How to Polish Brass

If there is one thing I am obsessed with right now, it is brass. I LOVE finding the perfect little brass creature, and bringing it back to its old glory.

Any of you that follow me know that I am always changing things up on my coffee table. I knew Mr. Crab would be a perfect addition!

I have been drooling over brass crabs for a long time now. I follow adore magazine on instagram, and so many of their posts show a brass crab on a coffee table etc. These are a few pics from www.adoremagazine.com

I watch these on ebay all the time. It was just a matter of time before I would fork it out to buy one. I would have paid much more than I did. When I was visiting my brother and sister-in-law a few weeks ago, I went into a thrift shop. Tucked away, among the other dusty collectibles display case, was this dirty and dingy brass crab. 

I asked for the man to open the case right away. I was SO excited. I was thinking it would have a sticker of around $20. I DIED, when I read $5. This was one of the most amazing thrifting good karma moments I have EVER had! My heart was beating fast. I don't think my sister-in-law or my daughter (who were both with me at the time) understood. It was quite possibly the hi-light of my trip!

I brought it home, delicately wrapped in it's thrift store paper, and it sat for a few days, while I researched how to restore it. I read a few online tutorials. It seemed that most brass polish was created equally, so I decided to try what I could find. I bought this, and you can too, using my affiliate link. Just click below:

All you need to do is first, test your piece with a magnet. If it is real brass, the magnet won't stick, and you are fine to use brass polish. If the magnet does stick, it has another metal as a filler, and the cleanser and polish may ruin the finish.

Clean your item with warm soapy water.

Dry it off, and then get your brass polish out. I used multiple rags and a toothbrush. I also wore gloves.  Squirt some polish on your item, and start to rub with your cloth. Use a toothbrush for hard to reach areas. I used lots of cloths, and polished the entire crab about 3 times. before I got the finish I wanted. Look how shiny!

He's my favorite!

The coffee table is thrifted.

Books are thrifted.

Statue is from Belize.

Gold Frame and box are from TJ Maxx.

Succulents are from Homegoods.

Rug is from Target.

Through today, by clicking the affiliate link above, you get 15% off a furniture purchase of $150 or more!

Couch is thrifted.

Thanks for stopping by. 

If you see a cool old brass decoration, get it, and polish it. You just might love it!

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

Thrifted Table, Lamp, Books Etc...

 I wanted to get new tables for my basement, but I knew I wanted them to be funky and like nothing anyone else has. I was at DI, and found two of these for $10! $5 each!!! I still needed tops for them, and again, I was at DI, and found the glass tops on another table for $10 each. I painted them from a weird dingy cream to a chartreuse yellowy-green. I LOVE THEM! I say, "them." I haven't brought the other table in yet, as I don't know what I am going to put on it. It is still clogging up the garage.

The lamp shade was $1.    The lamp base was $1.

Both from DI.

 

The books were $1 each at DI. I LOVE the reader's digest books. They always have fabulous color on the whole jacket.

The pedestal was $1.    The plate on the pedestal was $1.

Again from DI.

The plant was $3 on clearance at Michael's, and the bird cage was $20 at Tia Pan. I know I don't have anything in it yet, I am still looking for the right thing.

So far, I LOVE how it is turning out! I am still working on the rest of the basement, and will show you more as it comes along.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

Easter Decor & Easter Bunny Day

My daughter and I thought it would be fun to hang eggs from the chandelier in the formal dining room. Once we started hanging the ribbon, we didn't feel we needed any eggs. I like how it turned out, and think I will keep it up through at least May Day. It reminds me of a maypole.

Did I mention the chandelier was a $5 thrift store find? I was so proud of myself the day I found it! I felt SO LUCKY!

Another shot!

The place mats, glasses and napkins are some that I got for my birthday in 2010, and the little pink cups are from the dollar section of Michael's. The dinner plates are Wal-mart, green plates are Tai Pan, and the small salad plates are thrift store.

I can't remember where the chocolate bunny place card holders are from. The centerpiece bunny is also Tai Pan. The carrots are Shopko. For me, the key to making a table beautiful, is LAYERS! The more the better!


Do you remember my Easter table from years past? You can see it HERE. That was my very first blog post, and it ended up on Studio 5! I decided it was time for a change this year.

And, here you can see my new chairs. I LOVE them. They were only $42 each!!!

Here is the Easter tree I used to put on my formal dining table.

And, the carrot garland I always use. I still love it.

As a child, the Saturday before Easter was Easter Bunny Day. The Easter Bunny comes on that day, and that way, we can think about the real meaning of Easter on Easter Sunday. I have carried the same tradition on at my house. I really like, and recommend it! That way the kids can play with their stuff all day Sat. Thanks Mom!

Here are a few shots of the kids.

Baby kept his ears on for about 2 seconds.

They each got a cute stuffed bunny, and baby LOVED his!
He was SO EXCITED about everything! We have a bunch of shots of him holding different things up to show us with the same excited look on his face.

She might be getting too old for this, but I will take every minute I can get!

Easter Bunny left eggs around the house for the kids to find.

All the kids got a Lego set, including baby, who got his own Duplo set. I LOVE Lego Duplo! He loves it too!

With the addition of, "girl Legos," we are turning into quite the Lego family!

Con says he started it all!

I hope you have a Happy Easter!

Risa

Vintage LITTLE PEOPLE 3D wall art

I couple posts ago, I wrote about a few things I found at the local thrift store, DI, but wasn't able to finish. You can see the post HERE. Well... I finished one of them today, and it turned out SO cute, I want to squeal...EEEEEEE!

I have mentioned before, we are finishing our basement, and most of the toys are in the garage. I decided to get out to the garage, and get the Little People farm set for my baby today. I brought the whole bin of people in. (I had an obsession with them when my other kids were babies, and own pretty much every set.) So... yes, we have a whole bin just for the characters. Well, I looked through that bin 4 times in the garage a few weeks ago, looking for the vintage circus animals, that were my husband's when he was little. No luck. The kids tried to tell me I gave them away, and I knew I never would have. When I went through the bin, I found the circus animals.

I. WAS. SO. EXCITED!!!

I ran right upstairs, and got this lovely frame I bought at the DI a few weeks ago for $5. I broke the glass out, used the same mat that was already there, and turned the picture around.

I then hooked the animals on with command strips - didn't really work very well, so I moved on to large, super strength glue dots. They worked perfectly!

I attached new hooks on the back, and hung it right away!

Aren't these animals just SO DARLING?!?
They don't make them like that anymore.

The view from below, shows my husband's initial on the belly of the elephant. So sweet!


The giraffe and monkey are both missing their tails, but I don't mind, and think it adds to the character.


Thank you to my sweet mother-in-law, Margaret for saving these cute animals.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

linking:

Baby room, and a DYI HIGH!

Last week, my friend Kristen painted the MOST DARLING canvases for her nursery. It reminded me that mine is still not finished. I decided I needed to do something about it! (Thanks for the nudge Kristen!) So, I went to DI on Monday, and spent $22. I got SO many things! I wanted to share a few with you. And, let me start by saying... Before this baby, we gave away, or loaned out 95% of our baby stuff. When we had this baby, I basically had to start from scratch. The only thing in his whole nursery that is from my other babies, is the glider.

I wanted a shelf, and was so happy to find this quilt shelf for $5 - yes $5!!! I knew all it would need is a little paint. I just happened to have a can of white spray paint in the garage. Perfect!

Then, I found these elephants for $1 each. I was having a thrifting high when I found them, because just that morning, I was at Homegoods, thinking about getting a few elephants for $10 each. That's a 90% savings, and you don't even have to pay tax at DI!!!

I decided to make book ends out of them. We are finishing our basement, and our contractor (who is fabulous, by the way) was down there working. I went down, found a few scraps, and he cut and brad nailed them together for me. Thanks Curtis! You rock!

A perfect fit!

I spray painted the wood blue to match my changing table. Do you remember my changing table? You can see it HERE.

See the "Silly Sally," book on the shelf? It is one of our favorites. When I got the baby books out, the kids were loving having a walk down memory lane, and reading all the old books. They totally LOVE, Silly Sally.

The next thing I did, was make a letter "r" to go on the shelf. I was all ready to go to Hobby Lobby to buy one, when I remembered that my AWESOME HUSBAND bought me a scroll saw a few weeks ago. It is my new favorite thing. I really love it. LOVE IT! Thanks Honey!

I went to picnic, found a font I liked, and printed and cut it out. Then I grabbed a piece of pine and traced the letter. I cut it out in two minutes.

Then I traced the letter onto some scrapbook paper I already had. I cut it out, and masking taped it onto the wood.
It was SO easy! I was on another high... not a thrifting high, but a DIY high.

By the way... here is the before picture.


Did I mention the crib was free from the classifieds? People are SO nice. I may paint it some day, but probably not. The thought of that makes me tired.

I got a few more things for the nursery at DI that day, but I haven't finished them yet. I can't find my little people vintage circus animals. (Like I say, we are finishing our basement, and all the toys and things are in bins in the garage.) When I do find them, I will post pics of the next project!

So, for $7 and some spray paint, I totally changed the room!

Have a Happy and Creative day!

Risa

One of my NEW favorite OLD things!!!

So, I had two events that I am hosting this month... Sophie's baptism luncheon, and a baby shower. I thought about buying paper goods for each, and it seemed like a waste of money, and is not the most environmentally friendly thing to do.

I was at... you guessed it... DI the other day, and found these serving dishes and matching cups, and knew I had to have them. They had 30 matching pieces, and I was able to talk the manager into cutting the price almost in half, as I was buying the whole set. The next day, I found more trays that matched at Savers, and the next week, I found even more at another DI. I believe I have around 45 altogether.

What I like about glass dishes:

They are super sturdy, and don't bend when they hold a lot of food.
They are environmentally friendly.
They look beautiful!
They bring a different kind of elegance to a party.
Becasue they are from DI, I am not worrying if one gets broken. (Nothing did break, by the way, and we had a bunch of kids here.)
It was fun to watch people's faces as they picked them up, and were surprised to be holding a real dish!

I was too busy during the luncheon to take any pictures of food on the plate. I will try to remember on Saturday! It really did look pretty though. :)