Updating My Craft Room

When I was home for the July 4th holiday, my brother gave me two old windows that he had saved from the trash. (He's a contractor and knows I love old stuff so he rescues things for me that his customers ask him to throw away!)

I decided I wanted a new cabinet for my craft room, so my husband and I worked together to design and build the one you see above using the old windows for doors. Neither of us are builders (this is the 1st piece of furniture we've ever built), so I'm not sure how "properly" it's put together.....but I LOVE it!!!

 I painted all the boards (and the windows) with a homemade chalk paint and then sanded them to give them a distressed/old look. (As a side note: I left the smears of paint from the original owner on the glass because I thought it added more charm and a bit of nostalgia to the piece.)

 Instead of using the light finishing wax that I usually use on my chalk painted furniture, this time I used the dark. It added just the right touch and made my new cabinet look like something out of an old farmhouse! (The photos don't really do it justice -- but they give you a good idea of what it looks like.)

In the past few years my tastes and styles of decorating have changed. I'm becoming sentimental and learning to love antiques and old farmhouse style stuff. I've updated several pieces of furniture to that style, and have started collecting antique decor whenever I can find it for a good deal.  That being said, I wanted to update a few things in my craft room to match my new cabinet.

 I updated the above frame by adding a chicken wire back and dry brushing over the black frame with a "warm buff" paint. I changed up the photo with a vintage style collage using portions of the old and adding in some new! I kept the burlap square, coffee stained doily, and vintage lace piece and added: 1. coffee stained paper doily 2. old dictionary page, vintage photo card (Tim Holtz), and a small cameo.

I also up-cycled a tin can by covering it with a piece of muslin fabric and adding a strip of burlap ribbon.

The can is now sitting on my desk with my most used tools - scissors, small paintbrushes, stylus, paper piercer, craft knife, bone folder, stencil brushes, etc.

Hope you've enjoyed this mini decor update -- I'm enjoying the fresh look and feel it gives my craft room.

This post linked to:
Stamps and Stencils - Color, Texture, Shape
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Anything Goes with lace/trim/ribbon
Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes

Vintage Tart Tin Nests

Here are a couple little 

Vintage Tart Tins that I turned into

spring decor by making bird's nests to fit inside.

 These darling little nests feature

a bit of vintage doily tucked underneath and 

speckled egg inside.

 Perfect for adding to your Spring or Easter displays or

using along with your Cottage Chic, Rustic Farmhouse, or Primitive decor

Upcycle Cake Tin

I love making decor for my house from 

"thrift store junk."

I recently made this pedestal from an old cake tin and

a wooden candle stand - painted/sanded and turned upsidedown!

This one adorns my coffee table as a candle holder,

but you could also use it beside your sink as a soap/lotion stand.

Decorating with antiques

My brother knows that I've recently come to enjoy collecting and  decorating with antiques/old stuff.

He saved me three things that his 

customers ask him to "get rid of" for him!

The first was some old wooden ladders.

He cut me off a section and I'm using 

it in my living room as a blanket ladder!

The second item was an old metal mop bucket.

I turned it into a magazine/book bin for my guest room.

The last item was an old wooden toolbox.

I stood it up on end and am using it as a 

lamp stand in one corner of my dining room. 

Always fun to re-purpose "old stuff" and I love how homey 

antiques make a house feel!

Mason Jar Calendars

Since I had good luck in selling my 2015 Mason Jar Calendars, I decided to make a 2016 version for the Etsy shop.

There are four different paper designs to choose from

Each has a coffee dyed doily on the front and a raffia bow around the neck of the jar

The magnet on the back make them great for your fridge or filing cabinet.

Great for adding to a Christmas card as a small gift for someone special!

Go check them out in the shop!

Wedding Decor

 

I'm finally back home again after a trip to the midwest for my husband's little sister's wedding!

Lots of fun helping out with decor - here's a few pictures

(above is the entry table to the church)

Here's the entry table to the reception hall

I had a lot of fun "scrounging" in my father-in-law's garage for items to use on this table like the old crate, milk can, and peeling window frame!

My sister-in-law and I decorated the bridal table.

The lights under the bride and groom's table added a really neat effect!

This isn't the clearest picture - but you can see how we used some old window frames to decorate the gift table. 

The beautiful bride and her groom!

Primitive Frame

Here's a new primitive frame (9 x 13) that I remade for my craft room.

I painted the frame a "distressed" black and made the insert from red ticking and burlap.

I had then coffee dyed a mini doily and added a strip of lace across the bottom with...

 ...one of my homemade buttons cards.

A mini clip makes this a changeable frame -- add a quote, Scripture, or change the photo from time to time.

  Here my new frame hanging on my craft room wall.

This post linked to:
Roses of Inspiration

Bathroom Reveal

My finished bathroom -- redecorated from a patriotic theme to a primitive/country theme.

I used the colors in my bedroom so everything goes together now!

(The patriotic stuff wasn't wasted -- a friend is redoing her kitchen in that theme so she inherited a big bag of freebies from me!)

 Most things I either a)redid, b) moved from another place in my house, or c) made from scratch.

The only things I had to purchase were my shower curtain, some towels, and two throw rugs.

I used birthday money on those items, so nothing out of the budget for this makeover!

This item used to be a big, painted pledge of allegiance, but I turned it into a primitive embroidered piece. 

Hope you've enjoyed this mini tour of my bathroom makeover!

Embellishments

My niece and I spent a relaxing Sunday afternoon making embellishments for cards.

We used leftover bits and pieces from my scrap bins.

We also tried a different technique -- emboss resist! (You can find a tutorial for that here.)

Supplies and Tools: KRAFT cardstock, Tattered Florals Die (Tim Holtz), Quilling Tool, Puzzle Die (Sizzix), Paper Crimper (Fiskars), Script Stamp, Versamark, Clear Embossing Powder, Assorted Dye Inks, Circle punch, Square Punch, Twine, Pearls, Blossom Nestabilities, Leaf Punch (Martha Stewart), Paperwork Greetings (Inkadinkado)

This post linked to:
Kraft Journal - What's on your work table
(I usually keep my desk clean with nothing but my lamp, clock, and a bin of "tools" on it [see photo below] - BUT today these embellishments were sitting on it waiting to be photographed, blogged about, and put away)

Shutter Make-over

My niece found some old shutters up in her attic and gave them to me to use in decorating.

Here's what they looked like originally:

 I painted them brown and distressed them with some black paint.

I took apart a floral berry pick and twisted it into two little wreaths to hang on them. 

Here's the arrangement I used them for in my living room.

I re-painted my shelf the same brown to match the shutters, and also repainted the framed embroidery to match the layout better.