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Friday, July 29, 2011

Headboard to Entry Table

I was able to move my new entry table mentioned here into its home and add the items I had been saving for it's tablescape. I LOVE how it turned out!


I painted the table with Krylon Dual in Black Gloss. It matches the dining table perfectly! More on the table scape accents later! In case you forgot, here is what it looked like before:




Friday, July 15, 2011

Entry Way Make Over- Cork Board

I know that I have a million few unfinished projects out there that I need to finish and share with you but I did start on another one last weekend with this piece I showed you last week:


It is nearly finished and will be part of my entry way/dining room makeover. We use a side door off of our drive way to come in and out of the house and it is currently the dumping ground for everything. I'm pulling together some items to dress it up and make it more functional. Here is a quick fun project that I really enjoyed.



I took a frame that I got at Good Will months back and spray painted it with one of my new dining room colors Ivy Leaf from Krylon. I had some cork squares from another project and they were the PERFECT width for the frame. I did have to trim one down to make it fit but all in all, they worked great.

To make the tacks, I used the method that is all over blogland and mod podged some scrap book paper to the back of some vase decor gems I had on hand. (These gems were tinted different colors so I used corresponding scrap paper to make them especially vibrant.) Then I hot glued some thumb tacks to the back of them. This is going to look great on my mini gallery wall in then entry way.

I'm hoping to actually be able to do a reveal of part of this area sometime next week!



Thursday, July 14, 2011

I've been featured!

I am so psyched to tell you that I have been featured on a fantastic blog! The blog is called Momnivores Dilemma, here is what she says about herself:

Hey all. I'm Nicolette from Chicago. Welcome to the carnival of fun that is momnivore's dilemma. MD is a wild mix of craft, home, parenting, and gluten-free eating. By reading my blog daily, you will become skinnier, happier, and richer. All yours for the low, low price of internet access.






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Go check out her fabulous blog and link up to her Thursday party!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Lamp Makeover in Progress

Last night I was in the mood to paint something but my spray paint muscles were sore. Yes you read that right. The attachment I use on my spray cans broke and I was forced to do it the old fashioned way and it made my arm sore. SO, I got out my handy foam brush and went at it.

I know that the before picture is not pretty but you get the idea. Boring black lamp that sat on a black table. I decided it needed some color. I painted it with Rapids from Valspar. It is a nice Aqua color. I'm hoping it goes nicely with my old door turned coffee table once that is finished. I left the top of the lamp base black incase I ever want to change it back or to another color and I didn't feel like taping it off. The next step will be to slightly destress the lamps and decide what I want to do with the boring lamp shades.

I have so many projects in mind for the weekend that I don't even know where to start! Most likely it will be giving this little fellow a makeover:


Have a great weekend!



Thursday, July 7, 2011

Insomnia = T-Shirt Refashion

So last night I could not fall asleep to save my life. So I did what any insomniatic crafter would do, I refashioned a t-shirt. I will admit, initially I was resolved to simply watching multiple episodes of Pawn Stars via Netflix. BUT I decided to take some inspiration from Ellie G over at Less Cake More Frosting and this productive insomnia post. Not only did she use her insomnia to create the fab journal below, but she also may have helped solve her insomnia issue in the process! Go check out her post and see for yourself!


LCMF
I had been wanting to do a t-shirt refashion project for a while and decided to have at it. Unfortunately I was in that tired but not tired state and didn't take any process pictures but here is how it turned out:


Basically I just cut some strips from an old shrunken t-shirt, set my sewing machine on the highest tension level and longest stitch possible and ruffled my strips. I scrunched (yes, scrunched. This is a very technical term for those of you who are not aware) the strips down by holding on to the bottom "tail" thread to create an extra ruffled look. I placed and pinned them on my shirt and sewed them on, following my ruffle lines as best I could. I intended on adding some flowers but I liked how the ruffles turned out.

Although I did need to enjoy and extra large Diet Coke this morning, the insomnia was worth it.

More home decor updates to come soon!

*This post was brought to you by the letter 'I' for insomnia*



Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Major. Craft. Fail. & Thanks for hanging in there

I just realized that it has been almost a month since I posted last. Man has it been busy. I have been sewing and crafting things for a new local store that is opening and requested some of my baby items (more on that some other time). Also, I have been in a bit of a craft funk. I try to do things on the cheap or wait until funds are available to do things and that is becoming fewer and farther between as with summer comes fun activities, and those cost money.

Renting a house was what worked for us when we moved here since we weren't/aren't ready to buy but let me tell you it has been difficult. Our house is old and made up of plaster walls which equals a decorating disaster. It is almost impossible to hang anything of substance on them. Last night I rearranged our bedroom and was attempting to create something like this:


Via Pinterest
I used a much smaller and lighter curtain rod to hang the curtain, not even thinking that it wouldn't hold in the plaster. After measuring and marking everything, I went to hang the first hook and this is what happened:



It is a little hard to read but in short, I was left with three screw holes and a hot glue mark. Yes, I was that desparate that I tried to HOT GLUE the hook to the wall. It worked for the most part and then gave way. 

I left it alone for now hoping that tonight I will come up with something that will make it work. If anyone knows how to hang things from plaster, PLEASE help so that I don't go insane end up with multiple holes in my walls.

I don't even have a clue as to how I'm going to hang this beast:




Thursday, June 9, 2011

A little bit of this

Last night we had a bonfire in our back yard and I decided I wanted some s'mores. Now usually I am the person who piles all of the s'more supplies in my arms and gets outside as fast as I can before I drop anything. This time I decided to be smart.

(sorry for the blurriness, it is dark in my kitchen at night)

I took a cookie sheet and threw all of my supplies on there and carried them outside. I even had a free hand to grab my water to take with. Now this may seem like common sense to everyone but it was a revolation to me! I'm planning on making a decorative backyard/s'mores tray in the future once I finish all of my other in progress projects have time. 

This is a project I have been working on. (Dark photo due to dark garage).

I can't wait to see how it turns out. I'll be working on it this weekend!

And just because they are cute, here are my babies!





Monday, June 6, 2011

Baby Gift

And I'm back! Sorry for being away so long but it has been a busy time since I've been back from vacation. I want to show you something I did for my sister in law's baby shower this weekend.

I am doing some custom vinyl art for her nursery as her gift but it wasn't going to be done in time for her shower so I wanted to make her something else for her to open. I decided to do a basket of burpees (fancy burp rags). Mostly I did this because when I had my son, I didn't like many of the designs for burp rags that were available in stores. I chose some flannel fabric with the colors of her nursery and sewed her a set.


This is what I ended up with. The fabric is sewn on to white cloth diapers down the center. I really loved all the baby fabric options that I used for this. I may make my son something out of them. The giraffe print was my favorite so I decided to make her a little stuffed animal as well to go along with it.



The other side of the giraffe has the blue fabric that I used with a little ribbon that I had on hand. I had never sewn a stuffed animal before and it was quite an interesting process but it turned out cute!

Sets of these burp rags will be available on my Etsy shop (get their by clicking the link on my sidebar) by the end of this week with boy and girl options.

Stay tuned for some home decor projects this week!

I'm linking up here:



Making










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Todays Creative Blog

Somewhat Simple
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HookingupwithHoH

Monday, May 23, 2011

I'm back!

Thank you blogland for being so patient while I was gone on vacation! Little D and I took a trip to Aruba with my family. Once I shake the sand off, I'll have lots of new posts for you all!

Little man squinting in the sun... it was so bright!


Friday, May 6, 2011

Patiently Waiting

I am waiting for a new friend to arrive.


I bought this little beauty (used) and am impatiently waiting for it to arrive (hopefully today)! I have been looking for a little more advanced camera then my trusty creditcard sized point and shoot and happened upon this one. It is a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H1 5.1MP and about 5 years old. I got a great deal on it and think it will be a fabulous camera to learn on.

As soon as I purchased it I also hopped over to Kristen Duke Photography to purchase her e-book, Say NO to Auto.



She teaches a workshop on how to get the best out of your camera and not rely on the automatic settings. For workshop listings click here. Her e-book is what she uses in her workshop as a teaching aid. The best part? Its only $10!!!!! You purchase from her and she e-mails the files to you! They are sized 4x6 so they can fit easily in a photo album to go in your camera bag. I will show you what I did with mine tomorrow.

Please hop on over to her blog and get her book so we can learn together!


Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Magnetic Make Up Decor

Yesterday I told you about Pinterest and showed you some of my favorite Pins. Today I'm going to show you the start of a Pinterest inspired craft. Here is my inspiration. Please prepare to swoon...


http://pinterest.com/pin/16691907/

Isn't that amazing! I fell in love with this idea as soon as I saw it and knew I wanted to do something like it for my most used bathroom essentials. I loved the frame idea but was too lazy to go to home depot and get some metal cut so here's what I'm starting with.


I bought two pizza pans from the Dollar Tree and last night I painted them with their first coat of Rapids by Valspar. Generally I would have like to use a spray paint primer for this but seeing as it was 30 degrees with snow flurries here in Wisconsin, I decided to just jump in with the paint. As you can see, they are anxiously awaiting a few more coats and decor.

I can't wait to show you how these turn out!



Monday, May 2, 2011

Pinterest!

I am absolutely addicted to Pinterest! I was given an invitation from Carol over at


What is Pinterest?

Think of Pinterest as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can create collections of things you love and "follow" collections created by people with great taste.
People use Pinterest to collect and share all sorts of things -- wedding inspiration, favorite T-shirts, DJ equipment. You name it, people are pinning it.
We know you have great taste in something. Our mission is to make Pinterest the best place for you to share your taste with the world.


You will be seeing a lot of Pinterest inspired crafts in the future! Here are some of the things from my Pinboards:




Thursday, April 28, 2011

Dog Name Silhouette

If you are anything like my family, we LOVE our pets. I made this little project (I will show you the framed finished version at a later time) to hang by our dog's dish.

**These are available in my Etsy shop for customization by breed, name, color and font**

I'm sharing this post here:
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating



A Little Knick Knack

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Project Updates

I have been hard at work being totally compulsive on a number of projects and wanted to update you.


These are going to meet some spray paint and a little surprise. Can't wait for it to warm up so I can work on them!




This mirror, you guessed it, it is getting a last coat of paint. Once that has dried, I will have to change the hanging hooks so that it will hang the direction that I want. The shelves for my faux mantle are also being painted.

One of the projects I don't have pictures of yet is a multi purpose bag that I spontaneously started last night. My son and I will be going on vacation with my parents and friends in May (hubby can't go, sad face) so I wanted a bag that could function as a purse and diaper bag combo. This way for excursions during the day, I would only have to carry one bag around. The reason I don't have pictures for you is 1) I'm not a good sewer 2) I had no idea what I was doing. I'm making this bag out of upholstery fabric so that it is nice and durable. If any of you have tips on traveling with small children, I'm all ears! 


Thursday, April 21, 2011

Herb Pot Labels

Here is a little fun spring project that I worked on last night. I have always wanted to have a little fresh herb garden but have never had a good spot for it. In this house, I have the perfect window ledge with ample sunlight to house a few pots.

Here's how I customized them:
I bought three pots and drip plates from Walmart that totalled to about $6
I chose three herb seed packs for $1 a piece
and a bag of potting soil for just under $3 (I only used about 1/6 of the bag so I have plans for the rest)

I painted the pots with Belle Grove Antique White from Valspar and let them dry.

Using my Silhouette I cut out the names of the herbs in black vinyl (I used the font LD Inventive from the Silhouette store). Then I transferred the images to the pots.

(Sorry for the poor picture, this was at about 6am this morning. Yes that is my mom mobile you see in the background as well as a small pile of SNOW!)

I'm looking forward to not killing them watching them grow. I am a serial plant killer so I'm hoping that this effort is a success!

I will be working on an awesome new project this weekend involving these:

I will also hopefully be finishing up some other outstanding projects to share with you as well. And because he's adorable, here's Little D:


I am linking this post here:

HookingupwithHoH

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating