EverBlooming

Butterflies

2012-02-15T09:00:00.000-06:00

I have these 2 sets of butterflies up in my booth at Nellie & nicos right now.

I purchased these at two differant garage sales last summer. It is kind of funny to find the same thing in two different places. : )

They were white plastic and you could see trough them. They reminded me of something my grandma used to have.

I cleaned them and spray painted them. Then I added pattern paper to the backside of them.

they would be soooo cute in a little girls room. the largest is about 7 or 8 inches wide.

swing by and check them out.

EverBlooming1's photostream

2012-02-14T11:19:00.001-06:00

EverBlooming1's photostream on Flickr.

Happy Valentines Day

2012-02-14T09:05:00.000-06:00

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day. We started the day off with apple turnovers, yummy! Logan (my son) has a Valentines party at school this afternoon.

Yesterday I got a knock at the door. My Valentines gift from my sweetie, was a day early...I got Chocolate covered strawberries and cherries from Sheri's Berries so yummy and what a surprise!

This Jar was created from a Starbucks Coffee jar. The products used were all Stampin' Up! products. I love making these jars for family and friends. I have plenty of empties sitting around seeing as how I drink at least one a day. Drinking one right now....We all have to have our vices.

I hope the rest of my day turns out like my morning has. Being room mom, I have to go supervise Logan's party. Hopefully we can squeeze in dinner out before basketball practice.

I hope your Valentines Day is full of hugs and kisses. Thank you for letting me share a little of my life with you. Have a wonderful day.

Wall Decor

2012-02-13T09:00:00.001-06:00

Another garage sale find. These wall decorations where in perfect shape and not too bad looking when I purchased them, but i wanted a little different look.

So I painted them with some house paint and then sanded them. I wanted more depth, so i went over them with some tinted glaze and then piped the excess of with a paper towel leaving the pooling in the crevices. when they where dry I polyurethanes them. My Idea was to hang them outside.

If you'd like a closer look or would like to purchase them, they are up at my booth at Nellie & Nicos.

Cars, Funds, & Boxes

2012-02-10T09:00:00.001-06:00

When my son was first born we received a bunch of raw wooden toy cars from a friend. He had made them by hand out of scrap wood. Logan never really played with them, but they looked cute in a basket in his room. My son is 10 now and only into sports and video games...emphasis on video games.

So I decided to paint the cars. And then I decide to stamp on the cars. And then I decided to add embellishments. And then I decided they were too cute for kids to play with, so what was I going to do with them? Then a friend saw them and said to put them on top of boxes. So this is where it has gone from there...

A red Ford truck like the one my husband had when we got married...

A yellow Bubble Bee race car like the one my son used to play with...

A London Taxi like my friend Janet rode in....

A tow truck the colors of the local body shop....

A golf cart like the one my dad rides in...

I've totally fallen in love with these boxes. They would be great Valentines or Easter gifts. You could put candy in them and then afterwords they could use them to stash money in.

You can purchase these boxes in my booth @ Nellie & Nicos.

My Girl Doll Rocker

2012-02-09T09:00:00.001-06:00

When I saw this rocker at a church garage sale this summer I fell in love.

It was actually a planter. where the cushion is is where a pot is supposed to be. It was dark brown and in two pieces, but I new what it could be, so I new I had to have it.

First I painted it, sanded, glazed and polyuethaned it. Then I added the words "My Girl" and a chipboard flower. Then I made a rag flower and added it to the top of the chipboard flower.

I added material and padding to the center of the rocker to make a cushion for the doll. then i created a ruffle out of the same material and added ribbons and bows.

This chair is a perfect size for an American Girl Doll.

You can see it up close at my booth @ Nellie & Nicos.

Vitage Qult Pillow

2012-02-08T09:00:00.001-06:00

I purchased this pillow at a garage sale this summer. The woman told me her grandmother had made the quilt and it was falling appart so they had made pillows out of it in the 80's. The pillow was starting to fall apart now.

The pillow had a 4" muslin ruffle and a lace ruffle too. I cut the lace away and cut the muslin ruffle in half. Then I added the pink ribbon to the outer edge of the pillow.

There was a hole started in the center of the pillow with part of a doily covering it up. I removed the doily and added this large heart to cover the hole. I bought this fabric at a garage sale the same day I think.

I added this doily given to me from my mother-in-law and a flower I made from vintage ruffle I purchased at another yard sale. There was another hole starting on the side of the pillow, so I added the piece of doily i had removed earlier and used floss to sew it on and made it secure.

Doesn't it look great in my Adirondack chair on my porch? To bad I have to put it in my booth. It is @ Nellie & Nicos if you'd like to see it.

Floral Chandelier

2012-02-07T09:00:00.003-06:00

I have fallen in love with this chandelier.

