Up-cycling dining room table and chairs from a garage sale....

Hello Crafty Friends!

We recently moved upcountry and I am hooked on farmhouse decor for our beautiful new home.

Months ago before we moved I showed my hubby a picture of a farmhouse table on Pinterest and how I could take my new found hobby of chalk painting and create the same look for a lot less than the $1,500 - $3,000 ones I was finding online.  He really liked it and the very next day, on a local FB garage sale site in our area, a heavy pine table with leaf and 6 chairs with built in cushions were posted and I immediately snapped it up for $240.  It was meant to be!!  ;)  (I am never this lucky when it comes to these kind of things.)  hehe!

After months of holding it in storage I am now able to start working on it.  First off, I wanted to redo the chairs with the arms.  One for a guest room and one for my new desk chair.  So far I have got one done.  I will continue to show as I progress with all the different things I plan to do with the remaining pieces. Not all are going around the farmhouse table I will create soon.

So to start, here is the first chair I up-cycled for one of the guest rooms...

1.  First I clean them really well (they were pretty loved on by
previous owners children ;)  LOL!

2.  Applied 2 coats of Arles chalk paint from Annie Sloan.

3.  Waxed with one coat of clear wax, sand paper distressed and then applied a 50/50 mix of light
and dark wax.  Buffed with a circle brush mounted to my drill motor.

4.  Re-upholstered the seat cushion.

VIOLA!!!  Looks perfect in the guest room.  All the furniture is dark, so this just brightens it all up.  I am very happy with how it turned out.

Next I will tackle the table.  Until then...

March babies...

Hello Crafty Friends!!

This month we celebrate the birth of our 2 beautiful daughters.  Born 3 years and 8 days apart.  I can't believe they are 27 and 24 already.  Where does the time go???

We had a great day with the whole family (except for our son and nephew that had to work and one aunt that couldn't make it, you  all were missed) that came up to celebrate.

Had to put a temporary craft studio together so I could at least get their cards made.  I have been in trouble these last few months for not hand making cards for everyone.  Who knew everyone loved getting one??  Makes me soooo happy.  :)  I love making them.

Here are the cards I made them.

Stamp set used:
cat2stamp by TheStampsoflife.com
using a technique from GinaKdesigns (in hindsight I should
have used alternating colors...next time! ;)  I really liked this
technique)

Stamp set used:
bicycle2stamp by TheStampsofLife.com

Our beautiful birthday girls!  <3 <3 <3

Until next time!

Sprucing up an old wreath for spring!

Hello Crafty Friends!

Tell me it isn't so?!?!  I really haven't blogged since October???!!!!  WHAT!!!

I know I have shared some stuff over on my facebook page, but hadn't realized I haven't posted anything here.

Well one of the reasons I know of is that we moved!!  So my craft studio has been boxed up for months and months.  I am still in the process of designing my new craft studio/office but haven't settled on a plan as of yet.  It's getting there though.  I did start unpacking some stuff though to keep me busy.  I want to unpack it all though.  :)

Well to get back in the swing of things I will share my first crafty project in a while.  My front door wreath was looking absolutely BLAH!!!  So I thought I would spruce it up by adding a few flowers to freshen it up for Spring.  I don't think it turned out half bad.

Now to tackle some birthday cards for my girls.  It's birthday month!!!  :)