craftgrrl | several crafts + wanted advice.

A few days ago I noticed a dining room chair just sitting in the foyer of my apartment building. Wood, solid, sturdy. Not even broken/splintered/cracked at all. I waited a day, and then waited till dark and snuck downstairs and hauled that thing up three flights of stairs into my apartment. And now, I have

It's so great. I want to sand it down and paint it. I painted one last year but it is hideous and I'd like to repaint it. So I'm trying to come up with a way to make them compliment each other in some form. Any fun or cute suggestions? They are the same basic style, as in both dining room chairs with a back and bars down them. One has a padded seat though, that I would like to rip out and make matching cushions.

And also, I took some pictures of a few crafts I've done recently.

*I apologize for the backward-ness involved in the shirt photos. I took them in a mirror and my photo editing software isn't agreeing with me right now. I also apologize for the fact I look slightly manly in the first one, and chubby in the second.

The "jem" screen was bought off ebay for like, $4. Lettering on back is basic iron on letters. Shirt was mens undershirt. I cut out the collar to make the neck wider and restitched it (by hand, bleh).

My mother tried to teach me a new crochet stitch but I think I did it all wrong. However, I like how the scarf turned out anyways. I just wove the cream yarn around the edge for the border and wove it through the holes (spaces?) in the scarf to make the flower-esque shapes.

Words taken from a song by the band July for Kings. Acrylic paint on wood. Covered in gloss mod-podge.

And here's the lovely set from my mother. Clearly, craftiness runs in the family. The stitch in the scarf is what she tried to teach me. Apparently its, "really simple". I guess I can't just be taught. I'll just do it my own way in the end.