Independence Day Plates using Vinyl {and a Silhouette America Promo Code!}

First I want to wish a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to TWO of my younger sisters!  They were born on the same day, 3 years apart, and consider each other their best b-day present ever!  Happy Birthday, Amanda and Jennifer! I love you!

I recently contacted Silhouette America about becoming an affiliate with them.  I have had my Silhouette SD craft cutter for several years now and absolutely love it! I have made so many different things with it, from home décor to party decorations to kids’ school projects.  It is incredibly handy to have on hand. 

Silhouette made me a product affiliate.  This month they sent me a roll of their Strawberry colored premium vinyl to play around with and use to promote their products on my blog.  I have been racking my brain for awhile as to what I wanted to do with red vinyl.  Well, today I realized that the promo code they gave me for my readers to get 25% off their premium vinyl as well as a substantial discount on their craft cutters starts tomorrow!! 

So, this afternoon I realized I had to put the red vinyl to good use in a fast project!  Here is what I came up with!

I have this hutch from Ballard Designs that I absolutely love.  It’s a great place to keep bowls and platters and pitchers.  I try to change it up a little with the seasons and holidays.  I bought those blue plates at

Easter Hanging Specimen Art {Easy, Fast, and Cheap}

I picked up some little glittered styrofoam Easter Eggs at Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago.  I thought the colors were pretty and figured I could use them somehow.  They came in a pack of 12, I believe and each one had a little ribbon hanger, like an ornament.  {more after the break}

Lucky in Love 3D Shamrock Art {Tutorial} [Create with Me March Project]

I am excited to show you my Create with Me project for March!  Here it is!  I will show you how I made it. But first I have to tell you a little about it.  I am not a lucky person!  I don’t win things, I don’t find money, I just don’t have great luck! But, there is one thing I am extremely lucky in….Love!  I am so stinking lucky to have found myself the world’s BEST husband!  Seriously.  He really is the most wonderful husband imaginable.  He treats me like a queen! He is so kind and loving to me.  He never says mean things to me, even when we are arguing.  He always supports me in the things I want to do.  He tells me I am beautiful all the time…like every day…and he means it.  He helps me around the house tons!  He would do anything to make me happy.  He is absolutely wonderful to me and I am the luckiest girl in the world to be married to him!  So, to commemorate my unbelievable luck when it comes to love, I made this:

Here’s how to make it:

My Mom’s Dresser

I have been wanting to do some blog posts but it just hasn’t been happening lately.  I feel like I am treading water these days and am constantly behind and trying to catch up.  My health isn’t great and I’ve been dragging lately energy-wise.  It stinks, but that is life for me, I guess.

Anyway, it is Saturday morning and I am in bed with my laptop and a headache.  So I thought maybe I could get a quick post up about my mom’s Christmas present.

You may remember THIS post where I asked for advice on what to do with this piece of antique furniture someone had put out for the trash.

Well, a few people threw some ideas out but I still didn’t really have a clue how to fix this thing.  I finally decided what I needed to do.  I wanted to leave some of that beautiful wood grain showing on the front but that door was sooooo thrashed and the top was bad too.  So, here is what I came up with:

The blue color does not read well in the photos but it was a really pretty greyish blue.  I created vinyl sticker stencils with my Silhouette for the door and the top.  I put them on and then painted over them and then removed them.  My parent’s last name starts with “E”, thus the monogram.

It took a lot of work to fix this thing.  I used regular wood filler to fill the corners on the top and all the places on the door.  On the door, the place where the hinges were attached were so worn down hinges couldn’t work there.  I tried filling those up with wood filler but when I went to sand it it all crumbled out.  SO I had to chip that out and then used an epoxy wood filler to fill those in.  After that I had to use a file to get them down to the right height for the hinges to fit in correctly.  Same with the little door pull hole. 

I sanded down the drawer fronts and top and then stained them.  After that I used a spray shellac to seal them and the inside of the dresser and drawers.  Remember, this had a very bad smell to it.  You can still smell it if you put your nose inside the drawers but the smell does not permeate the house, which is good.

I went for a chippy paint finish, done by chipping off paint with a putty knife.  Very easy was to distress.  I finished the piece with an antiquing glaze and a clear wax. 

Honestly, it think it looks AMAZING!  I wanted to keep it for me.  But my parents really like it, I think.  It looks great in their house. 

Here are some more pictures for you.

Had to cut a new shelf for this cubby. 

Lined the drawers with scrapbook paper.

What do you think?  I am amazed that something destined for the dump could look this good!

If you want to “pin” this I won’t be upset at all!

TABLECLOTH DRAPES {Decorating}

I have toile drapes on my sliding glass door.  I made them from tablecloths!  I did this years ago.  My mom helped me put some little pinch pleats in them, and they hang from drapery pins on metal drapery rings.  I have loved them!  I think I had to hem them, but then I washed them and they shrunk so I took out the hems and they are just perfect.

Anyway, tablecloths are such an easy way to make drapes.  You don’t even need to put pinch pleats in.  You can simply hang them with clip on drapery rings.  You can buy tablecloths for all seasons and holidays and change out your drapes.

A couple years ago I found some Halloween tablecloths that I loved at HomeGoods.  I picked up some really cool clip rings at Hobby Lobby with a coupon, and suddenly I had new drapes for October!

The rings weren’t super strong and the drapes would come out a lot, so I tied some string around them to hold them closed and attached these spiders to the string.  I got that cute orange ribbon and tied a bow on each ring.

I love how they look.  They make me happy!  When the holiday is over, I just take them off the rod, rings still attached and put them in a box to wait for next year.  While they are up I get my other drapes washed. 

I am hoping to come across some Christmas ones sometime soon!

SOFA TABLE RE-DO {Furniture}

Well, I think it is time to show you all a furniture transformation I did recently.  I went up to Utah to visit my sister that moved there.  I helped her do some decorating and re-arranging of furniture in her new home.  It was a lot of work but fun and I was glad I could help her get a little more settled in her new space.

Her family room is a great space, but when I got there everything was brown or tan.  Brown couches, brown woodwork, brown buffet, brown ottoman, and tan walls and carpet.  So, needless to say it needed some COLOR!  I decided we needed to bring in some turquoise.  So, out we went to shop for turquoise accessories.  We found a few things.  Then we happened upon an upholstered chair that I just loved.  I talked her into getting it (luckily the store said we could bring it back if it didn’t work) and we took it home.  It totally brightened up the space!  The next day we found some pillows for the couch that had brown and turquoise, as well as yellow, green, and orange. 

Well, the chair looked great, but it was this huge pop of color in the corner of the room and it needed to be balanced out a bit.  She had an old sofa table that she has never liked sitting in her garage.  I decided it needed a face lift.  After a trip to Home Depot for some sandpaper, spray paint, paint and glaze, and a drop cloth, I was ready to give it new life!  It is on the opposite side of the room and balances the color out nicely.  I was THRILLED with how well it turned out!  I think my sister likes it too.  I hope so anyway. 

I wish I had taken some pics of the whole room, but you can kinda see the chair over in the corner.

Here is the before (almost).  I removed the knobs already and started sanding.  But you get the idea.

So, here is what I did.  I sanded the whole piece just enough to rough it up and help the paint stick.

I did not use primer.  I just sprayed Rustoleum Lagoon in Satin on it.  It took 3 cans to cover this baby and honestly I should have used a fourth but since I was going to distress and glaze it I figured it was ok that there were some parts that were a little less covered than I would have liked.  If I had had more time I would have gotten more paint but we were in a major rush!

After the paint dried a used a course grit sanding block to distress the edges.  I have never used a block before and was surprised how easy it was.

Then I mixed a clear glaze with some dark brown paint (I bought one of those sample pots).  It was about 3 parts glaze to one part paint.  Working on one section at a time, I used one of those cheap dollar brushes to paint the glaze on, getting in the nooks and crannies.  Then I quickly wiped it off with a damp rag.  I used cut up t-shirts for rags.

