Mason Jar Lamp (You.Can.Do.It.)

Cliche intro:
Getting started is the hardest part.

In this case, it’s true. I’ve had these large Ball mason jars for months and months. I’ve had the lamp shade for almost as long. I’ve had the light kit for weeks. But for some reason I had a mental block on this project, which turned out to be one of the easiest I’ve ever done.

Today was, well strange. Have you ever had one of those kinds of days where you just felt, I don’t know, out of place the whole day? That was my day today. And I needed to feel good about something. That something was this lamp.

So I took my light kit (that I purchased from Lowe’s) up to my closest Home Depot (bad form?) and asked the nearest guy in an orange apron to tell me exactly what I needed. Here’s what you’ll need:

Lamp kit (Lowe’s Home Improvement), a large mason jar (antique store), a drill bit (Home Depot), hammer, screwdriver, lampshade (Cost Plus World Market).

This drill bit is for metal. I’ll go over why metal in just a sec. It’s the right size for the metal piece that connects the lamp socket to the top of the lid. And, for some reason, it’s size really intimidated me.

You may or may not know, but an authentic lid for an antique Ball jar is made of zinc and ceramic. In order to drill through the ceramic glass I would need a different bit. My thought was that if I was going to drill through it and ruin it, why not just break it? So I did. Break it. This is what you’ll need the hammer for. Just give it a light tap, break it, and dump out the glass in the trash. It will leave only the zinc (metal) lid. Which is why I only needed a bit that would drill through metal.

Warning: Chipped Manicure is likely to occur while handling power tools.


After removing the glass, I very easily drilled a hole through the lid. I attached the socket and I was almost done! If you’re wondering, the cord does not go down through the jar and out the bottom. The cord is attached to the socket at the top of the jar. More on this in a sec.

Next, time for the lamp shade. I purchased this burlap lamp shade from Cost Plus World Market. It is the “accent” size. I’ve bought this shade before (see the post on the milk glass lamp), and for some reason the opening for it to fit over the socket is too big. I have a strange and simple solution for that, and it’s called, “Nerf Gun Bullet.”

Remove the end. Cut a slit down one side. Fit  over the opening.

These Nerf gun bullets are easily found, but mostly in piles by the hundreds in my front yard thanks to my boy.

Remember that I mentioned that the cord did not go through the lamp, but is attached to the socket at the top. That comes in handy if you choose to fill your jar with anything, say, wine corks. You could even change it out seasonally. Wouldn’t it look lovely filled with seashells?

Here is the finished product:

I need more wine corks. Who wants to come over and help me with that?

It turns out that the answer to getting this done was asking the right question of my Home Depot guy. Thanks, Home Depot guy. We salute you.

XOXO,
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Circle of Love (Okay, a wreath.)

I really wanted a wreath to put up for Valentine’s Day, but I couldn’t find any in the stores that weren’t metallic looking. That wasn’t the look I wanted this year, so I found some inspiration on Pinterest, of course!

My inspiration was this wreath by Sweet Daisy Designs.

http://sweetdaisydesigns.blogspot.com/2011/11/wreath-update.html

I started by painting my grapevine wreath with Krylon’s “Ballet Pink.”
Darice GPV8 Grapevine Wreath 8″ Bulk (Google Affiliate Ad)

Next, I dug up some ribbon that I already had from other projects. The lace ribbon was a scrap that I got from Goodwill. The burlap ribbon was purchased from Save-on-crafts.com. It’s the same ribbon that I used in this project. I cut a piece of burlap ribbon the same length as the lace, and then I layered them. I am using this as my wreath hanger, as you’ll see.

Next, I wanted to make some flowers like the inspiration wreath has. I started by using some sweet rose flower buttons that I picked up at Walmart. They match the paint color almost exactly. My sweet girl even asked me if I had painted them that color to match. I put a floral wire through the button hole and gave it a twist.

I wrapped some more burlap around the wire, hot glued it, and then started making folds (petals) and hot gluing them around the wire.

I wanted a lace flower, too, but I was out of the lace ribbon. So I took a scrap of lace fabric I already had (picked up at a St.Vincent De Paul thrift store) and cut a length of it in the same width as the burlap ribbon. Then, minus the button center, I made a lace flower in the same way as the burlap flower.

After I was done with my flowers, I took the long end of the floral wire and poked it through the wreath where I wanted the flower. I twisted the wires onto the wreath and then cut the excess wire off with my wire cutters. (I’m telling you, I use those things all of the time! Don’t forget what tools you’ll need to get started!)

