Dresser Makeover



Here is the old original 30-something-year-old dresser

Here is the new and improved version....

My mom and dad bought this dresser for me when I was 6 years old (EEE GADS!! that means more than 30 years ago!!)  I have continued to use it in one form another this entire time.  But lately I have considered painting the ole thing.  Finally, when I got an unexpected day off on Friday (and after hunting that morning -- saw 5 deer, 4 bucks, 1 ABSOLUTE shooter who wouldn't come in any closer than 40 yards...), I couldn't hold back any longer.  I used Valspar indoor/outdoor ivory spray paint.  I taped off the top and kept it in its original condition.  I would like new hardware -- but don't have any yet -- so I just returned the original hardware for now.  What do you think...a little better?  I am happy with it for my first try at this sort of thing -- I think I am hooked on painting furniture...

Possibly Linking to


Tater Tots and Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming, It's So Very Cheri, Trash to Treasure, Someday Crafts, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Suzy's Artsy Crafty Sitcom

New Sign for "Grissoms' Garage"

After making my other "Grissom" sign out of a piece of this pallet, I told Paul I wanted to make a sign for his garage -- he was all for it and immediately began to come up with ideas of what we would do.  So between the two of us we came up with the design and layout (I gotta say -- I don't normally think of spattering blood on things I create -- that was a total Paul idea -- but one that really turned out great for the theme of our garage). 

Unfortunately, I had trouble getting a good clear picture of it all... other than the Grissoms' Garage title, it says "Just Passin' Thru'" with deer tracks and "blood" spattered on the right lower corner of the boards.  The Just Passin' Thru phrase (for those of you who don't know) is a play on the pass-thru of an arrow when we shoot as well as a play on all the people who just pass thru our garage from time to time. 

We are SOOOO excited to begin another GREAT deer season beginning tomorrow!!  Hope I can get some sleep tonight with all the excitement!!

More Pallet Craftiness

Here is another wood pallet I pulled from the dumpster.  I decided to make a piece with our name on it to hang in our diningroom.  I printed Grissom on cardstock using a large block font.  I then cut out each individual letter (I didn't have any stencils that would work, so just did this in the night time when I was winding down from the day).  After careful measuring, I taped it to the wood pallet where I wanted it.  I then took some craft paint and kind of sponged it on. 

First I did it in green but decided it wasn't bright enough.  So then I used a muted yellow and am happy with that.  I had Paul cut this bottom board from the rest of it and now I just need to hang it up.  I have another crafty project in the works for the other two pieces -- Paul and I are creating that one together and I will post it when it is complete.

Linked up to:  By Stephanie Lynn's blog and Made by Heidi and Finding Fabulous by Decor Mamma

Subway Art - Soap Pump Makeover

This was featured at Childmade!!

I was so sick of looking at my little soap pumps on my sink...I have never had any luck with buying the "fancier" looking pumps -- they never seem to last for me, and I actually had one or two that didn't work from the start -- so I buy these cheapies, refill them constantly, and they last for years.  Anyway - I decided it was time they looked a little fancier...
Here is what they looked like to begin with -- I know, I can't believe these have been on my sink this long...

First I cut the outside label off.
Then Skyler and I picked out some spray paint from my stash and painted them, one hammered black and one hammered gray/silver.
After they dried I applied some rub-on letters I had previously bought for scrapbooking
and........Waa laa!  Spectacular? No.  Better?  Yes -- and free to boot.

I like the Subway Art look --

The G on this one stands for Grissom, or Ginger, however you want to look at it  :)

Pallet Pumpkin Tutorial -- A Free Craft

After recently having done some more of my famous "dumpster diving" with a friend, we came across this pallet (along with some other finds I hope to do something with later). 

There is lots of craftiness across blogland lately where old wood is transformed into a pumpkin -- and I thought this would be perfect!!  I Love pumpkin decor items because you can display them for such a long time.  Since I am in dire need of more fall decorations and wanted to do it on the cheap -- that makes me resourceful.  Check out Someday Crafts to see where I got my inspiration to even try this...  Here is my materials list:

Dumpster Pallet

Craft Paint
Raffia

Other than the Pallet (which I stole from the dumpster) everything else was in our stash of crafts so the entire project was essentially free -- just the kind of craft I love!

I got out Paul's power tools (gotta love 'em) and started cutting.  I knew the basic shape I was going for and I knew I needed to leave enough board on the backside to hold it all together

I then got out my paints (Skyler helped me on this part).  We had green for the "stem" but didn't have any orange -- sooooo -- I mixed red and marigold together and thought the color turned out pretty perfect.  I spread the paint on pretty thin as I wanted the finished product to look antiqued as opposed to being polished, which is so not me.


To finish it all off I used a sander to distress and soften the edges a bit.

Below is a little pumpkin I made from some of the scraps.  This little guy is perfect for inside!  I used the same basic premise but used some wire to make the "lines" of the pumpkin and some scrap material for the "stem."

Linked up to:  Hoo's Got Talent

and Someday Crafts and U-Create Crafts and Remodelaholic and Fingerprints on the Fridge

Featured at the Jon Walters Family Blog 

Scrapbooking Alphabet Letters

Be one of the first to use these awesome letters for your scrapbook layouts!!  Check the whole set out at my Etsy Shop Here -- You will receive a full set of all of the letters of the alphabet PLUS extras of some of the letters we use most often.

Vintage Grainsack Pillows in my Etsy Shop

Check out my latest Etsy sales here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/EskayArt.

NEW! Solar lamp available at my Etsy shop

Here is a picture of my latest run. I am going to start making these solar lamps and either selling them at my Etsy Shop or just giving them as gifts. If you know me well - you know I have a fear of my house burning down. Because of this I decided that the next best thing would be to have a little lamp/lantern/nightlight that could be placed just about anywhere - give the effect of a flame or nightlight -- without fear of fires.

