Owly goodness

I have to give props to Make it and Love it for this cute idea!! She made an owl out of a repurposed scarf.

Isn't he adorable??

i fell in love

I don't have any old scarfs lying around. Actually I do, but I happen to really like them and so I just picked out some fleece and felt from Wal-Mart. I was able to get all the supplies{including needles and thread} for under $8. Perfect price range to make 5 kiddos Christmas owls and matching scarfs. I basically just followed her tutorial HERE and just cut a pattern out of paper. I traced the bottom of a glass for the large eye circle and a milk carton lid for the middle and just free handed the rest.

The most time consuming part of this project was stitching around all of the little owly parts.

I wish I would have made my pattern a wee bit wider. Next time I do something for all 5 kidlets, I'll finish one all the way first to see what adjustments should be made.

I had enough fabric from each color to make a matching scarf that the kids can wear. I sewed two strips together to make them long and then cut into the edges.

It's just so much fun making things for my kids. I have really been crushing on soft little handmade beauties lately that I'd love to try. Here's a few of my fav's.

Fabric designer Mariana Bandin via i.treehugger.com

Pictures from Little Red Closet

Products by Chet and Dot via Cuteable

That little birdie is the most adorable thing I've ever seen!! Gotta love handmade!!!

Enjoy your Tuesday!

~Andy

Snowman Kits!

Happy Monday! And we're officially in the Christmas season! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.



I find the best way to enjoy the Holidays is to get all my shopping and gifts done as early as possible. So, this weekend I've been working on gifts for some of our neighbors and friends. I'm not making these for everyone. But, for some families that we know and love that have kids the right age at home, I decided it would be fun to make Snowman kits! I live in an area that has long, cold winters with plenty of snow. Perfect for lots of snowmen!



I bought a bag full of little black, glass gems at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off....two pounds of them for under a dollar. I also had some bigger, multicolored gems I got at the dollar store a long time ago. I used the black stones for eyes and mouth and the colored for buttons.

My one problem with snowmen, is that the rocks we typically stick on for the face never stay in place. Do other people have that issue? Anyway, I thought of a way to remedy that and make sure these rocks are easy to place and super secure....golf tees! I used E6000 to glue a golf tee to the back of every rock. I just got a bag of golf tees at Walmart. I think it was $4 for way more than I'll need.


I also bought a remnant piece of red fleece from Joann's to cut out scarves. I just cut a strip off and cut notches at each end.

I used #10 tin cans that I've been saving as we empty them for the containers. There are a million different ways to decorate these...scrapbook paper, die cuts, stamps, ribbons...you name it. I decided to go super simple and easy and just use wrapping paper. The wrapping paper I had leftover from last year happened to be covered in snowmen. Perfect! I used double sided tape to hold it on.

Added a ribbon for some embellishment (which I got after Christmas at Hobby Lobby last year for like a quarter a roll) and this poem...

"There's nothing like a snowman
to make a person smile,
His charcoal eyes and happy mouth
and scarf with so much style.
Here's a little gift from us
to get your snowman going.
Just add a hat, some arms, a nose
and, most important....
Snow!"
Contents: 7 black rocks for eyes and mouth,
3 large rocks for buttons, 1 scarf

I could have put in a plastic carrot for the nose, but I'm trying to keep this cheap and haven't been able to find any at a good enough price. I thought about just chopping up a dowel rod and spraying it orange...still considering it. Any ideas? As it stands, there is no nose. But, the kids need to use their imagination too, right? (We usually end up with an orange crayon or marker for our nose).

And, voila (do i say that in every post?)! Ready to deliver...

~Hannah~

Creative Cats Black Friday!!!

Happy Black Friday!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Are you heading out shopping this morning??

Before you do...you may want to consider making gifts this season!

Here are some fabulous ideas that won't cost you an arm and a leg!!

First off we have a wonderful coupon caddy tutorial from

Blue Cricket Design.

Perfect for the coupon lovers in your life.

Heck, it may just be nice to have a place to put my keys and a bink for the babe.

Next we have a fabulous tutorial from

Miss Mustard Seed

on how to recycle an old cereal box into a beautiful banner.

You can't tell it's a cereal box can you?

And finally pop over and check out another great tutorial by

Fireflies and Jellybeans.

This monogrammed plate would be such a great hostess gift!!

