A Birthday Corsage

Okay lovelies. Today I am going far off the beaten path and showing you how to make a corsage. I know, I know, it's so not at all decor related, but I love to play around with flowers and I have done flowers for a handful of weddings and special occassions, so I wanted to share. Just a disclaimer that I do not claim to be a floral expert! I do my best, though!

This weekend is Mr. Mel's grandmothers 75th birthday. Her kids (all 12 of them) are throwing her a birthday tea and asked if I would do some centrepieces and a birthday corsage for her. I LOVE Granny, she is an amazing woman, so I was only too happy to help make her day extra special!

I will show you the finished centrepieces next week but, for now, here is how I made her birthday corsage.

You'll need:

• floral wire
• floral tape
• wire snips
• sharp scissors or floral sheers
• a corsage pin (you can also use a regular pin with a round top)
• flowers and filler
• ribbon

Because Granny is seriously the brightest personality I have ever met, I wanted to use fun flowers for her corsage. I chose Gerber Daisies, and will use baby's breath as filler.

I started by cutting the stems to the desired length (1" - 2" depending on their placement). I cut two 4" - 4 1/2" lengths of floral wire. I inserted the floral wire through the daisy stem so they criss-crossed each other.

Next I bent the wires so they were facing down. This will allow you to bend your stem slightly so the bloom faces forward from the corsage.

Next step is to cut your filler to short lengths and prepare any ribbon accents that will be used. Ribbon is a great accent, and I use it alot in flowers. For this corsage, I simply wrapped a very narrow ribbon around my fingers and then tied it off with a short piece of floral wire.

Great! Now we get to put it all together! This can be a finicky process, but once you get the hang of the floral tape, you are off to the races! Floral tape is not sticky, but it sticks to itself - does that make any sense? The trick is to stretch it slightly to get a nice tight wrap.

I start with my main flower (the one with two wires in it). I wrap it with tape from the bottom up, inserting my filler and ribbon as I go. Last step is to curl the bottom. I use small pliers and spin it to get a nice ringlet.

Stick the pin in the back and you have a lovely corsage for the birthday girl!

Thanks for visiting and have a Happy Easter!

My Just-for-Show Bench

The idea of having a decor item for its sheer decorative value is a concept completely lost on Mr. Mel. In a perfect world, every item in a room would have a purpose but, let’s face it, sometimes we just like things to be pretty.

This piece started its life as a coffee table. But I didn’t need a coffee table. I needed a bench. So, now it’s a bench. Yeh, it’s that easy. Mr. Mel doesn’t understand this. He is confused and I am tired of trying to explain it to him. Moving on...

This was actually part of a set of three tables, two of which I used to make night stands for our bedroom.

I figured I’d stick with the same idea here. I removed the glass then primed it with Kilz (this piece also had brass corners so I made sure to prime these with a metal primer I had leftover from my night stand project).

I gave it two coats of CIL Lovely Lisa leftover from my night stand project.

Then glazed it with leftovers (CIL Black Mica and faux glaze) from the night stand project and topped it with a coat of Varethane.

To make the bench seat, I cut a piece of mdf to the size I needed (18" x 54"). I covered it in 2” high density foam, batting, and fabric. Note to self: do not buy foam by guesstimating the size you need or you *will not* buy enough - not that I would know from experience!

To make the fabric cover for the seat, I cut 4 pieces of fabric 1" wider and 2 1/2" longer than the sides of the foam. I cut the top piece of fabric 1" wider and 1" longer than the foam.  These measurements will allow me a 1/2" seam allowance and enough fabric to wrap around the bottom of the seat. I pinned and sewed the side pieces together, end to end, creating a big loop. Then I ironed open my seams.

Mr. Mel thinks it's pretty funny that I insist on a bare foot to work the sewing machine pedal. It's an odd habit I started back in grade 8 home ec, and now I can't seem to get past it! (Yes, that is an iguana tattoo on my foot. Perhaps not the smartest thing I've ever done...)

With right sides facing, I pinned the loop I just made to the top piece I cut out earlier.

When  got to the corners, I pinned on each side of the corner, then pinned the fabric at the 45 degree angle where the fabric met. Then I folded the corner down (so it kinda resembled a cone shape), and pinned across all layers of fabric. When you sew this, you will sew diagonally across the corner.

Once it was all sewn together, I trimmed the excess fabric from my corners, and ironed the seams open. I fit the seat cover over the foam and batting and stapled the excess fabric to the bottom of the seat (just like I did for my headboard project). I attached the seat to the frame from the underside using small L-brackets leftover from my closet organizer install.

All done! Do I think we will ever use this bench? Maybe not. But it will look great at the foot of my bed!

Cost breakdown for this project:
$25 for the table
$0 for paint
$0 for glaze
$12 for fabric
$57 for batting and foam (I opted for the really dense foam so it cost a bit more)
$0 for mdf (I found this in my garage. Where it came from, I have no clue)
Total cost $94

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Headboard Tufting 101

Have you ever started a project and thought, "This is gonna be so easy it should be a crime"? Then got halfway through it and thought, "Why, oh why, did I think I could do this?!". Yeh, me too. Luckily, this project started off easy and ended easy. It really made me feel like a superstar!

I give you, the making of a button tufted headboard...

The time has come to tackle my master bedroom. I am big believer that the bedroom is a place of refuge, and should be plush, relaxing, and comfortable. My bedroom was none of those things. So let's start with the bed.

