Wooden Train Set Revival

Sorry for the mommy outburst this morning... I've debated pulling that post, but decided that It's my blog and part of my life so I may as well let you all in on the 'behind the scenes' here!

A few hours with a paintbrush can work miracles and I couldn't wait to show you my newest little revived treasure! 

I recently had a chance to get out and do some thrifting at the local GW. I absolutely love to shop. I admit I get a thrill from it, especially when I find some really neat stuff for my home and shop at some wonderful prices! As I meandered the isles of the thrift store... my eyes always gravitate to all things wood and paintable.  {I saw the most adorable old couch with scrolled  claw feet, but unfortunately was not able to purchase it... sob sob}.  I pretty much had all I could afford to grab that day when my eyes spotted a small unfinished wood box, shaped like a briefcase.  At first I thought it was one of those art sets you can find just about anywhere.  I almost just kept on walkin'.

As I started to walk by, I decided to just go ahead and take a little peek... even if it were one of those art sets... the unfinished box alone would make a great surface to paint a lil something onto...

To my surprise, as I opened the latches... it was the cutest little wooden magnetic train set!

The tracks and animals are in an almost new state; the little train has seen some wear... nothing that couldn't be fixed though... I think?  The price was certainly right so I put the little cutie in my cart. 

I thought and thought on that little box for about 2 days and this morning I just grabbed a pencil, sketching out a cute little train right onto both sides of the box.  Grabbing the paint, I set out to create a cute little train case fit for any little conductor!

One side, the text, "My Train" was added with some thinned black paint and a liner brush.  The other side was left with no text, so that it can be personalized.  

 
Here's a close up of the little train... {don't worry, the smiley faced watermark isn't part of the design}

Debating whether I should place him the Shop or hold him back for the craft fairs I will be doing in October.  Kinda wishin' Awesome was a bit smaller to play with it... but somehow I don't think 11 year old boys play with little magnetic train sets, lol. 

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It's All about Owl - cute wreath!

After a weeks worth of rain and a tease of cooler temps, despite the 90 degree heat today, I am have begun to decorate for fall.  Not full blown but in bits and pieces.  I've been painting a bit as I try to build up stock for my shop and playing with other crafting media such as wreaths and mason jar soap pumps; I'll hoping to enter a few craft fairs this year as well.

After being a bit "behind" I'm finally catching up.  Everything that should have been in the mail has been shipped {except one larger piece} and I'm feeling so refreshed and renewed.  Last eve, as I sat on the porch with the kids {Awesome had some dental work done and was a bit clingy- Lex, the ever caring big sister was sooo worried about him} we realized that the leaves here in PA are starting to turn and fall from the trees.  Ooooh, I am starting to get giddy!  I am believe it or not thinking pumpkins, apple spice and trick or treat... and Owls.  Yes Owls... The Owl bug has finally bit me.

We figured you may like to see a few of the projects I have been working on to spruce up around here. Today I'll share the wreath I've whipped up.

You  may remember that cute little guy I showed you a little while back, he is still available in the shop for those of you who would like to get your hands on a cute one of a kind piece for Fall.  He really is cuter than ever... isn't he?  I plopped him slightly off center in this wreath I also made from a grapevine base and poly ribbons in Autumn colors.

Just perfect for the front door... or how about over that mirror?


Oh, and there is just one available over in the shop just waiting for you too!

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Dreaming of "Owl"o'ween!

The calender reminds me that it still August, the weather outside reached 90+, another reminder that summer still has it's hold on us.  The children still have another 3 weeks of fun in the sun before returning to another school year, yet, I find myself thinking of Autumn.

I love summer and I really am not looking forward to it's end... sunshine and poolside... that's what summer is to me.  I suppose deep down I'm yearning for the smell of a hot apple pie, the cinnamon... a crispness in the air.  While browsing the Internet last night, I came across some adorable little fabric owls which inspired me to pull out my paints and wood and create!

This wise fella seems to be saying Happy "Owl"o' ween!

The colors of fall are so warm and inviting... perhaps that's what I'm yearning for.
The whole owl was hand painted freehand, small cups in varying widths helped create the circles for the eyes.  Some simple shading and stippling using only a handful of bright colors create this wise old owl just fit for some Halloween fun!

Feels like I've gotten away from the whole reason I began this blog at times... to create and share.

