Merry Indie Christmas!

Welcome from the Follower's Fest!

Thanks for checking out my blog- leave a comment and a link and i will check out yours!

On with the spirit of Christmas!  I have been dying to post about my Santa that i found for free at a yard sale several months ago.  I love a good find, especially when the 'find' is FREE.  The women who's house the sale was at seemed super eager to have someone get the Santa (among several other things) off her hands.  I gladly took the Santa plant holder knowing what potential he held.  This is the Santa pre-craft intervention:

 Gotta love his mustache!

After cleaning him up, i took a can a Holiday Red spray paint to him and gave Santa three good coats to make sure he was completely covered.

After Santa was solid red, i went back and spray painted his bucket Holiday Green and added white to make his mustache pop! 

Like i have mentioned before, i have zero ability to keep plants alive, so instead of adding something green to the plant holder i opted for CANDY!  Now my Santa is a candy holder and i can't wait to go out and buy candy canes to go in his bucket!

This project has put me in the spirit to decorate my house for Christmas!

Early Season Greetings to everyone!

{BS}

Frames and Twine...

Since Christmas is just around the corner, and i tend to always procrastinate, i wanted to go ahead and start thinking about gifts i can make for my family.  Each year i force my hand-made projects on them discreetly wrapped in really adorable wrapping paper with hand stamped tags.  I found out today (at Thanksgiving dinner) that some of these gifts were conveniently left at my parents house and never brought home last year.  Apparently my cute chalkboard frames were a little too cute for my younger brother, and i am finally taking a hint.  I should probably step away from the chalkboard paint and broaden my crafting horizons before someone gets hurt.  So after seconds of research on pinterest i found a great idea for frames that doesn't involve chalkboard paint:

Inspiration from a really cool lady- gotta love her birds.

So of course after seeing that i immediately had to jump on the frame train and create something just as adorable.  I took an old oval frame that i had lying around and removed the boring print from the back and sprayed painted the frame white.

After the paint had dried i gathered some small screw hooks, twine, and miniature clothes pins.

I screwed the hooks into the backs of the frames trying to keep them as level as possible.  After the screws were in place i looped twine through the hooks and tied it tightly, creating several different rows.

 

I then cut the extra twine off and hammered the hooks flat against the frame so they would have flush against the wall.

I love the way these turned out!  I plan on hanging these in my kitchen to use it as a recipe holder and message board.   This Twine Frame would be great for photos, jewelry, or even to organize mail or bills.

I loved this so much i had to make another one! And of course add a bird to mine! 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and can find some time this weekend to get a head start on Christmas crafts!

{BS}

Mission to Haiti...

I recently found out that a dear friend from college is raising support to go to Haiti for an entire year to do mission work.

For as long as I have known her, Marlo has had a super sweet and sincere heart.

So it was no surprise to learn that while in Haiti she will be working at an orphanage in Pention-ville.

Marlo has been to Haiti before and wrote about her previous trip to Haiti in her blog:

 

 

“I went to Haiti for the first time at the beginning of June. I was going as a small group leader with our church high school kids. I have lived in many other places before and have been on two mission trips before this one. Usually I get excited about traveling, but this time I felt nervous as well as excited. Going to Haiti was something new, and I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea what God would reveal to me on this trip."

She is having a silent auction fundraiser to raise money for her January trip and i wanted to contribute by donate a painting.  In no way do i want this post to be about be or sound like i am tooting my own horn.  I want to bring awareness to her genuine desire and love to go and help others in need.  I would like you to also support her if you feel led to.  She is going with an organization called Haiti Christian Orphanage and you can support her by purchasing this painting OR going to the HCO's website and clicking on the Simply Give tab and support Marlo Wilt specifically or make a general donation. 

100% of the proceeds will go towards supporting Marlo,

or you can make a donation here: HaitiChristianOrphanage.or​g

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere

you go.   -Mother Teresa

Happy Monday

{BS}

Matching Lamp...

Well i will be the first one to admit that i am the worst when it comes to technology and seem to always find myself puzzled as to why it is constantly failing me.  After my computer spent the last 24 hours installing updates, i finally can post about the matching map lamp!  I went to upload the before, during, and after photos, and somewhere between the camera and my laptop i lost the whole process of making the lamp.  Needless to say i am super frustrated! 

However i still want to show you where the lamp started and how it ended up.

Here is a teaser of where i had begun to take how to pics.  I used the leftover map piece and Mod Podge to seal the map to the generic, plain, gross, off white lamp shade.  I first painted a coat of Mod Podge on the shade and used bull dog clips to help keep the map in place as i wrapped it around the shade.  Once the map was wrapped all the way around i brushed on another coat of Mod Podge and let it dry.

I moved the Map Lamp to my orange nightstand so it would stand out and not blend in with the desk.

I love that it coordinates with the color scheme of the rest of my bedroom, and the blue i used to paint the base was left over from when i painted my bathroom- which can be seen in THIS POST

If you somehow missed out on the matching Map Desk that goes with the lamp click HERE.

{BS}

Desk Part 2...

So i am a couple weeks late in posting the finished desk- but i am so pleased with how it came out i can't really be upset with myself! :)  Like i posted before, the desk started out solid brown wood with really great potential in becoming something unique.  Well after finishing the desk i can't help but just stare at it and how pretty it has become!

I first painted the desk with Behr Premium Paint with three coats.  After the paint had dried i measure the inner square on the front of all four drawers and made templates using office file folders.  Once I had my templates i traced an outline of the template onto a vintage map i 'borrowed' from my dad for a bookmaking project that never happened.  (I always have good crafting intentions)  But i am glad that i still had it in my stash because i think it adds just what this desk needed.

