My Top Ten of 2010

I thought I'd get into the end-of-the-year action, by showing you my  
Top Ten Projects of 2010. I  started my blog in August, so I have only a few months to pull from. Even still, it was hard for me to narrow things down.
Here are my favorite things I made this year:

Furniture Redos:

1. $25 Buffet Makeover

I love how it turned out and I guess others did too. This was my most popular post of the year. I still need to line the cupboards and I just found the perfect wrapping paper to do that. I'll have a post about it in the new year.

2. Embossed Dresser

 This is a bold foray into color. I have yet to find a way to tie it all in to my room, but that's on my list for 2011. I also have the perfect paper for lining the drawers. Also upcoming in 2011 is how to do the embossing on wood. I have 3 separate techniques to show you.

Home Decor Items

3. Metal Bling Basket

This was a wild thought I had to take a stab at basket weaving, and hey, why not start out with a super easy medium like, say, pipe strapping?! I'm kind of a dork that way. But it worked and we've been using it to hold various electronic bits and pieces ever since.

4. Brace & Bit Coat Rack

 

The mirror shelf, the entry way table (small amount of blue tile you see in the photo above), the topiary - I didn't do a post on this one. Do you really need to see me shoving plastic boxwood pieces into styrofoam? and the candle globe were also projects of mine. After months of use on the coat rack, I'm going to need to find a different support for the braces. The pipe strapping is not tight enough and the weight of the coats is starting to stress the strapping, but I love both the form and the function of this coat rack.

5. Hobnail Lamps and Beaded Lamp Shades

 If you read the lamp shade post, you will know that an extreme amount of patience is required for this project. To keep it real, I will admit that I have yet to make a second lamp shade. I'm still traumatized by the first one. It's far too precise a project for me to pull off a second time. I'm keeping my eye open for some new frames (with side supports) to use. I also had a brain wave for a new lamp shade for these lamps that is very froufy and girly. I want to try it. I'm sure those will be 2011 projects.

Seasonal Projects

6. Pumpkins, Pumpkins and More Pumpkins

Faux Mercury Glass Pumpkin

This little guy drives hits to my site. I've been debating giving my piano a similar treatment.

 

Liberace Pumpkin
It remains my absolute favorite stolen acquired pumpkin. In fact, it's still holding on strong. I kept it out through Christmas because it's such a cute little pumpkin that I didn't care if it wasn't fall any more. I figure as long as the pumpkin doesn't rot, he has a place on my buffet.
Long live Liberace!

Copper Pipe Strapping Pumpkin

I gave this one away and I'm certain I'll make another one next year. I love the industrial look to it. This is another pumpkin that will last the season. Denise at Junk Dog Design, who won the pumpkin, told me it has a permanent spot in her home. She's not limiting this guy to the fall.


7. Wreaths

Burlap and Bling Wreath
I've never been much of a wreath person, but all the beautiful wreaths in Blogland had me itching to try my hand at one. Since I have to world's drabbest front porch, the wreath adds a little magic there.

Christmas Cardinal Wreath

After I pulled down the fall wreath, I knew I needed one for winter. I saw one in the blogsphere that I liked (bad blogger - forgot to bookmark the inspiration piece). This is my interpretation of it. Even though the ribbon says "Ho Ho Ho" and all my Christmas stuff is packed away, this wreath is going to stay on my door for the winter.

Fru-Gal Advice

8. How to Shop Craigslist

This was my third most popular post. I love shopping Craigslist and I think it's a great resource for items for the home, or really just about anything you want to buy.

9. How To Fix Veneer

My Embossed Dresser started out very warped and damaged. I showed you how to fix damaged veneer. In the end, I made it look like this:

It makes me happy every day to see the shimmery, pretty dresser I now own.

10. How to Repair Broken Porcelain

I'm super happy with this fix. It was pretty easy to do, although the gluing part must have taken time (not my doing). This redo is better than the original!

Hmmm.....that's more than 10 favorites. I have a lot of favorites, okay? I've been a busy girl this year and I have lots of great plans for 2011. I just finished another embossing on wood technique that I'm excited to share with you, and I have a couple of reupholstering jobs up my sleeves, and...well, I think another post is in order for my 2011 plans.

