It's a Shabby Thing

Christmas is Coming. . . . . COUNTDOWN!

2010-11-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun Christmas countdown craft ideas:

Countdown Blocks

These blocks are a pretty fun craft for all ages/levels. You can do many different count downs for different holidays or even just fun blocks to show off some great pictures.

What you need: here is a basic list of supplies you will need for the blocks:

~2- 4x4x4 pine blocks (after all is said and done they will really measure 3 1/2" on all sides)
~1- 8" of 2x4 pine
~Misc scrap book paper cut to size to fit on blocks (12 sides)
~Misc paper to fit on the sides of 2x4 (3 sides)
~Lettering--we used card stock just cut out by a cricut, or you can use vinyl.
You will need:
2-0s
2-1s
2-2s
1-3s
1-4s
1-5s
1-6s
(use the 6 as a 9 too, so be sure you paper for this one can go either way)
1-7s
1-8s
and the word "Countdown" for the bottom block
~Paint
~Distress ink
~Mod podge (we used the glittery mod podge on this project as well)
~Misc embellishments

The plan:

now you need to plan this out. I wanted to make sure I had a good variety of papers so I wouldn't have the same papers showing on any given day. Use a paper cutter and you can also use a rounded corner cutter. Now when doing your layout you need to make sure you have the right numbers on the right blocks.

Here is how to lay out the numbers

Block 1: #s 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Block 2: #s 0, 1, 2, 6, 7, 8

Use some distress ink to give a little wear to the papers.

Gentle rub the edges of the paper on the ink pad and I also use my finger to add some faint touches as well.

See the difference below on what the paper looks like with and without distress ink.

Mod Podge.

Mod podge can be tricky and you need to be careful to not get any bubbles while the mod podge is drying. I use a thin layer on the wood before I apply the paper and then add a generous amount to the top, after I applied the lettering. For this step I chose to use the regular matte modge podge. You will have to do this in steps since you will need to do all 6 sides. I used those little disposable cup lids from a restaurant kids cup to set the block on for drying. Be sure to dry thoroughly!

After the initial mod podge dried I went back over the edges and the actual numbers with the glitter mod podge. I didn't want the whole thing to be glittery, just the red.

When I did the bottom I added some gemstones to it while the mod podge was still tacky. It acts as a great adhesive.

*I would advise against large embellishments on the blocks themselves so they can sit right and not be uneven from sitting on an embellishment on the days that block is facing down.

Chalk Board Countdown

We made these chalk boards years ago, but my kids love it! They often argue over who can write it down. It is great for the little kids who are still learning to write their numbers.

Supplies:

small chalk board (roughly 8x10")

misc paint supplies

embellishments

ribbon

chalk

(Before I start painting I drilled a hole in the side for the ribbon to attach to the board.) Decorate and paint the board to you liking. I used a painters pen for the lettering and puffy paint on the sides. This is when you can really give this craft personality, so have fun with it!

When it is all dry add your ribbon with the small piece of chalk to the board.

Have fun with these projects!

Merry Christmas!!

I Ah"door" this project!

2010-10-10T19:00:00.006-07:00

I got my room almost done and I have the perfect spot for some bookshelves. But honestly I do not have $350+ for some nice shelves, so with one of my great doors from my salvage excursion
and some salvaged wood from old furniture I have had the inspiration to make some bookshelves out of it! Yes, a big project, but with proper planning I think I can pull this off for next to nothing. It will take resourcefulness, time, and a good plan.

A good plan:

Whenever I get started on these type of projects I put my drafting background into action. Actually I am a little OCD when it comes to this phase of my projects. It's a talent! I admit that. Sometimes it's hard to recognize your talents, but this is one I can claim. Many friends ask for my help in this area because it comes very easily to me and I love to do it.

So here we go! I have the major supplies for my shelves and now lets figure out how I am going to use them. A good plan will ease the process and eliminate errors that cause waste. Here is my plan:

I drew this up and now my husband sees what I saw when I said I had to have this old door. And I have his approval. He likes it! During this phase it helps to make a supply list so hopefully it can minimize your trips to Lowes.

Resourcefulness:

I cannot throw good wood out and it drives my husband crazy to have all this scrap wood in our garage. But after it's all said and done he sees that I really will do something with it he has learned to trust me! It usually turns out for the best. We had a dresser that was poorly made but still had some great plywood and even some solid wood crown moulding. I will use those items for these great shelves. I got a hold of another door that I will use for the sides and it will look perfect! So as of now I have the door for the back, the door for the sides, the wood for the shelves, Some faux legs that we have had for the past 3 years, and the crown moulding. I need some detail moulding for some finishing touches and hopefully we can get that at Al's salvage yard for next to nothing. I am hoping with my resourcefulness I can get these fabulous shelves built for under $50! I decided to use all wood mouldings. This is going to be a heavy duty piece of furniture, so I wanted it to be all wood for durability.

Time:

Time can often be the biggest obstacle in getting a project done. I have so many projects to do and not enough time. So this is the slow going part for me. I have great friends who are always willing to help me, which is great when cutting big doors! Thank Traci! :)

(wear your safety goggles!)

I have found some time to get all the shelves cut out and the side door cut in half. Now comes assembly. This is where you sometimes need to tweak your plan. I only had 5 pieces of wood the right size for the individual shelves so I will alter my plan a little for that.

(6 months later-yea, that's how I roll)

I found some spare time and now I will get these shelves done! Since I had all of my prep work done and have the majority of my supplies, it is time to assemble. When I cut the door for the sides in half I was sure to cut it down the middle of the panels, not necessarily the middle of the door. I later trimmed the side that was too big to make the sides even. If I had cut it down the middle of the door the sides would have been even but not symmetrical.

I overlapped the sides around the back door. (see pic)

I then applied 1" square braces for the shelves. Note the angle cut on the ends to mask the braces a bit. I was sure the sides covered the whole side since some of the braces went over the recessed panel. All of my shelf placements were around the paneling of the back door. I tried to be consistent so the panels reveled were pretty close in how they aligned with the shelves.

More details:

While getting my moulding from the salvage yard I found a 1 1/4" moulding to face the fronts of the shelves. Since I used plywood I needed to cover up the end of the shelves and this touch gives an illusion of thicker shelves while masking the wood braces underneath.
I used a 3" chair rail moulding to go around the 3rd shelf from the bottom. I wanted to bottom to feel a bit more substantial and this was a good divider from the bottom and top.
A huge detail for the bottom is the half sawn legs. I had these from my kitchen remodel and never used them, so these were perfect! These really add substance to the bottom to set it apart.
For the bottom I ended up using a base board and some spare moulding rather than my initial plan. I was afraid if I had done a cut out, random things may have ended up under the bookshelves. Note I did have to use some scrap wood as a brace for the base to be secured on.
The top sides did need a little doctoring as well. The side door is a solid core door but the solid interior was more of a pressed board so there were some dimples that would show. I did have to put a piece of lattice moulding to hide the dimpling texture. Then for added detail I found a great scrap of moulding. I don't really know how to describe the pattern, so see the picture below.
For the crowing finish of the shelves I used a 3" crown moulding with a dentil moulding detail. I used some pine for the top and added another moulding to face the top. This adds to the illusion of a thicker crown.
Just under the crown is some 3/8" craft wood that I cut the arches out with a scroll saw.

Finishing touches

See the following pictures for the little touches I added to give some personality.

The old door knob and face plate give add to the charm of shelves made out of doors.
The escutcheon keyhole plate is another fun touch. I still want to add a cute hook of some sort with a key hanging from it. I did drill out behind the keyhole or you could paint black behind the plate.
The old hook and numbers were a fun salvage yard find. Hook already had paint layers on it and I just need to install, but the numbers did need a few layers of different colors of paint to simulate years of paint.

All in all this was a very fun and rewarding project. I love how they look in my room now and it is a great focal point! I did stay within budgets so that makes it all the more rewarding! Hope this can inspire others to find fun things to do with old architectural items.

*a note for realism! Staging is fun and is great for pictures. I had fun finding all the old books in my house and making theses shelves picturesque. After all was said and done these shelves hold my text books, photo albums, and fun novels. I still try to make it look nice and the top shelf has stayed decorative, but I do have to live in reality and live with function, it still can be cute. right? So now just image a couple of loads of laundry sitting by the chair and welcome to my world!

Vintage

2010-04-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

I love Vintage! Vintage inspires me! I love to add vintage touches to my home. I feel vintage gives a sense of history, where we came from.

Here are some of my vintage/vintage inspired things that I just love.

Found this scale while antiquing! Love the color! It was perfect just the way it is!

This piece of tin was from an old building in Denver. I got it while at a Salvage Yard there. It appears to have been in a fire. The back was all covered in soot! I mounted it on a piece of plywood cut to size and painted the sides brown to blend in. A great touch to my home.

BOOKS! I love old books and decorating with them. Whenever I am at a thrift store or pass by a used book store I have to stop and see if I can find a great book. My criteria for finding a book has nothing to do with value. I don't buy things as an investment. I get things that I love. So when I buy books I also try to find books that I may even want to read someday and that look good. I have found many classics and many good informative books as well.

Many items in my house are actually family heirlooms. I got this old bell from my grandma. And this pic is reminiscent of the spring our young family spent in DC. What a wonderful weekend the Cherry Blossom Festival was. This picture I found recently at a Antique store is a reminder of our spring as well as a great vintage touch to my home.

These other items are things I got from my other grandma. This polish doll is a reminder of my heritage and really cute too!

These were items that were my grandpa's the book is from his Sunday school teacher as a child and the tea set and smashed penny are from the Chicago Worlds Fair.

Other items that are great decor and have a special meaning to me.

I love to decorate with clocks! Especially old ones.

This is one of the most priceless items that I have. It has a very personal story and every time I look at it reminds me of that experience.

This old picture was an advertisement calendar from the 40's and My mother's Chritening Dress made by my great-grandmother. These items decorated my babies room.

A little new with the old! I love to mix and match!

This was a great find that I found at an antique store for a steal. I would love many more in my home. The old leaded window look is a true classic. These windows inspire me to learn how to make my own.

This is another family item. In my grandmother's old home in Denver this was her upstairs hall phone. I remember talking on this phone as a little girl.

