Chest of Drawers Now Bookshelves

This started out as a chest of drawers from the early 1990's.

It is solid wood and had a reddish color stain with brass hardware.

Here is an old photo of it since  I didn't get any

before or during the process pictures:

It was part of a complete bedroom set we bought back then,

you know the style that had "etched" mirrors with big chunky 

decorative shelves built in around the headboard and mirror.

I passed it on to my daughter over a dozen years ago. 

She's decided that she won't be using it any longer

despite still liking it, having grown up using it.

Rather than donate the entire set, I kept the chest of drawers

to refurbish into a small book case to store scrapbooks ! 

If I had the room to keep it, I would have done something similar 

to the dresser base. Despite them being "dated" and out of style

(or maybe they are coming back in style ?), I was surprised

that the massive headboard and hutch mirror were taken so quickly

by other people ! Perhaps they were going to refurbish/repurpose them.

Basic how-to (sorry, no photographs):

Four drawers were removed.

It was sanded, spray painted matte gray then

brush painted with white "chalk" paint.

Two shelves were made from white laminate boards.

I wanted to use them rather than paint actual wood,

I thought it would be better for scrapbooks to sit on. 

I considered lining the back with decorative contact paper,

but decided not to waste my time or money since I intend on

filling the shelves with scrapbooks. 

A bit of sanding in places and 

a new nickel drawer pull to finish it off.

I like how it turned out! 

White laminate shelves

Home made chalk paint over

gray spray paint and primer all in one,

lightly sanded to reveal some gray.

 A quick digi scrap page I created to 

document the chest of drawers turned into bookcase.

I used the gorgeous

Creativity digital kit by Kimeric Kreations

available at The Digichick.

Get it before it is gone, it is being retired ! 

Thanks for looking =)

Patriotic Planter Chair

Here is the second of four chairs I reclaimed from a flood

with plans of repurposing them into outdoor decorations / planters.

I listed them for sale, including the beautiful blooming geraniums,

for $25 each. Neither one sold, so I did not finish the other two chairs.

I think I am going to make one for myself though to replace

the one I made years ago. 

This chair uses masking for the lettering.

I used a removable, transparent contact type paper.

I wish I had remembered when doing this that it didn't 

work so well on the painted mailbox project I completed 

last year. Then again, had I remembered, I would have 

thought it didn't work too well due to the grooves on the box.

Anyway, although it was a great idea, the stuff wasn't quite sticky

enough to keep the paint from seeping underneath, making

more work for myself. Also, for some reason the outdoor type

paint I used stuck to the edges of the mask, trying to lift

off as I was removing it. It required hand cutting around each letter 

with an Xacto blade, ever so carefully to only cut the paint layer

and to follow the edges of the mask. Yep, much more work

than I had hoped for. However once it cleaned up,

I'm pretty happy with the effect I made with it ! 

 I carefully scraped away the dry paint with a toothpick.

Below is the mask after I removed it

(I didn't think to take step by step photos).

As you can see it is made up of many pieces.

I had to make it like this since I was using multiple

single Sizzix alphabet dies. I trimmed each piece and

lined them up as best I could to create one single masked word. 

I painted through the letters with a small paint brush,

 using indoor/outdoor craft paint. It required 

multiple layers to cover the dark finish of the chair. 

Thanks for looking =) 

I'm entering my chair planter into the following Anything Goes Challenges:

Through The Craft Room Door June 21-27, 2016

2 Creative Chicks Showcase #11

Crafting By Designs June Anything Goes Challenge

Craft Your Passion Challenge #317

613 Avenue Create Challenge #181

My Top 12 Projects of 2012

Pretty tough to do, but here goes: my top 12 favorite non card projects and my top 12 card projects that I created and shared in 2012, in no particular order.

Non Card Crafty Projects:

Ringos Memory Box - this page shows all four sides, each side has it's own blog post with a tutorial shared over the next few consecutive days after this post.  I have made two other boxes for Mulligan and Cassie using paper mache box bases. This particular box base was made from scratch, see the post to see patterns and dimensions.

Pet Photos Printer Tray Project - tutorial

Tree Of Love - tutorial

Two Cute Bats Halloween Banner Display - tutorial
this particular project won recognition at a challenge blog

Repurposed Plastic Easter Egg Bunny - tutorial

Dahlia Fold Christmas Tree - tutorial
This project was chosen as a favorite from 2012
by a member at Splitcoaststampers

Barn Star Wreath - tutorial

This project was pinned to the
My Memories Suite gallery pinterest board, wow!

Grandparents Day Album In A Tin/Card - tutorial

Baby Shower Gift basket -

stamped onesie, digital designed image inside of repurposed frame I made,

stamped brag book (each has different posts).

Homemade Digital Glitter paper -

 I decided topick one of them as a favorite, 

but it was tough to choose.

I decided to go with this one since I made my own glitter paper

and scanned in old designer papers not available digitally to

make my digital scrapbook page.

Lots of work, but I love the end result. 

look under My Memories Suite

or

My Digital Studio

tabs here on my blog for more ideas.

Milk Can Redo 

This is shared as a favorite for sentimental reasons -

it was a foot rest my grandmother made many, many

years ago. I refinished it and recovered it so my

cat had a step up to get on the couch. 

Cards:

Ford F150 Shaped Card - tutorial

this is all hand made, hand drawn and hand cut

It's A Winner Card

Round Easel Card - tutorial

Trifold Punch Art Bunny and Easter Eggs Card -  tutorial

Pop Up Bouquet Card - tutorial

this is the inside of the card, surprise !

Suspended Spinning Heart Card - tutorial

Woven Heart Card - tutorial

Happy Fourth Shaped Card - tutorial

One Sheet Wonder Fall Cards - for the World Card Making Day Blog Hop , PaperCrafts magazine.
More information including a diagram I created were shared in two additional posts after this one

Punch Art New House Card

Thanks, Coach card

Swing Card

Thanks so much for looking !

I hope there is a project or two I've shared that inspires you =) 

Footrest Redo

My 13 1/2 year old fat cat, Kitty, has been having difficulty jumping onto the couch and bed. I've been saying for months that I needed to make her a step stool - and I finally did it !

This old foot rest was made by my grandmother many, many years ago. She was a seamstress and did some basic upholstery work,  too. This is one of the items she made. It has wooden legs screwed into a base of plywood. She made a brown fabric cover to go over an old red velour couch cushion, stapling it to the bottom of the plywood. I remember this footstool (and another one that mom still has) from when I was little. Grandma passed away 22 years ago yesterday; this is one of the items of hers that I kept. 

It has been out in the garage for years, hubby sat on it while working on cars or as you can see, used it to hold items while he painted them sometimes. Sad to see that it was ruined.

I actually forgot all about it being out there and was going to cover an old storage crate to make the step for Kitty, but he remembered the footrest and asked if I wanted to try to save it. It was, after all, the perfect height and size for kitty not to mention a sturdy piece. 

We sanded down the legs and plywood. I stained them. 

I had a large piece of stretchy denim fabric mom gave me a long time ago to make something of, but hadn't used it yet. I'm not sure if it was something from grandmas fabric stash or something mom bought. I thought it would be a good sturdy fabric to withstand the cat claws as Kitty jumped off and on it, but I wanted to look for something else first. There are no fabric stores where I live, but a nearby Walmart still carries some fabrics so I looked there to see if they had something I liked. No luck. There was a pretty piece of brown fabric that would have been nice to use to coordinate with the furniture,  but it was too pretty and I didn't think it would hold up well to cat claws (and $10.97 a yard!). 

I decided to cut up the denim to make a cover for the old foot stool. I thought about stamping some designs onto it before sewing and decided against it (but wish I had tried it anyway, it looks pretty plain).  I am no seamstress (I did try to make clothing and other items for the kids when they were little) and like to take as many shortcuts as possible so this project was a pretty quick one - and it shows !

I measured the cushion, added and inch to each side, used a large yardstick and pencil to mark the measurements on the back of the fabric and cut it out. Unfortunately it wasn't quite long enough so I had to make two seams on the side pieces. Note to self: if I decide to recover it again, I need to trace around the wooden base to create the top piece. The corners really should have been rounded on it.

I cut out the pieces, made a seam on the two long side pieces then laid them down on top of the top fabric piece  right sides together and stitched them in place . No, I did not pin it in place either; I'm too lazy to waste my time and prick my fingers pinning, unpinning ! Remember, I'm no seamstress (sorry, Grandma!).

I was pleased (relieved!) that it fit well enough so I stapled it to the bottom of them footrest. 

I think it will work just fine for the time being. Kitty has used it twice that I know of.

Edited to Add: I totally meant to enter this in the challenge at 

Anything But a Card Challenge 6: A Stitch in Time: use any time or stitching element

I thought it would fit for two reasons: my sad attempt at upholstery (stitch) and the fact that it was made so long ago (time) by my grandmother, redone present day by myself. I forgot to link it up in time, oh well. 

