Secretaire desk makeover

Secretaire desk after makeover

Secretaire desk before makeover

Furniture makeover is one of my favourite hobbies. In today's consumer society we tend to throw away things,  buy new, then throw them easily, ... I prefer to makeover things and personalize them. This secretaire desk  is one of pieces I refurbished - It was in a good shape and condition, but ugly color and  finished with glossy varnish I hated.

 

First, I dissembled doors and other pieces, then sanded it and put two layers of primer. I am using acrylic paint. After it dries, inner side of the desk I painted gray, and outside white - actually, very light cream color. This was a basis  for the additional  work. Recently I like to use letters and text, so I did for the desk. I made stencils from plastic foil, used few acrylic colors and you can see the result.

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How to enlarge fonts in Microsoft Word

 Text, letters, signs - we use them  in many forms and sizes. There are numerous font types on internet. But how to make large stencils or print very large fonts?
It is rather easy to accomplish. Here are some tips and tricks for Microsoft Word.

Enlarge text using font size

This  is very simple. Type a text, pick the font type you want. And then, under Home tab, just enter the font size (any size you'd like or need).

Enlarge text using Wordart

 Insert Wordart, type text. Pick the font type you would like. By dragging corner dot, you can enlarge text to the size you need. Draging other 'dots' you can narrow or extend your text - that is the additional  feature you get with Wordart.

Tip: In Microsoft Word 2010, this doesn't work without some additional tricks (usually for Microsoft, don't you agree?). You need to save the document as Word 97-2003 document first, reopen it and then you'll get the possibility explained above.

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How to easy make fritters

Sometimes very simple recepies make a difference. These fritters are one of them. The taste is rather neutral, so they can  be combined well  with cream, aivar, chutney  or marmelade and chocolate. I love them most with plum jam. And even the beginners can make them easily.

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How to personalize (almost) everything

Letters come in many shapes, sizes, colors. There are number of letter types as well. I am familiar with Latin and Cyrillic,  unfortunately not with others. But any of them are great to personalize gifts,  decorate home, design jewerly, there are endless possibilities, why not to use them.

Letters on thousand ways

Find below few beautiful examples - some of them I made, some are done by creative crafters community:

 I refurbished old and ugly  secretaire desk and personalized it with names and  topics we love. In one of my future posts I'll publish tutorial how I did it.

For this sign you can find tutorial how to make it on my blog.

For this interesting pillow read how-to.

Letters on lamp ? Fabulous! 

And here is something for our grandparents.

 This little pad could be a great Christmas gift.

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How to wrap gifts for Christmas

Went to the city center this morning - Christmas decoration everywhere, large Christmas tree on the main square, stands with Gluhwein, sausages, decoration, gifts
placed in nearby streets. How can I not think on gifts - what to make, what to buy, how to wrap (and upcycle)?

Old magazine + burlap = Gift wrapping

Old magazines and burlap - perfect combination and source of inspiration. Add
pinecone and ivy, stich a little bit  and gift is wrapped.



Burlap + branches = Christmas tree on the gift

Burlap again - I just love burlap and old coffe or grain sacks. Few hot glue branches make the magic.



Jump to see more detailed 'How to' for the both examples!

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