What all this boils down to is that I look at many "things" in my home on a daily basis I don't just see something that I spent money on or something that just looks perfect in my home. I see a memory, I re-feel a testimony building experience, I look back onto my heritage and on my family's beginnings. There's something to be said about knowing where you came from and revering that. When you are trying to make your house your home keep that in mind. Surround yourself first with the people you love and then top it off with things that remind you of who you are!

The Joy of the Salvage!

2010-03-04T08:00:00.004-07:00

Once when visiting my Sister In Law she told me she was tearing down an old house to eventually build on. At that point my heart rate shot up, my palms got all sweaty and I felt as though I just walked into a store advertising an 80% off sale! (You know what I'm talking about!) I then asked her if she would mind if I did a little salvaging before the big event, which was happening the next day. Her response would be like most and she said, "Sure, but there's nothing but junk in there." And my response was definitely unlike most and I said, "Well Yeah, that's what I want!"

So the next morning my other Sister in Law (who appreciates a good Junkin' excursion) and myself took a drill, hammer, some screwdrivers, some grubby clothes and my Honda Oddessy (2nd best thing to a truck-if you have one you know what I mean!) and we went ready to salvage. (I would recommend a good pry bar too!)

Yes, on the surface there wasn't much to get. Most of the doors were hollow core and many of the windows were single pane and really big. We did find some sweet french doors!

I loved the little windows in the kitchen. My mind was reeling of all the fun things to do with them. It was even better that they weren't broken!

You can even multi-task while salvaging!!

When we looked even closer we found may unique items that would be fun to re-use. Look at these great hinges and great clasp on this cabinet. There is a fun project in the works for this gem!

In the back we found a couple of solid wood doors. So many fun things to do with these. We only took one and to this day I regret not getting the other. So when doing these type of adventures if you think you MAY want it, just take it. If you don't use it give it to someone who will use it. Otherwise it's just in a landfill. :(

I even found a great 24" X 24" mirror that hangs in my front room. I didn't even need to paint it!

Our spoils! So the house didn't look much different when we got done with it, but we were very happy with our goods!

Now we even looked around outside and found two old gates! Those are real fun to use in your garden or as a message center in a garden decor room! Never pass up an old gate :) So we fit it all in the Oddessy and notice Mary scored that sweet scallop from the kitchen (were you eyeing it too?) Love it!

So later that day we drove by and the house was going, going, . . . .

Never ever pass up a good salvaging opportunity! I told my SIL if she ever does this again I will make the 3 hour drive, bring my pry bar and do some more junkin'! I don't really consider myself a big environmentalist, but I do believe that we shouldn't let good things go to waste. The talent is in finding the good things!

Happy Salvaging!

Great Spring Things!!

2010-02-21T15:45:00.007-07:00

I love spring! And here in the desert spring comes a little sooner than for the rest of the country. I take full advantage of that and can't wait to get my spring decor out!

Awhile back I found this cute wall hanging at Scrapbook Destination's Blog. My friend Diannah duplicated the idea and made this cute and similar hanging. She just cut out her own cone with some 1/2" MDF and used her Cricut for the lettering.

You can go to Scrapbook Destination's Blog by clicking here to see their hanging and get directions! Unfortunately their store has closed but their blog has so many great ideas. Be sure to check it out! Thanks for sharing!

Last year we decided to make some cute spring flower stakes. We made three designs; A daisy, A Tulip, and A Sunflower. They turned out so cute and we would love to share the pattern with you. Click below to print and view the desired pattern.

Click here to view instructions and pattern for the daisy.

Click here to view instructions and pattern for the tulip.

Click here to view instructions and pattern for the sunflower.

Another fun spring craft are these baluster birdhouses. I saw the idea in a magazine and ran with it. I went to my local salvage yard, Al's, and found some great old balusters for very cheap. I also ordered these metal flowers and a 24" X 24" decorative tin from Outwater. For the center of the flower I just used decorative upholstery tacks and painted them as well.

I painted the flowers with enamel paint that you can get at a craft store and used some bailing wire and JB weld to make the vine. You will need some tin snips to cut the tin down and over time the tin rusts and looks nice and old!

They will look great in any planter.

And I have some random old hardware to personalize them even more with my shabby touch that I love so much!

Awesome Autumn Additions!

2009-09-25T07:34:00.008-07:00

We had ourselves another fun little craft night for Fall Crafts. So I wanted to share all the great ideas with you all!

Diannah made this great witches boot. I love it. She paid so much attention to detail that really made this craft so fabulous! It is made out of pine. It is 4 separate wood pieces that she also routed to smooth off the edges giving the craft and overall chunky feel.

This spider on the star is super cute! And notice the ribbon is held on with a bead and knotted at the end. GREAT touch!

April gave us these cute tags! These dollar store sketetons are such a great addition to this vintage inspired tag. The great little details include the felt embellishment on the bottom of the tag and a key on the skeleton's arm! LOVE IT!

April also made this great BOO banner. Very simple, and VERY cute! It is just some scrap muslin fabric with a zig zag stitch with "BOO" stamped on them! A great finishing touch for any halloween decor!

Randi and Jeni made this great Trick or Treat banner! Jeni is our resident scrapbooker and her talents really came shining through on this craft. She always has a great attention to detail!

The banner is made from cardstock, scrapbook paper, ribbon, corrugated letters, and ribbon.

The little spiders added to random letters is such a fun detail!

Notice the ribbon that embellishes each of the pennants covering the scrapbook paper seam. The corregated letters are painted and then distressed. LOVE IT! And to protect the paper they laminated each of the pennents before they glued on the ribbon, letter and spiders. When all is said and done, punch 2 holes in the top and string with ribbon.

Traci made the lovely pumpkin flower arrangement. Pick your favorite fall flowers/folliage and arrange in a foam pumpkin. To do this glue in a floral foam block and arrange your flowers. Great way to soften up your home with fall colors!

Okay, April did go crazy this time around and also made us these fabric pumpkins. It is hard for a creative soul to sit still. And we are glad she shared that creativity with us! If you check back to earlier fall posts (click the fall post on the side bar) you will see her very detailed pumpkins as well. But these are great for a bench because your kids cannot hurt them. Puppies that's another story :) But I love them and they look perfect on my bench. They can really go anywhere.

Jill made this hanging leaf plaque. The leaves are very glittery and really add some bling to your house. Jill decoupaged the scrapbook paper on a routed, painted plaque and then glued on the leaves. The finished off hanging ribbon makes this a perfect decoration.

Teresa mad this great wall hanging. She also made this with pine and some misc. thinner wood for the embellishments. The berries and spanish moss area great addition to give the craft anadded touch. What a great fall craft!

Rachel made this Halloween Countdown that my kids love! It is so fun for them to keep track of the days until the great candy feast!!! :) This is made with the 4 X 4 blocks and 8" of 2 X 4. She then decoupaged on the different scrapbook papers and vinyl numbers/lettering. She got the craft idea from Poppy Seed Projects and ordered the kit. Awesome craft!! They have a great wesite that you can order crafts. Check it out!

All in all we had some great fall crafts this time around. Thanks ladies!!

Ode to Hobby Lobby!

2009-08-14T11:27:00.009-07:00

(yes I am aware that I appear to be a little too excited in this picture, but I REALLY love Hobby Lobby!

And I got a great deal on these drawer knobs!)

I love Hobby Lobby! It is a little bit sentimental because they gave me my first job when I was 15 and thus released a beast of creativity! I have found what I needed there 98% of the time and I love the sales and prices. Just recently a friend of mine told me about their inspirational ideas on their website and wanted to share them with you too.! So I hope you find some inspiration as well.
Here is a fun little inspiration that they have on their website for fall! LOVE IT! Click Here to see their great fall ideas.

You can also check out their website to see other inspirational ideas by Clicking Here.

GREAT NEWS!! For all of you not fortunate enough to have a Hobby Lobby by you, you can now SHOP ONLINE!!! This is great! Check it out by Clicking Here.

A Touch of Sentiment

2009-05-04T16:21:00.005-07:00

My friend Robin at The Swanky Flea made me this cute little Fairy in a Jar. She is making these cute little Fairies in a Jar for a show in Downtown Mesa on the 16th of May. I had her make me one for me for my Mother's Day gift to my mom.

My grandma, who died a couple of years ago, gave me a bunch of baby pics so I asked Robin to make my fairy with a copy of my grandma's baby pic. This Mother's Day lands on my grandma's birthday so I thought this would be a great gift to give my mother. Here is how it turned out:

You can contact Robin by clicking here to have her make your own custom fairy in a Jar. Or if you want a pre-made Fairy in a Jar go check out all the fun stuff she will have at her show on the 16th.

Cabinets: To Paint, or Not To Paint?? Is it a question?

2009-03-06T10:30:00.002-07:00

Painting your cabinets can be a big decision. There is definately a lot to consider. Painting over wood is pretty much permanent, unless you are up to stripping your cabinets, so that takes some serious consideration. Also it is a time consuming process. The best reason to paint your cabinets is plain and simple, cost! It is the cheapest way to redo your kitchen. When I first painted my kitchen it cost me $50.00 (including hardware). For a growing family on a budget, that was doable. In this post I will walk you through the basics of painting your cabinets.

Here is my kitchen I lovingly refer to as my micro kitchen before I painted the cabinets. I loved the red on the walls but the honey oak cabinets were just not doing it for me. I was ready for my cottage kitchen.

While looking through the paper one Sunday my inspiration hit me! This is it! This was what I wanted for my kitchen. I loved these cabinets with the red walls and I LOVED the texture finish.

So here is my finished product.

(This picture was taken just before we did our addition so I had already taken down all of the decorations, but you get the idea, right?)

This sure was a upgrade for me from the cheap looking honey oak cabinets.

Now that brings me to another point. Cabinetry is very expensive to replace. But if you live in a tract home and could not afford the upgrade you have very CHEAP cabinets. If this is the case, then what have you go to lose? Actually I think the cheap ones paint easier.

Here is a detail of the cabinet door. I only did this finish on the upper cabinets. It was very time consuming and I didn't feel like the bottom cabinets would be noticed enough to warrant my time with the faux finish. I textured these with plain old joint compound using a stencil and sloppping it on real thick.

So lets you get you started on getting your cabinets.