The support you've all shown as I've opened up about my life as a mom of a kid with special needs has more than blown me away... and opened a few windows.  BUT, I feel like I lose a part of me if I don't paint and create...  I've pulled out the paints and actually accomplished 4 new paint/art projects that were NOT orders for the shop {I'm grateful for shop orders- it just feels great to design something new too!}.  I've never been one to welcome change... but I'm looking forward to the coming seasons and the surprises they may have in store... all good I hope!

So that leaves me wondering... where are we going next?

I'd like to know if any of you would be interested in some more DIY instruction,  more paint tutorials- perhaps a Vlog post or two?

Everyday is an adventure full of ups and downs here...I'm not quite ready to give up the smells of coconut, the relaxation of floating in the pool, and the fresh tomatos just yet, but no matter where we are headed-  I'd love to have you along for the ride!

Linking with these Fantastic blogs Here!

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On Tuesday I was lucky enough to guest post on the blog Brilliant Like Fireflies,  I figured I share here on T&B for those of you who may have missed it!

***

I am so excited to be swapping today sharing a DIY painted canvas that would make a fantastic gift for Father's Day, Graduation, or anyone wanting to show some school spirit with all of you Brilliant Like Fireflies readers!

Alma Matter Logo Canvas!

I started off by importing an image from the web into my new Cameo.  I completed this vinyl on the third use of my Cameo {seriously- you can do this too} it took me a few tries but Oh the satisfaction!
This was for a Penn State U die hard using the Nittany lion and the family's last name.  I placed the vinyl on my canvas in the spots that I wanted to remain white!

If you do not have a Cameo, you can easily do this by printing a photo of your logo and transferring it to your canvas by hand, then painting it.

{white vinyl on white canvas}

PSU colors are a deep Navy blue, so I began painting the canvas with Navy acrylic paint.  I wanted a more interesting background than a flat color so I randomly slapped on a small amount of black and blended, blended, blended until the colors flowed into each other.

Set aside to dry, and if your like me this is the hardest part!  I am SO very impatient!  I managed to allow it to almost dry before grabbing my crafting set of tweezers...

carefully, pull up the vinyl lettering to expose the white areas where the lettering blocked the paint!

Don't worry, the paint will seep under a bit as the vinyl does not make a great seal onto the fabric of the canvas.  This is were you get your itty bitty thin little liner brush out and touch up the lines.  I filled in the white areas of the canvas with a bright white paint being careful to crisp up those edges as best as I could.  Remember, perfection is not necessary- this is a hand painted treasure, the imperfections make it beautiful!

For more projects like this and sooooo much more, please stop by my castle at Tiaras and Bowties!

Faux Farmhouse Planked {drop leaf} Dining Table

I've been wanting a rustic 'old' plank topped farmhouse table for the longest time.  A new table is not in the budget any time soon and even purchasing materials to attempt to build one is not an option right now. 

So what does any DIYer on a mission do?  Use what ya got to get what you want, that's what!

I'm so excited to share my new Faux Farmhouse Planked {drop leaf} Dining Table with you! 

Say that 5 times fast why don't ya?  Quite the title!

The table was {you guessed it} another trashy find!

The hubster was so pleased with himself the day he brought this home

{oh, only about 2 years ago}

and it's sat in my dining room covered with a drop table cloth ever since.

This is my 'paint' table, where I work on many of my paint projects.  What a sad little table it was with all of it's nicks, scratches and unsightly watermarks.  I have hated this table from day 1!

Until now!  I wanted a rustic chippy plank top table... but I wanted it to be light and airy.

This wood below was my inspiration.

I'll show you how I did it!  Now, do as I say - not as I do!

Seriously!

Now, I can hear you already... I can't paint, I can't do that, yada yada yada!

Lift your arm and swing it slowly from left to right or right to left,

think 'wax on, wax off' Karate Kid {the original} and Danial-San / Mr. Miagi

OK, now I'm really showing my age!

If you can do that, you can attempt this paint treatment!

After a light sanding and good prep coat of Kilz primer spray, the entire table top was given 2 coats of creamy white paint, I used Steamed Milk from Sherwin Williams.

Every other layer of color on this table is paint used as a glaze!

{shades of brown, grey, turquoise, & tan thinned with water, 1:1}

With a straight edge and a black sharpie, I marked off unevenly spaced lines across the table top to mimic the planks of wood.  Next, I drew on faux knots and dots - both large and small.

 Here's the do as I say part - Do NOT use a black sharpie!  It was a real b*#%! to cover up!

Either skip this step

 or just use a thin brush and some full strength brown paint to paint these accents on.

 The whole table top finish was adding layer upon layer of thinned paint and spreading it out as far as possible.  Leaving streak marks as you go to mimic the wood grain.  Above, the tan was dabbed on in random spots over the steamed milk color.  Below, it was feathered out across the table top allowing some of the creamy white to show through.

Continue layering the thinned paint across the table top.

Below, you can see the layers of white, grey, brown, and turquoise building up.

At this point I also added splotches of petroleum jelly and crackle medium randomly around the table. 

 I am not very patient when painting, so I do not wait for the mediums to dry... my perogative.

I recommend you follow the directions on the bottle though,

do as I say... remember!

{giggle}

You can see the cracks beginning to develop here.

luv!

after many, many, many, many more coats and layers later,

the black from the marker was still showing through looking oh so fake!

Don't use the marker!

I ended up grabbing my burnt umber and a liner brush to go over the blackness of the sharpie.

It was almost like starting over!

With a very thick {almost full strength} coat of Sherwin Williams Steamed Milk I went over the knot marks, added a few more thin layers of brown, tan, grey and shots of turquoise and was finally happy!

To finish off the table, I grabbed that burnt umber again and went over the 'faux plank outlines' where the planks of the wood would meet, both lengthwise and randomly width wise.  At each faux 'joint'  I used the end of a paintbrush dipped into both brown and silver paint to add 'nails'.  This dip dot method for making the dots is super duper easy!  The legs of the table are painted in the same muted turquoise used in the table top.  I may go back in and add a darker brown glaze to accentuate the  legs further.

 A few coats of clear wax were applied for a protective soft sheen.

I couldn't be happier with my new plank topped farmhouse drop down table!  Getting some work done at this table is a pleasure now... I think I may keep it for a while!

What do you think?  If you're new here at T&B and like what you've seen, be sure to head over and follow via GFC, linky follow, FB and Google+.  You can even find me on Twitter as SminkeyDinks!

I will be linking up with these terrific blogs {here} as well as French Country Cottage

Easter Bunny Bushel Baskets - Handpainted!

The other day while visiting my local Pier One store, I was lucky enough to purchase a bunch of bushel baskets the store used for display, large and small sizes, for super duper cheap! 

14 to be exact.

I'm sure the friend I was shopping with thought I was just as crazy as a daisy as I was more interested in these plain old bushel baskets rather than the other colorful items in the store.

But OH, I just knew they had potential!

Hand painted and Personalized

Easter Bunny Bushel Baskets

The raw baskets were given a good coat of baby pink paint by Plaid.

An adorable classic bunny face peeping out of the grass was painted on one side.

A fluffy bunny tail adorns the opposite side.

Colorful Easter eggs lay in the handpainted cartoonish grass as colorful polka dots dance like bubbles.

Our last name was hand painted in black with white polka dots.

It's such a thrill to transform something plain into a colorful little masterpiece.

These baskets may not make it into the shop today, seems Etsy is having some hiccups.

If you are interested and would like more information on obtaining a handpainted personalized basket just in time for the Easter Bunny, leave a comment or email me. 

They are available in 2 sizes and almost any color. 

Linking up at these Fantastic Blogs {here}

Fruit Stand Rescue

When I pulled into the drive thru of my local Swiss Farms store, I saw him standing there by the dumpster.  My heart began to flutter at his sturdy rawness...Oh, the pure potential I saw in him.  I had to have him!

With nervous anticipation, I asked the workers if the were throwing him away.  I'm almost positive that my face was fire engine red as they explained that he was indeed headed for the trash; flushed because of the embarrassment I probably should have felt at the glaring 'crazy lady' looks I received.  I didn't care... he had to be mine. So begins the tale of the banana hammock rescue.

Yes, ladies... he is a banana hammock!  I know, I know.  I too can hardly contain the giggles that bubble up when I refer to him as 'The Banana Hammock"!  So for the sake of pretending we are all adults and not giddy school girls, I will from here on out refer to him as the "fruit stand".

