chair!

The details of the nail head trim just adds a little something!

I love the MOODY black/blue color that the chair took on....it is perfect midnight sky....which is the perfect back drop to a halloween owl!! WHOO WHOO!! (LOL)

I love how the stripes wrap around the chair....

I can't wait to get all the rest of my halloween decorations out...this black & white spray painted/hand painted tufted wingback halloween chair has definetely got me in the mood to decorate for halloween!!

I like how the "spooky" word on the bottom is a small detail but, once you are close it is a fun little tag to bring the halloween theme in... (the baby in the background is pretty cute too!!!)

This will be such a fun addition to my halloween decor.....the chair turned out great!! I love halloween but, this might be one of my all time favorite halloween projects!!!

I can't believe what the chair originally looked like....

A chair bought off ksl to try and see if I could paint it with fabric paint verses spray paint like my purple wingback chairs from last year.

This is the fabric paint...a bust!! So..it was destined to become my halloween chair.

To this halloween gem!! I love this chair and it was pretty simple to do....just used some left over supplies that I had and created this one-of-a-kind halloween wingback chair!

This are my delicious tufted wingback chairs I did for my witch purple/black theme last year and they were SO FUN!! So, when this other chair didn't work out for family pictures...it also became a halloween chair!

Happy Halloween Everyone...even if it is a little early! It's almost October and then the fun decorating begins!!

Printer's Drawer Part 2

2011-09-29T23:40:00.000-06:00

This is all the boards planed and rough cut, ready to be made into the face frame for the printers drawer cabinet. This is the cabinet (or hutch) that will sit on the top of the library card catalog.

Then the boards (the boards to be the face frame) were fit between the drawers to make sure the measurements were correct. We (my neighbor that owns the wood shop and I) didn't want it to not fit after it was all glued together. (That would be bad and a lot of extra work!!)

The two sides were clamped so we could test the length of the middle boards of the face frame. Then we took it all apart and use a fancy drill tool to joint all the boards together with a little glue....of course!

This is the face frame.....what it will look like on the front of the printers drawer cabinet. Cool huh!!?!!

Now the face frame has to dry (the glue) and then we can trim the edges to fit exactly the printer's drawer cabinet. Then it can be attatched to the cabinet. So, it should be done pretty soon....all I have left is to attatch the face frame (after it's trimmed), make a top (router the edge) and attatch the top moulding. Not much....and I'm getting so excited to see it completed!

Printers Drawer Cabinet Making

2011-09-16T18:09:00.000-06:00

I am in the middle of building a printers drawer cabinet. You all remember my library card catalog that I just finished, well I am building a cabinet to set on the top of that peice. It will be in my studio and I want/need lots of storage. And these printer's drawer cabinet will house all of my tiny scrapbook items.

Last week my neighbor (awesome wood working neighbor...everyone needs one of these) helped me get the cabinet peices cut to size and all the dado joints. We just got it all glued together last night and we will have the face frame and the top and moulding peice left to make. It's been a really fun project and I can't wait until it's all built and ready to paint.

We cut it from a high grade plywood because the cupboard is so wide that it would be super heavy to make out of solid wood.

A quick sand on the corners so that when we put it together we wouldn't get slivers.

Glue and nailed together. The top peice has screws to help shure up the peice. It has to be perfect to size to fit the printers drawer.

Glued everything when assembling.

We used lots of clamps to make sure the cupboard glued perfectly square. Each shelf was glued and nailed/screwed into place.

You can kinda see how the cupboard will work. The top drawer (seen on the bottom since it's upside down) will be taller because we wanted a higher top (made with the face frame) so it can have moulding on the top of the cupboard to finish the peice.

This is the cupboard all drawn up in the computer program (top moulding not shown here). We had to take precise measurements of the printer's drawer and then build the cupboard to fit around them.

This is one of the printer's drawer. I LOVE all the compartments!!

This is the original hardware on the front of the drawer. I love the original patina.

Here are the three drawers. Now just imagine the cupboard around it and you will be envisioning what I am up to. I am going to leave the drawers with their original patina and paint the cupboard around it the heritage white color of the library card catalog. I want the drawers to be what stands out. I love their patina and want to preserve that element.

The drawers aren't very tall, which will be perfect for all my small scrapbook items that need a individual home.

