Happy Spring Equinox!

The sun is struggling to peak through the clouds here in central Ohio, and it's only 31 degrees outside.

But I'm not letting that get me down! I'm celebrating Spring with some great finds at my local thrift store.

First off, you should know that part of my jovial mood is a direct result of a new man in my life. Yes, this crazy thrifty crafter is falling hard. This is how bad it is . . . I often picture this scene from Elf in my mind . . .

.

I love Will Ferrell.
So anyway, with that in mind, what better way to celebrate Spring than with a new outfit, or two, or three!

Banana Republic wrap-around dress

Forever 21 lightweight cotton print skirt

These leather wedges go perfect with the dress!

black and tan leather wedges just for fun

A cream-colored poncho will be perfect with almost everything.

Lime green and sporting some shorts underneath, this skirt looks fabulous with black tights and boots!

BIG FIND OF THE DAY, BORN LEATHER SANDALS FOR FRIGGIN' $8!!!! The soles look like they've barely been worn. The most comfortable sandal I've ever owned by far. Woohoo!!! As my friend Kay says, I do like me some fugly shoes. I'll be wearing these babies all summer long!

I'm hitchin' my wagon to these bright shining stars!

From My Front Porch to Yours Treasure Hunt Thursday

Not Just a Housewife Show Me What You Got
Beyond the Picket Fence Under $100 Linky Party

Frenchmen Love Women Jewelry Armoire

I know I should be writing a tutorial right now on how I decoupaged the jewelry armoire. The tutorial would drone on about what kind of primer I used, what kind of paint, how many layers of each. Then how I use a wallpaper seam roller to press down the paper images into the glue, yada yada yada.

I'd rather talk about how much I enjoy the process of making things like this.

First, the part where I'm walking around a secondhand shop or thrift store, picking up pieces of what would appear to be crap and turning them around in my hands to figure out whether I can recreate them to be better, prettier, more functional.



Then there's the part where the piece of "crap" sits in my house for a period of time and I just mull it over, thinking about what I might do with it, what color it might become, how I might take it apart and rebuild it, whether I will glue things to it. I might even get hung up about it, not able to make a start, not able to decide what to do with it. It might sit in my basement for months. It might sit in my craft room for weeks, even taking on a different role altogether before something finally hits me. Yes! That's it! That's what I'll do.

I have a wood shelving unit sitting in my craft room right now, for instance. I picked it up at a garage sale. It has some lovely fluting down the sides and I'm trying to decide whether I'm going to keep it and re-work it for myself or re-work it and sell it.

Not all things sit around the house waiting for ideas to hatch. Some things I have a very sure idea about. But then perhaps the process is long and arduous. Finding the right paints, finding time to get to it. Like the dresser and vanity I did for my niece's bedroom a couple years ago. "It will be ready for your birthday in March," I told her. Then, "It will be ready for Christmas." And now I can't remember when it finally got done. Probably in the following Spring.

I always figured I'd rework the jewelry box, but it took me awhile. And as I said, once I settled on the Matisse print, everything else fell into place.

Two coats of primer, two coats of yellow enamel paint, making it nice and shiney. Sanding off the ridges of the metal hardware to shabby chiq it up a bit. Then prints from three French painters, Matisse, Gauguin, and Toulouse-Lautrec complete the look. Thus the name:

Frenchmen Love Women Jewelry Armoire

I'll still put a few more layers of Mod Podge on. So the process continues, but for me, that's the best part.

This page also linked to Skip to My Lou Made by You Mondays, Made In a Day Made U Look Linky

Too many choices

I'm not good with having too many choices. I don't like restaurant menus--too many distracting images and too many delicious things to read and get confused by. Everything sounds good to me and it doesn't seem to matter what I order, i always end up coveting the dish that the person next to me ordered.

My niece and I want to do an experiment where I commit to not ordering my own food in any restaurant. This is how it will work: When the server asks us for our order I will say to him or her, "I would like you to order for me." I'll give the server a couple of parameters, such as letting them know how hungry I am, whether I might enjoy a large salad or whether I'm in the mood for chicken, that kind of thing. Then I will shut up and eat whatever I am served and like it.

If you get overwhelmed by too many choices, you might understand this idea, and you might understand why it is sometimes difficult for me to get moving on a particular project.

This jewelry box has been sitting on my dresser for more than a year. When I bought it at a thrift store I had every intention of re-working it with paint and decoupage.

BTW, I LOVE to decoupage! (See how easily I get distracted?!)

A couple years ago I did decoupage projects for everyone's Christmas gifts.

