BABY

Someone asked me the other day if I'm always working on something . . .

Oh my goodness, yes!

But in a very good/bad sort of way . . .

Why bad you ask? Because my craft room (or "the stuff room" as my daughter likes to call it) looks like a tornado just went through it . . . and because I often look like a bag lady with paint on my hands and in my hair . . .

Good, because I'm always involved in creating something that makes me smile :)

Like this little project that my friend asked for some help with. She's expecting a new little one ANY day now, and she wanted something to fill a large wall in the nursery. She had the vision, and I just helped make it happen. I just painted four white canvases the colors used in her nursery.

Then for the letters I just printed them out on plain paper, carefully cut them out, and used them to trace around.

I just trace them with a pencil and follow that with this paint marker (Wal-Mart, craft section by the paint).

Then I filled in the lines with some antique white craft paint. They looked great just like that, but my friend wanted a little more somethin' somethin'. So I just antiqued them with some brown glaze.

Wanna do your own glazing? Jen gives a great tutorial.

I think they are just so cute! And you could do a million different things with this same idea . . . initials, names, designs. Lots of possibilities! Plus, I often see the canvases 50% OFF at Hobby Lobby.

She'll kill me when she finds out I'm showing this, but she made the most darling memory board to also go in the room. Love it!

Little white chair

A friend of mine is revamping and reorganizing her kids' rooms. So she's been on the lookout for a little chair to use in her daughter's rooms. She came across this perfect little one at the Goodwill the other day (careful Linds...it's addicting!) and asked for my help in the paint department.

We used one my favorites for the color (Rustoleum Heirloom White) and then shabbied it up with some sandpaper.

The only problem . . . now I want one :)

For the love of blue

I recently found a new love . . .


Meet Rustoleum American Accents Aqua.

It wasn't love at first sight, and I really wasn't sure her and I were going to get along (she's a bit loud and flashy, you know). But with a little sanding and aging, she's become the perfect touch of color. Here are some things she's found her way onto . . .

(Oops! I *might* need to do some dusting up there . . . ha ha . . . )

Yep. I think her and I are going to get along just fine :)

The Letter H

This was another project I got from Joy.

I did this several months ago, but decided I was done with the scrapbook paper that I originally used and wanted something different.

You just start with a wood plaque and wood letter (both from Wal-Mart). I spray painted mine black like Joy did, but you can use any color you fancy.

After they were both dry, I just sanded down the edges with some medium-grit sandpaper.

Then for the paper I used my new favorite find. Did you know you can print off vintage paper and images from the Internet. There are lots of fellow bloggers that do high-quality scans of vintage prints and save them for all to use. Lovely no? I can definitely see me using this in the future . . .

So this vintage music sheet I got from Heidi. Then I cut it down to the size of the plaque and aged it with a brown stamp pad.
I stuck it to the plaque with this stuff. I found it at Wal-Mart in the paint section.

I'm sure you can also use Mod Podge. It's just me and Mod Podge have a love/hate relationship, so I went with always easy Spray Adhesive.

Then you just glue the letter onto the plaque. Easy peasy! Thanks Joy for another great project!

A Green Chalkboard

I first saw the homemade chalkboard on Joy's blog.

Okay . . . first of all . . . love. her.

She is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Her's was one of the first crafty blogs I stumbled across, and has been a favorite ever since. She is THE QUEEN of spray paint and completely inspired me to start using it myself. Plus, she makes awesome furniture out of doors. Yes . . . doors. How cool is she?

If you check out her blog, make sure to go drool over her green coffee table. (I secretly dream about this table at night and want to be just like her when I grow up so I can make one for myself :)

So, onto the chalkboard. I found this picture frame at the Goodwill.

All I did was remove the glass and spray paint it with this stuff. (Yes, you can spray paint glass)

Then sprayed the frame itself with this stuff. (Both from the Home Depot)



After the frame was dry I sanded down the edges and antiqued it with some brown paint. Then after the glass was completely dry, I just popped it back into the frame and VOILA!