October's Project: Tea Time, Take Two

My previous post "September Project: Tea Time" featured a table and a shelf.  When I originally purchased the table from Spice, it needed some TLC.  So last week, I took the table to my dad's house and gave it a good sanding down with a sander (for the top) and sandpaper (for the rest).  After the first coat of varnish, I brought the table back home and I applied two more coats of clear varnish to the entire piece and a total of six to the top surface.  According to the varnish label, six coats guarantees 48 hours of water resistance. 

While working on the table, it came to my attention that the wood that the table is made of is extremely soft - even softer than pine.  So for further protection, I ordered a custom-made piece of glass to sit on the top of the table and protect it.  How much did it cost, you ask?  A mere $20 from Absolute Glassworks!  This did not include shipping as I picked it up myself.


I also added some "bling" to the table in the form of ceramic knobs.  I purchased them from WoodCraft Artisans on Main St. in Annapolis.  They were a bit pricey - $10 each (for a total of $30), but I thought it was worth it to customize the table the way I wanted it.

The final difference, as you may have noticed, is the addition of four mugs hanging on the shelf which I bought today from HomeGoods in Waugh Chapel.  Below are close-up pictures of the cups; they were $5 each.

Christmas Ornaments!

 

That's right, folks!  I decided to celebrate the first of October by making Christmas ornaments and listening to Christmas music!  Too soon, you say?  Bah, humbug!  It's never too soon to start thinking about Christmas!  Which brings me to my point.  When I went to Michaels of Annapolis this past week, in addition to their usual collection of carboard boxes, they had (oh, squee!) three-dimensional paper ornaments to decorate!  So I bought a few and started decorating them.  I am happy with how the star ornament came out, but I started decorating a spherical ornament with random buttons, thinking it would be cute, but I'm not sure I'm so happy with the result.  What is your opinion?  Should I finish the ornament, or should I peel the buttons off and start over?  Tell me in the comments!

Button Box

My most recent craft storage solution!  Instead putting a label on the box, I simply glued some buttons on it.  What do you think?  Tell me in the comments!

Spice is Published!

Check it out! There's an article in the Chesapeake Current about Spice Consignment Shop in Deale, MD!  The article is on p. 11.

Make Your Own Fall Wreath!

... to THIS in 10 minutes!

Go from this...

During my weekend shopping spree, I came across a plain grapevine wreath for the low, low price of $2.00!

Ever since I've lived in this house (my first house), I've wanted to make my own wreath, so I saw this as my golden opportunity.  So today I went to Michael's of Annapolis which hosts a large selection of artificial fall foliage.  I chose the following to decorate my wreath:

$10 each for a total of $20

$2.00 each for a total of $4.00

First, I separated the branches of the leaves and then cut them along the indentations using wire cutters:

 

The indentation is to the right of my fingers

These are the wire cutters I used.

I cut bunches of leaves about this size:

And stuck them into the wreath.  Then, I separated the berries by pulling out each wire separately, and stuck these into the wreath as well.  Finally, I used this wreath hanger from Michael's ($2.49) to hang it on my front door!

Here's the final product.  The angle isn't that great because of how our porch is (I couldn't get a straight on view of the entire wreath). 

Kitchen Project: Spice Shelf!

 Here's another fun summer project!  My dad helped me out with this one; it was actually a lot easier than I anticipated (but I think that's because my dad did a lot of the work!).  You may have seen the magnetic spice containers before.  Bed, Bath and Beyond sells them.  They also sell a metal do-hickey to stick them to, but unfortunately, it is quite the wrong size for my cabinets.  I wanted a piece of metal that fit perfectly into the hollow on the back of my cabinet door.

To find such a thing, I was forced to make (read: get dad to help me make) my own.  So here's what we did:

After measuring the cabinet, we went to Lowe's and found a piece of steel that was the right width but 1" too long.  It's possible that the store may have cut the metal for us, but we took it to my dad's house and cut it with a hand saw instead.  My dad then used his grinder (wire brush attachment, I think) to smooth all the edges smooth* and to sand out the rust spots.  We then wiped it down with turpentine to clean the surface (don't use water as this will generate rust).  I then spray painted (see, I did some of the work!) both sides with two coats of silver paint.  Lastly, we used some epoxy glue to glue the metal to the cabinet door (we had removed the cabinet door and brought it with us to my dad's house).  I piled some heavy books on top of the metal and let it sit for 24 hrs.  Finally, I re-hung the cabinet door and, voila!  Customized magnetic spice rack.

I used post-it notes stuck to the back of the spice jars to label them b/c I didn't want the labels to show.  Some may argue that you don't need to label your spices as you can see inside the containers, but (1) some of my spices look alike, such as my Pampered Chef Moroccan Spice Rub and Cajun Spice Rub, and (2) even if I know what they all are, my husband may not, so I feel it's best to label.  You could also use a label maker and affix the labels to the side of the container, but as I said, I didn't want my labels to show.  Plus, post-it notes are a less permanent solution, in case you change the contents of your spice containers.

I've also seen these types of containers used as office supplies such as paper clips, thumb tacks, etc.  Perhaps my next project will be to buy some more containers and use them to organize my office supplies!

*The metal has very rough edges, even the uncut sides, so if you attempt this project, handle the metal while wearing protective gloves and do not skip the sanding step!  You don't want rough edges in your kitchen.

 

July's Project: Spare Bedroom and Art Studio

So it's still just the two of us - me and my hubby; no little ones yet! Which leaves the dilemma: what to do with the "other" bedroom. It started it's life (since we've been married) as an office for Tim and I and a home for our many, many bookshelves. Since then, Tim's office and bookshelves have migrated to the back room of the basement (Tim's "man cave"), thus making the upstairs room fair game for a makeover. WAHOO!