Here's the tray I did for my mom using a French toile wallpaper. It was a wooden bed tray I bought at a thrift store for $3. I took the legs off of it, painted it black, shabby chic'd it up a little, put some nice pewter-finish drawer handles on the sides, applied the wallpaper and then layers and layers of matte-finish acrylic polyurethane. Now it's the centerpiece of my mother's living room--a $3 item from a thrift store and some leftover wallpaper! [NOTE: I used acrylic polyurethane instead of Mod Podge cuz it's more durable and I knew mom would put drinks on it.]

Anyway, I need to get going on the jewelry box project, but I can't decide which direction I'm going in. Should I paint it black and use something like the French toile?

I was thinking about black paint and leopard print paper for the decoupage but I haven't been able to locate any cheap (READ: FREE) paper for that idea.

I always comb thrift store book piles for coffee table books and other picture books to use for decoupaging. Coffee table books have big glossy color pictures that are great for re-use in decoupage or even for framing for wall art. Right now I have some TIME/LIFE books on modern art, including a book on the impressionists and one on contemporary American painters. I also have a big sailboat book, a book on national parks, and a picture book on gardening.

So now I'm thinking maybe a garden theme where I paint the jewelry box a nice bright color and then use pics of annuals and perennials to cover the sides and top.

What do you think?

The 80s called; they want 'em back

I saw some cute legwarmers on Pinterest and I just couldn't resist trying to make some for myself.

I can't take credit for this idea. This is from mrsfleury at split the lark and you'll find the music. There's a tutorial included at this site so I won't bother repeating her instructions. Bless her heart, her dainty little legs (or the legs of whoever is modeling them) wear them much better than my big ole honkin' calves.

But if you're anything like me and you find yourself at the thrift store YET AGAIN looking at old sweaters and saying “gee, what can I do with this,” then you are always on the lookout for ideas like this one.

Maybe you can learn from my mistakes

I admit that I sometimes get ahead of myself. I'm the kinda gal who thinks every new lover is THE one, every new job is the best job I ever had, every new teapot is my favorite (yeah, the teapot issue is another post entirely).

Being overzealous has its good points and its bad points. On the bright side, I can be fearless; I'm more than willing to go careening down a snow-covered hill in an inner tube not knowing what obstacles may be awaiting me below, and I'll be nothing but exhilarated by the whole experience.

On the other hand, that overzealous fearlessness can cause me to jump into projects without doing all my homework. The old adage “measure twice, cut one” was totally invented for people like me. And I try really hard to follow that advice. Still, not everything works out as I'd like.

Take for instance this idea that we can spray paint over lace to create decorative items. I saw some of these on Pinterest and elsewhere and they looked really lovely. http://offbeatbride.com/2011/07/spray-paint-through-lace http://pinterest.com/pin/4362930858495401/ http://pinterest.com/pin/120471358751751201/

I have used lace to imprint onto clay in ceramic class. Surely I could find a project for it in my house somewhere and heaven knows I have my share of spray paint in the basement.

I never thought I would own a dog, let alone dress her up

I resisted getting a pet for years because I always claimed that I needed to be able to leave town on a dime and not worry about what to do with an animal left behind. But my better judgment got the best of me and I adopted a schnoodle almost two years ago.

She is about 20 pounds of stubborn terrier. She's half miniature schnauzer and half miniature poodle . . . schnoodle! Her name is Daisy and she and I have been doing battle ever since I adopted her from an older woman who couldn't afford to lose her arm because of how strong this dog is. Daisy is 8 years old but can still jump as high as my shoulder. Schnauzers were bred by the Germans to be ratters around the barn and house. They were not bred to be companions. I wasn't either, so that makes us a good match.

I want levels, nothing but levels

Today's project: Put down the book I'm reading, The Thyroid Diet by Mary Shomon, which is basically making me feel like my life is over. Instead, get off my butt and make something. That always makes me feel better.

I've been seeing this project in the antique malls lately (not that I frequent them ;-'). Someone takes an odd china plate and attaches it to a glass base to create a unique cake stand. You might be saying to yourself, when do I have time to bake a cake? But I use cake stands for all kinds of things, for cheese and crackers, for cookies, for cupcakes, for a Sunday quiche, even for side dishes. It's a way of creating more space when you have lots of stuff out on the table, and a way to create visual interest by using vertical space. Thus, the levels.

The ones I've seen in the antique malls usually use a cut glass candlestick as the base. However, being the engineer's daughter that I am, I saw one major flaw in this design. Candlesticks do not have a wide base. They are designed to hold and balance nothing more than a thin long stick of wax. Once you attach a large round plate to that candlestick, it suddenly becomes very top heavy. I almost knocked a couple of them over in the antique mall.

So I knew if I was gonna try this craft, I would have to re-engineer it.