Slowly Getting Back Into The Swing of Things

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.  I know I did but it's so hard to get back into a more normal routine without the shopping, decorating, planning and cooking.  It's seems like forever since I've done any painting so I'm proud I've at least completed a few new small projects.  I've got to get busy and restock my space at Old South!

You know how I'm always encouraging you to keep your eyes open for things that might not work in their present condition but with a little paint and/or attention can be turned into something unique?  Well, that's what the object in today's post is. 

I love painting candlesticks/candle holders but unique ones can be hard to find.  They are some of the things I always look for in thrift stores, yard sales, etc.  So, I was really happy when I found this large one.

It's unglazed ceramic or plaster but the gold color needed updating and it just wasn't working for me.  So I pulled out some paint that's a favorite of mine that I haven't used lately - Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Provence.  I brushed on one light to medium coat, allowing some of the gold color to show through.

I didn't want a lot of distressing but I did want some, so I lightly rubbed a damp cloth in the areas I wanted distressed.

I finished by brushing on clear wax, wiping off the excess and then buffing to a shine.  I love the way it turned out and I will be taking it to my space at Old South real soon.

O Holy Night Mantel

The shopping, cleaning and wrapping are done.  The cooking has been started and Christmas is almost here!  So, as promised, I'll share the remainder of the decorating I did with the thrift store finds I shared with you HERE along with some other things I found along the way.

For the past several years, I've used mini lights and other glittery things for decorating my mantel.  This year I decided I wanted to go with something less glitzy and use things to represent the real reason for our Christmas celebrations. 

The beauitful porcelain nativity set was found back in the summer.  The pieces are from the 1984 Avon collectibles set.  (I found one piece alone valued at $8.00.  I paid $7.50 for the entire set!).  I've used the wooden nativity for over 25 years and it was the perfect size for my "new" porcelain figures. 

You may remember these candlesticks from my fall mantel.

Well, they look a little different now.  You see, I accidentally knocked two of them over on my ceramic tile floor and they broke!  Luckily the breaks were where sections joined together so I used my trusty E6000 glue and put them back together.  Then I applied two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White and you can't tell they were ever broken.

This hand crafted wooden angel that I found during my great Christmas treasure find I shared with you earlier was really what guided me to go with the nativity theme.  I knew it needed to go with my nativity scene and my mantel was the perfect spot for her.

And here she is after being painted with Chalk Paint in Pure White.  I tried not to fill in the grooves which gave more definition to the design and I slightly distressed her with sand paper after applying clear wax.

This little silver tree topper was about to find a new purpose.

I broke off the metal spiral that was supposed to go on the top of a tree, ran a piece of clear monofilament line through the top and hung it above the mantel.

The stocking holders started off as heavy but plain brass holders with a flat area on each top.  I picked them up for $1.00 each at one of the thrift shops I frequent.  I didn't like the way the brass stood out in the color scheme so I painted them with a thin coat of Pure White Chalk Paint.  The little trees were picked up at JoAnn Fabrics at 40% off.  The stockings were my only splurge because my old ones just didn't fit in with the rest of the mantel.  But they, too, were on sale for 1/2 price at Hobby Lobby.

I'm fortunate to have two large cedar trees in my yard so I took branches and filled in the bare spots on the mantel.  I had one more idea for a finishing touch but I ran out of time.  Hopefully I can do it next year and I'll share it with you then!  I love the simple, peaceful feel of my mantel and can't wait to fill the stockings with goodies for my family.

Merry Christmas everyone!  Enjoy the time with your family and friends.  Hold them close, make new memories and remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Decorating With My Treasures

For months I had a general idea of how I wanted to revamp my Christmas decorations this year. Well, life kind of got in the way due to personal obligations and opening my space at Old South in mid-October. But I had already bought some glitzy, new mercury glass type ornaments at 40% off back when most people weren't even thinking about Halloween yet. I had planned a mostly silver and off-white color theme with a little burlap thrown in for good measure. Except for the ornaments I had already bought, my decorating scheme got thrown way off. That was due, in part, to the decorations I scored that I shared with you here. Those treasures altered my mantel ideas and the new mantel plan changed a lot of my other plans, too. I'll share my mantel with you on a later post. But, as promised, I'm showing you a few of the ways I used my other thrift store finds. I took these pretty little ornaments

and just displayed them in a simple square glass container.

I have so many of these beautiful vintage style ornaments!

 

I just filled up a variety of containers with the ornaments.

 

                         

This large metal lantern was the reason I was looking for old ornaments in the first place.  It took a lot of ornaments to fill it up!

 

 

 


I love cloches for displays and the base of this tiny glass cloche was covered with green moss before placing a few of the smaller ornaments inside.

 

 

The silver star tree topper fit into the scheme of one of my trees just perfectly!

 

 I only had a few of these beautiful glass hearts but I love how they look on my mercury glass and gold tree.

 

 

 And the beautiful glass ornament with the angel inside found a perfect home in my kitchen on my antique scale.  A few sprigs of boxwood from my yard and a few floral berries were all it took to finish the look.

 

The brass horn swag was looking pretty hopeless in this before picture

 

but a little fluffing up was all it needed before displaying it on the edge of a large picture frame.

 

This items in this vignette didn't come from the big thrift store find I shared with you earlier, but everything except the star did come from thrift stores.  The tin angel candle holder was only $.50, the faux mercury glass candle holder was $1.00 and the silverplate tray was also a dollar. 

