Homemade Christmas in January: a Wreath & Art.

This past Christmas was a very frugal one for us. I wanted to give my inlaws something that they would enjoy, but kept coming up with very expensive gift ideas. I decided to look at Bubbly's Pinterest board for inspiration and found this:

http://pinterest.com/pin/259590365991016365/

Now inspired and excited, I ran to Hobby Lobby and got: a large framed picture on clearance, 2 yards of burlap, a large gold M, white spray paint, and extra hot glue.

Spray paint both the frame & letter.

I doubled up my burlap and just covered the backside of the picture itself. Glue burlap down on all sides to prevent sagging, fold and staple corners.

Insert burlap "picture" into frame. 

Quickly glue the letter into place and apply pressure until completely dry. Distress frame and letter edges with fine grit sandpaper.

I was pretty pleased with the end result, but it just wasn't enough by itself. So, I made a wreath.

I bought another 2 yards of burlap, some wooden letters, and a can of red glitter spray paint.

I cut the burlap into 4 inch wide strips.

 I had a sudden craving for toast and milk. It was de-lish!

Pre-folding burlap into stacks helps to make the threading onto the hanger faster.

At this point, the center of my burlap is threaded onto the hanger, but the hanger sagged under the weight and looked pathetic. I ran out, got a wreath form and wired the two together into a circle. I spray painted my letters glittery red, and wired them to the wreath after drying. 

 Now, I realize that this wreath is in support of Oklahoma football and how sacreligious it was to make in this Texas house, BUT-the things you do for those you love. I will repent and I beg for your forgiveness. 

And since we just gave them their gift this week, even though it's been wrapped for a month:

Merry Christmas in January, Pop & Bubbly!

Paint Stick Lamp Shade

Months ago I royally screwed up a lampshade thinking I would be able to recover it in burlap. WRONG! I had removed the support system and was left with nothing but two metal hoops & no backup plan. So I searched high & low on Pinterest & found a hanging shade covered in paint stir sticks.  http://pinterest.com/pin/259590365990946016/
Here's my version:
Snag as many stir sticks as the paint department will give you, this took several trips. Make sure the glue gun is locked & loaded-this project used alot of glue.

Then figure out where to place the hoops. Use your glue gun to apply glue to both ends of the stick at the same time. Hold hoops in place while applying pressure with two hands & your forehead as necessary. You will look like an idiot & hope that the UPS guy doesn't show up & look through the front door. I stretched rubber bands for extra reinforcement during drying time & cut them off later.

After about an hour & a half of repeating this process I ended up with a pretty cute shade, which matches the light wood in the room or could be painted or stained.

Good Luck!

If you build it, they will come.

I have always been a daydreamer. So in 2007 when I found THE wedding gown on ebay, brand new, and listed at $99, I was unable to resist. I bid & won, not caring that I was painfully single with no man in sight. I hung the gown in my closet & kept it a secret from most, but told a few girlfriends "if you build it, they will come" and we would laugh. Nine months later I met Chris, a year after that we were married and I wore my beautiful $99 bargain that fit like a glove.

 Fast foward to now, we are trying desperately to have a baby. My sister-in-laws have stopped having kids and have given us all of their outgrown items.(bouncer, clothes, bumbo, crib, etc.) We have set up the third bedroom with many of these items, choosing again to believe: If you build it, they will come. I chose a paint color that I like for either gender and decided to keep the furniture neutral. I will wait until there is a baby coming to choose fabrics and details, but will keep with a vintage theme no matter the gender. I couldn't keep my hands out of the paint can once I put the crib together, I love the crib but not the finish:

It took two weekends to paint the damn thing, and if you are concerned that the drop-rail cribs have been recalled, don't worry, we will fix it so that it doesn't drop.

This is a windowless room due to the fact that it is located on the neighbor's side of our patio home. I hate that it has no window.

Ignore the lamp, I'm thinking about making a burlap shade for it. The blue and cream chippy table is an antique store score from many years ago. I plan on changing diapers on top of it and stocking the basket with wipes, diapers, burp cloths, and anything else we will need at hand.

The nursery is in no way a baby shrine, it is a dose of encouragement every time I walk past. To me it would have been far sadder to leave the room empty and lean the crib against the wall in the garage. It reminds me daily to keep hoping and praying to become a mamma very soon.