(note: this is an example of a recessed cabinet door)

Preparation:

clean- get your cabinets good and clean. Any dust or grime can make your paint not stick as well.

remove cabinet doors and hardware- now is the time to start to take everything apart. Remove all hardware/hinges so you will not get paint on any of them. If you are changing hardware you can putty holes now if you need to. You may need to let it dry and then apply more to make sure there is no shrinkage of the putty. You will want it to look smooth.

sand- your cabinet will have some type of finishing topcoat. By using a fine grit sandpaper (150-180 grit)you will start to roughen up the cabinet. Doing this will add some roughness for your paint to grip on your wood. The sheen and thickness of your cabinet topcoat will determine how much sanding you will need to do. You really don't need to do much sanding, you just need to roughen it up. I recommend using a mouse sander for this. The pointed design will help you get into corners.

remove dust- use a damp towel to remove the dust. Make sure all of the dust is gone so the paint can adhere better to the surface.

Add some moulding???- if you would like to add some crown or some squares to flat cabinets now is the time to do it. I just recommend using wood moulding. 3" -4" crown would look great. If your cabinets have no crown and are similar to my micro kitchen cabinets you can take off that little piece of stop moulding at the top and put crown up there. It really is a nice finishing touch. And if you have older flat cabinets you can put on squares with some small profile moulding similar to wainscoting squares.

Here is an example of a kitchen with flat cabinet doors. We glazed over them with a walnut stain to give them some character from the flat white look.

prime (optional)- the reason I say that priming is optional is because if you sanded you probably do not need to prime. Here are the circumstances that I may recommend priming. First if your cabinets have a thick topcoat of urethane. Urethane is an oil based product and using water based paints your paint will repel the topcoat. This is usually the case if you have older cabinets that have been refinished and the homeowner applied their own topcoat. You will need to use a primer in this situation. Now if you have darker cabinets and you will be painting them white it may save you a couple coats of paint if you prime first. Primer does cost a little bit more than paint, but if you will need less paint if may be worth the difference. Both times I have painted my cabinets I did not prime first. Sanding proved to be effective enough. These cabinets have actually held up better than my cabinets that the manufacture painted. Also with my green island I wanted the black underneath to show through when distressing. I didn't want a white primer to show through as well, and they have held up fine. My old cabinet bases are in my garage for my work bench and they are still holding up quite well.

So if you do decide to do some texturing to your cabinets this would be the time to do so.

(I will add a post on how to do this later if you are interested and need some instructions.)

painting- okay, here we go! Now is the time to get dirty! When picking out a paint take some time. Do not choose lightly. Even if you are doing white there are so many shades of white. My appliances are bisque. I was able to match a color to those and that was my micro kitchen cabinet color. It was a great slightly off white color. (American Tradition, Moonlight @ Lowes) So take into consideration your appliances and any other close furniture or flooring. As far a sheen goes I reccomend using a Semi-Gloss. Here is Bob Villa's explaination of semi-gloss paint "Semigloss paints have a slightly glossy appearance and are less reflective than gloss paints. They offer good stain resistance, are easy to clean, and may be a good choice if you have young children. Must experts agree that the highest quality semigloss paints are 100% acrylic latex paints, which also come in enamel grades." You can find more info on his website by Clicking Here So I prefer semi gloss because they make your cabinets cleanable! Very crucial in a kitchen or bathroom. You will need to apply at least 2 coats. I have always brushed on my paint with a good paint brush. I personally have not tried spraying it on and how well it would stick. I do have a friend who is wanting to spray on her paint so I will update when I know more. If you do want to try spraying I would recommend using a good sprayer, preferably airless. Be sure to let your paint completely dry in between coats.

Finishing up:

Be sure to check out the Grunge it Up! post for details on adding some "grunge" to your cabinets.

(note:below is an example of a raised panel door)

dents & dings- in thicker/harder areas of your cabinets (I would not recommend doing on your recessed doors that have a thin wood panel in the door, just on the thicker frame of your door) you can beat your cabinets to add some fun distressing.

glazing- this method is most used on kitchen cabinets. The heavy bodied glaze works well with vertical surfaces. Also if you added some dents and dings to your cabinets the glaze will help those stand out a little bit more.

sanding/distressing- sanding is fun to add some character to your cabinets. Sand the edges and any other detail you want to stand out. If you have another color underneath this will be a good way to let this show.

top coat/sealing- if you are doing any type of distressing listed above you really need to apply a top coat. This will seal in all of your hard work, so when you have to wipe down your cabinets you won't take off some of your glaze. I use a ploy-acrylic spray.

putting back together- at this point you will probably feel burnt out and ready to be done. But just think, you're almost there! If you have a previous screw hole that is stripped and your screw won't grip on the wood, take some wood toothpicks and put them in the hole with some wood glue, break them off to be even with the surface. Let dry and you should have a good grip for you screws!

adding hardware- This is the fun finishing off point! It is like putting on your jewelry, you do look good without it but you feel more finished off when you have some on. Cabinetry looks so much more finished off when you have on some great hardware. When you start to add your hardware make a template for the spot to drill, then you won't need to measure it every time! Drawers can be a little bit tricky since they vary so much in size, you will have to do more measuring. If you have hardwood cabinets be sure to drill a pilot hole for your screws if needed.

Knobs and pulls can really define your cabinets as well. Doing this will really set the them for your kitchen. Do a lot of shopping around for knobs, they can get quite pricy so spend some time deciding what you REALLY want. I found my knobs and cup pulls at Pottery Barn, sounds expensive right? These were actually the best price for what I was wanting. So check out those unexpected places too. You may be surprised.

Here is our kitchen after our remodel. (I still need to glaze and put hardware on the upper cabinets, can you tell the difference?) Originally the island was black. I ended up not liking the black so I painted it and my desk this great green color and glazing it. I had all of the supplies so it ended up costing me $3, the cost of the oops paint I used to paint them. I really love the green in my house and I am so happy I did it!

(sob story alert! I would share with you a before picture but while backing up my photos one day my hard drive crashed and I lost 18 months of pics, including those from my remodel. If anyone know a good place for hard drive retrieval please let me know!)

I will give you some fun tips to jazz up an island. For the panels I bought some tongue and groove pine bead board at Home Depot. The cabinet doors already were beaded, so the bead board panels really finished it off. While planning my kitchen I looked into getting the panels from the manufacture and the price was outrageous. Another example is the legs on the island. I needed 3, the manufacture would have been $350 each. I did some research and found these great hardwood legs at Outwater for $70 each. What a great savings! Outwater also sells hardwood knobs and all those neat wooden door racks to install on your cabinets too. If you are doing a remodel I highly recommend using them.

This pic is of my desk. Despite how the color looks bluer on the previous pictures this picture of my desk is a better representation of the color. I also got the bun feet at Mesa Sales and painted them. I kept the toe kicks black to help the feet stand out a little better. Here is another kitchen savings tip, If you cannot afford the granite countertops there are some great laminate counter tops that look a lot like granite. I just recommend using a full round nose on the edges to make it a little more believable. Also I asked to have backsplash removed and did a tile backslash. (see first pic of my mega kitchen) That laminate backslash is a dead give away that your countertops are laminate. Now here is my reasoning. countertops are easier to replace than cabinets. So if granite does not fit into your budget with the cabinets you want settle for the laminate for now and you can upgrade down the road, hopefully!

I caught my friend Danielle just before she moved to snag these pics of her kitchen. She first painted the cabinets red and then decide to paint them black. That worked out great when distressing them. The red shows through perfectly. And her red bead board looks great with the black cabinets.

Here is a good pic to show the distressing.

This is a real fun idea. I did this to my kitchen too, but I put in plexi glass. The chicken wire is very cute! If you have a recessed panel door and it is pretty thin chinky wood you can cut out the panel and add something else. This makes for a fun decorative door.

Here is another fun detail of the black. I really do love how Danielle's kitchen looks, but I will tell you why I painted my island from the black to green. Believe it or not, black is hard to keep clean. It is not forgiving of dust and water spots like lighter colors are. I felt like it was always dirty and frankly I am not the kind of person who wipes down my cabinets daily. So if you are considering painting your cabinets black keep that in mind.

This is a little bit easier way to give your cabinets some pizazz! Kim did her cabinets by painting chalkboard paint on the recessed part of her cabinet. It looks really fun and can be versatile.

So good luck on this and hopefully this inexpensive fix can give you the kitchen you want. And if you every want to send me some before and after pics of your kitchen I would love to share them on this post. Happy Painting!

How to "Share the Love!"

2009-02-22T12:00:00.001-07:00

Here is a great party idea! If you have group of friends that you want a good excuse to share crafts and have a fun lunch you can "Share the Love!"

You can do this party for any occasion, Spring/Easter, summer, fall, Halloween, Christmas. etc. . .

Table Setting

Each place setting included a scrabble name plate personalized with a fun name!

Here is a goodie bag with fun magnets, some glass, a cute button and a fun Valentine button.

Click Here to learn how to make your own glass magnets.

These pastry stands are a great touch with all of the great tags. All of the graphics were found on Esty. Click Here to see these great Vintage inspired Valentine's Graphics.

Soup in bread bowls is a great lunch for a cold winter day. A spinach salad with the strawberries cut like hearts is a great companion for the occasion.

These mini Cheese Cakes and Cupcakes (including red velvet, YUM!) are a great dessert. Then you can take the large cupcake home in your pastry stand to share with your other sweet heart!

Here is what you would go home with:

Heart pocket CD holders to hold a CD full of a variety of love songs

A love box to share some of those special letters/notes that you don't want to part with.

You can then have this box to open when you need a reminder of how much you are loved!

A heart topiary

A cute sign embellished with scrapbook paper

some "lovely" heart shaped pasta to make for your love(s) -your kids will love the pasta!

But when cooking it you MUST wear the included tiara and use the blinged out spoon.

A personalized heart bean bag and napkin

A Conversation Heart Wreath.

These hearts were individually cut out of 1/4 plywood, painted and personalized with vinyl lettering. Embellished with pastel berries.

These are some fun craft ideas, thanks for sharing!

Getting off Tract!

2009-02-20T10:30:00.006-07:00

Yes, I live in a Tract home!

-Tract housing (also known as cookie-cutter housing) is a style of housing development in which multiple identical or

nearly-identical homes are built to create a community.