Thank you so much for joining me on these adventures of mine. I love your encouragement and support. It makes me happy to share what I've learned to help others in their own DIY journey.

Happy New Year!

Be sure to check out the fabulous parties on my side bar!

I'm also linking up with:

 

New Life to an Old Nativity

 Many years ago, my Mom made a beautiful ceramic nativity scene. Each piece was lovingly painted, glazed and then fired. It took her weeks to make and when she was done, we had this truly special Nativity. Over the years, we were rough and, sadly, it did not survive seven children, but I have wanted a similar Nativity. I've yet to find one as beautiful as she made, but I eventually found one I liked at a Dollar Store about 15 years ago.

Every year when we would get out the Christmas stuff, Kiddo always seemed fascinated by this Nativity. Once he got old enough, it was his job to set this up for me every year. Usually, I accept whatever he does and call it good. I have other Christmas fish to fry. However, this year, I took a good look at the set.

What the...? How have I failed to notice the Brady Bunch repair job on my Nativity, apparently done with wood glue. WOOD GLUE, People! While it is clearly strong enough to hold porcelain together, it is still not the appropriate glue for the job. See how it cures?

Apparently, rough-housing near the Nativity is a family tradition. I suspect one of the kids got too rough around the Nativity and Wood Glue was the only glue to be found at the time. I clearly was not called in to consult on this repair job. I do not even remember this event. I looked a little closer at the set. Not only were my wise men in need of love, but baby Jesus has suffered over the years.

Baby Jesus needs a bath. Still, cleaning is only going to go so far. While the gold is very bright and garish in these photos, in real life, it was dingy and dull. Not pretty at all.

I cleaned the set and got to work. Out came the handy-dandy Spackle and I filled in the cracks on the set. Every time I fix something with Spackle (wall fix/putty/joint compound) I am amazed by it's capabilities. When done right, Spackle covers the problem, cracks, mistakes, boo boos and makes them all better. Once the paint is applied, you'd never know it had been repaired.

After I filled the cracks and sanded down the Spackle, I spray painted my set with Heirloom White. Let me tell you, it's no joke trying to spray paint in a garage when it's 6 degrees outside. It involved keeping the paint inside between layers, bringing the pieces in the house to dry and a lot of patience. When I finally got it painted, I busted out the Valspar Metal & Patina glaze in Bronze and glazed the set.

 I woke up this morning, Christmas Eve, reflecting on the analogy here.
Just as I was able to take something that had some flaws and repair it to make it beautiful and new again, Christ can do the same for us. 

The Atonement is the Spackle. It fills in the cracks and mistakes of our lives. It smooths our rough spots and makes us beautiful again. We all need the Atonement. 

 

We can be healed. His atoning sacrifice provides a way for us to be made whole.
It is only by Him and through Him that was can be saved.

I love the story of the wise men. They traveled a long way to find Christ, with only a star to guide them. Their journey could not have been easy. They came bearing gifts of the most precious things they could attain. Our journey to Christ may also be hard. We may lose sight of the things we have to guide us to Him. We do not have to give Him our possessions. He asks for something else. He asks us to come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. This means we come to him humble and willing to follow Him. He asks us to obey Him. To have faith in Him. To repent and keep trying.

I'm so glad I was able to save my Nativity. It brings me joy. It's a family tradition and one that will go on now with new life. More importantly, though, I am so grateful for the birth of our Savior.
He gives me life and joy.

May you find His joy and love in your life is my Christmas Wish for you.

Cost Breakdown:

Nativity - Free

Wall Fix, Spray Paint, Glaze - Free

Total Project Cost - Free

Total Project Time - about 3 hours total

Merry Christmas,

Be sure to check out the party links on my side bar.

Snowflake Wind Catcher

I enjoyed my fall wind catcher this past fall so much, that I was sad to pack it away. It sat right outside my office window. Since I work from home, I look out this window a lot. It was a nice punch of color in a world that had started to fade.

Instead of being all Gloomy Gus and missing my wind catcher, I figured it was an opportunity to put my crafting skills to use and make a winter version.

