Furniture Makeover

I recently re-did a small China cabinet Ben's mom gave me.  And when I say "re-did" I don't mean that I did anything that a normal person couldn't do.  Just sanded, primed, and painted!

Supplies:
Small can of gray primer (I used Glidden brand)
pack of 150 grit sandpaper
1/2" and 2" paint brushes
pack of small paint brushes (for the detail on the front)
painters tape
small can of paint (I used Martha Stewart "Maine Lobster" in eggshell paint finish)
scrap newspaper

The cabinet had a medium brown stain when I got it, and while researching I found lots of people who said that you have to completely remove the stain before you can paint.  WRONG.  That would have taken me YEARS to finish.  Luckily, Stacy (of The Little Chick fame) gave me some very helpful and time-saving pointers before I started on this little project!

I started out by sanding everything with 150 grit sandpaper.  I can't take all of the credit for the sanding, Ben was definitely helpful, because let's be honest, sanding is no fun.  FYI - I would remove any doors or anything like that and sand those separately.

After we finished sanding, we wiped down everything with a damp cloth and let it dry for a couple of minutes.  As you can see, I had to carefully place strips of newspaper behind the wood on the front so I could paint it.  While this did not 100% keep paint off the glass it was definitely helpful.  Hint - about 5 minutes after you paint the primer remove the newspaper, otherwise the paint will make it stick to the wood (I learned this the hard way) and use new newspaper strips when painting the top coat.

While priming the cabinet I decided to leave the back and bottom brown, but after painting the first coat of red paint I went back and painted the bottom red because something just didn't look right.

Then the red painting started.  I did two coats, which was the perfect amount.  At first I was nervous about this color, because it's red and red can easily go horribly wrong, but after it was all said and done I loved it! 

Hint - do not go by what colors look like on the internet.  They are wrong wrong wrong.  Go look up Maine Lobster.  It looks nothing like this.

The flash makes the glass look weird - sorry

This project was so much fun and really didn't take very long (and you don't have to be a furniture expert to do it)!  I probably could have finished in one weekend if I had devoted most of my time to it.  If any of my instructions weren't clear or if you have any questions just e-mail me - jstansbakery [at] gmail [dot] com

Add Pizazz to your Cookie Bags!

In need of a little pizazz?  A little pick-me-up?  I wish I could claim these bag toppers as my own because they are so cute!  They add that little something extra to a plain ol'bag of cookies.

{http://www.livinglocurto.com/2009/05/thanks-printable/}

Over at Living Locurto she has a template you can print out for free!  And get this, they fit on any standard sized plastic baggie (7" wide).  I can't wait to make my next batch of cookies and use these toppers!

Happy Friday!

P.S. Thanks Polka Dot Birthday for sharing this great website! 

The Last of Christmas Paintings!

Without a doubt in my mind I can say I am burned out on Christmas paintings.  This is not to say that I will never paint similar things again, because I know I will, but perhaps with some colors other than red and green (I'm thinking pink would be a good start).  To finish out the painting season, here are the last few that I did:

Yes, I know this one is not Christmas related, but I couldn't resist!

 

I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season as much as I am!  This weekend I'm making tons of cookies, so be on the look out next week!

Holiday Paintings

I promised I would put up more of the canvases I've been working on, so here they are!

The "Grinch" one is my favorite (such a great movie)! I'm thinking about hanging it in my office during the holidays!

A family friend requested the below painting. I thought the colors turned out really well!

I have an order for a canvas with a snowman and the phrase "Let it snow", so that will be my weekend project (after the Razorback game, of course) and I'll report back next week!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Whimsical Christmas

I think everyone will agree when I say that the Christmas season is upon us! Stores are putting up holiday decorations, the weather is starting to get cool (finally), and radio stations are starting to play Christmas tunes. (fa-la-la-la-la)

Whenever this time of year approaches, I find myself in the mood to do more arts and crafts (as I'm sure many of you do). My first project this Christmas season is a collection of whimsical Christmas signs. "'Tis the season to be JOLLY" is the first to be completed (but there are many more to come, don't worry)! This one was painted on a 16x20 canvas with candy cane stripes and a cute polka dot ribbon. This weekend I have many (probably too many) projects to complete, one of which consists of finishing a Grinch-themed sign, as well as some other fun Christmas ones. (Oh and I have a birthday cake to deliver Saturday! Pictures to come!)

