// Chevron LOVE//

I love chevrons. You know, the chevron pattern that’s in style right now, yes? Here are two of my favorite examples:

// Quick Dresser Makeover//

Turn a normal old white dresser into something new! If you don’t have the time to re-paint it or don’t have the money to invest in cute new knobs.. here’s a solution - simply replace each knob with fabric that you love from an old bag, shirt, skirt, or jacket. I cut mine from an old beach bag that I never use [because i never go to the beach!]. Cut the strips of fabric pretty thick so that you have a good size handle, stick each end inside the holes, and tie them as tight as desired. Here’s how mine turned out:

// Daddy Daughter Date//

I took a vacation from work this week, so I’ve been chillin at my parents house in Charlottesville, VA, my hometown since fourth grade! Although I don’t live in Charlottesville now, I call it home because it’s the place I remember the most. There are so many local businesses around here that I love, & look forward to going to when I come home. Today, dad & I actually went on a little date to some local antique stores to check out what sort-of finds we could discover there. I thought I’d share our experience with you, since antiquing is one of my favorite things to do! & a lot of the things that I find while antiquing end up either being used in some way as part of a crafty project OR put in my house somewhere, OR sometimes even both!

Our plethora of finds came from my favorite local antique store called Circa.

I’ve been going here for years & it has continued to expand as it increases in popularity. Every time I visit I think there is an added property further & further down the row of storefront properties. They may as well buy out the whole building already! Who knows, maybe they have? At any rate, here was our fabulous first find:

Okay, so we definitely didn’t buy this chair. But I thought it was pretty neat! Imagine sitting on this thing!

I actually came out with these:

From top to bottom, left to right: Small round silhouette frame - $4; doilies - $1 each; vintage clock - $10; vintage paintings of women - $35 for pair; antique decorative spoon, $1

I’m not 100% sure what I’ll do with each of these great pieces that I found, but you can be sure that almost none of them will look like this when I’m through making them over! You’ll just have to wait & see what I create! I’d say this was a successful daddy-daughter date, coming out with seven great project pieces for only $41!

Afterwards, dad & i made a couple more stops at some local stores. As I attempted to turn on the car to drive ourselves home, my car wouldn’t start. What a nightmare! Good thing dad was there to save the day. We called mom & she came with dad’s care to jumper-cable my car going. It worked! I’ll finish this off with a little picture of how our daddy-daughter date ended:

Have any questions about or need some ideas for what to look for at antique stores or flea markets? You’ve come to the right place. Send me your questions or concerns at jilliannjiggz@gmail.com & I’ll be sure to answer them in a blog post! Ciao!

// An Accessorized View//

If you know me, you know that I LOVE fashion. I love to create unique outfits full of color, pattern, & lots & lots of accessories. When I moved into my new place just a few months ago, I realized that I needed a new system for all of my jewelry. If you accumulate lots of it like I do, you appreciate a good system where it’s not only easy to access, but also something that keeps it safe & untangled. Of course, if you love interior decorating & being crafty as well, then you also want to design something pretty & use it as a way for you to display it. You’d want something original.. creative.. & space conscious if you live in a tiny town house like I do. So, what do you come up with? Well, I don’t know how creative your juices are, but I’ll give you an idea if you need help.

How about using this old window for a necklace holder?

How to: First you’ll have to purchase one of these great old windows. You can find them at flea markets, antique warehouses, or estate sales. Sometimes you can find them with the glass already removed from the frame, but if not, you’ll want to break all the glass out of each window pane.  You can do that by covering the pane in a thick old towel, & using a hammer or mallot to break the glass. Make sure you do this outside or in a place where you can easily clean up any loose shards of glass. Most of the broken glass should go into the towel if you wrap the window tight enough, but you should take precautions just in case.

After the glass is all broken, the next step is to sand & paint the window frame. I like to keep all of the old hardware in the window because it gives it a little more flare. First you’ll want to sand off the old paint job on the frame if it is chipping or peeling. Most frames will probably have at least one layer of old paint on it. If the paint seems fairly new or isn’t chipping or peeling off, you really only have to wash it thoroughly & prime it with a nice new coat of white primer. If the paint is old & chippy, you will have to sand it down. Sandpaper is a tricky thing to figure out, however. You’ll need to use a more coarse grit of sandpaper if there is a thicker coat of paint that needs to be removed. If the paint is already mostly gone & you just need to smooth out some imperfections, a finer grit of sandpaper is appropriate for that situation. For a Sandpaper 101 course, visit this link.

Now, after you’ve sanded down the window, you’ll want to prime it with a white primer. You’ll want to do this outside, as the fumes from any kind of spray paint are harmful to your health. I use a spray primer by Valspar. It’s easy to just spray on, wait about 15 minutes for it to dry, & then you’re ready to spray on the next layer of paint. Your primed [or cleaned] window frame should then look something like this:

Now you just have to figure out what color you want to paint your window frame! I use Krylon’s Craft & Decor paint, but you can find craft spray paint at any local craft store in or around the wood working section. Once you’ve chosen a color, you can spray away! I recommend doing at least 2 coats of paint, although you can play it by ear as far as how dark you want your color to be & how thick the paint is staying to your frame.

Guess what?!? Now you’ve gotten to the last step: top coat! I use a spray clear polyurethane coating, again by Krylon. One coat of this stuff should do the trick! Once it dries, you’re then safe to hang your frame!

Hanging your new necklace display can be sort of tricky. You cannot hang it flat to the wall, because you need easy access to all of your necklaces. Depending on if you are a homeowner or a renter will also determine how you hang your new organizer. Since I rent I can’t put in huge holes in the wall, so I used two small metal hooks to hook the frame into. The hooks end up being about a half an inch away from the wall, so they worked out perfectly. You can use whichever type of nail or picture hanging tool that suits your situation the best, but make sure you leave at least a half an inch of room between the frame & the wall so that you can close your necklace around the top & center beams in the window frame without taking it off of the wall every time. My final product ended up looking like this:

How to hang: I put the thickest side of the window on the top so that I could hang my longer necklaces from there & have less of the necklace hanging over the center beam. The shorter necklaces I hang from the center beam & they don’t go over the bottom beam of the frame. It looks gorgeous & I can easily add on new necklaces as I collect them.

As soon as I finished this & hung it up, my roommates immediately noticed it & each want to make one of their own as well! I hope you enjoy this project as much as I do & make it fit into your home like mine does so well! Happy crafting!

// Wreathing it UP//

The more you get to know me, the more you’ll understand my obsession for empty frames. I have quite a large collection of frames, some that I have painted & hung on the wall in my home, & others that I’m saving for a rainy day. I had a beautiful empty frame collecting dust in my basement ever since I bought it. I hung it on the wall about a month ago because we needed a big piece for over our couch in the living room. It settled fine there, but I kept thinking that it just needed something. I knew it wasn’t going to stay empty for long.

A few weeks ago I bought a cheap $5 wreath at Michaels. I had this ‘aha!’ moment when I saw the wreath on sale that I needed to make a wreath & hang it in the frame. Quite a simple idea, in fact, & just as simple to execute as well! Here’s how I did it:

First, I gathered these simple ingredients (or supplies), all from Michaels. Of course mychoice for crafty supplies because there are 2 within a ten mile radius of my home, so that when one store is out of something, I usually can go to the other to get it. The ingredients consist of:

1 wreath - whatever size is desired
4 sprigs of faux winter berries - in this case I used white & red
1 spool of fat ribbon
& any other special decor you desire 

First off, you will want to cut each individual stem of the berry sprigs. Leave the stems fairly long. They should look like this:

Since the sprigs are fake, it will be easy to spread them out around the wreath by folding the wire stems around various pieces of the wreath. You should spread them out fairly evenly, yet randomly. Make sure they are wrapped around pieces of the wreath securely, as it is easy for them to fall out if you don’t wrap them tight enough. After the berries are all securely in place, guess what?!? You are halfway done!

The next step is to make a floral bow with the ribbon you picked out. The thicker the width of the ribbon, the better, I think. You can click here to find out how to make a floral bow. Once you have completed your floral bow, secure it to the bottom of your wreath with a string, twist tie, or piece of wire. Make sure you’ve centered it where you’d like it to go!

After the bow is in place, you may add any additional embellishments of your choice. I chose some silver clip-on butterflies for my wreath, to add a feminine, modern touch to a classic Christmas wreath. After all the finishing touches have been made, it’s time to hang your wreath! I hung mine with some thin braided silver ribbon that I had laying around & got some help making the length of the wreath centered in the frame. You can simply tie the wreath to the frame in a typical bow at the desired length. My finished project looked like this!

Afterwards I realized that this was just what my frame needed to make it perfect for the wall space above the couch. This is the first thing you see when you walk into our home! My roommates & I decided that I’m going to make a different wreath for every season so that we always have a festive wreath in that very spot. You better be sure that I’m going to post each of those wreaths too! So look out!

// Welcome!//

Recently my roommates & I threw a Christmas party at our house. At one point during the party, I overheard two of our guests chatting up our pad in a corner. One of them said, “gosh, what do they do all day.. sit around & make things?” I thought to myself, “why yes, we do. after work of course!”

I’ve been meaning to start a crafty blog for a while now & I thought that now, while I’m on vacation from work for a week, I should take the time to do just that. So here it is! Welcome! Now instead of jealously gawking over all the unique, creative, & crafty things that I make, you can do it all yourself! You’ll get insight as to the projects I’m working on, the thought behind each item, & after time I may even add giveaways to this whole deal! So share my blog with your friends, pin my entries on pinterest, & comment to let me know you’re reading! Then the next time I have you over, you can see for yourself every item that I (or my roommates) create, in the flesh!

I hope you enjoy & that this blog inspires your very own crafty ventures. So long.. for now!

~Jillian