Child's Reading Bag

Awhile ago at Joann's (with a diaper bag full of coupons) I picked up a few of the dollar tote bags in the children's craft area.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them but baby girl is all about shoes and bags so I knew they would come in handy.  Fast forward to this week, I need a birthday gift on the cheap for a little friend of baby girls.  This friend L.O.V.E.S Elmo and lucky for me I found a handful of Elmo books at Target in the dollar section and scored another book from TJMaxx for a few books.  I was just going to wrap them up and be done but I had the time (meaning I didn't want to unload the dishwasher, do laundry, vaccum....) to do something more.  So I grabbed a green tote, some embroidery floss and a button and went to town.  The finished product is a personalized reading bag full of booky goodness all for about $7!

ashley

Oversized Chalkboard

So it's been a busy few days around here, with cramming projects into hubby's long weekend, Easter Dinner Party, lots of baking and some mud pies as well :)
But we found some time to finish up the humongo chalkboard that's been living in our garage for a few weeks and hung it yesterday, love it!  Not going to lie though, I was terrified to write on it at first but I got over it quick and baby girl has already created some master pieces as well. Side note: I've been taking photos of those masterpieces with her proudly posing by to make a little book that documents how big she's getting :(  Can't we start over and go back to being a tiny little thing....)

Supplies:

4x4 birch board

4 1x4's (2 will need to be cut down to 3 ft 10 inches)

chalkboard paint

desired paint color for frame

finishing nails

wood glue

2 nuts, bolts and washers

picture hanger wire

I painted about 5 layers of chalkboard paint ( probably a little overkill) allowing each layer to dry before painting the next.

Paint out trim boards.

Once dry, adhere trim to chalkboard with a thin line of glue and 4 finishing nails spaced evenly. (The nails are so small you can just paint over them and they disappear) The longer boards trim the top and bottom.

We bumped out the bottom trim board to create a ledge to hold the chalk.  If we had thought of it earlier we would have used a wider board to make the bottom flush but it was a last minute addition.

Dixie or "Dee" according to baby girl thought she was getting a treat and had to get in on this one :) She's just 6 months old and 45 pounds...her paws are fat, plump things so we think she is going to be H.U.G.E

Since the birch board is so light and thin, the nails we put through the back of the board to hang the picture wire kept pulling out of the wood so we screwed bolts with washers through the top corners and used nuts to secure.  

Attach picture wire to the back of screws and hang.

thanks for reading!

ashley

mudpies...yummm

 

Coming up....

A ginormous chalkboard! So far it looks pretty awesome in my head :)  Hubby was sweet enough to get the materials last night (although I think he will take any excuse to go to the improvement store) and they are sitting in the garage. My mom is coming in town this weekend so hopefully this thing will be done within a few days!

ashley

Yarn Eggs

One package of plastic eggs,

one package of multi-colored yarn,

a bottle of white glue,

and 3 episodes of The Office later you get 2 dozen of these beauties:

Easy peasy; cover the bottom of the egg with glue and start wrapping, and wrapping and wrapping...

Since we're trying to eat better around here, there's no treats on the cookie stand but there are fake eggs :)

Ashley

Chevron Table

I am loving the chevron pattern thats everywhere these days but since I don't have the time, patience or math skills to paint my foyer in beautiful chevrons I had to find something easy and quick.  I found a dingy two tier side table (I think its an old school telephone table, ps. how wierd that our kids won't really ever know a heavy handheld homephone...) at GW for $4.99.  Sanded it down and painted the base coat a creamy milk color.  I found this template at sunset.com and as soon as baby girl went down for bed I headed out to the garage.  It only took me about 30 minutes and since I used paint I already had, the total cost was the price of the table, $5!  I didn't take photos but it's super easy.

Print and cut out chevron pattern.

Tape and traced it onto the table with a pencil. 

Paint, I found that the width of this pattern was the exact size of a small foam brush so that made things super easy.

Done.

I want to do this to all my furniture, dresser tops, bookcase backs...but one piece of furniture is all the hubby can handle.

A wood and brass lamp on top and a basket full of toys that fits perfectly underneath, don't you love when that happens :)

But for real, this is what it looks like most of the time....

                                          Ashley


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Window to Nada

First off, thank ya'll for all of the encouragement! It is nice to hear that you're trying out some of these projects!  I would love to see some pictures of the Mason Jar Soap Pump ya'll are making :)  Really though, your comments are very sweet and thoughtful and I truely appreciate them, especially when baby girl is throwing a fit because I won't let her climb on the coffee table (who knows where that would lead) or I find the puppies eating dangerous pre-Katrina remnants they dig out of the backyard (a handful of Mardi Gras beads mixed with rocks seem to be their favorite (our home was flooded in Katrina by the way))  

Anyways, we found this window during the same trip we found this beauty.  I wasn't sure where it would go but I thought the panes were really interesting and for $5 what the heck. 

 It sat on the front porch for awhile before I finally made it to Lowe's to look for mirror to back it with.  But, I'm not about to pay $45 for a mirror, so it sat some more on the front porch. Then, I found this magical paint:               

            

Looking Glass Mirror-Like Paint by Krylon.  It looks like mirror when you spray it onto the back of glass for a fraction of the cost! It is pricey compared to regular spray paint ($11 for a 6 oz can) but I found mine at Michael's and used a coupon. One can was just enough for this window.  Simply clean the glass, and spray light even coats (about 5 or 6), I didn't even tape it off.  It dries super fast so this puppy was done in about 30 minutes.  We decided to hang it in the dining room since there wasn't a single thing on the walls but it's looking a bit lonely.  

I thought maybe a plate wall around it but hubby says that reminds him of his MeMaw. So like anyone, I've been looking for plates with man stuff like fish on them :)  I found a really cute manly one at Goodwill for less than a buck but being ever so graceful, that thing was shattered less than a day later. Any ideas?  My tabletop is looking a bit sad too, just some dishes and flowers...any ideas for that too?

Ashley

Salvaged Door

Hubby and I found this great old door at the salvage yard the other week.  It was tucked away in the corner with the paneled side facing out but a quick peek around to the other side revealed this beautiful antiqued glass.  And in the truck it went.  I should of taken a before picture but I was scrambling to finish it so it could go in the house before we had house guest arrive (anyone else decide to do a project hours before you have people coming over?) I sanded and scraped the paint off; it was so chippy that it was really easy to get it all off.  Thankfully, because I'm impatient!   We could of left it on because it was actually really pretty but being an old door I'm sure it was lead paint and we kinda like having our baby girl around, so out with the paint.  But I was looking at it this morning and thought it needed something...

I googled "New Orleans house numbers"and found an image that I liked, took an exacto knife to it and taped the numbers on the door.  Then I traced around the numbers with a pencil.

I am pretty lazy when it comes to crafting so I just used a pencil but paint would work great. I just wanted a light and distressed feel to match the door.

Pencil in the shaded areas dark (copied off the google image) and the main area in lighter.

Draw lines in the opposite direction as well to fill it in better.  Then take your finger and rub the pencil marks to make a more even finish.

Super easy and I still have some time to drink a cup of coffee before baby girl wakes up from her nap! You moms out there now the simple joy of uninterrupted coffee time :)

Have a great Sunday!

Ashley




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