Tuesday, September 28, 2010

GW find before & after

I had found these 3 shadow box doo-hickies at GW last year for $2.50 a piece. (I think the GW here where I live is kinda pricey after seeing some of the GW deals here in Blogland) I saved the flowers JIC I wanna use them on a card or something. I learned this easy techniques to change the color if I need to and I'll post that if I do it one day, for anyone who might not know how to. But, back to my doo- hickies~

Before:


I had already started to take the one apart before I took the pic. I had to pry the vases off  with a flat head screwdriver cuz they must have used Gorilla glue. I actually ripped some of my frame off of a couple of the little shelves but I filled it in with wood filler before I painted it. Oh, and I learned that the putty kind takes 24-48 hours to dry but the gritty pastey kind only takes 2-4 hours to dry. Next time I'm using the faster one.


So I had to sand the excess glue off & use the wood filler & let it dry overnight (dangit!) before I could paint it black.



My plan was to print some B&W pics from the beach and put them on the back and glue some shells from the beach that my kids had actually picked up over the past few trips, onto the shelves. I just printed the pics out on cardstock and actually laid the frames on the paper to trace an outline so they'd fit just right. I only used pics of Cassie on this one cuz I had saved my pics to facebook and they were easy to find. I want to get more pics over the last 16 years but I'll have to look for them. I just wanted to see how it'd go, but I'll prolly change some of these out in the next few weeks as I get the rest done.



I started this on Saturday, thinking it was only gonna take a while. I was feeling pretty hopeful & excited at this point, but of course, it started raining so I had to wait to finish. I am one of those weird folks who, if I get an idea of something, I wanna do it NOW! Anyway - on Monday evening- this is how it turned out:

Before on the Left & After on the Right:


I had to take the glass out to take the photo, because of the glare. I also put it beside a before one so you can really see the difference. I took another pic cuz of the shadows:

Before on the Left & After on the Right:


And another to show the depth:
Before on the Left & After on the Right:



 The cream one with the flowers is the BEFORE & the black one with the pics is the AFTER . I'll take seperate photos nest time cuz my friend said it was confusing to have them both in the same picture.

I really love how it came out. I did try to sand some of the paint to give it a "distressed" look, but it didn't work very well & so I sprayed another cover coat on it. Maybe the paint wasn't dry enough since it was so humid still. I don't think you can see in the pics but I also took a stamp pad and went around the edges of the photos  and tried to get a better look on it cuz when I first looked at just plain from the paper trimmer- I wanted to add that touch. I should've taken a b&a shot of that so you could've seen the difference.

I put the pictures on the back with sticky dots instead of modpodge incase I wanna trade them out. I had thought it'd be cute to put different photos and doodads on the shelves for different seasons. You know, Christmas photos with little candy canes or some Jolee's dimensional sticker things something like that.

Thanks for looking and be blessed,

Karyl

This wasn't a garage sale find but a thrifty find nonetheless so I am linking to Debbie Doos Party on Fri Oct 15, 2010~

28 comments:

  1. So cute!

    thank you for your comment! The photo is not of us, it's actually a wedding we shot earlier this spring! :)

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  2. your shadow boxes look great, I really love the one with the black and white pictures, so cute! Thanks for stopping by my blog and for your comment, it made my day!

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  3. How clever this is! Love the idea of being able to change out the pictures, etc. for the seasons. Your shadow box looks so pretty painted black. At least you live near a GW store (even if the prices might be a little higher). I have to drive for an hour and a half to get to one, and that's a lot of driving to not know whether they'll have any goodies.
    Thanks for your nice visit to my blog. I've collected vintage and reproduction holiday cards for a long time. The card holder I used for my H'ween cards was a flea market discovery. I only paid $1 for it, and I use it ALL of the time. Again, thank you for your nice comment. laurie

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  4. SHUT UP!!! This is SO CUTE!! I love it. I also love all the possibilities that these provide you.

    Sidenote...I nver have much luck with my 3 close GWs. I do better with Salvation Army, Vincent De Paul, and a place called New Hope (a donatioon center that helps abused women and children).

    As for furniture finds in blogland...oh..I am always so envious!

