Bridal Shower Floral Crown Bar

A couple weekends ago I had the joy of co-hosting a bridal shower for one of my dear friends from college.  It is still amazing to me how many of my college friends have flocked to Chicago that I continue to have in my life.
To celebrate Tracey and Dan's upcoming wedding, a few of us girlfriends decided to host a shower geared towards Tracey's free spirited and fun loving personality.  With everyone delegated a special task, I took on our activity for the day….a floral crown bar.  For the bride that doesn't want to play silly bridal games, this was the perfect activity to involve all of the guests and still make the bride feel pretty special.

A quick trip to the flower market and some simple tools….

And we became floral goddesses!  

Happy wedding weekend to Tracey and Dan, and may there be lots more flowers in your future!

Baby Butterflies

It's springtime and the babies are popping up everywhere!  Like most things I do, I can't keep it too simple. So, when it comes to giving a baby shower gift, I look at the registry just to get a decor idea and then take matters into my own hands.  Who doesn't like a personalized gift?!

My dear friend Suzy of Lily Red Studio is expecting a baby girl this June and I couldn't be more excited for her and her hubby.  Being a creative type that is a stationer, I knew I wanted to tie her decor to paper.  I found these great butterfly gift tags in the sale bin at Michaels as well as some pretty sheets of scrapbook paper.  To get the pretty paper into the shapes of the butterflies, I simply used spray adhesive on the cutouts and then traced around the cutouts with my x-acto knife.

Supplies

For my shadow box frame, I wanted a simple background to place the butterflies on.  I covered a board with canvas using fabric spray adhesive and some hot glue for the edges.

I simply gave the lil butterflies a soft fold to their wings and used hot glue to adhere them to my canvas board.  Nine butterflies later and I have a sweet gift for a sweet baby.

I just got Suzy's thank you note in the mail and word on the street is that this piece is already hanging perfectly in the nursery! Can't wait to meet Baby Rohan!

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

As you know, I gave in to slowing down on my current painting, rather than college cramming.  I put in some additional time at the Wheaton Wedding Walk this weekend to keep things moving along.  There's really not much left!

One of the projects that occupied some time this week was a special table seating chart for the Bride's Choice event going on tonight from 6pm-9pm at Room 1520.  If you'd still like to get tickets, they are available here.  Clementine Custom Events asked if I would help them out with their display, and I was all too eager to showoff my skills.  Below is a mirror I wrote on with wash-off-able marker.  It's tricky to take a picture of a mirror!

Stop by and see how this Frenchie display fits into Clementine's Parisian inspiration!

D.I.M.- Tray End Tables

After posting about my DIM (Did It Myself) mirrored coffee table project that you can view here, I really thought I had shared my proudest homemade project.  I'm torn now.  This one is right up there in my level of pride.  I guess it's like choosing a favorite child….how can you choose (easy, the first born is the fave, wink wink).

In the midst of my home makeover, I was also searching far and wide for a couple of end tables.  The end tables I was sporting were actually tv trays…..high-end wooden ones, but tv trays non the less.

Classy, right?

Once again, I searched and searched for some inexpensive, size appropriate, storage capable end tables without any luck.  I really didn't want to spend $200 on a couple of tables, but then I came across this pretty piece from West Elm…..

I loved that I would be able to move it around and mosey it right up to my couch if I wanted to.  The problem was that they are $179 a piece.  I just couldn't swing that.  Upon closer examination, I noticed that the construction was simple.  I got that crazy twinkle in my eye, and my mom thought, "Oh crap.  Get the glue gun ready."

Better than a glue gun, I was buying pvc at Home Depot and elbow joints I would have never paid a second glance to before.  Plan A consisted of making a pvc version.  It would be lightweight and manageable.  I also wanted to change up the look by adding a bit of color and even more versatility.

I found these trays at Home Goods for $20 each and decided to paint them with a complimentary fushia.

I sanded them a bit so the paint would adhere better.

I wanted a high gloss look and bought this paint at Michaels for about $2.50 a bottle.

I mixed the 2 colors above to get a deeper color.  I didn't want shocking pink of course!

For the base, I purchased 3/4 pvc pipe and the elbow joints to match.  One tricky caveat….the 3-armed joint without scoring is not available in the hardware stores.  I had to purchase an attachment to make it compatible with the rest of the pieces.  Just be mindful that you are using 3/4 for all of the pieces.

