this, that and the other

I have been busting my butt to get some projects done. Well, sort of. I did use yesterday's storm as an excuse to get out of working but at least I picked up a few things at the hardware store so I can get back to busting my butt this weekend. Well, today and tomorrow anyway, I hear there's another storm brewing up for Sunday. Supposed to be 93 degrees!! If it's not too crazy outside, I might have Jody set up the old AC unit sitting in the garage to see if that helps. 

Anyway, back to this, that and the other. I’m still working on the window screen/jewelry hanger for my friend. I painted the bottom coat in Espresso Bean by Behr, a left over sample paint I bought when I glazed the Antique White window mirror. I really like the look of the darker color underneath the main color and since it was a paint and primer in one I didn’t have to prime the frame. Then I painted it with two coats of Rivulet by Sherwin Williams. I love that place by the way.

I was super scared about how it would turn out since this was my first time using a darker paint underneath so I sanded the frame by hand rather than using the electric sander. I wanted to distress it enough to show the brown and not too much that it just showed the wood. I think it turned out pretty well. And since the Rivulet I bought was a sample paint, (a mighty fine quart sized sample thanks to SW. See why I love them so much.) I thought it would be a good idea to seal it with a clear coat. This was my first time using Polycrylic and I’m not sure I fancy the idea. After the first coat I noticed that the paint crackled. I was a little upset at first because I don’t think it’s supposed to do that, but it actually looks kind of cool and more “antiqued.”

Remember that other smaller screen I showed you a picture of in the last post? That’s what I’m also working on. It was quite a pain to try and strip it so I skipped that step and just sanded the crap out of it. For this one I used primer (not sure why), then one coat of brown and now it’s waiting for its second coat of Rivulet.

And the other thing I’m working on is another window mirror to make sure I have something to post on Etsy since I sold everything a couple of weeks ago. My poor little etsy shop, it’s empty! Which is good and bad. Good because I actually sold EVERYTHING (YAY!) but bad because there’s nothing left to buy (boo).

I’m so anxious to get home and get to work. I have one hour left until I’m free! Hopefully by Monday I'll have two new things to list on Etsy and my friend will be receiving her handmade jewelry screen. 

a little something I'm working on...

As I was boarding my flight to California, I received a notification from Etsy that another one of my window mirrors was purchased.  Yay! But that meant there's only one mirror window left so I made a plan to start busting out some new projects when I returned.

{By the way, my trip to California was so much fun! My niece is so darn cute!}

As for my upcoming project, my friend recently pinned a cute old window turned jewelry hanger to Pinterest and I couldn't help but think about the two screens I have sitting in the garage. I mentioned to her that I could probably make something similar and her response was "Well, what are you waiting for?!?!"

Here are the screens I showed her. 

Screen #1

 Screen #2

She of course loved the first one with the handles, as did I. However, while I don't necessarily love that the left side of the frame is thinner than the right, it will at least add more personality to final piece. I plan to save the handles and attach them once the screen has been painted and distressed.

{Side note: I found a super cute yellow paint color this weekend thanks to Pinterest. It's called White Raisin by Sherwin Williams. I can't wait to test it out on one of my windows! Maybe even screen #2. I'd show you a quick picture of the color but the SW website doesn't do it justice.}

So far I've stripped screen #1 and hopefully if I have enough energy this evening I'll sand it. The original metal screen was fairly easy to remove. I just had to pop off the back frame and pull out the screen. When I have time, I'll swing by our local hardware store and check out their chicken wire.

The chicken wire will be adhered to the back either with u-shaped nails that Jody mentioned I could use or pick up a heavy duty staple gun depending on which is cheaper and more efficient. I'll also pick up some s-hooks so Julie will be able to hang her bracelets and necklaces.

Check back later to see how it turns out!

Kitchen Cart Redo

I did end up lugging my computer to work only to find that our internet sucks and couldn't post anything. So finally, here's how the kitchen cart turned out. Not too bad, eh?

I initially found the idea on Pinterest. The kitchen cart seemed to fit our budget and it was a good fit for the space we had. I actually liked how it looked with the bare wood but I knew it wouldn't look so great over time with the occasional drops of water from the water jug. So we decided to go with a wood stain instead of the finish she chose. Since the wood stain I had wouldn't allow me to use the sealer I also had, we bought a small can of wood stain with Polyurethane in Bombay Mahogany Satin from Home Depot. We liked the dark red-ish color and the fact that it wasn't super glossy. 

