Bowdabra

The other night I did this post regarding my PB knockoff wreath and the fact I used my Bowdabra to make the bow. Less than an hour after posting it, I received a sweet email from Sandy Sandler thanking me for mentioning the Bowdabra. I thought it was the sweetest thing. This busy lady, took the time to write me an email. How sweet is that?

 

I thought I’d post a couple pics of bows I’ve made using my favorite little tool:

 

This one is on my PB knock off wreath:

Then there’s the one at the top of my Christmas tree:

And then there’s the one on my friend’s memory board. (which she LOVED!) This one was made with regular satin ribbon, no wire.

 

I have the regular size Bowdabra and the Mini Bowdabra. I used the Mini to make the bow on the memory board and the regular size to make the other two bows. (Hubby bought these for me for Christmas last year! I’ll tell you about this year’s gift in another post…it’s AWESOME!!!)

 

Of course, I’m made other bows using these two lovely inventions. I just haven’t taken pics of them. I’ll try to post a tute on using it sometime.

If you want to pick one up for yourself, check out http://www.bowdabra.com. It’s definitely worth the mulah!

 

Have a great night!

My PB knock off wreath

I'm sure you've seen this wreath all over blogland

But I REALLY love it, so I had to make my own

I purchased a simple wreath at Wal-mart for $2.00 (no, it wasn't on clearance), red and silver balls for $2.50 a pack, and some pretty shimmery silver wired ribbon for $5.00. )I'm sure you could find the ribbon cheaper or use what you have already, but I went ahead and bought it.

I already had the "Sturdy Twists" at home. This is like the twisty ties you get on a loaf of bread, but it's for tomato plants. I bought quite a few packs at the end of the summer...these were on clearance. $1.00 a pack.

All I did was cut a piece of the twisty tie loop it through the ball and twist around a branch. Since I'm using this indoors and in a place that shouldn't be touched until I get ready to take it down, I didn't see the need to glue the balls to the silver thingy you hang them with. It might be a good idea to glue them if you will be using your wreath outside.

I use the silver ribbon to hang the wreath and to make a gorgeous bow. I made the bow with my Bowdabra. (love it!) I can make them by hand, but the Bowdabra makes it so much quicker. They're around $10.00 at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, etc...

I'm sure you're going to ask about my runner...right? It's burlap! I keep seeing these beautiful runners all over blogland and I have been dying for one of my own. Since I had company coming, I quickly cut a 16" by 6' piece to run the length of my table. I didn't hem it, glue it, or do anything else to it...at least not yet. I intend to stencil the ends and hem the sides, but that's for another post. :)

Then there's my beautiful apothecary jars! Found these at Ross while Christmas shopping for other people. Funny how that works. The balls are just a few leftover from the wreath and the pine cones are presents from my hubby. Every time he goes hunting, he brings a few back. I sure love my little presents! He thinks I'm crazy for wanting to decorate with them. Men?!?!?

I couldn't leave well enough alone...found a couple cinnamon candles at Wal-mart for $1.50 each. The white candles I already had.

Ahhh. I smile every time I walk in the kitchen/dining room.

That's what life is about...right???

Now...to get those other 3 chairs done...maybe sometime in 2010! LOL!

My version of a Pottery Barn Mirror

I love this mirror from Pottery Barn, but can't afford the $699.00 price tag, so I thought I'd make my own...

Starting with an old mirror frame a friend gave me

I primed it

and painted it. As much as I love the black version from Pottery Barn, it just wouldn't work in my home. So, I went with our favorite Antique White (aka Heirloom White)

Put an old mirror in the frame

Hubby duct taped it in to make sure it would stay in place

And hung this bad boy on the wall. Isn't she pretty behind my newly painted table and chairs????

The chairs aren't completely done, but I just couldn't wait to use them.

I've been pretty busy on a few other projects. I'll post those in the next few days. Stay tuned!

Dining Room Table Refab

I finally managed to get my dining room table finished. She was a doozy!!! (sp?)

Here's the before pic. I actually bought her last October/November. I can't remember exactly, but I can tell you exactly how I felt when I saw her. My dad used to have an antique table pretty much exactly like this. It was in storage in an old house on our property. Unfortunately, lightening hit the house and it burned down.  Of all the things that were in the house, the table was the one thing he continued to talk about, years later. When I walked into Home Again Antiques and saw this gorgeous table with 4 chairs, I had to have it. I was literally crying because I knew it was the same table.

Since we bought it before my bloggy days, we didn't take the true before picture with the awful paint job. This is after we scrapped all the paint off and puttied the areas that were not smooth. Hubby did all the scapping and puttying for me. I gave her a nice sanding after he was done.

