How DO I hang my balls?? ;)

Hi Lovies!
I saw this tute over at Hey Sis, where she made some awesome pom pom type flowers out of coffee filters! Soooooo cute, I immediately thought of how I could hang these around the inside of my canopy at the shows ...or maybe make smaller ones and string them together like garland? They look very shabby..and SO easy to make!


Here's what cha' need:
*Hot Glue Gun & glue stick
*A balled up wad of trash. LITERALLY
*Tape (Of any kind)
*Coffee filters (Your choice of color)
*A screw

Seriously. A wadded up ball of newspaper

Wrap some tape around the paper , to keep the balls shape. ALSO this is a good time to get a screw  to push into the ball, so that you have something to HANG these with. I just pushed a screw into the ball and then put some hot glue around the screw to secure it.
( I will show you in just a sec)

Take your coffee filter and lay it out. Find the middle...

Then wrap the filter around your index finger..

REMOVE said finger, and apply hot glue to the tip of your "Flower Stem"

About the size of a Pea.

Press that little flower right onto your ball and KEEEEEPPPP Goin' sista! (Each ball used about 60-80 coffee filters...)

Here's that screw I was telling you about, on a different ball, Just push it right into your wad of paper and secure with some good ol' hot glue...

A close up of all your little coffee filters all glued down . End up looking like this.........

VOILE!

So easy to make! Each ball took me about 30- 40 mins to make, and I LURVE the finished product! NOW here's my dilemma...Do I just have them floating from the tent at different intervals or string um' up?  I hung some in my entryway to get an idea but I'm still debating...

Here they are floating...


* P.S I will be doing a post on this cute little antique desk, ANNND the 1908 typewriter I scored for$30 bucks!!!

 OR I found these examples on the net..

Strung up..
source

Or hanging...source

source

So, Don't be shy..Tell me..

What should I do?...Hang muh' balls or String um' up??

Can't wait to see what says YOU!

Thanks!

~Meliss

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ANOTHER Annie Sloan chalk paint tutorial?...

 So I scored this sweet little coffee table a while back at the PTA thrift store for $5 bucks! She's been patiently waiting her turn in the furniture storage (ah' hem.. "hoard")  and today's her lucky day! So, lets get started hooking her UP!

*A lot of times with these "curvy leg" reproduction type pieces, the legs are loose and a little wobbly, so take this time before you paint to grab a Phillips or your hand drill and tighten everything up.* 

Then I made a solution of TSP and scrubbed her all down. Once she was all dry and cleaned up, I brought her in the living room...(YES, I paint in my living room) helloooooo this paint is magical..Memba'? No fumes, No Sanding, No Priming!  So, I lay out my drop cloth (A.K.A  6yo daughter's old bed sheet) and got to work! 

*TIP* Whenever you can, ALWAYS paint the underside and legs of the furniture first. It makes it a WHOLE lot easier to get to all the knocks and crannies and saves the strain on your neck and back! 

So, I mixed up A.S.C.P Old White and Cream to make a soft creamy white.  To avoid dripping all over the cans when pouring, I like to use my big medical syringe. You can use it to siphon out the paint you need without spilling it everywhere and it keeps your lids nice, neat and easy to open and close.  Great little tool to pick up!

I finished painting the under body, allowed it to dry..

and gave it the first coat of clear wax.

I applied the coat of wax, rubbed off the excess with a lint free towel..(AKA Hub's old T Shirt)

 *Tip! When you are done wiping back the wax your hand should glide across the piece. IF you get any resistance or you feel like your hands "catches" on a specific area..you've got too much wax still left on the piece. Chalk paint is very porous, so when you're apply the wax it actually sinks down into the open "Pores" of the paint and accepts what it needs. Everything left on the top is actually excess and that needs to be removed *  

This was a piece for someone who wanted a conservative look so I did some very light distressing.

 After the distressing I knew I wanted to give it a little more of an aged "Patina" so I applied Dark wax where I wanted more of an aged look. Always, make sure that you have good coverage of clear wax on the piece BEFORE you apply the dark wax.. because otherwise you'll be tryin' to remove that dark wax for days! It needs that barrier coat of clear wax, and THEN after you apply your dark wax, and you find areas you don't want dark wax on, just use some of the clear wax on a corner of your lint free towel and rub some of that dark wax off...the clear wax works like an eraser! 

You can easy-peasy wipe off as much as you like!

Apply Dark wax

Wipe off excess, with a clean cloth or T-shirt

After you do all your hot spots with the distressing, apply ONE more coat of the clear if you like, ( I did on this piece because it is a coffee table and I knew it would be a high traffic piece) buff it to a shine, and enjoy your fruits!
Till next time...Cheers Ladies, Meliss

VOILE!

Christmas in July!

Hi erry body!
This weekend was AWESOME, I scored some really great junk! Treasures! I found lots of old Christmas items that I am going to start stock piling becauusse...drum roll please...................................................I have signed up to do a craft/boutique fair in November!!! woot woot! I am really excited and can't wait to see if all my treasure hunting and Saturday mornings in sweats and baseball hats is gonna' pay off?! Since it will be close to Christmas time, I am trolling all the yard and Estate sales I go to for vintage Christmas stuff. I have an obsession affinity for a specific type of Santa Claus....I love the overly jolly,bright red cheeked,completely hammered, drunk off his ass lookin' Santa...

 NOOOOO! Not THEM!...

OH LORD! Definitely NOT him! 

I meant THIS one! 

awww..Ain't he sweet! He looks like he has had a liiiiitle bit too much eggnog and should not be operating heavy machinery! 

or this one..

Now, this one looks like he's about to shove that holly branch where the sun don't shine! hahahahah

 Anyway, so with my antenna up for vintage Christmas, take a look at what I scored..

Don't cha' just LURV the old Santa's? They have an almost creepy, maniacal glare in their eyes...No.? That's only me?..hummm...O.K. Well,now the big Santa in the middle is actually an old candy dish bobble head thingy, his head is on an old spring and his top half twists off! The cool thing I noticed about him was...do you see the tissue paper inside? It says it was made in WESTERN Germany!Nice. Seeing as there IS no more WESTERN or EASTERN Germany officially..I looked it up and it is a candy dish from the 40's! Seeing as how I paid $1.50 for it..I was pretty happy when I saw them on ebay for $40 + Bucks! Very cool! 

Also, I found a cute lil' Kewpie doll and Campbell soup doll for $10! And do you see the little granny plastic trash can with GOLD FLECKS! Choooow! 2 bucks!! Speaking of GOLD how about those plastic place mats?? 

Nice. 

Also, any info on that lil' lamp shade in the back would be appreciated...It's from the 50's the woman told me, and it's made out of some type of card stock. The design is really adorable though, so that's why I got it...Hopefully someone at the Flea Market will think so too!

Wish me luck...Muah!

~Meliss