New Website

Well...I am here...finally! It's not that I've been busy with non-crafting things, on the contrary...I've been busy setting up my new business...a Custom Wall Quotes & Signs. Whew...it has taken a while to get it all together, and I am still in the starting stages, but I am operational. I have already done 8 consignment signs in 2 weeks and I am so excited! Please, if you have a moment, check out my new website! http://scrappingcat.wix.com/the-scrapping-cat

Desk Re-Do

LOVE chalk paint...my new thing...after the armoire turned out so well, I thought, "I should paint that desk downstairs, the one with the laquer finish that would otherwise have to be sanded and then painted" Oh yeah...those girls over at Your Funky Junk warned me once you paint with chalk paint, you will be hooked...and they were so right...love it!!!

So here is the desk...hubby had it before we were married 25 years ago...for the longest time it was what we kept the cat food on so the dog wouldn't eat it...and since we moved into this house, it has held my sewing machine...but it is red stained, and it totally needed a color change. Chalk paint...black and cream....would have painted the whole thing black, but was concerned about sewing on a black top, might be hard to see...I don't know...

 When knobs are on sale at Hobby Lobby, we usually pick up some that we like, and I found a set of these in the knob box...yes, we have a box for knobs....lol

 Here is the finished desk...I opted to seal the chalk paint with 2 coats of acrylic polyurenthane, just so the paint wouldn't chip. I love the clean, fresh look it has now...so much better in this space than before.

Chalk Paint Attempt

Been wanting to try chalk paint out for a while now. Of course, here in southern Ontario, no one sells Annie Sloans Chalk paint, so I decided to try making my own. After searching online, I decided to try the paint, water and plaster of paris recipe . ( 1 1/2 cups latex paint, 1/2 cup warm water, 1/2 cup plaster of paris...mix the water and p of p, and stir into paint)It was easy enough to make and I loved how it covered the old armoire without any sanding or prep work. It felt all chalky when dry on my piece.

So here is the said armoire. We picked it up at a yard sale a few years ago, without really anywhere to use it. I didn't even like it. But then we moved to our new old house, and Im sure you know what the closet space is like in older homes...so I graciously told hubby he could have the only closet in our room, and this armoire would be for my stuff. I know what you are thinking....how could you possibly fit a women's wardrobe in this...but I did...anyhow, it is ugly...plain jane....so it was time for a makeover

 Here is the new color scheme...cream left over from basement painting, and light turquoise from my son's room...one coat done!

 Two coats...now, I painted this sloppily,,,every which way, and with lots of paint in some places and not so much in others...watch this video for some help with the hows...

 Here you can see the somewhat sloppy way I painted

 Then once the two coats were done, I stenciled with a dollar store stencil...yup, you read correctly...

 Now came the work. Since we don't have the Annie Sloan products, I bought a paste wax at the local hardware, found it in the cleaning section...they said it was for polishing wood floors...oooook...and I bought some Minwax dark finishing wax. Both products were a lot more solid than what the Annie Sloan seems to be in the above video...but they worked fine. I sanded some edges to get that distressed look.  Firstly, I rubbed the clear wax over an area and then rubbed it off, somewhat, and repeated with the dark wax, until I got the desired effect, and finished with the clear wax. It was not as easy for me as it looked in the video, but then I wasn't using the same products.

Below is the finished piece, and although it didnt turn out 100% like I thought it would, I am mostly happy with it. It is a little blotchy, but it looks a lot better than it did. Added some decore on top and lets call it another finished project!!!

 Here you can see the dark stain rubbed into the detail of the armoire...I love how it looks

Thanks for stopping by...let's see what new trouble I can get into.

Deck the Halls!!!

Ahhhhhhh...its the most wonderful time of the year! I love Christmas...and this year has really been perfect so far...shopping done early, everything decorated...cards made and sent...presents wrapped and under the tree...and all the baking is done.  Its wonderful to have such a relaxed December...being off work has afforded me the pleasure of getting everything done without any stress or time constraints. Just wanted to share my decore for the holidays!

Below is my little village...hubby got most of them on sale on Black Friday many years ago, and since then, we have found a couple at yard sales, and some damaged ones cheap, that of course, were easily fixed.

