This one's a Keeper

I've had this guy sitting in my garage for a while now. I think I was intimidated to start on this because I knew just the cleaning of this thing would be a monumental task. And it was....I spent at least two afternoons brushing, wiping and scraping this until it was clean enough to even come in the house. Then I took two of the glass panes out. Then I scraped and cleaned even more. By now I had decided that I was going to make the existing window panes into chalkboards. So I began the task of taping off all of the window except for the glass so that I could spray paint with chalkboard paint. Once the paint was dry, I took off all the tape, and yep, you guessed it, cleaned the window once again. Then I put some wall mounts on the back of the window so that it could be hung on the wall. I thought I would paint the frame but then decided to leave it au naturale with most of the paint scraped off. Lastly, I got my chicken wire out and cut pieces to fit in the two glass-less panes and staple gunned the wire to the back. After scraping up my hands and forearms with the stubborn chickenwire, I came out with this.  

There are close pins on the chicken wire to hold cards and notes, and then I had some rusty old hinges which I screwed onto the bottom of the frame to hold the chalk. 

So I was planning on selling this in the Market on Belvin (which I'll talk about later), but after seeing it completed I just couldn't let it go. This one's a keeper :)

This is how I plan to use it, we'll see if I'll be this organized....

Yep, this is definitely a keeper.

Love you all!

-Amy

I love me some chalkboards

This beautiful window was given to me by my past boss. It is such a pretty piece. I wasn't sure for a while what I was going to do with it. Then I googled if it was a good idea to paint chalkboard paint on glass and apparently if the glass is secure then it is!

So I taped the frame off and spray painted it with chalkboard paint. Then I braided through the chain with some twine. Both to give it a more rustic look and also to strengthen the chain. And voila!

Thanks Ms. Spaulding! :)

Remember this guy?...

I am currently working on turning this into a chalkboard/message center. Stay tuned to see how it turns out...

Love you all!

-Amy

Jewelry Boxes

Hello all,
I found these great pieces at Goodwill a few weeks ago (yes, I know I probably go there too often)....

These were some sort of case/boxes for who knows what. The blue one has a mirror backing on the bottom and has sectioned off compartments inside, and the wooden one had a picture in the lid originally but I took it out. I have made jewlery holders before using just a frame, but I thought it would be great if the frame were on hinges and attached to a box to house more jewelry. Tadaaaaa, these are exactly that! The blue one was super simple to complete. I didn't change the color. One, because I kinda liked it, and two because I couldn't figure out how to get the mirror out of the back and didn't want to tape it all off or risk getting paint on it. It also already came with a clasp on the side to keep the box closed, and all the hardware on the back to hang it on the wall. All that was left for me to do was clean it and staple gun my lace to the lids frame.

Those are earrings in the last picture. That is what the lace is for. It can hold all kinds of earring from dangly ones to studs. So, the blue jewlery box was a simple, easy quick project. The other one however, was simply put, a nightmare. I almost threw it in the trash. Every single thing I tried to do to this box did not work the first time. The hinges on this box do not come off, so I taped over them and spray painted the box red. That was the only easy part. After it dried, I was going to put hooks inside the box to hang rings, necklaces or bracelets from. I tried and tried and could not get these hooks to screw into the wood. Enter Sean (a.k.a. hubby), he tries and tries and he can't get these things in either, but then, he summons his super strength and he is able to do it! Thank you Sean :) Ok so the next step is to put some kind of wall mounting on the back of the box so that it can hang on the wall. Easy right? No way. I split the wood in several places, and bent or broke at least two or three wall hangers. I was going to put two hangers, one on each side, but after splitting the wood, I had to rethink my strategy. I decided on one of those teeth-looking hangers in the center, if it would work. After several tries, I was able to get it in. Phew. So now, that this box can hang on the wall, it has to have some sort of clasp so that the door isn't constantly swinging open. I realize I don't have any of those so I go to good ol' Walmart. They have a spot for what I think would have been what I needed, but were all out. I go to Lowes and try to explain what I need to someone so they can help me find it. They have no idea what I'm talking about and send me to the hooks department. After searching Lowes for 30 minutes, I find what I need and go home. So begins the journey to attach this clasps to my jewelry box. Short story: I broke 3 nails in the wood on the lid, and a screw (yes, a SCREW) in the wood on the box side. I think this box was made of some kind of magical super wood. At this point I was going to throw it away because nothing was working. I decided to try one last thing, and luckily it worked! Now the last step was to staplegun the lace to the lid frame. This too was difficult because the staples were not wanting to go into the wood (it's super strenth wood remember). Anywho, I was able to finish the jewlery box and here is the finished product:

Actual cost and expenses: around $5. Time and effort: priceless$
Love you guys!
-Amy

Another Lamp and Some Lanterns

Hello all! Today I finished another lamp, and I also made a set of matching lamps out of some lanterns. First, the lamp...I found this really awesome feminine old lampshade at Goodwill for $3. It was just too perfectly shabby chic and I couldn't pass it up. I thought the lampshade was so great that for the base I should just go simple. I used a proportional empty wine bottle that I had as the base. I didn't add any embellishments. Just the beautiful shade, and a simple glass bottle base. I really love how it turned out. I just wish it matched something in my house....

Now for the lanterns.....I found these great rustic looking lanterns on clearance at Ross the other day. I love all the lanterns that are out right now, but they are always more than I want to spend. I noticed these were marked down so I examined them. As I have learned, every other time I've found some lanterns marked down they are usually broken in more than one place. After examining these I realized they were perfect! No cracks chips or broken glass etc. Then, an ingenious idea popped in my head...if the bottoms of the lanterns were wooden, I could drill a hole through and make lamps out of these. I looked on the bottoms and they had tin dishes secured for candles. Well, I managed to pull the tin piece off the bottom, yes right in the middle of the store. And underneath it was just wood! I was relieved to find that my lamp idea would work because I'm pretty sure the store security guard would have made me pay for the lamps regardless seeing as he gave me some pretty stern looks as I ripped them apart. :) When I got home all I had to do was drill my hole and put my light kit together. Oh, and I spray painted the lighting fixture silver, it was brass before and it didn't look very good with the gray. I think they look like something in a magazine priced for a couple hundred bucks. Tadaaa....

Restoration Hardware take that!!! I hope you guys enjoyed. Let me know what you think! Love you all!

-Amy

Medicine Cabinet turned Display Cabinet

Hello all! It seems like forever since I've posted anything. I have been steadily working away on a display cabinet and finally, it's ready for the reveal! I've had a medicine cabinet just sitting in storage for over a year now. I found it out by the dumpster at the apartment where Sean and I used to live. I took it thinking I would simply use it as what it was made for: a medicine cabinet, but after some thought, I just had to do something a little more creative with it. :) I settled on making it into a wall display cabinet. So, here is the cabinet in it's original form:

First, I took out the mirror on the door (I'm sure I'll use that for something else). Then I unscrewed all the parts and started painting. I settled on a teal color. I forgot to take pictures of the steps, sorry guys. At first, I hated the teal color after I painted it, but I started distressing the piece by sanding, chipping and generally taking any anger or frustrations out on this poor cabinet. By the end of distressing the piece I liked it much better, but I felt it still needed something. I ended up laying a lace backing on the back wall of the top and bottom shelves. For the last step, I took some chicken wire and stapled gunned it to the back of the door as a screen. FYI, chicken wire it very difficult to straighten out. I cut my piece and laid it under about 50 pounds of weight for an entire week and it was still wanting to curl up! I just started stapling on one side of the door frame and tightened and pulled the chicken wire straight as I went (my hands are very sore today). Lastly, I had to decide what knob I wanted to put on the door. The knob that originally came on the cabinet seemed too modern and shiny so I went with a small rusty flower knob I bought at Wimberley Market Days last month for a dollar. I think all in all it turned out pretty nice...

I was thinking this would be best used as some sort of display cabinet, but it would also be cute in a kitchen as a spice rack. Here is an idea of how it looks displaying some knick knacks:

Hope you enjoyed! Love you all!
-Amy