Christmas in July

I found this Mary at a grocery store floral department and it inspired me to create this Jean d'Arc style Christmas vignette.  A little Christmas in July, it was only 106 here this weekend!

I found these great pale aqua shutters at an estate sale.  

The shutters were the perfect place to show off some vintage Christmas postcards.
 

I have always loved this postcard.  It looks very much like fall but it is a Christmas postcard.

Any inspirations going through your head for Christmas?

 And for those of us still enjoying our summer, here is the summer look for the before.

 Sherry 

  I will join:

Sunday's Best Party  at My 1929 Charmer

Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper

Sunny Simple Sundays  at Sunny Simple Life

Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick
Cottage Style Link Party  at Lavender Garden Cottage
Cowgirl Up Christmas in July Link Party at Confessions of a Plate Addict

Creepy Hand

I found this great pattern for a creepy hand and I knew I could find a place for it in my Halloween decor.  If you saw my blog last year you might remember I did a few Halloween tables.  So, I am working on some right now for this year.

  This copy of Holiday Crafts by Better Homes and Gardens is where I found the pattern.

I traced the pattern right onto a natural muslin with a fabric marking pencil.

If you want to try making this I will give you a tip.  I cut it out as instructed and tried to make it from the pattern and the fingers were just too skinny to turn and stuff.  I followed the pattern on the hand on the right and when I turned it the stitching broke loose.  With the hand on the left I cut my new seam allowance out around the pattern and this worked out much better.

 

The publication recommends using a hemostat to turn and stuff the hand.  I tried several ways of turning and stuffing and the hemostat was the best method.  It was perfect to grab a bit of fiber fill and stuff the fingers with.

So, here is my finished creepy hand.  It is really a creepy glove.  I really liked how it turned out. 

Sherry

Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard Cottage

Metamorphosis Monday  at Between Naps on the Porch

Before and After Party  at Thrifty Decor Chick

White Wednesday  at Faded Charm

Bathroom Makeover Part 1

Today I am showing the before and after of our bathroom we did a few weeks ago.  I was going to wait and show it when it was decorated but, it will be awhile till we find the right accessories.   So, this is the before, last decorated in the early 90's. 

The original drywall tape was falling down and the wallpaper was peeling everywhere.  

 This area is above the tub.  When my oldest two sons were around 3 and 5 they used to throw washcloths on the ceiling and watch them stick.  They are now 16 and 18 and this ceiling has been like this a few years.

 The Process:

 So, the plan was to remove the paper and the falling drywall tape.   The holes were patched and the taping and sanding began.  It takes several layers of mudding and sanding the drywall.  My oldest son did a lot of this part of the drywall.  That helped out a lot.

 Here the popcorn ceiling was getting scraped off.  To remove you take a spray nozzle bottle with water  and dampen the popcorn ceiling then scrape off with a putty knife.  

Here we are getting ready to spray on a knockdown texture.   Everything was covered and taped with plastic.  The toilet and tub were the only two things still in the room. 

This is the wall texture mix we used to make the knockdown drywall texture.

 Practicing with the hopper to see how the drywall mix will look .  After you spray the wall texture mix on, you wait up to 30 minutes and then you knock it down with a putty knife.  

Before and Afters:

The bathroom vanity before. (I repainted it, that post here.)

 Bathroom vanity after.

Wall as you come in bath and cabinet above toilet.

 Wall now and cabinet above toilet gone.

 Ceiling above tub before.

 Ceiling above tub after.

 We haven't added any accessories yet.  We need something on the wall to store items and towels.  We want to find something unique and cottage-like that will be beachy.  So Part 2 will be the decorating.  Thanks for bearing with me through that long post.   My husband and I did all of the work.  Eldest son helped with the mudding, taping and sanding of the drywall. 

I will link this up to:

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Before and After Party  at Thrifty Decor Chick

Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard Cottage

Makeover of a White Chest

We bought this chest in 1991. The last time I did anything to the finish it I was 8 months pregnant with my first child.  I remember it being cold and me painting it in the garage with Kilz.  We used it as a dresser in the nursery and the top was a changing table.  I shopped the house when we grew a dining room with our new addition and it became a little sideboard for the new space.  But every time I walked by it, the chest just kept reminding me of the nursery. So the week my 5 year-old went to kindergarten, I used this chest to adjust to the fact that no more of our babies will ever be in the house, a melancholy week for me.  So, it was time for this chest to grow up too.  

(This is a re-post from 2010.)

I stripped the white paint off of the chest.  This is the stripper I used.

I started with a drawer to see how this stripper worked.  I have stripped a piece of furniture before but it was a few years ago.  

The stripper worked really good.  As you can see the paint came right off but, the primer has to be sanded off.  Thank goodness for my orbital sander.

The knobs are coming off for a hand sanding later.

Here is the drawer after sanding with the orbital sander.

After the orbital sander I switched to the sanding sponge with a medium grit to get as much of the white paint off as I could.  But if you notice, I don't get it all off.  I like the look of the white paint in the dings and grooves.  It gives the appearance of something antique with white milk paint in the cracks.  

After a good dusting, it is time to pre-treat the wood before staining it.  I used Minwax Pre-stain.  I would think it is a mix of Linseed oil and mineral spirits.  Although, I couldn't find the ingredients on the label.  (The rags used from this step become highly combustible dispose of them carefully after use.)

 

The natural pine on this chest is pretty, but I wanted a richer color so I decided to stain it.  I used Miniwax Polyshades in Pecan Satin.  This was the warm tone I was going for.  Note: the pine wood has to be pre-treated before the staining.  It is a soft wood and the wood fibers will take the stain very uneven without a pre-treatment.  The pine still doesn't take the stain perfectly even being that chest is made of many pieces of wood that will all take the stain differently.  

 The final step is to "sand" again with a #0000 grade steel wool.  This puts a satin smooth finish on the wood.  After you can again apply another layer of stain and "sand" again with the steel wool and then you are done.

I hand sanded the knobs entirely with a coarse grade sand paper and the sanding sponge.  I would believe the knobs are made of a different wood entirely because they were a lot darker than the pine.  Here the knobs are after pre-treatment and stain done in the same manner as the chest and I have them drying between the slats in our swing.

 

So, here is my little nursery chest all grown up.  It will work for now until someday we find the perfect buffet or hutch.  

 Now I have somewhere to put all my seasonal decorations.

 I will link this to the week long blog party.  This entry goes to:

Drop Cloth Projects at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Me'tamorphose D'une Lamp

 aka: Makeover of a Lamp

I have a little light.  It was given to me.  It sorta has a department store/maybe Kirkland's feel about it.  I decided I would try to make it look more French.  

The lamp had an urn style, which was really good.  I liked the overall design of it, I just wasn't digging the color painted on the relief design.  

So, instead of spray painting the whole lamp and loosing the wonderful patina it had I decided to highlight the relief with a gold Rub n' Buff.   It was so easy my five-year-old gave it try.  

The lamp shade was dated, so I thought I would give that a new look too.  The first thing I did was take the trim off.

I left the velour on the outer part of the shade because, the lining was in great shape and I didn't want to destroy it and they seemed to be connected.

But, just because I left that velour on it I didn't have to look at it, so, I covered it with a white linen.

 I have the linen on and now I will trim the overhang.

I then used a super tacky craft glue and added a pre-made trim.

So, here it is before on the left and after on the right.  Freshening up the lamp's look seem to work.  I liked the way it looked now.

Sneak peak at White Wednesday.

I will join these links:

Go and visit these wonderful blogs. 

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard Cottage 

Re-Party  at First a Dream

Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle

Boring to Better Party at Savvy Southern Style