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!!!!