Please contact me by e-mail or leave a comment if you would like to purchase a Christmas-themed sign of your very own! They can be made to say anything you want and in any size and color.

P.S. Christmas music starts on Sirius radio on Monday, November 16! Channels 3, 4, 7, 9, and 62!

Halloween Costume - Betty Draper

For Halloween this year Ben and I went as Don and Betty Draper from AMC's Mad Men. We've become slightly obsessed with the show and who wouldn't love an excuse to dress like they're from the 1960s? So with Halloween as our excuse, we began working on our costumes. Ben's was easy because he already had a gray suit. After that all he needed was a skinny tie, pocket square, and slicked-back hair. Well luckily his great-aunt left him a bunch of ties that one of her husbands used to wear and even more lucky was that Ben decided to actually keep a couple of them. Next came the pocket square. Well he just dropped by Jos. A. Bank and grabbed one (I actually quite like them). Oh and he borrowed a brief case that my dad used to use, but that was just a bonus. Poof! Ben's costume is complete.

My costume was considerably more difficult to find, and I actually never found a dress I wanted (that was a somewhat reasonable price). While shopping in a vintage store, becoming frustrated that I could not find something that looked like "Betty", it dawned on me. Why don't I just make my halloween costume. Sewing a dress couldn't be that hard, right? You just follow the pattern, simple as that. Oh how wrong I was. Haha. I laugh just thinking about the silly ideas that were going through my head as I was coming up with this brilliant idea.

Next thing I know I'm dragging Ben to Hancocks Fabric store looking for a floral print (those were popular back then, right?) I found one with purple, blue, and teal in it (I could see the dress in my head, I had the perfect belt to match). Here I am, fabric in one hand, pattern in the other, determined that I was going to sew the perfect Betty Draper dress - zipper and all. Well let me tell you, I did not end up sewing a dress. Don't worry, I did have something to wear for halloween. What I ended up doing was sewing a skirt. See, the thing is, there is no way I could have sewn a whole dress in the amount of time I had (that's my story I'm sticking to it).

Even though I didn't complete what I had set out to, I am quite proud of the skirt I ended up with - zipper and all. Just throw on a blouse, pearls, belt, petticoat, and matching heels and I was a regular ol' Betty.

Pumpkin Carving!

I love love love to carve pumpkins. October is always a really busy month for my family because we have 6 birthdays! This year, however, October seemed to be especially busy. I normally like to carve pumpkins at the beginning of October, but this year Ben and I didn't get around to carving until October 21! (gasp!)

I let Ben scoop out all of the insides. I usually don't mind doing that, but I wasn't up for getting my hands dirty this year. On a side note - I am noticing now that he has slight googly-eyes. oops! haha.

We always like to think of our own pumpkin designs. I think it's more fun to have a one-of-a-kind jack-0-lantern. So we knew we wanted a mean-looking-but-not-too-scary pumpkin face. I sketched it out and started drawing.



Here are the two pumpkins we did last year.

I think our pumpkins are simple and classic. Your basic jack-o-lantern. No fancy knives or scrapers to be found here!

Party Aprons Galore!

A couple of weekends ago, I made entirely too many aprons, cut my pinkie finger on the sewing machine, and learned a lot about my sewing technique. You've seen some of these fabrics before, but some are new ones that I know I will be using again. I've started using only to two different fabrics, instead of three, replacing the third one with ruffles or lace.

I created a small information card to slip in the pocket and another to tie around the ties with Care Instructions.

Here's the dining room table/my sewing room with the six aprons laid out. Little did I know what I was getting myself into!

This apron is called Ocean Breeze, one of my new favorite fabric combination! The green lace at the pocket and bottom of the apron is vintage. My Mimi used to sew and luckily she saved just about everything and now I'm getting to use it!

This apron is called Mary's Garden, named after the main character in the Secret Garden. I have not used a lot of pinks in my fabrics (for no particular reason, because I like pink), but this is one I could never grow tired of.

This one is called Contemporary Vintage, because the apron fabric has a vintage-ish feel to it, but when mixed with the cute, small polka dots, it becomes something more modern!

This apron is called Sweet Plum. I was hesitant to buy this fabric at first, but I have found that it works well with so many others. The lace on this apron is from Mimi as well.

Can you tell I'm having fun? :)

Fancy Camera Strap

I recently purchased a Nikon D60 (which I LOVE) and I had seen tutorials on how to cover an existing camera strap to make it more unique, so of course I needed to try making my own.

I searched around for a website that had good how-to instructions and this is the one I ended up using. She shows step-by-step instructions which makes this project relatively easy compared to other blogs I saw.

For this project, I used fusible interfacing for the first time. It's very easy to work with and definitely gives the camera strap more structure. I chose three different fabrics that had similar colors and cut different lengths of each. The hardest part was definitely turning the fabric right side out after I had sewn it together.

One thing I did different from the instructions was that I did not sew the fabric to the ends of the camera strap, because I was not sure if I would want to keep it on there forever. This way if I get tired of this fabric, I can slip it off and put a new one on! If you want to make a camera strap of your own, I suggest you go to the "Make It and Love It" blog, because she has some great advice, and because I got so excited about making mine, that I did not take ONE SINGLE PICTURE until it was finished. oops!

Aprons Aprons Aprons!

Over the weekend I made some aprons (3 to be exact). Two of them were half aprons and one was a full apron.

To make the full apron, I had to get creative because I did not have a pattern. Instead, I used a paper bag and unfolded it and drew the pattern (just trying to be green!). I folded my fabric in half (it was about 1 1/2 yards of fabric).

I drew the pattern on the fabric then cut it out.

I then folded, ironed, and sewed around the edges. I cut out a 7" x 9" rectangle from a coordinating fabric and folded, ironed, and sewed around those edges. Then I cut some off-white ruffle for the top of the apron and the top of the pocket.

For the ties, I used a light tan grosgrain ribbon. I cut two 26" ties for the neck and two 32" ties for the back. I pinned these in place and tried on the apron to make sure it would fit OK. Then I just sewed them on!

The reason the ties for the back seem long is so that if I want to tie it in the front I have enough to do so.

Also this weekend, the gift shop at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute started carrying my aprons!!! Yeah for making my first sale!

Another Hostess Apron

Well I've caught the apron-making bug. I'm trying to think of something else I can learn how to sew, but it is just so much fun to find fabrics that I can mix and match for the aprons. Luckily my Mimi saved just about everything, so I have these great vintage fabrics and trimmings that I found in the garage. However, for this particular apron, I used fabric from Hobby Lobby, but the trimming is from Mimi's collection.

Below are pictures of the final product and pieces of fabric I used. If you know anyone who wants an apron, I have made too many, so point them in my direction!

here's the link to my previous post with step by step instructions. If anyone has a cute full apron pattern send it to me!

Lamp Makeover

This weekend I decided to take on a small project and redo a desk lamp. I got the yellow and white fabric from Cynthia East Fabrics in Little Rock. It was in the remnants section, so I got a little over a yard for $10! Then I purchased the cowboy-themed lamp from a garage sale for $2. The can of Dover White glossy spray paint was $5 and the lamp shade was $6. So I spent a total of $23 and I have plenty of paint and fabric left to do another lamp.

I found that to get an even coat of spray paint, lightly spray the object every 10-15 minutes, this way the paint will not get runny.

The lamp shade I got from Hobby Lobby makes re-covering shade so easy! It comes with a paper overlay and you can take off and trace onto the fabric so you get the perfect pattern. The shade also has adhesive so that the fabric sticks to it.

I carefully placed the fabric on the shade, making sure to smooth it out completely.

I glued a piece of lace ribbon to cover up the seem. One thing I did not like about the pre-adhesive lamp shade is that it does not have adhesive at the top or bottom rims of the shade, so I had to go back and glue all around that. But other than that, this was a simple project!

BEFORE:

AFTER: