So I’m going to share with you how I pick colors and what inspires me!

I usually start with a textile because I LOVE fabric.  It’s what seems to jump out at me first.  I found this awesome afghan at a thrift store for $8 and it became the color palate for the playroom!

The craft room/office started out with some fabulous art of Katie Daisy’s.    I used the art to help decide what color to paint the furniture and accessories.

For Ellie’s new room I found some adorable fabric by Moda called Ruby.  It helped me pick the perfect shade of grey for her dresser and bookcase. Notice my favorite aqua earrings?  I wear them almost everyday.  Many times you already have your favorite color palate in your closet or jewelry box!

There is also a fabulous new website called My Colortopia to help you out.  My Colortopia has a fun quiz called My Life, My Colors to help you pick your favorite colors and gives you some color palate ideas!  I tried it out and the quiz totally figured out that I like aqua, pink and many shades of grey.  So give the quiz a try and then go paint something!

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I bought the tray at the Thrift store for $2.  The inside had already been painted but then I guess the person lost interest and never finished.  I can relate to that! I cleaned the tray and painted it with one coat of Zinsser 123 Primer.  I didn’t sand.  I prime almost everything I paint.  It seems like an annoying step but is totally necessary if you want your project to turn out well.  Priming allows the paint to go on smoothly and use less paint.  Plus when you buy something from the thrift store you have no idea where it’s been and primer is also a sealer and stain killer. I let the primer dry and then painted on 2 coats of Antique Coral from Valspar. After letting the paint cure for a few days I used my silhouette machine to cut out a monogram and little design using vinyl. Then I used Martha Stewart’s Thundercloud metallic to paint the stencil. After letting the silver dry I peeled off the vinyl. Cute!  Love the metallic paint. I’d like to say that the tray is still sitting cute on Ellie’s dresser holding her treasures but it’s not!  She left it alone for like 5 minutes and has been using the tray to carry stuff all around the house! Probably next week she’ll be bored with it and we can put it back on the dresser. The little boxes are just painted cardboard boxes from Michael’s.  The boxes are where the My Little Ponies live.  The little nesting dolls Ellie got as a souvenir from Estonia after her Dad visited there. Pin It

The whole project only cost the $2 that I paid for the tray since I already had the paint!

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Supplies:
Pants that fit your child well
Fabric (I used about 1/2 yard for size 4 pants)
Coordinating Fabric (Two 3 inch strips)
Elastic

Fold fabric in half.  Fold pants in half, place on fold of fabric and cut around pants.  Leave about 1 inch on sides and 2 inches at top for seam allowance and waist band.  DO NOT CUT THE FOLDED END.  Repeat so you have two fabric pieces.

Now we are going to make the binding that will create the hem of your pants.

Start with your two fabric strips that are cut in 3 inch strips.

1. Iron Strip in Half.

2.  Open

3.  Fold to middle, iron.

4.  Fold other side to middle, iron.

5.  Fold in half, iron.

6.  Pin the binding to bottom of pants and sew along top edge of binding.

Fold your fabric right sides together and sew the legs closed.

Turn one fabric piece right side out.  Take that leg and put it inside the other fabric piece that is still inside out.

Straight stitch the two fabric pieces together around curved part (this is going to be the crotch and top section of your pants)

Turn pants right side out-hopefully they look like pants!

Fold top edge of pants down 1/4 inch, iron and sew along edge.

Fold fabric down 1 inch and iron(or whatever space you need for your elastic, my elastic was 3/4 inch wide).

Straight stitch right along top edge of fabric and right along bottom edge, creating your elastic casing.  Leave about 1/2 inch open along the bottom edge so you can feed your elastic into waistband.

1.  Leave 1/2 inch opening in bottom of fabric.  Cut your elastic about 1 inch smaller than the child’s waist.

2. Pin a safety pin to elastic and gently feed elastic through opening and around waistband.  Be careful not to let the other end of your elastic get lost in the waistband too!

