My Little Tinker - Carys

Carys, is being adventurous yet again......using her little pink and blue car to climb!!

When I ask her to climb down... Her response..... Laughing!!

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Decorative Shabby Chic Serving Tray

This Decorative Serving Tray

Took a half a day to make!

Easy

Anyone can make this tray.

On my thrift store rummaging, I found some great wood picture frames, for a steal.

(Tons of future projects to do, yeah)

This picture frame cost only 50c...! Yep cheap. 

So start shopping at thrift stores for your next bargain.

First give your frame a good clean & let it dry.

Remove the back & keep to use later.

I gave the frame a couple of coats of spray paint, using Krylon Black Paint and Primer. Leaving to dry in between coats.

Next, I had a sample pot of Benjamin Moore blue paint. I used a foam brush and painted three coats, again leaving it dry in between coats.

To at texture I used, my leftover a

Benjamin  Moore - Acadia White Paint & used a sheet of kitchen towel, then rubbed the paint onto the frame, working quickly, rub off any excess paint, till you get your result.

Using you steel wool & fine sandpaper - distress.

I dug through my scrap fabric, and cut a piece to cover the thick cardboard backing from the frame.

Using a hot glue gun, glue your fabric to the cardboard. 

 Make sure you stretch as you glue, you don't want any creases.

I used Mod Podge to seal the edges of the fabric, and let it dry.

I bought these handles from Hobby Lobby, when the hardware was on sale, they were only $2 each.

Mark where you want the handles to go, the predrill.

Screw on your handles, and use a finishing wax to seal.

Put your glass in & fabric backing and secure with the existing pins.

Then

Sit back & enjoy your afternoons handy work.

Shabby Chic Decorative Serving Tray.

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Trick or Treat - Fall Festival 2013

Seren was our little Bumble Bee.

Carys a cute Ladybug.

As per usual...
Seren didn't want her picture taken, and we were lucky to get one picture with her flower headband on and Carys kept her hat on for 10 minutes, enabling me to get a couple pictures, then for the rest of the evening wouldn't keep her hat on.

Our Darling Little Tinkers.

The girls loved seeing all the other kids dressed up and Carys was the only one who wanted her picture taken at the picture point.

What do you think of the picture point...not bad?

Well that is one of my creations. I was asked by my friend, Jessica to help to make a good picture point. She is a new friend I have come to know since moving here to Madison, she & her Hubby came from Utah, too ! You can follow her blog HERE.
 So I put my brain into go mode and got to work.

Its amazing what you can do with, fallen branches, black trash bags, duck tape, pillow case, batting , fabric, cobwebs, bats, lights, rocking chair and imagination.

Oh...I also won Best Soup! Yeah me
( I will make a post how to make my soup soon)

Look at the mice mammy!

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Seren & Carys Fall Crafts

Primary Fall Craft Activity

The girls loved getting their hands covered in Modge Modge and paint.

The primary activity was to make a Fall/Halloween pictures of Pumpkins & Trees for our Chucrh Fall Festival.

Carys made me giggle as she tried to lick the Modge Podge glue, I'm guessing she thought it looked like coconut milk lol...

Seren, well to her paint goes on a paint brush not your fingers...but once I showed her, finger painting was Fun...she didn't want to stop.

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Coffee Table Makeover

 I've have never done a 'Big' furniture makeover before, but when I saw a Dinged Pine Coffee Table at a thrift store, I smiled and thought to myself, 

Good bones for a makeover!

I bought the coffee table for $10!

Now it was time to start the makeover.

 First, using my rotary sander, I sanded down the top with coarse sandpaper. I wanted to completely take all the pine color & varnish off, so I sanded it back to the bare wood. I did sand the corners & edges down - with my little girls who will be clambering on & running around the table, I didn't want ANY sharp edges.

 I followed with a fine sandpaper, to smooth it out. I did leave the big dings on it  - I wanted the table to look used, not pristine.

Turning the table onto its side, I unscrewed the top of its legs- keep the screws safe, you don't want to lose any.  With the weather turning colder, I had to stain the table inside, in our cozy small college apartment- stinky, yes! Make sure you open windows. 

I used Minwax, Deep Walnut Stain, and using an old cut up old T-Shirt, I rubbed it into the top, going with the grain. Leave to dry overnight. Then I gave it a second coat, using the same technique. and left it to dry overnight.

The Legs.

I wanted the paint to have a good base to adhere to the legs; I sanded the sheen off using a medium sandpaper. 
Then using the brand,  'Benjamin Moore - Premuim Flat Interior Primer & Paint' ( from Ace Hardware), the color I chose was, Acadia White.

Giving it a light 1st coat, ( it feels like a chalky paint when applying it) I left it dry for a good 2 hours before applying the 2nd coat, then the last 3rd coat, 2 hours later. 

I left if completely let it dry overnight.

Back to the coffee table top.

I didn't want, yet another dark piece of furniture, ESP not in such a small space, I used some of the left over Acadia White paint.

I wanted the darkness of the stain to show through, *so I used, 1 part paint, to 2 parts water & mixed well. *

Using a roller, I gave the top a light coat only leaving the paint on for about 3 minutes, then using an old, but clean cut up T-shirt, I rubbed off the excess paint. Then let it dry.

Now I wasn't sure if I wanted to go lighter or leave it that color. So I set it aside for the night, kept looking at it to see how I felt about the color, in the end, I decided, I wanted it lighter.

                          Following the *same steps* as above

I did, 1 light coat each time, to see how light I really wanted it to be. I did a total of 3 more coats. The light wash paint doesn't take too long to dry, so you don't have to wait to reapply your next coat. (You can decide how many you want to use.)

I let the final coat dry for 5 hours, then using Steel wool and a fine sandpaper, I distressed the top, around the edges and across the top. You can start to see the stain peeking through :)

I wanted  the table to have something in the middle & after looking at stencils & creative vinyl lettering and the cost, I decide to do mine, Freehand. 

I did Art through school, calligraphy being one course, so I gathered old English fonts, and did my rough drawing first on tracing paper. This is where you make your mistakes first :)

Then using a pencil I marked out the lines where my lettering was to go.

Then taking a deep breath, I drew the lettering on.

(Make sure you make a light pencil mark & don't press hard or you'll leave a groove from the pencil lead)

When I was happy with how the lettering looked, I used 'Painters Black Calligraphy Marker' from Hobby Lobby, to paint/fill in my pencil lettering.

 When I had finished, I sat back and looked at it, then decided to make it my own, by adding longer lines and curves of some of the letters.

Once the lettering had dried, I took steel wool and distressed the letters, to match the rest of the top. and the legs. 

To see how I made my Shabby Chic serving tray from a picture frame click HERE

Taking a cloth, I applied Minwax Paste Finishing Wax.  I purchased from Ace Hardware I left the wax on for 20 minutes then taking an old sock - I rubbed the wax in, I did the 'Wax on, Wax off ( karate kid style lol) in circles. You can feel when you have rubbed the wax in - the surface feels smooth and you can see the shine.

I LOVE

 Our New

 Coffee table.

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