Painting Instead of Replacing!

I shared what I did with this a couple months ago. It's the two outer, lighter, shelves attached to the darker middle shelf.


Well, I finally finished getting it painted. I was trying to paint it outside but, the weather had other plans for me!



There it is black. And now, to learn from my mistake. When you screw something together, don't speed up when it gets harder, go slower. lol I accidentally scraped a big spot of the paint off. That's why you have to be super careful when working with glossy surfaces that have been painted. So, if you have the option to sand a glossy surface then prime and paint it, that's the way to go.


Here is a close up of my boo boo. I'm just going to have to use a smaller brush and paint it again.

And here is the final result complete with all the clutter! lol


Hope this inspires you, to get creative at home!
NEXT PROJECT: Wall Art! Proving you don't have to buy everything you like.

Tip Of The Day: Saving Leftovers

For now on, I'm going to start doing a tip of the day either, everyday or a few times a week or until I run out of tips! lol I'll only do the tips on the days that I don't have a project to share. This is just to keep the blog active and keep trying to allure people into my site! Here we go!

Tip of the Day: Save Everything!
Well, maybe not everything. Whenever you're finished with a project don't look at the leftovers like "uh, what a mess I have to clean" look at them like "hmm, how many of these things can I use for something else down the road". If you have anything left over no matter how big or small see what kind of condition it is in. If it's in a good enough condition to use later on, save it. You might even think about having a box for your spare "parts". Hey, maybe you can use some of those leftovers to decorate your leftover box!

An example of why doing this is a good thing. I had left over ribbon from the headboard I made. Well, when I bought my white candles and wanted to decorate them to match the room better and not be so boring, all I had to do was use my left over ribbons. It was perfect. Since they were the same ribbon I used on the headboard and the candles were going to be near the bed, they were perfectly coordinated. So, save everything because you never know when you'll want to use it again.

Hope this inspires you, to get creative at home!

Finally! The Shelves!

I finally got the shelves done!! I would have had them done sooner but couldn't find some things I was sure I already had and couldn't go buy those things until today. Well, let's begin!

These are 8 inches tall and 4 inches wide. My dad already had this wood at his house so, he cut it for me and rounded the edges for me. You can get the needed wood at Lowes, and they can cut it for you in store.

Here are the two back pieces which are 8x4.

This is the two bottom pieces that are 4x4.

And here is how they are going to go together.

First, I painted them with a white primer because this wood has been out in my dads garage for at least oh, 3 years now. You can skip this step if you're using fresh wood.

You can paint your shelves any color you like but, our room is in red, black, and white so, I'm painting it black. I just bought a small can of paint from Walmart. It's 8oz and about $2 or $3. Once I had them painted I glued them together so I wouldn't have to worry about them moving when I drilled them together.

Here's pretty much what they're going to look like once they are drilled together.

This is where the tools come in to play. You need to use a small drill bit and drill one to two holes through the bottom up the back. Make sure you keep them centered in the board so that you don't go through the front or back. Here's the drill bit.

This is the kind of drill I'm using. It's really simple. Screw in, switch it to reverse, and screw out.

Here is the type of nail I'm using. Make sure it is a screw nail since you're using wood. It doesn't need to be too long either.

The two holes are kind of hard to see. So this is the bottom of the 4x4 piece and it is going to go into the thin bottom of the 8x4 so that it looks the way I showed earlier.

Now that we have them put together we're going to put a mirror on each one. We're going to put candles on the shelves and the mirrors will reflect the light from the flame. I am using the mirrors from a couple of makeup compacts I have.

It took me a few tries to figure out how to get the mirror off but, here's how I finally got the mirror off. We're going to be using the drill bit again. Also, I should mention, you can buy this drill at Walmart as well as the drill bits. I'm not sure how much it is but, it's well worth the money. You will use it many, many times. You can even use it for putting those toys together! Here is the drill bit I used. It's the smallest one I have.

Going from behind the mirror you're going to drill through the plastic. Drill in the very middle first (take your time and don't push too hard) then go out aways and work your way around until the mirror finally comes off. There is only glue in the very middle of the mirror so, it's just a matter of getting it to let go! Here's where I drilled to get it out.

I did it to both compacts and now I have my two mirrors, that need wiped off.

