~ Necessity is the Mother of Invention.... ~

Hello my sweet Friends! ....Well my crafting weekend turned into a bit of a longer process than I thought, but I was happy to finish some of them on Monday when the kids returned to School... yippee :)....The reason for my title of this post is pretty simple. Being a Designer, I have to shop for other people on a daily basis, so when it comes time to shop for myself, I'm just simply too impatient or tired. But the hardest part of shopping for me or a client is, finding the perfect piece .... just the right color, size, and fitting the style of the room.... Soooooo, lol, I have resorted many times to saying, "Hmmmm, maybe I can craft and create what I need all by myself.... This is something I did on a regular basis years and years ago. But I stopped doing it because I lost interest. I can only think about "creating" when I'm in the right frame of mind. Now with the kids so much older I've picked it up again. Mostly due to all the Inspiring women I've met in blog land! So a big Thank you goes out to you all ! I am rusty , so bare with me.

I needed a Tray, so as the saying goes....."Necessity is the Mother of all Inventions"..... :)

The greatness of a craft consists firstly in how it brings comradeship to man"...Antoine de Saint Exupery

I bought an unfinished and simple tray..... Then went to work: ....I painted it, antiqued it (using some amber color glaze available at any craft store ), added some scrapbook paper to the bottom with glue, and then decoupaged on the florals, added some 3 dimension decals ( available at craft stores also ), and pretty letter buttons........ Then the entire tray was shellacked....I put back on the glass that came with it when it was all dry......and it was done :).... I have to say though, if any of you have tips on getting bubbles out?!, I'd love for you to share, I had to leave on very heavy books overnight for a few that popped up :) The picture below shows some of them, then after a night with weight on it , they flattened out a bit....but there has to be an easier way!? :)

Going into Micheal's Craft store is so wonderful! I cannot believe the "advances" they have made on embellishments , I could stay there all day! Aren't the little letter buttons so sweet ?
Each little letter has a cottage/vintage pattern behind it, ohhhhh, so pretty up close..... My camera does not do them justice! The butterfly , strawberry and flower have little drops of glitter too! ....Remind me to take a photography class!, I would have loved to show you the details better! But you can click on any of my photos and see it "up close" if that helps!
Its hard to see this below, but I found corner stickers that I thought were so cute and added them too....

I found the perfect place for the tray too, I put up a few pictures at the end of this post. But the one below is just a picture of some of the papers and embellishments I used.
Now......lol..... onto a brand new obsession :).... yikes, I'm getting too many lately, it must be the weather :) But I wanted to share this site with you , its called Scrapblog. Have you heard of it? Maybe I'm the last to know, but I adore it, it really is fun! I was looking for a place to make a new header for my Blog and saw this idea on Glitter and Bliss's blog, she has no idea yet that she caused me quite a stir :) The best thing about it , is it's easy as pie!! I haven't decided for sure if this will be my new header, I was too busy playing for now, but I hope you enjoy!

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to do a chalkboard on one of my doors, but I just couldn't bring myself to paint a cabinet in my kitchen, I didn't want to disrupt the "line", so I opted for one in a frame instead. Mind you , this was the easiest thing I ever made and it only cost me $5.00 for the paint. I took an old frame and took the art work out ( it wasn't my taste ) , took a $1.00 piece of black thick oak tag , painted it with chalkboard paint ( Home Depot ) and then just put it back in as the Art work :) Wait a day before writing on it! Then I added some gingham ribbon with a bow to hold the chalk :)
Now I have my kitchen chalkboard. :) I was going to do a pantry door with it also, but again, I decided against that because I want my pantry to be see-through , I've always wanted it to be a screen door! That will hopefully be finished by Spring :)
I haven't decided on the Vignette yet underneath...books? nothing? plate and jar? If you like one over the other , feel free to let me know! Only the KitchenAid has to stay! :)
“True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.”Antoine de Saint Exupery

Well, I know what I'm doing this coming weekend......relaxing :) Read a few books, drive my daughter to the Mall, ( her favorite obsession of late ) catch up on some more blog reading , buy some Somerset magazines and watch movies!

I ended up finding the perfect spot for my Tray, all happy on my kitchen Island....


This angle below shows a little bit more of my Island, I posted about it a few months ago, but it also, was such an easy project ! It was my desk as a child, and all it needed to be an Island was a base of 2x4's , plywood , and some casters to make it movable and some paint ....and then I had the Island I was always looking for .....Ahhhhh, Necessity is for sure, the mother of my invention :)
Thank you so much for stopping by !! Take a piece of Apple Crumb Pie to go!! You have all been so sweet ! If I could , I'd mail you all a piece! I Hope you all have a wonderful week and many Blessings as always!
Hugs and appreciation, from me, to you!

Cynthia