Thank you to all of you amazing Creative Cats out there that link up and share all of these wonderful ideas!! Especially during the holidays it's really helpful to have such an incredible network of talent to be able to get inspired by. I know I'll be making a lot of gifts this year and I've already used some of your great blogging minds for ideas!! Keep them coming!!!

Link a specific blog post

Link back to Creative Cats

Grab yourself a CC button

Check back next week to see if you've been featured as a favorite!

Happy Black Friday!

think about it Thursday...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Today I am thinking about YOU...

Today I am thinking about how thankful I am that I get to share my creations with you lovely peeps. What a fun blog this is!!! I get so inspired by you all!

Here is a little project that I worked on this week...

Each year we get each of our children a new ornament for our tree. This tradition was something that the Mr's family did growing up. The first Christmas after we were married a package arrived on our doorstep. My mother in law had sent us all of Travis' ornaments for our first tree! I LOVED this idea!

So each year I try and find the perfect ornament. I usually try to get an ornament that represents that child and what they did that year. We have had school buses, and soccer playing snowman, princesses, the hulk...each one brings back a memory of each child at a specific age. This year with the help of a little on line searching I found some great ornaments. My oldest is obsessed with Legos this year...seriously...he is in love with them. On the Lego website they have ornaments that you put and glue together...Perfect! Next was my 61/2 year old son...this one was easy...this year he has been obsessed with Pokemon. I don't think he even realizes that it is a game that you play...he just LOVES the thrill of buying the packs and trading the cards. So his was pretty easy too! Next comes my one and only girl! I knew exactly the perfect ornament. She LOVES the Fancy Nancy books! If you haven't read them you must! They are super duper cute! Well...you would think that with books so popular an ornament would be easy to find...WRONG!! Not a Fancy Nancy ornament to be found...so I got to thinking...surely I could make one....hmmmm!!

I scanned in a picture from one of the books (actually her latest one which just happens to be a Christmas one...perfect!):



Next I opened it up in Photoshop Elements:
I created a circle shape about 3x3inches. I did a little clone stamping to take away the edges of the picture and add more snowflakes onto the whole thing instead of just at the top...I LOVE Photoshop! Seriously the possibilities are endless...


Then I printed my finished circle onto some vellum:


I bought a package of 4 clear empty ornaments at Michaels for about $2:
They aren't perfectly round...they are round from top to bottom, but kinda flat front to back! This helps the picture stay up in the ornament.


I used my handy dandy circle cutter to cut out my picture:


Finally I just rolled up my picture and slipped it into the empty ornament. I also added some glitter and a few confetti stars. I plan on adding some cute rickrack and ribbon too!


And there you have it! Seriously super easy! It took about 30 minutes....well it would have taken less time if I wasn't so picky with the photoshopping, but I am who I am...!! ; )

What kind of ornament can you make?

Think about it....

Changin' it up.

Happy Monday....I mean, Wednesday! I'm sneaking this post in here midweek. We're back from Europe....it was AWESOME! We saw so many amazing places. While I was there, taking pictures and trying to capture the look and feel of some of them, I was thinking of a way to display some of it. I wanted to be able to put some of the beauty and history we were seeing in my home. So, I got back on Monday and started working on a way to do that.

I took this old picture. I got this at Ross for $20 a few years ago. It's nice...I like it. But, I'm sick of it. And I've been trying to lighten up my front room and these colors were just not working anymore. I had it leaning against the wall for a while trying to figure out something to do with it. Well, I came up with a way to keep it (I really love the wide frame!), but make it work for me.

I chose a few pictures that we took on our trip. Three of them are from a medieval village we went to called Eze, France. The door is one I saw just walking around the street in Italy. I got them printed into 8x10s at Sam's Club.

Then, I just primed and painted the frame a nice white, spray painted over the picture (my favorite) steel blue. A little sanding on the frame.

Then, I just glued the pictures right on....put some books on top of them while they dried and then Mod Podge over the top. And, viola! An old frame that works with my new room and displays some of the European character we saw on our trip.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

~Hannah

Chopped door...

I was walking thru Robert's last week and saw a mustard colored buffet and suddenly inherited a large desire to paint something

yellow

I went and bought some paint from the back of the store and then hopped over to D.I. I couldn't find any furniture that was very exciting so I went to take a peak at the doors. I often see doors that I really like, but rarely buy them because I don't have room to carry them home. I happened to find a door that was

chopped down and only $4.

The perfect subject for my mustard desires. I painted, sanded and rubbed with gel stain.

I ran to Hobby Lobby and found an antique doorknob as well as a wooden "P".

I used E6000 to glue the door knob on the front of the painted door.

{{sigh}} I love old doorknobs.

I used spray adhesive to add a little colored paper flavor to the "P" and hung it on the knob. It still needed a little something so I printed some vinyl lettering for the front and also a number"3" for a red tin I picked up for a buck. 3 is my favorite number because brother and I are having a contest to see who can say it the most times before we die. We started when we were about 8. I think it's fun to try and throw it into my decorating whenever I can.

Well, what do you think??

Does it make you want to paint something yellow??

hmmm...still on the fence??

Perhaps these can be a little more persuasive:

image via Jason Loucas

image via Apartment Therapy

image via Country Living

origin unknown via Oliveaux

image via Country Living

Happy Tuesday!

~Andy

Creative Cats Friday!!!

Welcome back Cats!

Hopefully things are better for you than they are here in the Porter household!

We're all battling the CRUD.

If you're like me you need a

PICK-ME-UP

a

GET-ME-UP

an idea that makes you scream

HOOK-ME-UP!!

Alright, so that was pretty cheesy. You'll have to forgive me. I'll blame it on being sick.

Although I do get pretty excited when I see links such as these on our Creative Cats:

If you are anything like me you love wreaths and love finding ways to make them inexpensively. Check out this fun idea on

Craftaholics Anonymous

Lyndsey

makes these cute tile words for gifts. Don't you want Lyndsey to be your new bff??

Find out how to turn two chairs into a bench with

Room Remix

Yep, that's what I'm talking about.

Now it's your turn to share some of your SHA-ZAZZLE{{I wish I could make that glittery}} with the rest of us.

Everyone is invited and welcome!!!

Here's how to play:

• Uno: Link a specific post.
• Dos: Grab yourself a Creative Cat's button to display on your blog(if you so desire).
• Tres:Link back to this post so everyone can come and play.
• Cuatro: Check back next week to see if you're project has been featured!

think about it Thursday...

Today I am thinking about blessings...

Next week is Thanksgiving and I thought I would share my Thankful Jar with ya'll!
Every year when I pull out my Thanksgiving decorations I also pull out my Thankful Jar. It is a simple jar filled with questions. We pass it around the table on Thanksgiving and take turns answering. Sometimes it is hard to get the "what are you thankful for..." ball rolling, or your family has little kids and they need ideas. This little jar of questions helps...trust me!

Supplies:

• Clear jar (I used a squarish mason jar)
• fun Autumn colored ribbons
• a "Thankful Jar" tag (I printed mine out on tanish/brown cardstock...if you would like mine just shoot me an email and I will send it to you!)
  
• cream paper (one jar used 4 pieces...I like cream instead of white because it looked prettier in the jar)
• questions (mine supplied below)

What are you thankful for?

Think about it...


Questions:
(print them out and then cut them into strips...make sure to leave plenty of room above and below each question so that you can cut them apart)

Which of God’s creations are you most thankful for?

Name and tell about someone in your life you are grateful for.

Describe a part of the gospel, or part of being a member of the church you are grateful for.

Tell what part of living in a free country you are most grateful for.

Tell about an experience that has made you grateful for your health? (or body)

What is something in your home that you are grateful for?

Why are you grateful for your mom?

Why are you grateful for your dad?

Why are you grateful for you grandma?

Why are you grateful for you grandpa?

Pick a favorite food you are thankful for and explain why.

Name someone in your life that makes you feel special and explain how.

What modern convenience are you most thankful for?

What would life on earth be like without the feeling of gratitude?

Name someone who has passed away who you are thankful for.

Name one of the Young Women's values you are thankful for and tell why. Yes... do this even if you are a guy!

Name an ordinance of the Priesthood you are thankful for and tell why.

Which President of the United States are you most thankful for?

Which product that you use to get ready in the morning are you most thankful for?

Which food in your 72 hour kit are you most thankful for?

Which product in your food storage are you most thankful for?

Which store are you most thankful for?

Name an ancestor you are thankful for that is further back than your grandparents and tell why.

Name a founding father that you are grateful for and tell why.

Name an inventor in modern history, 1700 A.D. on up, that you are thankful for and tell why.

Which breakfast food are you most thankful for?

Which city are you most thankful for?

Which month of the year are you the most thankful for?

Name a positive learning experience you had as a child that you are thankful for.

Which of your Primary teachers were you most thankful for and why?

Which Prophet in Modern times are you most thankful for and why?

Name a woman in the Bible that you are thankful for and tell why.

Name a woman in the Book of Mormon that you are thankful for and tell why.

Name a place anywhere in the entire world that you are thankful you don’t live.

Give 3 reasons why you are thankful for your Chemistry or Biology teacher.

Which are you more thankful for… gas or electricity and why?

Which paper product are you most thankful for?

Which beatitude in the Bible are you most thankful for and why?

Name a parable in the New Testament that you are thankful for and tell why.

Which are you more grateful for… pens or pencils? Chalk boards or White Boards? Why?

YW Trophies

We are having an "Oscar Night" for the young women in our church. We filmed each girl showing a project that they have done this past year or that they are currently working on. Something that will help them to improve themselves. I'm really excited! I love working with the girls and I'm really looking forward to being able to help showcase all of their amazing talents!! I got to make the trophies for the event. I've heard of some fun things that people have done for this sort of night like spray painting Mrs. Butterworth's bottles or dollar store dolls. I was trying to think of something that I could also display the eight values that we focus on. I found some glass candleholders at the dollar store along with candlesticks.

I printed the values onto vinyl and stuck them onto the glass.

I used E6000 to glue the candlesticks onto the jars to make them look{{hopefully}}a little more trophy-ish,

stuck a little silver tissue paper on the inside and filled them with candy.

My only hang-up was when I discovered that I had spelled "integrity" incorrectly and had to go and do vinyl surgery on each of the jars {{grrrr}}. Other than that they were fun and fairly simple to do. It got me thinking that these might make cute placeholders for a dinner party. Put a candle inside with names cut out of vinyl. Anyhoo, have an enjoyable day!! I'll be off to the Oscars this evening!!

~Andy

Creative Cats Friday!!!

Welcome to Creative Cats!!!

Can I just be the first to say

I'm so happy it's finally Friday!!!

And how exciting that it's Friday the 13th!

People are way more creative on Friday the 13th.

Don't believe me?? Just check out today's links!!

Here are the highlights from last week:

Melissa

gives a stripy lampshade a totally fantastic facelift.

The Continental Calliope

shares how they saw a picture of a bathroom that they adored and recreated it for their own bathroom. I'm so in love with those big shelves!! That's just so cool!

Speaking of cool shelves, check out this gorgeous set on

Bobbypins Boardwalk.

She took Wal-Mart type shelves and made this amazing face frame for under $300. Aren't they amazing?? What a great idea!

And last but not least we have this adorable fleece jumper by

Smashed Peas and Carrots.

I want to make these for all four of my little princesses.

Alrighty, now it's your turn!!

Link up a creative project that you have done so we can

"OOH and AHH"

at your amazing-ness

Grab yourself a Creative Cats button and have a wonderful weekend!!

think about it Thursday...

Today I have been thinking about time! Especially my beloved sleep time.

I have 4 kids...they all pretty much sleep though the night now. There is always the occasional bad dream or illness that disrupts this pattern, but they do sleep through the night.

Throw in a little daylight savings time change and my kids have been getting up at the crack of dawn. NO.... they get up at the cracks crack of dawn!

So this morning I thought to myself, "Time to pull out the clock again!" A few years ago when we were having a problem with the kiddlets getting out of bed to early I made this clock. At the time my two boys couldn't read a face clock too well so I used color and a little fun sticker to help them out.

Supplies:

• clock
• fun sticker
• colored pencils
• ruler
  

I bought a really cheap clock at Wal-Mart for $3. It has a plastic cover on the front that pops off. I took a ruler and drew out lines from the center to the hours that I wanted. In my case it was 5, 7 and 8! I colored red in between 5 and 7 to show them the times that were unacceptable to be out of bed. Then I colored green inbetween 7 and 8 to show them when it was okay to get out of bed. Place the sticker on the hour hand.

If the frog was in the red it was time to get back into bed. If it was in the green then they could get out of bed without awaking a crazy momma bear!

This worked wonders! If they started to wander out of bed I would ask, "Is the frog in the red or green?" Pretty soon they didn't even peek out of their room because they got the hang of reading the clock on their own. (we also set their clock about 10 minutes slower...hahaha...mean I know!)


What time is precious to you?

Think about it...


P.S. Check out this awesome blog I stumbled across this morning...She has some great ideas for homemade Christmas decorations and gifts.

the long thread

Antiquing tips

Hey there!!!

How's everybody doing this fine Tuesday??

I've been receiving lots of emails and questions about antiquing lately. I am certainly no expert, but I'd be happy to share with you the way that I do it. The Joe often describes antiquing as "making something look new so you can make it look old again"....yep. That just about sums it up.

Step 1: Find a project

I found this picket fence at a consignment store the other day. While I was in line 2 people asked me what I was going to do with it. "Um, I have no idea. It just seemed like something that should be mine." I'll buy just about anything if it's under 5 bucks and catches my eye.

Step 2: Paint it

I painted some wooden green waste basket looking things to add to my picket fence.

I didn't paint the fence because it was already the color I wanted. However, if you are planning on distressing a project I would say that it's easier if you don't use an oil paint. It will of course work, but it tends to "gum up" a little more than an acrylic paint.

Step 3: Sand it.

If you are distressing a large object, don't be afraid to use an electric sander.

It will speed up the process and I find it actually looks like a more natural imperfection than when I am doing it by hand. I have a lot of people say that when they sand it ,it just doesn't look right.If you are feeling that way, try figure out what you don't like about it. Is the sandpaper creating scratchy marks in the paint instead of a smooth rubbed off edge? If so, I would suggest using sandpaper with a finer grit. If you don't know what that is, turn your sandpaper over. It will have a number on the back. The higher the number, the finer the grit. try something like 220.

On the other hand, if you try and sand your piece and find that the paint is gumming up or won't come off at all, try using a harsher sandpaper like a 150. Another option is to simply wipe the paint off the edges while the paint is still wet. I like to do this when I am painting something wrought iron or metal like this medallion.

Step 4: Stain it.

In my mind this step is the difference between a "distressed" piece of furniture and an "antiqued". After sanding the edges I like to rub a stain on it to give the edges a more rich look. You can just buy a can of stain from the store, but that it a beast to work with. It's sticky and takes forever to dry. My personal favorite is Gel Stain by DecoArt. I buy it in little bottles at Robert's. If you don't happen to live by a Robert's, you can just type "deco art gel stain" into google and you'll find a site to order it online for $1.99 a bottle. I don't know how much shipping is because I've never ordered it online. For the color I use Walnut Noyer. I get a wash cloth damp and pour a glob of gel stain on it and rub it around.

I rub it over the project and wipe off the excess with a clean part of the damp cloth.

It is super duper easy and it within minutes it is dry. Another option is to use glaze or maybe even a watered down brown paint.

Step 4: Seal it.

I like to use a clear varnish that I also buy at Robert's. It comes in a glossy or matte finish and you just paint it on. It usually takes a couple of coats, but you can paint the second coat after 15 minutes, so it doesn't take too long. This step is more important if you have a piece that you will be putting things on top like a dresser, sidetable etc. There are a ton of different products that you can use including polyurethane. I just prefer the clear varnish. I would suggest testing some different products and figure out what works best for you.

Whew... I think that's everything for today.. happy antiquing!!!

~Andy

Wall Art

Happy Monday!


My house has some seriously high ceilings in the front room area to the kitchen. It seems like vast areas to fill and I haven't had a clue how to do that. My front room has been bugging me and I knew it was in need of an overhaul. I wanted new colors, wanted to change the walls. Well, I've been thinking about what to do and then last week I found a tutorial for some easy and fun wall art that I decided to try. Click here to get her full tutorial over at Frugal Home Ideas. She has a ton of pictures and super explanation of how to pull this one off.


I was so excited to get started on this and hurry and get this wall changed that I didn't even take a before picture. I found this one in my archives, though, and you can see the wall well in the background (and some seriously cute boys in the front!). What you can't tell is that the wall continues on for miles above this little frame.




I was so excited to fill that wall a little better! So, I headed over to good 'ol Hob Lob to get some canvas. You can get a 2 pack of 16x20 canvas there for $9.99. They were 30% off the day I was there...even better! BUT, I was worried that they weren't going to be big enough. I wanted this change to make a difference on this wall. So, when I walked by the little clearance shelf and found 3 of these...I decided to go with them instead.

Beautiful, aren't they?

I happened to have one of the necessary door mats on my front doorstep. It'd been there a good year and a half, so I figured it was an appropriate time to use it for something else.

Clearance jungle theme wall art + old doormat + Espresso and Steel Blue spray paint =

Hang them on the wall with another Hobby Lobby find (50% last week) and I think they really help fill this wall and brighten up the room. Woot! How fun and easy was this!

PS: Can I be excused next week? I'm off to Europe with my hubs! But, I'll miss you....really, I will. Be back the 23rd....hopefully with some superb inspiration from the Mediterranean.

Creative Cats Friday!!!

Happy Happy Friday to YOU!!!

I'm so happy you're stopping by this fine day.

There's nothing like starting the weekend with a dash of creative inspiration.

Welcome to our creative show and tell!!!

You can join in on the party every Friday.

If you missed last weeks episode,

here are a few of the features:

Wouldn't you just love to have these oversized clips hanging a magnet board in your house?? Too too cute!!

Another great idea by Shanty 2 Chic

I love how Brittany revamped this side-table with paint and scrapbook paper...and don't you just love the new knob!!

These are my favorite painted pumpkins of the season. I just LOVE the black outline overtop!

Thanks Brooke from Thrifty Southern Living

Thanks so much for the wonderful links last week!!

I can't wait to get a taste of the amazing projects you've been working on this week!

To play:

please link a specific blog post

Link back to Creative Cats so everyone can join in on the fun.

Grab yourself a Creative Cat's button

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and the pupil are located in the same individual ~Koestler

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. ~Linus Pauling

think about it Thursday...

This week I have been thinking about shelves again... Not the outdoor kind, but the indoor kind this time!

"Hello, my name is Heather.."
"Hello Heather" you all say.
"My name is Heather and I am a shelfaholic..."


Anyone who has been to my house will agree that I LOVE shelves!! I make no secret that it is an addiction!

Do you have a huge wall to decorate and you don't know what to do? Would you like a place to display cute decorations? No fireplace with a mantle to dress up? The solutions, my friends, to these and many other puzzling decorating questions is get yourself a shelf post haste!!

Shelves look great in any room in the house. Trust me...I have one in almost every room in my house! ; )

When my husband and I got married we discovered that we have very similar decorating styles. We like the same colors and basic lines. I remember the look on his face when he entered my moms house around the holidays...at the time she LOVED to place holiday decorations EVERYWHERE! Every nook and cranny had a pumpkin, ghost, tree, reindeer, etc... He looked at me and said, "You don't do THAT do you?" Well...I love the way my mom and dad's house looked, but knew that I also had a different decorating style. From that funny conversation with the Mr. I decided to pick some specific spots in our home and only decorate there (with the small exception here and there ; ) Hey...I am my mother's daughter!). I have two shelves down stairs that I place my seasonal things on.

Another set of shelves hang on the wall of my Family Room. One shelf holds pictures of my immediate family and one holds the Mr's. I love having pictures up of all the nieces and nephews, but having them all in black frames and black and white photos makes it look streamlined and clean.

When I found out I was finally having a girl...what did I do? Oh I ran out and bought a shelf, painted it a warm creamy color and started dreaming of the things that I could put on it. (Yes...addicted...I know)

I have 2 shelves hanging in my loft/playroom thanks to the lovely miss Andy herself that I still have to decorate. I plan on making a few of those dice that I posted a picture of last week, possibly some jars filled with Legos, or balls of yarn...hmmmmm the possibilities are endless.

Okay....so this shelf is probably my favorite! This is an Andy shelf too and words can not describe how much I LOVE it! When I hung it on the striped wall in my loft it about brought tears to my eyes! Oh boy the fun shelves can bring into a simple woman's life!

(Which, by the way, if you have never painted a striped wall in your life...you must!)

So my challenge to you...if you don't have a shelf already...it is time to change that! Trust me your life will never be the same!


Think about it...

I feel like I've had my craft limb amputated.

