I absolutely love painting! I can spend hours and hours on one thing and be perfectly content. Its a great way for me to relax and spend a day.

Funny thing.. I have never really been taught how to paint.. I actually taught myself the summer after senior year of high school and college, I started some paintings as teacher gifts for that year and they turned out not too shabby!  lets see... this one was for my math teacher

Photographyyyy!!! One of my true loves! There are SO SOOO many ways you can do it.. there are poloroids, black and white, digital, color film, negative prints, even iphones are considered profesional photography these days! Dont beleive me? http://www.adorama.com/iphonetoolshed As a sidenote, Adorama is a great place for photography supplies! I actually bought my last batch of 100ct black and white photography light sensitive paper there for like half the price! There were a few flaws with the corners of the paper but im all for flaws, I personally love the flaws, they werent big anyways.. SO, I am going to share with you today about my photography!

So I find that its an understatement to say I have several cameras....

I have had

Cool story about this one, I actually found this one in my aunts basement, looks like it hadent been touched in like 10 years, so I asked my dad if i could keep it and he said yes, and its like a 40+ year old camera, so i took it to school and into the darkroom and there was film STILL IN IT! I was about to develop some of the pictures too

 Oh and last but DEFINITELY not least My hommade pinhold camera!

Mine(horrible picture)>>

This isnt an actual picture of mine, but it loooks just the same pretty much! and ya know what? It works brilliantly!

It was hard to figure out using it at first but now that i know how to use it and exposure times, etc, its AWESOME! here are some of the exposures that ive taken(keep in mind these are negative pictures)



 And I have many more but I cant remember what they are

Looking Forward To More Projects!

Today, I made my usual stop at goodwill after I got off work, (makes my day that its in the next parking lot over!) and I found some pieces of furniture w potential! So I figured I would share them with you and just share some thoughts on each, pros and cons I guess, boring as it sounds, I PROMISE its important stuff!

Dresser #1 

Beautiful dresser, YES! however, I checked the drawers, the bottom right one was obviously dropped at some point, the "face" on the drawer is split, something that cannot be easily fixed. So, Tip #1 Always check the drawers! The dresser top has a nice deep niche taken out of it too. Next, this actually would be a very pretty dresser to fix up and if it weren't broke I might be inclined to bust my butt and pay $40 for it! BUT, I have nowhere for it to go! the PROS of this dresser, it has BEAUTIFUL hardware already, a bit of an elegant touch to it. Tip #2 Buying NEW hardware is A) EXPENSIVE and B) It can be a pain in the ass! If you have pulls that don't fit right... good luck, its hard work making a new fitting. It can be don't but its time consuming and can be on the difficult side. Tip #3 Look for a dresser(or any piece of furniture for that matter) that you think would look nice without decorative handles or paint. Just its bare minimum. You want a pretty foundation to work with.

Sidenote: If I were to refinish this one I might go with an off white color with some distressing on corners, it'd be beautiful!

Dresser #2

For this dresser, ya know, its not so cute.. most people would walk away from this one, its got some damage (easily fixable), its got an older middle-class look to it aka. Trying to look nice but w low priced materials. But rip all the hardware off and the horrible stain finish and you've got something to work with! Tip #4 Hardware can be saved! This hardware isn't in the least bit making me go 'ooohhh ahhhhh' but it CAN be painted! I'm a firm believer in spray paint! Just make sure it's for use on metal finishes!, if go with a Flat Black paint on those. Maybe paint this white with some deep brown distress.

Dresser #3

This dresser looks to me as if it's only gotten a few good years of use, damage here and there but in all around good shape. Tip #5 You wont usually find something in Goodwill that just can't be fixed. For this dresser, it has nice hardware, nice foundation to work with, top is in good condition, overall good quality. Cons, note the sagging bottom right drawer -_-.... I cant win.. however I CAN fix that.

So I've really been out looking for a dresser for a friend of mine that she's gonna get me to help her refinish, and one of these was the winner! 

While you take a wild guess  look at my latest furniture find from Salvation Army store! LOOK AT THAT PRICE!!

It's got some damages done to it but for this price I was NOT leaving without it!

