Okio B Designs: May 2012

My late mother-in-law gave me this basket a few years ago. It got a little beat up over time so I decided to give it a bit of a shabby chic makeover:

It was originally brown but I gave it a few coats of pink spray paint to soften it up. Once the paint was dry I hot glued some vintage lace trim around it. I am still debating on whether or not to do a no-sew basket liner.

While I'm trying to decide on the liner, I filled it with some white tea towels and some pretty fabric pieces from Fabric.com.

I think the starfish really make the whole look! It's sitting quite nicely in a corner in my kitchen.

Jeanine

4 comments

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend! We were so busy with company and barbeques that I was only able to get one project done. I actually remembered to take a before photo for once:

I don't even remember how we acquired this. I'm certain I didn't buy it at a garage sale and my husband doesn't think someone in his family gave to us. Either way, it needed a makeover stat!

After a few coats of spray paint, I had a clean slate (no pun intended!) to work with. I printed off this great image from The Graphics Fairy - one I have used probably a thousand times - onto label paper.

I added it to the slate and then gave everything a coat of clear spray. I finished up with some twine so I can hang it back up - when I find the perfect place for it.

Another quick and easy project - my favorite!

Jeanine

No comments

We have a busy weekend planned, so I wanted to share some quick patriotic candle holders I made using some food cans.

Even though these aren't quite Memorial Day images, I think they still represent our patriotism. I printed them out from the Graphics Fairy. I mod podged each image on and then gave each a quick spray of clear paint.

Once the paint was dry, I added some German glass glitter and some random faux pearl embellishments here and there. I used some tea-stained seam binding for the one in the middle.

I love that these cost me $0 and I can't wait to light them up over the long holiday weekend. And of course, I want to thank all of our military members for their dedicated service. God bless America!

Jeanine

6 comments

If you're like me, you stock up on tea towels when you go to the dollar store. I had a few lying around in my craft room and as luck would have it, I had some iron-on transfer paper too. Put two and two together and you get some cute new towels:

I bought this image off of Etsy (popalicious, 99 cents!) over the weekend. I spied it on Pinterest (thanks Gina from Shabby Creek Designs!) and thought it was just the cutest thing ever.

Ask my sister Kathy (Creative Home Expressions) and she will agree that we grew up with a lot of whales in our house. Our dad loves them! I used regular dollar store towels and simply ironed on the image using the transfer paper. Then I sewed on some ruffle trim to dress them up a bit.

I had one random towel left (I usually like to make them in pairs), so I thought this mason jar from The Graphics Fairy would work perfectly! I like the hint of color it gives to the island in my kitchen.

The sun is back out today so hopefully I can get some painting done!

Jeanine

4 comments

I have a serious bone to pick with Mother Nature today. After a gorgeous weekend, we're back to, yup you guessed it, RAIN. :{ For me that means, painfully dark photos and no painting whatsoever. Boo! Thankfully, I did manage to get this quick project done before the skies opened:

I bought this clam tote at the thrift store last week. I gave it a few coats of white paint. And I do mean a few...I ran out of spray paint. Doh!

Once the paint was dry, I printed out my French image onto craft paper. I've seen some other bloggers who tea-stain for an antique look but me being the impatient type I am, I just glued it on and gave it a coat of clear spray.

I was originally going to stencil the front and back but I couldn't think of anything clever to write so I stenciled some numbers on each side.

I used a plain ol' magic marker. Whoops, forgot to sand some of the bubbling stuff off on the top. Whoops!

Still, loving how it came out. And the lavender smells divine!

Linking to Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday and Faded Charm: White Wednesday.

Jeanine

5 comments

With my two boys playing baseball on Saturdays, I've had to switch my junkin' day to Friday. Yesterday, there were a ton of estate sales here. I managed to find a few diamonds in the rough.

Look at these fabulous milk jugs! Only $5 each. I already have them proudly displayed on our porch.

At the next sale I grabbed these two little frames which have canvas in the middle. Quite unique - never saw them like that before and not sure yet what I'm going to do with them. The Pepsi crate was a must! I got the frames and the crate for only $5! Take that Pottery Barn!

Jeanine

7 comments

How to get to "blogs you follow" using the new Blogger format? I feel like if I don't sign out and sign back in, I can't get to them. Argh!

Jeanine

8 comments

I really love this little table that I picked up thrifting last week. It was an ugly reddish-brown if you remember. Here it is now:

I gave it a few coats of white spray paint and sanded the edges for an aged look. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to put in the middle. I was out of graphite paper so I decided to print this French crown image onto Avery label paper.

I simply cut it out and stuck right in the middle. It's the perfect size, don't you think?!

I'm thinking of placing some vintage book paper stacks ontop.

Jeanine

3 comments

Here is the first of the weekend projects that I was able to accomplish. I bought this little wood shadowbox from the Unique Thrift Stores last week. It was just a plain pine box. I decided to give it a French-y makeover:

I gave it a couple of coats of white paint. While that was drying, I used some French script scrapbook paper for my background. Then I popped over to The Graphics Fairy and printed out some random French images. The Eiffel Tower is actually from a necklace I got at Forever 21 a couple of years ago. My boys love that I used Scrabble pieces to spell out Paris.

There is another small charm on the lower right corner - not sure if you can see it. It has a cameo look to it. The finishing touches were Marie Antoinette and the hand-stamped little French crown at the top.

I love the touch of French whimsy it adds to my livingroom!

Linking to Faded Charm: White Wednesday.

Jeanine

5 comments

Have you seen the new Privet House for Target line yet? I had never heard of Privet House, but I was intrigued enough to look for them in my local Target.

I was pleasantly surprised! On Friday, I picked up four of these wonderful placemats. I also couldn't resist the ceramic cheese plate. I was a little surprised to see though that it was Made in China. Hmmmm...not quite an American artisan collection now is it?

I also picked up this market tote which is quite large and roomy. Perfect for a day at the beach or during my garage sale outings. I also grabbed one of their beautiful candles to add to my Mom's Mother's Day presents. It's in a glass jar (I would have shown a picture but I already wrapped it) which she can probably use again and again once the candle is done.

The prices were okay - $19.99 and up depending upon the piece.

Wishing all of my bloggy buddies a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow!!!!!

Jeanine

1 comments

I popped into Unique Thrift Stores again. I didn't have the boys with me so I was able to slowly go up and down each aisle and examine everything. I spent about $10 and got these goodies that I will hopefully be transforming this weekend - weather permitting:

I love the little wood stand. They had two but the other one was a bit wobbly. Can't you just envision it in white chippy paint with a fabulous French graphic on top?

It's the perfect size for a stack of books!

The wood cutting board and shadow box I couldn't resist. And I really love this wood carry-all (?! Not really sure what to call it!). Definitely going to get some coats of spray paint and I'm thinking of stenciling something vintage-y on it.

These little frames were $1.41 for all three. I don't love the floral one - I mainly got them for the other two small ones which have a fleur de lis motif on them.

Here's to hoping I can get a dent in these over the weekend!

Jeanine

5 comments

I think you can tell from my photos that, yes, it's another rainy, dreary day in NY. I'm getting a little frustrated being stuck in the house - especially when I have a ton of projects planned that need spray paint. Sigh! Still, I did manage to whip up this petite Marie Antoinette pillow before the weather put me in a funk.

I hand-stamped the French script and Eiffel Tower postmark first using black ink. Then I used my Marie stamp to use over the French script.

You know the rest: sew, stuff and done! Right now I have her peeking out of a basket filled with book stacks in the livingroom. I'm sure she'll be moved around 100 times until I find the perfect spot.

Hoping for blue skies tomorrow!

Jeanine

5 comments

I'm not really sure what La Fabuleux means in French (note to self: Google it!) but whatever it means, I used it on this wood sign for my tea room:

I had one sheet of graphite paper left and since it was raining on and off all day yesterday, I decided to use it for this little sign.

I bought this image off of Etsy a year or so ago and I simply love it. After painting my wood plaque white, I used the graphite paper to trace the graphic onto it. I had one little oopsie with the 'b' in Fabuleux but I can live with it.

Once I was finished tracing, I sanded it down to give it an aged look and did one coat of poly spray to seal it. Then I added the fleur de lis wood pieces and two little pink rhinestones to give it a touch of color. I don't know about you but now I'm in the mood for tarts, napoleons and cheesecake. Too bad it's Sunday!

Linking to Faded Charm: White Wednesday.

Jeanine

11 comments

Yup, still rainy and chilly in our neck of the woods. Sigh! The upside is when you're trapped in the house all day, you get a jumpstart on some Mother's Day gifts:

I made these little wood silhouettes of my boys for their Grandma today. I bought the wood pieces at Michael's and gave them a few coats of aqua paint. Then I took some profile shots of the boys. I printed them out on plain paper and cut them out. Then I used the cut-out photo as a pattern for my black cardstock.

I simply glued them on and done! It's a small little gift, I'm sure my Mom will love! The boys had fun guessing who was who in the silhouettes. The 4 year old picked himself out immediately.

Jeanine

4 comments

Two days of rain does nothing for my motivation. All I've been able to accomplish this week is this book stack which has found a home atop this vintage scale.

Here's to hoping for blue skies and warm temperatures tomorrow. I hope, I hope...

Jeanine