UpCycled Hair Clips

I'm often inspired by what I see on blogs as well as some of my favorite Etsy stores. This weekends Thanksgiving crafts are brought to you thanks to my grandmother,  Petit Elefant and this Etsy shop. 

These are hair clips that I've purchased. I wanted to make some of my own.

A while back, my grandmother gave me some of her old clip on earrings knowing that I love everything old and would find a way to use them. They've been in my jewelry box, occasionally worn by my niece for dress up, but otherwise untouched... until now! Following the tutorial from Petit Elephant, I know have a series of gorgeous hair clips!

I used the clip on earrings (as well as a single earring I've been holding onto after losing the match at the beach on a indy day), pliers, a variety of bobby pins and clips, craft glue, and heavy ribbon.

The first step was to pry the clip backing off of the earrings using the pilers. 

Next, I glued some of the heavy ribbon onto the back of each earring and attached a bobby pin.

Perfect.

The next project involved re-creating the style of clips I've purchased on Etsy. I found flower molds (on Etsy) and made clay flowers. After baking, I glossed them over with nail polish to add shine. 

I simply attached the flowers to hair clips using craft glue. I'm definitely pleased with the results!

Christmas presents for my niece for sure <3  

Trending- Turquoise Chairs!!

Check out the refinished chairs on one of my favorite design blogs right here. Solo made turquoise chairs, too (But I made mine first! )  Enjoy :)

Mmmmm!

In addition to making things for my home, I love to cook and bake! These donuts made for a perfect brunch and are completely grain free, sugar free, and vegan <3

The recipe comes from one of my favorite food blogs, Roost, and you should check out Caitlin's recipe for Cinnamon Roll Almond Flour Donuts. I used egg substitute in place of the 3 eggs, as well as shaved coconut rather than shredded. My husband and I devoured these delicious donuts fairly quickly!

What Will They Be?????

This is a project I've been working on for awhile. I found these brass candle sticks at the flea market. They were the perfect height, material, and style for the project that I have in mind! Once again, no "before" pic. Pretend that they are brass and kind of tarnished. Got it? Ok, now, here's what I've done to them:

I don't remember what they were marked originally but I was not willing to pay more than $5 for the pair. True to my style, I held them, hemmed and hawed, told the seller that I just wasn't sure... And of course the price kept coming down until she reached $5. Perfect! I got them home and sanded them with really fine sand paper. I primed them with a primer designed for metal and then- did you guess it yet? I spray painted them! Shockingly, I strayed from the usual teal and lime green. Pink is better suited for this one. I'm still in need of a few pieces to complete the project which means more trips to my favorite place :)

 I currently have a problem and these candle sticks will solve it. Stay tuned...

Kitchen Chairs

We needed more than two kitchen chairs. I wanted the additional chairs to coordinate, but not "match" our existing lime green chairs. The price was right on these two (free from my mom's friend who was getting rid of them) but the light wood and white seats did nothing for me!! As always, I didn't take a "before" picture so imagine plain boring chairs. Now they look like this:

First, I took off the seats and stripped off the plain white fabric. The cushions were in good condition so I was able to reuse them. I did splurge on the fabric ($16 total) but it was perfect! I attached it using a staple gun. Easy!

I took the old poly finish off the chairs and sanded them down. I primed them, sanded again, and spray painted with Painter's Touch Aqua. satin finish. Matt and I drove to the ends of the Earth (or, just about every hardware and paint store from Agawam to Keene anyway) to find this color! Finally, a hardware store in North Adams had enough cans of Aqua and I bought them all. I have two more chairs and I'm planning to do them the same color. Then we'll have 6 fabulous, bright, one-of-a-kind kitchen chairs in our sunny home! 

Coat Hanger

I made this coat hanger out of scrap wood while we were renovating some room(s) of the house. The hooks were in the basement and I already had the paper (from Essentials) and the paint. Total cost? $0.00.  It's in the entryway. 

Wedding Converse

 

I can't take credit for the photo but I CAN take credit for the shoe. All the years of sewing sequins onto bathing suits in Synchro prepared me for this project- wedding shoes for a friend!

Vases

These vases were inspired by something I read on another blog although I don't remember which one. I got the vases at my favorite place, the flea market for $1 each. Then, I made the flowers out of polymer clay. I was happy with the color afte they baked so I spray painted them. They're attached using adhesive designed for glass. The red flower vase is a gift... The green one is mine. It's matches all the other lime green stuff in my house.

The Green Phase

This old door was in the garage when we moved in. I got sample size paint in turquoise and lime green and painted it. Now it's in my garden. The bright orange poppies were beautiful against it back when they were in bloom a few days ago.

Loving the lime green, I decided that I needed kitchen chairs in the same color. These were in my grandmother's basement so the price was right (free). I stripped off the finish, sanded, primed, and spray painted them. They're perfect in the sunny kitchen :) 

Bird Mobile

My whole house has a bird theme. I found a template online that I liked and printed it out. Then I cut six birds out of cardstock. I covered both sides with colorful pages from magazines. They are hung with fishing line (taken from Matt) on a circle of bittersweet (my mortal enemy as it takes over my yard). Despite what Lu thinks, it is not, in fact, a cat toy.

My mom gave me the tall table and I had no idea what to do with it. It's perfect by the door with a plant. It was already pink, I just scuffed it up a bit. I spray painted the top dark purple. It's a high gloss paint and Lulu appreciates the aesthetic appeal.

Stained Glass

I took a Stained Glass class. The apple was the first project. And then I made the bird in only about 17 hours total. No big deal, right?  It was ambitious but I love it!

marmalade

Every year my aunt from Florida sends boxes of the most delicious Honeybell oranges... this year I made marmalade (and gave lots away as gifts). I also made pickled pepper relish which is on the left. I pickled hot peppers from my garden and then put them in the food processor to make relish. And canned it all up. Yum! 

Tables!

I love the Hadley flea market! I got this table for a steal at only $10 last summer. I took off the old finish, repainted it white and turquoise, roughed it up a bit, and added beautiful paper from Essentials to the top. A piece of glass covers the paper and protects the top. 

This table was $20at the flea market - I splurged. I did the same finish as above but this time I cut around the design on the paper and Deoupaged it on.