Adventures In Creating

Feature Friday: Birds and Soap

2012-02-10T07:00:00.000-06:00

Woo Hoo! Anyone else excited that the weekend is right around the corner? Freeeedooommm!!! What are you weekend plans? I'm hoping to make it into the wood shop to work on Con-Man's bed. And I'm super excited to show you something next week that I've been working on.

In the meantime it's time for another Feature Friday. This week's Girl Power is coming from Jenny from the blog Birds and Soap. She lives in Idaho with her hubs and 2 daughters. She's extra crafty, a budding DIY'er and soap maker!

Her blog caught my eye while I as perusing Anna White's website. She built this awesome Farm House bed using Anna's plans.

Farm House Bed

Doesn't it look Fab-U-Lous? I think it looks similar to the one I'm building for the Con-Man and gives me hope that there is light at the end of this bed building tunnel!

She also made this adorable dress hanger for her daughter's dress up clothes:

Dress Hanger

I think it's awesome to give something for your child- I think they cherish it even more.

And the project that got it all started; picture ledges for her living room. Hmmm, maybe I should make some of these for our future family photo wall?

Picture Ledges

Jenny, all I have to say is well done and You Go Girl!! If you want to see more of Jenny's craft adventures check out her blog Birds and Soap.

And if you know of any one who has Girl Power or if you want to be featured on Feature Friday just let me know! I'd love to hear from you!

Have a great weekend and to any Oklahomians out there stay warm!!

I'm So Excited and I Just Can't Hide It!

2012-02-08T07:00:00.002-06:00

So last week I was whining a little bit about the lack of good thrift store finds in our area lately. I mean, I'm not really a whiner to begin with. Really I'm not....!! Anyway- the thrift store situation hasn't changed much but I've had some other exciting news and finds I just had to share with you.

For one, I have been trying to get up the courage to reupholster these fabulous orange chairs I bought almost a year ago:

I bought them with the intention to reupholster them myself and even bought the fabric to do it with.

Kravet Haute Este

But I've been a big chicken and haven't been able to build up the courage to do it on my own. I had been searching for a place that taught upholstery classes. (Even back in San Antonio where I bought the chairs in the first place.) I happened to call the local Vo-Tech school here in town where they teach automotive classes and ask if they ever taught upholstery.

And what do you know?! Here in tiny Altus, OK they are having an upholstery class starting up in about 2 weeks. OMG!!

The class is new so they're trying to spread the word and get people to sign. I'm telling everyone I know- I hope this class happens because I cannot wait to try it out! YESSS!!!!

My other exciting news is an awesome dumpster find. They are redoing the gym on base and have been tearing out the old gym flooring. I heard through the grapevine that over Christmas the were giving the ripped out flooring away- and I wasn't here to take advantage!!

Well, over the weekend the workers were at the gym again tearing out some more floor. I found the general contractor and asked him if what they were doing with it. He said they were throwing it away that afternoon! And that I could have some if I picked it up myself.

So what did I do? Ran over to the Hubs office, switched my car for his truck and loaded up 3 5'x5' sections of basketball flooring!!

SCORE!! Basketball floor is made of solid maple- and I got it all for free! It's going to be hard to get the pieces into shape to make something with them; but I was looking online and people have done some pretty awesome stuff with reclaimed gym floors.

Awesome Tables!

Cool Mirror!

And who knows what else? I'm super excited!! I know this is a lot to take on when I'm also working on Con-Man's new Big Boy room, and soon a nursery. But what the heck? Let's do this!

Have you ever been excited to learn a new skill? Or been super excited to tackle a big new project?

Oh ya- and I changed my blog header again. I missed my spunky red haired tool wielding DIY chick.

DIY Slate Chalkboard

2012-02-06T06:00:00.004-06:00

You know, there are few things I love in life more than a free project. Chocolate comes to mind, and my family of course... but anyway- Free Project!! Woo!

I had found a pile of old slate tiles that had been ripped out of building during demolition a few years ago. The foreman said I could have them since they were just going to toss them. (When in doubt about something just ask! People are usually pretty willing to get rid of stuff.) I took about 8 that were in good shape and carried them around through 2 moves. Unfortunately most of them broke during those moves but I still have 3 left.

I decided I needed to use them ASAP before those ended up broken as well and I made a slate chalk board!

Yep, thats right- no chalk board paint here. It's the real deal. I thought it would be fun to use in the kitchen as a menu board.