At some point, someone labeled one side of one of the drawers. It shows the upper and lower case letters and the numbers. Each drawer held a few alphabets because every different font had to have it's own section. It's crazy to think that this is how newspapers and book used to be printed. I love that I can use these peices of history to reuse as useful storage options for my studio.

I will be making the face frame and the top peice with moulding next and I can't wait until it's finished and ready for paint!! I love projects that get me so excited! I have had this idea for a cupboard for about a year now and I finally am getting it done! Eventually I will have both cupboard/hutches done so I can have more storage in my studio. These peices are going to be stand-out peices, super functional and BEEEAUTIFUL!!!

Fancy Headband and other projects

2011-09-01T22:13:00.000-06:00

My cute neighbor called and asked if I'd make a headband for her to give as a gift. I accepted and asked her what she wanted...all she would give me to go on was....."a baby headband like the ones you make for your daughter." I asked her "like the white one she had on sunday?"

Her, "yeah that will be great!"

So......I had to make a baby headband with only one requirement...make it white because it can be worn with lots of outfits.

SO, this is what I came up with...

A dupioni silk rosette flower (handsewn) with added feathers, lace, two glass pearls, swarovski crystal, tullle, russian netting, all set on a pleated silk base.

All of the peices were hand sewn to the headband and then a peice of felt was hand sewn to the bottom so it would be soft against the babies head.

I birdcaged the russian netting over the silk rosette.

These are the glass pearls and swarovski crystal (hard to see) set all together in a bunch (all three forming a triangle).

The ends of the silk base is pleated to add detail.

The feathers, lace and tulle add the perfect finishing details. The headband turned out beautiful and my neighbor was pleased with it! (Can't ask for more...a happy custom order!!)

This is the other custom order I've been working on. It's been SO HOT this last week that I only wanted to be outside sanding in the morning. So, after exercise class (already sweaty) I would sand, by hand, one chair a day. They all had to be sanded by hand because of all the ornate turned detail. I can't wait to get these finished...they are gonna be purdy!!

These are my newest best deal find. I was finishing my shopping at Michaels and a SUPER helpful young man (employee) asked me if I wanted to get a price check on the urns that I happen to stop and look at. There was a sign stating that clearance was 60% off. With a price tag of seventy dollars, I said sure even though at sixty percent off, they would still be out of my price range. It seemed like this certain employee was looking for something to do, so I allowed him to pick up one of these heavy urns and take it to price check it. Apparently it was from LAST christmas and was a whopping $13, yep you read that right....a whole thirteen dollars. I said wow and yes I will take them. I have always wanted to do urns filled with pumpkins or witch stuff for Halloween and now I will get to do it. So, now you are just gonna have to wait and see what I do with for these heavy clearance urns. Yeah!! I love a great deal!

Library Card Catalog All Done!!!

2011-08-20T19:23:00.000-06:00

I finished my library card catalog and am thrilled!! I am grinning from ear to ear! I've even heard a few squeals of excitement from myself after I got it into the house and stepped back to admire it!

The hardware is black (actual oil rubbed bronze) so the hardware reads as black but, to have a slight bronze tint to it.

This picture shows the ever-so-slight sparkle of bronze in the black paint.

It will be fun to label each drawer with a description.

This is the original plaque on the front of the base cabinet. I taped it off to save it when I painted the cabinet.

It's a nod to it's origin. Syracuse, NY......I love the name of that city! Ha

On each of the drawers I VERY LIGHTLY distressed the edges. I wanted to accent each drawer without being over the top distressed.

Each of the drawers were lined to make them more functional (due to the slot that ran down the middle).

Each drawer has a surprise bottom in it!

Each drawer is ready to be filled!

The drawers were lined with shelf liner. I found the black and white roll of Grip Prints was from Target.

I measured the drawer width then cut (center and all) roll so I could cut the individual drawer lengths.

The shelf liner has a gripper backing which makes it heavier and sturdier than contact paper.

Drawers all lined and ready to go back in the cabinet.

Remember....here is the before pictures again.

Great structure but, ready for a redo........

Here's the AFTER

I had my husband help me bring it inside once it was all sealed and I had him set in the living room so I could photograph it. I was loving it so much that when he asked if I was ready to have him help me take it to the studio(it's permanent home).....I just paused......kept looking......and decided I wanted it left in the room for a day so I could look at it all done. Ha Ha I love when I can laugh at myself (who else would want a library card catalog in their living room just for a day to look at....ha ha). It took so long to get done (longer than most projects) that I wanted it where I could see it all done.....at least for a little while. I still am SUPER excited to put it in my studio so I can give the kids toys their cupboard back (then I can get their toys organized better).

