Why it’s worth the piece you buy.

So they other day I was reviewing the Facebook page of the business I have one of my two furniture booths in.  I noticed a comment from a customer (well a past customer), according to her statement she stopped coming into the store because the furniture is “way overpriced.”

I understand that there are those that think painting furniture is not that big of a deal and anyone can do it.  There are those that have a real knack for it and pick it up quickly.  As for me I decided to leave my 17 year corporate career to make this a business.  I wanted to provide excellent quality furniture, at great prices.  But to make my business profitable I have to to take everything into consideration, all aspects of the business. Below are my top 10 areas that (I feel) affect my bottom line.

This is what I take into account for my business.

1.) A place to paint

I use my mother-in-laws garage (also know as “the Huny’s” garage). We hung the large drop cloths from the rafters creating an 11′ x 11′ area.  That way nothing get directly on any of his tools or equipment.

2.) A place to store furniture for painting and for painted items

Right now I have furniture every where. In my spare bedroom, the loft of my studio, the enclosed trailer, the garage, and two storage units.  Yes, it is an addiction and my family and friends are enablers.

3.) Equipment and supplies

Brushes, buckets, cleaners, sprayers, rags, furniture dollies/carts, putty, screw drivers, drills, glue, accents, drawer pulls/knobs, and let’s not forget the specialty paint, waxes, glazes and topcoats.

4.) Finding pieces (and at a reasonable price).

Hours searching craigslist, yard sale sites, estate and yard sales for those one of a kind unique pieces.  I would love a clean no repair piece, but that is never the case.  Majority of the time we find veneer separating or chipped off. Drawers are broken or the track is broken or missing.  Knobs/handles missing or broken.  Yet those are the ones I choose because I would rather repair a well built solid wood piece.  I don’t like to see them discarded when they can be just as good as new with some care provided.

5.) Picking up those pieces.

6.) Cleaning and repairing.

We thoroughly clean and repair the pieces we sell.  My husband is fantastic at repairing.  We look at each piece and take notes as to the clean up, repairs, painting and finish we want to do.  I will give him my ideas (a lot of time I get a pretty funny look from the Huny because he doesn’t think what I’m saying will look good) and he helps me bring it to life. (Goodness if you only knew how bad a piece can smell being in someone’s garage, basement or smoker’s house.)

7.) Painting.

EVERYONE wants specialty paint products AND YOU WILL want to use specialty furniture paint on their piece and those items are pricey.  A quart of specialty paint is as much as a gallon of good quality interior paint, and all the finishes are just as much.  I have used interior paint on furniture and while the sky is the limit for color choices it can take a lot of elbow grease to distress furniture with latex paint on it. We spray or brush paint our furniture but either way it does take time to get that furniture complete for sale.

8.) Delivery.

All of our “for sale” pieces are located in a booth we have in two locations and we deliver furniture once a week.  Sometimes we have one large piece or several pieces.  To haul those items, our vehicle has to be large enough to carry the varying sizes.  Since we have four boys I already had a large vehicle (poor thing just went kaput).  Then we went to a larger vehicle and an enclosed trailer to help hauling these pieces easily.  Early on we invested in the moving blankets so that our pieces could be hauled and stored with minimal damage.  I can assure you nothing is more frustrating than getting to the destination and there is a ding, scratch or damage on it.  I’ve wanted to crawl in a hole when that happens, mostly because it was probably a piece that tormented me from the beginning.

9.) Booth rental.

Since we are in two locations with our booth space those average booths come with a price.  Many are reasonable but there are just as many that aren’t. Average size booth can be 4 x 6 – 12 x 12 (even bigger in some areas) they can start $100 – $600 in your largest sizes.  So you have monthly rent that comes out of the previous month’s sales and you pay the mall owner 10% commission (this to can vary, but 10% is the average).  There are additional fees charged to a vendor as well for example if a customer uses a credit/debit card you will be subject to cover those fees, or if there is a software that the mall owner uses to manage all of their vendors and their sales.

