Red's Not Just For Valentines

I am truly chair crazy! I have so many chairs waiting for some tender loving care. This one is ready for Valentines Day! or any other day if you love red as much as I do. Here she is before... A little sad looking, but she has great bones. After some glue to sturdy her up, I sanded her down a little and sprayed a coat of primer followed by two coats of Rustoleum Red Laquer paint. Here she is after... And for a little close up to see her fine details. Isn't she pretty. She is now at my booth at the antique mall, waiting for someone to take her home.I am linking to the following parties:

Some Fabulous Thrifting Finds and A Whole New Look

I am so excited today! I have a whole new look thanks to Krystal from Sassy Sanctuary Blog Design . I couldn't be happier with the design, she really listened to what I wanted and created a fabulous look. I hope you like it as much as I do. The other thing I want to share is some fabulous thrifting finds that I have picked up over the last couple of weeks. First, I have been eyeing a certain rusty rooster basket at the antique mall where my booth is. The problem was she wanted a ridiculous price and on top of that it was coming apart. I just couldn't bring myself to pay $30 for a broken rooster, even if I did love it. You can see that the front of the rooster is not connected to the basket. Ok, I figured I could just put a screw through the bar and fasten it together. But, what about the fact that I couldn't bring myself to pay $30 for a rooster. Well, there is where the good news comes in. The owner of the booth in question decided to leave the mall and had a 50% off sale to clearance out her stock. Now normally I wouldn't even pay $15, but remember I love this rooster and have been eyeing him for some time. So of course I bought it and home it came. Now I just needed to repair its broken neck :( So I looked to see what size screw I needed to hold it together and slipped the broken neck back into the basket. It wasn't broken at all, it just had a slipped disk. It fit right back together and stays connected just fine. As you can see from this photo, I got rid of the silly bow around his neck and changed the napkin inside to go with my color scheme. I am using him to hold my fresh fruit, he looks a little sad tonight since we are completely out. Tomorrow I shop at Sam's instead of Goodwill :) My second fabulous find is this wonderful Thomasville wicker rocker. I couldn't believe it when I walked back in the furniture section of Goodwill and found this beauty among the broken down bookshelves and fake potted plants. It has an area of broken wicker on the right arm and desperately needs some new cushions, but it was love at first sight. I don't even think these cushions belong to this chair, but they will be great for stuffing the new ones. Stay tuned for a future post on this baby. Yes you guessed it, it is also staying with me. Mr. Stylish doesn't know it yet, but it will soon be moving into our master bedroom.

I am linking to these really fun parties. Be sure to check them out!

Dry Brush and Turquoise Paint

I have been wanting to paint something turquoise for a while and yet what do I usually do? I play it safe and go with black or white. So I found a can of oops paint at Lowes that was a deep turquoise, a little darker than I wanted, but with a little whitewash it could be perfect. I found this sad little table at Sals Army and thought she would be ideal for this little experiment. So home she went and after two coats of primer and two coats of the dark turquoise, I tried out the dry brush technique that I have read about on so many of your blogs. I was really nervous, but once I started I realized this was fun. I could not be happier with the results. I love all of the ideas and inspiration that I get from all of your blogs. Thanks so much and check out these pics of the finished product. She is actually for sale at my booth at the Sentimental Journey. I will be sorry to see her go, but I have vowed to simplify my life this year and there is no place for her in my house.

I am linking to:

Tween Bedroom Makeover

For my granddaughter's birthday I decided to make her new bedding. I started with the plaid fabric that I already had. And since her favorite color is this turquoise blue, it was the perfect start, or so I thought. I backed it with a solid blue that I got at Wal-mart, which turned out to be her preference, so her it is reversed!

Naturally, a twelve year old girl has to have something really cool and fun, so I found the exact turquoise to match in the super soft eyelash fabric at Joann's and made two euro shams and added in a white eyelash sham to go with them. Lastly, I appliqued some throw pillows in various shapes for accents with her name, initial and a couple of cute flowers. To my relief, she was thrilled! (You never know with twelve year olds.)

Her mom and dad even painted the room to match a few weeks later. I will show those picks when I find the pics of the chair cushion I made her to go with all of this.

Linking to these parties:

Bringing It All Together

After much thought, I have decided to combine my blogs. Besides this blog, I also had created another one called 'Stitch Daily'. I have realized that I need to put all my posts in one place and not be spreading myself so thin. Hopefully, this will result in more posts in one place and you as readers will be able to see all of the things I love. I love, love to sew. I have since I was a little girl and my grandmother spent hours teaching me. She was truly the creative inspiration in my life. She not only sewed, but knitted, decoupaged, needle pointed, and amazingly painted furniture! So I guess I have come full circle. I didn't start painting furniture until about a year ago, and I just recently remembered that she did also. She had antiqued furniture throughout her house. So now this blog will be dedicated to all of the things I love to do. I hope you like the change, I'm sure I will.

