Some Spring Cloche Love

 yippee!

About a month ago, I was reading Kathy's (Creative Home Expressions) post on all of her cloches.   Her first photo was of one of those dome clocks that she'd turned into a cloche.  

I had something similar that I'd picked up last year.  I'd painted it in ORB and stuck a fake plant in it.

What I especially liked about Kathy's was that she'd decoupaged scrapbook paper to the base, adding visual dimension to it.  Of course, I set out to copy her right away.

I did a makeover on my cloche and I also made this ugly one over.

 

Here they are again, all gussied up and looking all pretty for me. 

 paint color is Heirloom White by Rustoleum

You may (or may not) remember that I dressed up an earlier cloche with some scrapbook paper.  It helped to cover the screw that showed after we screwed the cheese dome base to the candlestick.  Awesome fix!

If you've never tried decoupage, you should.  These instructions from How Does She are perfect.  You should go on over and take a peek.

Linking to:

POPP @ Domestically Speaking

Cheap Thrills Thurs @ Black Kat Designs 

Crafty Soiree @ Yesterday on Tuesday 

Hookin' Up With HOH @ House of Hepworths 

Everything but the Kitchen Sink @ A Little Knick-Knack

Simply Link @ Simply Designing
Show & Tell Sat @ Be Different, Act Normal 
Weekend Wrap-up @ Tatertots & Jello 
Nifty Thrifty Sunday @ Nifty Thrifty Things
Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative 
Sugar & Spice @ seven-thirty-three
Whatever Goes Weds @ Someday Crafts 

Favorite Things Friday - No. 3

A couple of weeks ago, Han and I were at Target where she found a cheap felt advent tree in the Dollar Spot.  She thought it was the cutest thing and wanted one so that she could count down to Christmas.  How in the world was it that my almost-twelve-year-old had never heard of an advent calendar?  I had to do something about that and buying a cheap felt tree wasn't gonna cut it.

Because of her age, I didn't want to do the whole "treat for each day" thing.  I just wanted her to be able to count down.  The cutest way to do that would be for her to have a set of countdown blocks.  

Aren't they adorable???  This was one of the most fun Christmas crafts I've done.  It was so much fun deciding what papers to use and it was so gratifying to see the awkward looking block transform as I sanded the edges of the papers off.

I got my blocks from Michael's for 99 cents each.  I've also seen them at Hobby Lobby for around the same price.

I painted my blocks first and then followed these instructions for making the blocks.  Sadly, I do not have a cutter so I had to use stickers for my numbers.  Maybe I'll be using vinyl next year.  Fingers crossed.


Here are two of my favorite things from last week's link party.

This cinnamon and heart garland from Sarah @ Modern Country Style.

So cute and I bet it smells amazing!




Next up are these amazing DIY vintage Christmas blocks by Kaitlyn @ The Birds Nest.

These are up next on my list.  I can use the rest of  the stickers I had leftover from my countdown blocks.  I don't have sheet music, but I do have some vintage sheet music scrapbook paper that I got from Hobby Lobby.  Perfect!

If you were featured, please feel free to grab a button.

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OK, it's your turn.  What are some of your favorite things?

Rules:

There's really only one.  Please, please, please link back to the party so that others can join in.  Also, it'd be really nice of you if you could visit a few of the other linkups and leave a nice comment.

Linking to:

Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous
Fancy This Friday @ Truly Lovely 
SNS @ Funky Junk Interiors 
Show & Tell Sat @ Be Different, Act Normal 
Market Yourself Mon @ Sumo's Sweet Stuff 
Glam Party @ Giggles, Glitz & Glam

Get Your Hand Outta the Cookie Jar

I bought this a few weeks ago for a buck-fifty.

I knew what a wanted to do with it, but then I lost the top.  I washed the bottom and it sat in my kitchen being all sad and lonely for about three weeks.  Then the other day, I was cleaning the back of my car out, and there it was... the top.  This was another of those speedy projects that I love to do.  I just painted the top, wet my paper, glued it to the top and then used a little Mod Podge to make it all stick.  I decided to paint the handle red t make it pop.  Plus, it matches my Kitchen Aid.  

