Little Mod Podge Bench

I've had this sad, ugly little bench for a while now. I can't even remember how I came to have it in the first place. I actually tried to sell it in two different garage sales. Nobody would buy it. Have any idea why?

Could it be the ugly Raggedy Ann and Andy plus Teddy Bear plus daisy motif? (Apologies if you actually like that motif.) Well, it isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I like the size and shape of the little bench so I decided it needed a Nitty Gritty makeover. I looked around Mr. Nitty Gritty's man cave for some paint stripper, and lo and behold! What did I find?

Leftover aircraft paint stripper from that F-18 I garbage picked and re-painted Heirloom White. I kid, I kid. Don't ask where this stuff came from. Seriously. Don't ask. So I read the label and all it really warns me about is to not use it on landing gear. Well OK then! My bench does not qualify as landing gear, so I'm good to go!

So far, I'm pretty impressed with the job the aircraft coating stripper did on the bench. The wood survived and everything.

Once the yucky paint was long gone, I sprayed on a few coats of primer so it ended up looking like this:

So far, so good. After the primer dried, I painted it (you guessed it, Heirloom White, and I was pretty pleased with the results. But as I kept looking at it, I thought it was missing something. I wanted to distress it, but instead I decided to Mod Podge a piece of pretty scrap book paper on the back part of the bench. I think it turned out pretty cute:

My Girl Baby is TWO

How did this happen? All of this growing up? Stop! No, don't stop. Just slow down.  I remember when you were just one hour old. All the nurses left our room and it was just you and me. I stared into your teeny face and I just knew I had found my purpose, my heart. You are my sweet queen. I love you.

Love At First Sight

We've all had that feeling. That warm, fuzzy feeling that tells you deep down in your gut that something is right. Something is perfect. Something was just meant to be. Well, it happened to me, folks. At my friend Aja's garage sale. That is where I first saw her. Yeah, she can use a change of clothes, but those legs! THOSE LEGS! See fo yoself.

Ain't she a beauty? The detail on the legs is remarkable.

Now don't go hating on her upholstery. If it were not faded, I'd keep it. But I'm going to recover her to match my living room decor.

Here is Coal checking her out. Don't be getting any fresh ideas, boy. She's mine.

Awesome Vintage Truck

Our neighbors are getting a new driveway poured today, and one of the guys helping them do it drives this awesome vintage truck. I love it. It is so cool.

At first, it reminded me of Bella's truck from Twilight. In the book, Bella's truck is described as 50's - 60's faded red truck bought in the 80's by Billy Black. On Stephanie Meyer's website, Bella's truck is decribed as a 1953 Chevrolet Pick-up. In the Twilight films, Bella's truck is a 1963 Chevy Step-Side C-10 Pick-up. I prefer the look of the 1953 version, myself.

Bella's Truck from Twilight

I love how the hood and the doors and the fenders are in different stages of distress. I asked him about it and he told me that it is a 1954 International and he restored it himself.

I can totally see myself driving around in a truck like this, hopping off to estate sales and barn sales. Sigh. Maybe some day....

Gorilla Glue Give-Away

The DIY Club will be hosting an EXTRA party next month. The Party will be open:

Sept 9th through Sept 30th

The theme is:

Something OLD

Something NEW

Grab the CREW (Yep, get the family involved)

And the GORILLA GLUE!

Repurpose something OLD or create something NEW, Grab your CREW, just be sure to use Gorilla Glue in your project.

Get it? Got it? GOOD!

Yellow Stool Makeover

My mom gave me this little gem when Olivia was born.

She had it in her house for her other granchild Carli, who outgrew it and now it is Olivia's. I was not too hot on the yellow, so I decided to paint her with leftover Heriloom White spray paint from my basket project. I was thinking about Mod Podging some scrapbook paper on the top, but I really liked the simiplicity and how clean it looked now that it was painted white. So I decided to stencil the letter "O" on the top.

First, I searched through the Microsoft font library until I found a font that I liked. The font for this letter "O" is called Edwardian Script. I printed out the letter "O" (size 350) on a piece of paper. I flipped over the paper and colored in the letter on the verso side of the paper with pencil. Then I flipped the paper over so that the penciled in part was touching the stool and used a wooden tool to gently transfer the letter onto the stool, taking care not to press too firmly into the wood.

The image was pretty faint, but I did not want to rub too hard and mark the wood.

So I went over the image again with a pencil so it would be easier to paint.

I painted over the penciled letter with Folk Art brand shiny black acrylic paint in Licorice (number 2715). I was pleased with the way the paint turned out. I thought that I would have to go over it again, but the black turned out pretty nice.

Once I was pleased with the way my "O" turned out, I sprayed Krylon Crystal Clear over the top to seal it. Here are the before and after shots:

Before

AFTER!

My Sweet Baby Girl

My sweet baby girl Olivia deserves a post all her own. Here she is in her first Notre Dame t-shirt. I love this child with all my heart and my soul.

Trash to Treasure Basket

Remember that basket I garbage picked last week? I transformed that ugly duckling into a beautiful swan (at least I think so). I started out by spraying her with several light coats of Krylon's Almond in satin.

I wanted to do something besides just paint the inside, so I picked out some cute scrapbook paper and lined the inside of the basket with it. Once the paint on the basket dried, I covered unprotected surfaces with blue painter's tape and sprayed the inside of the basket with Elmer's Craft Bond.

It's a little hard to see in this shot, but I painted the bottom inside of the basket, so I covered that surface with blue tape so that the adhesive would not get on it. I also taped the edges of the basket to prevent those from the spray adhesive. I lined the basket with the scrapbook paper then Mod Podged it. This was the first time I had ever used Mod Podge on a surface that was not completely flat, so I had to go back and touch up a few areas with my hot glue gun after I was done. Here is the finished product:

Trashday Treasure

Ahhhh. Trash day. My favorite time of the week. Isn't it yours? More curbside rescues, more pleas from my dear husband to do this after dark so that nobody sees me. Whaaaaat? How can I see the good stuff after dark? And I'm not carrying a flashlight, because then it would appear that I'm taking stuff that doesn't belong to me. Which I guess I am, but you know what I mean.

Dude on Oak Street has been leaving stuff curbside for weeks now. And every week, it keeps getting bettah. This time I scored a sweet basket and desk divider thing. The desk divider was perfect. I just wiped it down with a damp cloth and immediately put it to use on my desk. I see Krylon's Heirloom White in this basket's future. It is just the right size for storing toys.

Here is Olivia with our haul.

My Sister's 40th Birthday Party

I spent weeks preparing for my sister's 40th birthday party, which was Saturday. I think everything went pretty well, except for me needing to go to the emergency room to fix my finger that I nearly cut off while trying to trim the ends off of some flowers. Oh well! I will survive! I think everyone liked my poofs (nod to Martha Stewart) and my mini chalkboards.

I wanted the colors to be bright and cheerful, to match my sister's outlook on life. She is a beautiful woman who is classy, elegant, and fun and I really wanted the theme of this party to reflect those qualities. I am so proud of my sister! She has accomplished so much in her life. She is a devoted sister, daughter, friend, wife and mother and she is also pursuing her PhD in Psychology.