Christmas in January

Today, January 24, my friends and I had Christmas. We like to do creative things for Christmas gifts--last year we drew names and only bought one big present for one person, and this year we got something small for each person.

They were all so delightful and thoughtful! When we got home I took pictures of all our new loot... incidentally, the coffee table is new, too. We got it for free from a family at church, and I painted it. Oh, how I love a good can of paint. This is the same stuff I used on my free dresser. Read about it in this post!

Person number one bought us gorgeous earrings. These are the fun posts I scored! (I know one of the gold flowers has a pearl missing--I glued a new one in that night.)

Person two, being myself, made flower barrettes for everyone. I picked out a special fabric for each girl--gotta love fat quarters at Walmart! These can be clipped onto a coat, a purse, in your hair, or used as a bookmark for easy access to the current week in your planner.

Check out these AMAZING homemade candles, poured into teacups! I've always, always wanted to do this. And friend number three beat me to it. Wow!

OK, can you say "classy"? We drank sparkling white grape juice out of these personalized champaign glasses at dinner! Way to go, friend number four!

Friend five made us a homemade almond honey body scrub. Yum! I hope I don't eat it while scrubbing my hands and feet!

Last but not least, friend six made us each a little treasure box with the best of all treasures inside--gourmet chocolates!

Yay for Christmas in January! Can we do this every year?

A Future Project

Here is a fabulous old desk I recently bought at Goodwill for $15! I am a writer, as in, I am getting my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, so a desk like this is definitely something I will use. Unfortunately I can't take it back to school with me, so here it shall sit at my parent's house until I have a real place to live.

But then. Oh, then. I have great plans for this desk.

It's a roll-top, which I love, but which makes it difficult to paint or re-finish. I'm afraid if I painted it, I would dry the slats shut. Here is a tutorial I found today from the blog Classic Campbell, whom I've never read, but I like the look of this project! She mod podges strips of wrapping paper onto the slats of a breadbox. The end result is incredible, but I doubt even I have the patience to do that with a whole desk.

Who am I kidding. I would do something crazy like that.

I've also thought about distressing it, sanding the finish down, especially around the edges... I like that weathered, I-found-it-on-the-side-of-the-road-by-the-sea-in-New-England look.

Then, I would mod podge wallpaper or fabric inside on the back wall, and inside the letter boxes, and on the front of the drawers. Maybe a pretty green pattern.

The hardware on this baby is also rather old and dingy--needs a pick-me-up!

I'm thinking these pulls and knobs from Anthropologie. I think pink would be lovely paired with a green paper/fabric.

A Pretty Little Something I Love

Here is a simply gorgeous project from one of my favorite blogs, Little Green Notebook. The designer silver leafed this dresser for a client to add a little glamor to her bedroom, and I am just dying to have the money and space to try it myself!

See her post about it here.

I've refurbished a dresser of my own. I got it for free from a couple in my church, and it was in pretty bad condition. Some of the drawers were falling apart, it had horrible hardware, and many of the tracks had fallen in so that they would not support the drawers. Nothing that a little gorilla glue, nails, and a hammer couldn't fix! Unfortunately I was not thinking and I didn't take any before pictures, but here is the project in near-completed form:

I primed it and painted it all a rich cream color, with a light blue inside the drawers.

I went along all the edges with a gold Sharpie pen, which I love and would highly recommend. This was inspired by the Winter 2009 edition of Do It Yourself magazine, a branch of Better Homes and Gardens (which, incidentally, has some great decorating ideas on their website). The magazine suggested lining the edge of a freshly painted desk with a sharpie to give it a more finished, almost asian look. They painted their desk a burnt orange and used a black sharpie. I loved their final project!

For my dresser, I also bought wooden knobs for $1 each at Lowe's (which I found difficult to screw in, I don't know that I would do that again) and painted an owl design on them, modeled after these knobs from Anthropologie.

Then I used my Sharpie pen to write some different quotes on the dresser using various fonts. The pen I had ran out before I could write as much as I wanted, and I only just bought a new one and haven't had time to get back to it yet. Right now, it says this:

"How can we say if this is art or not?"

"Wherever you turn your eyes, the world can shine like transfiguration... Only, who could have the courage to see it? -Marilyn Robinson, Gilead" (From one of my favorite books)

"J'attends l'impossible" (I am waiting for the impossible)