Here is the finished product:

I think I might actually use this for Spring or Easter, too.

Hope you likey!
XOXO,
Abby

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I came to Jesus wearing "Catalina Mist."

I’ve fallen in love with “Catalina Mist” by Krylon. It’s dreamy, don’t you think? Unfortunately, I’ve found that it’s a hard to find color. Walmart is about the cheapest place to pick up Krylon paints. However, the only place I have been able to find this particular color  is at my local big-box-chain craft store, where you can only get a decent price on anything if you use one of their weekly 50% off coupons. (Grrr, don’t get me up on that soap box.)



Even more frustrating than being hard to find, is that both of the cans that I’ve purchased from this big-box store have been faulty. I don’t blame it on Krylon, because their paint rocks. I’ve never had a problem with any of their cans other than these two. I just get the feeling that these two cans were sitting on the shelf for a while. How that could be, I can’t imagine. Since this color is wondermoustacular.

I was working on spray painting a chair for the shop, when catastrophically the can decided that it wasn’t going to stop spraying. Imagine, if you will, that I need to set the can down so that I can flip the chair over. Except the paint won’t stop flowing. Laugh it up folks, laugh.it.up. Needless to say, my hands got quite a bit of paint on them. Under the nails. In the crevices. Yep. I’m sure it was quite the scene.

 The finished product makes me happy. I’m still in love with Krylon and “Catalina Mist.” But, I won’t be going back to the same store for this color, 50% off coupon or not.

Fast forward to church this morning. We’re always invited to “turn, and greet your neighbor with a handshake.” And I died just a little inside when I turned to greet my neighbor and realized that all of my “Catalina Mist” hadn’t come off in the shower. I’d come to worship Jesus wearing “Catalina Mist.” But I don’t think he minded.

Catalina Mist


XOXO,
Abby

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Basic Tools You’ll Need for Repurposing & Upcycling

I’ve always been fiercely independent. It drives my husband nuts. He is a “helper.” Which is sweet. Really, it is. But I can do it myself, thank you very much. I’m not going to wait for someone to hang the picture frame on the wall when I can do it myself. I think this also shocks the people at my grocery store. I don’t want their help. I don’t want them to unload my cart on to the belt. I don’t want them to push my cart out to my car. It’s not a control thing (NOT.A.WORD.). It’s a “If I can do it myself, why do I need you to do it for me?” thing. Don’t get me wrong; I want to be treated like a lady. And sometimes it is nice to hear the offer to help. But I’m not helpless. Give me a hammer, y’all. I’ll figure it out.

So I have my own tools. They’re pink. I know, I know! But the reason that I like them this color is because I know where my tools are. I can find my hammer very easily. And I certainly see when someone else is using my flat head screwdriver. I do not walk around the garage muttering that “I can’t find anything around here.” I know where my pink stuff is.

I haven’t done any big carpentry projects. And as of right now, I don’t really have a desire to do so. I love repurposing and upcycling things and bringing new life to them. I love taking the slightly broken or no longer wanted and doing something creative with it. There are some tools that I use over and over again in my projects. I thought it might be useful for someone that is thinking about actually making one of those great Pinterest projects, to have a few things on hand that they might need. So here is my list! Enjoy!

A good staple gun. 

We had a staple gun. But it was the cheapest, most basic model that they make. And if that works for you, use it. But as often as I use a staple gun, which is very often, I upgraded to a nicer one that wasn’t going to bruise my hand as badly.

This is the staple gun that I have. I love it. It makes me happy.

Two screwdrivers – a Flat Head and a Phillips. 

You obviously need these for removing and inserting screws. But you’ll use them for a million other things. For example, a flat head screwdriver is a must when removing staples from the bottom of a chair or the back of a picture frame.

Hammer

Oddly, I don’t use the hammer a lot for hammering nails into projects. Can you believe it? But I do end up using it as a tool. I use it a lot to remove nails, or to hang something on the wall.

Pliers

It doesn’t matter to me what kind. I end up using them a lot when taking something apart. If nails or staples get stuck, the pliers are your go-to tool.

 

Measuring tape, stick, wand, ruler

Basically, something to measure with. I have a metal 24″ ruler that I bought years ago for my drafting class in college. I love it because I can cut against it with a box cutter or Xacto knife. I also use a traditional measuring tape.
All of those things can be found in a kit just like this. If you’re a guy reading this, ignore the pink.
Now here are the random other things that I have just found myself using. A lot.
  • High Temp Hot Glue and Gun
  • Elmer’s Glue
  • Clear Strong Craft Glue
  • Wire Cutters
  • Masking Tape
  • Scrapbooking Cutter, Box Cutter, or Xacto knife
  • Basic Painting Supplies

If you have these basic things on hand, you should be prepared for a myriad of Pinterest projects, or perhaps, one that you’ve seen here on Belle & Beau Antiquarian. Hope this was helpful!

