Shabby Gals: July 2012

Monday, July 30, 2012

Roadside Rescue Baker's Rack

Good morning! Hope you had a great weekend!! We just got back from a quick weekend trip to Mackinaw City with my sister and her family. We had beautiful weather for camping! The best part of our campsite was that we were basically right on the beach. We had a beautiful view of the lake. We decided to visit Mackinaw Island on Saturday, which is always so much fun. My son absolutely loved riding bikes on the island. Since there are no cars on the island, he was able to ride on the roads. I think that was his best part to not worry about cars!!! We only had to worry about the horse and carriages. The boat ride over to the island is always so much fun too....but this time we took the ferry that went under the impressive Mackinaw Bridge. I have to say that was really neat. It was such a fun weekend.....oh I love summer!!!!

Anyways, on to my project that I wanted to share with you today. I recently found this baker's rack on the side of the road waiting for the garbage men to pick it up. It had quite a bit of rust on it. Here she is as I rescued her.

I gave her a good cleaning and scraped the rust off. I then sprayed a coat of primer on it and followed up with three or four coats of cherry red spray paint. I went through a couple cans of spray paint to cover it up. It now sits on my deck holding a few plants, although, I think it could be used as a buffet station when we host a barbecue. Here she is after her make-over.

http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/

http://too-much-time.com/

http://www.whilehewasnapping.blogspot.com/

http://www.to-sew-with-love.com

http://www.ladybirdln.com/

http://tutusandteaparties.blogspot.com/

http://www.thegingerbreadblog.com

http://www.countrymommacooks.com

http://lovenotesbylauryn.blogspot.com/

http://youngancrafty.blogspot.com/

http://www.iheartnaptime.net/

http://www.flamingotoes.com/

Friday, July 27, 2012

Pillowcase Dress

T.G.I.F!!! I am so excited that it is Friday!! We are headed North today when my husband gets off of work. We are going to do some camping and hopefully make it to the beautiful Mackinaw Island!! I love Michigan in the summer time.
Today I am going to share with you a project that I have wanted to try for awile now. I saw these cute dresses when I was down at the flea market this spring in Ohio. They were made out of old, vintage pillow cases that had embroidery on the bottom. I just thought they were the most adorable little dresses for little girls of all ages!! I just had to try an attempt at making one. So I bought these vintage pillowcases at an estate sale, they didn't have the embroidery on the bottom, but I LOVED the print. So here is my attempt at making my first pillow case dress.

Here is the chosen pillow case before it was cut in half and transformed into a dress. :)

Here is the finished product. After I cut the pillowcase in half to the desired length that I wanted it for my six month old, I then cut out arm holes and hemmed them to prevent fraying edges. I then sewed the top to make a casing so that my ribbon could easily fit through it and make cute little bows on the shoulders to tie everything together.

Here it is on my daughter. I put on a little pair of black leggings underneath. I am thrilled with how my first one turned out!!

Enjoy your weekend!!! ~Jessica

Linked up to these fabulous parties:

http://www.trulylovelyblog.com/

http://itsahodgepodgelife.blogspot.com/

http://whipperberry.com/

http://thecreativepaige.com/2012/07/creative-genius-link-party-40.html

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://oneartmama.blogspot.com/

http://lovenotesbylauryn.blogspot.com/

http://sewchatty.blogspot.com/

http://pinkapotamus.blogspot.com/

http://diyshowoff.com/2012/07/29/diy-linky-party/

http://www.keepingitsimplecrafts.com/

http://www.sewcando.com/

http://www.madincrafts.com/

http://makingtheworldcuter.com/2012/07/cuter-monday/

http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/

http://www.kammyskorner.com/

http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/2012/07/tutorials-tips-link-party-71.html

http://www.reasonstoskipthehousework.com/

http://thewinthropchronicles.blogspot.com/search/label/link%20party

http://adventuresofadiymom.blogspot.com/search/label/Terrific%20Tuesdays

http://carolynshomework.blogspot.com/search/label/link%20party

http://blackberryvine.blogspot.com/

http://amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com/

http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/

http://www.tipjunkie.com/homemade-projects-731/

http://thecreativeitchboutique.blogspot.com/

http://www.vwbblog.com/

http://adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.com/

http://www.notjustahousewife.net/

http://myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/

http://www.craftyconfessions.com/

http://funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com//

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

Thursday, July 26, 2012

25cent Tray Make-Over

Good morning.....look at this beauty!!!! Cute little teddy bear tray, right?.......not so much!! It was a mere 25 cents at a local garage sale....so I decided it needed to come home with me for a little sprucing up. I gave it a coat of yellow spray paint and then decided that it would look cute with a word stenciled across it. I thought the word "yummy" could be cute, especially in a kitchen. I pulled out my cricut machine and contact paper and cut out the stencil. Lastly, I stenciled the word in white paint. Here she is....after here little make-over.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Jewelry Display

Hi all!!! Hope your all having a fabulous summer!! Mine has been flying by!! I am not sure where time is going but it's almost AUGUST!! I truly can't believe it. I will stop rambling about how sad I am that it's almost August and share with you what I have created.
I picked up this cup holder from a garage sale the other day. I knew that I had already had one displaying some of my vintage coffee cups in my kitchen so I wanted to think up another use for this. I decided to paint it pink, one of my favorite colors lately, and decided to display some of my jewelry on it. It makes a great holder for displaying some of your favorite pieces and those pieces that you might wear more frequently that you don't feel like digging for!! Have a great day!!

