As promised.....upcycled furniture

I posted this dresser the other day that I re-freshed....

just a bit of paint really because it was in pretty good shape.

But here, as promised, is my real love - upcycling furniture and making it into something NEW or entirely different; giving something new life; giving it a new purpose.  

Here's piece #1.

A poor sad dresser

  Ugly brown veneer covered, and missing both pieces of and entire drawers.

And here it is, cut down to size, painted a beautiful Cloud White and new black hardware.  If I had a little girl, I'd put a nice pink cushion on the top of this and tuck it at the end of her bed for when she's learning to tie her shoes :)    Or maybe under her window so she could read in the sunlight.  Can't you picture it??  

And piece #2:

An entertainment unit that wasn't going to hold together much longer.

Solid wood (at least solid, from the mid-point down LOL), but in need of a new purpose.

...turned into this:  A great storage bench.  This one I'm picturing in the entrance somewhere with big baskets full of mitts and hats,  or maybe in a classroom at the edge of a carpetted area - books stuffed in and seating for the teacher and possibly the "star" student that day.  

 That's it for today.

I feel really accomplished getting these 3 pieces finished this week. In the words of one of my favourite Youtube videos,  "I feel happy of myself!!"  

 The dresser is already in it's new home, but the other 2 (benches) are for sale.  If you're interested and in my area....shoot me an email :)

ETA:  Nevermind....both are sold already LOL....NOW I'm completely hooked - my connection for old furniture will never get rid of me now Mwahaha.

Taking a break from painting today and blogging instead - both my own, and hopping around on other blogs - including this one (Paper Smooches) where I intend to be fully, and completely inspired to make cards tonight!

My other love....furniture :)

Anyone ever ask you what you'd do if money wasn't a part of the equation?

If money wasn't an issue for me....you know what I'd be doing?

Upcycling furniture :)

I LOVE, love, love to go through the furniture section at my local thrift store, or at a garage sale and find - not just pieces that need a little TLC - those too obviously - but pieces that can no longer be what they were meant to be and need a whole new purpose in life.  I have 2 pieces that I'm currently working on - hopefully they'll be done for a blog post later this week. 

 But in the mean time - this is a piece I did today

 (A dresser/change table for friends who are expecting a newborn foster baby any day now):

Before: 

(She's a beaut, eh? )

 I love the square chunky lines but the hardware looks old and Bleh on there...

I knew she needed to be a baby change table or something along those lines because her drawers are wide, but quite shallow - like only 2 pairs of my jeans and one drawer would be full. 

 and this....oh my goodness, what is this?? A formerly-glued-on piece of laminate countertop??  In some faux rock mosaic?  Nasty.  I keep thinking of dinosaurs when I see this for some reason. 

After:

So here she is now:  

*sanded, 

*primed with Kilz, 

*painted in Benjamin Moore Semi-gloss Cloud White

* drawer fronts in Krylon Celery

*and a Minwax finish

I even like the old hardware on it.  I bought more Krylon spray paint to do these in glossy white but once the dresser was brightened up I just kept the hardware the same. 

Hope you love it P&M....and I hope this baby, and many, many more babies are served by this dresser :)

I'm linking up (for the first time ever) with Liz Marie's blog - a blog that NEVER fails to inspire me.
Come check out more people who've been creative this week!!

Another Clear Scraps new release

Ahh....my life took off in a different direction than I was expecting and I didn't get around to posting my second Clear Scraps card......so......here it is, slightly late but still FUN!  

Last time I showed you the butterfly card that I painted with Painty Pens and stamped with StazOn.

One of Clear Scraps other releases is this new card - the Lock card.  

I used silver leafing pen to colour the lock and while it was wet I added large vintage Mica flakes to it.  I actually added some liquid adhesive overtop so that the Mica flakes would be nice and stuck :)  but I like how it turned out. 

 The key is an old 7 Gypsies one I think....and the edges of the card are adhered with the stickers that come with each card that you buy from Clear Scraps but I also sealed the ends with Washi tape.

I do still have some acrylic to give away.  I'll be picking a winner from commenters on this and the last blog posts :)

Today's the big day......Clear Scraps reveal :)

I got to play with 2 of the new cards from Clear Scraps' "Send-it Clear" line!!  These cards are so much fun to do - a challenge for sure to get all the layers to look good together, but so much fun! 

The first one I did was a Butterfly card, and since we just did a great swap with the people at Stampendous, I decided to use one of their giant stamps to dress up this butterfly too.

Obviously the stamp was WAY bigger than the butterfly and I didn't want the excess image stamped all over the rest of my clear card, so I put the 2 front pieces of the card together to form the butterfly and then masked the area around it with scraps of paper (red & blue in the photo)

This is what it looked like with the flower image stamped on the butterfly (with StazOn, of course).

Then I took my favourite-fav-fav Zig Painty Pens and coloured the stamped image from behind.  That's the beauty of acrylic, don'tcha know.....so many layers and surfaces to play with!!  

I finished the card off with a stamped sentiment on the front, a scalloped circle of paper behind the butterfly - to make it pop and also give me a place to write a little something-something to a friend maybe...?  and a quick run of a matching paint pen around the outside of the acrylic pieces (front and back).  Just a tip - it's a good idea to use something to border your acrylic projects like this....it helps your eye to stay focused on the project itself instead of wandering off the page/card, etc.  I attached my card fronts and back with the stickers provided but I also added a nice little border of Washi Tape at the seam!!  Love that stuff.

That's all for now :)

Come back later this week - I have another card to show you - a Lock card.  I think you'll like it :)

Hey....I have more than my share...

How about I draw a name from all of you who comment either on here or on the next post this week and I'll send you out a little acrylic to play with.    Go to Clear Scraps' facebook page and let them know what you think of their new releases this year, and I'll put your name in the draw 2x.  Make sure I can find you - either by linking back to your blog or leaving me an email address.