So the vendor sales report could look like this.

 

 

 

 

10.) For Sale.

Woohoo we are at the selling part, so what price should I put on it? How much did I purchase it for? How much work have I put into it? How much paint and finishes have been used?

 

Will people buy it at that price? It is a debate I have every time I determine a price for a piece.

Now does everyone that paints furniture go to great detail to provide quality painted pieces? No.  But as a buyer you can tell.

Things to look for in second hand painted furniture

• Does the painted piece have smooth surfaces?
• Did the vendor take care taping off areas from painting or staining?
• Is it wobbly or are joints loose?
• Do the doors/drawers open and close easily?
• Also is the inside clean (i.e. inside cabinets or drawers)?

If the answer is yes to all the questions above then the vendor took exceptional care in bringing you a great quality piece.

 

So these are my basics and I hope it helps those of you that buy furniture, as well as, those of you who paint.

If you have any questions please leave it in the comment section I will be happy to answer the best I  can.

Have q great Labor Day weekend and please kep Texas in your prayers!

 

And just like that *snap* October has come and gone.

Whew!  October just flew by and now we are coming into the holiday season at full speed.  We’ve had a blessed October, and I am not exaggerating.

 

Our booth at University Pickers

 

 

We’ve gone from one Fall Open House at the end of September to another at the end of October.  We also helped a friend of a friend out by removing furniture from a parents house. Which took us two weekends, a box truck, three pickup trucks, and two enclosed trailers to empty the house.

 

Our booth at Funky Monkey Vintage Market

 

 

Along with the loading and unloading of the furniture we had a few custom pieces in between.  A couple of painted pieces and one upholstery job.

Which was my first custom job sewing a T cushion with a zipper.  It was nerve racking to say the least but I think it turned out perfect and so did the customer.

If you want to learn how to upholster you must go to Kim’s Upholstery facebook page sign up to be notified when she goes live.  She goes live most Wednesdays at 11:30 (EST) for an hour showing how to upholster furniture.  She’s a great resource.

 

 

I’ve done a few other pieces over the last two months for my booths.  The settee is one I wish I kept for myself.

Just as soon as I catch up I will demonstrate just how I got the wood frame in that distressed wood look.  So simple.

Stay tuned as I will bring to you some of my favorite shortcuts or tips I use while refreshing my furniture.

 

 

How to make your own liquid chalk

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

Signs they are everywhere. Simple sayings of inspiration, love and life.  Vinyl applied lettering, or use of a stencil or if you are the exceptionally talented and have great patience to learn hand lettering.

I love the new hand lettering craze and if I can master it soon I will start implementing it on some of my wall décor, but until then I will use my shortcut using my vinyl cutter.

With that being said let me share with you how I do my chalkboard lettering style.

Supplies

One blank board or metal

One can of Rustoleum black chalkboard spray

Vinyl cutter

Vinyl & transfer paper

Color Sidewalk Chalk (I use the Crayola Chalk) or Martha Stewart Erasable Liquid Chalk

Rubbing Alcohol

X-acto knife

Small paint brushes

GETTING STARTED

First thing is prepare your blank if it is wood.  On the “Love you to the moon and back” above I used 1/4″ luan plywood.  For this project I’m using some blank metal signs I bought from HL a couple of years ago, and finally I decided what I wanted to do.

I sprayed two coats on the metal blanks with the Rust Oleum Chalkboard paint and let that dry for a week (it does not require a week, I was still deciding on which sayings I wanted to put on them).

After deciding on the sayings, I went to my Adobe Illustrator.  Figuring out what font to use and the layout always takes me a couple of days to pin down what I want. I used the picture of the already painted blank as my art board within illustrator. (This helps me stay within my borders so that I don’t extend my design pass the edges.)    I like my designs to fit my blank big and as close to the edges I can get. I want my sayings to be seen so they are usually bold and stand out.

