Paschal Halloween costume

My niece wanted to be rapunzel for Halloween so the whole family decided to play the part. Only problem was they wanted the youngest to play Paschal, the chameleon. After look up pictures of chameleons this is what I came up with. Stinking cute family aren't they??

Dragonfly Costume

My little niece decided that she wanted to be a dragonfly for halloween. She didn't want wings and wanted a pretty dress. Now this was going to be tricky...

I started with the skirt utilizing some fabric my mom had mailed me from some old curtains.

Next I added the body of the dress but it was boring. I cut out a sequin heart but it still just wasn't right.

So I decided to add some stripes to help it look more bug-like. What do you think? 

Bike Wall Art

My husband and I are really into cycling and I wanted something to hang on our wall that reflected us. Of course I grabbed my sewing box and starred at it until something came to mind. Pulling up a picture of a bicycle on my computer I started to arrange my buttons on a piece of card stock to match. The wheels blended in too much so I found some sequins in my box left over from a halloween costume for my nieces. I still didn't think the sequins stood out enough so I added little pieces of foam under each sequin to help it pop of the page. Now was the time to plug in the hot glue gun. And last of all was to put it in a shadow box and hang on the wall above our TV.

Painting a Door to Find a Husband

After college I moved to Colorado and got my very own apartment. My first endeavor was to decorate. Every time I was on Pinterest I came across the cutest painted doors. So of course I had to have one. I got lucky and found one for $5 dollars at a garage sale but my car was too small to bring it home. Luckily I met a guy at church on Sunday with a truck. After some persuasion he offered to help me pick it up the next day. And 3 months latter we were married :) And now it's a year and a half latter and I couldn't be more grateful for my pink door. 

Equipment:

Door 

Small sponge roller

Paint tray

Sandpaper

Door knob

Paint

Steps: 

1. Sand out any dents, sand away paint chips or peeling paint. 

 I forgot to pick up sandpaper so I ended up sanding with a nail file... I recommend Sand paper but a few of them did the trick.

2. Lay down plastic or sheets to protect your floor. 

3. Paint the entire surface with a mini sponge foam roller. It took 2-3 coats and I waited about 20 minutes in between coats. 

I was on the hunt for the right door knob for months before my sister in-law gave me a neat antique one from remodeling her home. I think it's just perfect.

Now the door sits in the corner of my living room with a welcome sign that changes every month. 

Recovering an Ottoman

I started with this not so fab dirty ottoman. First step is always remove the existing cover. I was careful again not to rip it too badly as it was going to become my pattern for the new ottoman. The corners were sewn to make this a clean rectangle shape. Using the seam ripper I removed the corner seems so I could lay the fabric flat. Once the orange fabric was removed I pinned it to my new fabric and cut. Next step is to sew the corners together to give shape to the fabric. Slip the rectangle over the stuffing and staple to the bottom.

The legs had a neat shape and I wanted to keep that look. Using fabric sheers I cleaned up the corners to match the shape of the legs. I made sure not to cut too close so there was a little bit of overhang. Using my hot glue gun I glued the fabric into the wooden grooves.

 I cut 4 strips of cord to fill in the grooves. Using a hot glue gun I started by glueing the cord under the ottoman (see previous picture of the underside). Using the notch or groove in the leg as a I guide, I followed the top edge of the leg with glue and pressed the cord into place. Not only did this add a nice accent but it hid the fabric I had previously glued. The end of the cord was then glued underneath the opposite side of the leg.

End table

I found an end table at a thrift store that someone had clearly made in their garage. It was $5 and even came with a glass top but had no finish or excitement. So out came the sand paper and blue paint.

Painting a Bike

I inherited my moms old GT avalanche but I felt like a fuddy diddy ridding next to my husband. So we decided to give it quite the face lift! And in the end I sold it to buy a new road bike! Best $15 I ever spent!

First we removed all the wiring and hardware. Including the forks and tires. My job from there was to sand. I had to get the clear coat off then smooth out the marble finish. I didn't bother removing all the paint down to the metal just enough that new coat would look smooth and not chip off. 

While I was at work my husband put a broom stick where the forks used to be. He then stacked tubs to balance the broomstick.

We bought primer, green and glossy spray paint. 

First he primed the body, forks and handle bars. It took 2-3 coats and an hour to dry in between. Next was the green. He only did green on the body and handle bars. This also took 2-3 coats. After everything was the right color he sprayed 2-3 layers of the gloss coat. Make sure to do thin layers with even strokes. 

I rode the bike for several months got numerous compliments and didn't have problems with chipping.