Now normally i'm not into things that are super matchy-matchy, but i couldn't resist taking an old lamp that i bought at Walgreen's my freshman year in college, and transforming it into a vintage map lamp.  LOVE the way this looks lit up.  (I'll post tomorrow how i used the left over pieces to make the lamp).

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Mason Jar Giveaway!  Congrats to Mae Mae for winning!

 Stay tuned for more giveaways and furniture makeovers!

{BS}

Brought to you by another Wow Us Wednesdays!  Thanks Kim for keeping us on track! :)

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

Desk Redo...

I found this adorable solid wood desk free off of a neighborhood list serve and loved the potential that is has!  It is a left handed desk with 4 drawers varying in depth.  I found a couple of inspiration pics off of pinterest that really peeked my interest. 

PROJECT:

This is the desk before anything has been done to it.  Needs some sanding and cleaning before i can bring it inside.

INSPIRATION:

I love the vintage maps used on the desks!  This got me to thinking about a map that i had left over from a book making project. 

I really liked the pale blue color of this desk with matching chair.  I don't have a chair YET, but i will now be on the look out!

I am so excited to get started on this desk!  But before i can do anything i need to take care of some sanding and deal with a pile of melted wax in one of the drawers.

Stay tuned to see how the desk turns out!

{BS}

 

Giveaway still going on  HERE  Don't miss out!

Mason Jar Giveaway!

This weekend i sold some of my recent projects (soon to be blogged about) at a local school's Fall Festival.  While the overall show was more of a miss than a hit, there was one favorite item that everyone loved.  I have to agree with the public that my Chalkboard Mason Jars are pretty amazing, and i want to share them with you.  I took several vintage mason jars that i got from an estate sale, and chose several cool and funny templates to stencil on using my favorite chalkboard paint. 

After washing off the decades of layered dust,

I used tracing paper to sketch out my designs including a mustache, rooster, and a tree.

To make my life easier i taped my design to the INSIDE of the jar and painted inside the lines, on the outside of the jar.

Since the jars are painted with chalkboard paint, the labels can easily be erased and rewritten with chalk whenever you want to change them!  The winner will receive 3 large mason jars of your choice!

This giveaway comes at a good time because i want to thank everyone who has been following me!!!  Thank you for supporting my new hobby and forever passion of crafting great things!  There are three super easy steps to win:

1st:  Follow my blog.  (you must click to follow.  If you just subscribed by email I can't see you, so follow publicly to ensure you win!)

2nd: Get a friend to follow my blog (someone new to my blog world)

Last but not least:

Leave a comment letting me know who you got to follow me and your name will go into the drawing!

The contest if for US residents only. 

The giveaway has ended.

The winner will be contacted by email. 

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

I'M A HOOT!

So it's about time that you knew that i like birds.  Shocking, i know.  So when i came across this vintage owl print from the 1970's at a yard sale i was more than thrilled to snatch it up.  To make things better, it was only $1.  I really love the print, but i wasn't to crazy about the frame itself.  The print is glued into the frame so my only option for change is to change the color of the frame.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the print has shades of navy blue, not black.

To save the owls from over spray, i used painters tape and newspaper to cover the print before spray painting.  I first chose a bright orange color to complement the navy shades. 

So this was supposed to be the cute bright orange.  It dried and looked like it was the original paint from 1970. :(  Without taking the newspaper off i knew it wasn't the right color. 

2nd Attempt:  Turquoise.  MUCH BETTER!

  

The perfect place to hang this was above a vintage metal dresser i have in my bedroom.  I like the combo of the old dresser, vintage colored glass bottles, my mom's jewelry box from the 70's and now my adorable owl family.

P.S. I want to give a shout out to Julia and her adorable blog for mentioning my chalk boarding skills!  You can check out her crafting ideas and her post about me HERE.  Birds of a feather flock together!  Thanks for the love!

{BS}

My Favorite Trio...

So, i am having trouble remembering to stop and pause for a minute and BLOG about all things that i am making!  I wanted to start blogging to capture all of my finished projects, but i had no idea how time consuming blogging was.  It makes me appreciate my favorite blogs and what a commitment those women have made to make their blogs AMAZING. 

Since i am having time management issues this week (let's be real-all my life!) i want to post about three of my favorite paintings that i have (already) made for my home.  All three are large and compliment each space perfectly.  The first is a mixed media work i did while i was in NYC for a summer during college.

This work really means a lot to me and symbolizes my heritage by using thread {my wonderful mom sews, hence my love for buttons} and the journey of my faith.  A journey never ends, so the thread continues outside of the box.  I used natural canvas, paint, sharpies, and orange thread.  To make my life a little easier i poked holes in the canvas first with a large needle to plot my course.  This painting takes up the entire wall above my washer and dryer in my laundry room.

The next work I created originally for my master bath room.  I found a really cute but simple shower curtain on sale at Target and wanted to tie the whole space together with a coordinating painting.  I created (SURPRISE) a silhouette of a bird on a branch.  I layered the background with a solid gray, whitewashed a layer, then stenciled on the pattern of my shower curtain.  Finally I painting the bird in brown.  This was supposed to hang over my toilet... but i thought that it was too pretty not to be a focal point and hidden in my bathroom.  So i moved it to my bedroom and now it hangs over my bed.

My shower curtain inspiration!

Finally my third favorite painting is the focal point of my living room!  Since my house was built in the 1930's it has character and charm but no original lighting.  I would love to have a vintage chandelier installed, but in the meantime i will enjoy my gray and mustard chandelier painting.  In case you haven't noticed i really like silhouettes. 

P.S. Notice how zoomed in it is on each painting??  Yeah- it's because i not only procrastinated blogging, but also put off cleaning my house!  I'm going to go make my bed and take full pictures of each room! 

 Stay tuned for a clean house!  :)

{BS}