Carte Postale

Happy Friday

I'm sharing my latest "junking" find. An album of old french post cards! I have to tell you these postcards are beautiful and bonus they have a story to tell about a mother who visits her sister in Paris. At least thats what I've made out so far. It's a little tough to read since the handwriting is so small. 

What I do know is that correspondence is primarily between Paris and Chicago, Paris to New York, and Paris to Illinois. The postcards dates range from the 1920s-1923. I am looking forward to putting the timeline puzzle piece together, only about 95 cards to get through-easy day.  Here are a few for you to enjoy. 

Bon Nuit.

Tree Table

Tree stump tables are not as easy as I had hoped. I somehow convinced myself that the bark would flake off with ease. Not so. This was quite labor intensive. 

The bark was tough to pry off, it was as if it was glued on or something. 

Not only do I have to muscle through this process I also have to be mindful not to leave scars in the stump which is extremely difficult.

Once the entire outer ring is removed its time to break out the trusty sander and get sanding. Depending on what look you are going for you will be sanding either sanding for a while or a long while. 

Then it's time remove all debris and apply paint, stain, lacquer, or a simply clear poly.  

I opted for a natural rustic look so I applied a clear fast drying poly.

Voila!

I did think of painting them...white maybe? Metallic silver? Hmm....

Well now that thats out of the way I guess I should get started on my post.

Hasta luego amigos.

Recycled Bottles

I've had such an awesome response to my DIY Bottle lamps post (link here ) that I thought it only fitting to post another wine bottle idea. Here are some photo's of my wine bottle center piece.  

Hoping to inspire you to recycle, reuse, and repurpose!

^Instagram photo^

This bottle will be recycled very soon. :)

Enjoy.

A Dandy Chandi

The August Project

The after photo.

Here is the before photo. 

 I bought it for $25 at an antique store in Indiana. 

(Can you believe the original purchase price was $125??)

I am so happy with the results, and ecstatic to find the the wiring was still in good shape something I didn't think of when purchasing the darn thing, thank goodness it all worked out. 

Hope you enjoyed the before and after photo's. 

Bon Nuit.

Linking: http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/, http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/, http://katherinescorner.com/

Repurposed

Watch this old cabinet door transform.

 Take this old cabinet door. Clean it up, sand it down and spray paint it.

 Rip up a few pages from your used book and lay them out so you have an idea of the number of pages you'll need.

 Take your trusty modpodge out and do your thing. Allow the glue to dry completely. Once glue has dried apply a coat of clear poly, repeat if necessary. 

 Don't forget to add sctrach pads on the back of the door, you don't want to scratch up your furniture or have an uneven tray from the screws of the handles. 

Now you can attached the handles. 

Isn't she beautiful?

Sweet.

 This would make an awesome Christmas gift. 

Bonne Journee

Guest List

 

(click to enlarge)

Grab the guest list because we are making place cards. 

First I need to share my new art project find, "Nat Geo Art". I stumbled on this project on youtube and was so fascinated with the results I immediately ordered Citrasolv. A couple weeks later I stumbled on a pile of National Geographic Magazines from 1978 on a recent "junking" adventure with a girlfriend of mine. How lucky am I?  

Ok-Here are the Why's...

-Why Nat Geo? From what I understand the magazines were made with a certain type of ink that reacts to the degreaser(which leads me to the next why).

Why Citrasolv? Apparently this reacts the best to the ink.

Why 1978? The magazine should be at least 10 years old or older I'm guessing it's because they(Nat Geo) no longer use this type of ink.

Here are the steps to create this beautiful abstract art paper. 

1. Simply paint on a generous amount of the orange degreaser on all pages or pages you wish to alter.

2. Close the magazine pat down excess and leave it closed for 30mins.

3. Be ready to be amazed. Open the magazine rip out the pages and hang or lay them on a flat surface to dry.

**Note: this is very messy so be sure to protect your surface area**

Just look at the images... this makes me so happy.

So now you have a ton of this paper, what now? The first thing I made was place cards.

I mod podge(glued) the paper to plain white card stock for stability and since I still have a little chalk paint left over from my chalk board I went ahead and painted name boxes on each card. 

I can erase if I spell someones name wrong or make last minutes changes. 

**Note when painting on the chalk paint use a paint brush. It makes for a much smoother surface than something like a sponge brush**

Tada!

Linking: http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/, http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/, http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

Sunset Dreams

A room make-over for a special 12 year old girl. My daughter. This is her first big move. She has moved in the past, but she was too young to remember. This time she is the cool girl on campus and about to enter the 6th grade in a brand new state, and a brand new school. To say the move was tough on her would be an understatement.

What's a mother to do? Try and make her room a haven. So I asked her what theme she would like, and she replied, "I want a California room with a sunset".  I told her to google a photo and I would try my very best to recreate it. Here is the actual photo. 

Okay, I have my work cut out for me. Here goes nothing...

 Prep.

More Prep.

The base of the sunset. At this point I am a little frustrated, because the paint is drying too fast. I need glaze quick.

Well...Here is the finished product. (Working on curtains of course)

Equipped with a CA license plate.

No, I'm not a professional and this isn't perfect but the room was a big hit for my little one and  that's all that matter's to me. Now California is never too far away.