DIY Puppy Art

One of my sons is obsessed with puppies!  He has always loved them and I was in the mood for a new project so I decided to make him a custom piece for his room. 

 I started with 4 pieces of cheap pine which I put 2 coats of black stain on.  I wasn't sure what I was going for but I knew the black stain wasn't enough so I pulled out the acrylic paints.

  I put off white, blue and brown on a paper plate with a bit of water.  Using a paper towel, I began rubbing the wet paint right on to the stained wood.  I used one color at a time.  I kept adding more and more paint and it became weathered looking.  I wiped it on and smeared it off with the paper towel.  I made sure to stay going with the grain of the wood.  

Keely's Big Girl Room Make Over; Part 2!

The biggest change in my daughter's Big Girl room is her new bed!  I got SO lucky and scored this super heavy, iron bed from the 1920's on Craigslist for $50!  And my husband's BFF even picked it up and delivered it to our house for us!  It was white and in great condition.  I spray painted it hot pink.  Inspiration for her room came from two rooms in particular, which I saw on pinterest.  They gave me amazing ideas and I was able to translate them on an extremely small budget.  Check out the other rooms here and here for some incredible ideas!

We also moved Keely's bookshelves (which she's had since birth, a Target purchase.) to the same wall as her headboard.  I was lucky that she decided to keep her pink walls, which meant I didn't have to paint!  We also kept her name on her wall that I painted years ago.  We found the bedding at Home Goods for $40.  Keely picked it out.  It's totally different than what I was thinking of getting but it's her room and she liked it so I went with it.

Even though I did little bits and pieces over several weeks, the day the bed went in the room was a big deal!  I decided to keep her out of the room while I set up the bed and bookshelves.  We brought her in with her eyes closed and had her open them on the count of 3.  She loved it!

Keely's Big Girl Bedroom Makeover!

I am in the process of making over my 7 year old daughter's bedroom so that it is more "Big Girl".  She loves to read so I wanted her to have a cozy spot to relax while she dives into her books.  

  

Here's what I did...

Painted Backyard Furniture

 My backyard chairs needed some love.  They were boring brown and the cushions were shot.  I decided to spruce them up with a can of spray paint and some new cushions.  Now they are bright and cheery.  And they look brand new!

I found some cushions for $15 each at Home Goods.  

This is what my chairs looked like before I painted them.  Faded cushions and plain tan metal.  The chairs are really comfortable and they're good quality so I thought a coat of paint would bring them back to life.

Too Stuffy for Me Part 6....Hand Painted Sign

Its been a while since I posted anything new about the living room and dining room transformations.  I'm still working on them slowly but surely.  My latest addition is this painted sign.  

It's very similar to the LOVE sign and is actually hanging on the same wall.  I used the same technique I used on the LOVE sign and painted these sayings I found on Pinterest.

  

Here is a shot of both rooms that I took with my panoramic camera.  My wall is actually flat (not curved).  You can see how the two rooms are connected, yet still separated by a hallway down the middle. 

 I thought the second sign helped balance out the big LOVE sign. Sorry for the cruddy lightning. 

The opposite wall has a faux "built in" made with Ikea cabinets and bookshelves.  I keep meaning to blog about this installation so here is a quick mini post about it.

We purchased the two lower cabinets and three bookshelves from Ikea.  Then we painted the back of the bookshelves the wall color (photo wall).  We stacked the bookshelves on top of the cabinets and added a piece of trim to the fronts of the bookshelves (where they come together), as well as trim where the bookshelves and cabinets butt up against the wall.  We also added crown molding around the top.  Then we painted the new trim to match the bookshelves.  My dad did the installation for us.  He braced all of it to the wall so it actually is built in.  I know it would cost a fortune to have this made from scratch but it only cost us about $400 total!  I obviously still need to accessorize it but that's not in the budget for now.

 Here is a panoramic of this side of the room.  As you can see, I still have no sewing table but we will get to it eventually.  In the meantime the empty room makes a great hula hooping area for the kids! :)

Happy decorating!

For more posts about this room transformation check out the links below...
Painted Stripes
Love Sign
Photo Wall
Chevron Table and Chairs
Chair Make Over

Angry Birds Party

Here is my Little One's Angry Birds party!

I'm not that great at printables and I don't have the money to buy them so I do my best.  These were made in my word program.  I just made text boxes and filled them in with different patterns and free clipart.  

Thank goodness for these FREE PRINTABLES !   

A Little Piece of Happy....Family Chalkboard!

How cute is this?  My friend gave me a gift card to Hobby Lobby so I went shopping!  Check out what I bought!  I picked up a large chalk board and hung it in my kitchen.  I also grabbed 2 sets of chalk markers so I would be able to decorate with ease.  My husband added some cheap molding around it so that it had a more substantial frame and I painted it to match the other trim in the house.  Then it was time for some fun.....decorating the chalk board!

