Long Weekend, Pear Painting

Hi Friends!  We took a long weekend and went to Ocean City, MD. The girls love it there because the boardwalk has tons of rides that are just right for Molly. It's a fun, short vacation.  Since I'm a Jersey Girl I find I prefer our beaches but that being said, Ellie enjoyed the ocean and Molly built sand castles. Really, what more do you need?

Here are some pics. Molly rode the rides. Ellie ate pizza.

Then we came home and I painted a pear.

 

I know it's a little small for the space but I like it there and I may do a second, companion piece. Maybe an apple?  Two pears?  A partridge in a pear tree?  HA!

Cheers!
Jenny

DIY Mercury Glass

I have been trying to find a store around here that stocks Krylon's Looking Glass spray paint for months now. I love all the DIY mercury glass projects out there that you all are doing and felt woefully deficient as a DIY blogger that I hadn't done one yet. I mean I mastered the tissue paper pouf, the ruffle wreath, and the monogrammed pillow, but I hadn't yet made my own mercury glass. sniff. And y'all were kinda rubbin' it in with all your "Hobby Lobby this" and "Hobby Lobby that." We don't have Hobby Lobby here. We have Taylor Ham (pork roll), full service gas stations only, and farms (did you know that? NJ is crazy filled with farms) but no Hobby Lobby. It's ok though. You didn't know.

Anyway, I finally found it at my not-so-local Ace Hardware! Oh yeah, rock on with my bad self. So I grabbed those $2.50 candle holders I bought at Target and WHOOPS. So I grabbed the one $2.50 candle holder I bought at Target and made my own mercury glass. I heard you whisper "finally" under your breath.

I used a combination of tutorials I found on the world wide web.

 Mix up equal amounts of vinegar and water. Spray your whatever with a bottle or your fingers.  I used fingers. Don't over wet your object. The drops are where the inconsistencies in the shiny parts will be.

I used 5-6 coats of Krylon's Looking Glass spray paint. This paint is thin and goes on quickly. I used short, light sprays.

Coat 1

Coat 2

Coat 4

 Then I used a few tissues to blot the droplets. The paint will come off wherever the droplets are. I also rubbed in a few areas to have larger areas where the color will peep out and look inconsistent. I then sprayed more paint here and there so it wouldn't look even.

I am really happy with it and need to get back to Target to get another.

And this paint is a ton of fun to play with!  What else can I turn into fake mercury glass?  I wonder...

Cheers!
Jenny

Link Party # 41

We're busy getting ready to spend the weekend in Ocean City, Maryland!  Molly adores the boardwalk and the rides. She is a huge daredevil and the faster and whippier the ride the better. Meanwhile, I say silent prayers as she whirls and flips and flies,  and then breathe sighs of relief at the end of each and every ride.  We'll see how Ellie will do. Will she be like me and be content to watch Molly (and Jim to be honest) fly around the world in a little teacup or will she be manning the wheel? 

I hope you all have beautiful, fun, feet-on-the-ground weekends! 

Now let's party!  I'm so happy to see so many familiar faces each week. If you have a friend that you think would enjoy linking up, I'd be so happy if you'd remember my little party and let them know!  : )  Ok, enough of that. Let's see your Latest and Greatest Friday Party #41 masterpieces!!

Features!

I'm sorry this won't be a wordy post but it's been a loooooong day. No need to go into the gritty details but let's just say that Ellie is VERY lucky to still be here to reek havoc another day!  : )

LOVED so many links this week but here are some of your (and my) faves! Thanks for linking up!

Kathe With An E

Thrifted Bedside Table

Tattered and Inked

Kids Bathroom Makeover

Simply Vintageous

Side Table Makeover

Silver Pennies

Scarlet and Cornish Striped Table

On The Design Lane

Bedroom Makeover

Alderberry Hill

Beach Cottage Corner

Cheers!

Jenny

Ball Fringe Pillow Tutorial

Do you like ball fringe?  I love it!  I think ball fringe helps stuffy things not take themselves so seriously. It is a bit silly and carefree and I like to use it in drips and drabs around the house.

I used it on Molly's bed crown because it was the same fringe that is on her curtains so it worked. Plus a bed crown can be somewhat stiff and formal looking to me and this little bit of ball fringe makes it softer, sillier, more like my girl.

I was rummaging through my stash and came across some large black ball fringe I've had for probably 8 years or so. Time to get rid of it by sewing it on some pillows!  Sewing on ball fringe is a pain but it's not a hard process so go for it!

If you want to add trim to a pillow the important thing to remember is to sew it on the RIGHT side of one your fabric pieces with the trim facing the middle of the fabric.  Then sew your right sides together.

Right side of one piece of my pillow fabric. See how the fringe is facing toward the middle?

Now that it's all on, just put your right sides together as you normally would.

It's a little tricky to sew the second piece on because the balls get in the way but just push them to the side and sew slowly.

I did a simple envelope closure. I hemmed two separate pieces and sewed them on so that they overlapped a bit. I just eyeballed it all so I don't have measurements but basically I made one shorter piece and a longer piece.

I love linen and black together. I think I may put a monogram in the middle. Or maybe something for the fall like a pumpkin or leaves?  What do you think?

Cheers!
Jenny

Target Bargains

Don't you love Target?  I went there the other day to return something and ended up scoring some cool stuff way on sale or in the dollar bins.  Cool, right?  Don't you love when that happens?    Check out my loot!

Large white rook (possibly a candle holder???)--$2.50

Large candle holders--$2.50

I plan on spraying these with the Krylon Looking Glass spray paint

.

