Primitive Bench

Here's the latest addition to my items for sale in my Booth #555 at the Peddlers Mall. It's a piano bench that I redid into the primitive theme.

And here it was before the makeover:

I first I tried to leave it in the off whiteish/light brown base with sage stars and red writing, and then I hated it!

Next, I painted it all over again in the black and loved it. Especially after I took sand paper and scruffed up all the edges to make it a little worn looking.

And here it is again, the second time I tried, lol. And definitely the best of the two.

Don't forget to like my Booth #555 on Facebook for the latest items!

    And here's a few other things that I'm working on and will be putting in my booth this week, if' you'd like to take a look:  

 

If you'd like to see another one of my piano bench remakes, here's the link:

Old Piano Bench Repurposed

Happy Crafting Ya'll!

DIY Frosted Metal Stars

I am gearing up for winter sales in my booth #555. And am doing a lot of winter projects right now.
Todays post is how I take plain metal stars and paint them to look like they are frosted. I love this effect and its super easy!

Here is the before version, in which I buy these by the gross.Sorry the pic is so off centered. This tablet is taking a lot to get used to.

 First  I bought some Rustoleum spray paint in metallic finish color.

 I sprayed the star in an even coat and allowed it to almost dry.

Then I sprayed it again in another even coat and used a piece of crinkled up tissue paper to dab the wet paint. Giving it a frosted appearance. Don't overdue it. It just takes sparse dabs here n there.
I had zebra themed tissue paper on hand.

And that was really all there was to it. I really love the frosted look. And it gives me a break from constantly stocking the basic colors of red, white and blue stars.

Price for $9.99 in my Booth#555

Sold

THANK YOU!

PRIMITIVE SNOWMEN JINGLE BELLS | Various Styles Over the Years

It's that time of year again! The time that I really start to begin painting more Christmas decorations for my Booth#555 at the Peddlers Mall. I got the Christmas spirit in September, lol.

And today I am starting on a new batch of Snowmen Jingle Bells. I got inspiration for these from the Oriental Trading Catalog. Theirs sale for $16.00 per dozen.

To buy them at $16.00 per dozen to resell wasn't really leaving me any room for profit in my craft booth. So I decided to find the plain jingle bells, same size and paint them. I found a package of 6 at the Dollar General Store for a $1.50. And then after the Christmas sale, I bought all the rest of them for half off! Totally amazing deal! So here's what I have started with:

I seriously buy every box of these I find, especially at the after Christmas sales! I will get around to using them, believe me!

I've came a long way through the years with these. I started making them back in November of 2010. You simply paint a base coat. I hang the hangers on a strip of wire and spray paint a bunch at once. And then just sit and paint on the snowmen in sections. Bodies, heads, arms, clothes, then snowflakes, etc. I do them in sections like that to not have to be changing my paint color much. And a hint is to lay them in egg carton tops, lined with paper towels, to help keep from rolling around. Here's what my first batch ever, looked like:

2010 Batch of Bells

$1.59 each

 

2011 Batch of Bells

Sold for $1.00 each to move faster, it seemed

 

2012 Batch of Bells 

Raised back to $1.59 each since I finished them in wax & began to package them.

These I experimented with dipping them in hot, butter colored wax, after painting. It made a great finish. 

Can't really see it in the pics, but looks pretty good. And the middle one is an old, black crow wearing a santa hat. 

 

Being as I did the extra wax dipping, is why I raised these back to $1.59 each.

2013 Batch of Bells

PHOTO COMING SOON!

Keep in mind, these are great crafts to make and sell. Especially if you find them in boxes of 6 marked down to half price to only $.75cents. That makes you only have like 12cents each in them. Sometimes even less if the sale is bigger. Then just your time to paint with paint you already have, probably. 

They are steady sellers for my craft booth. And with changing the theme a little each year, it makes a great item for people to look for. Sometimes I even put the date on the back of them. When I remember to, that is.

Hope this gives you some ideas to do with those plain ole' jingle bells!

Happy Crafting ya'll,

-Lisa

Primitive Wood Shelf | FAITH FAMILY FRIENDS

I made this simple little wall hanging shelf outta some leftover pieces of pine boards.

They were used earlier by me, to make a concrete cross.

So after I took the frame back out, I knew I could use them for something else as well.

I just started arranging them in no particular order, just trying to piece together something that would look cute. And then after a few here and there mis-licks, I came up with this cute little shelf looking thing. lol.

It looked kinda country, so I decided to just nail it together with some headless nails and add two saw-toothed hangers on the back.

You can see that at the bottom, one of my nails tried to breath through. Oh well, I just left it that way. It was easier than trying to take a headless nail back out. lol.

Then I added some black, crafting, apple barrel paint for the base color. And then used some flat, plastic wording stencils for the "FAITH FAMILY and FRIENDS" saying. I applied it with a makeup sponge.

And here it is, all finished and from scraps of wood:

I think it's okay for a fast project out of scrap wood, don't you?

OLD WINDOW MAKEOVER for Laundry Room

Since making my last Old Window Makeover post, I've been inspired to try something new. And this time it is a vintage window with the glass left intact. I am turning it into a decoration piece saying, "General Store," to hang in my laundry room.

