Before we get to this amazing project from Sherri at Made From Pinterest – and I know you’re itching to get the details – I have to tell you a few things. A bit of housekeeping, if you will …

 

1. The lovely Kim at Savvy Southern Style invited me to share my favorite room on her blog today. It’s quite an honor and I’m both humbled and excited! You can find our which room I’ve been playing favoritism with by clicking here …

 

2. I don’t just have a guest post here from Made From Pinterest today. I’m actually sharing a new project on their blog today too. Just click here …

 

3. Make sure you read Sherri’s story that goes along with her project. It’s a whopper of a tale. Take it away Sherri …

 

 

These shoes are liars. Pretenders. Fakes. Faux is a nicer word. But at the end of the day, they are not what they are trying to look like they are.

 

And I am okay with it.

 

Because they cost me less than 10 bucks. And they are cute.

 

Is it really a lie if the lie is so obvious, that anyone can spot it? Like these DIY Oxfords. You know they are not really oxfords.

 

Right?

 

I was raised by a liar. The best liar. He told me a whopper that was so obvious I should have spotted it.

 

I didn’t.

 

I was a grown woman before my husband spotted it for me. And had great fun pointing it out to me. To this day, it is one of “our” stories. Every couple has those stories you pull out at parties when you want to be entertaining. Because the truth is, it is down right funny. Laugh out loud funny. Hysterical, really.

 

Even I have to admit it. Even though it makes me look like a ditz.

 

Here’s the deal. I grew up a very rich kid. And I didn’t know it. Had no idea.

 

Because Dad lied.

 

I believed a whopper the size of a whale until I was a grown woman. I defended this lie vehemently because I believed in it so much.

 

It all started when we were having dinner with friends.

 

I am sorry, you came here to learn how to make a pair of oxfords. Start with a pair of plain white tennis shoes. I got mine at Walmart for 5 bucks. Take out the shoelaces.

 

 

I was telling our friends at dinner how much fun we used to have as a family living in Southern California going to Catalina Island for the weekend.

 

In our boat.

 

My husband was interested in the details. Where did we sleep?

 

On the boat.

 

He is thinking ski boat, where the seats pull out into beds. No, I tell him. There were beds. Real beds. He thinks there is a small cabin below deck.

 

I tell how my dad was an amazing boat driver. Mom used to bring her card club friends out on the boat when it was her turn to host. Sometimes one of the cards would float away in the breeze. Dad was such a good boatman, he could get close enough to the card floating on the water so that mom could lean over and pick it up.

 

My husband is not interested in Dad’s captain abilities. He is stuck on card club.

 

You are stuck on shoes. So am I. When I found this post from Amy Belgradt at Mom Spark, I knew I needed to make a pair. Pencil in your design on the shoe.

 

 

“How could they play cards on the boat?” My hubby wants to know. “On their laps?” he asked. No. Folding tables. We set them up on the deck. My dad was crazy, amazing piloting that boat.

 

My husband is not interested in Dad. He says, “Did you say tables? As in plural, more than one?”

 

He is annoying me with his attention to trivial details. Yes, there was more than one. Three, maybe four. I don’t really remember.

 

He interrupts me again.

 

He feels three or four card tables on the deck means this is a really big boat. It was seafaring. It was bigger than a ski boat, but not huge, I tell him. I have moved on to telling him about the time we saw whales on the way to Catalina.

 

By the way, you are going to need acrylic paint, paint brushes, and spray protectant for your shoes. This project is so easy. Just paint the shoes. You can add fabric medium to the paint, but I didn’t bother. I used a light kahki and white paint. Paint your shoes following the design you drew. I dipped the end of the paint brush into paint and dabbed it on to make the dots. I got a little seasick and started following the stitching line instead of the paint line. It adds character, see? I painted the tongue last. Let the paint dry a few hours and then seal with spray for shoes following the directions. I used Protect-All from Kiwi.

 

 

Now my husband wants to know what we did if we had to go to the bathroom while we were making the trip, or in the middle of the night. The boat had a small bathroom.

 

I try to get the conversation back to the whales.

 

“Boats don’t have bathrooms. I think it was a yacht.”

 

My husband has a thing about interrupting good stories.

 

Little girl that I was, I thought the whales were small islands. I spotted them first and pointed them out to my dad. They were big enough you could walk on them. Dad was kind of nervous about the whales.

 

“What about eating?”

 

He was interrupting again. The whales weren’t eating. They were just swimming.

 

“No, what did you eat on these weekends to Catalina?” he wanted to know. Abalone. My dad and his friends loved to catch them and cook them up fresh, but I thought they were rubbery and gross.

 

“Where did they cook them?”

 

Now we were getting to what my husband was driving at. “Was there a kitchen on the boat?”

 

Of course not! There was, however, a small sink, fridge and stove that Mom and Dad called the galley.

 

“That’s a yacht!” My husband is persistent.

 

I explain the technicalities as Dad explained them to me. The official length for a boat to be a yacht is 43 feet. Our boat, The Ranger II, a top of the line Hatteras, was 42 feet and therefore under the legal limit to be considered a yacht.

 

That’s a whopper.

 

A whale of a tale.

 

I bought it hook, line and sinker.

 

I guess Dad thought that snooty girls who knew the truth were worse than down to earth girls who were gullible.

 

So he lied.

 

And I believed it, well in to my twenties.

 

If I tell you that oxfords are technically a low heeled shoe with laces, therefore these shoes legally qualify, do you believe me?

 

 

Sherri,

 

Hello, It All Started With Paint readers. Thank you to Linda for inviting us over for a visit. I am Sherri, the Baby of the trio of sisters over at Made From Pinterest. Three sisters. Three states. Keeping our family close by testing one pin at a time. Come on over and see what we have been up to lately.

Do you remember that game from Kindergarten… and Highlights magazine … where you were asked to pick the one thing that doesn’t belong with the others?

 

Yes?

 

Well, that’s pretty much how I’ve been feeling on the first Wednesday of the month at the Repurpose, Recycle, Reuse party. Like the circled one that doesn’t belong …

I have a hard time sticking with neutrals. I love them when I see them, but can’t seem to make them happen in my home. I keep finding myself drawn to bold patterns. And colors.

 

And sparkly things.

 

But I was on a mission this month. A mission to not mess up the group graphic. So I went muted. Understated. With some faux grain sack pillows made from painter’s drop cloth material …

 

 

How To Make Faux Grain Sack Pillow From Painter’s Drop Cloth

Step 1: Wash the drop cloth. This makes it softer and much easier to work with.

Step 2: Cut your drop cloth to size to fit the pillow. I followed this tutorial to make an envelope pillow.

Step 3: Tape off and paint your fabric. I used a fabric paint and dipped the brush in and blotted. I was going for a dry brush technique …

and I’ll blot off even more paint the next time I make these.

 

A few tips …

(1) Paint the fabric before you sew the pillow together;

(2) Be sure to put cardboard under the fabric when painting.

 

And that’s it. I created two different patterns …

 

 {The center stripe on this pillow measures 3/4″; the two smaller outer stripes measure 1/4″}

 

 {The stripes on this pillow are 1/4″ wide}

 

and, look(!), this month I don’t think I stick out like a sore thumb …

 

Travel Coin Display, Bigger Than The Three of Us | Terracotta Pot Accent Table, Thrifty & Chic | Super Easy Lamp Redo, Life As A Thrifter | Patriotic Painted Denim Bunting, All Things G&D | Vintage Camera Lamp, Lovely Etc.

 

Good thing I didn’t go with that neon green project!

Be sure to check out the links above to see what my repurposing, recycling, and reusing friends are up to this month.

 

Here are some of my Repurpose, Recycle, Reuse projects from the previous months {just click on the pictures to see the full post} …

 

   

 

Sharing:

Savvy Southern Style |  Jennifer Rizzo  |  Inspiration Gallery  | The Shabby Nest |  Serenity Now  |  Link Party Palooza | Made From Pinterest | Six Sisters Stuff | Funky Junk Interiors | It’s Overflowing | The DIY Showoff | Between Naps On The Porch | A Stroll Through Life | A Bowl Full of Lemons | The Scoop | French Country Cottage | Liz Marie Blog | Home Stories A to Z |

This is not the repurposed project I planned to share today.

 

No, that project turned into a big fat mess of blurry and bleeding paint.  A homemade-contact-paper-as-stencil epic fail involving thrift store plates and enamel paint.

 

Which placed me back at the drawing board with no time to fix that mess in time for our first Wednesday party …

 

So I had to scramble. And “repurpose” a project that I shared on Made From Pinterest last month. But have yet to share here …

 

until now …

 

as an act of desperation.

 

It’s my gold painted dinosaur necklace. Inspired by a project the on the blog of my blogger friend. And a project that all started when my blogging friend wondered if people were sick of the whole painted dinosaur trend …

 

 

So she stuck an eye hook into the tops of a tiny plastic dinosaurs …

 

… as did I.

 

And then she spray painted them …

 

… as did I.

 

And then she posted them on her blog …

 

and BOOM!

 

The world exploded. Pinterest blew up. And her question about whether a trend was still a trend was answered.

 

Now my trend-testing friend made painted dinosaur key rings. And the cutest dinosaur ring dish. I opted to make a gold dinosaur necklace …

 

 

Now it’s time to check out the amazing repurposed, recycled, and reused projects from my new blogging friends …

 

projects that, unlike mine, did not include an epic fail!

Old Book Turned Trinket Box from Lovely, Etc.

Reusable Produce Bags from T-Shirts & Onesies from All Things G&D

Napkin Wall Art from Thrifty & Chic

Tile Top Table from Planter Stand from Bigger Than The Three of Us

 

 

Sharing at Link Party Palooza | Six Sisters Stuff | It’s Overflowing |

I’ve always had tremendous admiration for those repurpose-full people. You know the ones. The people who make lemonade out of lemons.

 

They see a pair of cruddy old rain boots at a flea market and envision a cute planter for their front porch. They see clocks in old bicycle wheels. Christmas trees in old ladders. Wreaths in old mason jar lids …

 

you get the idea.

 

But me?  Well, let’s just say when it comes to making lemonade, I buy the packaged stuff and just add water.

So when the lovely Carrie at Lovely, etc. asked if I wanted to participate in a monthly “repurpose” series with a few other bloggers … and I said yeah, sure, sounds like fun … what in the world was I thinking?

 

So please bear with me as I take baby steps into the world of repurposing. And recycling. And reusing. Seriously. I’m taking some teeny, tiny baby steps starting with some leftover scrapbook paper …

 

How to Make Paper Roses

 

I started by cutting a spiral out of a 6 x 6 inch piece of paper.

 

Then start rolling …

 

… and rolling.

 

 

Then let it go.

 

I punched a small hole in the bottom.

 

And then I used my glue gun to keep the flower together.  A dab on the bottom and a few dabs here and here …

 

Then I fed a floral stem through the center and out through the hole I punched in the bottom.

 

Like so.

 

 All that was left to do was arrange them in a vase.

 

Now if you want some more advanced repurposing ideas, check out my fellow Repurpose, Recycle, Reuse blogger projects …

 

 

DIY Light from Bigger Than The Three of Us

 

Shower Curtain Upholstery from Lovely, Etc.

 

 

Shirts Turned Into Lampshade Covers from Thrifty & Chic

 

 

Reuseable Tracing Mat from Life As A Thrifter

 

 

Valentine’s Poppers from All Things G&D

 

 

Now these ladies seriously know how to make lemonade out of lemons!

🙂

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Matchbox Valentine

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