Painter Le Fay: March 2015

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Bitch, Make Your Own Wedding: Love Seat Bench from a Headboard!

Getting Married?

Having a Reception...?

You may need a handy Bench!

I got this old frame minus the rails at the end of a Barn Clean Out for FREE!

Stashed it on our porch to make a bench!

Brought it to my Dad's, and he started working his Magic!

Brackets & Bolts y'all!

Two coats of Paint! We wet our brushes first to thin it. First coat Grey, second Antique White!

Boom! Bench!

Our First Idea for the Bench was to put it in this Arbor at our Venue...

My Digital Sketch, Fabric Streamers & Flowers on top...

And these fixer uppers were going to be our seats at the Head Table...

It Poured the morning of the Reception, so the Bench became our Love Seat!

Lots of Shabby Linens, Candles in Jars and Flowers!

We Loved our Rustic Bohemian Wedding!

^^Goofballs!

Now our Shabby Bench sits on our Porch, a perfect place to sit and watch the world pass by.

Make a Bench Love Seat from a Bed Frame/Headboard!

Make some Memories!

MAKE SOMETHING!!!

XOXO
~JM

Check out the other Bitch, Make Your Own Wedding Posts: The Rings, Table Tops, The Dress, Invitations.

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Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Bitch, Make Your Own Nail Color!

Spring Time is ALMOST HERE!

Anytime now, the weather will be getting warmer, & we will be shedding layers!!!

I've already got a new pair of sandals that I can't wait to wear!

That means I will be getting my summer polish colors ready!

The Toes will be dressed & ready for the view!

And Sometimes...

I find myself getting into the idea of certain colors for Nail Polish & then not being able to find just the right shade in the stores...

That's when that lil voice inside perks up and says... "Bitch... Make It Yourself."

As always, I listen & take to the net for research.

There are tons of tutorials online for mixing your own color! YaY!

Here's what I used to achieve my Rose Gold Nail Polish:

-An almost empty bottle of Top Coat or Base Coat (works as well, but depending on opacity it can change the results). You can just buy empty bottles to mix your own on Amazon if you don't have any almost gone bottles that you want to sacrifice.

-A fresh bottle of Top Coat to fill up the almost empty bottle with a base to mix the pigment in.

-Eye shadow to use for the pigment.

-A white sheet of paper to mix the shadows on & to use as a funnel to get all that pigment into the bottle!

-A lil implement to scoop out the shadow with & mix it together (no clumps!).

I crushed the shadow up & mixed the pigments with this wee fork.

Funneled some into the half empty bottle by rolling the paper with the pigment on it into a cone shape.

Then I tested the shade on the back of piece of card stock.

When I was satisfied, I put some of the Top Coat in to mix in & stretch out the color a lil.

I shook & rolled it, and so on & on until I felt like it was completely mixed & blended.

Good to go!

Maaaaahvelous!!!!!! ;-)

What if you don't have any "spare" shadows to use on Nail Color crafting?

I take to layering. I have a sketchbook that I use for swatching things like Nail Colors.

Layer, mix & match, see what you like without having to experiment on yourself.

I try my luck with all sorts of new styles & ideas I find on Pinterest on paper to see if I like it, & to see if my hands are steady enough to achieve them.

Sometimes I'll have a color in my collection that I never wear only because it's too light/dark/bight/muted. That will be when I break out my color wheel know-how & mix something else from the collection in.

This Peachy Color Above:

I took a sheer nude that had a bit of shimmer, but always went on too streaky...

Added a deeper peach color that I thought was too saturated to go with my skin tone...

Mixed a lil, did a Swatch.... A lil more & Pow!

It's now the perfect thickness, color, tone, etc...

Have I ever ruined a bottle of polish...? Yup.

It wasn't doing me any good just sitting in a drawer getting goopy & old...

Why not at least try to make it into something usable?

;-)

Make a New Color!

Make Whatever Color You Want!

MAKE SOMETHING!

XOXO

~JM

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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Porch Time! DIY Curtains from Sheets!

The First Day Of Spring Is This Friday!!!!

I am very excited to get back outside for lounging especially!

Having a Porch on the Front & Back of the House is Awesome!

Make the Most of these Spaces, if you have a Porch, Patio, Deck, GET TO IT!

This is was what I did to our Front Porch last Summer:

CURTAINS MADE FROM OLD FLAT SHEETS!

