CHAPMAN PLACE

Knockoff Razzmatazz

2012-01-24T15:26:00.004-07:00

For Christmas, from Matt's parents, we got a Ninja Blender. This blender will make ice into powder... it's that awesome. We have even mixed dough with it. Like I said, this thing is awesome!!! So in order to use said blender, we made a trip to Costco and Walmart and spent a small fortune on frozen fruit, juice, and sherbet.

After many a trial and error, Matt finally perfected a knockoff of the Razzmatazz smoothie at Jamba Juice.
2 large scoops of raspberry sherbet
3/4 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
1 cup strawberries
1/4 can of Old Orchard's Apple Raspberry frozen concentrate
1 cup ice
3 cups water

*all the fruit needs to be frozen

Put all those things in the blender... and blend until smooth.
Pour the yumminess into cups and serve.

Valentine's Day Pillow Day 5: Petal Pillow

2012-01-20T18:58:00.004-07:00

Petal Pillow:

Supplies:
-felt
-stuffing

Find this pillow tutorial HERE.

This pillow was time consuming! It took three hours to make!

Thanks for following my Valentine's Day Pillow Week....

Go HERE for Day 1
Go HERE for Day 2
Go HERE for Day 3
Go HERE for Day 4

Valentine's Day Pillow Day 4: Heart of Ribbon

2012-01-19T17:01:00.003-07:00

Heart Of Ribbon Pillow Tutorial:

Supplies:
-fabric or drop cloth for pillowcase
-ribbon
-needle- you need a needle with a big eye
-heart template
-stuffing

This pillow idea comes from HERE.

First, trace a heart onto the fabric. Next, make a dot every 1/2" all the way around the heart.Next,thread the needle with the ribbon, then start by going down through the front piece of fabric. The end of the ribbon will be on top. Go around the whole heart... every 1/2 inch. Tie a bow at the bottom of the heart.With right sides together, sew the back and front together. Once that is done, stuff the pillow and sew the hole shut.
Now you got yourself a Heart of Ribbon Pillow!

Stayed tuned tomorrow for the FINAL day of Valentine's Day Pillow Week....

Go HERE for Day 1
Go HERE for Day 2
Go HERE for Day 3

Valentine's Day Pillow Day 3: #14

2012-01-18T16:27:00.003-07:00

#14 Pillow Tutorial:

Supplies:
-fabric or drop cloth for pillowcase
-Krylon Glitter Blast Spray (Cherry Bomb)
-stencil for #14
-spray adhesive
-stuffing
First things first, gather your supplies.Next, spray the back of the stencil with spray adhesive and stick it to the pillowcase. Make sure it is centered. I taped the edges with painters tape so no fabric was showing.Spray the Glitter Blast onto the pillow. Wait a minute, then peel off the stencil.Finally after you have let the Glitter Blast dry for 30mins, stuff the pillow and sew the hole closed...

Now you got yourself a #14 Pillow!

Stayed tuned tomorrow for Day 4 of Valentine's Day Pillow Week....

Go HERE for Day 1.
Go HERE for Day 2.

Valentine's Day Pillow Day 2: Love

2012-01-17T15:41:00.006-07:00

Love Pillow Tutorial:

Supplies:
-fabric or drop cloth for pillowcase
-red felt
-stencil for the word "love"
-stuffing
First things first, get your supplies ready. My Pillow size is 15"x27" Next, trace LOVE onto the felt with a pencil. Make sure you can see the lines. Next, with scissors, cut LOVE out of the felt. Next, center LOVE on the pillow. After it is in the right spot, pin it in place. This next part is the most tedious, and slow part... sew around LOVE. Make sure to get every curve and every letter. Take it slow, and you'll be fine. Once you have that all sewn, with right sides together sew the back and front together. Leave a hole for stuffing. Now for the last step, stuff the pillow and sew up the hole.Now you got yourself a cute Love Pillow!

Stayed tuned tomorrow for Day 3 of Valentine's Day Pillow Week....

Go HERE for Day 1.

Valentine's Day Pillow Day 1: Heart Strings

2012-01-16T11:01:00.008-07:00

Heart String Art Pillow Tutorial:

Supplies:
-fabric or drop cloth for pillowcase
-red embroidery thread
-heart string art template found HERE
-embroidery hoop
-stuffing

For this pillow I cut out a 15"x15" square of dropcloth for the front and a 15"x15" square out of red fabric for the back. Once that was done, I saved the template (click on above link for template)by right-clicking on the template image and saving it to my desktop. Then, I opened the file in Microsoft Word, resized the image, and then printed it. Next, center the template onto the front piece of fabric, and pin it. Then go around the whole heart template and make dots on the fabric with your pen. You have to push hard, so the pen will puncture the paper. Before you take the template off, make sure you got all the dots in the right place. Once you have done that, unpin the template, and number your dots with your pen on the fabric, so it matches the template.

FYI: some of the numbers on the template are missing. Starting with #14 at the bottom of the heart the numbers should go in this order: 14,11,10,7,6,3,2,37,36,33,32,29,28,25,24,21,20,17,16,13,12,9,8,5,4,7,38,35,34,31,30,27,26,23,22,19,18,15, then your starting #14.

Thread your needle with a few feet of embroidery floss, and tie a knot on the end. Be sure to start with the numbered side so the knot is on the back of the fabric. Begin with number 1 and follow the numbers until you reach the end (38). Once you are done, knot the end of the floss as tight as you can. Make sure the ending knot is on the back of the fabric.This is what the back will look like once you are done...This is what the front will look like once you are done...Next, with right sides together, sew the back piece onto the front piece.Finally, stuff the pillow with stuffing and sew the hole up.Now you got yourself a cute Heart String Art Pillow!

Stayed tuned tomorrow for Day 2 of Valentine's Day Pillow Week....

DIY Transom Window

2012-01-11T20:25:00.010-07:00

Transom Windows are awesome!

This year for my birthday, I told Matt that I wanted a master-suite makeover. I had a long list of things. A transom window was one of those things. Basically, a transom window is a window above a door. In the old days, they had them to let air in. In my case it is strictly decorative...

Before this project, our bedroom and bathroom felt like one big room. I wanted to divide the space, and add some architectural detail. In our house, we have 9ft ceilings, so it made this project easy to do without feeling like we lost a lot of space or brought the ceiling height down.

Supplies:
(2) 2x4x10's
(1) 2x4
screws
MDF Trim
Glass for the window
hole patch
caulk
painters tape
paint

Now on to the tutorial:

Step 1: screw 2x4's to create a frame.
Step 2: Screw in a 2x4 crosspeice.
Step 3-6: Nail trim to the 2x4s. We wanted the trim on this project to match the trim we already have around our other interior doors.

Make sure to leave the back trim off, so you can slide the glass in...
Step 7:Paint the raw edges, if you don't, you will see the rawness through the glass. Paint the trim sides as well. Step 8: Slide the glass in, then nail the trim around it on the back side. We ordered our glass from a local place. For a 1/4" thick- 13"X45" piece they charged us $30. Not too shabby. When trimming around the window on front and back, make sure you take into account the glass thickness.There she is in all her glory!! More of her glory!!
The front view of all her glory!!Step 9: Patch the holes, and sand once it's dry.Step 10: Caulk it, Caulk it good.Step 11: Tape, tape, tape. And paint, paint, paint.

Ta-Dah! You should have something like this...

Oh so pretty!
I love to stand back and stare. I even stare at it in bed. It turned out just how I imagined it.

I think in all we spent $70.00. Pretty cheap for what we got!

I just found out about a contest going on, so I entered it. Click on the link below if you want to enter your projects!

Go HERE to participate in this month's DIY Project Party

Corrugated Snow Flake

2012-01-07T10:17:00.006-07:00

Corrugated Roofing Snow Flake Tutorial:

Supply List:
Tin Snips.............. $15.97
Gloves................. $4.46
Corrugated roofing..... $11.80- 2x8 sheet
brown wrapping paper... $1.00
spray paint
Ribbon

First thing I did was make a pattern. I looked around the web and got some ideas on shape. FYI, I got this paper at Dollar Tree. It comes in a big roll. It is perfect to make patterns with.
Once I was satisfied with how the pattern looked, I cut it out.
Tape it to the tin roofing and start cutting.My husband thinks it looks like a ninja star, I agree, it does, but for this project, it's a snowflake...I then spraypainted it white. After the white, I sprayed a light coat of blue. Once the spraypaint was dry, I did a coat of Krylon Glitter Blast spray- Diamond Dust. It made it sparkly!I let the snowflake dry over night. In the morning, I drilled a 1/4" hole in the tin, then strung ribbon through it.
If you don't want damage to your door, and have less clanking around, do this next step... glue felt on the back.

Finally, Hang it on the door for you and your neighbors to enjoy!

This project was timely, because it finally snowed last night!

Other corrugated tin roofing projects:Go HERE for the corrugated heart.Go HERE for the corrugated shamrock.

Happy New Year!

Iron-on Vinyl T-Shirts

2011-12-26T10:59:00.007-07:00

I have discovered a new love... Iron on vinyl. I centered my Christmas gifts to my nephews around this stuff.

The place I buy my vinyl from is signwarehouse.com. The vinyl comes on giant rolls, in many colors and is pretty cheap. I was excited to see that they also sell Iron-on vinyl. It also comes in many colors and designs. For this project, I bought Enduratex HotMark 70. It is very thin, and weeds easy. Go HERE to buy some!

Here is what the roll of vinyl looks like. Cut a piece off to the size you want the image to be. I mainly did 7"x7" for size small.
Since my nephew loves skulls, I found a dingbat and sized it to 7"x7".
Cut the image out. I used my Cricut. Make sure the vinyl is SHINY side up. Dull side down. Center the image on the shirt.
Next, put two pieces of printer paper on top of the image. It acts like a buffer between the iron. Do not have the iron set on the steam option. It needs to be a dry heat. Move the iron around the area for up to a minute. Next, peel the plastic off the top of the image. If the vinyl comes up with it, it needs to have more time with the iron.Now it is ready to wear!

These are all the shirts I made...

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I sure did...

Bottlebrush Christmas Trees

2011-12-02T17:39:00.006-07:00

One day while scrolling through Pinterest, I found this picture:Gorgeous! So I found a couple of tutorials over the web and combined them all into this one tutorial:

I bought two bags of Lemax Christmas village trees. I also bought two (3 to a pack) pack of medium sized trees at Hobby Lobby. I have also seen miniature trees at Dollar Tree. Michaels and Kmart also carry the Lemax trees. I bought mine off of Ebay for $10 a bag plus shipping. I wanted a variation of heights, so I found that this bag is the best for quantity and price.
Next, pour bleach in a bowl and place the trees in the bowl. You do this to get the dye off the trees. You really don’t have to bleach them if you don’t want to. I bleached half of them and the other half I didn’t. It does change the color of the glitter though. If you use darker color glitters it doesn’t matter, but if you don’t bleach the trees the lighter color glitters won’t look as good.
Wash the bleach out of the trees and let the trees dry on a dishrag.
Since I wanted to add some bling to some of the trees, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought miniature ornaments and some berries. If you can go when Christmas stuff is 50%, it’s really cheap to get all this stuff. I got the package of glitter at Michaels. I went this route because I wanted many different colored trees. I used a 50% off coupon so it was really cheap ($8 I think).
To add glitter to the trees, first, take the little stands off the end of the trees, then find some pliers or something to grip the end of the tree. Next, spray either spray adhesive or spray-paint all over the tree. Then dump glitter all over the tree while rotating it around. Shake any excess glitter off, then put the stand back on the tree and set it aside. REPEAT this step for all the other trees.Now, you can add the bling... Hot glue the mini bulbs/berries to the tree. I only did this a few of the trees.

Finally find somewhere to display them. Arrange them so the different sizes are mingled together.

I also made the Merry Christmas sign behind the trees. I like it, but I may figure something else out… It’s fine for the mean time.

Merry Christmas!!!

Holiday Pillows

2011-11-26T14:09:00.005-07:00

Who doesn't like a good pillow? IF you like pillows you have come to the right place. I have spent the last day slaving away making these:
Let it Snow!
NOELPeace on EarthLet it Snow... again.
And my personal favorite... Poinsettia!
I also made a cute poinsettia out of felt. I found the awesome idea at Centsational Girl. Go HERE for the tutorial.

IF you want any one of these pillows or the stencils, you can go to my ETSY shop.

{give thanks}

2011-11-09T17:31:00.005-07:00

I made another Thanksgiving pillow. Instead of paint, I used Krylon Glitter Blast Spray.

The three brown pillows behind are made out of brown burlap. I used THIS tutorial to make them...

You can purchase the pillow in my Etsy Shop...

Gobble Til You Wobble

2011-11-01T21:23:00.005-06:00

Here's another pillow tutorial for y'all... First, cut the the size you want for your pillow out of dropcloth. My pillow is 15"x27".Second, make a stencil. I use a program called Sir Cuts Alot 2 for the Cricut. Unfortunately, this software is no longer available for the Cricut... Next, Sew the pieces of dropcloth together, then turn right side out. Now, spray some spray adhesive to the back of the stencil and center it on the pillow shell. Using Martha Stewart rollers, roll the paint over the stencil. Make sure you have some paper in between the pieces of fabric...Let the paint dry before stuffing and sewing the hole up.For kicks and giggles, I wrapped a piece of ribbon around the pillow.I brought in one of my benches from outside and set the pillow on it.I also broke out my Beadboard Turkeys. You can find the tutorial for those HERE.
A month ago, I went to the Wood Connection here in Utah and bought letters to spell "gobble". I got them home, sanded, painted, stained and glittered them to gussy them up.Doesn't it look great next to the Turkeys?

I am putting the stencil in my Etsy Shop.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Itsy Bitsy Spider Pillow

2011-10-19T19:09:00.006-06:00

I am officially obsessed with making pillows... The are just so easy and awesome! I can't help myself.

Today, I got together with my neighbor crafting friend, and we made an itsy bitsy spider pillow.

Like all the other pillows I make, I used drop cloth material.And yet again, I used my Cricut to cut out a stencil.This next step is new to me. Instead of spray glitter, I used acrylic paint rolled on with Martha Stewart rollers- if you don't have some, buy some...This is what it looks like after the stencil is removed. Don't mind the blotches on the bottom and side...Next, I stuffed the pillow...
Finally, it found its home on my porch swing!

Happy Halloween

HO HO HO Glitter Blast Pillows

2011-10-15T21:01:00.004-06:00

I know it is a little early for Christmas, but it will be here before you know it!

Using the same technique I used for the "Trick or Treat" pillows I made some awesome HO HO HO Christmas pillows.

If you want to purchase a set go to my Etsy Shop found HERE.

Shadow Box Pumpkins

2011-10-11T15:10:00.007-06:00

Last year, I made a SHADOW BOX SNOWMAN found HERE. These pumpkins are taken from that idea...

Supply List

1x4 cut in half
(4) 8.5" square mitered pieces- bottom box
(4) 6.5" square mitered pieces- middle box
(4) 4.5" square mitered pieces- top box
pumpkin stems- mine are from a tree branch

Lets get started...
1.Cut
2.Nail together to form each box.
3.Cut stems for each box.
Here are the boxes before painting.
4.Paint a coat of black on each box (optional).
5.Once the black is dry, paint a coat of orange on each box. Then wait for the orange to dry, then dis-stress the each side by sanding the edges and corners.
6. Hot glue the stems onto each box.
Finished!

Now comes the fun part... Displaying!
They can be stacked... or not.
I hung some wooden stars off two of the stems to add some cuteness...

Happy Halloween!

Feather Boa Wreath

2011-10-07T21:35:00.006-06:00

Feather Boa Wreaths are all over the internet. Since they are so awesome, I thought I would make one for Halloween.

Supplies:
-24" foam wreath ($5.99 @ Hobby Lobby)
-(2) 72" feather boas ($4.79 @ Zurchers)
-glue gun and glue sticks

Lets get started...

My supplies: a 24" foam wreath.My Supplies: (2) feather boas.
Start by gluing the rope end to the foam wreath. Next, start wrapping the feather boa around the foam wreath, use the hot glue as you go. Make sure it is attached to the wreath form. You will end the wreath like you started it... glue the rope end to the wreath.To hang it from my mirror, I wrapped a ribbon around the wreath, then I used a tack to attach it in place.Total Awesomeness. I even added a crow!
Happy Halloween to me!

They Went Viral...

