Homemade Photo Paper

I discovered this method of photo printing because I am disorganized, forgetful, always in a rush and I hate going to the store for only one thing.

It was a Saturday when my husband and I were going to get our one year anniversary pictures taken. I wanted to do a cute picture I had seen on Pinterest, where you are holding your picture from the year before. Like THIS. I want to continue to the five year mark, but the only thing I can't wrap my head around is once we get to that point, is the final picture going to be so big it covers the wall? I mean, you want to be able to see all of the pictures in one, so it's going to have to get bigger...I guess we will see in four more years.

Being a late afternoon on a Saturday, I was covered in paint, had sawdust in my lungs and needed a sandblaster to get ready for our photo session. I rushed to the computer to print off a picture, looked all around...and no photo paper. I have like three packages of this stuff somewhere, and there was no limit to the cuss words I was yelling as I tore the house apart looking for it. I was just about to sit down in a corner and cry when I had an idea.

I showed y'all how I make my reusable transfer paper using wax paper, and I started thinking about the flip side of it. It feels a little different than regular paper, but would it work? At this point I had nothing to lose and I know where that stuff is, so I ran to get it.

I did it the exact way I make my transfer paper, only I used spray adhesive to glue the wax side to regular paper. Yes, I'm cheating and using the pics from the Sachet's post.

Cut it to fit the paper.

Then print. This is the picture side by side with the one printed on a plain sheet. The plain sheet pic is on the left, and my homemade photo paper is on the right...

You can see that the one on the right is darker and richer than just printing on plain paper. It has more of a vintage feel...if black and white can get more vintage. I haven't tried it on color yet. That is my next project, for when I print pics for my Gallery Wall. No, I still haven't gotten that up. I'm trying to figure out which of the 5,000 pictures I want up there.

This is our session! Thank you so much to Fading Moments Photography! All proceeds from this shoot went to the victims of the West explosion.

And P.S. I found my photo paper yesterday. It was in the hall closet, which I am in the process of turning into my craft closet. So technically, it was right where it was supposed to be. Isn't that always the last place you look?

I hope you enjoyed today's post. If so, leave some comment love! Y'all come back soon.

Cheers!
Jodi

How to Repair a Chipped Lamp

**I must preface this post by saying that this will work only if you plan to paint your lamps.

We got these 2 lamps on our road trip at a little place outside of Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge, TN. You are also getting a shot of our little farm house table in the making.

I don't know what it was about them, but I just thought they were so interesting. It was raining really hard and we had to do some adjusting in the truck to make them fit. My husband wasn't too happy with me at this point, but I was grinning from ear to ear at my find. This is how things were looking, and why the sour look on Mark's face...

At another stop, I got a good look at them and realized that each had a chip in them. They are huge, cumbersome, and I'm really surprised that they made it home with just the existing chips. I didn't get a pic of them with the hunks out because I didn't think at the time I would be writing about them. But here we are, and this is what I used...

I use this when I'm doing furniture that has a chip or a table that might have an uneven leg. It actually molds to wood and when it dries, you can sand it to the shape you need. I wasn't sure if it would work on ceramic and was excited to give it a try. It sticks.

You break off the amount you think you might need, then just work it with your fingers until it's a uniform color; about 45 seconds.

Excuse the bad pictures. It's hard doing this by yourself and taking pics at the same time.

Then you just put it in the spot you need. I try not to add much more than I think I need because that's just more sanding later. This one was missing almost a complete square in the weave.

Once it's dry (I gave it 24 hours because it was raining and humid) you just sand. I used 120 at first, then moved to 320 because I was actually sanding away at the lamp itself by this time.

This one had a huge chunk out of the bottom.

Then I primed and painted. Here is a close up of the fix. Down in the bottom right corner was the spot that had a piece out of the bottom. You can barely see a line where I didn't sand it down completely into the chip.

This is the weave square.

And here they are! I am thinking of adding two little lines of color at the very bottom of the shades. Maybe a dark turquoise...giving them a bit of the dishtowel effect? I don't know yet, but they look like they need something. Any ideas?

I hope this helps someone someday! I haven't tried this product on porcelain, but if anyone gives it a try, please let me know how it worked for you!

Y'all come back soon.

Cheers!
Jodi

Mother's Day Gift Idea: Drawer Sachet's

I'm back from vacation and have a bit of a vacation hangover! Lots of yard work had to be done this morning, laundry, grocery shopping. I feel like I'm walking around in a dream. I foolishly thought I'd be posting from the road, but we got started and I was having so much fun, staying busy, and looking at beautiful scenery that I just let it fall by the wayside. But, I took tons of pics and visited some very interesting places. I will share those in the next few months. I don't want to bore you with a bombardment of my 2 weeks on the road.

I also realized on the road, that I forgot to add the grand total savings of the Back Yard Reveal. I have updated that.

I do want to show you a super easy Mother's Day gift idea using what I had around the house. Pretty smelling drawer sachet's!

I used these bags my husband had for parts or something in the garage.

