One Man's Trash: Restyling and Using Yard Sale Finds

 Hey y'all!  In my southern hometown, yard sale season is alive and thriving.  I don't know about you but there's nothing I like better than a good bargain.  My parents raised me right and we have a standing date in the summer for early Friday mornings.  This is our Mimi and Papa time.  We scour our hometown for finds that you can't find in the big box stores and I have a hard time paying retail prices in the boutiques if I think I can recreate it. 

A few weeks ago I struck gold and found lots of goodies for right around $30.  If I'd bought all this in the store, I'd have easily paid over $300.  No, I am not exaggerating.  I know, it's crazy how much things cost now.  I sound old so I won't go down that road.  I will share with you what I paid for each item, not to brag but to make it more interesting.  So I hope you don't take this as bragging, but enjoy what I am sharing with you.

There is a lot to see in the picture, so I will point out the goodies for you.  Please excuse the back yard in the picture, it was too cloudy to take a decent picture indoors.  There is the gorgeous lamp with the red shade $5,  the gold frame $5, the retro ice bucket $1,  beside that is the faux maple picture frame ($.50) leaning against a bucket of cedar slats ($1) (Oh, the ideas I have for those!! Can't wait), there is a wicker basket $.50 ( I can never resist!), clear milk bottles ($.50 each), a decorative piece $3, a Vera Bradley insulated lunch tote ($2 WHAT!!), a turquoise and burgundy rooster hand towel $1, sunglasses $.50 each, two bead necklaces $.50 each, a National Audubon clock (Free, but I couldn't get it to work, so it went into the garbage.) and the barn wood coat rack $3 (LOVE), and you can see in the lower left-hand corner the top of the plant pedestal $4.  What you can't see are many, many books $.50 for hardbacks and $.25 for soft covers.  I love love love to read just about anything so yard sales are great for that.  I just refuse to pay over $10 for a book, usually. :-)

 Here is the gorgeous lamp on top of our c.d. chest.  My husband, kids and I are avid music lovers.  From Frank Sinatra to Metallica, The Cure to Randy Travis, it's there.  I love the way the lamp accents the rail fences quilt. At $5, I thought the lamp was a steal.  It even had an energy efficient, long-lasting GE bulb. A dab of red will do ya.  Some of the things I could use as is, like this lamp:

and the cozy red hen kitchen towel. For just $1, it so goes with the jasper walls of my kitchen.  I love blue-green and green-blue, robin's egg, turquoise, jasper, whatever you want to call it.  My country roots are showing in the chicken motif.  Who doesn't love a little hen or rooster here or there?   I do, I tell ya.

This plant stand was easy to make work by just adding the pot of perennials my sweet mother-in-law got me for Mother's Day.  Thanks Nanna!!  I am one of those people who meets no strangers, so I discovered at a yard sale that the lady was tired of moving this beauty and it was time to part ways.  At $4, I was ready to arm wrestle my mother for this.  Just kidding, I offered it to her first.  She has the same pedestal obsession that I do.  I have paid $20 for smaller ones at a big box store, so I was excited she passed on it.

 I think the decorative piece add to the gray and yellow scheme of my home.  It just needs something, but I'm not sure what.  If you have any easy ideas, feel free to comment. It was ready to find it's home at $3, I just couldn't pass up this heavy wrought iron piece.  The patina and detail are just precious.

The last thing I used as is is this barn wood transformed into a coat rack.  The rose bud pegs are just too cute.  It is a great addition to our entryway at $3.

Here it is, pictured with items hanging from it.  Just for a different look.  

Now for the items that I just had too many ideas for them to use them as they were.  I will share tutorials in future post and add links to them as I add them so that you can use them if you are a DIY-er like me. :-)

Here's my little princess's mirror.  It was pretty easy to transform from the gold frame.  I just prepared it with a thorough cleaning, used newspaper to cover the glass and then used Rust-oleum's GLOSS MAUI BLUE spray paint to cover it.  I then added mirror hardware to the screws in the back and hung it.  It went over well with my little princess.  She uses it when getting ready each time we go out.  The flash caught the background and you can spot several Disney items.  We do love us some Disney.  I painted the faux-maple picture frame to match the mirror and added a pic of my little princess and her favorite princess, Pocahontas.  I think my husband's Cherokee heritage draws her to Pocahontas.  Can't say I blame her.  I talked a very sweet,artistic lady down from $7 to $5 on this great bargain.  Don't judge, negotiating is part of the fun of yard saling, as long as you don't take yourself too seriously and get easily offended and are kind about it.  :-)

 I just matted the frame with some scrapbook paper I had on hand.  I just love Rust-oleum and this gloss Maui blue.  It went on well and just used two coats after primer.  I just use the regular Kilz that you'd us on a wall.  It worked great with the mirror as well.  I found this frame at a distant cousin's yard sale and was happy to snag it for $.50. Yes, 50 cents.  Cool beans!

Here's a better pic of the original gold mirror.  Behind it you can see the faux-wood ice bucket in all it's 70's glory.  Let's just say, this was the most tedious project of the bunch because I had to completely disassemble it and clean it before I could begin the decoupage process.  It was a booger to get back together.  We developed a love/hate relationship.  But I think it turned out well with the scrapbook paper, Modge Podge, and chrome vinyl letters.  

 I just love the green and silver together.  It will serve us well since we stay outdoors much of the time.  I paid $1 for the ice bucket and wondered about half way through the project if it was a waste of my time and money,  but I like it a lot now.  

