Trash to Treasure Tuesday...

A few weekends ago, I stopped at one of my favorite Thrift Stores my way home from a day of treasure hunting with my friend Kate...and this little beauty was just sitting there waiting for me!

If I told you what I paid for it you wouldn't believe me...I think someone mis-marked it because aside from being scratched up, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it!

After two coats of Glidden's Barely Jade, this is what it looks like today...

And it's perfect for holding all my handmade books and journals!

Trash to Treasure...

I bought this old filing cabinet from a barn sale a few summers ago. It's been sitting in our garage for over a year so decided it was time to give it a make over and move it into my studio.

I'm not sure what the white stuff is...possibly paint but it had the consistency of flocking used on Christmas trees...but it certainly didn't come off as easy as the flocking does!
We scraped, sanded, and stripped all weekend and finally gave up when our bodies couldn't take any more. Here is it in it's final resting place...full of cardstock, fabric, wool, felt and all sorts of other craft junk.I've been spending a lot of time in my studio making Christmas goodies. I'm setting up a table at The Handmade Christmas on December 3rd. So, if you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area please stop by, there will be 41 vendors selling their treasures at Trinity City Church on Marshall Ave in St. Paul. It should be fun! I'll post photos of what I'll be bringing as it gets closer...and all this Christmas crafting has me a little out of whack...I'm listening to Christmas Carols and we haven't even celebrated Halloween yet! I'll be sure to tune in to The Walking Dead tonight to get me back on track!

Trash to Treasure Tuesday...

Before.... After....

Shelby already staked her claim...she can have fun filling it up with little trinkets!

Trash to Treasure Tuesday #7

This week's trash to treasure project is something I've been wanting to do since last spring. We found this adorable little table/desk at a garage sale for about twenty bucks. It was in terrific shape aside from the water marked and worn finish. We orginally bought it thinking it could be Sebastians "art table" since he's always doing his thing at the kitchen table...well it's been a full year and we still haven't managed to migrate him to this space...

I decided on a nice antique white satin finish...it's Glidden Quiet Light to be exact. I put on three coats to make sure it looked pretty... And here it is all finished sitting nicely in the family room...

I love the antique hardware...

Do you think we can get Sebastian off the kitchen table now? No, you're right, probably not. That little project turned out so well I decided to paint this little cabinet pink...Benjamin Moore Soft Cranberry...

Wonder what I should paint next?

Trash to Treasure Tuesday #6

This trash to treasure project was something that I've been planning to do for quite awhile now. We've got these two great big throw pillows that my kids (and my dogs) like to lay on...the only problem is that the covers aren't removable so they can't be washed. And, they're getting pretty beat up as you can see by the hole in the bottom pillow. I got some great spring looking fabric and zippers at my local fabric store and in about 30 minutes I whipped up some adorable (even if I have to say so myself) removable covers.

Now everytime I walk into the family room and see them laying there I say "aren't my pillows pretty?" to whomever is listening...funny thing is I never seem to get an answer. Oh well.

Trash to Treasure Tuesday #5

This week's trash to treasure item is a vintage notions organizer I picked up this weekend in Anoka, MN. It wasn't so bad 'as is' but notice anything amiss? Yep, that's right...the pins decal on the second drawer is upside-down. Oops...wonder who made that fatal error?

Here's a better look at that poor little pins drawer.

1. To begin the transformation I painted everything with a light coat of Apple Barrel acrylic paint in Victorian Green (love that color). After it dried I painted a light coat of crackle medium over the green areas. I used a light coat for smaller cracks...the heavier the coat the larger the cracks.2. After that dried I painted over the crackle medium with another coat of the same Apple Barrel paint.

3. I used little stamped scraps of ledger paper as drawer labels. I hammered little pronged bezels that I purchased from this Etsy store over the stamped labels. It reminds me of an old card catalog.My trash to treasure items are starting to pile up in my studio so I'll be putting this little goodie up for sale in my Etsy shop. If you're interested in purchasing it keep an eye out, I'll try to get it listed this week!

Trash to Treasure Tuesday #4

Today's trash to treasure involves this nifty mahogany hinged box I found at....where else?.....Goodwill! The lid has glass one one side with a botanical print tucked underneath. The underside of the lid has a great old mirror and there are two little compartments for treasures inside. The bottom of the box is a piece of glass with a plain old piece of cardboard underneath so it's not very pretty to look at.
I started by cleaning the top glass, the mirror and the bottom glass (it was really dirty!)
Unfortunately there was no way to disassemble the lid without totalling ruining it so all I could do was cover it with floral paper (it slid under the wooden frame rather easily).

Next I tucked some floral trim into the groved frame and added an old photo of my Great-Grandmother Alice...isn't she beautiful? Love this picture...she even made the wonderful feathered hat she's wearing (I hear she was quite the seamstress)

I added a vintage velvet flower and some blue ribbon as a final touch.

Lastly, I took the cardboard off the bottom (it was held on with a few old nails so I removed a few from one side and slid the cardboard out from under the remaining nails.) I tucked a piece of blue patterned paper under the nails then replaced the cardboard bottom and replaced the nails.

And that's it!

Another trash to treasure goodie.

Trash to Treasure Tuesday #3

Aaah...I can't believe I haven't posted since last Tuesday! Shelby came home for the weekend, it's been about a month since she's been home, so we were busy shopping, shopping, shopping...no time for blogging. I thought I was getting used to the idea of her being gone but I guess I was wrong, no need to bore you with the details of the tearful parting (even though she'll be back in two weeks for spring break) but I'm sure one of these months I'll be able to drop her back at the dorms without crying half the way home!

I wasn't too busy though to work on my Trash to Treasure project for today. I'm not sure if this was originally a feed sack or a pillowcase, either way, I fell in love with the pattern on the fabric as soon as I saw it sitting all alone in a bin at a flea market. I saw this adorable sort of "shoe organizer" type thing in an old Victoria magazine and decided it would be the perfect thing for my fabric. First I decided how big I wanted the organizer and cut the fabric leaving enough extra for the hems.

Next I cut the remaining fabric into 6" wide strips, "hemmed" all the edges and started pinning where I wanted the pockets to go...I only had a certain amount of fabric so that pretty much dictated the size of each pocket.

Then I sewed everything in place and here you have the finished product:

As soon as I convert Shelby's room into my "new" studio I'll find a permanent place for this little treasure...don't tell Shelby I'm kicking her out of her room though...she may never come home then!

Trash to Treasure Tuesday #2

I found this old baby carriage wheel on a Saturday antique excursion with my sister back in December. I'm not sure why I felt compelled to buy it, I had no idea what I would do with it, all I know is that I found it to be very interesting with all it's rust and I knew I just had to have it (although my sister probably thought I had finally lost my mind!). It's been sitting in my "studio" just waiting to be transformed and today was it's lucky day!

After pondering the odd little wheel day after day I finally came up with an idea of what I would do with it so I gathered some of my favorite vintage goodies and started playing around.
Here's the final product...hopefully you can get an idea of how cute it turned out despite my horrible photography!

I haven't found the perfect place to hang it but I'm working on that too. I've been looking for an old coat rack/hat rack that hangs on the wall...I've been lucky enough to find them every now and then but they're SO expensive that I've passed them by and the ones that are in my price range aren't truly antique (I can tell by the metal hooks!) I'm sure one of these days I'll get lucky...I just have to keep looking!