Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Miss Thing gets a Makeover

What a difference a week makes and "Miss Thing" definitely had a good week!

After all of the comments came in here and from my guest post over at The Country Chic Cottage for What Would You Do With It Wednesday, the majority of you said that you would make Miss Thing into a bead or button sorter. There were some other really creative ideas too, but this one really intrigued me and was more what I had in mind when I bought her.

As a reminder, this is what Miss Thing looked like when I brought her home.


After sitting down with some paint and craft supplies, she began to take on a whole new look.

First, I applied a couple of coats of Heirloom White spray paint to the base. I didn't take photos of this process, but suffice it to say the base went from a light woodgrain to Heirloom White.  It was like magic, I tell ya!

I set that aside to dry and started to work on the individual vials.
 I tore out sixteen pages from a vintage French print book that I have. Now, I can hear you gasping, but don't freak out about me tearing up a vintage French print book.  It is a simple paperback called "Teach Yourself French", not a classic tale by any means!
I used distressing ink on the pages to darken the torn edges, but they already have a great aged patina look to the pages because the book was printed in 1964. Yummy! 



Then I applied a line of glue along one edge of the page so that it would adhere to the vial.




Then I simply rolled them around the vial in various directions. Some wrapped directly around, some wrapped on an angle, because everyone loves a variety, right?

When finished, I sat them back in the base which was now dry.
Then I went diggin' in my bottomless stash of ephemera.  This is where the fun began!


One at a time, each vial took on a personality of their own as I added baubles and trinkets and ribbons, oh my!

Then I stood back and looked at the entire piece and the base just appeared to be way too stark white to go with the vintage look items that had been applied to the vials. I got out one of my all time favorite rubber stamps and randomly stamped the base with French Script words in all directions. 

Then, using my paint brush, I randomly dry brushed some ink smudges and smears around on the base to shabby it up a bit. Perfect!


Then I set about filling it with the vials. The following photos need no explaination, but they sure are pretty eye candy!







You likey? If so, it can be yours!  It's listed on Ebay this week and you can see even more photos of the rest of the piece by following this link to my Ebay listings.

I will be linking up this week to a bunch of fun party links too, be sure to check them out for more great home decor and craft ideas!

Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented
Market Yourself at Sumos Sweet Stuff
Motivate Me Monday at Keep it Simple
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative
Toot Your Horn Tuesday at  A Silly Little Sparrow
Second Time Around at A Picture is Worth 1000 Words
Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design
Spotlight Yourself at It's so Very Cheri
Works for Me Wednesday at We are That Family
Look what I Made at Creations by Kara
Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
Show off your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans
Thrifty Thursday at Tales from Bloggeritaville
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence
Get Your Craft on Thursday at Life as Lori
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Inspired By at the Inspired Room
Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge
Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous
Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Metamorphoisis Monday at BNOTP

Til next time!
Lisa



Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Me and Miss Thing

Hi Everyone!

I have some exciting news!  Wednesday, I am going to be the feature on this week's What Would You Do With It Wednesday, over at The Country Chic Cottage!  I was totally excited! First, because it is my first feature, EVER!!! Second, because I have the perfect piece to ask "What would YOU do with it???"

I was shopping at a local Goodwill a while back and was coming across all kinds of goodies that were catching my eye and jumping into my cart. I was having a wonderful day with what I like to call My Little Pretties.  I rounded a corner and suddenly saw this strange thing sitting there on the shelf looking back at me.



I managed to get out of the store that day with out her, but a few weeks later, I went back to the Goodwill (What can I say? I am a chronic junker and thrift store addict) and the first thing I saw when I walked in, there on the shelves of doom sat this strange little thing, staring at me, almost daring me to buy her. I hadn't given her a second thought, but when I saw her sitting there staring at me again, what was I to do? I had visions of a science project gone wrong, the base kinda reminded me of a mushroom, but I was totally intrigued by her.

I walked over to the shelves of doom and went to pick her up, when I noticed she spun. Oh even better! A spinning mushroom science lab!  The entire base sits on a lazy susan of sorts. For some reason, the fact that she spun intrigued me and I just knew I could do something really fun with her. But what? Never one to back down from a challenge, I said "Okay Miss Thing, you are coming home with me." She has been affectionately known as Miss Thing ever since. And for the price, I figured I couldn't go wrong.  The tag read $1.50, but it was 50% off day, so I got her for 75 cents.



So, now she had a home, but I had no idea why.  I still don't.  That is why I am so thrilled to be here today asking all you lovely readers "What would you do with it?" So bring on your witty comments, oh crafty readers of blogland! I can't wait to be inspired by you all! Just leave a comment below or head over to Angie's blog to leave a comment there. Then tune in next Wednesday where I will be showing off what Miss Thing ultimately becomes.  I am sure she will be something just fabulous!

Til next time!
Lisa
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