So Cozy, & inviting.

Perfect for sunning those knees, or sipping Iced Tea!

This is the Dreaded Before. I was using it mainly to house some odds & ends, & it was Mega Handy to set up for all the Spray Painting I was doing last year.... Where to do it this year... hmmmm...

That's a Good Question.

Tools: Kilt Pin, Scissors, Twine! And...

Flat Sheet! Twin don't cut in half length wise, but Queen or King, cut that Bitch!

Best part is when you wash these, they will have a lovely raw edge boho fringe on one side!

Wo0t!!!

Cut a 1" hole in the top fold. This becomes your Pocket for Stringing & Hanging!

Since this Big Sheet has been cut in half one end of the fold is open. Tie some Twine on that Kilt Pin & String it THRU!

I Doubled up on the Twine because I know that Porch gets "Breezy".

I kept the panels separate from each other, using one doubled up length of Twine per piece, in case one needed to come down or get replaced, etc...

Tidied up & ready for Curtains. You can see how the Porch Ledge seems impossible to ignore.

This end is ready too! Hey, is that my finger in the shot? lol

Quick fix last year on these old weather beaten cushions in the form of a couple of table cloths.

Start Hangin! I used Large Brass Eye Hook Screws on the top edge of the ledge ;-)

Its HAPPENING!!!!

You can see the Seat Cushions covered w/Table Cloths.

OOOOOOO...... Looking Good!

My lil Spray Painting Area. Recognize that Storage Piece as our Drink Cart.

Perfect!

That Ledge isn't so in-yo-face as before!!! Wicked!

I used the same Eye Hook Screws under the Bottom edge of the ledge as well to try to hold the curtains in so they wouldn't blow over the edge in a storm. It worked perfectly until about November, and the curtains were being blown up & out far enough to Make it all the way onto the roof of the porch. Soaking wet & dirty, YUCK, I pulled it down and Scowled. Let them dry & took them down, laundered them & packed them away until... SOON! I will get out there & string them all back up again! YaY!!!

Poor Porch. I know We've been thru a lot this Winter of 2015. Hold on just a few more Weeks!

Our Gypsy Porch Fared much better. She will get a Spruce Soon as well!

Ahhhh... Memories... I will Recreate you to my best abilities!

And with a few Tweaks here & there I hope to GO FURTHER!

I'm Definitely thinking of more Plant Life, and some incense.

I know some of you live in places that have nicer weather, so...

Get Out There!

Get Some Old Sheets, Some Iced Drinks, Some Tunes, A Book/Project/Painting Supplies/FRIENDS!

Get 'Em Strung!

Make Some Porch Time!

MAKE SOMETHING!!!

XOXO

~JM

P.S.

I think we solved our comments & followers issue here by switching up the Template. If you dare leave a ;-)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

;-*

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Tea For All!

A few weeks back I was getting extremely weather affected...

Winter 2015 in the Northeast has been long & hard.

I took to drinking coffee for my daily energy supply...

If only things could be so simple in their solutions...

Heartburn, jitters, anxiousness... ugh.

Time to Switch to TEA!

*from my instagram* @jenursa

I was excited to see so many other ppl drinking their daily cuppas just like me.

It helps to find connections in things.

A connection a day keeps the depressions away!

And So...

Last week while basking in my luv of Tea, I decided to re-arrange our Drink Cart that we had thrown together at Thanksgiving so that it could be ready for Spring, and the continuing Tea for All ;-)

I take reference pics as I go, so my eye can scan for the problem areas.

Wherever my eye stops, I have to consider the flow of whats going on.

Tea goes in the cubby! There are some fall-winter faves still in there...
Not ready to put them away yet! So Gingery & Cinnamony!!!

The Glasses & Mugs are under now...

When they were inside the cubby they rattled every time someone walked thru the kitchen...

And it looks nice... Two birds, one stone....

Mega amounts of extra coffee and cocoa are hidden in the cubbard!

From above there are the Openers.... All the Openers....

Hubby Rocked this BMIY yesterday, screwing in the Vintage Bottle Opener he got as a Wedding Gift last year & Lovely Cap Catcher Magnet I got him at Xmas to catch the caps ;-)

Extra Teas, and the ones that need their boxes bc they don't have the lux envelope & string/tag going for them.... We feel bad for these Teas. Sad Teas... lol.