Crafting with a Cause

 

I'm taking a break today from Stashbusting September to share with you a crafter with a cause.

As the mother of a daugher with special needs I am fully aware of the joy that child can bring.

I am also fully aware of the emotional, physical and financial strain that can result as well.

I'm honored to have Emily from Insanity Rules here today to announce the opening of and story behind

Shaye Lee's Place on Etsy!

Please take a moment to get to know Emily then head on over to her family's new shop!

Hello there Tiara and Bow Tie readers. I'm Emily from Insanity Rules and I'm stopping by today to tell you about the new etsy shop set up by my mom, sister, and I.  Sometimes in life we are given the opportunity to join
together and help others in their lives. In July of this year a ray of sunshine
joined our family. My niece Shaye Lee was born. Shaye Lee was born with a
condition known as ABS, Amniotic Band Syndrome.  It has caused abnormalities in her little hands.   With the cost of many surgeries
and the hospital which is over two hours away, the expenses for my brother and
his little family will be great. So many family members and friends wanted to
know how they could help, and thus Shaye Lee’s Place came to be. A way to
help.  100 percent of the profits
from the shop will be put into Shaye’s medical account. The Items in our shop
have been handmade by me, my mom, sister and special friends.

We offer a variety of items such as 

Fabulous jewelry

Also some great baby gifts like rag blankets and these fun tutus.

As well as some great home decor for any wall in your house.

At Shaye Lee's Place we are bringing
some Quality handmade goodness to you and in return you are blessing our “Little
Sunshine” and her family.  Thanks Kim for letting me share my shop with you and your readers. Please stop by and check us out. We also do custom tutus and word frames. Just let us know if your looking for something specific we love to help people out. Have a wonderful day y'all!

Emily,
Thank you for allowing me to share your story and the incredible work you are doing for your neice!

Crackling with Elmer

As I've been clearing the craft crap from the dining room, I've been trying to spruce it up a bit as I go along. I'm am admittedly one of those people who still doesn't quite know what my style is.  I'm loving a look of French Country, a touch of Tuscany, with a wee bit of Shabby Unique Chic mixed in.   So I have a few pieces of furniture in that room that have needed some sprucing up and I've decided to just go for it!  Starting with an old bookshelf we've held onto... I wanted it to look old, chippy... and white.

For about as long as I've been painting, whenever I've wanted an old rustic type of finish on furniture or wood I've relied on store bought crackle mediums to achieve my result.  Guess what?!?  I don't have any!  But, with the upcoming Stashbusting September challenge I've chosen to participate in and the sheer MaSS of craft crap I've been going through... heading out to the craft store is just not an option.  My ever shrinking budget will thank me for getting in the busting spirit a bit early too!  I remember reading via a blog (Lord knows which one now so as to give proper credit) that you can use good old fashioned school glue to achieve the same results.  Being the skeptic I am I was a bit worried but part of this whole challenge is to use what you've got...

Yes, this is the same bookself... all a part of the "don't know what I want" process!  When we originally aquired it was a solid old creamy white which we painted black ( so into the black distressed movement then) and it served a purpose as an entertainment unit.  Since hubby brought in another tv unit the shelf moved to the dining room.  Since then it's been a bright teal (hated it) then a chocolate brown (hated it) and will now become what's in my head - a beautiful old cracked and chippy white.

Ok, so I gathered all of my supplies: white paint from the $1 bin @ HD, small 'weenie roller' as the hubs calls them, an OLD paint brush, left over Elmer's glue from last years school stash, and an old chinese take out container (to hold the paint).

Next, I squirted the Elmer's glue in patches along the top and side edges of the piece in big puddles.  As you can see in the photo above, I just used the old brush to smooth it out, fading into the center top where I felt the crackles would most likely occur on an old piece of furniture. 

The directions then suggested to wait 4-5 hours for the glue to dry. But Oh, No... Not I... I immediately started to apply the white to the wet glue.  I used  a heavy thick coat over the patches of glue because you cannot go back over those spots or the crackle will not work.

You can see here how the paint starts to "shrink" as it dries over the glue creating the cracks.  Be very careful not to touch it until it is completely dry or the paint will lift off and shift around.  I am pretty satisfied with the look I've achieved using this common household item. 

Now I'm off to sand and chip up the edges a bit; perhaps add some wax to protect it.  By the way, YeS, the interior shelving is still the bright teal blue... I'm doing a little something special in there but that's a suprise for next time!