Candle Stands

It has been a busy summer, and it's not over yet! For one thing, we have finally painted the ugly behemoth of a fireplace in the corner of our living room. We have a long room, with the dark brick fireplace in a corner. This fact has made the long room feel terribly off-balanced. Painting it white brought so much peace to my vision. :) I LOVE this room now! (Does anyone need inspiration about what one can of paint can do?) I wish I had "before" pictures, but I have always avoided taking pictures of this thing because there has been no appeal to me in looking at it, so why would I want a picture of it?! Well, no more! I love this corner now!

But this post is not all about what white paint can do to a heavy fireplace.

I want to show you the candle stands that adorn the fireplace.

Some of these did indeed begin life as candle stands, but all but one of them got a coat of paint and a little more work. The one on the far right started out life as a brass lampstand some 20+ years ago, and was bought for $3.00 at a thrift store.

Here's how to achieve the look:
1. Re-paint with Krylon spray paint your choice of color. (This transformation from brass to -- in my case green or aqua -- is stunning all by itself. I could have left it plain and been plenty happy. But I wanted a more antiqued or textured look, so continued on with the next step.)
2. Take a dry (or slightly moist) non-shedding cloth and pour onto it some acrylic paint. I used a dab of medium brown, dark green, and navy blue. Slap it on the stand. Rub and rub and rub till you get the look you want. You'll have to work quickly, as acrylics dry quickly. If you don't like the look, take a damp cloth, rub it off, and start over. Once you're satisfied with the look,
3. Take a small, stiff paint brush and dip it in some black acrylic paint. (I used my kids' art brushes -- nothing fancy.) Practice flicking paint using your thumb brushing firmly against the tip of the brush. Paint will fly, so do this outside or with a well-protected surface. Random dots of black should cover your candle stands when you're done.
4. Spray paint at least 2 layers of high gloss glaze over your finished work. This will not only protect your acrylic layers, but will also give a nice finished look to your candlestands.

By the way, with my brass lamp stands, I removed all old wiring and weights from inside. I ended up with two separate pieces because of this. I then found (also at a thrift store) some separate brass candle bases and painted these correspondingly. I then glued (with hot glue gun) all three pieces together.

Drawing Work-in-Progress

I've enjoyed working on this butterfly over the past 6 months. I pull it out when I am stuck at home with a sick child or two. This is my first ink drawing, and I'm having a lot of fun watching it progress.

I used dots for the shading, and I really like the effect.

It's put away again for another one of those days the kids are under the weather.

Headboard Ensemble

I cannot take full credit for this one. My neighbor should seriously be a paid interior designer! She came over to my house to see a frame I'd bought several years ago for the express purpose of using it as a headboard. From there, the ideas flew, and this was the final result:

Baby Gift H

I've made and given some of these letters for baby showers in the past, but it's been awhile since I've shown you any. This is my favorite yet, I think.

Vintage Button and Repurposed Linen Pillow

I've a growing love for linen fabric. I used to despise it because it wrinkled as soon as I finished ironing it. But now I've decided comfort trumps a few wrinkles. In the past year, I've bought several pairs of linen slacks from my local thrift store, and have reveled in their comfortableness whenever I've worn them. After perusing several Scandanavian blogs (you can find them in my list of favorite blogs), I've been even further struck by the simple beauty of this fabric. It's richness in texture makes me want to touch it, and even a solid color feasts my eyes.

My living room's simple decor has been in need of a facelift for a very long time, but due to my lack of vision for what to do with it, I've done, well, nothing. But since my linen fetish fiend, I've dreamt up all kinds of ways to use this in my living room. And here's the first thing I've completed:

I repurposed a linen shirt from my local thrift store, cutting the back out and turning it into the pillow's front cover.

These vintage buttons have been kicking around the house for YEARS. I LOVE buttons, but I never knew what to actually DO with them. (That, or I didn't find the time to do anything with them.) But here I think they've been put to good use. I sewed them on with DMC floss, so it really didn't take much time at all.

Another view. I love these buttons!

For the back of the pillow, I cut the front of the shirt up, and utilized the button placket for easy removal of the cover. I quite like how it turned out.

And now, hopefully it will not be another (nearly) year before I show you my next project to spice up my living room.

Modified Dress

I bought this fabric about a year ago from JoAnn's (a light cotton). Just recently I got motivated enough to sew it. But while making it, it just didn't seem to be what I'd anticipated it being. I hate it when this happens! I didn't have enough of the main fabric for the bindings, which was just fine with me, as I wanted to spice it up a bit. Yet again the local quilt store came in handy, and I found a bold brown pattern fabric. I sewed it around the neck and sleeves. The neck seems totally droopy, though. I tried putting elastic through the binding, but I don't like it. So I put a tank top underneath the dress, and I think I like that. The wearer didn't like the "tent feel" to this pattern, so requested an elastic waistband to be added. While I was at it, I decided to sew in a slip with a ruffle for underneath. I think I like it now, but I'm still not sure about that neckline.

Pillowcase Dress

I love cotton and other natural fabrics. I also love the pillowcase dresses. -- I've wanted to make one forever! Several months ago, while at my local quilt shop, I saw this funky, "alive" fabric. It was swirly-flowery and super colorful. Colorful enough that if spaghetti was dropped on it, it would be difficult to be noticed. (We eat a LOT of spaghetti. We also wear it. -- EVERY stinkin' time we eat it.)

I didn't buy the fabric, though. Something else won out instead. But ever since seeing that fabric, I have not been able to get it out of my head. So a week or so ago, back I went to the quilt store. They'd moved things all around, so I had to do a serious hunt to find this fabric, but find it I did. Upon coming home, I went chop-chop-chop with my scissors, zipped the fabric through my sewing machine, and out came this:






I bought some dark red ribbon as well. Can't decide which one I like best with this. Any thoughts???