Rare Krylon Colors

I love spraypaint.  It goes on quick, it dries fast and it gets all those tough spots that would be a nightmare with a brush.

When it comes to quality there's several brands I use: Valspar, Rustoleum and Krylon.  When it comes to unique color Krylon is the way to go.  The only problem is, I can never find some of the colors that I know exist.

In particular, I've been searching high and low for a lovely little color called Coral Isle.  Be still my beating  heart:

I scoured hardware stores, paint stores, craft stores, even Walmart. No dice.  So I looked online at overpriced cans with atrocious shipping fees....even Amazon came to 15 bucks a can! No, thank you! 

Then I stumbled across a tip over at Vintage Revivals and turns out Krylon is owned by Sherwin Williams.  So all I had to do was go and special order it through the store. 

They came to 4.95 each plus no shipping fees as long as I picked them up in the store. 

There was a minimum order, but I'm pretty sure I'll use up all six eventually....especially since I'm already down to five after one day.

Here is a sneak peek:

Garage Sales: Seeing the Potential

The past few weekends I have acquired some project pieces.

First there was this little end table for $2:

 

This table will eventually be transformed into some sort of Lego table, like this one from Meet the Dubiens:

I also picked up this $5 table and will eventually paint it to match my living room color scheme (once I figure out what that is):

And here we have a huge bag of frames for $5. A great deal since frames at Goodwill are 1-2 dollars each.

These guys will be transformed into a gallery wall similar to one of my previous projects:

Also good for chalkboard frames too!

This heavy duty bench was $20.  I was just about to offer $15 when another woman piped up and said she'd take it if I didn't want it! Boo!  Oh well, it was worth it.  It's going to get a coat of paint too :)

Then there's this milk glass collection which needs no touch up at all because it's gorgeous and only put me out a total of $4!!

On our way home yesterday I couldn't resist following the signs for one more garage sale and was disappointed when they had already closed up shop, but THEN I turned the corner and on the side of the road found these for FREE:

Ben accused me of stealing some random kid's toys that they left out, but there was a free sign!  Lol!
So what if they are a little sun faded?  Check out this awesome spray paint makeover from Sweet C's Designs:

 

 

A Bat Mobile just might be in store for the Little Wombat :)

 

How to Paint an Elephant (or what have you)

So this is old school painting and I'm pretty sure people were using this technique before I was even born.  It's definitely nothing new under the sun but when I posted a pic on Instagram, I received some how-to questions.

Here is how you paint an elephant with no artistic ability whatsoever.

All you need to do is rummage up an old bulky overhead projector (thanks Dad!)

Tape off the wall using your projection

Add Paint

Peel off the tape (preferably while the paint is still wet)

And boom.  Instant elephant.

Doesn't get much easier than that!  Stay tuned for a full reveal of Landon's safari animal room in about a month or so when we can afford baseboards :)

DIY Glazed Frames

My mom brought some boxes of old stuff for me to go through and try to sell back when we had our garage sale. I uncovered these pictures frames she used to have hanging in our house when I was growing up and I found myself getting nostalgic.  I put them aside and decided to re purpose them. 

When I finally got around to it, I first gave them a good scrub down and primed them with Kilz spray primer.  (oops forgot a picture of this step)  Then I spray painted them with Krylon's Ocean Breeze.  It was a night and day transformation but I wanted to add some sort of distressed look.

So I glazed them with Valspar Black Glaze, using the technique from All Things Thrifty. The old wood and the grooves were PERFECT for soaking in the glaze.  This is only my second attempt at glazing something and I am so pleased with the turnout (to see the first glazing attempt click HERE).
 

I filled the frames with some of Landon's newborn pictures, which were taken by the very talented Christina Harrison. 

I bought a wooden "B" at Michael's for $1 and painted it gray. 

The mirror is my high school sweetheart. I found her when a neighbor was having a garage sale.  She is legit, super old, weighs like 10 pounds and it was love at first sight. The neighbor gave her to me for free and I have been hauling her around to various homes since my college days.

And so my wall is complete!  I don't think I will toss out old frames ever again :)

Linking to: I Heart Nap Time, Snips & Spice, Nifty Thrifty Things, Not Just a Housewife, Kammy's Korner, The DIY Showoff, The Tidy Mom, The 36th Avenue, Tatertots & Jello, A Diamond in the Stuff, Whipperberry, A Lived In Home

DIY Chalkboard Frames

Once upon a time I had a fruitful trip to Goodwill.  Here is a refresher:

See those God-awful, ugly green frames on top?  These ones?

Well, I got two of them for a dollar each!  I spray painted the frames gray and sprayed the glass with chalkboard paint.

