My Little Mirror Makeover

It's almost midnight, it's been a very long day, and I'm sitting in bed stuffing my face with Doritos and watching Bones.   I know, not one of my loveliest moments, but I'm still excited to show you what I've been working on!

 Everyone has something in their house they don't like - a piece of furniture that doesn't fit, and you're tempted to get rid of, but that darn thrifty voice in your head just won't let you. Well, at least that's what I'd like to believe because that would mean I'm not alone.  For me it's this mirror...

 

It was my husband's before we met.  Bless his heart, he tried.  But I don't like the wood, I don't like the lines, it's, in a word, blah.  And so, since I'm on a huge revamping kick, I decided something had to be done.  Enter my cheap little acrylic paint friend.  

I wanted it to have a worn feel, so I used a paper towel (ok, that was just because I couldn't find a brush - but it worked quite well) and dry brushed it on. No special technique, but I brushed in the direction of the grain and used thin layers.  I wanted a little of the wood to peak through.  After the turquoise dried, I very lightly dry brushed some diluted brown paint on for an added dimension.

 

And finally, to make it multi-purposed, I added 3 little hooks to the bottom.  You know, the ones that screw into things? They're magical, I say. 

Ta-dah! A functional, not so ugly mirror!  You may recognize the felt flower belt I made {here} and the yellow teething necklace made {here}.

 

Hooray for paint, and hooray for my new mirror!  

What are you revamping in your house?  

my homage to Will and Kate

With all of the hullabaloo surrounding Will and Kate's wedding, I thought it would be fun to craft something up relating to their big event.  The most obvious image I could think of was the British flag, and although it's a great flag and all, I didn't really want one as a home decoration.  So I came up with my "I do." pillow.  I'd never made a pillow before, but I am very pleased with how simple and rewarding it was to make! 


First thing I did after cutting the fabric (it's a sort of linen look a like that I cut to 17 1/2 x 10 1/2), was freezer paper stencil my lettering on.  

I drew my letters with a black sharpie on the dull side of a piece of freezer paper.

 

Then I used an exacto knife to cut out the black parts being sure to keep the insides of the letters for later!

Next I ironed the stencil and extra pieces shiny side down on my fabric and painted on my brown.  I tried not to paint it super thick or thorough because I wanted a more aged look.

Once it dried, I peeled off my stencil (it comes off really easily with no residue!) and made my pillow!  I'm not even going to pretend like I knew what I was doing.  I just used the few simple sewing techniques I know:  pin right sides together, sew a straight line, clip corners, turn inside out, stuff with poly-fil and hand stitch closed. 
And voila!  I'm so proud!

This literally took me maybe an hour all told.  I know I set out to create an homage to Will and Kate, but in the end it's more for my hubby so that he never forgets that I still "do"!  


Hope you liked it, and I really think you should make one because believe me, if I can do it - you definitely can!