Project: Cheap Backsplash!

I REALLY want a tile back splash someday, however the current price for the glass tile I have my eye on is around 12-14 dollars per square foot. I have plenty of things that I could spend just under $500 on and well, I'm a cheapo :)

Chevron stripes!

I know that it is super trendy right now and so as far as long term...not gonna happen!

But for right now, I'm game!

I originally saw this pinned using vinyl for the whole thing. Great idea too! It costs about 5-6 dollars per square foot as well if you went through the Etsy site...

Here's what I did-

I painted the back splash area "Forsythia Blossom"

A great light yellow....I loved it until I turned on the kitchen light and then it held this fluorescent "highlighter-ish" quality I wasn't in love with...

So I did this-

Repainted it darker yellow!

When I took the paint back to be re-tinted the guy told me he had never had someone hate the color, come back and get it darker...

well there is a first for everything :)

I went with "Bumble Bee A13-6"

Above the cupboards I painted "Stormy Weather" a gray, so the yellow really pops.

Then-

I had a wonderful friend make me 2 stencils with her Silhouette...

Used left over "Witch Hazel" from a different project...I used a sponge brush-much easier when using a stencil!

Then-

Commenced to paint.

It was a long process because I only made two stencils and so I had to wait for them to dry in order to put them up for the next round. I took a lot longer than I planned, but I love the result...for now :)

Thanks for checkin in!

Project: Menu Board!

I have been using my kiddo's chalk board as a menu planner, while I know he doesn't mind, I figured that it was time to get serious about some menu board ideas!

I am very lucky because a friend of mine, saw that I had pinned several variations of menu boards trying to decide what I liked, so she invited me over for a playdate/craft afternoon. Which meant that we got to get together 3 times working on it! (choosing the style, shopping for the frame and fabric, putting it all together!)

Crafting with friends is my favorite!

After MUCH deliberation we ended up liking this style best!

Picture frame, 12''x18''

Used coupon from the website @ Micheal's.

Ended up being around 7 dollars. There are cheaper frames for the same size, I just really liked this frame best, I like the thicker edge.

I used fabric for the background.

Used a Sillouhette to cut out circles, letters, and rounded rectangles.

Tacky glued it and stuck it back into the frame!

Finished!

That was easy...

now...what to make for dinner?

Project: Drop Off Station!

 My new..."Drop off Station"

     

I often refer to it as my Mud Room because it's the closest I'm gonna get! :)

Since I am a teacher and the summer is my free time, I really started to panic last week when I realized, I hadn't even started the projects that wanted to get to! So, to assuage my guilt I quickly began work on the area of my house with the biggest need! I love my kitchen, but I do not have a good pantry area, I have had to rely on this shelf to hold the food "I use too much to be in the food storage area, but there isn't enough room in the kitchen because I don't use it that often," if ya know what I mean?

Uhg...here's the before: (I can't believe I am showing people how this looked! In my defense, this is probably the worst it got...)

It just became this awful drop off zone...yikes!

So....I moved the shelving into the Laundry Room, totally reorganized and much better looking!

I then began to paint the whole wall "Stormy Weather," a very beautiful gray-subtle but perfect! You can get the color at Lowes, however I just took the paint chip to my local Ace and they were able to find the color in their data base, so if you like it, I'm betting you could find it without a Lowes nearby.

After painting it gray, I wanted to do horizontal stripes using, "Witch Hazel" white, it has a gray tint so they wouldn't look so stark in contrast. Make sure when measuring from stripes that you put your tape up right, it needs to be on the outsides of the stripes you are painting, the tape should look even for every other stripe!

Found the basket at D.I. painted it "Tropicana Cabana"

Along with the shelf on top!

Wicker might not hold up the best, but for 4 bucks, I felt we could make it work ;)

The four plank table,

I found this on Pintrest, but the pinner didn't pin it to the website. So I googled it and found a couple of suitable designs! Super easy! It is supposed to have another board running across the front at a diagonal, but I wanted to put the basket there, so I removed it.

Spray paint, "Summer Squash."

Hooks from Lowes. I found that they want to charge you up to 2 dollars more per hook if you want different colors. Buy the cheapest and then paint it if needed.

I found the cheapest shelving material as well at ACE...I used the fifth board to my table as the shelf!

and there you have it!

Project: Barbie House 2

For almost a whole year now, I have been hunting for an entertainment center that can be transformed into a Barbie House, because dear Katie's Barbie House was so amazing, it totally inspired me.

My last trip to the Goodwill, I found this! It was 12 bucks but very sturdy, and I was SO stinkin excited about it! My daughter saw it first, but it only took me five seconds to decide if I was going to purchase it or not.

When we got home, we washed it down and made it shine. We grabbed all of my daughters old shoe boxes, that I KNEW would come handy one day! My old material scraps and cute paper, the trusty Mod Podge and went online to print out some pictures... 

Wah-lah!  Here it is, so much more inviting and homey, don't ya think? 

For the Living Room, I printed off french doors, some photos of our family, and the dresser and TV. The couch was made out of 1/2 a shoe box with the lid ducktaped as the back. The fabric was manipulated and Hot Glued down. The chair is an old jewelry box.

For the Kitchen, I mod podged some paper down to the floor that resembled tile, and found a photo of a kitchen my daughter liked for the wall. I like this one because it has the same greenery and french doors like in the Living Room.

I just finished the table for this today, I will have to post it later.

My daughter and I had a lot of fun picking out fabrics for the beds. The beds are again made out of shoeboxes cut in half and ducktaped to make them sturdy, then wrapped in fabric and hot glued. Then we sewed the blankets and the pillows were stuffed with cotton balls.

We printed out pictures of Barbie and Disney characters and a couple dressers off of Google. 

We even punched out 1 inch circles and sewed them to make a garland, then we hot glued that off of the ceiling.

The whole project cost was 12 dollars! We got creative and used things we had in the house. It is a piece that will hopefully last for years! We have had hours of fun with it already.

Project: Graduation Caps

Hello all! What a crazy year it has been! Having a baby really puts crafting and free time on hold. But! I'm glad to be back. :0)

I was able to teach in a Preschool Co-op this year. We had our end of the year Graduation Party last Monday, and I was in charge of the Graduation Caps. But I saw these yummy treats on Pinterest and had to play. 

Cute and simple. I wish I would have bought a different kind of frosting. The gel was hard to work with.

Now on to Posterboard Graduation Caps! 

I made 4 hats out of 2 Posterboard, normal crafting scissors to cut everything out used and Hot Glue to hold it all together. 

I bent down the top part of the circle piece, and cut slits every inch. Then I cut out every other square so it was easier to handle. Then hot glued the remaining pieces down! 

Done! 

And a nice chunky yarn tassle glued right on top! 

Congratulations little Preschooler!

Project: Kids bathroom redo

 We repainted the kids bathroom back in February.....and I finally finished it!   Nice to check something off the list.

The room started as a dark blue color.  Nice, but it didn't match any of my (3) shower curtains.  My friend had some leftover paint that I thought might match one, so we tried it.

 OOPS!  Have you ever had one of those - it was better before I did that - moments?  I tried to make myself like it as we finished painting it at 1 am.  Even after my husband pointed out that I would choose NOT to rent a house just because of a room like that......he was right.  And when I looked at it again in the morning I disliked it even more.  Okay, so I hated it.  Thank goodness there was paint leftover from my bathroom!  It was a nice shade of gray by evening.

Do you have any toilets that do this?  Gross!  I took the opportunity to add some caulk around the base....of all the toilets in the house.  Youtube it.  It is really very easy, and super quick!  And I did 3 toilets and re-caulked 2 showers for $10.  Totally worth it.

Ahhhh.....happy "not so much grossness to clean" to me!

 I put some hooks on the back of the door to hide the kids towels.  They dry better this way anyway.

 I found some really cute bathroom printables here and gradually rounded up frames from the local thrift store. (Spray painted to match) I cut a square of foam board and covered it with some scrap fabric for the center square.  If I find a frame about that size I'll add the "comb your hair" print instead.  If you want some tips for how to hang a collage check out this post.

 It all matches!  And it isn't fluorescent!

 And it only cost me $8....for frames.  All the paint was leftover from some other project, and I've had the shower curtain/towels for years.  Though to completely finish the project....

I'm going to have to buy some ceiling paint.  Seriously people.  If you are going to take the time to put color on your walls, take the time to do it right!  Or no one will be able to appreciate the beautiful color you picked - all they will see is a crappy paint job.  Okay, so maybe thats just me :0)

Project: How to hang a photo collage

 When it comes to hanging pictures on the wall there are a million different opinions on how it should be done.  I tend to be an estimator....measure about where you want it, mark it with your finger and hammer in the nail.  All the while praying it is really in the right spot.

 But when it comes to hanging a collage of pictures, there are a few ways to save yourself a lot of headache.  I use 2 different ways, depending on the size of the collage.

For a large collage I lay the pictures out of the floor.  I always have rolls of huge paper on hand for the kids to use to their hearts content.  I cut a piece of paper the size of each frame.  I know it seems tedious but it is much easier that trying to position and reposition nails and frames all the while hoping the collage turns out the way you want it to.  I tape the papers to the wall and re-situate them until I like the way they come together.  Measure and mark on each paper where the hanger is on the back of the frame.  Nail through the paper, remove the paper, and hang your pictures!

 For a small collage I pull out the kids butcher paper (again) and cut a piece the size of the wall I want to fill.  I lay the pictures out how I want them on the paper then trace the frames.

 I measure and mark where the hangers on the back of the pictures are and then hang the paper on the wall.

Hammer through the paper then pull it off of the wall, leaving the nails in place.

Voila! A beautiful collage, and only one nail hole for each picture.