Ok next quick little project. CUPCAKE STAND! I know so many ideas out there, I love it. So, here is another one.

 I wanted to show you something. Since the goblets i used were clear, I wanted you to be able to see in the glass, (truthfully after I had glued these together using E6000 glue, I wished I had filled the goblet with old jewelry findings and beads or whatever you could think of. But it was too late, so make sure if you like this that you consider putting something in the glass. But i did apply the paper with mod podge facing the inside of the glass, so you would see the paper. When it was dry, I painted the back sides of the pape a comlimentary color, and applied polyurethane sealer on to backs.

Have fun!

Next I have some lamps I did. I have more coming, that I will post when I complete them.

I think that i am going to take the one in the front view and turn it into a bird bath. 

Hello,
Just thought I would touch base with everyone and show you pictures of some of the other projects I have been working on .
Unfortunately, I didn't take pics of before during and after. So you just get the after shots. Hope you enjoy them.

http://pinterest.com/49monthcellserv/boards/

This is a bombay table that I did. I used a chalk paint on the table, and the side panels are decoupaged with papers. I am debating about blinging out the panels with some of my excess jewelry i have. Give me your opinion please. I am thinking about doing a chair for it and use it like a vanity for sale, since I have a mirror with it. Let me know what you think. 

Artistic Impressions: This is a cool piece. I am going to get a lot of u...

Artistic Impressions: This is a cool piece. I am going to get a lot of u...: This is a cool piece. I am going to get a lot of use for this outside by table for cookouts. I found this table and stand at a flea market ...

This is a cool piece. I am going to get a lot of use for this outside by table for cookouts.
I found this table and stand at a flea market for a good price. I think it was because of the ducks on it that I got a good deal. (Not that I have anything against ducks mind you, but look at it. It was screaming at me "Take me home and turn me into something Happy Please")

 I am painting with chalk paint. I am using a home made version which is made with one part plaster of paris and two parts latex flat or eggshell. For all of you who want to use CeCe Caldwell or Annie Sloan chalk paint, please do. Turquoise shades seam to be very popular this year and decoupage is very hot.So, I have been doing a lot of both. I love the colors out now, so no problem here. I want to say that the stand and tray were wood, but the duck bottom was a fiberglass piece, so that it could be used outside. 

I always start with the plaster of paris first. Add enough water to make a peak, like a thick milk shake. Make sure all the lumps and clumps are all stirred in good. Then add you latex paint and stir completely. Keep that milk shake in your mind. If it starts to thicken up too much, just add a little water to it and stir real well. (Note-i pour mixture into a old butter dish or equivalent and put lid on it, and put a smidge of the color on the lid. It keeps really well. You may have to add a little water, but it keeps great.) 

 As with all good chalk paint, it covers in one coat. No sanding, priming or preparing the wood. Having been in the painting business with my husband for years, it is hard to train my brain to not think i have to prep these pieces first. Yippee, glad I don't. Now I want to tell you something here. If you want a solid color no distressing showing, I would use two coats. If you are going to only distress in a few spots, you may want a second coat but if not, when your paint is tacky, you can take a wet paper towel and lightly rub on the area's that you want distressed. Not too hard, play with it. The coats you decide to use are really personal preference. I use different ones on different pieces. Now I want to share another little secret or two. I wanted some like gray distressing on mine. Many of you may not know this but after doing murals for almost 30 years I have learned a few things. Glazing liquid that you use in faux finishing is really just paint base. you know how you go to the paint department and they have to go pick up a base to mix your paint tints in. Well clear base is the same as glazing liquid. If you buy glazing liquid in say one of the name home builder stores, it will run you about $35-45. A gallon of base with no tint added off the shelf (clear) runs typically $12-14. I'm just sayin'! Now i take another small butter tub poured about 1/3 cup of base in it, took some craft paint in black, and added a few drops, and a couple drops of white and stirred. When I liked the gray I got i added about 3 tablespoons of water, stirred and i was good to go. Then I simply brushed on with foam  brush and wiped off immediately. This works really well on pieces that have a carved or ridged surface to them, because it goes down in the cracks and darkens it. If you get an area that is a little to dark or concentrated, simply dab a t-shirt for wiping in clean base and rub over what you did and it will fix it. No problems - Happy accidents.

