Capricious Craze

Vintage Piano Stool painted with ASCP Arles

2012-02-12T16:48:00.000-06:00

I purchased this vintage piano stool at an estate sale a few months ago. It was in really bad shape but I had a vision!

After an overall wipedown I painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Arles. It took a good 2 coats to acheive complete coverage. I then did the clear wax/dark wax ritual.

I wasn't sure that I was liking it all that much at this point. The rusty feet didn't seem to jive with the buttery smooth yellow. I decided to distress it (heavily! yikes!) and this is the final outcome:

She is now waiting for the perfect home!

European Chalk Paint CoCo desk

2012-01-17T06:50:00.001-06:00

This is a lovely desk and chair that I have recently refinished using Annie Sloan CoCo Chalk paint and accented with a creamy white. It has a handrubbed wax finish that just adds so much character and charm!

The desk measures 48" long x 30" tall x 30" deep. The top left drawer front drops down to accommodate a keyboard.

I apologize for the bad photos; they were not taken in the best light!

It is on sale for a special price of $150.00 as I have a lot of client pieces to get to and need the space in my workshop! Message me for more information!

Cozy litte nesters

2011-07-04T09:00:00.006-05:00

I bought these 3 nesting tables BB (before blogging!) with the hopes that I would someday be able to show them to the world. I didn't know enough to take step-by-step pictures but I did snap a few shots along the way.

Here is a side view after I had already stripped the top. I had also already spray painted the little feet with ORB paint. Now imagine an ugly greenish-colored wood top and mutliply it by 3 and you will know what the set looked like!

I filled holes, sanded uneven areas and stained the tops with Minwax dark walnut.

There are no pictures of the next step but I finished the tops with a poly and after that had dried I taped the tops off with newspaper and painter's tape and then spray painted the legs and aprons white. I don' remember the exact brand or color but it was most likely Heirloom White. After some distressing and glazing they were posted on Craigslist.

I'm working on an awesome antique wardrobe for my Daughter's room that I hope to have finished today so stay tuned!

**Linking to these great parties!**

Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard Cottage
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle
Newbie Party at Debbiedoo's Blogging and Blabbing
Piece of Work Wednesday at Primitive&Proper
Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

I was Featured!!!

2011-07-01T07:13:00.001-05:00

I was featured! I feel like such a star! Little ol' me! My 15 minutes of Blog Fame! Thank You, Lauren! Thank you, everyone! I will be signing autographs all afternoon! ;)
Please visit West Furniture Revival to read the post and enjoy all of the inspirational projects that were featured!

My pieces that were featured are Miss Frenchy and the Barrister Bookcase.

Lovely Ladies and One Handsome Boy

2011-06-28T07:05:00.002-05:00

These lovely ladies came from the Neighborhood Sale that Cassie from Rustic Raspberry and I went to in May.

They weren't too lovely in the beginning. They were a bit haggard and tired. The young lady I bought them from said that they were originally a part of her vanity. She went away to camp and when she returned, her Grandmother had cut them apart. Sigh~a Grandmother after my own heart!

I didn't want to spend days stripping the curved, fluted trim so I decided to sand these girls instead. It took the better part of the morning!

After they were sanded and cleaned I painted with my Glidden Black in Eggshell finish. I love this paint! I use it on all of my black pieces. I spray painted the knobs with a satin finish brushed nickel.

Everyone who saw these lovelies wanted to take them home and they did leave with a really sweet lady. More about her a little later!

Now on to the Handsome Boy. I bought this little box at an estate sale. It was in the garage (my favorite place to look) and was yucky dirty! I had already removed the knobs when I remembered to take a picture.

I wanted to paint this one with my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Olive. I brought it inside the house to paint because I have heard that the ASCP dries really, really fast. We have been having high temps of 112° lately so I didn't want to paint it in the garage!

I painted two coats and still had the original paint showing through in some places. After the third coat had dried, I used a little dark walnut stain to distress it. The next morning I waxed with Minwax clear wax and then special dark wax. I freshened the hardware with a coat of Rustoleum's dark bronze spray paint. I really wanted to keep him but had no where that he would fit!

