Sunburst Mirror

I'm finally done my Sunburst Mirror, and couldn't be happier! I wanted to be done for the Pinterest Challenge Fall Edition, but that was a couple of weeks ago now...

I got the idea from Aimee at Wonderfully Domestic. Apparently, this was in fashion a couple of years ago, but it always takes me time to warm up to an idea or style anyway. I'd also seen in stores some sunburst mirrors made with metal which had some clear gem stones, and I wanted to incorporate that as well.

So this is what I came up with in the end:


I really like the added effect of the clear stones. I didn't even take a picture before I added them.

I won't be writing a tutorial for this one, you can check out the link above if you need directions, but I think it's pretty straightforward. Here's the materials/cost breakdown, since I do love cheap decorating!:
~ round mirror 5" - Micheals, 3.50$
~ skewers - Dollorama, 1$
~ clear stones - dollar store, 1$
~ paint, left over from my Halloween Cupcake Liner Topiaries pots; so let's say nada (I used about half the bottle)
Total: 5.50$, gotta LOVE cheap DIY projects!

The reason it took me so long was because I had to paint with a paintbrush all the sticks (roughly 150 of them), and 3 coats at that. The gold I used really didn't cover well, but I expected as much. And I could only do about 20 at a time since my drying station (which has a styrofoam container that some meat we bought came in) could only support as many.





The clear stones I found were a little oddly shapped. More oblong than what I was looking for, and they had a V shaped and not flat underside, which made them tricky to hot glue on the sticks. Actually, some fell off and I had to reglue. I made sure to play with them a little and see if they would eventually fall off, and that's how I had to reglue 7 of them.

I didn't put quite as much glue as the tutorial, since it seemed like they were stuck enough, but I might go back and add some more.







All in all, I'm very please at how it turned out. I'm not 100% sure where I'm putting it yet... Right now it's on the small wall of my hallway, and I can see it looking behind me as I'm sitting at my computer. The light I have beside me reflects very nicely on the clear gems, and they sorta glow and pop when everything else around is dark. I really like that, so it might stay there. I tried taking a picture but it really didn't come out how I see it.

That's all for tonight folks! This must be my shortest post yet.

Take care, and thanks for reading!

EDIT: After a couple weeks up, it finally fell to the ground :( I used a saw-tooth painting hanger (I'm not sure I'm being clear, dunno what to call them) and it just unpeeled itself from the hot-glue. BUT the mirror is not broken! Yay! will have to reglue it, and this time I will put some hot-glue on TOP of the already glued down hook, and that should hold. I'm really not worried about the individual skewers falling though, so not gonna add more glue there.

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Handpainted Chandelier

I am finally done my handpainted chandelier in my kitchen! I showed you a sneak peak in my last post, and now I'm ready to show you the final masterpiece.

But before I do that, I want to tell you a little story. You may skip to the pictures if you so wish, I won't be offended ;)

Ever since I saw my first wall decals (from wallsmatter.com), I've been really desperate to get me some for myself. But the thing is, they aren't cheap. When we found our new apartment back in May, I knew I had to incorporate a decal somewhere. At first, I was going to do this lamppost with 2 little kids kissing, but that's also when I was looking at all the designs and saw the chandelier. I knew I wanted it. But I wasn't ready to dish out 50$ for one.

I figured I could just paint it myself, how hard could it be? I would make a stencil and then just paint over it. So I looked and looked around the internets to try and find a chandelier I really LOVED. I had decided on one back in May, but then when it came closer to moving, I was looking around again because I wasn't sure I really LOVED that one. And that's when I found this one. Just wow.

Before I began, I photoshopped it in a picture of my kitchen.

It would look AWESOME. Took me a couple of months to actually start this project, even though I was really anxious to get it done. Why? Because I was scared I would mess it up. That it would not look as great once it was all said and done. Well, now that it's done, I think it looks even better, because I made a few modifications to my template.

You ready for it?



Ta da! Ins't it MARVELOUS. Ok I must admit, I'm a little biased. But at the same time, I see more the imperfections than anyone. I LOVE the contrast on the dark color of the wall.











As I mentioned, it wasn't easy. Far from it. It took me A LOT of time. But instead of it being 55$ + tax + shipping, it cost me like 1$. No joke. 50cents for the poster to draw the stencil. 1$ for the bottle of white craft paint, which I didn't even use half of.

For those of you who want to see more of my mishaps and challenges, read on.



I started off with my 50 cents poster, and a bloated up printed copy of my favorite chandelier. I divided the printed chandelier into squares, and did the same of the poster, to have the same proportions, and to have a guide to copy freehand the chandelier. I only did the exact half, since I was planning on flipping it to do the other half and for them to be perfectly symmetrical. Also, I was only going to make the body part of the chandelier in one piece. The pieces that repeated themselves, the candlesticks and pendants, I would make 1 stencil and just copy it over and over and over.

Then I cut out the shape, put some tape to the back and stuck it to the wall about where I wanted it.



I took a few pictures to compare it to my photoshopped version, because that's EXACTLY where I wanted it to be. I had to move it the first time I put it up. I was afraid to start painting at this point, what if I didn't like the positioning of it once I'm all done? But I took a deep breath and went on.

At first, the only white paint I had was primer. And I started with a big paintbrush. BIG mistake. It was really thick and just went all over under the poster :( That's when I realized I should've gotten spray paint. Next time. I did the first half of the body of the chandelier with that primer and a small craft paintbrush. I had this:





I knew I would have to go over every inch to make the edges more smooth. Both with the white paint, and the red paint. Little knicks in the white paint was not forgiving AT ALL. Which was really time consuming. I went to buy craft paint at this point because the primer paint was just not liquid enough to patch up my mistakes, it would not spread well. Once that half was all good, I did the second half by flipping my stencil over. I wanted to make sure I could make it look good before I proceeded and wasted my time.



Lots of work still at this point...





To make the beaded string part, I literally took a string to trace the natural fall of it. I had to go on a hunt for a small round object to make the beading. I was lucky to found a small dowel with a flat end. It was the perfect size! I just dabbed it and pressed it to the wall. I liked how with just one coat of paint it didn't make a perfect circle, as in there's still some of my red paint showing through. I find it makes it look a little like it shines and has texture.





And the final handpainted masterpiece:





I am so VERY happy with the outcome. As I mentioned, it's not perfect, but that's why I love it!

Thanks for reading!

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