 Now the tedious but fun part. Tear up a bunch of scrap book papers in complimentary colors and start to decoupage them on the tray. I put the scraps on a few paper plates so that I can keep like colors sort of together. Then when I start, I will have everything in front of me. I use Mod Podge decoupage medium and spread a section about 8" square with the mod podge. OOPS first I have to tell you. When you are mosaic decoupaging, make sure the color you want popping thru like a grout color is what your piece is painted. I almost went black, but this worked out good too. Now apply the medium and start laying out your pieces, leaving about 1/8" between each piece. This is a good thing to sit in front of you and work on while your watching tv. I put four coats of mod podge on the mosaic part of tray to seal in the pieces really well, to hold up to wet drinks and such.

 The rest of the piece I used CeCe Caldwell's clear wax, and applied one coat and let dry then wiped with soft t-shirt then repeated the next day. It will be very soft to your touch. I love the wax. If you don't have wax, you could just seal with a polyurethane also.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Thank you, and I appreciate any and all comments. Have a Blessed day!

Hello everyone,
Ok I feel victory. I think I have the Pinterest thing down, so look for me on there.
I am going to be doing a neat little table that my husband is calling a sewing table, because the top opens up for storage. Sounds good to me, so let's get started.

 This is it's humble beginnings. I am going to be using home made chalk paint. The formula for that is one part plaster of paris and two parts latex flat or eggshell paint.

 (see it opens)
I used a bright green that I had. I mix the plaster of paris in a bowl until it forms peaks, you don't want it too stiff. It is better if it is a little thin, you can always add more plaster if it gets to thin. Then I add it to the paint and stir. The paint will thin it down also. My husband says the consistency of a milk shake, that's perfect! I want to state here too that with chalk paint, be it home made or like some of the CeCe Caldwell or Annie Sloan paints, you DON'T need to sand, prime or remove previous finishes. It is so awesome! and it covers usually in one coat. I do sometimes put a second coat on, but because I am distressing the piece usually, I don't want all the wood totally saturated with paint. If as in this piece the legs are more solid, then I will coat them two times. This is where your artistic license comes in to play. If you are going to try and distress it out, there are fun options that I will go into on another piece. This one is paint and decoupage, which a lot of my pieces are.

 I choice to paint a whimsical top on this piece, just for the fun of it. I wanted a lot of colors, birds,dragonfly's and whatever else I could throw on there.

 This is where it got interesting. I decoupaged with Mod-Podge medium, fabric around the sides of the piece. To do this i simply cut out the pieces of fabric using a rotary cutter (scissors work too). Put the mod podge on with a sponge brush in a section about 10" wide, put the strip of fabric on and then went over the fabric with the mod podge. I put two coats on the fabric. I then painted the legs and apron of the table with what ever came to my head (scary sometimes i know).

 More views of side pieces with fabrics. I did notice that the fabric got darker in color when the mod podge dried. It was just a little bit. When all was said and done, I sealed the whole piece with polyurethane, two coats.

Finished piece came out cute I think, better than the way I got it, I know. Now it's Happy. Hope you enjoyed it. Have a Blessed day.

 

Hi everyone,

I thought that I would add a few more posts on some fun pieces that I have done recently. I am trying to link this up with PINTEREST so hopefully I will figure this all out, and we can get a lot more people checking out some fun projects.

I found these two chairs at an online auction site here in town and picked up several pieces, which, as my husband says. "Well these won't look like this long with you around!" Isn't that sweet :)

So let's get started!!!!

