Dresser Revamp!

My grandparents finally decided it was time to sell the farm this summer.  It was  bittersweet.  I love the place, but it became hard to justify keeping it anymore.  The farm had been in the family for over 100 years so it has been accumulating TONS of stuff and crap.  And when I say stuff and crap I really mean mostly crap and junk.  There were boxes upon boxes upon boxes of ridiculous things like hundreds of bread tags and milk caps.  People really used to save EVERYTHING way back when!  I guess I might too if I had an entire farm worth of buildings to fill up!

Anyhow, my favorite find while going through things and cleaning up for sale, were of course my grandmother's hats!  I love hats! They make me happy and I wish more people would start wearing them so I wouldn't feel so ridiculous wearing mine!  I will share pictures of those after my wedding since I will be wearing one I revamped for it.

Right now my 2nd favorite find is a fabulous dresser that they have had for as long as I can remember.  I snagged that baby and my parents snagged its companion.  I loved the dresser itself, but I hated the color and the handles.  It may have taken me 49 hours of sanding, stripping, staining and varnishing (not to mention the hunt for new handles that were for a hole spacing that was no longer standard)  and I have a new dresser for my bedroom which I absolutely ADORE!!  It is complete with a false top drawer that actually flips open and houses my satellite dish receiver!  Boy, who knew adjusting hinges and installing a lid stay would be so tricky!  I do now!

not bad, but not great before

had to fill in one hole for each handle as best I could since I didn't realize the hole spacing problem until after it was all refinished.  Oops!

the lid stay didn't come with instructions so I had to wing it.  Ended up drilling 3 sets of holes before I managed to get it in the right place so it would do what it was supposed to!

After! 

Simplicity Sweet Pea Tote Pattern 2396

I love sewing.  Most of the time.  I hate it when I can't make sense of a pattern!

Simplicity Sweet Pea Tote Pattern 2396

 This Simplicity pattern was awful.  (I was sewing A/B)  Normally I find it fairly straight-forward to follow Simplicity's patterns, but not this time.  If you are a beginner starting out sewing, a tote is an ambitious endeavor to say the least, but if you were a beginner using this pattern you would be clueless.  I have been sewing since my mom taught me how as a young girl (not with much regularity until recently, but enough to not forget what I'm doing) and I was lost reading the instructions.  They were all over the place and seemed incredibly out of order to me.  I'm sure whoever wrote the directions thought it made sense to them, but they clearly forgot some words here and there.  I originally cut out my pieces for this bag before Christmas.  I sat and stared and stared at the instructions and finally thew my hands up in the air and walked away.  Sometimes it is best to do that before you destroy whatever project you are working on.  Well January came and it got COLD! We are talking minus catch your death out there! (an average of -30 Celsius with a windchill that makes it more like -45 Celsius!)  So sitting in the house in the cold, I decided it was time to dig out the old sewing machine again.  I looked at my pieces all cut out laying on my desk.  Then I took one look at the instructions and thew them in the garbage!  (The instructions, not the pieces)  Then I decided I was going to wing it!  Boy am I ever glad it turned out! hahaha.  I have now made two of these bags and the second one went together much faster than the first!  Including the time I spent cutting the pieces and attaching the fusible interfacing, the first bag took about 3 1/2 hours.  The second bag took just over 2.  I could see myself making more of these! Christmas gifts for all next year!!

DIY Glitter-ific Heels!

I am a sucker for glitter.  I love it! I just wish it wasn't like the herpes of the craft world.  Enter Mod Podge!   I have been seeing posts all over Pinterest for different DIY glitter heels tutorials, so I figured it was about time I try it.  I must warn you now, once you attempt it, you will want to glitterify everything!!

Start with a basic pair of heels (I got these babies at Value Village for $3.99)

I bought a big bottle of Martha Stewart glitter (because that is the only brand and size I found the color I had in mind) and a small bottle of a metallic acrylic paint in a matching color.  I started by painting the parts that I didn't want glittered in the metallic paint.  (I don't know about you, but I didn't want gritty glitter under my toesies!)  I also painted around any edges I thought would be hard to get glitter on (like the toe opening).

I really liked the idea of keeping the sole black as well as the little bow on the top, so I masked it all off with green painter's tape.

Then came the fun part!! Mod Podge and Glitter!!!  Spread a generous coat of mod podge on a small area. (If you work on too large of an area at one time, it will dry before you get glitter on it) Over some sort of container for containing your mess, sprinkle a whack of glitter over the mod podge then shake off the excess. (gently...you don't want this in your nostrils. Trust me.) I started with just a heel on one to make sure this was going to go well before I committed further.  I liked it, so I continued.

Wait about half an hour, then slather on a generous (but not drippy) coating of Mod Podge over top of everything you just put glitter on.  This will seal it in.  I used a Matte finish Mod Podge, just because that is what I had on hand, but I imagine you could use others.

Very important last step before you walk away for the night:

Take all the tape off about half an hour after your final coat of Mod Podge or else you will glue that stuff on there right along with the glitter!! I have forgotten on other projects (thankfully not this one) and very much regretted it later on!

Finally, enjoy your finished product!!  I will note though, that the shoes are a lot stiffer now and while these fit perfectly before I glittered them, they fit pretty tightly now since there isn't as much give to them.  My SIL might be getting a late Christmas gift... haha!