Craigs List Finds!!

I was looking around Craigslist the other day and found the cabinet in the first picture.  I do believe that's a window they've used for the door.  How cute is that??  : - )   I am keeping the picture for future inspriation... 

The second picture was posted on craigs list, too.  I called the guy that had 3 doors listed.  I'm seeing a headboard in the future of the door on the left!!  He said $50 each.  I'm definitely interested in the 2 glass doors.  (There is a 3rd door in the picture - it's behind the door with the glass, and it has glass, too, only without the dividers.) Hubby and I went today to pick up the 2 doors with the glass, and the guy said he'd take $100 for all three................ and THEN he threw another door in the mix.  It's a 15 pane door.  He gave me all 4 doors for $100!!!  The 15 pane door will definitly be my headboard.  I'm still thinking about what to do with the other 3 doors. 

Does anyone have any good ideas???  I would LOVE to hear them!!!

Then the door guy told me about a place where they sell antique architecture........  So, hubs and I headed over there.  WOW - - this place had OLD doors that were like 5 feet wide by 13 feet tall -  that's a SINGLE door, NOT a DOUBLE door.  We found 2 identical doors that each had a solid window in the top half,  and I think, 2 horizontal panels in the bottom half.  In the middle, there was a shelf like contraption on each one.  They would be WONDERFUL to make an entry way coat rack thing...........  but the thing is....  they wanted $400 for the pair..................well - THOSE doors are still where we found them.   They had a bunch of cast iron stars and a few diamonds!!  I got 2 stars for $10 each.  We also got a very unique door knob with a back plate that had a W on it...........  (Incase you hadn't noticed - - I have a 'thang' for monograms....)  And the last thing we picked up was a wooden soda box...  Since Donna over at Funky Junk interiors has everyone thinking 'center pieces'.....  I thought the soda box would be a great base for a center piece!!

I have a couple of projects that I'm working on, but I doubt they will be done by next weekend.  I will post pictures as soon as I can!! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

Hugs !! Suz

ANOTHER Lamp!

I had a little 'situation'.  I changed the lamp in my bathroom.  The old one was a small lamp, and it used the same kind of bulb as a night light.  It was just enough light that when you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you don't HAVE to turn the big light on.  Perfect - except the lamp base was a couple of snowmen with BLUE accents and the shade was a faded light baby blue.  And my bathroom?  It is NOT blue - well - it isn't blue - but we still have the early 70's blue toilet and tub.  I TOLD you we're in the middle of redoing our house!!   Anywho - - I got a wild hair (actually, I have several - - going GRAY early is very predominant in my family - - and do you know how crazy those hairs are???  WILD AND CRAZY,  hmmm maybe THAT'S why Steve Martin had gray hair at a young age too....) I really didn't need to post all that, did I?  LOL..   OK OK back to my lamp story....

So I put a NEW lamp in my bathroom a couple of weeks ago, and now I have to keep my bathroom doors shut at night or I don't sleep so well.  The lamp takes an appliance bulb.  And the smallest wattage is 40w.  And it doesn't help that the ONLY lamp shade I could find that was a good size for the lamp was WHITE.  Now, I need sunglasses to put on when I get up in the middle of the night.  LOL

I decided to try to darken the shade a bit.  (I didn't take during photos because I just wasn't sure how this wild hair was going to turn out - now I wish I did)

First of all, I covered the shade with some 'Script-y' scrapbook paper.  Since I only had 12" x 12" pieces, I had to piece it.  Next time, I'll be more careful of how wide my seams are, but for now, I'm ok with this.  I learned something.  Learning is good!!  I Mod-Podged the paper to the lamp and put a coat of Mod Podge over the paper.  I painted the inside of the lamp shade dark brown (I need to put another coat on it, but was so excited, I didn't take the time last night.  PLUS - - it was late when the hairs went wild!!).  Next, I rubbed some of the paint on the outside, then wiped it off.  It aged the paper perfectly.  Now to 'finish' the edges.... 

