Birthday Signs!

Are you guys tired of Watermelons yet?  I hope not cause I have lots more to come!  Tonight I worked on the signs for my front step sign hanger things!  And guess what?  I didn't use vinyl this time, but I did use my Cricut!

I made stencils using the Calligraphy cartridge and CDS and painted all the letters!  I used the sander to make everything look a little old, added a couple of Watermelons, some ribbon and my favorite cheap upholstery tacks from WalMart.  I can't wait to hang them up....34 days and counting!

Don't forget to enter my $50 CSN giveaway here!

4th of July Decor....Finally

I finally found the time quit being so lazy to make 4th of July signs for my front step post things, click here and here to see them in the making!

I used a 1x4 for the following project.  I cut a piece 11" long, another piece 4" long and the last piece 7" long.  I set the 4" piece aside and cut the other 2 pieces into thirds.

I didn't really have to cut the boards into thirds, but it made it so much easier to paint the stripes, I didn't have to tape anything off!

After I gave my paint approximately 3 minutes and 48 seconds to dry, I glued it back together using wood glue.  After letting the wood glue sit for approximately 4 minutes, I took it out to the garage and sanded and glazed it.  I kind of wanted it to look dirty and old.

Dirty and old?  Check!  Next I cut a few stars out of vinyl to finish my flag!  The little wood block is supposed to be a firework, I was running out of time before the girls woke up from their nap, but at least it passes the red, white and blue test!

At least my front step is ready for the 4th of July!

Outdoor Vignette

I know that I participated in the Decor Dilemma party last week and received some amazing ideas, but it has been too nice to work inside!  Last week I went to a few garage sales and scored some really neat things!  5 picture frames without the glass for $.10 each!  A really neat rusted lantern for $1, cute table/cabinet thing for $5 and 10 spindle/ballister things for $15 (one brand new spindle/ballister thing at Home Depot is $15, I got a 10-fer)!  And because I can't leave well enough alone I decided the other corner of the sidewalk in front of my house looked lonely.  So I prettied it up!

I am in love with spindles and I don't know why, I can't get enough of them!

This is my garage sale cabinet and lantern.  And I actually did not do a thing to the cabinet, I left it alone and did not paint it black, but believe me I am still thinking about it.  See my $1 lantern, love it!  I raided my decor storage and found a few things that are cheap and if something happens to them I don't care to add to the shelves.

I randomly cut the spindles down to different lengths and painted them.  Originally they were stained black but were really weathered.  I sanded them down a bit and used DecoArt's patio paint to add a little color.  When they were dry I glazed with my Ralph Lauren smoke glaze.

Definitely not perfect, but I like the weathered beat up feel to them.  I am not wild about the red one, I am thinking about repainting it but have been testing it out first before I made any decisions.  I hope everyone had a great weekend!

A Friend for my Welcome Post

#2 completes my front step.....for now at least!  I love the Welcome Post that I made last week, but I thought my front step didn't look complete.  So I decided to make her a friend!

Introducing the skinny!  I ♥ her!

For this project I cut a 2x2 24" long, I cut down a 1x6 into 2 3.5"x3.5" squares and 2 2.5"x2.5" squares.  I centered the squares and screwed through the middle into the 2x2.  

Did I mention I started this project at 10:30 after the girls went to bed and needed to spray paint?  No problem I made my own indoor spray booth!  My husband would probably kill me if he knew I spray painted in the garage, but what he doesn't know won't hurt anyone :) 

After I sprayed it black I am addicted to black and distressed it.  I used a cheap mug hook I bought at WalMart and screwed it in near the top.

To make my sign I cut a 1x4 down to make a 3.5"x4.25" rectangle and sprayed it heirloom white.  I gave it 5 minutes to dry and used my ink pad on the edges.  I used my Cricut and vinyl to cut the fleur de lis.  I drilled a hole near the top and used ribbon for the hanger.  I added some cheap upholstery tacks to the corners for a little extra.

And now I believe that my step is complete!

And remember the pot casualty from last week?  Nothing that a little gorilla glue couldn't fix, it's as good as new!  We are heading to the bridal shower tonight so I will post pics of everything we made tomorrow!  Can't wait!

Linking to

While Daddy's Away, Mommy Will Play

So my husband is gone for the next two weeks, which means two weeks of crafting and projects without feeling guilty!  It was finally a nice warm day today, so the girls and I headed to Ace for materials for today's project.  We made it through the store quickly and with no drama!  And we came home with this.

 2x2, 1x6, 1x4, 4x4

I had seen a really neat tutorial here to make your own candle sticks and I had seen a tutorial here to make candle stick hangers at Drab to Fab.  I loved the candle sticks but didn't trust my kiddos not to touch in the house (4x4's are heavy) so I decided to combine the 2 and make something for my front step.

I cut my 4x4 24" long.  I cut my 1x6 down to make 2 5 1/2"x5 1/2" squares and 2 4 1/2"x 4 1/2" square.

I stacked the 4 1/2" square on top of the 5 1/2 square and screwed the 2 together from the bottom.  I then attached it to the 4x4, flipped it over and repeated.  After this step you want to make sure everything is square.  The girls helped to make sure it was nice and sturdy.

I gave it a quick coat of spray primer and then a light coat of heirloom white along the edges.  When it was dry 2 minutes later (ha ha, I 'm surprised anything I do turns out because I don't have the patience to wait the recommended time) I gave it multiple coats of flat black spray paint.

Once the black was dry 15 minutes later I used my sanding sponge to distress the edges.

I bought the cheapest hook I could find and sprayed it ORB.  While I waited for this to dry, yes I actually gave it 15 minutes I went in the house to make my sign.  I used the 1x4 I bought and cut it to 11", sprayed it heirloom white, sanded the edges and then inked it with an ink pad.

I used my cricut to cut the vinyl, slapped it on, drilled 2 holes at the top and used beading wire for the hanger.

I have already decided to make some different signs to hang for the different seasons, but for now Welcome will do.

Here is another picture of the front step.  Wondering what all the dirt is doing laying there?  Did I mention I had 2 helpers today and we had a casualty?

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Linking to Under The Table and Dreaming
Life in the Pitts 
Fireflies and Jellybeans
Simply Designing 
Tatertots and Jello

Featured at Under The Table and Dreaming
Funny Days with Mommy and Maddie.
Life in the Pitts
a little lovely
The Appraiser's Wife

Mother's Day Gift,

Mom.....if you are reading this stop right now!  Avert yours eyes, close the lid on your laptop and walk away!!  If you aren't my Mom please feel free to check out my latest project!  My Mother's Day project!  I love receiving hand made gifts and I like giving them even more!  This is one of the traits my Mom passed on to me, every Christmas she would make us a hand made gift! From pajamas to cross stitch hangings, to porcelain dolls!  So this year I wanted to make something special to sit on her desk at work or display in her house!

Me, My Brother and Sisters!  Me & Mom!  Kie & Tay!
A fun little picture display!  I started with a crappy plaque from the dollar store, it had some hideous flower picture on it, so I tore that baby off, not sure if I needed to or not, but I wanted my paint to stick.  I painted the outside edges with my antique white craft paint and waited for them to dry and then painted a black coat over.  I added a beige piece of card stock and then layered one of my favorite Hobby Lobby papers over the top.

I sanded the edges with my sanding block to distress it a little bit.  I used 20 gauge jewelry/craft wire around the 4 edges and tacked them into place with upholstery nails I found at WalMart.

Next I used my cricut and vinyl to cut out the word love and made a little tag/embellishment with a scrap piece of card stock.  I used my scissors to rough up the edges and glued it on.

I made flower paper clips, click here if you want to see the tutorial on how to make the flowers.  I used the paper clips from the picture above and hot glued the fabric flowers on. 

I printed out some of my favorite recent pictures and hung them from the wire.  I also made her these!

I used some of my favorite scrap book papers, upholstery tacks, beading wire and ink!

 I had made some for Kie's birthday, you can see the little tutorial here.  Anyway my Mom's birthday is 4 days before Kielyn's and she had mentioned a week later that she would have liked some for her birthday...so a month and half later and they are done!  Happy Mother's Day to everyone!  I hope you have an amazing day!
What did you do for Mother's Day?


 

Linking up to Under The Table and Dreaming
Featured @ Under The Table and Dreaming
The Boardwalk Blotter 

Update - Picnic, Picnic, Who Loves a Picnic?

Update on the picnic table project!  I finally got the picnic table stained and added some vinyl lettering to the seats!

The girls picked out their vinyl color (it's pink kind of hard to tell, extremely overcast and gloomy today).  Kielyn requested the hearts!

I love it and the girls love it!  I included the original post below if you would like to see my Uncle's amazing shop or see the action photos of the build!

Original Post.....
My girls love picnics!  Tuesday night the weather was perfect and by perfect I mean 70 degrees perfect.  The girls were out playing in the back yard and I was grilling steaks.  Kielyn asked me if we could eat outside and I told her that we could.  So I hauled the booster chairs out of the dining room (kind of a pain because they are strapped down and mostly because I am lazy) and set them up at the table.  They still had a hard time eating because the patio chairs are so deep and they can't quite reach the table.  So I decided that they needed their own table.  So I went out in search for plans for a picnic table online.  And that's when I met Ana, my new bff!  Have you been to Knock Off Wood?  Her site is amazing!  She has plans for everything that you have ever drooled over in the expensive catalogs and can't afford (and the reason I don't mention store names is because recently she received a letter from the lawyers of the big store for infringement reasons).   Anyway go check her out, her site is amazing!

So Furlough Friday Craft Day went off without a hitch!  I was complaining last because the weather was supposed to be bad today and I called my uncle this morning to borrow a couple of tools and he offered to let me use his shop.  So this is what I worked in today!

Can you say love?  Everything you could ever want or need is in his shop.  Table saw, Miter saw, Jointer, Router Table, sanders, drills, bits and so much more.  I ♥ his shop!  So bright and early I headed to Ace to pick up my wood.  I decided to use redwood, it's a little more expensive but less splintery and with my amazing instructions I got started.  First I cut my wood according to Ana, did I mention how much I love her?!?!

Following the instructions I carefully put it together, here are the action shots(kind of, I was by myself and someone had to take the pictures)...insert Tim the Tool Man grunt here!

Table top assembled.

Table top supports.

Leg assembly, I now love clamps!

Look, they stayed on!

4 legs!  After this step I did set the table on the ground to check for wobble and levelness and my table didn't wobble.  Yay for me!!

Bench supports going in, the men in my family would be so proud of me, not only did I make sure the board was level on the side I was working on but I also checked to make sure that it was level to the other support, don't want the kiddos sliding off.

Good to go!

Checking for wobble again.

I am linking up with Fireflies and Jellybeans Show Off Your Stuff party here.  And Just A Girl for Show and Share day here!
And Fingerprints on the Fridge for Feature Yourself Friday here!
And Finding Fabulous for Frugaliscious Friday here!