Thrifted Thursday: The Vintage Coach Bag

Happy Thrifted Thursday! Today I would like to introduce to you the coach bag I thrifted this past summer at the Funky Trunk. Isn't it lovely?

I remember the day clearly, feeling sad at first that I was about to depart the store empty handed. But, fear not. As I turned to the woman at the counter to give my "thanks, but no thanks" statement and exit, I spotted it. Sitting behind the counter, on top of a pile of fresh, new donations, was a perfectly off-white, perfectly sized, perfectly vintage Coach bag. I stopped dead into tracks and asked quickly, heart pounding in my chest, if the bag was for sale. The woman responded that she was just about to put it out for $20. STOP I shouted, I mean asked. Ill take it. I payed, left and then did a little dance to myself.

Now I'm the proud owner of a $20, vintage, cross-body, Coach bag. Boom.

Salty

via

I love salt, and I'm not talking about that Angelina Jolie movie either. I'm talking about the flavorful seasoning also known as sodium chloride. I know I'm not supposed to (love it), high blood pressure and all, but it makes everything taste better. My favorite food to add salt too? Sweets. I learned this little trick from my excellent roomie Danielle. Now that's a girl who loves salt.

I digress. I baked some Pretzel/Choco-chip/PeanutButter-chip cookies on Sunday, and they were de-li-cious. And you want to know what put them over the top? The sprinkle of sea salt I added to them while they were cooling. Perfection. I baked them for the bf's work and as I dropped them off, one of his coworkers asked if I added my secret ingredient, the ingredient I add to all of my baked goods. Secret ingredient I wondered? Hmm. Salt, she proclaimed. Ohhh (you mean Danielle's secret ingredient). Yes, I said. I did in fact salt them! "My" signature ingredient....

The trick to salting your sweets is to sprinkle the salt on approximately five minutes out of the oven, during the cooling process. If you sprinkle the salt on before you bake, it will absorb into the top. If you sprinkle just out of the oven, it will absorb into the top. If you wait too long to sprinkle, it won't stick. Sprinkle approximately five minutes out of the oven to achieve sweet and salty perfection.

Salted: Choco chip/PB chip/Pretzel Cookies

Salted: Heart shaped brownies

P.S. This post is dedicated to Danimal the animal.

DIY: Chalkboard Frame {Part II}

Thanks for joining me for my DIY: Chalkboard Frame, Part II. You are so loyal.

If you joined me for Part I, bravo! Wasn't it fun and easy. In Part I, we DIY'd a framed mirror that my roommate Danielle rescued from the recycle center. It was heroic and made for one sexylicious chalkboard.

Part II shall be a little different. For this DIY chalkboard frame, the recycled frame was not a mirror, but a one-of-a-kind illustration of a very regal-looking pup. I found it in my dumpster and knew it could be saved with a little paint of the chalkboard variety. So grabbed it, said bye bye doggy and began.

Meet the Before. One person's garbaj is another person's treasure?

The materials for this DIY Chalkboard frame are almost the same as Part I. I starred the additional materials for this DIY. You will need:

-frame

*measuring tape
*wood board- to use as the chalkboard, I bought the thinnest plywood at Lowe's for $6
*(optional) primer

*sandpaper- I used fine grit, 180, for the bare wood

*screen door clips- to hold the chalkboard to the frame

*screws- to hold the chalkboard to the frame

-screwdriver
-spray paint- whatever color you want to paint your frame
-chalkboard paint
-paint roller
-steel wool

1. Take the framed doggy picture and flip it over. If your framed picture has screws holding it in place, remove them and save them for later. If your frame doesn't have screws holding the pic in place, remove the picture, whatever means possible, without damaging the frame. The dog picture in my frame was held in place with glue (quality, right?), so I used a ripping method. I didn't photograph this step. Sowwy. Imagine it like in Part I.

2. Measure the size of your frame. (Note, this means the size of the picture that the frame will hold, not the size of the actual frame). You will need to know the dimensions in order to cut your wood to size. The dog picture inside my frame was 28"x24." Once you know your dimensions, go to your local hardware store and find the thinnest piece of wood that they have. It usually comes in a big sheet, but they will usually cut it down to size for you for free. I bought my wood at Lowe's for $6 and they cut it down to size for me for free.

3. When you get home, make sure your wood fits in the frame. This will become the chalkboard. If it fits, you now need to sand the wood down. Use a fine grit piece of sandpaper (I used 180) and sand the entire board lighty. You just want to smooth the surface and get rid of any bumps. Once you have sanded the entire board, wipe it clean with a barely damp cloth.

4. Prime your wood with one coat of primer (or be like me and use the spray paint that you bought to paint your frame). A coat of primer is important because wood usually absorbs the first layer of paint. Using primer first makes sure you won't waste any of the expensive chalkboard paint you bought. You could use actual primer, but I am cheap thrifty, so I used a light coat of the spray paint I bought for painting my frame. It worked perfectly.

5. Once you have primed your wood (and it has dried), it is time to chalkboard paint the wood. Open your chalkboard paint, just like we did it Part I. (Note: you can buy spray chalkboard paint, but several people advised me against it because the regular paint is a better "bang for your buck." Painting the mirror would have taken 2-3 cans of spray chalkboard paint, and only took one bucket of regular chalkboard paint).