This thing was sooooooo ugly when I bought it at Restore. Straight out of the 70's. Dark brown wood, dark bronze metal, with yellowish lacy looking glass fixtures.

But all I could see is how the metal looked like flowers.

I spray painted the whole thing with primmer and then sprayed all but the flowers green. then i sprayed the flowers pink. It sat like this for a while.

Then I decided I wanted to give it a little bling and make the flowers look a little more alive, so I i used a little white pearl-ized glaze and tinted glaze on them.

I added a cream band to the base of the chandelier. Sanded it, used tinted glaze and polyurethane it.

I could totally see this hanging in my bathroom, but it would look great in a little girls room or on the porch. You can see this chandelier up close at my booth at Nellie & Nicos

Backgammon Game

2012-02-06T13:19:00.001-06:00

I have been busy working on stuff for the booth. I finally got some decent photos.

This is a Backgammon game/tray I created from a cabinet door I got at a church garage sale.

The edge was already painted red, but i sanded it and added a tinted glaze to calm the color down.

I Put a green wash over the center of the door. Let it set for a while and then whipped off the access. I painted the chevrons in black and turquoise and used stamps to create a pattern down the center.

I made game pieces using wooden toy wheels. Painted, sanded, aged them with tinted glaze and polyurethane them, so they are durable.

The tray could be used as a game or a tray. It would be great on a coffee table in a game room or used in a bar with glass canisters on it.

The Backgammon game/tray is at my booth @ Nellie & Nicos. I hope you can come in soon and see it.

February 8 Auction

2012-02-06T12:52:00.000-06:00

I had a piece commissioned for an up coming auction. This checkers table will be in the live auction being held by ADK Alpha Alpha Chapter and all proceeds go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The Auction is being held Feb 8 from 5 to 7pm @ Merriam Park Elementary, Merriam, KS, .

I bought this table at a yard sale last summer.It had a dark brown finish and was pretty beat up. I kind of always invisioned it as a game table. When I saw it, I thought the squares on the sides would be great dice and the rectangles on the legs looked like dominoes.

I used wooden toy wheels to make the checkers and strung them with a piece of leather from holes drilled in the bib. You can easily undo to the knot to get the checkers off and they will never get lost.

I used foam stamps to spell out CHECKERS on the top of the table.

I painted the checkers board black and then, using Modge Podge, I adhered pattern paper to create the squares.

I hope you can make it to the auction.

Cribbage Board

2011-12-09T09:00:00.001-06:00

I came across these cribbage tables on Etsy created by David Pearson. I thought they were great.

My husbands family LOVE playing cribbage. If you don't know, It is a card game. the boards are usually a lot smaller that this. this is the first time I had ever seen a table made into a cribbage board.

A couple of weeks after I saw David's creations, I ran across this cribbage board at a thrift store. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was stained dark brown and didn't have any markings on it. I'm not sure why the bench is shaped the way it is, the sides are wavy. I knew I had to have it.

I had a great time making my version of the cribbage board. wooden games are pretty fun to do. I have now made a checker board table, a cribbage table and a checker board tray, that I need to take pictures of, and I have been commissioned to do another smaller checker board table.

Maybe this will become my "thing".

Thrift Store Makeovers

2011-12-08T09:00:00.005-06:00

One of my most favorite things to do is take something ugly and make it beautiful. I used to do this at the Scrapbook store I taught at all the time. They would have some godawful pattern papers that would not sell and they would want me to use it in my classes. I found it a challenge to make it desirable. When I started selling Handcrafted goods at the antique booth, I started going to thrift stores and finding well loved furniture and home decor that I thought looked like a great challenge. some people find it very difficult to look past the exterior and see what something "could" be. This House bulletin board cost me a dollar. It was pretty hideous and my girlfriend that was with me when I bought it said " you have to be joking, put that back". but I didn't ....

This thing was dark brown. It had died flowers where the fence is.There is some "1970" cork board in the center that I covered with material and it had the original pad of paper on it.

With a little paint, pattern paper, material, some metal and chipboard pieces, I think I made this look pretty cute. It would be great for a little girls room.

It sold the day after I took it to the shop... I guess some one agreed with me. : )

I bought this stool at a garage sale. My first favorite place to find lovely finds. the seat had a sailing seen painted on it. I Spray painted it and added some pattern paper .

Chairs a pretty easy find whether it be a garage sale or a thrift store. Dressing them up with a little paint makes all the deference.

I found this clock at a garage sale. I painted it black and added some newsprint paper. I put a battery in it to show what it works. This is the first piece my husband wanted to keep. Oops...it sold the day after I took it to the shop.

This frame was black and white.I spray painted it blue and aged it with some tinted glaze.

Once again, I am sorry these photos aren't very good. If you live in the KC area you can see them up close and personal @ Nellie & Nicos antique Boutique.