I cut the vinyl, remove the lettering, apply the transfer tape and situate it on the blank.  Here’s a tip and the reason why I spray my blank before I create my design.  When you paint (spray or brush) an item, it is best to give the paint a day or up to a week to cure.  That way when removing the adhesive it is less likely it will pull your paint off.  Some people say sand your piece or clean it with tsp.  Those work fine sometimes but it still doesn’t work all the time.  Just take your time and let it dry.

Peel that transfer paper back and you have your stencil for your chalk application.

WHY I USE LIQUID CHALK.

The one thing I don’t like about chalk sticks or chalk pens is the holidays it leaves when coloring in. So I found the Martha Stewart liquid chalk dauber applicator.  This white chalk goes on so smoothly and fills the area so cleanly.  I just wish it came in other colors besides white. I’M A COLOR PERSON!

Now for the liquid chalk making. So my quick remedy for this is to scrape my sidewalk chalk color crayons with my X-acto blade creating a powder.

I add a little drop of water and start mixing the colored powder, I then add a couple of drops of rubbing alcohol to the mix.  The rubbing alcohol evaporates the water allowing the chalk to dry quicker than it would with just water.  Now as long as the mixture doesn’t have a gritty appearance (if it does I use the end of a chopstick or the end of my bone folder).

Then I just brush it on.  After the chalk dries you may need to do another application to get the color to show.  Some areas I applied to much and others not enough. After it all dries you can take a dry brush and knock off the areas there may be to much.  Make sure you do this before removing your vinyl because you might need to add if you knock off to much.  Once you are satisfied of how your lettering is looking then you can peel back your vinyl.

On the God bless America sign I used the Martha Stewart Liquid Chalk for the word God and the stars.  I love how this product works with stencils.  The words bless and America were done using the Crayola Side Walk Chalk and rubbing alcohol.  When you peel the vinyl back you will get a little chalk debris but can easily be blown off with an air can.

Why I redo furniture.

Been debating about posting this for the last few days, but I think posting may bring out an understanding that many may not have for those of us that repaint furniture.

For seven years I was a divorced mother of three very active boys.  Remember the van commercial of the mother that drove from one activity to another?  Well that was me for many years.  The first and second (boys) are two years apart and the second and third are 14 months apart. So we had a lot of crossover in activities.  Thank goodness for my family they were my rock when I needed it.

Being THAT single mom, you learn to cut back and THRIFT for your home.  My first thrift purchase, I will never forget, was a dining table for only $30 and it was a Lane.  It was different than anything I had seen, very sturdy and most of all my small family would fit around it.  Since I was crazy running from pillar to post with the boys activities my Mom offered to take it home with her and refinish it.  She too was a single mom of three. The next time I laid eyes on it, it looked brand new.  Instantly loved it and my Mom for taking the time to do it for us. (She is always the best).  I still have the table, unfortunately it is now covered in some of my craft pieces but it is still a part of the family.

Over the years I have bought several dressers, side tables, lamps and what nots for our home from thrift stores because money was tight. In fact all of the pieces I have bought are still used in our home or the boys new homes.  I guess that’s why I got into repainting  or repurposing furniture.  The boys are all very independent and out of the house and I had nothing to keep my personal life busy.  I did remarry in 2008 to a man (I call him The Huny) that is a do it yourselfer too.  The Huny, well he handles the mechanical side of things. Which compliments my artistic sid very well.

So now that I have given you some background as to how I got into this business/hobby of mine I will get to the point of this post.  (Sorry I digressed a little).

The other day I was “fluffing” one of the booths we have in a local store and a customer comes in and begins to look over a primitive piece we refreshed. 

Insert story of this piece:

I loved this piece when I saw it (white granite top not part of the piece);  it had great bones, sturdy and heavy.  It was dirty, grimey with pieces and parts missing along with a few nicks and dings. We still saw the potential in it.  It may not come out as it once was but it would be just as good.

