Oil rubbed bronze lamps (sorta)

We acquired a pair of bedside lamps about 5 years ago from some friends who were decluttering. We were about to sell our first house and needed some more substantial looking furniture to stage our house. They didn't have lampshades so I borrowed some from my mother-in-law while we had the house on the market. They worked great, but always lacked a bit of our style.
A year later I bought modern lampshades and it helped them seem more appropriate in our room, but I don't think my husband ever liked how stark white they were.
So, I finally just did what I had to do- spray painted them with a can of Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze metallic spray paint.

First I cleaned and prepped them for painting. I covered the knob, cords, and electrical source with tin foil. So easy! I used a few small pieces of painters tape to keep the foil tight to the cord right next to where it attached to the lamp base.

Then, I shook my can of paint and went to town. Super easy, instant gratification. The hardest part was not getting spray paint all over my garage- this stuff can spray far! Also, I had to make sure to look up from the bottom. It's easy to not notice that the curves and ledges didn't get any paint on their underside.
This project took less than a half hour, cost me a few bucks, and totally changed the look of the lamps.
They still don't look modern- but they do look a bit more sophisticated and appropriate for a bedroom.

2012 Resolutions

Finish my heap-o-(half-finished)crafts.

Single Girl quilt
Strawberry red and blue quilt
Strawberry Fields quilte
quilt pattern for Chris
COUCH!

Then a thorough clean of the craft room and I'll be a happy resolved girl.

Gingerbread House

This was my first attempt at making my own gingerbread.
The recipe I used turned out to be very tasty (usually I'm not a huge fan of gingerbread) and it is extremely sturdy.
The recipe:
2 3/4 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
2/3 cup molasses
1 egg
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Chill several hours. Roll dough on the back of an oiled cookie sheet. Cookie sheet can be placed on a wet dishtowel to prevent slipping. Place pattern for house on rolled dough and cut around with a sharp knife. Remove excess dough. Bake at 300° for 20 to 30 minutes. Make sure it is well cooked, then place the pattern back on the cooked gingerbread and Trim edges, if necessary. Carefully place it on a flat surface to cool completely before you put the house together.
(from Worldwide Ward Christmas Cookbook)

I used melted sugar to glue the edges. I used a Martha Stewart recipe - http://www.marthastewart.com/341781/caramel-syrup
Do not stir it! And DO NOT get any hot sugar on your skin!

Here is the link to the simple template I used:
http://images.allrecipes.com/site/allrecipes/gingerbread_house_diagram.pdf
I reduced the size to 70% of the original.

For decorating, I started with royal icing, but it was too runny. I ended up only using the royal icing on my tree and for the snow on the ground. The icing I ended up using was just store bought white frosting (not whipped, not creamy, and not vanilla- white!)
I just piped it on with a icing tip and a plastic bag.
The kids can't wait to eat it. They already made cookies from the leftover dough.

Christmas Tree Skirt

I've been using a vinyl table cloth as the tree skirt for our Christmas Tree for years.  I wanted a real one, but I couldn't justify the expense when the vinyl tablecloth really didn't look so bad....  BUT, it ripped!  Yipee!  Soooo, I had some pretty poinsettia fabric and I purchased two round Christmas tablecloths and turned them into a tree skirt.  Ok, that sounds really simple- it was a bit more complicated than that.
First I measured the largest circumference that I could achieve on the poinsettia fabric, I folded it into fourths and used a pin and a string to create an arc.  This fabric (poinsettia fabric) would be the center of the skirt.
Then I folded one of the table cloths into fourths, the one I chose as the wide border on the top of the skirt.  I laid the poinsettia fabric on top and cut the arc 4 inches wider for the outside circumference, and then cut the inner circumference one inch into the top depth of the poinsettia fabric (so that there would be a seam allowance).
Lastly, I placed the folded tablecloth fabric onto the second round tablecloth (folded into fourths) and cut the arc two inches wider, but I did not cut out the center on this table cloth.  This piece would become the backing and the binding of the tree skirt.
To assemble:
Sew the border fabric onto the poinsettia fabric using a 1/2 inch seam allowance.  Sandwich the top (poinsettia and boarder sewn together), some batting, and the bottom/binding fabric together- just like you would for a quilt.  Pin or use basting spray to keep the layers together, and then quilt together with your sewing machine.  I used gold thread that I had on hand and it looked lovely.  I just marked the center of the skirt and then quilted lines straight across, intersecting at the center (like you cut a pizza ;).  Then I folded and ironed the 2 inch over-hang from the bottom- creating a binding.  Fold in one inch, iron.  Fold in one more inch and it is a binding over the top layer- iron!  (I call this self-binding, I don't know if that is the technical term).  Then sew around the edge of the folded binding...  Almost done.
Measure how big you would like the hole on your skirt to be.  I borrowed my neighbors tree skirt for this, so I would know what the professionals think is the appropriate hole size.  I marked out the hole with tailors chalk.  Then I sewed a straight line from the edge of the skirt, on the line I just drew, and back down my original straight line to the edge.  I took the scissor (and if you don't think I was scared to do this, then you're wrong!) and I cut between my sewed lines and up and around the hole circle I had just sewn.  Being careful to stay within the sewing- so the sewing could hold the three layers of quilt together.  I made some binding from the scraps of the back fabric and lined the hole with the binding.  This part almost broke my sewing machine.  There are a few places where I was sewing through basically nine layers of fabric.  So go slow!!!
Whew!  All done.   
I love it.  Totally worth the work.

