CHEAP FURNITURE MAKEOVERS from AUCTION FINDS

Before and After of a $2.00 chair.

Here is a quick post just to show a few pieces of furniture that I recently made over.

Here's a before pic of a chair that I had won 2 of for only $2.00 each. 

And here as you see above, I'd already added one star before remembering a before pic. But you get the idea.

I just stenciled on a star for one, 

then touched up edges here and there. 

And then just finished it with a brush on varnish sealer from Folk Art.

 And I basically left it like that for one.

 I made the "Sack of Potatoes" in this post.

And here's the back of the first chair.

And oh yea, I had won the little desk also for either $2 or $5, I can't find the ticket.

It was a shiny Oak color. But I sprayed it with ALMOND by Rustoleum also.

 I also made over the plain green trash can with a star too.

I didn't take a before pic of this because it was only solid green. All I did was add the stencils and brush strokes.

Here is the desk a little closer again.

I added some cute sage green check fabric to the inside of the drawer also.

The other chair I completely spray painted in ALMOND from Rustoleum paints.

Then went back and added more stenciling.

This is by far my favorite.

And I did finish this off with the same varnish sealer also.

  I love the old, true cracklings that show through.

 And take a look at this.

This is a great load of stuff I recently won from a local auction. None of the pieces shown cost me over $7.00. 

In fact, the chairs are the only thing that was $7.00. 

Before and after pic of a $2.00 end table.

The pumpkin light (works) was $2.00,
 the quilt rack was $5.00
and the red vintage metal lamp (works and heavy) was only $6.00.
It was a great night!

My proudest item of the pic is the solid wood end table in the front, far left. 

Why? Because it is solid wood, well made with good bones and it only cost me $2.00!

I guess the reason no one else wanted it was because it was just the one end table by itself and not a pair. That didn't bother me, because I knew I wanted to paint it and redo it anyways.

I choose a colonial red spray paint from WalMart in the Rustoleum brand. 

It runs a around $3.98 a can. And one can is all I needed for this size table.

Here's the before and after again, side by side.

Not shown in the last pic, but I went back and added a country star to the middle of the table in okra yellow.

But by far my favorite furniture makeover of the week was this chair:

I gave $2.00 each for these chairs. And afterwards, I put $14.99 on the one with the old crow and

$9.99 on the more plain one with the star.

And that's what's been keeping me busy these last few days that I haven't been posting much.

And all of this shown is in my craft booth at my local co-op.

Which makeover was your favorite?

See ya'll next time,

-Lisa

DIY BAG TOPPERS for CRAFTS

This is just a simple, quick post for today.  I just wanted to show how I package up some of my metal, rusty stars, magnets and such for sale using Bag Toppers.

As you see I use those little zip top baggies and place 5 in each.  And I also insert a piece of construction paper inside, behind the stars. This makes them pop just a bit.  

For the topper, I go to Avery print online and design it for free. I love that site because they actually have a bag topper section so it's pretty easy to deal with. 

 And after that, all that is left to do is just print them off, trim up , and staple them to my bags.

(HINT: Don't print in color if you can help it, to save ink, just print black on whatever color paper you want. I go with the light brown most of the time)

Here's what they look like before I staple them on:

(They have a crease at the top for bending down the back.)

 It really does make a difference, I think, in having little cute bag toppers on about any little item.

Again, here's the front:

 And here is a pic of how I type out the back.  Which Avery easily lets you do because there's no real guess work when using their layout.

 You can customize it with anything you wish. I used my ebay link for the back and my website name for here.

I just usually stick with the same topper design for a lot of items so that they all kind of coordinate for a while.  And then  a few months later I will mix it up a bit. 

And that's about all there is to it.  It does take a little bit extra time, but it really is worth it in the end.  I love how it makes something seem much more like a cute little gift already, without the gift wrap. 

Happy crafting ya'll,

~Lisa

-PS. I am in the process of setting up with a new co-op in a neighboring town.  I've rented 2 more booths and so I cannot wait to get the set up and snap some pics!  Coming soon!

MASON JAR MINI PLANTERS

Super simple idea here ya'll. If you like little mason jars as much as I do, you may like this.

I started off with these clear, plain and simple little cute Mason Jars.

And sometimes, instead of clear, I use the these ones I hand stain.

I just took some little new growths of  "Hen & Chicks," (I think, no idea really about names, but someone told me they were) separated them,

 added some more good ground dirt to the jar

 and stuck them in their very own mason jar.

That was pretty much all there was to it.

Now I know this doesn't give the little plantings much room, but I don't mind transplanting them on down the road into something larger.  

But as for now, I am loving having the little brown, grubby jar sitting on my desk.

I even stuck one in this cute little dish I found at a flea market.

I love it!

Happy Crafting Ya'll,

~Lisa

 If you want to see I tinted the clear mason jars blue and various other colors, click here.

 Or how I made the jars n' things grubby, click here, for the previous post.

PRIMITIVE CANDY CANES with Jingle Bells

Hey ya'll! Ready to make some cute, primitive Christmas candy canes like this?

Okay, first I started off with these hard, plastic candy canes.  I got them in packages at the Dollar Store last year in the after Christmas sales boxes.  I bought all they had and I think they may have been around a quarter per pack or so.

And here is how I went about making them into some cute, primitive themed candy canes.

All you need is some fabric, hot glue gun and some jingle bells.  The fabric I used started its' life as a bed skirt.  I got this at a store that sells JC Penny discontinued items and such, for only $2.00.  It was just right as it is a light red and cream pinstripe.

I then started to rip them into little strips. I like leaving the edges torn and raveled so that it looks more prim.  I left each one about 6 to 8 inches long or so.

So now, just take your glue gun and run a bead of glue at the very bottom. This is where you will start the fabric and make your way up.

And then just start to wrap it like this:

And you just keep wrapping and wrapping.  I add a bit of hot glue here and there along the way to make it stay secure.

And then I just continued on making more and more.

I thought I'd bunch them in groups of two and add a bit of homespun and a jingle bell this year.

So I tied them together with some of that jute twine that comes in big spools for like $2.00.

And then I started making a bunch more but I kind of mixed them all up in different ways.

Some of them ended up leaving as a single candy cane too.  I just wanted to keep things going differently so I didn't get too bored.  I usually will lose interest in making things that look the exact same after a few.  It's just my mind lol.

I decided to package them up into those clear treat bags from Walmart in the baking goods section for decorating.

I even added some little metal stars to a few.  Metal stars are cute on just about anything crafty lol.

I then tied these off at the top of the bag with another strip of the matching homespun fabric. And then I added a hanging gift tag.

I forgot to take a photo of them all tied up, I think, as I can't find them.  But you get the jist, I'm sure.

I priced these for $1.99 each for an easy grab and go purchase.

So here it is, the before and after of these little plastic candy canes.

to this:

and these:

I hope ya'll will give these a try and make some cuties.  These will be great tied onto those specially wrapped gifts or hanging onto a cute prim Christmas tree!

And while I was at it, I also went ahead and did the same process on those large, plastic candy canes people use for trimming their walkways. You know the super duper sized ones about 3 feet tall or so.

Here they are:

SUPER TALL WALKWAY DECORATION SIZE

I priced these large ones for $4.99 each.

Happy Holidays! And see ya'll next time,

~Lisa