This was the first thing I put on it.  The kids thought it was funny that the house rules included things like have fun and laugh.  I actually searched Pinterest for sayings about "home" and this was the one I liked best.  

It makes such a cute backdrop for photos of the kids too.

Too Stuffy For Me....Part 5 ~ Chair Make Over!

My living room/dining room... soon to be game room and craft/sewing rooms are still a work in progress. A few weeks ago we tackled the chairs to set around our new chevron table.

Here's what we did...

Before and After!

Too Stuffy For Me...Part 4! Love Sign

DIY Distressed Love Sign!

I saw a sign like this on Pinterest and fell in LOVE with it!  I knew that with a little help from my husband I could make it and hang it in the new game room.   To check out the post from Pinterest, go here! 

I am really into reclaimed wood lately but it is SO expensive.  I thought I'd try distressing on my own to see if it could look good.  This is what I made and I'm super happy about how it turned out!  

You can make this...

From this!  

Here's what I purchased...

1x12x48 Pine (3 of these)

1x4x48 (one of these)

1x3x48 (one of these)

1x2 pine for the back

Kona colored stain

Total cost...$35

No Sew Angry Birds Masks

My Little One is turning 4 this month and he is obsessed with Angry Birds!  So naturally we are having an Angry Birds party to celebrate!  I always do homemade parties and they are always on a budget.  I made these adorable little masks yesterday!  I still have to add a piece of string to hold them on but I was so excited about them I wanted to get them posted.   Don't worry if you don't sew...all I used were scissors and glue!

Since my mom and I do sew, we had enough felt between the two of us that these were totally free to make!  But even if you don't have any felt at home, it's really cheap and you don't need very much.  

I pulled up Google images of each pig and bird I wanted to create.  Then I drew a picture of it on some paper.  I cut out the drawing and used it as my template to cut out the felt.

Too Stuffy for Me Part 3 ~ Chevron Table & Chairs

As you may know, we are in the process of turning our formal living room and dining room spaces into a family game room and craft area.  It's something we have been doing slowly and as cheap as possible.  This past week we conquered the game table!

We started with this Craigslist purchase for $80.

My super awesome husband did the math and taped out a chevron pattern on the top.  I have no clue how he did it.  My brain does not work when it comes to this sort of thing.

I painted a creamy white over the tape to prevent the contrast color from bleeding under the tape.  It only took a few minutes to dry.  Then I took some left over wall paint (from the striped wall) and I painted the top of the table gray.  I waited about 15 minutes then I peeled the tape off while the paint was still wet.  I let it dry over night, then sanded the top very lightly the next morning.  Then I applied a layer of Mod Podge as my sealer.  I think you could use any kind of sealer or clear acrylic spray  but I had a ton of Mod Podge in the house so I painted it over the top to protect it and make it shiny.

Ta-dah!  Here it is!  

DIY Homework Station

A few months ago I realized that I would not only have a first grader doing homework but I would also have a Kindergartener who needed a homework space too.  I wanted to create an area for my kids to do their homework without the distraction of the t.v. or toys.  I also really wanted to stop using our kitchen table as a desk!  I searched Pinterest to see what fabulous ideas other families had done.  Most of them were out of my budget and above my skill level but I knew I could come up with something...and I wanted it to be easy and cheap.  

Our house has a niche at the top of the stairs that I believe is supposed to have a built in desk.  Since I couldn't afford a real built in, I decided to make a faux built in instead.  

And here it is...

The double door cabinet is a computer desk we purchased from Cost Plus World Market about 8 years ago.  I found two $20 bookshelves at Target.  I placed the computer desk at the far right and the small bookshelves all the way to the left against the other wall of the niche.  My husband went to the lumber store and bought a big piece of MDF.  (Unfortunately he tore his bicep picking up this huge piece of wood....but that's a whole different story.  And one I'll never get to live down.)  After his trip to urgent care, my awesome (and injured) husband made two cuts on the MDF.  He cut the depth so that the top would slightly hang over the computer desk.  And he cut the length the exact length of the niche.  Then he just placed the MDF right on top of the computer desk and bookshelves.  It's wedged in between the walls really tightly too.

Here is a close up of the two bookshelves I picked up at Target (terrible photo, I know).  They were in the closet organizing section.

This is a shot showing the left side so you can see the niche.

Next, I took the kids to Michaels and let them pick out scrapbook paper that they liked.  They chose this greenish, blue paper because it has maps and birds on it.  I tore the paper into a bunch of strips and pieces and Mod Podged the pieces right on top of the MDF.  It's not exactly what I would have chosen but the kids like it and I wanted it to be a place they wanted to spend a lot of time.

Holiday Pinterest Party!