So, this is my library card catalog and I just LOVE it!! The original cabinet was rough when I started the project and took some work but, was totally worth it!!

YARD SALE

2011-08-18T08:20:00.000-06:00

YARD SALE

It's time to clear out some of my projects and get some SPACE BACK!! I have known for a while I needed to do a yard sale but, was a little intimidated. I am finally ready to take it head-on!! I have projects that been moved to the basement when other newer projects take their place and now my basement is getting too full! I also have a few projects that came out of the store when I took a break (when we had our angel baby and next baby) and started doing projects just for me and some custom work. I also have projects that never got started so those are ready for you to take and do your magic on....or heck...I still take custom work...if you find a peice you love...I'll refinish it how you want it!!

So, I am ready to sell some stuff!!(Don't worry, those of you that gave me peices, I am keeping those) I listed on ksl (local classified) I've gotten some neighbors to yard sale with me so it's a whole cul-de-sac of fun!

So, it's official....I am doing a yard sale and getting some space back!!

Library Card Catalog Part 3 of 4

2011-08-18T07:58:00.000-06:00

Now we are ready for paint. I painted it an Heirloom White color by Rustoleum.

I am super picky about my technique with spray paint. I like the convenience of it in a can but, I want it SUPER perfect and I was SUPER(could I use another word???) excited that it came out great.

I painted the front inside edge but, not the entire inside. It's MDF and would have soaked up the paint.

The last bit of hardware was the rods that went down the center of each drawer to hold the metal sliding thing (real technical right?) that held the catalog cards. They are tension fit in the front of the drawer and I was happy about that but, I didn't need the rest of the rod down the middle of each drawer. So, I got my husband to cut them off for me.

He used his handle Dremel tool.....if you don't have one of these....you should....they are handy for tons of projects.

He had to rig it so he could use both hands to cut the metal rod. Yes, he was nice enough to scoot his car fixing tools to the side so he could help me with my project for a few minutes. (I think he has the intake manifold off....don't really know what that means but, I guess it means progress on his project?)

He used a bungy cord around his workshops drawer, hooking it from one side of the drawer, underneath and then back to the other side to hold the cutter end of the Dremel. Pretty ingenious!!

Clever huh? Yep, that's why I married him!! LOL Okay, there were other reasons too!!

Here is the drawer rods ready to be cut off.

I am glad he was the one to do this because the metal cutting made some noise and sparks were flying. I might have been a little nervous to do this myself. Happy to be behind the camera taking pictures while he helped me out with my project.

Here's them all cut off....and yes, that is me covered in paint....typical!!! Ha Ha

This is the finish I decided to use but, it was so warm that it dried quickly. I had to put three coats on the top of the card catalog(with sandings between) before I was happy with the finished product. It just dried so fast that there wasn't a whole lot of time to fix imperfections and since I can be a perfectionist sometimes...it got done not once, twice but, three times. I guess that makes for an extra protected top....which is good since I am building a cupboard for my printer's drawers to go on top of this.

This is the drawer fronts with their poly.....ready to dry and have their hardware put back on.

This is the cupboard with it's polycrylic sealer on it.

The knobs all cut off and ready to be tension fitted back in the drawer fronts.

Each of the drawers and wood fronts I numbered. I knew with old cupboards that some drawers might have gotten used more than others and I wanted it to all fit together after all the hard work I'd done so, I numbered everything. I painted the top of the inside of each drawer but, left the bottom (where it connected with the drawer) un-painted so I could see what number I labeled it. So...I could put it all back together again!!

This is the first drawer front with it's hardware. It looks SO PRETTY...like icing on a beautiful cake!! Ha

Anyways, I can't wait to do the next post because it's the reveal!! Yeah....it turned out so pretty!!

Library Card Catalog Part 2 of ???

2011-08-12T20:14:00.000-06:00

Remember my library card catalog. It was in need of a little TLC. It needed a new front face and top...plus sanding, priming and painting. So, let's get started.

It needed a front face but, I had to scrape the wonderful yucky glue off of the front before I could attatch a new face front.

