DIY extravaganza

Life has been so interesting as of late it seems like when it rains it pours and all that I can say is that I am so thankful for the times that it pours. Those dry spells are not fun, especially when it comes to your finances. I think the best thing for me to do was keep a positive outlook and believe that something will sprout up, beyond my expectations.

I have become what I have always wanted to be an artist. I am not starving but have been before, and think that when it comes down to it if I had to I would to be able to do what I ultimately love...which is everyday that I get to wake up and create and not just create, but create whatever inspires me.

I have had a few moments as of late where things feel as if I am finally doing what I was meant to do all along. I am not searching for a place to inspire me to create, and looking to leave to find somewhere to fill that creative void. I am finding it right here, in my home. A place I thought I was so different from what I wanted to be, but in reality was everything I needed, to bring out the best of who I am supposed to be.

I have been creating a lot lately and doing a lot of thrifting, garage sale-ing, etc. I look for objects that the normal eye would not see as beautiful and seek to restore them to a beauty that is relevant to today, and adds value to something that would have been seen as outdated and irrelevant.

Here are some of my photos of my recent work, I hope you find these things as fun and intriguing, as I have felt when creating them. This is only the tip of the iceberg and there are definitely more to come in the near distant future.

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My sister and I have been finding a lot of places that have literally been giving away stuff for free, so we look at the items and see what inspires us and go from there. The chair below was missing a joint and so not easily fixable but definitely perfect for a planter to sit on outside. I would define it as, shabby chic. (This is a decorating reference I never thought I would be a part of but I really do love it!)

before

after

I am not sure if you remember this stool that I bought that I was going to reupholster, but here is the before pic. I found it at a estate sale for a bargain and knew that all it needed was a little life.

before

after

I love the way the stool turned out because of how much more modern it now looks! I want to keep it but there is no room for it. So this is definitely an item I will be selling in the near distant future.

Did I mention that I may have taken a fancy to decoupage? I know...I know..I am becoming far more mature then my years for what crafting projects I have taken on. Remember those children's journals that are being sold on my etsy shop? Well I thought it would be a wonderful idea to decoupage the lampshades in the pages since, I wanted to use them for another project and this what I came up with. I think my favorite part is when they light up you can see the overlapping of the pages which to me is such a cool addition.

This little gem is an owl candle holder, it was original a very sad brown and black but with a little help from my friends at Krylon. The color I chose to spray paint this little owl is called, Ocean Blue and by far my favorite little gem.

The last thing I am going to show you, is my favorite furniture pieces. I used doilies and lace panels to create the effect shown below. These tables were really troublesome for awhile only because I learned that you should not paint when it is below 40 degrees and in our garage there is no installation so it feels as if you are outside.

So a lot of these items my sister and I will be selling at what we would call a showcase sale. A sale for us to showcase our work in person and let you all know what it is exactly that we are doing.

That's all for now...TTFN! :)

What I've Been Up To

Okay..so you all know what Ben has been up to, but I figured I'd give you all a little sneek peak into our home, where the magic happens. So far, I have pictures of my room, the bathroom, the living room, and the master at work in our garage, which was recently cleaned up.

In my room, I decided to make a picture gallery wall of random pictures I had..take a look and see what you think... I have taken a kind of Scandinavian approach to the decor of this room, and my pictures on the gallery wall are from all over the place. I have always wanted a wall filled with random things. The pictures are purposely off-angled, and I broke up the ones that are part of a set. I think it makes it much more interesting. And, I really love all of these pictures. I make a rule never to put anything up I don't love. I also have a cuckoo clock from Germany and a water-color painting from Sicily in my room. The bookcase was made by my father, and I also have a hope chest passed to me from my mom.



In the bathroom I took a slightly different decorative approach, definitley French, with the black, white and red decor. I have thrown in a bit of apple green, just for a different effect. I also have a smaller gallery of pictures that I have collected from random places. I just love them all! One thing I love that I don't have a picture of is a mirrored vanity tray, hung on the wall. I love to be surrounded with things that make me happy!



