Shameless Copy

I’ll admit it.  I thought Thrifty Décor Chick’s spray painted Mason jar was fantastic, so I copied it. 

And then there’s this guy - the milk jug I got at Goodwill.

I forgot to take a picture of him in his “before” state, but he was Ugg-ly.
For some reason, he reminded me of the cute white ceramic vases I have seen around, so I bought him.  And spray painted him glossy white. 

I thought he was happy, but about 2 weeks after this picture was taken (hush, you know I’m living under a rock right now) when I went to change out the flowers, I found the paint bubbling and peeling off.  *Sigh*  I know he was cheap, but I don’t want to throw him away, so I’m going to (somehow) get the paint off him, spray his insides good with a water sealer, and redo him, with the addition of a glossy topcoat (so he really shines).  

A couple of things I have learned from this vignette:

• When spray painting glass, frosted glass spray paint is your friend.  Do a coat of it first, then spray your color.  Otherwise, no matter how light I tried to spray, I still got runs in my paint (don’t look too close at that Mason jar). 
• Always coat the inside of any suspect container (even glazed ones that look fine) with a water sealer.  Or you will have a Mr. Milk Jug problem on your hands.

New Curtains

We have curtains in the playroom now.  (And blinds, finally, yeah I use that word a lot). 

Aren’t they nice?  They are temporary until I find the perfect riotous fabric for “real” curtains.

These aren’t real curtains?  Nope.  Where did I get them?  How did I make them?  How much did these beauts cost?  Whoa there, Nelly.  I promise, it’s not as difficult/expensive as you think.

They are twin sheets from Wal-Mart.  Yep.  That’s right.  The cheap ones – Mainstays, $5 each.  Uh-huh.  Hung with ring clips from Lowe's (they have the bigger ones for my spray painted closet rod-turned-curtain rod).  Don’t read that last sentence or you’ll know all my secrets.  

Anywho, I was going nutty from not having curtains (or blinds).  This window gets a lot, lot, lot of sun.  I managed to find one blind but had to wait for a second one to come in stock.  With one blind hung and no curtains I was really going batty.  But I couldn’t find any cute sheets to work.  I needed two sets of twin sheets for the twin beds in the guest room, so I figured if I tried plain white ones and they looked awful I’d still be able to use the sheets later.  So I tried it, and . . .  it didn’t look too bad at all.  I can totally live with this until that wow fabric finds me. 

I had a “fun” night a while back – I tried out some new things, didn’t work on any existing projects, just sewed what I wanted, which was to try out this block from the cover of the Spring 2011 Simple Quilts magazine.  I only made one, so I decided to add a border (to increase the end-size) and make it into a pillow.  I quilted it with a lot of straight lines (getting more comfortable with my walking foot) and just a touch of free-motion work (don’t look too close!).  Added an envelope back, and voila!  A 14” quilted pillow cover.

 

Fabric is Bed and Breakfast by Connecting Threads.

New Stairwell Light

Finally!  After several months of waiting, my Habitat ReStore light is now hanging in our stairwell! 

 

Before:

 

After:

She’s gorgeous!  I’m so glad I didn’t do the safe thing and pass her up.  I looked at this light four times or so before I finally asked the price and purchased it.  I was only about 70% sold on it, couldn’t quite get past the brass or the size. 

After

But it is absolutely perfect in its new home after a good cleaning and a few coats of oil rubbed bronze spray paint (and a couple of months hanging out in the basement, patiently waiting).  Now if only I can knock that left side out to create a half wall and get my gigantic tobacco basket hung on the wall . . . we will be in business!