My wonderful neighbor has a wood shop and he let me use his shop to build the front face for my library card catalog and a whole new top from scratch. This is the catalog unit on it's side with it's new face frame.

The front face was glued and nail gunned onto the front of the catalog unit. I got the wood peices by planing down a peice of wood to the right width (about and inch thick) and then using a table saw to cut thin strips(about 3/8 inch) and cut for the right length for each of the front peices needed to make the front face.

Some of the inside parts of the library card catalog is MDF. I made the front out of a hard wood. You can see the original hardware in the background (gold) ready to be painted.

I sanded the sides and the front facing to get ready to be primed.

The legs had small fissure cracks and I filled those with wood filler then sanded and got the base ready to be primed and painted.

I used my sander to sand most of the table but, had to hand sand some of it.

This is my cute finger-eating helper. She sat and talked(I love the cooing stage) to me as I filled the catalogs legs with wood filler. Then I got it painted when she took her afternoon nap.

I even routered the new top. This is the bottom side view of the top so I could show the routered job on the new top. It will be turned over and attatched to the top of the library card catalog.

Priming

The original hardware. Ready for metal paint.

I painted the hardware black oil rubbed bronze with Rustoleum metal spray paint. I love the original hardware, it is really cool but, I just didn't like the gold color. So, it got a fresh coat of paint.

Each of the drawers were sanded and ready for primer.

I primed the bottom legs of the cabinet first then turned it over to prime and paint the rest.

Now ready for Paint....Yeah, my favorite part!!

Featured at Baby Lifestyles Magazine

2011-08-10T22:55:00.002-06:00

I just went on babylifestyles.com to see if the e-glossy magazine was out and it was!!! If you click on the magazine cover(right-hand side of the main page with a picture of a party dinner-scape on the front) I am on page 35 and 36.
I've never been in any kind of magazine and it's kinda exciting!!

http://www.babylifestyles.com/magazine/

This link will take you directly to the magazine. There is one error...she called the memorabilia shelf Brooklyn's when it is actually Abbie's because the doll on it is has jewelry from her (Abbie's) namesake but, such a minor detail. I am still excited!!!

Lemonade & Fruit Mix Your Own

2011-08-07T18:46:00.000-06:00

This is what I was using the chalkboard frame for....a lemonade & fruit, mix your own drink bar. My husband has cousins that come from England every few years and we all got together to spend some time together while they were in the USA. We planned a dutch oven, back-yard picnic. I was put in charge of dutch oven potatoes(got the secret recipe from my dad), peach cobbler and the drink. SO......I got this idea to make a fun drink.

This is the chalkboard made from the clock. I used my kids chalk to write the sign....explaining how to make your own lemonade with mix-ins.

You start with a canning jar. I used small pint size jars. You can see the extra tags that I sprayed with the chalkboard paint...I used these to label the other ingredients for the lemonade....strawberries, peaches, raspberries, ice, glasses and lemon-lime soda.

I put the glasses in the old bottle holder wood box.

The other boxes are all finger jointed boxes that I am collecting for a future project. I used simple string to attatch the other chalk board labels.

The straws came in a multi pack so I picked out the yellow and pink ones to use...going with the pink lemonade theme.

I had lemon lime soda (in a cute pitcher) available if they wanted their lemonade carbonated.

This is what it looked like all set up in the back yard. Festive and Fun!!

The fruit was chopped into small bits and peices.

I used my old scale to set the raspberries on...to give some heigth to the table scape and to add some more old time charm.

This is dinner!!! Yummy chicken, potatoes and peach cobbler!!

Everyone loved that the lemonade was in jars because you put the lid back on and could shake the fruit into the lemonade to flavor it. Plus it was super yummy to eat little chunks of fruit after you were done with your lemonade.

Here's my son's lemonade....peach and strawberry!! YUM!!

Everyone brought a dish....it was all SO tasty!!

So, here's a fun tasty drink for your next picnic, barbeque or family get together. It was a hit!! I just repeated it at my own family reunion this weekend. It was fun and super yummy!!

Something yummy, sweet and fun to try at your next event!!!

I loved the frame just not....

2011-08-02T09:55:00.000-06:00

the inside... This was one of those projects where you had to look past the ugliness and see it's inner beauty. I found this clock and loved the frame on it. I didn't like the emeral green but, the shape and design on the frame was nice.