After letting the glaze dry I used Minwax Finishing Paste to give it a protective coating.  I really liked it!  I used cheese cloth to apply it like it says on the can.  It was easy to apply and buff to a dull shine. 

We then added the new knobs and cleaned the glass for the top and moved it into the room.  I just love how it looks!  Here are some more pictures.

This is how it looked after painting but before distressing and glazing.

 

Flickr Tags: furniture,refinish,distressing,antiquing,table,paint,spray paint,turquoise

GLASS SIPPY CUPS {Project}

I posted a little while ago about using jars for cups in my home.  I am loving it!  I found an easy way to turn a jar into a sippy cup for my littlest one.  It is SUPER easy to do!

One of my readers recently suggested I buy a Cropodile tool to use to punch the holes when making my file folder organizers.  I thought that was a brilliant idea, so I used a 40% off coupon and picked one up at Michael’s last week.  Well, I was thrilled to read it would punch through thin metal! 

I used the Cropodile 3/16” punch to punch holes in jar seals.  It happens to be the PERFECT size for regular drinking straws to fit in super snuggly so that the liquid doesn’t leak out if tipped for a bit!  Aren’t those the cutest seals, too?

Some people might be thinking, “What?  A GLASS cup for a kid??”  My son is 2 and is past the stage of throwing his cups on the floor purposely.  He uses these up at the table.  If they do happen to drop, the glass is very sturdy and on my laminate floors they rarely break.  I love the idea of reducing plastics that come in contact with my kids food.  I also learned from my son’s old speech therapist that drinking through a straw helps little ones develop the mouth muscles necessary for speech.

So, needless to say, I am very happy about my new sippies.  Wish I could get rid of the plastic ones altogether, but we still need them for bedtime (water) and in the car. 

TRAMPOLINE FORT {Sewing}

A couple years ago I got a crazy idea to make a skirt for out trampoline that would transform the trampoline into a fort for my boys.  It is quite a simple thing to do and took me only one afternoon to complete. 

I simply measured the circumference of the trampoline to figure out how many yards of fabric I would need.  I added a few inches so that it would overlap at the door.  I then measured the distance from the ground to just under the bar to know how tall the skirt should be.  I think I had to trim the fabric down as it was too wide.  I hemmed the top and left the selvedge edge on the bottom.  I got this denim fabric at Walmart for pretty cheap.  It is perfect for being outdoors. 

I used cotton twill tape for the ties.  I just folded a piece in half and used my sewing machine to sew it to the skirt.  I put a tie about every 2 to 3 feet.  I sewed in a square with an x in it pattern to make sure the ties would not come loose. {see pictures}  I used extra pieces of fabric to sew on some big pockets inside so the kids could put their gear in them, i.e. snacks, papers, flashlights, whatever they take into the tent.

I made a pleat in this pocket so it would hold extra big things, if needed.

We will often squirt the tent with water to help it be a little cooler inside.  I also let the kids use sidewalk chalk to write on the inside or outside of the fort.  The white stitching you see is from one of the pockets.  I wasn’t too concerned about the appearance, but you could use matching thread if you didn’t want the stitching to show.

I would like to make a cover to go over the top so that it will feel even more enclosed.  It is so simple yet so fun!  If you live where you need to sprinkler your grass daily, make sure to lift the skirt up onto the trampoline at night so your grass will get watered.

If you don’t have a trampoline you could make a similar cover for an outdoor (or indoor) table.  Instead of ties just make a top panel that the sides are sewn to, like a fitted tablecloth.

TIN STAR RE-DO {Craft}

Are you sick of my recipe posts yet?  I am!  It was time for me to get a craft done.  Here is a super easy, super fast re-do of an orange tin star I had laying around.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I simply spray painted the star white and added blue vinyl stars and red vinyl stripes.  I cut the stars with my Silhouette, but you could just use some cute stickers if you don’t have one.  I hand cut the stripes from a piece of red vinyl, but you could also just use some red tape which would be easier. 

