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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Upcycled candlesticks Shabby Chic

Hi guys! These are some candlesticks that I upcycled the other day. I got the wooden candlesticks at an estate sale this weekend. They had a rather garish paint job. As they are quite hefty, I thought they would look better as a pillar candle holder.
At another estate sale my husband pointed out a box of old lamp parts. I didn't know what in particular I needed them for at that point, but it was a good price so I got them! I got the idea to add them to the top of these candlesticks. I just added a washer and screw and that was it. This was actually meant to hold a glass globe on a lamp. I found when I pulled the tips out a bit so it would hold a pillar candle, it looked like a cute crown! I debated covering the switch hole with a vintage button or and old rhinestone bit, but I decided to let that up to whoever bought them.
It also has all these fabulous little piercings that are perfect to hold vintage chandelier prisms. I also considered adding those but my husband/voice of reason asked "HOW much are you planning to price these?" Oh well..if they don't sell, I will add them and keep them!
I repainted and shabbified and varnished... yes Spell Check..shabbified IS a word!
Too yummy! I am usually a color lover, but I really like the pale on these! Now I will have an eye out for more old wood candlesticks! Man..I am as bad with exclamation points as my 3 yr old grandson is with repeating himself..I dropped my 8yr old off at school this morning and in the 3 mile trip home he used the phrase "I want gummy bears!" 83 times that I counted! Entirely my fault for buying him some yesterday.. Oh well! Hope you have a great day..until next time! Julia

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Upcycled Apothecary jars

Hi guys! This is my latest of about a bazillion projects. I usually have about 6 things going at once! Sometimes I will start something without a definitive answer as to "what am I actually doing here?" Sometimes that is the best way..to make it up as you go along!
These are vintage glass canisters I got at an estate sale a couple weekends ago. I was torn between turning them into moss terrariums (something that even I have a hard time killing!) and leaving them as canisters. They needed a little "something" though. I love old text, letters and numbers and I had these old cardboard choir song board numbers poked in a drawer. The actual numbers were too thick to use as labels so I copied them.
I sealed the fronts and applied them to the jar fronts. All ready for collections of any kind! I like the industrial chic look that these old numbers lend to these jars! Black and white is always a plus for me too! They really can cross a lot of design style lines and still fit in! (Oh my GOSH..how many exclamation points can this woman USE?)
These are for sale on my Etsy shop hopeandjoystudios. The old clothes pins are another of those "projects in waiting" I was talking about earlier! These would be cool for collection display or to hold kitchen or laundry items if you are one of those people with open shelving (NOT me! I need doors to squash things behind! Minimal is not an adjective that will ever be used to describe me, except maybe "I get minimal sleep"!) Hope you are all having a great day! Til next time! Julia

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Vintage clock face Christmas or New Years ornaments

Hi guys! I have been busy this week. My Etsy shops really picked up lately (yay!) thanks to the new relevancy based search there. I have been listing things and making things and got to a couple cool estate sales again today. I didn't even get to post about the one we went to last weekend yet! Well last weekend I found these wonderful vintage clock faces at an estate sale. I wanted to make them into something so I brainstormed for a couple days and came up with these..and a few more things that are as yet on my "brain-ial" drawingboard. I should jot them down before I forget! These are ornaments I made with photos I took of those clock faces. They are glued to chip board and have glittered edges (of course!)
I layered a couple images to cover the holes in the middle of some and also, I just liked how it looked! I love the shabby staining on this one! (for those new to my blog I use exclamation points! A LOT!!)
I covered the backs with vintage French to English dictionary pages because I love text and I picked up a couple new words whilst glueing!
These turned out with a golden, cream and black color scheme that I am reaaaaally liking!
I liberated some of my antique mother of pearl buttons from by button jar for these..
This clock face was amazing..the little inserts behind the numbers was inlaid mother of pearl..so ornate!
I think this is my fav...most are round but there are a few that were square or otherly shaped. This one had applied metal numerals and just the sweetest shabbiness! I ended up making 31 (!) of these. I hope they sell so I can make more! I thought they would be cute on a tree, wreath or used as decor..I'd hang them from my chandelier!Hoping you are having a great week too! Until next time, Julia

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Mapples or Upcycled Apple photo holders Vintage Maps, Sheet Music, Text

