A Few Updates...

Here is a quick post tonight to give you a few updates on some of the projects I have been working on.

Remember the failed first try at making a chalkboard out of a thrift shop silver tray?  This is the one that all the gnats and mosquitoes stuck to when I spray painted it outside one afternoon.  After picking off the dried bug remains, a top coat of antiquing, and sanding down the trim to expose the tarnished silver underneath, it turned out pretty good.  The lamp is repurposed too, and painted with my trusty Rust-oleum Hammered Copper.

On Monday I picked up a pack of fine line chalks and a pen type holder from Michaels.  I went looking for a "chalk marker" to write on my DIY chalkboards, but they were out.  I hoped these would work OK instead, and I am happy to report that they do.  Still want to get a chalk marker as they have a wider tip and would be good for big writing, maybe I can order one online.  I so love online shopping on Tangier!  It saves a lot of time and money, and the packages get delivered right to the post office, or better yet my door!

Here I am sprucing up some of my thrift store finds from Monday.

 

So here's a peek at my console table with the finished shelf sitter, the black (thrift store) crock, the picture with the mat and frame I spray painted, and another chalkboard tray all dressed up for fall.

In snacking news the candy corn is all gone (and I'm hoping since I have satisfied that craving it won't be back) and the key lime white chocolate chip cookies are almost done for.  I would also like to report I have become strangely addicted to those Sonic slushies with the Nerds mixed in.  I had another one on Monday (working my way through the flavors - tried the strawberry with nerds this time, it was good!)and I also saw they have brought back their deep fried cheesecake bites. Thank goodness Sonic is so far away 'cause I know I'd be there every day!  N. too, he is addicted to their chili cheese tots and caramel peanut butter shakes (but not together - EWWW).

Speaking of candy corn, I am going to leave you with a link to a page with a collection of recipes that use it as an ingredient.  I had seen a recipe before for homemade Butterfinger Bars that called for it, too.  Who knew you could cook with candy corn?  Who knew there were people who could make it last long enough to cook with it?  LOL

Click Here for recipes using Candy Corn

and here is the original candy bar type one I saw on allrecipes.com:

Homemade Butterfingers Link

and if you like recipes with odd ingredients, a facebook friend shared this today and said they were excellent:

~~ 7 UP BISCUITS ~~

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups Bisquick
1 cup sour cream
1 cup 7-up
1/2 cup melted butter

DIRECTIONS:
Mix Bisquick, sour cream and 7 up. Dough will be very soft - don't worry. Knead and fold dough until coated with your baking mix. Pat dough out and cut biscuits using a round biscuit / cookie cutter. Melt butter in bottom of cookie sheet pan or 9x13 casserole dish. Place biscuits on top of melted butter and bake @ 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until brown.

Tired Old Art Work? Try Spray Painting It!

Once again, let me state for the record, I LOVE spray paint. Just LOVE it.  Have a big collection of it just sitting in my closet waiting for the right occasion.  Except for that can my friend Wanda borrowed (this is a test to be sure Wanda is reading my blog LOL).  I actually get excited when they come out with new ones.  Just recently I tried chalkboard spray paint (it's a hit!) and am itching to try "looking glass" and those new ones that make things look like old mercury glass, which will be great for Christmas ornaments.

I have spray painted picture frames before.  This is a very easy way to change up your decor when your artwork becomes tired, or you change room colors or fixtures.  This was very helpful to me during my "paint it black" phase when everything in my house was black - black frames, black iron wall hangings, black and oil rubbed bronze fixtures, black furniture, you get the picture.  I have only done just regular old picture frames, but after getting inspired by posts I've seen on blogs and Pinterest, I am now on the lookout when I go to thrift stores for old painting and prints with vintage frames I can paint.  Apparently I am late to this little trick, because I hardly ever see any.  Hopefully someday I'll be able to score a few I can fix up like these:

from My Little Gems

via Pinterest

and I really like this idea for a frame within a frame wall grouping.  Those frames are great!

Found on Google image search

Now here is another new trick I happened upon that you might not know.  Did you know you can also spray paint picture mats?  If the mat is made of fairly heavy card stock it will paint up very nicely in most cases. Thin paper mats, like in inexpensive dollar store frames will not be good for this, however. 

This week I had a large framed picture in my breakfast room that I still liked, but with a heavy black frame and a burgundy mat did not go with the new copper accents I added to my kitchen as well as I would have liked.  First I tried spray painting the frame aged copper with my trusty Rust-oleum.

That helped - but it was still "darker" on my wall than I wanted. So I decided to pull it apart and paint the mat.  Here is where it helps to be a little brave.  I had to remove the backing paper and take off the back of the print, then pull out the artwork.  You have to make a deal with yourself that if you ruin it, it will be OK.  Have I ruined stuff?  Yep, and that's OK.  

I picked a spray paint that was very close to the wall color I have at the bottom of my two toned walls.  This was a mocha tan color.  I then spray painted the mat in two parts.  First I did the inner mat with the same aged copper metallic color as the frame.  When that was dry I taped it off and spray painted the outer mat with the tan.  Light coats of paint work best. On a dark mat it might take a couple layers.

