Finished my fireplace and keyboard table!

So i dont know if you remember, but when i moved in a few months ago, my living room looked kinda like this:

Well i knew the only thing i could do to make that brick nice was cover it. . . so this is what i came up with, to keep it affordable, i framed it up with plywood and pine board.

so now my living room looks like this: and its not finished yet, i just cant seem to get things to where i like them, lol!

And about the keyboard, i cant afford a piano, but i like to play, so i got a keyboard, which really really clashes with the prim style, lol, soooo i wanted to build a little table/cabinet thingy to house it, and this is what i came up with, and yea, i built this my self. . . im kinda proud:

the front is hinged and folds down so i can pull it out. . . oh yea, i painted that little floor cloth too! dont laugh its my first try at one, lol and i made the stensil myself so it wasnt completely clean.

so, anyway, this is all what i have been working on, and i have other things im working on now, so, here in another month or so when i get done lol, i take sooo long, lol, i'll post some more! Hope everyone had an awesome fourth!!

My mom was in the paper

My mom makes homemade cold process lye soap, just like the old timers, lol, im sure some of you do too. She was featured in our local paper today, just wanted to share the online link to her article  with you guys!

click here to see her article on the Harlan Daily Enterprize!

Ive been soooo busy! and had some awesome finds!

This moving thing is not easy, and takes way longer than i imagined. . . also, i had no idea just how much stuff i actually had accumulated!!  Anyhow, while i was visiting family who had internet, lol, i thought id post how i was doing so far. But first, look at the cool things i found in the basement and old dairy that the previous owners thought was junk!!

now, i dont know what all this stuff is, but i know the old rusty rake head will someday be a peg rack, lol, and i really liked the old cobbler tool.

Well if you saw my previous blog, you saw what the house were moving into looked like, and tho i am far from done, i thought id share some progress. . . 

the kitchen (i had zero counter space before. . . i need more stuff for them)

dining room

the bathroom so far

just for fun, lol this is what i found in Cali's room this morning. . . seems like they had a party tossing the entire bag of colored carmel corn in the floor!!

and then here is some stuff me and kena have been building!! im excited, they will look sooo good painted and distessed and what not!

two end tables and a coffee table, i made them exactly the same size as in the irvins catalog.

heres my take on the pottery bench, our friend sherry asked us to make it for her, its going to be a distressed black

this will be a new england cupboard when finished, it lacks backing, hardware, paint etc lol

and last but not least, the newest addition to my living room (and the only finished item in my living room lol) my peg rack and tall dry sink!!! Me and Kena built it all by ourself, i drew out a plan and we went from there, i think it turned out well. . . and i made a lamp out of one of those cheap oil lamps from wal mart. . . i think it turned out ok.

God Bless! i hope everyone has a blessed weekend and week!!

yea, i dont quite know what i will do with that stuff yet, lol, but onto other things, you can look at the pics on my previous blog of what some of my rooms in this house looked like, im not done at all, but this is some of what ive done. 

New Country Prim doll

well i finished her, she's cute i suppose lol, no, i think all prim dolls are cute, regardless! She was requested by a friend weeks ago and i just havent had time! now that she's done, back to packing.  . . moving takes way too much time!

Well here it is. . . Im moving!

I have been reluctant to post about it, because ive not been sure about it, but i am officially moving. . . my residence that is!  Right now we live right on the highway, and with two small ones who love to play outside. . . that is scarry!! And I know im weird, but ive been wanting a big, old house. I love older homes. My hubby found me one back in the country on a big farm, and yet still only about 15min from where im at now. . . really cool! Only it hadnt been lived in in over 2 years, so it was nastier than i thought, and smelled terrible, we've been working on it night and day for a while now! lol! i wanted to share some pics. . . its a really big roomy house but you cant tell in the pics, it is an older home but its in really really good shape structurally.

The kitchen has these really heavy duty solid wood cabinets that i love.

Im sure you notice the abundance of cleaning supplies lol! The Living room, is a good size, but it was a mess.  The carpet was horrendous, and the fireplace is too.  Im going to build me a box fireplace mantle with a drying rack to just cover the entire existing fireplace up, ill post pics of that when i get it done. . . it could be a while.

Im having trouble gettin my pics to go where i want them, this is when we ripped up the carpet. . . hubby is hard at work trying to salvage the hardwood we found underneath. . . i LOVE old hardwood!

closeup of what we found its 1" i believe

it'll take alot of work in here, but i believe i can make it look really good!