2011-10-04T16:10:00.003-06:00

I never thought my "trick or treat" pillows would be so popular. They literally went viral over the internet. I even opened an Etsy shop because of them. I have been featured all over the place. Thanks for all those who gave me free publicity. I got so busy, that I had to put the stencils up for sale, so I could catch my breath and let those who could make the pillows, make them for themselves.

A few days ago, stencilseach.com emailed me about the possibly featuring my pillows and the stencils used to make them. Of course the answer was, "YES!"

Here are my pillows on their front page:

Go check them out HERE!

I only have a limited numbers of pillow sets left in my shop, plus Halloween is just around the corner, so if you want to own some of these pillows, now is your last chance...

Candy Cones

2011-10-03T16:40:00.005-06:00

I love candycorn. Not only are they delicious, but they make cute holiday decor...

First up, gather your supplies.

-3 Styrofoam Cones (Dollar Tree)
-Rigid Wrap (Michaels) This big roll was $10.00 ($6 with a 40% off coupon)
-warm water
-scissors
-gloves (optional)

Next, cut the Rigid Wrap into strips. Before you you cover the cone with the plaster strips, make sure to make a hole in the bottom of each cone with a dowel so you can have the candycones on stands. Next, gently slide each strip across the top of the warm water, then wrap the strips around each cone until the whole cone is covered. Smooth out the strips.
Paint each cone like a candycorn. Since I really didn't like the look of just the paint, I decided to weather the candycones by covering each one with stain and wiping the stain off. I think the strain really added a much needed element to this project... I then wrapped some raffia around each one.Finally, I showed them off by putting them on my Three Benches.
So cute!

Three Benches

2011-09-21T18:06:00.006-06:00

Let me start off by saying, "I LOVE this time of year!!!"

I found this picture on one of my many GOOGLE image viewing sessions. I immediately fell in love and had to have my own.SO I went to the best place around to find plans for the "5 Board Bench." I went to Ana White's website (aka Knock Off Wood) and downloaded her plans. Go HERE for the plans.We went to the Home Depot to buy the wood. I think this whole project was around $100. Matt then spent a few hours building the benches for me. All three after assembly. I was really torn on what color to paint them. I thought red at first, but I thought it may clash, so I went with black instead.

Here they are decorated...

I even made some more "SQUARE PUMPKINS". I made smaller ones last year. GO HERE for that tutorial.
And I made some more spraypaint pillows.

Go HERE for a tutorial on how to make pillows similar to these.
(I didn't use KRYLON Glitter Blast on these).

I will be adding these pillows to my Etsy Shop...

Etsy Shop Now Open

2011-09-13T20:48:00.004-06:00

Hey Everyone out there... I have opened a Etsy Shop. If you like the Trick Or Treat pillows you can now purchase a set like mine.

To visit my shop, click on the link to the left side of the page.

Krylon Glitter Blast Halloween Pillows

2011-09-12T17:18:00.012-06:00

First, I picked a font and cut out a pattern using my Cricut. This font is called Greer. You can get it HERE.
I found this drop cloth at Walmart for $10. Believe me, you will never run out...
Out of the drop cloth, I cut six 15"x15" squares.
Next, I sprayed the back of the pattern with adhesive, and centered it on the square. Press it down and make sure it sticks. I taped the edges that were showing so the glitter would not get everywhere.
After you have everything in its place, SPRAY!! Be sure to stay 12 inches away and cover the area well.
Carefully take the pattern off and let dry for 20 mins.
The can says not handle for 24 hrs, but it seemed to be pretty dry, SO I went ahead and sewed the back of the pillow on and left a hole to insert the stuffing.
Finally, stuff the pillow and sew the hole up...

Now you got yourself some mighty cute Halloween Pillows!
TRICK
OR
TREAT

To see where I linked this project, visit my Linky Party links to the right of this post...

To Purchase pillows like these, visit my Etsy shop by clicking on the link on the left side of my page.

Ikea Built-ins

2011-09-10T09:14:00.004-06:00

Right after we moved in... a year ago... we went to Ikea's Billy Bookcase planner online(go HERE)and made a plan for a built-in media center. We needed a place for our movies, and I wanted a place to put my books and trinkets.

In all we got:
(2) 31.5"x11"x79.5" Billy Bookcases
(1) 31.5'x11'x41.75" Billy Bookcase
(2) 15.75"x11"x41.75" Billy Bookcases
(1) 47.25"x11"x13.75 wallshelf (bridge)
(2) 15.75"x11"x13.75" Height Extensions
(2) 7 7/8"x 6 3/4"x79.5" DVD Towers- We cut them in half. We still had to but two because of how they are assembled.
(4) 15.75"x38 5/8" Doors. You can also get glass doors if you want...

Home Deopt:
3/4"- 4'x8' MDF sheets
1.5"x 8' primed MDF trim
paint to match the bookcases. Home Depot color matched for us.
Caulking Once we got all those boxes home, we assembled them all. Ikea has made it pretty easy... Just follow the picture instructions.Once Everything is put together, now comes the hard part.. Matt had to measure each side and cut MDF to fit. He put MDF between each bookcase, so we could trim the whole thing to make it look finished.
If you notice, we had to bring the middle three bookcases forward, so we could have enough space on top to put our TV. This creates a gap in the back. Since we were going to put on doors, we really didn't finish the inside. I guess you could cut more MDF and finish it off if you really wanted to. There is no picture for this, but we trimmed out each edge to make it look finished. Then painted the trim and MDF to match the bookcase color. Ta-Dah! We did it piece by piece, day by day, but it finally got done and I love it. Now I have a place for my books and decor. (Obviously this is an old photo...It is not Valentines Day.)

Dollar Store Fall Wreath

2011-09-06T20:24:00.004-06:00

The following project was pretty much inspired by House of Hepworth's Pinwheel Wreath. Allison made an awesome wreath out of Dollar Tree grasses and pinwheels.
I loved the wreath, so I bought my supplies and went to work.

You can find the tutorial for the wreath HERE. Allison posted a great video that is simple to follow. Instead of adding pinwheels, I decided to add fall foliage. SO, once I have all the grasses glued down, I added cattails and other things into the grass to add interest.

I think in all this cost maybe $10. Way cheap, and super easy.

I am in an E-Book

2011-08-26T19:59:00.004-06:00

The 11 Easy Craft Ideas E-Book is in, and yours truly has been featured!!!

To download your free copy, go HERE!!

Make sure to look at page 11-12...

Thanks to AllFreeHolidayCrafts.com for this special opportunity!

Dollar Store Pillows

2011-08-16T19:23:00.005-06:00

Here is a super cheap way to make some pillows. Since they were so so cheap to make, I didn't feel too bad putting them on my new porch swing.

First things first, find some cute place-mats. These happen to be from Dollar Tree.
For the back of the pillow, I was going to use another place-mat, but instead I used some fabric I had on hand and cut it to the size of the place-mat.
Sew together. Make sure to leave a hole so you can stuff it...
Stuff the pillow, then sew the hole shut.
The finished product...
Display.

Drab to Fab + Porch Swing

2011-08-13T11:57:00.004-06:00

I finally added some cuteness to my front porch... It only took a year.

My porch BEFORE: (my cat is such a photo bomber...)
Instead of building the porch swing found HERE, we went to Lowes and bought one for $150.00.
Matt put it together...
Measured the spot and installed the hardware for the porch swing chain.
Sidenote: this is where I am going to keep Matt when he is not doing projects for me... Chained Up.
Attach the swing to the chain. Next time, we'll make sure the hardware is facing the right way, so we don't have to disassemble the project to get the chain on.
Ta-Dah!
Since the swing looked plain, so I made some cheap pillows. (Tutorial soon)
Porch AFTER: I finished the space off with some Mums, lanterns, and a door decoration.

Ideas For My Mom

2011-07-25T18:05:00.011-06:00

UPDATE:

My Mom wants built-ins...

I love the look in these two photos:
With the help of Ikea's design tool, I came up with three options.

My Mom wants to do some updating in her house, so I found her some great ideas to brighten up the place and bring it into the 21st century.

She wants to widen her baseboards. I found a great tutorial at House of Smiths:

Go HERE to see the tutorial.