Last but not least,  I tinted the clear milk bottles with food coloring and Gloss Modge Podge.  Note: Do not use water in them or the color and glue with come off into the water.  It did make for a lovely picture though with the wildflowers my little princess picked for her Mimi.  I only paid $.50 a piece for the milk bottles, so I didn't feel too bad over the water mishap. 

I will link tutorials to this post as I add the tutorials.  I hope you enjoyed my post.  If you did, be sure to follow me so that I can share more ways to make a home homey without spending a fortune.  Be blessed.  Courtney C.

Our Latest Project

Hola everyone!  Last week was consumed with the usual family fun/madness.  I also tackled my little princess's room. She is in love with the Disney fairies as are many little girls, so we bought some Tinkerbell and friends decals, butterfly decals, and flower decals off Amazon.  After shopping around, I felt like they had the best prices, especially with Free Super Saver Shipping. :-)

Little lady wanted two colors: green on bottom and pink on top with a swirl where they meet. I will just say free handing with a small paint brush where they meet takes a while. I also added white dots along where the colors meet so that they blended smoothly. The white dots also formed flight patterns for the fairies and butterflies.  There are no close-up shots, but the white dots are there.

Melted Crayon Art

Hola friends!  I hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday.  I have been jonesing for all those cute melted crayon projects.  The one I really love involves the melted crayons on canvas with a vinyl word in the white.  There are several tutorials available if you type melted crayon art into your browser's search box.  I have a tutorial below if you want to use it.  I used 72 crayons with my canvas, just use as many as it takes from end to end.  I will say I began and ended with the same color (blue) to balance it out.  Other than crayons, you need a hot glue gun and glue sticks, a canvas for the size you want to decorate and a cricut.  I used the cartridge that comes with it (George?) and just chose the silhouette setting to give the outline look. 

First I laid out my crayons to fit the canvas. It took three boxes of 24, so I used three of each color together.  I ordered them so they would blend, starting with dark blue, light blue, blue green, green, light green, yellow green, greenish yellow, yellow, canary yellow, yellow orange, light orange, orange, red orange, red, pinkish red, hot pink, light purple, purple, dark blue.  (These aren't the proper names, but my personal description of the colors.) :-)

Next, I hot glued them  with the crayola label facing up, so they look uniform.  Make sure to keep the bottom of the crayon even with the edge of the canvas.  After this step, I used a embossing gun to melt the crayon from about the middle down to the tip.  You can use a hair dryer according to the other tutorials.  I might use the low blow, high heat setting if you can because the wax with blow around if there's too much force.  I started on one side of the canvas and worked my way across melting it in the drippy shapes I desired.  You may want yours to look different.  Just let it melt slowly and then you can remelt it if you want more drip. 

Lastly, I let it dry overnight.  Then I used my cricut to cut out the letters for creation.  I used the 2 1/2" letter silhouette setting and just stuck them down.  I hope you try it and are as pleased with your art as I am!  Happy crafting....C

Hola, everyone. I have been MIA on my blog for the last few weeks.  It's been crazy fun with the family and all the activities going on in our crazy household, but now it's time for me to take a few minutes and show you a project I finished this weekend.  I found a similar project

on Pinterest and thought: How cute is that?  I couldn't find a tutorial but I will tell you, all you really need is a frame, some broadcloth or cotton white fabric.  I used a second layer behind the embroidered layer so that it wouldn't be sheer.  Just secure the fabric to the back of your frame with staples or adhesive of your choice when you are finished. I traced each family member's arm and hand onto copy paper, then I cut them out, and traced them onto the fabric using a fabric pencil.   I used a simple chain embroidery stitch to trace each family members hand and forearm in their favorite color of embroidery floss.  I wanted it to look a bit like a tree, that is the reason I traced part of our arms.  After you use the fabric pencil lines on your fabric to embroider, just use a damp wash cloth to remove the pencil lines.  You can include the year, which is free-handed and you could even include your family name along the top. 

I hope this inspires someone.  I will chat with you soon. C

Monogram Madness!!!!

 Happy New Year, everyone!!! I hope you are all faring well in you own little piece of Blogland.  I wanted to share a project I just finished.  It's really inexpensive and easy.  It uses those oh-so-popular monograms from Hobby Lobby.  They are $1.50 at regular price, but if you dig around on their website, you can sometimes find some great coupons.  I bought the frame for $6.99 at Old Time Pottery.  The background paper is scrap paper I have on hand from scrapbooking.  Everything else, I had on hand as you probably do, too. :-)

Supplies need are frame, letter, paint for letter (your choice), foam brush, paper towel, a paper trimmer or scissors and a hot glue gun.  Here are the steps:

First, you need to paint the letter and let it dry.  

Add caption

 

Next, you simply take the paper backing out of the frame. Then place you choice of background paper on the front of the cardboard and center it, so that it covers the area you'll see.  Next, use double stick or transparent tape to adhere your background.

Here's a picture of how it should look.










Once your letter is dry, hot glue it onto your background paper.  After you've glued down your letter, then you just put the cardboard back into the frame.  It helps is there's a centimeter of so of room bewteen the cardboard and glass, just for the letter to fit well.  It you buy a matted photo frame, that should work! 

Happy crafting, everyone.  If you like my ideas, follow me and catch all my posts.  Have a blessed day!!! C.