Sea Shell Bathroom Decor

I finally finished some decor for my guest bathroom.  This is what I had in there before.

Sad, I know.  I am so glad I finally changed it!  In our previous house, I had the main bathroom decorated with seashells and this print was one of three that I had.  When we moved here, I wasn't sure what to do with this tiny bathroom, but it really needed something on that bare wall behind the toilet.  The other two sea shell prints I had got lost, or the frames got broken, I'm not really sure what happened to them.  So, I just hung this lonely one.  I knew it didn't look that great, but it was better than nothing, and I didn't want to spend the money to get something new.   While I was blog hopping the other day, I saw some framed sea shells that inspired me to do this. I couldn't wait to get started.  I remembered I had a whole bunch of sea shells from the bathroom in the other house, and I have a stash of old frames that I have stockpiled for years, so I went and pulled a few out.  Everything I needed for this project, I already had on hand.  There is nothing more satisfying to me than doing a project that doesn't cost a dime!

 The two frames on the ends are solid oak, and the one in the middle is plastic.  I knew the oak frames would be perfect for what I had in mind, but I wasn't sure how the plastic one would do with the paint/stain treatment I was about to put it through.  I primed it with a spray primer made for plastic and then I spray painted all of the frames with Krylon spray paint in Ivory.

I wanted the frames to have a weathered/aged look, so after painting them I sanded them a little to scuff them up and stained them with a dark mahogany stain.  Again, I wasn't sure how the plastic frame would do, but it came out fine.  It was a little more time consuming to get "just right" than the wood frames.  It also took longer for the stain to dry on the plastic frame, but it was well worth putting in the extra time.

After all the painting was done, I covered the backs of each frame with burlap using spray adhesive.  I then hot glued the sea shells in place, and that's it!  

before

after

It was that simple to create these works of art!  Who knew it could be that easy to fancy up your bathroom?

Refinishing Furniture with......Spray Paint?

Yep, you read it right.  Spray Paint!  I love this technique for so many reasons, no brush strokes and a super quick drying time between coats are just a few of my favorite reasons.  I primed and painted both pieces and then glazed them with a black glaze.  The primer I love to use is Kilz in the spray form, and my favorite spray paint is Krylon.  I love Krylon because of the nozzle--it is so great for spraying anything, but especially furniture.  The color for both pieces is Ivory in a gloss finish, and then I brushed a black glaze over both pieces after the paint was dry.  Glazing is a wonderful way to bring out detail in a piece or to get a really good distressed look.

Before

This was the first piece I ever did.  I was a little nervous to be doing it with spray paint, but I knew with this piece, I would have nothing to lose if it didn't turn out!  However, it did turn out, and made me a true believer in the spray painting technique!

After

 

Here it is all finished and in it's new home.   I still need to find drawer pulls for the bottom drawer.  They are an odd size, so I may have to end up ordering them.  It is in our game room in the basement.  On the top sits jars filled with art supplies and inside the drawers are all of our coloring books, construction paper, etc.

One of the very first shows I filmed was re-finishing this desk for my daughter's room.  I had been wanting to refinish this desk for a while, but couldn't decide what to do with it. When I finally decided, I thought it would be a great topic for a show.

Before

After

I love how it turned out, and so does my daughter.  I did this with the same paint/glaze combination I did the dresser with, but then I added a few decorative elements with chalk board paint.  I had a piece of sheet metal cut to fit the opening in the back of the hutch.  I had to clean the sheet metal with vinegar before I could paint it, because it is treated with some kind of oil.  After cleaning it, I primed it with a spray automotive primer and then I sprayed it with chalk board paint.  I used sheet metal rather than wood because I also wanted the surface to be magnetic.  The desk top was taped off in the diamond pattern and then painted with the chalk board spray paint as well.  The pattern was a little difficult to get right, but once the measurements were figured out, it went pretty quick.  I wish I had step by step pictures for this, but I didn't think to take pictures while we were filming.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comment section, and I will get back to you as quick as I can.

All in all, I really like this technique!  I already have plans to do an old china hutch given to me by my Grandma.  I am just waiting for the weather to warm up enough to go outside and do it.  I will certainly remember to get some good step-by-step pics the next time around! 

Starting Your Garden Indoors

We recently did a show about how to start your plants indoors.  I think it was one of the best shows we've ever filmed!  Ron Patterson, who is the county extension agent for agriculture, came on and taught us the basics of getting your garden started.  He was so knowledgeable and gave super good tips and information on this topic.  The time flew by and we weren't able to cover half of what we were hoping to.  I will definitely have to invite him to come on again.  Here are a few pictures from the taping.

While we were taping, Ron helped me get my pumpkins planted and explained the process of transplanting the seedlings into a bigger container and ultimately into your garden.  A couple of days later, I planted several more plants.  This is how they are doing today, after about 2 weeks.