Once Jody took it apart, I stained the top and left the bottom bare because I knew we wouldn't see the bottom anyway. Then I painted everything else with two coats in flat white. After the paint dried, I sanded each piece so the edges showed the bare wood to give it that worn look. I'm not sure I'm completely in love with the look since she sanded hers a little less but maybe it'll grow on me. After everything was sanded I had Jody put it all back together again. 

Overall I'm pretty happy with it. The only thing is that the stain is very stinky even after sitting in the garage for two weeks. I'm still getting used to it but occasionally it gets a little overwhelming. 

That's all for now. I just finished up sanding the window I'm working on and picked up the mirrors from our local hardware store. Tomorrow I'll begin painting it and plan to have it done before I fly back to California.  

Oh, did I forget to mention I'm flying to CA for a visit? I got a great deal on tickets through Southwest so I'm flying back a little early to see family and friends. My niece is walking now and I can't wait to chase her around!

Etsy and some good news

Have I mentioned that I finally opened an Etsy site?!?! You can visit me here. I’ve also updated my For Sale page with the items for sale.

I can’t tell you how excited I am. Actually, yes, yes I can. I’M SO EXCITED!! Because…

{drum roll please…}

I just received my first custom order!!!!

In the next two weeks I will be devoting my time to working on the window mirror and will hopefully follow that up with my first sale. Yay! 

Tomorrow, if I have time, I might lug my computer to work so I can show you my newest little project I've been working on. I mentioned it at the bottom of my last post about how much I hate winter. As you know, the weather still sucks so it took a little longer than expected to complete but it's finally done. Stay tuned!

I hate Winter!

Seriously, winter blows. It's too cold to do anything, and by anything I really mean working in the garage. I tried it once, when I had to sand down the wooden blocks for the photo gifts I was making for Christmas. My hands hurt so much from the cold and the vibration from the sander. Gloves would have been a smart idea, sure. But I had only planned to be out there for a minute or two and well, I was just too lazy to find them in the dim light coming from the small bulb in the corner of the garage. Ugh, I can't wait for summer!

Note to self: find better lighting for the garage.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been up to much since my last post. I’ve just been waiting for the temperature to warm up so I can finally get back to some projects. I did, however, manage to knock a couple off my list. I finally got around to framing my antique keys and the cute little antique door knob plates I bought at various antique and occasional shops.

Here’s an idea of what the Framed Door Knob Plates look like. I read this blog just about every day and I love her ideas! I’d show you what mine look like but the pictures aren’t nearly as cute as hers.

Other than that, I’ve just been on Pinterest ALL DAY LONG finding ideas for projects, decorating and pretty much anything that catches my attention.

Here are a few projects I’m thinking of doing:

I came across this when I was looking for ideas for what to do with all my old windows. I already have the bead board. The problem I’m facing is choosing pictures to frame.

Bead Board Picture Frames

I saw this on etsy but I thought it would be neat to try and create something similar. Plus, it’s selling for $54, yikes! I think I might be able to make a cheaper version that's just as cute.

 Mail Holder

How adorable is this?!?! I have no idea how to find a piece of wood like this but I bet the chalk board paint part is super easy.

Chalk Board Paint on Wood

I have a ton more ideas for things to create; I’m just not sure if I’ll actually ever get around to making them. Cross your fingers for warm weather soon so I can get back to the windows and hopefully sell something.

Note to self: take cute pictures of the window mirrors already! And put them up on etsy!

That's all for now!

PS. I <3 Pinterest. If you haven't heard of it, check it out!! You'll be addicted for life!

***UPDATE***

This weekend my boyfriend and I had planned to go to Ikea to check out kitchen islands, or carts, whatever they're called. The purpose was to replace the ugly water cooler with the kitchen cart, place the 5-gallon water jug on top of it and use a water pump that fits neatly on top of the jug to dispense the water.  Bleh, good-bye nasty water cooler!

While at Ikea we discussed three options for kitchen carts.

The first option was white on the bottom, natural on top and short enough to fit in the space we planned to put it. The problem was that it was $199 and the shelves were metal instead of wood. We weren’t a fan of the metal.

The second option was its mini twin but with two wooden shelves and one metal shelf on the bottom. We considered this option for quite some time because it was $149. Less than the first option but we still weren’t sold.

The third option, and the one we ultimately went with, was solid wood and it was only $59.99. Score!

Here’s what it looks like.

Bekvam Kitchen Cart

Nothing fancy. But!  Yep, there's a but, because this is the whole point to the update. Here’s what I plan to do with it...

