Your "Basic" Oak Bar Stool Makeover

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Check out these darling bar stools! I think they are anyway. 

I gotta tell ya. When I first found these bar stools, I was so excited & had BIG plans. I brought these plain, solid oak bar stools home & was ready to get to work on them right away. Well then, things started to go wrong, colors weren't looking right. I was going to do a dark stained seat with a vintage design that didn't work out quite the way I was hoping. So, they sat back in a corner for a long time, a couple of years long. 

Then, I decided I'd try to remedy the way they looked & I painted them a different color & tried to redo the seat. I was getting frustrated with the seat part - again. THEN, they sat in my over-filled-with-more-crap-than-my-family-should-bear dining room. Sat in there for "who knows how MANY" months. 

Finally, the answer to their prayers (& mine) came in a message I received on my Facebook selling page (Rustique & Chic) late last year. I just kept reading it over & over....not believing the words my eyes were reading. It was from General Finishes!! If you paint & stain furniture, you might know this name. GF had seen my work on my Facebook page & wanted me to use their product! NO WAY people! They are probably the most used stain for the tops of every kind of piece you can think of on the internet! They make Java Gel, my dream stain! Right about now you should be hearing brakes screeching to a halt. LOL They weren't offering the stain at this time. BUT! They did want me to try two of their paint colors. I was like, what? They make paint? Not just any ol' latex paint. They make Milk Paint. To be honest with you, I had never heard of milk paint until Miss Mustard Seed came out with her own line of it, that comes in a powder that you mix with water. So I went on the General Finishes website to see what it was all about. It's already premixed perfectly for you & comes in some amazing colors. 


I sent them back my response that I would be thrilled to try out their product! Hello! I'm not stupid. Although, I was hoping I could pick out my own colors, but that wasn't the case. I'm taking a chance on getting something I can't work with, but after looking at all their colors, I was confident that wouldn't be a problem.

They sent me a pint of Buttermilk Yellow. I have to admit that I don't use a whole lot of "color" when I paint. I definitely use more neutral colors & occasionally red. I LOVED this shade of yellow though! Very country-ish looking.

I wanted to test out a color combination on something small to begin with, just to see how I liked this color AND the combination. 

This little footstool worked out great for that.

I wanted the top black, since it goes well with yellow, but I didn't want it to give the impression of bumble bee colors, so I distressed the top & then stained over that. I really liked it! I have to say, after using this milk paint, I really like the coverage compared to the cheap Walmart latex paint I'm used to buying. This is smooth & so creamy. A little really goes a long way. 

That's when it hit me to do those darn bar stools for the last time. I was determined to finally be finished with them this time.

And I AM done with them and couldn't be happier. But I don't just paint my furniture. I have to make my stuff into conversation pieces, even if they're just a bar stool. It's what I like to call "simple with a Wow factor." I created a pretty stencil for the seat with my Cameo and now I just adore how these look, & the General Finishes Buttermilk Yellow was the breath of fresh air they needed. I do want to point out that the paint on these bar stool have been stained over using Varethane Walnut Gel Stain, so it has a toned down appearance compared to the foot stool.

And since I liked the stencil design & look of this paint with distressed black so well, I decided to do up a cheese dome with the same theme.

Super. cute.


Until next time ~ be creative! 

**This is a sponsored post by General Finished paint, but the comments & opinions are my own.


 
 

Magically Change a Vintage Cabinet into a Car?

 Ok, so maybe it's not so much of a magic trick as it sounds as it is having patience and determination. 

It took me some time to make this cute piece happen. 

You see, it all started with discovering this awesome bit of inspiration through Pinterest (you all know about Pinterest, right?) and this beauty can be found at Gadget Sponge.

Pretty friggin' awesome, am I right? I knew in an instant I had to find that kind of cabinet. That was step one. And I really did want to duplicate this bad boy as close as possible, but without the light thingy on top.

I knew there would be some subtle differences, but there ended up being so many more than I had originally wanted.

But you know what? I'm totally cool with how it turned out and I can really say I made it my own.

Like the handle on the drawer. How cool that it looks like a vintage car door handle!  And since we're going with a car theme here, and not really wanting to go with a refrigerator logo as was on the inspiration piece, I wanted to find a vintage Chevrolet logo, but didn't want to go that expense. I thought I could find one for a couple bucks. I did not. BUT, I did find this Chevy fender skirt accent piece that just fit the spot I wanted it in. The price ended up being much more reasonable than the Chevrolet piece I thought I wanted. The more I kept talking to the guy who was selling it, the lower the price kept going, and I wasn't even asking him to go less.

