That dumpster might have been yucky and smelly, but I am loving the stuff I pulled from it.
I dug out an old, broken magazine rack and almost tossed it back in. But it had a cute shape, so I kept it. When I got home, I gave it a good whack with a hammer and tore it apart.
This section with the bear painted on it is the center of the rack, with the handle on the top.
Wouldn't this be sweet in a little baby girl's room? $20 if you are interested.
I have a thing for ballerina bears. I have painted a t-shirt for Sugarwings with this on it, and did a mural for a friend's daughter of a cute dancing bear in a tutu also.
My matchbox is ready to be mailed for Natasha's Swap. http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/
My partner is Debra of http://www.hophopjingleboo.blogspot.com/ who is a talented artist and a collector of bunnies (she is hosting a bunny swap, you should check it out).
I was fresh out of vintage bunny paper (or maybe I never had any), so I painted some bunnies on my matchbox.
My first step was to paint the entire thing pink, and add some striping. While the paint was wet, I dumped a bunch of glitter to the inside of the newly pink box.
I painted a white rose on one end and a brown bunny to the other end. Then I wrapped the sleeve part of the box in vintage sheet music and wallpaper and painted a bunny on the top.
I drew some gold swirls on the bottom, and glued chenille ribbon and crystals to the sides, so it is pretty from all angles.
I thought it was missing something, so glued 3 little vintage millinery flowers to the top. I bought the flowers from Deb Dusenberry of Curious Sofa http://curioussofa.blogspot.com/.
When she was moving from her old location to her new (and magnificent) store, I worked at her moving sale. How cool to style her shop and get the sale set up!!!! Ooh, I felt schmancy working there. She had bundles and bundles of these posies
marked from $1.50 to $3.00 each so I bought quite a few.
I also bought a pair of these columns from her. I have them in a nook of my studio.
I might have spent more than I earned that weekend working at her shop.
Back to the matchbox- those things are tiny, but you can jam a lot into them!
I found some old bunny shaped buttons, rhinestones, and some small ephemera goodies. To top it off, I put in another teeny bouquet of those posies from Curious Sofa and tied them up with black velvet ribbon.
Last week while Garage Sailing, I found an old jewelry box, for almost nothing and it had quite a bit of old jewelry in it (included in the price).
There just happened to be a bunny brooch inside!Just what I needed for my swap partner who loves bunnies. Fate?!
It is way too big for the matchbox, plus I wanted to add some copies of my little fairy girls too, so I wrapped them all up together in old silk wallpaper and tied it with a silk ribbon I hand dyed.
But the trouble is, now I am SWAPLESS!! I am all caught up and have no swaps to do. Although, I saw an art-doll hat swap that looks really unique...... take a look at it here: http://craftingbycandlelight.blogspot.com/
I was still up and working at 4am last night, so missed Garage Sailing this morning. I thought about just working till 6am, then going out sailing, but realized that I am way way way too old for those old tricks and went to bed for a few hours. I can't go with out sleep like I used to when I was in my 20s and could stay out all night, then work the next morning.
We had company all day (family BBQ) and all I could think about was a nap.
This little nightstand used to be the right half of a desk. I got it cheap-cheap-cheap because it was butchered up a bit in the deconstruction.
Some wood putty, sand paper, primer and paint is all it needed to be a decent little hunk of furniture.
I was going to do more to it, but thought the hardware was so nice, I didn't want to distract from it. Plus, it was about 3am.
Well, it is about midnight now, and if I want to go Garage Sailing tomorrow, I'd better get some rest. I cannot miss it two days in a row!! Its already near the end of June and my shopping days are slipping by. The season is just too short around here!!
Ps- the wierd mask is spoken for now.
ppss- don't forget, only SEVEN DAYS till the drawing for the handpainted charm. leave a comment if you want to enter!
Just a quick comment for another chance to win the charm! :)
I am getting up early for an auction tomorrow -- yippee!!
Posted by: becca | June 23, 2007 at 01:26 AM
I'm impressed that you can stay up till 3am LOL! Once that midnight bell rings I'm out. That little nightstand looks really pretty and I like the original hardware on it. It really makes the piece.
Manuela
Posted by: the feathered nest | June 23, 2007 at 10:45 AM
Now where was I...I love the bunny one one end of the matchbox and the roses on the other...really cute. I KNOW that was funny working at Curious Sofa! I'd have come home with a load too and gone broke doing it! Those columns are wonderful...
I was thinking of having a 'cone' swap.
Posted by: shabbyinthecity | June 23, 2007 at 01:19 PM
Karla, that column is wondeful. Did you paint it !!! Clarice
Posted by: clarice | June 23, 2007 at 07:39 PM
Karla, have I told you how much I loooove your long posts with all the photos.
Oh my gosh, I love those columns and the finish on your wall. In my dreams that is what my walls would look like!
I truly admire someone who can transform junk into a thing of beauty.
~elaine~
Posted by: Elaine | June 24, 2007 at 12:58 AM
WOW!!! Amazing! I love all the things you paint and the decorating :)
I posted the fairie door on my blog today, you had wanted to see it :)
http://wwww.fariebees.com
Posted by: Crystal | June 24, 2007 at 08:48 AM
http://www.fariebees.blogspot.com
sorry -here is the right link
Posted by: Crystal | June 24, 2007 at 08:49 AM
Wow, pretty column & chandy in your studio! No wonder you can be so creative in the middle of the night!
Stephanie
Angelic Accents
Posted by: Stephanie | July 03, 2007 at 02:59 PM