By her front door, I though these two ideas would be cute:

I am trying to also get her to paint the kitchen and take down the wallpaper boarder... I thought this shelf with the board and batten underneath would add a much needed "POP" in the kitchen.
My Mom also loves this coat hanger...
Find the tutorial HERE.

We have also talked about hanging bead-board in the entry way, but because she has a "swamp cooler" she cant have it. Trust me, I know from first hand experience this is a bad idea. The bead-board will grow and expand if you have a swamp cooler. So I told her there is some paintable bead-board wallpaper. Lowes carries it for $15.48 a roll. Check it out HERE.

Hopefully she can pick a paint color soon, so we can get started on patching holes and sanding...

Wish her and us luck...

Featured!

2011-07-13T14:30:00.005-06:00

Sorry for the long break. We have been getting a yard in and taking vacations...

Hopefully I will be posting some great projects soon!

Remember this awesome craft project from last fall?

Well, it has been featured at this site:

www.allfreeholidaycrafts.com

Go check it out!

click HERE to go to my featured project.

DIY Mirrored Nightstand

2011-05-02T16:42:00.009-06:00

If you would have asked me a year ago if I wanted a mirrored out nightstand, I would have thought you were crazy. But, here I am today with proof that people can change...

I bought these bad boys at the DI for $7.00 a piece. Matching nightstands are hard to come by, so when I spotted these two, I knew with some paint and DIY vision these things could be awesome.

First things first, I took of the ugly cain and surrounding border off of the drawer front.

Next, I sanded, and primed the subjects.

Then my awesome husband painted them a cherry red color.

This next part is hard and takes patience and a steady hand. Since I wasn't blessed with either, I stood back and took pictures.

Get a mirror. We bought this one at Home Depot for $6.00. It was the perfect size for what we needed. When all was said and done, we ended up purchasing two mirrors. We broke the first one...

Rip the paper off of the back of the mirror and remove the frame. You also want to scrape the goo off.

Place the mirror on a towel on a flat surface.

Purchase a glass cutting kit at Home Depot. It was $13.00 (worth every penny!)

Mark your mirror with the pen where you want to make a cut. Then take the cutting wheel and follow the line you made. (Follow the directions on the back of the package)

At the other end of the cutting wheel is a ball. With this you hit the back of the mirror where you made the cut.

Hopefully you didn't hit too hard, because this is what happens...

This is what you should have. A nice piece of mirror.

Next, you need to mark where you want the knob to go. We chose the middle.

***I was lying about the last part. The next part is actually the hard part...

To complete the project, you need a drill with a glass/tile cutting bit. The key here, is to go a medium consistent speed with the drill. Matt drilled in the front, then turned it over once he could see a hole from the back, then drilled from the back. Back and forth, until the hole was big enough. Make sure to blow the dust away from the hole. Don't rush...

You should have a nice little hole like this...

Next, drill a hole in the drawer front. Make sure it matches up with the mirror.

After that, smear liquid nails on the drawer.

Place the mirror on the front of the drawer, line it up, make sure it is straight and clamp it down. You can put the knob on too if you want. Take it front me, DO NOT SCREW THE KNOB DOWN TIGHT, IT WILL BREAK THE MIRROR. Then your husband will throw his hands in the air and yell that he is done and go upstairs... Just Sayin'.

Now you have your very own mirrored nightstand!

I think I'm in love!

Laundry Room Makeover

2011-04-07T14:41:00.005-06:00

UPDATE 11/16/11

You can now purchase the vinyl laundry symbols in my ETSY shop.

So what spurred this makeover? My dryer died... Which meant we had to get a new dryer, which meant we wanted a matching washer, which meant we wanted front loaders, which meant we needed something put put them on, which meant we needed to paint. Put all those together and you get a laundry room makeover!

Laundry Room before:

Laundry Room after a coat of paint:

Have you ever been to ana-white.com? You are missing out if you haven't. A while ago, I came upon a plan for a washer/dryer pedestal. Since I had the old school kind of washer/dryer, I mentally made a note of these said plans and moved on. Well, as it turns out, I needed these plans, so I found them again and showed my husband. He liked how it looked, so we went to Home Depot, bought the lumber (had them cut it- time saver!) and built the pedestal.

Painted it black and dis-stressed it.

Put it in place:

Cut some vinyl to put over the baskets:

Go HERE for the plans for the washer/dryer pedestal.

And decorated the room!

I rounded up some glass jars, and cut out some vinyl:

I also came across some cute laundry symbols on one of my favorite font sites. To tell you the truth, I didn't realize the laundry market had their own symbols. These are only a small number of what is out there. FYI, you can find these on your clothes tags...

The whole room! I love how it all came together...

A Few Projects

2011-04-04T14:11:00.005-06:00

I am still alive... I know I haven't posted a project in awhile, but we have had a lot going on...

St. Patrick's Day has came and went, but I wanted to post what I made anyway. I got the word "shamrock" in wood letters from the Wood Connection, painted them and embellished them. I also found some shamrocks at some of my many DI trips. I sanded, stained, and glittered them. I also made some stands for them. Everything turned out cute!
I made individualized scripture bags for my Primary kids. They each got to pick out three of their favorite colors and some kind of design. Each was different and unique. It is really random what 7 year olds come up with...

I found the TOTE BAG TUTORIAL HERE.

Back in December, I joined a site where they do craft swaps with people around the country. For the Spring Time swap, I made these dragon-tails for my swap person's sons. They were easy and fun to make. She was kind enough to take a picture and post it on the Swaperoo blog.

Find the great tutorial for the DRAGON TAILS HERE.

I also made her these cute EASTER blocks.

Go HERE to see what else I sent her. Go HERE for more info on the Craft Swap.

I have a few other posts up my sleeves, but I got to finish the actual projects first.

Until then, enjoy this post and my many others... ;0)

CSN Winner!

2011-03-19T16:56:00.001-06:00

Congratulations to Jenny. I emailed you the code you need to put in at check out!

Thanks to those who entered my giveaway!

Master Bedroom ideas+ CSN Giveaway

2011-03-14T16:13:00.006-06:00

I want my master bedroom to be masterful. So far, I have painted the walls, put up some board and batten and made a new bed. But it still feels less than perfect. I still want to frame the mirrors, but the hubby refuses to frame them for me because he thinks he will lose a lot of valuable viewing area. So that is on hold. For some time now, we have been on the hunt for some awesome matching nightstands. As you can tell in the picture below, the nightstands do not match and are not even from the same time period.

So one night, while at my local thrift store haunt, I found two matching nightstands! I can't tell you how excited I was. Now, even as I type this, they are in my garage waiting to be primed, painted and a little surprise added to the drawer front. I'll post pictures once they are done...

So what is left for me to do? Accessorizing of course! I want some new bedding, a sitting area with nice chairs, wall decor and table lamps like this one found at CSN lighting.

One thing at a time...

Meanwhile, how about I do a GIVEAWAY for a $30 voucher to any CSN store?

All you have to do is leave your email address and a comment telling me which of my blog posts you like the best.

You have until Midnight MST on Friday, March 18, 2011 to enter. A winner will be chosen at random from all entries and announced here on this blog. I will contact the winner via email...

Good luck!!

***CSN Stores can only ship their products to the US and Canada***

Corrugated Shamrock

2011-02-25T13:36:00.004-07:00

Here is my Corrugated Shamrock!

Find out how I did this HERE.

Shim Mirror

2011-02-18T13:34:00.005-07:00

This mirror was pretty easy and cheap to make. Most of the stuff I had on hand. I only had to buy shims.

Supply list:
mirror
shims (2 packs at HD)
mdf back (I had this circle from another project)
wood glue
stain

Start glueing shims to the mdf board.

Glue some more

start layering the shims and glue some more.

Layer some more and fill in the gaps. I had to use paint cans to keep it all together.

After the glue dried, I stained the beast with walnut stain.

Attach some hanging hardware on the back. Also glue a mirror onto the front... in the middle.

Hang on the wall...

Step back and enjoy!

Corrugated Heart

2011-02-05T17:57:00.005-07:00

I am really excited about this post, because I haven't seen any projects involving corrugated roofing. So I hope you like it...

