Happy Holidays from Pam at Eclectic Thrifty Chic!~

I hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday season.. Try to enjoy all the time you can with your family and friends.. Oh, and don't forget to go out and search for those after-holiday bargains!!!!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!~

My Thrifty ~Find~ for December...

Sunday afternoon my friends were coming up from Cartersville to help do a few things around my new house... It was their first trip there so I was basically killing some time in town waiting for them to get there.. The new house, having no furniture yet, was NOT a good place to hang around.. And the porch is wonderful and has places to sit,but not in the rain... So Kayla and I went to the Antique mall over on Red Bud rd here in Calhoun to look around a bit and found my thrifty deal for the month! (also found out some interesting info, but I will pass that along later)..

We were walking through the booths and not a lot was catching my eye when all of a sudden a fleur de lis popped out at me from behind a mountain of other things.. (I have fleur de lis radar, for those of you who dont know lol).. I dug through the stuff to find this awesome. if slightly rusting, iron fireplace surround buried behind a mountain of junk... It wasn't huge but the fireplaces in my place arent huge either.. It has GREAT details (and a fleur de lis) and when I looked at the price I fell in love! It was only $12~~~!

Since I was moving, I did go back and forth about it a bit.. Only $12 but still, I'm moving.. But only $12.. And awesome.. and would probably fit great! So with a bit of nudging from kayla, and a promise that I could return it if it didnt fit, I got it and took it to my new home.. And guess what.. It's a PERFECT fit.. to the very INCH! It was just meant to be :) And with a little love from me, it's going to be fabulous!! So without further adieu, here's my lovely fireplace surround!!

My Thrifty Fabulous **Find** for November..

Last month I was going Thrifting and antiquing in Cartersville, Kennesaw, and Marietta with high hopes for a new mirror. I have a mirror obsession. It may be a sickness really, but I digress.. Knowing that I was going in search of bargains, my sweet, lovely mother gave me $40 to spend on myself! She does this quite a bit. She's just like me and loves buying things for people and giving them things.. So I take my money and head off on my adventure..

When I pull up to the parking lot at the Classy Flea on Roswell Rd in Marietta I immediately notice this HUGE black mirror outside on the sidewalk where they usually have the bargains.. Still, I can't imagine that I can afford that mirror. Mirrors THAT size usually cost more than I can spare.. When I got up to the mirror I noticed the beautiful elaborate details on the corners (which is something I adore) and then I notice the price.. $50.. what? $50? I looked at it for a while to make sure my eyes weren't betraying me.. It even said "large black mirror $50".. Still... I kept staring... THEN I started looking the mirror over for the problem.. I couldnt find one.. It even had a beveled mirror! I went inside and up to the counter, sure that when I told them what I wanted they would say it was a mistake.. But nope.. it was right.. They even loaded it into my car!!!!! I was hoping that it fit because I didnt want them to have time to realize they might have made a mistake or something.. lol... So here it is in all its glory.. My $50 fabulous mirror..

Moving....

Well after this weekend I will be moving for the next week or so.. That means a halt on any projects. Plus Christmas decorating is probably completely out of the question.. But I will be in the house that I want and love and everything will be better (see my personal blog for details).. Be back soon!~

1 Year Magazine Subscriptions for $5!

Just wanted to pass along that this week amazon.com has Country Living, Cosmo, Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Bazaar, Veranda, and House Beautiful magazine subscriptions this week (1 year) for $5!!!!!

Painting Thrift Store Frames...

A friend and I were at Goodwill in Marietta GA and found some cute little frames with fancy detailing that were really inexpensive (I think I got them for $1 each), but really bad in color.. The round rose frame was white but it was really dingy looking, and the 3 1/2 x 5 was an ugly flesh color with black detailing.. But the detailing was just sort of sporatic, kind of half done...Anyway, I took these home and redid them in my standard bedroom colors of burgundy and black..

Needed for this project (both frames): Black spray paint, burgundy acrylic paint, black acrylic paint, paint brushes.

The white rose frame was a resin material so I basically just removed the glass and painted over it with burgundy acrylic paint. I did two coats to make sure I got the kind of dark burgundy that I like (since it was going over white), then I let it dry.





After it was dry I took a stiff paint brush and black paint and did the same dry brushing technique that I used on the 4x4 frame a couple of blogs prior to this except this time I left a bit more paint on my brush to get a nice firm black color on the roses. I love how it turned out...




