Tag Archives: fabric

Chicken Wire and a Giveaway!!

Posted by Leanne on May 22, 2012 17 comments

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend?! We took it easy most of the weekend… Saturday was an outside day, catching up on some yard work…Sunday was a movie day, as both Jordan and I were under the weather… Yesterday us Canadians had an extra day off! Yay! So we took advantage of the day and went across the border to Linden, Washington again. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know this is one of my favorite places to spend a day. My favorite restaurant, my favorite antique store, a candy store next door to bribe the kids, and on a sunny day there is the most amazing playground in town. One day I will take pictures of the playground, it is quite something! Yesterday was a very rainy day however, so they kids got a little extra candy!

I’m excited to show you a frame I repurposed! It will currently be for sale, on my For Sale page, but I’m kind of humming and hawing on whether I want to keep it or not!!

this frame went from this:

To this:

I love the contrast of the bright yellow (Martha Stewart’s Cornbread) and the dark fabric. And I am a sucker for leaf prints!

I don’t have good photos on how I did it, but I’ll try to explain along the way… this was my first time working with chicken wire though, so I was a little apprehensive, and too concentrated to think of taking pictures!!

again, a close-up of the frame... I took it all apart, and gave the frame a cleaning, sanding, and 2 coats of yellow... because I didn't think distressing it would give it much of an impact, being that the original color was white, I used "Distress Ink" to give it more depth and a distressed look...

...here you can see a bit of the effect the Distressed Ink gave to the yellow...

... I actually used the original picture to wrap the fabric around, and hot glued the fabric to the back...

before fitting the fabric board into the frame, I had cut a piece of chicken wire to fit in first, then fit the fabric board in next. I bent the chicken wire around the fabric board, and taped down the edges. I then finished off the back fully with a piece of cardboard, so the back is nice and covered....

Here is a photo of the chicken wire bent around the back of the fabric board, before I taped it...

...oh, and I forgot to mention I also stapled the chicken wire on the back, with a staple gun, before taping down the ends, just to make sure it all stays in place!...

...the back... in the "wrapping" process...

and done! it was a learning experience, but an addicting one, so I'm sure there will be more of these to come!!...

...so in case you don't quite understand how it works, the fabric is behind the chicken wire...

...the chicken wire sits far enough away from the fabric, so you can use clips of your choice, to clip your memos to the chicken wire...

...I chose to use clothespins, as they are adorable and inexpensive!...

I love how functional and sweet this piece is, and I love the rustic-ness the chicken wire gives to this piece...

If you LOVE it, be sure to check out my For Sale Page!! I’d love to pass this on to another loving home, before it finds a permanent wall in our house to hang on!!

Thank you so much for reading!! And by the way, my Facebook Page has reached 49 Likes!! I’ve decided that for every 50 likes on my Facebook Page, I will hold a GIVEAWAY!!… I’m just not sure what the first GIVEAWAY will be yet!! I better decide that before I get 1 more Like! Pass on the word, I’d love your help to help my Facebook Page grow!!

Thank you!! xo, Leanne

Partying at: Embracing Change, The Shabby Creek Cottage

It’s Magnetic!!

Posted by Leanne on May 8, 2012 None comments

The weather here has been SO amazing the past 2 days, it has been almost shocking! People are out in droves trying to soak it all up. We have had so much rain here since last summer, we take advantage of every sunny day we can.

On Sunday we had a fabulous day taking advantage of the sun. We had a picnic on the beach at Harrison Hot Springs, went for a walk around the water (which takes incredibly long with 3 kids, loose shoe laces, runny noses, birds to chase, flowers to pick, and pictures to take). Did some “window shopping” at The Back Porch (coffee, antiques and collectibles), chased the chickens there and fed the goats, drove up to Hicks Lake and took a little walk, had dinner back in Harrison, and stopped by my parents for a quick visit and some ice cream! It was just so great to get out of the house for a day!

Today I want to share with you a personal favorite of one of my creations… you can find this beauty on my For Sale page, which I just updated yesterday, by the way!

A Magnetic Board!

Oh, I so love this one.

I don’t have a very good selection of pictures on how I did it, but here’s a small glimpse. If you would like a more descriptive idea, then my post of Turquoise Twins might help you out.

This is what I started out with:

this is what I started out with. I picked it up from a local thrift store. this was another one of those occasions when the cashier said "oh what a beautiful picture!!" When I explained what I was going to do with it, she didn't seem too impressed. :/

a close up of the frame...

I carefully took the whole thing apart....

...part of the process of taking it apart...

I used this little thingy to help pull the staples out...

... and the frame. I gave the frame a quick sanding a cleaning, then gave it one coat of graphite paint...

and that’s it for the “during” pictures… but I’ll try to explain my steps while you enjoy the “after” pics

...after my one coat of graphite, I noticed some of the original color was peaking through, and looked awesome. It didn't need any distressing, it was just perfect the way it was... I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture, but watch for it!...

the frame received a thin coat of clear Annie Sloan Wax for protection

for the inside of the frame, I cut a piece of sheet metal to size...

... measured the fabric an inch wider than the sheet metal... and this is where I began to mess up a little...

before realizing I was messing up, I carefully hot glued the fabric to the back of the sheet metal...

