The Funky Chicken

It isn’t often that you can say you love your neighbors, but I do, and the reason I love them is because...they throw away some pretty cool stuff! When I first started curb shopping I usually went at night. I was kind of embarrassed and didn’t want my neighbors to know I was taking their things, but now a days, I actually have people stopping me and saying, “Are you that furniture lady? (Like I’m some crazy cat lady that lives on the end of the street) I’ve got a dresser you can have!” People ask if their table will make our blog, or what we’ll do with this chair, they have even helped me move larger pieces to my storage unit! How awesome is that! I'm like a rockstar on my street, lol! Either that, or people just think I'm plain nuts! I'd like to think the first, but I'm guessing the second.

This, is one of those pieces. I scooped it up from 5 houses down, it was a total score! One night after picking my daughter up from work I spotted it. “If it’s still there when I come back (I was running late as usual) I’ll grab it.” Sure enough there it was. We opened the van door, pulled it in, slammed the door, and squealed off. No one was the wiser and we we're one step richer! When I got a good home I took a good look at it. I knew immediately it was going to have funky chickens on it, I mean how could it not, right! It reminds me of a chicken coop.

But first, I had to do the boring stuff…I removed all the hardware, primed it and sanded it, BORING! Even though the majority of it was going to be white again, I knew being a used piece I better prime it just in case.

I removed the wire from the doors because I wanted to clean up the build-up of paint that had accumulated from years of painting and give it a smoother look, plus I wanted to spray paint the wire black without creating overspray on the door. I popped the staples out with a screw driver, then laid the screens on some card board, and then spray painted them black.

While those were drying, I spray painted the hinges to match. These hinges were really old but I thought a coat of spray paint would bring them back to life. No such luck. They were really crusty looking. I made a mad dash to the hardware store to grab some new ones, but they were out of black ones in the size I needed, so....silver it was (then back to the spray paint). I had to spray paint the screws as well to match. I use a floral Styrofoam square to hold the screws and spray the tops then just touch up with my fingertip after I screw them in (if necessary).

Once I sanded the doors down, primed and painted them I reattached the hardware, plus some really cute knobs from Hobby Lobby (50% off 1.29 apiece).

So, now for the fun part! The funky chickens! I use this great paper to trace my pictures when I want the same thing over and over again. Its awesome stuff and very easy to use. You lay it down (dark side on the bottom) lay your picture on top, trace over the top of your picture with a pencil our any dull object, then peel it back, and voila! Then just color it in. The lines are erasable and do not show through the paint (only sometimes through light colors, like pencil would). You can even use this paper on dark colors.

I then used some really high tech stencils for the flowers on the back. Notice the leaves? They're paint chip samples from Home Depot, but they make great leaf patterns don’t they?

Somehow, I wanted to incorporate a fun basket of eggs into this chicken coop, but I just wasn’t sure how, when this quirky little idea popped into my head one night.

I was lucky to find this bowl set at the local Rescue Mission Store for $3.00 (“Winning!” I could use the one bowl for the piece and sell the other bowls at our next craft show).

Picked up 2 packs of wooden eggs, painted them in wild tricked out colors and patterns, slapped them in the painted bowl, glued them to the top and called it a day! Yaya! Who’s your daddy?

After I did the final photo shoot I did add wheels to the bottom of this piece and magnet strips to the inside of doors (the kind you see on the insides of your cupboards) to keep them from closing in on themselves.

This piece will be going with us to the Syracuse Arts and Crafts Festival in July. I'm hoping somebody finds it as amusing as I do! Hahahaha!

Happy Painting!

Mary

I will be sharing with my friends @:

http://www.504main.com/

http://becolorful.typepad.com/

http://www.dittledattle.blogspot.com/

http://makingtheworldcuter.blogspot.com/

http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

http://www.skiptomylou.org/

http://bellabeforeandafter.blogspot.com/

http://todayscreativeblog.net/

The rest of my friends can be found on my "link page" at the top of this page :D

A Funky Floral Mandala Table

How many times have you started out redoing a piece of furniture and mid way through it just completely takes on a mind of its own? Such was the case with this end table, but I know exactly when my creative process changed gears, this one wasn’t a surprise, it was when my wonderful (online) friend Pam from BeColorful, introduced me to the designs of textile artist Susan Sargent. I immediately fell in love with Susan’s bold designs, especially her flower patterns and knew I wanted to incorporate them into the plan.

See, when I had sketched out this piece originally (and I don’t always draw out my pieces first, just sometimes when I’m stuck) I was going for more of a “country” look but then enter Pam and Susan Sargent.

