Refunk Your Junk: Vintage Frame- "I can do hard things.."

I've been itching to create something with the "I Can Do Hard Things" motto for a long time now. I have always been drawn to those words because ah, such truth in them!

Well, for some reason a creative rush hit me on Monday evening, yes.. Monday night, what was up with that?. D was playing Super Mario with Aspen, and Savannah & Addi came down to the craft room with me where they ended up painting.

I found this beauty of a vintage frame at a thrift store a few months back, $7 little find. (I know, right?) I have been undecided what I wanted to do with it, but just knew that beautiful little sucker would go in my craft room.

Then it happened: the angels began to sing & it was clear what I was to do. Okay, scratch the Angels singing part, but maybe... maybe they did sing. Pfft, you don't know. With fabric that stinkin' cute, how could they not? See? My point exactly. Just roll with it, people..just roll with it.

I know, I know... Girl, what is UP with that horrible picture quality?. Dude, totally not my fault. I can't find my battery charger for my camera anywhere. I have looked at 3 stores for a replacement, no go! So, for the last several weeks I've been relying on my phone. Yeah, I know, it's rough around here. Once I get the camera going, I assure you I will take better shots. But geesh, can't ya cut a Sister some slack? Goodness Gracious!

Ok, super easy project!

- Stalk your fave. thrift store for an awesome frame. (that's the fun part!)
- Remove the ugly picture inside that daaaah-ling frame.
- Slap some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (Paris Gray) on the frame.
- Wrap frame insert with fabric, hot glue down.
- Bust out some fatty letter stickers
- Call it a day. But first, take one more look and smile because ah... the truth of those words are powerful!! Why? BECAUSE WE CAN DO HARD THINGS!! WE CAN! Never, ever forget that!

Peace Out, Homies!

For the Love of Spray Paint...

My husband must have some kind of inside joke with himself about my obsession with spray paint, I can see it all over his face. Everytime I bust out the spray paint & walk outside he always has this smirk on his face and then pipes up, "Spray painting, again?" Pfft, you know it, buddy!

Today was no exception. Only this time, while I was spray painting, homie (that would be my husband) asked to use one of my spray paint cans so he could spray the yard where the pool is going to go, to get a better visual of it. This was hard for me. It made me realize that I must have some sick attachment disorder with spray paint, because sister didn't want him to waste it. First, he picked up my favorite blue color...."No, not that one!" He kind of rolled his eyes, went back inside and then came back out with my green. "Really? That one? Can you find one that isn't colorful, maybe?" His response was something on the lines of, "Seriously? Can you not just go buy another can?"... "Yeah, but do I really want to go to Lowe's tomorrow if I don't have to?"... so, we settled. He used the white. Compromise is a beautiful thing, don't ya think?

I've had this little white bench in my garage for a good 3 years, at least. I found this little sucker at Goodwill for $4.00, and I knew that it had potential. When I bought it, I was feeling inspired and was planning on sewing Courtney a new "boutique-style" bedding set that I saw online that I just had to make! I went out & purchased all the fabric, but.. got way over my head and ended up bagging the idea. This bench was going to be re-painted, and I was going to use the fabric, which would have matched the rest of her bedroom, on the seating area. So, since the idea was just that... an idea... this little bench has been waiting on me ever since. Well, today was the day!

Here she was before....

and, here she is AFTER.

I distressed her by slopping brown acrylic paint all over her...

then, I spray painted her with ivory paint, waited for it to dry... then used sand paper so the finish would look like this:

I was planning on covering the cushion with burlap (another obsession as of late), and then keeping up with my vintage-y theme in my craft room by adding ivory lace around the bottom. But, I was feeling a little more spunky today and decided to embrace PINK pom-poms instead. :) So so cute!

I transformed these drab candlesticks from Goodwill ($2/ea)....

into these colorful little cuties:

A few days I started on a few other little projects (coming soon).. and this was one of them: I changed this...

into this....

and, I'm in the process of changing this little beauty, too:

We have lots of other "painting projects" in the works over here, you have no idea! So, stay tuned! :) I'm having a blast with it & hope to have a few more things to share with you over the next few days.

I also added a few new things to our family room this past week which I will be sharing with you as well. It's amazing what a few little additions can do to a room. So, be sure to check back soon, ok?

A Little Spray Paint Action...

Since Darryl took the girls fishing both Saturday and Sunday, that left sister over here with a little free time. Sure, lots of cleaning and the organizing of my pantry (which I'm still gloating over...) left me feeling awesome because this chick simply loves the feeling that progress & productivity leaves this little heart of mine. However, there's just something about getting your hands all splattered with colorful paint and watching the transformation of flea market finds come to life.

It was such a beautiful day yesterday, perfect weather to throw down a sheet outside, grab all sorts of thrifting goodies, & just go to town!

The before's...
I scored this little chair at Goodwill about a year ago, yeah... it's been waiting on me for that long. Snatched this baby up for $5.00. I knew it had potential for Aspen.

This is a Ballard Designs "C" that I scored at the Flea Market a few weeks ago for $3.00.

I fell in love with the frame of this mirror at the flea market. My little $5 beauty... I knew she would be beautiful with some color. :)

My $2 ugly picture that I saw the potential in at the flea market. I really liked the frame & since we're fixing up an extra side-room in Aspen's room for her "office area", I knew I could add some paint to this bad boy, and turn it into a cheap cork-board for her.

here's the ugly frame after I removed the ugliness of the 1982 picture :) See the potential? Yeah, me too.

during...

After...amazing what a little spray paint magic can do, no? :) I found a brown cushion at Walmart for Aspen's desk chair for $5.00. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, looking for something with a little more color, but it will do for now. :) Couldn't beat the price!

Here's the after of the mirror w/ the funky frame. I took out the mirror, & splashed it with some watermellon paint. Loved how this one came out!

This was the ugly 1980 picture. I'm off to Micheal's today to turn it into a corkboard for my girl! She loves it!

and next... sister will be transforming these little beauty's:

I found another mirror (the smaller one pictured above) at Goodwill last week for $6 that looks almost identical to the one I found at GW last year that I ended up painting turqoiuse. I was quite excited :) Have some plans in this mind for both of these little guys. Courtney's dresser is on the agenda soon as well... so, stay tuned!

Progress is a beautiful thing!