"I can do 5 things with that!"

Ok, so not really 5 things..... Without naming names, I have this friend who I amuse because I'm always looking at different ways to use things. We have a great time laughing about my repurposing ways and Julie will show me something and say, "quick! name 5 things you can do with this!" Oh, I guess I gave her name away, but I don't think she'll mind, she's a pretty good sport. When I'm searching for goodies at thrift shops I'm in the zone. I'll pick something up and just stare at it trying to come up with a way to make it something better... new and improved if you will.

I spotted this glass vase and metal stand and I'm looking at the vase thinking that I really like the shape but some yahoo painted it silver and didn't even do a very good job, it was pretty splotchy. I was trying to think of a way to remove the paint to return its to its original glory, but everything I thought of sounded like too much work. I love doing projects, but they have to be quick. I doubt you'll ever see me refinish a large piece of furniture on this blog... I'd never finish it and there are too many steps. Soooooo.... I went ahead and bought this stuff and when I got home I remembered that I finally found a can of Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. This paint is talked about all over blogland so of course I wanted some. So I properly spray painted the vase and the metal stand and when they were dry, I glued them together using my E6000 adhesive. And wallah.... this is what I have.



I love it and think it will be great for Halloween decorations. There isn't any paint in the inside so burning a candle won't be a problem. So what do you think?? Oh, I forgot to tell you... this stuff was on the 5/$1 table, so not counting my paint---- $0.40 Can't beat that with a stick!

Jewelry Storage

You know those warning tags on some items that tell you the obvious? You know.. like a barbeque will have this on the box, "Not intended for indoor use" Really? You know what that means, right? It means some fool at some point in time used it indoors. Anyways, I like to ignore the obvious use of some items and repurpose them for something else. Thus the name of my blog... Repurposing on Purpose! So obvious, right? Anyways! When we bought our bedroom furniture a year ago I knew I wasn't happy with the knobs. The set is dark wood and the knobs were dark as well. I replaced them but of course didn't throw away the old knobs because that would be just plain ol' wasteful! So here we are a year later and after seeing so many different ways to organize and hang your jewelry in blogland, I came up with this:




This was a very simple project. I had a couple of frames that I painted with oil rubbed bronze paint. I had my hubby cut me a couple of pieces of whatever this is called. Its like a particle board and it came in a big picture that I had. He cut it to size for me. My frames were 5 x 7.

Here is a closeup of my knobs.


So I drilled some holes in the particle board. Unfortunately they were a little off centered. I need to get better with my measuring. After the holes were drilled I covered the board with scrapbook paper. I attached it with spray adhesive. I think I've told you about this adhesive before. I bought it at Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) and it is AWESOME!!! After getting the paper attached, you just put it back into the frame without the glass. (obviously, haha) Then just attach the knobs through the predrilled holes. I love how these came out. I gave one away as a gift and the other is just waiting for its ultimate destination. Hmmmm... i'm not sure what I'll do with it just yet!

As usual, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to ask! Have a great weekend.

Flower Purse

I just love the purses that have flowers all over them. I've been seeing them everywhere so I wanted to try to duplicate it! This is my first attempt and I already have another way to make it better next time. This is what I started with and got these items at.... where else? The Dollar Tree!!


So I'm sure you can do the math, 3 items=$3!! This is a true story, I was there the other day and this lady really did ask the clerk, "how much is this?" I really admire the clerk because she was able to answer "$1" with NO sarcasm in her voice whatsover! I bet they have special training just for that situation. LOL. Ok, back to the purse.

So I took apart the flowers so that I would have just the soft petals. I didn't want the hard plastic parts in there. Each bloom had about 6 separate petals. I took 3 of them and staggered the petals so it would look fuller. I hot glued this onto the purse. I wish I had taken pictures of the process, but it was too hard as I was constantly burning myself. There were still some empty spaces so I used brads to attach 3 of the fullest petals. I was trying to make sure it was really full and all the surface was covered. To make a smooth edge I glued a ribbon along the bottom and then glued a few rhinestones to it. This is the finished product.



Here is a close up of the flower that I used the brad on.



So all in all, I was pretty happy with it. The thing I will do different next time is to attach ALL the flowers with brads. This eliminates the burnt fingers, the stray glue strings and I wouldn't have to worry about the ribbon on the bottom.