Here's my after

Those cookies are a Martha recipe that someone linked up to Foodie Friday last week.  I'll be featuring those this week so make sure you stop back by on Friday.  


Linking to:
Transformation Thursday's @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
Get Your Craft on Thursday @ Life as Lori 
Under $100 Link Party @ Beyond the Picket Fence 
Strut Your Stuff Thurs @ Somewhat Simple 
Everything but the Kitchen Sink @ A Little Knick Nack
Creative Chick Parade - Day Five   
Flaunt it Friday @ Chic on a Shoestring 
Look at Me @ It's Fun to Craft
Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous  
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors 
Style Feature Sat @ Perfectly Imperfect 
Scraptastic Sat @ Young and Crafty
Saturday Soiree @ a little lovely  
Sunday Showcase Party @ Under the Table and Dreaming

Sundae Scoop @ i heart naptime
Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative 
DIY Project Parade @ The DIY Showoff 
Met Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch 
Upcycled Awesome @ The T-Shirt Diaries 

Hold the Phone!

I'm so pleased with this project because I made it quickly AND it only cost me 80 cents to make (not counting the tiny amount of paint and mod podge I used). 

I went to GW yesterday to donate some clothes (7 bags, people!!) and as usual, I drove around front and went in to give them some more of my $$$.  I found this charging station for 50 cents.

I was planning to leave it as is, but after I got home and started looking at it, I thought, "Why not dress it up a little?"  I planned to make things easy and just color the edges black with a Sharpie before putting the paper on, but that didn't work out so well.  I ended up just going around the edges a few times with a small brush and some black paint.  I'll have you know that I just recently realized that I don't have to paint the whole object if I'm just gonna cover most of it in paper... can you believe that???

Anywho, it took me forever to decide what paper to use and I finally ended up choosing a sheet that I'd picked up on clearance at Hobby Lobby for 30 cents.

This is the end result, which I love, love love!

Linking to:
We Did It Weds @ Sew Much Ado
Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking 
Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Design 
Whatever Goes Weds @ Someday Crafts 
Make it Yours Day @ My Backyard Eden 
Show us What You're Workin' With @ Me and My Bucket 
Creative Therapy @ Life in the Pitts 
Look What I Made @ Creations by Kara 
Get Your Craft On @ Life As Lori 
Under $100 Link Party @ Beyond the Picket Fence 
Creative Share @ Trendy Treehouse 
Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints on the Fridge
Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous 
Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest
Fab Friday Finds @ The Simpler Life 
Met Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Market Yourself Monday @ Sumo's Sweet Stuff 
MMM @ C.R.A.F.T. 
DIY Project Parade @ The DIY Showoff 
Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative 
Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping it Simple
Twice Owned Tuesday @ House of Grace 
Make it 4 Monday @ Cottage Instincts 
Check ME Out Sat @ A Vision to Remember 
Creative Chick Parade - Day One 

Sofa Table Makeover

I think it's a sofa table or maybe an aquarium table.  Whatever it is, I've decided to use it in my dining room.  

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I knew right away that I would paint it black, obviously, since I seem to paint everything black.  Once I painted it, I moved it back inside so I could live with it for awhile and see what else it needed.  It's a 90's table and you can totally tell by the rounded edges.  After I dressed it in black, it looked like an 80's table..  gross!  I thought about it and thought about it and decided that I needed to decoupage something on the top.  What though??  I didn't want seams from individual scrapbook papers.  Maybe wrapping paper?  I went to Hobby Lobby to get some French-y accessories to go with a French-y framed print that I was planning to sit on top.  I found some awesome plates (one harlequin!) for 5 buckaroos and then I went back to the wrapping section to see what kind of wrapping papers they had and holy moly....  they had harlequin wrapping paper too!!!