 

Ikea Kitchen Cart Makeover

Ooooh, aaaaah! I know, cute huh?! I had come across this on Pinterest but hadn't pinned it. Probably because it didn't occur to me that I could actually buy that and make it over myself. I convinced Jody that if we bought it, I would make it pretty and because it was the cheapest option, of course he was sold on the idea. Sure enough, as soon as we got home, I found the pin and voilà, a plan was born.

I'm going to use a dark stain with a sealer on the top instead of distressing it and rubbing it with black paint. The bottom will still be white and I'll do some searching for fancy gadgets like the ones she used.

So there you go, my next project! I’m so excited! Just a couple more months and I’ll get to work on it outside. Hmmmph!

Busy, busy, busy!

Well, as you can see, it's been a long time since I've posted something. I was supposed to set up an Etsy account to sell the window mirrors but I needed cute photos to show them off. The plan was to paint our ugly sage green walls a more pleasing color and get some display shots but the walls are still a work in progress. There was also a Caribbean vacation, then a semi-lonely Thanksgiving and all of a sudden it's almost Christmas time and I needed to bust out the crafts to make all the cool presents I found on Pinterest.

Ha, you laugh because how cool can homemade gifts really be?

Freaking awesome!! Hello?! I was making them. How could they NOT be totally awesome?!

One idea I had was to make a candle out of a wine bottle. I saw a neat video on Pinterest that shows you how to cut a bottle with twine, nail polish remover, a flame and cold water.

The result you ask?

EPIC FAIL! Not only that but I almost lit Jody on fire. So it was back to the drawing board, aka the Internet, to research a better method.

Thanks to YouTube, I was able to find a safer way to cut a bottle from this video, here. This guy is super informative, the cutter was incredibly easy to make and the bottles turned out pretty good. It took quite a few to get a nice cut without the bottle cracking so patience was key. All in all it was a lot of fun and they look so cool!

Sorry in advance for the poor quality photos, these were all taken with the iPhone.

Filled with wax and cooling.

Next, I made my own stickers to adhere to the wine bottle candles just to fancy them up a bit. Yep, something else I found on Pinterest, but for some reason I forgot to pin it so you can find the tutorial, here. These took quite a bit of time during the paper removal part but they turned out really nice. Who would have thought you could make your own stickers?!

The picture below was found on the web. I can't remember where but hopefully I don't get in trouble for stealing it since this was only for a gift and not for sale.

This one is for my sister. Pretty huh?!

And lastly, I found a neat way to make a canvas portrait. The first one turned out so good that I bought three more stretched canvas but unlucky for me, they didn't turn out well. Meanwhile, I had this pinned for who knows how long so I decided to give it a shot. I got my butt to Home Depot, found the right size plank of wood for less than four dollars, had it cut to size for free, and BAM! I had ten cute little planks of wood to make portraits out of. These turned out the best but unfortunately I forgot to take photos of them. Thankfully my friend took a couple photos of hers when she received it.

First canvas portrait

What a cutie!! This is for my cousin since she was chosen as my Secret Santa family member. (This photo was taken before I sealed it with gel medium.)

Wood Portrait

My friend loved this! Who knew you could ship a regular mail package from Minnesota on Saturday and have it get to Washington by Monday.

So that's what I've been up to for the past month or so. I also bought a snowflake mold on Etsy to make peppermint bark. See cute photos and tutorial, here. Aren't they cute?! I have no idea when I'll have time to make these since I'll be in California next Wednesday visiting family and friends and making sangria, Christmas Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites and/or Rolo Turtles for our Christmas Eve Party. So much to do, so little time!

That's all for now. Hopefully my New Year's resolution will be painting the rest of the house and getting those window mirrors posted. I sure could use some cash for February. I'm going back home for my birthday the weekend my niece turns one year old.

By the way, I'm turning 30 soon. Ugh, I'm getting old.

Alas, my first sale piece!

Well folks, it's finally finished! I have completed my first sale piece!

 

Voilà!

Click Here or on the For Sale tab located at the top of the page to view what's currently for sale and to learn more about each piece.

For now all pieces are available for local pick-up only but there's the possibility for shipment in the near future. I just need to chat with FedEx or UPS to figure out how my pieces can be packaged and shipped without damage.

I welcome any feedback you may have so please leave some love for me by adding a comment below. 

That's all for now but I'll hopefully have my next window mirror done by the end of the week so don't forget to check back later!