Italian Flower Chandelier

One of my clients gave me this chandelier to revamp. There had been several welding spots on it leaving black color in different areas.

The flowers were rusty and it just lacked luster. I have to be honest, I was a little apprehensive about doing it. Some people like things all rusty and chippy. What if I ruined it?

Don't we all say that every now and then? Well how will we ever know till we do it!

This is how it looked with the welded areas.

 

 See how the paint is oxidized

The flower just looks tired. So after wrapping it and taping off all the flowers and leaves I began to paint the base in a flat white.

I hand painted each flower with a small paintbrush

This is the look underneath

The flowers are painted in a gloss and I left the centers to not mess with the integrity of the piece.

So much better! Looks fresh and new. A perfect spring project!

Before

 After

It just comes alive! Another surprise paint job! Wish I had a picture of it all hung and lit!

So tackle that project that has you scared! You will be glad you did!!

Happy Easter!

Comments and Blogs

It has come to my attention that there has been problems out there with comments on blogs. Some people in Wordpress are having problems commenting on Blogger. The say if you put in the URL of the blog it works but most don't know about it.

I have tried to leave comments on several blogs that say they are unable to post the comment and to try back later. When I go back it still is doing this.

Others claim that Pinterest has caused a decline in comments. Have you had any of these problems?

It is a bummer when we don't receive comments on our blogs! Let's face it, sometimes it is what fuels our creativity! Hopefully this is a problem that can be fixed by Blogger or whatever is causing the decline.

I appreciate each of you being here! Please know I am reading your blogs even if you don't see a comment from me!!

Let me know if you have seen this or heard other people talking about it!
That is if you can leave a comment!!!!! I would love to hear from you!
Have a wonderful Ester weekend! Enjoy your families!

Paper Dress Form

Sometimes I just like to sit and create different things without really thinking about it.

I played around with paper and created this cool dress form. It is like a little favor for a table, but I think it can be made at any size.

I just had to share it!!!

I used scrapbook paper to have a heavier weight paper for sturdiness.

This can be made as a gift box also. This is my first one. I think embelishing it a little with beads or lace would be a nice touch.

I think this could be fun for Mother's Day, a Bridal Shower or even a Birthday Party!

This is the back

This is underneath

See the cone....you can fill it with something nice and add a bottom to it or place it on top of something like a vase or bottle.

It was just something fun to make!

Hope this stirs your creative juices!!

Happy Spring!

Scrumptious Lemon Cake

There is just something about lemons and springtime. The bright yellow and tart taste scream spring and summer. I wanted to share with you one of my favorite Lemon Cake recipes. This recipe is from the Barefoot Contessa.

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees and grease and flour two loaf pans. Cream Butter and 2 cups sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time and the lemon zest.

All the fresh lemon is what makes this scrumptious!!

Stir the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in bowl. In another bowl combine 1/4 c lemon juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixture alternately to the batter.

Divide the batter evenly between the pans and smooth top. Bake for 45 min to an hour. Do not overcook!!

Combing 1/2 c granulated sugar with 1/2 c lemon juice in a saucepan and cook over low heat until sugar dissolves.

When cakes are done allow to cool 10 min. Remove from pans and set them on a rack over a tray and spoon lemon syrup over them. Allow to cool.

For glaze, combine the confectioners sugar and the lemon juice in a bowl til smooth. Pour over cakes and let drizzle down sides.

I love this because it makes two loaves. Great to keep one and give one away! You can also freeze for a treat later on!

I hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you bake this and I will give you a shout out!!

Ingredients
1/2 pound unsalted butter
2 1/2 c sugar
4 extra large eggs at room temp
1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6-8 lemons)
3c flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
 1 t salt
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided
3/4 c buttermilk
1 t pure vanilla

For Glaze
2 c confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 1/2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

ENJOY!

Great for Easter!

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Brown Paper Roses

I want to continue with my post on How to Make Paper Flowers. I made several paper flowers to add to the Bridal Show space. Remember these are great decorations for any event. They can be made large or small!

 

Ironically these are made similar to the Daisy flower below

This time you will follow the instructions given here but you will do three rows of 4 petals in a graduating size.

You will hot glue them together and instead of a balled up middle you will roll your scrap and glue to center.

Fluff out the petals and you will have a rose!!

Questions? Just ask!!!

 I love these! I cannot wait to try some on a smaller scale! These roses were great to just sit on the floor.

Simple and Easy!

How to make Paper Flowers

A few weeks ago I designed a booth for a bridal show. It was an outdoor theme and we had to come up with inexpensive decor. Making anything that costs next to nothing is always fun when it turns out so pretty.

Our colors to work with were yellow and blue. There were three different types of flowers created.

Small yellow and white roses

 This is the rose before I painted it with ink lines and everything lol!

Large Brown Paper Roses

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Colorful blue and Yellow Daisies

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I am going to show you how to make the daisy flowers we hung on the wall.

Materials:

Solid color paper (any kind will work)
stapler
hot glue

I began roughly cutting strips of paper. The glory of this is it does not have to be exact!

Then I cut to the size petal I wanted which decides the size of the bloom. I cut mine in thirds.

I then began to tear of the ends to make a rounded edge. Again nothing exact.

Then I gathered the paper on the straight edge and pinched together and stapled.

This will form the petal. I made four individual ones/

 I then stapled all four together. This will form the first layer.

Again there is no reason to be exact. This adds to the character of it.

Do the same steps to make another layer. With this flower you should have two layers.

Hot Glue one layer on top of the other.

Gather all scraps that you would normally throw away and crumple in a ball

This becomes the center of the flower. Glue to the center and you are done!

These make a great party decoration! By adding this to our curtain wall it enhanced the colors of the booth. It gave it an Anthropologie feel.

 Let me know what you think! If you would like to know how to make the others let me know and maybe I will do another post.

Now that spring and summer approach we will have beautiful fresh flowers but this is a great inexpensive alternative!