Dress Up Some Skates for Christmas

November passes with a whirlwind.  I think I was out of town every weekend.  Needless to say, not much got accomplished around here.  So tonight I whipped out three projects and I'll post about all of them soon.

My Christmas tree is up but has no ornaments on it.  I'm ready for my house to start looking more Christmasy so I started with a Christmas project.

I found a pair of old ice skates at an antique mall this summer.

I love the red pom pom on the toe!

I decided to use them as a container for a holiday bouquet.  So I picked up some dry floral foam and some Christmas picks at Michael's and set to work.

The floral foam was a cube and wouldn't fit into the skate so I had to cut it down.  

It cut easily with a kitchen knife.  When I was finished trimming it, it looked like this:

I stuffed it down into the neck of the skate and then laced it up.

Next it was just a matter of sticking the floral picks into the foam.  I decided to go with two different themes.

The first was a very metallic, contemporary look.

The second skate was adorned with classic winter greens.

I think I may leave this one on the mantle!

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Savvy Southern Style

Playing Catch-up with a Window

I'm an elementary school principal so I guess it's no surprise that my "free" time has been few and far between lately!  I did have time today to catch up on a few projects that I started months ago.

It felt good to have a creative outlet today.  I've had a few of these windows floating around that my husband found in an alley.  I'm not complaining about free!

Last month I painted the bottom pane with chalkboard paint.  I wasn't sure how well it would stick to the glass so I used a spray primer first.

Then it sat in my garage for a month.  Or more.  So today I pulled it out and finished it.

Several months ago I did this window.  You can see more of it here.  I wanted to do a different quote this time.

So I pulled out my Silhouette and whipped up a design and cut it out of vinyl.  It was inspired from a quote from blogland but I can't for the life of me find it now.  (If it's you, let me know so I can give a proper shout-out).  

This will be heading to the shop soon.

This is certainly the sentiment that I need to remember going into the busy holiday season!

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Whacked Buffet Gets a Make-over....FINALLY

Well I did not die, fall off the edge of the world, or contract the plague.  My day job as just had me swamped, and I've been out of town on the weekends.

But, I did get the wacky buffet re-worked and back into the shop this week!  Thought I'd share that with you today!

I bought this buffet at an auction almost two years ago.  

I took it into the shop, and there it sat.  For two years.  

I even put it on sale for 1/2 price.

No takers.

I couldn't figure out what the problem was!

So I took a hard look.

And then I found it.

Do you see it?

There it is!

The doors are whack!

When they're closed, there's a gap at the bottom.

No gap at the top!  What's up with that?

Well, come to find out, the side of the buffet is warped.

No fixing that!

So I decided to take the doors off and give it a face lift.

I stripped and refinished the top, then gave the base two coats of ASCP Emperor's Silk.  I decided not to paint the drawers and love how that turned out!

The inside got a coat of a brown latex to help it blend with the mahogany top.

I gave it a coat of clear wax and then dark wax, and found the perfect baskets at Michael's.

Now it's back in the shop, just in time to decorate for Christmas!

I gotta be honest.  I'm liking it better!

Now those doors aren't going to waste!

Think I'll paint a sign on them.  

Stay tuned for that... when I come up for air again!

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