Tile Tray

Just before I left for vacation I tried my hand at tiling for the first time. I remember years ago noticing that some Girl Scout troops got to do little tile projects, and I hoped my troop would do it too, but we never did.

This was an easy beginner's project. I've had the tray for some years; I painted it white soon after I bought it. At Home Depot, I found a sheet of glass tile, 12"x12". It was slightly too big to fit in the bottom of the tray, but I eyeballed the fit, and it looked like if I cut off one row of tiles in each direction, the rest of the sheet would fit perfectly. 

I bought the sheet of tiles and some grout, then I went home and googled what adhesive to use. In the end, I just used good ol' Elmer's. It made a good bond, and the sheet of tiles did fit perfectly after trimming. Spreading the grout was a no-brainer.

I've thought up many uses for this tray all over my house. You will probably see it in many future photos!

Girly Pumpkins for Fall

Two friends joined me this past week to make fancy pumpkins to decorate the entrance table at church.

Since repainting the church interior a soft gray, our old seasonal decorations just don't look very nice, especially the bronzes and oranges we used to use for fall. We needed something that would stand out against the walls, and at the same time bring in the gray.

Off to Hob Lob we went. We chose several coordinating print fabrics, and then we tore those into fairly wide strips. By brushing Mod Podge directly on the pumpkins, and then burnishing down the fabric strips, we covered the surfaces quickly. A final slap of  Mod Podge all around, a little touch of acrylic paint on the bare stems, and there we are.

A little rosette trim on a couple of the pumpkins made from leftover scraps.

Nestled in light green burlap on the narthex table at church, with a leaf wreath made of book pages hanging on the mirror.

Newly Painted Bathroom Cabinet

We have had these U.G.L.Y two-tone oak and white laminate cabinets all over our home for 20 years now, and they have greatly overstayed their welcome. I would love to replace them, but the budget says no. So I decided to try priming and painting the single cabinet in the hall bathroom. (I have to post a "before" photo of the master bath cabinets because I was so enthusiastic to get started that I forgot to take a picture of the hall bathroom cabinets. They were identical, except for length.)

After two coats of primer, I wallpapered the doors and the end panel with beadboard paper.

 Notice the gap in the corner between the wall and both pieces of molding? I haven't solved that problem yet. That gap is from a wide strip of hideous plastic molding that had absolutely no use there. Yes, I said plastic. I don't understand why they used plastic when basic wood molding is so inexpensive. Maybe it was to give me fits 20 years later.

I still need to do the touch-up painting on the walls, and I may need to give one more coat of paint to the doors. Later on, I may do the whole kitchen now that I've had success with the bathroom. And there's the master bath cabinetry to update too. Sounds like I have many months' worth of work on my horizon!

Pinterest Craft Day #11

We had a light turnout this afternoon for our craft day: just Heather and me. Even so, we had fun. We went ahead with the scheduled craft, enameled number tags. All of us, even those who couldn't attend today, searched high and low for blank metal dog tags, with a hole near the top. We never found them, so I thought the craft was a washout, but Heather had other ideas.

She suggested we use an aluminum soft drink can, cut it open with scissors, and then punch out discs with my circle punch. A standard hole puncher made the holes near the top edge, and white spray paint covered the printing on the can. Then we planned to stamp numbers or letters on the front with black stamp ink, but I had none. Our limited choice in my craft drawer was deep red ink or black acrylic craft paint. We chose the black paint, dabbing it on the little number stamps, and then stamping that on the dog tags. Mostly, it worked well. My one big ooze wiped right off so I got a second try on that tag. 

We covered the bottom of my electric skillet with parchment paper and heated the skillet to 350*. Then we sprinkled clear embossing powder over the surface of the dog tags, one at a time. Carefully, we lifted the powdered tag onto the parchment paper and then watched the embossing powder suddenly melt across the tag's surface. It's magical!

And there you have it. 

A Seaside Mantel

 

  Cool blues and greens for the family room mantel this hot summer.

Turquoise candles by Pottery Barn. White candlesticks by Ikea.

In the bubble glass jar are old Christmas ornaments with the coloring removed. I soaked them in bleach for several days and then shook and rinsed them to get most of the color out. I scrubbed the stubborn spots with Q-tips. To color them the soft, seaside colors, I used Vitrea glass stain sloshed around inside to make the deeper tones, and Mod Podge mixed with food coloring brushed on the outside to make the frosted ones. 

 

Large conch shell from the Caribbean. 

 Daylight shines through the bubbles.

I made the shell mirror with shells I collected on the beach in Florida about five years ago. I bought the blank mirror base at a shell shop in Bonita Springs and I hot glued each shell in place.

Pinterest Craft Day #10

Yesterday this sweet group of ladies joined me at my home for our bi-monthly craft day. This was our "butterfly" project from Pinterest. Almost everyone chose to work on a canvas, first applying a base of paint or paper, and then creating a collage of butterflies (most of us). Some decorated their butterflies with layers of trims and some left their butterflies plain. Some built up more layers on the canvas with paint or ink before adding their butterflies. Some aren't quite finished with their canvas yet!

It was a very fun project and a very fun afternoon with eight of us around the table. We had to add a leaf to the table to make more crafting space this week !

Thriftiness Goodies

Friday was my weekly garage saling date with Heather. We didn't find a lot this week, probably because we didn't find a lot of garage sales. I guess it's too hot for most people now. Here are the lovlies I found:

At one garage sale I found:
2 rotary cutters with a bunch of spare blades, $5
A beautiful hand crocheted throw, $7

At an estate sale I found:
A round antique linen tablecloth with a wide lace border, $8

That was it for this week.