Making Changes

I've made a few changes in my living room. Although I still need to paint and finish  a couple of  projects I couldn't wait any longer to get rid of my dark drapes and sofa. I purchased  a slipcover and window treatments lamps and other accessory's slowly over the course of a year or more. I had to buy things as the budget allowed. Between budget constraints and my other issues this is taking forevah! I just wanted to share what I've done so far. My sofa went from this

Before

 
To this with the addition of my  new slipcover.

After with slipcover. Remember my painted ottoman?

I hung  my repainted mirrors and frames gallery style on the wall beside the sofa.

This shows the wall with my redone art and mirrors

It all will have to come down to paint but I couldn't resist the urge to play. Here are some more angles of my changes.

You can see my new window treatment went from rust/cinnamon to lighter and brighter

my decoupaged table

my poor scraggly fern

The window treatments and slipcover are from JC Penney. I bought them over a year ago on clearance. I dont think they're are available any more. The Lamps were also bought on clearance from Penney's about two years ago. I made the Pillows  and the gray ruffled  throw is Cynthia Rowley  from Marshals it was 19.99. They had another color that I wanted but they're all sold out darn it. I'll be replacing the area rug and painting the walls Sharky Gray. I also bought new hardware for the window treatments but I wont change it out until after the painting is done.  So far I'm loving the changes. More coming soon.
Joining  Between Naps on the Porch   for Met Monday and Homemaker on a Dime for the Creative Bloggers Party and Hop and  My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Tuesdays Treasures and  My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday also joining Tanya and Jean 
 and On Sutton Place for The Open House Party, Honey at 2805 for Potpourri Friday.
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Four Roosters and A Chicken

Sheila  at Note Songs is having a fun  Heart Of The Home Party to show off your Roos and Chickens. Well I was feeling a little left out so I decided to take a few pics of my small white rooster and one chicken collection. The first white rooster that I bought came from Target on clearance,years ago. He's the biggest and don't tell the others but he's my favorite.

The second rooster that I added to my collection started out in fall colors. I bought him at Michaels a long time ago. I spray painted him Heirloom White.

The next two guys are little fellows and they both came from the thrift store, One has a pretty gold comb. and the other one has used to have a red comb. Its been worn away over the years but you can still see remnants of the red on his little head.

My last one is a chicken Tureen that I also bought at the  thrift store. I thick she's adorable and since I have a thing for roosters/chickens and tureens she satiisfies two of my addictions oh  umm  I mean collections.

Isn't she cute? Here is a group shot of my Roos and one chicken.

And just because they're  so dang cute here is another group picture. Upon further review I realized that the tureen is also a Rooster. Note the comb...what was I thinking? It's a rooster not a hen tee hee sorry Rooster.

Pleas stop by and see  Sheila at Note Songs and see all f the great Roos and Chickens there and Faded Charm for White Wednesday and  My Romantic Home for Show And Tell Friday and Bunny Jeans Decor and More  Bunny Hop

Bumble Bee Tray

While recuperating I decided to do a couple of little projects. Mind you I've had this tray for years just hanging out in my crafts closet. Since I wasn't up to big things I decided to tackle something small. I love trays for some reason. I have a collection of silver plate trays, but I've always liked these wooden ones too. I am smitten with images using bees  and when I saw  a great bee graphic from  The Graphics Fairy I knew I wanted to add it to my tray. I started with a basic tray from the craft store.

I sanded it and gave it a coat of  a  half  gesso and half paint mix, the paint is Sharkey Gray. After that coat dried I added a wash of Magnetite and water and wiped some off to expose the Sharkey Gray, after that I added a 50/50 wash of Glass Of Milk and water and wiped off the desired amount. I transferred the printed image to the tray using Matte Gel Medium. After letting the paint dry for 24 hours cut out your graphic as close to the image as possible, then apply the Matte Gel Medium to the image in a smooth light coat. This part is a little tricky because you don't want too much or too little. After you smear the medium onto the image, I use my finger but you can use a brush if you'd like, press the image printed side down, get it centered and even then burnish the image with the back of a spoon in a circular motion, not hard enough to rip the paper but firmly enough to transfer the image. Lift up a corner and peek to see if the image is transferring. If it has, at this point you can lift the paper off or you can let it dry completely. I chose the latter. If you let it dry you will have to dampen your finger and rub the paper,when you can see the image through the paper start rubbing the paper away in a circular motion, don't rub to hard and do small sections at a time. This part can be a little tedious. After the image was transferred I applied a second coat of the Glass of Milk wash and wiped off the desired amount.  After all was done  I gave it a couple of light coats of wipe on poly in satin. Here is the finished tray.

I guess because the tray was old the wood was a little dry and it cracked close to the front. You can see it in the pics, Thats okay with me it just added to the weathered feeling of the tray. I love happy accidents. If you want you can also sand away some of the transferred image to give it a more time worn look.  I think its a cute little tray and I like the worn an uneven look of the paint.There's more coming so stay tuned. I'm linking up with these great parties:
  
Its So Very Cheri for Party Time  Between Naps On  The Porch  for Met. Monday and  The Graphics Fairy for Brag Monday and  Chocolate Drool And Kisses  for Sharing Monday and  Bunny Jeans Decor and More for Bunny Hop Wednesday and  Funky Junk Interiors  for SNS. Kreative Korner  for Tea Time Thursday and The 36th Avenue for Share Awesomeness Thursday and  The Lettered Cottage  For How To's Day.