So - I have this 'thing' for twine....  Given the choice of fancy fru-fru ruffly bows or plain twine?  I'll take the twine every time!!  I hot glued twine around the top, and looped it.  I LOVE how that turned out!!  Then I hotglued the twin around the bottom, and made a bow.  I applied my 'W' that I cut out with my cricut (Lord Fontleroy Brown is the font - the same font I used for my other lamps - look here!).

I put the shade back on the lamp and turned it on!  Love it!!

Waddayathink?? 

By the way - pretty sure that's ALL you get to see of my bathroom in it's BEFORE state...  :-)

Have an awesome day!

Hugs ~~ Suz


Posted this at:

Yesterday's Blog Find!

Yesterday morning, while I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs, I came across a new blog (via Funky Junk Interiors).  It is The Little Green Bean.  WOW!!

I've been telling my hubs all about these projects I'm finding that ya'll are using 'junk' to make and how beautimous they are, and I THINK he's getting interested in going junking with me!!  Showed him this and now his wheels are turning, too!!

Missy is one T-A-L-E-N-T-E-D lady!!  The first project of her's that I saw is this Charging Station Like No Other!  WOW  You can sure say THAT again!!  I love the details - and how she repurposed her junk and it's functional again!!





Love this bedroom!!    Missy gives a wonderful tour of it here!!  I LOVE the colors she used!  Missy, if you don't mind, I am SO going to try to work some a lot of your details into my bedroom when I start my redo.  I am so NOT loving my bedroom - I'm not even going to post 'before' pics......... 



Check out her table she made with WASHBOARDS!!  Hmmm  I've got a couple of those around here......

(Mine have glass instead of the metal part to rub your clothes on - REALLY cool - - thinking:  maybe I could somehow incorporate a light under the table top????  Any Ideas???  I'm open to them!!)








 

Anywho -- I LOVE Missy's blog and will visit OFTEN (Is 3 or 4 times a day considered 'stalking'??)

 

Go check it out!!!  Tell Missy I sent you!!!

 

Hugs ~~ Suz

My Favorite Projects I Visited This Week!!

First, I would like to thank everyone that visited my little blog!  It's so much fun to check in a couple of times a day and see new comments!!  WOW!!  Again -- Thank you!!

I bett you all are tired of my "Lamp Redo Redone" - I think I posted almost everywhere I found that I could this week.  I haven't finished the second lamp yet.  My SIL was borrowing my laptop and that's where I have my SCAL loaded, so.... I couldn't cut my vinyl stencil.  I'm thinking I might add "est. 2003" to the shades (that's the year the hubs and I were married!).  Funny - I didn't even mention the lamp to my daughter, and it was one of the first things she noticed when she came home this weekend!!

So, here are some of my favorite projects from you guys that I found this past week.  You ALL give so much inspriaton!!  Thank you!  Thank you!! Thank you!!

Nicole, at Craft Bake Domesticate did a wonderful tutorial on making your own colored glass tiles.  Then she used those glass tiles to make her own custom backsplach for her kitchen.  It turned out BEAUTIFUL.  You can go see her tutorial here!



I've also seen that a lot of you have some very creative ideas for old cupboard doors.  I came across this idea over at Thrifty Decorating.  I love how Nikki brought it all together with the ribbon!!  You can go see her tutorial here!!



I can't wait to try this!  I have a friend who is married to a guy that makes cabinets in our area with his brothers.....  I sent her an email as soon as I saw this!!


I also came upon Michell's blog - Girl In Air.  She posted a wonderful pendant light she made using an already existing can light, a convertor kit and a mason jar.  I love anything mason!!!  I fell in love with her light and can't wait to get my hands on a couple of those converter kits!!  I never knew those existed!!

You can read all about it here!




I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I still need to win the lottery so I can stay home and craft and not HAVE to work outside the home...........  :-)

I also hope you have a great week!!

Hugs ~~ Suz

I Made A Couple of Buttons!!

NO NO NO  Not buttons for clothing or decorating - - BLOG BUTTONS!! hahhahah



So - - I go lurking around all of these fabulous blogs I've found and I see almost everyone has buttons!! I want buttons, too!!
I tried to make mine... I tried to link it up - - DIDN'T WORK!! It had me really feeling like I was so stupid....

Last night I was wondering around, looking at all of the links in Blue Cricket Design's linky party and saw where Momma Go Round had tutorials on creating buttons, signatures and pages... WHAT??? I went to her tutorial and set about creating my own buttons..... So Simple!!! Nina explains it very well, that even I could understand!!

Here's a link to her post Momma Go Round Grab Button

I made my own!!!  YAY

Here it is!!   (Are you ready???)  (Are you sure??)   Okay ... ok...... here it is!!!  (giggling with delight!!)



AND - -I did a 'I was Featured' Button, too!!  Here it is!!!  (Still giggling....)




THANK YOU, NINA!!!

(Ok - - so it's Saturday morning 1/22/11, and I realized - - I didn't tell you where or how I designed my buttons and my blog header.  I found some super-cute recipe cards that Collette made over at My Computer is My Canvas made with a program called Scrapbook MAX!!  This software is the easiest to use!!  She has the cutest blog headers, too, that she designs with Scrapbook Max!!  I am so glad I stumbled upon her site!!  I visit often!  She really makes some beautiful lay-outs and cards and all kinds of stuff!!!  Go see her!!!    I used this software to create my header and my buttons.  I've also been using it to make a cookbook for my daughter (that will be posted SOMEDAY!!))

If you are needing buttons - - follow Nina's easy peasy directions!!!  And have fun!!

Hugs ~~ Suz

Lamp Redo - Redone!!!

So - - I was really NOT feeling the love for my lamps I redid last week.  They looked, well, sad....  kinda frumpy..............  not hip!!

Yesterday, the hubs and my SIL and my niece and I went shopping.   Hobby Lobby was the first store we went to.  I knew that I wanted some toile - - off white with brown.  Got it picked out, then went to go get some burlap...........  and put the toile back.  (And sooo happy I did!!)  The toile was on sale for 30% off of $7.99 a yard.  The burlap was $3.99 a yard!!

We went to Lowes and I got some hammered spray paint, but brown, instead of the blue/gray I picked up and used last week. 

I took the lamps all apart (BTW -- I had hot glued the material to the lamp shades last week - - and boy did I do a good job with that......... Did you know that you can use your embossing gun thing to warm up the hot glue to get it runny/soft enough to pull the stuff apart??  wow -- - it was soo cool!!)

I spray painted the bases (again) with the new color - - I love it!!

For the lamp shades, AFTER I took the material off, I spread out my burlap on the table.  I laid the lampshade on it's side, and had the seam of the shade laying right on top of the fold of the burlap.  Then I took a pen and drew a line about 1/2 " to 3/4" away from the top of the shade.  I rolled the shade and continued my line until it rolled around and back to the fold.  I did the same thing for the bottom of the shade.  Then I cut it out.  (Hopefully these pictures will show you how I did it better than I can explain it....)

I cut the burlap on one side of the half circle I made and lined it up with the seam on the shade.  Then I sprayed some super tacky adhesive on it (a little section at a time) and rolled the burlap onto it.  I started by lining up the cut edge with the seam on the shade and just worked around.  I smoothed it as I went just to make sure it was going where I wanted it to.  When I got all around the shade, I over lapped it a little, again, at the seam and then cut the rest of the fabric off.

I cut a "W" out of a piece of vinyl with my cricut.  I weeded the "W" out so I had a stencil.  I put the stencil on the lampshade and painted it in with some espresso acrylic paint.  I didn't go over it very heavily because I wanted it to look worn and old.....

I removed the vinyl to reveal the "W" - - YAY!!  It looks GREAT!!  (The font is LordFontleroyBrown)

Then I discovered that I really didn't leave quite enough fabric on the edges to tuck under and glue.... dang it...  I took some twine and wrapped it around the top edge and the bottom edge and secured it with hot glue.  I'm really loving how it turned out. 

