mirror makeover

Old mirrors are one of my favorite things to look for when shopping at a thrift or antique store.  Find one with a unique frame and paint it something fun with Rust-oleum spray paint.  Before spray painting your frames, I suggest you cover the mirror up completely with newspaper and blue painter's tape so it looks like this:

Once there is no mirror showing, spray away. Don't spray too closely to the frame though, otherwise it will be runny, and bubbles or drip marks will form. After the paint has dried, pull off the tape and newspaper and your mirror will look completely new. 

repaint old furniture

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You can give any old piece of furniture a new unique look, whether you want it to look brand new or have an antiqued look by painting it with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint.  Unfortunately, this paint can't be found everywhere.  I've found it in antique stores, but if you are unable to find it at a store near you, you can go to her website: www.anniesloan.com.  Not only will you find her paint on there, she has tips on how to use her product properly.  I highly recommend using this paint.  It is very easy to use and the best part is that you don't have to sand down your furniture before you start painting, nor do you have to use a primer first. It's also easy to clean up so you can do your projects inside your house, without the worry of getting paint everywhere. If you want to make your furniture look brand new, paint as many coats as it takes to get your desired color. You will want to make sure the paint dries between each coat.  Fortunately, this paint dries pretty fast. Once you are finished, you paint on a coat of Annie Sloan's wax. If you want your furniture to have an antiqued look, sand the furniture lightly before you put on the last coat of wax.

give an old chair a makeover

You can make just about any old chair look brand new with some Rust-oleum spray paint and new fabric.  Before painting, you will have to take the cushion off, which shouldn't be too difficult on most chairs.  If you flip the chair over you will see that it is just screwed to the chair. Just make sure you don't lose the screws! If the chair is a dark color, I recommend making the first coat a primer or white paint before you paint it with the color of your choice. Spray paint is easy, but it can be messy so be careful where you choose to do this and definitely put some newspaper or a tarp underneath it. Also, be careful to not spray too closely to the chair, otherwise it will be runny and bubbles or drips will form. Then simply fold the new fabric over the cushion tightly so that it is fitted and staple it with a staple gun underneath.  Then screw the cushion back in and your chair will look totally brand new.

feather headbands

Why spend $20 on a headband at Urban Outfitters when you can make one yourself? You can find packs of feathers at basically any craft store, such as Michael's or Joanne's.  Sometimes they even have feather pieces already made and put together, but I personally think it's more fun to do it yourself. Take a basic headband and decorate it with feathers, using a hot glue gun. Hot glue can be messy though, so if you aren't used to using one, a fabric glue can work as well. You can also add sequins or jewels on them as well. For the second headband, I wrapped the middle of the feather piece with a sequined ribbon to add to it.

decorate your own 4th of july shorts

Find an old pair of shorts you don't wear anymore or find a pair from a thrift store.  You can also always use an old pair of pants and cut them into shorts. I personally think high waisted ones are the most fun for these. Then take contact paper that you would use for shelves and drawers and cut even strips for the stripes and place them how you want. I've heard of people using painters tape so I tried that at first, but it does not work as well on fabric so I highly recommend contact paper. It sticks onto fabric better.  For the stars, I cut out a large piece of the contact paper and perfectly lined it up with that side of the shorts. I then cut stars out of it. It helps to draw them out first. When you stick the contact paper on the shorts, the fabric should be showing through the stars, if you did it correctly. Before the next step, I highly recommend covering pockets and anywhere else that you don't want paint to get on with the rest of the contact paper. I also recommend putting pieces inside your shorts as well because the paint can sometimes leak through all the way to the back, depending how thick your shorts are. Then take fabric spray paint and spray away. You can always uses sponges as well, but I personally prefer this technique.

nail polish shelf

Find an old spice rack at a thrift or antique store.  Then simply paint it or decorate it however you want. I used acrylic craft paint, but I wouldn't recommend it if you don't have a lot of patience. It took me a lot of coats. If you want one solid color, I would use spray paint and then acrylic craft paint for small details if you are painting anything else on there, such as the hearts.  I also recommend coating it with a primer or white paint first before painting it the color of your choice.

jewelry and accessory organizers

For the larger frames:

Take an old wooden frame and paint it the color of your choice. I used acrylic craft paint. I prefer the Martha Stewart ones because they have several options for what type of finish you would like. If the original frame is a darker color than the color you are painting it, I would recommend putting a white coat on it first. Use some sort of wire and glue it to the back of the frame. I used chicken wire for these ones, which can be found at any hardware store. Wiring is hard to cut so wire cutters are highly recommended as well as a stronger glue, such as gorilla glue. Attach small hooks to the bottom of the frames. It helps to drill small holes in before, but it is not totally necessary if one does not have access to one. On one of them I added a ribbon to help hang it up.  It's not totally necessary, but it adds to it.

For the smaller frames:

Because there are no hooks on the bottom of these ones, it is not necessary for the frames to be wooden.  Paint them the color of your choice and glue some sort of wire to the back of the frames.  For these ones, I used rain gutter wire because chicken wire is much too big to hold small earring studs. Then I attached the three small frames together with ribbon.

chalkboard

Find an old frame from a thrift store or use one that's lying around and paint it however you'd like. I used Martha Stewart's acrylic paint, but you could use spray paint as well. I was lucky to find a frame that had three pieces to it so I glued fabric to the middle piece and just painted the inner and outer frames. For the actual chalkboard part, don't just use black paint.  There is actual chalkboard paint you use to paint the glass center that allows you write on with chalk. For a clean erase when using, I would use a slightly damp cloth. It's not as smooth as a real chalkboard so it does not erase as easily.

About this blog

Crafting has always been a part of my life, even as a little girl.  My mom made my Halloween costumes every year and she always let me help.  Most girls would have sleepover birthday parties while my birthday parties consisted of crafting and tea parties. I even took sewing and quilting classes when I was only in the fifth grade. It has always been a small hobby of mine, but it wasn’t until this last summer that it became more than that. Over the summer I was basically on what I like to call “house arrest” and moved around by walker, after having a brain tumor removed. Being that I was barely even mobile, all I could do was rest and watch tv.  I don’t know about you, but a person can go mad sitting in the same room, doing the same thing over and over again for days in a row, and that is what happened to me. “But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are."  Things would run through my mind that I would think to myself, no normal person would ever think of such a thing. “Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast,” but that is the best thing that could have happened to me. When you allow your imagination to run as wild as I did, you will find your most creative side. My mom and my friends began to bring over supplies and my life suddenly revolved around what creation I would make next. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing the end result. Crafting is a huge part of my life and I hope some day I can do something big with it. I have created this blog to help those who are stumped and are in need of a push to bring out their creative side.  Everyone needs that push every once in awhile.  Just remember, nothing is what it seems.  Sometimes the ugliest things can be transformed into the prettiest treasures.  Just about anything has the potential to be beautiful if one can use his or her imagination to see past what meets the eye. In my opinion, creativity is the most unique trait a person has and our imaginations can lead us to do great things.