 

 

But the big find was the hand crocheted and starched snowflakes that I found back during the summer.  There are sixty snowflakes that were on "half-price" for only $4.00! 

 

These vintage bulbs sitting on vintage books is one of my very favorite decorations.  I think it may be because the bulbs are the kind we had on my Christmas tree when I was growing up.  And all of the items were thrift store finds.  The container and bulbs came to a grand total of $2.00!

 

 

I'll show you what I did with some of the other thrift shop treasures on my next post.   After I finish shopping and wrapping gifts, planning menus, buying groceries, cooking, etc.  Well, I'm sure you know all about that!  And I can't forget restocking and fluffing my space at Old South.  See ya again soon!

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A Table Re-Do Using Beauty Tools

I was driving down the road one recent Saturday morning and noticed a yard sale going on next to the highway.  I was 40 miles from home and on my way to take care of some personal business but couldn't help but glance over to see what kind of things I could see from the road.  I spotted a few pieces of small furniture and after debating for a few quick seconds, I turned around.  This little table is one of the treasures I left with:



  

 

It was in good condition but was looking a little plain to me.  I love the trend of mixing stained wood with painted wood, so since the top was good, I decided to just paint the legs and the bottom shelf.  I applied two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White.

 

 

The cute little spindly legs have vertical grooves cut in them and while they filled up with paint, I knew I would want them to look slightly distressed and old. 

 

So, I pulled out my top secret distressing tools!  These are very rare and expensive tools so most of you probably don't have them readily available for your use.  Not !



 

That's right, a cotton swab and a bobby pin!  I chose the wet distress method since I was going to be using these two "tools".  I soaked one end of the swab in water and pushed it down the vertical grooves of the legs.  As the chalk paint got wet, it softened up and I was then able to use more pressure with the cotton swab to slightly remove some of the paint.  I repeated the process on all of the legs, around the edges of the bottom shelf and on the other areas of the legs where a little distressing was needed. And I did have to use several cotton swabs as they wear out pretty quickly! 

 

What I like about this method is that the paint is completely removed in some areas but the paint is only thinned in others, allowing the original finish to peak through.  I took a wet cloth and wiped over small areas where i wanted further distressing.  I then took the curved end of the bobby pin and gently scraped off paint on some areas of the legs and in some places on the vertical grooves.  See the bobby pin in the photo above with the pain gunked up in it?  That's some of the damp paint that was gently scraped off.  And this method is NOT messy.  I did the work on this little table inside my living room.

 

 This is how the legs looked after my wet distressing with the beauty "tools":

After applying a coat of clear wax, wiping it off and out of all the grooves, I let the table dry overnight before buffing and applying lemon oil to the top.  I just love the slight distressing and the way the long grooves look.

 

 

And here she is - ready for her new beautifully distressed life:

 

 

 



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My Peace Offering To You!

I've severely neglected my blog lately but I hope I'll be forgiven.  Like most of you, I've been busy trying to squeeze in my Christmas decorating and preparations in addition to all of the other daily tasks.  There sure aren't enough hours in the day lately! 

So as a peace offering I'm sharing a free gift I found.  Kristin at Simply Klassic Home has created a wonderful chalkboard look Christmas printable and has offered it as a free download here.  She also has three color versions here. Thank you, Kristin, for creating these and allowing us to use them for free.  The printable are for personal, non-commercial use only.  Please do not sell, redistribute or attempt to recreate the images for sale. 

There are lots of uses for this printable.  If really pressed for time or if you want to keep it simple, just print it out and frame it.  It's formatted as an 8x10.  For any size alterations you will need to open the file in a photo software to make changes.  I wanted to mount mine on a canvas so I opened the file in my Photoshop Elements software and slightly altered the size to fit my canvas.  The front of my canvas was actually 7 5/8 x 10 so I made the change before printing.  This kept me from having to trim the paper that would be hanging off the sides of the canvas otherwise.  You can use regular print paper but I get better results using a slightly heavier, yet still light, cardstock.  You should also print in color to get the best chalkboard look and print it at the highest quality photo printing setting.

This is everything needed to complete this project.

If you mount the print on canvas you will first need to paint the edges with acrylic paint, overlapping a little on the main surface of the canvas.

 After the paint dries thoroughly, put a thin layer of matte Mod Podge on the canvas and another thin layer on the back of the print.  Make sure the edges of the print have enough Mod Podge to hold them down.  Starting at either the top or bottom, place the print on the canvas and slowly "roll" it into place.  From the center, gently press out any air bubbles.  Don't press too hard and make sure your fingers are clean to keep from damaging the paper.  You may also use a credit card to smooth out the bubbles.  The wonderful thing about canvas is that since it is so porous it's easier to get a smooth surface on the finished project.  I found

After the Mod Podge has dried, add another coat to the entire canvas to seal it.  If an additional coat is needed, let dry completely between coats.  Don't worry if the paper seems to bubble up when you cover it with Mod Podge.  It should be smooth when dry.

Your Christmas chalkboard style print is now ready to hang.  You don't even need to add a hanger - just use the wood frame of the canvas!  Or you can prop it up on your mantel, shelf tabletop display.  I can see it in a small plate holder on a Christmas buffet table.

I love quick, simple projects.  Especially when we are all so busy!   Thanks again, Kristin, for your creativity and generosity in sharing this with us.

Project idea and printable from: