March Madness - Spice Jars

You win some, you loose some and then some just take a little reworking.  So it is with my spice jars.  If you read THIS post from March, you remember these...

The plan was for these simple peach jars to become my new spice jars.  Long story short I spray painted each jar and lid, let them dry and then sealed them.  I was excited until...I went to screw the lid on the jar.  Enter my small paint shard issue...

Unfortunately since the jars will hold spices, and shards of paint potentially mixing in with food could be very dangerous, I am having to start from square...er...round one.  So more peaches it is!  

Blessings!

March Madness - Buffy Big Reveal!

SHE'S DONE!  After a couple weeks of hard work stripping, sanding, staining, priming, painting, sealing...she is finally done and in her new home!  Just to refresh your memory....

BEFORE: 

AFTER: (Nasty laminate be gone...)

 She now has a beautiful dark stained top...

It's really hard to believe this baby was a $25 craigslist discard and now she is a beautiful little piece of furniture!  The work was all worth it!

Blessings!

March Madness - Gallery Wall

Since moving into our current house I have had the strong desire to put up a gallery wall, due in part to the fact we have some amazing pictures from our little ones first birthday (thanks to the crazy amazing talent of Amy Grebe Photography).  This weekend I decided it was time to get this baby up.  

First off let me just say putting up a gallery wall, NOT EASY!  It was harder than I thought it would be, mainly just configuring the way you want the pictures.  I searched pinterest and several other websites and thought I knew what I wanted.  I tried the whole cut paper and tape it to the wall, but honestly it didn't cut it for this overly visual chickadee...

After seeing all those pieces of paper I finally decided to go about this a different way.  I started by pulling out all the available frames I had, that I wanted to use.  I decided where the middle would be, based on the placement of the couch, and worked my way out from there.  I used the top of the area rug to be sure it would all be straight (the hubby got a good laugh out of that one).  This is what I ended up with...

My little helper came over to supervise my work :).

I had SO MANY frames in boxes, by doing it this way I was able to save money by using what I had.  After I did a little measuring and adjusting it was time to get hanging.  Now measuring this would have been murder, so instead we decided to use wax paper (since we had some on hand :)) to make the a template for the wall.  We ran 2 pieces across the back of the frames (sorry forgot to take a picture before I hung the top piece on the wall, but you get the idea).  We taped the wax paper to the end frames...

 Then it was just a matter of locating all the picture hangers and marking their locations with a pen...

After all the picture hangers had been located, we very carefully taped the wax paper to wall using the center marks as a guide.  We took one of the frames and held it up to the top to be sure we had the height we were looking for...

 Then it was just a matter of hammering nails into all the marks...

Once all the nail had been hammered in we pulled down the wax paper.  We took our pictures we printed at home, put them in the frames, hung them up and viola!  Our gallery wall was complete!

To break up all the pictures we chose one of our favorite songs to put in the frame on the far left and placed a nice big J in the mix...

I have to say I L-O-V-E my gallery wall.  By using the wax paper I didn't have to move a single nail, that's a first for me!  It has added so much to the room and made the big space feel warm.  My total cost for this gallery wall was $6, thanks to the Dollar Tree and the fact that we decided to print our own pictures, which turned out beautifully!

But my favorite part of this whole project, watching our little guy enjoy playing with the wax paper after it came off the wall :)....

Blessings!

March Madness: Mr. & Mrs. Pillows!

I am SO excited to share this tutorial with you because it was super easy!

One of the additions we need to our bedroom is a few new pillows for our bed.  We decided to save money by using a comforter we've had in storage (sorry you'll have to wait to see it until the BIG reveal :), however we knew we would need accent pillows.  I searched Pinterest (of course!) and found these adorable pillows...

I knew I wanted one's just like them.  So I went on a hunt through the craft closet and found some leftover canvas from our little mans first birthday party, black sharpies and a bed pillow we had laying around.  

Here's the tutorial...

I started by finding a font I liked and printing out the words I needed.  I positioned them on the fabric and cut 3 equal size pieces of fabric for each pillow...

Since I don't own a light table, I decided to make one using a piece of sheet plastic I had on hand.  I taped the printed out word on the sheet plastic so it would stay in place...

 Using duck tape I stretched the canvas over the printed out word and taped it down...

Enter my light table source...okay I know a little ghetto but it works great!  To make my light table I placed a heavy object on one end of the sheet plastic, hung the end with the word over my work table and set the shadeless lamp on the floor just under the sheet plastic....

 Here's what it looks like when the light comes through the plastic!

Now it was just a matter of trace and color.  I have to admit this was ALOT of fun and super easy.  Be sure you stretch the fabric tight to make it easier to trace...

 After I finished I carefully went over the area's that needed to be darker and the lines that needed to be cleaned up...

Once I finished I was left with these three...

EEEEEEEEEE!!!! Can you hear my excitement!  All that was left was measuring down the material on each pillow.  I chose to leave the center pillow a little larger to keep from being to uniform.

I cut the bed pillow open and measured out the amount of foam I needed.  Then using No Sew fabric glue I glues together 3 of the 4 sides and let them dry (about 2 hours).  I stuffed the pillow and glued the last side together.

 After about 2 hours of drying time my pillows were done!  I L-O-V-E these and they are the perfect addition to our Vintage Romantic bedroom.

OH and as for WHY our center pillow is a treble/bass clef...well you will just have to wait and see :) (no that's not the comforter either).  The best part of these pillows is the cost, a big fat $0, zip, zilch!  Everything I used for this project I had on hand.

Blessings!

March Madness: Burlap Curtains!

After finding the dream design for our new vintage romantic bedroom it has been hard to focus on anything else.  Normally I would reveal the design, but for the fun of it I've decided to wait until April when the room complete.  

In the mean time here are a few projects I'm working on for our new bedroom design.  Today's project was Burlap Curtains.  I have been wanting to try this for some time now and finally decided to move on it since I had 40% off coupon to Joann Fabrics.  I was really excited when I arrived and the Burlap was on sale for $2.99 per yard!  I purchased 5 yards for a total of $8.97! 

I started by measuring out the burlap I needed for each panel.  Since the sides of the burlap were finished and I wanted a rough bottom, the only part I had to complete was the top.  After making my cuts I pulled out the iron and ironing board.  I made a large crease and iron it down.

 I ran a strip of Heat 'N Bond along the edge of each crease.

 Next it was just a matter of ironing each crease to bond the two sides together.

 While both panels cooled I took down the existing curtains.  These looked great in our last house, unfortunately I can't say the same for these yellowish-cream-rental house walls.  Not to mention they were a little short due to the windows being higher in this house.

 Thanks to my 40% off coupon, these babies (which were normally $9.99, on sale for $5.99) came to a total of $3.59!

 Just a few clips and the new curtains were up!

 I absolutely love these, they are so wistful and the billow at the bottom adds to the look!  They only took about 20 minutes to make!

Cost Breakdown:

Burlap - $8.97

Heat N Bond - $0 (on hand from dining room curtains)

Curtain Rings - $3.59

Total Curtain Project - $12.56!

Blessings,
hj

March Madness: 220 reasons

When it comes to sanding projects I will be the first to admit that I am no expert.  So when I decided to refurb buffy and the twins, I wanted to be sure I did a good a job.  I turned to the internet and several DIY blogs for suggestions on the best way to refurb wood and veneer furniture.  It didn't take long before I landed on 2 different Pro-Grade sandpapers, meet 80 and 220...

I started with 80 Grit sandpaper which is very course.  This stuff works wonders, even on veneer, but does leave a very rough surface.  Enter 220 Grit!  This stuff is, in a word, I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E!   220 Grit is very fine and meant to smooth out rough surfaces.  Within no time all three pieces went from gritty and rough to smooth and flush.  It's hard to tell from photo's but the left was sanded with 80 Grit and the right with 80 and 220 Grit...

The door on the left sanded with 80, the door on the right sanded with 80 and 220...

The proof is not in the pictures, but in the feel.  The smooth finish of all 3 pieces made them feel like new.

Along the way I'm learning just how messy sanding projects are.  

With the sanding projects complete I can move on to painting, priming and staining!  These babies are getting SO CLOSE to being done!

Blessings