The ornate corner 3 1/2 x 5 frame was a bit different. The type of material the frame was made of was a bit... rubbery? for lack of a better word, and not very porous, so I used black matte spray paint on it after removing the glass..This took almost no time and it only had to have one coat to get great coverage.





After I let it dry, I took it inside and got out my burgundy acrylic paint again. I got another stiff brush and, again, used the dry brushing technique to paint the inside detailed edging and the ornate corners of the frame.




After I was done with both I took them both outside and gave them a light dusting of gloss sealant to give them an extra bit of pick-me-up.

Total cost to re-do both frames (since I already had the paint) was just $2 for the frames themselves.

Vanity chair re-do...

When I purchased my antique vanity it didn't have a stool or a chair with it so I immediately went looking for one. It gave me a reason to do more shopping hehe.. Anyway, I found this cute little chair at a Thrift and antique mall for $10 but it needed a little TLC..


It was shaky, the seat needed to be covered, and the paint on the caning on the back was a little discolored. Other than that it was nice AND the same color as my vanity.. score.. So I got it and took it home.. It didn't take a lot of effort to make that chair look great again...






Needed for this project: Chair, heavy duty stapler, enough fabric to cover the chair seat, black acrylic paint, craft paint brush, and polyurethane paint sealer, handheld drill, flat head screwdriver.

The first thing I did was take the seat off the chair. I had to use my drill to get some of the screws out because they were rusted in.. After that I went through and tighened all the screws up on the chair so it wouldnt be so shaky, making sure that I didn't tighten them so tight that it busted the wood.







Then I took my seat and removed the seat cover. It was a vinyl type material so I didnt want to cover over it. I wanted the chair to be more comfortable. I used my flat head screwdriver to remove the staples that didnt want to pull off easily.

Once the cover was off I used it as a template for my new fabric.. I cut the new fabric to size and set it aside. (NOTE: I did not use upholstery fabric for this. I used a lighter weight cotton fabric that was very inexpensive. And because I used just about 1/4 yard it only cost me less than $2 to cover the seat of this chair)

I checked my seat to see if the cushioning was still thick enough. The batting inside the chair was still nice and fluffed so I did not add any extra. I lined my fabric up on the chair's bottom and wrapped the ends under, kind of like wrapping a gift, making sure everything stayed smooth on the top of the seat and in the corners, then stapled it in place as I went.

Once my chair bottom was covered I used my drill to screw it back into place, again being careful not to get it so tight as to break the wood. Once the chair's bottom was in, and after all the tightening, the chair was nice and sturdy..






Next I took my black paint and my small craft paint brush and painted the caned area of the chair that was discolored, making sure to be very careful not to touch the sides of the chair that were not being painted. I did not sand this because of the type of material it was. It was more porous and did not need to be sanded to hold the paint. After I let the paint dry, I then painted on a light coat of sealant..
Once it was dry then my chair was all ready for use with my vanity.




Total cost, including chair, around $13.50..

Re-paint of a resin picture frame...

I had been looking for a 4x4 frame for a picture of my mother and me but had no luck finding one. One day I ran across one at Hobby Lobby for half off, but it was the wrong colors. It was a rust color trimmed in gold. Since I like to paint I figured that I could make it fit into my burgundy and black color scheme pretty easily.

Needed for this project: Burgundy acrylic paint, black acrylic paint, sandpaper, and paint brushes, spray sealant (I used matte) .

I removed the glass and lightly sanded the paint on the frame..Then I painted the entire thing burgundy and let it dry completely..






I took my black paint and a shading brush and used a dry brush technique to get the black onto the raised detailed edges.







Once the paint was dry, I took the frame outside ( or you can take it to a well ventilated area) and sprayed it all over with spray sealant. I then let this dry. After that all I had to do was cut my picture down to size, re-add the glass and my picture, and I was all done.



Here's the frame after I added a pic of me and mi madre!! (Note to self: Learn to take better pics)



HOW TO:
To dry brush, get a dab of paint on your stiff brush then brush most of the paint off onto a piece of paper or similar until you have just enough to acheive your desired effect... Too Much paint on the brush can have a negative effect so it's better to start out with less paint.. you can always add a bit more.

Note: Dry brush all the detailing until you have the look that you want then let it dry. It won't take as long to dry from the dry brushing as it did from the painting.

Wow! My first blog...

Well I decided that since I am always doing crafty things that I would create a blog and show them.. Maybe some other people can get some use out of what I have done or have to say. I hope so! My first few blogs will be from older projects and will likely not have all the proper things that a blog should (like befores and afters or something like that), but I hope you enjoy them anyway. Check later for updates.