I want to give a fair review of how this paint worked for me. If you are a die-hard, ASCP-for-life type of crafter then please read no further! (Or at least don't send hate mail! Or, send hate mail and I will just ignore it ~ I have thick skin! LOL)

Pros:
Love the colors!
Love the concept of no prep work ~just clean the surface and start painting.
Love the finish.
Ability to sand it fast

Cons:
Price
Short working time~ it dries too darn quickly sometimes.
Doesn't always coat well.

So, whilst painting three coats I pondered how many steps I would have gone through if I hadn't used my ASCP.

First coat would have been primer. Second coat would have been an olive green paint. Third coat (if needed) would also have been the olive green paint. Hmmmm, that's 3 coats. And, it would have cost a lot less money!

I'm still going to use my ASCP on future projects. Afterall, I have a can of Olive and a can of Versailles but I probably won't be buying more. (Unless I win the lottery or a cool blog giveaway!)

I have bought some flat finish paint to test on an antique armoir for my daughter's room. I am going to see how fast it dries and how quickly I can sand and distress it. I'll post a review as soon as I get it finished.

Now, more about the Sweet Lady, D'wana, that bought the nightstands. I posted the nightstands, the small box, the metal stool, and a garden bench on Craigslist. I received a call from someone who wanted to buy it all, sight unseen! She asked if I was friends with Cassie from Rustic Raspberry and did I have a blog too? I replied "yes" and she knew who I was. I felt famous!

She came and bought everything that I had posted on CL that day. Then, she drove to Cassie's and bought some things from her. She then came back to my house and bought my Frenchy Helix Cocktail table (the first buyer backed out and the poor girl was still for sale)! My garage is almost empty now! My Husband was so happy! I was so happy! Thank you, D'wana, for shopping at my garage!

Linking to these parties:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

Metal Stool Love

2011-06-25T22:50:00.009-05:00

I picked this metal stool up at an estate sale. I had seen a few on blogland and felt the need to refinsh one for myself!

There was an old sticker that wasn't coming off.

I used KleenStrip to remove the sticker and old finish.

Next I sanded the top smooth and covered it with newspaper to prepare for spray painting.

I wiped down the metal legs and spray painted them with Rustoleum's 2x Lagoon. The blue was a little too bright for me so I wiped it with Minwax Dark Walnut.

Then I stained the wood with the Dark Walnut.

I made a stencil using Microsoft Word and printed it out on card stock. I choose the outline option so I didn't use tons of ink! I then used an exacto knife to cut the number out leaving me a perfect stencil! I secured the stencil with painter's tape and used a small artist brush to paint the number. When the black paint was dry, I waxed the seat with Minwax dark wax.

I can now cross "buying an old metal stool with a wooden seat and refinish it" off my bucket list!

Linking to these great parties:

Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard Cottage

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou

Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle

Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife

Piece of Work Wednesday at Primitive & Proper

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

Aubusson Cassandra

2011-06-24T06:52:00.012-05:00

This tale starts with an ad on Craigslist. A cute little desk was advertised but it was in an unsavory neighborhood. I happened to be talking to Cassie from Rustic Raspberry about it and how I doubted my Hubby would want to go get it when he got off work because he would be exhausted. Turns out he loves me so much that he took me to get it!

Cassie texted me later to ask if I had picked it up. I said 'yes' and she, of course, wanted pictures! Well, the unexpected happened! Cassie wanted this cute little desk for herself! We went back and forth on what to do and finally settled on me painting it for her using her Aubusson Chalk Paint.

First the top had to be stripped so I could stain it with Minwax Dark Walnut. On this piece, I used Klean Strip.

After I had the stripper and old paint removed, I sanded the rest smooth. You can see on the left what it looked like after the stripper but before sanding.

After sanding, I applied Cabot's wood conditioner and then stained with Minwax dark walnut. When the stain was dry I waxed it with Minwax dark wax.

