A throwback to the past . . .

MANY years ago, and I mean many . . .  my sister and I made the "Three Kings" . . . they were these awesome kneeling and gift offering kings that would have been seen when Christ was born . . . they were made out of various types of fabrics and the faces and hands were purchased at a craft store . . . in any event after they were made you spray painted them with gold spray paint and they were stunning!  I had them in my house for a long time until I moved from Calgary to Edmonton and someone purchased them at a yard sale I had before I boxed up my belongings and headed "home".

I love it when my brother-in-law is out of town and I get to spend quality time with my sister.  She picked me up  yesterday after her work day, we drove out to the airport to get his truck and drove back to her place and drank copious amounts of wine (like we usually do when we are together) and talked about our plan for Sunday . . . she had an idea to make these shadow box/three-D floral pictures out of silk flowers, spray paint them with white craft paint and Bob's yer Uncle!

So we headed out to the Dollar Store for the silk flowers ($11.25), Home Depot for the paint ($6.99) and Michaels Craft Store for the shadow boxes ($59.99) and here are the steps and results.  So while this wasn't an inexpensive project, it could have been if we had of used smaller shadow boxes but the ones chosen were the ones she wanted.

Shopping for supplies in the Dollar Store

Supplies we used: Shadow boxes, spray paint (flat/matt white), silk flowers and straight pins)

We removed all of the flowers, leaves, feathers off of the large stems)

We laid everything down first to make sure we liked what they looked like

Then pinned down all of the flowers etc. (underneath) so you couldn't see the pins

Stood them up to ensure nothing would fall off

Went outside and spray painted everything

Blew them dry with the hair dryer because we couldn't wait

And then put them in the frames - I made the one on the left, Pauly made
the one on the right but they will take the trip to their new home in Radium soon!

TOTAL COST:  $78.00
TOTAL TIME:  45 MINUTES (EXCLUDING SHOPPING TIME)

Coffee Table Tradsies!

Over a glass of wine with my neighbour one evening, we started talking furniture in her house (since she's newly single and was left with half of the furniture)  and how she wished I would come over and give her some advice - hey I'll do anything under the influence of a glass of wine so over we went (well I won't do anything . . . it's just a figure of speech)! ! !  She's the one who painted her door after he left! ! ! !

We walk in and immediately I know that the placement of the furniture is wrong and the size of the coffee table is too large for the space - and not that I was in the market for a new coffee table because mine was just fine but I suggested maybe we could trade - she could have my square smaller one (and that would bring in a different colour other than chocolate brown which all of her furniture was) and I would take hers under the understanding I would paint it . . . and the deal was done . . . after she made me sleep on the idea . . . and yesterday we did the switch.

Here's what I did with hers (now mine)!

Coffee table has drawers at either end and glass on top

removed the glass and taped off the top/sides

Three coats of paint later (and a couple of touch-ups because  I didn't let it dry completely before I put the glass back on) and VOILA!

TOTAL COST:  ZERO
TOTAL TIME:  3 hours (paint and dry time in between coats)

It's Pillow Time . . .

Eight years (or so) ago when I moved in to my beautiful little 775 sq. ft. mansion I redecorated the living room (well I painted it) because I couldn't stand the Fir Tree Green and Burgundy that it was . . . I moved in on a Thursday night and I had the living room walls painted before the furniture arrived on Saturday.  If you know me, it didn't last long.  I found some linen fabric (two tones of beige) and made drapes for the large window - then I painted the living room again about six months later (not a drastic change but . . . ).  For Christmas that year my (very generous) boss gave me money to shop for fabric at a really cool store here called Chintz.  I purchased enough to cover three cushions (in silk) and a couple of shell decore items (which I still have - you can see them on the TV tower in the next blog).

I figured I've loved the cushions long enough - they're used every day and starting to look "weathered" and nothing inspires me more than the thought of having a girl party and want to punch up the room for spring (and hopefully for another 8 years).

Yes Kenzie sleeps on everything

And here are close-ups of the corners of the cushions

TOTAL COST: $67.00 (I had the lining for the backs of the gold and multi coloured pillows but used an "all around" fabric for the blue ruffled ones)

TOTAL TIME:  6 HOURS 

More paint - Verticle Stripes this time

As I said in the previous blog I have painted the living room several times.  A year ago I was sitting on the couch wondering what to do next and I literally jump up . . . I know . . . oh oh oh . . . I know . . . I'll paint stripes behind the credenza - and I ran downstairs to see what was there . . . here's what I had to choose from . . .

I save all of my paint so I can mix it up if I have to in order to get the right colour sometimes!

I did this time, however, have to buy one quart/litre - and it wasn't mixed to my liking so I kept adding black (until I got the colour I wanted)  NOTE:  DO NOT mix a flat paint and a semi-gloss paint as they DO NOT mix properly - when you roll the roller one way you get one sheen, when you roll the roller the other way you get another sheen!  You should ALWAYS mix the same TYPES of paint - I learned this the hard way because the black was flat and the blue was semi-gloss - I had to paint over it three times)

A year later and new cushions to boot I feel like I've brought new life into this room . . . And here's what I ended up with - (note I didn't repaint the brown stripe)!

TOTAL COST: $18.00 TOTAL TIME:  3 HOURS (includes re-taping the blue twice - ARGH)