Unfortunately if you cannot afford a custom home or want to live in an older neighborhood in Arizona (and many other places), you live in a tract home. The beautiful shades of brown that all of the houses have just don't appeal to my pallet. In 2000 when we were ready to move up from renting we started looking for a house. I could not and would not live in a neighborhood where all of the houses were the same color and, to the untrained eye, identical. It really was a quite depressing venture. But then the compromise was found. At that time there was one builder who had the "different" style of tract home. They were perfect for me (or as perfect as I could get without building my own home) with the large front porch, shutters, smooth stucco, color, and some stone, brick, or shingles. It was the best I could find so we got it. It even had a decent back yard, for kids to play, a garden, trampoline, sand box. Yes, it was great. But then there was still a problem, all of the houses still looked the same from the inside. A sea of drywall: drywall accents, drywall niches, drywall entertainment centers, etc. . . It looked clean but had no personally. And the 2 1/4" baseboards were mostly hidden by carpet and painted the same color as the wall.
I will tell you at the time I was grateful to be out of a rental and to be in a house that the walls actually were clean when you washed them. The clean white was perfect for us then. So after a year had passed I needed color! The was the start of giving my house some personally and making it my own. Going from Tract to Terrific!

Let me start of by saying that giving a home personality is a process. I feel that you need to live in that home to get a feel for what you want. Most of us need to take our time and stay in a budget, especially now in this economy. So take your time and hopefully you can learn to do some of the easier projects yourself and get more for your money. (Also please recognize that there are times you need to call in the pros.) So when you walk into a home that looks perfect to you, remember it took time.

Color- picking a color is not as easy as finding a swatch at Lowes and just buying it. Here is some advice I was given and I will share it with you. If you are trying to match something (sofa, curtains, artwork) bring it into the store where you will buy the paint. It is easier to match paint to your item than to find an item that matches your paint. Get a minimum of 5 different swatches of the color you want. Take it home and tape those swatches to your wall. Watch the colors in different lights (all times of the day for the sunlight and your home lights) and start to eliminate the colors that just don't work. When I did this with my reds, I was so glad that I did. Some looked orange in the late afternoon, and some looked to rusty, so eventually I found the color that was perfect for my room. And be sure to do this on more than just one wall. Light hits different walls differently so location does make a difference. One of my followers, Amanda has some great tips for picking color in your home that she said I could share and I will post that soon!

*cheapskate tip! always check the oops paint rack. You may find what you need for a fraction of the price.

Find your style- I always loved the shabby chic, cottage, French country influence. How did I know what my style was? I didn't at first, so what I did was look through magazines and looked at decorations. I found that I gravitated toward the same things. Then I would rip out the things that I liked. Have you noticed that you do react to different styles? Well you do. You just need to notice the style you react to as well. You can appreciate many styles. I can go into many homes and appreciate the good decorating and style, but when you find a style that soothes your soul and you feel comfortable and at peace in, THATS YOUR STYLE! (complication alert!) You may have a significant other who has a completely different style than you and an actual opinion. That does make things hard. But try to come to some compromise or call design challenge and good luck! I do have a friend that her husband was very adamant against her longings for a french country inspired home, but after time and convincing she is able to slowly make her house how she has envisioned it. So significant others, put some trust in your love! (especially if they are decorators!)

Use the sidebar labels to direct you to some help and tips to personalize your home. So to get yourself going start making your IDEA BOOK and you will find your style and make your home Terrific! Good Luck!!

Signs For Our Times

2009-02-02T08:00:00.007-07:00

I love signs! I love old signs and old looking signs! When my friend Natalie at The Vintage Sparrow taught me how to make signs she opened up a whole new world to me. I have so many plans to make signs and all the wood in my garage to prove it.

This is the first sign that Natalie made with me. I love it and it has hung in my kitchen ever since.

With this sign I framed it out by nailing on some furring strips. Both were stenciled with 6" stencils.

Here is a sign that I made out of some barn wood that was perfect the way it was. I just free handed the letters to look more rustic. After a light sanding it needed nothing else. If you can find some wood that is perfectly distressed it makes your job a lot easier.

And this sign is my newest sign that I thought would be a perfect Valentine's Day decoration.

Now I will tell you that you can do the simple thing and use vinyl letters to make signs. And I will tell you why I personally do not like vinyl letters on my projects. DISTRESS. I need to have my signs look old and beat up. Then need to look like they have been through the elements and back to life. Vinyl is too clean and new looking. So if you like clean and sleek then you will love vinyl. To each his own right? So for the purposes of the Shabby Thing paint on your letters. You do not need to be artistic. If you can find the stencil you like you can just stencil on the letters (Very EASY) If you don't have the stencils you can trace on letters of you liking with carbon paper. Then you just need to stay in the lines! You can do it! And you will love it too!

Click Here to view/print out instructions to make your own sign.

Find your inspiration. If you see a sign you would love to replicate take a picture of it and just do it!

I have even used a cabinet door for a sign too. Those are great because they have a built in frame!

(both this sign and the roses sign were painted by tracing the letters on)

Now remember the sky is the limit with signs. Let your imagination run with this.

You can check out Al's Building Supply and Materials for some salvaged cabinet doors for cheap!

Here is a recent sign I made from some wood found at Al's

that was already painted with the great blue color with the red color showing through the chipping paint. All I needed to do was paint on the letters. It is a perfect easy sign that only cost me $1 and one hour of my time!

Loving the Porch

2009-01-30T10:52:00.006-07:00

I really do love to keep my porch up with the seasons and not until this year have I had the itch to do a Valentine's porch. So here are some fun ideas.

I found these wreaths at JoAnn's and made the sign from some scrap wood (free!)

You can make a heart pillow out of some scrap fabric.

These vintage Valentine's cards I was able to download for free from Fairy Davis Paper Goods and just mod podged them onto some 1/8" plywood, distressed with distress ink and lightly sanded with fine grit sandpaper. Hot glued on some ribbon and tied them everywhere. I love how they turned out! With extra wood I cut out some hearts with the scroll saw and just pained them red. That is how I decorated my ever changing grapevine wreath on my porch.

Grunge It Up!

2009-01-27T08:00:00.017-07:00

distress |disˈtres|
verb [ trans. ]
• give (furniture, leather, or clothing) simulated marks of age and wear

antique |(,)an-ˈtēk|
verb [ trans. ]
• to finish or refinish in antique style : give an appearance of age to

I love to distress/antique pretty much everything I do. If it doesn't look old, I NEED to make it look that way! I wanted to share with you some tips of grunging something up. When something is newly painted it looks very clean but personality-less. Frankly it can just look home painted (you know what I mean). You notice that most furniture you buy is not a solid color it has some degree of distressing to it. Whether it is sanded or brushed with color it adds character and uniqueness of your piece. If you can spray your paint on it tends to have a smoother finish, and when brushing is is a little thicker. I can't say if I prefer one over the other because both are great in their own desired look.

So lets get started: (prep)

If you are painting an item that has a finish on it you need to sand it for sure to give the paint something to stick to. (It doesn't need to be very rough, I would say a 120 grit sand paper would be sufficient.) If the finish you have is oil base you may need to use a primer. Keep in mind that the primer color will show through when you distress it so I don't usually like to prime if I don't really have to. You can tint primer, but it does cost more than just using the natural wood that your item may already have, and I'm not sure if you can get it that dark. When painting an item that you want to distress keep in mind that whatever your color it is before is the color you will see when you sand it off for distressing. (if you decide to sand it) So sometimes you need to paint it a desired base color, let it completely dry, and then apply your top coat. Make sure before you do any distressing you let your item completely dry. (I would wait a day or two depending your the humidity in your area)

Now I will explain in detail the different methods to distress.

Crackle- Crackle medium is a product that you use in between two layers of different paint colors that give the appearance of crackling and age. You can buy

crackle medium at craft stores

but I prefer to just get a quart of it at Home Depot. Behr makes a great crackle medium that will go a long way and is great for medium to large projects. Follow the manufactures instructions and you can't go wrong. Crackling can be intimidating because you can't go back. The top coat needs to cover good because if you go back over it with your brush it will pull it up and can ruin the look you were after. But you can do it. Just follow the instructions. And don't be too picky, the imperfections of this method are what make it so great.

Sanding- I have put my mouse sander through plenty of projects. It has earned itself many times over. Sanding an object really gives it that natural 'wear and tear' look. But there is a secret and you can over do it. The secret to sanding to distress is to make it look like it naturally happened. Pay special attention to the raised areas that normally would have distressed on its own. Also the sides and corners of objects would have some good wear and tear. If you have a large flat area pick random areas to make the paint a little thiner showing the color underneath. When ever doing the finishing distressing you should use a finer grit of sand paper. I would stick with 180-220 grit. You don't want it to looked scratched with rough paper. It just needs to look worn. And when sanding be sure your paint is good and dry so you won't gum up your sand paper.

Paint- paint is a great way to make an item look distressed. It is ideal when you don't want the under color of the paint to show through by sanding. My sister-in-law painted her moulding black and wanted the distressing to have a gold look to it. It looks quite fabulous. She took some rub and buff metallic gold paint and just rubbed it on with her fingers. She even played with some non metallic gold to add some extra depth to the project. In her wainscoting paneling she rubbed paint into

the creases of the raised panels with a brush and pulled

off the excess with a rag.

Other methods you could use would be dry brushing small amounts on the areas you would normally sand to replicate normal wear and tear. Or just rubbing on the paint with a cloth. You really need to just play with it to get the look you want. Also something else to consider with paint acting as a distressing agent is to replicate the painted and painted again look. When you use a multistep process for aging an object sanding it and chipping the paint away will show the different colors underneath simulating year of paint jobs showing through.

*paint buying tip: If you are doing a large project I recommend buying interior acrylic house paint. And being the cheapskate that I am I ALWAYS check the oops paint rack first. Many times if the paint counter person is nice they may even let you add color to the oops paint. Check the sheen as well to assure you are getting the desired finish.

Chipped Paint Look- One method that I have learned to make a painted object have chipped paint is wax. I rub an old candle in between coats of paint. Randomly pick areas that you want the paint to come up. Liberally rub some wax on those areas. Paint your top coat. After the top coat has dried use a putty knife to scrape off the paint that has the wax under it. The wax allows the paint to come up easily only in

the spots applied. This would be really cool to do

in a multistep painting as well. Follow the instructions in between each coat of paint making the wax spot slightly bigger with each coat so you can see the different colors underneath. You'll love it.