Let me know what you think... love it? hate it? not sure??? Its okay, be honest. I'm a big girl and I can take it. Have a great week everyone.

PS I'm going back to L.A. later this week to see Mickey Mouse and go shopping, but I have another project I really hope to share before I go, so stay tuned!!!

I love my Cricut!

For those of you who don't know what a Cricut is; its the most fantastical die cut machine ever. It can cut words in different fonts, shapes, characters, etc. It is the best invention EVER!!! I love it! So when I was asked to make something to donate to a silent auction I made these using my Cricut! I used the 10 1/2 by 10 1/2 pictures I bought at Dollar Mania and Mod Podged scrapbook paper to them. I cut the paper just slightly bigger than the board and then sanded the edges off. Then I used the Cricut to make the words.

This one was made using the "Love Struck" cartridge and then I used some paper flowers, rhinestones, ribbon and a little metal charm I had in my stash. I attached everything with my glue gun. I LOVE it, haha, get it??


This one was made using the "Stone Script" cartridge. Again I just added some bling to dress it up.


This last one was made with the "Ashlyn's Alphabet" cartridge. I used some eyelets, ribbon and some googly eyes covered with gauze. It looks really cute in person with the eyes peeking through. I saw an idea somewhere on one of the blogs I follow using the googly eyes on votive candles and wrapping with gauze. I bet that looks really cute when the candle is lit up. I'll do that come Halloween.


Here is a closeup of the googly eyes:


I included an easel in the package I donated. I think this is a cute idea for someone who wants to decorate for the different holidays but doesn't have a lot of room or a lot of decorations yet. Until next time!

Personalized Baby Gift

I love the idea of giving a gift that shows that you took your time with choosing it or that you actually made something yourself. When I got married 20 something years ago I received a set of dish towels that were hand embroidered with the days of the week. Even though they weren't the "style" I was going for back in the 80's I loved them! I loved the idea that the person took the time to make something just for me. Now that I've been working on some homemade gifts myself, I realize that the fun & joy is in the giving as well as the receiving.

So with that introduction I announce that the newest member of our family has been born! Alexah Brooke came into this world on tuesday morning and is doing very well. I knew I wanted to make something for Alexah's nursery, but her mama hadn't picked a name until she was born. So I started working on this project a few weeks ago and just finished it with the personalization.

Here is what I started with:

I found this picture for $3 when I went to a farmers market/swap meet at the coast. I was looking for some frames for another project and this one turned out to work great for this baby gift. I took it apart and painted the frame and the matte black. I took this picture before I painted the frame, but wanted you to see what I'm talking about when I said I painted the matte part. There is no need to waste your paint where it isn't needed so just leave the other part unpainted.


The next thing I did was find some scrapbook paper that matched the baby's nursery. I found my paper at Michael's and ended up using 4 pieces. The hard part was matching up the pattern, but I'm particular and wanted it to look seamless. After I got the scrapbook paper on, I noticed the edges closest to the inner frame didn't look clean, so I glued some pink ribbon all around it. For the inner framed part, I wrapped a light pink piece of paper cut to fit the opening with pink cotton fabric. I attached it with spray adhesive, which by the way, I'm falling in love with. This stuff works fantastic and makes projects go so quickly. So now all we need is the name so I just waited and waited and waited for the baby to arrive and get named.

After Alexah arrived, I cut her name out with my Cricut machine. I used black vinyl and the setting "FLIP" on the cricut because I knew that I wanted it to stick on the glass, not on the pink background. I thought that it would give it more dimension and I was right. The pictures really don't show how cute it is in person. I LOVE how it turned out. I can't wait to see it hanging in Baby Alexah's room. I also made her one of the plaques that I blogged about recently.
I added a few extras on this plaque because it was for a girl and lets face it... girls like bling! How about that button??? I already had that and it matched the paper perfectly!


Here you can see the vinyl on the glass and kind of see the dimension it gives. I think I'm going to be making something with just glass and a frame very soon!!


Here is the finished product. I hope my niece is too busy taking care of Alexah in the next few days to look at my blog so that she'll be surprised when I give her this.

Canvas Art

This is by no means a new idea. I've seen it around blogland many times..... so many times that I can't remember where I originally saw it. So I apologize for not giving credit where credit is due.

