Turquoise & Copper Bead Cross Necklace

Turquoise & Copper Bead Cross Necklace

I love various metals, sure platinum is my favorite but there is something about turquoise and copper mixed together I am always drawn too!

Custom Dog Food Stand

I made a dog bed and a dog food stand for my little fur baby. What do you think?

A or B?

Murphy Desk

Last winter my husband and I decided to renovate the den. We knew we wanted updated cabinetry, new flooring, to update the fireplace and to tear off the old wallpaper.  Having a desk or table was also essential. We surfed the web for ideas and watched our usual home improvement shows for inspiration.  The space in the den is compact so we needed to be efficient with the area.

 After a few design renderings and discussions regarding the layout we decided on a Murphy Desk. The perfect compromise between getting the table top space we needed and having enough space in the den when the table is not in use.

The Murphy Desk uses a standard piano hinge and a leg or table (as in our case) to support the weight of the table top in the down position.  We used an antique table on casters, painted gold with a coffee glaze to use as support for our table top. In the up position art work can be hung to decorate the flat table top piece and a sliding lock for safety is used on each side to keep the table in the upright position.

So if you’re short on space use some creativity, and create an interesting alternative for your design dilemma. Give your own version of a Murphy Desk a chance it may just be the answer to your design needs.

Paula

Eggcellent Nest

Eggcellent Nest

I must admit that lately I have had a bit of an obsession with apothecary jars. I love to display them and have enjoyed changing the items in them seasonally. At Christmas I had candy canes, mini presents and mini Christmas tree bulbs in my three jars. At Halloween glittery skulls, skeleton bones and ghoulish eyeballs.  Now that spring is around the corner I have turned my focus back to these clear beauties for the perfect spring items to place in my jars.  After some brainstorming, I decided to make a robin's nest  for one of my jars.

 I used brown excelsior I had laying around the craft room for the nest inside the jar.  I painted three  wooden eggs in an acrylic Robin's egg blue paint color. Depending on the thickness of your paint you may need two coats. Be sure to paint the entire egg with even strokes and let dry. I then used a nickel size of  brown acrylic paint in my paint tray mixed with just a drop or two of water mixed together to make my brown paint a bit runny. Next I took my small craft paint brush and dipped it in the brown paint and used my thumb to flick the bristles of the brush to splatter paint onto the eggs over my kitchen sink to get the speckled effect.  I let them dry then placed them inside my nest inside the jar.

Outside of the fact that the Robin's that would have laid these eggs would be a freakishly large species due to the size of my wooden eggs... the nest and eggs look very convincing and springy. 

Now, what to do with my other two jars?