I was able to cut the pipe with a hack saw to all of my desired lengths.

Then it is pretty much like a puzzle.
I used a couple of tools to make the process easier too…including a rubber mallet to make sure everything was fitted securely.

I wanted the pipe to have that metal look, so lucky for me, that comes in a can!

Now wait a second.  You might be saying, "Hey, that has 4 legs!"  Well, yes, it does.  Upon constructing the framework to replicate the original design inspiration, we discovered that the pvc just wasn't sturdy enough to for the "C" design.  I gave in and put 2 extra legs on.

This only meant one thing….time to try some other materials.

I ordered some 3-armed, galvanized steel joints online (4 for $36), bought some additional metal elbow joints and had Home Depot cut and score some 3/4 black pipe for me (first 10 cuts are free!).  Once again, another puzzle….

I spray painted this piece too to give it that overall uniform metal look…and to match the pvc piece.  Honestly, looking at the 2 of them, you'd never know that one is made of a different material.

I added a basket underneath my 4 legged table since this one would be stationary.  All it is is a file basket from Staples attached with some wire.

Originally, I was going to adhere the trays to the top of the framework.  I opted against this when I realized how having them removable made them so easy to clean.  The trays settle onto the framework perfectly making them fairly stable.

Here you can see how nicely the "C" table fits under and over my chair.

Overall, success!  I have 2 fully functioning tables that are customized to my space.  The pricing breakdown is different for each, but still under budget!

PVC table:
$3.00- 3/4 x 10' PVC pipe (2 pieces at $1.50 each)
$19.00- 3/4 fittings and adapters
$13.50- 2 bottles of Flat Metallic Spray Paint
$20.00- Wooden tray from Home Goods
$3.00- High Gloss Paint
Total- $55.50 or so

Metal table:
$21.60- 3/4 x 10' black pipe (with cuts)
$9.50- 3/4 galvanized steel 90 degree elbows
$36.00- 3/4 galvanized steel 3-sided fittings
$6.75- Flat Metallic Spray Paint
$20.00- Wooden tray from Home Goods
$3.00- High Gloss Paint
Total- $96.85 or so

2 tables for about $155!  That's over $200 savings!!!  These pieces are custom too…no one else has them…unless you want a set then that's another story.

Pretty great.  You can see why it's a toss up between my tables.  I kind of think they are all awesome.  It definitely has you looking at furniture differently when you think, "I could make that."  Oh dear….what have I gotten myself into?!

D.I.M. Project = Did It Myself Project | Coffee Table with Mercury Glass Mirror

I'm feeling a bit back on track with things this week.  Hopped on the blogging wagon, worked an event last night and getting started on a new painting.  While there's lots ahead, I want to cap off the end of this week with another D.I.M. project of mine that helped make my place ready for my The Everygirl feature.

In my quest to be economical and resourceful, I was kind of stumped when it came to a coffee table.  Still using my old college table that actually was tossed in as a freebee when I purchased my off campus living twin bed, it was definitely time for an upgrade.  Look at that sad lil table.

After lots of searching through piles of oversized and expensive options, I decided I would have to take matters into my own hands.
Wanting to use the same table as the bones for the newer version, I set out to find a "table top".  I wanted something classy that would fit into my homemade esthetic.  I decided a mirror would be fitting, so off to my favorite place to get large, cheap mirrors: Fort Pitt Furniture.  I'm so mad that I never took pictures while I was there because this place is seriously ridiculous.  I like to call it the graveyard where hotel furniture goes to die….or find a new home.  It's like a pound for furniture; so much of it without a home.  When hotels makeover their rooms, there is an abundance of the same furniture, and Fort Pitt takes it on.  So there are multiples of things and they are super cheap.  For example, their "room of mirrors" doesn't have anything higher that $80 (and that's for something larger than 6ft tall).
I found this beauty in a pile of it's look-a-like brothers and sisters for $20.

Checkout the the gilded, beveled frame on this puppy.  This is a 26 x 36 inch frame that would sell for at least $150 in the real world.

First thing I did was remove the backing on the frame and the mirror itself.

