Crafty Saturday

I'm loving all of the things I've been crafting up lately!  It's amazing how some nice weather is all the motivation I need.  We've been sticking closer to home than normal too, with Katie's limited mobility, so that's given me the time to mark some things off of my list.

I made another sweet little doll quilt.  This one is for a fundraiser auction.  It's not live yet, but I'll edit the post to include the auction link when it is.  When I reopen The Crazy Kukla Boutique, I will have these sets available.  I think they are so cute!

The back is a fun purple chevron, and it's got a little doll sized flannel pillow as well, with a coordinating pillowcase.

Remember Katie's Ikea doll bed?

We've had it for almost two years, and it was just the unfinished pine, as it came.

Well I finally tried some chalk paint yesterday, and this was one of my pieces I painted.  I love it!  I used one of the sample colors I had for the playhouse exterior to make the paint, and I had enough (with leftover) to paint the doll bed, a table, and a picture frame.  If you've been thinking about trying chalk paint but haven't, DO IT!  It was SO easy.

I got this little cross stitch at a garage sale for 75 cents.  It was framed in this frame, which was a lovely shade of 1995 hunter green.  I just popped the cross stitch fabric out, did two layers of chalk paint, and let it dry.  (It dries super fast.)  Then I went back and sanded it in random places to make it a little distressed.  Finally, after I wiped it down to get off any dirt, etc., I wiped on a layer of finishing wax, then buffed it out.  I know it sounds like a lot of steps - it's so easy.  The steps don't take long, and it's such an easy way to make something look 100 times better.  This frame was hideous, but it's a good frame.  And for 75 cents, I couldn't pass it up for the playhouse.  I love how it looks now!

This is the table I started with.  (And Katie's 1970s tupperware measuring cup in the background. . . that girl loves to measure some stuff, pour it into another container, bang the cups together.  She seriously could be entertained for 30 minutes with some measuring cups.)

This table was - wait for it - TRASH!  Like, literally trash.  We park in a parking garage at my office.  Someone left this table in the garage for probably a week.  I thought it was the cutest thing.  Obviously needed some love, but the table is so cute.  I joked and said I was going to take it home.  Well after it had been there for honestly a week and it was obvious nobody was claiming it, the girls from my office put it next to my car because they knew I would never take it!  That was TWO YEARS AGO and I've let the thing look like this since then.  I've been using it as my nightstand, and my intent was to repaint it and put it in the playhouse, because it's a little, little table.

Excuse me.  That's back next to my bed.  Chris was so irritated when I brought this thing home, because it looked like a piece of garbage.  It's adorable now!  I'm so irritated that I waited two years to paint it.  

The chalk paint method I used was:

Combine 2 1/2 tablespoons of Plaster of Paris with 1 1/2 tablespoons of water.  Mix until it's smooth.  Pour 8 ounces of latex paint into that mixture, and mix really well until it's smooth and fully combined.  You don't want any lumps.  (I suggest using a plastic container for this so you can just throw it away when you're done.)  The paint dries and thickens quickly, so you have to work fairly fast.  Just brush it on like you normally would and let it dry.  If your mixture thickens up and becomes crumbly, etc., just mix in some more water and re-mix it all back to a smooth texture.  Once it's dry, you can distress or go right to waxing.  If you distress, make sure you wipe your piece down thoroughly to get any dust or dirt off, then let it dry again.  To wax it (which seals the piece and also protects the chalk finish from dings, scratches, etc.), I used Minwax finishing paste.  I wiped it on with a clean rag (I used a baby burp cloth - my magic cloth of choice for every.single.thing.)  I let that dry, then just buffed it.  And that's it!  Seriously, so easy.  And I have enough Plaster of Paris and finishing wax to last me about 30 years.  You use such a tiny, tiny amount of each, your cost per project for your supplies is literally pennies.  I'm going to do my ugly coffee table today!