fun find: feedsack trick or treat bag and a pinterest question

So this is the first thing I noticed when I opened my new Country Living magazine today: this fun feed sack trick or treat bag.

I purchased it for about $16, and the good news is part of the proceeds go to help UNICEF.

I've already ordered mine, and it's on it's way. Go here to get one for yourself.

I'm on a feedbag/grainsack kick lately--I just love them!  If you didn't see my newly upholstered grain sack chair go here to check it out in it's entirety.

Also, I'm perplexed about Pinterest so if anyone can help I would truly appreciate it.  I tried to "sign up" several times on the Pinterest site but still have not received anything (I'm even checked my spam box)  Has anyone had similar problems and know how I can get an invite and start pinning? 

Come back tonight for the {Primp}Your Stuff Wednesday linky party!

keep primping,

grainsack chair

I just finished my first, and possibly last, upholstery project, using this chair that's been sitting in the garage for a few months, and an old grain sack I found online for $30.

I loved the details of this chair, and knew it would be fun to {primp}.

Here's what it looked like before.  I'm sure it was a real beauty in it's time, but I was going for a different look.

 

The finished chair now sits in a little nook near my built-in shelves,

Then, I couldn't decide whether to paint the chair white or leave it as it was.  So I compromised and did a thick white dry brush effect.  I like the way it turned out, with a little bit of the natural dark wood showing through, and I didn't even need to sand!

Not bad for a totally unique and utterly cool chair with a frenchy farmhouse feel.

 

Now I'm off to finish my boy's room redo (which feels like the longest project ever!), and to gather ideas to bring fall inside.

keep primping,

Faux Grain Sack Pillows & Runner

This is what I was up to over the weekend... making this ...

and this.

(see that Tiffany blue box, I won a fabulous giveaway I'll share soon)

I have been debating whether to buy some authentic grain sacks to make some pillows and a table runner. I even had some grain sacks in an online shopping cart, and kept going back to look at them, but just couldn't get myself to click on the "buy" button.

I finally just decided to use what I already have and make my own (and save about $100 as a result!)

No one would even know they're not the real thing, right, well except now you do.

I made 3 pillows and 1 runner for about $10. (I'll show you the 3rd pillow soon!)

(dang wrinkles, I swear I tried)
I used leftover dropcloth material and basically just taped off varying stripes, eyeballing as I went. Then I brushed on some red acrylic paint and pulled the tape off.

I'm loving my new pillows and table runner, they give my home a fun french farmhouse feel.

Faux Grain Sack Chair

Here is my latest project, a chair transformation.

Before: very, very ugly. This is even after I removed the very ugly and dirty fabric on the seat. I got a little excited about this redo and tore off the fabric before I remembered to take a picture. But trust me, it was a very dirty, red & white checked material--I couldn't get my hands on it fast enough.

I used about 3 coats of white paint, then added a very large number 6 to the front (picked to represent the number of people in our family). I just printed off the number, cut it out and traced using a pencil. Then filled it in with black paint.

I heavily distressed the chair by sanding, then using a walnut stain applied liberally. I didn't plan on staining so much at first, but when I saw up close my paint job in certain areas, I decided this would be better than having to do yet another coat of white paint.

For the fabric, I made my own faux grain sack fabric. Using basic muslin and some masking tape, I taped off varied stripes and filled in using a gray acrylic paint. Then pulled off the tape to reveal this ...