Pam from Mercantile Muse is here today & we have a winner winner chicken dinner!

Let me just start out by saying how thrilled I am to have Pam here today!  And I am even more excited to announce that comment #21 is the winner of her giveaway----congrats to Sam @ The Junk House!!!!  :o)  And thank you to everyone who participated!  Now without further ado here is Pam's post!

xo Jaime

_______________________________________

Everything Old Is New Again

Hello CraftyScrappyHappy followers! Jaime has been nice enough to let me have the soapbox for awhile.  I’m Pam, a life-long thrifter, crafter, illustrator (see giveaway at the bottom of this post!), re-doer of things that need redoing. Years ago I had a booth in store where I sold my crafts and antiques. Then life got in the way. I’ve had my own communications business for 17 years and I am happy to say, I found etsy this year and started a shop- Bates Mercantile Co. It gives me another creative outlet, allowing me to design things on the computer for the heck of it and sell vintage wares, just a couple of the things I really enjoy.  I’ve also just started blogging on Mercantile Muse, which is second nature since one of the things I do for my day job is write. Other things I like to do include: finding treasures at yard sales, flea markets, thrift and antique stores; making something old new again; swimming in our pool; cooking; spending time with the people I love; enjoying our beautiful sunsets; designing and laughing. Throw all these things in the mixing bowl and you’ve got a little better idea of who I am.  Onto what I’m really here for:  my kitchen/dining chair redo.

These kitchen/dining chairs are one of my latest projects.  I’ve had them for 20+ years. Before that, they were my sister’s for a good few years, and before that…….well, who knows. Let’s just say they’ve been around.  The time came again, as we neared the end of our DIY kitchen remodel, to update the chairs with next-to-no-budget.

Time to say good bye to the black and white toile.

Though I loved the black and white toile that’s adorned the chairs for a few years, I wanted something lighter this time around because our new cabinets are ‘espresso’.  I also wanted something a sort of whimsical.  I had a plan……….recover the chairs seats with the linen, and then stencil on some food and dining related sayings.  Joann Fabric had the perfect light weight and light colored linen and I found an alphabet stencil and some fabric paint there as well.  I didn’t have to buy paint for the chairs, as I had a really nice light color called ‘Straw’ leftover in the basement.

I took the chair seats off and washed the chairs down (always an important step).  Then I painted away.  When I was done, I took sandpaper to chair and distressed, letting some of the original finish to show through.  Then I recovered the chair seats with the linen and stenciled away.

I still have two chairs to do, but so far the sayings I used are:  ‘tutti a tavola a mangiare’ (if anyone watches Lidia’s Kitchen, that saying will be familiar, it’s also a nod to my Italian heritage and means ‘everyone to the table to eat!’; and the good old standby ‘eat, drink & be merry’.

Now the question is………….what to put on the other two chairs.

I was thinking ‘always say please and thank you’ and ‘keep your elbows off the table’, but my friend Susie suggested ‘kiss the cook’ which I really like too.  Decisions, decisions.

What do you think?

Just for You

Since Jaime was nice enough to give me space to share my project, I thought it would be nice to offer something just for her followers on craftyscrappyhappy.  This label was inspired by Jaime’s own use of card catalog holders in some of her projects.

Just click right and save to your computer. It was designed to be used on a 4x2 label sheet, but you can resize the jpeg as you see fit. 

I bet you can come up with a thousand things to use this on.  

Thanks for being here on craftyscrappyhappy. I really enjoy seeing everyone’s projects.  Keep creating!