Cane Chair Redo

I picked up these two cane chairs at my favorite local thrift store for $3.49 a piece. 

Nice bargain, right?

Unfortunately, each chair had it's own issue with holes in the caning. 

I wonder how many people have these old 

damaged cane chairs stored away somewhere 

waiting to be fixed. 

I had no interest in getting them professionally re-caned (too expensive). 

Not only that, I wanted to challenge myself to see what I could come

up with in regard to repairing them myself. 

The seats are upholstered so nicely and professionally.

Had I attempted to re-cane them myself, 

I would've had to take the upholstery apart, 

which I dreaded doing. 

I brought out my DMC floss thinking I may somehow 

incorporate it into the fix, but changed my mind. 

I ended up weaving strips of cotton material 

(that I ripped apart, as opposed to cutting) 

through the caning.

When the weaving was complete, 

I strategically placed and sewed on two handmade fabric flowers.

Here's how this first chair redo turned out. 

Isn't it cute?

I still have some staining to do on parts of the wood that need some

extra attention due to wear, but this one is basically done. 

I'm still working on the second chair. 

It had a trickier issue, so I decided to tackle the easier fix first. 

I'll be sure to post an update of the second chair redo as well. 

Happy creating!

An Apple A Day

This is another small Artist Trading Card. 

It measures about 2" by 3". 

I was practicing an art exercise that I made up

in order to decide what to draw.

I thought I'd take the first word that

came to mind and use it as my subject matter.

Apple was my word. It was close to lunchtime. 

Here's what I came up with. . . . 

Wood Block Tulip Stamp

I love wood block prints and homemade cards. 

I was looking for a quick craft that combined these two things. 

Here's a list and picture of the materials I used.

foam sheet

block of wood

exacto knife

pen

glue stick

assorted paints

I decided to go with a more primitive folk artsy design.

I did some sampling first on a piece of scrap paper. 

Then I moved on to stamping on card stock and adding a few details

with a fine black marker. 

Here's the finished piece. 

It was fast, simple, and turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.