I brought my goodies home and got to work.  First, I measured and cut the sheet of wrapping paper I needed.  Next, I used this method to decoupage.  One thing I learned from trying to do such a large sheet of paper is that I should have asked Charles for help.  I was never able to get the paper centered on the table and I had a couple of rips.  You can't really tell that the paper isn't centered with stuff sitting on it and the rips kind of add to the look I was going for.  This thing also had at least 100 air bubbles!  I'm not kidding.  I ended up taking a pin and poking holes in the black diamonds to release the air. 

Once the paper dried, I put 2 coats of Mod Podge on and then sanded the top a little.  Next, I added some strong instant coffee to a little Polycrylic and brushed that on to age the paper.

My last step was to add a drawer pull on the front to kind of bling it out a little.  I wanted to do three pulls, Charles said it wouldn't look right with three because there aren't any drawers, but he doesn't like the table anyway so I don't really care what he says about it.  :-)    I'll be adding two more pulls this week.

Linking to:
Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping it Simple
Met Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Make it Yours Day @ My Backyard Eden  
Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking
Creative Therapy @ Life in the Pitts  
Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage 
Show Off Your Stuff @ Fireflies & Jellybeans 
Furniture Feature Friday @ Mustard Seed Creations
Frugalicious Friday@ Finding Fabulous  
Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints on the Fridge
Whatever Goes Weds @ Someday Crafts  
Hooking up With HOH @ House of Hepworths
Sundae Scoop @ i heart naptime  
Trash to Treasure Tuesday @ Reinvented
Style Feature Sat @ Perfectly Imperfect  
Creative Chick Parade - Day Three

Little Birdies Get New Clothes

I got these at GW years ago and managed to sand the shellac off of them before they got lost in the garage for awhile.  

sad birdies 

To help them, I mixed a few colors of Folk Art paint together and painted them; then added some cute paper.  Charles made new bases for them since one is still out in the garage somewhere.

 happy birdies

Linking to:
Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking
Creative Therapy @ Life in the Pitts 
Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Design 
Get Your Craft On Thursday @ Life as Lori
Hookin' Up With HOH @ House of Hepworths
Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous

No More Naked Switchplates

 

A few months ago, I ran across this idea over at Reinvented.  I did these as part of my daughter's mini-bathroom makeover that seems to be taking me forever to finish. This is a very cheap and easy project.  Just like I like 'em!







 

Linking to:
Met Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping it Simple 
Just Something I Whipped Up Monday @ The Girl Creative 
Get Your Craft on Tuesday @ Today's Creative Blog 
A Little Creative Therapy @ Life in the Pitts
Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Design
Make it Yours Day @ My Backyard Eden
Check Me Out @ A Vision to Remember
Sundae Scoop @ i heart naptime

A Side Table Makeover

We have a galley kitchen which means that I don't have a lot of room for things like cookbooks.  I'd tried keeping the ones I use most in several places; on top of the fridge, in a cabinet, on the counter.  None of those places worked because I needed those spaces for other things.  I tried moving a bookshelf to the tiny wall next to the back door, but it just didn't look right.  Then I found this little fella at Goodwill for $6.

I sanded what I could, which took awhile because there were two coats of paint on it, washed it, primed it and painted it. Then I sanded the edges, decoupaged a sheet of scrapbook paper to the to the top and added a cute drawer knob from Hobby Lobby.  I ended up with this:

Here it is in it's new home, holding the cookbooks I use most.

And a shot with THE Speckled Dog, Dax.

Linking to:

Today's Creative Blog - Get Your Craft On 

Make It Yours Day 

A Little Craft Therapy 

Show And Tell - Blue Cricket Designs
Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple 
Toot Your Horn Tuesday
Furniture Feature Friday @ Miss Mustard Seed
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Whatever Goes Weds @ Someday Crafts
Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking
Furniture Feature Friday @ Miss Mustard Seed
Creative Chick Parade - Day Three
Piece of Work Weds @ Primitive and Proper

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