When I first laid eyes on him, I envisioned an antiqued and distressed white coat of paint with a  beautiful graphic or some fancy scroll work on the front of each bucket shelf.  After getting him home and removing the top broken bucket shelf, I questioned whether he would look better in all his raw woodiness with a darker chocolaty stain.  I've been working on not second guessing my every decision (which leaves me frustrated and frozen and without alot of finished projects) so I went with my first vision.  After 2 coats of Sherwin William's White Dove paint I headed over to the Graphics Fairy for a lookie loo at her free graphics.  Been a fan of her site like 4-eva.  This is my first shot at using her graphics cause I'm kinda like a toddler who gets too many choices as to what to have for lunch;  I have a hard time making my decision and usually fall asleep with my face in the peas...

I did settle on 3 images.  It only took me 3 days to decide, but I did.  One for each bucket shelf.

This French typography was transferred with some transfer paper and a pencil to the middle bucket and hand painted in black paint.

The other 2 shelves were hand painted with 2 beautiful scroll options found at the Graphics Fairy also.

With a black Sharpie, I went in and drew in the more fancy line work on the Fabrique De Serrrurerie type.

My boy was antiqued with a glaze I whipped up with a dark chocolate acrylic and some water.  The glaze was applied sparingly with a brush and worked into the crevices and corners.

All in all, I am extremely pleased with how well he cleaned up.  Many thanks go to the graphics fairy for allowing us to use her beautiful images.  Now the hard part is figuring out exactly what I am going to use him for!  The ideas are overwhelming, bookshelf, towel holder, craft storage, plant holder.... too many choices to decide!  Guess you'll just have to come back over to see how I finally put this big guy to work!

I will be linking to these lovely parties listed here :

(list is fully updated at this time)

My Repurposed Life

One fun chair!

An old friend contacted me over the Holiday to whip up a fun painted gift for her 10 year old nephew.  I have a 10 year old boy and I know that sometimes, handpainted ideas are not easy to come by for a child of that age.  After all, they have outgrown (most of the time) the love of a cute painted firetruck or dinosaur.  My friend had recently purchased a video game chair/rocker for him... but it had no pizzazz!

Yes, boys like pizzazz too (perhaps they just don't know it)!

So... combining his love of the games both video and local baseball, we came up with the idea of...

The Phanatic Video Rocker

As most of my projects do, I searched an image I felt may work (usually on the cell) and began a light (light) sketch of the image with pencil.  I was so afraid of ripping the chair with the tip of the pencil, but I couldn't find any chalk and I wasn't working from a printed image to just transfer on... if you look hard, you can see the pencil marks for the eye balls below.

Lots and lots of thin thin coats of paint were applied until each was solid  and brightly filled with flat color.  Let me tell ya, the odd shape of the chair made for a few very fun (sense the sarcasm?) hours.

Then the fun began!  Have I ever told you how much I hate the process of blocking in the color? Don't like it... no way no how... I have even thought of having my hubster do the base color blocking for me I hate it so much!  It bores me because I'm the all 'instant satifaction now' type... watching paint dry is kinda like, well, watching paint dry!  But I luv luv luv the detail part.  Can't have one without the other though... 

With a double loaded brush with Kelly and Apple Green I added the 'fur' to the Philly Phanatic.  Shaded and highlighted the red hat, eye balls and blue fuzz above them.  Shoes were added and the jersey was striped with red.

After everything was done and all dry (yea!) the curly red tongue was added.  He cracks me up!

Pardon the paints and Christmas placemats (oh and the ugg-lee drapes)  in the photo but I couldn't wait to get some pics of this guy... so I didn't put much thought into the staging process... (smile)  What's new here, right?

Best part is my son and his friends really seemed to like it so crossing my fingers for a hit with my friend's 10 yr old nephew!

And guess what?  Sports are not just for boys!!!  Here is another customer order for the phanatic, slightly different paint technique, on a wooden rocker... for a girl!  Notice the pink hat (wink wink)  Just wish I would have taken more photos of this cutie with her pink/red.black polka dot arm rests and personalized back.  That's why I was in such a rush to take pics (I get rushed and forget)! 

I am in the process of designing an all new Pary Link page here... I'll be linking to the blogs below and also to those on this page!  Happy Linkin!

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