I found some pretty graphics from The Graphics Fairy and printed them on a wax paper transfer I made. I learned how to do this years ago. There are tons of transfer ideas online, but this is how I do it. Reusable transfer paper:

I take a plain piece of paper and spray adhesive on it. Let it dry for a few seconds. Then I lay wax paper (paper side sticking to it-and shiny side up).

Get the bubbles out by just spreading them with your fingers. Then trim it to the size of the paper.

                                       

I had used this piece of paper as a practice sheet to make sure my measurements were right upon print. I use Faststone Image Viewer to edit and print graphics. I kept the image I printed up, so I would remember that side goes up when I put it in the printer, and the wax side is down.

I used my hand and got a few drops of water to spread on the bag. You can use a sprayer, but gently dab the fabric with a cloth after you spray, because you want it to be barely damp. Too much water will make the image blurry. Then I printed my image.

Carefully place your image where you want it on your bag. Rub the image with the back of a spoon, and carefully lift the paper off. Voila!

Now, you can use a damp cloth to erase your image from the wax. Dry it off immediately. Too much water can separate the wax from the paper, then you have a mess.

Now you are ready to print again. I print my letters and other small things in the upper corner so I have more control over where it's placed. I printed a backwards B, also from The Graphics Fairy.

And then I burnished the B the same way I did the image.

Now you fill your bags with about 1/2 cup of smell goods. I use Purex Crystals in my laundry. They smell wonderful, and make your clothes smell good for weeks! I have some in my drawers, and I'm going on 2 months of them still making my clothes smell freshly washed. It is also helping to rid that 'new dresser smell' I couldn't get rid of before.

Right now, I'm on purple...but the blue or yellow are great too.

I use these bags for my jewelry when I'm traveling, as well. The large one is dedicated for that.

Tie them with pretty ribbon and put them in a cute basket. Add a candle and bath salts, and done!

                           

This isn't my best basket decorating work. I was in a hurry...as always. But, I hope I gave you a good last minute gift idea for Mom! Y'all enjoy your day with her, and come back soon.

Cheers!

Jodi

Back Yard Reveal!

I woke up to an email this morning that said 'Ain't you done with that yard yet? I want to see those cobblestones.' That made me giggle. Well, Diane...here it is! Finally! I was debating on how I should do this. A bunch of before's and a bunch of after's? Or, one at a time before and after. I like the instant gratification of the latter, so I think we'll go with that, then give the final result at the very end.

In Outside Improvements pt1, I introduced the list of everything that needed to get done in the back yard. I also showed you the little courtyard off the deck, the cobblestone mold from Lowe's and the concrete fire columns. In Outside Improvements pt2, I showed you how I made the A/C screen and everything I planted. None of those bulbs in the courtyard have come up yet, by the way.

 Keep your eye on that block window. I'll show you that in a bit.

In Outside Improvements pt3, I showed you our 'under $300 deck addition' made from pallets. It remains my most popular and most read blog post to date. Beating out the kitchen renovation by hundreds of reads. I also showed you what became of the fire columns. I never did tell you what I painted them with, though. They got new glass candle holders, and I painted them with high gloss poly spray and then sprayed pearlized paint on them from Rustolium. It gives them a hint of silvery shine.

Outside Improvements pt4 was the pool liner and how we got the cheap looking shrubs out from around the pool area.

Outside Improvements pt5 was the Pallet Garden and finishing up.

Drum roll please!

There's still a tiny bit to do. We have to get the face front put back on the original part of the deck, on top of the top tier. (I ran out of deck paint.) We are also going to make a pergola to go over the top of the deck.

Next year, we will landscape around the fence line, adding trees, shrubs and mulch.

I made a slight oops putting the poly on the deck addition. When someone gets out of the pool and steps on it, they wind up busting their butt! So that will be getting some texture soon.

I want to thank everyone for all of the sweet comments and the encouragement!

On a personal note, I ask that this week you keep Waco/West in your prayers. The people who lost their lives in the West explosion were our friends, our neighbors, our family. The past week has been hell on this town and there are people that wish to make it worse. Westboro is in town to picket their services...something that hurts my heart deeply and saddens me greatly. On the flip side of that, I have never seen such dedication and a willingness to help in the face of such tragedy. The sense of community is strong and proud, and I'm proud to be a member of it.

UPDATE: I completely forgot to add the breakdown of the cost, and the cost was a huge part of why we did things the way we did. Here goes...

Plants around the pool: $150. A savings of over $200, if we had planted ones that were twice the size.

Deck: $285. A savings of $1,100, if we had gone with the Lowe's Deck Calculator and bought all the wood and supplies needed for a 14x10 deck.

Cobblestones: 24 bags of concrete, 1 mold from Lowe's-$134. A savings of $2000, if we had rented the equipment and bought real cobblestones.

9 bags of Sand for inbetween cobblestones: About $30

Stain for stones: $50

Grand total: $649...$49 over budget

Savings: $3,300 off the top, plus whatever labor would have been had we not done it ourselves.

The pool liner is not in this budget because that was another deal on its own. We knew it needed to be replaced, so that was set aside before. That was $2100 with labor.

 

Cheers!

Jodi