Flower Power

One day while heading home from a a local mountain bike trail I saw an old ugly blue wooden chair sitting outside a house with a "FREE" sign stuck to it. My boyfriend saw me eyeing it so he stopped and we picked it up. I was excited thinking this is going to be an easy project! I had painted a chair when I was in 8th grade in homage to Roy Lichtenstein (my favorite modern artist). How hard could this be? Well 3.5 months later it's finally finished!!!

I had a "before" picture but I accidentally deleted it :( trust me when I say, it was UGLY! The first thing I needed to do was get rid of the nasty upholstery that was left on it. I knew it was an old chair once I saw that it was stuffed with horse hair! The previous owner jammed a 1962 chocolate company magazine underneath the cushion. Why?? I'm not sure but I believe it was a little rickity! 

Next, I needed to remove the excesses nails sticking out. That was a week long project. (BE CAREFUL IF THE NAILS ARE RUSTY!) Always wear eye protection!

Then it was time to strip the paint. I got paint stripper at Lowe's and a metal spatula to scrape the paint off with. It took 4 times to get most of it off. This was some thick paint! Then I sanded it down with an electric sander. That took a lot of muscle and patience.

Once I was content with the blank canvas I rinsed it off with water. Not all of the paint was off but it was good enough that the pray paint would stick. I let it sit for a night to dry. The next day I went to Home Depot to get spray paint.

I love the color teal! Especially on home decor so I got Rust-Oleum brand Satin Lagoon and  Silver Metallic Finish. I also thought since it was going to sit outside I would get a clear coat for protection.

I sprayed my chair with two coats of the silver spray paint first. Make sure the first layer is completely dry before adding the second layer. I let this sit over night.

The next step I was so excited about! I got a yard of lace from Wal-Mart for only $1.00!!! I draped it over the front of the chair and positioned it so I would get the design I would want. Then I sprayed on one layer of Lagoon spray paint. The paint goes through the lace in certain places and is blocked by the flower design. The lace acts as a stencil.

I then tied the lace around the front and positioned it on the back of chair in a nice design layout... ^^^

I spray painted a medium size flower pot I had in the garage and TA-DA! A flower pot chair for your front porch or garden :) I hope you enjoy!

Star Power!

Star Power Wreath!

God Bless America! Even though the 4th of July is over for this year, there's no reason why you can't still rock the Americana decor! These also happen to be my school colors! GO SCREAMIN' EAGLES!

All of the materials I used were recycled. You will need the following:

1. 3+ cereal boxes- you can usually cut two stars out per box.
2. Pizza box
3. hot glue gun
4. spray paint
5. ribbon

Unfold the card board cereal boxes then trace a star with a permanent marker on the colorful side of the box. If you don't feel comfortable free handing a star you can look for a star shape in Microsoft Word Clip Art, print out the shape, cut it out and trace it. I liked to free hand the stars so they were all unique. It gave it a country chic feel to the wreath.

I used three different boxes and ended up with 6 stars. With each box I made various sizes of star shapes to give the wreath an interesting look.

Okay so you should have your 6-8 stars. To give them the 3-D effect you will need to score the points with the edge of your scissors. BE CAREFUL!! Make sure to not only score the points but the inverted points as well on the inside of the stars.

Then I took the stars outside and spray painted them RED, WHITE, AND BLUE!

While you're waiting for the stars to dry outside you can cut a circle wreath shape out of the pizza box. I just traced a circular shape with a permanent marker and cut it out with scissors. It doesn't have to be perfect because the stars will cover up the shape.

Once the stars are dry bring them inside and arrange them on the wreath the way you want them to look. Plug in your hot glue gun and make sure you have an extra glue stick. I put the glue on the back side of the stars where they touched the wreath. You will need to overlap and layer the stars.

Cut a ribbon to a desired length. I cut mine about 6 inches. Put a quarter size of glue on the back of the wreath and loop your ribbon with the two ends touching the glue then add another quarter size on top of the ribbon so that it is secure. Let the glue dry and you're done!!!

It looks so cute!! When my bf got home he thought is was a metal wreath. Little do the neighbors know i spent $0 on this project :)

Tie Dye Me Crazy

First Blog! Wowza! 

So, I'm a Pinterest fanatic (if you love DIY projects you'll love Pinterest!) and I have been getting some fun ideas from their site. My first project was about turning those oh-so-comfy-white-jean-shorts-that-have-a-couple-of-stains-and-may-or-may-not-fit-you-anymore (Hooray for weight loss!) and making them fun and happy again! Also my friend Melissa and I love to redo our jean shorts and posted a similar project on my Facebook wall!

TIE DYE!!

I was lucky enough to find Tumble Dye primary pack at Target on clearance for $1.98! You can find any kind of tie dye kit though and use it. Or you can pick out acrylic paint and mix 2 parts paint 1 part water in a spray bottle and use that. You will need several colors to create a tie dye effect. You can purchase the kit I used at this site. They also have other project ideas!

I laid out my white shorts in the grass because the spray set tie dye kit gets a little messy.

I started at the top of the shorts with the red paint and sprayed across the shorts(left to right), then i did the same thing with the yellow. I sprayed the yellow into the red to create and orange on top and a yellow on bottom. You will use more yellow so that you can create 3 colors... orange on top, yellow in the middle and green at the bottom when you spray the blue. So, next  I sprayed the blue into the yellow and along the bottom of the shorts to create green and blue. Since I love the color purple and it was the only color missing, I went back to the top and sprayed a small section of the red with blue paint to create purple! Flip shorts over and do it again on the back!!

HELPFUL HINT: 

Make sure to spray the inseam section because it will look awkward if it's still white. Also, spray along the outside seams. You don't have to but I did to give the shorts more color.

SUN TAN!

After I was done spraying, I laid the shorts out in the sun for 20 minutes on each side to air dry.

TUMBLE!

After the article is completely dry, heat in a dryer ALONE for 20 minutes.

TA-DA!

After you take them out of the dryer they are ready to wear! You can leave them how they are, or you can add some embellishments.

I chose some cute square glitzy buttons and sewed them on :)

 Bling, Bling! My friend Kyle calls these, Party Rocker Pants! haha

Aren't they CUTE!? Now I have no idea where I'll wear these, but I'm sure I'll stand out! I think it would look cute with a white tank top and colorful sandals!