 

Entertainment Center Turned Shelf

Today's project was found for free on online. I wanted something for my closet to hold put my make up, jewelry and hair products. Using a sanding block I started sanding and roughing up the black finish all over the MFD wood. I also unscrewed and removed the doors.

 I painted the entire thing with a white primer. After a few coats of primer I started painting with my colored paint, grey and blue. After letting the paint dry over night I was ready to add character. Using a ruler to measure parallel lines from the edge I started taping. Once the tape was in place I used a mini sponge roller to fill in the yellow.

Same thing with the bottom. I made parallel lines to the edge in tape so the height of the chevron would be uniform. When making the points it is really important to have sharp edges.

Painting Lamps

We moved and needed lamps but of course I'm too cheap to buy new ones. So I decided to get crafty and stopped by a local thrift store. I was in luck. I found a hideous tarnished lamp like the one you see below for $3. 

After sanding the lamp to rough the brass  I was ready to paint. I like to buy the paint samples from the Home Depot paint counter. It's cheaper and I can usually use most of it before it dries out. I used a mini sponge roller to dab and paint the lamp base. I waited about 30 minutes between coats.

I found this lamp shade at another thrift store for another $2. Using painters tape I was able to outline a chevron shape. 

Tip: make a circles of tape parallel to the bottom edge of the lamp shade. Use these as your marker when making points. This will help keep it looking uniform with minimal effort. 

I used a mini sponge roller to dab in between the tape. Do lots of layers so no light will peek through the paint. And leave the tape on over night.

I did the same thing with a wooden lamp and another brass metal floor lamp. 

I didn't take a before but here's a similar lamp. I painted the entire lampshade on this one. The shade was originally textured to look like brown leather. It was awful. I continued to apply layers of paint until there was no longer any visible light beams peaking through. 

Reupholstering an Easy Chair

The husband decided he needed a captains chair. I did some shopping on a local website where people sell their property. But everything I found was gross, old and expensive. Until I saw that the Marriott was selling its time share furniture from a ski resort. The fabric was a disaster but it was covering a sturdy high quality chair and ottoman that had minimal use.

Step one: Remove all of the existing fabric. This was an epic job. It took two days of pliers and a screw driver to rip all the staples out. I ripped the fabric here and than but or the most part tried to keep it as intact as possible. After some epic vacuuming I had a clean pallet and fabric to use as pattern pieces.

I laid out my new fabric face down and flat. I still needed to remove all the seams in the fabric with my seam ripper so the pieces would lay flat too. I put a pin anywhere I removed a seam on both pieces so I wouldn't forget to sew it back. Then I laid out the pattern pieces right side down on the new fabric, pinned and cut. Don't forget to note the seams on the new fabric.

The first step was to sew the pieces back together. Once I had the seams intact I started laying the pieces over the chair in their proper place. 

Next step was to attach the fabric to the chair. I got out my air compressor, nail gun and staple gun. I mixed staples and nails pulling the fabric tight. I stapled it back together in the reverse order that I was able to pull it off in. Started with the front of the back rest, moved to the base of the chair, arm rests and then sides. The sides had cardboard in them when I took it apart so I kept those pieces to help give straight lines.

Next step was to covered and enclose the back. I cut long narrow pieces of cardboard to match the edges of the back. Using my hot glue gun I glued the card board to all the edges on the wrong side of the fabric. I folded the fabric over to create a crisp edge.

I took the old cardboard pieces that I had ripped off and traced them into new cardboard from an old shoe box and cut. I nailed mini nails into the cardboard and hot glued the fabric to the cardboard covering the nail heads. I trimmed the extra fabric to make the cardboard lay flat and nailed it in place over the fabric. 

Now the ottoman will be a walk in the park!

Felt Nativity Scene

This year I had my sister for Christmas and her request was a felt nativity scene. I've never done a felt project but thought it would be fun. Let me tell you, it was a blast! I loved not having millions of strings all over to clean up. 

First I started with cutting the felt into little characters and hot glued them together. 

I bought a large felt sheet for lack of a better term to use as the board for the locations I created. 

After laying out the pieces I cut it down to size. 

In order to make the sheet look finished I folded the edges toward the back by about 3/8 of an inch and pinned. I sewed a 1/4 of an inch from the folded edge. In order to hang the board I folded the top down a half an inch and sewed. 

Once I thought I was done I decided to add a pocket to keep the characters from getting lost. I cut a large square to add as a pocket for the characters and sewed 1/8 of an inch from the edge of the pocket. I worried the places would get ripped or break so I glued them in place. 

Merry Christmas cute little nieces!!!