Cardboard Wreath

I'm going crazy and posting twice in one day.  Whoa.

Anyway, this weekend I was cleaning up my office and found two poster boards.  I decided that instead of cleaning that I should make something with these poster boards.  So, I was looking around the web for some cardboard art inspiration and found this:

http://modernvintagemovement.blogspot.com/2010/05/splendid-cardboard-craft-project.html

I fell in love with it!  After I posted it to my Pinterest board, I got to work to make something of my own. 

1.  I looked around on the internet for leaf stencils and printed these:

2.  Instead of cutting the stencils out from the paper and then tracing them onto the poster board, I jut put the stencil print out on top of the poster board and traced the outline using a ball point pen an pressing sorta hard. The out come was the stencil as an impression on the poster board and then I just cut those out.

3.  Here are the poster board stencil cut outs I used: 

4.  I traced and cut out about nine of each of the stencils and then Mod Podged scrap book paper, paper sacks, and even dictionary pages to the stencils. 

5.  I laid out the design how I wanted it and then broke out the hot glue gun. I carefully went around hot gluing the pieces to each other so that I wouldn't mess up the design.

6.  Once I had all the pieces glued, I flipped the wreath over and glued strips of card board all around the back to really secure the thing:

7.  I wanted to hang this thing up, so I stuck a big paper clip to one of the strips before I glued it down and then I hot glued the clip to the card board so it would stay in place.  It doesn't look pretty, but I don't care. Nobody is going to see that side anyway!

Here is the finished product on our front door. 

I took a close up of a portion of it so you could see the different types of scrap book paper I used.

Earrings as Art

I seem to have amassed some sweet earrings over the last few years and I was running out of space to store them. I wanted to be able to see them all the time that way I would remember they were there and actually wear them. I searched around online for ideas and I found this page:

http://www.squidoo.com/earringholder

I had random frames in my office from my thrift store trips.  I can't seem to pass up a cheap, sturdy frame when I'm at a thrift store.  I always feel like they'll come in handy somewhere down the line, and it proved to be correct!

Below is my step-by-step process of how I made my own earring picture frame holders.  I did this earlier this year around August, so hopefully I'll remember all the important steps.  Enjoy!

1.  A sampling of my thrift store frames.  I usually spend $2.00 - $7.00 on assorted sizes:

2.  I took apart the frames, getting rid of the glass and the awesome 1960's & 1970's artwork:

3.  On the backs of the frames, I removed all the staples/nails that secured the backing of the frame: 

4.  I chose gold and silver spray paint because I'm so classy:

5.  Outside, I spray painted each of the frames, giving some time to dry between coats.  I did 2-3 light coats of paint.  And because it was a million degrees outside this summer, it dried in no time!

6.  Using plastic screen door material, I cut squares roughly 2-3 inches bigger than the frame I was working on.  Using a hot glue gun, I would glue small sections of the screen to the frame pulling the screen taut. (Every time I type or say 'taut', I automatically say "Tight like a tiger." Thanks Goldmember.)

7.  I wanted the screen to be very taut (I just did it again) and secure, so I glued the small sections by rotating all four sides of the frame, instead of gluing one whole side at a time. 

Trying to explain it now is proving difficult, but I started on one side in the middle of the frame and hot glued the section.  Once it dried, I went to the oppisite side of the frame, directly across from my first glued section, and pulled it tight and then glued that section.  Once that was dry, I went to the third side of the frame and pulled it tight and hot glued it in the center of that side. Once all four sides had a secure section in the center that was hot glued, I worked out from there, slowly gluing the screen to the frame while keeping it held tight. 

(On a side note, I attempted to use a staple gun to secure the screen and I couldn't get the screen to stay tight on the frame.  The hot glue method is slow and steady, but I think it is worth it in the end.)

8.  Once the screen was completely glued into the frame and the glue was cooled and dried, I trimmed the left over screen from around the frame: 

Here are the finished products!  I really like them because they are GREAT storage and they look super artsy-fartsy!