When you take the mirrors off they will already have glue on them. Just put your candle on the shelf to figure out the best spot to put the mirror then stick it on. If it doesn't have glue or it's not sticky enough just use super glue in a few spots to stick it on. Another thing you can do is to lay the mirror in between two pieces of cloth and break it, then glue it on in the circle shape. However, I will warn, breaking probably won't be as easy as you think because it is a compact and meant to be stronger.

Now, I'm going to decorate my candles. I'm using white candles. These are a little over $2 at Walmart and about 6 in tall.

These are some red ribbons I had left over from making my headboard.

I'm putting two stripes around the bottom half of the candle. First, I put the ribbon where I wanted it to start and used a small pin to put it in place. I wrapped the ribbon around the candle then used Liquid Stitch to glue it in place once I got it wrapped all the way around. You can buy liquid stitch at Walmart over by the Fabric. It's the stuff I used to put the ribbons on my headboard. Here's my candle with the first stripe on it.

Here are the two finished shelves, mirrors, and candles.

Here's the finished product hanging on my wall!


Hope this inspires you, to get creative at home!

NEXT PROJECT: Not really sure yet! Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Coming up...

I'm getting the rest of my supplies for the shelves tomorrow. Well, technically it would be today since it is after midnight! lol I just have a few little things I have to get before I can finish. The shelves are all made so now I just need to get the finishing touches! I'll try to have the end result up by Sunday.

Creative Pencil Holder

You don't have to use this as a pencil holder but, that's generally it's purpose. lol I'm doing this project with, well, you'll see. However, you can do this with paint cans and other round items as well. Also, with the paint cans, because they are metal you can use them as pots for your smaller plants. So, onward with the directions!


Here is the container I'm using. It's the container for those little packets of the powder mix for lemonade.



First, you just rip the label off. Don't worry about ripping off the parts that are stuck on the the glue. Those are going to get covered up anyways.



Now, just lay it on top of the paper you're going to use. The area where the paper is stuck is where we're going to put our glue. It won't slip as much this way. I'm using gorilla glue because it was the only glue I could find at the moment but, other glues will work too.



Once you put the glue on and attach the paper wait for it to dry before you cut off the excessive paper you can also cut it off before you glue it on as well. Once it is glued on wrap the paper the rest of the way around and glue it on.



I used construction paper since, well, that's what's in my closet. lol You can use left over wall paper, scrapbook paper, old notes, whatever paper material you want really. I also added some stripes with a different color to make it more interesting.



There it is with some paint brushes! These are a little tall however, if you keep the lid this would be a good place to store colored pencils or crayons.



Hope this inspires you, to get creative at home!

NEXT PROJECT: The shelves I've been talking about!! lol I just have to get the mirrors for them because I can't find them! lol

Frosted Glass

I know this isn't the project I said was next but, it'll do! lol This is a quick easy way to fake frosted glass. All you need is whatever glass you want to look frosted and a can of matte finish spray.

http://www.krylon.com/products/matte_finish/

You can get this at any craft store or art supplies store.

I did this faux frost to a candle holder. All you do is spray the matte finish on. Seriously, it's that easy.

Here is my before:




Then I sprayed one layer on and, this is what I got.





Here is a side by side so you can see the difference a little better.





If you want to get real fancy with this, you could use a stencil and spray only that area to leave a cool frosted design. You can do this technique to tons of things. Candleholders, shot glasses, mirrors, windows, anything glass really. Well, as long as you don't use it on something you're going to eat off or drink out of!


Hope this inspires you, to get creative at home! (ooh, I think I like that better than the plain old hope this inspires you that I was using! lol I think I just found my official finishing line!!)


NEXT PROJECT: The shelves I was supposed to share today! lol

Getting Clean and Organized

I'm getting the paint to finish the shelves this weekend so in the meantime, here are some tips for quick, efficient cleaning.

First things first, Pick up all the clutter! I can't start cleaning until everything is up off the floor. I do everything in sections as well. First, I pick up all my sons toys and put them away. Then I pick up all the clothes, blankets, or whatever else may be on the floor.

Now, you need to choose where you want to start. I usually pick the smallest mess to begin with. This is encouraging for me because, I hate cleaning! lol So, if I start small it's like a little victory that pushes me to do the rest.