The good thing about ideas that you find on blogs like mine and on the internet is that they are just that: IDEAS! So when you see something you like, you can copy it exactly or make your own version. I love that about crafting. I basically did this first go around just like I've seen from other bloggers. I'll give you the basic rundown and then at the end I'll let you know some new ways I've tweaked the process.

Supplies needed:
canvas (any size you want) for this project I used 12 x 12
scrapbook paper
Mod Podge
Craft Paint
foam paint brushes

You'll want to choose your craft paint to coordinate with the paper you choose. If you are doing a similar project, I recommend a scrapbook store instead of a chain craft store. The scrapbook stores will have more product to choose from and if you like a certain theme, they are more likely to have several instead just a few in the category.

This canvas art was for my sister in law Rachel. She has this beautiful painting that used to hang above her bed, but she felt that it was too big and wanted something different. (Remember Rachel; I got dibs on that old piece when you tire of it) So she picked out 4 different papers that she liked and we got 2 of each. We painted the edges of the canvases dark brown/espresso bringing it up on the top of the canvas just slightly and let it dry. The papers had to be trimmed a tiny bit so that you could see a little of the dark brown paint. It gives it a matted effect that I really like. Once dry, paint Mod Podge onto the canvas evenly and completely. Lay the scrapbook paper down making sure its centered. You'll have a little bit of time to move it around to get it right. Once its in place, smooth with your hand or a credit card to get out any air bubbles. Don't worry if you see little bubbles, when it dries it should be smooth. Once it is dried completely, paint another thin, even coat of Mod Podge on top of it to give it a smooth finish. I use Matte finish, but there are so many other choices; glossy, glitter, etc. This was a really easy process and I think you get a lot of bang for your buck.



Since this project I've found some other options instead of using the canvases. I was at Dollar Mania and they had some 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 frameless pictures. They were basically a cheap piece of paper on some particle board. But they will work great for doing something like this... and just like the name implies, they are only $1 each as opposed to $4.50 on sale for the canvas. So when you are out shopping, don't limit yourself to color or what something is meant to be or do. Like the saying goes, "There's more than 1 way to skin a cat" (sorry pet lovers and for the record I would never skin a cat) Just another way of repurposing something on purpose! LOL-sorry I couldn't help myself. Until next time!

Princess Shelf

I keep forgetting to take true "before" pictures of the items I make over. Probably because I get so excited over the potential I see in some of these items... I just can't wait. And as you already know---- I LOVE TO SPRAYPAINT!! So when I found this little scrolly shelf in the 5 for $1 section at Neighborhood Thrift I thought of my niece Monica who is ready to have her little girl any day now. It caught my eye right away because of the scrolly design, but then I realized it was a crown. It started out plain light wicker color, so I gave it a coat of Sweet Pea paint. It took about 4 coats because it was dry and it kept absorbing the paint. This would have been a good time to use my primer, but I forgot and kept thinking, "oh, this coat will do it". This is how it looked after I finished painting it.



As usual, I thought it looked a little plain and needed a little somethin' somethin'--- rhinestones of course! It is for a little princess after all.
Here is the finished product:


I can just see that on a dresser with the baby's powder and lotions..... so cute. So as we wait for the yet to be named newest blessing to our family.. I'll keep on repurposing items so that when ____________ arrives, she'll have the cutest room ever. I have 2 other creations in the works for the nursery, but won't be able to complete one of them until the baby is named. So stay tuned! Until next time!

Birthday Shopping

Hi everyone! Tomorrow is my birthday and even though I'm getting older, I still get excited about it. I don't know why; but I just like birthdays. Not just mine, I lovvvveeee my kids birthdays. It always makes me reminisce about my pregnancies and then the actual birth of each of them. Not that I particularly enjoyed either part, but I did enjoy getting a brand new baby boy to smell and hold in my arms.

Normally, we don't do much for the adult birthdays in my house. Probably because mine falls during baseball season and that is usually where I spend my special day... at the ballpark. I always say to myself, "Its a good thing I like baseball"

Anyhow!