 So did you guess Dresser #3?? For $25 my friend Emily got this one here! So I'll be sure to share the how-to with that one along with out step by step!

The Art of Thrifting!: Decorative Candleholders

So I know that a lot of people actually don't believe in thrift stores, even my mom use to tell me that places like Goodwill were for poor people, and it wasn't clean, blah blah blah, but once I started going and finding all these things she started to realize its a great place for crafting possibilities!! There are SOO many different things you can make from things that you can usually find at goodwill.

So today I have a little treat for you! It's a cost happy craft that is SUPER easy, takes no time at all and gives you a great result!!
So heres what were making today:

Decorative Candleholders:

Materials: Cylindrical water glasses (from goodwill!! either tall or short will work, I used short), burlap (it comes in a few shades of brown I got it in a light shade and a medium brown shade, you can generally find it at any arts and crafts/fabric store, you'll only need about a square foot of burlap), pieces of ribbon (I wanted to use different shades of greens to go with the natural tones but haven't gotten around to it), glue (I used hot glue, a bag of glue sticks and the hot glue gun is $2 each at Walmart)

1. Collect materials.
2. Measure the outside of the glasses(around the body and from base to the lip, don't make the burlap extend over  ) to make the measurements for the burlap.
3. In order to make sure that you have a straight cut for the burlap all you have to do is pull one of the strings out and cut where the string was pulled from making it straight! Ta-da! Neat trick right??
4. Start by glueing the biggest layer of burlap onto the glass, making sure that it is centered and that each end matches up, a trick to use is make sure to dot glue close to the edges to prevent fraying from the burlap, 
5. Repeat with second layer.
6. For the ribbon, it's not necessary to hot glue it, I didn't find it to be necessary myself that way I can change out the ribbon colors according to whatever theme I choose.
7. Tie your bow however you please, I personally think the classic bow and the tailored bow are best suited for this type of craft.
8. Add candle. Enjoy.

Painting Day!

Okay so as I said yesterday, today is PAINTING DAY!!! Whenever I know I'm going to have a long day with nothing to do, I generally resort to sitting in front of the TV all day, and when I say all day I mean from the moment I wake up till about 4 in the morning! 

I have to allow myself to truly devote my time that day to painting reason being, I'm one of those people that starts things and never finishes them. In fact I have at least 5 or 6 unfinished paintings now that I promise I will not want to work on again (don't ask me why, I just work that way) 

Anyways, when I start to work on a painting I'll work on that ONE painting for at LEAST and I mean VERY least 2 hours! I will work on a painting for (I think my record is) up to 10 hours straight!!! Wanna see the result?

MEET HEDWIG!! =D yes. I am a Harry Potter fan and I have no shame saying that, its actually hanging in my room as we speak. Anyways, I actually started writing this blog post this morning but didn't finish it then, so I'm just finishing it now if the random change in tone from the first part to now confuses you, thats why.

So anyways, today didn't end up being much of a painting day, woke up late, by then my mom had my car with all my painting stuff in it, by the tie she got back I had a hair appointment and went and saw Avengers w friends. It was actually surprisingly good! So I didnt get started painting till at least 11PM!

A.D.D. NO! Back on topic!

So I tend to like doing my own renditions of things that I get inspiration from. For the painting I did tonight, my particular inspiration was Natasha Wescoat, I really love her work with her Jeweled Trees Collection. She's an amazing artist! Check her site out!  http://www.wescoatart.com/ AND check out the Jeweled Trees Collection they are amazing!  So this is what I painted tonight, i just thought I'd share, Its actually only an 8x10, so its a small painting, but it's for my friend for her birthday I think she'll like it. I'm not generally a extremely particular person about much of anything but when it comes to painting, I find myself a bit OCD about the whole thing. I have specific brushes I use, i like to be in certain places to paint, ect etc, it keeps me focused I guess. There is NOTHING bad about having your habits! If it works best for you, DO IT! 

Ont thing i love about painting is the mess.. I just LOVE it! I never finish a painting without paint ALL over my hands, and generally the rest of my body! 

Like always, If you have anyquestions, feel free to ask!

Repurposed Furniture: My Love

So I thought I'd get things rolling with a blog about a few things I love to do! 

