Andrea's blog

Brezina Refinishing Review - Birmingham, AL

My grandparents bought a beautiful set of maple furniture for my mom and aunt when they were young.  A dresser & mirror, two secretary desks, a lingerie chest and a set of bunk beds.  If there were night stands, I'm not aware of it! 

Anyhow, my mom inherited the bunk beds, dresser and one of the secretary desks when she moved out on her own (or sometime in her young adult life), which means that for most of my life, *I* used them as my bedroom furniture. 

They'd been beat up, scratched, stained, dented, and even had a LOT of stickers put all over them.  But still, they remained sturdy pieces of furniture.  We had the dresser refinished as a wedding present when Ben and I got married 11 years ago, and it now resides in Ayla's room.  As does one of the twin beds, which has since been painted with white laquer paint.

But the secretary desk that I love so dearly has unfortunately sat in our garage taking up space and collecting dust for 11 years until we were ready to spend the money to have it refinished.  We waited and waited and discussed it and stewed over it every time we cleaned out the garage.  Finally, this year, I decided it was time to either fix it up and use it somewhere in the house or let it go. 

Well, I couldn't let it go.

I knew it would look so great in our kitchen and help keep all the mail and papers at bay that seem to collect on the island.  But...I'd only like it *IF* it was painted, not stained.  With all the red wood floors in our kitchen, the wood finish just didn't look quite right.  But imagine it all painted black...now THAT would be sharp!

Originally I was going to try and paint it myself.  That illusion lasted about 10 minutes when I told Ben about my big revelation and he said "you're not doing this yourself."  He was right. This desk has an insane amount of nooks and crannies and I'm not known for my detailed precision when it comes to stuff like this.  Oh, and I've never done any refinishing before so I have zero experience.

So off to the professionals I went.  Brezina Refinishing was recommended to me by a local friend, so I called for an estimate, was not completely shocked by the price, and decided to just go for it. 

Brezina Refinishing (Tony Lee)
4915 5th Ave S
Birmingham, AL 35222
(205) 599-6770
(Be sure to tell Tony that Andrea Steed sent you!)

I asked Tony for a black satin finish with slight distressing.  I was VERY pleased!

Wanna see????

He did just the perfect amount of distressing around the edges so that the original wood peeks through.  Plus, check out that shiny brass hardware all spiffed up!

He finished every piece of it, inside & out, front and back (since the back is open to our playroom downstairs).  It even got three new knobs for the inside drawers (since I was so resourcefully using a paper clip - yikes.

Even the inside shelves have some neat distressing marks that almost make it look like it's *actually* worn down that way.

And the chair looks just as good! Check it out:

Ahh...love it.  Working with Tony at Brezina Refinishing was a joy.  I would absolutely recommend him for any wood refinishing work.  I even got to see some samples of cool furniture he's restored and re-vamped in his workshop and home.  He does fantastic work.  Plus, I caught him during a slow season, so he was able to have my desk delivered to me only a week and a half after I brought it to him.  Unbelievable!

I'm so glad to finally have this desk out of the garage and into the house!  Yay!

Next on the bedroom furniture refinishing list -- turning that other twin headboard and footboard into a bench for the entryway.  Something along these lines...maybe in a color this time though!  I think I'll probably let Brezina Furniture tackle that project too. :)

I've made a few of these baby's first year albums for family and friends, and thought I'd post a quick little tutorial for how to make them.  They make great baby shower gifts or even a good way to get an easy album for your own kids made before the baby is born!  Plus, it's easy to fill in and keep up with!

Start with a 3-ring binder album. I like the We R Memory Keepers Faux Leather albums with a bookplate spine.  This one is navy, though it looks black in the photo.

Next, pick a patterned paper collection to use throughout the book.  For this album, I used the Basic Grey Oliver Collection.  The collection pack comes with some alphabet stickers and themed stickers as well.

Create a front page.  I like to leave a photo mat for a 5 x 7 photo.  I like to think it'll be filled in with a newborn photo.

Each month of the year gets a calendar journaling page.  I just made a template in Microsoft Word, added the correct numbers for the month, and then printed it on gray cardstock.

Once all the pages are printed, to make it a little more handmade I add a stamped month & year and a few strips of patterned paper.  These pages are housed in regular 8.5" x 11" page protectors.

Next, for each month, I make double-sided journaling tags, and fill in the spaces of a 2-up photo sleeves page protector.  Each tag gets a journaling stamp & some patterned paper details.  Later, the tags can be filled in with journaling information about the photos that are added from that month.

The last page for each month is a printed "milestones" page to record important details like height, weight, eating and sleeping habits, etc.  This page is also printed on gray cardstock with patterned paper details.  I made the template for it in Microsoft Word. For this particular album, I used my Silhouette to cut the numbers for each month as well.

All that's left is a "one" page at the end of the book.  Again, I left a photo mat for a 5 x 7 photo to be added later.

It's a pretty easy-to-make, assembly-line style album and can be completed in a couple of days. Since it's handmade and can be personalized to match the decor for any nursery or with the baby's name, etc., it makes a special gift.

Here are some other versions of the album that I've made before:

Twin Books:

Gender-Neutral Baby Album:

You may notice a few changes around here this week! A.Steed's.Life got a little facelift!  Apparently my uncontrollable urge to rearrange all the rooms in my house at the beginning of the year extends to my virtual spaces as well! :) 

While I work on getting everything back into place and spruced up, please be sure to let me know if you run into any problems accessing posts, logging in, or commenting, etc.!  Thanks for visiting!

Today (December 16th) is the last day to take advantage of my "Buy More, Save More" sale on my painted wood signs at SignsByAndrea.com. 

- 10% off one sign, 20% off two signs, and 30% off three or more signs!

It's also the last couple of days to order a sign and have it shipped in time for Christmas!  

So don't wait any longer!  Order now!

At midnight tonight, all my signs are going back to full price and I will be shipping out the last of the holiday season orders by  Tuesday, December 20th.  Then I'm taking a painting break until after Christmas to be with my family.

It's been a great (and busy!) season.  Thank you so much to everyone who has ordered already! I hope you've been pleased with your hand-crafted signs.  You've helped make 2011 a successful year for me and my family!

Happy Holidays to you all!

A few months ago I finally caught up on a few of my annual scrapbooks.  Specifically - the pages for Paxton's year-by-year album to match Ayla's. 

I love these books.  They only require that I make one two-page spread a year, but show a great collage of photos of the kids from each month of the year as well as highlight some of the milestones and big events.  Simple, and do-able. 

His album is an 8" x 8" book by American Crafts.

Also...a good reminder of how miserably hard his first year was...

and how sweet and fun he became about 1/2 way through his second year...

And while I was at it, I finished up Ayla's next two pages too:

Felt good to do a little bit of scrapbooking. :)

Wow! I've got all kinds of news!  A new website, changes on A.Steed's.Life., and a BIG, HUGE, ONCE-A-YEAR SALE.

Over the past several weeks, my own personal webmaster (aka Ben) has been hard at work helping me put together a brand new web site for Signs by Andrea.  My sign business and Zazzle poster sales have grown so much over the past year, it was time to give them both the attention they deserve.  To do this, I'm separating my blog into two separate websites: 

• AndreaSteed.com will remain my personal journal and crafty blog.
• SignsByAndrea.com will now be dedicated to news and information about my signs and (de)Signs, as well as a great source of inspiration for all sorts of home decorating tips and ideas.

I think you'll find the new website is easy to navigate and offers a much more pleasant shopping experience.  Now you can personalize and add any of my signs to your shopping cart instantly, pay online, and track the status of your orders.  It's fabulous.  I'm beyond excited. :) 

And this new website couldn't have come at a better time (nothing like a deadline to get us going)....  Beginning today, I'm offering my HUGEST sign sale of the year.  It's time to start getting your shopping underway and get ahead of the holiday rush.  This is the one sale you want don't want to miss.  It doesn't get any better than this:

.

So come on over now and check out the newly launched SignsByAndrea.com and tell me what you think!

Remember back in March, when I made this logo as a birthday/retirement gift for my mom? 

Well, this summer I got to see it in-action on her Spyder:

And now she's taken it a step farther - just like I thought she might!  She had her already-there spider tattoo (between her shoulder-blades) turned into a variation of the logo -- amazing.

 Does this make me a tattoo artist? ;)

I'm an annual one-page-a-year-scrapbook kind of girl.  Just look at my past albums, and you'll know it's true:

• Ayla Eve - Through the Years
• Ben & Andrea - Through the Years
• Christmas Year by Year

And especially now, since I'm no longer making a yearly scrapbook album, it was time for me to get a few more of those one-page-a-year albums up and running -- starting with Halloween, my favorite holiday!  I wanted a simple little album that we could pull out each year with our Halloween decor that showed off all the kids' costumes throughout the years.

I used a 6" x 6" American Crafts D-ring album that had a plain chipboard cover that I could customize.  I decorated it with patterned paper and mod podge to "wrap" and cover both the front and back of the album.  I believe the papers I used are by My Mind's Eye, but I know they're from several years ago, so they may no longer be available.

The first page of the album is a themed-out title page, with black mesh and typical iconic Halloween embellishments (spiders, bats, etc.)

On the rest of the pages, I made sure to include a photo, the year, and a costume description (in case one day we can't tell what they were supposed to be!).  For Ayla's baby and toddler years, each page was dedicated to one year...

And when we added Paxton to the family, each child got a page in a facing spread.  Plus, I added an insert between the two pages for a photo of the two kids together in their costumes.

Here's a look at the back cover of the album.  Something simple, easy to keep up, and a great little Halloween decor piece to boot. :) 

Inspired recently by the really cool white pumpkin w/black lettering trend, my sisters-in-law and I had a girls night and made our own versions. 

Here's how we did it:

First, design your lettering and graphics to cut out of black vinyl.  We used my Silhouette software and the font BlackKnight FLF - which is a fabulously Halloween-y font - to make the designs. 

Peel back the excesss vinyl, leaving the lettering and design.

Then press the transfer paper to the design so that you can place it easily on the pumpkin.  We used large artificial white pumpkins (purchased at 50% off from Michaels.)

Gently peel back the transfer paper and press the vinyl onto the pumpkin, revealing your design.

We decided to add a thin coat of matte Mod Podge over the design, to be sure it stayed put (since the adhesive vinyl didn't seem to be well adhered to the pumpkin.  Plus, we thought we might display our pumpkins outside and wanted to help keep them from peeling. 

I was so happy with how they turned out, and amazed at how easy it was to do!  Here's a look at all three of our creations:

We aren't the only ones with awesome black and white pumpkins.  Here are some versions around the web that inspired our evening:

Looking for a fabulous new addition to your fall decor?  How about a custom Sign by Andrea?  For a limited time only, these seasonal custom-designed hand-painted signs are only $20!*  

Trick or Treat? - black w/white lettering - 2ft x 6in - $20
- order -

Count Your Blessings - brown (as shown) or black w/white lettering - 2ft x 6in - $20
- order -

*$45 regular price.  $20 fall special runs through November 9th, 2011. Both sign designs are also available with optional beveled edges (+$5).

Don't forget to check out my other personalized sign designs when you order so you can combine shipping costs.  It's not too early to start thinking about holiday gifts!