The Birds and the Bees

April 29, 2012

Source: etsy.com via Kathleen on Pinterest


Got your attention, now, didn't I?  No, this is not going to be about "those" birds and bees.  But this will be about those ever popular bees you can't help but see everywhere these days.  Ironically I'm actually allergic to bees.  Nonetheless, I like them.  I really, really like them.










I love this graphic, don't you?

I recently finished a piece I've been working on for a while.  The brick and mortar store where I sell my jewelry needed me to beef up my inventory (cause things were selling!) and that was just the push I needed to finish it.


I already had the bee pendant, but it needed just a little something.  So I added vintage rhinestones, of course!  And the dangling bee, well, let's just say that Goodwill was my friend the day I found this baby.  It's actually a pin.  I left it as is, in case the wearer might ever want to wear it as a pin.





I used some of my favorite rhinestone balls and faceted glass crystal beads to add a little more sparkle.  And I'm really happy with it.  And you know I'm really into bees these days because I've created a "Bees" Pinterest board.  Such fun!






Do these look fabulous or what?



And how cool is this?  A beehive pendant lamp!

My next project is to make some bee-inspired pillows, assuming I can get my graphically-challenged brain to figure out the best way to transfer the graphics I  love onto fabric.  Penny, are you listening?

I hope you've enjoyed my little foray into the world of bees.  If you did, be sure to stop on by my Pinterest page, "Like" me on Facebook or become a GFC Follower if you're not one already.  Just click on "Join This Site" in my sidebar under "Do You Follow?"

Oh, and if you're interested in the necklace and you live in the area, check out Sensible Threadz in St. Charles, IL.  Their info is on my sidebar.

Have a great week!


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Industrial Farmhouse Chic Wire Votive Holder

April 23, 2012

Sometimes things come together j-u-s-t  right.  And when they do, I'm one happy girl.  Let me show you how I transformed some Goodwill and Target dollar bin purchases into an industrial chic votive holder.


I picked up this wire "basket" (for lack of a better word) at Goodwill for $2.99.  Even though it's actually new, it's made to look old and I love that!  I've seen this kind of industrial farmhouse chic go for big bucks lately as it's all the rage.


The wire was just the right amount of "rusted" and the tins looked, well, old.  Which around here is synonymous with perfect.  As much as I loved the tins I knew the basket had a whole other life ahead of it.  Just look.  

(Okay, the rest of my pictures are noticeably smaller than the first two.  Can someone tell me how to get my photos to be "xtra large" as in the preset option from blogger?  Whenever I try that for most of my photos they become too big and get cut off.  But some are ok and work just fine as "xtra large."  Yet they all start out the same size.  I'm lost.)


By the way, there's a label on the bottom of the tins that says Hobby Lobby $21.99.  Yeah, right.  But I digress.  That other life.....yes, well, in comes Target's dollar bin. I couldn't believe my luck when I stumbled upon these.


Aren't they cute?  They also come in a few different colors but I thought the clear glass would be more versatile.  Something told me they were just the right size to fit inside the wire basket's three compartments.  So I took a chance and brought them home.  And voila.


Perfect!  Luckily, for some unknown reason, we have a boatload of citronella votives stashed away, so I used a few of those and they worked beautifully.  I was also thinking these could be used as awesome hanging lanterns as well.


Sorry about the varied graininess of the photos. I was playing around with PicMonkey since, alas, Picnik is no longer.  Sniff, sniff.  Does anyone else miss it already like I do?

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to using this handy votive holder out on the patio this summer.


Fourth of July, here we come.

xoxo



DIY Ruffle Shower Curtain

April 18, 2012

Can I trust you to keep a secret?  My DIY ruffle shower curtain  is really a drapery panel!

Okay, so it’s not exactly do-it-yourself.  I scored something the other day at Goodwill that caused me to experience a pitter-patter moment.  It was one of those finds that you place in the cart, then put back, then place in the cart again.  It was a big, white, ruffly curtain.  Curtain?  Well, a single curtain panel, without a match.  From Target!

Target{dot}com still carries them here.  Okay, so this is two panels, but you get the picture.

I first pictured it on the window in my daughter’s room.  Then I realized that I’d need another panel to make the set . And that wasn’t happening, no matter how long I scrounged around in that Domestics bin for a match.  It still had the Target label on it, and a price: $19.99.  Uh, no thanks.  But there was a line drawn through the price, which meant maybe it was cheap after all.  When I got to the register the nice guy said, hhmmm, how about $4.99?  As much as I hated paying that much, I realized it was a steal (for new) and said OK. Now I am SO glad I did!  Before I even got home I thought… how about a shower curtain?  The kids’ bathroom really needed a facelift.  And it’s the only bathroom of the 4 that has a regular sized tub which actually needs a curtain.  I remembered seeing some ruffly shower curtains in the blogosphere and my mind went nuts. 


And  knock-offs, too.


You can read about this over at Prudently Painted Vintage.  Her tutorial is not for the faint of heart.  As I am not a sewer, I think my idea worked out fabulously.  What do you think?


No, this is not it.  It's the BEFORE shot!  Gotta have a before shot.

Now, the AFTER!





What do you think?

