Refinishing A Dresser

i finally refinished my little dresser! yaaaay!  this was my $5 yard sale find that is now in my office and i'm LOVING it.  i feel like it really completed the space.

this dresser definitely needed some tlc.  it had yellow paint and adhesive on it and it had also been the nesting ground to some spider eggs and bugs... YUCKY CHUCKY!!

actually, the remnants of the spider eggs kept me from tackling this project for months now.  when i turned the piece over i saw this... can you say NASTAY??? i'm sorry but that really funks me out.

in addition to these eggs/nests there was a bunch of random thick yellow paint on the dresser. 

i should stop to say that i was so thrilled to find an old label on the back that dated it from 1964. coolio julio!!  

i sanded this baby down goooood.  i love my little power sander.  what a life/arm/back saver!

and this next part was fun.  i wanted to add detail to the top so i used my lattice die cut and cut out 28 pieces on this funky contact paper.  

 i measured and laid them out...

and i actually debated on whether or not to just keep it this way.  i absolutely LOVE the Stampin Up lattice die cut!!

if you decide you want to do something like this, make sure to use a tool to press down and smooth out the die cut pieces. 

or else it will look something like this after it's stained. bummer!!!

so after that mess up, i taped up the dresser and resanded the top again. 

i used a medium grit and finished it off with a fine grit sandpaper.  i hoped that by doing this, less stain would seep under the contact paper die cuts. 

after it was sanded down a SECOND time, i laid down the die cuts, stained it again, and PRAYED for better results. 

and the end result came out just the way i had originally envisioned!!! yaaaay!!!

 and now here it is at home in my office. 

even with the mistakes, it was a fun makeover. :o)

i'm participating in made by you monday, its so very creative, get your craft on, anything related, show and tell, DIY tutorial, make it yours, whatever goes wednesday, we can do it cheaper, frugal friday, tickled pink, and SNS.

Stretching A Tight Canvas - with a video tutorial

dear crafty friends, 

i'm sorry that i haven't been around lately... life has been a little busy with work and organizing my home.  today i managed to do a quick transformation... I took a $2 picture of a butterfly and turned it into a place to keep and display my flower pins. it's amazing how doing something crafty is so re-energizing!

while i was doing the transformation i shot a video on how to stretch a canvas so tight and even that you can actually bounce a quarter off of it.  i can't bounce a quarter off of anything else, so why not a canvas?? ;o)

here's what i started with:

i loved the natural look of the wood!  i decided to keep it that way but had a difficult time deciding on the backdrop to use.

muslin?

 or burlap?

i decided on burlap because i liked the color and texture contrast.  i cut it bigger than the frame so that i'd have something to grab on to. at first i tried using my electric staple gun, but it was so powerful it started to break little bits of my frame.  so i went old school and grabbed my manual stapler.

when i was an art minor, we used to stretch our own canvases and this is how we did it to ensure that it was both tight and even.

- lay the canvas down on the backside of the frame

- put a staple in the midpoint of each of the sides

- start from the midpoint and work your way out pulling and stapling as you go (see video)

 

once you've worked your way all around your frame, trim the excess fabric/canvas. 

and here's the finished product!

thanks for checking out my tutorial... have a wonderful and blessed Easter weekend everyone!!!!

nori

Recovering a Lampshade

dear creative friends, 


i think that christmas really did me in this year... i've had a hard time getting back into sewing, crafts, and refinishing furniture. i can't believe this is my first project since the new year.  man, i really need to kick it in to gear. 


i picked up 2 of these tea light lamps from GW for only $1.50 each. i just thought they were way too cute!  i've had a hard time deciding on what to recover the top part of the lamp with... until this weekend... here's the before and after.

i've had this large roll of packing paper for awhile.  i love the simple natural look of it and normally use it for wrapping gifts.

the first thing i did was tear off the old fabric cover.  i had to bust out my seam ripper for this.  dude... i thought it would only take me a couple of minutes to remove the cover, but it ended up taking me awhile.  there were a lot of stitches and glue holding that baby on. i'm glad i did this little project because it made me rethink getting into reupholstering... bite off a little at a time nori...

this is a lot of mess for such a lil thing.

