Newly Painted Chalkboard Frame

I have had an old, gold-framed mirror just sitting out in my garage for a long time now.  It was a gift from my parents when my husband and I got married over 30 years ago.  It was time for a make-over!! Out came the Rustoleum Spray Paint (Heirloom White).  I use Rustoleum because it gives the best coverage and dries very quickly!.  I gave it about 5 light coats of paint (with help of course, since I have two "frozen shoulders" lol)  Then the mirror was next!  I sprayed the mirror with about 5 coats of Rustoleum’s  black Chalkboard Paint.  Getting the mirror back into the frame was not easy (thanks for your help Kevin!). I coated the inside of the frame with, what I thought was, heavy-duty glue that would hold it in place.  I was wrong!!  The mirror fell out.   My husband to the rescue!!  He made a trip to OSH to get “Gorilla Tape”. He said "duct-tape works every time." I was a bit skeptical.  Hubby taped up the mirror and let it set for several hours.  It worked. I wrote “bliss”  on it with the chalk. Fun!!  Below is a picture of the frame hanging over our couch.

Here is a close-up of the frame.
We had to move our clock above the sofa to put our new frame there, so we moved the clock over the fireplace. 
Then we had to move the frame that was over the fireplace to the other wall!!
Props to my husband!!!!  Thank you honey!!  And he thought that he was "just" hanging the frame over the couch…..lol……He is awesome and I am lucky that he is so patient with me!! Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=742455358083715372&postID=8887449425243734275

Burlap- ruffled lamps

Hi.  This is attempt #2 at making a ruffle for my lamps using my burlap ribbon (see my post a few days ago at attempt #1).  I gathered them and hot glued them to the shade.  Warning…..since burlap ribbon is weaved and full of holes, be careful when you are hot-gluing the ribbon to the lamp.  I burned my fingers, even though I was as careful as I could be. 
First, I used  a tape measure to  measure the width the lamp shade.
Then I  doubled  that number.
I cut out my burlap ribbon to that length.
I also cut a piece of embroidery floss a few inches longer than the ribbon (you will use this to pull on when you are done sewing) and it  will gather the material. 
  To ruffle the burlap ribbon, I layed a row of embroidery floss down the middle of the ribbon.  Then I used a zig-zag stitch directly over the string of floss.  I sewed directly on top of the floss down the entire length of the ribbon. 
When I finished, I grabbed the embroidery floss and pulled it.  You will see how it gathers.  It is amazing!  SO easy. 
Then I hot-glued the ribbon to the shade and I was done. 
I sincerely apologize for the terrible quality of the pictures.  I took them this evening and the lighting was very poor.  I needed two shades-one for the lamps on either side of the couch.  The pictures just show the lamp to the right side of the sofa, there is one on the left also.
Note: I got the burlap ribbon at an antique store, but you can find rolls of it at Michaels. 
There are a few more pictures below.... 

Burlap Ruffles

This roll of burlap was purchased at a local antique shop in the Sacramento area- The Antique Trove.  I had been "eyeing" it for awhile and talked myself out of it because it was such a "HUGE" roll and I thought that I would end up giving it to my grandkids someday because it was THAT big.  Anyway, I finally "caved in" and bought it. 

 I decided to make some ruffles for my lamps.  I like the way it turned out.

This is a photo of the lamps together in the living room.



The tin bucket make-over & Flower Cart

The flower cart in this picture was purchased today at Home Depot. I just loved it and "had to have it".  lol...I have it sitting on our front porch, but we might have a few more chilly nights, so if I know it will frost, I will just bring it in the house. How convenient is that?  lol..

 I decided that I needed to do a "make-over" today, so I went shopping in my garage for something. I found an old tin flower bucket that had seen its better days....I gave it several coats of spray paint (Rustoleum's Heirloom White). Then I found a clock stencil and stenciled it with some brown stencil paint.I finished her off with a coating of Annie Sloan's clear wax. "Voila" I have a new bucket for some flowers.

Curio Cabinet Treasures

The pictures below are things that I have in my curio cabinet.  There is a special meaning to each one of them.

This is a precious picture of my mom and dad in the 50's.  My son's remarkable resemblence to my dad in this picture makes this a very special photo to me.

 This early 1900's pocket watch was a gift to my husband from his father when my husband graduated.

 These old bibles were gifts from my mother-in-law.  They belonged to my husband's grandparents and great-grandparents.

 Pictured sitting on top of this altered box is a picture of my "grandaddy" as a baby.  The flag he is holding says "1914"...the year that he was born.  It is very special to me.

 Pictured above is a wedding photo of my mother-in-law and father-in-law.  In front of the picture is a silver,sequined purse from my mother-in-law.  I just love it.:)

 The  above photo  is a family picture given to me by my mother-in-law. The picture is standing in a metal "frog" that belongs to  my grandma.

 These cute, french poodles were a gift from my mother-in-law. They belonged to her grandmother.

 These are old bottles that I have collected from various antique shops. 

The bird in a cloche is sitting on top of a silver candy dish that was a gift from my mother-in-law.