Yes, you are seeing right, it is a clock of the last supper on hologram. You look at it from one direction and the men are doing one thing and you look at it from the opposite angle and they are doing something else. The clock was completed with fake flowers hot glued and silver roses etched into the glass. (I want to say TACKY right here but, I don't want to offend you if this used to be hanging on your wall...although if they did have this hanging on their wall, you probably aren't reading this blog LOL) Definetely not my taste!!

I took the frame off and kept the screws that attatched the clock to the frame. The width of the plastic part was the same width as this sheet of foam board I got at the dollar store. After my frame was painted heirloom white, I used it to trace with a pencil the oval shape on my foam board.

I used my kitchen sheer scissors to cut out the design. I thought I would have to use an exacto knife so it would damage the board but the kitchen scissors worked great!

I then sprayed the foam board with chalk board paint I had lying around. I also sprayed some scrapbook chipboard tags for another project while I had the paint out.

It covered quite nicely. I went a little too heavy in a small area and that little area didn't stay perfecty smooth. I wish I would have painted with lighter coats so it wouldn't have done that but, I was being impatient and it was dark outside. Oh well, you can hardly tell. Probably I would only notice anyways!

I used the existing screws from the clock to mark the spots on the chalkboard then used an ice pick to punch my holes through the foam board so I could screw it all together.

This is it all finished and ready to be used. I have already used it and it was awesome!! I can't wait to show you what I used it for!!

The clock cost me three dollars and the foam board another dollar(obviously.....everything at the dollar store is a dollar! Ha Ha). I think it's turned out fabulous for a few dollars!

Library Catalog Part 1 of ???

2011-07-25T13:38:00.001-06:00

I started the library card catalog and it is going to be a little bit of a process. It won't take too long but, it will require some steps because of all the little parts.

I am going to have to put on a new face front (around the drawers because it was missing when I bought it) and to put a more permanent top on it because it was at one time stacked with more than one. So I need to put a finish peice to the top.

I started by taking out each drawer and seperating the drawer part from the face plate. I thought I could use a drill but, it ended up being done by hand. The drill just wouldn't fit.

I will have to wash these drawers and take the silver divider out. I plan on putting a cool black & white shelf liner in the bottom of each drawer.

All seperated and ready to have all the hardware taken off each drawer face.

You can see that the front facing needs replacing because the only thing left is the old glue. I scraped all the glue off and will be putting on a new face frame this week.

My husband and I just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. He knew I was wanting to start on my library card catalog and would be spending some time in the garage refinishing it. So he started his own project...rebuilding an engine. He said this would be perfect because we could spend time together as we each did our own projects but, were close so we could talk. So, you will probably see random pictures of how his project is coming as mine is coming along too. We've already spent a few late nights in the garage. If the baby goes to bed at 10 p.m., we go out to the garage to work on our projects for a few hours before we go to bed (just like old times when we were refinishing our old house). Good times!

I took the hardware off, including the screws and used an ice pic to punch holes in a cardboard box so I could put each screw standing up so they are ready to be freshened up with some paint.

The metal plates taken off and ready to be made silver (I'm not too much of a gold fan).

All the plastic parts of the drawer (where the card catalog pages were kept) are ready to be thrown in a sink full of soapy water and then dried before I put in the shelf liner bottoms.

I have half of the face fronts sanded, so just a few more until they are ready for primer and paint.

The long rods in the middle of this picture are what the metal parts of the drawer would slide back and forth on. I am going to have to have my husband dremel off the rod part and leave just enough so they can tension fit back into their hold in the front. I love the look but, don't need the whole rod part going down the drawer.

I am so excited to be working on this project. I love all the drawers and all the metal details. I am really excited that my husband and I get to spend some time together again doing our projects like the good ol' days. I can remember countless nights where we stayed up 'til way too late and finished projects together(tiling floors, painting walls, building things). I have not only my card catalog but, four projects total that will be done to go in my studio. I have had these projects in mind for about a year now and I am finally getting all my supplies and time to do them. I will be building a printer's drawer cabinet to house my antique printers drawers for all the tiny scrapbook supplies in my studio. I will be refinishing an antique dresser which will then sit my antique box (finger jointed) drawer cupboard. I know this means nothing to all of you yet but, that is what I have planned for the near future and I can't wait to show you the progress as it comes along.