Well im off to get some more done! wish me luck! Oh yea first i have to make a doll that i PROMISED someone id make them weeks ago and havnet had time, just a cute annie type, my own pattern of course. I'll try and post pics today when she's done.

Junk Store Finds and Stomach Flu

My best friend's bachlorette/personal shower was last night.  I felt bad all day, but forced myself to be there, i figured it was just my sinus or allergies making me a bit naucious.  While waiting for my mom to get of work and watch my kids I found alot of things im sure i didnt need a a junk store. lol. But i can see that with paint, stain, or dye, alot of them will turn into something i'll really love.

The little croched rug is about 2ftx3ft and is made of old cloth, has anyone ever tried to dye one of these with rit dye? I think im going to try, for $2 i couldnt pass it up. I got alot of other things too as you can see, like some little baskets, cutting board, wooden sconce, mail organizer, oh yea, and the stomach flu.  Havent had the stomache flu since i was little, i forgot how horrible it is, i finally, after like 12 hours of extreem nausia was able to vomit (sorry if thats graphic lol) and right now i feel just a little bit better :)
Leaning on the fact that these are 24hr viruses! lol! hopefully i'll recuperate soon!

My green primitive box and junk store finds!

Im still fairly new to primitive crafting, i mean, ive stitched for years, but the painting and building is still new and exciting, and well i get excited about it, lol! here is a box that was in my daughters room, it was pink and said princess on it, until i sat it in her window , then it became whitish pink and really bad looking so i painted it black, then green, distressed it and added a little prim label i made. . . i actually like it alot.

I hear others talk about junk store finds alot, and i have been in junk stores and second hand stores alot and never really found anything, my mom took me to the local goodwill today and i found two little items of interest, best part is i got them both for a little over $2.

the first as you can see is a mini crock jug, it was just cute, its only about 5in tall, then there is what im calling a homemade tobacco box. Its solid and quite heavy, has a little working drawer.

I put another pic of this on here because some time soon i plan on painting it and primin it up, i'll try to post a pic of it finished, i love stuff like that.

Primitive Soap Keep

Just wanted to share this, i thought it turned out really cute!

My mother makes homemade old fashioned cold process lye soap, and i love it! Not only do i love to use it, but since i LOVE all things primitve, i really like the way it goes with the decor also. I wanted a cute way to display some of her bars and then i came across the post on simply prims blog about the soap holder, and well, that was exactly what i needed! My mom found a small wooden bowl at a junk store for me and I fashioned my own, following Kris' pattern, just shaping the sides up a bit. It turned out really cute it think.

The soap shown is one of my favorites, its called mocha bean. If you are familliar with lye soap, its commonly called the "kitchen soap", because of the cocoa and coffee in it, its awesome for removing smells from your hands, like onion and garlic!

I have yet to find me a cute little cup to go on it, but i did have these really old copper measuring spoons that i thought would look alright till i found me a cute little cup. They may be just a little too shiny lol.

Hope you enjoyed! And God Bless!

Painting Primitive Paper Mache Boxes Tutorial

I have seen several different people show how they paint paper mache boxes, and although my rendition is very, very similar, it is what i find easiest, so maybe if there is someone out there like me, this will be easy for you too.

The boxes im painting today are a small set of 3, i got the idea for the olde pantry label off a box i saw on the pickled pepper patch.  I make my own everything usually, lol, so i opened up word and found a clipart of a sheep and made my own little "woolens" label.  I'll share that with you at the end, i dont care to share!

What u need!
Paper Mache Boxes (you can find these at almost any craft store, im using a small oval set)
Craft Paint (i like folk art brand, and i use black, barn red, yellow orche, and cobalt blue today)
brushes to paint with
old piece of wax (i use the old wax i remove from my tart warmer, you could use a cheep candle)
minwax dark walnut (this is optional but it seals and makes them look prim perfect)

ok first i painted them all one base color, i like to use black as my base for primitive projects, so i painted them all black.

 Let the paint dry completely (craft paint only takes about 5-10 min if its not too thick), and rub your wax all over the boxes and lids, i rub it on pretty thick. After you are finished with this, gently wipe off the loose wax from the box so you can apply your second coat of paint.


I wanted each of the 3 boxes a different color, i used barn red, yellow ochre, and a prim green (i couldnt find a green i liked, so i mixed colbalt blue and ochre yellow together pretty equall parts of each for a nice green).
Apply the paint to the boxes quickly, could be haphazardly, doesnt need to be perfect.

  and quickly, before the paint dries completely, roughly wipe it back off with an old cloth, or paper towel.  The more you rub off, the more prim it will look.

