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Well.......we're up and running on our new blog! There is still a little work to do on the banner but Hubby and I have had lots of fun this week designing and playing.
You will find all future posts at........................................
We hope that this blog will remain for a while so that you may access it at any time to view our archives and albums.
See you at Bella Dreams!
Denise
You know how it is some days. Nothing that you do turns out the way that you had intended. I had this wonderful idea for a Cheap Chic post on lamp shades and everything that I touched turned to poo! So I'll have to leave that post for another time. Of course, that left me without a whole lot to post about! But I'll give it a try. Here are a few things that we have been working on.
Here is one of Heather's latest projects. She took an unfinished plaque that she found at Michael's, painted the edges gold, covered the front in torn pieces of old book pages the crackled the plaque and glazed to hi-light the cracks. You can find the crackle medium on the paint aisle at your local crafts store. She then took an unfinished cross, painted it, glued it to the plaque and added her junk jewelry. Too cute! Don't forget to add a picture hook to the back to hang it from.
This was about the only thing from my lamp project that turned out well. I took an existing crystal lamp finial and glued the crown on top. It came from a key chain of mine that had broken. It turned out nicely and adds a little something extra to any lamp.
Here is a cute vanity jewelry box that I refinished today. I painted it pink and then glued the crown on the top and our favorite plastic rhinestones right over the top of the existing knobs. It was previously a dark barn red. This gave it a whole new look! One more thing.....that pink paint color was an old Martha Stewart color from way way back. In fact, it was no longer available. We pick up paint chips when we're at the paint store and keep them for later use. That way, you can always have them color matched at a later date. Just a little tip that I thought I would pass along.
These little boxes are available at Michael's in the unfinished wood department. They have a indention in the top so they're great for project like this one. The tiny silver beads that Heather glued in the top came from a Christmas garland. We save everything that looks like it could be used for anything! You just never know. Of course she painted the box inside and out first and it looked to me that she may have just rubbed it with a little iridescent gold paint instead of glazing. Lastly, she glued the crown on the front.
I've been making these little bags which I think I will probably fill with Lavender.
Well.....I hope that we gave you at least one project that you can enjoy creating this week! Sorry about the lack of posting since last week but setting up our displays at the Rink really had us hopping and way too busy and tired for much of anything else!
I will be taking my camera with me to take pics. of some of the great things that you can find there. Just this weekend, I found this great vintage pink chenille bedspread for only $18.00! By the time that I thought about it over night and decided that I could make some super pillows out of it, it was gone the next day! You gotta buy it when you see it! And I should know that!
I did pick up this cute little mini runner for $6.00! Isn't bargain hunting fun!!? I know that I would much rather brag about paying $8.00 for something than $80.00!
Hope everyone is having a wonderful week! I'll be posting more often again now that we're back in a "routine" around here!
Denise
Once again....I apologize for posting so late in the evening! It's been a long day for Heather and I trying to get everything ready for our new "vintage" booth!
Frames......vintage frames that is. Never ever ever pass one up at a garage sale or an estate sale. Heather sure doesn't! And she does such great things with them. Now, when I say never pass one up, I don't mean those simple wood or plastic frames with little or no detail. I mean the ornate frames with lots of trim and personality. Forget about the picture in the frame. We're not going to use that.
Heather recently found a framed picture at a garage sale that I guess to probably have been from about the 1950's. It was 4ft x 5 1/2ft! And....it had the ugliest landscape ever inside of the frame. But....she could see the potential. Especially for $1.00! Yep that's right one measly dollar! And the lady who sold it to her thought she was nuts! To her it looked like it should have gone straight to the garbage.
Here it is now. This was a tough picture to take because it is hung in her hall in a very narrow space so I couldn't take the photo straight on. So here's what she did.........
...........this particular picture was glued to a sturdy piece of particle board. The frame appeared to have been handmade and was screwed directly into the particle board. Heather disassembled the entire thing. She then used spray glue and glued cotton batting, available at WalMart for quilting projects, directly onto the particle board. Next she covered the entire board with her fabric. After this she used black ribbon in a crisscross pattern starting from edge to edge and measuring in between each section to make sure that it was even. Next, using her staple gun, she stapled each crisscrossed section directly into the particle board. To hide the staples, she glued plastic rhinestones over them. Of course she also painted the frame, edging it in gold and then reattached it to the particle board using the same method with which it was originally assembled.
The total cost of this project was under $10.00! I actually called her a not very nice name when I saw this one! It looks fabulous and I want it!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Okay. Next project!
This one is so simple.
For this project, Heather simply painted the frame touching up the ornate details with gold. Then she flipped the picture over to the back side and with a can of spray chalk board paint, sprayed it, let it dry, and hung it back in the frame. Once again, this was on a thick piece of board. If you find a great frame but the picture is mounted on cardboard, you can purchase a thin piece of plywood to replace it.
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Next Project!
We do have a partial before on this one!
This was before the frame was painted and during her process of painting her picture.
This is after. Heather painted her picture right over the original print that was in the frame. The frame itself was such an ugly brown that you couldn't even see what great detail it had.
She hung this picture over her bed.