Nursery Being Featured

2011-07-20T12:02:00.001-06:00

I am excited to say that I was contacted by the editor at BabyLifestyles.com and my baby girl's nursery will be featured in Baby Lifestyle's Aug/Sept E-glossy magazine. It's going to be coming soon SO......stay tuned!!

Patriotic Centerpeice

2011-07-09T10:03:00.000-06:00

We had a neighborhood barbeque for our cities Heritage Days and I thought this would be a fun centerpeice. I used the buckets/flag/sparklers for decoration during the meal and then afterwards we let the kids light the sparklers.

I took curly ribbon you use for wrapping gifts and tied three sparklers together. I then took my scissors and curled the ends to make them all curly and cute! I used a silver, shiny red and blue for the patriotic colors of ribbon. This gave the illusion that they were fireworks without it having to be dark. I poked the sparklers into the sand to get them to stand up around the edge of the buckets.

I bought the buckets at Michaels for $1 a peice. I bought three. Two blue and a red (they didn't have any white or I would have bought one of each color). Then I put two flags in two of the buckets that I bought at Target for $2(for a pack of 2).

I used the red one to hold an old red (christmas) candle so the kids could light their own sparklers. If you have ever sat and used a lighter to light a ton of sparklers you can see the wisdom in this!! Plus if the wax got on the sand it just clumped and cooled and then I could throw it away. No mess!!

The centerpeice was pretty and it was functional....the best of both worlds!!

Once we were done with the centerpeices, I could take them apart and use them again. My kids can always use new sand buckets and I used the flags in my flower pot by my doorstep!

This works out perfectly because in Utah we have another holiday at the end of July for our statehood and it is fun to leave up our patriotic decor past just the fourth of July!

Turquoise Lamp

2011-06-19T22:59:00.000-06:00

Doesn't this lamp make you want to pick it up and buy it....NO?....what?..When I saw this lamp I got all giddy and almost jumped up and down. I had seen a lamp redo on fleamarkettrixie's blog(over a year ago) and she made the most beautiful turquoise lamp. Every once in a while I see something that I just had to try and this was it.....I knew I would be keeping my eye out for a beautiful lamp with a glass ball in the middle so I could try one too. I finally found one...YEAH!!

I didn't know how I was going to get the red paint off until I scratched the price tag ($5) and it all started peeling off(not even paint!!). Sounds great until you realize that every little peice has EXTREME static cling!! I had to use water, rags and all sorts of extreme measures (magic erasers) to get it off. Looked easy at first but, when I noticed the little peices from my shirt were static clinging back on well, I had to take a break and take some cleansing breaths....just kidding...I had to go to my sons baseball game and I finished when I got back.

I started with the metal part of the lamp and painted it grey and then spritzed on some aluminum chrome to give it a pewter/metal finish.

I spritz chrome aluminum on the top lightly to give it a meal sheen.(Thanks Dana for giving me your spray paint stash when you moved...it has come in handy more than once).

I then painted pitch black glaze over the top and then wiped it off while it was still wet.

You can kinda see the difference between the top and the bottom. The top has the pitch black glaze and the bottom does not.

The glaze stays in the crevices.

I then added it to the bottom too. Now for the tuquoise glass.

I wanted to take it all the way apart but, apparently this lamp is wired specially to light up the globe ball so I couldn't get it entirely apart...just enough to pour in paint and roll it around to cover the inside of the glass globe.

I used pre-mixed aqua paint from my stash and added a small pour from my neighbors bench paint(darker aqua) to get my paint color. The paint got a little tricky trying to get it perfectly covered but, patience was the key to getting it entirely covered and not spilling out the end. This was the point where I REALLY wished that the lamp had come entirely apart (note to self: next time...don't buy a globe lamp that lights up...it won't come entirely apart)

You can see the christmas light bulb hole that the small light bulb lights up inside of the globe...that I won't be using because the paint is opaque.

You can even see the spill on the table that happened as I was checking out one end and forgot about the other... Oops!!

The turquoise color was beautiful!! SO happy with the results.

Once it was dry, I screwed it all back together and found a new lampshade at Walmart (my 3rd store I stopped by to find a drum lampshade. Target had some pretty ones but they didn't have the right hardware to fit this lamp...a top mount)

Such a fun color!! So pretty!!!

I am really happy with the results and even happier that I was finally able to try something that I had wanted to do for over a year! Thaks blogland for the idea! So, what do you think? Was it worth the year wait?....