I immediately started cleaning it (I use vinegar and water to clean my pieces, nothing more). Oh what it revealed; was beautiful Tiger Oak wood (sorry no pics of the after cleaning, I’m really bad about that). I removed the hardware and part of the door piece and the last half of the back of the middle cubby and started sanding everything and every where.  I kept thinking what could I do to salvage this piece to re-stain it.  With all of the chips and nicks most of it couldn’t be refinished. So I saved what I could for staining and then painted the rest.

Now back to the original story:

I spoke up “This is my favorite salvaged piece.”  She agreed it was pretty and that she loved the wood.  We talked a little about the design for storage and what not.  She then says

“If I purchase it I will strip it and stain it, like it originally was.” 

I will admit instantly I was taken back by the statement and thought did she just tell me that?  Instead of being offended and blurting out my feelings of how dare you!  I said.  “Oh I so wish I was able to do that for this piece but there were so many nicks, dents and chunks missing on the body we applied filler in many of those places for it to have a clean refreshed look when it was painted.  The top and the drawer front were the only two places we could stain since we could sand to remove any bad blemishes.”  Needless ta say the piece didn’t go home with her. 

I know that some people will repaint a great piece to change it up in their décor and that is perfectly fine.  However, I buy pieces that need a lot of repair and some of that repair does not hide well with stain. So the next  best thing is to paint it.  I do not buy cheap, poorly put together pieces. Most of us in the industry will not buy a piece of furniture unless it is well built; dovetail assembly, heavy, sturdy, etc.

So when you are looking at a piece of repainted or repurposed furniture just know we did the best we could to bring it back to life in some form or fashion.  Just because it looks good painted or repurposed now; could mean that it was a broken down piece before.

 

 

Checkout some of our pieces on our Facebook pages

Flirtin’ with Furniture or Weathered & Worn

 

 

 

 

 

Seems like the busy keeps on coming.

I expanded from custom painting of furniture to painting and selling furniture through a booth.  I rented space through a local store for awhile, realized life was a little bit more busier than I could handle by myself.  So I met my now partner in crime Lisa.  We are a match made in heaven, he he.  It’s crazy how much we are a like but different.  If it weren’t for her there is no way I could be back in a booth.

Our business is Weathered & Worn located within the Funky Monkey Vintage Store in Madison, Alabama.  So if you happen to be in the area stop in and see Darlene and Todd (the owners) and let the know you heard about them from here.  Here are a few pieces we’ve done.

The beautiful drum table painted in Cece Caldwell’s Thomasville Teal.

Our sign for the booth.

This red three sided console painted in Annie Sloan paint.

This shabby painted sitting chair.

I love this kind of busy.  Oh yeah if you are eyeing those funky coral end tables they are awesome.

Fabulous Coral end tables

A project out of the ordinary…

At a friends request I have stepped out of the painted furniture and vinyl application for a little gift project. The making of a snow globe.  My friend has been looking for a snow globe with chickens inside. Yes that’s right chickens.

So off I went looking for the instructions and recipe to make a snow globe with chickens.  Found many posts about the How-to.  With those posts in mind and a few of my own ideas spinning, I set off to find items that I would use to make this globe.

 Supplies to get started

• A jar of your choosing, (just make sure you can get all of your items on the lid).
• Items to create your scene (in this one we will use rocks and chickens and paint)
• Glitter
• Glycerin (found in craft stores or pharmacies)
• Water proof glue (marine glue is probably the best)
• Oil based paint

My first search has been the chickens, the best thing I thought of were the plastic figures

you can get at Tractor Supply or Michael’s of farm and wildlife animals.  But in this case I happen to stop at the Hammer’s in Tullahoma, TN and came across a rooster, and some chickens.

 

My next search was to find a jar that would house these lovely chickens.  Since I wanted three chickens in the globe I needed to make sure I had a large enough jar to display them.  So wide mouth jar was what I needed to find.  I also wanted to find a jar that had more of a “globe” look not a mason jar look.  I found two jars different heights at Hobby Lobby. So of course I picked the larger one.