    Cheers~
    e

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  5. I love ur shadow boxes - very cute and super creative! Thanks for saying ur GW isn't as cheap as all those great finds people stumble upon in blogland. I'm always like, how ?? where?? My GW is so expensive??? I wouldn't ever buy some of that stuff full price and brand spankin new in a regular store! I just sort've make do with what I've got! Also, thank u SO SO SO much for ur comment on my bloggie. It meant the world to me and made me tear up. I'm learning to find the beauty in imperfection and realize we all are in the same boat and just put on the perfect facade if and when we need to. Thank u again - so truly very sweet. Love ur bloggie! I am ur newest follower!!

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  6. Hello!

    Thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog! I love your shadow boxes! Especially the black one with the B&W photos of your children and their shells. Most of the GWs near me are getting ridiculously expensive and I have stopped going to them. I go to the small thrift stores and the ones that benefit abused women and children or somehow give back to the community.

    ~ Tracy

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  7. Karyl, this is so cute and you did a great job! You link up to my party was perfect, you didn't need to do anything else. :) I agree with you about Goodwills...ours is more expensive than some of the ones I've seen in bloggyland too..makes me wonder why? Ours will take things back if they don't work though, so that's a plus..some won't!
    Hope you'll come back and link up every week, I've enjoyed seeing your charming re-do! Keep up the good work!
    Blessings & Hugs!
    Missy

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  8. VERY pretty!

    I think the GW near me is a little pricey too...at least compared to The Salvation Army and another local thrift store...so I tend to stick with them. I still check GW though! :)

    Stopping by from Transformation Thursday!

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  9. I love these, You are so creative! Thank you so much for the comments on my blog, they were so sweet, I appriciate the encouragement form you!

    P.S. Yes I did spray paint those chairs! I was shocked myself they turned out so well! I found a spray paint from Home Depot for anything plastic, worked perfect!

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  10. I'm glad you like the apron, I actually got the fabric at Wal-Mart, but I've seen it at JoAnn's too.

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  11. Great job! The shadow box turned out so cute I love the black and white pics, they are great. I'm your newest follower, thanks for stopping at Kensington Cottage!

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  12. I think this looks great. I love the black and white photos with the shells.

    http://froufrugal.blogspot.com

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  13. HI,
    Thanks for your comment on my blog. Now i'm looking trough your's, and you make verry nice things. I'm in love with the shadow boxes you made.
    With love,
    Martha

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  14. I love it when I find something at GW that looks like what the heck is that and what can I do with it....well you show a perfect example of the possibilities...very cute! I have a weekly thrift party starting on Fridays, would love for you to join. It is a small but very interactive party, I think you would enjoy it. Debbie

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  15. A great job and it really did not take all that long, even though I know you were anxious to complete it. You put a lot of thought into the details, like being able to change it up.
    I have never tried printing on cardstock. I am sure my printer would have an opinion about that. Anything other than 20 lb and it has attitude.

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  16. thank you for the kind words on the party :) I LOVE your shadow boxes....I hope you link them up to MMM on monday!

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  17. love your blog Great,job those look Fabulous...
    Karryann
    p.s. a new follower

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  18. Very nice! I was skeptical at first (I really do not like those "before" AT ALL!) You made them into beautiful conversation pieces.

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  19. Great transformation! You're right this can be a very versatile piece to change for holidays and seasons.

    Looking forward to exploring your blog more.

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  20. Beautiful idea! Such a sweet way to display photos!

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  21. Thanks for the comment on my blog. Love the graphic quality you have given to the frames and pictures, so very effective.

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  22. Very, very cute! I love the bold black and white look in your photos, and it's fantastic to use shells that your kids picked up on vacation!
    I still have one unused shadow box, and I just may end up doing something similar. Thanks for the idea!

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  23. Oh, wow, I love this project! So creative. I'm filing this away! I'm also following you back for sure!

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  24. Thanks for joining me...you already know how much I adored this project. I just bought something from GW today...it is one of those things that I am scratching my head on as to what to do....

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  25. These look great! I see those all the time at yard sales, and have never thought to do that with them. Next time I see one, I will be picking it up for sure! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  26. Hi Karyl! This turned out really well! Thanks for sharing it! Hopped over from Debbiedoos Garage Salen Party...

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  27. Very cute. Love how you put the shells in there also.

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