Thanks for looking =)

Faux Painted/Stamped Cabinet

This is the first piece of furniture I stamped with rubber stamps and acrylic craft paint, 6 years ago. It was a brand new, bright white microwave storage cabinet. I stamped and "distressed" it to make it look "vintage". I needed a storage option for linens in the old farmhouse we bought since there is no linen closet. There is a sort of nook at the end of the staircase that the cabinet fit in perfectly, giving me just enough space to store a set of extra sheets for each of our beds. I decided to stamp roses on the cabinet because I found a pretty set of rose patterned curtains to hang opposite the cabinet.

Supplies:
 acrylic craft paint
 wood furniture sealant
 foam brush
 small artists paint brush if you want to add details
 old toothbrush
 old rags
 scrap of felt on a plastic lid (or foam plate)
 bold image stamp set (I used Stampin' Up! DD Cottage Rose, retired)

Sand the painted cabinet then remove the dust before starting ! I did not take it to bare wood. I wanted to remove some of the super glossy, slick surface paint/varnish off to create some "tooth" for my paint to adhere to.

I brushed paint lightly over the cabinet with a large foam brush, working it with rags to lighten/darken in areas. I brushed or ragged on additional layers in areas. TIP: Glazing medium will "water down" the paint somewhat; keeping it wet a little longer. It is meant to prolong the workability time with the paint. However, on this particular project I think all I did was water down the paint with tap water and work quickly before it dried.

The felt scrap on a plastic lid or foam plate becomes a stamp pad when you add acrylic craft paint to it. Don't get the felt too wet with paint otherwise it will get too goopy on your stamp when you smoosh the stamp into the felt "stamp pad" which will then make your stamped images undefined. You could also brush paint onto the rubber stamp with a foam brush; I prefer making a felt "stamp pad".
TIP: Use bold, solid images such as the Stampin' Up! Definitely Decorative line for this technique; finely detailed stamps do not work well with paint.

Press the rubber stamp into the felt "stamp pad", make sure you have good paint coverage on the stamp then quickly - but carefully!- stamp the image onto your project. You will want to practice first because stamping vertically with slippery paint on a slippery object will tend to make the stamp slide a bit. It may take some practice and patience to get the feel for stamping this way. TIP: Keep old damp rags nearby so you can quickly wipe off any mistakes before the paint dries.

After stamping my images, I "fly specked" with an old toothbrush dipped in paint. Aim the toothbrush at your project then run your thumb across the bristles to flick paint onto the project. TIP: Be sure to do this in an area that doesn't matter if you get paint speckles elsewhere - and wear old clothes because you could accidentally speckle nearby objects as well as yourself!

After all my paint techniques/layers were dry, I sealed the project with a couple layers of wood furniture sealant.

I entered photos of this project (as well as my stamp storage dresser) on scrapbook pages to Stampin' Up! for a Demonstrator contest several years ago. They did not win.

Thanks for looking !

Repurposed Chair

I like to try to reuse things rather than throw them away whenever I can. The webbing on this old chair started to unravel. It wasn't worth it to me to try to redo it. Oh, I like to try to repair things, learn new crafts and so on, but this really wasn't going to be worth it in the long run because the chair was also wobbly and didn't have a use inside the house any longer sooooooooooooo......... I painted it and widened out the webbing enough to drop in a potted plant ! I think it is kinda cute and colorful sitting on my front porch.

The "flower pot" in the seat was found in an old barn that was being sold for the wood; I still have a few pieces of wood to make something out of some day..........

To start with, I sanded quite a bit of the old white paint off of the wood. I then washed and dried it well. As it was drying, I stamped the roses and leaves with a retired Stampin' Up! stamp set, Cottage Rose, using acrylic craft paint on heavyweight white tissue paper. I carefully trimmed out the roses after they dried. I adhered the stamped tissue paper roses onto the chair with Modge Podge ( any clear drying white glue would surely work). I then used small crafters paintbrushes to hand paint the "plaid" with acrylic craft paint. The green I custom mixed out of some colors I already had on hand, I was trying to recreate the Kiwi Kiss color from Stampin' Up! Polka dots were easily created with white craft paint and the unused eraser end of a pencil. After everything was painted and decoupaged, I gave the chair a couple coats of sealant.

It does sit on a covered porch during the summer months only, somewhat protected from the elements so it still looks great two years after I made it.

The above chair is the first I made; it sits on a covered porch summer months only at my parents home. I made it basically the same way as the Bella Rose chair except I stamped/painted the flowers directly onto this chair with acrylic paint. I used a paintbrush and hand lettered Welcome.

I think this project was entered in a soshelli.com contest....

Thanks for looking !