Terrible Table Turned Terrific

A lot of furniture in my house is there thanks to my mom.  Seriously.  If it weren't for her, my home furnishing would be almost non-existant.  This table was one of the things she passed down to me.  It is an old table.  The beading detail is what I really like!  

You can see in the picture below that the entire top was lifting off.  I pealed up some of the loose wood, but when I felt resistance, I let it go.  I didn't want to damage the table further.  I had to do A LOT of sanding, which I hate, hate, hate.  

Below is a nice upside down shot of the table.  (I have no idea).

After a whole lot of sanding, I painted the table with some white paint I had on hand.  I wanted to keep the table "old looking," so after I was done I worked on distressing.   I took some fine sandpaper and ran it along the edges and the beading.  The pictures don't really show this well.  I just did enough to make the edges look worn.

Now for making the table truly special and unique.

Every year since my oldest was one, we have gone to the beach in the summer.  On these trips, one of our favorite things to do is collect pebbles on the beach.  We spend hours doing this. After a day on the

 beach, we would go through our findings.  Our treasures.  Well, that gave me the idea for this table.  It was the perfect way to save these treasures we found.  I took all the pebbles we brought home from our trips and picked out the prettiest stones.  I meticulously placed them on the table and used Mod Podge to glue them down.  This took a looong time.  

After I completed that step, I poured Castin' Craft Clear Polyester Casting Resin over top of the table.  It was super easy to do.  It gave it a wonderful underwater look.  

TA DA!  I love the result.  It was worth the time and effort.  More importantly, I was able to save memories too!

DIY Mirror Redo

Christmas time!  I am making all sorts of things for the holidays.  One really cool present came from a thrift store trip.  I saw this big, heavy mirror.  I knew it had potential.  I didn't take a before picture (hmph), but trust me when I say it looked ROUGH.  I sanded it down.  And sanded it down.  Then I sanded some more.  I grumbled the whole time.  I do so hate to sand things.  Anyway, in the mean time I had a DIY stain brewing.  I poured some vinegar in a big coffee mug and added some pennies.  After a few days I started to see the vinegar change color; but only slightly.  Day four-it was ready.  I put lots of stain on this mirror and I just love the color I got!!  It looks fantastic; sort of a blue/brown thing going on.  Then I hot glued some twine and rope spirals to the front.

I like the contrast of colors and textures.

BARBIE POST #1

So, I decided to make Emi a Barbie house.   What fun it has been!  It has taken a lot of planning and imagination, but it is slowly starting to come together.  Yeah me!  Unfortunately, I have not been taking too many pictures along the way.  I thought I would start to put it together in this blog post.  I will need to revisit this topic though.  THERE IS SOOOO MUCH!   I will post as I work from now until Christmas.  I started with two bookshelves I got for $5 a piece at a yard sale.  Lovin' it.  I have been waiting for an opportunity to use them creatively.  And so it began.  I started to look at things in a new way; miniature.  I scouted for things I could turn into mini-household decor, etc.  I am having a blast.  Haha.  

This cute little chocolate tin became a coffee table with storage.  

I glued marbles  on for feet.

I put a little decoration on there; a few stickers and beads.

This is an early view of one of the bookcases.  I used duct tape on the floors.  Scrapbook paper for the bottom half of the walls (the pretty wallpaper), and tissue paper, a lot of patience, and Mod Podge.  I really like the effect I can get with tissue paper.

 On the second shelf I used a crocheted piece of blanket (I never finished it) as carpeting.  I used green tissue paper on this level.  I like the contrast with the purple.

This is the bathroom/changing area.  That black thing is a shower stall.  I used cardboard and duct tape. I glued a bead and string on the side for a latch.  I then glued it to the wall.  I like the striped craft paper in this room.  It has a loooong way to go!

On this floor I used a piece of an old, fuzzy shirt as carpeting.  Cute!

MORE TO COME!!!!

Repurpose an old table with beach pebbles...and distressing

It has been awhile since my last post.  Since my mom and I have no following right now, I guess it doesn't matter!



