Pine Cone Candles?

I WISH I would have taken a nice shot of this thing when I found it at the thrift store.

brass

fake purple and pink flowers wrapped around each candle holder

ribbons hanging all over it


But, I saw the possibilities!!! I spray painted it a glossy white.
It took four coats. Too much for my patience level



Then it sat on my desk for a loooong time. I put taper candles in it, but it was too much for me.
I felt like I should be using it in a dark and musty old castle
to find my way through the abandoned corridors



So, it sat for some more time. I was trying to think of something fun and different to put in the candle holders, and after our hike and stick finding expedition, it dawned on me that little pine cones would fit perfectly into the spots!





These were leftover from some Christmas projects, and were not found on our hike. They are real pine cones though, not candles and I think I'm ok with that.



I love how it looks on the bedside table, but it's my husband's side, and it is a bit too big for him. He seems to need a lot of tabletop space for his drinks, snacks, magazines, and books he takes to bed with him. So, it may need to find a new home somewhere else. But, it will find a home, because it is so much fun!

My Bedroom is Famous

Well, not MY bedroom, but one that looks pretty darn close surprised me when I was flipping through the Ballard Designs catalog this morning. This is on pg. 6 of the current catalog

This is upstairs in my house



I (smacked my husband and interrupted his newspaper reading)
was all...hey...this looks like our bedroom....
upholstered headboard,



low shelf right above it,




wall mounted bedside lamps,



wicker basket at the foot of the bed




neutral muted colors



chippy loveliness





Wow, maybe I do have a bit of a sense of style. I mean if Ballard Designs is copying me. Ha Ha
Now, to make mine look as good as theirs....never happen!
But, I am sure mine was about 20% of the cost of theirs so I will settle for it!

Mirror, Mirror....

"ummmm, it looks like a spider."



This from my husband when I unveiled my cool and trendy new
sunburst mirror made from sticks.
"I like the mantle the other way better." Well, who asked him anyway?




It all started last Saturday morning when we were "hiking." The kids were completely distracted with mud, snow, and sticks to be bothered to walk very quickly. They were bringing me handfuls of sticks and shoving them into my backpack. I looked around at the hundreds scattered on the forest floor and decided to join in. I knew I could find something to do with all this natural goodness.




3/4 of the way through the hike, we realized my pack was slightly open (Little Miss Someone didn't zip it when she finished) and I had been leaving a trail of perfect little sticks in my wake.






So, I had many fewer sticks than anticipated
when we finally got home and inventoried our booty.



I have a few stick projects floating around in my head, but this sunburst mirror was going to fit in the currently naked spot on my mantle just perfectly.


Materials
small round mirror
sticks
hot glue (or gorilla glue)
twine, jute, or ribbon (to hang the mirror)

1. I started by grabbing the first four sticks. I chose the longest, bulkiest sticks.
2. Assemble the rest around the mirror before starting to glue.
3. Hot glue the sticks to the front of the mirror, trying to keep them evenly spaced
4. I had to glue some sticks on the back to fill in the sunburst (like how messy and abundant the glue is?)
5. Glue the jute to the back of the mirror

So, this is not the most durable thing I have ever made. I am glad it is hanging somewhere where no one (i.e. little people) can get their hands on it, cause they could destroy it in 20 seconds.




I love the different colors and textures of the sticks






It goes so nicely with my book bundles and jute candlesticks.










Every time I glance at the mantle I feel serene and calm.
Which is no easy task when Dinosaur Train is blaring in the background, someone is pulling on my pants and screaming for juice, and the dog is whining to go out.

The Birds...are taking over

This little guy started the trend.

I saw the stencil and grabbed it on a whim, I mean, I have never really especially liked birds. Nothing against them, but just not my thing. I just now realized I have about 10 birds or bird cages scattered throughout my house....how did this happen?


This little beauty of an armoire has led many lives in many colors. We found him in the shed of a rental 8 years ago. Poor thing was abandoned and just needed a little tlc. He started white, then went to chocolate brown, then black, sage green, white again, and now this shabby dusty blue, which I hope will keep me happy for at least a year.




So, I think the birds will stick around for a while.

Funky Junk Inspiration

I have to admit, Donna from Funky Junk Interiors really inspired me to attempt some new projects and embrace some fun new elements into my home. When I first found this idea for displaying pictures,

I knew I could do it...and be successful!

I hit my favorite thrift store every Monday, and I always snatch up picture frames with interesting details, shapes, and sizes. I found a HUGE....like 1 1/2 ft by 3 ft ( I don't know exactly, I'm not really going to break out the measuring tape, you get the idea) wooden frame in great "junky" condition. It contained a lovely embroidered small tablecloth, which I immediately gave to my daughter and she currently uses for kitchen floor doll picnics. Two for one on this deal baby!

So I cleaned the glass, grabbed my twine and started wrapping.




I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped....



Until I had this!




I wrapped wildly and unabashedly. My favorite kind of project! I tied the ends tightly and it has held for over a month now.

The pictures don't really stay up just tucked between the twine, so I bought some small clothespins to hold all of our treasures.



It is in our bedroom and displays many mementos that remind me of our life together. Some cute pictures of us and our kids, a map from Zion National Park, directions for how to assemble a tent (I will leave that one to your imagination because it is too painful for me to relive), and a desert flower image taken in Moab, Utah.

It makes me smile every time I look at it.

 

Little Birdie

I stumbled upon this image and fell in love. I saved it in my inspiration file forever ago. I found it on Graphics Fairy, but after 2 hours of searching, I cannot find it again (By 2 hours, I mean 45 minutes...but it felt like 4 hours). SOOOO, I cannot link up the actual image, if anyone has the link and wants to share, I would LOVE to link it here.
***I found it!!!! The pick is linked up!)

I loved it and kept imagining it on a long wooden plank or board hanging above the armoire in my bedroom (which recently received a bird stencil treatment).

I am no tech wizard and don't know how to enlarge it and print it off in pieces to get the size I wanted. I kept looking at the image and thought...what the hell. I will try to just paint it myself. Now, I am NO artist. I can draw mean sidewalk chalk elephant, but a painter I am not.

I took a stray 2' by 4' and stained it with one coat of a medium walnut stain and waited for it to dry. Then I gave it a messy and quick coat of white. After the paint dried I went at it with the palm sander. ***God, I love the palm sander and the permission to be messy, rough, and haphazard with it***

I took a pencil and tried to copy the image the best I could. Luckily I could erase and tweak as I went. Then I grabbed the kids generic black poster paint, it's all I had and I was not patient enough to wait till I got to the store for proper paint, and I went after it.

I have to say, I felt pretty "arty" and "paintery" while I was doing it. Like I actually had skill or talent or something.

When I was satisfied, and tired of slaving over the birds, I let it dry. Then I went back to the sander and knicked up all of that beautiful painting. And now, it looks perfect (for me)!
I so love it!

It fits the space perfectly!




It's not a perfect match, and I like the image more than my rendition, but not bad.