1. I love to paint
2. I LOVE to go to thrift shopping
3. I love to make things look original and new and updated
4. I love the sense of accomplishment of a finished project I worked hard on

So from this, began my love of refinishing furniture!

Ugly right? Well it was! I got it at Goodwill (which I visit about 2-3 times a week, what they have is always changing day to day) for $11!! It was full of scratches, dents, chunks were missing off the top, it was obviously a beaten up, well used dresser! But whenever looking for a furniture look at the bare basics! Don't look at the color or EW those HORRIBLE drawer pulls! Or the fact that its missing one. It's the structure that really matters, the rest you can change. SO, I did.

First I removed all the hideous hardware and sanded the ENTIRE dresser! When preping for paint, het all the scratches and dents all sanded out for best results! Thats IMPORTANT! You must put in the time to sand the piece! Personally I always use an electric sander, saves time and you can usually find one for about $15 bucks at a hardware, trust me, either suck it up and buy one or prepare yourself for an ass kicking!

Dont kid yourself if you think that repurposing furniture is just easy as painting in an hour or so, there are HOURS of sanding, HOURS of prep work and planning and even collecting materials, then hours of painting, and paint dryingggg.... etc etc.. it take TIME!  You may come across the issue I had. Since this is an older dresser it has handles that have holes that I wouldnt have been able to find other pulls to fit. So. Time to fill in the holes. 

I used dowel rods actually to make sure that the holes were sturdy. So I used heavy duty wood glue and glued dowel rods into the holes, what wasn't completely covered I used wood sealer to smoothe it out, same with the dents and chunks missing. This makes it so that I can put new CUTER knobs!     

DO NOT FORGET TO PRIME!!!!!!!!!! It will make a HUGE difference! It makes sure that you have a nice surface to let the paint finish cling! (It doesn't have to be perfect)

Nice and solid coat! I know the picture isn't that great but it was getting dark. AND NOWWWWWW.... For the grand finale!!!

TADA! Oh and I also threw in there a matching bedside table I redid. Both are in my bedroom at school. I found the knobs surprisingly at Target! they werent with the normal knobs in that section but they were in home decor and on an AMAZING SALE for about $3.45 for a pair, I had seen them earlier in the week and thought they were adorable but they weren't on sale yet! There were 3 packs left of knob pairs! Giving me 6 knobs. Try as I may I never found any more of those knobs at any Target. So for the bedside table I had to improvise. I found more knobs at World Market store(they have a GREAT knob selection) and i found semi matching knobs there but downside, they were $4 each!

It's lots of work doing this, but I love it! In fact I just picked up an end table at Salvation Army for $4 today! Im excited for that project! But I think tomorrow will be a painting day.

Hope you all enjoyed! If you have any questions or need some advise please comment! I'll do my very best to help!

My Redesigned Life

We all know that there are a million and two blogs out there about peoples lives, business ventures, travel, science, politics, drama, celebrities, style, literature, gossip, etc, etc, etc... but honestly, I could kinda care less about that stuff! (well.... I guess not travel.. eh, business is alright, I mean I AM a Business Minor.. I guess I should make an exception) Anyways, I don't seem to care about the general life "hoo-ha" that everyone seems to blog about, so I'm going to change that.
                                             *  *  *  *  *  *  *
I'll start by telling you a little about myself. In short (by that I mean long), my name is Rachel, I'm currently in my Junior year of college (just finished sophomore year but have a few junior credits, so I'm technically already a junior), I am a Fine arts major (just so you know I'm not a wannabe), no specific focus yet, I love my art classes (!!!), I LOVE my teachers! they are such an inspiration to me and are nothing but help, I'm 20 as of exactly a week ago, I'm one of four girls and I love my family! 


Still not done...
When I was younger I was ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS making things, instead of selling lemonade at the end of the driveway I was 7 years old selling beaded barrettes and necklaces, made by yours truly, but my love of arts and crafts is still just a big, if not bigger than when I was a kid. And I may not be an English major, I may not have perfect spelling, or grammar, or have a special way with words, but I have a love for art that i want to share with others! 


SOOOOOO! If you're reading this, I hope you are inspired to create! As I take you through My Redesigned Life!