There was a very minor structual issue in that the bottom middle was resting lower on the ground causing the desk to rock back and forth. I can't explain how we fixed it where it will make any sense! It did result in us using wood glue to make sure it didn't happen again and that wood glue dripping down. When I removed the drips some of the paint lifted off. Well, one thing led to another and I ended up stripping the entire inside panel. I knew that the Chalk Paint could just be painted right over it but there would be very obvious uneven places.

Whew! If you are still reading, thank you for sticking with me! I then painted two coats of Annie Sloan Aubusson Chalk Paint and distressed to show a little of the white. I applied the clear and dark waxes. I'm still second guessing myself on the distressing!

This was my first time using the Chalk Paint and it went on like a dream, just as advertised. Cassie hasn't seen it yet; hope she likes it!

This last picture is just for Cassie; Piper LOVES her Cassie!

Linking to these parties!

Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge

Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Remodelahoic's Blog Link Up Party

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard Cottage

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Made by You Monday at Skip to my Lou

Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle

Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Piece of Work Wednesday at Primitive & Proper

Frenchy the Cocktail Table

2011-06-20T22:20:00.010-05:00

Frenchy was Featured!!!! Thanks so much, Lauren!

I found this little French style cocktail table at a yard sale way out in the boonies that Cassie from Rustic Raspberry and I visited a few weeks ago. She (the table, not Cassie!) was dirty but had lots of potential. And, yes, that is bird poop-Gross!

I knew that she would be beautiful refinished as Miss Helix was on West Furniture Revival. Thank you, Lauren, for your patience in explaining to me your process and products used!

The first step was to clean all the dirt and spiderwebs off. Then I used CitraStrip to remove the old finish and stain. (CitraStrip doesn't seem to irritate my skin like other strippers.) I put newspaper all around the table to catch the mess!

I usually use a metal scrapper to remove the gunk but am careful to not scratch the wood!

After stripping it, I wiped it off with denatured alcohol and then sanded smooth.

Before staining with Minwax Dark Walnut, I rubbed the top with wood conditioner.

After using the conditioner but before applying the stain:

And can you believe, after all these pictures, that I forgot to take a picture of the staining step? Well, I did! You can see the stained top in this picture that shows the coat of red that I applied. I don't know the name of the red, Cassie gave it to me!

After the red; I painted two coats of Behr's Emerald Coast. (Next time I may just paint one coat so more red shows through.)

I then sanded off some of the turquoise and applied Valspar Umber Glaze.

And here she is all prettied up!

I hope that this was an informative post! Miss Frenchy Helix is going to her new home tomorrow!

**Linking to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch**
**Linking to Masterpiece Monday at Boggieboard Cottage**
**Linking to Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou**
**Linking to Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle**
**Linking to Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff**
**Linking to Piece of Work Wednesday at Primitive & Proper**
**Linking to Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed**

Thrifty Finds

2011-06-09T13:58:00.002-05:00

Cassie from Rustic Raspberry and I hit a moving sale last night and a "cleaning out the sheds" sale this morning.

It was hot and we were covered in sweat and dirt by the end but we had so much fun digging for treasures!

So, without further ado, here are the pictures!

A watercolor of Pheasants and a metal sign for my Husband's Man Room. 3 1/2 yards of Thai silk and a cute book that I bought to read to the baby.

Well, maybe I won't be reading it to the baby! Check out this page:

Yes, those people are nude! The page reads:

The children often stayed with friends

Or relatives, for long weekends,

Then Charles and Gwen would slip away

to bathe in some secluded bay.

(I hope that you don't think it rude

to show them paddling in the nude.)

Too Funny!

I also bought this cute wall shelf. (I purchased the stool last weekend.) I don't know if I will keep the shelf or not. Still thinking of where I could put it.

These are the things that I found this morning. I have to admit that there was rat poop evident in the sheds and at one point a ran out thinking I had heard a rat. (Leaving Cassie behind to fend for herself!)

I will keep the wire baskets and Jack Daniels sign. The vanity stool will be refinished and sold as will the coffee table. The tall board in the background is a tabletop. It was only $1.00! I think Cassie turned green with envy!

Here are some legs that I bought a couple of months ago that I may put with the tabletop to make a desk.