Texture- When you look at an old painted item you

will often see variances and some thick paint (from years of paint

layers). Natalie at The Vintage Sparrow taught me years ago a simple tecnique to add some texture to your paint job. It is quite simply items you can find in your home. When painting an item throw on some flour, saw dust, or frankly what ever you want. This will thicken the area and add some variance to make your project look not so perfect and old! I love it and use this technique often.

Beat it!-This is very fun! Just before you are ready to glaze or antique your project you can take a hammer, chisel, chain, or . . . anything really and beat it. Randomly add some wear and tear to it.

So if you find a great table at a thrift store and it is kinda beat up, you just saved yourself a step! I will tell you that when we bought our new kitchen cabinets, which can be pricey, and my husband saw me pounding them with a hammer he did freak out a bit. But he trusted me and after glazing it really adds to the look I was going for. And my kids have contributed too, but you can't tell. Cabinet makers charge a lot to distress your cabinets this way, so why not do it yourself and save a few bucks?

Glazing- Glaze is a product that applies a small amount of paint/stain to a project to dirty it up a bit (in a good way of course!) I have used a heavy bodied glaze from Mohawk that is linseed oil based. (You can buy this product at speciality paint stores. I got mine at Painters Supply in Mesa. So make some calls and find a store in your area that carries it.) I love how it looks. The manufacture has good directions, but essentially you apply a layer of glaze to you painted or sealed project. (If you are glazing a stained surface you need to seal it before applying glaze. If you don't the glaze will penetrate the wood and you won't be able to putt the glaze up for the desired effect.) After application you will then pull of the excess glaze with a rag just leaving behind the desired amount of glaze on the surface and letting the cracks and crevices hold on to more to show the details. Once you start doing it you won't want to stop. You will start to look for other projects to do. My friend Jenny borrowed it from me and got so addicted to glazing. And be sure to seal your project with a poly clear coat. One quart goes a long way. You could do 5 kitchens with it. It does stink so you need ventilation and you need to ALWAYS be carful when every using linseed oil. It will self combust. I have seen churches burned down because the rags were not properly disposed and they self combusted. Follow the manufactures instructions exactly when disposing the rags.

Antique- To antique something essentially means to make it look old. You want to simulate the aged look of time. Fresh paint just doesn't do it. So what I say is find your method of distressing and get your project all done. Now there is something missing. . . . yes, it looks too clean. Now it is time to grunge it up. I believe glazing is good for big jobs but when doing smaller crafts I prefer to use a simple antiquing. My preferred method of antiquing is a bottle of Delta Ceramcoat burnt umber paint, water, a brush and rags. I water my burnt umber down to a 2:1 ratio. (Two parts water for one part paint.) You don't need

very much for a medium sized project. After mixing the paint and water brush on the mixture to your project. The longer you let it sit the darker the end result. I

would say leave it on for at least 5 min and don't let it completely dry. Now with your rag rub and remove. In a circular motion you will rub in the color and remove the excess at the same time. Keep the excess in the crack, corners, and imperfections to accentuate the character of your item. Play around with it to get the desired result. If you go over it too many times it will start to pull up the color, so take it easy and enjoy the imperfection of it. I will tell you the reason I like to use this product is because it is water based and easy to fix if you mess up. If you don't like it, get a wet rag and rub it off, let it dry, and try again. If you do need to remove the antiquing be sure to clean it off within an hour. When you get what you love, seal it will a clear acrylic spray paint.

A tip to end it off:

I personally would recommend that distressing be a one man job. Many times when doing any type of distressing or faux finishing application styles vary enough that you will notice a variance from one person to another. So to make the area/project look consistent you really need to keep it to one person.

Shrinky Dinky Valentines!

2009-01-26T10:11:00.006-07:00

Thanks Katrina for pointing us to this craft. It really is a fun idea. On hallmarkmagazine.com they give a totorial on how to make this craft. Click Here to see for yourself. They used Shrinky Dink Paper that you can print on with an inkjet pritner and made some really cute Valentines. I recently downloaded some free vintage Valentine's cards that would be great for this project. (see sidebar for link) So have fun with this one and please share if you make anything fabulous with this idea. I don't know if I will get around to it???

More to LOVE

2009-01-15T15:33:00.010-07:00

Today I found some cute craft ideas for Valentine's day my local scrapbook store. They said I could take pics of their crafts. They were at Scrapbook Barn in Gilbert AZ. Check out their BLOG!

These were taken with my phone, so I hope you can see the details well enough.

These are 4 X 4 X 4 blocks that you can cut out of a 4 X 4 piece of pine or the store does sell them for $2.99 each. They are then covered with scrapbook paper (you can glue these on with any adhesive or mod podge). Distress the blocks with distress ink. The Letters are chip board letters with scrapbook paper on them with added embellishments. The letters are affixed with foam tape to add dimension.

This heart is roughly 18" tall and cut into 4 different pieces and then tied back together with ribbon. Each piece is covered with a different paper and add lettering and embellishments. Finish off with ribbon to use as a hanger.

Both of these sets of letters are made with 1 " thick letters. (you can buy the hallow card board letters or cut your own with your scroll saw and 1" pine)

The letters then have paper to cover them and then some fun embellishments.

(The letters stand roughly 5-7" tall)

Here is a class that they are doing at Mystic Paper in Downtown Mesa. This is a really cute idea. These charms look just like the candy! Check out their Website

Oh L'amour

2009-01-07T21:51:00.004-07:00

Yes, it is the time to start thinking of Valentine's Day. I have never been much of a Valentine's Day decorator or have even thought of doing anything other than buying the cheap character card for my kids to give to classmates and planning on decorating a shoebox with them. But really, can you decorate for Valentine's? Mostly I found that I tend to find cute stuff to make and give away. I did find some cute ideas in my Idea Book and some online that I will share with you. To give credit, I can't really tell you which magazine each came from but you can guarantee that it came from either Better Homes and Gardens, Country Living, Cottage Living or maybe even that Mary Englebrieight magazine? (Does that cover siting my source?)

Enjoy!

I love these pillows, I even made some similar to these one year to give to my friends out of some scrap fabric I had. They didn't turn out as cute as these, so I will strive to do better someday.

Here are some easy yet charming tags. You can just use some appropriate scrapbook paper for the occasion and then print some fun sayings on some vellum then trim and add ribbon.

These little heart pocket are a nice touch for a gift for a friend or loved one. They show you went the extra mile, without over doing it. They look like they can be made out of felt, fun foam, scrapbook paper, fabric, and ribbon. Just use toile to stuff in with the goodies and wa-la! But it does look like some sewing skills are needed.

Christmas in July???

2008-12-27T21:27:00.004-07:00

Yea, so I think that I should not plan on blogging in December from now on. It is a crazy month! So I think that we should share Christmas ideas in July! Then we can get a head start for the crazy month of December. I have such fun gifts given to me that would be great to blog as well as some fun crafts we have made. So here is my challenge. This week as you are starting to clean up Christmas. Take some pics of some fun things around your house wether you made something or were given something. Then when things get back to normal (AKA kids in school) you can shoot me an email and I will make a file for CHRISTMAS IN JULY! Also I would love some tree ideas. If you have a themed tree or just anything unique sent those too! Don't forget detail pics! So please forgive my lack of blogging this month and look forward to some fun things to come. Honestly I have more things to blog then I have time for, so I will get with it.

Have a great New Year!

A key for Santa

2008-11-23T23:16:00.010-07:00

This is a cute idea I got from Emily. Thank you for sharing it!

Here is what she said on her post:

"If you are like me you don't have a fireplace, My son asked me the other day how Santa would come into our house... and of course I made some lame excuse, So I started thinking there has to be a poem or something about Santa getting in, I found it by doing my favorite "googling" I wanted to make it so I could hang it up every year, so I had a piece of wood and modge podge it on with cute paper, saying, and I had a key I bought from Robert Craft's a long time ago ( see I knew I could use it for something!) nailed it in a there you go, so you don't strain your eyes to much let me tell you what it says:

Santa's Magic Key

Our stocking's hang upon a wall.

We have no fireplace at all!

You see the problem is quite clear.

Santa, how will you get in here?

We heard a legend is it true?

Of magic only you can do.

We'll leave out any plain old key,

and mark it "Santa" so you can see.

Your magic makes the key fit right,

so you can get inside that night.

Thank you Santa, here's our key.

The milk and cookies are on me! "

She used Katie's tutorial to make these great boxes as well. All I can say is WOW. It is wonderful!

Here is a picture showing how the key hangs from the lid if the box.

Thanks again for sharing your creativity Emily and for pointing us toward Katie too!

Make Your Pictures Old! EASY!

2008-11-10T11:10:00.006-07:00

I was doing a little web searching on how to make my pictures look old and found this great site. It is a Japaneese site and it should be in English but if it is not click on English on the top right corner of the screen. Click Here to go to the site.

It is VERY EASY. If you got on the internet today then you can do this. :0)

Go to the site. Choose a picture from you hard drive and click convert. Then when you save it, it downloads it directly to your computer.

Here is a picture I did.

I love it! I have the perfect project I will use this tool for. Don't worry, I will share when I get it done.

Have fun with this one!

Magnets & Magnet Boards

2008-11-08T11:00:00.010-07:00

Magnets and Magnet Boards are fun and easy crafts for all craft levels. They are great gifts too!

Here are some Ideas:
This Idea was sent in by Sam this is a great project to run with! These will cost you $.25 each at the most.

Click Here to download instructions

Sam gives the great idea of useing your favorite scrapbook paper, pictures of your kids, or cut outs from magazines. Allison told me that they made these and printed out quotes for the large magnets. They even did the "BE" attitudes:

Be Grateful.
Be Smart. Be Involved. Be Clean. Be True. Be Positive. Be Humble. Be Still. Be Prayerful.

Great Ideas!

The marbles are about 1" in diameter and can be found at Target, JoAnn's and I saw some at the Dollar Store. I just got some from Hobby Lobby (for those of you without a Hobby Lobby, I am sorry-They just moved into AZ so I lived without one for 14 years too long!) the marbles were $2.77 for 60! Great deal! Use a coupon and save more!