I wanted the mirror to resemble mercury glass and not be soooo reflective.  To achieve this, I purchased Citristrip ($11.98 at Home Depot) to remove the gray paint from the back of the mirror.  I choose the Citristrip since you are able to use it indoors.  Wear rubber gloves and spread a generous layer of the striper over the entire mirror.

 I watched a couple of videos and read a few blogs about this, and many of the times varied as to how long to let the goop sit on the back.  I had a crappy dorm room door mirror that I tested the timing on.  You want to scrape the paint off but not leave the striper on too long so it eats through the mirror material.  With the cheapy mirror, this took about 8-10 minutes.  With my industrial strength hotel mirror, this was a different story.  I wound up leaving the striper on overnight because I was getting nowhere with it.  So, depending on your mirror quality and probably even age, the striper could take anywhere from 8 minutes to 24 hours to make a dent in your goal to remove the paint.  Frustrating and incredibly varied, I know.  Luckily, you can continually test a section of your mirror to see what stage your paint is at.

I also found that while the plastic scrapers worked just fine for my cheap mirror, they did nothing for my hotel mirror.  I resorted to my razor blade paint scrapers.  Be careful with these as you can easily scrape away the mirror too.

Once all/most of the paint is removed, wipe down your mirror with soap and water.  To create that mercury glass, spotted look, I made a bleach/water solution.  A lot of the "recipes" for this project called for muriatic acid.  Again, because I was doing this inside my home in winter (no window ventilation) and not a garage, I wanted to keep it as eco-friendly as possible.  Plus, this meant I didn't have to go purchase another product to later store in my limited space.  I had bleach.  I purchased a spray bottle.  That's it.  The mixture is 3/4 water to 1/4 bleach which also can be varied by the type of mirror you have.  I think I added a little more bleach to my mixture to make it work a bit faster.

Be sure to cover all surfaces you do not want dotted with bleach white polka dots, and spray the solution on to the back of your mirror.  You'll want to monitor the timing on your bleach sitting and eating away at the mirror.  This part of the process is purely adjustable to your desired mercury glass effect.  I would spray, let it sit, then dab away the areas the bleach had evaporated.  The result was the mirror being dissolved into a dust that could be brushed away to my liking.  You can really start to manipulate how you want things to look during this process.

Once I had achieved my desired effect, I wiped down the back of my mirror with soap and water to remove any access bleach.   I had all intentions of repainting the back of my mirror with gray, black and silver paint, but instead, I already had some black foam core.  This was perfect because it gave a background to my new mirror look and also provided some extra padding to the mirror once in the frame.

Here's my sad looking table.  I glued some of the joints with wood glue to better stabilize everything, and also added some wheels to the legs.  With limited space, it's nice to be able to wheel furniture around.

To attach my mirror to my coffee table, I took the old mirror backing and screwed it into the top of my table.  With the mirror in the frame, I placed everything face down on my rug as shown, and used a staple gun to staple the mirror backing to the actual frame.  I didn't use any glue, so if anything ever becomes loose or needs a quick repair, or for some crazy reason I decide to switch out the mirror, it all will be very easy to remove (though sturdy while put together).

Turn it all over, put a West Elm centerpiece on it and a floating flower, and there you have a brand new, expensive looking coffee table.

I am totally in love with how this turned out.  If you break everything down too, here's how much each item cost me:

Old coffee table - free

Mirror - $20

Citristrip - $11.98

Wheels - $4.99

Paint scrapers - already had them

Staple gun - already had it

Bleach/water mixture - got it

Spray bottle - $.96

So really, I had most everything and the project cost me about $38 and some elbow grease.  You can't beat that!

Special notes: If you Google "how to make mercury glass" you'll get a lot of projects that use the Krylon Looking Glass spray.  This stuff is awesome and might have made my job easier if I had just gotten a picture frame with clear glass.  The thing is though that I wanted to use this as a coffee table and have it be able to sustain any weight I might put on it (within reason of course).  Picture frame glass is much thinner and more fragile than the 1/4 inch thick glass that is my mirror.  It's nice to know that had a scraped off too much mirror or the paint remover removed everything, I could still have added "mirror" with the Krylon material if needed.

So what do you think?  If you scroll back up to my first "before" picture, you'll also notice my hideous end tables.  Guess which project I'm going to feature next!?  I hope this post inspires you to go out and take on a new project.  Have a great weekend!