Just now I have put it all back together and back up on the wall.  I think it goes much better now.  Is it a professional job?  No, I really sort of did it on a whim, and I probably could have put in more time and done a better job.  But, I am happy with my picture again - and won't have to buy a new one for a little while.  I like when I can repurpose things, although a trip to Home Goods or Hobby Lobby never hurt anybody.  LOL

I am looking for an old pic so I can show you before and after.....and I can't find a before.  Darn, I thought for sure I had one from pics I took when we fixed up the breakfast room. Well anyway, imagine this with a black frame and burgundy mat as the before.  And don't mind the washed out places from the flash, I had trouble getting a good pic.

Here is a link to a really great thrift store picture redo tutorial from a blog I like to follow: LiveLoveDIY.  Take a look if you get a chance.

http://www.livelovediy.com/2013/01/wall-art-make-chic-art-for-cheap.html

I have a dentist appointment off the island on Monday.  I am hoping for a fast and easy checkup, with some time left for thrift store hunting and Lowe's.  I think I hear those new spray paint varieties calling my name.

Update:  Oh man, this post was filled with typos and mistakes.  So sorry!  I typed this one in a hurry today.  We had an arts & crafts show down at the school, and I wanted to go, but had lost track of the time.  Now that I have sat down to reread it I am embarrassed!  And yes, I is a teacher.  :)

Thrift Store Silver Trays - Part 2

Well as you may have read, last nights attempt at a little "I'll just relax after school with a project" project turned into a bug-biting, temper tantrum throwing disaster.  Think trying to spray paint while suddenly attacked by giant blood sucking insects similar to Hitchcock's "The Birds".  I mean I am used to swarms of insects living by a marsh, but last night was something else!

One little tray was beyond help - but the other I thought might be OK after a little de-bugging.  Here is a repeat of last night's last picture.

Even without the bug damage I didn't like the tray plain as much as I thought I would so I decided to try out my new Rust-oleum Chalkboard spray paint and make the center part a chalkboard like I had seen on other blogs and Pinterest.  I want to our shed this time (hey I can learn a lesson or two) and sprayed on the first coat.  It went pretty well so I came back in for another tray and decided to have a go at it too.  Here are the results after some dry time and some distressing with my sanding block.  

Not bad, but I still wasn't happy with the little copper one, so out came my trusty Home Depot black satin paint sample for some antiquing.  I couldn't seem to get a good picture with the flash after antiquing but trust me, it's better this way.  It will look great with a monogram or fall message and some decorations around it. Really liking the black one too!  That may end up on my bedroom dresser.  Have a couple more for later and a couple different ideas.  But for now I am happy especially after last night's project FAIL.  Here are the final results for now.  Bring on the chalk.

It has been so unbelievably hot on Tangier the past few days.  The weather here has really been pretty mild all summer but it is making up for it this week!  They have been predicting bad storms because of the heat and humidity, but we really haven't got any.  The sky however last night looked pretty wild!  The colors were amazing, and I couldn't capture them with my camera.  Here is a shot taken from my front door (couldn't go out because of those pesty swarming insects.  Hmmm, maybe the two are related.

Thanks for checking in, I'll be back for some more posts this weekend.  Have a plan for a quick trip off.  Hopefully that also means more thrift shop shopping!

Quick Update with Copper Kitchen Accents

Happy First Day of School!  

It's been a busy, busy day for me and many other families whose kids started back to school today all across the United States.  I think projects are going to be put on hold this week til I get back in the swing of things, but here is a quick post about a quick update I did to my kitchen last month.

Copper accents are very popular this year.  I see more and more copper toned metal accessories every time I shop.  I have so much black and oil rubbed bronze in my house that I thought I needed a little update.  I am a firm believer in changing the hardware on your cabinets and how it can give your kitchen a whole new look.  I am also a firm believer in getting this hardware on ebay because I have about 36 knobs and pulls and I refuse to pay any more than $2 each.

  

I have always wanted bin pulls on my cabinet drawers, however, they require a 2 hole spread and all my cabinets are drilled for a single (one hole) knob.  When I began searching for copper pulls on ebay, these caught my eye.  They were fairly large and had a copper with black "antique" finish.  And they were in budget...so with one Buy It Now click and one Paypal payment (after negotiating a cheap shipping rate) they were on their way.  Never be afraid to try to bargain with an ebay seller, especially if you are buying a large quantity of something.  Also, you might want to consider buying more knobs and pulls than you need. It's never a bad thing to have a few extra on hand, things can get discontinued quickly.

Here we are changing over:

I really like the color against my whitewash finish cabinets. They pick up tones in the counter top, too.  Now the hunt was on for a new kitchen light fixture.  This was a bit more of a problem.  I found very few that had a copper finish.  So I bought one that was close, and added my own copper accents.  This was done by spraying my trusty Rustoleum Hammered Copper spray paint on a paper plate and then sponging it on with a damp sea sponge.  This light fixture came from ebay and was cobblestone finished.  It looked coppery in the pictures but much plainer brown and black mix when I opened it.  So spray paint to the rescue.  You must know by now that I am a firm believer in spray paint!

A Pop of Copper Going On

Lastly I added a new metal wall scroll (another ebay find) over the stove and my kitchen spruce up was almost complete.  I need to go work on some school work now, so I'll have to save the rest of my project to share later.  What do you think?  Are you ready to jump on the copper bandwagon?  Ready to become an ebay shopper (you really can't beat that delivery right to your door - especially when you live on an island)? Thanks for looking and please leave me a comment.

More to come later....