So Long Grey Skies!

I just get excited when I enter fabric store these days.  There is sooooooooooooooo much color, new designs and combinations of color.  After years and years of sewing custom orders and selling fabric, can I say, it is about time! The new combinations make me want to go home and throw everything away and start over.  Well that isn't happening anytime soon, but my imagination sure has fun with all the possibilities.

Have you seen the new grey combinations?

There is a grey for anyone's style.

Contemporary

Traditional

Eclectic

Teenagers

Babies

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Put Grey with anything....yellow, pink, red, lime green and orange!  It has become the best color to launch your style.  Can you add some grey into your combination?

Custom Writing on the Wall

One of my commercial business clients wanted writing on the wall.  "NO, vinyl thank-you", he said, "hand painted".  So up on a ladder I went and left behind my signature.

You can do this in your home.  I recently had another client with a whole wall painted with quotes from top to bottom in her entry way.  It was truly an "Entry" into her home.

I used my projector to project the letters onto the wall to trace them to the height needed, 8 inches. Where I would be transferring the quotes wouldn't allow the projector to work.

After spacing out the 17 foot quote I transferred it onto the wall by putting china pencil on the back of each letter.  This allowed me to just write over the letter and the outline was transferred onto the wall.  Next came painting in the outline.  Now wall texture does present a challenge, but stay with it and you will enjoy the effort.

Other than a neck that almost broke off from being so high up and painting over my head, (note to self, work on arm muscles)  it truly was a simple project and very pleasing to the eye when finished. Their business motto is now visible for all to see....just look up!

Change the Honey Oak

I can probably tell your age by looking to see if you have honey oak furniture.  If you do, well you probably are close to, or in your 50's.  Most of us entered the honey oak stage in our early marriage days.  With it came some unspoken rule that it was to" never be painted."  Now days the pieces that jump to my attention are the painted pieces of furniture, while the honey oak just looks like it needs a face lift.

So this honey oak side table was abandoned at a garage sale.  My friend knew that I no longer abided by the unspoken rule of "don't paint your honey oak furniture" so she rescued this piece for me to play with.

Daughter needed a side table for her "newly-wed room".  She didn't want anything that look like what she grew up with...it had to be modern day, rustic glamour.

I spray painted the honey oak silver.

I found two knobs at Hobby Lobby.  One a glass rose and the other a rust iron knob.  I took the rusted iron knob apart just for the back piece.  I grabbed my silver spray to the iron knob.

The glass rose was then threaded through the iron back piece.....waala....a new knob.

One honey-oak dated side table transformed into a modern day, rustic glamour side table.

Maybe it is time to hide your age by updated a few pieces of your honey-oak....just saying, we all need a face-lift at one time or another.

Floor Cloth Tutorial

My floor cloth post from my original blog has been featured on http://craftstew.com/rugmaking/rugmaking-links....Craft Stew.

My original post on how to make a floor cloth - http://janettessage.blogspot.co.il/2011/10/what-is-floor-cloth.html

Check out this post...you will see other links to some wonderful blogs for making items for your home.

Temporary Wall Treatment

I have to confess...I enjoy wallpaper.  My first wall treatment, as a newly wed, was to wallpaper an accent wall in my Master Bedroom.  Wallpaper would enhance our first family home, until it went out of style and I covered it with texture.  Once again wallpaper is making a come back.  As in the past it can be very costly, and something you wouldn't want to invest in for a temporary housing.

What can you do?  I needed something that I could add to the walls and yet also remove easily when vacating our rental housing.  In comes fabric wallpapering.  No, it isn't the fabric covered walls of the 80's which I also did, but gluing fabric on the walls with liquid starch.  I am seeing it mentioned all over the place, even in the recent issue of Mary Jane's Farm.

Here is how I have used it in my own home.
I cut the flowers from the left over fabric from my curtains.  I spray starched the flower to make them stiff.

I painted liquid starch over the flowers to attach them to the wall.

They can easily be pulled from the wall leaving the painted, textured walls in tact.

The same method is used for a full wall. You apply the fabric to the wall with liquid starch for the glue.  When you are ready to leave or change, you seemly pull the fabric from the wall.  The fabric can be washed and used again on other projects.

Now for me to find a full wall...or room, to fabric wallpaper.

Time to Project!

I wanted to introduce you to my newest favorite decorating tool.  Yes, this magical device can take this novice artist and make me look like I know what I am doing.  I can project on the walls, on furniture, the ceilings....you get the picture.  This little machine was purchased through a Craigs listing for pennies on the door.

I got my graphics from Graphic Fairy...her pieces are great. I am even tracing one on kitchen towels tonight.
This dresser is a cast off from my daughter. I mod-podged the top with scrap paper and stained the rest of the piece....still tooooooooooo boring.

You just set your machine over the image you want to project onto your surface.

You will have to adjust the distance by moving the machine closer or further back.

Just like in school...now that was really years ago.

This looked great and I think I will reduce it and put it beside the sewing machine.

I decided on the sewing machine since this dresser holds my sewing supplies.

Now just trace...it is that easy.  I traced first with pencil and then with black sharpie pen.  The finished piece will be revealed later.

This is fun...now to find other places.  I am looking for a wall to project a table onto...it won't take up room space, yet it will look like a piece of furniture.  Where might you enjoy projecting?

My first project with my projector was my son's room.  Here is the full blog post of his room - http://janettessage.blogspot.com/2012/05/cowboy-room-reveal.html

Let your imagination take you beyond your abilities with a projector!  

Drop Cloth Magic

Every since I discovered drop cloths I have been using them for everything.  Pillows, floor cloths, shams and now a table cloth have been made with drop cloths.  My next project is going to be curtains.  Price per yard can't be beat.  Drop cloths are not all the same...so shop around.  They vary in color and even vary  if they have a seam down the middle or not.  Just throw them into the washer and dryer and get busy with your imagination.

This drop cloth was purchased at Wal-Mart for $20.00.  I will be covering a dining room table that seats 12 and is four feet wide.  There wasn't any seams in the drop cloth and all the edges were already turned over.  I washed and dried the drop cloth and cut the width down.  I turned the seams over to have a clear edge.

I ironed out the drop cloth.  I made a stencil for my "W" that would be painted on all four corners.













Since this would be a very long table cloth I wanted something in the middle. So I stamped a design with black paint.

Making an oval design with my stamp.

  In one afternoon I had a very large custom table cloth for $20.00!!!

Now to try curtains with another drop cloth...so far I haven't made anything from them I didn't enjoy.

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