**added note: when using home printed pictures you need to be very careful. The heavy duty glue I used (E-6000) melted the pics. I recommend Mod Podging (a staple in every crafters home) the pic on the marble and then use the heavy glue for the magnet. Even with mod podge for printing out pics on a home photo printer it may not work. Good luck!

These cute wooden magnets that Deana sent in--VERY EASY!

You can just buy your favorite wooden cut out shapes at your local craft store. Glue on some scrapbook paper of your choice. Distress it a little with some distress ink and then you can seal it with some Modge Podge. Add embellishments to your liking and then finish it off by gluing on a strong magnet.

Check out these ideas: These were made from the pre cut galvanized sheet metal from Home Depot and Lowes.

Here are some great ideas for magnet boards. This is something very easy that you can personalize and make it your own.

Galvanized sheet metal is not easy to cut so ideally you want to find the perfect size precut for your project. The frame above is the large piece (3' x 4') that you can get at home depot. They then built the frame out of 1 x 2 mitered and stapled together. And then glued the metal on with liquid nails.

This is a small piece of metal that you can also find at Home Depot for under a $1. It measures 8" x 12".

You can paint with Chalk Board Paint to make it a chalk board and magnet board.

At Lowes I found tint-able chalkboard paint if you want something other than black.

Chalk board paint goes a long way so this is a fun group project.

I also found a 5 pack of 5 x 7 pieces of metal for under $3. They are great for small projects. Let your imagination run with that one! Then share with us what you create!

At Lowes at the end of the hardware isle you can find mulitple sizes and gauge of sheet metal to suit your individual project.

If you don't like the "tin look" you can mod podge some of your favorite scrapbook paper on the metal. Find a frame or miter some molding and make your own frame. For lager tin find some cute wrapping paper.

Adding Ribboin and gluing on some quotes or scriptures is another great idea.

We are making some of these frames this month for our craft day. They found these 16 x 20 frames at Michael's ready to paint to your liking. The metal they had to have cut spacifically to size so they found a sheet metal shop that would cut the metal to size. Sometimes if you are doing a couple of boards they can just use scrap and do it for pretty cheap.

If you are in the Mesa area you can contact Casey Jackson at JPF Metal Works near Country Club and Broadway (480-430-3912) for specialty sizes metal for magnet boards and anything else for that matter. He pretty much does "anything metal" at a great price.

More Great Ideas**

Allison went a step further and used the large sheets of galvanized sheet metal to personalize her teen-age daughter's room by making a bullitin board and head board by directly nailing them to the wall.

She also mentions that you can use the cute brads from the scrapbooking isle as some cute magnets. She just cuts off the brad part and glues on the magnet.

Craft Kits

2008-11-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

Are you not feeling so motivated to make your own crafts? I found a website of some kits you can use for the holidays.Click Here and check it out. She has some great ideas and the kits are very reasonable.

Here is one of her Christmas Crafts

Hurry, she is only selling her kits until Nov. 30th.

Great Fall Decorating Ideas & Crafts

2008-11-03T18:00:00.012-07:00

We have some cute ideas for fall decorating. Thank You to all of you who contributed your ideas.

Diannah Made these cute fabric pumpkins out of a circle of scrap fabric. She gathered the circle where the stump is. For the stump she used some fabric that she just sewed like a mini pillow case and tucked under the edges then she hand sewed on the top. For a finishing touch she used raffia and coated floral wire that she curled around a pencil.

She made hers pretty small, but you can do any size.

Diannah is an accomplished quilter and also did the pictures and wall quilt. If you are into quilting these are some great ideas!

Holly also had some cute fabric pumpkins on her blog. You can Click Here to see the instructions. (you'll love her cute little people too!)

Diannah also made these cute letter signs. The are so great for anything!

For these signs she used 1/2" MDF cut into 12" squares and used mod podge to glue on the trimmed down scrapbook paper. For the letters she enlarged a cute CK font that looks like pumpkins and traced out the letters and cut them out with her Scroll Saw After a light sanding to get the rough edges off she painted them and accented them with the black lines. I would use a painters pen or freehand with a brush and craft paint. (Sharpies tend to fade over time). To finish it off she used the

coated floral wire to make the curly Qs and then you can glue or nail on the letters.

Really Cute!

These are some fabulous pumpkins that April made. April is also an accomplished quilter and even has the sweet sewing machine that adds cute little touches like the embroidered leaves. Her pumpkins are more pieced together and have a lot more detail to them. I love how she added the bling, flowers, and misc. tassels to her pumpkins. They turned out so fabulous that she is even selling them now. Click Here to check out her etsy shop if you are interested in buying some.

Allison is the Fall Decorating Queen in my book. You can tell it is her favorite time of year to decorate. Many people pay her to come decorate their porches and house every year for fall. I appreciate her sharing some of her cute ideas with us on this blog to spread the creativity! If these next few pictures you can see what a great eye she has for arranging and the finishing touches.

The wagon is so fun and whimsical filled with Pumpkins, leaves and gourds.

One scarecrow is cute, but five is even cuter! (Notice she used an odd amount-that is the "odds" rule in decorating. You should always use odd numbers of what you are decorating with.) The hay and pumpkins, and leaves just look so perfect with this scarecrow family!

This display is perfectly placed just at the home's entry to greet the guests!

Many have these beautiful urns at their entry. Here a great example of how you can dress them up for any holiday. The leaf and berry pick are easy to dress this planter up.

Another great way to spruce up your entry at fall is with a pumpkin topiary.

For directions on how to make your own topiary Click Here.

Here are some more great ideas for decorations and crafts:

These letters are something Teresa made from some scrap 2 x 6 pine. After finding and tracing the font she liked she cut it out with her Scroll Saw. Finish off with a light sanding and some paint. The thicker wood makes the letters stand up with out falling down to easy.

This cute arrangement is accented with the vinyl letter sign that says "Autumn-Give of Yourself and You Will Reap a Great Harvest" and this rough post pumpkin. You can find rough posts at Lowes. With a 12" Miter Saw.you can cut it to various heights to make the pumpkins. The stem is just a thick branch cut to about 1 1/2" and accented with silk ivy, berries, and curly Qs. These make a great gift.

WANTED! Christmas Crafts

2008-11-03T17:15:00.003-07:00

Christmas is just around the corner. It is time to start sharing our Christmas craft ideas. Christmas always seems to be the time when a lot of fun crafts come out of the wood work! Many of you may be having craft days with a lot of fun crafts. So get your craft day organizers to send me instructions and a/some pictures of the fun crafts you are doing. We are always looking for fun things to do for gifts or for our own homes so please share the knowledge. I will shoot for the 15th for the Christmas Craft Post.

Thank You!

Halloween Crafts

2008-10-14T21:31:00.010-07:00

Here are some really cute ideas sent in by Camille. They are really fun for Halloween.

The Halloween Countdown

This is a craft she did that turned out so cute. They got the idea from Holiday Home Magazine on page 24. They changed it a little. It is magnetic and is a cookie sheet from the dollar store, painted and aged. The calendar grid and countdown header are glued on paper. Really fun! Each of the numbers are something different from around the house with a magnet glued on the back.

Black Cat Head

The cat in the same picture she made out of paper mache with the instant stuff. It is much easier to work with and so much better. The only down side to the instant paper mache seems to be the extremely long drying time.

Happy Halloween Banner

The banner is just paper and then laminated and stapled onto ribbon.

Super Easy!

Spooky Letters

The letter are just wood with scrapbook paper Mod Podged on them. You can find letters at your local craft store or cut your own out with some 1" wood (pine) and a scroll saw. I pick a font that I like and then copy it on to the wood with carbon paper.

Wooden Pumpkins

These pumpkins are essentially three pieces of wood that are cut in the shape of an arch. Place all pieces together and trace out the mouth. Cut out mouth hole. Cut out two leaves and some thin eyebrows. Paint all pieces accordingly. Let dry. Distress with a light sanding. Antique pieces (I like to use watered down burnt umber-Delta Ceramcoat). To assemble you can use some thin scrap wood behind the three pieces to secure together with staples or nails and some wood glue. Glue on eyebrows and leaves with wood glue. Paint on the eyes and nose.

Thank you Camille for all of these great ideas!

Cornices

2008-10-08T09:00:00.001-07:00

Traci & Teresa sent me the idea of making your own cornice. They have made quite a few over the years and got the idea from Family Handyman Magazine. You can find the article by Clicking Here!

Here are some of their finished projects:

Here is a detail of the black cornice.

Tools to tinker with!

2008-10-06T09:00:00.004-07:00

I wanted to share with you my opinion of what tools every project-doin' woman needs.

Here is a list of tools I could not live without!

Scroll Saw

Compound Miter Saw

If you plan on doing a lot of larger trim work you will want to invest in a

12" compound miter saw.

Jig Saw

Brad Nailer/Staple Gun (with a range of 1"-2" Brads) & Air Compressor

A good drill

Cordless drills give you a little more freedom, but you do have to worry about batteries and charging them.

Corded drills are more powerful, but you have the cord to worry about.

Sander (small like a palm sander or mouse sander)

I like the mouse sander because the design makes it easy to get into corners.

Router

Tool Box Tools: (in order appearance)

Hammer, 4 in 1 screwdriver (has 2 sizes of each head, flat & phillips), tape measure, crescent wrench, chisel, wire cutters, pliers, all purpose razor blade knife, sharpie, and pencil.

That's a good start for acquiring tools. For us it was a slow process. One tool here and there whenever we has some extra money. Also we took advantage of Harbor Freight Tools. Very low priced tools that got the job done. The funny thing about starting your tool collection is that when ever I give a tool to my husband for Fathers Day, Bdays, or Christmas I think he wonders if his gift is for me or him!

Build your own Scarecrow

2008-09-30T20:10:00.012-07:00

Here are some cute scarecrow ideas:

This is from my friend Natalie-she is so talented and I ALWAYS love everything she does! Isn't this guy great! The wooden head is so cute and the whole ensemble is Fabulous! I love the garden tools, corn stalks and boots! Thanks for sharing!

The sign is a cute cabinet door that says "Howdy". This guy's nose is a corn cob. I love the gloves, the crow on the hat and the uniqueness of the vest! All the raffia adds a lot!