A close up of the smalls that I bought. DH was happy with the signs and antlers that I bought for him.

Can't wait to find the time to get started on the projects!

Linking to these parties:

Would You Buy it Wednesday at Junker Newbie

Treasure Hunt Thursday at Blue Creek Home

Darken wood furniture with Gel Stain

2011-06-06T08:17:00.003-05:00

My Barrister Bookcase was featured!!!

Have you ever found a piece of furniture that would look great in your home if only it were a darker wood? It's in good conition, no need to strip and refinish, it just needs to be darker?

When we decided to switch to a flatscreen t.v. I knew I wanted an old buffet as my t.v. stand. I found this beauty on Craigslist for $20! I didn't like the yellowish green finish. YUK!

And here she is after using American Finishes gel stain:

What a dramatic difference!

Here is an oak barrister bookcase that I found on Craigslist for $10. It was in my parent's hometown so I called my Dad and asked him to run over and pay for it so the seller would hold it until I got there.

It was missing the bottom piece of glass but that was easily replaced with a quick trip to Lowe's. We just glued it in place~easy peasy!

And after:

We even used it on our ugly, 1980's bathroom cabinets! Here is a picture comparing the finishes. The door on the left is the after; the one on the right is the before. Sorry about the glare! I didn't know I would be blogging at the time I took the pics or I would have done a better job!

The American Finishes Gel Stain comes in several different colors. I used the Java.

First I cleaned each piece really well. Next, I simply applied the gel stain with an old rag. I wiped off the excess and let it dry. After a second coat, I brushed on the General Finishes Gel Topcoat with a sponge brush and I was finished!

I hope this post is helpful and saves you some time and money!

**Linking to DebbieDo's Newbie Party**
**Linking to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch**
**Linking to Take-a-Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts**

Piper is Home!

2011-06-03T13:55:00.001-05:00

Piper's blood work came back normal this morning so the vet let her come home. We are so relieved! According to some websites that I have read, she may not be out of the woods for a while so we will keep a close eye on her.
Within 5 minutes of being home, she had already tried to eat a paper towel and got all of her toys out of her toy box. I'd say she is back to normal!

Here she is with her cute little bandana that the vet decorated her with.

Isn't she cute?!

$5.00 Makeover Part II

2011-06-03T07:59:00.000-05:00

I've completed a second piece of furniture that I found at the neighborhood sale a few weeks back (Yay Me!). It is a sturdy, height-challanged corner cabinet. It was DIRTY! I think it had been stored in the garage for several years. The best part is that I only paid $5.00!

Here is the before:

I sanded the top down thinking that I would stain it but the wood wasn't the prettest so I decided to just paint the whole thing. I painted it my standard black using a short roller brush on most of it and my angled 2" brush where the roller wouldn't reach! It went really fast which is good because I still have 3 more $5.00 makeovers to complete!

I didn't notice until after painting it that the knobs do not exaclty match up with each other!

My oldest Daughter will be using it in the bedroom of her tiny apartment to hold a tv and dvd player. (Well, she will be as soon as I find a good price on a used tv! Time to go to more yard sales!)

Thanks for visiting!!!
Gigi

WARNING to pet owners! SAGO PALM kills dogs!

2011-06-02T12:03:00.000-05:00

Sigh, I don't even know how to title this post. It isn't going to be fun to write but I sure hope everyone reads it and passes it on to all of their friends that own dogs.

We bought Piper, our Golden Retriever, as a Christmas gift for our daughter. She (Piper, not our daugher!) is soooo hyper. She hates her kennel. She loves to chew. She loves to destroy. She loves to sit in our daughter's lap! She loves to harass our old dog, Haus. She is a complete ball of energy!

Here she is as a puppy in her Christmas dress (which she hated!)

She loves water! If there is any water anywhere in the yard she will end up covered in mud!

Did I mention how much she loves her food? She used to sleep by it!

She grew bigger and bigger. She learned how to swim and fetch!

About a month ago, Piper pulled one of my potted plants out of the greenhouse. It was a Sago Palm.