Linked up to:

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.nl/

http://www.sew-much-ado.com/

http://www.733blog.com/

http://wearethatfamily.com/

http://www.handymancraftywoman.com/

http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/

http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/

http://amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com/

http://www.hopestudios.blogspot.com/

http://www.vwbblog.com/

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/blog-link-party-oshkosh/

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2012/07/transformation-thursday-no-162.html

http://www.firefliesandjellybeans.com/

Monday, July 23, 2012

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers!

Good morning everyone!! Hope today will be a great day for you.....Today, I want to share a table make-over with you. Here's the before picture...quite ugly, dirty and frankly, nothing special.

I gave it a good cleaning and then painted a coat of Kilz primer on it. After the primer dried, I chose a shade of gray, which took two coats. I then used my cricut machine and cut out many number stencils. I used contact paper to create the number stencils. I'm telling you it works GREAT!!! I painted the numbers in yellow and then distressed the table. Lastly, I rubbed stain over the table to give it a more distinct look. Here's the after picture.

What do you think?!

Linking to these parties:

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com
http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.com/
http://www.thegrantlife.com/
http://whipperberry.com/
http://itsahodgepodgelife.blogspot.com/
http://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com
http://oneartmama.blogspot.com
http://herecomesthesun-kelly.blogspot.ca
http://www.craftionary.net/
http://what-about.co/
http://romantichome.blogspot.com/
http://www.happyhourprojects.com/
http://daysofchalkandchocolate.blogspot.com/
http://www.504main.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Updated Basket

Good morning everyone! Hope your doing well..... I was just looking at the calendar and wondering how is summer going by SOOOO fast?! I just want to sloooow down time...can't we just for a bit??? Summer is my favorite time of the year. I love the bon fires, camping, boating, smores, summer evenings, ice cream runs and everything else that is associated with summer....

I recently found this small little basket that could by used for a variety of things. Here is the before picture of it.....

I basically just dry brushed a light layer of aqua paint on it. I like how it turned out but I really love how little time it took to transform the look of it. Here's the after picture....

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Number Three Stool

Hi guys!! It's a great day here in good 'ole Michigan.....sun is shining....and I'm sitting on my deck enjoying summer to the fullest!! Tomorrow my son and I are headed north to enjoy my parent's cottage which is on a small inland lake....it's the best! I've been enjoying the summers up there since I was ten and now I get to see my son enjoy it too. He loves to leave for the lake and hates to come home....We're going for a couple of days and it's supposed to be hot...so there's no better place to be.

I found this little stool at a local garage sale. I have a thing with stools...they can be used for so many things......plant stands, extra seating, night stands, and etc. Here's a before picture.

I gave it a coat of primer and then two coats of a light green paint. I distressed it around the edges and then added a number three to the top of the stool. Here's the after picture.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

My Front Door........

Hey it's Thursday again and I really have a simple idea to blog about. I found this old frame made out of carved wood at a garage sale or rather I should say my husband found it. Nothing had to be done with it or at least I didn't think so. I loved the white color and it was already slightly antiqued. I thought and thought about where I should use it and I thought "what about my front door?!" I was slightly tired of wreaths and I had already stenciled the word welcome on my front door. I hung it just above the welcome and ended up loving the way it shows up on my front door! Please excuse the photo as I got some reflections on the glass. What do you think? See you later, Dianne.......

Linked to:
http://www.momontimeout.com/2012/07/taking-timeout-thursday-no38.html
http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/
http://www.somewhatsimple.com/summer-organizer/
http://www.yesterdayontuesday.com/
http://www.houseofhepworths.com/2012/07/11/hookin-up-with-hoh-107/
http://wearethatfamily.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://www.sew-much-ado.com/
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/
http://www.handymancraftywoman.com/
http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/2012/06/one-project-at-time-tuesday-link-party.html
http://www.notjustahousewife.net/
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/
http://www.homemakeronadime.com/
http://creatingahouseofgrace.blogspot.com/
http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/
http://www.tipjunkie.com/homemade-projects-7-10/
http://www.thegingerbreadblog.com
http://lovenotesbylauryn.blogspot.com/
http://www.raisingmemories.com
http://www.heatherlyloves.com
http://too-much-time.com/
http://nv-craftenvy.blogspot.com/
http://www.ladybirdln.com/
http://tutusandteaparties.blogspot.com
http://youngancrafty.blogspot.com/
http://www.homemakerinheels.com/
http://www.positivelysplendid.com
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/
http://www.flamingotoes.com/
http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/
http://debtfreemommyblog.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Just a Little Tip