After reviewing all the “how-to” posts there was one thing that I didn’t really like on all of the handmade snow globes scenes were low to view.  So I decided I would build mine up to more of a platform.  With my jar in tow I was now on a mission to find something to help lift the figures up into view of the globe. My search paid off.  I used the lid to one of Micheal’s small plastic paint can and the lid of a small pickle jar. Making sure that the lids stacked on top of each other fit within the jar opening.  I used a water resistant quick dry glue to attach these two lids together.

Jar from Hobby Lobby. Small paint can and lid from Michael’s. Small pickle jar lid (from my neice)

My pickle lid covered in small rock pieces.

I needed to cover the pickle jar lid and create a grass like texture for the ground. So I covered the pickle lid with small rocks that I found in the train section of Hobby Lobby. I went out into my own yard and found a rock so that I could perch my rooster on top.  I really wanted to put a more dimension to the view inside this globe. Again using the water resistant quick dry glue to apply all the rocks.  After gluing the lids together and the rocks to the lid I let it cure for 24 hours.  Want to make sure that it doesn’t come apart while sitting in the water all day.

 

 

 

 

Here is the platform after applying Design Masters Color Tex

Next step is to create a grassy plot for my little chick-a-dees to stand.  I found this wonderful texture paint called Color Tex by Design Master. Love it!! It coats the platform so well. (Looks like icing on cake).

My little rooster looks like he is king sitting so proudly on his perch.  I let the paint dry for 24 hours.  So right here is where I worried whether or not all of this application will with stand sitting in water all day long. So I went a step further after letting the paint dry.  I decide to paint on some silicon (any tube of clear silicon will work), all over the painted platform.  Again let it dry/cure for 24 hours.

Also if you haven’t notice if you decide to do my way for a gift you will definitely need a week to get it complete.  So far we are on night three for process of the project.

Adhering the chickens to the platform.

We are approaching the home steps.  Adhering the chickens to their permanent position.   Let them dry.  Fill your jar with distilled water.  I filled the water to the bottom of the neck of the jar.  I added white and iridescent glitter then added glycerin.  Do NOT add a lot of glycerin at this point. Add the glycerin and stir the mixture and watched the glitter fall.  If your glitter falls too fast add a few more drops until the glitter falls slowly.  I put a lot of white glitter in this one because I love a good blizzard. (Well in the globe at least).

Wipe off the rim and thread area of your jar to remove any glitter and water.  The bottom platform piece has a lip that  rests on top of the lip of the jar when put in position.  Apply marine glue to the lip of the platform and place it in position on the jar.  Now apply a bead of marine glue to the inside of the jar lid I placed my bead below the lowest thread. That way the glue would not push out when the lid was tightened.  We want to make sure that the globe leaks.  At this point do not turn the globe “up right” this glue will need to cure for at least 24 hours.

So let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

 

Shame on me…

I know I know I think I fell off the face of the earth too. It has been a really crazy year. Last year at this time (pretty much the last time I posted). We had two graduating, well one graduating and one trying to get there. He took a long detour to graduate but he did and we are proud that he finished what he started. Another was promoted tonight shift manager. Our youngest started his Junior year in high school and football season was a busy season. By Christmas we were exhausted and ready for a new year.

The new year brought a cold winter for us here in The South. A few snow days and the whole place shuts down. If you are not familiar with The South then you should know that we don’t stock up on winter vehicles or salt piles. There’s just no need, we don’t get snow like the mid-west or northern states. Thank goodness we are now into Spring.

We have been busy with vinyl applications and painting furniture.  A few custom jobs and some projects that I have been working on. One of the projects is window art with vinyl application. I absolutely love Winnie the Pooh and a friend had asked for this quote. So I painted and distressed the window using Cece Caldwell’s Vintage White with Aging dust (heavy on the dust).

 

You Are My Sunshine designed in the “subway art” layout with yellow and silver vinyl.  the window is painted in Cece Caldwell’s Mesa Sunset (1st layer) and California Gold (top layer), with darkening wax.

One thing there is there are many beautiful quotes and lullabies that mean something to someone.  Hang them in your child’s room, the great room or game room.

