Always

Ever since J and I met, our saying has been "Always".  Every email, every card, every letter, even every quick jotted note is signed "Always".  I don't even remember how it started, to be honest, but I do remember how that one word has gotten us through a lot.  It's our way to tell each other that no matter what, we will always support and love each other.  When he was living in Michigan and I was living in Maryland, it was our way of looking forward to a future together at some point.  Even while we were getting our lives together and were just friends, both dating other people, we would end our conversations or emails with "Always".  If you notice, that is also how I sign each blog entry. 

So when I found this tin sign for $3 at the thrift store, I knew it was going to go from "All Star" to "Always" and I knew I had the perfect spot to hang it. 

It didn't take much, just a couple of coats of black paint to cover the old lettering, a little sandpaper to scuff it up a bit and my good old Cricut to make the letters.

I love how it turned out!

           Before:                                                                        After:

I love how even though I painted over the crackle paint, it stil shows the texture through the black.  This is now hanging in the upstairs hallway and serves as a reminder of our love and committment to one another.  I have more ideas to decorate the hallway and hope to share more pictures soon.

Unfortunately, I'm not feeling well this weekend, so no yard sale or thrift store finds to report, but I hope to be back in action for some good finds next week!

Please take some time to check out over 200 more links to Monday wonderfulness at Between Naps on the Porch!  I *heart* that blog!

Always,

Kelly

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Blame It On The Rain

Doesn't it always seem like the days you really, really want to go yard saling or paint it always rains?  Ugh, I hate that!  All week I was browsing blogs and making a list of the items I wanted to look for at this week's yard sales & flea markets.  It was over 100 degrees 3 days last week.  The weekend called for cooler temps and sun.  And then Friday they changed the forecast.  Rats.

So Saturday was a big old bust as far as yard sales.  I did make it to a couple of thrift stores, but it was pouring rain all day and my mood was as dark as the clouds in the sky.

Luckily, today I woke up to sunshine!  There was a new flea market opening today near me, but as I rolled out of bed at 7am and saw the sun, I just wanted to paint, paint, paint.  I know J appreciated that I didn't go out and drag more stuff home this week.  I thought it best that I work on some of the things I've had on my list.

First I worked on my enamel topped cart.  I first posted about this little treasure here a few weeks ago. 

This wasn't in great shape, with a chip in the enamel, rust on the trays and missing 3 out of 4 wheels...but for $2, I really couldn't complain.  I've been working on cleaning it up when I had a few minutes here and there.  I washed it down really well (cobwebs, ick!) and thanks to my new blog friend, Joselyn over at The DIY Spot, I found some Porc-a-fix at Home Depot to fix the chipped spot.  The color doesn't match perfectly, but it looks much better since I used it!   Since it was raining yesterday, I took some time to cover and tape off the top so I would be ready to paint when the weather cleared up. 

I really needed something to hold my small TV and printer in my home office (read: dining room) because my old set up was just atrocious.  Don't laugh, this is what I previously had:

Is that bad or what?  It was an old TV stand made out of particle board. If that wasn't bad enough, the printer/scanner/copier that J bought me for Christmas didn't fit on the adjustable shelf, even on the lowest setting so we had to take the shelf out and put the printer on the bottom.  (Now let me be frank here, I am not a big bender-overer and kneeling in front of this thing while I printed, copied and scanned documents for work did NOT put me in my happy place.) To make matters worse, the TV stand wasn't tall enough and we had to use the gray thing shown in the picture (I have not idea what it even is) to make the TV tall enough to see.  So, you get the picture, no part of my old set up was working for me. 

Once I cleaned the enamel topped table, repaired the chip and added a few coats of white paint to the metal part, here is my new set up:

Much better!  It's almost even with my desktop and the printer is accessible from my desk chair...yay!  We did run into a slight problem with the wheels.  I had planned to buy new casters to replace the broken wheels, but it turned out that the wheels were welded onto the base and not easily replaceable.  I had to have J saw them off and I padded the feet with some felt so as not to rip the carpet.

I'm really happy with my new set up.  I still plan to get a couple of baskets to hold my work stuff on the bottom shelf, but for now, it's fine.  I also had to crop this picture pretty close because the desks on either side of the table (work computer desk and home computer desk) are old and ugly and still on the list to be replaced.

Next I moved on to making a cloche.  I've been wanting to make one since I've seen them popping up all over the web and I finally found a decent cheese dome on my thrift store trip on Saturday.  I've had the candle stick for awhile and have been saving it for this project.  Here is before:

And here is after:

I'm so thrilled with how this turned out!  The texture of the candle stick really adds something unique to it, I think.  I did some light sanding around the edges and on the points of the texture to age it some and it turned out great.  I have no idea what I'm going to put under the dome, but I know exactly where this piece is going!  As soon as I redo the small bookcase in my upstairs hallway, this little beauty will be sitting on top of it...and I'm promising myself not to junk it up with all the paraphernalia that is currently on it!

I have a couple of more projects that are in the drying stage that I hope to share during the week, but this is it for now.  What did you do this weekend?

