China hutch to buffet

I had to hardest time trying to decide what to do with this, super ugly china hutch!

It all started when I got these free table, chairs and hutch from good ol Craigslist in November

(the top hutch is upside down) This was after i took off some of the ugly hardware.

and this lovely matching table!

At first I was going to refinish it to a dark stain

 as you can see from the one drawer, this would have worked nicely. Except the sides were made out of pressed board with like a paper fake wood finish... staining was a no go! Not to mention the top of the buffet is counter top laminate. So then I decided to paint it white and distress it and sell it.

Then some time went by and I still havent done anything to it. Then..

I got these great free chairs off of, yep Craigslist! Which gave me an idea!

So I decided to scratch the top hutch and just use the buffet, I headed over to walmart to pick up

some laminate couter top paint for the top, and im in love with the two tone look of furniture, so I decided to go with antique beige for the bottom.

But the most important thing for this project was the primer

You CAN paint paper fake cheap furniture!! its all in the primer. this stuff is great because it sticks to anything and leaves a nice service for paint to stick! Plus you dont have to sand!!!!!!!!

Anyways since the sides of the buffet were that cheap crap i used this over the whole thing! with no sanding!

I did 2 coats of primer, and 2 coats of antique beige. Use a high density foam roller, the kind for cabinet painting, and a foam brush for the tight areas. P.s. I hated painting these doors!! PIA!!

 I sanded the nicks out of the top edge since that part was real wood. I also used wood filler to fill in any real bad scratches and holes since I used new hardware... well kinda. I never throw away drawer pulls, so I went to my drawer full of pulls and picked out 2 I loved for this look, spray painted them flat black, along with the orginal knobs AND hinges. Dont be scared to spray paint hinges, they will still work and move fine.

I preped the top as the instructions indicated, and used my foam roller to apply the counter top paint, I did 2 coats. This stuff SMELLS!! so make sure its nice enough to have PLENTY of ventilation! (i dont know how anyone can stand to actually paint their counter tops inside!) It takes 3 days to cure, I gave it 5 or 6 before bringing it in because it still smelled a little.

I drilled the new holes for the pulls. and....

TA DAH!!! I LOVE IT SOOOO MUCH!!

(I had a hard time hanging the doors back on by my self so the right door doesnt have the hinges on it yet, waiting for hubbs help or someone older than a 7 year old for help lol)

SO, I had a completly blank slate when it came to my dinning room, I picked a starting point in my design, I chose to decorate around my FREE dinning chairs that are black and ivory.

 which look completly awesome together!

The decorations are from non other than dollar tree and goodwill!! and the picture was my husbands

love the barnwood frame.

....and for that ugly table... it'll be done soon :)

p.s.s I saved the top of the hutch for another project soon to come!

Linking to Primitive & Proper

Old drab shoes to Fab shoes!

Fabulous is one of my favorite describing words :) Fabulous fabulous fabulous!

SO who has old worn out shoes that look like these?

These were headed to the trash can, and then I had an idea! My daughter needed shoes to go with her out fit for her upcoming pageant. I didnt want to spend any more money than I already had. So I took some scrap fabric from her out fit (my mom made), some mod podge, and hot glue.
Give the shoes a good cleaning and let dry.

First I got out my handy dandy seam ripper and went to work on the bows.



Make sure to get all the strings.

Seperate the sole from the shoe very carefully. Use and exacto knife and lightly score the sole line.

Hold the sole and pull on the shoe until its a cm or 2. Youll tuck the fabric in here so it needs to be deep enough to glue back down and not show the glue.



Cut a piece of fabric big enough to cover the whole shoe.

Next cut up the center of the fabric 1/4 of an inch from the top edge.

Get your Mod podge, i used the shine finish kind.

Center your fabricon the toe, brush a good amout of mod podge on the shoe. It will squish through the fabric which is fine because in the last step you will coat the whole shoe in it anyway. Let it dry enough so it doesnt slip around. Trim the over hang flesh with the bottom of the sole.

This part is kinda tricky. smooth out as much wrinkles as possible and tuck the ends between the sole, keeping the folds between the shoe and sole as much as possible.

 Cut slits in the top of the fabric about a cm from the edge, this allows you to fold it under with out it creasing.

continue to glue the fabric to the sides of the shoe, when you get to the back of the shoe lay one edge flat and glue it down. Then fold the other side in 1/4 in and glue it down, that way the seam wont fray. Make sense? sorry no pic of that step, im sure youll figure it out!

 

next cover the whole shoe in a good thick amount of mod podge this seals the shoe. I used my finger to spread the it around. Alough I would stay away from water while wearing these. Let dry,

Then hot glue the sole back down and

TA DAH!!! arent they so stinkin cute?? and easy!! these coast $0 and are the perfect thing for her outfit!!

Ugly candles to Fabulous

Do you have old ugly broken candles laying around or on their way to the trash? Like this one?

I will show you how easy it is to give them new life!

You will need:

candle

cardboard foil lined container (like planters peanuts)

or a wax lined mike carton

or a glass jar if you want a jar candle

stove

old cooking pot (you will be melting the wax in this)

pan bigger than the old cooking pot

tape

clothes pin

sissors

cooking spray

The best way to melt the candle is with a double boiler. Place the old pot inside the bigger one.  Fill the bottom pan with water just full enough to touch the bottom of the melting pot. Bring water to a boil, turn heat down to med. Remove the bottom sticker from the candle and place in the top pan.

Depending on how big your candle is will determine how long it takes to melt, obviously! This one was pretty big and took about an hour to melt.

Once its completly melted, use a clothes pin to pick out the wicks to reuse.

Lightly spray the inside of the foil lined canister with cooking spray.

Place a tape over the top to hold the clothes pin. Place the wick in the clothes pin to hold it in place while it dries.

Carefully pour the melted wax into the mold. Leaving about and inch and a halft from the top. Be sure to save about a cup or 2 of wax for filling the candle later.

Let cool completly this takes several hours and varies depending on the size.

Now the mistake i made was taking it out of the mold before it was completly cooled. this is what happened. This is called shrinkage, which happens during most candle making its no big deal, as long as its in the mold still.

so LEAVE IT IN THE MOLD UNTIL ITS COOL. and the shrinking has finsihed.

remelt the remaining wax and pour it over the candle again just enough to over the whole top.

let cool again. a third pour may be needed, just keep repeating until its flat on top!

I had to do 4 pours with these candles, they had really bad shrinkage!!

Next removing the mold is a little tricky, cut the mold down to just above the candle. Then just tear it down in a spiral motion all the way down and the candle should pop out!

TA DA!!!

Happy candle making!!

Dollar tree is one of my favoriate stores, they sell 2-3 inch x 2 inch pillar candles you could buy 3 or 4 and make one big candle for half the price if you were to buy it!

you can also add fun designs to your candles! which ill show you soon!

Because you suggested it a million times

Since everyone is wanting me to blog my craft projects, I figured it could be fun. Although I suck at writing and spellling BEWARE HAHAHAHA!!!!

First ill be showing you how I turned a dresser into a bench. But for now its time for dinner