Immediately I incorporated her flower design, (although not exact) onto the side panel (and yes, I actual free handed it!) but in doing so it changed the mood of the entire piece. I couldn’t do the bandana print or the hen; there wasn’t a country feel anymore it had taken on whole different vibe.

The sides looked great, but I was drawing a blank on the top? That’s when the thought of a Mandala came to mind. Recently, I’ve been playing around with Mandalas in my journals. Have you ever heard of a Mandala? I was reintroduced to them through a webpage called Art-Is-Fun where artist Thaneeya McArdle has created fun coloring pages and designs to inspire you (plus, she has a ton of other fantastic stuff too). So, I knew this piece was calling out for a Mandala, not a real busy one, but a simple one, and that's what I decided to draw on the top.

I did this by using tracers. A few months ago while wondering around our local bargain center I picked up this large box of strange sized file folders (really cheap!). I use file folders to make stencils or tracers. I found a small Mandala that I liked in a chunky graphics book I have that I often use for insperation and drew out the design onto a blank folder. I cut them out and then traced them on the table top. I did this to create a somewhat of a uniformed look.

I then colored in the form with the different patterns that I used throughout the sides of the piece, allowing the flowers to become the center focal piece.

I added a swirly handle for extra fun (Hobby Lobby 50% off $1.50) and my piece was finally complete.

I did decide to keep the cow print and the lone star on the back, a whisper of the previous design, plus in some quirky way it worked.

Have you ever tried creating a Mandala? They are so much fun to color! You’ll have to try them out.

Happy Painting,



Mary

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Today's Creative Blog

My Repurposed Life

Patriotic Plant Stand

Recently, my friend Gina asked me to revamp an old highchair she had been storing in her basement. She wanted to turn it into a funky place to showcase her plants. What a great idea I thought, “A plant stand!” How many times do you see a cute highchair at a garage sale or thrift store, but you think…“What the heck would I do with that?” Well, now you know!

From the moment I picked it up I knew I was going to have to remove this cute lil’ doggy decal that was on the back, it seriously had seen better days. I tried scraping it with a razor first, but it wasn’t budging. So, I took some stripper (Peel Away 6; Paint & Varnish Remover), saturated the sticker with it, let it sit for a few minutes and waited for it to bubble. Then took the razor to it again and it came up like butter.

Once I had removed the entire sticker and all its residue, I gave the whole piece a good cleaning with some soap and water. I then put wood putty in all the small cracks and holes, sanded and primed.

Gina had pretty much given me free reign over design but she did give me one stipulation, “Make it patriotic!” So, red, white and blue is what I did!


After I laid down the base coats, I started with the stripes. On this piece there were 3 different sizes. I usually always use tape when striping. For really thin lines I use auto detailing tape. You can buy it at any auto supply store. For larger stripes I use either Frog or Scotch Blue tape usually in 1-2” strips. Both are good, but both tend to bleed. Not a problem though, I just go in with a little brush and touch up the bleed marks at the end.

See, I usually use 3 different size brushes in a 3 step process. First, I use my Purdy (love, love, love, my Purdy!) to cover the large areas and get a solid base coat. Then, I go in with a medium brush closing in the gaps, laying down the design and filling in the color. The final go around is with a tiny brush for all the detail work.

Once the painting was finished I added the wood appliqués for whimsy (also to cover some unsightly screw holes in the rear) and wrote the word “LIBERTY” across the back to finish it off.

I usually finish my pieces with a spray coat of lacquer. This piece got extra coats of Poly Lacquer (brushed on), because it was going to be used as a plant stand and I wanted to make sure the seat was sealed extra good (just in case water spilt on it).

So, what do you think? Does this seat get your vote? And how do you like Gina’s creative idea to turn this highchair into a funky plant stand? What would you have done with it? I'd love to hear your ideas...let me know!




Happy Painting!


Mary

Designer Garden Guest Spot

Hey Everybody! I have been invited to be the guest writer over at Designer Garden today and I am stoked! How much fun is that, to be able to run my mouth about painting furniture on someone else’s page, and get this...she actually asked me! I didn’t have to force her, bribe her, nothing! She just saw a piece of my work and liked it, how cool is that!

see the transformation!

Seriously, Sommer is a total doll, and I am honored that she let me share my newest piece with her and her followers, so please click on this link: Designer Garden and see how I transformed this blah piece of furniture into something sophisticated and funky! While you’re there, why not check out all her great stuff as well; Rocking makeovers, straight-up tutorials, amazing before and afters! You name it, she’s done it, so why not even think about becoming a follower of hers as well, so you don’t miss a single entry!

Remember to tune back in here in a week or so, I have some wonderful pieces I’m working on…just take a peek. See ya soon!