Your designs can be as endless your imagination.

And the addiction continues

So after I had the wonderful nerve-racking experience with dresser for a friend in chalk paint I decided that I was going to do a piece the way I wanted to do it.  I love color so I did some color research on the internet looking for that ooooohhhh aaaaaahhhh style furniture and I found a lovely dresser in what I call a turquoise and red color.  I then went out to the popular clay/chalk based paint suppliers and looked for something very similar in color.  I found the paint colors I wanted to use from the Annie Sloan collection.  I went with Florence (turquoise) and Emperor’s Silk (red).  Just love the names of the colors she has.  I nick-named this project the Emperor of Florence. 

I found my little piece of furniture that was in desperate need of reloving, at a local thrift shop for a good penny.  It was a sound piece of furniture just not pretty.  So I don’t have a real good “Before” picture, but here are a few pictures of it after removing the varnish, gum and all else that was on it. 

 

Here we have started taping it off to begin painting it. We started with red as the base coat.  I love this red.

Annie Sloan paint seems to lay really well on the piece.  We covered everything from the desk to the interior and exterior of the drawers.  (Drawers are just beyond the desk in this picture).

 We let this dry for an hour. Then we changed up the paint to Annie Sloan’s Florence.  Isn’t this just a beautiful color.  It reminds me of Destin Beach Florida with its cool blue ocean water.  Now remember we are applying our paint with a paint sprayer so it is thinned out just a bit so we have applied at least three coats to make sure the red is completely covered.

This is my first time using Annie Sloan Paint so her directions are slightly different.  With hers you paint then apply clear wax and then distress.  I like this technique because it helps keep the dust down from sanding since it is weighted with the wax. So I started hitting the high wear areas of the desk.

I just love how that red just pops with the turquoise.

I once I get all my areas worn down I apply the dark wax to give it a more aged look. If you have added to much dark wax use more clear wax over it to thin it out.  Once I got it to my liking it was time to buff it out.

Now for the top of the desk I decided to go with a dark stain but not as deep as I did with the side tables.  It is the same stain I just didn’t let it soak as long as I did on the other project.  I really wanted the distressed wear of the top to come out in the stain.

 I put three coats of Satin Polyurethane since it is a high wear top. 

 

Here is the finish product, I hope you love it (or like it) as much as I do.

If you would like to see more of the furniture I have done please check me out on Facebook under Flirtin’ with Furniture.

My first experience with Chalk paint.

Recently I painted some end tables that my husband’s uncle made for us.  Here is a picture of them.  I did them in the “shabby chic,” with everyday latex paint. I bought a sample jar at Home Depot of a lime green color. The top stained dark with Rustoleum Kona Wood Stain.  Then I covered the tables in Rustoleum Matte finish.  I love the way these turned out.

So I bragged a little bit to my friends of how these turned out and how much fun I had.  After seeing my tables, one of my friend’s mentioned she had bought a dresser for her daughter that she absolutely hated.  The dresser was perfect size and capacity but the color didn’t match the other furniture she had in her room.  Her bed frame was done in the shabby chic white and the bedside table.  So I volunteered to change the dresser.

I gathered my moving crew and went over to her apartment and picked up the “ugly” dresser.

Well my friend was right not badly built but not my cup of tea either.  First to go are those knobs.  Reagan was able to give me a part of her poster bed.  So I loaded it up and took it home, along with my moving crew.

Reagan had mentioned that she would love for the bed to be done with chalk paint. I’m sure my eyes went big when she said that.  I have only read books and watched Youtube videos of how to’s for using chalk & clay base paints.  So I went to a local shop that sells Cece Caldwell paints and took part of the bedpost that I am to match.  The young lady was very helpful with information and paint that would end up matching that of the poster bed.  So off I go nervous as heck hoping I can do this, and I will get this to match.

For a few days I did a lot of research on the Cece Caldwell paint, from watching you tube videos to reading blogs of people who use her paint to sell shabby chic style furniture.  Make sure you do your home work on the chalk & clay paint brand you choose because the process is quite different.

