Upcycle Mirror to Chalk Board with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

I've had this project in mind for a year or so and actually had 2 failed attempts. The first attempt after spay painting the mirror with chalk paint, I broke it. YIKES!!!!!  The 2nd attempt, I made a frame from some scrap crown molding and chalked a piece of laminate.... the frame fell apart (several attempts to fix)  and the laminate just didn't do it for me....

So, I put this little project on a shelf in the back of my mind. This past Saturday as the heaven's opened and rained pored down (No rain here for weeks) I got an itch. The hubs was sleeping the day away (3rd shift) and our boy was with his Nanny. I got in the car and started hitting the thrift stores.I went up several making a few scores of different things I didn't need, but had to have LOL.

Then I found the fabulous mirror! It was exactly what I was looking for and the price was right! Only $8.00! 

I went to our local hardware store and purchased Krylon Chalk Board Spray Paint for $8.00.

The DH was awake when I got home (YIKES!) I couldn't very well sneak my finds in... With my head held high I brought my bounty inside and grinned. His oh so famous, "Whatcha got honey?" You know what I mean ladies, my fellow, sneak it in and hope he doesn't see it until it is completed...I ran to the basement with "Nothing" coming from my lips. LOL

He laughed, he always does when I'm busted. One of the many reasons I love him so much <3

OK enough of the mush.

Here is my mirror before and what took place during its tranformation.

Supply list:
Mirror
Spray Chalk Paint
Paint
Paint brushes






The mirror is white although it is hard to tell in the photos and very dirty at that. I cleaned it up with soapy water.

Got out my Annie Sloan Arles and Emperor's Silk and started painting around the frame. I'm not sure what I had in mind, but it wasn't turning into what I wanted. 

I tried white washing it with Old White, but still couldn't get what I was looking for (apparently I had no idea what I wanted). I clear waxed and dark waxed and painted again and blahhhh. I just wasn't right.

After about an hour or so I left to show a property (my day job is real estate) with the project on my mind.

Moving forward, when I got back home I started browsing Pinterest. I searched Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and came across this must have future project dresser. The Emperor's Silk is a vibrant beautiful red and by applying the dark wax on top, Superb!

I had a direction. I applied 1 coat of the Emperor's silk, let it dry, and began sanding my edges etc. The Old White and Arels began popping thru, and it was an AHA moment, this was exactly what I wanted.

After sanding and wiping the dust away I applied the dark wax. Dark wax makes me nervous and this was my first attempt. I wanted control and a lot of it, so I used a lint free cloth and my index finger and worked the dark wax into the paint. WOW oh WOW. It deepened the aged the Emperor's Silk, it is beautiful.

Here is the finished project I am extremely happy with this piece!

Thanksgiving, Dollar Tree and Cost Effective Decorations

I have pinned so many things for decorating for Thanksgiving. I am a bit obsessed with Pinterest, and I am sure some of you know what I mean.  I shop thrift stores year round for different items. All the candle globes came from the Goodwill, Salvation Army and Dollar Tree. I paid less than $1.00 each for them.

Happy Thanksgiving Banner

Material List

Twine
Scissors
Hot Glue
Burlap or Linen
Letters
Leaves
Safety Pins



I picked up the leaves and paper letters from the Dollar Store, I've had the twine on hand for a couple of years.



Paper Letters. There are 3 of each letter so I had enough to do one Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas.







I'm a lucky girl, the town I live in has a fabric ware house called Phoenix Fabrics, they are open once a month to the public. It is an amazing warehouse full of every possible fabric. I picked up a scrap of linen several months ago for less than $3.00. I was thinking of making a runner for the dining room table, but that project never happened. LOL!

Disclaimer: I didn't take photos of each step, but it really is pretty simple.

First, I made the streamer to hold the linen flags. I made it long enough with little swag. I made 2 of these on for Happy and the other Thanksgiving.

I didn't measure out how far apart the leaves were, I just randomly hot glued them to the twine.

Flags

I made a template from a brown paper bag, laid it on the linen and then cut out my flags. They are roughly 4" wide at the top. They are not perfectly straight (this was a little difficult for my OCD to swallow) But my creative side, "ohhh that looks so good!" LOL 

I hot glued my letters simply because I was out of Tacky Glue. It worked very well.

There are times my OCD has full control and making sure the banner was centered to the fireplace opening was non-negotiable. FYI, the fireplace is non-working (no chimney).

First, I hung the twine for Happy. The first P was the middle letter so I centered it with the opening. I used the safety pins and attached each side to the twine. I did the same thing for Thanksgiving.

