Grandma's Wooden Chest

I get a lot of my belongings as hand-me-downs which I either treasure as heirlooms or fix up to make my own. My grandmother's wooden chest is an example of one that I fixed up to make my own. The original color was a baby blue which matched my grandmother's bedroom. My grandfather had painted it with oil paint to match. It was a real shame because the wood underneath was absolutely beautiful (you could see it at the edges. In fact, you can see the original blue of the chest in the background of my original Chii costume post here:

http://ginger710.blogspot.com/2008/11/halloween-2005.html

Anyhoo, most of my furniture is a dark cherry color. Since it was painted with oil paint, stripping it would have been a VERY daunting task since it is carved wood. I decided to repaint it with oil paint that matched the wood stain. Let me tell you how hard it is to find ANYONE who sells oil paint anymore! God Bless Ace Hardware!!

Once the chest was painted, I added a bit of copper and gold painting detail to the carved wood on top of the chest to make it stand out a little bit - just because the carving is absolutely beautiful. I topped the chest with a custom cut piece of glass I bought from a glass and mirror wholesaler in Warren and it became a beautiful coffee table to treasure!

Halloween Pumpkin

Every year it's the same jack-o-lantern - triangle eyes, triangle nose, cruved mouth with some teeth cut in. *sigh* This year after seeing so much inspiration online I decided to attempt a different type of pumpkin - a haunted castle scene.

I tried this once before (tinkerbell, which failed miserably and Stitch which looked kinda funny all lit up), but this one seemed simple enough.

I broke out my pumpkin carving tools, which I lovingly keep in a black tin just for the holiday, and carved my pumpkin.

Once I was done, I painted the castle and bat to make it stand out even when it wasn't lit. Actually I was quite pleased with it - lit or not!

Paisley Painting

In my new house, thee bathroom is designed with tan and teal tiles with a teal sink and bathtub. It's really difficult to find accessories and ensembles to match! Instead of matching, I decided to find a neutral accent color. Since it was already tan in the bathroom, my original thought of bamboo would have blended right in and looked very plain. I found a fantastic set from Bed Bath and Beyond that was black and had little rhinestone crystals in it. Just the neutral with a pop of color I was looking for!


The walls were also very bare. So - knowing me and how I do art - I made a painting to fit the space! I used the black, teal and tan colors that were already incorporated into the bathroom. I also added little rhinestone crystals to the painting to incorporate that element, too and tie everything together!

Since I didn't really have a theme like pinup girls, shoes or the seashore like past bathrooms, I wanted to make sure the painting didn't really have a subject. Instead, I utilized a really ornate paisley design that brought out all the colors and sparkle that the bathroom already had. I am so happy with the way it turned out! I think this may even rival my mother's tigerlily as my favorite painting now!!

Alice Apron

I was introduced to a fantastic website called spoonflower. While searching the fabric on the website I found some great material that has a border of of the mad tea party from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland in black and white with the words of the chapter of the tea party in the background. As the material continues up from the border, the material becomes more of a deepersky blue. When I saw this material I immediately thought of using it for an apron!
To compliment the material I thought I would make the top part blue and black striped. I added black lace to the bottom of the apron for a little whimy and a black pocket to the apron. I painted a blue teacup onto the apron to complete the theme. I am soooooo happy with the way it turned out!!

Lots of Table Runners!!

Last year I bought a lot of cute print fabric in hopes of using them for table runners that could be changed by the season. This year - considering I have had some time on my hands, I was able to make them all - all 5 of them!

The first one I made was an asian print that had blues, greens and browns. the pattern I used had a border on it, so I decided to go with the greem in the pattern - I am very happy with the way it turned out - I think this one is my favorite.

The next one I made was for halloween. I found this incredible pumpkin material that had bats, witch hats, wands and stars. Against a blue background. To pick up on the black accents I picked a black border with black tassels. It came out so cute and I can't wait for halloween to come to try it out!
The next table runner was a fanstic mod green print that reminded me of leaves. The green leaves with a brown border and brown tassels was a great choice for a summer table runner.
The next one is the same as the mod green leaf material except it is bright warm fall colors of red and orange. with the same brown border and tassels I am excited to use this for the fall - outside of the halloween time frame.

The final table runner was meant to be for everyday use. I wanted it to match the red, black and white asian plate set that I made the trivets for before Christmas.
I found a great red black and white floral material that was able to fit with the plate set quite nicely. I gave this a black border with black tassels.

All-in-all I am very happy with the way then came out and I should be all set with table runners for some time. I'll be looking for Christmas material next!

Chess Painting Set

In my last entry, I posted the headboard that goes with my tan, black and red bedroom set. I already had a watercolor painting from highschool hung in the bedroom of chess pieces that was tan and black. To commpliment that and the colors of my bedroom, I wanted to make a set of four chess piece paintings to hang abbove the headboard. I haven't gotten around to hanging them yet, but I thought I'd still show them here.

Headboard

While I got a new bed, mattress and bed set, I did not get a headboard to go along with it. I decided I finally needed one when I saw that the pillows leaning on the wall would mark up the walls.

I went to home depot and got some cheap plywood and had it cut down to the right size (they can do that right there!! Then I went to JoAnn's and gone some fantastic velvety material that has a wave pattern to it to cover the head board. I also got some 2" foam sheets and cotton batting from JoAnn's to put on top of the plywood to make the headboard a little more soft. It came out so cute. I was thinking of using the left over velvet material to make my bedroom curtains longer.

Ring and Key Holder

For my friend's birthday I made her a ring and key holder set out of sculpy. I painted them with ceramic paint and baked them in the oven to set.

September 2009 NYAF

I forgot to post pictures from the New York Anime Festival from last September!! I had many compliments on my completed costume and had 77 people request my picture! Such a compliment.

I went with one of my friends from high school and her little brother. He was excited to see the NY Jedi Club that was there practicing light saber fights. He asked for his picture with them and when he was done all the jedi called me over because they wanted to take their picture with me, too!

Trivets for Christmas

Since the last trivets came out so well I thought I'd make some for Christmas! The kitchen I made them to go in has green and white checks and red apples in it so I made them to match with ceramic paint. I then personalized them using a font I found on my computer using ceramic paint.

Trivets

I had gotten a new dish set that is white with red and black outlined Asian styled berries which alternates with red plates. I got red and black glasses to match. In the set there are two large platters that do not fit in my cabinets. I thought that a nice way to display them would be on some shelves that I put up in the kitchen.

When I put them up there they were very white in the middle and looked kind of bare. As I was eating breakfast in the kitchen one morning I thought something bold should go in front of it, but I couldn't think of what. Then the perfect solution occured to me - trivets! I picked up some 6x6 ceramic tiles and painted them with red, black and white ceramic paint to match the set. I'm so happy with the way they came out!