Hi guys! These are my newest babies! I had bought a box of wooden apples of dubious age at an estate sale awhile back because 1. they were a great price and 2. I thought they could be made into something. I put them in my booth for quite awhile at $1 each but alas, no takers. So back home they came with me. Some of these were stained and some were natural...some were large and some were smaller. I laid in bed and brainstormed what I could do with them. I love old paper so it was not a huge jump for me to get to "cover them with vintage paper". I tend to like things with a purpose so wire photo display was the next idea..next thing you know...MAPPLES!
This one is Kansas...and by the way, why is Kansas "kan-zas" and Arkansas not "ar-kan-zas"? Or at least why is Kansas not kan-saw? Hmmm. Anywhoo, some of the apples already had stems too. Since these were already shaping up to be odd apples, I decided a black leaf was OK too. It co-ordinated with all those little black dots and squiggles on the map and just looked darn sharp! I added white gel pen stitches to the leaf. The map paper reminds me of patchwork quilts so the faux fabric black leaf works for me.
This one is The Big Mapple since it features New York.
Then I got bored and moved onto vintage French to English dictionary pages. These didn't have a stem so I added a black painted screw as sort of an industrial substitute. Yes I could have used a screw that was already black, but of course all I could find was nice silvery ones..never fear..I have the Krylon stash of a graffiti tagger!
Vintage sheet music.. the lady in this vintage pic always reminds me of Cynthia Nixon from Sex In The City!
I like the decorative element of the musical notes and the text. Even if it doesn't have words, I find I like repurposing old sheet music..I am drawn to pieces with dense angry notes!
On this one I used pages from an antique German bible study book. I don't read German, but have German and German speaking Swiss ancestors. There is something about the print that is familiar to me..maybe it resides in my DNA somehow! It also always reminds me of old German American Fraktur folk art, which I love!Again..I don't speak German, but I am pretty sure this is bits of the 10 Commandments..I should've found pages from the garden of Eden and Adam and Eve since it was an apple! Hoping you are having a great weekend. Ed and I went estate sale-ing this morning (finally) and got some goodies! Yay! A fun day. Until next time! Julia

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

New Painting project Shabby French table and Beachy table

Hi guys! This is a (sort of ) tutorial on some tables I painted yesterday. My husband and I got them this weekend at an estate sale. They were cheap and pretty pitiful but had possibilities. The smaller on was oak and had been left out to the elements for quite awhile..very greige. The bigger table was a cooler primitive one with a wide old 2 board top. Unfortunately the legs were really rotted on the bottoms and were 4 different lengths so I chose to turn this into a coffee table. I measured and Ed cut ..still 4 different lengths! Ed measured and re-cut..3 different lengths but close. I nailed an old pop bottle cap (soda to some folks..coke to the Southerners) to the bottom of the shorter legs for a shim..one took one and one took 2 layered..and viola..nice and steady, no wobbles. I had a helper in the form of my 3 yr old grandson Hunter who loves to help Nina paint....oh goodie! LOL. He is so cute tho' I can't say no..and he is so bossy, "no" is not an option!
This is the big table once I got the legs even. There was dirt/grunge. I DID NOT sand it, I just brushed the dust off and painted.
I did sort of a bad white washy dry brushy coat thinking it was just going to be the base coat, but I like it and stopped there. I used some latex wall paint tinted a bit with craft paint. I am big on using whatever I have on hand!
I got some graphics from the Graphics Fairy and exported them to my good old Print Shop program. Print Shop costs like $20 bucks and it is really basic so I can figure it out. I would love Photo Shop or the ilk someday, but I am not ready yet to shell out $600+ bucks and then have to take a course to figure out how to use it! I printed this as a tall banner..I just printed the left side (top row of words) on the first 3 squares(pages) of the 6 square (page) banner and the center (Cafe) on the last 3 squares (pages), and did another banner for the right side bottom row of words (still 3 squares)and pieced and taped it back together! You could make this up to 6 sheets of regular printer paper wide. When I was trying to decide how big of a graphic I wanted, I just laid 3 sheets of paper (end to end) on the top of my table and decided that was as big as I wanted it...4 would have probably fit too.
Of course I didn't have any transfer paper and Hobby Lobby is an 80 mile round trip away, so I just did a pencil rub transfer. Just color the back of the printout heavily with pencil where the graphics are..you should be able to see them through the paper or you can tape it to a window and do it. Center and tape it to your piece (right side up..pencil side down) and firmly trace the graphic with a pen. Remove the paper and lightly pencil in any faint areas so you can see them. I just trace the outlines, I don't "fill in" anything. Ready to paint!
I sat on my 9 yr old's yoga ball on the carport and painted away. I decided the concrete was going to be a bit uncomfy! You obviously want to start at the top and work down so you don't smear anything with your arm. (Learned that the hard way!) My palette is a foam plate. I just used a skinny brush and craft paint..it went pretty fast. It is not perfect, but I think that adds to the hand painted charm! (that's my theory anyways and I'm sticking to it!)
I outlined the "Cafe" and let it dry, did a pale lavender wash..let it dry and painted the texture lines. Craft paint dries pretty fast.
I lightly sanded everything and sanded heavier on the edges and legs and anywhere it would naturally have wear. It was hard to sand that lettering I just did, but it really does look more authentic sanded than freshly painted.
I painted on crackle medium (wood glue with water thinned to a cream consistancy) let it dry then varnished with water based varnish and let that dry.I antiqued it with some water thinned dark grey brown craft paint that I mixed up in a shade I refer to as "grunge". I just paint some on and spread it about with a wet baby wipe. I do a smallish area at a time and go back immediately with a clean baby wipe and wipe it back to where I want it. I really just want a tiny hint of color and more down in the varnish crackles. I figured this out on my own by painting furniture (and having baby wipes always around!).I fly speckled it a tiny bit with thinned black/brown paint and let that dry. I waxed it with wood paste wax that I had tinted with a small bit of brown paste wax shoe polish (Kiwi) I just swiped my rag across the polish tin a couple times, scooped some wax and applied. After it dries you just buff it off and you are done.
This was the small oak table and the small helper. Again, just dust off, no sanding. I hammered in a couple loose nails and that was it!
I let him paint the top base coat. After he was done , he was happy to go watch toonies and leave the rest to Nina. (I even it up when he is done) He got paint on his belly button!
The base coat was a minty jadeite green latex. I leave some of the original bare wood show here and there.
I covered that with a dry brushy coat of craft paint. I mixed this color from 3 different bottles until it was a color I liked! I let some of the base coat peek through here and there, also I try to not paint over the bare wood I left peek through in the last step.
After crackle, varnish, grunge-ing, speckling, and waxing. I decided against graphics on this one..I liked the beachy cottage color as it was. You can see how much the grunge and tinted wax changes the color. I know this and plan ahead by making my color brighter than I want it to end up. The grunge and wax yellows it down a bit.
Close up of the crackles, grunge and speckles..
The coffee table again. These are going to my booth in Main Street Antiques in Sweetwater (TN).
Leg close up. I do brush off any loose bits before painting When you leave some of the old paint on and don't sand it all off, it just adds to the look. Also if there is lead paint, you are sealing it underneath. Lead paint is something to be aware of with old pieces. This just had a trace of paint left on the legs and I think it was actually milk paint. Generally I would never paint a wonderful primitive piece,( PLEASE DO NOT! I love primitive painted furniture!) but this was in bad shape and the paint was almost gone. I figure if I hadn't bought it to redo, it was headed for the land fill! Hope you picked up some helpful info! Stop on back and see what I am up to next..until then have a great day! Julia

