Creative Cats Tuesday!

First of all I just have to thank everyone for being so nice with all of your sweet comments. I hope you know how much I really do appreciate you and the time you take to stop in and say hi.  I am glad it's Tuesday so I can have a chance to return the favor and see what all ya'll have been working on this week.  I will be making a change with Creative Cats. Instead of every Tuesday it will be once every few weeks. I think that will help me to simplify a bit and give you a chance to work on some projects to share! The next Creative Cats Tuesday will be on June 30th.  

For my project o' the day I worked on a lamp table/magazine holder and decided to change it into a entry table/shoe holder.

 I sanded the crud out of it and painted it

uno 

dos 

tres times 

plus a little touch-up after that.  White paint is always a beast don't you think?  You have to put so many coats on to get rid of the little shadows of the underlying colors.  I tried really hard to find my round stamps to make some little birdies and I couldn't find them anywhere!! I'm kind of glad I didn't end up finding them because I was really pleased with how the vinyl ones turned out!  I just have to top it off with a clear varnish and it's ready to go head over to Poppy Ginger!

Now it's your turn for show & tell!! Impress us with your creativity!! Please link up a blog post URL and then leave me a comment so I can move your name and project to the main page for easy access.  If Mr. Linky is giving you troubles you can also post your URL directly in your comment.  After you have linked a project make sure and grab yourself a Creative Cat's button!! 

• Caro ~ Turns an old wooden sled into a an amazing decoration! You have to check it out!
• Brenbren ~ gives butterfly lamps a sweet new look!
• Mrs. Petrie~ creates a fabulous way to store all of your barrettes. If you have little girls this is a must see! Very cute!
• Becky~ Found a beautiful shelf on clearance & you're going to love how she decorated it!
• Hannah~ After seeing what she did with vinyl tile, you're going to want to run out and pick some up!!
• Stephanie~ Made the most adorable bookends I've ever seen!
• Jen from The Thrifty Home salvages old trophies and turns them into family treasures!
• Marilyn from Krafty Mum~ Turns a bookshelf into an outrageously cute dollhouse!
• Jeannine from Fireflies and Jellybeans~ Share a fun Father's Day gift to help organize the house!
• Dee~ Show us how to make a button ring that is sure to turn heads! Very cute and unique!
• Amy~ Makes over an end table! She turns it into something bright and fun!

* Don't forget to enter the giveaway hosted by Bedroomfurniture.com. The contest closes Wednesday night at 9:00 my time!!

Handmade hanging bookshelf~

Making a sofa table~

 I'd like to pretend that I had this project all planned out in my head, but I have to be honest. I had no idea what I was doing. I just kind of went with the flow.  My only goal was to create some sort of a sofa table without spending any money. I could only use what I could find in the garage.

I started with 4' ripped 2X4's. Painted them different colors and wiped them with stain.   

 Mostly for looks, I tacked a couple of cross beams to the top.

I used thinner boards to create a support box. The pieces are 45'' and 10'' long.

As luck would have it, I happened to have 4 legs that I bought in the AS-IS section of Ikea about a year ago. I had totally forgotten about them, so it was a pretty sweet surprise. The garage fairies must have been smiling down on me! The legs were only a buck a piece at the time, so I couldn't pass them up. I unscrewed the double sided screws with pliers and nailed the legs onto my table.

I wasn't really paying attention to the SIZE of the legs, which were countertop height. The table looked like a sick giraffe with those suckers, so I decided to add some more stuff.

I made 2 more boxes using the same measurements that I used for the first support box and tacked them around the legs.

Then I put a couple of 2X2's across the bottom to make a crate type of box.

All that was left was paint!

I was pretty excited that I could fit books inside of it:) That's handy.

Now I have a place to put a lamp, an extra bookshelf and I didn't have to spend a dime! 

Yay for wood shop/garage scraps!!!!

Wall Fix and Persian Rugs

Before I show you this next project..I think it's a good time to introduce the "Persian Rug Theory". Someone introduced me to this idea a few years ago and I think about it ALL the time when I make things. There are two lessons I've learned from Persian rugs. The first is that a fine Persian rug will always include intentional imperfections. An old Persian proverb says," A Persian rug is perfectly imperfect, and precisely imprecise." The proverb was derived from a religious belief that God is the only perfect being and that attempting absolute perfection would be claiming the position of the Almighty. Although my imperfections are never intentional, it always makes me smile to be reminded that I am imperfect, so I shouldn't get so down on myself when something that I'm making doesn't turn out perfectly. The second lesson I learn from the Persian rugs is that initially they were used simply as necessities for the Nomads, protecting them from the harsh cold elements yet they had bright colors and magical designs that were also a form of literary expression. They brought happiness and enchantment to tent homes of desert wanderers. I find it absolutely fascinating that they found it worth while to take a necessity and make it beautiful and inviting. I also think about that as I am decorating my home. It is a functional thing, but why not try and make it as enchanting as possible.

I'll start with the good news!! We got our vinyl cutter in the mail yesterday!! The problem was that we didn't have anywhere to put it that it would be safe from little hands. The Amazing Joe figured out how to rearrange the loft in a way that satisfies both functionality and fashion. Unfortunately he had to move a large bookshelf which unveiled large gaping holes in the wall from a previous project.

It was even more unfortunate to find that I didn't have any of that paint color left. I really wasn't in the mood to repaint the whole room so I had an idea to paint large green diamonds that were strategically placed to cover the holes.

Of course it doesn't help that I HATE to measure things. I am definitely an "eye ball" kind of girl which really didn't serve me well yesterday. It turned out alright, as long as you don't study it too much....So don't study it too much:)

I actually liked the pattern and really would have liked to continue the pattern up the wall, but at that point it would have been painfully obvious that I didn't measure, so I had to stop. Ahhh well, maybe I'll put in the extra effort next time to try and make it perfect...until then I'll just have to enjoy my precisely imprecise design!

Need something to inspire you today? Check out The Inspired Room