I didn't realize it was toxic to dogs! She played with it often. She also dug up my other plants and shrubs to play with. This weekend, we were doing yard work and I decided to leave the dead palm in the yard so Piper would play with it instead of digging up even more plants. It was a horrible mistake!

Monday evening, my Hubby took her to our land to run off some energy. When he came home he asked if Piper had gotten into Haus' dog food because she had vomitted. I knew she hadn't because I had put his food away. Piper seemed fine and we didn't give anymore thought to it.

Tuesday morning I let Piper into the backyard after her breakfast. About an hour later I noticed she was vomitting in the backyard. I brought her in the house and hosed down the yard where she had been sick because I think it is gross when dogs eat their own vomit! When I came back in the house, she had vomitted twice more. Back outside she goes so I could clean the floor and she got sick again. At this point I recognize some of the sago palm in the vomit and do a quick internet search.

This is what I found: http://www.tonyspencer.com/2007/10/03/this-plant-will-kill-your-dog-and-maybe-your-kids/ It scared me; bigtime! I called my Hubby then rushed Piper to the vet.

The vet has had her on I.V. fluids to try to flush the toxins out of her system. She is also being given medicine to help protect her liver. Her initial blood work shows no liver damage. Unfortunately, the damage may not show up for 4 days. I've read reports that sometimes the damage doesn't show up for a month!

We went to visit her this morning. I'm happy to report that so far, the vet is optimistic that she will be ok. She was really happy to see us and very animated. She has an I.V. port in her leg that she has chewed off more than once. It is covered in the pink tape.

I am really fighting the guilt of letting her keep her sago palm chew toy. This was completely my fault and is putting a huge financial strain on my family. Please, if you have a pet or know someone that does, let them know about the dangers of this plant! Hopefully I will be posting a follow up in a month that Piper is her normal, hyper, crazy self.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Giveaway

2011-06-01T16:06:00.000-05:00

Rhonda at Blue Creek Home is hosting an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint giveaway to celebrate her two year blog anniversary!

Become a follower for a chance to win one quart of Old White Chalk paint, a tin of clear wax, a tin of dark wax, two small wax brushes, and a copy of Annie's book, "Quick and Easy Paint Transformations".

The giveaway is being hosted by Robyn Story Designs so be sure to check out her blog, too! She has lots of Chalk Paint furniture makeovers dream over!

Good luck!

$5.00 Makeover Part I

2011-05-30T17:58:00.001-05:00

This post is going to be a challange to write because I am keeping my precious grandson and I have to hurry before he wakes up! I had forgotten how adding a baby to the mix makes doing things next to impossible!

I mentioned a while back about going to a huge neighborhood sale and picking up several pieces of furniture. One piece that I brought home was a pretty oak coffee table. It was only $5.00, my daughter needed a coffee table and I need one more project like I needed a hole in my head!

Here is the before:

And After:

I used Citrastrip to remove the poly finish on the top and followed that with a light sanding. There were a few nics that were pretty deep so I filled those with wood filler and resanded. I knew these areas would take the stain differently than the rest of the table so I marked over them with a black sharpie. Then I conditioned it with pre-stain conditioner and stained it dark walnut. Well, dark walnut wasn't quite the color I was going for so I stained again with jacobean. Still not right! Lastly I tried dark mahogany. Perfect!

I brushed on a layer of Minwax quick drying polyurethane then sanded lightly. Wiped the whole thing down and brushed on one more layer of poly.

While waiting for the different layers of stain to dry I painted the legs and apron black. I think it turned out beautiful and my daughter loves it!

My Hubby said that this is his favorite piece of furniture that I have refinished! Here are a few more pictures:

Do you have a favorite furniture piece that you have refinished? I'd love to see it!

p.s. The baby never woke up!

**Linking to Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday!**

Bestill my beating clock!

2011-05-26T15:38:00.001-05:00

I was invited by laxsupermom to join her Before Blogging Throwback Thursday party. It wasn't hard to showcase something that I bought before I started blogging since I am such a newbie!

