How-To's Day: CRAFTED Before & After - Display Case

We fixed up a second-hand display case for our cash wrap at CRAFTED and here is the Before & After.

BEFORE:

This Display Case was found at a yard sale for $40 in Lilac, CA when Sharon and I traveled down to Keys Creek Lavender Farm for a day trip. It was small enough to fit in my F.I.T. which is a necessity for all of our display items.  The case was in pretty good shape and I was really exited to find it! A total score!!!

AFTER:

When we finally got the case down to San Pedro all the glass came loose from the frame and pretty much disassembled itself. Because it fell apart there was more steps to put it back together again, but it was a blessing in disguise because I was able to completely rehab the whole case. I worked on the project along side of prepping the walls and the rest of the display so all in all it took me a full week to complete this project. If I needed to come up with a rough estimate of the time I would put it at ~15hours and under $20 for supplies to refresh the beauty back into the case.

First thing, prep the case by sanding the case down. I used a wire brush to make sure the grooves in the case were sanded down and clean.

Once everything is sanded down you can patch up any uneven or damaged surfaces with wood filler.  Let the wood filler dry and sand smooth before moving on to primer.

I think the case looks pretty slick in the grey primer in the all over one color, but I am going to use two colors for the case once everything is said and done.

Using leftover paint from  the walls I painted the main portion of the case in two coats of the turquoise paint and then painted the bottom and inside portion with the contrasting green paint.

Tah-dah! It pops very nicely! I am really glad we painted it two-colors so it will stand out in front of the wood stained wall.

The easy part was painting everything! Then we re installed the hardware and set the shelves before adding the exterior glass.

The glass is held in place with silicone glue that can also be used to glue aquariums.  It is very sturdy and bonds with the glass nicely.  We did put glue on all the top surfaces of the glass before the addition of the top piece of glass. The wooden beam that runs along the back of the case got an extra large heaping of the adhesive because that is the main place that all the case it supported by. Each case will be different. Make sure to figure out where the pressure is held in the structure before working on your case so that you have the weight distributed evenly keeping the glass help together safely. Then we clamped the back portion together with 2" clamps and laid a sheet over everything before lying down weighted objects to distribute pressure on everything as it dries over night.

The next day you can take down the weights and clamps. Our case came with mirrored doors that we placed back into the case to add the finishing touches.

Fill it will all your merchandise and you are ready for business!

Hope you enjoy this before & after. We'd love for you to see it in person at our market stall #A200 at the CRAFTED at the Port of Los Angeles Marketplace if you find yourself down in San Pedro ;)

XOXO, KC

CRAFTED - Countdown to Launch: 5 DAYS!

We were at the warehouse all weekend! Here is some progress pictures of how our space is coming along for CRAFTED.

KC and I had such a blast work on the space together yesterday. It is really coming along! There is still a lot of work to be done, but by the Grand Opening on Friday we are confident that the store is going to rock!!!

Stay tuned for more fun to come!
XOXO, Kevin & KC

CRAFTED - Update on Wall Treatments (Day 2)

Today will be my third day down to San Pedro to work on our market stall walls for our upcoming store at CRAFTED. It has been hard work these past two days and I am very anxious for everything to start coming together. One thing that has taken me the longest is prepping the walls so that I have the best surface for painting. The wood on the walls have knots all over as well as some of the sections of the wood is gashed and gnarled up.  If you paint the wood without filling up these imperfections the dimpling in the walls is very noticeable through the paint unfortunately.

  

Here is the two main walls. Top: Close-up on texture. Bottom: Covered in wood filler.

I did however complete the staining of the two smaller walls that will be behind the cash wrap yesterday, YAY!

Top: Sanded and prepped walls. Bottom: Wall stained with 1 heavy coat of gel stain.

Today I will only be putting in a half day down at the port so that I can get some neglected work done at home. Beforehand I will celebrate my hard work with Sharon by checking out the unveiling of the *NEW* Expo Line Culver City Station which opens today. All the rides are FREE today in celebration, departing from the Culver City Station beginning at Noon! I'll share news of the fun, and will be tweeting away as we check out the opening. 


Hope y'all have a super day!!!
XOXO, KC

Have a Unique Mother's Day!

Unique LA is this Saturday and Sunday (May 12-13)!  Make Shop Live is proud to once again be apart of the 4th annual Spring show.  Mark your calendars.  Bring your Mothers.  It's going to be fun!

Come find these colors...

We will be in the table section right across from the Oh Snap! Studios photo booth.  You can't miss us.  

Special Deal this Weekend!!

Mention the above, in-progress, display photo and get a free gift!

See you guys soon!

Kevin & KC Sears

Local Love- Wrap Up and Pictures

We had such a wonderful time at this past weekend's Local Love show downtown! It is always such a treat to see everyone + the quality of everyone's items makes the shopping fabulous :) It mixes all of my favorites- creating displays, shopping, good people, and great music. 

Thanks to our Pal and PR Guru- Sharon Fain, we had these cute little masks that stopped tons of people dead in their tracks to take a picture at our Table. Kudos for the great masks :)

Here are some pictures of our table at the show:

UNIQUE LA and the State of Unique is so mind-blowing to me! Sonja Rasula the founder has such an amazing vision for her independent design shows as well as the State of Unique Blog.

The State of Unique Blog- which is filled with DAILY content :) is proving to be the hottest online destination for modern, curated, Made in America design! I am just so honored to be a part of her shows and the culture she is not only highlighting but stimulating into existence. What an amazing and talented young lady! Wanna hear this visionary speak + an evening of talk show style events? Check out This is Your Library HERE for more details.

Well, finally off to bed!