We have been so fortunate to be able to sell our home and to be building a new house. We'll be renting a cute townhome for a few months until it's done which means that tons of our stuff is in hibernation. Including all of the shop tools, most of my paints and supplies. I couldn't even find one piece of sandpaper today to finish my project. Luckily The Joe new where I could snag a piece. I even broke my camera in the move. It will still download pics, but you can't tell what you're taking a picture of because it just has a blank white screen. I don't even have a place to view the pictures...it's really odd and annoying, but still kind of endearing because it makes me laugh when I download the random shots. It is more difficult than I thought it would be to not have tools and supplies handy. I'm going to have to come up with some creative projects that don't take a lot of supplies. I did come across one earlier in the week that I had to have. I found an

"as is" mirror at Provo Craft.

"As is"= great potential!! After seeing it, I knew I would regret it if I left it in the store. It just needed a little paint lovin. It even had little screws in the back holding in the mirror so I knew I could take it out to paint the frame.

That's a must for me with mirrors. I don't like to see the reflection of an unpainted surface. I took the back off and found that they had glued the mirror to the front of the frame. Kudos to them for giving it extra support, but dang it all for me because I couldn't get the mirror out. You can't tell in the pictures, but the mirror has a really nice beveled edge and I didn't want to crack it. The Joe said he could get it out and pulled out the ol' razor knife and went to town on the glue. So nice. He was able to get the mirror out so that I could paint.

I decided to just distress the stars and leave the rest untainted.

After sanding the stars quite a bit I cleaned it and covered it with clear varnish. This is the best shot I could get with my funky camera.

Hey, at least the whole thing is actually in the shot. Ha ha ha...Happy Tuesday!!

~Andy

Mud "Room"

Monday again!
Last Tuesday we woke up to snow on the ground! Of course, my boys were super excited and here they are out in the snow before we even got them out of their pajamas. Oh, fun times in the snow.

The hard thing about Winter (among many others) is that, after all these fun snowy days, my back door area looks like this...
And stays looking like this until the end of Winter. I mean, what's the point of putting it away...they're just going to need it all out again in a minute, right?

Look, I love my house. I feel really happy with it and all that kind of stuff. But, there is ONE thing that I drool over whenever I see one....Mud rooms!! Oh, I love all the hooks and shelves and cubbies. A real, true mud room would be a dream. But, for now, I needed to come up with a solution for the piles of wet clothes dropped by the back door. And, my solution?

I decided that I would route those headed to the backyard snow heaven through the garage. That way all the snow "stuff" is completely outta sight. Here's a picture of the door in our garage which leads to the backyard...the chosen place for my own little mud room.

(Ahem. So this project also helped me get this area cleaned up. Ahem.)

Then, I quickly spray painted a pegboard from Hobby Lobby, grabbed some hooks(that I got on Clearance at Hobby Lobby a while ago), a metal shelf that we've had in the garage forever, and some baskets from the thrift store. I also taped off some lines to make a rectangle for a finishing touch and painted them white.

And, viola! Our Mud Room.

Coats and snow pants on the hooks, gloves and hats go in the blue baskets and boots on the metal stand.

This'll do.

Have a Happy Monday!

I just linked this up with "Between Naps on the Porch" Metamorphosis Monday! Lots of great links over there.

Creative Black Cats Friday!!!

Happy Halloween Eve!

Today is Creative Black Cats Friday!!

You know there's a curse that goes along with black cats...

If you click on a Creative Black Cats link without

making a comment...you will have bad luck for 7 yrs.

Just thought I'd warn you.

Here's our features from last Friday...

Headboard turned corner bench brought to you by:

My Repurposed Life

If you haven't seen what Gail can do with headboards

you are seriously missing out!!

Check out this gorgeous buffet makeover brought to you by:

Cottage Instincts

How to make your own birdie knobs brought to you by:

The Graphics Fairy

These are so fantastic I can't even stand it!!!

Find out how to dress up a gift with tissue paper brought to you by:

Life with a Lady

P.S. Miss Lady, it is impossible to comment on your blog. I tried....a lot.

Don't be spooked by the talent these amazing ladies have...

You are just as amazing and talented and

CREATIVE

So get your Black Cat groove on and start linking up!!

Have a Happy Halloween!!!

think about it Thursday...

This week I have been thinking about Christmas...strange I know since Halloween is on Saturday, but I am determined this year to get my Christmas shopping done earlier. I am always the one running around a few days before Christmas frantically trying to get my gifts together. Not this year...the only bummer is that all of the fun and exciting crafts that I have been working on are top secret for now...if I talked about it here...well that would just blow the surprise! So be prepared for January when I can tell all!