XOXO,
Abby

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Playing with the Queen of Hearts

First post of the New Year! I’ve neglected our blog, but for good reason. We’ve been busy getting ready and moving into a new booth at a local antique store, Countryside Antiques. If you’re in metro Atlanta, we hope that you will stop by and check it out. The blog hasn’t been getting any love, but our Facebook page has. If you aren’t a fan yet, pop on over and give us a “like.”

Now that we are all moved in and things have slowed down a bit, I wanted to find a project to share with you. I saw a Valentine’s banner on Pinterest by No Time for Flash Cards that I thought looked cute and SUPER easy. Also, I had been saving a vintage set of playing cards for a project just like this one.

Valentine’s Banner by No Time for Flash Cards

Aren’t these vintage playing cards the neatest thing? The set wasn’t complete, so I was okay with using them for this project. Otherwise, I would have probably saved them and left them in tact.

I gathered the materials that I needed for this project. Since I intended this to be for Valentine’s Day, I only used the hearts. I used black and white baker’s twine (Michael’s), a heart punch, a regular hole punch, some scrapbooking paper, and glue (not pictured.)

I punched two holes in each card so that I could thread the twine through. I made sure to punch the holes in the same spot on every card. In between the cards I glued two hearts, back to back. I did this because I didn’t want to cards to slide around once I hung it up. Because of the twisted nature of the twine, the hearts might flip over, but that doesn’t bother me. Also, I didn’t put the cards in numerical order. I wanted it to look more random and decorative, instead of intentional.

I love how the baker’s twine looks with this! I haven’t decided yet if I will keep this or take it up to our booth.

I’m not quite ready to go all out on the Valentine’s Day decor. I’m kind of enjoying the Christmas chaos being out of the way. I still have a few weeks, though.

Follow Me on PinterestHope you love it!
XOXO,
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Repurposed Window Frames

I’ve been having a great time repurposing some old window frames that were crowding a corner of the garage. In a previous post I showed you how I made the kiddos an advent calendar. I’ve also found some other uses for them.

First, I’ve made a Christmas card holder. How cute is this?! When Christmas is over, remove the cards and use it as an all purpose organzier for the family. Wouldn’t the kids love to see their artwork and spelling tests hung up on this? I think so.

I attached the cards with some small clothes pins. I tried the regular size and they were a little too big to be functional. I think that I will throw these clothes pins into a batch of our vinegar barn wood stain so that they don’t look so bright and brand spankin’ new.

I *love* this as a jewlery organzier. It can hold a ridiculous amount of necklaces and bracelets. For the jewelry I picked up some “S” hooks from good ol’ Home Depot. They are p-e-r-f-e-c-t for hanging your lovely baubles.

Like I said, you can get a ton on this. I just hung a few pieces to show you how it can be used. I love it when things are pretty and functional, too. Makes this girl happy!

Good news! I have been busy, and I’ve made quite a few of these. You know what that means? They are available for purchase. Lucky you. 😉

These are currently for sale in my Etsy shop. You can click on the word Etsy or click on the icon on the top right corner of the page.
XOXO,
Abby
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3, 2, 1…….CHRISTMAS!!!

I remember being excited beyond belief that Christmas was coming. So excited that every waking thought was consumed with the fantasy of opening presents on Christmas morning. Sadly, though, I was a sneaker and a peeker. Being the youngest of four, the belief in the magic of Santa and the North Pole didn’t stick around too long before I caught onto older brother and sister talking about where everything might be hidden. So we looked, dug, and scoured until we found the “magic” of Christmas, which happened to be in a Toys R Us bag at the back of Mom’s closet. I look back and wonder, “Didn’t Mom and Dad ever think it was strange that they never got the right reaction?” I mean, the fake surprised looks or lack of surprise on all four of our faces must’ve given something away.

I’m trying to create some Christmas magic of my own now that I’m all grown up (boo!) with kids who are just as consumed with the thought Christmas morning, slightly out of their reach. There are two things I’m big on at Christmas all year long: Memory making and kindness. I want to give my kids rich, meaningful memories that will carry them through life. And I want to impress upon them the utmost important of kindness to every human being.

