Our Hopeful Home: August 2012

Industrial Farmhouse Lidded Wire Jar

August 21, 2012

Seems we've been inundated with wire "stuff" lately. Have you noticed? Surprisingly, I have warmed up to the notion of decorating with this wire stuff and now I'm obsessed with it.

You can even see my "Wire Baskets" board on my Pinterest page here." Understandably, then, I'm on the prowl for this stuff everywhere I go. Enter my latest acquisition.

Does anybody know what this green stuff's called??? Beats me.

All I know is I spied this wire container at Goodwill the other day for $1.99 and said "Whoa!" Antique Farmhouse (who I love btw), would charge beaucoup bucks for this, empty! Not that I liked the weird green filling, though, that's for sure.

But if you have "THE EYE" you can spot a a diamond in the rough from a mile away, right? I did the happy dance, threw it in my cart and whistled my way to the checkout. I had plans for this baby.

Much better looking this way, no?

Sorry about the fuzzy pictures. I swear that someday I'll figure out how to use my camera. Really.

Oh, and hey -- does anyone know how to actually "center" pictures from Pinterest that you embed into your blog post? Cause I clearly don't!

But I digress. I am loving my industrial farmhouse chic wire container. Just think of all the things I can fill it with. Right now I'm picturing mini pumpkins and/or gourds. And then maybe vintage Christmas ornaments. And then maybe dried hydrangea flower heads....

What would YOU put in it? I'd love to know!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

One more week and we're back to school!

xoxo

I'll be linking up here:

Cap Creations Thrifty Love

Repurposed Farmhouse Wire Jewelry Organizer and Memo Board

August 14, 2012

It's been so glorious here the past few days in the midwest (can you say 70's?) that I hope at least some of you have been experiencing this pleasant change. Anyway, I just wanted to show you something I picked up on a trip to Des Moines, Iowa a few weekends ago. Farmhouse sieve turned jewelry/photo/memorabilia display.

I'm not really sure what it's intended purpose was, but I knew as soon as I saw it that I had to have it. Check this out.

It's some sort of drawer with it's own label holder thingy. And yes, that's a technical term. Wish I knew what it really did on the farm.

Any ideas?

I'd love to hear what you think it is.

Here's one of the many chalkboards I made out of Dollar Tree tin platters. I love setting them up around the house with sayings that make you smile. I especially love the one I used with my Pottery Barn Hurricane knock-off here.

I'm very happy with how it turned out. And guess what? It looks like I'll be selling my handmade vintage jewelry in just a few weeks at a local fall festival. What better use for this old thing than as a jewelry display piece in my sales booth? Once the details of the event have been worked out I can't wait to share them with you!

Funny how life has a way of dropping opportunities in your lap sometimes, whether you think you're ready for them or not. Vendor sales at this time in my life will make me crazy-busy. Even busier than I've been, if that's possible. But I think I have to go with it. Oh, and did I mention that we bought a dog today? Life. It's what happens while other people are busy making plans.

Hope you're all having a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

Graphic Transfer

August 6, 2012

Even though summer activities have been keeping me and the kids busy, I finally managed to pull off a small crafty project. It started with a wooden tool box that I transformed a while back. You may remember that I shared the transformation here.

As much as I loved the new look, I always knew it was missing something.

Enter the Mod Podge graphic transfer method. You've probably seen it performed all over the blogosphere, but I saw it explained best by my friend Jennifer over at Town and Country Living. I have struggled with graphic transfer methods for a while now, whether it be onto wood, fabric or otherwise. And I have to say that this one came the closest to what I might call an actual success. You'll need a piece of wood, a laser printed or photocopied image, a jar of Mod Podge and a sponge brush (you can get this at any Michael's or Jo-Ann's or even a hardware store, usually found by the wood staining products).

I started with a French graphic from the illustrious Graphics Fairy. I first printed out the mirror image on my ink jet printer. Then I took that and had it copied at Office Depot on their laser copier. I cut fairly closely around the graphic and was left with this.

Then I took the graphic, brushed the "good" side with a nice coating of Mod Podge and turned it face down onto the tool box. It looked like this.

You can kind of see the print through the paper. Then I brushed a nice coating of the Mod Podge over the back side of the paper as well, pretty much securing it to the box. Then I waited for it to dry. I'd say I waited a few hours, mainly because I had to do something with the kids and just didn't get back to it until then. I've read where it can take as little as an hour to fully dry.

The next step involves a spray bottle. I sprayed water onto the image, soaking it, and then I used my finger to begin gently rubbing the paper off. Up to this point I was like, hey, this is going great! Then I rubbed off a part of one of the letters. Bummer. Beware, it's a fine line between rubbing just right and rubbing too hard. Lucky for me, I'm always going for that shabby chic look and can afford to rub a bit of the graphic off and still be ok. You may have to spray a number of times and rub a number of times until you reach the desired effect. And voila.