Here is that hutch I was telling you about that my neighbor gave me.  Isn’t it cute?  I don’t have a lot of 4th of July decorations, but I am trying to get some things together to make it look cuter.  But this is how it is for now:

I want to paint this thing white and give it an old chippy finish.  Hopefully soon!!

COUNTDOWN BLOCKS {Craft}

Remember these?

I picked them up at Goodwill for like $1 or $2.  I turned them into these countdown blocks.

I just painted the edges white with some acrylic craft paint.  Then, I used my Silhouette to cut squares of paper to fit on the sides.  I have two blocks with different holidays/events on them.  I used themed paper to go with the holidays.  On the other blocks I used black and white papers.  I saw this idea over on How Does She a long time ago.  I thought it was so cute.  But I wanted it to be for more than just one holiday. 

I used vinyl for the numbers and words.  On one block I have the numbers 0,1,2,3,4,5 and on the other 0,1,2,6,7,8.  You use the 6 as a 9 also.  On the Days ‘til (which is just realized I have the apostrophe in the wrong place!) I also did Weeks ‘Til and Hours ‘Til.  I did all the big holidays, plus summer, birthday, fun, vacation.  The kids are enjoying using them and I think they turned out pretty cute.

To adhere the paper, apply a thin layer of modpodge to the block and add your paper.  use a credit card edge to burnish it down well.  Repeat with all the sides, allowing the ModPodge to dry.  Once it is dry you can then apply a thin layer to the outside of the paper.  This keeps it from bubbling.  Once all the mod podge is dry, you can use a clear spray paint to coat the outsides.  You must do that with modpodge or it will stick to things even once it is dry.  You can then apply your vinyl.  Alternately, you could cut letters and numbers from paper with punches or die cutters or free hand.  You could also use stickers.  If you do paper, attach them with a glue stick or a little ModPodge before you coat the face of the paper with ModPodge. 

For those in Vegas I saw blocks like these at Marshall’s for like $4 and it was a longer word for maybe 6 or 7 or 8 blocks.  They had a few of them.

Front Door Chalkboard

Once upon a time I was reading Blue Cricket Design when I saw this amazingly cute painted frame hung on the front door!  I immediately fell in love.  So, I was telling my girlfriend about it.  She had also seen it and thought it was cute.  She came up with the idea to make a chalkboard in a frame for the front door.  We both decided to do it!  I don't know if she ever did.  But, I raided my mom's basement and found this old wook frame that was actually coming apart.  I tried several different ways of putting it back together but the wood was warped.  So, I put it back together as best I could and filled the spaces with caulk.  I spray painted the frame this green color because I figured green goes with pretty much every season.

For the chalkboard, I used a scrap of hardboard we had left over from some other project.  I cut it to the correct size with a jigsaw and painted it with chalkboard paint and a sponge brush.  Once it was dry I used a staple gun to secure it into the frame.

I added some eye screws to the back to thread my ribbon through for hanging.  I cut these blue swirly things on my Silhouette out of vinyl and applied them to the board.  This was summer time so I added this bright ribbon.  A very simple project!

This is the old color of my door.  Isn't that a cute little boy??  He is MINE!

This is the new color of my door.  The swirls got removed in October when I added some spiderweb vinyl.  After that I meant to add something Christmas-y but never got around to it. 

This is what is on it right now.  See, I didn't space the words well and instead of re-doing the whole thing and trying to be a perfectionist I just let it be.  This is all chalk marker.

I just love this sign.  I switch out the ribbons for seasons and holidays.  I write things on it about holidays, birthday, countdowns, or just how I am feeling.  I do keep it positive and refrain from writing "Today sucks!"

It is a fun way to connect with the neighbors.  I see them walk by and look at my door to see what is written that day.  It is fun!

I will be listing one or more of these for sale for thsoe who don't want to make one themself!