Book Holder Makeover

I have been looking for a small book holder I could use on my worktable to hold my sewing and craft books.  When I spotted this one in a antique store for only $15.00 I knew it would be perfect.

I just needed to change the color first.

The black is, of course, a very dark color.  It took 3 coats of white paint to completely cover all the black.

after 2 coats of paint

Once the paint was dry I sanded the edges for a distressed appearance.

Next I got out my French Script Stencil and randomly stenciled words on each end.

I used a French gray chalk paint.

All finished and ready for my books.  It is the perfect size, too.

And wouldn't you know my assistant came by for a quality check when I was all done.  She really keeps an eye on me when I am working.

Happy Decorating!

A Few Fall Vignettes

It is finally Fall and I have the house ready for the season.  Throughout the house I have placed a few vignettes to show off the colors of the season. 

Here are a few of them.

In some vases I just added Fall faux flowers to my regular arraignments.

I thought the rich copper color on this thrift store vase would be good for Fall.

A couple of years ago I made these fabric pumpkins with upholstery fabric in rich Autumn colors.  Made the little squirrel that I printed off Pinterest and assembled.

I printed this pheasant to tuck into the leaves from Pinterest, too.

This is a dollar store glass turned upside down I glittered last year to hold a candle.

Oops, forgot I still had this skull left in the basket from Halloween.  He needs to get packed away for next year.  This basket is another thrift store find.  I just love the handmade look with the dried pods on the handle.

Happy Decorating!

Painted Cabinet

This cabinet has been sitting in the Garage for several years waiting for a makeover.  

I finally decided how to make it over and also where to use it in the house.

We have a crazy house.  There are too many doorways and too many hallways.  I swear half the house is made up of hallways.  I don't know what the designers where thinking.

Anyway,  there is an extra doorway in the kitchen I really didn't need.  I decided to place this cabinet in the doorway and give myself a little extra storage in the kitchen. It measured to be a pretty close fit.  Besides who doesn't need more storage in the kitchen?

OOPS!  I forgot to take before pictures before I started painting.  This is an inexpensive melamine shelf that was just too dark for my tastes.  So of course, out came the chalk paint.  As you can tell from the picture the cabinet started out as a faux dark walnut.

I chose to use two colors on this project.  Paris gray and white.

I began by painting the main body and shelves white.

And the back panel gray.

I also thought I would add a little gray to the door panels at the bottom.

Nice, but just too plain.

I went to my studio and pulled out the paper clay.

I also pulled out one of my IOD silicone molds to make a few appliqués.  I dusted the mold with cornstarch and started creating my appliqués.

I removed the piece from the mold right away while it was still wet.  You can leave the pieces in the molds until dry but paper clay has the tendency to warp.  By applying it to the cabinet while wet the appliqués will remain flat.

I applied Tacky Glue to the back.

Next,  I gently adhered the piece to the cabinet, measuring each addition to make sure they lined up with each other.  If your piece is larger and heavier you can hold it in place with blue painters tape.  These pieces where small, so I just held them in place for a few seconds.

I made 3 pieces for the top and one for each door.

Once they where thoroughly dry I painted them.  White at the top with gray highlights and gray on the doors with white highlights.

Love the extra storage and especially love having a spot out of the way for my canisters on the bottom shelf.

This cabinet is not very deep so the it only sticks out into the kitchen a couple of inches then there is the 4 inch thickness of the wall leaving only an inch protruding on the living room side.

So you say, but if this is in the doorway what to do about the backside that faces my living room.

Paint, of course.

I painted the backside gray over the entire piece and hung a chalkboard I made in an oval picture frame, added a couple of angles at the top and set a small table in front of it.  Don't really notice that this area was once a doorway now.  My husband said it look like a door you need a doorknob on it.  No problem, I had a cast iron faux doorknob I hot glued to the back and added a gold tassel.  Oh, also an uplight to add a little light to this dark little corner.

It is hard to notice this was just an empty doorway not long ago.

Happy Decorating!

Fall Leaf Bowl

It has felt like summer, shorts weather, and we are in November.  But thankfully this is supposed to be the last week of hot weather. We've been in high 80's.  Hard to believe.  But rain is supposed to start today and a major snow storm up the mountain.

I am so ready for winter.  Want to change my wardrobe to all my cuddly warm winter items, flannels, velvets, mittens and scarves.  So hard to think about that when the temperatures are so high and the AC is running.  Only last week the heater came on for the first time this season.  Mother Nature was just playing with us, giving us just a little touch of cool air.

So with Fall in mind I started a pretty leaf bowl.  I had lots of the faux Fall leaves leftover from my last project.  I thought I would try to make one of the leaf bowls I have been seeing on the internet.

I began by finding a glass bowl in the shape I wanted my bowl to have.  I covered the outside of the bowl with plastic wrap.  Then I brush on Mod Podge to cover the plastic wrap and laid my leaves in place.

To make sure the leaves held the shape of the bowl I used a little hot glue to tack the leaves to each other.

After the entire bowl was covered with the leaves I coated the outside of the leaves with another coat of Mod Podge.  Next I cut another piece of plastic wrap and covered the whole thing to hold the leaves in place until they were almost dry.

When the Mod Podge was almost set I removed the outer plastic and allowed the leaves to dry for several hours.

After several hours I removed the leaf bowl from the glass bowl with plastic wrap still attached.  I carefully removed the plastic wrap from the inside of my bowl and allowed the bowl to dry overnight.

Then it was ready to fill with Fall foliage.

It is really pretty when the light shines through the leaves.

Happy Crafting!

Thrifted Fall Wreath

I found this rather well used little wreath at a thrift store for $1.00.  It was a bit sad looking and a little crumpled.  I thought I would be able to make a cute Fall wreath with this one.

I used a collection of faux leaves and acorns from the Dollar Store and couple of little pumpkins that were also from the thrift store.

Using my glue gun I glued the leaves randomly around the wreath and added the pumpkins and acorns to the bottom center.  To the top I added a tan ribbon to use a a hanger for the wreath.

Now it really looks like Fall is in the air and this little thrifted wreath fits right in, perfect for the season.

It looks like a completely different wreath all dressed for Fall.

Happy Crafting!