 I'm sure you know by now that I am kind of in love with Pinterest!  I'm convinced it's one of the best things ever created!  Not only do I pin a ton of things....get this....I ACTUALLY do them!  Sure I pin things for my imaginary home that I will never be able to afford, awesome recipes I'm not qualified to make and my new exercise plan that will have me back to my pre-baby weight in just two weeks,  but I also pin things that I have every intention of doing.  And I do! 

I began pinning a bunch of adorable Christmas crafts and decided it would be fun to have some of my  Pinterest obsessed girlfriends come over and make them together.  I wanted to get us all in the holiday spirit so I got my mom on board and we planned a holiday Pinterest Party!

And here it is...

We asked each guest to bring an appetizer or dessert they saw on Pinterest.  I made cupcakes (using a baking technique I found on Pinterest) and I also made Potato Cheese Soup in the crock pot.  And yes, the recipe was from Pinterest.

Too Stuffy For Me...Part 2!

My photo wall in my former living room/dining room...soon to be craft room/game room,  make over is complete and I love it!  

My original idea was to use canvas prints.  However, I quickly learned that I'd either have to win the lottery to afford that or I'd have to alter my plan a bit.  I chose to switch things up since there is no hope of me winning something I don't play.

Here's what I came up with!

It wasn't a difficult process but there is no way I could have done it without my husband's and dad's help (a huge thank you and 'I love you' to both of them).  I started off choosing photos I wanted to use.  I chose all photos that I'd taken rather than using professional pictures.  I want this entire space to feel casual and comfortable so I thought snapshots and home photos would be a good way to go.  I used old photos I'd taken with my DLSR as well as pictures from my iphone and Instagram.  I added filters to many of these photos so they'd be a little more artsy.

A Birthday Filled With Memories

My dad's birthday is in November and he is so hard to shop for!  Seriously, it's near impossible to find the perfect gift for him.  I always feel bad because I end up getting him some kind of gift certificate to a restaurant or the movies.  Sure, he likes the gift certificate and he enjoys using it.  It just never seems special or personal.  This year I decided to check around on Pinterest (my favorite place) to see if I would be able to find something unique.  And boy did I ever!  Thanks to "Nothing But Bonfires" blog, I was able to give my dad a gift that I think he truly loved and was excited about.  

Check out the post I used for my inspiration...

http://nothingbutbonfires.com/2011/06/sixty-years-memories

And here it is!  My dad's gift!  It doesn't look like much, but it really is special.  This stack of envelopes contains letters and birthday wishes from every person my dad knows and has known over the years.  It has letters from acquaintances he only slightly knows to friends he's had for over 50 years...some of which he's lost contact with.  I sent a simple email (most of which was borrowed directly from Nothing But Bonfires) that stated my dad was having a birthday and I wanted everyone to write him a birthday wish or a special memory they have of him.   Here is the letter I emailed and posted to friends on Facebook.

Art & Owls Party...Part 2

So the first Art & Owls post showed the set up.  Now here are some action shots from the party!

When the guests arrived they headed to the backyard where they colored a mural.

Owl Stuffy Success!

Well, my daughter's owl stuffy was a huge success!  

She opened it up, took one look...

and proceeded to fall in love. 

Owl Cake!

We just had my daughter's Owl & Art party so it's time to start posting some pictures!  Here is how the cake turned out!

This cake is made with 4 eight inch round cakes stacked together with chocolate buttercream in between.  The layers were yellow and chocolate.  The outside of the cake is frosted in buttercream.

Homemade Halloween

The costumes are done and the kids wore them to school on Friday!  Yay!

We ended up with a "silly monster with lots of eyeballs", a Care Bear and an Angry Bird.  

Too Stuffy for Me! Part 1

This is the first house we have ever owned that has formal living and dining rooms.  To me they are completely unnecessary and a total waste of space.  We are not formal people and have in fact NEVER eaten dinner in our formal dining room...and we've lived in our house for 4 years!  I'm on a mission to reinvent these rooms and turn them into something that will work for our family.  I've gotten started but it will definitely be a work in progress...

Here is what our formal living room used to look like.  I never really knew what to do with the space and I guess I thought it needed to be somewhat fancy.  It's SO not us!  

We ordered the sofa and chair from a furniture store and didn't like them the day they arrived.  We kept them anyway (dumb, I know).  I do like all of the tables because they are casual and rustic.  I ended up painting an accent wall with swirls to jazz it up.  And I hung silk curtains.  It's an OK room, but nothing special and definitely not representative of who we are as a family.  

This is the dining room which is opposite the living room.  I have always loved this dining room table and chairs.  My husband and I bought it on our honeymoon.  I thought we'd keep it forever and pass it on to our children.  But now, I'm over it.  We are a 5 member family and this table only seats 4 people.  Obviously it doesn't work for us either.  

I decided it was time to begin slowly changing the rooms to make them spaces we want to spend time in rather than rooms we just walk by (not to mention dust and vacuum).