Shabby Love: October 2014

Monday, October 27, 2014

Paint-A-Pillow Review and Giveaway

*This post was brought to you by Paint-A-Pillow. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

Hey friends! I have an awesome project to share with you today!! I'm working with Paint-A-Pillow (sister site to Cutting Edge Stencils) to make two custom pillows! I've been looking for new pillows for my couch, so I'm very excited that I get to make them myself with an easy stenciled design!

The kit comes with everything you need to make a pillow - pillow insert, pillow cover, stencil, paint, roller, tray, and stencil brush! When I opened the box, everything was so beautifully packed. It was like Christmas!!!

And the best part? The cover already comes set up and ready to stencil. Paint-A-Pillow came up with this genius way to stencil the cover and keep it in place without the use of tape. The pillow cover rests in this cardboard square. The stencil sits over top and is secured in place with metal tabs that fold over. The stencil didn't move one bit!

I got so excited that I forgot to take pictures while stenciling, but the trick is to pour some paint on the tray that comes in your kit, get your roller evenly covered and roll off any excess. You don't want any globs.

Then with a little bit of pressure, roll over your stencil. You can use a brush to get near the edges and other spots that are hard to reach with your roller.

To be honest here, I had no idea what to expect when I went to lift the stencil. It seems with stenciling, no matter how careful I am, I always seem to have at least one spot that bleeds.

I was pleasantly surprised to find here that everything was absolutely perfect!!!!! No bleeding, no smudging, no mistakes whatsoever! Yay!

After letting the paint dry, I placed a piece of material over the cover and ironed it to heat set the paint, making the covers washable now!

There are also accessories available such as tassels and rhinestones you can get to further customize your pillow! I chose not to use any on my pillows, but they would add a fun little touch!

Then I zipped my pillow inserts inside the covers and plopped them on my couch! Love them!!

This was one of the easiest and fastest projects ever! I kind of want to stencil every pillow in sight now! I really can't say enough good things about this product!!

Are you ready for a chance to win your very own Paint-A-Pillow Kit? Check out the Rafflecopter widget below to enter!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Wood Burned Bread Boards

I have an amazing giveaway going on now for a Paint-A-Pillow kit! Stop over HERE to enter!!!!!!

For Christmas last year I asked my mom for a wood burner. I had big plans for it and was excited to get one. Fast forward to almost a year later and I only just now took it out of the package and got to work........I'm such a slacker.

I don't know what it is about bread boards, but I LOVE them and I usually grab them whenever I see them at thrift stores if they have a nice patina to them. I keep some and sell the rest in my booth. I love the rustic touch they add to a kitchen or vignette.

I brought home a few bread boards from my booth that had been sitting awhile so I could finally try out my wood burner. Here's what I did!!!

Wood burning definitely took some getting used to, but it was fun! The softer the wood, the easier it was to do the shading I noticed. And, I like how the cut marks and gouges from everyday use are really noticeable now. It adds great texture.

I'm really looking forward to working with it again and trying out the other tips that came with it! What projects have you used a wood burner for?

I'm linking to the parties listed HERE and to:

Boogieboard Cottage

Knick of Time Tuesday

Liz Marie Blog

Common Ground

Thoughts from Alice

Fabulously Creative Friday at JenniferRizzo.com

Redoux Interiors

From My Front Porch to Yours

Persia Lou

Monday, October 20, 2014

Bring on the Stripes

It just hit me that when I decorate my home, I play it a little safe. I decorate with neutrals, paint my furniture white, or leave the wood tones alone. While I'm not afraid to go big and bold, it's just the look I prefer. I felt like I was living on the edge a bit when I decided to stamp a wall in my studio recently! ;)

My booth, on the other hand, is where I have a little more fun. I still stay pretty neutral, but I like to try different things with the furniture I sell.

I found this little table at Goodwill and decided to paint it using General Finishes Milk Paint in Lamp Black. My absolute favorite!!

Lately I've been really loving the look of black and gold together. And, I always love the look of a striped table top. I combined all three with a fun little twist on the stripes to make it look slightly more geometric.

I almost wish now that I had added one more horizontal stripe!

*Paint was supplied to me for this project, but all opinions are 100% my own .

Do you play it safe, or do you like to have fun with your home décor?

I'm linking to the parties listed HERE and to:

Boogieboard Cottage

Knick of Time Tuesday

Liz Marie Blog

Common Ground

Thoughts from Alice

Fabulously Creative Friday at JenniferRizzo.com

Redoux Interiors

From My Front Porch to Yours

Persia Lou

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Changing Things Up

Last year at this time we gave our living room a complete redo. We stripped wallpaper, painted the walls, added new baseboard trim, and repainted the huge floor-to-ceiling entertainment center! Not much has changed in the room over the year, except for the entertainment unit.

When the room was first finished, this is how I styled the shelves.

I tend to use this as a holding area for things destined for my booth. I put them here so I can enjoy them for awhile before I take them to my space. So, many of the things here have either been sold or have found other places to reside in my home.

I've been wanting to change things up for awhile now, but I was stuck in a rut. I couldn't decide on the "look" I wanted to go with and I didn't know what I wanted to permanently keep. For months, I would style a shelf, not really love it, become frustrated and walk away.

FINALLY, this past weekend I decided I was going to tackle the shelves once and for all!!! I went through everything I didn't want to keep and took it all to my booth. Then I worked until I filled all the shelves. I'm sure I'll tweak some later on, but overall I'm content!

The porcelain door knobs and brushes have been tucked away, unseen, in the locker baskets, so I brought them out in the open to be enjoyed and admired!

These framed photos are of my husband's grandfather. I love having them on display!

What do you think of the new arrangement?

I'm linking to the parties listed HERE and to:

Boogieboard Cottage

Knick of Time Tuesday

Liz Marie Blog

Common Ground

Thoughts from Alice

Fabulously Creative Friday at JenniferRizzo.com

Redoux Interiors

From My Front Porch to Yours

Persia Lou

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Woodland Animal Plaque Tutorial

Hey guys!!! I promised a tutorial on how to make the woodland animal heads that I shared in my post about my booth decorated for fall.

It has taken me long enough, but I was finally able to put one together for you today!!! Yay!

For this project you will need:
* Wood plaque to mount your animal head
* Piece of scrap wood
* Printed image of animal silhouette
* Graphite paper
* Scroll saw
* Sandpaper
* Screws
* Paint or stain

I found these plaques at thrift stores, but I believe I have seen the unfinished one below at craft stores like Michael's.

Once you have your plagues, find a piece of scrap wood in the thickness you want the animal head.

I found a silhouette of a moose head and deer heads online and printed them. You will also need a piece of graphite paper to trace your image.

With the graphite paper underneath your image, trace with a pen or pencil.....

So that you're left with your animal head transferred onto your piece of scrap wood.

Nate used his scroll saw to cut it out for me. If you do not have a scroll saw, some other type of hand saw may work with a design that's not quite so intricate.

I gave everything a good sanding to smooth out all the rough edges.

After I determined where I wanted the heads placed on the plaque, we attached the two together by screwing through the back of the plaque.

The final step is to paint or stain in the color of your choice! Make sure to use a small artist's brush to get into all the nooks and crannies. Spray painting might even be the way to go for these too.