Our bed is currently a queen size. Eventually, Mr. Mel would like to upgrade to a king, so I made the headboard big enough to accommodate that size. I started off by cutting a piece of plywood to 76" x 48". I wanted 6 buttons, so I measured out their locations (every 19" horizontally, and 12" vertically) and used a small bit to drill holes through the board.

I ironed my fabric and laid it (right side down) on the floor. I laid my batting over that. Then 1" foam, that I covered in spray adhesive. On top of that I laid my board. **I made sure that each material extended about 2" beyond the edge of the board so it could be wrapped around the edge of the board to create a soft edge**

Using a staple gun (an electric staple gun is a life saver on a project like this), I stapled the fabric to the back of the board starting at the centres of each side then working your way around. When you get to the corners, fold them like you would wrap a present and staple them in place. Make sure that you get the fabric nice and taut while you're doing this. When you're done, trim the excess fabric and padding.

Next up...tufting! I bought a button kit so I could cover my buttons in the same fabric as my headboard. Just follow the 'sructions on the package to make these. Using a fine wire (or upholstery thread), and an upholstery needle, thread it through the holes drilled in the board (start at the back of the headboard) making sure to leave a few inches of wire at the back. Once it's through the front, thread your button on and feed the needle through the front where the button will sit, back through the hole. Using pliers, give the wire a good tug. Be careful not to use bare fingers...the wire can easily slice and no good can come of that! Loop or tie the wire to a nail or washer to hold it in place.

Now you're done! To hang the headboard, I plan to use d-rings. They are super strong and not bulky. You can pick them up at any home centre.

Cost breakdown for this project:
$12 for plywood
$3 for d-rings
$75 for fabric
$4 for button kit
$40 for batting and foam
Total cost = $124

Clever Countertop

I linked up...





I needed a countertop over my washer and dryer. The existing countertop in the laundry room is Caesar Stone Quartz, but at $1,500 there was no way that I could afford to install a slab of quartz as large as I needed. After a few quotes, I realized that it was going to cost me $250-$300 for laminate in the size I needed. Uhm, noooooo.

I picked up a slab interior passage door at Home Depot. It was 32" deep which was perfect, but I needed to cut down the length to make it fit. A circular saw made quick work of it (make sure you stick painters or masking tape to the door where you plan to make the cut so the door doesn’t splinter). And remember, measure twice, cut once!

The door came already primed so I did a base coat of leftover white paint from my pine dresser project.

Next I grabbed a bottle of grey craft paint and diluted it with a few drops of water and white paint in an effort to get the colour as close as possible to the existing countertop. To make the small specs, I dipped an old bristly paint brush in and, with a flick of the wrist (literally) applied it to the door. After all was dry, I gave it a light sanding and gave it 4 coats of Varethane, sanding a bit between coats.

I measured and marked the wall at 39 1/2" (make sure you have a bit of clearance above the washer and dryer for air flow) and mounted pieces of 2x2 lumber to the wall studs with deck screws – hey, use what you’ve got! I painted the lumber with leftover wall colour (these won't be seen, so they can be rough - like mine - ha ha).

I used construction adhesive on the tops of the wall braces and set the door on top. I grabbed some weights from the basement and set them on top while the adhesive set. Then I taped off the wall and countertop and finished the edges that met the wall with white caulking to give it a more finished look and fill in any gaps.

 I think it looks great! And it's a pretty close match to the existing countertop...yay!

Here is a cost breakdown for this project:
$32 for the door
$0 for lumber...I scrounged for scraps at a nearby construction site
$0 for screws
$1 for craft paint
$0 for construction adhesive
$0 for caulking
Total cost = $33

Farmer Mel Part 2

It's time to finish this puppy! See Part 1 of this project here.

I gave the table base and legs a coat of Kilz primer, followed by a coat of a light taupe-y colour mistint from Home Depot. With a *very* light touch I rubbed a brown glaze on all the corners (and anywhere it might naturally show dirt or wear) and finished with a coat of Varathane to protect it.

In order to distress the table top, I beat the snot out of it with a hammer, chain, a chisel and - if you can believe it - a meat tenderizer! This is a great step when you need to get out some pent up anger! Grrrr! Once I was satisfied, I went over it with sandpaper to take off any burrs or slivers.

To achieve the finish, I used gave the entire top a coat of a "white"wash made with leftover mustard yellow paint to give the pine boards a golden base. Then I gave it a coat of Minwax stain in Gunstock, used a small brush and a rag and used leftover gel stain in Walnut to darken the edges of all the boards, and gave it a top coat of the Gunstock stain. Basically I just played around with it til it looked like I wanted it to. To finish the top I gave it 5 coats of Varathane (I sanded with a fine grit sandpaper between coats).

I debated putting a coat of wax on the top but, while wax can smooth out imperfections and protect against minor abrasions, it can also attract dust and other floaties...definitely something you don't want on a surface that you plan to serve food on! Yuckers!

Honestly, I am a wee bit disappointed in how the stainable wood filler took the stain. I have tried several different brands, but none give me the finish I'm looking for. Hmmm, maybe I'll make my own! ::Mr. Mel grumbles in the background::

Anyhoodles, here's my finished farmhouse table! I am thrilled (to say the least). I would do a cartwheel if I didn't think it would end in disaster! The best part about this project is that I don't have to feel guilty about replacing or changing it if trends change. At this price, I can change it out whenever I want!

Here is the breakdown of costs for this project:
$103 for lumber and table legs
$0 for screws
$3 for paint
$0 for stain (leftovers)
$0 for Varathane
Total Cost = $ 106