I'm sure that most of you have seen frames hung in a grouping or propped up on a mantel like these. It is such a clean, uncluttered, and almost contemporary look. A great alternative to all of that "stuff" that many of us have on our mantels!
So remember...........when you start YOUR hunt for a great collection of frames.....look past the ugly picture and beyond the hideous color of the frame and search for frames with ornate detail, unusual size, and lots of personality!
Happy Hunting!
Denise
We are returning to our roots! Just to give you a little history......Heather and I both get this decorating junking bug from my Mother. She was in the retail business and antiquing flea market business for years and years. It must be hereditary! Heather and I just can't seem to make a clean break away from the "biz".
So......we are opening a new booth at The Rink here in OKC! It is more flea market and junk oriented and really right up our alley. Heather is so excited she can't stand it! She's never seen a garage sale or estate sale that she doesn't stop at! The other day when I was at her house she was showing me some of her stash. The girl is seriously ill! She has more (good) junk than anyone that I have ever seen! Her garage is so packed that you can't park a car in it. Now.....she'll have an outlet for all of that buying so that she can sell it and buy more.
In case you don't remember, this is where we picked up the chair from last weeks Cheap Chic post.
We'll start tomorrow setting up our displays and we HOPE (I'm keeping my fingers crossed) to be up and selling by the end of the week.
I am also very excited. Okay.....and a little terrified. I've never been the thrift shop/garage sale/estate sale type. However I love love love vintage! So I'm sure I'll get things going in the right direction right off!
Just think......every week will be a new adventure and we'll have lots of great pics. to show you of all of our finds! Stay tuned for our new adventures.
The Rink is located at N.W. 33rd and Rockwell here in OKC. It's huge and offers a great selection of goodies at really reasonable prices! Sunday afternoons are a great time to go and shop and also enjoy live music and refreshments from 3:00PM to 5:00PM.
Wednesdays Cheap Chic post will be a wonderful example of what Heather can do with some of her junk finds. You're gonna love this one!
Denise
I was finally able to take just a few pics. at Heather's house when I was there taking pics. of the chairs.
She still wouldn't let me take a full picture. She can't decide on the back splash. Here are a couple of shots of the upper shelves. She tore out the upper cabinets and went with open shelving. The cabinet with numbers sits on the right of her oven. She bought an inexpensive single unit, glued on and painted the appliqués and topped it with a piece of butcher block that my Mother had left over from her kitchen remodel. The rest of the counter tops are concrete. I'll try to get more pics. later!
Her vintage doggie collection.
I'm thinking that next weeks Cheap Chic post may be about old picture frames. Heather does amazing things with them!
Hope you're having a wonderful day!
Denise
Sorry this post is so late! It's been one of those days plus this was primarily Heather's project so I had to drive to her house to take the pics. I know....wah wah wah!
So............about two weeks ago, we went to one of our favorite haunts "THE RINK" antique mall here in OKC in search of that one special piece to use as a project. We had already decided that this would be a paint project to show all of you the great potential in all of those ugly pieces of furniture out there!
So much great stuff with so much potential and a lot of great "stuff" that was just ready to take home and use!
Then we spied it!................
The perfect piece!
Oh yeah! It's hideously ugly. One of those chairs that were a dime a dozen at one time . The upholstery was in decent shape, it just needed to be cleaned up a little! Now what to do to update this chair?
What you will need for this project. A vacuum cleaner and some Frebreze for that upholstery! ha ha
Blue painters masking tape. Cream NOT WHITE interior latex paint with an egg shell finish. Brown craft paint. Any latex based non yellowing clear top coat. Clear inexpensive rhinestones or buttons of your choice. Your glue gun.
Unfortunately, we do not have any during pictures of this project. Remove the cushion and set aside. Carefully mask off all of the rest of the upholstery. If you're anything like me, you better cover it all with plastic. I tend to get paint EVERYWHERE, including all over myself! Leave all wood exposed. If it has a high sheen you will need to rough it up with sand paper so that the paint will stick. Get ready to paint!
Yeah.........I know........you're saying "this will never work!
I beg to differ!
After!
So.....after you mask off your piece, you'll paint the entire piece cream. It will probably take two coats. The reason that I said not white paint is because it will look dirty after you glaze. Let dry. Water down your chocolate brown craft paint. This will be your glaze. Be sure to get plenty down in all of the crevices and apply as lightly or heavily as you prefer. Let dry. Coat the entire piece with your clear top coat. This is what protects the paint and YES that craft paint will stay right where you put it after you have top coated your piece. Heather uses an expensive oil based glaze that she has specially mixed. The cost is about $40.00 a quart. But take it from me, if she says that this will work I promise you it will work! That girl is a master painter!
The last step....heat up that glue gun and glue those rhinestones right over the existing buttons in the tufts of the back.
Before After
Close up of the top back. After.
We paid $45.00 for this chair at the antique mall. But just think, if you had been the one who purchased it at a garage sale or estate sale, you would probably have paid about $20.00!
I know this because...................................
.....................that's how much Heather paid for this chair. The upholstery (again) was in perfect condition and a super cute pink/salmon damask. The wood was again, brown. She painted it a turquoise blue. It now sits in front of her computer.