A Very Scary Wreath

I made this wreath using THIS tutorial.
Easy enough I thought, I think I'll make two I thought. 
Four or five hours later and 4 glue sticks, 600 little scalloped circles, and a very tired hand later I was finished with the main wreath.  I added the black paper rose just because I had it lying around (another pinterest tutorial I had tried).  And I made the web with the hot glue on some wax paper- I just cut away the wax paper when the glue dried.  The cute little spider is made of beads and was part of a bead necklace I had for a Halloween candle- from back in the day when I sold candles...

After all that I decided to make just one wreath.  I have mixed feelings about selling this one.  I love it, and I hope it doesn't sell so that I can hang it up at my house!

Halloween Wall Art

I've been inspired by all the free vintage clip art on The Graphics Fairy website.  I love that site.  AND I love Halloween.  So I printed out a few of the Halloween images I loved and set to work.  For two of the pieces I hand-painted the art using the picture as a guide and for the framed piece I just printed out the graphic, Mod Podged it to a canvas I painted orange and then framed it using some left over molding and my miter saw.  I painted the molding black before attaching it to the canvas.  I just glued it on using silicon glue against the canvas and wood glue at the mitered corners.  I did fill the cracks with some wood putty and then painted over it, but it wasn't really that necessary.  I love how they turned out, my mother-in-law wants to buy them from me and my five year old daughter said it looks like a "real artist" made them.  Thanks, I think.?

Halloween Pillow

I make stuff all the time but I'm terrible about taking pictures- especially of the process.  I made a Halloween Pillow the other day I used this image:

free and copy write free from The Graphics Fairy
I used leftover Halloween fabric scraps to make the cording cover. (I rescued them from being thrown away!  My sister in law and mother in law were doing a Halloween craft with a lot of circles which = a lot of scraps)

I Mod Podge transferred the image onto some painters canvas (a good tutorial HERE for using Mod Podge, or HERE for a using Citra Solv).  If you want to print straight onto the fabric check out the tips on this blog post on Grograin.  I used the painters canvas for the main fabric of the pillow.  But I wanted to find out if the Mod Podge transferred, ink jet printed image would be able to withstand being washed (I even sprayed it with acrylic spray and water proof spray)  Well, after the wash only a vague outline was left on the fabric- and a few smudges, ugh.  So I got out my handy dandy fabric paints and filled in the outlines.  At least now, with the fabric paint, I know it won't wash off. (My lesson- Mod Podge transferred ink jet prints onto fabric can wash off)
I covered the cord with the Halloween fabric and sewed it to the edge of the painters canvas.  Here's a good tip if you like tight pillows- cut the pillow cover to the same measurements as the pillow.  For instance, if you have an 18x18 inch pillow, cut your fabric 18x18 inches.  I've never had a problem fitting the pillow in (ok, maybe I have to shove a little) but the pillow is always tight and never saggy and loose looking.  Make sure to leave a very wide opening to stuff the pillow into. 

Last, I Stuffed a pillow form I had on hand into the cover, ironed the open end (you can do this before stuffing!) and then hand-sewed the opening together.
I have a few more pillows I'm going to make for Halloween using graphics from The Graphics Fairy.