Fudge Truffle Glaze (Drool...)

by Kimberlee

I'd like to straight up thank Stacy from Not Just a Housewife for the inspiration for this idea.  We found our coffee table at Goodwill, and I had been trolling the craft-o-sphere for ages for something to do with it.  When I came across her blog, it cracked me up how her table looked like a less-wide version of my table!  They are certainly from the exact same era.

So here it is:

Some cats come when called, Scrabble knows the sound of the camera turning on

Isn't it hideous?  Not even cool-hideous...just....it didn't even go with anything else.  And you have to tread carefully repainting these because they don't have clean lines, or even classic lines.  I guess it's "classic" in that everyone has, at one time or another, had furniture in their house that looks almost exactly like this.  And they are built so well that they just exist forever - never breaking, like an eternal Stonehenge of Bad Style.

But that's the upside, right?  They are well-made, which is why we bought it (that and the ten dollar price tag).  I was very close to just spray painting it black and calling it a day when I found Stacy's tute, and while her color/style scheme wouldn't work for my interior, I could see what the process would look like at the end, with a piece of furniture like mine.  Godsend!

I used Olympic Brass Mesh for the main coat, and PP Fudge Truffle for the glaze (mmmm....Fudge Truffle Glaze...drool).

First I took the doors off, and spray painted the table several coats of grey.  I've found that with more assertive colors, grey primer definitely produces better & richer results.  On its own, though, it's pretty damned ugly:

Hideous, but still a minor improvement

  So here's after a couple of. coats of Brasss Mesh:

OK, full confession.  At this point, I'm scared.  Like, legitimately thinking I've made a big decorating blunder,  I'm having the worst time ever trying to paint those weird post things, and frankly the color looks wrong wrong wrong.  I'm thinking I'm going to have a fried egg in front of the futon.  But I said a few prayers to the decorator's god (Interiorius?) and pushed forward.

And was happily rewarded!  The color dried into a mellow, golden corn shade.  I hadn't even meant for it to look like another kind of wood, but it actually almost did.  Happy dance!

I have to admit, this was the fun part...

Distressing this was the most fun I've had with furniture in ages.  I used sanding paper for the corners and edges (and those damned legs), and a hammer and chisel for the scratches.  Then I glazed it inside and out with the Fudge Truffle (drool), applying and wiping off with a flannel rag.  So here's some shots of the final results!

I was especially happy with how the door turned out.  The handles were painted gold using some craft paint

My favorite corner!

My yarn basket looks so pretty in there

The whole shebang!

So I'm pretty happy with it, especially given this being the first time I've ever glazed a piece of furniture, although I'm definitely using this method again.

I've got some fun things coming up for you here in the future.  We just started our plants indoor, which will eventually be planted in our first community garden experience.  I also have some of my first knitting stuff to show you which will coincide with another giveaway, and I'll be starting to put together my ren faire dress.  The biggest news is that I'm settling on my items for opening an etsy shop, and hope to open that soon.  And we're almost to 50 followers, a fact that overjoys me!  Take care guys, and if you've made it this far down, please leave a comment.  I lovelove getting your comments, they make my day.

Will pimp Scrabble for comments

Can You Paint with all the Colors of Sherwin?

by Kimberlee

Before my current apartment, I lived with "Renters' White" for 20 years.  TWO decades - almost a QUARTER OF A CENTURY!  So when we were negotiating for a place in the complex we are in,we managed to negotiate one wall per room.  Until I was 17, I lived in a farmhouse, but the only truly bright wall in there was my room from 9 to 15 (it was lavender), but mom was a neutral junkie.

Luckily for both of us, my wonderful husband & I share a taste for bright colors.  Mine is for a bit brighter, so he's excellent for reeling me in a bit, and we're both happy.

The living room paint was used on the back wall, so it's the first thing you see when you walk in the door-

I can't remember the brand, but the color is called Daredevil Red.  I had a small can of it that I had hauled around for a year before we moved somewhere we could use it (and the other gallon we had to get).

A handmade vase with feathers & flowers looks great against the red!

This vase was made by Schaefer Ceramics & Crafts in Freeburg, IL.  They don't seem to have a website, but I do have their email address if anyone is interested.  Their stuff is well made and very reasonably priced for ceramics.

Another piece of theirs:

The Green for the dining room/galley kitchen was more challenging in that you can see it from the living room, so we didn't want anything that looked Christmassey.  We erred on the yellow side of the greens, and while it was close, we ended up covering it with  a slightly darker green to come up with this amazing fresh color:

I have a love of using orange as an accent color -

Many of you probably recognize this fabric from IKEA.  I need to get back  there for more fabric. And  maybe an area rug.





The bathroom color is the only other name I can remember, "Sapphire Lace."  It's such a beautiful, deep ocean color:

The Main Bedroom has been an ongoing process of making it feel more French/exotic.  The paint here, as was the paint in the bathroom, was put on the wall where it could be seen from the hallway.  I wanted a deep violet, one of those evocative colors, and I was thrilled with the results:

The painted wall is sparsely decorated, and we don't have much furniture in the room, but the pieces we have are distinctive...