Pillow with crown.........Teresa Sheely
Pillow with stripes........Vintage
Pillow with Eiffel Tower.....Urban Outfitters
Hope you loved this project. I'm ready to go out and find a chair of my own to paint. Where else could you get a brand new chair for that price!
Now that is definitely CHEAP CHIC!
Denise
Hello!.......Bella here speaking to you!
We need your help! My Mommy (that would be Heather) and my DeeDee are heading in a new and exciting direction with their lives and their blog. So....along those lines they want to create a new blog! It's just that....I am so SICK of listening to them moan and groan about how they must be computer illiterate and "why oh why can we not figure out this banner stuff and how to add side bars and so on" and then one of them will say "it can't be THAT hard! Other people do it! We're not complete dumb dumbs!"
So....they need to decide. Stay with typepad and figure it all out , or try blogspot. Having someone design their blog this time is out of the question. They spent all of their money on my pearl necklace and my adorable new leopard carry bag!
Any advice and help you could give them would be greatly appreciated! I think that they really would prefer to stay with typepad if they could just get a little help from all of you experienced bloggers out there!
Please hurry! This is VERY important to me as I will be an important part of their new blog! They're even talking about featuring me on their banner! I just knew that I would "go Hollywood" one of these days! I mean, just look at me!
Love,
Miss Bella
Just having one of those days where I'm not motivated to do much of anything.
Maybe sit and read a book.
This is a sitting area/alcove in our bedroom. It looks like a wonderful place to spend an afternoon.
The vintage sofa that Heather painted for me and I had reupholstered is one of my favorite pieces. It was in hideously horribly ugly when I found it. Unfortunately, that khaki colored fabric does not clean well. Had I realized that when I purchased the material I would have gone with something else. At the time I was just looking for something inexpensive.
I'm sure everyone has a golf ball just lying around on their bedroom floor! Ha Ha!!
I moved this shelf from the den to the master bedroom. I had thought about selling it. Thank goodness Hubby talked me out of that! I am in love with the way that it looks next to the bed!
Really just a collection of small odds and ends. Heather calls it my little alter to "stuff"!
Sometimes I long for pastel colors. I would have to change EVERYTHING so that's just not an option. Anyway it's a cozy nice room to hang out in and read!
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About the cord covers. No I don't make them. They are available at The Market here in the city. I would say that you probably want to measure about double the length of your cord to make them scrunch up nice and full. I know that they are available in several lengths and they are NOT inexpensive. I would like to cover all of my cords, it certainly looks nicer. But I'll have to keep buying a couple at a time as I can afford them.
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Oh GREAT! Hubby just walked in the room and the first thing he said was "your pictures suck." Everyone's a critic!
Guess I'll go work on my photography skills (NOT) hope everyone had a great day!
Denise
Well.....when I asked Heather this morning if she had seen my post she said "yeah, and your photography SUCKS." A little brutally honest if you ask me but I can always count on that girl for the complete truth. Anywho....that sure burst my little happy bubble!
Felt so bad that I just got through taking some more pics. Hope these help a little. The glare on that glass was just impossible to get rid of!
Here's a little better view of my new storage area.
Are these any better?
I finally gave up and just took everything out of the jar so that you could see it better.
Hope these help some!
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Just a little tease concerning next weeks Cheap Chic post!
It will be about looking past the "ugly" and seeing the potential in.........uh.........something. I don't want to give away too much. But you are all going to LOVE this one!
Speaking of ugly.......here is a BIG before of the two additional chairs for my dining room.
Come on now......look past all of that ugly and see the potential in the shape of that cute back and those French legs!
No.....this is not next weeks project. We have something that we think is much more fabulous!
Stay tuned!
Denise
Storage storage.....I'm always looking for new ways to store all of my supplies. This weekend I put another shelving unit in the guest room and it actually worked out better than I thought that it would.
Wire baskets and jars. My favorites are the clear jars with lids that you can purchase at Wal-Mart. They are available in two sizes.
Store all of those little vintage goodies in a jar and then display on a shelf. You have......once again.....created an inexpensive work of art!
Sewing supplies in another.
The larger jars are also cute to create your own special little vignettes.
This weeks Cheap Chic project.....................................
You'll need
Design the outside of your jar and place stick-on's where you want them. Although I probably would have preferred something to spell "HOME" that was a little more frou frou I already had the stamp shaped stickers.
Cut the narrow ribbon into long streamers. Oh, I forgot to mention the little beaded ornament that I clipped on the ribbon. A clip on earring would also be cute.
I went with a spring bird theme which always seems to be a favorite of mine!
I think that this would also be super cute in the bathroom. Use more stick-on rhinestones and maybe spell out "Bath" in French in some glitzy and glamorous letters. Then fill with those little white soaps that I know all of you are starting to collect! There are ton of ideas that you could come up with. How about a baby theme? Fill with cute little gifts and put the babies name on the outside......a perfect gift that will have everyone talking about how clever you are!
This project actually turned out much better than I had originally thought that it might. So much so that it now graces the middle of my harvest table!
Get busy girls! This one should cost a little less than $20.00!
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Denise
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