I didn't realize how hard it would be to find the right sized basket for this space. This was the 2nd basket I bought. The first one was the style I wanted, but it was a bit too large, but I was going to try to make it work. Later I found this one, not buying it with intentions of using it for this, but in digging through my mountains of stash, I found it & it fit better. It also meant I needed a smaller license plate. I found a small red one at the same flea market where I bought this one, but it was $26 ~ eep! This one was $20 cheaper. I can settle.

Even though I adore distressed paint on furniture ~ I just adore it, I wanted to make mine shinier than the inspiration piece, with chrome looking trim. So, I spray painted it high gloss red & shiny chrome for that brand new car look. It probably took me 6-8 months to find all the pieces to make this one project complete, so it definitely wasn't *POOF!* ~magic.


That isn't one of the reasons why I keep doing this, but the results are.

 Parties I'm Linking to:

 

A Pumpkin Face Take on the Snowman Muffin Tins

Just a quick post here, even though it's only been since FOREVER that I've done one! Am I right?

Yes, I know I'm right...

If you've done any Holiday searching on Pinterest, then you just might have come across some cute muffin tins decorated up like snowmen. I thought they were so cute, I even did my own! You can read more about those & see the original inspiration if you click HERE.

I did a little searching on Pinterest to see if anyone had done a pumpkin face muffin tin yet & didn't find anything like it. I found some cute scrapbooking type muffin tins decorated for Halloween, but nothing even close to what I was looking for. I did a search on Google & still nothing, except some yummy looking pumpkin recipes that I might have to check out.

I started out thinking I would do all the muffin spots as a pumpkin face. I even painted them all orange. Then, as I was getting ready to do the last one, I thought that maybe I could do something a little bit different. And so, the one little ghost face was added. If I do any more of these tins, I might change the mouth design on the ghost, I'm not thrilled with how it turned out but you can still tell it's a ghost.

I won't say this project is actually done, because I want to add something for the black background, but if I don't get that far, it's still cute enough the way it is.

I was also thinking that this might be a fun project for the little kiddos to do with a black marker if they aren't big enough to carve their own pumpkin yet, & it could even be a memento that they could keep for years. I would recommend using a spray sealer for that. I use Krylon Matte sealer because it doesn't yellow & gives it a nice finish without a high gloss, unless you like that look.

Have a Blessed day!

 
Parties I'm linking to:

Unique Gift Container

Who doesn't like the insulated canning jar cups that are out on the market now? I've found a way to use them as part of the gift AND the wrapping! They are coming out in some really great colors now & you can even buy extra replacement straws too!

This is going to be a really quick post, but I wanted to share it with you in case your scrambling for a last minute Easter "basket" for someone special. In fact, this idea is perfect for any time, not just Easter!

My older sister lives in a group home with 3 other ladies and they all have some kind of mental disability. My sister has Downs, and we just recently had it confirmed that she has the onset of dementia. I'm trying to figure out what I need to do from here, as it seems to be progressing quicker than I'd like to witness.

I always try to do something for each of the members of their house at the gift giving holidays and even a little something for their staff, because those ladies put up with a LOT!  Actually, I don't do enough for them, but I try.

I wanted something different from the usual basket that they really have no other uses for, and I hate to waste my money on such disposable items. I wanted them to have something useful & yet make it look a little pretty in it's presentation. I have a ton of tulle ribbon, so this was a another use for that, even though it barely made a dent. 

I purchased the cups at Walmart. They're less than $5 each for the smaller ones, like these. This cup is for my sister. Her favorite color is purple, but since they didn't have that in their selection, this is what I settled for. I tied hers with some turquoise tulle and the others have light pink. She loves bright & festive things, so this should please her.

This is one of the other cups that's clear, so you can see the contents inside. It's still hard to tell, but there's a little bit of Easter grass in the bottom to make it feel festive.

I'm hoping you were a little bit inspired to think outside of the typical gift box with this unique & useful idea!

 Happy Easter & God Bless!

Teacher Appreciation Sign

We're getting closer to the end of the school year and come some time in May, we'll be doing Teacher Appreciation week around here. 

Now mind you, this project was not originally my idea and I don't know anything about the original artist, so I won't post their photo without being able to give them proper credit. I was sent a phone picture by one of my customers asking me to make something similar. I believe the original one was done freehand on canvas maybe, while mine was done with the help of my Silhouette Cameo on wood.

