First A Dream: Ideas and Tips

So many great ideas... so little time to try them out.

BLOGGING

Shabby Blogs - lots of tutorials
How to Make a Blog Header for Free - using Picasa
Trick Out Your Blog - My 3 Monsters - lots of tricks and links to great how-tos

SEWING

From Confessions of a Curbshopaholic - laundry bin liner and shopping cart liner

Slipcovers - from Much To Do With Nothing

New Tool To Make PERFECT Pleats!- Much To Do With Nothing

How to Make Perfect Piping by Jeanette Peel - includes notes about shrinking the cord if it's not preshrunk
Tips on Making Slipcovers with Dropcloths at Miss Mustard Seed - includes tips on bleaching and preparing the fabric!
Easy Pinch-Pleat Drapes - Bibidi Bobbiti Beautiful
How to Sew Custom Piping at Miss Mustard Seed
How to Make Your Own Piping at Is Five
How to Sew Expensive Looking Professional Lined Drapes in a Day - About.com
The Laziest Slipcover Tutorial Ever - Pink and Polka Dot
Wingchair Slipcover - La Maison Reid also see her slipcovered settee
Depressionistas: Hardware Store Costuming at The Duchess - Using Items from the Hardware Store for Sewing

Cottage Glamour bleached an old denim slipcover and turned it into a gorgeous white denim slipcover!

Crochet and Knitting

How to Make A Crocheted Cup Cozy - Just Make It: Handmade by Annabelle


Crocheted Water Bottle Cozy - from Fin	e Craft Guild

In the Kitchen

Dehydrating Tomatoes at Home

Furniture Makeovers

Furniture Redo 101 - Notes from A Cottage Industry
Robin's Egg Blue Paint Recipe - Notes from A Cottage Industry
Liquid Starch Book Pages - Notes from A Cottage Industry
How to Mix Your Own Chalkboard Paint - My Repurposed Life
How to Reupholster a Chair - Just a Girl
Reupholstering a Bench - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Using vaseline and cabinet scrapers to distress from Show and Tell

Adding moulding, plus using dark primer by Show and Tell

Coffee Table Turned into Window Seat - from Peppertowne

Mod Podged Bar Stools - form the Crafting Chicks

Chair Redo and Trim - from Just Beachy

As seen on Junk Market Style

Vintage 7up Crate + Legs + Scrap Wood = Plant Stand or wherever you need a little something! I had this vintage crate in my antique booth for over a year, took it home and added some legs that I found at an estate sale that were already painted white and then constructed a lower shelf with some door stop trim and some scrap cedar strips I had in the basement. I distressed the legs and added the red stripes then painted over the scrap wood and distressed some more. I've had this idea in my head forever and it only took one day to complete!

Easel Made from Crib - from Notes From A Very Red Kitchen

French Country Chairs - from No Minimalist Here

Tabletop with A Story - from Funky Junk

Rocker Redo One and Two - from Peppertowne

Painting tips from Jennifer Rizzo - (She's been featured in tons of magazines) Click here to see her furniture makeovers.

I finish every piece with two to five coats of [Minwax] Polyacyclic after painting. It hardens into a plastic coating on the top of the furniture to protect the surface, unlike a paste wax; which will always stay a little soft, or wears away with use... The spray kind is really user friendly. I will tell you to use the kind of safety googles ( and a mask!) that leave marks on your face when you spray it ( not the “glasses kind”). It really burns for a long time when you get it in your eyes. Believe me.
A little tip is that paint fully cures in 30 days and is most susceptible to dings and scratches in that time.
I used Benjamin Moore in Jet black and Rich Cream. I also use an eggshell paint finish, it blends much better as along as you don’t over roll it… and yes I said roll. I only use a brush for hard to reach places. Otherwise I use a small white, dense foam roller for every surface. If you want a shinier finish get your poly in a different sheen, not your paint. To darken my creams I go over them with glaze or stain.

Painting Tip from French Hen Farm:

I painted it a pretty taupe-y grey color, distressed it, glazed it and gave it a couple coats of poly. I changed a couple of the knobs (yes, hobby lobby), but actually thought the old ones looked better on it after, than they did before. Degloss, paint, paint again, sand, glaze, poly, sand, poly... It takes about a week to complete a piece. But I love the results!

MISC

How to Whiten Ironstone - Red Door Home
How to Sell on Ebay - Goodbye House, Hello Home - great inspiration on organizing sales and supplies
How to Make Paper Covered Clipboards - Ameroonie