April 29, 2013 by shabbygalsnest

Junk Jubilee

This weekend was Junk Jubilee here in Des Moines Iowa. I slaved for two weeks prior getting ready. I had promised myself I would prepare for this months ahead of time of course that didn’t happen. My booth at the antique store seemed to keep me super busy. So I managed to get it all ready in two weeks. That included a few really late nights like til two in the morning! Hubby came down a couple of nights wondering if I would ever come to bed. I guess it is the creative mind thing after talking to a couple other creative minded people they said the same thing your mind just races and you go with it no matter the hour or day.
I went in with another gal who calls herself Industrial Lace. If you haven’t checked her out on FB you should! she make the cutest jewelry! She als does some great painted pieces too, Our stuff seemed to blend together really well!
We were amazed at how many people were telling us how pretty and inviting our booth was even a couple of guys told us that too!
It was an awesome experience meeting other like-minded people and seeing what they thought up,Of course the urge to shop was hard to fight! I bought a few things I just knew I couldn’t live without!

So here are the pics of our booth. As you can see we went very romantic and sweet!

I love these angel wings I made I will probably start selling them online.

March 20, 2013 by shabbygalsnest

Talking to Furniture

It could be from the paint fumes that I find my self talking to furniture. I always like to get a feel for the piece I’m working on was it loved or was it abused,what kind of stories it could tell. When I get a piece of furniture I usually can tell right away what I want to do to it. Not always though! I will think I know what I want to do and as I start cleaning and priming something will happen it is almost as if the piece takes on a life of its own. Telling me I should be painted this color and I want to be glazed. I know you are probably thinking she really has lost it! I can’t explain it I just know that sometimes I have plans for a piece then suddenly it is going a totally unexpected way. That is the case of this hutch I got.
I may have paid a bit more for it then I usually would but I had to have it! I loved every detail of this french provincial beauty!

So I drug hubby out after working a 12 hour day to drive 45 minutes to pick it up. What a guy never complained as we loaded and unloaded it late in the night! The next day I awoke all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed I had it all planned out I was going to paint it first with black than go over it with a creamy color than shabby it to show some of the black then glaze the whole thing. As I started doing this it didn’t feel right. I changed the direction I painted it a soft green by ASCP called Versailles. Then I mixed a cream color with some glaze and lightly white washed it then glazed it with tea stain over it.It is a beautiful piece now not bold just soft and elegant.

Some of the soft green showing through sigh….

I even left the original hardware!

Ladies you can tell me does furniture talk to you?
Traci

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Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage

Katherines Corner Thursdays Favorite Things

I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. Everything seems like so much more then it should. The house,chores,work,and life in general. My business is really growing in leaps and bounds. I feel so blessed that I get to do what I love. I didn’t always get to. For a few years I was just a mom which I loved getting to be there when my boys were young. Then I needed something more so I went to beauty school. I did that for almost 16 years I liked doing hair but I always felt like I needed something more.I went through some major life changes all around the time I turned 40. Some may say a midlife thing… Maybe it was. I just felt restless with everything my marriage ,myself,and my career. So I picked up and changed everything and tried to not look back. I was scared to death not sure I was doing the right thing. Now 4 years later I couldn’t be happier. I am married to a quiet,sweet man who is amazingly supportive of me and my business. I get to meet some wonderful people that are so kind and supportive of my work it sometimes blows me away at their sweet compliments.

Even though I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with it all I know it will pass. Everyone has these moments right? I think just about the time I’m not sure I can handle it all and wonder is this really worth it? Someone says just the thing I need to hear or a small gesture reassures me it will all be fine.

Besides life is short and I shouldn’t get stressed if my house isn’t perfectly clean or a load of laundry stays in the dryer overnight,I don’t fix a gourmet meal every night and if I take a day to just relax and rejuvenate I can’t feel guilty!

Thanks for listening

February 11, 2013 by shabbygalsnest

Using glaze

I have recently gotten into using glaze on furniture. I love it! I used Ralph Lauren tea stain glaze on my most recent piece. I recently got a table and chairs at an auction. I forgot to snap a before pic I know I need to get better about that! I just get so excited to get painting that usually I’m midway through before I realize #%*? I forgot the before pic! Ok, so I painted the top a soft khaki green color and the bottom and legs a soft white. It looked ok but I wanted to add something more to it! So I glazed the whole thing. Now a lot of tutorials tell you to put glaze on and then wipe it off. I don’t do that! I use a large brush made for glaze. I wet the brush and then wipe it off so not to wet then I carefully apply the glaze and lightly go over it til it makes the brush marks kinda fade away. It takes some practice but you will get the hang of it. Sometimes I do take a damp rag and lightly and I do mean lightly wipe if the glaze looks to prominent in a spot. Don’t worry if you wipe too much off just lightly brush the spot again. You have a bit of playtime til glaze dries.

Here is a close up of table top.

You can kinda see the brushstrokes but not to bold.

I shabbied it just on the legs and the chairs.

Covered the chairs with some fabric I got at Hobby Lobby.

I put it on Facebook and it sold in two hours! Love when that happens~! The lady that bought it sent me a pic of it in her home and she had some amazing chairs to put on the ends!

I think it looks great! Traci

January 29, 2013 by shabbygalsnest

Aqua love

I have finally completed the bedroom set I told you in the previous post I received from my DIL who had tried to paint it black. I had to do a lot of sanding but luckily she had only got as far as the headboard.

This is a half an hour worth of sanding.

I decided to go with an aqua color for this set. I stripped down the tops of the dressers and rubbed them down with hemp oil and then polyed over them. I went pretty shabby on them and glazed over them. I absolutely love the way they turned out! I’m going to have these featured next month at the antique mall I sell out of.

The headboard I painted a nest on it and wrote nest in white lettering. The footboard I painted a branch on it.