square pegs...

Who says a wreath has to be round???

got my craft on for a few minutes yesterday.  I had set aside all the needed accessories weeks ago but had to wait to paint the frame.  Just something a little different this year.  And by the way, when I hang it out on the front door I will remove that dang wire!  Happy Fall.

West Coast Martha strikes again...

remember last week when I showed you my thrifty find

here

here she is

all dolled up

and ready for her close-up!

no sanding, no priming, just a good cleaning with a damp rag.

2 coats of ASC paint in Versailles

light sanding

medium distressing

1 coat of clear paste wax

done.

I have a couple of more little projects to try using the

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

in a couple of different colours.

can't wait to get busy on them!

joining the party at the WOW

smile at a stranger today, even if it is you..in the mirror.

Thrifty thrifting...

...I have a confession to make.  I have not been to the thrift/antique/vintage shoppes all summer.  I know, I know, but I just seemed to lose the thrill of the hunt.  I think it had to do with purging all the craptasticness out of the back room and office.  Now with that job complete I am once again on the hunt.  So a few days ago I stopped into my nearest GW only to find that they have redecorated too, and one of the latest sections that was added to the store is a vintage section.  Everything vintage, which seems an oxymoron in a thrift store but hey, they put all the really old, cool stuff in one area.  I made a beeline over there...and much to my surprise was this little shelf calling my name.   It's rather vintagey and has an upper and lower shelf with spindle type legs,  a cute little pull-out drawer with a vintage crystal knob on it.

I scooped the little dear up as quickly as I could and then tried to act all nonchalant about it so no one would notice my excitement.   It's hard to tell from the photo but it is in pretty good shape and really only needs to be painted, then plopped onto the wall in my new, recently updated bedroom.  I could picture it all in my little head....

I had recently purchased a small pot of ASCPaint and was anxious to give it a try after seeing all the great reviews in blogland.  This is supposed to be the perfect paint.  No need to prepare your piece, no sanding or priming, just wipe with a clean cloth and apply the paint.  One coat will do the trick then you can apply a finishing wax and distress to your hearts content, or not, whatever you choose.  I picked out the colour Versailles.  It's a little gray-green-yellow if you ask me but here's a sample so you can decide...

Ooopsie!  Yes I did.  Dropped it all over the kitchen floor cause isn't that where everyone does their craft projects, on the kitchen counter?  I quickly tried to scoop it back into the little pot but it was all over the cupboards and my shoes.  I'm pretty sure I may have scooped up a bit of dog hair too so the finished project just may have some added texture to it after all.   Big reveal soon...

a plethora of bumbershoots...

...is what you have if you live in the wonderful Pacific Northwest.

that

and sunglasses.

the day may come when you have sooo many

umbrellas

that you don't know what to do with them.

sometimes they break or bend,

sometimes they turn

inside out

and sometimes you just lose them.

I came up with a new idea.

get out your old bumbershoot,

a few greens

and silk flowers,

maybe a birds nest

or two

a funky old 'hippie chick' scarf

and some pins or hot glue.

here you go:

 (don't know why the alignment is acting up but I totally blame blogger...moving on)

without opening up the umbrella loosen it up by untying the little tie.  wrap your funky scarf around the middle and cinch.  I used an umbrella that had two tiers and tied the scarf between the two.  this leaves several pockets in which to add your adornments.



adding some tulips and other little flowers and using a spot of hot glue to hold in place.

then I added some greenery,

and a little birds nest with eggs,

played around with it for awhile and took it's picture.  THEN, I hung it on my yellow front door.

 really, it was so simple and fast.  I used things I already had around the house, the scarf I've had forever, the flowers were from an old pot that I pulled apart so was the greenery.  The birds nest was from my yard and I glued in some eggs that I bought for another project.  Of course the bumbershoot was one of many that we have in the car, house, closet...well, you get it.  Throw it all together and hang it on the door.  

just a little something different for Spring.

take care friends,

choose happy,

get your craft on!

Another 'paper' post...

I planted some paper whites a few days ago.  I always enjoy planting them indoors this time of year and this year I put them into a Haegar Pottery bulb bowl that I found while thrifting last Spring.

