Bargain Find Redos

This week has flown by! I can't believe it's already time for another Show and Tell Friday. Today I'd like to show you a couple of my bargain finds and how I dressed them up.


First up, a red chair that I recently nabbed at Goodwill for $3.00. This is how it looked when I bought it.


There were a few cracks in the seat, so I filled them in with wood putty.


Next, I gave the chair a thorough sanding.


It was during the sanding that I encountered a small problem. Once of the screw holes was almost completely stripped and would no longer hold a screw. Since this is a pretty common problem, I thought I'd share my solution with you. I simply took a toothpick and bent it in half as shown.


Next, I inserted it into the hole.


Once fully inserted, the screw went in quite securely.


Next, I painted the chair black.


Here it is after I painted it.


To jazz it up a little, I painted the shield-shaped grove with white.


Then, I made a stencil and added a fleur de lis to the back.


And now for what just might be my best bargain of all time...a vintage cardboard wardrobe that I picked up at a yard sale for the grand sum of $2.00! I've actually had this piece for a while...long before I started blogging so I don't have photos of it in it's original brown color. The photo below shows it after its first redo, with blue trim and floral wallpaper panels.


That look worked well for the room as it was decorated at the time.


But it was due for a bit of a facelift. To bring it more in step with my updated scheme, I painted the trim black and decoupaged pages from an old dictionary that I found in a freebie pile to the panels.


It was a very simple change, but I think it gives the wardrobe a completely different character.


Here are my two bargain pieces with a bookcase that I'm using in my currently-in-progress redesigned guest/craft room.

I love finding bargains like these and fixing them up as one of a kind accents. I hope you've enjoyed my little tale. Happy bargain hunting!

Until next time,
Sheilla

Be sure to check out "Show and Tell Friday" at Cindy's Romantic Home. Lots of great ideas to discover!

Ravens Repose

This is a birdhouse that I made.
I call it 'Ravens Repose'.


I started with an unfinished wooden birdhouse...

Painted it white...

Decoupaged some black and white 'architectural' pieces...

And added a vintage piece of hardware to the front.

Easy as blackbird pie!

Until next time,
Sheilla

This post is shared on "Show and Tell Friday" at Cindy's gorgeous blog, My Romantic Home. You should check it out....lots of great ideas to discover!

We'll Always Have Paris

"We'll always have Paris". That's a favorite quote from a favorite movie, and also the inspiration for a decoupage project that I'd like to share with you today.
I picked this chair up at the local Goodwill for $3. It was partially painted purple and had a few loose joints but the lines were decent. At that price, I figured I could find something to do with it. And I decided on decoupage.
Aside from a few painted accents, the chair is completely covered in paper, mostly vintage. I used lots of old sheet music, some reproduced vintage French love letters and wall paper from the 1930's and 1940's as the foundation materials. Accents include a vintage heart shaped doily, a postcard from France, and some magazine cutouts.

One of the details that I most enjoyed doing was the back slats of the chair; each one tells a little Parisian story
This one shows a couple in parting surrounded by love letters, a photograph of the Eiffel Tower, and an old airplane.
The one beneath it highlights a dreamy looking starlet with more photos of the Eiffel Tower, another letter, and lots of roses.
This one depicts a young couple married in Paris, with a photo of the Cathedral of Notre Dame and of course, another Eiffel Tower shot.
This one features a photo of a lovely young woman gazing into the mirror, memories of Paris in her thoughts. Other images from this scene include a party photo, the Eiffel Tower, a love letter, and lots of roses.

This was a very time consuming, but fun project, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.
It has found a home at the desk where I work on paper projects. Between the chair and my mood board there's plenty of inspiration close at hand.

Until next time,

This post is shared on "Show and Tell Friday" at Cindy's gorgeous blog, My Romantic Home. You should check it out....lots of great ideas to discover!

My Art Prints Have Arrived!

Recently I decided to have some of my art work printed, but finding a printer turned out to be quite a challenge. After searching the Belfast area in vain for a print shop that could handle large, quality prints. I began searching online.
	"First Rose" - Pencil Sketch

My first several stops were quite discouraging. Most of the printers I found had extremely high prices for small quantities. But then I happened across Northeast Reprographics in Bangor. Their prices were quite reasonable, and to make things even better, Jeff was very helpful (and extremely patient) in guiding me through the process of preparing my artwork for printing.