Supply List:
Tin Snips.............. $15.97
Gloves................. $4.46
Corrugated roofing..... $11.80- 2x8 sheet
spray paint
wire

OK, here we go...
First things first, get your supplies ready. You will also need a pattern. I used newspaper/ads. I decided to make a heart, so I cut out a heart.
You really need gloves to cut the metal, you will get cut if you don't. Tape your pattern onto the metal, and cut the heart out. It helps if you cut around the heart, then once the basic shape of it is cut out, go back and cut it exactly to the pattern.
Drill two holes in the heart so you can hang it up.
Spray paint and let dry...
I really like poka-dots, so I cut some circles using my Cricut and randomly stuck them to the heart.
String the wire through the holes. I did some curlys at the end.

Display- SO CUTE!!!!

I also cut out a shamrock. I'll post it once it gets closer to March.

Wood Glitter Hearts

2011-01-25T14:23:00.003-07:00

I love the store called Wood Connection. They have all sorts of unfinished wood projects. If you are in Utah you need to visit them.

The Wood Connection Crafts Store:

6680 South 300 West
Murray, UT 84107

Go HERE for their website

Anywho, I got my wood hearts from them. I wanted two sets, so I got two large, medium, and small hearts.

Paint the front of your heart. I went with red, pink and purple.
After the paint drys, stain the sides and back of each heart.
Once it's semi dry, go over the front with another coat of paint. Make sure you get a lot on there, DO NOT glob it, make sure it is smooth and even.
You probably want to do this step first... get some glitter that coordinates with your paint color and dump it on some wax paper like so. It needs to be a flat even surface. I LOVE Martha Stewart glitter. It's $5.00 a bottle, but if you can get it on sale, it is so worth it!
Take your heart and STAMP it into the glitter. Move the heart around over the glitter until it is covered.
Yea! A cute glitter heart!
I used purple glitter on my large heart, and pink on my small heart. I didn't use glitter on the medium heart.
My Valentine's Day shelf.

Hearts in a Box

2011-01-17T20:29:00.005-07:00

This project was pretty simple. You could totally get everything at the dollar store. Of course I didn't get the box there, but there are different things at Dollar Tree that you could use... You just have to look around.

What you need:
A box.Hearts on a stick, I used three bags, plus some that I had left over from last year.Floral arrangement styrofoam.

The How To:

Glue the floral styrofoam stuff in the box. I used two since my box was deep. Then randomly stick your heart on a stick into the styrofoam. Find some spanish moss (I think that is what it is called) and spread it over the foam and around the sticks.
To spell out the word "love" I took some small ribbon, twisted, turned and glued until I had it how I wanted.

End Result... hearts in a box.

Valentine's Day Printables

2011-01-15T17:06:00.004-07:00

To start off my month of "Hello February You Are Awesome" I put together some Valentine's Day printables.

I used Ikea's TOLSBY frame. You can find them at the their store for $.99.

Find Valentine printable HERE.

Find LOVE printable HERE.

Find Love...is all you need printable HERE.

Find We Belong Together printable HERE.

Hope you like them!

Winner!

2011-01-12T15:53:00.002-07:00

The winner, according to random.org is...

#16

Aubrey!

I'll email you the discount code!

Thanks to all those who entered. If you would like to host a CSN giveaway, let me know by leaving a comment with your email address, and I will give you the details.

My Second CSN Giveaway!

2011-01-08T08:58:00.005-07:00

CSN has offered to give one of my readers a $35 voucher for any of their 200+ Stores! Because CSN loves to do giveaways on blogs from time to time, they have chosen my blog to do a giveaway. They have just about everything you could possibly think of. Personally, I have my eye on this round chair.

Also available in this style is a bistro set, dining set and a patio set. Isn't that awesome?!

So, do you want a $35 voucher you can spend on anything you like from CSN?

Go check out the list of their 200+ stores HERE and then come back and leave a comment letting me know which store and on which item/s you are most likely to spend your $35.

You have until Midnight MST on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 to enter. A winner will be chosen at random from all entries and announced here on this blog. Winner has 48 hours to contact me via email.

Good luck!!

***CSN Stores can only ship their products to the US and Canada***

Pillow Pet Rip Off

2011-01-01T22:53:00.000-07:00

I've been told that Pillow Pets are all the rage right right now. At the store you can buy one for around $20, but they are small- I don't think I could lay my head on it and be comfortable, so for Christmas I made pillow pets for my niece and nephews.

I found a great tutorial at Twelve Crafts Till Christmas. She made everything from scratch... body, tail, and head.I really didn't want to go that route because lets face it, I'm lazy. SO, I went searching around the web and found another great tutorial on All Things Shea. She cut up a stuffed animal and sewed it to a pillow. So I took both those ideas and meshed them together and made my version of the pillow pet. I didn't take pictures of the process because the tutorials mentioned above are really all you need to make the pillow pets.

Buy list:
25" fleece
velcro
stuffed animal

1. Cut the head and tail off the stuffed animal. Then wash them in a pillow case, so the stuffing doesn't get everywhere.
2. Follow the tutorial found HERE. Follow the tutorial, but instead of leaving a head hole, leave a small opening on the side opposite of the fleece strip.
3. Turn right side out and sew the head on. I had to stuff the pillow a little bit, so I could get the placing just right, then I sewed the head on by hand. Make sure it is secure and looks good before stuffing the pillow. Refer to this tutorial HERE.
4. After you stuff the pillow, sew the little opening up by hand or machine.

Now you got yourself a pillow pet.

Side view of pillow when it is a "pet".Face of the pillow pet.Top view of the pillow pet when it is a "pillow". The kids with their pillow pets. I made a monkey (not pictured), dog, cat, tiger, and elephant.

Some of them have been named:

The cat is named LoLo
The tiger is named Biter
The elephant is named Horton

No, I did not name them...

Only stuffed animals were harmed in the making of these Pillow Pets.

Seasonal Swaperoo

2010-12-05T19:17:00.001-07:00

This sounded like fun, so I signed up! Go check it out HERE.

Shadow Box Snowman

2010-11-30T16:07:00.005-07:00

A while back, while searching blogs, I came across this shadow box snowman at poppies at play:
I adored it. Some how, some way, I had to have my own. I went everywhere looking for shadow boxes: DI, Joann's, Roberts, Michaels, but they had nothin'. So I went out to my garage determined to make my own. FAIL. So after batting my eyes at my husband, he made the boxes for me.

Cut list:

1x4 cut in half (I had some left over from my bed)
(4) 8.5" square mitered pieces- bottom box
(4) 6.5" square mitered pieces- middle box
(4) 4.5" square mitered pieces- top box
(3) squares of beadboard cut to the size of each square- back of each box
(1) nose cut out of beadboard

Nail each side together to form a square and staple the back on. Paint everything white, disstress, then apply some stain or glaze wait a minute then wipe off. Glue some buttons in the middle box, glue the nose and two eyes in the top box. To make sure it was stable, I hot glued the boxes together. Display.

Here is Mr. Snowman before I added eyes and a scarf. I kinda liked him like this, but my sister said he needed eyes and a scarf. I thought about some arms, but that would require a tree which I don't have. Mr. Snowman all done up...

Visit Poppies At Play for her more detailed tutorial. Found HERE.

Have you ever head of the store in Murray, Utah called THE WOOD CONNECTION? I love this place. I could go broke if I shopped there everyday. Go HERE for their website. Anywho, this is were I got my "WINTER" wood letters. I painted them and jazzed them up. So cute! My winter display is complete!

A few house projects

2010-11-30T14:47:00.006-07:00

Over the past month we have completed a couple of house projects.

First up: The Spare Bedroom:The two above pictures show the prep work before painting. I wanted my stripe to be 22.5 inches wide, so my husband used the laser level and taped off the stripe. Once he was done, I painted the inside edges of the tape with our base color. This seals the tape, so your other color will not bleed through. Next, I painted. Wait until the paint is semi dry, then peel the tape off. If you wait until it is dry, you might take your paint with it...
Look how awesome the room is now! Even the cat likes being in there.

Second up, The Hall Bath:
Before shots. Don't mind the yellow. I thought yellow would make the bathroom cheery, but it looked horrendous, so I went with blue.
We trimmed the wall and the mirror. I wanted a ledge, so Matt nailed a board on top of the other trim. Matt caulked, and I painted.

Ah, much better...

Colette With Wings Upholstered Bed/Headboard

2010-11-14T19:32:00.010-07:00

For some time now (since we got married- 3 ½ years ago), I have wanted a nice headboard/footboard. Not a hand-me-down, but something new or something we made. We bought a bed at a thrift store, but that didn’t work out (it collapsed because the rails were bowed.) So we took that bed down and hatched a plan to make our own.