I am soo much happier with it now!!!  What do you think??

Before: 



Last week's after (this week's before):



And this week's after:

So much better!!!

Thanks for looking!!  Have a great week!!

Hugs~~ Suz

My project was featured!!




I'm posting this project here:

My Take on Cottage Hill Dry Erase Calendar

My husband's grandma is 91 years young.  Next weekend we will be moving her to an assisted living apartment just around the corner from us.  I loved Lindy's Dry Erase Calendar over at Cottage Hill!  I incorprated her Calendar into a fun calendar for Grandma!   I hope you like!!

First, I used a 18" x 24" poster frame I picked up at Menard's

Instead of using Burlap, like Lindy, I had some cork shelf/drawer liner left over from another project.  I took the frame apart and used the backboard to size it.  I cut about an inch off of the backing of the cork to help line it up and make sure it was straight on the backboard (before I had ALL of the sticky stuff exposed and THEN figure out it was crooked...) on the side that would be facing out through the plexiglass.

After I got the cork started and made sure it was straight, I turned it over and pulled the backing away with one hand and pressed it smoothe with my other hand.  It was very easy!

Then I made my calendar box with a square ruler thingy that I found in my hubby's corner of the garage.  The boxes are approximately 2" square.  (The Saturday boxes are a little narrower because I didn't allow for the thickness of my lines I made with my Sharpie....  So I learned something!!!)

I cut out our last name in vinyl on my cricut expressions, as well as some retro looking flowers.  (Nope - didn't use a cartridge - - I have SCAL!!)  I placed them on the cork (I had to manually put the letters on - - either my transfer tape was too sticky, or the vinyl just didn't want to stick to the cork - - or both!  That part was yucky!!)  Then I found a piece of scrapbook paper that had different words on it, so I cut some of them out, too, and place them around.  I put it all together, and here it is!!!

Ok - - So I learn A LOT during my projects!!!  Did you know that dry erase markers DON'T work on plexi glass?  Well.......... I didn't - - and they don't.   Dangit..........  I figured THAT out after I had this all put together.  Ah, well.........  luckily the glass shop is just around the corner.  Surely a piece of glass for this won't be THAT much........... 

Anyway - - this is the board I made for Grandma's new room.  Comments are always welcome!!! 

Hugs ~~ Suz

P.S.  I'm going to go redo my lamp redo - - Definitely decided I don't like them......



I'm submitting this to:

Quiet Week

Hi, Everyone!   I'm sorry I've been so quiet this week!!  I haven't gotten a chance to create anything since Sunday and that makes me sad....  But - - if you consider going through boxes of junk and getting rid of stuff and doing laundry and cleaning house being creative - - then WOW!!  I HAVE been creative!!!

I'm going to post a couple of my favorite projects I found this week that ya'll did!!  Thanks so much for sharing!!!  LOVE IT!!


Tracie at Cleverly Inspired redid her stairs and they look so FAB!!  Go see the whole project here!!   I love the chocolate and white!!




I love this chandalier redo!!  Beth at The Stories of A to Z tells all about it here!!  I showed it to my husband and since Beth mentioned Craigslist - - he went hunting for me and found all kinds of fixtures that would work with this.....  but they were kind of pricey.  I'm going to hold out for a cheap or free one!!  Keep your fingers crossed!  (plus - - I don't think my craft room can hold too many more supplies for projects I've found in blogland!!)  (I think I've always had a thing for mason jars....  I have PLENTY on hand to do a few of these!!  Who knew - - Mason Jars.  Not JUST for canning!!)



I love this!!

I have also found that I love what everyone is doing with old wooden pallets!!  Here's what 4 Growing Boys did with her pallet!  I <3 this!!  Check it out here!!



And here's what Donna at Funky Junk Interiors did with her old pallet.  Here is her post!  WOW!!  I wish my brain worked like her's!!!



Those are my fave's for the week.  If you found some cool upcycles for wooden pallets, please share!!  I'd love to see them!

Have a GREAT Saturday!!  Are you doing anything fun??


Hugs ~~ Suz