Recycled Memo Board

I follow Susan over at Homeroad.  She makes these UH-MAZE-ING creations out of junk.  (She does other things too, but this is one of my favorite things that she does!)

Check this out:

And this:

And when I saw this, I was totally inspired to make one of my own!

If you want to see how she made this, check it out here.

Again, after I saw this, I knew I had the stuff to make this already in my garage and craft room! ***Disclaimer: My memo board is not nearly as cool as Susan's, but it is mine, and I do love it!***

I started with a scrap of beg board and an old wire shelf for a closet or pantry.  The shelf has been in the garage since we moved in over a year and a half ago!  The peg board has also been in the garage waiting for a project!

 

My husband cut the cross wire off the back of the shelf, and then I spray painted it black.  Then I used wire to secure the shelf to the board, and I strung some wire back and forth across the front.

Then I added some details using all recycled items! This is a picture of a church pew bulletin clip that I found at the flea market recently.

And these are knobs that I salvaged from the kids' trampoline that broke a few weeks ago.

I embellished some little clothes pins.

And I added a little basket to hold some blank cards and envelopes.  (Side note: I feel like letter writing is a lost art.  I LOVE to get letters.  But I don't get very many! I decided, that if I love to get letters, other people probably do to.  So, I have what I refer to as "letter writing Wednesday", where I take a moment to sit and write a note to someone.  This will help me with that goal!)

And here is the final product:

Isn't that fun?  I am so pleased with it!  Thanks for the inspiration, Susan!

I am linking this up with the CSI Project this week!  Check out all of the great recycled projects that they have over there!

Glazed Kitchen Cabinets

I have a new found admiration for glaze.  And not the fake, watered down paint, cheater kind that I used for the owls and the bunny.  This weekend I went to Home Depot and bought some Martha Stewart faux glaze that I had them tint to black.  I tried to find the Ralph Lauren faux glaze I have seen all over blogland, but they don't sell it at my HD!  Oh well, Martha worked just great!  Anyone surprised?

So, I have so many pictures to show you, and not a lot to say about them, so I think I will just try and post them in groups with the before, during, and after all together.  I should also mention that we moved into this house in August of 2009.  We lived with the lovely wallpaper border for about six months, and then I took it down.  Then, we went nearly a year with that fantastic paint job before I painted the kitchen and cabinets this February. THEN, this weekend, I decided to try some glaze!

Here we go!

Do you love how the paint doesn't go all the way up to the ceiling?  

 I almost forgot to take pictures before I started glazing!  See the painters tape?  Of course you do!

Some wider shots--I had to get my butcher block in!  I just love it!  And I use the butcher block to photograph most of my projects, but you probably already noticed that!

And then some close ups so you can see the detail!

In case anyone wants to try this, I followed Mandi's directions from her blog Vintage Revivals.  I got a bit heavy handed at the end, so one side of my kitchen is a bit "darker" than the other.  However, I really like it!  I might add more glaze to the other side.  Or I might repaint and use less glaze next time.  But, for now, I am leaving it! Hey, I lived with the other craziness for so long!  This is nothing!

Have you tried anything new recently?  I'd love to hear about it!

Quinn's Lamp Makeover

My son has had this lamp in his room since he was born.

I still like the shape of the lamp, but 1) the fabric shade is horribly dusty, and I can't seem to keep it clean, and 2) I am getting ready to redo the room and I thought I new lamp would be better.

So, instead of throwing this perfectly good lamp away, I decided to give it a makeover.  I sent Quinn on a hunt to gather up a bunch of toys he no longer plays with.

Here is what we ended up with.

Next I gave the lamp base a quick coat of brown spray paint--Krylon of course!  Then I got to work on the shade. I don't have great pictures or directions for this part, so if you want to try this and need better directions, check out Traci's directions over at her blog Beneath My Heart.

First I took off the "ribbon" around the top and bottom of the shade.  

 Next I slathered fabric glue one the shade, one side at a time, and just rolled my burlap on.  After that was dry, I trimmed the excess off the edges and used my hot glue gun to glue the seam together.  I just folded, tucked, and glued.  

I also glued the bottom edge underneath the shade.

I trimmed the top as close to the shade as I could, and then I hot glued some jute to the top.  I just thought this gave it a more finished look.

By this time, my lamp base was dry.  I took the toys that Q had gathered and just started gluing them on the base.  Here is the final product:

 

And here are some close ups just for fun!

 

This was very fun, very easy, and free!  A one-of-a-kind lamp made out of a lamp that was destined for the dump!  What do you think? 

Easter Bunny Makeover

My friend gave me this cute little guy yesterday and said, "This is really not my style, but I am sure you could do something with it."

Well, it really wasn't my style either, but she was right.  I COULD do something with it!  I got out my "Almond" spray paint from Krylon, and went to town.  This is what he looked like after SEVERAL light coats of paint.

Better, but still needing some work.  (When I talked with my friend this morning, she asked how the bunny was turning out.  I told her that when you start with weird, you are still going to end up with weird, but that it would be an improvement!)

I decided to glaze the bunny.  I have mentioned in previous posts that I just water down a little paint and make my own glaze, and that it is exactly what I did again!

Then I use a small paint brush to get the paint into all the places that I really want the glaze to stick.

The I wipe the glaze off with rag, being sure to go against the grain and not wiping off all of the glaze that I just applied.

To finish him off, that sounds a bit brutal!, I added some leftover greens from another project.  Some little flowers would probably look better, but this is what I had! I also made a couple of burlap rosettes and hot glued them right over the previous tulips.

As I am looking at this picture and typing this post, I realize that I forgot to glaze the inside of one of the feet! Oops! I will have to fix that, but, for now, let's just say I was doing this as an example to show you the difference between the glazed and non-glazed paint.  Mmmmkay?

Riding the Fabric Rosette Bandwagon

In the past couple of months, I have spied fabric rosettes EVERYWHERE!  And, you know what?  I LOVE them!  I recently bought some necklaces for $1 each at the flea market, and I thought some rosettes would make a perfect addition!

I was going to write a tutorial, but, seriously, the tutorials I used were so fantastic, I thought I would just point you in that direction!  The first tutorial I read was from Stampin' With Gina.  You can read Gina's tute here.  A couple of days later, Living With Lindsay posted a great video tutorial.  You can watch Lindsay's video here.

I started with some scrap fabrics and some old T-shirts.  The backing that I used for my rosettes was a pair of the hubs old shorts.  The shorts are made of a more heavy weight material, and they hold up well with all the hot glue!

I took my fabric straps and started gluing and twisting, gluing and twisting.  When I reached the end of my circle, I glued the fabric to the back of the rosette to hold it in place.  The back doesn't look pretty, but no one will ever see it!  I then went to my "treasure box" to find some embellishments.  I found an ancient bracelet (actually probably not that ancient, just a relic from my MaryKay days!), that I had saved and now knew why: those little bead would go perfect on one of my flowers!  

I was going to glue my rosettes right onto my necklace, but then I had a better idea.  I decided that if I put pins on the rosettes, I would be able to make MORE rosettes in different colors and have interchangeable necklaces.  So, I very carefully glued the edges of the rosettes together (that way I wouldn't have to pin them all separately), and then I glued a pin on the back.  (I put a pin on the top and the bottom to keep the flowers from tipping over.)

Here are the final products:

Sorry there aren't more pics!  I made this late Saturday night so that I could wear it to church on Sunday!  

I felt so trendy!  Then I came home and put my "play clothes" on to do yard work--this Cinderella turns back into a pumpkin right after church! ;)