Crafty

My First Refinish Project

So I was browsing through Pinterest looking for something cool to do to refinish my boring old kitchen table.  I saw a project that involved stenciling with white paint and staining over the top for a really cool effect and I was hooked.  My husband was super hesitant because the table came from his Grandpa and he didn't want me to ruin it.  RUIN????  Like any of my artwork ruins ANYTHING!

I was trying hard to be understanding while at the same time being like, "but the table is so UGLY."  I realized that if I was willing to "sacrifice" something of mine and it turned out amazing, he would be on board.  Enter piano bench from my childhood.

Oh Hey, there is a picture of cute me standing on the bench!  There is another photo somewhere of me as a 6month old baby sitting on the bench "playing" this piano.
This bench has been around as long as me and even before me.  It has made it through so many moves.  When I left for college my Dad put it on the curb as junk one day and I happened to come home for a surprise visit.  It turned out to be a rescue mission as I yanked that bench up and said, "How could you throw this out to the curb????  It is one of my earliest memories!"  Since that time, the bench has lived with me.  It has been a piano bench, a tv stand, a stereo stand, an aquarium/terrarium stand and now is an end table in our home.  An end table that was ready for a change.

I gathered my materials which were pretty inexpensive really since I already had the piece of furniture.

 I found the stencils I wanted to use.  I used a round small brush, masking tape to tape the stencil and white paint to begin the process.  As I was working on it, using the dry brush technique and waiting in between stencils (i used 2 designs) for paint to dry, my 4 year old daughter became very interested in the process and wanted to help.  You can see her playing a computer math game in the corner of this pic.

Can't lie to ya, I was nervous for her to help BUT with the dry brush technique it is fairly easy to maintain the shape/stencil without bleeding and she loved participating.  I thought it was cool that we were working a project together.  She was a huge helper, enjoyed doing it and saved my neck too.

Once I was finished stenciling, the effect was really cool.

This is a close up of the pattern and 2 coats of walnut stain.  The idea is to use a sponge brush to apply stain and then wipe it clean with a rag.  Once I was finished, I decided I wanted it to be darker so I applied another coat of stain and used the wiping technique and this is how it turned out.

The final step was the polyurethane, also applied with a sponge brush.  No wiping necessary for this step just apply as many coats as you like, the more the glossier.  I did 2 coats of polyurethane.  The actual finished product was so beautiful.

I couldn't wait to show my husband and to put it in our living room!  I couldn't wait to show my Dad who had abandoned the poor bench as trash years ago!  Needless to say, it turned out great and gave my husband the faith he needed to give me the go ahead for the kitchen table.  Don't know what I'm gonna do for that refinish but I can assure you I will share it with you all.

Magazine Roses

to Wreath

 I have never made a wreath in my life!  I like something pretty hanging on the front door but I usually get something in the theme of the season and our door gets so much sun (and it is black) so everything ends up washed out and blah so I don't typically spend much on what I put out there.  I have a TON of magazines and was looking for something cool we could do with them when I stumbled upon pretty coiled flowers on Pinterest!  Oh yes I am doing it!  So I started making roses and trying to figure out what in the world I would do with them, when I got the idea to make them into a wreath for the bare door.

First thing first, you need magazines and you need bright colors, close to solid colors or interesting patterns at the very least.  Once you collect LOTS of pages, you will want to cut various sized circles out of them.

Here are some that I cut out for my roses.  You can measure your circles if you want your flowers to be uniform in size. 

Then beginning at an outside edge cut the circle into a spiral toward the center of your circle.  You can do this smooth or wavy.  You will get different results for your "petals" depending on which you choose.

The green flower is in the wavy style and the blue one is in the smooth style.  Below I will show you how the finished flowers look side by side.


Starting at the outside of the circle you will begin rolling the paper into a tight coil.

Again, you are working from the outside of your circle toward the middle of your circle.  If you are in doubt just remember that the color you want your rose to be should be coiled up on the INSIDE of your tube.  It needs to be tight but not so tight that you rip your paper.  This will end up being your coiled bloom.  Below is an almost finished rose.  At this point you will release your coil and end up with a flower that looks something like the one on your right.

At this point you will want to use your glue gun and generously spread glue onto the very bottom or end of your spiral.  You will have a flat part at the end of the coil and will be able to seal the flower by gluing your tube to that end.  Hold in place until the glue sets and your roses will not have any loose petals.  If you end up with a loose coil just add a bit more glue.

Using the picture at the right, you will be able to locate the flat circle in the center that you will be gluing the tube to.



You'll remember that we started with a smoothly cut circle as well as a wavy one and this will result in different looking roses.  

The green rose was a wavy circle and the blue rose was a smooth cut circle.

 

Now that you know how to make the roses and know what your choices can look like, get cutting and gluing!  It took me several days to collect enough roses to make a wreath but was fun to do.  I did it while I watched tv in the evenings.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to use as my wreath and honestly didn't know how good or bad this would look so I cut a circle out of cardboard and painted it to use as my base.

Not too pretty BUT did the trick.  I began gluing my roses as close together as I could so as to make sure you would see as little of the cardboard as possible.  I made roses of various sizes and did a mixture of wavy and smooth cuts as well.

 

 

And again, the finished wreath.