Irwin Quick-Grip Clamp

I have been working on a coffee table for over a month now. I guess you could say I haven't had the time to work on it or that the time just hasn't worked out perfectly with a certain little girl's nap schedule. But, I hope to see this coffee table done soon. 

But, I finally invested in my own clamp and I want to show it off! Really, I would like to recommend it, even though my experience has been limited I can tell we are going to get along.

I really like the ease of use and the effective clamping ability. Thanks to the Irwin Quick-Grip Clamp (and some wood glue), this $1 yard sale coffee table is a little bit closer to being beautiful. 

This clamp can go up to 12 inches and I bought it at Lowes for $17 on sale, which isn't cheap, but I have no buyers remorse thus far. They have all sizes available.

You'll be seeing more of this coffee table hopefully very soon!

~ Chelsea ~

Up-dated Entertainment Center from the 70's!

When I was purchasing this beauty from Goodwill, a man looked at me puzzled and actually asked me why I was buying it. It was kindof funny! After I explained to him that it was solid oak (not one bit of particle board anywhere) and I had an awesome refurbishing vision for it, then he thought that was pretty cool. Also, it was 3 pieces and had wonderful wheels on the bottom which appealed to me for transporting & positioning. Well, here it is all transformed and painted!

I love how my Handy Honey put the beadboard & half-round trim on the doors and some nice molding on the top!
We also had to do a lot of filling with a very strong wood putty in all of the large holes from removing the glass doors, funky lights and tops and bottoms of the doors where the groove was for previous opening. I bought these beautiful pulls at Hobby Lobby, painted them white and then shabbied them up.

Even after cleaning & painting with a high quality primer from Frazee (which we do with all of our whites), this old oak had some desires to still bleed through. We gave it an extra coat of the white satin lacquer which really helped, but we were short on time and not planning to need 3 coats of the lacquer.
We just barely got it all done and sold before we moved. What a blessing!

Do you like it's new French Country/Cottage look?

~*~Lynda~*~

Bye Bye Wobbles!

Let's tighten up this chair!

Since we would be painting this chair it didn't matter if the wood glue dried clear or not.

Just read the bottle to match your needs.

Get it lined up nice and straight with a rubber mallet or padded hammer.

Tighten all of the screws!

Now for the best part ~ My husband took a syrenge that is used to fill ink cartridges and filled it with watered down wood glue. This has been a perfect way to get glue all the way in tight spots. Let it run in and then wipe off any excess. Apply the glue several times and keep watching for runs that you don't want on your wood.

Now clamp it all together and let it dry for at least 24 hours!

We have used this technique on several items and it works great!

~*~Lynda~*~

Shutter Picture Display

I have seen many crafty people make cute decorations using old shutters, so when I stumbled across this shutter at a yard sale for $1, I quickly snatched it and called it mine.

It is a unique shutter because it is so long and narrow, but I was in love and knew I could come up with something to make of it.

First, I spent a while cleaning it up. Then I removed the 2 hinges, filled the nail holes, hand sanded it all down really smooth and spray painted it semi-gloss white. I also spray painted 7 mini clothes pins white and once everything was dry, I hot glued the clothes pins on the edges facing away from the shutter.

This could be used as a picture holder, Christmas card display, announcement board, family home evening chart, growth chart, whatever really. I think it is cute and very versatile.

I also hammered in one small hammer sawtooth hanger on the back for easy hanging.

For now, it is hung up in little Shea's room. It's perfect since she is loving photos of herself right now.

~ Chelsea ~

Little Man Tie Onesie

My husband's cousin is having a baby boy and I wanted to give her something unique as a gift. I love baby boy clothes that look like a miniature version of Daddy, so I decided to make a tie onesie. I wanted it to look more realistic than the appliqued ones that are really popular, so I used the small end of a man tie. I sewed it to look tied. Then I secured it with thread to the front of the onesie.