Such a great welcome to greet anyone who comes. All of the flowers and pumpkins on the hay really fill up the space.

He has such a fun casual look with his leg up on the hay. And the sunflowers in the coke bottle case is so creative. Another great welcome for guests!

Allison, a friend of mine is the Queen of Fall Decorating, when she gets her scarecrow done I will put it on this post, so check back.

You've seen some great ideas so now here's the basic idea to build your own scarecrow. There are a lot of variations that you can do to personalize your scarecrow, so just use this as your base idea.

Find some old clothes in your closet or at a thrift store and you will need a 2 x 2 stake and some 1 x 2 wood for the arms.

Screw in the stick that would be the arm to the 2 x 2. Decide Height based upon if you want a standing or sitting scare crow. Add about 18"-24" to be stuck in the ground/hay.

Place the pants in the right place and stuffed with plastic bags. (If the scarecrow is standing place the 2 X 2 post through one of the legs.)

Pound the 2 x 2 main stick into the ground/hay.

Put on the shirt and stuff it with plastic bags pinning the shirt to the pants. Add other clothing at this time if desired. (I braded some jute to make a tie belt.)

Put the head on (the head is a foam pumpkin that I cut a square hole in the bottom, the hole is slightly smaller than the 2 x 2 so it fits snug)

Paint the face how you desire. There are some good ideas on this post if you like any of those.

I just used a black painters pen and some buttons for the eyes. Others have used acrylic craft paint.

Then I used a foam squash for the nose and secured with wire.

After the head was on I used some raffia for some sweet chest hair.

With Jute I tied off the feet and arms. You can stick raffia in those too if you want.

Make or buy a cute sign to hang from his neck.

For the hair I tied some raffia together to fashion a wig.

Then I put on the hat -With a sturdy piece of wire I poked through the hat and the hair to secure on his head. Bend a piece of the wire 90 degrees to secure the hat

My finished fall porch this year. My chrysanthemums haven't bloomed yet, but they will still be nothing like 4 years ago. They were phenomenal! Also after my kids pick out their pumpkins we put them all around the scarecrow to help fill the space.

**Tip- watch for end of the season sales for next year. Every year you can add a little bit more!

A little inspiration

2008-09-28T12:37:00.009-07:00

create |krēˈāt|
verb [ trans. ]
bring (something) into existence :

creative |krēˈātiv|
adjective
relating to or involving the imagination or original ideas, esp. in the production of an artistic work : change unleashes people's creative energy | creative writing.
• (of a person) having good imagination or original ideas

I attended a woman’s conference yesterday and had the privilege of listening to this fabulous talk by Dieter F. Uchtorf. I loved this talk and wanted to share with you the section on creating. I was so touched that I felt it very appropriate to share it with all of you on this blog.

“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before. Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty. Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty.”

“You might say, I’m not the creative type . . . If that is how you feel, think again, and remember that you are spirit daughters of the most creative being in the universe. Isn’t it remarkable to think that your very spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God? Think about it. Your spirit body is a masterpiece. Created with the beauty, function, and capacity beyond imagination. But to what end were we created? We were created with the express purpose and potential of experiencing the fullness of joy. Our birthright and the purpose of our great journey on this Earth is to seek and experience eternal happiness. One of the ways we find this is by creating things. If you are a mother, you participate with God in his work of creation. Not only by providing physical bodies for you children, but also by teaching and nurturing them . . .”

“You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false assumption. For we all have talents and gifts, every one of us. The bounds of creativity extends far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush a pen or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before; colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter. What you create doesn’t have to be perfect . . . Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you. Whether their voice comes from the inside or the outside. If you still feel incapable of creating start small; try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it.”

“Nearly a century and a half ago President Brigham Young spoke to the saints of his day. “There’s a great work for the Saints to do”, he said. “Make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards and make the Earth so blessed that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure and that angles may delight to come visit your beautiful locations. And in the mean time continually seek to adorn your minds with all the graces of the spirit of Christ””

“The more you trust and rely upon the spirit the greater your capacity to create.”

The whole talk is fabulous! If you want to read the whole thing I will attach a link when the talk is published. Until then you can Click Here to listen to the talk. At the bottom of the picture you can select Dieter F Uchdorf's talk.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

The Best Place To Buy Furniture!

2008-09-27T15:20:00.024-07:00

One of my close friends decided quite a few years back that she wanted to start a furniture business. Her mission-To make furniture affordable. She started out of her home and eventually moved to a small warehouse space and has a great business. Many have found the store through referrals, others just stumbled across it, but the result is great furniture at an amazing price!

Here is how it all started:

Cortate Furniture

WE HAVE MOVED!!!

Our NEW location is in Gilbert AZ on the southwest corner of Gudalupe and Recker.

The store hours are:

Wednesday & Friday--12 noon to 6 p.m.

Saturday--10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The set up of the store is that you can go in look through catalogues and then Hope will give you the price on the spot. To save you some time I recommend you do some homework and research some of the vendors online you can click on the name and it will link you to their website.

When you find what you might be interested in write down:

the manufacture name

furniture description, including color, name of collection, or specific item.

item number.

Here are her vendors that have websites that you can preview from the comfort of your own home: (Click the company name to go directly to their website)
Acme -all types of furniture, not a huge selection, great prices

AICO-Michael Amini Furniture -high end furniture for all rooms! Moderate to high priced.
Ashley -well priced furniture to start with. a lot of variety
Aspen Home -moderatel to high priced fruniture depending on the collection, wide variety
Best Chairs -good selection of all types of chairs, some sofas and occasional tables, great prices

Bramble -custom furniture 16-20 week lead time, moderately priced

Brownwood Furniture -well priced good quality case goods

Butler Specialty Furniture -well priced good quality case goods

Coaster -all types of furniture, not a huge selection, great prices

Encore Furniture -dining, barstools, entertainment, home theater. Well priced
Emerald -all types of furniture, not a huge selection

Flexsteel -upholstered goods
Good Trading Co. -kids furniture, mostly known for well priced bunk beds
Hacienda Leather -custom leather sofas, many leathers to choose from, good prices on sectionals

Home Elegance -wide variety of furniture, well priced, comes quickly if in stock

Intercon Furniture -Case goods for all rooms, moderately priced.
Kincaide Furniture -known for solid wood construction, upper end furniture at a moderate to high price

Kush Furniture -case goods for a good price.
Lea Furniture -great variety of kids furniture
Magnussen -bedroom, dining room and occasional, good prices

New Dimension Sofa Factory -good selection and flexibility with fabric and style for upholstered goods. Great priced.
Parker House -largely and entertainment line, known for expandable consoles
Robert Michael -custom sofas, good warranties, allow 4-6 weeks for delivery
Samuel Laurence -case goods, great kids line, good prices
Stanley -high quality beautiful furniture, higher priced
Vaughan Bassett -predominately bedroom with some dining, well priced
Winners Only -wide variety of case goods, great prices, good quality

The other vendors she carries that are not viewable on the web are:

Custom Sofas-can have as many as 14 fabrics on a sofa
John Boyd Designs
Custom Case goods (12 colors to choose from)
As well as several other case good companies

So you will just need to go down and look through the catalogues for those companies

Also if you are ordering custom furniture that is upholstered you need to take time to look through the fabric swatches.

Now keep in mind, you will get your furniture fast. Some companies take longer. But also Cortate is family owned operated. You get a good deal on furniture because they keep their overhead down. That means they don't have a ton of storage space. Be prepared to pick up your furniture within 24 hours of the arrival date if not the same day. You will be responsible for picking it up yourself-they do not have a delivery service. When you order they will give you an estimate on arrival, but they are not staffed to call and give updates. They are some of the nicest people you will meet and if you are willing to save money you will love buying your furniture there.

*I apologise for those of you out of state, so if you know of a place in your area please comment and share with us some of your own resources for other bloggers in your area.

**Updated 11/09

A little trim to top it off!

2008-09-24T16:25:00.004-07:00

Trim in a home is the icing on a cake to me! It is a great added touch to any home. If you are a fan of the traditional look-then you love moulding too.

I grew up in Denver. My grandparents had this beautiful old 1920s Denver Block Style home. I loved the moulding in it. By the time I was sixteen my grandparents had moved out of their home but the memories of their beautiful home still influence me today. Look at that timeless trim. . . . (look past the sweet 80s hair-do and see the beautiful paneling in the dining room)

Many of the trim projects in my home, even in my friend's homes, have been inspired by my Grandmother's home.

These pictures are of Teresa's door topper-we went a step further and made her topper a shelf patterned after the the plate shelf in my grandmother's dining room. She does a great job decorating it for the seasons.

After we moved into our current home, one of our neighbors went to town on the trim in their home. I was so impressed. It looked very hard and intimidating. I asked him how it was done and wa-la! I figured it out, it wasn't as hard as it looked. One of my friends also learned how easy it was from him and now she even has her own trim business. So hopefully after reading these different projects you can feel confident about doing your own trim work.

There are different materials that you can use.

MDF (medium density fiberboard) is widely used because the cost is the least of the products, it is easier to work with-doesn't warp, and it comes pre-primed in many varieties.
Wood moulding comes in many different varieties. You'll notice the harder the wood, the more expensive it get. I like to use wood moulding in higher traffic areas, such as door ways and chair rail. The MDF is easier to damage so wood works out better in high traffic areas, in my opinion. The least expensive option for wood moulding is to buy it finger jointed. FJ moulding is pieced together. So every 18-24" you will see a joint where the wood was pieced together. If you are painting the moulding anyway FJ is a good less expensive way to go.
Foam & PVC mouldings are another option. I personally have not used any foam moulding. It can be a little pricy and you need to glue it on. If you are interested in doing foam I would reccomend you research it to see if it will suit your needs.
Flexible moulding is definately pricey but if you are doing a curved wall or area the price is worth it. Outwater sells it, they are a great company to use (I love all the fun stuff they sell).
Decorative moulding is VERY pricy, but so beautiful. If you are on a budget you can use this moulding as accents just to give that extra detail but not break your budget.

So I want to walk you through some trim ideas to do in your own home. I will include seperate posts for different moulding projects. Each project will have their own download-able instruction sheet. For a shortcut to all of the trim projects just click on the moulding lable in the side bar to access all projects. As I get more done on the blog you will be able to click on the project below and I will link it to the post.