Going to try to make them look like mercury glass. We'll see!

Privet House white plate-- $1.18 (EEEEEP!)

Here's how the plate wall is coming along. Little by little, right?

OMgosh. That looks puny!  Need more plates!

And Target is having a Cyber Sale Week until July 28, 2012!  Shwing! 

Then I headed over to Joann's Fabric and grabbed this stuff on sale too!  Each spool of ribbon cost me either $0.97 or $1.97!  I got orangey burlap ribbon, cream and brown damask, double faced medium width light brown satin, 2 spools of wide double faced red, and a large spool of wide double faced dark brown ribbon.

In the remnant bin I found some cream burlap, natural linen, orange satin, and some other sort of natural colored cottons and none were more than $6.00. The orange chevron was not on sale but I am planning on making some fall pillows for the living room with it.

So have you done some bargain shopping lately?  Show me what you've found!

Cheers!
Jenny

Features and Link Party #40

Thanks to you all for linking up each week. I always appreciate it and hope you continue to find it worth your while!  I know I really love looking through all the links each week.  Here are some favorites!

Katie {Did} It

Faux Metallic Letters

So cool. I can't believe those aren't metal!

Yellowcloth

Men's Shirt to Cute Shirt

Brilliant!

Kathe With An E

Thrifting Treasures

Such fun treasures! 

Back 4 Seconds

Skinny Caramel Trifles

Holy Moly. Yes please!

Fancy That Notion

Electric Lemonade

This looks so refreshing!

Now it's time for Latest and Greatest Friday Link Party #40!

Smocked Drop Cloth Curtains

Let's lead with a picture, shall we?

Recently I fell in love with some burlap smocked curtains. I couldn't get my mind off of them.  Kari Anne at Thistlewood Farms introduced us. See, she has them in her dining room and that's how we fell in love. Have you visited Thistlewood Farms?  You should. You'll never want to live any place else. Her style is perfection.

But the curtains are $200 a piece. OUCH. What could I do?  Take my basic drop cloths in the dining room and smock 'em you say?  Why don't mind if I do!  Mind you they don't look as much like the original as I had planned but I'm still working on it. My plan is to smock two more and double the widths.

I used a tutorial I found at Tumbling Blocks for honeycomb smocking or pleating. It's the best tutorial!


It was easy and a little time consuming but really no big deal. I will try to double the widths in the next few weeks.

As always I'll keep you up to date. I really need to finish a project to show you. I'll smock my little fingers off to get these really done for you.

Cheers!
Jenny

Chevron Lamp Makeover: Katie {Did} It

Every so often one of my favorite things happens. Someone sees my little "Get Featured" button, clicks on it, emails me with some fantastic project they have completed, and then they allow me to share it on my blog. I find this so fun and exciting because I love getting to know you all in a way other than "Great job!  Love the colors you used!"  The other day Katie at Katie{Did} It emailed me this awesome lamp makeover and I am so happy to have her today as a guest blogger to show us how she did it!  Didn't she do a great job?  I love the colors she used!  (ha ha ha!  couldn't resist. well, it's true too.)

 
Hello Days of Chalk and Chocolate readers! My name is Katie and I blog over at Katie {Did}It! I am so super excited to be here today! I love to read Jenny's blog, and I am thrilled that she has let me be a part of it today. Thanks Jenny!

So at first I wasn't really sure if I was on board with the Chevron thing... I have to be honest... But over time, it's kinda grown on me. I don't like a ton of it, like on rugs or things, but a little flare of it is nice. And I had this old lamp and lampshade that was in serious need of a makeover. So it got one! I saw this on Pinterest, and I decided I would give it a try.

Now, I have to be honest about this project... It kind of irritated me. I don't have tons of patience, and I'm also an 'eye ball' it kind of girl... I don't really like to measure, and luckily for me, eye balling it usually works. But not this time... I got my first two rows done... And it looked down right wonky... Not even close. The hubzy came in from mowing the lawn, looked at me on the couch with this ridiculous taped up lamp shade, and said: "You need to measure it out". I shot him a look, ripped off all the tape, and said (begged with my best puppy dog eyes): "Will you pleaaaaassee do it for me?! You know how I hate to measure!" And he's such a sweetie, he took the lampshade, kissed my forehead, and taped it all up in a matter of a few minutes.

I was just so glad to have it done! What he did to cut the strips, was to measure out one long piece of tape, and then cut strips out of the long piece that were all equal length.

You may also need to trim the part where the points meet up, but most likely you wont have to do that too many times. Once it's all taped up, you can start painting. I grabbed a foam brush, acrylic paint, and went to town. I didn't use a brush stroke method because I didn't want the paint to seep under the tape. I used a dabbing or a pouncing method around the tape edges, and then smoothed it over in the middle of the stripes. It took me a little while because the material on this shade is like a canvas, burlap type fabric which kept soaking it up, so I used quite a bit of paint. I used a whole small bottle of the acrylic paint. I also spray painted the base of the lamp using Krylon's Oxford Blue. *Love It*.

I was not sure that I would like this at all when I was finished... But as it turns out, I LOVE it! There were only a few spots where a little bit of paint leaked under the tape (and luckily it was on the back of the shade!), and other than that, it came out really clean and smooth! I was very pleased with the results.

What do you think? Have you tried any projects with Chevron?

I also plan to paint the little black side table that this lamp sits on... And it too will get just a little bit of chevron on it. But you will have to head on over to my blog for that project!

Thanks again Jenny!  And I'd love for you to visit me at Katie {Did} It!

Stay Crafty My Friends.....
                                      {Katie}