  This is about what mine looked like after rubbing some of the paint off, i like doing this, because i dont have to sand anything this way, if you want even more paint off, you could sand your pieces  as soon as this paint dries good.

I just followed this process for each color and the end result was this.

They looked cute like this, but a little too brite, this is where the minwax comes it, i just use an old cloth and wipe a little on, then wipe most back off, leaving just a hint of color, and the product is sealed.

I wanted to add some labels, so i printed some out, then stained them with instant coffee, dried them in the oven, and cut them out to size.

I glued each label on and i was done, the label i made myself that im going to share is the woolens lable in the center.

 Just right click on the image and save it to your computer!

Hope this helps somebody!!

Cali turns 4

So my daughter turned 4 on Tuesday (march 23rd). It doesnt seem like she should have, she's getting so big. When I asked her what kind of party she wanted, her answer was simple. . . "Spongebob"; dont we all love that guy. lol.

For her tee shirt to the side --> I found a spongebob image on google opened it in paint and found a cute font (billo) and wrote "birthday girl" beside it. I colored it to match the theme and printed it on that iron-on tee shirt paper i got from walmart. All you do is print your image out (mirrored) and iron it on! so easy! And she loved it.

Weather was supposed to be bad so i had to come up with an activity or 2 for a bunch of children under 5. . . and i thought. . . yep a cardboard playhouse will be cheap and effective. It turned out really well so i thought i may share it, incase someone elses child just has to have a pinapple under the sea!

What u will need

*really big cardboard box

*grey paint

*3 yellow plastic tablecloths

*grey duck tape

*wire or big stapler

Constructing a "Pinapple Under the Sea"

1- find a really big cardboard box, or 2. (appliance stores have these alot)

2- bend the box to make it more round/octogonal shaped.

3- cut out the rounded door shape, and a few round windows. (i painted the door grey as i went)

4. Now begin to assemble the top. Sorry i didnt have a picture of this, but i just stood all the top sides up at an angle so there was a smaller octogonal shape at the top and i wired it together because the duck tape wouldnt hold.

5. Next I cut a piece of cardboard the shape of the octogonal opening left at the top and taped this down, so the top of the box was closed in. This made the overall shape.

6. Yellow paint would cost way too much to cover this, so i chose yellow tablecloths for less than $2 apiece and taped them on the inside to cover the entire area. These also hid all the uneven areas, so it worked out alot better.

7. i cut out around the windows and duck taped them down, it looked like this:

* The pipe at the side was an old wrapping paper roll i just covered with duck tape. I cut a slit in the side of the house and pushed it in.

*I taped the top piece down with clear tape so it would look nice.

8. for the pinapple leaves on top i cut these shapes (in much larger form ofcourse) out of cardboard and painted them green. (i watered down my paint a bit so it would take less). I assembled them together just putting the larger in the middle, sliding the rectangle onto it in the cutouts, and then placing the taller single leaves into the front and back cutouts on the rectangle.

9. tape the pinapple leaves down to the top of the pinapple

10. lastly, just for looks i made a "nautical wheel" out of an old plastic lid and some small dowel rods that i cut and covered with tape, i put this on the door, then used an orange sharpie to draw the pinapple pattern around the house.

***** another awesome spongebob birthday party decoration i came up with is jellyfish balloons***

all you need is light pink balloons and light pink streamer and clear tape!and its cheap and easy!

*just blow up the balloons

*tape a ring of streamer to the bottom to cover up the tied part

*tape a few long streamers hanging down out of that bottom part

*maybe even draw some darker pink or red shapes on the top of the balloon to resemble the jelleyfish

*use tape and some streamer or string to hang them from the celing!

i know im horrible at explaining things, so, thanks for baring through that, maybe i'll get better at it later!

God Bless!

Ang

Never Been a Blogger

So, I've never been a blogger. I've also never been awesome at grammar, or speaking, or teaching. . . so my blogs may not be much to read, and what is there, may be hard to follow. . . for this I apologize beforehand.

I'm a member of "Simple Livin Crafts". We are a very small, newly started, family based business composed of a few stay at home moms, who love crafting and primitives.

Although I have always loved primitives, I'm pretty new to making primitive crafts for myself, and I am so thrilled to find all the great tutorials and awesome pictures some have posted. So, in part I may have started my own blog, just to keep in touch with some other blogs that i have fallen in love with!