DIY: Dresser Revamp

I finally found two matching tall dressers after searching for two years. These were on Craigslist for $100 each, and were removed from a fancy and historic hotel in Downtown Dallas. One of the dressers is missing one drawer pull, I am currently on the hunt for one on ebay. Here is the before:

As usual, I painted the dressers in ivory and finished them off with polyurethane.

The pulls were a problem: besides being brass(eww), they are two different sizes, neither are the standard size so, I had to keep them. I wanted to give them an aged look, I came up with a technique that is similar to faux mercury glass minus the glass. First I sprayed the pulls with water in a small spray bottle, then I sprayed them with a light coat of pewter metallic and gold metallic spray paint, i would immediately spritz with water again and repeat the process until the bronze finish was completely covered. 

After allowing them to dry, I touched/barely rubbed some of the air bubbles with a fine grit sand paper to give an "aged" appearance. Finally, I applied several coats of a clear polurethane spray.

Wah-lah!

We would like to mount the tv onto the wall, the dressers will stay side by side even if the tv goes up. Ignore the missing pull, I will find a matching one if it kills me!

DIY: Dining Room Table into Coffee Table

This summer our family rented a cabin in the Texas Hill Country & floated the Guadalupe River for a couple of days. In the living room of the cabin the owners had cut down a giant round dining table to coffee table height, and I was in love. I began eyeballing my living room table, which I fancy, but decided that it wasn't ideal for our layout, it allowed very little room to walk around to sit down on the sofa.(Fifi was obviously NOT camera ready)

I searched Craigslist for weeks for the right table and never found one as large as my inspiration piece but discovered this antique oak table for $60! I started painting it before I realized I didn't have a before photo-oops!

Chris cut down the pedestal portion to coffee table height & replaced the old nuts and bolts to screw the pedestal and table top together.

I am painting all of my furniture in the same technique to unite the mis-matching pieces. I use an ivory colored Olympic flat paint from Lowes, seal it with Minwax water based polyurethane, and distress a few edges with fine grit sandpaper. Since the hubs was then out of town, I assembled the table on my own, and  had to quickly verify that I was current on my tetanus injection, darn those jagged-rusty-antique metal pieces!

This is so much better for our small living room, it really opened up the room without deleting table space. Chris really likes it too, we enjoyed getting to do this project together. DIY=romance in our book.

DIY: Book Wreath

Pinterest is my crack addiction. I'm to the point where I think I'd die without my daily dose of Pinterest. I love making wreaths and coudn't pass up the Book Wreath, as seen on Pinterest. Here's how I made mine:
First, make a trip to your local thrift shop & grab a few paperback novels, I dug for the ones that had faded & yellowed from age. I also purchased two styrafoam wreaths at the craft store. This craft took a few hours since I decided to make two wreaths.

Then, I tore out all of the book pages. I found that if you rolled the pages in you're desired size & added a fold to the bottom, that you could both pre-roll & that there was a better surface to glue onto.

I started gluing with hot glue around the outer edge & worked my way in. After burning the bejesus out of my finger, I discovered that using a flathead screwdriver was a wonderful tool to prevent injury. Add a line of hot glue to the bottom edge of your bookpage & press down onto wreath for a few seconds with the screwdriver.

After you have completed the front, move onto the interior portion, & lastly the outer side. I glued and pinned a loop of ribbon on the back to hang the wreath from. Here's a pic of the back, minus the ribbon loop.

How pretty!

I decided to hang my wreaths above the bed in our guest bedroom, love it!

DIY: Patio Chair Makeover

Last summer I bought this vintage patio set & spray painted the chair seats to jazz them up a bit. They didn't turn out as I had hoped & definetly didn't go with our space.

Today, I was wandering around downtown, strolled into the fabulous J. Wilde's and was pleasntly surprised by this cool Aqua vinyl for just $9.75 a yard!

After lifting the seat cushion, I cut a piece of vinyl to fit the seat, used my trusty staple gun that was not being so reliable(words were said), and trimmed the extra off.

The finished chair is SO stinkin' cute, it now flows perfectly with our pottery. The impact of color is much needed when you have a view of nothing but your neighbors brick wall.

I am finally pleased with the patio table and chairs, they just look so peppy! As soon as the heat dies down I envision breakfast on the patio, fall planting, & simply sitting around enjoying the evening with my man.