I wish I could tell you what all the fonts are, but I had this melt down with my lack of proper judgement by installing the newest version for my Cameo much too soon. I ended up installing & uninstalling it AND the old version 3 times each just to get this project done by the deadline. I can tell you that the font for TEACHER & the name at the bottom is Cornfed. Others are TMJ, Hello Heartache, Comic Sans, Happy Sans, Hippy Movement, & maybe Segoe Script? I know there are some more, but if you want to make this sign yourself, make it your own & choose which fonts YOU like! I'm thinking the apple was part of a title image from the Silhouette store, I just made one fat & one skinny.

All you have to do is paint your board black first. And here's a little tip for making your colors POP on a black background, do a primer coat of your design in white first. 

Trust me, if you didn't do a white base coast first, the pink & green paints would have had a black undertone to them & harder to see, plus you would have had to do many more coats. Since I cut my "stencil" design using plain white contact paper, it makes it easy to keep it in place & do each color over the white with little hassle & barely a trace of the white. I had a couple of letters with a white edge, but I touched them up with a fine artist brush. Once the paint is completely dry, I like to spray a couple coats of a matte sealer. 

 

**I have to mention that my late Mother In Law had a hand in creating this sign. I was afraid I was going to have to out & purchase another bottle of pink paint, since that's what my client wanted, but I went to check my stash, just to make sure. Wouldn't ya know it? There was a bottle of Country Rose paint that I had inherited from my MIL, Barb. And it was EXACTLY the right shade too. I only have one other bottle of pink paint & it's baby pink. I just had to share that with you, for those that read my blog & knew my dear Mother-in-Law.

Have a great day!

Fancy Smancy Frenchy Table

Gee, I haven't posted anything new since 2013. Oh, I've started at least 3 new posts that never got finished, and now here we are into April. Time sure does fly!

You can usually tell my excitement for Spring by my anticipation for blooming flowers in my gardens, especially after the long, snowy winter we've just had this past year.  

We STILL have a 2 tiny piles of snow left in our yard, & no, we didn't just get hit with that snowstorm that Minnesota & the Dakotas (& Canada) just got a week or so ago (thank you Lord!)

 

Of course, these piles are from the massive piles that my husband created from plowing our driveway & we live in the woods, so the shade from the trees help to keep them around even longer than usual.

I do have some very tiny flowers blooming right now, so that's good to see!

These little blue ones are some escapees that I need to transplant somewhere else. I've learned that these will spread like crazy if left unchecked! I want them by the edge of my woods, behind my garden shed where they can just "go to town!"

My poor looking Rhododendron tree took a hard hit from the long term freezing temps. It's looking pretty rough! I wonder if I'll get very many blooms on it this year? It's never looked this bad in the 11 years we've lived here.

This is what it looked like last year in 2013, I guess we'll see what May brings for it.

 

However, as much as I LOVE to see my plants and flowers emerge in the spring, there just might be one other thing I love a tiny bit more....

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...GARAGE SALES!! 

In years past, it's been warm enough once in a while that there might be some as early as late March & even more in early April. This year, nothing in March in my small town. But there was one yesterday in a nearby town. I tried to be good & not go there, and I didn't! Buuuuut, I learned that my sweet hubby was working in that town & it just happened to work out that he was able to go scope it out for me at the end of the day. I'm sure there was more there that I would have probably liked, but what he sent me pictures of with his phone was enough. 

He found a wicker-like birdcage, a pitcher and bowl in a wash stand, and this beauty!

I had no idea the table looked this pretty based on the photo my hubby sent. It had pillows sitting on one side & a throw on the other & it was far away, so I didn't notice the inlay detail.

It does have a repair that looks easy enough to take care of. I've dealt with worse.

I had my husband do a little wheelin' & dealin' on a price for everything - a little "bundling".... you know, American Pickers style!

I want to get started on this piece right away, because I have an Artisan Market on May 3 that will have the kind of clientele that just might be in the market for something like this. I'd love to keep it myself, but I don't think it's a right fit in my woodsy, rustic home. Well, I could if I wanted to redo the entire living room over, which would be much to my husband's dismay.

So keep your fingers crossed that you'll get to see a post on the finished table! (and maybe say a little prayer that we have great weather for the artisan market too)

Teacher's Gift with the Silhouette

Just a quick post today to share with you a simple teacher's gift that I made up for my daughter to give to her 4th grade teacher.  Her teacher's last name is Hopple and even before she got married, she collected frogs, so it's kind of funny that she collects frogs AND her last name is Hopple.