"Stairway to Heaven" - Multimedia Collage

"Suite Madame Blue" - Multimedia Collage

I had 4 diffent types of media to print, pencil sketches, photographs, and collage, and I was quite happy with the results of each.
"Friends" - Black and White Photograph

The "Friends" shot is my sweet dobie-lab mix Lucy, with Prissy, my cat. It was an accidental shot, but one of my favorites. I'll be using the black and white images in the photo wall I'm putting together, and the collages will go in my guest room/project room that I'll soon be re-doing. I've just got to get the old bunk beds out of there so that I can start. Yesterday I visited a lumber yard and priced wood for a bookcase-room divider that I'm planning to build. It will be my first large woodworking project, so it will be interesting to see how that goes. The folks at Buxton Building Supply were extremely helpful in suggesting materials and, like Jeff at Reprographics, most patient in guiding a newbie! Time to get busy!

Until next time,

Creative Gift Wrapping

I love finding unique ways of wrapping gifts. It just seems to make the gift a little more special and personal. I don't like spending a lot of money on gift wrapping, though, so I try

to come up with ways to use the things that I already have on hand creatively. This project can be adapted to many different styles, and is ideal if you need to mail the presents and worry about bows getting crushed. There are no bows here, but I don't think anyone's going to miss them.

After wrapping in your choice of paper, measure a length of ribbon around the width of the package, and snip with just a small overlap. I always save short lenghts of ribbon and these will usually work here unless you happen to have an oversized box.

Now take the length of ribbon and fold it in half.

Then using a hole punch, create a hole in the center of the ribbon. You can also snip a small hole with scissors if you don't have a hole punch handy.

Set this ribbon aside.

Now take another scrap of ribbon, about 12 inches in length and fold in in half. Tie a knot at the folded end as shown.

Now thread the folded and knotted ribbon through the hole in the first ribbon.

Wrap the first ribbon around the package with the "tail" that you just threaded through centered on the front. Secure on the back with tape or hot glue; thread a tag onto the ribbon "tail" as shown, tie a bow, and you're done!

I like to make my own tags by cutting out pieces of the wrapping paper or even pictures from magazines and pasting them to cardstock with decoupage medium or thinned white craft glue.


These are a few other packages that I've wrapped in this manner. I think my favorite is the one wrapped in newsprint with a dog photo cut from a magazine as a tag. Happy wrapping!

Until next time,

Time for a Change

Well, the Style de Boheme store will be coming, but not as soon as I'd planned. I've decided to do some things around home before I launch the store. In fact, I think I may wait until fall to launch, as my very dear friend, Barbara will be coming to visit and I want to keep my time free. I also want to have the house looking spiffy when she gets here!

I've been putting ideas together for my decorating schemes, and came across a magazine that I LOVE! Flea Market Style is probably the best magazine I've come across in some time. I saw a mood board on page 40 of the current publication, and that was enough to get me moving. While I've seen a number of beautiful mood or inspiration boards, this is the first one I've seen in black and white. It is truly stunning! So...it was off to the Goodwill Store to buy a bulletin board that I could transform. This is my version. I painted the entire bulletin board white, and then to add a bit of dimension, I rubbed some gold paint into the recesses. Then the fun began! I displayed some of my favorite magazine clippings, a few old photos, some vintage lace, and a cherub head on the board. I think my favorite addition to the mood board was some jeweled push pins that I made.

I'd recently picked up a bargain desk and my favorite junque store, and the mood board was the perfect accessory to top it. This is where I'm planning to do most of my painting and paper projects. I can just look up for some great inspiration! As you can see, I've used various pieces of glassware and pottery in white and gold to hold many of my art supplies.

You can see in the photo below, that I've also found the perfect place for my decoupaged chair. It's another of my flea market redo's. I've covered it with vintage sheet music, old French love letters, and wallpaper scraps from the 1930's and 40's; with a few photos and magazine clippings added for good measure.

I have so many projects in my head right now I can hardly wait to move.  But for now, it's time for bed....

Until next time,