“New” Night Stands

I have had these same ugly night stands in an ugly green color for too many years!  I bought them way back when and they were really inexpensive.  They have some design flaws in my opinion, the drawers don’t really seem to fit well all the time…little details like that!

When I was refinishing my new chest I had lots of paint left (you know when you need more than a quart but not nearly a gallon).  I was looking for something else to paint and these puppies were just sitting there all ugly and before I could help it, I had them out in the garage all apart and sanding them. 

I slathered on two coats of the Glidden paint with primer that I used for the chest and they were transformed, well maybe not immediately, but certainly over the weekend. 

I applied two coats of Minwax satin lacquer after a layer of grey glazing.  And then I distressed the edges and they look pretty good!

I found the strangest thing with these drawer pulls…they are not attached from the inside.  See not bolts or screws on the inside…

I tried to take them off for painting and couldn’t figure out how to remove them so they stayed on and perhaps there is some paint left on the base of the pulls.  We are not going to talk about that though!

Anyway, here’s the finished product…I like them so much better than the green ones!

I am linking to parties listed here…

Ellen

Pillow Talk

I bought a new set of sheets at Wal Mart this past month.  They are a great blue color, actually exactly the same shade as my new dresser.  I have never bought sheets at Wal Mart before, unless I needed them for craft purposes (because they were so inexpensive). I might be a sheet snob, but I do love soft comfy sheets, all cotton of course! 

Well, I am a convert to Wal Mart sheets now!  Mine are Canopy brand and are packaged in a fabric covered storage box that now lives in my top drawer of my dresser.  They are extremely soft and look like a cotton sateen and they only cost me $44 for a queen size set (the last sheet set I bought at JCPenney was at least $80!). I always get a second set of matching pillow cases because I sleep with about a thousand pillows…but I got to thinking.  The pillowcases cost $20 separately, so for an additional $22 I could get another fitted and flat sheet in addition to the pillowcases.

I know this is getting complicated here, but bear with me!  I bought two sheet sets and used the extra flat sheet to make pillow cases for my assorted pillows.  I just measured the pillows and cut two pieces about six inches longer and two inches wider than the pillows.  And I made pillow case seams on them so they look professional!

I even used the hem on the sheet to make the hem on the pillowcases so they look professional.  So, to recap, I made two body pillow cases, two smaller rectangular pillow cases and a cover for my cylinder shaped pillow. 

Isn’t that quilt beautiful?  I’ll tell you more about it later…I got a smoking deal on it too!
So now I have an two fitted sheets, and four regular pillowcases, one flat sheet (those suckers never wear out!) and a total of six pillowcases I made.  And I have a large chunk of fabric left. Now I need to think about what to do with that extra piece of fabric….

I am linking to parties listed here…

New Kitchen Valance

I was sewing something totally different (a project that I will share later) and decided to make a new kitchen valance.

I had part of a white cheap sheet in my fabric stash (I think it was left over from making a valance for my niece’s house).   I sewed it up in less than 30 minutes, including sewing on the two rows of ribbon.

I scored this neat looking ribbon from Hobby Lobby on clearance. It was $1.99 for 10 yards and it has a Pennsylvania Dutch flavor to it which I love.  So, this is what I ended up with. 

It is a tad puckery from where I sewed on the ribbon, but I am hoping that it diminishes the longer it hangs there.  A girl can hope, huh?

I am linking up to the parties here. 

Sweet Blue Chest

I found this chest at an auction…here is what it looked like when I first saw it!  It has some great details and trims and I could see the potential through the antiquing that had been done a while back over about six layers of paint.  I knew those pulls had to go…
I had started out looking for a bookshelf, for my bedroom to replace a kitchen trestle table that I have used as a desk for oh, lets say 10 years!  I envisioned a bookshelf with wicker baskets lining the shelves with all my things tucked neatly away!

I had found a rough basic handmade (probably shop quality) bookcase that I was going to fix up with some molding and paint and probably lots of time.

Right up until I saw this baby!  I got it for $65!

It couldn’t be more perfect for what I wanted.  The drawers are very deep and wide and hold everything that I need to stow away.  The bottom drawer is dedicated to my things listed on etsy.  Very handy to have them all in one drawer.  I sanded it really well, learning fast that the trim is actually plaster, not wood, so I had to be really careful. 

I used Glidden paint with primer, not my first choice, but it was OK. The color is a soft blue, sort of a blue waters color.  I wanted to do some glazing but loved the color so much that I decided to distress the piece and not glaze.  I used two coats of paint and then Minwax satin lacquer.  I love that lacquer—it gives such a nice luster to the piece and it protects the paint. 

I am so pleased with it and it looks great in my bedroom. 

I am linking to parties listed here…

Vintage Sheet Bunting

I just love buntings, garlands, what ever you want to call them, I love them!  And I think before I started blogging, I never even really thought about making them.

 

I found a vintage sheet straight out of the 1970s—orange and pink and of course a stripe of avocado green.  I thought at first I wanted to use it and some others to make a quilt from them…but the more I looked at it I found a few signs of wear, and I didn’t want to spend time on a quilt made from fabric that might not hold up to wear.  I use my quilts, so I only use fabrics that will hold up to washing and daily wear.  

So I thought I would use these two sheets to make some buntings…very easy, all I did was cut the triangles…and then sew a pieces of extra wide double fold bias tape at the top, tucking the top of the triangle inside the tape.

Now that’s easy, green (reusable) and great party décor!
I Link to these parties!

I love robin eggs…

And no, I am not talking about the candy ones…although they are sure good!  I made this wool felt nest last year…but I gave it away. 

I like the real ones!  My son had this cardboard jewelry box he kept a robin’s egg in when he was about 4.  He carried it around in his pocket and was always looking at it.  It was a beautiful bright blue color egg with dark spots on the end…the baby bird had already hatched and Sam had found the egg shell under a bush after a spring storm. 

 

Nice artwork, huh?

The egg is basically crumbling.

I found that box this past week cleaning out some drawers. The egg has greatly deteriorated and has lost its color but I can still see that little guy looking into the box at the egg.  Sigh…

I have lots of wool yarn left over from various projects and decided to make a felted bird nest with eggs.  Of course the eggs had to be that same blue color. 

First I made the eggs with this recipe that I found at Creative "Try"als .  Let me just say if you make that clay, follow the directions especially the part about being patient and not turning the burner up too hot!

This is the end result (OK, so they don’t really look too much like real birds eggs, but after I dress them up they will look fine (repeat after me, they will be fine, they will be fine, etc.)

Now on to the bird nest making….I used three strands of my left over wool yarn and made a small bowl like this one.  I used a large crochet hook, size J.  I washed the bowls/nests several times to make them a lot smaller and tighter.  Look how tiny the eggs look here. 

 

And here is how they turned out after washing…

I made different sizes…and thought I would make several because I made seven eggs.  I made the eggs about 2 am, so can’t really explained why I made only seven.

The largest nest is made from two strands of mohair and two strands of wool…that makes it more fluffy and more like a real nest.  The mohair is vintage and it was sold by JCPenneys…beautiful labels—my brother found a whole shirt box full of it and gave it to me.  That’s one of the perks for having a brother who is an auctioneer!

I used a light blue paint for the eggs, something that I already had.  After they dried, I spattered some dark brown, black spots on the ends of the eggs. And then of course, I covered them with a nice layer of Mod Podge (what craft project would be complete without a nice layer of Mod Podge?), matte finish. 

See how cute they are?

I am linking up to the parties listed here.