A while ago, I came across an awesome blog called high-heelfootinthedoor. She found a bed called Colette at Crate and Barrel that she loved.

But, like me, she didn’t want to spend lots of money on a bed, so she and her husband made a plan and made a bed just like it.

You can find that great tutorial HERE.

Since she already made a tutorial, and it was what we followed to make our bed, I won’t repost that. What this tutorial is about is a WINGBACK WPHOLSTERED HEADBOARD. For some reason, I love the look of wingback headboards. Up until this point I have always associated wingback anything with old people. I changed my mind once I googled “wingback upholstered headboard” There are some pretty awesome headboards out there. I was inspired by this one:
Once I saw the greatness of WINGBACK, I had to have one. So I went back to Google and searched for “wingback upholstered headboard tutorial.” NOTHING. What? NO tutorial? How could this be? Isn’t there someone out there that wants one just as much as I do?

Enter The Husband. The man who brings my crazy ideas to life. I told him that for my birthday this year I wanted The Colette bed with wings. (No this is not an Always brand ad or product ;0))

So off to Stock Building Supply we went. There we bought the lumber for the bed. We had to change the lumber list a little. Here’s how it breaks down:

Stock Building Supply shopping list:
(2) pine 1x10x16- cut in half -$35.74- side of bed
(1) white fir 2x4x8 -$2.18- middle support
(9) pine 1x4x12- $43.56- middle and side slats
(1) MDF slab ¾ thick 4x8- $38.50- headboard
(2) pine 1x4x16- cut in half -$14.08- middle support inside side of bed

Walmart shopping list:
(2) twin size convoluted foam mattress pad -$25.88
(1) queen size convoluted foam mattress pad -$19.94
(4) 42X84 Mainstays textured foam-back energy efficient curtain panel- $59.68

You can use fabric. This wasn’t the most economical route to go, but it worked out pretty well. My sister said the fabric I used looks like an old man suite. I agree, but I think it looks good.

One panel for two long sides of bed,
½ panel for foot of bed
1 ½ panel for wings
1 panel for back of headboard

Joann’s shopping list:
(4) aluminum cover button kit- size ¾”. Make sure that you get one that that the fabric covering kit inside. They were BOGO $7.01

Hobby Lobby shopping list:
(1) extra long needle (Joann’s didn’t have them) $3.49- for the tufting of the headboard.

Home Depot shopping list:
(4) 3” nuts and bolts – these are for attaching the headboard to the frame
(4) brackets- these are for attaching the wings to the headboard
(4) legs for the bed
(4) top plates the attach the feet to the headboard.

WINGBACK HEADBOARD TUTORIAL:
Make a pattern for the type of wing you want. We traced it on cardboard and cut it out.The widest point of our wing was 11 inches. So we traced the pattern on(2) 11in wide by 4ft high MDF sheets.Using a jig saw, Matt cut out both wings.Place the wing on the outside edge of the head board. Next, Matt determined where he wanted the brackets to go. Three inches down from the top he put the bracket on the MDF and drilled holes in the where the bracket holes were, then screwed screws into those pre-drilled holes. He did the same thing 3 inches up from the bottom. Repeat on the other side.Then he pre-drilled holes where the bolts go. Two through the back in the corners then one though each wing though the bed fame. Make sure it is toward the bottom, so your mattress doesn’t hit them.Here is the bed all put together. We followed the tutorial for the bed and headboard. Follow my tutorial for the wings.

At this point, Matt unbolted everything and we carried the bed into the house, then the headboard. Leave the wings attached to the headboard.

Follow the Colette Bed tutorial on how to upholster the bed.

These pictures speak for themselves on how to attach the foam to the headboard.
We decided to make slipcovers for the wings. We figured this would be the easiest route to go. Use the cardboard pattern to trace the wing onto the fabric. Since we didn’t have enough fabric for one of the wings, we had piece the fabric together. I don’t even notice the seam. DONOT sew on the marker line. Add 1 1/2 inches to the line. We measured out 1.5 inches and made dots. This compensates for the foam.Sew on the dotted line.Cut off excess fabric then cut notches so the fabric will lay right.Slip the wing cover on the wing and tuck, pull and smooth until the fabric lays right, then staple.
Here is what the headboard and wings looks like after it has been stapled.Tuck, pull and smooth the fabric for middle of the headboard until the fabric lays right, then staple in the crease at the sides. Make sure the staples don’t show.If you want your headboard tufted then you need to decide on a pattern. I wanted it staggered. Drill holes big enough for a needle to pass through. I found a random tutorial on how to do this.Finished!
Good thing you predrilled everything, because it makes this next step easy. Attach the headboard back onto the bed-frame.Now it’s time to step back and salivate because your new bed is awesome!

I love it! Thanks to Matt and my sister for all your help!

Now I am on the hunt for the perfect bedding and pillows…

If you make one of these beds, I want to see! Shoot me an email...

Beadboard Turkeys

2010-11-01T18:05:00.006-06:00

Joke: What happened when the turkey got into a fight?

----find the answer at the end of the post ;0)

All jokes aside, this was a pretty fun craft. While surfing the web, I came across some really cute turkey ideas. I found one HERE that I really loved. Taking that idea, I adapted it into my own.

1. I used a router to cut the breadboard in a half circle (more like a half oval…) for the back of the turkey.2. Using a scroll saw, I cut out the turkey bodies. I free handed a pattern for the body. (click on the first picture for the pattern)3. I then sanded the bodies and breadboard.4. I painted, then distressed the sides of the breadboard and the bodies.5. I made my own glaze mix- 1/2 Behr's glaze and 1/2 dark brown paint, then I coated the breadboard with the glaze. I let it sit for a minute, then I wiped it off with a paper-towel. 6. For the legs, I used a dowel. Make sure they are the same length. For the feet, I wanted to have two separate feet, but I thought that would make the turkey unstable, so I cut out triangles out of 2X4's. One triangle per turkey.7. Drill holes in the feet and in the bottom of the body of the turkey. Make sure the holes lined up. Use wood glue to secure the dowels in the 2x4.8. Paint the feet9. Distress the legs and feet, then coat with glaze then wipe off. (I used stain because I ran out of glaze)10. I used black carpet nails for the eyes and a wooden triangles I had on had for the beak. 11. I Glued the body onto the breadboard and let it dry, then glued the legs into the holes I drilled in the body. I also cut the red dangley thing out of red felt and glued it next to the beak.There you have it- your very own turkeys!

Answer: He got the stuffing knocked out of him.

CSN Giveaway Winner!

2010-10-16T08:13:00.005-06:00

The winner for my first ever giveaway is... Heidi Wendland from Intellectual Fantasies.

Please email me (onthenose22@gmail.com) your email address within 48 hours to claim your prize.

Congrats!

Jessica

My other ride is a broom

2010-10-13T17:15:00.003-06:00

I bought some decorative sticks (called TORKA in Ikea speech- found HERE) at Ikea not knowing how I was going to use them.

Well, I am happy to report that I finally used them. On what you ask? A… WITCHES BROOM

Since the sticks were too long, I used the miter saw and cut them in random lengths. Then I found a long random stick to use for the handle.

First things first, cut a long piece of jute string and place it on the ground (table in my case) then lay some of the TORKA sticks on the jute sting. Next, place the broom handle in the middle of the sticks. Then, grab the remaining TORKA'S and place on top of the broom handle stick thing. While holding everything together, wrap the jute string around the sticks until it is secure.

Ta Duh! Now you have an alternate mode of transportation ;0)

Don't forget to enter my $35.00 CSN giveaway! Go HERE.

My first CSN Giveaway!

2010-10-11T20:52:00.005-06:00

CSN has offered to give one of my readers a $35 voucher for any of their 200+ Stores! Because CSN loves to do giveaways on blogs from time to time, they have chosen my blog to do a giveaway. They have just about everything you could possibly think of. Personally, I have my eye on these barstools. Wouldn't they go great with my awesome island?
So, do you want a $35 voucher you can spend on anything you like from CSN?

Go check out the list of their 200+ stores HERE and then come back and leave a comment letting me know which store and on which item/s you are most likely to spend your $35.

Want a second entry, add yourself as a follower of this blog and leave a second comment. If you are already a follower, that counts too!

You have until Midnight MST on Friday, October 15, 2010 to enter. A winner will be chosen at random from all entries and announced here on this blog. Winner has 48 hours to contact me via email.

Good luck!!

***CSN Stores can only ship their products to the US and Canada***

Ladder to Nowhere

2010-10-09T19:01:00.005-06:00

I woke up today, and for some reason I wanted to build a ladder. I Googled some images and came up with a basic plan.

Buy List:
2- 2x3x8 stud
$1.86 each at Home Depot
2- 1 1/4" x 48" wood dowel
$3.87 each at Home Depot

Cut List:
-Cut dowels in thirds. Each section should be 16" long.
-Cut 8" off each stud.

I measured 4" from the each end of each stud and made a line. From that 4" line at the bottom, I measured every 16 inches and made another line. In all, I had six lines, each line indicated where a ladder rung would be. In the middle of each line I made a dot.Using a 1 1/4" drill bit, I drilled holes in the middle of each line (use the dot you marked.) I had 12 holes all together. Next, I smothered each hole with a good amount of glue and placed a dowel in each hole.Let the glue dry. I spray painted my ladder black.I also distressed the ladder, by sanding it all over.Display. I wrapped a banner I made (maybe I will post a tutorial on the candycorn banner at a later time) around the ladder and tied a wreath on one of the rungs. A little off topic, but I found some cute stars and spray painted them black or orange and attached them to my grapevine. Here is my whole front porch. I finally got it decorated for Halloween. I also used the rest of my landscape timbers from THIS project and made miniature pumpkins.

Yay! The good thing about this ladder is that I can use it year round...

I never met a pumpkin

2010-10-06T15:26:00.004-06:00

The other day I was at the thrift store (shocker) and saw these gorgeous orange plates. I had to have them... I knew I could do something with them. After giving it a few days and some thought I came up with the following:

My plates. I also bought three black ones. The large black one is from Dollar Tree. I am going to do something similar with these.
This is where I do a product plug... instead of buying a million different Cricut Cartridges, I bought a program called Sir Cuts A lot. Go HERE to learn more. This program allows you to use any font from the internet on your Cricut. It's fabulous. My favorite font site is FONTSPACE. On said site, I found a pumpkin face font, so I downloaded it, and cut out a face I liked.
I also found a cute saying about pumpkins, so I used that on the other plate.
Ta-Duh!

Square Pumpkins

2010-09-30T21:36:00.008-06:00

I must admit that I have been in a creative slump. I wanted to come up with something that nobody had done before. I racked my brain for a week. Finally, I came up with what I call "Square Pumpkins." Original... I know

Buy List:
2 -3/4x4x6 ceder fence slat
$1.49 each at Home Depot

Cut List:

Large Pumpkin:
sides: 4@ 8 3/4in long
lid & bottom: 2@ 4 1/2in long

Medium Pumpkin:
sides: 4@ 5in long
lid & bottom: 2@ 4 3/4in long

Small Pumpkin:
sides: 4@ 3 1/4in long
lid & bottom: 2@ 4 1/2in long

I cut the wood with our miter saw. It was pretty simple. It was actually my first time using it. I have been a chicken up to this point. But since my husband wasn't due home for a few hours, I had no choice but to try. It was a pretty good first experience.
After you have made all your cuts, you need to glue your sides together. One side at a time, use wood glue and glue each side to the bottom wood piece. Let the glue dry for 30 minutes.
For the lid, I glued a small square of MDF board to the bottom, so the lid won't slide off. I also glued a random piece of wood on top for the stem.
Paint!
Sand each pumpkin to give it a distressed look. I also nailed little nails into each corner of the front and back of the pumpkin to give it a little more UMPH. These nails are actually carpet nails. They were $1.20ish for a pack at Home Depot. They are down the screw/nail aisle.Embellish and Display…. I kept it simple.
Large Pumpkin
Small Pumpkin
Medium Pumpkin
Cute!

You could even put something inside each pumpkin. Maybe some scented candles... or candy.

A little B&B

2010-09-20T17:21:00.005-06:00

No, not a little Bed and Breakfast... but a little Board and Batten. I said I was going to do it HERE. I watched as my husband went to work, measuring cutting, nailing and caulking. Finally my part came at the end by patching the holes, sanding and painting.

I am so happy how it turned out.

Here is my wall before we did anything.
I couldn't make up my mind. I wanted blue, but when I painted it on the wall it was too baby blue. I was going for a gray blue, but it didn't turn out that way. So then I painted on a dark grey. But it was too dark. So I settled on a color I knew wouldn't fail me... Granite Boulder by Behr. I used this color in my kitchen in my previous house.
After measuring, Matt, nailed the end pieces and top piece to the wall. Then he nailed the shelf on, and attached an under piece to make it look nice and more sturdy.Then he attached the vertical boards every 28in, then the horizontal board 12in down.Matt then caulked the sides. I filled the holes, sanded, and painted the boards the same color as my walls.
Once everything was dry, I decorated... what I love best.
Even the cat took a minute out of her busy life to admire our handy work...

Landscape Timber Pumpkins

2010-09-18T09:01:00.007-06:00

On one of my many Google searches, I came across these beauties HERE. They are pumpkins made out of those red/orange landscape timbers you build flower beds with. Genius! So I went to my Home Depot (one of my favorite craft stores) and bought one timber for $1.97 and had them cut three sizes for me.

Cut List:
1@ 2ft
1@ 1.5ft
1@ 1ft

You will be left with a little less than half of the timber. You can either throw it on the scrap pile or make smaller pumpkins. I think that is what I am going to do. I didn't want the HD employee to cut smaller ones for me because they charge per cut after the first two. Plus, he was kinda slow in the actual measuring and cutting. I can't complain though, I didn't have to wait for my husband to come home and cut them. I haven't gotten daring enough to use the saws. I have a fear of cutting off a hand or fingers. One day maybe...

Gather your supplies: timbers, base and stems. I was going to use those little wood blocks, but then I remembered I had a large stick laying around, so I used that instead.
Paint, paint and paint.
Glue the timbers to a base. I used liquid nails. Also glue the stems on top. Then wait for the glue to dry. I let it dry over a couple of days.
Embellish! I tied some raffia and jute sting around each stem. I also glued on some leaves.
I thought the whole ensemble needed something else, so I made a sign. “Pumkins 5 cents”
Display… (my favorite part)

I Linked up to Sawdust and Paper Scrapes. Go check it out. She is doing a Scentsy give away...

2X4 Pumpkins

2010-09-10T16:00:00.007-06:00

Last Fall, I came across some cute pumpkins found HERE. I was going to make them last year, but I never got around to it. So I made them this year!

First, cut three different lengths of 2x4's. My tallest is 10", the middle is 6.5", and the small is 3.5".
Second, paint each pumpkin.Third, use a chisel and take some wood off the sides. Also, distress by sanding each side of the pumpkin.
Fourth, drill five holes in the top of each pumpkin. Then brake up a stick into five little sticks for each pumpkin and glue them with wood glue into the holes. These act as the stem.
Fifth, use berries, leaves, raffia, and jute string to add that cuteness they need.
Lastly, display and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Candy Corn

2010-09-03T21:36:00.009-06:00

I love this time of year! I think Fall has the best decorations. A few days ago I came across this adorable picture HERE: So cute. I knew I had to have my own wood candy corn. So me and my sister made a small, medium, and large candy corn pattern, traced it on wood and on beadboard and sweetly asked my husband to cut them out for us. I painted the wood and beadboard like a candy corn.

Then distressed both the wood and beadboard.
Next, I covered all pieces in stain to give it a old weathered look.

Display for all to see!!

Instead of using wood glue to attach the two together, I used a nail in each corner. I think it added some real cuteness to them!
I added some raffia and berries to the large candy corn.
I wrapped some jute string around the medium sized candy corn and added one red leaf.

Ruffled Skirts

2010-08-14T22:40:00.003-06:00

Aren't these cute skirts? I love the randomness of the ruffles. Find the tutorial for this skirt HERE. The ones below don't have tutorials. But you can buy them in THIS etsy shop.

Flower Pillows 2

2010-08-14T22:16:00.002-06:00

Find this cute pillow tutorial HERE.

