Distressed Frame - a Beachy Scene

 I have had this gorgeous Seascape painting for years and years. 

I'm not sure how long, but it has spent the last 10 years in storage (at the back of my cupboard). 

The frame was so not me! I think that's why it was packed away...

 

But just look at the painting....Its stunning. 

I decided I had nothing to lose, painted the whole frame, even the fabric bit, white. 

I distressed it a little and what a difference.

I love, love, love it!

What do you all think? Looks great right?  

So glad I made the frame over - now I have a fab "new" painting to admire.

Take care

xxx

Linking Up To:

Uncommon - Uncommonly Yours
Live Laugh Rowe - Live Laugh Linky
Serendipity and Spice - Manic Monday
Funky Junk Interiors - Saturday Night Special
Bowdabra Blog - Saturday Showcase  
Joy 2 Journey - The Sunday Stop 

Stormy Skies

Taken on my phone, outside Maclayne's creche after drop off on Wednesday.

The rain wiped that rainbow out, just seconds later.....

xxx

Two Cabinets Made Over..

Hi Everyone,

I know I've been a little absent lately, no excuse really, just been working on some projects.

And here are 2 of the projects I recently completed - all by myself!!! Impressive? Yes!

I had these old hand me down cabinets for a while and really not my favourite look to be honest. 

The double door one houses the girls toys and the drawers hold all my craft supplies.

One day I had enough of staring at the awfulness. I knew that to repaint the entire cupboard would just be too much right now, but I needed a quick solution.

 The kids were all out for the morning so I whipped the doors off the cabinet and sanded them with the sander - I forgot to take photos of this part, but the below pic shows just how much glossy varnish covers the whole thing.

Once I had all the varnish off the front of the doors - I painted about 4 coats of Dulux White onto them.

 Payton has a thing about the number 5 - as in she loves it and looks for "5" everywhere we go. As the cabinet is where all her toys are - I thought I would pop a 5 onto it for her. And there are 5 of us in our family ! 

I printed the words and letters from my computer and stuck them onto one of the doors and painted over them.

 

Once the paint had dried, I sanded really heavily and distressed the doors.

Then I used furniture polishing cream to buff the doors and I didn't use varnish for this project.

At the end of the day - this is what I had. Looked much better but now the drawers had to be done.

Did you know that Sean didn't even notice when he got home that evening? Hmmm....

 Cue the next day and onto the drawers...

I wanted to go beachy, but it just didn't work out like I wanted. 

I left them overnight to see if I would change my mind, but NO!

So I stripped them back and painted them white to match the cabinet.

 

When I replaced all the handles - I left off the extra metal bit that was originally on them.

 I really like how they turned out. Okay so, I love how they turned out....

  Huge difference right? I think it makes this area look so much bigger and they totally fit in with the rest of my decor now.

Yep and Sean noticed the drawers... I think he was just happy not to have done all that sanding!

Here is side by side, before and after.

Take care

xxx

 

 

Linking Up To:

Uncommon - Uncommonly Yours

Under the Table and Dreaming - Sunday Showcase

Etcetorize - Make it Great Monday  
Its Overflowing - Overflowing with Creativity 
Beyond the Picket Fence - Under $100 Linky Party

Upcycled Ring Pendant

Today I'm going to share a very easy jewelry project that took me about 5 minutes to make.

Sometimes I'm lucky enough to find pieces that work really well together and in this case I had an old ring which had a missing charm and an old necklace with bronze findings and beads that matched perfectly

I attached 2 beads to the charm link on the ring and snipped off a part of the "flower" charm

Then I simply looped brown cord through the flower charm and the ring and attached clasps. 

So cute....

I hope I inspired you to upcycle some old pieces you have lying around.

Take care

xxx

 Linking Up To:

The Shabby Creek Cottage - Transformation Thursday

Uncommon - Uncommonly Yours

Bowdabra Blog - Saturday Showcase 

Live Laugh Rowe - Live Laugh Linky
Serendipity and Spice - Manic Monday
Etcetorize - Motivated Monthly 

A Flock of Seagulls

xxx

Clay Flower Pendant

Hello Everyone,

I have seen some amazing clay jewelry creations in blog land so thought I would try too. Ha...

