Infant of Prague

Would you believe me if I told you that this used to be an old plastic night light that I found at the Goodwill?

Seriously!

Take a look again.

When I found it, the plastic had taken on a shiny, peachy color and it wasn't in very good shape.

However, it is the Infant of Prague and since I do collect them, I just had to bring Him home with me.

The other thing that was bugging me was this blue paint.  Do you see how it was over sprayed onto the body and other sleeve?  I needed to fix this.

A can of gray spray paint, a bottle of white gesso, a paintbrush, and plenty of paper towels.  Yep, that's all I needed.

For those of you who read Rosemary's blog Villabarnes, you've probably already seen this technique.

If you haven't, you've got to visit her.  I discovered this painting technique while reading her blog.

FABULOUS!

Anyway, you just paint your object gray.  When it dries, brush over it with white gesso (small sections at a time - it dries quickly) and wipe off with a paper towel.

Brilliant.  Thank you Rosemary!!

So here He is again 

He's lovely!

I couldn't stop there though.  I painted several frames that I had too. 

These were just plain wood with little metal filigree scrolls in the corners

and this one was one of those gold plastic Syrocco frames.

Cool huh?

Have a great weekend!

xo and God Bless,

Kathleen

Happy Anniversary

Today we celebrate 13 years of marriage

and you still make my heart flutter.

I love you more and more

every single day.

I thank God for the Blessing that is you and our family.

Happy Anniversary, my love.

I love you with all of my heart!

Make Your Own Pottery Barn Grain Sack Lamp Shades

This is the story of how two thrift store lamps, a vintage suitcase, and a mini trophy cup changed to whole course of the bedroom decor...in an afternoon.  During nap time.  I even rearranged all of the furniture.

AGAIN!!

Funny how just a few simple items can do that to you.

It all started with these fabulous lamps that I found at the Salvation Army on Friday.

Yep...you read that price tag correctly...$5.00!

I needed them because Jack {the naughty puppy} chewed the cord on my favorite bedside lamp and then proceeded to knock the remaining matching one over about a month later - completely breaking it in half.

Anyway, I've needed some new lamps for awhile now but let's face it, they're expensive!

So I'm in the Salvation Army looking for something totally unrelated when this pair of lamps seemed to jump out at me.  It was love at first sight. 

But of course, I couldn't leave without this vintage suitcase or mini trophy cup either! 

Okay, so back to the lamps...

I had every intention of just using my existing drum shades on these new lamps, but when I got home, I happened to see these amazing Pottery Barn lamp shades here on Pinterest.

I couldn't stand it!

I HAD to make some for myself!

So I did. 

First, I made slipcovers out of some leftover drop cloth.

Then I just pulled them onto the lampshades that I already had...

...like this.

Then I taped off my pattern and used this method here for painting on the grain sack stripes.

Here they are all finished in the bedroom.  Pottery Barn inspired lamp shades.  Turns out I like these lamps even better than the ones that Jack broke.  I'm so glad that I came across those PB shades on Pinterest.  The best part?  They didn't cost me a dime.  {I already had everything I needed to make them}

I love them!

~ ~ ~

Have a wonderful evening!

xo and God Bless,

Kathleen