Table Leg Dragonflies and Butterflies, Moving On!

April 2016

Visit my new website LucyDesignsArt.com for contemporary mosaic art

Hello! If you follow me on Facebook, you may have read my post

 a few days ago about shipping out my very last dragonfly order when this

 cool zebra dragonfly flew off to Massachusetts.

I've decided phase out recycled art and dragonfly making 

so I can concentrate on my stained glass mosaics.

I created these table leg dragonflies almost 10 years ago 

but first blogged about them about 5 years ago when I came

up with the idea to use old ceiling fan blades for the wings.

When my ceiling fan blades ran out, I cut the wings out of wood

and added butterflies and bugs to the mix as well.

Prior to that, I sold my table leg dragonflies locally and made wings using

wire, then wrapped in hand painted canvas. This was way before

digital cameras and before documenting my pieces ever crossed my mind!

I've made wings using fan blades, wood, metal, wrapped wire,

glass beads, shells, stained glass and molding.

I've painted zebra patterns, giraffe and peacock feathers.

Reversible ones, one out of an old painting, vintage, stripes, dots,

 leaves, fleur de lis, graffiti inspired, flags,  a Mardi Gras mask 

and even one out of a croquet mallet! 

There are probably 30 more designs I never blogged about haha! 

The possibilities are endless!

I've shipped them all over the country and overseas.

I've created and sold well over 300 and I have loved creating each 

and every one of them and I thank you for your support over the 

years in purchasing my art dragonflies!

I thought it would be fun to put together a few collages of some

 of the past designs I've made over the years.

Click on the photos for a larger view,

Enjoy, and thanks for looking!

I hope you visit my online store featuring stained glass mosaic art. 

Find me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube

Thank you again for following, sharing and supporting my art pieces~ Lucy

smile emotic

Recycled Wood Reindeer, Large Repurposed Christmas Sculptures

I can't take credit for this adorable idea.

I saw something similar in a catalog once where they used spindles as 

reindeer legs and filed that memory in my head for later. 

This year I decided to create reindeer and put my own spin on them.

Recycled Reindeer by Lucy Designs

One idea I came up with was using metal ceiling fan blade

holders as antlers. 

When I first started using the fan blades for dragonfly wings,

I had an overabundance of these metal fan holders. 

I got rid of so many of them but did save a few and was so 

glad I did because they made great antlers!

I drew a pattern and cut the bodies from plywood.

I added a textured pattern using a stencil and my own texture

compound to create the raised pattern. You could also use 

joint compound to create the texture.

In addition to the fan blade holders, I came up with other ideas for antlers too. 

For this recycled reindeer, the antlers are cut from scrolly sections of a

 wooden picture frame. 

He has wooden coaster ears and a jingle bell nose.

I made two sizes, a large and small. This large size reindeer is 

32" tall. I used more ceiling fan blade holders as antlers, painted in

gold along with recycled tin for the ears and a bottle cap nose.

Most of the small size reindeer stand 24-28" tall and they

look adorable in pairs.

The little reindeer has more scrolled pieces from a wooden

frame as antlers, ears cut from old license plates and a metal nut for his nose.

I painted this set in muted gold.

I guess they are all male deer since they all have antlers but

they look so much cuter with the antlers!

This little gold reindeer has decorative pieces from a clock that I 

cut apart for his antlers. His ears are wooden coasters, already in 

the "ear shape" and a jingle bell nose. 

The majority of the spindles I used matched but this one has 

mismatched spindle legs and I think that just adds to the charm of

this hand made reindeer.

All the tails are made using aluminum flashing that I 

cut into a tail shape and painted.

More fan blade holder antlers and license plate ears

on this large reindeer sculpture.

They are all fairly lightweight but stand very sturdily.

What a unique addition to holiday or Winter decor that 

will last for years to come.

Update December 2016

I am no longer creating the reindeer and remaining deer are sold out

Thanks so much for taking the time to read about my reindeer!

Visit my new online store featuring my mosaic art and coastal ornaments.  You can also find me on Facebook

Pinterest, Instagram and Houzz 

Furniture Makeover, Hand Painted Country Cabinet to Colorful and Funky Using Recycled and Repurposed Elements

Here's a fun little furniture makeover I completely recently.

