Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Fun & Inexpensive Art for Kids Rooms!

Well so far I haven't done much in the way of tutorials so I figured I'd give it a shot since this project was very easy and inexpensive.  Oh and I happen to love the way it came out which doesn't happen a lot for me!

So Brendon's room (my two year old) is mostly a cars and trucks theme, and I know a lot of people don't like theme rooms but Brendon loooves cars and trucks so I thought it would be really cute to kind of run with that.  I don't have much money to purchase artwork for his room so I thought it would be fun to try and make some and this is what I came up with.



Supplies you will need:

- Unfinished wood plaques from the craft store - I got mine from Michael's at $1.49 each and used two different shapes


- White Spray Paint or Craft Paint - I think I paid $3.00 at WalMart for mine, they have the cheapest spray paint I've found

-Finished or Unfinished Wood Cutouts from the craft store - they cost between $.50 - $1.00 depending on the size generally and you can find them on the woodworking aisle.  I actually picked mine up at a yard sale and the woman had already painted them but I saw the same ones at Michaels for $.59 - $.99 each.




- Craft Paints - The cutouts  I had were already painted but craft paints are generally pretty inexpensive at around $.99 per paint I think.  Michael's also had pre-painted wood cutouts as well.



- Ribbon - you will need something to attach to your base wood plaque to hang it with so I

used some striped grosgrain ribbon I had laying around from another project.
- Gorilla Glue to attach the two pieces of wood together - I already had on hand which I purchased from Walmart I think
- A staple gun to attach your ribbon - also had on hand
-  Nails to hang your plaques

Total cost of my project = $12.00

                                        $6.00 wood base plaques
                                         $3.00 spray paint
                                         $3.00 cars, trucks cutouts (yard sale)

I had all other supplies on hand


Step 1 -  spray paint your wood plaques with the white spray paint or whatever color you want, I used white because I wanted the bright colors on the cut outs to really pop. I used about 2-3 coats on each plaque

Step 2 - If you purchase unpainted wood cutouts paint them and let dry

Step 3 - Once both your base plaque and your wood cut outs are dry you are ready to attach them with the gorilla glue.  Now if you don't have gorilla glue you could probably use hot glue but I haven't had the best experience trying to attach wood items with hot glue which is why I used gorilla glue and so far it worked really well!  Okay this sounds weird but it says so on the gorilla glue bottle so it's what I did.  Dampen the back of your wood cutout with water, not drenching it but evidently the glue works best when one piece is wet so I just ran each piece under the water faucet and then blotted it off.  I then drizzled the gorilla glue to the back of the cutout (not too much because it will expand once dried and spill over the edge, this happened to one of my plaques) and attach them to the wood base plaque.  The directions then say to clamp the pieces together with binder clips or put pressure on them for at least an hour.  I didn't have binder clips big enough so I put all my pieces on the floor and then sat my husbands tool box on top of them all.  This sounds crazy but I wanted there to be plenty of pressure on all the pieces so they would stick well and it worked!

Step 4 - Almost done! After waiting about an hour I flipped my plaques over, cut the amount of ribbon I wanted to form a hanger and just stapled the ends into the plaque with a staple gun (watch your fingers).

Step 5 - Hang them up!




I still need to touch up some of the plaque edges with white paint but for now they will do! I'm pretty happy with how they came out and they look really cute in Brendon's room.  I hope I didn't bore you with too many details:) 

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Found! Fun Kitchen Curtain Fabric

Since we moved into our house  I have been wanting to spruce up the windows in our kitchen with some fun curtains.  We had finally decided on a color scheme and the renovation is 75% complete so I figured now is as good a time as any to find some fabric and then try my hand at making some no-sew curtains.  Anyway after a long search for some fabric with some aqua/turquoise in it and something that is fun and kitchen appropriate I found it!!!!!



The fabric is designed by Bari J Ackerman for Windham Fabrics. It is from the FULL BLOOM collection and I found it on Ebay for $3.50 a yard.  It came super fast and I'm hoping to start making them this week.  Here is my inspiration photo that I found from graphic designer Kimberly Shaws blog here http://kimberlyshaw.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/02/best-teapot-fabric.html

She has an amazing shop where she has teacup accessories, stickers, etc.  I love that she used pom pom trim on hers and I think I may steal this idea too although I plan on making full curtain panels instead of just a valance.  Wish me luck!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

So Excited and I Can't Hide It!!!

Yep I'm quoting lyrics from the pointer sisters cuz I'm a big dork! but seriously I am... Today I found these chairs on Craigslist and I'm super excited to say the least


I have been casually looking for some french inspired dining chairs for a while now, not really seriously looking since I do have dining chairs but I don't love them you know, but these I love! I love the price even better, they are $100 for the set of 4 and since they look to be in great shape I can't wait to see them tomorrow.  The only thing I'd have to spend a bit extra doing is painting them If I decide to do that and switching out the fabric on the seats... I'll post again once I pick them up, wish me luck they are everything I hope they are:)  Have a great night, I know I'll be dreaming of chairs tonight....

Friday, October 8, 2010

Little Photo Gallery Wall

I love the look of gallery photo walls, especially the kind you see in Pottery barn catalogs that have all the different elements added like mirrors, words, signs, etc and I really wanted to do a small photo wall in my hallway but just couldn't figure it out with what I already had on hand. That is until I visited Natalie at http://endlesscrafting.blogspot.com/.  She had just done a post about her plans to do a gallery wall and while she hadn't put everything up yet I loved her combination of plates, photos and mirrors.  Well mine isn't nearly as nice as hers will surely be but I think it looks pretty good and I didn't have to spend a dime since I already had everything.  Here is what I planned to do but I ran out of space for the large photo frame.


This is what I ended up with




I really need to get a laser level to make sure everything is lined up correctly but for now this will do, I'm so tired of bare walls and I really wanted to see some of our photo's up on the wall.   Thanks for visiting!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Goodwill Goodies and a Distressed Table!

I just have to tell you that I'm super excited because I just finished my first try at distressing furniture and I think I did pretty well for a first-timer, Woo Hoo!!!  The other day when I was visiting my Momma I stopped at the Goodwill near her house and found this great french chair!!!!!


Have I told yall how much I love anything french inspired?... Well I am obsessed, but in a good way:)



Look at the detail!



It was $5!!!!! it is missing a support bar from the base of the chair but I'm hoping either my husband Jerry can fix it or if he can't figure it out, I'm hoping a carpenter won't charge a huge amount to fix it... we'll see.  I actually love the color of the wood but I even thought of painting it an aqua or turquoise blue to go with a white desk for my living room that I've got my eye on from Craigslist.

The 2nd thing I purchased that was just calling my name since I've always wanted a little pedestal table in my living room, was this little thing that probably came from the 70's or 80's... It was $10 and I think worth it since it's very solid.



At first I wasn't sure what color I wanted it to be, and again I thought about painting it aqua but then again my walls are sort of aqua and some curtains I've been eyeing have aqua and turquoise in them and I didn't want it to be blue overkill!  I decided on a creamy white since I already have a white china cabinet and entry table and I really like how those pieces make the room brighter, plus I just love the shabby chic/cottage style... I really wanted to try distressing, I'd never tried it and I really just wanted a light distressed look and well enough babbling... I like how it turned out, but do you think I should distress it more?






Obviously Brendon likes it too:) as soon as I brought it up from the basement after the paint was dry he decided it would be great to climb on and watch tv.... 2 year olds!



Thanks for visiting!