 This is my "junky" centerpiece. We bought the box (along with about 10 others) from a local guy who had been collecting them for years and finally decided to get rid of them all. Its long and skinny, and even though dh didn't like the box when he first saw it, he now says he's glad "he" bought it, as it fits our long dining room table so well. The apothecary jars...one on the left purchased at St Vincent de Paul for $3.00, the middle one is actually a trifle dish and the last one dh bought at a yard sale. Greenery was cut from some local trees that had been taken down and left in a pile to be removed.

 Dave's parents bought us this nativity set many years ago, and I love how it fits so well in my kitchen window.

 Ahhhhhh...my fireplace. Always wanted a fireplace just so I could decorate it for Christmas...dh put an old barn board on top for some extra width and I kinda like it there. The jars were all made from dollar store glassware...jars and upside down dessert or candle holder...I'm just too cheap to pay for actual apothecary jars.

 Made new stockings this year...had some fabric left over from my new tree skirt, so I thought I might as well make stockings to co-ordinate with my color scheme

 And finally my tree, all fancied up with its new skirt...my colors are chocolate, green and cream...with a large focus on birds. I love it...it makes me happy :)

 Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!

Ruffled Tree Skirt

I saw this ruffled tree skirt a few years ago, and fell in love, but I had just made a new tree skirt to match my new Christmas color scheme...which is green, chocolate and cream. So....then we decide to move...and our new home has higher ceilings than our last house....and my tree looks a little dwarfed. I know, I should just buy a new tree, but I can't seem to find one that is not pre-lit...and really...hundreds of dollars for 1 more foot of height, seems silly. I have a really good quality tree now, so the plan is to put the tree on a box...stay with me now...I'm getting to the point...my tree skirt however, is not large enough to cover the box and down onto the floor....so...yay...I get to make the tree skirt I wanted...the ruffled tree skirt.  I already had some cream linen, I think it was an old tablecloth...and I've never used it, so time to repurpose it. I headed to the fabric store for some chocolate fabric...lucky for me, they were having a sale, buy 1 meter get 2 free. So for 14.00 I walked away with 3 meters of chocolate brown fabric. Do not underestimate how much you need...I didn't use all the fabric I bought, but had enough to make 4 new stockings as well, but thats it.

Started out with a pattern...I used some wrapping paper to cut the shape, or half the shape of the skirt, and although I didn't take a pic...I did cut half a hole in the middle of the long straight edge, which will go around the tree trunk. Size will be determined by what you need...I measured with the box and tree stand, and I needed more than four, not quite 5' in diameter...so I think I settled on 56"

 I used an old sheet for the base...I mean, what are you going to do with a sheet that doesn't match your bedroom decor anyway???

 Then I cut the linen and the chocolate...3" strips...the longer the better. I also decided to zig zag what would be the exposed edge of each strip. I was concerned about fraying over time, so I figured I might as well take care of that issue.

 Starting on the outermost edge, I began hot gluing the strips (after running to the store to purchase a new hot glue gun, as my 20 year old one decided it didn't have another project in it), pinching as I went along. Only a couple of burns...after which I usually exclaim "HOT glue"

 When I came to the end of a strip, but not the end of the row, I put some glue down on the previous strip edge, and put the next strip right side to right side of strip already down and glued...so it looks like another pinch

Stay tuned for a finished product picture on the weekend, when I set up my tree with the new skirt and the new matching stockings.

 Here, as promised, is the finished tree skirt under the tree...I am very happy with the finished product.

Rag Rug - No Sew

Hello, hello...I am so excited to share this project today. Ever since I found Pinterest, I have been wanting to make this project...the Rag Rug, or some posts call them T-Shirt Rugs...I wanted a little one for my main floor 2 piece bath, which has really cold floors in the winter. I had been looking for some rug hooking material all summer, and then last week had a brainstorm after purchasing some anti-slip material for some other rugs...I thought to myself, "well, that looks just like rug hook material" I purchased it at the dollar store and still had a large enough piece to work with. So, my intention was to do a large band of white with the rest being chocolate. I proceeded to mark out the band where the white would go with a marker right on the grip mat. As you can see, the middle would be chocolate, and the outside edge right to the end of the grip mat and the "framed" part would all be white...that WAS the plan...