Trash to Treasure

Sometimes I find a real piece of trash awaiting me at the GW and realize it’s really a treasure in disguise. I found this sad little magazine rack one day and new it was waiting for a little tender loving care to bring it back to life. I couldn’t help but bring it home, like a sad little puppy looking at me and begging. All it needed was a little glue, ok a lot of glue, some paint and a little character.

After the glue dried, I painted it with my trusty white semi-gloss paint and then distressed it with some sandpaper. A couple of coats of Polycrylic by MinWax and she was ready to go. Look how much prettier she is. From Trash to Treasure!

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Projects for 2011

Happy New Year to everyone! I am so glad to have a fresh start. There is definitely something magical about January 1st and allowing yourself to forget all your bad habits and move forward with a clean slate. I am always making resolutions and setting goals in the New Year, but this time I have decided to change it up a bit. Not only will I continue to work on the goals that I have had for years (like eating healthier and exercising), but this year I want to be very specific with the goals that I have in mind for my house. I currently have a lot of ideas going on in my head about what I would like to do in my house (even more now that I read so many of your fabulous ideas), but never know where to start, so this year I am going to select a project a month and set up the list of projects ahead of time. This way I will always know what I should be working on, no more jumping from room to room, project to project. So without further ado, here is my list of projects and schedule for 2011. 1. January-Whole House Decluttering

It only makes sense to start with eliminating all of the unneccessary JUNK that we have in the house. It's time to let loose of the stuff we no longer use or need. There are a few things worth listing on E-bay or Craigslist, but most of it will go directly to the Salvation Army store. As I am dejunking I want to organize the basement storage. 2. February-Sewing and Craft Area

Living in Kansas, we all have basements and mine is currently unfinished. It is very large, but I have managed to take over about 75% of it for sewing and crafts. I sew alot and make things for family and friends and also sew for our childrens carseat cover business Carseat Couture. I have 5 sewing machines a large cutting table and lots of fabric on shelves. I also have a lot of furniture to refinish and multiple craft projects going at any one time. Time to clean this up and get some organization going. 3. March-My Office My office needs a complete overhaul. It is a organizational nightmare that I have worked on time and time again. The problem is, I never finish it. And then things begin to pile up on the desk and in the chairs. Before I know it, it is overwhelming. I want to declutter, reorganize and redecorate. I saw so many wonderful posts this year by those of you who showed us where you work. You are amazing at setting up and creating a beautiful space to take care of business.

4. April-Master Bedroom

We have lived in our house for eight years and have never done anything with our bedroom. I am still using the same bedspread and dust ruffle that we had in our old house. We still have builder beige wall color and no curtains. (We did install the 2 inch wide blinds the day we moved in) It is boring, and it is time to make it special.

5.May-Great Room

About 5 years ago, we took the furniture out of our great room to paint it and after we painted, my husband thought it would be a great place for a pool table. I said why not and we bought a beautiful pool table and created a really nice Billiard Room. We really enjoyed it for the first couple of years. We would play pool together in the evening and everyone that came over would practice their shots in their. It was alot of fun, but it seemed to wear off after a while and now no one ever uses it. It needs to be put back together as a normal gathering room.

6. June- Powder Room

Another are untouched since the builder left. Standard plate glass mirror and beige walls. Its time to create a beautiful space for our guests to use. Taking the mirror off of the wall has always been intimidating, so we may use the framing technique that is so popular in blogland.

7. July- Laundry Room

I never thoght about decorating my laundry room until I started reading all of your posts and seeing the great ideas you all have. I am going for it, paint, wall decor, and of course organization.

8. August- Guest Room Bath

Our builder installed a prefabricated, one piece shower in this room. We hated it from the beginning, but it wasn't enough to keep us from buying the house. Well, at Christmas this year, my father in law was staying in the guest room and using this shower. He informed us that he had noticed a crack in the fiberglass and we should take a look. Sure enough, there are two cracks and it could possibly be patched, but would always look like it was patched. So, we have decided to rip out the whole shower and redo with a tiled shower stall.

9. September- The Boys Rooms and Bath

We have two more bedrooms that our youngest sons(both in their twenties) use. One of them still at home and the other comes and goes. They are adjoined by a bath. I want to paint both rooms and the bath and just generally redecorate.

10. October- Start Finishing the Basement

If I am still on schedule by this point in time, I want to start the process of finishing the basement. I would like to have a large area for the family to gather and possibly a bedroom and bath . It is definitely doable if I can get Hubby on board. He is very handy and we have done some great work together before.

11. November- Focus on Holiday Preparation

No more last minute shopping and sewing. This year I am going to get it together early. This is also a busy time for the antique mall, so I don't want to have a major home project going now.

12. December- Enjoy the Holiday Season

Since I am going to be ready early, I want to really enjoy the season this year. Baking and spending time with family. No more rushing to the store on my days off and especially Christmas Eve. I can also take this time to reflect on the upcoming year and what I have accomplished during the last year. I can't wait to relax and enjoy the holidays and the real reason for the season.

I am sorry this was such a long post, but I really wanted to get it all on paper this year. I want to know where I am going and have a plan. I really feel like this will help me get more accomplished in the long run.

Happy New Year to all and I hope your year is as productive as mine will be!