So this is where I started. I unscrewed the lovely seat that was attached to this chair (note to self - remember to put screws in a zip-lock baggie and remember where you put the bag) gotta love sticky notes.

This is where the screws come out from on the bottom of the seat. Very easy.

These are the supplies I needed to do this. I make my own chalk paint (CeCe Caldwell or Annie Sloan paints can be used- I would be willing to use them too, hint-hint) Anyway, here is the receipe for the home made chalk paint. One part plaster of paris and two parts latex flat or eggshell paint. I prefer the flat. Notice I am using art paints to help me tint my base paint which is a bright blue. I am trying to achieve a pale blue.

Add water to plaster of paris to get where it is thick. At this point here my brush is standing in it. That is too thick. You want to see peaks that stand. Then add your paint and stir. I use popsicle sticks to stir. Your paint should not be liquid like regular paint. It will not be like paste either. Stick to the formula and it will be great.

 Isn't it a pretty color. You have to remember that paint always dries a little darker, which is what I want.

I really wanted to show you how well the chalk paint covers. This is one coat, and it's solid. Note if you are outside working, keep a little water bottle next to you, because it can start thickening up on you after about 7-8 minutes. With chalk paint you don't have to strip finishes off , sand or anything. Did I say I love chalk paint.

 This is after one coat. I touched up a few placed with a little more paint, but most of it was one coat.

 I did tell you there were two chairs.It really only took me about 30 minutes to do both chairs. I find that doing chairs upside down and do the legs first, works easiest for me. Then I can stand them up and finish all around. Otherwise you have to get into some weird positions to paint insides of legs, and cross support bars. I don't contort well.

 Not my choice of fabric. I wanted to do some quilted fabric for fun. I found unfinished quilt tops at a yard sale for $8.00, and I am putting it to use now. It was only a matter of time.

 So here is quilt top piece.

Sorry I don't have pics of next couple of steps. By the time I remembered, I had already done next steps with no photos. Sorry. So I purchased CeCe Caldwell's clear wax, and I found a small wax brush online (someone was selling on Ebay, thought it was a small shaving brush) Scored. So for me what worked best was place a small amount of the wax on a paper plate. Approximately the size of a lipstick. Then I daub the brush up and down in wax a couple of times, then i really rub it into the plate in circles a few times, pushing the wax into the brush a little more. Then I go to the piece and in circular motions i rub in the wax. Now, here is where it is going to be your own choice.Once I got a section done, I took an old t-shirt and rubbed it or buffed it out. You will love the look. When it was dry a couple of days later I put another coat on.

Wah-La ! finished chairs. I love the mixed quilted fabrics too. Because it is from the same pattern, they relate beautifully. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and would love to hear your comments. Enjoy, and be Blessed.http://pinterest.com/49monthcellserv/boards/

 

Hi everyone i am so new to blogging that I am afraid I am intimidated a little. So bear with me as I fumble my way through this whole blogging thing. I hope I can figure it out. So let's see with this post. Here goes!

I want to show you all a few of the pieces that I have recently finished and will be posting for sell. I hope this will let me post the completed items. I also have some of the items which I am going to give instructions on with photos, once I figure out this blogging thing. 

THIS IS HOW THE PIECE BEGAN. IT WAS PRETTY ROUGH. I THINK IT WAS WHAT WAS CALLED A PARSONS TABLE. IT CAME FROM A FUNERAL HOME I WAS TOLD..... I KNOW BUT LOOK HOW HAPPY IT IS NOW!

ALL FOUR SIDES ARE DIFFERENT!

Add caption

 THIS IS THE TOP OF THE TABLE. YES IT IS VERY TEXTURED. I WOULD PUT A SMALL PIECE OF GLASS ON TOP I THINK. PRETTY COOL ONE OF A KIND PIECE, DON'T YOU THINK?

 Let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you.http://pinterest.com/49monthcellserv/boards/