Long time, no see

I've been busy doing a little of this and a little of that, so I haven't posted in a while. I do have a new home project that I've just completed, but I don't have all the pics on the computer, so you'll just have to wait until I'm not so lazy.

However, I DO want to pass these websites along: 

http://offbeathome.com/

http://offbeatbride.com/

Offbeat Home is a sister site to Offbeat Bride.  When I was planning my wedding, I looked at Offbeat Bride ALL the time and just LOVED to see that there were so many couples out there that wanted to do something different, and they just went for it!

I knew from the get-go that if I ever did get married, it WOULD NOT be in a church and/or in front of a ton of people complete with the white dress and lace and stuff.

......But, I'm getting distracted from the point.  This site, Offbeat Home is pretty cool.  It is just as creative and out there as Offbeat Bride. If you have some time, you should check it out.

Guess what I did this weekend...

First, let me back up. 
I've had this master plan for a while to rip out the corner counter in my kitchen.  This corner counter didn't match the rest of the kitchen.  It must have been added in the 80's or something.  I used it mainly as our bar and a place to park my purse and mail. You can see the horrible pictures below (i thought i had better ones than these on my compy).

It's hard to see because of all the chalk board paint I had everywhere.  Made it very dark!
In the pic below, you can see the side of the counter on the right.  From this angle, you can tell that they are different styles.

Where was I..... My whole master plan was to rip out this corner cabinet and make room for our little cocktail table.  That way we could have a place to chill and talk and junk while we're in the kitchen cooking or whatever.
BUT, in order to rip out the counter, I needed to move my bar.  I'm a alcohol enthusiast, so I have a lot of bar dishes and tools and what not.  I had the idea to get a buffet for the dining room and move the bar there. 

My master plan was on hold though because these buffet pieces run anywhere from $350.00 - $2,000.00. USED.  However, after whining about this to my mom, I found out that my step-dad had a buffet in storage that had been in his parents basement.  He took me out to look at it and it was fate. He gave it to me for $free.99, and it just needed a little love.

Like I said, this awesome thing was in his parents basement, which flooded.  You can see above where the base board has come off due to water damage.  I just knocked off those four connecting pieces. In the right side door, the base of that was also water damaged, so I went to Lowe's and got a thick particle board and cut it to size and stuck it in there.



You can see above that the top was a bit scuffed up.  I wanted to keep it as original as possible, so I just lightly sanded it in some spots and then put wood finish restorer on there.

You can see the finished product below. I really, really like it.

Now.  Back to what I did this weekend.  I ripped out that corner cabinet!! I was sort of dreading it because I figured there'd be a ton of repair work and crap to get that corner looking good again. But, I wanted it done, so I had to just do it and find out.

As usual, I forgot to take good pictures, but I'll just say that the demolition was the funnest part.  I started by prying off the back splashes (see below, the back splashes removed and sitting in the hall way). 

 From there, I gave the counter some real good yanks and it came up.  They had only glued it down, so that helped alot.  If it had been nailed down, I dont think it would have been as easy.  Then the rest of the counter came up pretty easily. I removed the kick boards and we separated each compartment (by yanking) and hauled it outside (below).

That round thing was a lazy susan.  It wasted a lot of  valuable storage space in that corner. 

Here's what was behind the counter. Some awesome retro wallpaper!!!

I actually kind of love this wall paper.  It's just too bad it was in such bad condition. (And also that it was only in this little corner).  I dont think John thought it was as cool as I did.

Removing the wallpaper caused the dry wall to look pretty rugged, so I did a lot of spackle repairs.  I didn't get a pic of it, so you missed out on all the spackling and sanding.  It was dusty in there to say the least.