XOXO, KC

OC Mart Mix

Sharon and I stopped by the OC Mart Mix Celebration and it was a pretty amazing day! I got even more jazzed about our endeavor in CRAFTED after seeing the OC Mart.  Kinda close in concept to CRAFTED except it is more of a retail/ boutique/ showroom concept space.  I have attached pictures of some details I noticed while visiting: 

 

I really, really like this succulent wreath. I kinda want a whole bunch of them- EVERYWHERE!!!

If you are in OC, you should totally check this place out. I totally recommend it :) I really like how a lot of the spaces had these suspension shelves which I totally need to put a pin in for later- they are super easy and affordable to create.

Enjoy & have a super day!

XOXO, KC

Weekend Wrap-Up TEASER

 Thanks for everyone who came out to UNIQUE LA this weekend!!! 

We had the most wonderful weekend and really enjoyed this year's show. I am going to post my first "haul video" of items I purchased so stay tuned for videos and more details.

I have been uploading pictures Kevin took with the slr onto our Flickr Page and I have to dump my point and shoot/ cell phone tomorrow. I had an exhausting day of regrouping, moving and organizing today and I still have some things hidden from myself :/  I can't hardly keep my eyes open which isn't helpful when I so badly want to add all kinds of updates. Things are swimming today! But if I walk downstairs one more time I don't think I am coming back up. So sleepy!

I have had a ton of inquires about the PBR Reinbeers so it looks like I need to make another batch of those suckers before its too late to ship for Christmas, but that is honestly the tip of the iceberg...

I must go to bed before I work myself up-

XOXO, KC

What I Wore- Friday 11/4/11

Today was one of the first rainy days here in LA and I got to listen to the rain and make crafts for the bulk of the day.  What I would like to bring up today is- Why did we stop wearing house dresses as  lounge wear? I don't quite know when terrycloth jumpsuits came in and mumus went out, but the right ones are fabulous. I think they should make a comeback-

The quilted house coat was a fun find.  I don't usually collect house coats, but this one is the perfect shade of raspberry. Plus, the quilted fabric is still in really nice condition, so I can feel snugly in it.  It has exquisite costume jewelry buttons with little crystals inside and it has pockets- love it! Don't hate on my shlumpadinka picture- I am not a persona, I am a person who likes comfort and I will definitely take risks because fashion should be fun.  Do you remember when you were little and you would want to throw on everything you loved even if the pieces don't quite work together?? That is kinda my favorite.

Main project for today was finishing up these upcycled containers as packaging for our pin cushion rings.

Made from paper towel/ bathroom tissue rolls, old maps, decorative tape and sticker details. The shape and size is perfect for the rings. I really lucked out connecting that this would be a perfect fit as packaging to protect the rings.  This could be a good addition to your holiday craft fair as packaging for jewelry and other small gift items.

Hope everyone has a stellar weekend!!! Make sure to come to the Patchwork Indie Arts and Crafts Festival in Long Beach this Sunday 11/6/11 and say hi! 

If you come buy our booth & mention this posting- we will hook you up with  a free gift :-)

Hope to see you there! XOXO, KC

Paper Decorations for UNIQUE LA

As you may or may not already know we try to feature a How-To or a Tutorial section on our blog on Tuesdays.  Todays segment is going to feature more behind the scenes as well as making a re-purposed staple for fun Eco-crafting.  

Here is the details on some pretty paper rosettes-

One treat I am really looking forward to for our UNIQUE LA display this Holiday season are these re-purposed paper rosettes we are making as part of our reused paper decorations.

We really love these Mrs. Meyer's Dryer Sheets. They smell super great and are biodegradable versus whatever dryer sheets are made of. Does anyone really know???  They smell super good and hold up as perforated dotted paper after used.  

I have realized my niche is re-using things.  I am pretty sure I would be classified as a "consumer" still. I just make most of my purchases with a unique set of requirements. I feel super smart about making decisions and purchases around how many times I can continue using "the raw product" of each item I purchase. This item especially is one product that excites me to use fully.

These sheets make a great decoration for their second life, and I have been collecting them for months getting ready to utilize them for decorations. At UNIQUE LA's 2010 Holiday Event we are going to deck the decor with these awesome Paper Rosettes made from these used dryer sheets.

Here is the basics.  You save the sheets.  Cut them in half where they are perforated so that one sheet is now two.  Then accordion fold the sheet lengthwise wide enough to accommodate the staple in the middle to bound.

  These bunches are super fun looking all together.  

I can't wait until they are all glued and expanded. They are going to be fantastic!!!

This picture kinda illustrates the finished stapled bunches as of now... I am sure we will collect some more and I will post a finished count for the ridiculous amount above soon. 

***Prize for the person who guesses the right amount of rosettes we have in our booth at UNIQUE LA***

Now we spread each side of the sheet to meet each other and hot glue together. And whala! Beautiful paper rosettes that are super fun and pretty.

Pictures from LA Craft Experience

I think there should be a word for a productive slacker... One that would describe my overall feeling towards doing things right now.  I a checking off unimportant items from the to-do, SO I feel a bit of accomplishment.  Kevin and I had the busiest weekend last weekend so its understandable that I am spent. Seriously, I just want to take a nap and watch some TV.  Before I can allow myself to do anything relaxing though I must get out these pictures, I can't believe it is Wednesday already...

Here are some great shots from this weekend-

 The "Usual Spread" this time with a new display for our Vintage Magazine Stationery Set- A disk case we found out our local thrift store.  It works awesome!!! I am on the hunt for more- 

ALSO- A *NEW* 3 Drawer Tower with Blue, Pink, Green and Cream Colored Maps.