DIY Window Clings!

Back in the day, I had a crazy looking bedroom. Each wall was a different, bright color. I had muslin fabric for curtains that I used fabric paint on and also had glued buttons and small objects too. I had Aol CDs hung up in a design on my one wall, using the shiny side facing outwards of course. I had artwork I had made as well as things I had clipped out of magazines hung up on the other walls. My furniture was painted in funky colors and designs. It was totally and without a doubt, created by an 8th grader.

One place in my room that I spent a lot of time in front of was the mirror on the back of my door. I used it to figure out the whole makeup thing, rock out to music, and make sure I looked cute in what I had picked out for the day. Like everything else in my room, I couldn't just let it be and I had to decorate it somehow; This is how I accidentally discovered that fabric paint could be used to make window clings.

You can take fabric paint and paint directly onto the glass surface. When the paint dries, it stays stuck to the glass, but can be peeled off later. I had my "clings" on my mirror for about 3 years and was still able to remove them easily and without damage to the glass.

I thought I would share this trick. What a great craft for the kids to do in their bedrooms or on your windows for the holidays! If anyone tries it out, I would love to see what you come up with!

iPad in the kitchen solution

Since my other post today was just a quick share, I thought I would post this too.

I often find myself using my IPad in the kitchen. I have so many yummy recipes saved on Pinterest and I usually just bring my iPad in with me when I cook. I know I can't be along in using my iPad as a cookbook. I also can't be alone in hating the idea of it sitting on the counter as I pour water and crack eggs right next to it.


                                
I found this cute cookbook holder from Homegoods for only ten dollars! Not only does it work great in the kitchen, but I can also use it as a place to sit my iPad on a shelf or table when not in use! So if you like to use your iPad for cooking, or just want a cute stand to store yours on, I suggest investing in an easel or cookbook holder too!

Rainbow Painting

This is my absolute favorite thing that I have ever created. I made it about 4 years ago. It actually happened by accident. I had created the most amazing door cover for my bedroom in my first apartment. I spent days creating it and It looked awesome. Unfortunately, I did not account for the fact that the paper would be super heavy, and no amount of tape would keep it up! I put it in my closet until I could figure out what to do with it. A few months later I pulled it back out and decided that I would glue it down to a canvas. I am not quite ready to share how I made it. I haven't seen anything else like it and with the dimension it has. Maybe if I get enough interest I will give a tutorial though.

I have thought about listing it on Etsy, but honestly I just love it too much to ever part with I think! What do you guys think about it? If I do ever list, how much should I list for?

Kitchen Spices

Anyone else hate the plastic containers that the spices come in? Sure, you can buy yourself a nice spice rack that comes with the cute glass jars, but what about that special steak seasoning you bought that doesn't have a home on that rack? That ends up sitting in its original container and it just ain't pretty!

A few years ago I went to a bridal shower. The hostess was an interior designer and had a beautiful home. I especially loved the hutch she had in her kitchen. All of her spices and baking supplies were in glass jars and displayed. It's amazing how much you can appreciate your spices when you can actually see how colorful and different each one is! I knew that one day I wanted to recreate that storage system as best I could and I finally took on that project a few months ago.

I work on a budget, so my jars were not high end like her jars were. I purchased the small spice jars from Tuesday Morning for .99 cents each. I had to go to 3 or 4 stores to collect how many I needed, as well as a few extra for any new spices I add later. I bought the larger jars from Ikea for about 5 or 6 dollars apiece. It was more than I normally spend overall on a project, but well worth it.

                                    


                         


I bought labels from Office Depot and hand wrote the name of each spice. I liked the DIY look of the labels over printing them out.

I also bought a few small ceramic spoons from Crate and Barrel. They work perfectly to scoop out the spices. I do want to buy one or two metal scoops from there too for the flour, sugar, and other baking ingredients.

My husband and I just love how it turned out and we find ourselves using spices we had overlooked before. We have also received so many compliments from guests.

                          

What is your current storage system for your cooking and baking needs? If you have anything creative I would love to see!

Dessert Stand

This project only cost $3 to make! I found the glass top for $1 at a yard sale. I had been wanting to make a dessert stand for awhile now, but didn't have a cover. I was so excited when I found it sitting in a box because I could finally start this project! The plate was on clearance for .99 cents at The Christmas Tree Shop and the candlestick holder was from Dollar Tree for a buck. I already had the spray paint left over from some of the boxes I had made for my last craft show.



This project was really so simple to do. I had to scrub the cover down because it was so dirty from sitting for so long in a garage. Then, I did 3 coats of spray paint on the candlestick holder. Finally, I glued the plate to the candlestick holder. Easy-peasy!

This will be perfect for the party my friend and I are throwing soon. We are going to have a tasting party, which is a party where your guests get to hang out and sample small portions of yummy food. Our guests will have to bring an interesting wine for everyone to sample. We are asking for interesting wines, because a chocolate wine is going to obviously be way more fun than trying, say, Pinot Grigio. We are also going to buy different cheeses from Wegmans and will create a whole bunch of finger foods and tiny desserts! I also want to buy caviar because I think this party will be the perfect excuse to try it.




I am not sure exactly what will be displayed on my dessert stand, but I bet it will look great

Filing Cabinet Makeover

I love, love, love the cute filing cabinet makeovers found all over the Pinterest craft boards! This is the one I especially fell for...


http://www.littlehouseinthebigd.com/2012/03/spring-time-storage.html

Super cute, super easy, and inexpensive too. What's not to love?

I scoured Craigslist for about a week until I found a metal filing cabinet close enough to my house to make the trip for. I paid $15 dollars for it. I went to Hobby Lobby to find the spray paint, which was on sale for 40% off. Score! I bought 1 can of primer and 2 cans in the color I wanted. I already had fabric to use from there that was originally destined for another project that I decided not to do.  The original Pinterest inspiration used scrapbook paper, so if you choose to do this project just know that either is fine to use. I have a Cricut cover in the same pattern and had decorated a waste basket for my office using it as well. I really need to use a coordinating pattern for some curtains I think but that's a whole other project though!

So my materials for this project are...
1 can primer
2 cans spray paint
1 jar of Modge Podge
Fabric
Metal filing cabinet that is in need of a makeover



I wiped down the filing cabinet with my homemade lemon vinegar cleaner first. If the filing cabinet had been scratched at all, it would have required a good sanding first. Luckily, it was in good condition and I could skip that step. I removed the drawers and pulled the rest of the cabinet outside to prime. Since I was covering the drawers with fabric, there wasn't a need to paint them. It was 92 degrees outside today and the paint was drying almost instantly. The spray paint clearly states that the best conditions to paint is between 50-90 degrees. I like to live on the wild side though and decided to ignore the paint can warnings.

It took two coats of the primer to really cover the black enough to move on to the colored spray paint. Here is the cabinet after one coat of the primer. It had better paint coverage after the second coat, but I forgot to snap a picture after the second coat so you will have to use your imagination here for how it looked after that last coat.

The color spray paint I used was called Bauhaus Gold by Krylon. My office is colorful and this should work nicely with everything in there. Here is the cabinet after it's first coat. Fun and sunny right?

It took 4 coats to finish, which was exactly what my two cans of paint had in them.

Next step in the filing cabinet makeover was to Modge Podge my fabric to the drawers. The Hubby removed the hardware from the drawer fronts. I did two coats over top of the fabric, allowing a few hours between each coat so I was sure it was dry.



 We reattached the hardware and my filing cabinet was looking better than it ever had before!  I will admit, I had been worried that the drawers would stick because of the Modge Podge, but they work just as well as before.

Ahhh! It is so cute right?

Baby Handprint and Footprint

Awhile back I found this cute idea on Pinterest.



http://crafts4lily.blogspot.com/2010/06/refacing-handprint.html


What a cute way to display a child's handprint! I pinned it and have waited months for our little man to arrive so we could make one too. I knew that I wanted to do a handprint and footprint, so we had to do a little shopping to find the perfect shadow box frame to display them in. We found this puppy at Michaels and it was even 40% off! I love when what I want is actually on sale!



Having a new baby is time consuming of course, so it took me a week to get around to starting it. Little man was just shy of one month by a day or two. I made a salt dough (don't worry, it is all sealed and varnished so it should last us!) and enlisted my husband to help get the prints.

The baby didn't mind letting us do his footprint, but goodness...his handprint was another story! This child always has his hands by his face; They are his comfort thing. I think it took us about 45 minutes of trying to steal his hand from his cheek, pry his fingers open, and sneak them into the dough. At some point, my husband realized little man was probably feeling the temperature difference of the dough so he warmed it up in his hand first. That did the trick! We had to cook it on 200 degrees in the oven for about 4 hours to get it to dry all the way through.  I found out that the dough really needs to be turned over halfway through to cook evenly.

Fast forward another week (hey, babies steal the free time right from under you!) and I painted them. I choose green and white since we have those colors throughout the main part of the house. It took a few coats of white and a few of the green. I also did about three coats of a varnish to seal and protect them. Next came the scrapbook paper for a background and some ribbon to hide the line where I had to piece together the paper. The frame is a few inches wider than my 12 x 12 paper. I also added this cute metal embellishment I found on clearance while we were out buying the frame. It says "Only little Once" and I thought it was fitting.

Here is the almost finished project, just waiting for Shutterfly to deliver our pictures.



We ordered this print in wallet size to add to our frame. This is little man at exactly one month.  I think he is kinda cute :)

All finished and I even managed to hang it up.  I would say this was a Pinterest inspiration success for sure!