Library Catalog Part 1 of ???

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

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

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!