Use a flat head screwdriver to open it. Piece of cake.

6. Paint your primed wood using a roller. Use at least 3 coats or the paint will chip (I found this out the hard way, as I initially only painted 2 coats and it chipped. 3 coats has stayed put). Allow at least an hour of dry time in between coats. Once you have applied 3 coats, let it dry completely overnight.

7. In between coats, while your chalkboard dries, paint your frame! Yes this is just like Part I. This time I used a light and lovely shade of aqua. It matches my room, where I will be hanging my chalkboard frame. You should use whatever color your heart desires. Allow 10 minutes between coats. Allow to dry fully over night.

8. The next morning, after all the paint is dry, it's time to put your chalkboard frame together! Grab the screen door clips, screws and screwdriver. Take out the clips from the Screen&Storm package and line them up around your frame. Then take the screws and screw the clips into place using a screwdriver. It's easy. You can do it!

9. Once the chalkboard is secured to the frame with the screen door clips and screws, you are ready to hang! Choose somewhere with love and care and make sure to write beautiful messages on it daily. 

Before. Although I am a dog lover, this dog had to go.

After! So fresh and so clean clean

Where my DIY Chalkboard Frame: Part II rests, as my new headboard art!

DIY: Chalkboard Frame {Part I}

Chalkboard paint is cool. Have you noticed? It's all over Pinterest, probably because it's so quick and easy to use. There are so many cool things you can do with it, like this, this, this and this. Today though, I am showing you perhaps the easiest and most common of the chalkboard DIYs. I'm showing the Chalkboard Frame.

This DIY is a two-parter because I made two different chalkboard frames. Since it's Monday, and we haven't DIY'd in a while, I'm starting you off with the easier one. The process was straightforward and easy, but took some time to allow for drying. I would recommend setting aside a whole afternoon for this project (or perhaps two, like me).

To begin, you must first gather your materials. You will need:

-a frame- preferably rescued from a dumpster somewhere (like this one was)
-screwdriver
-spray paint- if you want to change the color of your frames
-chalkboard paint- the lady helping me recommended the actual chalkboard paint, not the spray kind
-paint roller
-steel wool

1. Take the framed mirror that my roommate you rescued from the dumpster and flip it over.

2. Remove the screws from the frame using a screwdriver. Save them in a ziplock bag, we will need later when we reassemble the frame. 

3. Open your chalkboard paint (Note: you can buy spray chalkboard paint, but several people advised me against it because the regular paint is a better "bang for your buck." Painting the mirror would have taken 2-3 cans of spray chalkboard paint, and only took one bucket of regular chalkboard paint).

Use a flat head screwdriver to open it. Piece of cake.

3. Paint the mirror using a roller. Use at least 3 coats or the paint will chip (I found this out the hard way, as I initially only painted 2 coats and it chipped. 3 coats has stayed put). Allow at least an hour of dry time in between coats. Once you have applied 3 coats, let it dry completely overnight.

4. Now spray paint your frame! I used a beauuutiful tangerine color. You can use whatever color you want. Spray 2-3 coats. Allow 10 minutes in between each coat (spray paint dries wayyy quicker than regular paint). Allow to fully dry over night.

5. The next morning (or 5 days later like me) it is time to reassemble your frame. Grab the bag of screws you saved when we took the frame apart and screw them back in. Now comes the secret of the chalkboard frame. Are you ready? Use the steel wool to "rough" up the perfect and beautiful chalkboard paint you just applied. I know, it hurts a little, but it will make the chalk stick when you start writing on it. (I didn't photograph the "roughing" of the paint. Please imagine it and accept my apologies.)

6. VOILA! You are finished. You did it! A big pat on the back to you.

Before = ugly, mirrored and poopy brown. Thumbs down.

After = cheery, bright and inspirational. Thumbs wayyy up!

Friday Link Love

TGIF! I am so excited for this weekend! Sunday is Daylight Savings and I love longer days of sunshine! Don't forget to "spring" your clocks forward. I'm also going down to D-town on Sunday with the roomie to do some s-h-o-p-p-i-n-g! Hopefully I will get some Fanci.Mandi. time in there too. We're planning on eating (but no dessert) and shopping until we drop. My shopping mission is a new kini so I'll be trying on this, this and this. I'll let you know what I choose. I hope you have a sweet weekend too! Enjoy my Friday link love. xx


Mountains [Virgin Islands geography- note St. John, the island I will be exploring].


Mode [Celine autumn/winter 2013-14].

Underwater dogs.

Underwater pups.

Relaxed chic that I will recreate this week.


Why JCPenny is failing to rebrand itself (interesting, considering I've posted about them 2x this week!).


Target swimsuits in Sport Illustrated.


Walmart employee saves the day!


Patterned rugs really do brighten up any room.


NYC's ban on large, sugary drinks and the coffee conundrum.


I have noticed this trend too!


Grammar errors of the past.


Denim on denim.


This online-only store. Need this box cut tee, silk blouse and tote asap.


This sauce looks delish (for all my saucy people out there!).


Table styling tips.







Photo via Pinterest