I started with some of these glitter snowflakes that I bought from the Evil Overlord Wal-Mart. I got two boxes of 20 snowflakes each. One had blue snowflakes and one had white snowflakes. Each box was $3.00.

picture from www.alphamom.com

I also got a package of multi-colored beads from the Wal-Mart. For some reason, finding a large quantity of red beads is a tall order. I've looked at the Mother Ship (read: Hobby Lobby) and at Base Camp (read: JoAnn's). I'm not sure why they're all so stingy with selling large quantities of pretty red beads together, but I'm thinking it's some sort of conspiracy. I had to buy more beads than I wanted, just to get the right red beads I was looking for (no dull, plastic-y, coral, red-purple or ginormous beads need apply for the job).

I threw in some pretty aqua beads I had on hand. A couple of hangers I begged off the local dry cleaner (free), some fishing line (thanks Hubs!) and an hour or so later, and I have a Winter Wind Catcher.

 

 I was using my file drawer to hold the hanger while I worked. I thought the pattern I was doing would give me alternating colors of snowflakes, but I could only see two of the arms at any given time.

What I actually ended up with were rows of the blue flakes and a row of the white flakes. I'd be lying if I said this didn't bug me on some level. It bugs. However, as a recovering perfectionist who values her time, I'm letting it go (at least, that's what I'm trying to do). The project is done. It's pretty. It twirls in the wind. Nearly all my criteria is met.

I've been playing around with the free online photo editing tool called Picnik. If you haven't used this tool, it's awesome. There are a ton of options for the free user, and for a small yearly fee, a whole world of photo editing options opens up to you.

Since the majority of the pictures on my site are taken with my cell phone, or my husband's Blackberry, they need a little sugar to look presentable. I love the Cross Processing effect, the Boost effect, the Matte and Vignette effects.

It's almost as if my little snowflake wind catcher beckond the real snowflakes. I no sooner had it up and hanging, when the snow came. I took it back inside the first time. Then it warmed up and so I put it back outside. BAM! Just like that, snow! Again. 

sigh....is it just me, or does it already seem like it's going to be a long winter?

I'm not bringing it back in. If it doesn't last the season, no bigs.  
I'll enjoy it while I have it.

Cost Breakdown:

Glitter Snowflake Ornaments - $6.00
Red Beads - $5.00
Fishing line, hangers, blue beads - Stash on hand

Total Project Cost - $11.00

Total Project Time - About 1.5 hours

How To Fix Veneer

Has this ever happened to you? You're out garage sale-ing one day, and  you stumble upon a piece of furniture that you love.

Perhaps something like this dresser:

 I showed you this dresser before. You can read about my fabulous finds here and see how I refinished it here.

You love the piece. It's got lines that you love. It speaks to you on some level and it's a price you're willing to pay. However, it may have some issues. 

Take a closer look:

The veneer is warped and stained and cracked. 

See the upper right corner of the front green panel? 

This is what it really looked like:

 See how it's warped away from the "nails" (?!) that held it in place? The warping made the rest of the front panel look like this:

Despite her issues, this lovely piece CAN be saved. Repairing warped veneer is not a difficult process. You'll have to decide if it's worth the effort. You can see in the above pictures, that my veneer has some heft to it. This made it easier to repair. Some veneers are paper thin, though, and if that's the case, it's easier to scrape it off and apply new veneer if you plan to keep a wood look to your piece.

If you are going to be painting the piece, it may be easier to simply remove the old veneer and cut a new top then to try to fix the old veneer, but that's another post for another day.

I knew I'd be painting this dresser, but I wanted to keep the original veneer because there is some beautiful crackling in the paint on the top of this dresser that no amount of crackling medium can replicate. I wanted to keep that if I could.

My entire dresser top had issues. I didn't have enough clamps to do the whole piece at once, so I did the gluing in sections.

Here are the basic steps:

1. Inject With Glue

I purchased a syringe and needle from the local farm supply store.
I found mine by the super strong rubberbands they use to castrate the cows. I am not even joking.

If you have large areas to be glued, be sure to get a long needle to extend your reach.