I did see this picture of a way fun idea for a fall decoration. I think I am going to do this on my kitchen table!

I also saw these ideas of some cute decorations for a game or toy room!
They look super easy to put together!

I did figure that I could share a little of what I have been working on with out blowing the whole surprise. Has anyone ever "stitched" before? Have you ever wanted to, but didn't know how to get started or what you even needed to get started? I LOVE to make homemade gifts and this is one way to do something thoughtful and cute for not much money!

Things you need to get started:

• A pattern
• muslin (I adore the tea dyed kind)
• warm and natural batting (this helps so you can't see your threads through the front)
  
• embroidery hoop
• Mark Be Gone marker
• embroidery floss (most patterns call for DMC floss)
• frame (optional...I like to buy unfinished frames and paint them myself. Roberts Craft has some great sizes that I LOVE )
  

When I got started I just kept my floss they way that you buy it...after a while it gets kinda messy and tangled. Then I was introduced to the floss box! You buy the little white cards and wrap your floss around it. They you write the number on the top and you can organize them by number! I LOVE my floss box!

Don't know the basic stitches...most patterns have examples and diagrams of the stitches needed to complete them. When you pick up a pattern at the store if you flip it over and look at the back it usually has a list of the colors (by number) of floss needed.

First step: Cut out the size of muslin recommended by the pattern. Then cut a piece of warm and natural batting the same size.

Next: Use a light box if you have one...(honestly I don't think I know anyone who owns one..do you?) I use my window. Tape your pattern to the window and then your muslin over it. You should be able to see the pattern through your muslin. Use your Mark Be Gone marker to trace the pattern onto your muslin.

Place your muslin back on top of your batting and place both into your hoop. Thread your needle with your beginning color and stitch away!

After your done with the entire stitch run the whole thing under water until the blue marker disappears. Pat dry and leave out until completely dry. Frame, or finish into a pillow!

If anyone is interested in more detailed details just leave a comment!

My challenge to you...make a homemade gift for Christmas. The possibilities are endless...just think about it!

Coffee Table

Happy Monday!

I bought this great coffee table off craigslist a while back. I loved the piece with all the drawers and the little compartment along the back. It was fairly beat up, though, and 'poopy brown' is not my favorite color.

Before

After

I took off all the hardware and then sanded the dickens out of this thing. Then, applied several coats of primer on the bottom of it. Then, several coats of paint (Olympic "Heirloom Lace"). I did a little sanding around all the edges and then brushed on and wiped off the stain to rustify it a bit. Then, several coats of polycrylic. (LOTS of coats on this thing!)

On the top I sanded it down and stained it with MinWax "Dark Walnut". And then several coats of polycrylic. I put all the hardware back on and replaced a few knobs on the drawers (goodbye Lions head knobs).


There was another fix I had to make. One of the top corners looked like this...

Broken. I didn't really have a clue how to fix this. I thought about taking that piece to my brother (I believe he's known around here as "The Joe"), but I wasn't going to make it down there anytime soon. So, my hubby was cruising the Internet one day and found this stuff that was a daily special on ebay....


I decided to give it a try. Basically, you take a piece of this putty and 'activate' it by pushing it in your fingers a while. Then, you just mold it onto whatever you want, in whatever shape you want. In about a half our it is hard as rock and you can sand it, paint it, whatever. Here's the result on the corner...

I know, not perfect, but I'd say better than no corner at all. It was pretty cool stuff and I think I could make it look even better now that I've used it once.

And there you have it. What are you working on this week?

PS: If you care about my top coat experience, read on....

I ended up using Minwax polycrylic for the top coat. I saw that they had a spray version and after ALL the coats of paint, I couldn't pass up the opportunity for some beloved spray. The can let me do 2-3 coats on the entire table. I thought it looked great...no streaks, no brush strokes, no drips. Great! But, then I was putting a drawer back in and hit it on the piece just above it and a little circle of paint chipped off. AHHH! I was concerned about this and ended up brushing on (yes, MORE brushing) 2 coats (MORE coats) of polycrylic after fixing the chipped spot. Was the spray not good enough? Did I just not spray evenly enough and missed that little skinny piece of wood? Would the same thing have happened (will happen?) with the brush on? Time will tell, I guess.

****You all liked this table so much (thanks!), that I decided to join in to Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party and share it with the peeps over there. Have you ever been to TDC? She's got a million great DIY ideas!****