Ballard Inspired this time...

I love iron pieces.. When I saw the monogrammed iron over the door piece from Ballard designs, I knew I wanted one.. The price tag? 129.99 for the small and 199.99 for the large.. I don't know about you, but there's no way I'd pay that. Not when I can make my own..

Admittedly, mine doesnt look as good, but it's more personal because I made it and it's in my silver color instead of the bronze/gold. (I intend to try again with a different iron piece next time)

I wanted to put mine outside initially but changed my mind.. As I was looking around my house for a door to put it over, I was having a bit of difficulty. Most of my doorways in my house are arched, with little room left above them.. That's when it hit me that I could add it to my "HOME" and coat rack wall.. I already had that awesome distressed looking HOME sign from Pier1 (I paid 19.99 on clearance but it was worth it) on that wall, and under that I had a wall mounted coat rack that was in the shape of an iron key that I got from Hobby Lobby for $7.50. But I felt like it was missing something..Now, I love it!!!!


Here's Ballards:



And here's Mine:






I started out with just a plain metal piece from Hobby Lobby.. I got mine when they were having half off metalware so it was $7.50.. I got the wood oval at the dollar tree, and the "E" was about $1.50 at Hobby Lobby.. I had the paint and the Epoxy on hand.

First I painted my pieces.. the iron piece was about an espresso color. I basically just dry brushed more black acrylic paint onto it.. The painted my oval piece black.. For my E I wanted it to be a bit different.. I first painted the E with silver acrylic paint, then immediately followed with black, so that my black wasnt a "hard" vibrant black. Then once that dried I dry brushed the silver over the black.. I finished it off with just a few hints of red dry brushed on (they're very faint and dont even show up in the pic). Then I sealed my pieces with spray sealant and then glued my pieces together using epoxy.. Easy as pie!




I'm Linked to:







and

What I want NOW....

Ive seen so many things that I want for my house.. BUT these are at the top of the (non-mirror) list..

I LOVE this sign.. Ive thought of making my own but honestly I really want this one LOL I love it.



These are too cute.. I want some similar or these.. I think I can make some though as long as I find the parts. But these will look great as magnets or as push pins for a bulletin board..


I want to make something similar to this for my bathroom.. At my last place I bought some letters with the word BATH and I think they would be cute in a set-up like this..



I saw this at Ballard and I knew I had to have one. (My friend Kay even wants one now too!) BUT the $130 price tag is a lot too much for me SO I am going to try and make my own. I will post pics once it is done.. Admittedly, I haven't been one for the monogramming trend but I really find this very classy.


For the past few years I haven't been one for artwork in my bedroom. I have mostly been going with mirrors and shelves and knickknacks, but when I saw these I loved them! Mirrors AND artwork.. Again, I can't justify the huge pricetag but I may try to make something similar.



And last, but CERTAINLY not least, are these amazing candlestick holders from Rosanna's Rococo Noir collection.. I have been lusting for these for about a year and a half now. I've almost bought them a few times but about $50 for two candlestick holders was too much for me.. BUT the other day as I was browsing in the clearance section at Hobby Lobby I found some candlesticks with a VERY similar shape/style and of course I had to get them! That project coming soon!!

With all of the projects that I want to do soon, I will either go broke or never leave my house because I wont have time for anything but crafting lol.. But it will be FUNFUNFUN!~

Similar for A LOT less!

Before I started blogging I had never heard of Ballard designs! I know that some of you are probably thinking that I must be mistaken, but it's very true.. BUT after seeing all the things all the bloggers had recreated from there I started frequenting their site and even requested a catalog..

Given my mirror obsession, I immediately feel in love withthis mirror. It would look Ab-Fab over my mantle!! However, given the price and my thrifty ways, there's no way I would ever buy it.. Anyway, days later I was looking on the IKEA site and I found this mirror. Dont they look very similar?? And given the price different (over $100 versus $29.99), I MAY have to go with the Ikea mirror.. I dont know though.. They are both beautiful.. Oh the dilemma..