Good morning...well it's kind of later in the morning, but my little girl laid down for a little nap and this is my time to get some things accomplished!! So today I am not going to show a new project but a fun tip that I learned while trying to re-do furniture.
I had this dresser for my daughters room that was TERRIBLE!! It was painted to look like marble...so it was black with gold streaks through it, not sure if you can imagine that but it was pretty bad. The bottome boards were chipped and rotting out so my husband put new molding along the bottome for me. Of course on old pieces of furniture comes the old hardware, and sometimes you can get away without changing it. Unfortunately I had to do something about the hardware on this piece. I ended up buying new knobs for the top shelves, as you will see in the picture below, but I wanted to keep the pulls for the rest of the shelves. I always used to dread trying to paint these things...I always made a mess, I couldn't get the hardware completely covered, the handles would stick together, etc. So this is the tip I am going to share with you today.
We found a piece of cardboard and screwed the hardware right through the cardboard to keep everything in place. This works AWESOME. Everything gets covered evenly, you have somewhere that they can dry without sticking together, and less mess!! Next time you should try it out and let me know how it works!! :)
Have a super Wednesday!!! ~Jessica

These are the pulls...after they have been sprayed once and drying. They were black with gold paint splattered on them before. Even this is quite the transformation. :)

This is the back of the hardware. This is just to show you how it is screwed right into the cardboard.

And....here is the final product with my new hardware, trim, and paint on the dresser for her nursery. I wish I had a before picture to show you, but hopefully you can imagine how bad it looked before.

Linked up to:

http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/

http://www.733blog.com/

http://www.sew-much-ado.com/

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/

http://lilluna.com/

http://www.uncommondesignsonline.com/

Monday, July 9, 2012

Lettuce in a Box

Good morning and happy Monday! I hope everyone is enjoying the warm days of summer. My family just got back from a stay at my parent's cottage. It was a great five days..filled with swimming, skiing, boating, and just relaxing. Now, that I'm home there's a stack of laundry, weeds to be pulled, bills to be paid, grocery shopping.....etc. Sigh...welcome home.

I wanted to share with you my lettuce box. My dad picked me up this old box at an estate sale awhile back. I decided that I would try to plant my lettuce plants in it. I don't have a great place for a garden in my yard...so I do a lot of container vegetable gardening. Here's a picture of my box of lettuce....

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Updated Look for the Birds

Hey Everyone, it's Thursday and I'm back. I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July! Happy birthday America!!! I've been spending some time up at my cottage so it's a bit of a challenge to squeeze in some blogging during the summer but I'm back. I recently painted some metal birds that I picked up at a garage sale. I thought that they needed a little sprucing up. They were chipped and maybe a little too shabby and rusty. The colors were nothing special. Here is the before picture:

I picked up my trusty spray paint cans and started painting. I used a semi-gloss white spray paint. I really liked how they turned out and they show up much better in my flower beds. What do you think? Until next time, Dianne......
http://www.firefliesandjellybeans.com/http://www.firefliesandjellybeans.com/
http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/
http://www.733blog.com/
http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/
http://romantichome.blogspot.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Just a splash of yellow

Happy 4th of July!!! I hope you all enjoy your day and find something special to do to celebrate this wonderful day!! I am going up to my parent's cottage for a couple days..I am so excited!! I always love a trip to the lake, providing my baby does well on the car ride. :)
Today I am going to share with you a quick and easy project that I recently completed and now have hanging on my walls. The color of it was what really made me happy. I never thought I would enjoy having a bright yellow in my house, although I was pleased with the transformation and glad that I went with that color.
I bought this wall hanging from a garage sale for a few bucks. There is actually two of them...but I figured one by itself was large enough for the wall I wanted to put it on. I wanted something more bright and fun for my wall. The gold, as you can see on the before picture, wasn't really appealing to me for this particular piece. So I decided to try it yellow and I think it looks great against my green walls. I think I will keep it hanging for awhile, or at least until something else catches my eye. :)

Linked -

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/ http://www.sew-much-ado.com/ http://www.733blog.com/ http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/ http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/ http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/2012/06/one-project-at-time-tuesday-link-party.html

Monday, July 2, 2012

Serving Tray

Happy Monday everyone! Hope everyone had a great and productive weekend. Summer is in full force here in Michigan...it has been extremely hot! It's been nice if you have access to a pool or lake. I wanted to share just a quick little makeover with you today. I found this serving tray at a garage sale....nothing great...slightly boring. Here she is....

We recently painted our kitchen walls gray...and our cabinets received an update too. I will share our kitchen redo soon!! I love the color combination...gray and yellow. I spray painted the tray yellow and then used my cricut machine to create a stencil. I chose the word...."EAT" and painted it in white. Here she sits above my kitchen cabinets. I am thrilled out it turned out.