as promised.

So, as promised here are some pics of the projects I have done or have begun to do. The first, as I mentioned in an earlier post is the fan.

Someone was just tossing this in the garbage! I saw the bright turquoise under tons of grease
& thought it would look so cool if it was cleaned up.
I sanded off all the rust & wiped all of the grease away. It still works but the wiring is a house fire waiting to happen. Rick - my father-in-law took a look at it & said it wouldn't be much to re-wire it. I consider him somewhat of a professional on these things so I trust his judgment! Hence why it is now at his house awaiting its operation.

Next is our new utensil holder. I love Crate Paper's new line "Early Bird".

I should have taken pics of the step by step process but I only ever think of doing things like that after the fact.
Basically I just used old peanut butter jars, put strips of super good adhesive all around it, cut the paper to size & wrapped it around. It's a little tricky to get straight but do-able if you are patient.
The ribbon I used on the rims didn't really work out. They wouldn't stick to anything (hot glue, paper tape, glue dots, nothing) So I peeled them off & used some of the super cute strips from the 'Early Bird' line. It makes me happier now anyway. :)

The beloved $3 solid maple desk. Pretty in its turquoise, there is such a thing as too much of it. I sanded down the top with extra coarse sandpaper.

Then I primed it.
{not without first spraying myself in the hand - twice!}
Due to my lack of spray painting skills, Mat finished spray painting the top with chalkboard paint.

We then bought crackle medium & when the humid weather finally eased off I coated the rest of the desk with it.
I let it dry for about an hour & then painted over top it with an antique white paint. It crackled immediately.

{Word of advice though if you plan to do something like this, normally painting you would want to put the paint on thick, not so with the crackle medium. Too much paint & the medium will make it sop right off the object.}

Here is the end result!



The freebie dining table. Free as it was, it needed some TLC. Okay...more like a lot of it. The layers of finish that were on the table made the top super sticky to the touch. It was collecting tons of dirt & grime & even mold in some areas.
I took the power sander to it.
{I love using the power sander}
However, because the finish was so thick after a lot of effort the sander merely gummed up the finish & wore out the sandpaper.
My mom brought out some stuff called "Supa Stripper" She painted it on & after a minute it began to bubble & we scraped off the layers of finish with ease - though it still took multiple coats of the Supa Stripper.


The end result - a smooth, soft table, mold and grime free!

Finally there's my bike. I lovingly sanded her down & took her apart with my father-in-law. I had left it at his house so that when the humidity eased off we could prime it & paint it.


While I was waiting for the weather to change, he both primed it & painted it for me!
{I was thrilled! I really wasn't looking forward to picking up a spray can again after the primer incident}


He even managed to keep all the chrome looking good & the emblem too!


Since this photo I have attached a little wooden basket. I cannot wait to ride it around the property of our new place!

So thats it for my plethora of projects. The next big one will be our new house, which we have already begun working on. But setting up shop is always a long process. I do have plans in the back of my mind though for a cheapie bed frame & some more of that crackle medium. :)
{I cannot sit creatively still for any length of time}

Do you have any projects you have in mind to do?

& not a picture to share

Mat and I have so much on the go right now - we are anxiously awaiting the day when our new landlords {the lovely David & Mary} call us to let us know that our new little two bedroom house is all renovated & ready to be lived in.

They are great little homes. They own five of them & the one we are moving into they had almost finished renovating. New paint, new bathroom, new floors. It's beautiful. We loved it. But when we looked at it back at the beginning of June, there were a few things still needing to be done. So we're waiting & waiting & waiting. Soon though!

In the meantime I have so many projects that I have been either slowly working on, or considering working on that have yet to be started. Knowing that soon we'll be moving again has really forced me to get my butt in gear.

Sadly not a picture to share however. Sorry. I'll will take some though!

First is our dining table. We got it for free from Tyndale. The muffin shop was renovated & they didn't want it anymore. You should see this thing {I know, it's MY fault you're not seeing it now} It's got a solid wood top with those nice antique french white curvy legs. {Yes horrible description, I know, I'll take a picture} Anyway, the top needs some serious sanding down & to be re-sealed before it can be our dining table, otherwise our hands & plates will stick to the surface {what a nice excuse that would be for not doing the dishes though!}.

Second is my bike. {*yay* my bike} I love this thing. It's an original Raleigh bike from Nottingham England. My neighbour in Toronto was throwing it out {!?} so I snatched it & tossed out my old bike. The Raleigh had some serious rust & age issues. I sanded her all down, {oh how the chrome shined!} & the other night my father-in-law & I took her all apart {she looks so small and insignificant in pieces!} We're going to paint her all up right, put new tires on her & the whole works. It was so much fun taking it apart with him, he & I was a mechanic at heart. :D

Third is my new/old desk. {Yup I wrote new/old} A solid maple desk for $3 at a yard sale! {Score!} It's painted this unattractive dark greenish turquoise color. {again, bad description} So Mat & I are going to try something new with it. {He's been a lot of help with it so far, researching products and stuff} We bought some chalkboard paint for the top surface, and crackle medium for the legs. I am going to keep the bizarre turquoise green, paint over it with the medium, & then paint over that with some antique white acrylics. The {hopefully} there will be some nice antique crackling with just tiny cracks of the turquoise green peeking through, & a nice solid black top that I can doodle all my scrap projects on. :)

Number four is the antique fan we found in someone's trash. {yup, we were scavenging through people's trash..but it's not like you think} It looks like its out of an Indiana Jones movie or something. It's crazy old. I cleaned it all up, got all the oil, grease and dirt off the surfaces. Now you can see a cool light bluish/turquoise fan with a neat little emblem in the middle. The wiring is not salvageable, though Mat thinks we can just re-wire it. Since we know nothing of wiring things, I have my doubts about us EVER doing it. In the meantime we have a cool fan for a conversation piece:
{ (spoken in a snooty British accent) "Oh my, where did you ever get such a smashing fan?" (spoken in a southern hillbilly drawl) "Yeeup, we fished dat dum ther fan outta duh trash. Can yuh believe sum one just thru it out?"}
We are so classy.

Finally five is something I actually finished last night! {*woot*} We scored two old fashioned milk jug carriers, the ones the used to be used milk was delivered to your door. Mat took one and actually managed to find a bunch of cheap glass milk jugs for it. He hopes to use it has a garden piece or for vases for flowers. I took the other one and it just so happened to be the perfect width and height for peanut butter containers. I cleaned out four of them, wrapped them with some new pretty scrapping paper from the Early Bird line from Crate Paper. I still have to seal them with Modge Podge, but its packed away right now. Now it makes the perfect utensil holder for the dining table {once we get it sanded down & sealed of course...}

So it is to my shame that I have so many projects & not a picture of one of them to share. Tonight that will be my 'thing'...pictures.

So do you have any 'projects' going on or on going?