Now that you have chosen where you want to begin, divide the work into sections. For instance, pick up all the clutter, than clean up the floor, then the tabletops or entertainment center, then the furniture whether it be putting the pillows back on your couch or making your bed. Don't stop cleaning until you've finished the section you're working on.

When it comes to the bathroom, I only do the deep cleaning (cleaning the toilet and tubs, etc.) once a month. During the other weeks I just clean the countertop and mirror about once a week, more if needed. I use the Clorox Green Works all purpose cleaner for everything. I love that it doesn't have those nasty smells and it really does work.

Organization is key when it comes to cleaning. The more organized you are the easier you can clean. Here are some affordable ways of getting organized by room.

Living Room

On our entertainment center we have some storage boxes we got from Ikea. You get two in a set and they're only about $5-$10. They have different sizes and colors. Here is the link to them:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00115459
They have cd, dvd, magazine, and clothes boxes. These are a great way of organizing and hiding your dvds, cds, and magazines in your living room. You can also use the clothes boxes in your bedroom and keep them in your closet or under your bed.

I don't know about you but we have lots of extra blankets! They usually just take up the whole rack in our living room closet. With these vaccuum bags you can save tons of space and keep your blankets organized and clean. You can get them just about anywhere. Here's a link for them at Target.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2626229

Office
One way to keep your desk organized is to use desk shelves, pen cups, files, drawers, etc. lol You can get any of these at Walmart, Target, or any office store.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=650979&fromPageCatId=90828&catNavId=90828
These things are especially useful if your desk is like mine and doesn't have any drawers. I actually bought a drawer unit on wheels and put it under my desk. It has a space for labels on the front of all the drawers to help you stay even more organized.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20107873

When it comes to keeping track of all your dates and important notes, I love post its! They're convenient and you can put them anywhere. My desk has a shelf built onto it so I put my sticky notes there. You can never go wrong with a desktop calendar or a date book though.

Bathroom
The main problem we have with our bathroom is keeping the counter clutter free. To help keep it neat we use a plastic box. I'm sure you've seen them. I have two different ones that came from bath gift sets people have given me. This isn't the one I have but this is an example so you know what I mean.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5652138
This is a really good way to turn those gifts into something you'll actually use! We keep the things we use everyday in it. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, eye drops, cologne and perfume, lotion, things like that.

Bedroom
The organization problems we face in our bedroom is the closet. We live in an apartment and have a king size bed so we sacrificed having a dresser to make room for our bed. So, to keep our clothes organized and out in the open in our closet we do a few things. We have all of our T shirts hanging from our top rack. Then for all our pants and shorts we have a hanging organizer. We hang it from the top rack. I got ours from Ikea for $7.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50116499
We also have another organizer hanging from the bottom rack. We put all our socks and underoos in it. It's also from Ikea and it's $5. You can also zip them together to hang them in a smaller area.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10116509

You can also use small storage boxes to organize your jewelry or ties or anything else that fits.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70081291 These are also from Ikea. They also have different styles and colors.

Kitchen

Ikea is a great place to get kitchen storage. You can get them anywhere really but, Ikea is really affordable and stylish.
For the kitchen, it's all about keeping the counters clean and the drawers organized. Instead of naming all the things you already know about the kitchen, I'm just going to give you the link for the kitchen storage stuff at Ikea. Just click which area you're looking for on the left.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/range/10366/11470/

The only room left is the room I don't have yet, a Laundry room. Technically I have one but we don't have a washer and dryer yet so for now it makes a nice closet. lol
I advise using shelves for the laundry room. Just make sure they're sturdy to hold up your detergent.
If you don't have much space on the floor for hampers you can get some that hang.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90116510
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10116509

Well, it's 3:30am here and my tips are getting more and more random! lol Tomorrow, I'll show you what I have so far on the shelves. My big project that's going to take a couple of weeks is still a secret though! lol

Hung Up Some Stuff

I don't have another new project for you yet because the next project is going to be a big one and I'm still working on it! lol In the meantime, here is the results of hanging up some of my previous projects.




I'm still need to remove that floor lamp or put a shade on it instead of that glass bulb. Also, a small project I'm doing tomorrow is making two small shelves and putting a round mirror on them and then hanging them, one on each side of the headboard, then putting a candle on them.