I started with this very country style wooden cabinet.

It's a sturdy piece and I thought it had potential to become something more our style.

The little country house isn't going to cut it for me. :) 

Starting from the bottom, this is what I did...and didn't do!

I had the idea to add a curvy corner piece and cut the door to fit it,

so I did that, but... 

After it was all mounted and the door cut, I realized how much better

THIS corbel would work, so I changed them out... and yes

I had already glued and screwed the previous piece into place.

Here is the new corbel, luckily, it's larger so it didn't really

affect my new cuts in the door. I like this version much better.

This is a very old corbel so it probably is coated with lead paint, I left it

as is and dry brushed a few colors on top of it then sealed with poly.

I didn't really have an exact plan on colors so I just played and  

layered colors as I went.

For the drawer, I had a large, rusty and aged metal house number "0"

so I cut an opening in the drawer to match the number and 

attached it as the "drawer pull". Someone on my Facebook page

said it looked like a mouth...and it kind of does! haha

I painted the sides in stripes and the inside in a deep purpley pink,

I think that color looks great with the turquoise drawer front.

Right above the drawer, I cut out the little area on the back

just to mix it up and have another area to add a fun element. 

I had this metal plaque that used to be a wall hanging and I used it to fill that open area. 

I simply screwed it in from the back and left it pretty much the same color.

For the doors, I removed the country heart door inserts.

I had a pair of large decorative metal clock hands and thought 

they would be fun as the inserts...

I turned them different directions and mounted from the inside.

I decided to paint the inside of the cabinet behind the doors

in layered turquoise and aqua colors.

I edged the fronts of the shelves in thumbtacks, painted right over them in turquoise,

washed with brown and wiped off the excess.

I really love thumbtacks. I've used them on dollar store pumpkins, 

a recycled angel and a table leg dragonfly

...just to name a few.

Search for "thumbtacks" on my blog for other ideas. They are totally underrated.

The original doors had cute little white porcelain knobs that I removed,

(of course I saved them, they are perfect dragonfly eyes), but I wanted

something more colorful, and I wanted them in a different spot on the door.

I had a colorful ceramic knob I wanted to use...just one, but of course I needed two. 

So I painted a pair of wooden finials in the style of the ceramic knob and coated with

 glossy Rustoleum Lacquer for a ceramic look.

They are much more shiny than this photo is showing.

For the very top of the cabinet, I wanted a pediment of some sort.

I had half a clock face leftover from one of my colorful architectural angels

and that was my jumping off point, but...it needed something else...

This is a set of resin plaques I used to have hanging on my wall.

I decided to incorporate part of them as well, so I cut it apart...

It actually cut pretty easily with the jigsaw and I left it the same color

and touched up the cut ends with paint.

I attached the resin piece with glue to the clock face and secured

the whole assembly to the top of the cabinet.

I also added a little carved wooden piece from a chair to this top area. 

The "knob" for the bottom door is literally a fragment from another

carved wooden piece and I brushed on turquoise paint over the 

original brown finish.

I attached to the door with a little screw...

I painted the inside of the bottom door as well as the 

inside of the cabinet and added a few stripes on the shelf edge.

I added lots of layers of color to the front of the cabinet door.

In my mind, when painting colorful pieces, I think they can all benefit

from a touch of black, or a black and white combo. I use the black and white

checks and stripes a lot in my pieces and this was no exception.

I added stripes in the middle...

On little side "support" pieces I added...

On the insides of the legs...

There's really no place left unpainted on this piece! 

Like I mentioned, I ended up layering different colors on the whole

piece, sanding a bit or wiping off as I went to get a nice aged effect.

I also washed everything with thinned brown paint and wiped off to tone

it all down.

I wasn't super careful when combining and layering the colors,

I wanted a whimsical, artsy look.

So there you have it...

Country to funky.

Thank you so much for reading about my cabinet makeover!

Visit my new online shop that featured my mosaics and you can 

always find me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

I still have some items and reduced paintings in my Etsy shop (June 2017)