These actually throw out quite a bit of light -- and mine was still glowing this morning until the sun came up. The fact that the batteries are recharged daily by the sun and are therefore energy efficient just makes it all the better. I think these would make great wedding reception centerpieces...

Advent Stockings

I had planned on posting this earlier but haven't had much down time lately. This year I started a new fun tradition for Skyler. It is simple. I bought 10 Christmas socks and used numbered clothespins to attach each one to a piece of string. As we count down the last 10 days until Christmas - - Skyler gets to open a "stocking" each day. I just put a simple item in each sock but Skyler is really excited to receive them! It is something fun that seems to extend our Christmas celebration. Thanks Ali for your inspiration on this one!!

My latest venture

In addition to rabbit hunting today with Paul and Skyler (nope, we weren't successful - only got to see one rabbit who was too wiley for us) we got to spend a good port of a beatiful day enjoying the timber. We love being able to "see" where all of the critters have been - because of the snow.


While Paul went bow hunting for deer tonight I worked on my latest venture. The natural expansion of my photo art is that now I have been matting and framing people's pictures/artwork they would like to hang in their home. Here are some I have been working on and I have about ten more to do (sorry for the awful pic - I took this tonight with the flash and it made it look weird). I am learning as I go and certainly wish I had started out with the knowledge I have now, because now they are going much smoother, quicker and look better than my first tries.

Also worked on many Christmas presents. I made tutu's for each of my little nieces to open for Christmas in addition to other gifts.

Also, I cooked up our pheasant meat tonight and we all agreed it was delicious!! Gotta get some more of them critters before the season closes!

Red, White and Blue -- Gibson

I was so honored to get to do this photo art for the name Gibson. This is made for a couple who has faithfully served our country and, rightfully so, are very patriotic. Since I have a soft spot in my heart for those who have given so much so that we can all have the opportunities we have - - this one is special to me.

This was my first attempt at double matting. The undermatte is red so there is a trim of red around each letter and the main matte is blue. I also cut out the small box below the letters so the word Patriot shows through. Sorry for the bad picture, even under the best conditions it is hard to get good pics of these orders because of the glass on the front - - but also, I have lost my decent camera, which had pictures of a bunch of photo orders I wanted to post :-(. So this is my attempt to take pictures with Skyler's digital camera which has seen better days.

Order for Christmas!!

I now have NEW Antler Alphabet Photo Art pictures for you to choose from!!

I am taking photo art orders now for Christmas. I will only be taking a limited number of orders and have already started to fill up - so contact me soon if you are interested in ordering in time for Christmas! Check out my photo art blog HERE to see all of the photo art choices in the scrolling albums on the left-hand side.

Purple Fairy

Here is a picture of one of my tutu's I sold. My friend's daughter decided to be a "Purple Fairy" for Halloween as she is obsessed with the color purple. I think she is the cutest purple fairy I have ever seen!! :-)

Sale at my Etsy Shop - Recycled Hubcap Clock

Here is a pic of my Hubcap Clock that just sold on Etsy this weekend. These make great gifts for guys - - who are always especially tough to buy for - - plus I love makin' em.

Latest Etsy Sale

Here is a picture of my "Sound of Music" coasters that sold on Etsy today.

Halloween Costumes

I am making some Halloween costumes again this year and have them for sale in my Etsy shop. I LOVE to make Halloween costumes! Here is a picture of a Ladybug Fairy costume I just created - - the tutu's are so much fun!
Thank you to my little Ladybug model!!

Birthday Cards Galore

We have had a tremendous amount of birthdays lately - - I haven't even posted some of the cards made. . .however, here are 3 more I made for this weekend.


This first card is my favorite just paper, rub-ons and ink.

This second card used a tag off a pair of Skyler's jeans that I kept for just this sort of thing and some playing cards that I roughed up a bit.

For this last card, I cut out the monkey images from the cardboard of a package of pencils I bought for Skyler's school supplies.

More Bday Cards

I haven't posted in a while and thought I would post these bday cards I created.

The Sweetest Things & Friend Card

Here are some cards I made up recently. The top one I used some old flowers I had taken apart, some old buttons and Stampin' Up rub-ons. The bottom one also uses Stampin' Up rub-ons, some thread, Stampin' Up corner rounder, Maya Road Ribbon and scraps from some paper I recently bought - - but since their scraps I can't remember the manufacturer :-)

Please Vote! A vote and a Recipe Book Layout

First, here is a recipebook with stand I made. I have been wanting to make one of these FOREVER. So these last few nights when we have come in to cool down and wind down for bed, I have tried to do one tab at a time. I still need to make a few more tabs but for now, this is it. For each "tab page" I had some small pieces of matte board leftover from my photo art that worked perfect. I made a stand for the whole book out of some pieces of cardboard that I creased in all the right places. I used COSMO CRICKET paper, MY MIND'S EYE paper, Misc. paper, old sheet music, old printings from cookbooks, ribbons, buttons, and the bird is art from Charles Harper. If you get a chance to google Charles Harper - - he has some excellent pieces, some of which you will see in my upcoming layouts. I really love his work.

Second of all, I need some votes. I thought I had a great "find" at a garage sale yesterday. I stuffed this table and four matching chairs into my little Saturn and happily went home. However, before I bought them Skyler tried to tell me that the table looked horrible and should not be purchased - - needless to say I didn't listen. Then Paul came home from work. He adamently agrees with Skyler and wishes for the table to disappear - - and SOON. So, I am out voted at this point 2 to 1. Maybe they are right. . .but I don't think so. What do you guys think? (Maybe the power of other people's opinions will allow me to keep this table I LOVE!! ;-)