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Vintage Shabby Chic Prom Dress

This is a new find. I love this dress..so pretty! I had a hard time taking pix of it. I tried a mannequin first, but my manni is too bootylicious. So I retook them this morning with it hanging on the wall over my bed..note the sad lack of headboard. I am waiting for "the perfect thing" there! This is a 1950's dress. My prom dresses (1979, 80, 81) were long ones..all homemade too! I had a metallic green(!) one with a shorty jacket w/ crystal pleated trim.. a pink Jessica McClintock homemade Gunne Sax one with a quilted pink satin jacket and a lavender chiffon floral print one that looked like something Scarlett O'Hara would have worn. My prom dates were less than thrilled to be AT the prom (last 2 years it was my now husband!) and as soon as the first dance was over we left for more "happening" events. I was always sort of disgruntled about leaving that soon but too young and dumb to voice my objections!
Ahhhhh.. My grandson was "helping" me take these by jumping on the bed. I had to wait til his head was out of the shot before snapping! Of course we had to take a few pics of him giggling in my covers too.
I love anything sparkly..this skirt was sprinkled with tiny prong set rhinestone studs. Rachel Ashley has elevated pretty vintage prom dresses to a decor item (bless her pretty heart!) I love looking at her pretty things..so romantic and girly!
One of the outdoor shots that you can see the poofy-liciousness of the skirt ..yes Spell check.. that IS a word! Do you have any prom dress memories? Hope y'all have a great day Til next time! Julia

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Altered Tart Tins

I have been tarting it up lately! I did an earlier post on some of these that I submitted to Somerset Life. I decided I needed to make more for my shop! I make these from mostly all vintage materials. The bases are vintage tart tins that I snip, twist, bend and fold. I didn't even cut myself this time! (If that isn't asking for a trip to the ER, I don't know what is!) This one has a Jane Austen flavor. I used antique German book pages from a bible study book (bad girl!) I love the look of old text! She has text "tiles" that spell out Sweet Heart. I think these could be used for more than just Christmas decorations..she has a Valentine feel.
This girl is always one of my favorite images..
I did some without photos because I figured not everyone is into altered pics (gasp!) I love pink and silver..my Gramma Hardie would have loved this..she loved pink and glittery! I used vintage chandelier crystals on all of them.
This used a reproduced prayer card image and has more of an icon feel to it.
This one got the most views when I listed it.
Of course there has to be a Marie one! I like gold and pink together too.
Hot pink..a fav color of mine. This one has antique sheet music as a layer.
I love aqua too! LOL..I am such a color floozy!
This is a girl reproduced from my stash of old pics, some more old German text, a DREAM text tile and some of those old mercury glass Christmas garland beads..I hoarde *cough* collect those and decided to put them back to good use.
The blue Madonna an child. I have others in my Etsy shop...stop on by! I feel all Miss Spammy McPromo lately..I have to find some other craziness to post about! (I have plenty crazy) Til next time! Julia