For the other colors, we've used mirror, silver, soft grey, black and light turquoise.

The only room left that has not been painted is what we call The Relic Room, though we do have the colors narrowed down:

The orange is going to go really well with the antique bedroom set I inherited from my grandparents.  Look for more relics!

Thanks for going on a color tour with me!  I soo appreciated it!  Up soon is my first knitted goods, a contest for when I hit 50 followers, and a coffee table re-do.  I leave you with Scrabble:

Your un-redone coffee table fills me with loathing and disgust

FASHION! Winner

Congrats to oonaballoona 
for winning the vintage patterns! I'll shoot you an email.  You are going to love the mystery patterns!

And thank you, the other 4 of you,for participating,and in some cases for mentioning this contest.  It means a lot to me. :D

  Love,
Kimberlee

FASHION! Turn to the Left! PART 2 + GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sparkly!

If you haven't done so, please read Part 1 of this article!

This one is from 1991, which I could have told you without looking.  There are no dresses, just tops, skirts and a cami.  I love the white and purple outfits, though I would likely update the pants. The notions section calls for shoulder pads in the shirts.  Yeah, I'm never wearing shoulder pads ever again.  EVER.  They'd have to put me in Room 101, and even then I would continue to scream, "There are TWO shoulder pads!"

1977, Simplicity

The blue dress in back is adorable and perfect for summer, as the pattern suggests broadcloth, chambray, challis or pique.  What I find so charming ids that I've seen this dress all over sewing blog tutorials.  It also has internal instructions on how to turn the skirts into pants!  I'm super-excited about putting this in my que.

Aaand, my favorite!

Skirts! Glorious Skirts!

This is just from 2005, and it is amazing.  I swear, I have been LOOKING for this pattern, well not this one, but one with all these sorts of skirts.  I want to make every single skirt here.  The patterns are so universal that you can pretty much use any fabric you want, and Skirt A has both braid and paillette trim!  I can see myself never, ever purchasing a flowy skirt ever again.

And speaking of never again:

"You'll never be startin' something..."

It's not that the pattern calls for triple knit, or that it was lovingly created in my adoptive home city of Minneapolis, in 1986.  It's just that I don't know quite what to make of it.  Them. I suspect I have stumbled across the missing link between matching sweat pants/shirt and velour track suits with "Juicy" printed on the posterior.

The future's so bright.....

The hideousness of the clothing is obvious, as is The Pose of 1986.

And I'll Leave you with the most awesome thing of all times, which is going into my sewing que, sans shoulder pads:

I can't help how much I love this.

AND NOW,  TO THE GIVEAWAY!   It's here for those of you who have been reading (scrolling?) your way through Part 2 and (hopefully) Part one.  This is Magpie Shinies first giveaway!!!!

Remember the lovely skirts pattern?I was lucky enough to get 2 of the same pattern, so I am passing on the luck to you all.  Also included will be two Mystery Patterns from the same stash.  The only hints I will give you is that one is from Butterick, year1972, and the other is New Look, year 1985.

RULES

1. This giveaway is only open to residents of the US and Canada.

2. You don't need to become my Google Friend to enter this contest, as I want only friends who truly enjoy Magpie.  That being said, I would LOVE for you to join if you do enjoy!

Either way, to enter please leave a nice comment about this article (I'm not feeling the "constructive criticism" today) or a funny story about working with an older pattern.

3. This contest is open from now to 11:59 pm (US Central time) March 11.  When the clock strikes midnight, the coach turns back into a pumpkin!

So that's it!  I'll leave you with the reason you all REALLY come here, LOL:

Even Scrabble is impressed by the sheer numbers!

Fashion! Turn to the Left! Fashion! Turn to the Right! PART ONE

A few days ago, I received a great big box in the mail from my friend Jill.  Jill and I were friends in high school, and reconnected through FB.  I'm lucky enough in that she comes through this area regularly, so I get to look forward to seeing her on a semi-often basis.  She was totally fun and cool in HS, and I was not surprised to find out she was still fun and cool, with 2 beautiful kids.

Anyway, quite a while ago, when I decided to get serious about sewing, she had offered to send me some of her mother's old patterns, but I had completely forgotten about it.  You should have been there  to hear the SQUEEEEEE when I opened the box to find dozens of patterns from the 70s, 80s and early 90s.

Did you collect stickers when you were a kid?  Well, I did, and after a particularly good haul from Sandylion or a really diverse bunch from Hallmark, I'd come home and spread them all over the floor and touch them all as if they were rare treasures needing study and classification.  I know for a fact that there's at least one reader that remembers this because she was there.

ANYWAY, you'll love the patterns too, I hope.  What's interesting is that apart from the styling, most of the lines are similar if not the same ass what you see now, and the pieces are really good.  But, really folks, let's face that a LOT of the styling is dead on hilarious, even though I wore tons of it - and can't wait to make some of it again!

Pile....

...more pile.....             

...rest of the pile...

Isn't that amazing?  I have to admit I was over-freaking-whelmed with delight!

