For the Cost of a Donation: Upcycled Cabinet Door Tray

I dragged Mr. Chocolate to a flea market last month. It was held at an architectural salvage place in Seattle called Second Use. While the flea market didn't yield any treasures, a stroll through the Second Use Warehouse did. 

Of course Mr. Chocolate looked at the two cabinet doors and me like we were nuts. I'm used to it. He now loves the tray I made from one of the doors. All for the cost of a $5 donation to Habitat for Humanity. Two good things in one! 

This is what I started out with. I liked the panels and the way this door was framed. I mean I immediately saw a tray!  So I painted it with a white bisque acrylic paint. I didn't care about full coverage because I knew the look I was going for and it wouldn't matter. 

Back Side of Door

After my first coat was dry, I went over it with a coat of Espresso acrylic paint. Again, I didn't care that it was all streaky. In fact that was better. 

Then, using my tried and true glue crackle technique, I slathered on a thick coat of cheap white glue, let it dry until tacky, then went back over top with another coat of the Bisque White and watched the magic crackle process happen. 

Crackle Step 1 : Cover With Glue

One of my New Year's resolutions was to use things in my stash that I hadn't because I was hanging on to them for some irrational reason. So I pulled out a stencil that I'd never used and added some leaves using  Martha Stewart acrylic paint: Grey Wolf: 

To finish, I added a pair of door handles I picked up at Target ( the screws weren't long enough for the thickness of the door so I just glued on using extra strong glue) . 

The cup is one I painted at a paint your own pottery place. 

Not so crazy now am I Mr. Chocolate?

Table Makeover

So we have this corner of our bathroom that's been bugging me. We have a LOT of space around our tub and it's become home to this and that because it's a flat space and flat spaces tend to do that. I wanted to make it look more cohesive and put together. When I saw this for $3.99:

on one of my "Goodwill hunting" trips, I had an idea. I sanded it (during which I remembered to take the before pic and made a note to myself that if this is going to become a habit buy a small electric sander) and gave it a spray of heirloom white:

I didn't care too much if it was totally covered because I knew I was going to do more to it and I'd rather work inside anyway.

After bringing it in and giving it a coat of an antique linen, I  got cracking, or crackling, by covering the top and bottom shelf with crackle medium. After that was dry, I went over it with an antique white ,  crackle crackle , and voila:

I dry brushed the legs with the antique white to give them a worn look. The finished product (with a couple of 40% off baskets from Michaels):

 

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Halloween : Witch Switch Girlfriend Gifts and Haunting My House

 

Pre-pandemic when I would get together with girlfriends, I always liked to bring a little seasonal something. Makers love making things right?! So will we let a pandemic stop us from showing our friends that we love (and miss) them? No, we will NOT! That's what mail is for and I get to help out the USPS. 

In this project, I'll show you how to make your own crackled surfaces without needing a specific crackle medium. 

Supplies: 

• Wood Plaques ( Dollar Tree)
• Acrylic Paints
• White Glue
• Vinyl ( I used Cricut's Glossy Black)
• Cut File (I got this fun file from designbundles.net )
• Wire
• Ribbon

I found this pack of 6 wood plaques at Dollar Tree ( 4.25 x 4.25 ) and of course I now wish I'd bought several packages. 

Since we're crackling these, you want to start with the color you want to peek through the crackles. For all of these, that was black. 

I painted both sides and the edges so I'd have a finished look when done. 

For the crackle, all you need is some white school glue. I stock up on this during back to school when they're like $.50 a bottle. After your base coat is dry, cover with a medium layer of glue. Too thin, and it will dry too quickly. Too heavy and it takes longer. So in the middle!

Wait a a few minutes (or you can speed things up with a blow dryer on cool but you don't want to dry it completely) and then go over with your accent color. The important thing here is to only paint in one direction, don't go back and forth with the second color of paint. 

You can let the top coat air dry or you can be impatient like me and use a blow dryer. Now it's OK to use a warm setting which will help the crackling. Do NOT use a heat gun which will bubble your paint. 

I kept two of the signs black and white to match my friends style; others, I used different colors to match their styles but did another layer of glue and white paint. 

While your plaques are getting good and dry, you can cut your vinyl. I re-sized the file in Cricut Design Space and then cut using glossy black vinyl.

Take a Valium and weed your vinyl. Just kidding. I hate weeding like Indiana Jones hate snakes. Do some deep meditative breathing and keep telling yourself "My friends are worth it. My friends are worth it".  Then use transfer tape to apply your vinyl to your sign. 

To finish, I cut pieces of medium gauge wire and wrapped around a paint brush handle to curl. Glue to each end with hot glue. Make bows from black ribbon and glue atop where you glued the wire ends as shown. 

I was really happy to hear from the recipients that they liked them. For a couple this is their only Halloween decor this year because have you met 2020? 

I did decorate because no matter what, I like being surrounded by seasonal decor . It's kinda what we do right? So here is a glimpse at my "Haunted House". 

Entryway table with my Witch Hat Wreath, Upcycled Goodwill Candle Holders, Mackenzie Childs Pumpkins and Glam Skulls from this year's projects. 

I also did my coffee table:

And a Poe vignette in the fireplace we don't use! I made Mr. Skully's Hat years ago and it's held up. 

Even the light fixtures aren't safe. Gold and black tulle, Dollar Tree glitter skulls and skeletons. 

And while most of my Halloween decor is black, metallics, and neutrals, I did add some color with a Dia De Los Muertos corner: 

Michaels had this pretty striped ribbon on sale which I used as the inspiration for the banner and pinwheels. I cut the images (Silhouette Design Store) from metallic vinyl. The banner itself I cut using black and orange cardstock and then added a "papel picado" (pierce paper) feel using different punches. The pinwheels are Astrobrights paper and the black pom poms are Dollar Tree. 

Happy Haunting! 

Stashbusting September Project #4: BOO

I keep seeing all these great ideas for Halloween around blogland and it's getting me in the mood to decorate. Since my husband would look at me even funnier than he usually does if I asked him to get the Halloween bins down this early ( I'm short, he's tall, it's the way it is) what's a crafter to do? Make something of course!

I've actually been pretty good the past several years not buying a lot of new decorations. We don't really get any trick or treaters and especially since our teenager has been able to drive (away from us!), we really don't have much Halloween activity at our house so it seemed wasteful to buy or make more stuff. BUT...I keep swooning especially over vintage or more sophisticated Halloween stuff . Especially since I see more done in classic black and white!!! Ooohh la la.

So since I can't buy anything this month , I went to the mystery closet and pulled out these:

Bundle O Wood Plaques from Michaels $4.99 Before Coupon

Unfinished Wood Candlesticks Goodwill $1

and picked out some shapes from the Bundle O Plaques. Painted everything black:

I've been collecting Halloween images from The Graphics Fairy and chose a very cool skull image. Might be too creepy for some, but I'm twisted that way and don't have little ones who might get scared. The big ones can just deal.  Printed two skulls and some text on clear Avery label paper.

On the round and oval plaques, did the "white glue crackle" technique from Stashbusting project #1 and then over that with cream paint. Dried it with my hair dryer because I'm impatient and one of you wonderful people confirmed it enhances the crackling. Trimmed the skulls ( I feel like Temperance Brennan from "Bones"), put them on the oval plaques, hot glued silver pipe cleaners around, glued them to the candlesticks. Then glued the round plaques to the top of the candlesticks ( it will make sense when you see if until then, don't judge), and plopped on some clear self adhesive rhinestones around the edges:

I like the effect of the vellumy label paper over the crackle paint. It's kind of ghosty.  Dug out a couple of glass votive-bowl thingies which I'll put black pebbles and candles in later) and trimmed and adhered the text I printed out on the label paper.

Here's a closeup of the skull plaque. You were warned....eeek....scary:

Thank You Meg!

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