This year is different. I'm going to go shopping in L.A. with my niece Jacklyn and friend Julie. I can't wait. They are going to take me to the L.A. Fashion District and I'm sooooooooooo excited! I really don't even know what to expect, but thats ok. I'm excited anyway. So I hope to come back with some great items that I can repurpose into something beautiful for you to copy. It will be a few days before I post again. I'm also going to Disneyland on tuesday. I can hardly wait! Happy Birthday to me:)

Making it personal!

So I have this song that just gets stuck in my head sometimes... its called "The Words I Would Say" by Sidewalk Prophets and I LOVE it! I could listen to it over and over again. Its basically advice/encouragement from one person to another for when they are going through something difficult. As I listened to it the first time, I thought to myself "thats good advice for anytime". It goes like this:
*Be strong in the Lord
*Never give up hope
*You’re gonna do great things
*I already know!
*God’s got His hand on you
*So don’t live life in fear
*Forgive and forget
*But don’t’ forget why you’re here
*Take your time to pray
*Thank God for each day

I wanted to make something for my kids room that had those lyrics so I made these:





and this




I typed up the words for the plaque first. I used different fonts for each line and centered it. You can play with the different styles to make it to your liking. I want to do some more for my niece's rooms so I'll change the fonts to make them look more girly. After you get the fonts you like, print it out in whatever color ink you want. I made one for each of my boys rooms so one was in black and one in brown. I inked the edges of the brown one because I thought it needed more contrast to the paper I was putting it on. I cut some scrapbook paper to cover the metal art hanging thing-a-ma-jiggy that I bought from the Dollar store. This was another one of those things that I saw and even though it was somewhat ugly, I felt like it had potential because it was a good size (8 x 10) and it already had a hangar on the back of it. I used spray adhesive to attach the scrapbook paper and the quote. I wanted to make it a little less plain, so I added ribbon to match each one. I've put them in the boys rooms and the older one hasn't mentioned it yet. But the younger one said, "that's the song I always hear you singing" So I'll take that as he really likes it!

For the candle, I just changed the font color to a really light gray so that it would look subdued. I changed the margins to 0" so that the writing went all the way to the edges and removed all of the spacing and centering so that it was just continuous. I had to repeat the lyrics so that it would fill an entire page. I also changed the orientation of the paper to landscape. After I printed it out, I cut it to wrap around the plain $1 candle. I used some ribbon and a wood fleur de lis that I painted black. I just attached those with my trusty little hot glue gun and it was finished. Very easy and very cute!

"M" is for......

I found this hideously painted "M" at Bargain Boutique for a whopping $.50 and just had to have it. I wasn't sure what I would do with an M, but I liked the font of it. My maiden name starts with an M, so maybe that was why I was drawn to it. And then it hit me.... I'll make it for my brother! His last name still starts with an M!!!! Plus I knew my sister in law would love getting a treat, who doesn't? Right??? So this is what it looked like before I started repurposing it.


I didn't take pictures of the process I went through to get it how I wanted it, but it basically went like this: I spray painted it black and when it dried I realized you could see the raised polka dots. I sanded those down and while doing that I kind of liked the gold that was showing through. I thought it would look good with the gold and some red too, so I spray painted it Colonial Red mainly covering the edges. When that dried, I spray painted a coat of black again. After it completely dried, I sanded it to distress it. I loved how it looked, but thought it was a little plain. So I decided I would attach it to a canvas. When I went to the Dollar Tree in the Tower District the other day they had these canvases that weren't all that great to look at. But for $1 each, they are much cheaper than you can get from Joann's or Michaels (even on sale)! So I stocked up on them. Here is a picture of the supplies I used.


I painted the edging of the canvas with my Espresso craft paint. Cut my scrapbook paper to cover the canvas and inked the edges to give it more of a vintage/distressed look. Inking is super easy. You just run your ink pad along the edge of the paper until you get the look you want, there is seriously no way to do this wrong. I attached the paper to the canvas with plain craft glue. No Mod Podge this time since I was leaving the front of the scrapbook paper plain. I didn't want to even bother getting it out so instead I poured some glue on the canvas and spread it all out with my finger until it was evenly and completely covered... attached the paper and smoothed that out and that was it. After that dried, I tied a brown ribbon around the "M" and attached it to the canvas with hot glue. I thought it turned out pretty cute. Here are some pictures of it at my house and then at its final destination.






What do you think??? Not bad for $1.50 huh?