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Burtonesque Wrought Iron Bench

October 6, 2014 by admin 1 Comment

Craigslist and local for sale by owner Facebook groups are quickly becoming my new favorite online shopping venues. You just never know what will pop up. I was scrolling through one day and saw this vintage beauty:
Vintage Yellow Wrought Iron Bench

I was immediately drawn to the swirls and whimsical curves on the back. This is a very Tim Burtonesque piece to me, I can totally envision it in the Corpse Bride, or The Nightmare Before Christmas. I wanted it, I HAD TO HAVE IT!!

I showed it to Jack and told him of my plans to refinish it for him to sit on. I’m pretty sure I heard an “Exxxxcellent!” in Mr. Burns style.

Jack & Mr Burns

I’ve revamped LOTS of furniture – chairs, couches, dressers, you name it. Only problem is all THAT work was done in my head. I’ve never successfully redone any ACTUAL furniture in real life.  I tried to reupholster a love seat once, but it sat in pieces in my basement until I moved…then it finally got tossed. So although I had some reservations about my ability, I was determined to finish this bench.

I posted some questions on Facebook about how to go about this project…would I absolutely need to sand it? With what? Can I use spray paint? What kind? Does that require primer, or not?

I settled on an angle grinder, Rust-oleum Rusty Metal Primer and Rust-oleum Hammered Metal Spray Paint in black. I grabbed some protective eye wear, ear plugs, my face mask, and I was ready to get to work.

Rustoleum Spray Paint & Primer

But first, let me take a selfie…

Selfie

I figured I should take a photo of me in all my glory of doing actual, (semi) hard laborious work.

It was hot that day working in the garage, and it actually was, HARD WORK. But much to my surprise I loved it. I grinded for an hour and was amazed with this process. It wasn’t exactly easy, but it was essentially simple. Use this tool and grind away the chipped paint and rusty metal to reveal this beautiful skeleton of a bench underneath.

My hands felt funny from all the vibration of the grinder, but it was really relaxing to just work and shut out the rest of the world and CREATE again. I was in my element for sure. It had been soooo long since I felt that way, so this was an awesome experience for me.

Vintage Iron Bench Revamp

But after a couple hours my laziness took over. (Did you pick up on my foreshadowing of that earlier?!)

My body was hurting from the (gasp) actual physical labor of it all. And I was getting a little nervous using such a powerful tool, especially after I had to pull out a metal splinter that the grinder shot into my leg. (Perhaps I should’ve been wearning jeans, not shorts?) I love power tools, but they honestly scare me because I’m such a klutz. In junior high shop class I ran the side of my finger through the jigsaw and although it just took off a few layers of skin, from that moment on I envision myself slicing off my finger or worse. It could totally happen, and it would be just my luck.

So once I got most of the bench cleaned up I decided that would be good enough. After all, this bench is just a prop. The nooks and crannies would just have to stay how they were. I gave it a quick bath, hosed it down, let it dry, then sprayed it with the primer.

Primed WRought Iron Bench

I should’ve bought two cans of primer because I didn’t get it all covered as well as I would’ve liked. But, again, this is a prop. Not a huge deal. I let it dry then spray painted it black. Again, I only bought one can at first and didn’t get 100% coverage. But, I’m lazy remember. Even though I ran out and bought another can, it got windy by the time I got home so I decided to finish painting it another day, but have since decided it looks fine as it is.  (Plus my hands were actually semi-crippled for a day or two from holding the grinder that I couldn’t spray the can of paint very well if I wanted!) Since I want it mostly as a Halloween prop I figured it shouldn’t be all pristine looking (thank goodness!)

I just absolutely love it! Check out a photo of the finished bench in this post.

 

 

Filed Under: Halloween, Life As I Know It, Misc. Projects Tagged With: diy, revamp

Quick Pillow Recover

October 4, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

This project is a tiny addition to a project I will be sharing soon, so this post will be short and sweet.  I can’t wait to show you the “bigger” project. =)

A year or so ago I bought new pillows for our living room. I don’t recall what I paid for them, but I remember thinking it’s was a little more than I wanted to pay, but they look like nice quality pillows so I suppose it’s okay. (Honestly I’m cheap frugal so it probably wasn’t all THAT much.)