The different projects will include:

Baseboards

Window casing

Window Sills

Toppers (windows & doors)

Crown Moulding

(pre caulk & putty)

Wainscoting

Decorative Touches

Now remember the trim job doesn't end when the trim is on the wall--Now you have to caulk, putty, and paint. I really do not enjoy that part.

So if you don't have a friend like Teresa (who is always willing to help with my crazy ideas-notice our "don't get caulky" T shirts) and you are going to hire help for any part of your trim project I would reccomned a good painter to do all three! If that is not in your budget follow these tips:

Invest in a caulking gun. They are inexpensive and worth it!
Cut the tip off the caulk (at an angle) only as big as you need-if you cut it too big you end up with too much waste
Apply the caulk where needed
Cover you finger with a damp small cloth and smooth the caulk into the seam. Wipe off any excess. (It the area you are caulking has a large gap you may have to go back over it after it dries-caulk tends to shrink)
Rinse off your rag when it gets too caulky!

To putty I just apply with my finger. You want to over fill the hole so you can sand it smooth after it has dried. (I also prime the putty if the trim is already primed to avoid any bleeding through the paint)

Keep in mind your style while looking for trim accents for your home. Take pictures of things you like, watch for ideas in your magazines, and keep your eyes open. Your home is YOUR haven. When you start getting into finishing touches on your home remember it is for you, not your guests. You should love to be in your home and it should reflect YOU, just worry about being comfortable in your own home, you're the one there day in and day out!

So good luck and as always, please share any great trim projects you have done with the rest of us too!

Calling All Fall Crafts!

2008-09-10T17:14:00.026-07:00

Fall is officially 11 days away! Yes, it is time to get going with the fall crafts. Being the practical person I am, I love fall decorating because you can keep it up 2 months and then some, if you start early! Being in Arizona I almost feel like maybe if I decorate for fall it may start to feel like fall--COOLER!

Halloween Sign

Here is a craft that Deana sent me.

The great thing about this craft is you can really put anything you want on it!

If you just wanted to make it fall exclusive you could put "Autumn, Harvest, Family" To make it Christmas you could put "Peace, Joy, Love" or for spring you could put different flower names.

I am just throwing out ideas here but let us know if you have other ideas for sayings too!

So let your imagination run wild!

Click Here for the instruction on how to make the signs

**please note, the estimated cost for this craft listed on the instructions is before vinyl. Vinyl can rang anywhere from $4.00-$8.00

Gratitude Jar

This is a craft we did last year that my friend Jenny designed. She is an exceptional scrapbook/card maker and we can alway count on her for great designs! It is a great craft for Thanksgiving. We encourage our kids to put something they are grateful for during the month of November up to Thanksgiving. Then on Thanksgiving we all read to each other what we are grateful for. They are anonymous (even though the writing gives it away) and can be quite funny. We tell the kids to think of ANYTHING that they are grateful for that day. My husband and I even write something in for the little children who cannot write.

Click Here for instructions on Gratitude Jars

Idea Book

2008-09-10T16:44:00.007-07:00

I am a copier! When I see a good idea I am pretty good at copying it and putting my own little twist on it. So I do enjoy searching for ideas. A prime example of this is the idea of an idea book. A friend gave me this idea and I ran with it.

Does this look Familiar?

Do your magazines pile up and you can't throw them away because to there are a couple of pages of cute ideas?

If you answered yes go through your magazines now and just rip out the pages that have your ideas.

Now throw those magazines in the recycle (go green right?) and liberate yourself from those old magazines!

Now that pile of magazines should look like this.

If you are really motivated divide your piles into sections, ex. garden ideas, craft ideas, architectural features, decorating ideas, furniture, house ideas . . . what ever you like!

Now this is to simplify, so make it easy on yourself. Don't go all "scrapbook" on this project. Just make it functional!

Now you are ready! Get a binder (about 2"), some page protectors and some old card stock that you never used and throw it all together.

This is now your base for projects you would love to do! It is so fulfilling to look through your idea book and see what you accomplished. If you enjoy patting yourself on the back, put a picture of your finished project in your book next to your idea. And then share your project with us on this blog!

My son and I made this video for a Church Spring Cleaning Activity! Very Cheesy, but aren't all infomercials?

What to Expect!

2008-09-08T14:46:00.004-07:00

Here is what I am planning on putting on this blog in the next month:

Old Cabinet door Ideas

Paint or Not to Paint-Kitchen Cabinets?

trim & molding tips/ideas

Craft Ideas (Christmas, Fall, Halloween. . .)

Fall porch decorations

Old window Ideas

Tools-what you need!

Idea Book

Temple Pictures

Making a decorative shelf

And that's just the beginning! And please let me know if you have any requests or other ideas!

Craft Ideas

2008-09-07T23:31:00.004-07:00

HELP!

I would love to have many ideas of crafts to do on this blog. If you ever have or see and great idea please email me the picture and instructions on how to do the craft and I will post it for all to see. (See the side bar to email me.)The instructions will be a link to the PDF of the document. (See clock post) This should be a great resource for those who get calls asking for craft instructions and ideas--We can just send them here!

So don't be shy! Share your creativity!

What Time Is It????

2008-09-07T20:33:00.017-07:00

Clocks! No, not the song by Coldplay, but a favorite 'timeless' craft. About 6-7 years ago a friend taught me that anything could be a clock. So while getting ready to scrap my old 3 legged table from my youth I thought this would be a great clock! So then it was born, I became a CLOCK JUNKY. So this is my first clock I made.

The next thing we knew this became a favorite for Super Saturday Craft Days. I even made up some stencils to help the process.

But today it is a little harder. You cannot find the particle board rounds that used to make this such and easy craft.

So a couple of years ago we decided to have a clock day and we set aside one day to cut out all of the rounds and the other day to paint and decorate. And the best part about that is that since we were cutting it out we could make it as big as 48" if we wanted to. So here are pictures of a 36" (top) clock and a 42" clock (bottom) that we made. It really is a fun thing to make. When we made clocks we figured the total cost of a 42" clock to be $40 (but we stenciled the numbers and lettering-vinyl lettering may cost more.

I usually get my ideas from magazines. If you like to look of a clock in a magazine copy it! Can you tell? -the pictures on the left were taken from my favorite magazines, do they look familiar???

This is pretty much my only claim to fame while doing a clock demo on the midday news. That was a really fun opportunity.

Click Here for Instructions on making your own clock (PDF format)

Click Here to print off the angle template.

And as with anything on this blog you are more than welcome to share ideas and finished projects with us-just click the link on the sidebar!

A GREAT PLACE

2008-09-04T14:43:00.001-07:00

I am not big on advertising on this blog but I am all for sharing great resources. If a place is truly great, word of mouth is the best advertising! If you love a place they don't have to pay you to tell others. You will tell your friends and they trust you and they'll go there and the cycle begins!

I want tell you of a place I love to go to. Al's Buliding Material and Supplies is in East Mesa on Main 1/4 west of Crismon (on the south side of Main). It is a Salvage Yard too! They sell all the fun stuff if you are a "junk" collector, and molding/trim (new and salvaged), and new doors as well. It is a great family owned business that is no frills but all the fun!

Here are some of my favorite places to snoop around at Al's:

Here is Mauricio, Al's right hand man. If you go to get new trim or doors from Al's you will get to know him. And I should mention that if you do need trim you will pay anywhere from 25-50% off of big box prices! Hello Great DEAL! I went there today to get crown for my bedroom and Al will have it for me tomorrow. He takes many trips a week to the molding manufacture, so if he doesn't have it in this pile (seen above) you'll have it in a day or two.

Here is SOME of the salvage molding that I like to go through when doing projects that I may not need as much molding. I say some because this isn't even a quarter of what there is there. The salvage molding is considerably less, judging by the condition it is in. I have found molding there to make lattices, do trim work in my house, as well as make a fireplace mantle.

This the cabinet door section of the yard. There are so many great ideas for crafts with cabinet doors. I will have to do a post just with ideas. Come ready to get dirty! Yea, don't wear white. Al's daughters are always prepared with some wet wipes when you check out. They know if you are digging through the cabinet doors you WILL need them.

As I was leaving a little something caught my eye in this bin--can you see it?? Yes that cute little wood what not was saying "I will be a cute sign!" It is perfect. It's already framed out and naturally distressed. So I grabbed it and I will have to put the finished result on with the cabinet doors. When I bring these types of things up to the register Al always gives me the look that says "You really want THAT". I just need to see the potential and its great.

Take for instance this fabulous "Mom's" toolbox. It was just a rusty old tackle box, then some spray paint later and some craft paint it is my handy tool box. I Love IT!

So if you are looking for a great place to get a deal and some fun stuff for projects check it out. They are only open M-F from 8-5 so plan accordingly.

I LOVE JUNK!

2008-06-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

Some of my most interesting decorative pieces are what others may call Junk! My husband has used that word may times, But after 13 years of marriage, countless salvage yards/antique shops, so many unfinished projects, and many finish projects my husband has learned to trust me. I love that about him. He has always been supportive of my crazy ideas. My first item of junk I will introduce you to is my beautiful door (on the title). It has a history.

It came from the old ghost mine building in Globe, AZ. Just before the building was torn down I was admiring it as the old out house door. I loved the black porcelain knob and the perfect aging of the paint. And the color was perfect. Not knowing at the time that the building was to be torn down I dare not ask to just take a door off of these people's home. About a month later discovering the building was torn down I morned for all of the beautiful window, doors, and fixtures that were lost. As we drove trough the mountains past Miami in the little area known as Top of the World, I stopped at a quaint little "antique" shop and saw my door. $20, a good washing, and a thorough lacquer job* later this door is one of my favorite focal points in my house. It is very shabby! I love it!

My first point to this blog is keep your eyes open. The best pieces are found in the strangest places. So always keep your eyes open at yard sales, thrift stores, salvage yards, alleys, dumpsters, and flea markets. Sometimes all that is needed is a coat of paint and a good distressing!

*anytime you buy something old and you suspect the paint may have lead in it, I recommend using some type of sealant to assure that the paint won't chip off for little mouths to find. I use a brush on poly-acrylic polyurethane.