Next I'd like to paint the vanity white.  Now if we could just get rid of those wallpapered Noah’s Ark animals on the wall.  Any suggestions?

xoxo


Wooden Wine Barrel Lid ~ Frenchified

April 16, 2012


Okay so I'm not really sure what you even call this thing. Wooden-plate-that-looks-hauntingly-like-an-aged- wine-barrel-lid?  I picked it up for a song (around $1.99) at Goodwill a few months ago, not knowing exactly what I was going to do with it.  I just knew that I had seen similar stuff (Frenchified, of course) being sold by Pottery Barn, Frontgate, Williams Sonoma, Plow and Hearth to name a few and thought it had potential.  Then I saw Sherry at No Minimalist Here take the plunge and create a beautiful French-inspired lazy susan and knew I had to try it.  Many months later......


Here it is, plain and simple. I debated over it for a while. What type of image to put on it, as well as HOW to put the image on it.  I've been researching graphic transfer methods lately and I will be sharing my thoughts on that with you all soon.  For now I decided to go with the freezer paper method I read about here over at Musings From a French Cottage.  (Make sure you visit the link because I don't feel qualified to give you any instructions on this. For me it was trial and error.)

I wanted a French look, so I used this graphic from our beloved  Graphics Fairy.  I printed it out on the freezer paper just like the instructions said, and I burnished the image just like the instructions said, with this result.




Here's a close up of the top part.

And here's the bottom.

I was really disappointed that the image was so faint.  (But hello, the tutorial said that that was part of the charm, especially for pillows, so I should have realized I might need another transfer method for wood.) Perhaps I'll try to darken it with a Sharpie paint pen.  (I'm always afraid that I'm just going to make it worse if I mess with it, you know?)  Despite this, compared to the $149 version from Frontgate, I'm pretty pleased!


For now it holds a place of honor above the armoire in our family room.



Since it's not a lazy susan per se, I have plans to use it in tandem with an actual large wooden lazy susan I found around the same time at another Goodwill (I know, the luck!).  But of course, there may be some painting involved first......I'll keep you posted.

Hope you all have a great week!

xoxo


Painted Storage Bench Transformation

April 8, 2012



I swear I've read about a thousand blog posts about how to paint furniture.  What paint to use.  Whether or not to sand.  To prime or not to prime? Brush versus roller.  Distress?  Wax? 

IT'S TOO MUCH INFORMATION, PEOPLE!

Am I the only one who feels this way?  My mind has pretty much imploded with the plethora of information out there.  So I finally said to myself  for crying out loud enough is enough and 
JUST DO IT!  
I mean, even Miss Mustard Seed must have had a first paint project, right? (Okay, so she was probably born with a paint brush in her hand but I choose to kid myself on this.) 

Enter the bench.     


I've painted other, much smaller things, but nothing this big.  We've had this bench for 8-10 years.  When we first bought it it was to go in the kitchen (in our last house).  It matched the wood of the cabinets and floors perfectly so it was a no brainer.  I loved it there. Then we moved into another house (in another state with another kitchen) and it just never found that same perfect place, you know?  Then I got the itch.  I mulled the idea around for quite some time, a bit too scared to take the plunge. (Listen to me, you'd think I was talking about something really life-changing or something.) Finally I said what the ---- and put that baby out in the garage for a redo.  Mr. CBD was a doll about it, despite how long it took.


Here it's open, cause I wanted you to see that it has storage and I love that about it!  I primed the whole thing (except for the inside of it, don't tell anyone).  Of course I later came to the conclusion that I really didn't need to prime.  Oh well.  I also learned that lattice work is a real pain in the butt to do.  But I really did want some contrast since the overall color was not very adventurous.  (Maybe next time?)  Oh, and where there's a liftable bench seat involved, look out  --  you need to take the seat off and THEN paint it.  And then have Mr. CBD put it back on without messing up all your hard work.  And I really am glad I did it, although it took me WAY longer than I thought it would!  After priming, I applied two coats of Clark & Kensington Paint & Primer in One (hence the no need to prime first!)  It's the new paint from Ace Hardware and I got it FREE with a coupon during one of their latest promotions.  I actually brought in a paint card from Pottery Barn's latest palette and they matched it perfectly!

So here she is.


I really love it even more now and think it just fits better into our current decor, if you know what I mean.


I'm not sure why the color went wacky on this photo.  I just wanted to show you the detail up close.  





I harangued over whether or not to wax it, and finally decided to go ahead and use clear wax.  Frankly, I'm not sure what the big deal about waxing is (other than for protection) as I really didn't think it looked any different after I was done.  Of course, I may have totally messed it up without even knowing it and that's why!  (Again, way too much info online about waxing, it hurt my head to try and figure it all out.)

Although my family wasn't thrilled that I painted it (not happy with change, I think), I'm happy I did it.  I'm just a bit less eager to start the next paint project now that I know painting furniture is not as easy peasy a job as many bloggers say it is.  Or maybe it will become easy for me, the more I do.  Ssshhhhh, don't tell my family I said that.  

I hope you all had a blessed and happy Easter.  We had a beautiful day that began with an egg hunt, then church, then a nice afternoon in the sun.  Back to the grind tomorrow.  And putting away all those Easter decorations.......

Hope you all have a great week!

xoxo

Copy That: Vintage Lace Turned Anthropologie Necklace Knock-Off

April 4, 2012


After I collected these vintage lace doilies from church barn sales and rummage sales I saw this necklace in an Anthropologie catalog.


I can copy that, I thought, and got to work.

It's uncanny, really, the similarities between their doilies and mine.


So delicate and unique.

I was quite pleased with the result.


I added a repurposed vintage pearl earring.


I picked up this feedsack pillow at a local antiques emporium, just love it!  It makes for a beautiful backdrop for the necklace.




And don't you just love this graphic bird stamp?


For anyone who is interested, this necklace is now available in my Etsy shop.

Have a great week, friends!

xoxo

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