I Used These Items:
1 White Gerber Onesie
1 Man Tie (from my local 99 cent store)
Fabric Scissors
White Thread
Needle

I Did This:
1. Figure out the appropriate length. Pinch the skinny end of the tie into a gather at that length. Sew through and around the pinch tightly to secure it.
2. Wrap a portion of the tie around and over the pinch you've made. Try to make it look "tied" like a man's tie. Go for a triangle. Pull very tightly to make it small.
3. Before doing the final pass over your "triangle", sew through the layers to keep them tight and in place.
4. Wrap the final layer over the front of the "triangle", covering the sewing you've done.
5. Giving yourself enough extra tie material to fold over and tuck behind the "triangle", cut the excess tie material.
6. Fold the raw end behind the "triangle" and sew it tightly. Make sure no raw edge is popping out and than no threads are visible from the front.
7. You should now have a miniature tie that is nice and tight and secure. Sew this to the front of the onesie going through only one layer of your miniature tie (you don't want to see threads on the front).  Sew a lot on the "triangle" part of the tie and really secure it (especially at the neck).
8. Then, using a basic overhand stitch, sew the tie to the onesie down the middle about half-way down. This will keep it from flipping up and harassing the babies face, but it still looks like it's hanging freely like a real man tie does.

I hope you enjoy this Little Man Tie Onesie. But don't blink, it won't be long before that little one truly is a little man.

<3 Crystal

Quotes

I love having quotes around my house that fill my days and thoughts with good things. So I do, I have many quotes around my house. Here are a few.

On the fridge:

I change out the quote every few weeks.

In the master bathroom:

I painted a glass-less frame from a thrift store and added some fabric of choice to make this interchangeable (Velcro) quote wall hanging. I tightly stretched and attached the fabric to the inside of the frame using hot glue.

In the Family Room:

Vinyl letters. It's a good thing I use a budget, because otherwise my whole house would be covered in vinyl decals! 

There are a few ideas that I enjoy in my house to combine positive messages and decorating. 

~ Chelsea ~

Baby Room Decorating with Fabric

When I found out that I was having a girl for my first child a few years ago, it seems like my mind immediately started decorating her room. I had a lot of fun decorating for a little girl while not spending too much money.

Let's talk about decorations we can make with FABRIC. I love fabric.

Colors and Theme of this room: White, Black and Pink with eyelet and Lilies

I made a curtain/valance for her room first, that I had designed (very simply) in my mind. I didn't own a sewing machine at the time, but I used a friend's and had a lot of help making it come together.

Then, with the leftover fabric, I cut out my little girl's name and attached it to the wall using spray starch. You spray the fabric and stick it to the wall. Once the starch dries, it is up there securely, but can also come down and wash off the wall very easily without leaving any marks. Brilliant, whoever thought of that one.

Then, I got this idea from Make It and Love It, one of my very favorite crafty blogs. Check out Ashley's tutorial on how to cover your light switch with fabric.

I love how this room has evolved. It is my favorite room in the house. 

~ Chelsea ~

A Happy Ending to the Armoire Story

Once upon a time there was this large armoire that needed some love.

The love came in the form of moldings, paint, stenciling, distressing, & glazing!
The stenciled motif is done with gray paint. It gives an awesome taupe color when brown glaze is applied over it. Also, I wanted a little of the pale blue color to show through, so I sanded quite a bit to make that happen and get the heavy distressed look. The brown glaze stuck everywhere that was sanded too.

As the story continues ~ This armoire is made of oak plywood. It is strong and sturdy (after some fix-up). The shelves had an ugly plastic molding on the fronts though.
Of course, that had to come off!

Here is a close-up picture of the new edge. It is a real wood strip that we ironed on.

Then we sanded the edges to get them nice a smooth.

I thought you might like to see my Handy Honey in action! He does a great job!

An outdoor shop has it's challenges though.

I guess every story has to have a villain. On this particular day there were a ton of villains. A sworm of bugs kept flying onto the painted surfaces. Opposition in all things!

The whole armoire was sprayed with a soft white, exterior, satin paint.

Look at this awesome sprayer!

The interior stayed nice and white.

We also sprayed a clear lacquer on everything when completed.

The very happy ending to this story is that we sold it to a gal who was planning to use it in her guest/craft room. I think that sounds like a perfect place to use this now beautiful, armoire!

~*~Lynda~*~