Let me just say something about myself.... I cannot create anything with salt dough or play dough, so what made me think I could work with clay?

I don't think I did too badly for my first try, but it may take a while before I create with it again...

I made a couple of flower pendants after playing around with the clay for a bit. What I really don't like are my finger prints on the clay but not too sure how to remove them.

Following my labeled pictures, here is what I did.

I used the oven bake modeling clay. I

 cut a strip of clay and worked it until it was soft, rolled it into a long tube shape and divided it up into 5 even pieces.

Roll each piece into a ball and then press flat. 

Make your flower shape by overlapping each piece slightly in a circle. 

I used a straw to cut out the center and a thick pin to make a hole for the jump ring.

Bake according to the instructions.

When the flower had cooled down I used rub-on's to embellish.

I also added a layer of clear nail polish to protect the surface.

Here are 2 that worked, the others didn't make the cut.

Payton,happy with her new piece of jewelry. I did shorten the chain after this photo.

So, what do you all think? Sort of turned out okay, I think. But definitely not my favorite medium to work with...

Hope you're all having a happy Saturday 

xxx

Linking Up To:

Its Overflowing - Overflowing With Creativity

Chalkboard Stickers

Hi Everyone,

 I wanted to tell you about this amazing find....

Chalkboard Stickers !!!

Really!!!

I was admiring a friend's chalk board on the side of her kitchen cabinet, wondering where she got it from (Hi Lizzie *waving*), because I need to get blackboard paint for a few small projects, but its just so expensive. And she informed me that she got the "stickers" from the dollar shop.....

Whaaaat? How come I did not know about this wonderful invention?

Look.....

My entrance storage bench went from this...

to this.....

My kitchen notice board went from this....

to this.....

And the Weekly Planner sticker is up on my kitchen cupboard door

My projects are now complete, and for $12 ($4 each) compared to the $30 for the small tin of paint!

 So cool

xxx

Beach Inspired Bracelet

Hello Everyone

Today I'm going to show you how I made this beachy bracelet. 

Its really easy and of course the sky is your limit with projects like this.

Recently I discovered I actually liked memory wire after years of avoiding it for some reason. So I'm loving creating all kinds of looks with it. And I have been inspired, quite a lot by my environment, last month I created a Winter inspired bracelet and this week the beach has been calling....

The image I had of the beach is one of my favourite photos that I took at Shakespeare Beach. Look at the rich colours, the sand and the greenish hue of the sea. It threatened a storm that day and there was a yellow tinge to everything.

What you need: 

beads of varying sizes, shapes and colours

charms for your theme - I used shells and starfish

jump rings to attach the charms to the bracelet

memory wire cut to your desired length - mine wraps around my wrist 5 times
I bought all my supplies from Spotlight.

Using a pair of long nosed pliers bend one end of the wire to form a loop. 

Then thread your beads and charms on, and end off again with another loop.

 So simple!

However, if you're anything like me, you will re-thread your beads over and over until you're happy with the look...

 Then you throw your family into the car for a trip to the beach and a photo shoot....

 I think this is by far my favourite creation yet. At least when I wear it this winter it will remind me of the beach and put some cheer into our cold dark days.

 

Take care

xxx

 

Linking Up To:

Crafty Texas Girls - Cowboy Up
Sugar Bee Crafts - Take a Look Tuesday
 Not Just a Housewife - Show Me What Ya Got
Uncommon - Uncommonly Yours
Tipjunkie - Home Made Projects
Lil Pink Pocket - Show and Share
The Shabby Creek Cottage - Transformation Thursday
Bowdabra Blog - Saturday Showcase
Its Overflowing - Overflowing With Creativity
Under the Table and Dreaming - Sunday Showcase
Etcetorize - Make it Great Monday