So, as you can see above, there was some laminate tile issues that I had to deal with.  Luckily, the previous owners left a box of six of the left over tiles that they had laid down, so I had the name and the product number to go on the hunt for matching vinyl tiles.  Freakin Lowe's had them and sold them individually!! It was perfect!  You can see the finished floor below.

 

They removed the base boards when they installed the counter, so I still have to get that fixed. I've never installed those before so I'll have to do some research and figure it out.  But, I got the rest of it finished and I think it looks pretty cool. Now I just need to cook for some friends so we can hang in the kitchen and drink and be all cool and stuff.

Oh, and I modified my chalk board wall as well.  When the whole wall was chalk board, it was SO dark, so I painted around it to help lighten it up.  And I added the little angles so it would have a retro vibe to it.  I'm really happy with how it turned out. (Also the cool hanging lamp also came from my step-dad's parent's house. I love it hard core.)

 Once I figure out how to finish the base boards, I'll post some grand finale pics.
All in all, the cabinet removal and remodel took two days.  A lot of the time was spent waiting for the dry wall spackle repairs to dry.  Not too bad of a weekend project.  I tell you though, if this nursing thing doesn't work out, I think I'll just be a wall painter. I'm getting pretty freakin good at it.

Dye-hard

I've been playing with dye lately and it's pretty cool.  I've dyed curtains (first I dyed them gray and then decided I wanted green), and a shirt.  I had a bunch of towels that were dull and/or bleached and they were just not so pretty so I figured I'd give them a shot with the dye too.

I got this dye at a little outlet store down the street for 50 cents.  I stocked up with a few colors so I'd have them handy when I felt the whim to get funky.

I should have taken pictures of the process but I didn't (I'll do better!).  I'll tell you though, it's pretty easy: 

           1. Boil some water (the amount of water depends on the size of the job),

           2. put it in some sort of bucket (you can see my dye bucket below),

           3. mix in the dye (I used 4 boxes of cocoa brown) and,

           4. stir, stir, stir,stir.

           5. Then you rinse and throw in the washer. 

They say you can also dye things in your washing machine, but I don't trust that. Seems like a disaster waiting to happen. 

Here's my dye bucket:

I was hoping for a little deeper brown color, but all in all, I think they turned out okay. 

As you can see below, you can still see the bleach spot on my dark brown towel.  Oh well. I'll just put that one at the bottom of the stack ;-)



The Most Important Room in the House

My bathroom has been a work in progress for a while. When we bought the house, the bathroom was baby blue. EVERYWHERE. Even the ceiling!  You had to do your business in a blue box!  Now, I believe there is a time and a place for everything---even the color blue!  However, I was NOT feeling it in the bathroom!!

The first thing I did was upgrade the mirror. The mirror in there was big and plain, so I framed it with  stained 1 X 4's to give it a framed, double mirror appearance.

Not too long after that, I found a cute shower curtain and used it as inspiration for the wall color and painted the walls and ceiling. Take a look:

ALSO---My bathroom was featured on a cool blog called Mochi Home. If you submit pictures to them, they will photoshop several decoration options for you to look at. It's pretty cool seeing someones else's take on your room potential. Although I wound up not going as bold as I had orginally planned, their ideas were pretty rad. Maybe the next time!   

http://mochihome.com/bathroom/painting-a-small-space-bold/

I love lamp

On the same trip to Goodwill when I found my little mirrors (see post below), I found this lamp.  It was $5.00.

The base of the lamp is really nice and solid, but the lamp shade was old and a bit tattered.  I had some fabric laying around that I had picked up at Hobby Lobby (I really just had to have this fabric although at the time I had no idea what to do with it). 

I recovered the existing lamp shade with my cool fabric using a hot glue gun. 

On the inside of the shade, I wrapped orange and white ribbon around the edges of the fabric for a cleaner look---- well, really to hide the hot glue mess!

Now I want another big heavy lamp for the other side of the couch, but I'm thinking that this $5.00 bargain was a once-in-a-lifetime find!