Be sure and check out the SUPER SALE going on now on my Facebook Page! Fabulous deals on out of season merchandise! Click HERE to check it out!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Candle Embellishments: Before & After

It's time to play dress up......with some candles! I've had fun making some new candle embellishments for my Etsy shop, so I thought I would share some before & after photos of what a grouping of candles looks like with and without the embellishments. They really add some pizazz to plain boring candles!

Before:

After:

Before:
After:

Before:
After:


I picked up a couple more black bands the other day (one leather & one suede), so I've got to get started making more. Any suggestions for new styles?

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Show Us Where You Live: Nurseries/Children's Rooms

It's time for another edition of "Show Us Where You Live" over on Kelly's Korner blog. This week features nurseries/children's rooms. Since we don't have any children, I'm featuring my best friend's nursery instead (she doesn't have a blog!). She has two girls, ages 6 months and 3 1/2, each of whom have the most darling rooms! I've made several cute things for her, so I'll also feature those.

Here's her nursery:She made the personalized wall canvas herself, as well as the large shabby chic antique tin memo board.

This is a door hanging/baby announcement that I made her from antique tin ceiling tiles. She hung it on the hospital door and it now hangs on the baby's nursery door:


The first tin says "It's a Girl", the second is the baby's name, and the third is the birth info.
This is a frame I personalized and then embellished with a bow and a vintage rhinestone brooch:

These are some burp cloths my mother-in-law made and embroidered:

I painted this memory box to put all the little baby gifts in, then mom can use it for the baby's cards and mementos. I just bought a plain white photo box from Michael's, painted it pink, used a stencil for the darker pink design, then glued on a few rhinestones for some sparkle.

Here's everything all together in the box (my mother-in-law also embroidered the blanket and the bib):


This is one of my favorite DIY crafts I've done....my friend had this brass chandelier hanging in her dining room and was going to get rid of it when they got a more updated fixture. We decided to give it a make-over instead and use it in her little girl's room. You can see the step-by-step process from my feature on Spearmint Baby's blog.

Here's the chandelier before:
And after:

Here's photos of the chandelier in her daughter's room:




That's it....I had so much fun making all the little girly accents and I think she did a beautiful job designing both rooms. Thanks for looking!

Lampapalooza!

The Nesting Place blog is hosting a Lampapalooza.....and lamps just happen to be one of my favorite decorating accessories, so I thought I would join in the fun!

I'll start by posting my newest and most favorite lamps. I got 2 of these for my birthday last year, and of course I love them because they are my favorite color (purple, in case you can't tell from the dark pic), but I also love the cool shape and drum shade. These are in our master bedroom:
My next favorite is this acrylic ball lamp from Target. I topped it with a brown suede shade I found at Ross. It's in our guest room:

Of course I have to feature my Fleur De Lis stained glass lamp in the living room:

I scored these two babies for $1 each at an estate sale a couple months ago. I am on an endless search for a black drum shade for the white one so I can use it in our office. I was originally going to spray paint the wicker/rattan looking one for the office, but I think it is too large and it is going back into the garage sale pile.

Finally, here's a couple photos of the chandelier makeover I did. My best friend wanted a fancy chandelier for her little girl's room, and she had this old one just hanging out in the garage, so I spray painted it pink and added more colored crystals.

Before:


After:


I have more favorites, but I don't have any more good photos, so I'll stop there. I have run out of spots for lamps in my home, but that doesn't stop me from shopping for them! I can't wait to browse all the other blogs and drool over more fabulous lamps!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Monday, May 25, 2009

I've Officially Earned My Girl Scout Badge....

....in sewing! I don't know what has gotten into me, because normally I hate to sew, but I just can't resist all the cute fabric! And since I have no children to make cute little clothes for, you know what that means....Yep, Gidget gets another new dress! This one was inspired by a dress I saw in the consignment shop where I sell my personalized frames. It turned out a little better than my first attempt, and I'm sure my next one will be even better (I'm still trying to get the skirt just right)! Here's Gidget modeling her new frock:

Friday, May 22, 2009

Show Us Where You Live - Dining Room Edition



It's Friday, and you know what that means......another edition of "Show Us Where You Live" over on Kelly's Korner Blog. This week's edition is dining rooms, and I'm happy to participate. We are not very formal in our house, so our dining room is pretty simple. Most (okay all) of the furniture is hand-me-downs from either my mother or grandmother, but I think we've pulled it all together nicely.
Here's a look at what the dining room looked like when we bought the house 3 years ago:
We painted the walls, installed a new chandelier (there was no light fixture in here before!), put in new baseboards, and replaced the light oak laminate with darker hardwood flooring. Here's the view now from the kitchen:And the view from the other side of the room:Here's one of my favorite pieces, our china cabinet/curio. My mother re-finished it shabby chic style and gave it to us when we bought our first house:
We don't have formal china, so I use it to display some sentimental pieces, like crystal and china pieces from my grandmother and some wedding memorabilia.


This was my dresser when I was a little girl....when I got my first "single gal" apartment, my mom stripped it and I painted it black. Once I got married and in a house, I replaced the knobs, painted it white and distressed it to match the china cabinet.


I made this sign from antique tins strung them together with glass beads, it's for sale in my etsy shop, but this is it's new home for now! This hutch is also where I take all the photos for the items in my shop.

My mom gave me these two Martha Washington chairs when she remodeled her living room. She recovered them for me and I added a couple throw pillows from Bombay & Co.
That's it! We normally eat in front of the TV (gasp!) but it's so nice to have this space when we have company or when I need to drag out my sewing machine!



Thursday, May 21, 2009

Etsy Pugs

While I happen to think that I personally have THE cutest pug in all the land, I'm sure there are those who would argue. Fortunately I have not let my love of all things pug overrun my house. But sometimes you just can't resist a piece of cute puggy merchandise. It seems that whenever I make a sale from my Etsy shop, I can't just let that money sit in my Paypal account, I have to turn right back around and spend it! So, I decided to peruse Etsy to see what unique pug stuff is out there, here are a few of my favorites.

I would love to have a custom portrait done of Gidget, but these paintings from misterreusch's shop capture her features just as well:

Pugnotes is one of my new favorite shops for all things pug-related, here is a precious little pug pendant:

And I may just have to have these cute little etched glasses from 2pugstudio's shop for my morning juice (or evening cocktail!):

Of course these vintage illustration pug button magnets from ButtonsForBreakfast caught my eye (but they are gone now since I bought them yesterday!):


My Twitter friend shopmollyd has this darling polymer clay pug magnet for sale in her shop:


I could go on for pages and pages, but I'll stop there! If these cute little pug faces don't brighten your day, I don't know what will! Take a break from your day and peruse Etsy.com for items featuring your favorite fur-baby.

Coming tomorrow....another edition of "Show Us Where You Live"!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Wordless Wednesday



Monday, May 18, 2009

New Frame Design

My best friend surprised me a couple weeks ago with a special frame she made for me! She offered to let me take her two designs to the home show I did last week....and I got two orders for them! I also came up with a design of my own, it's now for sale in my Etsy shop.

Here is the frame she made for me (obviously I blurred out their faces in the photo):


And one she made for herself:



And here is the one I made for my Etsy shop:


I love the distressed look, it really gives the frames an elegant yet shabby chic feel. I think these would look great in a living room or hanging in an entry way with other family photos. I've been moving mine around all week trying to find the perfect spot!

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