The last room of the tour is the living area. This is definitely more contemporary, but to off-set the coldness of the leather and the monochromatic colors, I add spots of color, and many pillows and blankets crafted of warm fabrics. The picture of Paris is by far my favorite, but I love the cowhide too. All of my furniture here is super-light, so I can move it myself. My favorite thing about the ottoman is that it has four cubbies to hide all sorts of things, and the tops flip over for trays to eat on. Perfect! I have two sitting areas in the front room, and Ben sleeps on a daybed out there too, but we will not photograph that for privacy sake. I hope you have enjoyed my little tour.




Oh, and one last picture of Ben in the garage, making his magic.

Colorful projects

So last night I decided it was time to take some of my projects and get crack-a-lackin on them. After purchasing enough paint to give the majority of things needed a facelift....it was time to start. Let me tell you I am not afraid of color either. I love bright bold interiors.

I have this theory that each item in your wardrobe should stand out or speak to you in some way so that when you put all the pieces together the end up being something amazing. Well I feel that same way with your home. If you do not love it or put your own personal touch on it then it becomes more cookie cutter and less personal.

This is why I love giving old beat up pieces new life, and add a bit of whimsy to them.

First project:

THE CHAIR

-BEFORE-

So when I saw this chair I knew that it needed some love great frame, great structure and I love the harp. When I saw this I knew that the harp had to be accented with a mettalic and the seat and frame would have to be in the purple family. Here is the result.

AFTER

My next project was this massive 1 1/2 ft tall candlestick that I found walking home one day. It was sitting on the sidewalk for free that is one of my favorite things about living in Portland, all the little treasures you find.

BEFORE

Bright was the best option to make this dingy candlestick come to life, and come to life did it!

AFTER

Those are all the project photos I have for you now but just wait there will definitely be more up tomorrow. In the meantime check out some pics from my garden project.

My first lettuce seedling!!! So excited!

And some flowers in my garden area!

Inspired by this..

This week has been another crazy week, my sister and I keep happening to come across stuff that we could take and upcycle or recombinate into something wonderful. I now have a dozen chairs to refinish. A dozen+ pillows to create. Two tables to refinish. A nigh stand to repaint. Ten more journals to finish. 8 candlesticks to redo etc.

On top of that I always am creating a Van Gogh reproduction for my brother and sis-in-law which I will post pics of as I go along.

I think my favorite thing is that when I have so much to do you can either to choose to get overwhelmed or you can just dive right in and see what you can do with all these amazing finds.

Well it is time to start diving because I got a lot of work to take care of.

Apart from that I have been feeling very inspired this week, so here are a few of the things that inspire me.

Gardening

I have always been scared in the past that I wouldn't succeed at gardening, creating a garden, etc. But there are no successes without failures, right? So I decided that I would grow tomatoes, mesculin and romaine lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, asparagus, potatoes, onions and dill. I will happy to see how they turn out, and if they do the beauty is how much money you save just from creating your own garden.

BOOKS

Another ingenious way to use books to create an amazing floating bookshelf. I am so going to create one of these once I get my 800 other projects finished.

CRAFT SPACES

This is the kind of creative area I hope to have at some point so colorful and inspiring. It makes me so excited...don't get me wrong, I love what I have now just everything could always be improved upon.

On a side note I would like to thank Dolce & Gabbana for showing that long johns are acceptable to wear as pants and to confirm that I was ahead of the trend.

My Version:

That is all for now but stay tuned for more great posts on the way I will try and post more regularly now that things have slowed down, and I have umpteen million projects to do.

Thanks for reading my blamblings (blog ramblings) and time to take a break from Matrix backbends and do more crafting!



TTFN! :)

Table Project

So I have not posted in over a week, was trying to get the hang of posting every couple of days. I got a little busy with weddings and people visiting. So now I am back in action and ready to get back on my crafting, upcycling etc.

The thing about artists, I feel like sometimes we get a creative block, for writers it is writers block, but for artists it is definitely creative block.

So thinking of a lot of new ideas and coming up with some new concepts, as many of you know I have been making journals, which I have about ten more to make in total. I have sold a few through my etsy shop which has been really awesome. I have quite a few pieces of furniture out there that I need to redo and upcycle as well!

So here is a later piece I create but wanted to show what I created.

This was just an ugly old round table before I began on this baby btw!



Yes it is all paint if you were wondering btw! :)