 I had an old white t-shirt I purchased at a thrift store for the project...and began to cut it up...strips about 3/4" wide x 3" long...lots of cutting...used every bit of the shirt up, the body, and the sleeves

 I had seen on another post, to pull the strips so they curl, but I don't think it is necessary, as they end up looking more like tubes instead of fabric scraps...but I had already done it...so ya gotta stay flexible when crafting.

 I began by doing every "stitch" along the inner line with the white, and I tied each one as I went, cause I figured I will want to wash it and I didn't want it to come apart. It became very clear at this point, what I thought was a huge amount of white strips was not going to go very far...so being flexible again, I opted for the one row of white as shown.

 For the chocolate, I purchased some knit fabric at a local fabric store...I was able to match my ceiling color exactly...yes, yes, my ceiling is chocolate brown. The store had a sale, buy 1 meter get 2 free...so for $8.00 I got 3 meters (1m = 39" for you Americans) Plenty of fabric and figuring I would have some left over for something else....NOT!!! LOL

 You don't have to be particularly careful when cutting the strips, they don't have to be exact, as you can see mine above are not even, you won't even notice once they are on the rug. Then the time consuming part came...all the chocolate knots...now I did every other stitch (I kinda treated the grip mat like cross stitch material) with the chocolate...so I would work row by row...and do alternating stitches...kind of like laying bricks...hope that makes sense. I was plenty thick enough doing every other one.

 At the end of 4 days of tying single knots...not sure how many, but thinking about 2000...I had sore fingers, but it was done. I got the bright idea to "bind" the edge with a long strip of the chocolate, and threaded it in a large needle and as shown in the picture, went through 3 holes all the way around...

 Almost done...just trimmed the excess grip mat...now, in hindsite, I wouldn't have chosen to bind the edge as when you trim it, you end up seeing a strip of the grip mat, which I'm not thrilled about, but binding was a lot of work and I didn't want to take it all apart...so it is what it is...I think if you just leave it and trim to the last row of knotted pieces, you wouldn't see the edge at all...but, oh well, live and learn. Below is the finished rug in my little bathroom...it's perfect...I love how it turned out, even if it wasn't completely the way I intended...thats why you have to be flexible when crafting, roll with the punches...now I can rest my sore and stiff fingers...before starting my next project...the ruffled tree skirt!

Give Thanks!

Made this little Thanksgiving display for my front porch. Yes, us Canucks celebrate Thanksgiving earlier than you Americans...this weekend is the big turkey day for us...and our family certainly has a lot to be thankful for this year. Dave had triple by-pass this summer, and we didn't even know there was a problem...so we are thankful that he did not have a heart attack...from the time he had his stress test to surgery to recovery to home was only 15 days...which we are very thankful for...he didn't have to wait months and months for this, cause he would have kept working and who knows what could have happened. We are also thankful that he recovered so well and is doing amazing now...he is back to work and life has returned to normal again. The thing I am most thankful for is the amazing faithfulness of our Lord Jesus...I could not have done this summer without Him and He continually intervened and got us through. Thankful for our amazing friends who prayed and believed with us for DAve's complete recovery...it has been a challenging summer, but we are on the other side, and I for one, am very thankful!!!

Jewellery/Light Filtering Shutter Display

 So this is my little project. I woke up this morning staring into our master bath, thinking, why have I not covered that window...that morning light is too bright. Then in a whirlwind of a moment, it all came to me..."I could put those old shutter in the window ledge, and THEN I could hang all my jewellery on them...pretty and functional. Mhmmmmmmmm."

The shutters came from a yard sale a couple years ago, 50 cents a piece for 4 of them. Darn good price I'd say. Two I had repurposed as part of a headboard, but still had two left, just begging to be used somewhere in the house. I went a got some satin finish espresso spray paint, and went to work

 Here they are all pretty and painted up

 Oh yeah baby....awesome...love love love. I can see all my jewellery at once. I had hubby drill and install some small silver hooks for things like rings and bracelets and necklaces. I also made some cork pads at the bottom, covered them in fabric, and can stick all my stud earrings in them. I love this...and so quick and simple to put together

 Bonus...tomorrow when I wake up the morning sunshine won't be quite as bright...and...another bonus, is even though hubby insists no one can see in that window, cause its that rippled glass, now I know for sure they can't. LOL...he just rolled his eyes at me...