One way I combine kindness and family at Christmas is through our advent calendar. Every year it has evolved a little bit more, and next year it will probably change a little bit again. I have been inspired in the past by the blog Lil Light O’ Mine which encourages a campaign of random acts of Christmas kindness during the holiday season called Light ‘Em Up. Using this blog as a basis for my inspiration, last year I created an advent calendar with a different random act of kindness activity each day. This year I have decided to change it up a little bit and integrate my desire to intentionally create Christmas memories within our family. So this year I have divided our advent activities, with half being random acts of kindness and half being family activities. For our family, it’s best for us to find a balance in everything we do, which creates peace and also those pleasant memories I’m after for my kids.

This year I made a new calendar to use. Starting with some (free!) book pockets that my daughter’s teacher gave me when she was going through one of her storage closets, I spray painted them with Krylon chalkboard paint. Krylon 227037 Low Odor Clear Finish Aerosol Spray-Gloss-11 Ounces (Google Affiliate Ad)

I only sprayed the front of the pockets. The backs have a backing that you can peel off and use to stick them onto something. I wanted to leave the peeling on in case I decided to use them for something different in the future. After they were dry, I hot glued them onto some black and white baker’s twine.

Next I took an old window frame and turned it into the backdrop for my advent calendar. You can get one from my Etsy (click here) shop and use it for something else when it’s not being used as an advent calendar. (More on these in another upcoming post.)

Finally, I created some “tags” to fit inside of our advent pockets. I printed some labels that either listed a family activity or “Random Act of Christmas Kindness” on them. Of course, these needed some baker’s twine, too. Red, this time.

Hopefully no “sneakers” or “peekers” will be looking ahead to see what’s coming ahead in our advent calendar…


The magic of Santa and the North Pole, along with sweet baby Jesus is strong at our house. Don’t you go looking in the back of my closet for any Toys R Us bags!
Happy Ho Ho Ho to you!
XOXO,
Abby

P.S.
Here’s a list of what’s in our calendar:
(12) cards read: Random Act of Christmas Kindness
Make Christmas Cookies
Drive Around After Dark (And Look at Christmas Lights)
Outdoor Fire with S’mores
Decorate a Gingerbread House
Hot Chocolate Bar (With All the Fixings)
Make Christmas Ornaments
Nights of Lights (at Lake Lanier)
Christmas Movies (with Popcorn and Sodas)
Find the Pickle on the Tree
Call a Friend (Invite them to a Holiday Themed Sleepover)
Email from Santa is Waiting for You
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Enough is Enough (Christmas Decorations)

Every year I tell myself that I’m not going to buy anymore Christmas decorations. But this year is the first year that I’ve actually followed through on my promise to myself. The problem is that I have an obnoxious amount of holiday decorations. Not just Christmas ones, either. I know it comes from the interior designer in me. I absolutely love to create little holiday themed vignettes around the house. But at one point I looked at the number of Rubbermaid bins full of decorations and I said to myself, “Enough is enough.”

So, so far this year, no “new” decorations. But I have still felt the urge to change things up and set up different decorations. What I’ve done instead is to use what I already have on hand and repurpose it. I want to show you a couple of the things I have put together. I’m so happy with they way they turned out.

First I decided to use an antique style toolbox. I loved the style of it when we were browsing in an antique store months ago, and I picked it up. Yes, even though we sell antiques, we still shop at other antique stores. (Shout out to Countryside Antiques in Braselton!)

Along with the toolbox, I got some cuttings left over from the Christmas tree, a string of white lights that we already owned, and some cinnamon scented pine cones. Okay, so technically the pine cones were new, but they are not an item that will be going into the Rubbermaid bins. And since we do not have any pine trees in our neighborhood, purchasing these was a must. And if you’re wondering, they’re from Walmart. One bag is simply scented pine cones. The other bag is scented pine cones with some of them painted in glitter and chunks of scented potpourri thingies.

Next, I simply cut the Christmas tree branches to the size that I wanted so that they could fit into the toolbox.

Then I simply wrapped and wove the lights into the branches.

The branches with lights go into the box and the pine cones are placed on top.

It looks so pretty at night, and it smells divine!

Here is another project that I did using similar materials. Instead of Christmas tree lights and a toolbox, I used candles and an old Coke crate. This one didn’t cost a dime, since I used some of the pine cones from the other project.

With both of the projects use good judgement about safety. Unplug the lights when you’re not at home and attend to the candles when they’re lit.
I love the magic of Christmas and I hope you are inspired to create something special of your own.

XOXO,
Abby

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If You’ve Got It, Flaunt It

I’m in the holiday decorating mood today, but Ken is at work and there is no way that I’m attempting to shop for decorations with the kids in tow. Yesterday I hit up Home Depot with them, and by the time we got home, Mama needed something a whole lot stronger than hot chocolate.

So after scrounging around the house for materials that I already had on hand, I decided to get a little creative.

First I got together some different kinds of ribbon. I already had all of these at the house. On the right is a jute ribbon that I purchased from Save-On-Crafts.com several months ago. The other 5 types were all purchased at Michaels. The burlap style ones (all but the plaid) were purchased within the past 6 weeks. They have wired edges.

Next, I rounded up some containers. I use metal-type buckets for all of the kids birthday parties. I just change out a piece of ribbon on the handle to go with whatever the color/theme is. They’re great for utensils, etc. I also got some of the cuttings from our Christmas tree.

Three of the containers came from Goodwill: the wire egg basket, the fruit orchard basket, and the galvanized pail. The metal pail in the middle of the back row is a 2.5 paint bucket from Home Depot. It’s been a while since I bought it, but I think it was around $2. The oval shaped pail came from Target. It was in the “Dollar Spot” for $2.50.

Finally, I scrounged around and found some things to fill the buckets with.

I decided to start with the galvanized bucket. I layered two of the ribbons around it.

Proof in the background of yesterday’s Home Depot experience. Next I added some Epsom salts and a green tea light candle to a Ball jar. The jar, candle, and some Christmas tree cuttings were all nestled into the bucket. (I ended up not using the candles in the picture. I thought they were a little too big.)

Okay, so next I decided to play with the Home Depot paint bucket. He got two different ribbons layered onto the outside. He also got the same jar and candle routine.

Finally, I decided to use the orchard basket by the front door. I didn’t want to use a candle this time, so I opted to just fill it with tree cuttings.

The moral of the story is, try to use what you already have on hand. If you’ve got it, flaunt it! That’s all for now! I have some other ideas that I’m working on. Stay tuned.

By the way, if you hadn’t heard, our Etsy shop is opened! We are gradually getting lots of vintage, antique, and handmade items listed. Check it out! 🙂

Merry Christmas!
XOXO,
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Why you No-Good, 3-legged, Hunk of Junk!

I’m not afraid to speak up. And I’m certainly not afraid of a little (well, maybe a lot) of hard work. Both of which come in handy from time to time.

Recently I was at a garage sale that was actually a driveway sale. The garage itself was packed full with junk that wasn’t for sale. There wasn’t anything at the garage driveway sale that I was interested in. But there were several things that I could see in the garage that I liked. The more that I walked around looking at what was for sale, the more I couldn’t help looking past it all into the garage.

So, I spoke up.

And guess what? It turns out that the only reason that the stuff in the actual garage wasn’t for sale, is that the lady holding the sale couldn’t.get.the.stuff.out. Um, I’ll get it out. It needs some work, she tells me. Um, I’m not afraid of work. Y’all, you have got to speak up and ASK! So I ended up getting a 1940’s cupboard for less than it costs to get a case of moon pies down at the Piggly Wiggly.

The doors needed to be put back together. They weren’t broken; they had just come apart. Unfortunately, one of the legs was broken. No problemo! Some of the hardware was missing. We’ve got that covered.

After repairs, Before paint

So into the furniture hospital it went…

Ken, hard at work!

We decided to paint it in a chalk paint, which we love. If you haven’t tried it, you would love it! You don’t have to prime or sand before using it. You can find chalk paint in stores. Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is a great brand. However, you can also find recipes on Pinterest to make your own, which we did.

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The color we used was Martha Stewart Living “Bone Folder” from Home Depot. On the areas that we did not want the paint to stick to, we put Vaseline on before we painted.

After! I love her.

We decided to leave the top unpainted. Both Ken and I were really happy that we did. We used a butcher block conditioner to bring out the warm wood tone and to protect it.

Here’s a picture shortly before we sold it:

I’m so happy with how she turned out. Our hard work definitely paid off. We sold it for a lot more than that  case of moon pies! 
I wish that I could’ve kept her. The young couple that bought her seemed really happy with it. I hope that they enjoy it! Interesting note: While fixing up the piece we found the name and address of the original owner, who was from New York. We googled her name and discovered that she was born in 1900. How I wish I could hear the stories that this cupboard could tell!
XOXO,
Abby

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