Article Published in Cloth Paper Scissors - Faux Lampwork Headpins

Lucky me (or blessed I should say), I finally got an article published in Cloth Paper Scissors!!!  One item on my bucket list I can check off.  I have dreamed about this for years now.  My article "Faux Lampwork Headpins" was published in the May/June 2013 issue on pages 50-54.  A four page spread, I am just so excited.  Here are a few pictures I took of these headpins before I sent them in a few months back.  I just got them back in the mail a few days ago along with my complimentary copies of the issue.

A necklace I made with the headpins. 

The headpins in a funky (and dirty) little vintage glass jar. 

I have five sets of them listed in my Etsy shop; if you are interested stop by and check them out.

Sewing Desk Upcycle - Part Two

Remember the sewing desk I worked on last March?  It took me forever to figure out what I wanted to do with this desk.  I was inspired by this piece by Michelle Allen of Allen Design Studios

What I love about this is the white painting over a very colorful under painting.  So I did a very colorful under painting and left it for a while, unsure what to paint over it.  

When I started decorating my bedroom I knew I wanted to go with a night/star theme.  Up until a couple of weeks ago my sewing desk was in my dining room.  I started moving my art stuff out of there to make room for an actual dining room table and decided to make a little sewing nook in my bedroom, so I knew I wanted to paint start on the desk.  Simple stars with a lot of white, very little of the colors showing.  I drew stars in chalk and painted over them.  Here are some close ups.

I still need some cool handles.

Here's my little sewing nook, I am in love with it.  It's a lot more secluded and intimate than my former sewing space, and I am very comfortable creating here.  I even made a quick plywood chalkboard for ideas (or sweet little love notes to my hubby).

Some nice sunlight coming in during midday.  I also made a little ruffle curtain to cover my bookshelf.

So what do you think?  Could you create here?  Do you prefer wide open spaces to create in, or do you like to tuck away in a corner and make stuff?

Radio Console Record Player Upcycled and Distressed

For those of you who don't know, my hubby loves records.  Until recently, this was his set up to listen to them...

Very functional, but not very attractive.  This wasn't a problem until recently when our little Gray man started to get very mobile and into everything.  What Brandon needed was a cabinet to hold all this and keep little hands from getting into his records and electronics.  

A few months ago he went into a thrift store and found an awesome radio console from the 1940s, a Magnavox Belvedere.  He kinda wanted it, but didn't buy it.  A few days later he noticed it missing from the store and asked if they sold it.  They did not, it was actually outside in the trash!  They told him they would be glad to retrieve it and let him have it free of charge, and he gladly took it off their hands.  

This console sat around in the house for quite a while.  It was dirty and not quite so attractive.  It needed shelves built in and some TLC. 

It started to get closer to Brandon's birthday and I had no idea what I would to for him since I do not work and usually bum from him if I need something.  With no money for a gift I had to figure something out!  Then he started to obsess about this, and I knew getting onto this project would be the perfect gift.  He asked my stepdad how to add shelves to the unit, and I measured everything out.  We went to Lowe's and purchased some 1/2 plywood and had it cut to size.  We also got some decorative aluminum sheet.  We had all the paint we needed.  

I built the shelves in (hubby is very good with music and spiritual matters, but not much of a handy man) and he sanded and primed the console.

Brandon knew he wanted something distressed.  It took him a couple of days and he found the perfect image. He sent me a link to this image and said this is how he wanted the console to look when painted.  It is a vintage distressed shutter by Anita Spero of Anita Spero Design.  She does excellent distress painting (and has some lovely angel wings in her shop that I would LOVE to have).  With an image in mind, I knew what to do.  

This was perfect because we had a can of latex paint already in a very similar turquoise/aqua color.  I painted the base color and thought I would just stop there until the next day, but I ended up getting very obsessed and stayed up all night painting this sucker.  

Here's the base coat (it's the same color of the end table his record player was on before).

After the base coat dried, I added a few strokes of a golden yellow paint mix (yellow latex paint, golden acrylic paint, and Pledge Floor Finish).  I just brushed it on and smeared it around with a cotton rag. Then I sanded several areas down to the wood.  I noticed a lot of primer showing and the wood looked new, so I rubbed a paint mix over them (brown, black, and burnt umber acrylic paint mixed with Pledge Floor Finish). I just used a baby wipe to apply the mix.  I dipped it in the mix and just rubbed it in until I like the look of it, and wiped the excess off with a cotton rag. 

Detail of the distressing...

When I got the painting done, I added some cloverleaf decorative aluminum sheet, cut to size, where the speakers used to be. 

We decided to prime everything with Pledge Floor Finish to avoid all the fumes from polyurethane.  It's not like it will be noticeable if the paint gets a little chipped.  

Here's the finished console.

And here it is in it's new habitat.  Hubs is very happy with it, and it keeps little baby hands out of everything.  Now we just need to get some matching knobs for it.