...when I turned it over to admire my work, I realized I hadn't removed the store code sticker from the sheet metal, and it showed through the fabric! Darn it anyways...

... I carefully pulled back the fabric, and began to try to peel off the sticker...

...luckily I didn't get too involved in this before I realized my other mistake...

and I clued in that I had fit the fabric pattern to run in the wrong direction!!...

... I was keeping the original hanging wire, so the frame was hanging horizontal... but at this point the fabric was vertical...again, a few curse words...

I ripped the fabric off, carefully started over again, checked it and double checked it before hot gluing the fabric to the back (which used to be the front, I remembered to turn the sheet metal upside down!)... I placed the sheet metal into the frame, and used the original picture, upside down, to fill in the void space. Taped it in place, and, sigh....

Ta-da!

…A gorgeous magnetic board, perfect for your kitchen or living room! Check the For Sale page for details, and otherwise, thank you SO much for reading!!

xo, Leanne (PS. Update: This item has been SOLD!)

Partying at: Not just a Housewife

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Turquoise Twins

Posted by Leanne on May 3, 2012 3 comments

Well it’s Thursday, and I’m feeling pumped today!! Tonight is our elementary school’s Ladies Night Fundraiser, where I am having a vendor table! With my past businesses I swore I would never have a vendor table again, but this was cheap enough, and for a good cause, and I’m excited to get my stuff out there, and see what the feedback is!

And to celebrate, I’m finally showing you a project! I know, it’s been awhile!! So I’m showing you a little favorite of mine, and I don’t think they’ll be sticking around for long… Meet the Turquoise Twins!

The Turquoise Twins!

The one on your left is a magnetic board, and the one on your right is a chicken wire bulletin board!

I actually have a pretty good collection of my how-I-did-it, so here we go!

This was them "before" and I picked them up on Half-Off day at a local thrift store for a couple of dollars each...

a couple close-ups of the frames before...

before...

after taking the frames apart, I gave them 2 coats of Wythe Blue, from Benjamin Moore.... once the paint dried, I distressed them to show some of the gold from underneath... then it was time for staining...

I had read about this technique online somewhere... I am SO sorry I don't remember where!... apply stain to the project (I used dark walnut from Minwax), and smear with a rag and baby oil! It gave a very nice stained darkness to the turquoise...

...here's a photo showing the difference... the bottom one has been stained, the top has not... very subtle, but just enough.

next, for the chicken wire frame, I used foam board as my "base" for my fabric. I bought it from the dollar store, and cut it to the size of the frame...

...placed the foamboard on the fabric I was using, and cut the fabric approximately 2 inches bigger than the foam board...

... so this is a photo with sheet metal for the magnet board... I bought a fairly large size sheet of sheet metal from Home Depot for $27, the price caught my by surprise, but oh well, I was determined, ...I put out a plea for tin snips (to cut the sheet metal) on Facebook, and thanks to friends willing to share their husband's tools I was set! ... To attach the fabric to both the sheet metal, and to the foam board, I just wrapped them and hot glued the back side. This project needed work gloves to keep scratches, cuts and burns at bay!...

This is the back of the foam board, with the fabric glued on. For this chicken wire project, I used the tin snips to cut the wire, a little larger then the frame. I wrapped the foam board with the chicken wire, and fitted it into the frame.

... I stapled the chicken wire to the frame with a staple gun (I felt very empowered with this project, using all these tools I've never used before!). After stapling, I trimmed the wire, then taped the edges down with masking tape...

I try to reuse as much of the original item as possible, so I used the mat from the original frame on the back, and was able to push the photo tab holders thingies down to keep it all in place.

And a couple of “after” pictures for you!

The Turquoise Twins!

I’d love to get your feedback, let me know what you think! If you LOVE them, find them on my For Sale Page!

Thanks so much for reading!!

xo, Leanne

Partying at:

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Farmhouse-Chic Chairs and Stool

Posted by Leanne on March 8, 2012 22 comments

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I feel real goofy for not taking proper before or during pictures of my most current project, but I hope you can get an idea! I was just so excited to take on these chairs, I had them taken apart before I thought of it, and with the stool, it didn’t even dawn on me, I was so excited!

The work on the chairs was done the same way I do everything else:)

-sand the chairs, wipe clean

-prime

-3 coats of antique white paint

-distress like crazy and have tons of fun … I like to distress fairly quick after the paint has dried, it makes it so much easier!

-wax with clear and dark wax, little areas at a time, wiping off as I go along

-put the chairs back together, and ta-da! When it came to the upholstering and adding the upholstery nails, I will admit I was just so stinkin’ nervous about it all, that again, I didn’t think to take pictures. Whether I did it right or not, I have no clue, but I like the way it came out!

….what a bad blogger I am!!!…:)

So, the rest of this post will be basically wordless…but be warned, it contains many pictures! I’m pretty proud!

Before:

I bought this little beauty off of a friend of mine for $12...

...and this one at the Bibles For Missions Store, for $3.50!... and the stool you will see pictured I picked up at MCC for $2.50! Yay for 1/2 off days!!

A few “during” pics, and the rest are all after pics!