Choosing Colours for Stained Glass Cross

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I thought you might be interested to see the process of choosing colours for this stained glass project.  I made this same pattern for my Mom, with faceted crystals where you see red circles in this pic.  I decided that for my last project of the season I would make one for me using glass from my other projects.  I was so sure that the red was going to be the colour I would want to use, but when I cut out the circles I just didn't like it.

I cut out yellow circles, and like them so much better.  I still wanted to use red so I tried the red here...

nope, still didn't like it, so I gave up on the red and changed it to purple.  I know it looks black, but trust me, it's purple.  Perfect!  I love it just the way it is. 

Here is a picture of the finished project.

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Headboard Bench, Mesa Makeover

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Now that we have our own place in Mesa, I had an opportunity to do a project.  I found this headboard at the Lutheran Thrift Store for $15.00.  It was the perfect size to make a bench for the deck.

I found some 2X4's in the dumpster and somebody else pulled a piece of plywood out of the dumpster because we thought we might need it for our bathroom floor, but that's another story.  I was having a hard time with the drill at the woodshop, and when a guy overheard me saying so, he offered to lend me his, he even dropped it off at the Tin Palace for me.

I bought a small sample pot of gray paint, and coated it a couple of times. I sanded it in spots to make it look scruffy, then spray varnished it to protect the paint.

I needed some foam for the seat, my friend had seen some at the thrift shop so I went back there and asked about it, the guys started laughing because they had just thrown them in the dumpster.  They happily dug it back out for me while explaining that nothing dirty goes in that dumpster.  I bought the fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby.  You have no idea what a novelty it is for me to go out shopping and find what I am looking for, and even have choices!  Although, one little rant here, I guess all lumber yards are the same, whether you are in a small town in Canada, or a city in the U.S.  I went to both Home Depot and Lowe's and asked for self tapping wood screws.  I was told there is no such thing, I explained that there is, I have used them before.  Then at one of the stores I asked if they carried Kreg products, the answer was no, even though I said I saw them on the web site, she said maybe I could order them online.  I pulled up the website on my phone, searched for  that store, and the website told me exactly which isle they were in, sure enough, there they were.  I really missed my calling, I should be working in a lumber/hardware store.

This is where I thought we would put the bench...

and this is where we ended up putting it, because Johnny thought it would get weathered in the other spot.

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Red Trunk Makeover

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I got some flack over at Hometalk for doing my last trunk makeover.  Some of those people over there are harsh.  I figure I saved it from going to the dump, it's mine to do with as I please.  We will see what they think about this one when I share it.  Luckily most people there are happy and supportive but it only takes a few to make me feel like not sharing there.  Funny thing is, it doesn't make me want to stop making things over, just makes me not want to share.

This trunk isn't even wood, so I'm not sure if that will save me from the wrath of the "anti-makeover" people or not.  This trunk has been used for storage for at least the last 20 years, how long I have had it before that I don't even know.  As you can see I started to do a makeover at one point, but with four little kids, I didn't get very far.  I stripped off the wallpaper and cleaned the inside.

I painted 3 very thin coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Emperor's Silk.  This is the first time I have used a purchased chalk paint so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Now I know that I should have just put on a heavy coat the first time and been done with it, but these are the things I learn along the way.

I put a coat of polyurethane on it, and when that was dry I used ebony stain to antique it. 

I went round and round on how I was going to finish this piece.  In the end I chose a rose compass...

and this saying that I found on the internet. Before I put the words on my daughter told me I shouldn't put it over the compass because it would be too confusing.  She thought I should put it across the front of the trunk.  I went ahead with my plan, and found out she was right, why oh why did she have to be right?

I put another coat of poly over the top and then antiqued it again to tone down the white.  After that I outlined the words with Silver Rub n Buff.

Now I finally like it, until this point I was wishing I had gone ahead with my other plan.

 The wallpaper inside was still in good shape, but was quite smelly so I put a couple of coats of varathane on it. 

The last thing I did was put some feet on it.  These are some of the feet that I made while in Mesa for the winter.  Unfortunately it was not a quick process. After painting, antiquing, and polyurethane, I had to make little divets in the top of the feet in order to be able to put them over the screw heads and the bumps that were the current feet.  This was fairly time consuming but it had to be done.

They would be crooked like this if I didn't do something about it.

I dabbed on some red paint so I knew where to make the holes, then went back and forth to the drill press carving them out.

 

I also put another coat of polyurethane on the whole thing to protect the antiquing and stenciling.

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Little Lamp Makeover

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I realized that I never got this post done so here it is a few weeks late.  We have been home for 1 week now and the winter away just seems like a dream.  I have decided to post the original so don't let me confuse you, I really am home.

Hello all, I know the posts have been few and far between but life will be back to normal in a couple of weeks when I return home.  Life is grand here in Arizona, but alas, playtime is almost over.  We need to get home, and truth be told, when you can't get through the singing of your National Anthem without choking up, it just might be time to be on home soil (or should I say snowbank, we won't see soil for a while yet).