This took about and hour to finish give or take 15 minutes.

The Windows

I didn't take photos of the process, but it is sooooo simple and really added to the feel of the room.

I went across the street and pick up pine cones and hot clued them to twine. I then tied them to the tension rod.  The larger windows I added leaves too and again tied it to the rod.

The Candles

I 5 of these candle at the Dollar Tree, wrapped them in twine and tied a bow in front.

Before

After

I bought pinto and Lima beans and orange split peas and filled the globes and mason jars. I tied twine around the candles in the jars and on the outside of the mason jars.

I set some of these in the fireplace, some on the mantle, and others on the dinner table.

At the back of the fireplace I placed a mirror to reflect the light. I wish the mirror was large, but this was all I had on hand and it was a last minute idea.

Basket of flowers

On top of the mantle I placed of basket of flowers I've collected over the past year or so. I use them for wreaths. It worked out really well they happened to be fall colors, deep oranges, reds, purples.

 

Simple, cheap and fun to make, it doesn't get any better than that!

Would love to see your Turkey Day decor :)

Mel :D

Christmas Ball Wreath

We all know about my wreath obession and this one is by far my favorite! My little boy helped me with this one we had a blast. 

I used about 90 ornaments all different sizes. Stop by your local Dollar Tree and pick up ornaments, you are looking at around $10 total!!!!!

Before you start layout all those ornaments, pull the tops off and add a couple drops of hot glue and attach the top again. This will take 20-30 minutes.

The ornaments will start to pop off if you don't glue the tops, so go ahead and do this step now and save yourself some time!

Now, take that wire hanger and bend it into a circle.

Start threading your ornaments

It's going to look a little funny, you are gonna wonder if your doing it correctly! Yes you are, don't worry, those ornaments will start to fill in.

Add a ribbon to the top

After I got the wreath up on the mirror, I noticed it need a couple of fillers, I took the smallest ornaments and hot glued a few into places giving it a really full rounded look!



Independence Day Wreath

I found a version of this cute July 4th wreath on Pinterest and followed it to Capital B. She has great insturctions, but if you would like to follow my instructions see below!

First your supply list:

• 1/2 yard each red, white, and blue felt.
• Metal clothes hanger
• 1/2 inch pipe insulator (8 feet from Home Depot or Lowe's)
• Felt stars
• Wire
• Straight pins
• Hot glue
• Fat pen or crayon (anything 1/4 to 1/2" to wrap the wire around)
• Duct Tape

This project is easy and a fun to do while watching movies! It will take you some time to complete it is not a long hour project, but simple, simple, simple!

First, cut up your felt. I cut mine 2.5 x 2.5 and 3 x 3 squares. They are not perfect but close enough in size, but give a neat look with the small size difference. I do not know how many I cut, but I cut, and cut, and cut some more! There is another stack behind what you see.

Next, get you straight pins and hot glue out. Put a small dot of glue in the center of the felt square, stick your pin thru the hot glue, and then push the felt upward. This is the longest part of the entire project!

You should end up with this:

This is what I ended up with! (If you like the box they are in see my Staples Box Project!)

I choose to make my wreath rings because it's so much cheaper.  There is a must know to using the pipe insulator. Hot glue melts the insulator use a low heat glue gun or if you have high heat glue gun just hold to insulator pipe for about 10 seconds so it sticks.

To make your ring. First take your wire hanger and stretch out. Then run thru the pop insulator, pretty easy huh!! Once you have the wire thru the insulator feel for the end of the wire hanger. take your scissors and snip just above the wire.

Then circle it around bring the ends of the wire hanger together.  I bend the ends around each other to hold it together and then duct tape the seam.

Shape into circle.  Check out my Valentine's Day Wreath! I shaped into a heart!

Now the fun part! I started and ended with the same color red for the stripes. I tried to keep my widths about the same for the alternating red and white "stripes."

Taking your hot glue gun and one of the "florettes" (for lack of a better word) insert the straight pin into the end of the gun just to get a little glue and then stick into the ring. This is the quickest part of the whole project it only took me about 45 minutes to work my way round!

Work your way around the wreath until until you get to the blue and then fill it in.

Now the stars.

Take your wire and cut it about 8-12 inches (you'll adjust it as needed) lengths and wrap around your marker or crayon and you will end up with this.

Take one of your felt stars add a little hot glue to the back of the star and then place the wire on top of the glue. Adjust the wire length to your preference making it your own!  I put a couple of wires without the stars and I am so happy how this turned out! You should you end up with this.

I would love to know what you think!

Mel :D