If you want to make one of these yourself it's real easy. Here's what you need:

2 Slate Tiles (if you can't find them on the side of the road like I did check your local home improvement store.)

1 piece of scrap plywood or MDF cut down to about 8" x 20" about 3/4" thick (this could vary depending on the size of your tiles, you don't want the wood to close to the edge of the tile. Otherwise it will show)

Liquid Nails

Heavy Duty Picture Hangers

Scrap piece of Molding to be used as a chalk holder

Saw for cutting wood down if need be

First lay out your tiles and determine what size wood you need. Depending on what size your tiles are the size of the wood could vary from the size I used.

Next slather Liquid Nails on the wood, then place the wood centered on the two tiles.

Now, patience. I weighted my wood down under some books and let it set over night.

Once it was all dry I screwed the heavy duty hooks into the wood. This is the reason I used 3/4" plywood- so my screws wouldn't be to long to screw into the wood.

Then I cut down my scrap piece of molding down to about 8" long. Mine was a natural wood look and I thought it looked nice with the slate color. I used Liquid Nails once again and let it set over night.

Then all done! Hang and admire.

Yay! I think it turned out super cute and it was FREE!!

Linking here

Disney Trip!

2012-02-04T10:08:00.000-06:00

Sorry I didn't have my usual Friday Feature post for you yesterday- I've been a slacker and have been trying to get settled into "real" life after our vacation. I did want to show a few photos from our trip. We had a really good time. I don't know who had more fun; me or the Con-Man!

Before I get into that I did want to mention a few little changes I made around here. With all the talk about Blogger getting rid of the Google Friend Connect for non-Blogger platforms I went a head and added the Linky tool app. I didn't know of any other options- so we'll check it out together and see how it goes! I'm also on Google+ but have never really used it. Maybe it's time I did.... So I went ahead and added that link if you want to follow along that way. I'm still figuring it out myself so we'll see how that goes as well.

Con-Man ready to go!

So anyway- enough boring stuff, the first day of our trip we went to Universal Studios. And that means Harry Potter World!!!! I am a huge Harry fan so this was a big deal for me. We saw Hogwarts, walked through Hogsmead, rode the rides, everything! (And of course I forgot my camera this day so all I had was my phone.)

The Butterbeer was amazing! The Chocolate Caldrons- to die for! Still have to eat my chocolate frog. (And I found a recipe for Butterbeer I have to try!)

The next day we started at Disney. Con-Man was so excited to see Mickey and Minnie! I thought he might be afraid of them but he gave them big hugs and everything.

Mickey knew the LSU fans were coming and did the flowers just for us!

He rode all the rides and wasn't afraid of any of them. And he met some more of his favorite characters.

We got that Child Swap thing down to a science and even found time for swimming.

It was a fun trip but I will say not relaxing! I needed a vacation after this vacation. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thrift Store Waste Land

2012-02-01T07:03:00.000-06:00

We're on our way back from our Disney Vacation! Sad- but all good things must come to an end.

Anyway, I don't know if you've noticed or not but I haven't done any furniture makeovers lately. This isn't because I haven't been looking for pieces to redo- I have! But our thrift stores have been barren lately. Ugh- so depressing.

I've scored some good stuff since we moved here:

Sewing Table Makeover

Cane Chair Redo

Cafe Chair

Even found some cool stuff in the trash:

Small Dresser

Coffee Table Turned Bench

Cafe Chair

But lately I've had no luck at all. The only interesting stuff I've found were some extremely retro dresses:

Woo Woo!

And some excercise equipment peddled by a woman who is seriously excited about getting in shape:

Nice...

So what gives? Are people hoarding their stuff because of the economy? Did they give everything away before Christmas and I just missed it?

Is anyone else having this issue or is it just here in good ole' Altus, OK?

Antique Tin Ceiling Tile Frame Part Deux

2012-01-30T06:00:00.001-06:00

Remember that old ceiling tin tile I bought at the salvage yard? Well I'm back with another project using it! It's the purchase that keeps on giving.

I bought some inexpensive wood frames at Walmart and got to work making them a little more functional.They didn't come with glass or a good way to hold a picture in; so I used some plastic frames and used Epoxy glue to adhere them to the back. Then painted them.