I decided to divide the room into two sections, making one half our guest bedroom and the other half an art studio of sorts for myself. Tim was (wisely) against actually building a wall, so I found a six-panel canvas room dividing screen with pockets. The pockets are perfect for storing some of my art supplies!

Back (guest room) Side

Front (Art Studio) Side

I already had my desk and filing cabinet for my office/studio, and I bought several 7-drawer towers to store my art supplies. So that side was pretty much finished.

On the guest room side, I relied heavily on consignment shops to furnish and decorate the room! I found an end table and chair at Spice (I think both together were around $70 if I remember correctly).

 

I already owned a dresser and bookshelf, and I used a weathering kit from Lowe's to paint and crackle them as shown in the pictures below. FYI this technique was a pain in the you-know-what and I do not recommend it*.

For the bed, I found a comforter, bed skirt and shams at Spice for a steal, not to mention the headboard was only $20 as well!  Here's a trick: the bed skirt, shams and comforter are actually queen-size, but this is a single bed!  To make it work I folded the bedskirt under the mattress so it's the right size, and the bed spread acts more like a quilt because it's a bit longer on the sides.  But you'd never know if I hadn't told you!

 I also found a nick-knack shelf and some decorations at Spice as well. At Michael's I found a garland to go over the bed, and a vase of peonies for the bookshelf. Oh, and I bought some throw pillows from Bed, Bath and Beyond to finish the effect. 

Window treatments can be one of the more expensive room modifications, but I was lucky enough to find a curtain set for a mere $20 at Second Wind!  The set contained only two panels, and I needed four.  The curtains were from Country Curtains, so I called them to find out if they still sold the curtains, and they did!  So I bought the one set from Second Wind, and purchased the second set as well as double rods for both windows from CC for around $60.  Two window treatments, including hardware, for $80!  That's pretty amazing!  The windows already had shades for privacy/light control, so I left those up.  I keep the curtains on my art studio side open (held back with ties that came with the curtains, held in place with white metal hooks I screwed into the wall).  I keep the curtains on the bedroom side closed as it gives the light a more filtered look.  Here are some pics:

 











Other consignment shop finds:

I found this shelf, as well as a few pieces on it (flowers, picture frames), at Spice.  I love it!!  I made the boxes myself.

If I remember correctly, I found the swag above the bed at Michael's in Annapolis.  I don't recall the exact price, but it was quite reasonable for a wall hanging (mabye around $20?), especially compared to framed art!

Here are some final shots of the room:

*If you do attempt using weathered crackle glaze, my only advice is this: when you put the top layer on, it only works if you paint on flat (horizontal) surfaces. If you try to paint a vertical surface the paint will run (you have to use a lot of paint on your brush because you can't go over your brush strokes or you will pull the paint off of the furniture - it's a mess).

This Weekend's Purchases

So I didn't find any mugs that I felt would "go" with my tea table/shelf set-up, but I did find some other fun stuff!!

My first find, for $2 each, was these ceramic do-hickeys that you put in an indoor pot to keep it watered (I am SO negligent of my indoor plants!).  Scroll down for pictures of these guys in pots.

 

Next, I found this cute picture which I'm hoping to hang up in my kitchen.  I believe it was $8.00 at Second Wind.

My last find at second wind Cottage Chicks were these cute miniature sign boards.  I'm planning to incorporate them into my summer display on my foyer shelf next summer.  (remember, shopping off season means saving lots of $$!)

 

I apologize for the glare on the last picture; it was late at night and I was tired and just wanted to get everything put away.  But you can still get the idea of what they look like.  It's hard to see, but they have wires at the top with which to hang them.   

Below are the pictures of the ceramic watering thingies in pots:

 Can you tell from the above picture how bad I am about watering my plants?  Poor aloe...

 The ivy looks great because it's been outside all summer and God's been watering it for me.

Thanks, God!

 This aloe plant has fared slightly better.  I don't even really like the look of aloe plants, but there is nothing like them when you burn yourself!  When I hurry in the kitchen, sometimes I'll burn my hand or finger.  When this happens, I fashion an aloe poultice by cutting off one of the leaves, and then slicing it open length-wise and wrapping it around the burn.  I then wrap a band-aid around this, changing it whenever all the gooey aloe stuff inside has disappeared (or when the bandage no longer stays on my finger).  Nothing heals burns more quickly than aloe straight from the plant!

May Project - Jewelry Tree!

This summer I went a bit crazy with the jewelry trees.  I bought two bird cage jewelry trees (shown below) and modified them by painting one of them and adding flowers to both (and a butterfly to one).  The purple one I am planning on giving a friend; the pink one is going to be for sale at Spice as of tomorrow! 

June Project: Making Boxes!

This summer my sister-in-law introduced me to the wonderful world of decoupage.  Since then, I've discovered a relatively cheap hobby in decorating small boxes with paper!  My sister-in-law uses magazine clippings, which work very well, but I also discovered that hand-made paper from Art Things and the Paper Source in Annapolis work just as well.  When using hand-made paper, I don't use mod podge, but rather a cellulose-based glue that can also be purchased from Art Things.  Below are photos of some of the boxes I've made.  If you have any questions about how to make them, or if you'd like to purchase one, please let me know!  Some of the boxes are currently for sale at Spice in West River, MD. 

If you are interested in decorating your own boxes, Michaels craft store in Annapolis carries small cardboard boxes starting at $1, and both the Annapolis and Bowie store carry wooden boxes which start at $2.  I myself prefer the Annapolis store as I find they have a larger selection of products in general (it is a larger store).