Hi Fellow blogger friends!  Excuse my absence.... I had a major painting project to complete and it took much, much  longer than I had anticipated. It took me so long because I have been experiencing some health problems. My formerly black furniture got a "make-over". Now they are a creamy ivory. The black furniture was part of my "French-Country" decor.  But now I am looking for a more "Shabby Chic" feel.  I used Annie Sloan's chalk paint.  I purchased the paint because of the claim that a primer wasn't needed. That wasn't my experience however...I was painting, afterall, black furniture.  I could tell that I would be using lots more of the slightly-expensive paint unless I used a white primer.  So that is what I ended up doing and it worked out much better.  My curio cabinet was so difficult because of all the prep work due to so much beveled glass.  The project required lots of "frog tape".  I prefer the lighter look of the furniture to the the black.  The color is a very tranquil one to me. I will be sharing the special family heirlooms contained inside the curio cabinet within the next few days.  Have a great day!

Thrift Store clocks

Hi!  All except for one of these clocks (the one in far back) were purchased at GoodWill.  I, much to the horror of my husband, disassembled all of them.  Two of the clocks required me to get out the pliers and break off all of the surrounding black plastic.  This gave me a huge blister on my finger where the pliers rubbed against my skin. Ahhh the pain of "crafting".  lol... I took the "workings" out of the other two clocks and, "voila" I had a display of clocks that pleased me.   

Wednesday Whites

• I'm so inspired by this pics
• I'm so going to bring my armoir from my bedroom into my livingroom.
• I'm so going to paint my coffee table in this gray color.
• I so wish that I had beautiful windows that could bring in so much natural light.
• I so want to make a feather wreath like the one above the fireplace.
• I would so love to sit in that little window nook and read a book.
• I would so enjoy  having  hardwood floors like the picture and a column in the middle of them.
• I so hope that you enjoyed the pictures as much as I did. 

Pink Desert Rose Tablesetting

Hi .  Today is Pink Saturday over at How Sweet the Sound.   http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/.  I will be sharing my tablesetting of Franciscan's Desert Rose China.  They are soooo fun and the best part is.......they have pink on them!!!!  They are from my girlfriend Debbie's late mother-in-law Suzanne.  I always told Suzanne  that I loved Desert Rose China because my grandma had it and it brings back such wonderful sweet memories.  Well, Suzanne remembered my comment and wanted me to have it about a year before she passed away.  I will forever cherish her sweet thought and precious gift.

Fall mantel

Hi!  I hope that you had a great Saturday.  It was a gorgeous day in California today!  I re-did my mantel yet again and I think this time I will leave it alone.  lol...I started the day attending my first Fibromyalgia Support Group. It was so comforting to talk to other women that have the same struggles as I do.  After lunch my son and I paid a visit to my grandma.  She will celebrate her 97th birthday next week.  She's amazing!!!!  After the visit, I came home to do some serious baking.  I baked a cinnamon-streusel coffee cake and 18 muffins.  The house smelled SOOOOO good!! I hope you enjoyed your Fall day!!  We are ending the day watching our favorite hockey team- the Sharks!! 

Monday

Hi.  Hope everyone had a good weekend!!  We had a party for my neice Courtney- she turned 7.  As I was checking out Metamorphasis Monday at "Between Naps On The Porch", http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/  I came  across two houses that had the front porch decorated for Fall.  Enjoy the above pictures.....I love all the lanterns!

Shabby Vintage Dreams

Good Morning! It looks like it will be a beautiful day today. Weather is gorgeous. Fibromyalgia giving me fits of pain this morning in my chest, but I will "press through" anyway. Emmy awards are on this evening and I always enjoy the Emmys. Was cruising Facebook this morning and came across a fun post, featuring my current "obession"....Ball/Mason Jars!!So fun. Check out Shabby Vintage Dreams on Facebook. "like" their page and begin to have lots of fun. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Shabbyvintagedreams/169666549744173

September 10, 2011
    At a neighborhood garage sale I  recently picked up a french wine box with openings for 6 bottles.  I already had 6 root bear bottles so I placed them in the slots, put the flowers in & "Wa-La". 

Happy Sunday

Hi!!  Hope that you are enjoying your weekend!  We have had a good one. My hubby took me to the movies Friday night, we attended a dear friends' 50th birthday last night and today (after some Kitty immunizations at the local Petco) I had a lovely lunch with my daughter.  I am looking forward to watching the Golden Globe Awards on TV tonight.  Tomorrow involves sleeping in, cinnamon rolls for breakfast and beef stew for dinner( it is a holiday).  The pictures below are some "eye candy"!! 

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Hope that you have had a good week.  I have had a migraine headache for almost 2 weeks, so I am under a Dr.'s care and trying many different medications to help "break" it.  The above pictures show some of my rooms "put back together" after the clutter of Christmas.  I LOVE Christmas,don't get me wrong,  but I also love the feeling of going back to some kind of order. lol.  This week should be a very wet week for us so I hope to get caught up on some reading, make some soup and get started on my Wii Fit Plus exercise system.  Because of my migraines, I haven't been able to begin.  I hope that the headaches "let up" so that I can start to get back in shape. Have a wonderful weekend!!

Fall decorating.

I have been having fun decorating for fall. The following are a few pics I took...