Hope you like what I have done -

Custom Jobs

2011-12-07T09:00:00.001-06:00

I am not sure if you knew this, but I do custom work for some of my customers. My friend Carolyn brought me this table and 2 bar stools and asked that I make her a Checker board table out of it.

I remembered to take a before picture, but not until I had already sanded it. It was a beautiful (wink, wink) hunter green and fruit painted table. The stools where hunter green too.

There were several places that needed wood fill and we re-nailed the legs so they were tight. It was a very interesting kind of wood composite. I started by painting the stools and table black. Carolyn wanted the cross bars to be a contrasting color, so I painted them a camel tan color. I also painted the bib that color too.

I painted a square in the center of the table with the tan and drew the checkerboard on top. I used painters tape to mask the squares I didn't want red.

The table turned out really good. I made checker board pieces out of toy wood wheels that I painted red and black. They have a hole in them so we strung them with a leather strip and drilled two holes in the front of the table to hang them on.

Carolyn was so happy she wanted me to do a side table for their living room too.

This table was my grandparents. When Logan was a baby we had painted it blue to go in his nursery next to the rocking chair. Carolyn wanted it black and I painted the bass to match the checker board table. I had to strip all the hardware too. I had painted them grey, yuck!

After painting the table black I sanded it heavily so that you could see the blue peeking trough.

These pictures do not do these tables justice. Maybe some day I will get good photos and show you again.

New @ the Booth

2011-12-06T14:24:00.000-06:00

So I have not posted since I started this Blog. ...

Well I keep thinking I will get better photos of my work, but that is not happening. So maybe it is just better to start posting things and sooner or later I will actually get better photos.

Here is what i have been up to. The Booth @ Nellie & Nicos is really keeping me busy. This past weekend was their Holiday Open House.

I found this table at a thrift store tightened some screws, painted it and added some brass house numbers to the sides. I almost kept it for myself. It looked great as a small coffee table in front of our couch or i thought of using it as a bench. If it doesn't sell soon it might make it's way back home. : )

I saw this paint finish in one of my new favorite stores in KC...Urban Mining. I immediately fell in love with it and went on hunt for the perfect piece to try it on.

When I got the table it didn't seem to have a poly finish on it. It was just stained. so I sanded it smooth, but you could still see the stain. I then watered down some Japanese Fern from Behr and washed it on. i let it sit a while, I wanted the paint to seep in to the grain. Then I took a paper tool and wiped off the access.

I then draw the diamonds on the top and used painters tape so the edges would be nice and crisp. Then I painted the diamonds black, let them dry and sanded the whole top a bit.

I didn't use any primer on the bottom either. I wanted to be able to see the wood grain on the bottom too.

The red is a great contrast to the brass numbers.

I will share with you tomorrow some more stuff I have been working on.

Starting Over

2011-09-06T17:54:00.000-05:00

I am in love with arts and crafts. I come from a long line of very crafty women…they cooked, they sewed, they quilted, crochet, did ceramics, and made most everything. My fondest memories are of watching the women in my family create beautiful things. It was incredible to watching the joy it brought to them and others. Since I was a little girl all I have ever wanted to do is recreate these feelings and emotions through arts and crafts. As a young woman I attended Kansas State University and received a degree in Fine Arts with a concentration in Painting and a minor in Drawing. I quickly realized this was not going to pay the bills. I eventually became a retail manager at a major department store. After getting married and having a child, I was once again drawn back to the fawn memories of my own childhood and I set forth to find my place in the arts & crafts work again.

“EverBlooming” is the name of my business. I have been working under this name for a few years now. I am a freelance designer. I sell handcrafted items I have created, furniture I have painted and home decor I have re-purposed. These Items can be purchased at my Etsy shop and at Nellie& Nico’s Antique Boutique.

On this blog I hope to share with you some of the works I have created. I hope to inspire you to make creations of your own and to embrace your surroundings. (With a little paint everything can be transformed) And I hope you will share with me what you have created.

Over the last two years I have come to realize I am not a writer, I really don’t like reading or writing, and I can’t spell. I don’t think anyone out there wants to know what I ate for breakfast or what I am wearing to the big party this weekend. I would rather be doing then writing about. (This is not to “put down” those who write and do, they are just better than me) I also have realized that technology is very stressful and that I have let what others do dictate how I should do things. I have been debating whether or not I should have a blog at all, but I decided “I do love” to share what I have made and I “LOVE” to see what others have made. So I am starting over, I am taking back my life, making it simpler, happier, more enjoyable and really putting my efforts where they will make my family most happy. So I will not be posting every day, maybe not even weekly, but I will be posting. I have come to realize I write in spurts …a kind of regurgitation you could say. So if you can hang in there between posts, I would love for us to be friends.