See those dents in the wood to the left of the red circle, under the words? You can also see one on the bottom right of the picture, inside the circle. I was using some spring clamps to hold the veneer down and got these "teeth" marks. A piece of wood or thick cardboard between the clamp and the furniture can protect your surface, hence the board you see in the collage picture above.


Start in the middle of the piece of furniture and work your way out towards the edges.
It gives you more options for reaching the part  you want to glue down.
How are you going to reach the middle if you glue down all your edges first?

You may need to lift up a section that is currently glued down to reach a section that's not. Since you're already gluing things, you might as well get in and get it down good and tight while you can.

When you are gluing along the edges, gently lift the veneer and inject the glue.

2. Clamp Until Dry

You don't need a ton of glue or you'll spend a lot of time wiping up what is oozing out. Look above to see what I mean.  A damp cloth takes care of the drips.

You do need the top to be weighted as the piece dries. I used some weights and some food storage cans to hold down the veneer in the middle of the dresser where my clamps couldn't reach.

Once the glue is dry, the veneer will lay flat again.

This dresser was kept in a house that had too much humidity in it. It caused the pieces to warp and because the front panel was only held on by nails, the wood panel warped away from the drawer front and pulled off the nails that was "holding" the panel on.

Here's what happened when I started to "fix" the front panel.

I seriously thought about leaving it off at this point. I was a month or two into the repairs and I spent a couple of days deciding, in fact. The fact that the top of the dresser bumps out to line up over this panel had me trying to fix it, though. It would have bugged me if I'd given up and left it off.
Besides, I have plans for this panel that I'll show you in an upcoming post.

I glued the board and then used my clamps to pull the board back into place. I put in a lot of screws through the back to hold it on. I made sure to turn the screws very slowly, as I didn't want to break it  as it moved back into place. 

The panel on both drawers (the part on the right of the cracks) broke off, so I had to do this twice. It's nice and tight now and ready for my next step.

3. Fill with Wood Putty

Once you have the veneer glued down, you need to fill any gaps with wood putty. Originally, I wanted to keep all the cracks in this piece and have a highly distressed dresser. However, after all my effort to fix the veneer, I decided that I didn't want the more obvious cracks to show.

When I fill with wood putty, I prefer to use my finger. I know there are more sophisticated tools out there. I own them all and I've tried them all. I just always go back to using my finger. Smoosh (technical term) the wood putty into the crack. For large cracks, like on the front panel, I had to put a lot of putty in them.

For the top of the dresser, where I didn't want to do a lot of sanding and destroy the patina in the old paint, I used a wet rag to wipe off the excess putty on the edges of the crack. This takes some of the putty out of the crack. If you want a slight depression and a hint of the crack, you could leave this as is. You'll need to keep repeating this step, if you are going for smoother results. Just repeat the process a couple of times to get the crack filled and to minimize sanding.
Be sure to let the putty dry in between layers.

Anyone who has ever spackled a wall and then painted over the spackle, knows that the patched area takes the paint differently than the rest of the wall. The same is true with wood putty. To avoid the differences, you need to minimize the amount of putty to start with. Wiping off the excess will help keep the differences to a minimum.

4. Sand Until Smooth

If you wiped off the extra putty before it dried, you'll have minimal sanding to do.
On the drawer fronts, I had to sand because there was a little lip where the panel wouldn't pull back in place tight enough against the drawer. A palm sander worked well for the front, but I used a sponge sand pad for the top.
Again, I was trying to preserve some of the natural characteristics of the dresser.

photo: www.tradekorea.com

The sanding sponges are cheap and I like how they work. You can buy them in different grits. I rinse mine out and let them dry between uses. I usually buy mine at Lowes or Home Depot that come a couple to a pack for a few bucks.

After I've sanded, I paint just the repaired areas with a few coats of primer before painting the whole piece. This allows the putty to soak up the primer, which is why you see the difference in the puttied area. It needs to soak in some paint/primer before you start painting. It will also let you see if you've been successful in covering the cracks. If not, add more putty and repeat the process until you get the desired results.

To recap, with some patience, a syringe, some wood glue, a few clamps or weights and you can restore the veneer on your furniture. 

You can go from  this:

To this:

Click the above photo to see finished dresser.