the fabric wasn't salvageable so i made a pattern for the new cover. i took the bare shade and traced around one side, then tipped it over to the next side and traced again until i did all 4 sides. 

i added a 1 1/2 inch border around the whole thing. 

i cut it out and used it as a template on my packing paper. after cutting out the lampshade paper, i cut out little V notches where the edge of the lampshade would be. 

then i stamped the whole thing using my favorite stamp set (SU! Fifth Avenue Floral). 

i forgot to take a picture, but it always looks best to stamp off the edge of the page.  it makes the image flow.


next... gluing it on. :o)  i just lined up the shade and the paper, put a line of hot glue on the edge and folded it over. 

when i got to the end, i laid down the edge of the lampshade and folded the end of the paper over to figure out where to put the crease. then i made a sharp crease and applied hot glue to the very outer edge.  

then i laid the lampshade back on top, waited a sec for the glue to cool and voila!  a nice crisp edge. 

i painted the base of the lamp with 2 coats of Valspar Black Satin, and put the lampshade on...

hmmm... this was just.... Eh.  it didn't have the crisp look i wanted...it needed something else...
i hot glued a piece of satin ribbon to the top and bottom, and.... ahhhhhhhh.... the look i was going for! :o)

ok... this is kind of random, but i stumbled across this video today and i just had to share.  it's just a sweet, make you feel good kind of video.  enjoy and have a BLESSED week!

i'm linking to DIY Day!, Makeover Party, and Met Monday. 

Small Transformation-- Book Holders

I'm on this slow process of organizing my craft closet.  The goal is to bring it all out into the dining/living room because that's where I do most of my work.  I had a slight set back this week.  I purchased an entertainment system that was going to become my craft station.  It was perfect.  I painted it, distressed it, made some slight changes to it, and... it wouldn't fit through my entryway.  Are you serious??? I was so bummed.  I still am.  I'm trying to figure out Plan B for my craft station.  I think I'll have to find 2 or 3 smaller pieces that match somewhat to fill a wall.  Wish me luck.

I had to do something to make my craft closet look prettier and make me feel better. So I chose to work on my book holders. I love how they organize my magazines, but I hate how they look. 

So with a little modge podge, scrapbook paper, and hardware they now look like this:

A quick side note... I'm SOOOOOO glad I put down my work paper.  I spilled modge podge allll over the place.

I'm linking up to Met Monday and DIY Day. 

*Remember to enter my giveaway for $10 Starbucks gift card and coffee cozy HERE*

DIY: Changing Ironing Board Cover

I feel like I'm about to show you my dirty laundry.  Every time I use my ironing board I get grossed out.  There are so many nasty icky stains.

And what's up with the padding? It's falling out of the sides.  I'm just laughing to myself.  How embarrassing.

Yeah, it's pretty bad when you iron your clothes and you end up with the impressions on your clothing from the metal below.  Hmmm... no wonder that happens.  Check out the quality of my padding.

In an attempt to be green, I'm going to use part of my old ironing board cover before happily disposing of it in the trash.  I cut off about two inches all the way around the edging/gathering piece to reuse.

Then I used the remaining cover as a template for my new cover. Next time I would cut an extra 2 inches around my template.

Then I marked the center points on both the top and bottom of the fabric and gathering piece.

Pin the pieces together right sides facing each other on the top and bottom center points. Then starting at the top, work your way around the fabric, pinning a little on the right and then on the left.  Doing this ensures that it will be even all the way around and that you're not left with a bunch of extra fabric at the end.  Ummmm... yes, I'm speaking from experience. ;)  Let my mistake save you some time.

On the corners, gather and pin your fabric.

Here it is all pinned.

Now sew it all together.  I used a zig zag stitch, but I'm sure a straight stitch would work just fine.

Now for my padding, I decided to pick up a thick pad from Target.  I priced out thick padding at Joanne's before and decided that this padding at Target would be cheaper and save me some time.  I still wanted to cover it with a prettier fabric though.

Then I slipped my new cover on top and cinched it up and voila!  A new, pretty, stain-free, truly padded ironing board cover.

I'm linking to Shades of Pink and Kimba's DIY Day.  Hop on over there to see others' projects.