Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The Glam girl and Chickens!

It's time for my confession, I really (I mean really) like chicken & rooster figurines. Don't ask me to explain why, I don't know why. Why does a city born and raised girl who loves all things shiny,sparkly and glamorous like chickens? I don't really like real live walking around in the yard chickens , and I pass some everyday. Just figurines, nothing live. I don't remember when this began. I do have two chickens. I bought them for $5 at a thrift store in Mich., I have been told I got taken!! Anyway...






 I have 2 of these  Black chickens

I started noticing that whenever I went out shopping,( particularly thrifting) I always saw a chicken that I liked. I never notice cows, dogs or any other animal, just chickens. My good friend Shelly noticed that I was always looking at chickens and began teasing me about it. She was right, I was always picking up a chicken on our monthly outings to Scot'ts Antique Market, but I never bought them.

If you've been in HomeGoods or even Hobby Lobby lately, you've seen chickens. Or maybe you walked right by them cause, well,you're just not into chickens. They have lots of really cute chickens and roosters. Here are a few from HomeGoods that I saw that really caught my eye.

                                                                        
This guy is in one of my favorite color combos.
               
Love this color.







I just love this fat round bodied chick.























                                                           Great Paper Mache' Chicken
                                              I seem to be drawn to white, black and red chickens.


The same week I found these chicks and roosters at Hobby Lobby. What a great variety of chicks!


                Blown glass chicks have a totally different vibe. Not quite so country, more sophisticated.
                                                            My color combo again.

                                                            Metal, glass, wood and ceramic

Even though I really like these, I haven't bought any of them. Maybe I'm just meant to like them from afar!
Anything that you're attracted to that you just can't explain? Tell me about it.


























Friday, September 13, 2013

The Amazing Duct Tape Projects


HI all,

Don’t know about you but I’ve been impressed with a lot of the pretty and funky designs you can find on Duct Tape now. Now, anyone who went to college (or was even alive) in the 70s knows that you could fix anything with good old Duct Tape. Come on, if you were like a lot of us poor college students, you knew you could almost rebuild your hoopty (that’s often the only kind of car we had!) with Duct Tape. So I’m glad to see it evolving into something even more special. With all the new colors and prints, it’s been calling my name lately.
A couple of weeks ago, one of my brothers laughingly suggested that it was time for me to buy a new case for my tablet. I could have been offended but he was so right! A $10 EBay purchase about 5 years ago, it had served me well. While it was still functional, it looked a mess, pealing faux leather, is not cute. I saw this as the perfect project for some Duct tape. I love bright colors and this pink, orange and green chevron print was speaking to me from the rack. I just noticed how often inanimate objects call to me, speak to me, etc…hmmmm.

















Well here’s my case before:


                                                           This is bad, really bad! Really I hadn't noticed just how bad it was.
 And here it is now:






 

Not too bad is it? It was so easy, I just matched the pattern and done. It took less than 20 minutes and less than one roll of tape. Total cost: $3.86 (including tax) Note: I found that the tape is cheaper at Wal-Mart. The same tape was still over $1.00 more at Hobby Lobby with the 40% off coupon.
 So, if that was fun, why not do it again? So….  Here's my next bit of fun!

  







This was a KVZ bag that I love. I loved it so much that I wore it out!! Yep, carried it for more than a couple of springs and summers. Not the bags’ fault it ended up with a corner like this.


But I couldn't get rid of it. I think I kept telling myself that I was going to harvest the chains and rings to use on a purse I have yet to make.  Well, not any more. I decided to see what she would look like with a Duct tape encore. So, one (1) roll of tape later and here she is:



 


This was so easy, I didn’t have to really concentrate or think about what I was doing. I completed this while watching a TV show with my daughter.  I didn’t spend much if any time trying to match the seams. If you look really closely trying to spot the seams, you’ll see them. I however am not looking for them!!
 
 
As I worked on it, I decided not to cover the entire bag.
 
 

                             I simply very carefully used an Exacto knife to cut around the studs.
 

What do you think?  An encore for a favorite and in an animal print, one of the fall must haves!! For me that's a SCORE!

 Do you have something that has seen better days, but you haven’t gotten rid of it yet. (No, I don’t mean him; I mean a “thing”!!) What about Duct tape? Give it a try. Personally, I’m looking for a roll of snake skin print to cover a box for my coffee table.  Let me know what you do with some Duct tape.



 

Monday, September 2, 2013

This Little Light of Mine.... a DIY Lamp



Latest Bedroom DIY 
I've done it again. I've created another low cost, high glam project for my bedroom. Right after I finished my tufted headboard (see here) I began looking for lamps. And, fate was on my side, a quick trip to Tuesday Morning and I was in luck. I saw this lamp and fell in love.



As I danced over with my cart on the ready, I stopped dead in my tracks at the price $39.99 and I needed 2. I know $86.00 dollars wasn't a lot for 2 lamp, but I guess I'm just cheap. So, fate laughed and shook her finger at me as I walked out the store without them.

I began a search at my local thrift stores and a week later, I found 2 lamps for $5.96 each. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that they were gold.



Off to the garage and a can of silver spray paint.







After I figured out how to take them apart so that I could paint the inside, I got another bright idea. I cut a piece of silver glitter encrusted card stock into 2 circles that I put into the bottom of each lamp. I wanted the light to really sparkle when it was on.














My next stop was to find 2 tall slender drum lamp shades at an affordable price. I remembered seeing some shades at Tuesday Monday . They were still there at an ok price ( they could have been cheaper but what are you going to do), not wanting to tempt fate, I bought 2 of them. After I got them home I discovered  they had this wonderful ribbon lacing detail, how did I miss this!



These lamps really needed a taller harp to really look good, so I grabbed 2 from Home Depot.


A silver filigree ball drawer pull was added to a small wooden block to create a unique finial.


 At this point, my total cost for both lamps was $48.00!  My lamps are about 4" shorter than the inspiration lamps at Tuesday Morning. 4" vs.an additional $38. No way So not worth it.. To get the additional height I just covered 4 old hardback books and sat the lamps on them. I'm loving these lamps. What do you think?


Create your own sunshine

 This post is linked to:
                             

                                Domestic Superhero
                   

                                           http://encorecreations.blogspot.com/2013/09/this-little-light-of-mine-diy-lamp_2.html