So I had my paint and I had my knowledge now how am I going to apply it.  Brush or spray.  I wanted so bad to spray the item but worried how much would I have to put towards a sprayer that would get the job done and last through many more.  More research.  Thank goodness I have a handy-dandy husband because he turned out to be very knowledgable in this area.  He found one at Harbor Freight and HVLP sprayer. We read the reviews and found a youtube video.  Many reviews said they loved this sprayer and if theirs broke tomorrow they would go back and buy another.  The price was another perk for getting this sprayer (around $120). 

We do a couple of test sprays and find our ratio for the water to paint viscosity. 

With chalk paint you do NOT have to strip the furniture down to bare wood. Just clean your piece of furniture with soap and water, mostly to remove residue.  Then you just start painting. 

So here is a drawer with three coats of paint.  Yes I said three, remember the paint is thinned out to get it through the nozzle.

After your paint dries it is time to distress it and with Cece Caldwell paint distressing is soooooooo simple. NO SANDING is necessary.  Dampen a cloth (I used a t-shirt cloth) and just rub the areas you want to distress.  With this dresser there are a lot of edges so those were the first thing I rubbed, then I took a small scraper and scraped off some paint on the smooth flat surfaces. I worked on the drawers and then put them back in the dresser and worked on the body.  I didn’t want to over do it just to stay in line with the bed I was trying to match.

Here is the post next to the dresser before I apply the wax and top coat.  I was so excited how close this paint was to the bed post I was trying to match.  I applied the wax and topcoat. 

Now just a little advice that I will pass on that my local Cece Caldwell paint expert passed on was to apply the wax and wait until the next day to buff. Boy did I learn this lesson the hard way.  I applied the wax and when I went to buff it (apparently I didn’t wait long enough) a big spot of paint came off. I was not happy and mostly worried. Again my Cece rep was wonderful with asking questions.

The last thing to do was find some fantastic knobs to go on this beautiful dresser.  These beautiful knobs she found at Anthropology. I love the glass with the rustic metal behind it. 

 

 

Remember the drawer I thought I screwed up by buffing it to soon after applying the wax. Well it turned out perfect.

We delivered the piece back to Reagan and she loved it, it now looked like a true piece of the bedroom suite.

 

 

 

A few vinyl projects

So many projects this past three weeks. We will start with my vinyl projects that had a couple of weeks boom. It’s the beginning of baseball/softball Spring season here in Northern Alabama and one of my sister’s has a daughter, Chloe, that plays softball so with my crafty vinyl imagination I created magnets or stickers for softball and baseball fans.

So (with my family connection) I had orders for magnets for baseball and softballs.  

Then  had requests for volleyball and dance magnets.

The next vinyl application I worked on was for my other sister. She also has daughters and they live on a farm, small-scale, but she does have goats, pigs and horses. She found a cute t-shirt online, that had a saying on it for cowgirls. Now I like the vinyl application instead of the screen printing.  (Yes, I tried screen printing and that is a lot of work, but that is for another time).  The only thing that I have to keep in mind when I’m ready to cute out the vinyl for the t-shirts is that the art work/words have to be mirrored.

So I did this shirt for one sister and her daughters.

My other sister (I’m the middle of three girls and I am also the only one with sons) wanted a t-shirt designed for her youngest daughter.

Her youngest daughter has taken on racing.  For those of you racing cars or carts, in this case, is very popular in the South.  And just like her daddy she has the need for speed.  We adapted the expression “She gone” from the Duck Dynasty group. Of course we had to have her signature colors pink and yellow to make it all work.

Well my last project of heat transfer vinyl to an item was for my youngest son, 16,  for his trip to Germany (and for the record, yes, I am very envious).  Since he will be traveling all over Germany for 16 days in May I personalized this little cinch sack for him to take snacks in. He’s a football player so he is always snacking.

I absolutely love creating and designing personalized items for people.  Vinyl is such an easy application to make personalized items for someone special.