Here's how it went.

I started out with a plain, old wooden window. I left the glass in it this time. The only "work" I done on the window frame itself, was to add a sawtooth hanger to the back.

Here it is before:

The other side had less peeling paint, so I made it the front.

After making up my mind that I wanted to put "General Store" on it, I printed out the words using Microsoft Word. I kept playing with it until I got the size right. I then taped the printed out papers underneath the window and outlined the words "General Store," with a black permanent marker. This helped me tremendously to get the wording kinda centered.

Then I just peeled off the tape, and colored the rest of the words in with the same black, permanent marker. So easy!

It was very simple. The permanent marker dried really quick. The only aggravating part was that you have to make small markings to fill in all the words really good.

But other than that, SUPER EASY!

Oh, and then I took a plastic, red and white checkered place mat and put it on the backside of the window with some clear packaging tape. Just a few pieces, one on each edge. This way it made the words really stand out. And since my kitchen area and laundry room are joined, the red and white checkered matches my kitchen!

And here it is again, all finished, from a little farther back.

That is all directly above my washer and dryer. I think it looks really cute. And I added the old crock and red handled rolling pin to try and tie it in with the kitchen decorations.

And there you have it, an old kitchen window makeover for my laundry room. Hope you find some old windows here or there to re-do. I got this window, along with 4 others, for only $2 each at a yardsale a while back.

To see what I done with the other 4 windows I had, click here.

PRIMITIVE Style WOODEN SPOONS

PRIMITIVE WOODEN SPOONS

I am in love with making primitive themed wooden spoons!

 And this here is about my fourth batch of them so far. I'm addicted! lol. They have been really steady sellers at my Booth #555 at the Morehead Peddlers Mall. 

I've been bundling them in groups of 3 and pricing them for only $2.95. 

I do have more detailed ones that I've turned into magnets for sale as well, for $1.99 each.

I start out with the plain ole' wooden ones you find at WalMart for a pack of 4 for $ .88.

I lay them out on some chicken wire (best ever thing to spray paint on!) with the sides bent just enough to keep the spoons off the ground. Spray them a base color of whatever I have on hand. I like black, dark red and yellow as base colors.

Then after spraying both sides, I let them dry a few good hours. Then I bring them all in and do another color with craft paint. Whichever color you want. 

As you see from my finished pics, I make a wide variety of primitive colors. And the reason I spray paint a first, base coat, is so that when I do my finish sanding, the base color kind of seeps through and makes them appear a bit older. Kind of rugged looking or aged.

And another thing. To give it a sealed, finished look, I always like to take some Satin Varnish from the craft paint section and give each spoon a quick coat.

And here's some more I've just finished up today. 

These say various kitchen words like, coffee, sugar, flour ect.

And some black and off white ones with the theme of eggs, checkerboard and stars:

And some reddish brown colored ones that say Old Crow and have the star and checkerboard on them.

And some more various colored ones in cinnamon, yellow and colonial green:

Those old crow hang tags are some I also made by using a simple stencil purchased from eBay.

I hope I've given you a crafting bug for those plain old wooden spoons you probably have already laying around! I have to go get some more done, because I am restocking my shelves tomorrow at the Morehead Peddlers Mall. And also putting some in my eBay shop at

CraftBooth555.

And if you'd like to see more, here's the link to my other Primitive "Kitchen" Themed Wooden Spoons

And here's my holiday themed wooden spoons in Snowmen

 

and Ghosts:

 

Happy Crafting Ya'll!

And see ya next time!

~Lisa

Primitive Button Jars

I buy clear glass salt and pepper jars all throughout the year. And well, any jar about that size with a lid. I even buy some larger jars from time to time to just hold my lose buttons until I need them. Like the large canning, glass jar in the back, right side of the pic below.

Sometime around fall, I start making my button jars to sale in my Booth #555 at the Peddlers Mall. I'm not sure why I wait till then, but it just seems to happen each year. Or maybe because it's right after yard sale season around here, and I've had time to collect a bunch.

And sometimes I even find them super cheap, marked down to fifty cents per set. And I'll grab a  few. But they usually have the bright shiny stainless looking caps. And for that I add some Delta Stencil Paint with a sponge. It sets up good after a few days and doesn't tend to rub off. Looks like this after it's on, (but not dry yet.)

These are not great money makers, but they are steady sellers. And they offer an inexpensive item for your booth that anyone walking by would be able to afford. Most of these, unless they are older more hard to find jars, I try to keep them priced at only a $1.99 each. And when I've rounded up the salt and pepper shakers from yard sales all summer, usually along with tons of buttons from auctions and estate sales, I only have a few pennies and time in each.

Here's some more I had just painted:

And here's one of my favorite old rusty topped ones. The top was originally rusty, so I just had to add a pale yellow star and some homespun, along with the buttons.

As you see, there's nothing hard at all about making these cute empty jars into button holders. They are a great item to just "tuck" into that spot where nothing else seems to look right. And they'd look awesome sitting beside an old sewing machine with items such as bobbins and pin holders and maybe a hand sewn doll!

Happy Crafting Ya'll!