3. Once your elastic is all the way around waistband secure the ends together.

4.  Sew the elastic together and then pull into waistband.  Straight stitch half inch opening closed (be sure to check the fit of the waist on the child before sewing the opening closed!)

Enjoy your new pants!

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Supplies:

T shirt-I bought mine at Walmart for $3 (Washed & Dried)

Fabric

Fusible Interacing (Heat n’ Bond,  Wonder Under, Steam a Seam)

Peel off one of the paper sides of the interfacing.  Stick it to the WRONG side of your fabric and iron.

Fold your fabric right sides together and cut out heart.

Peel paper off back of interfacing.

Position heart on shirt.

Iron heart to shirt.

Sew around heart really close to edge.  You could use a decorative stitch or zig zag, I just straight stitched.  Some interfacing doesn’t need to be ironed so read your package.

Way easy and super cute!  I’m excited to show you how to make the pants.  You don’t need a pattern and require no hemming!  Off to make heart sugar cookies for the party!

Supplies:

Glue Gun
Scissors
Wreath Form
Felt
Yarn

*I don’t use styrofoam wreath forms.  One karate chop from a little boy and they will break, ruining your hard work.

Start by cutting some felt in about 1 inch strips and wrap it around your form.  Then if the yarn doesn’t cover completely you will have felt peeking through instead of the wreath form.

Wrap yarn around wreath and tie into knot.  Secure with a little bit of glue from glue gun.

Start wrapping yarn around wreath.  Keep wrapping…it takes at least an hour or two.  I suggest watching an episode of Downton Abbey.

The felt flowers are super easy.  I made them very much like the fabric flowers for my lampshade.

1.  Trace and cut a pretty good sized circle out of felt.  Mine was about 6-7 inches.  The bigger your circle, the bigger your flower.

2.  Starting at the outside of the circle cut about 1/2 inch strip going in like a swirl.  Leaving about a 1 inch circle in the middle.

3.  Dab a little hot glue on outside end and start rolling the felt.

4.  You should end up with a flower shape.

5.  Pull up little circle on back.

6.  Apply hot glue.

7.  Press down.

8.  Attach cute felt flower to wreath with hot glue.

I made a little heart banner with some of the leftover felt and yarn.  Love my cute wreath!

I made a tiny little wreath for our entryway chalkboard.

Are you still working on Valentine’s decorations or have you started digging out St. Patrick’s day stuff?

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The before: Eeek!  My older two boys help put the groceries away and just shove stuff in there where it will fit.

The only things I actually removed/got rid of were 2 boxes with old kitchen aid attachments that went to my broken kitchen aid and a cake plate that I’ve never used.  Then I took all the stuff that I still had in boxes and threw the boxes out because the boxes were bulky and ugly and taking up too much room.  The cookie cutters I dumped into a big pail I bought from the farm supply store.  The pail was the only pantry organizing purchase.

I had a few extra plastic baskets in the garage (because I am a container hoarder).  I hauled the baskets inside and cleaned them up.  Then made labels for everything with my silhouette and laminator just like I did in laundry room and craft room.

I had a regular wicker basket in the garage that I spray painted white that fits my cook books.  The little white caddy was built with the Ana White Soda Crate Caddy plans.  My two older boys built me the caddy for Christmas (with their Dad’s help).  They even painted it themselves!

The closet extends a little behind the wall and I store my old grocery bags and our BBQ tools there.  The BBQ tools hang from a Bjarnum hook I bought from Ikea.  It’s extends much further then most hooks so it’s perfect for the bulky BBQ tools.

The bottom holds my giant bucket of wheat that I use to make bread.  The little wire crates were a couple of dollars at Walmart and hold the stuff that is too oddly shaped to fit elsewhere.

Love how much cleaner the pantry has been staying.  Now my kids know where to put stuff they will actually put it away.  Plus I have to answer the “MOM, where is???” question way less!

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This week I cleaned out my pantry and found an old recipe paper from my Mom’s that had Peanut butter bars.  Perfection!

Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Cream Together

Stir in:
1 1/2 to 2 cups flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
2 cups quick oatmeal (I used regular and they tasted great)

Press into large cookie sheet and Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown.

Spread 1 cup peanut butter over cookies while they are still warm.

Cool completely (this was the hardest part)

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
Melted together

Stir in 1 pkg powdered sugar and 1/2 cup cocoa.

Spread frosting on bars.

Enjoy!

So excited to show you my clean pantry.  If my kids can resist trashing it long enough that I can take pictures!

This was the bookcase when I got it from my Grandparent’s.  Chipping, old paint with stain underneath and some water damage around the bottom.  I stripped it with Citistrip and sanded it down and then painted it with chalk paint.  The great thing about chalk paint is that if you decide that you want a new color you can just paint the new chalk paint color right over the previously painted and waxed piece!  So awesome.

I painted the bookcase with 2 coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in French Linen.  Then I pried the plywood off the back of the bookcase and painted that with 2 coats of ASCP as well.

One of my FAVORITE things about chalk paint is that it dries super fast.  So the grey paint was ready for my stencil pretty quick.  I bought one of the Martha Stewart Stencils from Michael’s.  I used my 40% off coupon so the stencil was less than $10.

I used painter’s tape to hold my stencil in place and then carefully painted over it.

The finished back!

I wanted a little more texture so I sanded the stenciled part a little bit.

I waxed the whole bookcase and back with Minwax finishing wax.  I use this wax on flatter chalk paint pieces since it’s so much cheaper.  It is a much harder wax so it is harder to work into crevices.  I did use the ASCP Soft wax for the crevice details on the front of the bookcase.  You can’t tell I used two different waxes on the bookcase and there is no color difference at all.

Finished!!  Have you tried using Minwax Finishing wax on your chalk painted furniture?

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She also has two other sites Roadkill rescue (love free furniture!) and Knock off Decor

My first post was last Thursday and I’m excited to share it with my own readers.  So today I’m going to show you how to build a rustic tray. It’s perfect for a Valentine’s breakfast in bed for your sweetie!

 DIY Tray Dimensions: 23.5″x16″x3.5″

Supplies:Two-1″x4″x8′ pine boards

1 inch screws

Vinegar

Steel Wool Pads

Tea

Cut list:Four-22″ for bottom

Two-23 5/8″ for long sides

Two 14.5″ for short sides

Take one of the 1×4′s and cut it into four 22″ pieces for the bottom of the tray. Cut two 23 5/8″ for long sides. Cut two 14.5″ for short sides. Use a table saw to cut the two 14.5″ at 1.5″. This will leave two piece 1.5″ and two pieces about 2″.

Now we are going to trace a template for the handle onto the two pieces that are 2″ by 14.5″.  I used a square rubbermaid container.  Mark the middle of the container and the middle of the board and place the container 1″ from the bottom.

Cut out with a jig saw.

Use screws to attach the bottom part of the short sides to the bottom pieces.  You could also use nails and glue but I think the screws hold better.

Now attach the long sides to the bottom with screws.

Take the two 14.5″ by 1.5″ wood pieces and attach them to the top of the short sides with screws.  You might have to really work to wiggle them into place!

Now we are going to use a fun treatment to give the wood an aged, rustic look.  First brew a couple of tea bags and brush the tea into the wood with an old paintbrush.  The tea won’t change the look of the wood but will react with the vinegar/steel wool. Then mix a few steel wool pads with some vinegar.  I put mine in a mason jar and leave it overnight to give the steel wool time to mix with the vinegar.  The mixture won’t change color and should be ready to use after 12-24 hours.  I rinse the brush I used for the tea mixture and use the same one for vinegar mix.  Just brush it onto your tray and then wait!  The wood should start changing immediately but sometimes takes about an hour to change.

Different kinds of wood react differently to the mix but the pine turns a nice greyish color.

Finished!  You could put some furniture wax or even polycrylic on the tray to give it some water resistance.

All ready for breakfast in bed!  I might try and leave my tray like this in my kitchen and see if my family gets the hint and brings me breakfast!