I have always been a fan of beachy things.  I like to be creative with shells and pebbles; especially when my family is the one collecting them!

This bag for collecting shells and such will be in another post!

Our goal on vacation this year  ( okay, MY goal) was to collect as many pebbles as I could.  My husband and kids get VERY into it.  After a day at the beach, we would come back to our place and go through our treasure.  It has become a family tradition, and this year we took it a step further.

My son also caught fiddler crabs!

Prior to leaving for vacation I worked on fixing up the table I intended to use.  This was a task!  I peeled some wood off the top.  I painted it with some paint I had laying around.  Then I did my first distressing job.  I like how it turned out!

This is what the table looked like before the project.

Although you can't see the distressing and paint job, you can see how the top turned out.  I used Mod Podge to secure the pebbles and shells to the table.  My daughter enjoyed doing this with me.  We carefully placed each one.  I then poured on some resin.  The effect is awesome.  It looks like you are looking under water!

Quick Post About Duct Tape!

I got inspired today, so my daughter got a purse made out of duct tape.  I didn't take pictures of the process, but it is pretty simple.  I will add a tutorial soon.

This is my end product!

I added a little velcro button to keep the bag shut.

Lovin' me some duct tape!

Volcano Science Experiment

My son got a book from the library this week that gave us lot of ideas for projects.  The book is called Nature Explorer by DK.  We did this volcano first because I already had all of the necessary ingredients.  I will be posting other cool science experiments and projects as we make our way through the text.

For this project you will need:

Sand
Warm water
a small plastic bottle
a funnel is nice but not necessary
vinegar
baking soda
food color


I suggest working outside.  This is a messy project!  I laid down a big, plastic lid for a working surface. Setting the bottle in the center, I told the kids to make a volcano by using sand and water to help shape the sand into a volcano like form.  They worked on building that sand up for a while.  One fun part of this is squirting in the water!  I just used some sand from our sandbox, but any sand will do.

                                         Be careful not to let sand fall down into your bottle!

The kids added adornments like rocks and weeds from our yard.  They also used some plastic dinosaurs and trees.

 When you have the volcano built and your kids have tired of decorating it, it is time to add warm water to the bottle.  Use a funnel if you have it to avoid spills and work faster.  We didn't have one and it was not an issue.  

Next add warm water to the bottle; about 3/4 full.  Top that off with vinegar.  

I don't have a photo of the next step, but it is simple.  Also, this step was my tweak since the book instructions flopped.  I found this method to be the most explosive!  Place about two teaspoons of baking soda in a square of toilet paper.  Twist it into a ball-a little bomb, if you will, and get ready!

I placed this baking soda bomb right over the mouth of the bottle and had my kids push it in.  Below are the results.

Almost instantly the liquid bubbles out of the bottle and oozes down your sand volcano.

The kids loved this project.  They wanted to do it again immediately after it was over.  Fortunately, it is not a difficult experiment to replicate and it is inexpensive.  What I loved about it was that I had all the ingredients on hand.  The kids also got to learn about what happens when these two ingredients collide!

DIY Dough - Score!!

Make your own cloud dough!!!

This activity is super simple and the kiddos were all over it.  And who doesn't love an activity that keeps 'em busy??!  All you need are two things: flour and oil.

Now I have seen this activity done with canola oil, and I have seen people measure it out precisely.  That's not how I roll.  I used generic, dollar store baby oil, cheap flour and I eyeballed it, rather than measure...

If you are a measurer...go with a 5 to 1 ratio of flour to oil.

I got a big lid and laid it outside for this activity.  I was not about to do this indoors; clean-up outdoors was much easier and less stressful for mom.  I have more fun when the mess factor is lowered, and then, of course, the kids have more fun! 

I dumped out some flour and told the kids to spread it as I started squirting in the oil.  As I did, they squished it together.

The dough quickly becomes easy to work with.  If you find you have a little too much oil, just add a bit more flour.

The kids loved this stuff.  They played with it off and on all afternoon.  

Happy playing!!