Pin-Tuck Duvet

2010-08-14T21:53:00.009-06:00

I found this cute duvet cover idea HERE. She found the idea HERE. I think she did an excellent job of recreating it.

Look what she did:

Front:

Back:

She made a grid of dots on the back, pulled the fabric up a couple inches and tied a string around the bunches.

Go HERE to see another version of this.

Window Treatment Parade

2010-08-13T20:55:00.004-06:00

Window treatments from the Utah Parade of Homes.

Pillow Parade

2010-08-08T14:33:00.003-06:00

Enjoy some of the pillows I noticed from the Utah Parade of Homes.

Board and Batten

2010-08-02T21:33:00.006-06:00

I really really love the new trend of board and batten. It's all over blogland (go HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE)and in the 2010 Salt Lake County Parade of homes.

Just see for your self...

So how do I want to incorporate this into my house? Well, I want one wall to have floor to ceiling board and batten. The rest of the walls will be painted. I am thinking a rusty/cinnamon color. Here is a perfect example of what I want. It has the color and the board and batten. This home was in the Davis County Parade of Homes.

I made THE pleated purse

2010-07-28T15:31:00.004-06:00

Do you remember my post HERE where I stated that I want to make this purse? Well I finally did it. I made the Pleated Purse. It took a month (I was busy selling my house and moving) but it's done.

Have a look see!!!

I learned some new things with this sewing project:

1. How to use piping
2. How to install (lack of a better word) magnetic closure snaps.
3. What fusible fleece is and and how to use it.

I think it turned out lovely!

Farm House Table

2010-07-23T23:38:00.006-06:00

Once we get into the new house, our current table will not fit the new digs. So instead of spending mega bucks on a new table, we want to make our own. Enter Anna at Knock-Off Wood. She has the perfect plans for a farm house table HERE. I'm also thinking of making some BENCHES for the sides and chairs for the ends. We'll see how creative we get...

Northern Wasatch Parade of Homes

2010-07-08T16:41:00.007-06:00

#9 Williamsburg
115 W 100 S, Kaysville Utah
3948 sq. ft/ 5 bedrooms/2.5 bathrooms/3 car garage/$399,990.00

This is the other home that is tied for first for the one I loved the most. I loved the open concept, colors, layout, everything...

Northern Wasatch Parade of Homes

2010-07-08T16:29:00.005-06:00

#7 The Dublin
220 N Havenwood Dr, Kaysville Utah
4080 sq. ft/ 3 bedrooms/2.5 bathrooms/3 car garage/$291,990.00

I think this home is tied for first for the one I loved the most. Who ever decorated this house sure knows what they are doing. Everything was pleasing to the eye.

Northern Wasatch Parade of Homes

2010-07-05T08:56:00.006-06:00

#6 Yorkshire
1245 S Rigby Rd, Kaysville Utah
3923 sq. ft/ 4 bedrooms/2.5 bathrooms/3 car garage/$579,000.00

Ivory Homes really knows how to wow people. The layout of this house was great and the decorating was fabulous. The decorators used color well and the accessories were awesome. The small details are what makes a house great.

Northern Wasatch Parade of Homes

2010-07-05T08:37:00.004-06:00

#2 Bellevue Colonial
171 E 1600 S, Farmington Utah

This house is a craftsman style home. I loved the outside. One feature in the house that I loved was the jack and jill bathroom in between the two bedrooms.

Sorry if the pictures are blurry. I was using my cellphone as a camera.

We Sold the House

2010-06-27T22:36:00.005-06:00

We got an offer on our house on Friday. We countered and the buyer accepted. Now we wait for inspections and paperwork to go though. What a huge relief. Now we have to pack up, and move to... somewhere, and wait for the new house to be done. All this by July 21st. Wish us luck.

New House Update

2010-06-27T21:32:00.003-06:00

The outside of our house is almost done! We chose a blue Hardie Board fiber cement siding with white trim. I absolutely love it! It's fresh and hip :0) All they have left is the stone work. Maybe that will be done sometime this week.

What do you think?

I love this Entertainment Center

2010-06-27T19:22:00.006-06:00

I love Sawdust and Paper Scraps's DIY entertainment center. We want to do something like this on this wall in our new house. (the wall to the right of the hallway- just in case anyone was confused)

I also love the crates she made for the cubbyholes in the et center. Go HERE to find that tutorial.

All Boxed Up

2010-06-23T15:43:00.004-06:00

I found these circle boxes at the DI for dirt cheap. I decided to dress them up a bit by adding some feet and paint. I glued the feet on with E-6000 glue.Decide on a base coat. This will show through when you sand later on. I went with black.Paint the boxes and lids the base color.Once the base coat is dry, paint the main color over the box. I left the lids black.To give my boxes more character, I added stripes in blue. I also added some poka-dots. Once the paint is totally dry, sand the boxes to your liking. To give it one last umph, I wiped walnut stain over each box. Add some decor around them. I added some birds.

Co-ops

2010-06-20T22:23:00.003-06:00

Have you ever been to a co-op? Me neither. But I hear they are pretty awesome.

Here are some Utah co-op websites that I have heard about.

www.foodco-op.net
www.bountifulbaskets.org
www.fieldtofamilies.com

You can also go to http://kaysville7rs.blogspot.com/ for more links, and penny pinching ideas.

Pleated Purse

2010-06-20T21:59:00.005-06:00

I want to make this pleated purse. I think it is adorable.
What You Need:

* 5/8 of a yard of 54″ width fabric for the sides, interior top bands and straps
* 5/8 of a yard of 54″ width fabric lining sides
* small piece of fabric for the top, exterior band
* small piece of fabric for the pockets
* 2 yards interfacing for the bag sides, straps and top bands.
* 1 yard fusible fleece- Pellon 987F
* 1 2-1/2 yard package of piping

See the tutorial HERE, for more details.

House Update

2010-06-18T21:39:00.006-06:00

We have windows, shingled roof and dry wall inside. The home builders told us we have about eight weeks until completion.

New House Update

2010-06-06T21:37:00.002-06:00

The new house is coming along nicely. We have a roof, some plumbing, and some duct work.

Here she is as she stands today...

Three column blog and free backgrounds

2010-05-29T00:24:00.002-06:00

Have you ever wondered how to get a three column blogger? I found this wonderful tutorial on how to make it happen. Go HERE

I also found a wonderful blogspot background website. Go HERE

When Life hands you lemons...

2010-05-26T19:44:00.007-06:00

I love Pottery Barn, but not their prices. While flipping through their online catalogue, I found these cute fruit signs, but I wanted to put my own flare on them.
Step 1: Find the perfect piece of wood. I will not say where I got mine, because I don’t want to incriminate myself…Step 2: Pick three paint colors. I chose white as my base, brown as my middle color, and yellow as my topcoat. Paint your board the base color and let it dry.Step 3: To get a peeling paint look, randomly rub a candle over the board. Do not cover it, just little spots here and there will do.Step 4-5:Paint over the base coat and wax with your middle color. Wait for it to dry, then repeat step 3.Step 6: Paint your topcoat over the middle color- wait for the paint to dry.Step 7: Use a METAL- not plastic- scrapper. I used a razor blade. Scrape over the board. The paint that is over the waxy spots should peel right off exposing the paint colors underneath.Step 8: Paint a word on your board. I used the word LEMONS. Let the paint dry.Step 9: Sand, sand, sand. It will make it look worn.

I have two other signs in the works. I hope I can get to them soon…

Bird Post

2010-05-22T08:58:00.005-06:00

All Thingz Related is a wonderful craft blog. While looking through her site, THIS post stood out to me. I love anything dealing with birds. I followed her tutorial- but she wasn't very detailed about some things, so I stumbled some, but I think it turned out OK.
You need a candle stick, a small dowel cut to size, something to cover the hole in the candle stick- I used a small wood circle I had laying around, and a bird. I found this bird at Doller Tree.Glue everything together like so.This part is very important. You need to bend the wire feet to fit around the dowel. I didn't bend the back piece, so after trying to glue the bird on the dowel with E6000 glue and hot glue, I determined the only way to get that thing to stay was to bend the small back piece too and then glue it with hot glue. All Thingz Related used E6000 glue, but I found hot glue was better.I then spray painted the whole thing a cream color.After the spray paint was dry I smothered the whole thing with Walnut stain and wiped it off until I got my desired look. I like the stain, but I really need to invest in some glaze...