We love it so much here in Arizona that we bought a little Tin Palace of our very own, oh excuse me, that's Park Model of our very own.  It was full to the brim!  The first week was spent removing excess housewares.  I would love to buy some new stuff' like lamps, rugs, etc., but for now I will make due.  Okay I did buy one lamp on sale, and some fabric for curtains etc., but I passed up a really cute lamp today at Hobby Lobby for only $10.  Instead I decided to makeover this lovely (finger down throat) lamp that came with the Tin Palace.

Look how dusty this is inside, gross, and I thought I had already cleaned it.

 I took the thing apart and spray painted everything with "Hammered" by Rustoleum.

I picked up a new shade at "Ross, dress for less" on sale for $6.00.  I have discovered some new favourite stores during my time in Mesa and this was definitely one of them.

I think it turned out pretty good, but I spent the same amount on this as that cute little lamp at Hobby Lobby would have cost.  Oh well, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, that's how I was raised.

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Tucson Quilt Show

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I thought I would take advantage of living in an urban centre and venture out and see a few things. This week I took a bus trip to the Tucson quilt show, here are a few of my favourites.

This one is thread painting, absolutely beautiful!

This one is my favourite!  The designs are painted and then appliqued onto the background.  

A little bling never hurts!

Another thread painting, stunning!

The detail in the quilting is amazing!

A panorama of the quilt side...

and the vendor side.

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Being Productive, While Not Producing; Wintering in Arizona! (My snowbird life)

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Hello all!  I have not dropped off the edge of the earth, we are spending our first winter in Arizona.  Ahhh, the sunshine and warmth is fabulous!  I live in an area where we get a lot of sunshine in the winter, unfortunately it comes with very cold temperatures.

While living the life of a snowbird I am not able to keep up my regular routine of working on furniture, but I am not wasting my time down here.  I am learning some new things.  I have long wanted to learn stained glass, and now I have my opportunity.

This is my very first project.

I took an oil painting class.  I've never worked with oils before, it was very interesting.

One evening a week I sit around with a group of old guys and they teach me to carve, they are great, and very humorous!

Once before I turned two pieces on a wood lathe.  I have decided to use my time here to do some lathe work in a way that will benefit my "furniture habit" when I return home.  The picture below is a turning that I did which will be 2 legs for furniture, once cut in half.

This is a picture of 4 of the legs above and 4 shorter legs, plus one more piece of wood from which  I plan to get 8 shorter legs. You will see these used at some point this summer, maybe on a trunk, not sure yet.  I just picked up another 4 X 4 at Home Depot so I see a lot more of this in my future.

While here, I am hoping to do some work on my  photography skills, which I really need.  

I think hiking starts tomorrow, so that will give me more opportunity to practice my photography skills.

Here's a secret for those of you who stuck it out until the end, we are looking for buying a little "Park Model" (aka Tin Can Trailer) here, and if we do... the makeover begins!  Keep your fingers crossed for me!  

I went out last night to a little discussion group about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, which I have never tried, so we will see where that goes.

Until next time, stay warm all my friends and family at home!  I will be seeing you before we know it!

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Card Catalogue/Apothecary Cabinet, Whichever You Prefer

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Today's post is a makeover of a makeover.  Originally this was a television.  In the early 80's my husband decided to make this into a cabinet.  In those days televisions had tubes, we found out the hard way that it was not safe to take the tubes out, it blew up right at him, luckily it didn't blow up into his face and he ended up with only minor cuts.

He put a shelf inside and added doors.  He carefully covered the doors with MacTac, remember that?  It matched the cabinet quite well.  Yeah, I know it was still ugly, but it was the 80's, things have changed a lot since then.

I don't know why I took this picture with it laying on the floor, but I guess you get the idea.

I peeled all the Mactac off the doors which took longer than I expected, and primed the small pieces that I cut out.

 I painted everything with two coats of red, then I sanded it all.

This is a mock up of what it will look like.  I know that this one is laying on the floor so that all the pieces stay on.

You would be surprised how many times I second guess whether or not I should antique the pieces that I work on.  The answer is always YES, you would think I would know that by now.  Below you can see the drawer fronts before and after antiquing.

Okay, so something surprising happened, I antiqued everything, and the next day when I started to varnish the cabinet, the stain started to rub off of the cabinet.  This has never happened to me before, and I'm not sure why it did this time.  So I had to decide whether to start over, or work with it.  Since it is supposed to be rough and old looking I decided to roll with it.

I sanded it between coats of varnish to smooth the finish out a little bit.

Attaching the drawer pulls was a real pain.  I should have had some sort of jig, but couldn't quite wrap my head around how to do it, plus I would have had to make two since I had to different sizes to work with.

As per usual I couldn't wait to share this piece with you, so I am not quite done.  My next post will show what I do with the inside. Until then, enjoy a few more pics.

 I have a few thoughts but haven't quite settled on anything yet.  In the end I absolutely LOVE this piece.  I wonder how many lives this old TV will have, it's on its third right now.

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