These are the silhouette pictures I made using two of my photos. Next I'm making our names in chinese characters vertically and hanging them above those pictures, one on each side.

NEXT PROJECT: Wall shelf/wall candle holder! lol This is just a little project to hold you over till I finish the big project!!

Cheap Way To Hang Photos

Our living room only has three walls. One of them is a half wall that has stairs on the other side of it, one has two windows next to each other and then only about 3ft of wall on the left of the windows. The other is long and white and bleh. So, to decorate it as cheaply and as awesomely as possible (lol) I will be hanging some fun pictures of us, our friends, and our family. I'm just using some fun snapshots from over the years and new ones along the way. Instead of buying tons and tons of frames I'm using styrofoam. Styrofoam? Yes.

Here's what you do:

All you have to do is buy a sheet of styrofoam (about $6 at hobby lobby) and cut squares out of it. Then you just glue or tape on the foam squares to the back of your photos. You only need one rectangle of foam for 4x6 and 5x7 photos and two in the middle or one on each corner for an 8x10 or larger. Then all you have to do is use those little bitty nails and put them in the wall and just put the foam right on the nail. If the photo is going horizontally I suggest one square on each end to keep it straight. You can even use paper frames like they use in scrapbooking to put around the edges of the pics if you want them to be more decorative. You can also cut the squares to be thinner if you want them closer to the wall or vary the thickness to add some contrast to the photos.

Here's an example:



I actually painted this picture on a small canvas I bought at WalMart. I'm not too happy with it but my hubs likes it so, in the bathroom it goes! lol This is straight on.

Here's one from the side:



I had actually made a 2008 out of styrofoam to use for senior photos for a friend so I just cut that up to use for the squares.

Handmade Tutus

I just thought I would share the tutus I made. If anyone is interested in purchasing one just leace me a comment. They are really affordable and super cute. These aren't the best pictures because I still need to upload the pics of the little girl wearing them but here's a couple samples.





These two are still a little messy from this weekend. This one is actually a neon pink and black. It's more of a punk look.



This one is more of a classic girlie tutu. The pink is actually a lighter, softer pink then this shows. They are both the same length when straightened out and are size 3T. I can make these tutus in any color, size and style. All tutus are custom and handmade. If you'd like one or would like to know about pricing just leave me a comment and I will get back to you.

Still working on my next project! It's a surprise though so, you're going to have to wait to find out what it is! lol

Updated Shelf

I found this shelf in my dad's closet, and stole it! lol Except, it's been in my son's closet for about 4 months now. lol Anyways, I was hanging some things today and decided it was time to do something with that shelf! So, using the handy dandy acrylic paint I always use, I mixed some blue and white to make the blue lighter and painted this shelf. I had letters spelling out my sons name that used to be hanging in his old room but hadn't rehung them since they are white and his new walls are also white. Instead of hanging them I put them on this shelf along with a little giraffe since his room is a jungle like theme. Here's the finished picture:





Hope this might have inspired you!

NEXT PROJECT: It's a surprise. Which, really just means, I'm not sure yet! lol

Updated TV Stand

This project was really just to get these shelves out of my closet and in to good use. What I did was get some long screws with a pointed end and screw them into the side of my tv stand. Now it looks like one bigger better tv stand. Here's a picture of it all put together.





Right now it's got a lot of clutter on it but you can see the three different things. There are the two shelves on the outside that are a lighter color and then the one in the middle that is darker. I still need to paint it but will be doing that next week.

In the meantime, all you have to do to paint something like this to match is first, paint it with primer so that it will all be the same shade. Then, from there you can paint it whatever color you want. In this case, I will be painting it black. I'll be removing the clutter and painting it next week and will post the results once I'm done!

Hope you're at least somewhat inspired by my almost finished project!

NEXT PROJECT: Redoing a shelf to make it decorative for my sons room!

Homemade Headboard

I actually saw this on an HGTV show a couple years back. I just finished mine though. Unfortunately, I think it might be too big or something. My hubby hasn't seen it yet though so maybe he'll confirm my sneaking suspicion that I'm just crazy! lol

Making a headboard is really simple. All you need is:

A sheet of wood whatever size you want your headboard
Quilt batting

Fabric in whatever color or pattern you want

Staple gun, and obviously, staples lol

All you have to do is start with a piece of wood the size you want your headboard to be. You don't need any expensive fancy wood. The piece I used is about a half inch thick and something my dad just happened to have in his garage. Here's a picture of the back of my finished headboard so you can see the wood. I forgot to take pictures of it before I started.

