Getting Shanty with it......

It is show and tell time and I am gonna show off some of the things I made guided by Shanty 2 Chic!

I have been going a little crazy ever since I sat up till all hours of the night and read every single blog post from shanty2chic!! I have been to quite a few different thrift stores looking for wooden candle holders(cheaper than buying new ones at michael's) and glass jars to make a couple of the things they have posted. i am in awe of how creative they are and I love how other peoples creativity get the ideas going in my own head!!


This is the first official project i did following the rules from shanty 2 chic!!


This bookshelf was my grandma's and it was your standard stained wood with a poly finish. Blah! I love the little shelf and I love that it was my grandma's so the girls gave me some ideas.....
I spraypainted a primer over the finish so I didnt have to sand (worked out rather nicely) then I used this gorgeous turquoise color I had left over from painting my bedroom(yes - my bedroom walls are this color and the accents are RED - love it!) to paint the shelf. I got out my 80 grit sandpaper and gave it some aging then I applied my smoke ralph lauren glaze to complete the shanty.....
I love how it turned out!!!

I did learn a few things from my own shanty2 chic experiences (copying this idea)I would love to share with all of you....so you don't make the same mistakes I did!

None of my stores had Gorilla Epoxy so I had to use Loctite. It came with this great nozzle thing that mixes the epoxy for you - don't use it! It didnt really mix it and I had to redo my first attempt at gluing with epoxy! The second time around I squirted it out onto an old piece of wood, swirled it together with a plastic fork and applied it using the fork - much better results were achieved the second time around! I also did the duct tape trick the girls recommended the second time around! This stuff really works - it is pretty amazing!



Make sure you read all the info on their blog about each product before heading off to the store! I went to Home Depot 3 times for the glaze. The first time I was near there and so I went in to get the glaze and the guy was like - it doesn't have any color to it you need to tint it and I was like huh?? So I left empty handed but I did now know it was going to cost me $15 for a pint of the stuff!!



Trip #2 was the day after christmas. I went in got my glaze, completed the rest of my shopping and came home. Yeah -I can finally start my projects!! No - I then read something about the tint color and realized I had not read all the details and I had forgotten to get the glaze tinted. Trip #3 back to HD to get the glaze tinted! Now - I can get started on my projects!



The Shanty girls use the smoke tint but I did read another blog just recently who uses the tobacco. I think it is darker and I might like to try that color glaze too!


I used my acrylic paints to paint instead of spray paint - it is cold outside and I would never get it done if I did use spray paint. It took a couple of coats and I kept trying to get it perfectly covered - until it dawned on me that I was gonna take sandpaper to it anyways and if it wasn't perfect - it would be okay!



This is my version of the jOy plaques. I have wanted this word somewhere and thought this would be perfect! I love it! I still can't decide of I like it without the burlap or not????

I have done 2 show and tell posts today because I have been rearranging and redecorating since I put away all the christmas stuff and that involves being creative and lots of paint around my house!! So - you will see where Pray ended up in the next post.....