Please check out other crafty projects shared for Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch and take a few minutes to check out the awesome redo of a church into a house.

Always,

Kelly

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ReStore Love

I have been infatuated with the Habitat for Humanity ReStore since I found out about this little gem of a store a few weeks ago from Cassie's blog Primitive & Proper.  I go there once a week to visit items I really, really want but can't justify.  Most recently it was this beautiful piece that I just drooled and drooled over, but had no way of getting because it was $85, all one piece and it wouldn't fit down my narrow steps. I hope someone gave it a good home, because I went to visit it today and it was gone. **sigh**

But I came across something I just couldn't leave without.  This little table just called out to me and for $15 it was mine.  I love how the table top is actually a removable tray!  I can't wait to get to work on redoing this piece!  It needs a lot of love and some reinforcing, but it's going shabby chic in the next few weeks!

Tomorrow is yard sale/flea market day, can't wait to see if I find any new treasures!

Always,

Kelly

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Nanny's Chair

I did it!  Even though the heat was atrocious, I just couldn't wait any longer to finish my chair.  A few posts back I asked for help deciding on which fabric to use on the chair seat.  No one picked Option D, but that is the fabric I chose.  Mostly because I decided that I wanted to paint the chair red and the fabric matched perfectly.  I have to say, this project went so much quicker than I thought it would.  I had primered the chair yesterday so all I had to do was add the red paint today.  Its not a perfect paint job, but I absolutely love the way it turned out.  I was going to distress it after painting, but the fabric is so modern looking, I thought that distressing would take away from it.

The funny thing is, that when I finally removed the old fabric, I found that my Nanny had recovered the chair as well.  I thought she had bought it with the ugly green home dec fabric, but apparently, she bought it with some kind of funky animal print fabric and recovered it.  It was so degraded and gross I couldn't even take pictures of it.  It actually fell apart as I removed it.  I was hoping to reuse the padding, but that wasn't going to happen, so I used quilt batting and went to work.  I hit a slight snag when the staples for the new staple gun I bought didn't fit, but I was able to reuse the small upholstery tacks that were used on the original piece and it turned out just fine.  Now the seat is much cushier than before and it brightens up my studio.

What do you think?

Please check out other Monday eye candy at Between Naps On the Porch! I'm also participating in my first PoPP on Domestically Speaking, the transformations there are amazing!

Always,

Kelly

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Nine Out of Ten Ain't Bad!

So the 10 days are up and I've completed 9 out of the 10 tasks I assigned myself!  I have to say, I'm quite proud that I did that much.  I tend to procrastinate...a lot!  But I was determined and am happy with what I accomplished. 

I really like how my apothocary jar turned out.  I was inspired by Stephie over at Made By Stephie on this one!  I changed it up a bit, using a smaller jar, gray paint instead of silver (I hate silvery paint for some reason) and making my own finial for the top.  I did buy a finial for my jar, but just didn't like the look of it.  Because I used a smaller jar, the finial was too big.  I'm happy with how it turned out with the changes and think it looks cute filled with colorful gumballs!

Although not one of my tasks, I also wanted to make a luminary like I saw on The Idea Attic so after picking up a canning jar for .25 at a recent yard sale and buying glass frosting paint at Home Depot, I made this. The star stickers were a bit of a challenge to remove after painting, but well worth the effort it took to peel them off and use a bit of Undo to get the sticker residue off. 

For another "off the list" project,I made a fun sign for my studio.  I broke rule number one of spray painting and did not primer the board first so it took almost an entire can of paint for the board.  (I seem to have to relearn this lesson every summer as I begin my outside painting.)  This whole project took much longer than normal due to the primer issue and the fact that it took me 6 hours, yes 6 hours, to cut the letters out.  Why?  Because although I knew right where my Cricut was, where the cartridge I wanted was, even where the cord was...I had no idea where the cutting mat was.  I put it in that super secret place where cutting mats go and promptly forget about it.  But isn't that the point of super secret hiding places anyway?  Anyway, instead of just tearing through boxes, drawers and totes, I decided to do more organizing and labeling and finally gave up looking for the mat, resolved to put off the cutting of the letters until Sunday when I could run to the store for a replacement.  Then I found it in the last box I looked in.  I should have known! 

By the way, the "e" is crooked on purpose.  That was my "thing" when I scrapbooked a lot.  I don't know how it started, but whenever I used an "e" in a title, I always made it a bit crooked and it kind of became my signature.

I think the pinwheel may be overkill.  I may remove it and add flowers or something else fun.  What do you think?  If no pinwheel, what would you put there? 

I did also get this chair, mentioned in my post last week, primered (see, I learned my lesson!) but it was way too hot to start painting it.  I guess it will have to hold off until next weekend because it isn't expected to be below 100 degrees here until next Friday.

So how did you do on your 10 tasks?  If you didn't play, but want to see all the super cool projects completed by others on the challenge, visit Gina at The Shabby Chic Cottage and check out the linky's.

Happy Independence Day all!

Always,

Kelly