Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Drop Cloth Slipcover

Hi!

Just as I made the drop cloth draperies for the dining area to help lighten up the mood for spring and summer, I decided I needed to make a change in my living room.

This is how it looked before. Please take note of silliness: Our dog has a little "recliner" right next to my husbands :)



The colors were too dark for this time of year. So, I changed out the draperies (for some that had been in the master bedroom...). That helped a lot. But, what about the cranberry red loveseat? Well, I got out the second drop cloth and made a very simple slipcover. This was my first try at a project like this so give me a break.




I linked up to:








Thanks for stopping by!

Honey, I Dyed the Draperies!

Hi!

I'm decorating our master bedroom. I've been trying to keep the cost ultra low and use as many items as I already have. I wanted to change out the white quilted drapes but couldn't find anything I liked in the price range I had set. So, I decided why not just dye the existing drapes? Since they were white they had some areas that had yellowed and I've had them for ages. So, I felt I could justify a dye job. Not as easy as it sounds. Did you know that draperies are very heavy when wet? And that they are extremely difficult to wring out? I hadn't thought of these important issues. Good thing my husband is the type who, when seeing me working on any type of project is always on the lookout for some type error I may be in the process of making and hands out loads of free advice on the better method of accomplishing the goal at hand. Usually I am frustrated by this behavior but this time it was a blessing! He took over the project and they came out pretty well. They went from boring white to this:



This took quite a bit of time as even with an 18 gallon wash tub we felt that we could only do one panel at a time in order for the panel to move freely in the water so that the dye would come out evenly. And when you dye them separately it makes it MUCH harder to have a uniform outcome. And it did take two hours of his time to complete. It's just a good thing I started this project after the Twins game was over.

Now for the cost breakdown: dye $12; canvas I already had (from a drop cloth) $0; new trim $11. So, the total makeover on these drapes came to about $23. I think that's pretty thrifty. And they could now be considered "custom draperies" :) You'll see the whole panel when I reveal the bedroom makeover .... someday.

I linked this to:

sweetcharli"

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Rock the Night

Hi!

I just had to share some photos of the awesome props my sister made for prom. The theme was Rock the Night. She made these cool (to scale) giant guitars for the auditorium stage where they hold the Grand March and five more for the gym where the dance is held.






Aren't they great? Everyone loved them! Guess she's in charge of prom props for next year!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Pillows, Pillows and Posts with No Photos

Hi!

I'm slowly finishing projects for our master bedroom makeover. My husband picked out a creamy colored bedspread so I decided to use black and cream as the colors in this room. I altered some large shams I got for $3 each. I didn't have a pillow that fit such a large sham, so I just measured a square pillow I had and sewed a square into the center of the sham. This created a "trim" piece on each sham. This only took 10 minutes. They do have a "sting-ray" quality to them but I'm thinking the more they're used and washed this will go away :)



Then, I put together two pillows using some canvas (of course) and some black denim I've had for ages. Then I put a square of decorator fabric in the center of each pillow. I'll probably add some trim to the pillows also.



I'm pretty pleased with how they came out. And they were very easy to make.

And if you noticed that there were a couple posts that had no pictures, I'll get those fixed. You can tell I'm a newbie blogger!

I linked this project up to:

UndertheTableandDreaming












Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Happy Valentines Day!?!?

I know, I know, it's April! But I just finished my Valentine project and I wanted to show it to you.

I just used a 10 x 10 canvas, some buttons from my mom's and grandma's button boxes and made this cute Valentine decoration.



First, I sewed the first layer of flat buttons on, leaving some spaces between them. Then, I hot glued buttons with shanks into the spaces.



Something funky happened to the bow :) I didn't notice that before I took the picture, but you get the gist anyway.

I'm linking this post to:

UndertheTableandDreaming

and
Join us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up party!



Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special


Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

These are some parties that I linked up to:

<br />http://www.thethriftyhome.com

Transformation Thursday



Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Mirror Makeover

Hi!

I've had this mirror for ages. It started out china blue, then it was this rusty red color. (Sorry for the poor picture quality!)



I just noticed it in the closet the other day and thought I would try to give it a makeover. Of course, it needed a new paint job, and I decided black would be the color to go with. I took out the mirror and carefully knocked out the existing design and painted the frame. Then I put the mirror back in and played around with masking tape laying out patterns. Once I decided on a pattern, I just cut 1/4 inch square stock (that's what my husband said it was called) with the compound miter saw. I made sure the pieces were nice and tight when they were put in place. Then I took the mirror out and covered it with newspaper so I wouldn't get glue onto it and put it back in. Then, I simply used Gorilla Glue to affix each piece. Once the glue was dried I gave the square stock a paint job, too. And here's how it turned out:



It was a pretty fun and easy project. I think even Bubba likes it. When he saw me with the camera, he came over to pose :)

This is yet another piece of our master bedroom makeover.

I'm linking this post to
UndertheTableandDreaming
Join us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up party!

Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special


Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Our name in .... canvas?

Hi!

My sister saw this bird print at a thrift store and picked it up for me.



Unfortunately, the glass broke in transit but maybe that's a good thing because one of the birds in the print had a scary face - yikes!



So, out came the black paint. Then, I cut a piece of canvas to size, printed a sign and ironed it onto the canvas. Ta da!



This will be used in our master bedroom makeover.

Thanks for stopping by!

Canvas Chrysanthemum

Hi!

I have been trying to make projects with supplies I already have. I have had a 10 X 10 canvas laying around for a long time. It had a dog bone idea started on it and since I was disappointed in how looked I didn't finish it. (A dog bone idea? you ask. Yes, I know it was crazy, that's why I quit)

What to make, what to make? I took the canvas and stapled on some black denim. Then I hot-glued some ribbon around the edge. Then I went to town adding loops of canvas strips until I ended up with this canvas chrysanthemum:





I got the idea for this from the V & Co. tutorial on no-sew fabric wreaths. I simply changed it up to lay the loops down parallel to each other. Once I got to the center, I just made the strip into a circle instead of a loop.

This could be made with any type of fabric in any color. And of course, it would look more upscale if you didn't use frayed fabric :) but that's the look I was going for. This is meant for our master bedroom that will have a black and cream scheme for the summer.

Is it just me or does this look like a blooming onion?


I'm linking this up to:






Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Silly Little Birdie

Hi!

We've all seen the cute little birds at the Dollar Store, right?

I thought the glazing was a little too much for my taste and the black eye - scary... So, out came the handy dandy Toasted Almond paint. I painted the bird and then gave it just a hint of mocha glaze. Much better.



Then, I took another Dollar Store staple - a candle holder. I rummaged through my things looking for just the right perch for the little bird. I found a small clay pot saucer.





I painted and glazed them and put it all together and this is how it came out!



She looks great in my coffee table grouping. The little pot contains my collection of small, egg-shaped rocks so it's like she's watching over her nest.





I posted this on:

sweetcharli"

Thanks for stopping by!