Guess what?

Hole in Pillow

We had them a few months and the seams started coming apart. I’m sure it didn’t help that the girls play rough with them, and the dog just LOVES to find tiny holes and pull out the stuffing. =( So I would toss them aside, sew them up when I had time, and bring them back into the mix.

Then I was in the workshop the other day thinking about the bigger project I am working on, and my eyes wandered around the room for inspiration. Just so happens I had a pillow sitting there waiting to be fixed. And I really wasn’t in the mood to fix it since I just knew it would be fine for a couple weeks, then I’d have to sew it up again.

So I whipped up a simple envelope pillow case and stuffed that bad boy in, rip and all! Voila! Now it’s perfect. =)

black and white striped pillow

I didn’t bother taking step by step photos, but if you’re interested in this simple sewing project Six Sisters’ Stuff has a really great tutorial you can check out HERE.

Filed Under: Halloween, Life As I Know It, Misc. Projects Tagged With: sewing

Mommy & Me Painted Canvas Project

February 19, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Candyland Studio Mommy & Me Painted Canvas

For the first time in a LONG time I got inspired to do something crazy…decorate my living room wall. Yes, for me that is surprisingly crazy because as much as I LOVE to make stuff, and help others decorate their homes I’m not so great at it myself.

It all started when I saw a project on Pinterest and I just knew I had to have one of my own.

“Please excuse the mess, the children are making memories.”

I love this quote, and I should read it to remind myself daily.

I started off with a regular canvas that you can get at any craft store. Mine is a 16″ x 20″. Then I cut the quote in vinyl. It doesn’t matter what color because it will be used as a reverse stencil and will be removed later. 

Vinyl On Canvas

Next I sprayed over the lettering with a paint primer.

Primed Canvas

Krylon Primer

And then I painted over that with white acrylic paint for good measure. I figured this would really seal the edges of the vinyl lettering and help prevent any any paint from bleeding underneath later.

White Acrylic Paint on Canvas

Now comes the REALLY fun part!!! Break out the paint and let your little one go to town! You can see my big girl was skeptical at first, then annoyed at my picture taking, then she had a blast! Of course you can paint it yourself, it does look pretty tempting and there’s no such thing as a mistake with this kind of painting.

Okay, I admit it, I dipped my fingertips in a little paint and helped a tiny bit…mostly just around the edges, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing another canvas myself, it was so much fun!

Toddler Painting Fun

Once she was done we let it dry. Since I have no patience I used my heat gun to move it along a little faster, and I accidentally kept it in one spot a little too long because it started to chip away. Eek! No big deal, I just grabbed a little paint and did a quick touch up. No biggie!

If you look closely you can see the vinyl lettering under the paint.

Finished Painted Canvas

I forged her artist’s signature in the corner…

Artist Signature

and once everything was nice and dry I carefully pulled off each letter with a hook tool, which resulted in this little gem!

Mommy & Me Project - Finished Painted Canvas

Then just to be safe since we used water-based washable paints I sprayed a quick coat of Mod Podge spray to seal and protect the painted canvas.

Matte Mod Podge Spray

Kayden was so proud of her painting she had to show everyone who came over. ♥ I loved it too, and I wanted to put it up for all to see. I couldn’t find the perfect spot, but we really needed to add to a wall in the living room so I decided to incoporate this painting into a bigger project, which ended up as this:

Candyland Studio - Living Room Wall

I love it so much, it makes me wonder why I don’t decorate more! LOL

By the way, if you don’t have a vinyl cutting machine don’t forget I do custom decals! And, I could probably be persuaded to make you a completely prepped canvas so all you need to do is paint it and remove the lettering. 😉

If you were going to do this project, what quote would you choose?

Filed Under: Life As I Know It, Misc. Projects, Tutorials Tagged With: canvas, diy, painting, vinyl, vinyl decals

Get Ready for Make a Difference Monday

January 29, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

I wanted to do a little giveaway for my Facebook fans. Then I got all concerned about the rules and regulations of how I’m supposed to “do it the right way” and wondering what if people don’t like what I decide to give away and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, so I kept dragging my feet wondering how to go about this. A giveaway should be simple, right?!

But I’m complicated like that. Instead, I have this idea that happens to be at the top of my Candyland Studio manifesto:

Candyland Studio Manifesto

Here’s the deal. I decided not to do the usual contest or giveaway. I want to do a project.

Introducing…Make a Difference Monday!

Candyland Studio MAD Monday

Most people aren’t fond of Mondays. Let’s change that. I want to hear good stories on Mondays about all the great things people are doing. A random act of kindness, a pay it forward kind of thing, something along those lines. (Do good) I know typically you’re supposed to do this secretly, but I want you to come back and tell me about it. You can keep it a secret from the person to whom you are randomly being kind, (Have fun) but I love hearing these stories and I know others do too. There are so many terrible stories on the news and circulating on various social media outlets so why shouldn’t you share your good deeds? I’d much rather read about those, wouldn’t you? (Make a difference) 

Once you’ve done something good for someone, use one or all of the the following methods to share with me and I will start giving some things away! Bonus points if it involves being crafty or actually making something! 😉

Facebook: Every Monday I will ask how you made a difference. Leave a comment sharing your good deed. (Optional: Use hashtag #CSMADMonday)
Instagram: Post a photo with the hashtag #CSMADMonday
Pinterest: Post or repin an image/quote/etc. that captures the essence of your deed. Tell your story in the description. Use hashtag #CSMADMonday
Bloggers: If you post about your experience be sure to share the link! Feel free to grab the graphic and use as a button for your site if you like.

I promise to try to gift something at least once a month for an undetermined amount of time. My selection may be random, or I may go by my favorite story, or who knows…Let’s enjoy reading everyone’s story and focus on the primary goal: Do good. Have fun. Make a difference. =)

Now off you go…Today is Wednesday, which means you have lots of time to go do lots of good between now and Monday!

 

Filed Under: Life As I Know It, Make a Difference Monday, Misc. Projects Tagged With: CSMADMonday

New Project: Haunted Dollhouse

August 18, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

Haunted Dollhouse Project

I am SUPER excited about my new project…a HAUNTED DOLLHOUSE!!!! EEEEK! (Can you tell?) I’m not exactly sure how I came upon this fantastic idea, but I’m sure browsing Pinterest probably had something to do with it. I never had a dollhouse growing up, nor do I remember wanting one, but I have always liked looking at miniature things. In fact, I’ve always been slightly obsessed with teeny tiny things and big, gigantic things, but mostly when it came to dogs.

But I digress…I guess I figured since I never get around to decorating my actual house as elaborately for Halloween as I envision in my mind, decorating a dollhouse might just the perfect Halloween project fix I need.

I thought about building a house from scratch, but that would take me forever. I read this post on From Scratch Mama on how to make one from cardboard boxes, but I really wanted something strong and durable, yet not terribly elaborate or expensive for my first try.  I put a post on Facebook asking if anyone had an old dollhouse they wanted to get rid of and surprisingly enough, a friend just a couple blocks away had one!

Isn’t it lovely? Made of wood, just shy of 3 feet tall, and 2 feet wide it’s absolutely perfect for my project! Here are the before photos:

Dollhouse Front

 

Back of Dollhouse

Inside of Dollhouse

Right Side of Dollhouse

Side of Dollhouse

Little Baby checking out the dollhouse

Little Baby had to check it out. She approved. =)

I cannot wait to start working on this! My goal is to take my time, do it right, and do it well. So, I expect this to probably not be complete by Halloween this year, and I am okay with that. This is my new long term hobby…collecting and making the perfect objects piece by piece.

 

Filed Under: Halloween, Misc. Projects Tagged With: haunted dollhouse

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