This is one of my favorite things! It is a Howard Miller Camille clock. A friend spotted it in an antique store in Oklahoma and sent me a tiny picture. She knew I had been looking for a Swedish clock and wasn't sure if this would be something I was interested in. I was! Two of my other friends (one being Rustic Raspberry!) and I took a roadtrip to pick it up. We had a blast!

Although it isn't a Swedish clock, I still love it! What do you think?

Oh baby, what a good dream!

2011-05-25T08:32:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had a dream so delicious that you hated waking up? You know the kind I'm talking about; it feels so sweet and fulfills all of your secret desires.

Well, I had that dream!

I dreamnt that I was in Target. I dreamnt that in Target there was a whole shelf dedicated to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint samples. That's right, little dreamy jars of chalk paint. They were $6.00 each. There was only one sample jar of Aubusson blue left. I gingerly placed it in my shopping basket. Before I could even make it to the checkout I was rudely awoken by my Hubby opening his sock drawer. Ugh! I was drawn back to real life where there are no chalk paint samples at Target!

I was so dissappointed when I woke. So sad! So disheartened!

Problem CitraSolved!

2011-05-24T07:42:00.003-05:00

I picked this little sewing stool up at an estate sale. It was in desperate need of a good cleaning and a makeover. I had read about using Citrasolv orange cleaner to transfer an image from paper to cloth on the Ticking and Toile blog and decided to try it. However, I couldn't find Citrasolv in my area so while I waited for my order to arrive, I tried an iron-on transfer.

Here is the little stool before. I gave her a good cleaning and then taped off the legs and sprayed the metal feet with Rustoleum's Dark Bronze srpay paint.

I painted the legs and apron black.

Next, I bought and washed a drop cloth, cut to size and made a printable iron-on transfer with a graphic I found on the Graphic Fairy's website. It was pretty but not the look I wanted! It was very apparent that it was an iron-on transfer and a little bit of the edge was lifting up. I tried to iron it down and ended up melting part of the transfer! I took the fabric off and threw it away and patiently waited for my Citrasolv to arrive! Here is the Iron-on transfer before I melted it.

After the Citrasolv arrived I tried (and tried!) again. It took me several trips to the office supply stores to get a toner based copy that would work. I finally found one at Kinko's. I had several copies made so I could practice first. It takes lots and lots of rubbing to transfer the image. But, don't rub too hard or you tear the paper! The final outcome is lighter than the iron-on transfer but it looks like a vintage piece of material and that was the look I was going for!

I listed her on Craigslist and she sold within 2 days. A sweet lady bought her to put at her little girl's vanity.

I've joined Debbiedoos Newbie Blog Party!!!

Julian Cruz

2011-05-23T17:16:00.000-05:00

Baby Cruz finally arrived last Tuesday after 18 hours of labor! He weighed 8lb8oz and was 22 inches long. He is absolutely adorable and the most loved baby ever!

His Mommy kissing him!

The first time I held him!

Five generations! Baby Cruz is the first boy born in our immediate family in 42 years.

Here is his with his Great, Great Grandma!

And with Auntie Ashah!

With my Mom, Mimi!

Cruz and my Sister, his Great Aunt Sugar!

We are very blessed!

A change of plans

2011-05-16T16:32:00.000-05:00

Last night I sanded and restained the top of the coffee table and got started painting the legs. I had made plans to finish it this morning before my DH woke (he is working 2nd shift this week) so that he could start painting the new doors for the house.

DH couldn't sleep so I unexpectedly had a change of plans! So, away goes all of my painting and staining supplies and out comes the painting booth.

My wonderful Husband bought me the Graco paint sprayer for my birthday last April and made me a removeable paint booth (a.k.a blue tarps) for the garage.

Outside the booth (you can see the paint sprayer in the bottom of the picture)...

And inside the booth...

We are replacing all of the door knobs but are using the old hinges. They were the old brass kind. I painted them dark bronze by Rustoleum.

Before:

And after:

In the past I just laid the screws out and sprayed them. If you have ever done this you know that they roll all over the place as soon as they are blasted with the spray paint. This time I had a brainstorm and stuck them into styrofoam! It worked beautifully!