It's a large bottle of Hand Sanitizer that just so happens to have an image of an Aloe Vera plant on the backside, which doesn't show up here very well. I traced & layered this cute little frog from a clip art image I Googled, then added her name to middle in a fun little font, that sort of has the appearance of hopping (just agree with me on this - ok?). It's called An Unfortunate Event and was free, probably at Dafont.com, but not sure on that. I tied a sheer matching green ribbon at the top and called it good.

We're also giving her an Attic Treasures stuffed frog that looks more like a vintage style than kiddie-like....

...and this little wooden spool ornament I made. (yeah, I have a TON of lights on my tree)

That's all for today. Keeping it short & sweet since I have some more projects to finish and the one is not going well at all. I'm on my 5th try to make it work. It's supposed to be a Christmas present that a customer is purchasing. Needless to say, I am NOT happy that the easiest part is now my biggest headache! That hard parts are all done & turned out beautifully.

Have a WONDERFUL Christmas (in case I don't get back on here before THE big day!)

2013 Christmas Mantel

I don't think I had shared any photos of my Christmas mantel last year. Maybe that's because it wasn't much to speak of, or I just didn't have the motivation to write a post about it. Yea. That's probably more like it.

This year's mantel really isn't much to speak of either, but that's the look I was going for...something simple that will carry through the winter, as I'm just now getting around to decorating for the holidays. I just put up our tree on the 15th of December and THAT has NEVER been that late in getting put up. I swear, it gets later & later every year. 

Since we repainted our living room this summer in a two-tone beige color scheme from the basic (dirty) white, I wanted something that went with the room & yet was still noticeable on the darker stone wall & mantel tones.

You can see a little bit of the paint scheme to the left in the photo - just pay no attention to that horrible popcorn ceiling. We have every intention of removing that some day, but it's a huge room that will take forever and a day just to get scraped off.

This is a sign I made for myself after I made one last year that sold immediately in my first craft show. I'm just now getting around to finishing mine up. I made it from a cabinet door that I painted & distressed, some dollar store picture frames that I painted white, scrapbook paper & my Silhouette Cameo. It's hard to tell in this shot, but I've also embossed the background paper in the frames with a Tim Holtz vintage postmark embossing folder & inked them in Tea stain with Tim Holtz stamp ink.

It's probably not a wise choice to do my mantel in such light colors because it's almost pointless to dust up there as long as we're using the fireplace insert. I can dust & there's literally dust there again in just a matter of seconds. Even though this insert is a newer one, it blows out a ton more dust than the identical one we have in another room that is 15 years old & this one doesn't blow out the heat anything like the old one does either. It's better than not having one though, I guess.

So I'll enjoy this photo of it while it's less dusty.

 
I'm linking to these parties:

Funky Junk White party

A Dicken's Christmas Lamp Post

"'Tis the Season" as they say this time of year! Around here though, 'tis the season of crafting & craziness! I barely have the first decoration up yet in the house ... thank goodness we have a wee bit of a dusting of snow outside to give you a little bit of that Christmas feeling at MY house. 

I finally finished my last craft show of the year and it has been a whirlwind year for me. I was up until 1:00 a.m. the night before trying to finish some last minute projects & still didn't get a few others done that was on the list, but only because I couldn't find some of the materials needed to complete them. They've gotten "misplaced" in all the madness. I'm trying to locate them & clean up now, so I'm hoping they appear so I can finish them up & save them to have a head start for next year's holiday craft show madness. Sometimes it's all about shortcuts, even if I have to store them for 11 months. It will be a nice surprise when I discover them next year!

I already shared with you the pretty Christmas suitcase I made, which there were 3 made & sold. 

Then there was the little bitty Elf Christmas tree in a wooden boot. If you missed it, you need to check it out.

Today, I'm showing off my Dicken's style Christmas Lamp Post.

It sort of reminded me of a lamp post you might see in a Dicken's Christmas Carol. It was originally a honey brown wood tone when I got it, but I thought it would be more striking in black. I think it really makes the red & white candy stripes really pop!

 

I made the little sign myself & I am so happy that I was able to make that candy stripe bow...I'm not good at making bows to begin with, but this ribbon was super stiff. I had a hard time twisting it so that the white backside wouldn't show, yet not look like a wadded up mess, but I got it & I actually like it! Even my 21 year old son was impressed & he could care less about how my crafts look. 

I just added some home grown grapevines, some skimpy tufts of wired greenery & the ever popular pip berries in red & white, which completes the final touches to the post portion.

I hope some of you are able to create some holiday crafts either to sell or just to add your own personal charm to your own home. Which ever it is, just enjoy the creative process.

  
I'm linking to these parties:

Remodelaholic