EAT

I've been working for a few days on a new project for over the pantry door. I've seen a few variations on many craft blog websites so here's my attempt:

I took a piece of plywood and cut it to be 29 inches long (the length of my door including the molding) and 1 foot tall. My Granddad did the cutting until I can get some type of saw (coming soon, YAY!)

I then used my sweet sander to sand the front and sides.

After sanding I applied some primer and then painted the board with this blue paint that I got a Lowe's for ONE DOLLAR. It is a sample size of paint and it has "mistint" written on the top, but it's a really pretty shade and was plenty of paint. I'm thinking about using some more on another project. I wasn't sure what color I wanted to paint the board originally but when I stumbled upon this paint for such a good price, I knew it was the one. 

primer

After the blue paint (can't really tell it's blue in the picture - bad lighting)

I painted the letters E, A and T a dark blue (they were originally white - then I painted them green then I changed my mind and painted them blue. I got them at Michaels for $3 a piece).

After I painted everything I sanded them to give them an antique look. Cory (the bf) saw the letters and was like "I think you need another coat..." but then I explained the sanding. I wanted the white to show through some on the letters and the board. 

I wanted to add a fork and spoon... 'cause you know... that's what you eat with. I was able to find a large wooden spoon, but not a large wooden fork so I decided to take some silverware my old (disliked) roommate left at our apartment that I don't like to use and paint it for the board. I painted them white with spray paint. The bottom handle part was black plastic and the top was silver (obviously). It took about two thick-ish coats. I didn't worry about the back since it will be glued to the board. 

While my utensils dried I attached the letters to the board with a few pieces of this poster board sticky stuff. I cut the pieces to outline the tops and bottoms of the letters and pressed them securely on the board. They worked out really well!

I used wood glue to glue the utensils on the board - I tried hot glue but when we applied the contraption to hang it up with on the back, they fell off. I used a standard picture hanging bracket on the back to hold up the board. 

LESSON LEARNED: Attach what ever you will use to hang this with before gluing on anything. Hammer + Nail + banging = glued things falling off. :(

We then measured the center of the door frame and hung it up using a screw instead of a nail because I'm a scared-y cat and was afraid it'd fall on someone's head if the pantry door was closed hard. 

It's a little to the right (don't get me started) but I. AM. IN. LOVE. 

I already have an idea for the wall behind the dining room table that I want to start working on this weekend. EXCITING!

FOOD

I found some chalkboard paint at AC Moore and ever since that show Trading Spaces on TLC I have been obsessed with using some chalkboard paint. So i set off to find a use for a chalkboard. My immediate instinct was to use it in the kitchen for a grocery list. However, after painting a pretty big piece of wood, I wasn't sure what to do with it.

Enter wooden picture frame on a rope... (I would like to note that I keep forgetting to take the before pictures so half way through my first task for the project I will yell "I forgot my before picture!" and grab my camera... so no, this did not come partially painted green.)

This is a hanging picture frame I found at AC Moore, so I decided to paint the inside with the chalkboard paint to hang in the kitchen. I put a few coats of green paint on them and let it dry. 

I decided to add these letters too so it wasn't so boring so I painted them white. It took a couple of coats.

I then added the chalkboard paint to the center. Luckily because this is supposed to be a picture frame, the frame itself (the green part) is raised higher than the back of the frame (the chalkboard part) so I didn't have to tape it off. I just used a smaller brush to get all around the edges but not on the top of the frame.

I decided to glue the FOOD down the side of the frame so I used wood glue to accomplish that. I'm really pleased with the finished product and promptly hung it up to be used.

I would like to find a way to attach the chalk but not so that it dangles because I have two cats that would love to eat it. 

I'm also working on a few other projects including more art for the kitchen and an entertainment center.

February Crafts before the blog

So before I started this blog I did some of my first craft projects thanks to random blogs. I'm going to try to include the blogs I find this stuff on in the future but for now this will have to work.

The first project was my wreath for my front door. So I had a Christmas wreath and a fall wreath but I wanted a wreath that was for just all year 'round. This was pretty basic. I went to AC Moore and bought the wreath, wooden letters, wooden bird house, paint, hot glue (gun and sticks) and the Modge Podge.

This is what I started out with... and below is the finished product:

So it's pretty easy. I painted each of the letters with a few coats of the green paint (which is much prettier than it looks on here... silly flash). Then I painted the birdhouse orange with a white roof. I put outdoor Modge Podge on everything to seal it and hopefully prevent the humidity from messing up my hard work.

Then I hot glued the letters and the house to the wreath. This took some patience because you have to line everything up and see which spots need glue and which spots don't. I think made the bow from some orange ribbon by tying it directly on the wreath. 

I shook it a little to make sure nothing was going to fall off and ... ta daaa!

One tip: I did NOT account for the wreath holder so I had to kind of life the "C" so the wreath was on the holder pretty steady. So I recommend determining where the holder will fall on the wreath if/when you try it. I'll be making another wreath for my BFF for her door soon so I'll have step by step pictures of that one!

I also made this tray for our coffee table. We have a billion remotes and coasters and miscellaneous junk that sits on the coffee table so I wanted some cute way to store these things. Enter: tray.

AC Moore had these plain wooden trays on sale so I picked up one of the larger ones and used the same white and orange paint i used above on the wreath to paint the outside of the tray (white) and the inside (orange). I think used some rub-on stickers for the top and bottom border and the "Love of my Life" in the middle. These stickers are actually really cool. They came in a set and you just cut out the individual pieces then rubbed the stickers on with a popsicle stick (provided) until the sticker was imprinted on the tray.

 I put the pictures on the tray and then used the Modge Podge to seal everything on the tray. It took a LOT of thin layers to seal the pictures because I had to build up the level difference from the tray to the picture. The Modge Podge dries pretty quickly so I did the layers over a few days but really only 10-15 minutes is needed between layers. 

Now I'm ready to hold all the remotes and coasters in one spot on the coffee table. I know that our beautiful faces will probably be covered up but I will still know they are there and when all the remotes and coasters find their way out of the tray (which I'm sure they will), everyone will get to see my handy work. 

Anyway, that's what I've been working on. My to-do list is quite long so I'm looking forward to all the changes and improvements that will take place. 

That's it for tonight - off to play with buttons... More to come on that adventure. 

Hi my name is Becky, and I'm addicted to crafts...

I bought a house last November that I adore. It is perfect (for now) and a great starter home. I've been steadily making it mine. Because it is new construction there's a lot I need to add and it is a blank canvas so it makes my job easier.

I started out with some pretty basic things but now that I'm settled and ready (read: obsessed), I want to add personal touches. Hence my journey: stalking craft blogs. I got my best friend involved as well and she said "you should write about trying things you find on craft blogs!" So you can probably guess the end of this story. Here is my blog.

I will post pictures, stories, and lessons learned when completing my work. I am SUPER pumped about this and although my boyfriend is now referring to me as a "compulsive decorator" I've got this totally under control... totally.