Circle Challenge

Before Christmas my girlfriend brought me a bag full of wood circle pieces.  She challenged me to find something to do with them, her father makes a beer can holder and this is the part he throws away and he has LOTS of them.  She's like me..... it's hard to throw a perfectly good piece of wood in the fire.

I tried many things but nothing worked.  I put them away and searched Pinterest many nights trying to find something.  There is many ideas but not really anything I liked.  The challenging part is the hole in the center and the sharp lip around the diameter. 

So this girlfriends 50th birthday is coming up.....  I had one idea that I needed to try so I could surprise her with completing the challenge.   This is a bad cell phone photo with it laying on the table but John and I finished it just minutes before walking out the door to the party, no time for formal pictures.

I brought it with to her surprise birthday party and her dad had to rush right over and check it out.  Poor guy still thinks I carved each of these flowers out of those oak circles.

Back board and wood knobs are painted with Rust-oleum Linen White with Clear and Dark Wax. 

The circles are painted with Amy Howard Cartoucsh Green with Clear ad Dark Wax.

She had one of the circles painted red already so I just added a heart and a fun window bracket thingy with an old screw to cover up the hole and some twine for hanging. 

So proud that I passed that challenge, it wasn't easy and she loved it.  

A true trash to treasure with a bit of memory for a friend.

There might still be a few of these going in the campfire but I'm willing to try again to find another use for them. 

Sometimes you don't find what you need on Pinterest so you have to use your own creativity

Later....

Weekly Finds - 1/22/16

My weekly finds for last week were pretty slow but of course I didn't try very hard either.  I've had quite a few photography print orders that I've been trying to get edited and sent to print so the painting part of my brain has been on the back burner.  

I did a quick walk through the second hand store mainly because it was 25% off anything so of course I found almost nothing.  The few items that are there and priced too high are still too high even with the 25% off so they can stay there.

Our son is getting married this summer out at the hunting cabin with all sorts of natural elements so this brick with a painted heart on it seemed to fit the decor.  There were two of them but I don't really like to have things in even numbers so I only bought one.  REALLY CONNIE for a brick with a painted heart and perfectly painted word "forever" on it.......  25% off of $2.36 you can't buy both???

I don't care for the raffia so that will come off and I'm not sure what decor we are going with yet but this brick won't take much to fit right in.  

Did you notice the little camel dude?  How could I possible leave him at the store.  

That's it...... that is all I found but I'm totally happy with a slow week I've got plenty to keep me busy.  

What did you find this week?     Later....

Jars, Light and Hot Chocolate

A couple items from my weekly finds last week didn't need anything but a little washing and a new location.  This is my table centerpiece right now.  I love fun shaped jars in clear or blue.  Add a little candle light and they sparkle.  

Here is the new little jar that joined my collection.

Keeping this in a collection on the white chalk painted tray keeps it grounded and together.  

Bear with me as I take a few photos.... it's hard to stop.

The branches are still from this fall with pink berries on them. 

I finally broke the news to John that I'll be painting the table once again.  This will be there 3rd time.  This black paint was a high gloss that I did many years ago before chalk paint was even heard of and it shows everything from dust to fingerprints.  It also causes everything to stick to it, I usually have a table cloth on it to hide the dusty look and then I have to peel the table cloth off the paint.  Since chalk paint can go over any surface without sanding it's a perfect solution.  

Hummmmmmm what color will I paint it this time?

My next weekly find that just needed to be washed up is this cute coffee cup.  

I have a hot chocolate station for the grandkids and it found a spot right on top.  

Again bear with me as I take a few too many photos.....

More jars in the house........ who knew??

A simple little winter tree chalkboard to match the deer and tree cups.  

Chalkboard is Linen White Rust-Oleum with only a clear wax.

If you attended my Mason Jar Box class this is the box turned on it's side.  

Thinking outside the box.  hee hee hee

Makes you want a hot chocolate now doesn't it?

I found those deer/tree glasses at a second hand store last year.  They are great for hot or cold drinks and they look fun too.

Two very fun additions to make me smile as I walk in my house.      Later........

Weekly Finds 1/14/16

My weekly finds

A fun little glass bottle for my table decoration that I have right now.  I also like these little bottles for holding my weekly garden flowers in small little areas of the house.  I would rather have 1-3 flowers in a vase vs a big bouquet.  

I don't normally look at the dishes because I am a sucker for old fun dishes but since I had to walk down the isle because of a shopping cart in the way I spied this little gem and it had to come home with me.  

The red rim pulled me right in.

I have a project that I need some old books for so my hunting for old books is always interesting.  I need to have a good size, old looking pages without a stink to them and I like no paper cover but if it comes off good I can always throw it away.   The books need to have some wear to them on the cover and pages (if I can't find wear I will force it with my trusty sandpaper)

I have taken off the two covers but something in me says I can't throw them away, I feel I can use them on a different project some day so in my collection they go.  

