The Awesome Orange Mirror and 126 Starbursts

A while back I made an AH-MAZING yard sale find.  My husband and I spied this mirror at a yard sale, with the $600 price tag still stuck to the back!  It wasn't in the greatest of condition, it was dirty and peeling.  I don't want to tell you what I paid for it (much less than 10% of that price tag) because you'd be so jealous you wouldn't read my blog anymore!  At first my husband and I WALKED AWAY and left the yard sale.  It was just so big and heavy and we didn't know what we'd do with it.  Then we got our heads back on straight and drove as quickly as we could back to the sale to snap it up!

This mirror is very large and hand carved in India.  It weighs about 50 lbs. and is about 4 ft. by 3ft. in size, and of all things, it hangs by a serious iron chain on the back!  Like the kind of chain you'd see on Jacob Marley - that kind of chain!



So what does an incessant DIY-er do when they find something like this?  They paint it orange.  Duh.  I got out some lovely Annie Sloan Barcelona chalk paint and got to work.  Progress was verrrrrrrry slow with all the deep nooks and crannies on this thing!  Here's a picture after I was off and running.

Soon I ran out of stream and got distracted.  Here's where the Starbursts come in.

Theatre Boy, my 17 year old son, bursts in the house after drama rehearsal and announces he needs 10 large bags of Starbursts.  Of course my reply was "YOU NEED WHAT????".  To which he confirmed said request for a ridiculously large amount of candy.  After continued interrogation on my part, I come to find out that the cute little choir girl I've spied him holding hands with after school has a favorite candy.  You guessed it.  Starbursts.  But not just any Starbursts.  Her true favorite is only the YELLOW ones.  See where we're going?

So after a late night run to Target, we all sit down to open bag after bag of Starbursts and sort out the yellow ones.  (might I mention the kids said "hurry, throw away the wrappers before mom finds something to Mod Podge them onto - love these kids).  After all the sorting there are 126 yellow Starbursts.  "Just enough" Theatre Boy says.

Time to ask a girl to the Homecoming Dance properly (see my mirror back there? soo neglected).

Now this is one sweet offer.  I mean, when did these kids get all fancy shmancy in how they ask a girl to the Homecoming Dance?  Seriously, when I was in high school the guy came up to you in the hallway and said "Hey, you wanna go to Homecoming?".  And that was it.  Now there's flowers and posters and well...I'm jealous.

So the next morning I was part of the plan.  I had to wait in the parking lot with this poster so he could get it right before the class he has with this cute girl.

Waiting in the car...



She said YES, and since then has acquired a gorgeous purple gown for the dance.  Pictures will be forthcoming. 

Now I could finish my mirror.



Even though all that orange was, well, Awesome! - it left me feeling a little flat.  I mean, all those little carvings and nothing to make them shine.

So first it needed some distressing.  I got out a sanding block and distressed every single raised edge on the entire mirror.

After I had beat the heck out of it, and couldn't feel my arms either, I was totally dismayed.  It still looked...flat.  Like my chest after breastfeeding all my children.

Enter Martha Stewart Living Metallic Glaze in Muscovado.  You know I love these glazes and use them, like, on every other project.

You just paint it on...

And wipe it off...can you tell the part that was glazed?  I was finally satisfied.

But now there was a dilemma.  I had NO place to put this mirror!  That's what friends are for though.  I've known my friend Erin for over 20 years and one of her favorite colors is orange!  And she just moved and has bare walls!  What could be better?  So this wonderful piece went over to Erin's house.  I figure if I die first she can keep it forever and if she dies first she'll just will it to me.  All settled.

 Here it is up on her wall - can you see how awesome the glaze is in defining all the details?



And here's a bigger brighter pic -

So that's it!  Thanks for tagging along today!  I'm gonna go eat some Starbursts.

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