Button Bird Designs

Aluminum foil art!!!

May 17, 2013

This beautiful piece of art was my Mother’s Day gift from my sweet Lilly Jane. I couldn’t believe this amazing gift that she created all by herself! I grabbed her up, spun her around, and begged her to teach me how to make one!!! This isn’t the first time I have begged my child to teach me something crafty. Remember when she got off the bus carrying these awesome paper stars!?!?! I think I made 30 that afternoon!

You too can make this very cool, very easy aluminum foil art project. Grab an old frame that has a glass front. Take the glass out and line the inside with crumbled up aluminum foil.

Grab your sharpies!! First use your black sharpie to make lots of different shapes on the glass.

Next use all your favorite color sharpies to fill in the shapes.

Oh yeah you know it!!! I make her wear this shirt all the time!

Once you are done filling in all the shapes, put the glass back in the frame over the aluminium foil.

Ta-da!!!! It’s a beautiful stain glass expensive looking piece of art!!!

These photos don’t do it justice! You just have to try one for yourself!!!

We made a couple more! Off to the grocery store to pick up some more aluminum foil!!!

Happy Friday! xoxxoxo Angela

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This early bird got the worm!

May 14, 2013

No doubt about it, the prices at thrift stores are going up. Womp Womp. I’ve had a much harder time lately finding furniture to paint. I just can’t pay $80 bucks for a dresser at Goodwill and expect to make any money by repainting and reselling it. I’ve also never have any luck with Craigslist. Yard sales have always been my best bet for finding furniture and odds and ends to redo and resale.

I decided this past weekend that I was going to hit some yard sales and wasn’t coming back until I had scored several pieces of furniture! I woke up wayyyyyy early Saturday morning, drank wayyyyyyy too much coffee, and left the house at 6:30 am. Yes I am that person sitting outside your house waiting for you to hurry up and open up your garage and start your sale! It’s true, the early bird gets the worm!!!

Here’s some of the fun stuff I found on my little yard sale adventure……

I’m a sucker for original paintings. This painting on canvas was $8.00 and will be going in my guest room.

$1.00 sign and $1.00 basket.

I have a list on my phone of things that my friends have asked me to look for while I’m out and about. I can’t wait to give this to my friend who has been looking for a Cuckoo clock!! This never been out of the box clock was $12.00 and the pea candle that I just couldn’t pass up was $1.00.

$5.00 end table.

$4.00 Picnic baskets!

This is ugly, but at $1.00 I already have a plan for this guy!

$8.00 vanity and stool. Just the stool alone is worth the $8.00!!! I can not wait to paint these two pieces and recover the stool. Bye Bye viney flowers!

I think this was my favorite find of the day. It use to hold an old radio but was replaced with two little shelves. I’m going to fix the shelves and paint! I might be keeping this for myself! $10.00

Little end tables sell really well, especially when painted blue! hahaha! $6.00

$20.00 dresser! Finally a dresser that doesn’t cost $80.00!!!

This shelf unit is pretty ugly too, but has sooooo much potential! I am hoping I have enough barn wood to enclose the sides and back. At $10.00 it will be fun to play with!

Oh yes, I had to feed my shoe addiction by grabbing these new Steve Madden heels for $2.00

I almost died when I saw these $3.00 Vintage cowboy boots! The lady selling them said they belonged to her grandmother and she tried and tried to wear them but they were just too small! Well guess which Cinderella they fit!!!?!? They are sooooooo soft and already broken in!!! Is it fall yet!?!?

Not bad for a Saturday morning! Guess I have some projects to get working on!!! Anyone want to come help paint!!!

What is your favorite yard sale find!?!?!

xoxoxo Angela

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Do you have a compatible yard sale partner?

May 10, 2013

The Nester and I hit some yard sales a couple weeks ago. Not only is she such a dear friend but totally a compatible yard sale partner. This is very very important when you are going to yard sales with another person. Your yard sale partner should have the same goals, the same get in and get out of there techniques, and the same speed to make your yard sale experience a success. One rule that we both seem to follow is no talking to people. This will slow you down. No eye contact. Eye contact with the seller might initiate conversation and conversation at a yard sale is the enemy. You have to get in and out so you can be on to the next sale. The more sales you hit the more likely you will find what you’re looking for. Also we have been to many yard sales together and tend to know what the other is looking for. This is very helpful. If I see something she might want, I can scoop it up before someone else puts their grimy paws on it. Luckily we are usually looking for different things but sometimes you might see us racing each other up the driveway!! It also helps if you like to start the morning at the same time. When I suggest picking her up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning, she doesn’t bat an eye. The early bird does get the worm and she will be ready!

Here’s an example of a non-compatible yard sale partner. I will not use names to protect the innocent. My dear dear friend asked if she could join me one Saturday morning, and I said sure knowing how much I love her company. This dear dear friend is a chatter box. Normally I love her chattering ways but there is no place for that while hitting yard sales. Yes chatting in the car while driving to the next sale absolutely, but not while shopping. Once you arrive at a sale, you approach quickly, skim items available, purchase items quickly without talking, and then back in the car walking very briskly the whole time. My dear dear chatter box friend wanted to talk to the people putting on the sale, their kids, and everyone else who was there shopping. She had questions about what they were selling and why. Were they moving? Were they just cleaning out the house? Was it hard to get rid of their stuff? On and on with the questions. I think we made it to like 3 sales that whole morning. And she was a very slow walker. I love my dear dear friend to pieces and we will still hang out but we will not be attending anymore yard sales together. hahahaha!

So the last yard sale I went to I found this. The lady wanted $50.00, and I could only talk her down to $40.00. $40.00 was a little more than I wanted to pay but I loveddddddddddd the desk and knew it would be so beautiful painted blue. Of course blue, are you so sick of blue yet?

I bought this chair a while ago at Value City Thrift Store in Mooresville, NC.

It had been marked down to $10.10 as you can see because they write on the furniture! WHYYYYYY!?!? And wonder why $10.10!?!?! That extra dime almost scared me away.

My sweet neighbor and friend Kim came over and chatted with me while I painted. See I really do like to talk and chat. There is just a time and place for it and a yard sale ain’t the place.

Because I failed upholstery school and I loved this vintage fabric that was already on the chair, I decided to paint around it. Took a little longer than I thought it would and I had to be a lot more careful than I normally like to be. Thumbs down on this project.

Distressing.

Before and after glaze.

I took both pieces to 32 Flavors Boutique last Friday. I sold the desk the next day for $160.00!! $160.00 won’t pay our mortgage but it sure will help support my yard sale habit. Anyone need a chair!?! Anyone want to hit some yard sales tomorrow!?

Help!!!!!! If you live in the Charlotte or Bristol area and have any furniture pieces you would like to sell, please let me know! Thrift stores have gone up so much on their prices and I’m enjoying lazy Saturday mornings at home with the family more and more so finding furniture at yard sales has been tough!

Happy Friday!! Hope you have a weekend full of inspiration and lots of crafty projects! xoxo Angela

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