Happy Birthday Daddy!

It was my dad's birthday this month and I made him something special!  I painted a frame design on canvas and then painted his favorite poem in the middle.  Here is the translation:

Khayam, if you are intoxicated with wine, enjoy!
If you are seated with a lover of thine, enjoy!
In the end, the Void the whole world employ
Imagine thou art not, while waiting in line, enjoy!
~Omar Khayyam

I tried to take pictures of all of the phases I go through to paint something like this, but I didn't get to capture every step.  It takes me so long because I'm a perfectionist and I change my mind on my color choices a million times!  I hope you enjoy and I hope my dad does too!

 I made a stencil out of a notecard. Very fancy, I know!

 Choosing the colors part 1.

 The colors I chose originally.

 I ended up painting over all of this.

I painted over the yellow flowers and then repainted the dots.  After all the painting and re-painting, I'm finally happy with the result! Framed and ready to be mailed!

Chairs!

I've been wanting to reupholster chairs forever and ever, but hadn't been able to find the right chairs to fix up (for the right price).  My mom was driving along one day and found these chairs put on the street to be taken away for trash!!!  She pulled over and picked up the chairs for me to fix up!  Anyone who knows my mom, knows how unlike her this is which made the chairs even more awesome!!

But they needed some help.

• I removed the *very* dirty red velvet seat covers which were screwed on.
• I cleaned the chairs with Mr Clean Magic Eraser, which is the most amazing invention ever. (Trust me!)
• I polished the wood with Pledge and towels.  This phase took much longer than I expected, but it was much easier than sanding and re-polishing the wood which I considered.
• A few of the chairs were loose and needed to be repaired.  I glued those chairs tightly using Gorilla Glue.  You have to be careful with this because it expands!  Be sure to clamp what you're gluing and to apply a little or else it will expand and ooze out which isn't so pretty. 

• Next is taking the yucky old fabric and matting off the seats.  I used a flat head screwdriver to pop off the staples.  Remember to keep that yucky old fabric so you have a template to cut the new fabric.  I also did one chair at a time at this point, because the sizes varied a little and I didn't want to get them mixed up.

• I used the wooden seat as a template to cut out new 1 inch foam.
• I used the yucky old fabric as a template to cut a 100% cotton fabric liner and the actual fabric I choose.
• I ironed the liner and my fabric. Then placed on my (clean) floor my fabric, liner, foam, then wooden seat and had fun with the staple gun!  For the corners I paid attention to how it was done before and tried to do the same thing.  The best part is that if you mess up, you just take the staple out and try again!
• Last step: screw the seats back into the chairs and finished!!!

Total cost for 4 chairs?

• Chairs = FREE
• Yellow silk fabric = $20
• Cotton lining = $14
• Foam = $15

Total = $49 or $12.25/chair!

Don't mind if I do!

Welcome!

I have been making stuff since I was a little girl and have tried pretty much any type of craft you could imagine.  I've lost track everything I've made and tried and have given away most of it as gifts.  I started trying to at least take pictures of everything I've made and I thought I'd start sharing it with the internet world.  I get a lot of my own inspiration online so here's to giving back!

Enjoy!