It's really very easy and in a few weeks you will have some pretty blooms to help remind you that Spring will eventually return!  

Just take a package of bulbs and line them up in a container...pointing up.  It doesn't matter the container although they do get quite tall so you might want to keep that in mind.  This is a very shallow container so I will undoubtedly have to find a way to prop them up when the time comes.

Next fill the container (bowl) with water to just below the spouting tops.  About an 1" or so will do.  Then cover with rocks or gravel, or in the case marbles.   Keep it in a well lit area and in just a few weeks you will have some pretty white blooms.  I don't particularly care for their perfume but I do love seeing flowers in the Winter.

Do you plant paper whites at this time of year?

Maybe I can craft...

when I made my music page paper wreath awhile back..here...I had cut the paper into 3 1/2" squares and also had cut some at 7".  I used the 3 1/2" for that project and with the leftover 7" I decided to make another wreath.  Only larger.  After I got started I realized that I didn't have enough of the music paper to make the entire wreath so I spaced them out and scratched my head and wondered...what to do?

You might recall that I have a fully loaded craft room.  Full of lots of projects I will only complete in my mind or if I life another fifty years that is!  Anyway my solution was to try scrapbook paper.  I really liked working with the weight of the paper compared to the sheet music but beware that the risk factor for paper cuts is increased by the thousands.  Round and round I went making paper cones and gluing them onto the wreath.  (I used a piece of lightweight cardboard again only slightly larger than the last one.)  And  voila!

To finish off the center of this one I took a piece of coordinating scrapbook paper and wrapped it around a canning jar lid (without the ring), then glued it onto the wreath.  Then I added a little hanger in the back made from twine and hung it on the mirror in my foyer.  I'm really pleased at how it turned out..sorry for the bad lighting in the photos, it was late in the day.  I am going to spray it with a light coat of clear shellac and then hang it on my YELLOW door!   What will I think of next?

The paper chronicles...

...so, I've been seeing a lot of fun paper crafts on the blogs lately and have tucked them away in my little head thinking "I can do that!"  Really, I didn't think I could.  Some of them appear to involve math skills and I am sorely lacking in those very types of things, so I did my usual.  I bought all the supplies I would need, set them on the craft table or somewhere thereabouts, and then promptly forgot about it. 

A few weeks ago I decided that this was becoming a foolish habit and something had to give.  So I chose to try making a wreath out of paper cones.  Sounds strange but it ended up being so easy that I'm embarrassed, well almost embarrassed, to admit it.  There are many tutorials out there on how to make these paper wreaths and I won't bore you with details. I'm pretty sure you know how to Google if you want details.

I found a book of sheet music a few months ago at the thrift and proceeded to tea stain them.  This was for another mislaid project but worked well here.  The pages were about 10 1/2 by 7 inches, so I cut several, many, 7" squares.  Then with the leftover piece I cut it in half which was 3 1/2 inches.  Basically you need a square sheet for this project and I don't think the actual size matters....as you will see!

Next I rolled the squares into cones and adhered them with clear tape, I think you could use tacky-glue but I didn't want to sit holding the edges together all night so I opted for tape.  You won't see it later.  In the above picture you can see I rolled all the papers but am only using the smaller 3 1/2 inch cones for this wreath.  After all the cone rolling, which is mindless fun, really, I cut out a piece of light weight cardboard.  I used a cereal box and cut a circle 5" in diameter.  I then found the 'middle' of the circle and marked it with a pencil.  This will be the center point in which all the cones come together.  Taking the small ends of the cones, one at a time, I glued the bottom half of the cone on the underside and attached it to the circular piece.  Around and around fanning the cones out until you have something like this.

When the cones were all attached and dried I then added a little Spanish moss to the middle to cover up the center spot.  I've seen other people use rosettes and other types of bling on theirs but I decided to go more natural.  Also, some of the examples had glittered edges, slightly torn edges, and/or curled edges to add to the aged look.  Then all you need to do is glue on some ribbon, string, or twine to the back and let it dry.  I also cut another sheet of music paper in a 5" round to cover the back side.

It isn't perfect but it was easy and fun and besides perfect is highly over-rated!  I have mine hanging in the kitchen and from a distance it reminds me of a giant Dahlia.  So what do you think?