So this is the before, but not the true before shot:

Here you can see the BEAUTIFUL legs.

I just LUV all the curves.

The way they used to make rounded areas, is funny to me. They put these little wooden "caps" on it and then rounded them down. So strange. Why couldn't they just turn that section of the wood the same way they did the other parts? Guess I'll never know.

The chairs that went with the table did not burn down. We were using another kitchen table, but still using the chairs to the old table. I think one of the legs to the original table was broken, so Daddy got us a new one.  Here is a pic of the chairs I grew up using.

and a better pic of the scroll work

I used KILZ water-based primer. I hate HATE hAtE oil-based paints! They are a PAIN in the neck to clean up.

She's primed and ready to go...

Another primed shot

First coat of paint

Drum roll please......Ta da!

(about 4 coats of paint later)

Isn't she marvelous?!?!

I so LUV her!!!

These are three of the chairs I bought with the table. This paint job is similar to what the table looked like. Plain white and really chippy. (Not the good kind of chippy)

I used some kind of "super industrial strength" stripper to get the paint off. I would tell you the brand name, but I'm not too happy with it. If you want to know, message me.

Certain areas bubbled up, but most of it didn't. I tried scrapping the bubbled up areas and it became a gooey mess!!! When I finally get all the paint scrapped off...and repaint them, I'll do another post.

For now...they look like this:

This is just a teaser for another post....

I love this Pottery Barn Mirror, but can't afford to shell out $699.00 for it.

So...

I'm thinking this might work...

Stay tuned to find out!!!

New pie stand and pine cones

I was walking around Wal-mart the other night. Lo and behold, this gorgeous pie stand popped out at me. 

She was on CLEARANCE!! $7.00 Suh-weet!

My hubby brought me home a sweet present. He remembered something from last year! Omigod! I get this plastic bag full of pine cones, I just knew they would look good on the pie plate. Of course he says...I thought you wanted them to make a wreath. What?! Can't a girl change her mind?

Don't they just look so pretty on the pie plate?

Here's a close up...

Stay tuned this week..that ugly brown dresser (what the pie stand is sitting on)  is among a few items that I am painting and re-fabbing! The biggest reveal will be my gorgeous kitchen table.

Just to make you curious...here she is in all her "before" glory...

Hope to see you back...

Decopodged Recipe Box - Blue Toile!!!!

My BFF and I were shopping at Michael's a few weeks ago, when we ran across this awesome blue toile tissue paper.

Look...isn't it beautiful? I just love blue toile! And...to find it in tissue paper form...oh my. Well...what to do with the toile??? Hmm??? Let's see..here's a cute little recipe box. Cute, but definitely won't fit into my blue and white kitchen, whatever will we do???
Decopodge it!!!! First we had to cover it with blue and white. The tissue paper was thin, so the original print kept showing through. I think I used about 5 layers of the white and 3 layers of the blue.

Here it is somewhat finished. It still needs something...What about blue ribbon?

Tuesday Tute: Memory Board

I have seen memory boards all over the blog-o-sphere, not to mention at stores everywhere. I decided to create my own.

Since I'm trying to be a good blogger...I took lots of pictures!

First, get a piece of sturdy cardboard. You can use a piece of plywood if you'd like, but the cardboard is easier to work with.

Wrap the cardboard in batting. I used some clearance "snow" from last year's Christmas section at Wal-mart. Since my batting was thin, I used 3 layers. You can make yours as "fluffy" as you would like.

Using what I have...I just stapled the batting to the cardboard.

I have to show off the gorgeous material I used...

Wrap the material over the batting and staple to the cardboard. It doesn't have to be perfect. You will be covering the back a little later.

Here she is all wrapped up.

Then using different lengths of ribbon, you will begin your crisscross.

I used the handy dandy stapler again.

Keep going until you get the look you like. If the ribbon isn't in the exact place it should be, just pull the staples out and move it. Easy peasy!

Once you have all the ribbon in place. You will need to sew down each point where the ribbon crosses. I just knotted the end of the thread, stuck it through and tied it off tightly in the back. You could probably staple down the points, if you'd like.

Just because I like to be girly, I found these itty bitty bows in the same ribbon at JoAnn's. A little bit of hot glue from my trusty glue gun stuck them to the points.

I attached a length of ribbon to the top of the memory board to hang it. Then I made a pretty bow with my Mini-Bowdabra and attached it to the middle of that ribbon. ie: the area that would hang on the nail...at the wall.

Then I took glue gunned down fabric to the back of the board, covering all the raw edges.

Here is a close up of the pretty, itty bitty bows.

And there you have it...the gorgeous memory board.

Hopefully, I can give this to the friend I made it for...before she sees this on my blog. Hmm?

Have a great day!