Then added some simple flowers made from hot glue and crepe paper:

Due to these little flowers I'm pretty sure I will no longer have a fingerprint on my right ring finger.  The glue gun exploded all over it.  Normally I would have rushed straight away to the sink but we were in the garage and Landon was in his swing.  In hindsight I probably should have just ran inside and soaked my finger, hitting the garage door on the way in but in my panic I wrestled a not so happy toddler out of his swing and into the house and those few precious moments caused my finger to blister, badly.  So that's my glue gun war story.  At least the final product turned out well:

Linking to:  DIY Show Off, Not Just a Housewife,  A Diamond in the Stuff, Kammy's Korner, The 36th Avenue, The Tidy Mom, Whipperberry, I Heart Naptime, Tatertots & Jello, The Shabby Nest,  Nifty Thrifty Things, Snips and Spice

Upcycled Bottles

While browsing Pinterest, I came across some super cute painted vases and knew it was a Pin I was going to put to good use!  Instead of vases, I just used recycled bottles. 

After struggling with the first bottle to remove the stickiness from the label, I realized it was going to be harder than I thought.  I whined asked my husband nicely to lend me a hand and he soaked them in a solution of water and Simple Green.  After about an hour of soaking it came right off! Yay!

So then I headed to Home Depot to pick up some Oops Paint and I found some Behr paint samples for .50 each.  Score!

I also got some Valspar paint for a dollar and set to work, pouring the paint in the bottles and slowly turning until it was completely covered.  Then I dumped the paint out and had some lovely vases!

However, the next day the Valspar painted vases looked like this: 

Bummer.  I tried to salvage them but they were beyond repair and causing more headache than they were worth so they wound up being tossed out.  Instead, I used the Valspar paint on mason jars and they turned out great!  Not sure if it was the texture of the bottle or the lack of air needed to dry or...who knows?

Will definitely be using the technique more to pretty up some vases :)

Linking to:  The DIY Showoff, Kammy's Korner, A Diamond in the Stuff, Not Just A Housewife, The 36th Avenue, One Artsy Mama, Whipperberry, I Heart Naptime

Cake Stand

I have been in major craft mode preparing for my sister-in-law's bridal shower (yay, another wedding for Landon to shower off his ring bearing skills)!!

So when Ben's grandma dropped off some stuff for our garage sale I found this little candle pillar in one of the boxes.  I put it aside it in hopes of creating some more cake stands. 

I eventually spray painted it gray and hot glued a purple plate on it.  Well, actually it's a purple charger....which according to the warning label technically you aren't supposed to use for food but I'm planning on either placing the lined cupcakes on it or using it for favors so no biggie :)

Linking Up: A Diamond in the Stuff, At Home With K, The 36th Avenue, I Heart Nap Time, Not JUST a Housewife

DIY Cake Stand

Wish I could take credit for this FABULOUS idea that I found on Pinterest, which led my back to this cute lil tutorial over at The Happy Housewife.

Lucky for me my mom had dropped off all sorts of odds and ends for a garage sale I had last summer and I tucked some of the mismatched candlesticks away for future use. I had no idea what I was going to use them for until I came across this genius idea and just in time for Landon's birthday too!              

I wanted a tiered look so I chose two candlesticks of different height and spray painted them.  I found the plates at Target, which ended up being super convenient because their logo is already centered on the bottom of the plate.  You know exactly where to glue :)

And here ya go! Easy peasy cake stands!!

Linkin' up:

I Heart Nap TIme
At Home With K
Kammy's Korner
A Turtle's Life For Me
The 36th Avenue
Marriage From Scratch
A Diamond in the Stuff
Whipperberry

Chalkboards

I've been crafting for my little sister's bridal shower!  It's coming up February 11th, I'm soooo excited!  Her colors are blue and yellow (apparently non-traditional wedding colors run in the family: mine were turquoise and red).

First I headed on over to Goodwill and got some frames ranging from one to two dollars. 

Then I picked up some Krylon Chalkboard and Dual spray paint.  I've never used the Dual (primer and paint in one can!) before but it was on sale so I figured I'd give it a go.  I get very impatient in between coats so it was nice not having to wait for any primer to dry.

Then I hot glued some crepe paper and turned them into flowers.  I was really excited when I saw this idea over at House of Smiths because I have TONS of left over crepe paper lying around. I used the same exact technique I used to create the fabric flowers. 

And here are my very own chalkboards!!!  I told my sis she was going to have to write on them because she has pretty handwriting (unlike yours truly). 

In case you didn't notice, my Goodwill shopping cart was filled with several other goodies...more to come!

___

Linking this project to:

Kammy's Korner
At Home With K
The 36th Avenue
Crafty, Scrappy, Happy
A Turtle's Life For Me
Whipperberry

Glazing Attempt No. 1

Ever since I stumbled upon All Things Thrifty blog I’ve been DYING to try and glaze something.   Since I was terrified of ruining something of value, I was on the hunt for a cheap, glaze-able practice piece. 

I wasn’t even planning on garage saling the Saturday I found this:

I saw it at a yard sale in my neighborhood and immediately pulled over.  Guess what I paid? A whopping two dollars!  It was PERFECT. First, I cleaned it up and unscrewed the mirror (woo-hoo no painter’s tape needed).  Then I primed it with Kliz and spray painted it with Krylon’s Pumpkin Orange.

Now for the scary part: Glaze.  I spread on the Valspar Black Glaze, wiped it down with a damp cloth, and voila!!! 

And here it is hanging on my wall:

 I can.not.believe. that I was actually capable of creating something this cool.  I want to glaze everything in my house.