I can't wait until it gets warm enough to plant these in my garden outside.  I LOVE fresh vegetables, and I think I will love them even more this year! 

Thank-you Ron, for sharing your knowledge with us on this episode!

Goodies!

I was organizing pictures on my hard drive today, and I thought it would be fun to share some of the goodies I have made over the last several months.  I used to own a catering company, but when we adopted our youngest, I decided to take a break from running a business.  I still dabble in catering a little bit, mostly just with cakes now.  It is a lot less stressful to make a wedding cake than to cater the entire meal for the wedding.  I used to do both.  I think maybe I was crazy.  lol!  Actually, I really enjoy cooking for other people.  I don't think I will ever do it on the same scale that my catering business required of me, but it will always be a part of my life and is something I enjoy immensely.  Here are some photos from the last little while.  Please forgive the photography, I know it needs help!

I still do corporate gifts at Christmas time for a few clients.  This particular client decided to give out their gifts at Thanksgiving time, which I think is a fabulous idea!  I bought an edible ink printer last year, and I LOVE it.  That is how I was able to make these logo cookies.  The cookies were wrapped and attached to the front of the baskets in the top picture.  I didn't get a picture of the finished product, but I was pleased with the way they turned out.  The client I made them for was pleased as well.  They want the exact same thing this year!

These cookies were made for a client that works in a beauty salon.  She gave them to her co-workers for Christmas.  They were gingerbread cookies and again I used my edible ink printer to print the design on the cookies.

More Christmas Gingerbread above, and below are just some random cakes.

The baby shower cake was so fun to make.  That little baby on the top and the blanket over her were made of fondant, as well as the umbrella's in the cupcakes.  The green and white cake was for a St. Patrick's day birthday party and was iced with buttercream.  The 50's cake was for my niece's birthday party.  The whole cake is covered in fondant and I cut the silhouette's out of fondant using an exacto knife.  The Sponge Bob cake was fun to make too, and seriously one of the easiest cakes I've ever done!

One of my BFF's talked me into coming out of retirement to cater her husband's 40th birthday party.  It was a lot of fun, but it made me realize that I am really glad I no longer do this on a regular basis!   

I used my edible ink printer to print photo's from her husband's life on the cookies.  They were wrapped and given to guests as party favors.  They turned out really cute.  The pictures below are from the same party.

Red velvet cake pops dipped in white chocolate.

This was the dessert table.  Besides the cookies and the cake pops, I made brownie bites, chocolate covered strawberries, and cinnamon almonds.  We also served cheesecake bites and chocolate popcorn on the buffet. The cake in the center was white cake with a raspberry filling.  It was a super fun night!

Thanks for reminiscing with me!

Using Burlap in Home Decor

I have been seeing burlap in home decor for at least a year now.  I can't believe how many different applications for it there are!  You can use it for anything from wallpaper to just a tiny little accessory somewhere in a room.  I love the neutral color and the wonderful texture of it.  It works with almost any style and looks fabulous!  Above are some great ideas from various sites in blog-land.

The first project I used burlap in was this dry-erase menu board for my kitchen.

I got the inspiration for this project from a blog called Under The Table and Dreaming.

I wanted a frame that was long and skinny for this project.  I would have preferred to have used one I already had, or one that was found at a thrift store or yard sale.  But because I was being picky about the shape and size, I had to purchase it new.  I bought it at Wal-Mart for $15.  Luckily, I had all of the other supplies on hand, so the entire project only cost me $15.

The first thing I did was take the back off of the frame and took out the mat and the papers.

Next I cut a piece of burlap the exact same size as the back of the frame.  I just laid the back over the burlap and cut around it.

 
Next I sprayed the front side of the back panel with spray adhesive, and attached the burlap to it.  If your burlap has wrinkles or folds in it, you should press them out before adhering it to the back of the frame.

After it was all smoothed out, I applied vinyl lettering, that I had cut from my cricut, to the burlap.  Then I put it all back together and I was finished!

It looks as if the letters marking the days of the week get smaller as they go down, but I promise they don't. :)  I am just a really bad photographer and must have caught it at a weird angle.  Oh well, just another thing to add to the list of things I need to work on!  LOL!

Here are a few more things I did with burlap:

I had a frame with broken glass that I used as the outside frame.  It originally was a brown color.  I spray painted it red and then glazed it with a black glaze to bring out the details and make it look a little antique.  This project was done much the same way as the menu board.  However, instead of using the back of the broken frame to cover, I cut a piece of foam core the same size, and covered it.  I was afraid the back of the frame was too flimsy to support the inside frame.  After the foam core was covered, I simply hot glued it into place on the back of the frame.  Next I hot glued the inside frame right to the burlap on the front.  (FYI-I used a LOT of hot glue for this step!)

When I saw these awesome flowers over at tatertots and jello, I just had to make them!  I made napkin rings out of mine, but I think they would be super cute magnets or even hair clips!