Making a Messy Mistake Marvelous

I happened across two adorable die cut frames and decided that they needed to be chalkboards. I painted the frames, one pink and one blue, and lightly distressed them. 

Then I rolled black chalk paint on some foam board and adhered it to the back of the frames with Gorilla Glue.  I know, I know -- Gorilla Glue expands kind of like that spray foam insulation, right? I already knew that, so I only used a teeeeeeny tiiiiiiny skinny little line. *sigh*  Even a teeny tiny skinny little line expands. A LOT! So I wound up with a lumpy bumpy line of hard foamy-looking glue all along the inside of my frame.

What ever is a girl to do?! Get out the GLITTER! 

It was a good plan, but the glitter glue didn't dry evenly, so it just made a sparkly mess. I guess that's better, but still not acceptable.

Then I realized that the solution was my favorite "tool" in the world. Paper! I cut some scallop strips from glitter paper (Yes, I just happened to have the exact colors of glitter paper that I needed. You aren't surprised, are you?) and adhered them inside the frames. Voila! 

They turned out better than I expected because I messed up! How great is that?!

These are going to Ava Belle's, but hopefully not for long. I think they will find a good home real soon! 

What's your best save? Come on--everybody has one! Tell us about something that got messed up but you found a way to rescue. 

One of my favorite sayings is, "There are no mistakes in scrapbooking--only opportunities for embellishment." I like to apply that to as many aspects of life as possible!

Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to the New and Improved Ava Belle's!

The flea market in downtown Aurora where Mom and I have a booth is moving        a-l-l      the       w-a-y    a-c-r-o-s-s      the      s-t-r-e-e-t!  Ok, actually it's across two streets and three doors down, but I like to play with words, so just go along with it, alright? 

It's been so much fun loading the new booth with tons of merchandise and making sure everything is arranged just right! This booth is smaller than the spot we had at the old building, but we managed to fit MORE stuff in it! 

We have lots of scrapbooking supplies,

several pretty lamps (including one made from an old hanging wire planter), 

a wall full of Christmas decorations (and then some!)

and lots of other pretties!

We even have stuff hanging overhead and on the backside of the hand-painted armoire (which is for sale) and our rescued display shelves!

We open to customers Monday. Peggy (Ava and Isabella's Gigi) has done an amazing job getting the building ready for us. Everything looks wonderful! If you're ever in Aurora Missouri stop by and leave us a message on that big chalkboard! 

Are You Tired of My "Upcycling" Yet?

I really hate that term. "Upcycling." I guess maybe it sounds too much like upchucking. ewww. I think we should rejuvenate or maybe reincarnate. Ooh--I like that!

This is the story of how a sad and dated (and a little mildew-y) Home Interiors picture was reincarnated into a lovely jewelry display.

Better, huh?

Our story begins with a musty dusty old landscape that was acquired at auction. Sort of. (Long story for another day.) It also involves some chalk paint, fabric (leftovers from a trunk I "reincarnated"), and nine decorative pulls. These came from Hobby Lobby and were purchased at 50% off (of course!), averaging $1.50 each.

It's a very pretty picture, but there was some mildew on the mat and the shiny brass frame seemed to scream "1980's!" Don't get me wrong--I LOVED the 80's, but come on....

I took everything apart, discarded the mildewed picture, and set the glass aside. (I WILL come up with a use for it!) Hang on to the backer--we'll use it in just a second. In these Home Interiors pieces it is usually very sturdy. Kind of like a very thick chipboard that is screwed into the frame.

First I painted the frame with white chalk paint and brushed on just a bit of antiquing gel to bring out the design. Once the paint dried I put on a couple coats of wax and buffed it to a nice soft sheen.

I thought it would be easier to get everything lined up without the fabric in the way, so I placed several decorative drawer pulls on the backing and marked their positions. (Make sure you put the top at the top and the bottom at the bottom, or you might not be able to use the hanger.) Then I used my Crop-a-dile to punch holes for the pulls to go through.

I used spray adhesive to hold the fabric in place on this one, but I have since made more and used regular old glue. I like using the spray better, but the liquid worked just as well as long as it was spread thin.

I trimmed away the excess fabric, right up to the edge of the backer board, and punched the holes again, this time going through just the fabric.

 Then it was time to add the pulls! Between two of the knobs I attached a short piece of chain for hanging earrings. The picture above^ shows the front,

and this picture shows the back. A pair of bolt cutters would probably work very nicely on these bolts that need to be cut, but, alas, there are no bolt cutters to be found in my home or garage. So I used the Dremel instead. It's a small electric rotary tool. You know, ladies--like the one your manicurist uses on your acrylic nails! There is a flat round blade that works like a tiny little circular saw and cuts those babies right off. But be warned--there are a lot of sparks involved! 

All that was left was to re-attach the backer to the newly painted frame, and hang it on the wall!

I just love it! It sold so fast at AvaBelle's that Mom and I each made another, so now we have two in our booth! Stop in and check them out sometime if you're in the neighborhood!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

I Know I Said 'See you Friday,' But You'll Have to Talk to the Router

I know that everyone out there in www land was pacing the floor and wringing their hands in anxiety yesterday because I didn't post anything. Nothing to worry about, folks. I'm OK. Our internet router, however, apparently is not. I couldn't get online all day yesterday! *gasp* And I'm only on now because the stupid thing thinks I'm a guest. Ha! (Yes, I am sticking my tongue out at the router right now.)

I managed to keep myself busy all day even without being connected. Mom and I decided to take the leap (really it's more of a baby step) and open a booth in a flea market.

There's an old building here in Aurora that was built as a hotel in the town's early days. It sits directly across the street from the old bank building, and was originally The Bank Hotel. The building now houses                Uncle Doc's Flea Market.

This is what Uncle Doc's looked like in the...30's? 40's?

  Mom and I spent a few hours yesterday arranging some things on the shelves we are renting until Doc has a booth available. Here's how it turned out:

We still have more stuff to put out, but for the time being this will work. Mom had mostly glasswares and I had mostly scrapbooking supplies. Go figure. I admit it--I'm a tool junkie. I always want to try the newest, coolest tools. But there's not a scrapbook store around here that carries a lot of tools. OK, there's not a scrapbook store around here at all. We have Michael's & Hobby Lobby in Springfield (30 miles away), and there is one store that is just scrapbooking stuff, but they are pretty limited to paper & embellishments. I don't want to use embellishments someone else designed. I want to make MY OWN. (Kind of like the whole Mexico book thing....) Does that make me a control freak? Anyway, I buy tools and do just that! Now when I get bored with a tool, I can move it to Doc's and someone else can enjoy it. (I feel like singing the song from Rudolph -- "We're on the Island of Misfit Toys....") Plus whatever I make from selling my unused stuff will buy more new toys! WooHoo! I mean tools. Yeah, tools.) 

I even managed to squeeze some self promotion onto the shelves. I made a flyer with my business card at the top and pics of some of the wedding announcements I've made. I included the blog address at the bottom. 

I've decided that it's time to actively recruit blog followers, so I added the address to the back of my business cards, too. I promised Mom earlier today that one of my upcoming posts will be a step-by-step tutorial on how to become a follower. I know there are millions of you out there who have tried and haven't been able to figure it out, so I'll solve your problem and mine! As soon as I figure it out myself!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you Tuesday--if the router is feeling cooperative. :)