Reupholstering an old Chair (Black, White and a Splash of RED)

I told you that I would be sharing my favorite past Funkin Junkin projects from my blog,  I Know the Plans I Have for You, and this is one of them!

Of all of the junk that I have brought home, this is my favorite by far! This one was left over from an estate sale...who would want this one?? This girl right here!!

I fell in love with the claw arms...

Because I knew that it could look like this.....

 At the time that I upholstered this chair, I really had no experience, but I wasn't afraid to try. YouTube can teach you anything! It took me just a few days, and the hardest part for me was the piping sewn into the back. You want to make sure that you line up the pattern, which was so frustrating! That part isn't perfect, but was close enough. Here are some pictures of the process...

The legs first needed some attending to. This leg had a huge crack and the leg in the second picture, was missing an entire edge that I had to build back up. Nothing that wood glue and wood filler couldn't fix. 

I carefully took off each part in sections, so that I could use the old fabric as the pattern for the new fabric, but also (even more importantly) so that I new which order to put it back together. I started with the seat, and found this old feather pillow used as the "foam". It was pretty nasty! As you can see, I decided to paint the arms and legs before I put any new fabric on. 

The webbing on the back had fuzzy molding...GROSS!

This was my little helper, double checking my measurements...

This is what you call Funkin Junkin!!

So after some wood glue, wood filler, Kilz, glossy red paint, new foam, new batting and dacron, new webbing , and new fabric.....this beauty found a new home

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Green and White Chevron St. Patricks Day Printable

St. Paddy's Day is one of my kids favorite holidays. We look forward to watching the parade with friends and family and eating green popcorn! Lately, I have really enjoyed designing printables. It is such a cheap way to decorate your house for the changing holidays. The only cost is ink and paper. I began using a matte photo paper, because the colors of the prints are so much more vivid, but really you can use just plain printing paper. I found my photo paper in a pack of about 80 sheets at Walmart, for only about $8.00! So today, I'd love to share my St. Patrick's Day Printables with you today :). I've included St. Paddy's Day Subway Art, green and white chevron LUCKY clover, and a green and white chevron You are One LUCKY Shamrock. Just click on the link to download the free PDF file. I think they turned out great, but I hope you like them! I'd love to see where you use them!

St. Patrick's Day Subway Art 

Lucky Shamrock 

Green and White Chevron Lucky Shamrock Printable 

As always, feel free to print these, share them, give them as gifts, or use them on your blog. Just please don't sell them or use them for anything other than personal use, and please link back if you use them on your site. Thanks so much!

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Red and White Chevron Printable {Valentine's Day or more}

I know that it is no longer Valentine's Day, but because I am transferring posts from my other blog, I would still love to share this cute Red and White Chevron printable I designed with you. Clicking on the picture will take you to the PDF file and you can download this for free!

I used them for chocolate lollipops that I made....YUM YUM! If you download the PDF, you can change the text and use them for anything! They can say "Happy Birthday", "Happy Anniversary", they would even be super cute as 4th of July printables!! 

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Chalk Paint Bench Redo {TypographyTransfer: the easy way}

Do you ever want to make something that screams Valentine's Day, but that you would like to display throughout the year?? This was the pickle that I was in. I wanted to do something great, but not have to store my greatness away once Cupid was no longer hanging out. So I decided that I would do a wooden subway sign for the wall, that says "I LOVE YOU", in lots of different languages. I first designed it, which you can feel free to download the free PDF file.

Love in different languages subway art 

I sized it to the wood I was using, so you can just resize it to fit your project. I printed it out (in 3 pages) and taped the paged together. Then I spent way too long (I won't even get into it) transferring it to the wood. Here it is in pencil...

I'm not sure where I went wrong after this, but let's just say that this was my first truly failed project. I think I ran out of patience with this one once I started painting the words. So a few days went by, and I decided to paint this bench.

I didn't have any intentions on painting the sign on it, but my sister-in-law suggested it. At first I thought....she's crazy! I'm not wasting all that time again!! But I'm a glutton for punishment.

I reprinted the sign, only this time, mirror imaging the text. The technique that I used is super easy. Everyone will think that you are an amazing artist with great penmanship. Here are the steps to transfer:

You will need: light colored chalk

something to trace the words...I used a mechanical pencil without the lead so that I could still see the image on the paper clearly after it was transferred to the wood.

Ultra fine tip Sharpe (note: I used 4 sharpies, you'll see why)

Lots of PATIENCE!

Sandpaper (optional)

Top coat of your choice

Use sidewalk chalk on the printed side of the image. With the printed side face down (with the chalk side on the wood), trace each word. I only did a couple of the words at a time, so that I wouldn't rub off the chalk transfer as I worked. You don't have to press hard. You don't want to indent the wood. As long as your chalk color isn't too light, you'll see it just fine. Using the Sharpie will give you total control of the outcome. The reason I went through so many Sharpies, and why you need a crazy amount of patience, is that I used Chalk Paint. It tends to dry out the Sharpie as you work. One way that I found will help with this, is to get a separate piece of paper, and using a thick Sharpie....scribble. With your "dry" Sharpie, scribble over that. It seems to get the ink flowing again, but not always. So instead of going nuts, just have a back-up...or 3. Eventually the ink will get flowing in all of them, but it takes time. When you are all finished, you can either distress it using a light grit sandpaper like I did, or skip that step and just finish it with a top coat. I sprayed it with a clear, non-yellowing, satin top coat. And TA-DA....

OH, I almost forgot to mention! When my sister-in-law saw it, she fell in love (pun intended), a bought it!!

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