Patterns I Think are Beautiful

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the backdrop for the patterns.  This was created by my brother, Kenneth, who is a master quilt-maker.  Isn't it gorgeous?

Beautiful! I love dress C the most, as the back of the dress falls from pleated gatherings. This is only from 1999. so even though it is only 12 years old, it manages to be classic instead of trendy.  I would make this for a special event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magpie Shinies Gets its First Award!

I'd like to thank Magda at magdamada design studio for giving this award to Magpie Shinies:

Its especially nice as I have admired her work for a while now (I met her on the Burda Style website). She makes some of the most beautiful clothing I've seen, so it is very meaningful for me.  Check out her blog and her etsy shop.

So here are the rules for accepting this award!

RULES
1. Thank the person who awarded you and link back to them in your post
2. Tell 7 random facts about yourself
3. Pass the award on to 15 new found bloggers
4. Contact each blogger you want to pass the award on to and let them know you’ve done so, and let the giver of your award know you accept it.

Seven Random Facts About Kimberlee

1. I will only eat waffles if there is peanut butter on them.  I love peanut butter on waffles.
2. I met Carl Sagan when I was 19 years old.
3. I once lived across the street from Mark Twain's house in Hartford, CT.
4. I don't eat chicken because I grew up raising them, and think they are adorable.
5. I love dressing up and going to Renaissance festivals.
6. My lucky number is Eight.
7. I adore hats and scarves, and own more than I need but not as many as I want.

Awesome Blogs!

Positively Splendid
The Creative  Muslimah
Crafterhours
Little Birdie Secrets
Fast Daze
Delicately Fierce
Starry Eyed Charlie
Meridian Road
The Spunky Diva
Girls with Good Taste
Sew Homegrown
Oonaballona
Whipperberry
Mommy of Two Little Monkeys
Little Red Fox

I adore all of these blogs, and I hope you take some time and check out the ones you haven't been to!

A big thanks again to Magda for passing this along to Magpie Shinies, it means a lot, and I've had a great time passing it on.

Kimberlee tested, Scrabble approved

You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch

by Kimberlee

This is sort of embarrassing to blog about, but I've decided to put a temporary moratorium on making clothes for myself.  I have been LOVING learning how to make clothes, but some of my cancer meds (steroids) has caused my weight to go up a couple of dress sizes.  Also, for whatever reason and unlike my last round of treatment, I developed a yen for sugar.  So many of these things are mysterious and vary from patient to patient - last time I lost both my hair and weight, this time I gained weight and kept the hair.  But in any case, I don't want to invest the time, energy and money in creating clothes for this current body when I have a good plan for getting back to my ideal weight.  OK, enough of that!  On to fun stuff.

I found some photos I had taken of my Valentine's decorations, and even though we are far past that, I though you might enjoy seeing what I did:

Lips n Love

I was smitten, and remain smitten with tissue paper carnations!  I don't think that, until recently, I had made them since grade school, but they were as cool as ever.  The original idea for this chandelier came from Kevin and Jessica, and I tweaked it with birds from Martha Stewart. I was super-happy with how it came out.

I usually make fairly fragile V-day crafts, and can't pack them easily, and usually can't bear to part with them, so I have started putting them in the overhead of our entryway closet:

A much better shot of Martha's Birds

Sweetness and Coats

You can see several of my paintings in this (the Unicorn is paint-by-number)

I can't lie, I get a kick out of this every time I open the closet!  It just makes me happy.  I seriously suggest that you try it - I have tiki lanterns and leis in there, as well.  Use any funky or pretty hanging things, garlands, whatever.  Only you will see it, and it will make you happy, too.

I also finished up another pillow.  I picked up this Southwest pattern in Jo-Anns scrap bin and it was crying out for an animal touch, so I made a crow silhouette applique in fake leather and  stitched it on:

 

This was also my first time making my own piping.  It turned out pretty well, the only place I had problems was on the closing after I had stuffed the pillow.  It looks right at home in the Artifact Room (ie the second bedroom - need to do a post on that).

And rounding up the odds and ends...I've been admiring the idea of framing fabric.  I had an old gold frame & matting lying around, but unfortunately it had no glass.  So I decided to use some batting and cardboard, wrap it with fabric and with a few good hits with the reliable staple gun - voila!

I'm super-happy with how it turned out.  The fabric has a burlap-quality to it, and though you can't tell from the photos, it is very textural.  I want to do something more with it, but I can't decide what.  I could hang earrings from it, but I was also thinking of using it like a scrapbook, since it can take thumbtacks.  Well, we'll see.

I have some fun stuff coming up in the next few posts!  I've been making some improvements to the bedroom using some French touches and finished my first knitting project.  And, awesomely, my friend Jill sent me a HUGE BOX of vintage patterns from the 80s, which are clearly cool enough to deserve an entire post of their own, as I am certain you will absolutely want to see a lot of them.  I love them, and it will be fun to start making some clothes from them as my weight loss progresses.  Until then, at least, I can touch and pet them. 

And speaking of pet, I'll leave you with Scrabble!  Talk to you all soon!

I swear, I'm innocent!  I've been framed!!!