Stripping For Fun: My Refinishing Project!

I love to find a great piece of inexpensive furniture that I know has potential. With a little effort and even less money you can have both classic and statement pieces before you know it.

I found this cute little side table at a garage sale last year for only $5. So far I have only invested $10 for paint stripper, $1 for a few sheets of sand paper and a few hours of time.

What you'll need for stripping:

• Paint stripper (I like Strip-ease or Zip Strip)
• Sand paper
• Steal wool
• Old paint brush (To apply the paint stripper)
• Rags

I began my project by disassembling the piece. Then I applied the paint stripper as directed and wiped the paint away. As you can see I will need to hit a few of the difficult spots a second time. After that I will lightly sand each piece and they will be ready for stain and a finish. The weather was so beautiful after work this week that I got excited and began stripping the paint off before I remembered to take a before picture!

Stay tuned for the next step.


Table top with stripper.

Paint on table top and middle bubbling.

Paint wiped away with one swipe!

Table top and middle without paint.

Table layout.

Fashion Fail!!

Please disregard the HORRIBLE photo quality. I didn't know how hard it is to take photos of yourself. I found this really beautiful all cotton, size XXL top at Goodwill. I just loved the soft green and blue colors. I thought that I could quickly and easily turn this beautiful piece of fabric into a tunic. I remembered that I had a tunic pattern from a LONG time ago that I had stored away. I thought it would be good to use this pattern as cutting guide.

Using a pattern helps to get a good idea of where the waist should be in relationship to the rest of the garment. I still needed to take another two inches off of the side seams get a little better fit.

I felt awkward wearing it and it still felt boxy. I think this is a fashion fail. I welcome any ideas from you, please feel free to comment.

Wedding Wishes !

Our family has quite a few weddings to attend this spring and summer. I thought that I should get started with the cards. I got my trusty Stampin Up catalog out and some of the pretty paper that I bought somewhere and can't begin to remember where. I also got my "go to" stamp set Baroque Motif out. I cut a standard A2 card, one half of a piece of 8.5 x 11 inch paper folded in half. Then I layered a beautiful glittery piece of velum on top.

I added a piece of silver ribbon across the center section and topped that with a layer of silver metallic paper and a sentiment on Whisper White card stock. It was a great time for me to try out those vellum photo splits. I was quite pleased with how invisible they were.

The inside greeting was the last detail.

I made two of these cards because I really liked the way they turned out. ( Don't forget to add the little hand stamped emblem on the back)

I hope both of these marriages will be life long treasures.