Tomorrow I will post the refinished coffee table. Of course, if the baby arrives before then it may be a while before anything new gets posted!

Neighborhood Sale Finds!

2011-05-15T16:09:00.001-05:00

I spent all of yesterday morning at a neighborhood garage sale with my friend Cassie from Rustic Rapberry http://www.rusticraspberry.com/. We loaded up her SUV, took it home to empty it and set back out with her Husband's truck!

This is a toybox I bought for the baby's room. First I will remove the duck! Then I will paint it black and may paint the inside green to mimic the bookshelf that I painted for the room.

We also bought a few things for Mommie-to-be's apartment. First is a short corner cabinet that will be painted black and used as a tv/dvd cabinet for the bedroom.

And a coffee table. I will strip and stain the top with dark walnut and then paint the apron and legs black.

I bought this cute little shelf but have no idea what I will do with it. Maybe I will use my Annie Sloan chalk paint. I have two cans but have been too nervous to even open it. (It must be because it cost so much and I am afraid to mess up and waste it!)

I left two nightstands that will be refinished for Mommie-to-be's bedroom in Cassie's garage. I should probably hurry and pick them up before she steals them!

**Linking up to Southern Hospitality's Thrifty Treasures**

Two Great Giveaways!!!

2011-05-13T14:58:00.000-05:00

There are two awesome Annie Sloan Chalk Paint giveaways going on right now. They end soon so hurry and sign up!

The first is at Karla at Home
http://www.karlaathome.com/2011/05/annie-sloan-chalk-paint-giveaway.html

and the second is at My Dwelling Place
http://mydwellingplace.typepad.com/my-blog/2011/05/childhood-dresser-makeover-and-a-giveaway.html

Take some time to view the blogs as they have some great ideas!

Baby Cruz's Room!

2011-05-12T08:29:00.000-05:00

Here is what we have done so far. We only have a few finishing touches and a bouncing baby boy to add!

To your right as you walk through the door are 3 stacked sonogram pictures. They need to be straightened!

The crib is on the right side of the room. I made the letters from wooden letters found at Hobby Lobby that I covered with black and green scrapbook paper. I also made the bedskirt!

The wall that faces you as you walk through the door has a window and the changing table. I made black curtains and then sewed the green stripes on. The changing table was Mommie-to-be's that I painted black. Pops bought the baby the stuffed deer mount!

On the left side of the room is the closet and bookshelf. Isn't it cute with all the toys. We need to buy more books, though!

Here is a peak into the closet. Can you tell that Mommie-to-be likes shoes?

I'm proud of how it turned out. I'd still like to add a big, fluffy green rug and a printer's tray that I've started working on to hold some of his treasures!

We're getting there...

2011-05-10T08:06:00.000-05:00

Mommie-to-be chose a green and black color scheme for the baby's room. I spent all day yesterday making the black and green striped curtains. (Pics coming soon!) They certainly were a challange.

After searching for what seems like months, I found this sweet little bookshelf on Friday at a garage sale. It was painted a country blue. I was so excited to start painting that I almost forgot the before shot! You can see that I had already painted one side black when I took this picture.

Before:

After:

Pops and I spent yesterday evening helping Mommie-to-be finish decorating the nursery. I forgot to take my camera but will get some pictures in the next couple of days and post them!

But wait, there's more!

2011-05-06T07:34:00.000-05:00

Just so the world knows that I do, indeed, have another beautiful daughter other than the one that is producing my first grandchild, I'd like to introduce you to (ahem, drumroll please)

The Amazing...........

The Talented............

And Sassy yet Beautiful...............

And one more to showcase one of her amazing talents.........

They don't come better than this!

Momma Mia!

2011-05-05T14:31:00.000-05:00

The Mommy to be! Sometimes I look at her and think, "Wow! Did I really create her? Amazing!"

Coming Soon!

2011-05-05T13:25:00.000-05:00

Julian Cruz is due to join this world on May 17th but we (especially his Momma) are hoping he comes sooner. Here is his preview! Isn't he precious?

2011-05-04T23:21:00.001-05:00

Welcome!