The Whitetail book was picked out for me but with this cute white deer embossed on the front cover I couldn't complete by vision.  Our grandson Maxwell loves everything hunting, he breaths hunting and Lynn has to find him hunting magazines for nighttime stories.  This is an old hunting book for whitetail habits, hunting them and other tips for the hunter.  It's very old school but Max will love it and it might be a bit more interesting for Lynn.

It even has photos for Max to look at over and over again.  He'll wear out this book without sandpaper.

An oval mirror (great for a gallery wall)

Round frames (great for gallery walls with a letter mounted inside)

Another box (you know I love boxes)

That's it for this week but of course I didn't look real hard, I had books on the brain and these items hit me as I sprinted by.           

I already put a couple things in the house and I'll be back to share those with you.

Later.......

Trash to Treasure Tuesday - Red Side Table

I think last week was my Trash to Treasure Tuesday however I forgot so let's just pretend it's this week.   I love trash to treasure Tuesday when I have a real piece of Trash.

I found this little side table on the curb waiting for the trash.  It gave someone lots of function, they painted it, overly used it and some how smashed a big ole' hole in the side of it.  

When I seen it sitting on the curb I squealed a bit but I was going too fast with someone behind me to stomp on the brakes so I cruised around the block while saying..... no one else stop, no one else see it, don't pick it up.... She was all mine, snow and all.

I didn't take a picture of the hole in the side of it because the hubby was so on top of this one it was crazy.  He had it tightened up and the hole patched before I even asked.  

I seen a side table just like this on Pinterest with Annie Sloan Emperior's Silk and Graphite top that I loved so since I got me a new can of Emperior's Silk I decided to give it a try.  Annie Sloan nailed the red color, she's really my favorite color however I have nothing in my house this color, but I do have it on my outdoor porch so that counts.  

I painted the inside walls and the drawer.  Painting the inside and the bottoms of your projects is a must.  ALWAYS paint them, it makes your projects more finished. 

The sun was so bright in the house when I took these that it washed on the deep color a bit.

This next photo shows the rich red color.  To keep the color deep and rich I did not clear wax.  I skipped the clear and did only dark wax.  Now if you've heard me during class that's a no-no, never dark wax first.... always clear and then dark.  But I'm a rule breaker and I only dark wax the graphite to make it blacker so since I didn't want to mess up with getting clear on the red I just went for it and dark waxed the whole thing without clear wax.  It's beautiful and I'm sooooooo lucky.

This is the side with the big hole in it..... can't even tell.  The hubby did a fantastic job with his patching skills.

The before and after from real trash.

Why didn't I paint her white?  Because then I would want to keep her..........  Later....

Painted weekly finds

I've had so many of my weekly finds painted up and ready to go to the shop but they needed to be photographed so you could see them.  I needed daylight and I needed them to be all cute and put in the perfect location...... well this weekend I got the daylight and tried to stage them for pretty pictures.  I am not a stager, my house is not stage quality unless I rearrange my furniture for the perfect wall away from the bright windows and I have lots of windows, not too close to the pellet stove for the "yellow" cast of light... and so many more excuses that I said "screw it" put them on a table and just move on.  

So you get to see them with no frills, just their plain pretty little selves standing alone.  So let's do this.

My 4 plain wooden bowls with a 4 new Annie Sloan colors I picked up in December.  

The 3 mirrored wall hangings.

With their new color Annie Sloan Coco and dry brushed with Annie Sloan Old White.  They will be perfect for a little texture on a gallery wall.

I painted a few jars with the Annie Sloan Emperior's Silk and then added a little Old White for the second one and then a little more white for the lighter pink.  They are perfect for little pops of color during the Valentine season.  No before pic for them either, these were before my weekly find posts.

The top wooden bowl with some details carved in got painted.

In one of the new Annie Sloan colors Old Ochre.  I love the shape of this bowl and the details along with the heavy distressing.  

Remember these?

They are now pretty red.  

A tin sugar canister needed a little loving.

Now she looks pretty and will be ready to brighten someones kitchen cupboard.  

The original handle was broken so this wood handle became the new top with a little black paint it's perfect.

Small wooden bowl shown on the bottom right.

Made a perfect place to display a heart in time for Valentine's Day decor.  

And this boring wood coat rack....

Is now........ you guessed it RED.

This plain wood tray with the beautiful heart painting (very pretty in it's first life)

Is now a white tray with flowers embossed on the bottom.  I love trays, don't you?

This tray just got a little red paint to match the tiles.  (no before pic)

And one more..... the tall wood and metal candle stick.

Is now pretty in red with the Valentine candle cup.  

I have lots more but that's all for tonight.    Later....