Next up was cutting my ceiling tile down to size. I used the cutting wheel on my Dremel for the job. Then spray painted those~

Then using some small nails/ tacks I hammered the ceiling tin to the frame. I made a blue one and a bronze/ silvery one. Originally the frames could only be used as free standing frames, but I tacked on some small picture hangers so they could be hung on the wall as well.

I think they turned out pretty cute!

Have you ever bought something that you were able to keep using and using over and over again?

Salvaged Barn Wood Sign

2012-01-25T06:00:00.003-06:00

Thanks for all the great replies to my Design Trend post! I myself try to do my own thing when it comes to decorating- I like to think my style is unique. But I love to look at what other people are doing and see what cool new trends come along each year. It's neat to hear how other people feel about it too.

Today I wanted to share a fun project I made out of some salvaged barn wood. I scored it a few months ago when I was searching for some salvaged wood for my coffee table project. I was at my favorite salvage shop when I saw these guys sitting out front:

I asked the owner about them- he said it was pieces of wood from an old barn. I asked how much he wanted for them- and he said I could just have them!! SCORE!

This was back in October and I finally did something with one of the pieces. They are both pretty large and I thought the rectangular one would make a really cool sign I could sell on consignment. I wanted to keep them as rustic as possible because I really like the character it has. So I gave it a light sanding and cleaned up any cobwebs and junk on it.

Then I smeared a bunch of Gorilla Wood Glue on the back to fill in any crevices. I did this to to try and make it more study and strong.

Once the wood was all prepped I used my Silhouette to create a "HOME" cut out and painted it white with some DecoArt paints.

Next I sanded the wording down a little to give it an aged vintage look.

Next to add a little whimsy I again used my Silhouette to cut out a Fleur De Lis and painted it gold.

Then I used some clear sealant and sealed the whole thing. It gave the wood a rich look.

I think it turned out pretty cool and hopefully someone else will too!

Oh Oh OH! I almost forgot- this past weekend I started work in Con-Man's new Big Boy Bed! I got a lot done in the short amount of time I was there. Check it out!

Those 2 boxes are the bottom part of this:

Oh and guess what else! I'm super pumped because we're are leaving for a family vacation to Disney World tomorrow! The hubs and I haven't been since we were small, and it will be Con-Man's first time going. I can't wait! But not to worry- I have lots of posts lined up in the meantime. So if I don't respond to something right away it's not that I'm ignoring you; it's because I'm schmoozing it up with Mickey Mouse. :D

Linking Here

Incorporating Design Trends In Your Home?

2012-01-23T07:34:00.002-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We actually had some nice weather here in OK (if you discount the major windstorm we had earlier that knocked out our power). I usually like to start the week off with a craft or DIY but thought I'd mix it up a bit and talk about something that I've been thinking about for a while.

It's the New Year and it's usually a time when I and it seems like a lot of other people reassess their home, clean things out, and change things up. But how much do you really change?

For example, every year Pantone comes out with their "Color of the Year". This year it's Tangerine, last year it was Honeysuckle (I bet a lot of husbands loved that). It's fun, bright and cheery. But do you try and incorporate it into your home or just look at it for fun inspiration?

Image Source

Or do you try and incorporate it into your wardrobe?

What if you don't like Tangerine? Well did you know that Benjamin Moore comes out with a color of the year as well?!?! Their pick for the year is Wythe Blue. A little easier to incorporate into a home in my opinion.

Image Source

But which to choose? Orange or Blue? Who is right? Should you go with orange or go with blue. Maybe do both?

Adventures In Creating

Feature Friday: Birds and Soap

I'm So Excited and I Just Can't Hide It!

DIY Slate Chalkboard

Disney Trip!

Thrift Store Waste Land

Antique Tin Ceiling Tile Frame Part Deux

Salvaged Barn Wood Sign

Incorporating Design Trends In Your Home?

Feature Friday: Taking The Side Street

It's Mardi Gras Season Ya'll!!!!

My Heart's On Fire

Feature Friday and a Shopping Spree

Photo Wall Inspiration & Tips

Con-Man's New Room Inspiration

Feature Friday: RadCrafter

Quick Redo for the New Year

Welcoming 2012 and Secret Exposed

Feature Friday: Thats My Letter

Top Projects of 2011

Awesome EIghties??!!

DIY Faux Porcelain Bowl

Feature Friday: The Accent Piece

New Living Room Rug- Merry Christmas to Me!

A Winner and a Feature

Dirty Thirty