Cute Cake Stands

Beth over at Green Cricket recently posted a really awesome tutorial on how to make some cute and fun cake stands, I love the bright colors! Check them out:

See the full tutorial here, and while you're there check out all Beth's great creations! Have a good one!

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Brick & Turquoise Drop Leaf - Part 2

Ok, so I finished the table! Here's the original post if you missed it.  So I finished up with a good distressing session to let the red really come out, then I did a glaze of deep black over the entire thing afterwards. I'm pretty happy with how it came out! Fun little beachy table, with just the right amount of red coming through. Let's just get to the pictures, huh?!

Originally I wanted a lot more red to come through, but I just went with the flow, and ultimately I think it's just the right amount.  Don't forget, this was the before:

This table is available in the shop.

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Brick & Turquoise Drop Leaf

Brick & Turquoise, Teal & Red, how can you say no to this combo? You can't. They are naturals. I started work last week (beFORE the rains...) on an older drop leaf table I had around. Let's start with my inspiration picture first:

HELLO! How cute is that thing? I was searching for ideas, and I knew I wanted to use turquoise, and I saw this. The red layer underneath poking out here and there is what sold me, and away I went. So here we have a table with one too many layers of lacquer going on.  I know it was a style, but the key word there is "was". But it was solid wood and had plenty of interesting carvings, this table was ready for it's world to be rocked:

Hello Darling....

After it was stripped, we realized it some pretty neat woodwork going on, and goal #1 was to do a stain. Well that fell out the window and I decided, forget it, let's just be bold and see what happens. So here's the progress. First I put a coat of this beautiful brick red from my sister Denise, which managed to paint not only her living room, but mine as well:

Bring it!

I love this red. It's great because it's a nice flat red, and will really work well the bright turquoise. So that was layer one, bear with me. Layer 2, the turquoise:

Alright! Now we're getting somewhere.  This is about as far as I've gotten, since it's cold and wet outside and the paint just never seems to dry. Rather than rush it, I just came inside to post this :)

The goal here is to either whitewash the outside or do a dark glaze over the whole thing. I can't decide. Either way, I'll distress the project in all the right places and let that brick red shine out where it counts. Wish me luck, i'd love to hear your feedback, input and ideas on this baby. Also, I got new hardware (not pictured) it's a white ceramic drawer pull.

Have a good one!

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Fabric Wall Art Tutorial

Lately I've been such a sucker for cute fabrics. I love them, and the best part? SO  affordable. I have to say IKEA really tugs at my heartstrings the hardest with their fun, bold and affordable prints. Finding someone to cut the fabric? Difficult. Don't say I didn't warn you! But, well worth the struggle.  Anyway, here's the project I can't seem to stop doing:

These lil beauties are above my bed.  IKEA had an adorable print with bunnies and squirrels but in a bright modern style, and I instantly fell in love. I wanted new wall art as well, and it all came together perfectly. So this is the easiest project in the WORLD, and you can use existing canvases around your house without doing any damage. I used some of my old oil paintings, and merely staped to the back. So my paintings are still under there.. I just needed a change, ya know?  First you need canvas, here's where I got mine:

Step 1: Gather your tools! You'll need:
Canvas or frames (For the smaller ones I used some old idea frames that could take the staples)
Fabrics
Staple Gun
Fabric Scissors
10 Minutes

This tutorial was made when I was making these for my living room:

Step 2: Lay out your fabric face down, and put the canvas on. Play around and decide what you want to show, it always comes out great.

Step 3: Cut out the shape of the canvas, remember to give your self extra space on the edges for the wrapping. I did like 4 inches per side.

Step 4: Think of wrapping gifts, just start wrapping and stapling. You want to staple onto the back, versus the sides, because it gives that nice gallery wrap look.  At first it helps to crossover to the opposite side, pull the fabric taught, and give a staple. Then just repeat! Tip: I left my corners for last.

Step 5: Continue all the way around the canvas.For the corners I flattened them out at a diagonal, pulled, and stapled. Trim off excess fabric.

Step 6: There is no step 6, you're done! Hang these up, instant wall art, and it's sooo affordable! I had this random heater wall that just needed a little love. My intentions are to put coat hooks under, not sure. For now there's a cute wooden catch all chair.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and hopefully you feel inspired to start wrappin' up your canvas! There are literally thousands of prints out there, and this would also look amazing framed as well. Imagine, an old frame spray painted in high gloss white? Delicious. Have a great day!

Okay-okay, this isn't a wrap, but check out that great print... Ikea also. (above)

In the last shot, I imagine a solid color frame... so cute!

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How To Chalk Things Up

Hello and Happy Holidays! Well.. belated anyway. The holidays were SO wild for me here that I basically shut down shop for the month of December, to focus on family, friends, fun times and home repairs. Things are piecing themselves back together nicely, and so far, 2011 is a pretty nice year.

Seeing as how I haven't been up to TOO much, I decided to feature a tutorial from the great Design Sponge today.  This series is called Before & After Basics, by Barb Blair. I love her approach and her style, it's right up my alley.  I thought I'd share her! The tutorial I chose is regarding the wonderful chalkboard paint, which is extremely easy and fun! Plus, everyone who sees it in your home thinks your some sort of genius, which is always a welcome feeling if you ask me....haha.  Luckily for me, this is a no-genius-necessary project and pretty much could go on any surface. I'm debating painting a breakfast nook table with chalkboard. Here's the link to the tutorial: Chalk it up!  To give proper credit, the picture is from DesignSponge.com

Special thanks to Barb and everyone at Design Sponge for providing us all with great resources and fun eye candy all over their site. Happy New Year everyone! Make it a great one.

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