Once you have the wood you just put some quilt batting over the whole piece. You just layer it however thick you want your headboard to be. Once again, forgot to take pictures from the beginning so you're gonna have to use your imagination on the next couple of steps.

After you have it how thick you want it you wrap the material over the whole thing and around the back a little bit. This is where you need your staple gun. From here you just staple the fabric and batting to the back of the wood.

On my headboard I used red ribbon and had it go diagonally across the head board in two directions. Then I put a button at every intersection. Learn from my mistake. Use small staples and staple where the button is going to go first. This way, you can just sew the button to the staple and not the headboard and the whole process will go much faster! lol

Here is my finished headboard.

These are one of the easiest headboards to make especially when it's not a king size like mine! lol This would probably be even easier for a smaller headboard. Either way about it, it's easy. It only takes a few hours worth of work. Although, I advise taking breaks other wise your little fingers are going to be hurting from all the buttons! Also, I forgot to mention. To put the ribbon on I used what is called Liquid Stitch (stitchless sewing). It's with the fabric/sewing supplies. One tube was enough to do my whole king size headboard.

Hope this inspires you!

NEXT PROJECT: Entertainment center from a really old crappy tv stand and shelves that have been taking up space in my closet!

Turning a Journal Into a Photobook

This doesn't have much to do with decorating the home but I found this journal and realized it was time to do something with it. So, you can get these blank journals just about anywhere and anysize. Any craft store or book store should have them. I got mine at Walden Books. Here is a picture of it open.



You can usually get them in different colors but I had planned on turning it into a creative journal and wanted room to customize it how I wanted it. Well, life had other plans for me! lol Photography is my calling so instead, I'm going to make it more like a creative brag book (one of those small photo albums you can fit in your handbag).

All I did was paint the front and back of it with some acrylic paint I aready had. It's the same paint I used to paint the M&B but different colors. Plain purple isn't that great so I used some stencils and mixed silver in with the purple and put the words: Imagine, dream, create. They sounded like good words to go along with photography. I have a space at the top because I'm going to put either my name or the name I'll be using for my photography business but haven't decided which one yet.



Then all you have to do is use a little dot of glue in each corner of the photo and put it on the paper! From there you can put decorations on the page or talk about the photo. The rest is up to you.







When you're putting your photos in the book make sure you remember the following: Use quality prints or skip pages. Sooner or later the photos are going to start diminishing from rubbing against each other. Page protectors are available in different sizes.

Also, when you're putting photos in and you have photos that go side to side make sure they all face the same direction. So, if you have to turn the book to the left to look at one photo, it should go to the left for all photos. This just makes it easier for people to look at.

If you're wanting to do a journal, like I originally wanted but, don't know where to start...Start with a picture. You can use your favorite picture and explain why it's your favorite picture or a family picture and talk about your family. If you're a shutterbug like me you can pick your favorite picture from the day or the most relevant photo and talk about it and the events leading up to it and after it.

Hope this inspires you!

NEXT PROJECT: Headboard

Painting Wall Art

I made some paintings for our room over the weekend. I took some of my photos and traced them from my computer screen the size I wanted them on white construction paper, then cut them out, then used red and painted outwards from the cut out, then used white and painted outwards while some of the red was still wet. I just painted them on to black construction paper because it looks much blacker in real life than in my photos.

Here's the pics I used for my paintings.

And here's what I made with them.

I also found some chinese characters online and have only made 1 so far but am going to make another one plus our names. Like I said the paper is much blacker in real life and the reds are much redder also. Our room is modern with a few asian hints in it, being the chinese characters and the flower art. I saw these really cool votive candle holders a while back. They look like little silk red oriental lamps on a little black base. They would be perfect in our room! They were on clearance at Target for about $5, I think. I just hope I can find them again.

NEXT PROJECT: Turning a blank journal into a cool portfolio for photos! No, it has nothing to do with my apartment but I found it and wanted to decorate it! lol