Pallet Infinity Sign

I'm really not fantastic at getting before, or even during pictures.  Sometimes I get the whim to make something and I am done before I have taken a single picture.

However, I don't think anything I do is horribly difficult to figure out and recreate.

For our anniversary, I wanted to make the dash man an infinity sign with our anniversary on it.

We had a pallet from some furniture laying around, for about a year.  I hadn't really thought of a use for it and actually had intended to burn it this fall.  Two DIY fails later and it had a use.

I actually started this project on a solid wood board, like this

Using this nailhead trim

I soon realized, maybe not as quickly as I'd like, that this trim, wouldn't curve enough to make the infinity symbol that I was after.

Plan 2, solid board number 2, as the first was marred beyond recognition ( I was REALLY determined to make it work with the trim), I went with tacks, like this,

Here comes fail # 2 of this project.  Always compare the depth of your board to your nail heads.  I realized this the hard way, AFTER putting little nail holes in my desk.  DIY FAIL!

Take 3, I refused to buy another board to mangle, since removing the nails is tough and mars the board a board a bit.  They make a special tool to remove them, I clearly am not buying one.  While in the garage trying to figure out how I was going to cut my board down with a chop saw, way wrong tool for the job, I spotted the pallet.

I figured I could make that work, if not, it was free, and I am no worse off then when I started. I cut three pieces to about 18" long.  I sanded and stained each board, they were a little worn and beat up, which I was ok with, I sanded enough to just knock off any potential splinters. 

I used some scrap wood to attach them together on the back side.  Like so .....

(see my failed attempt at pretty writing on the bottom board)

I then printed off an infinity symbol to use a template, my free hand version kept coming out lopsided and wonky looking.

Hammering in each nail is slightly tedious and I have more than one bruised nail to show for it.  I found that holding each tack with a pair of needle nose pliers saves on your fingers and also makes it MUCH easier to get the nails where you want them.  If you bend one, scrap it, they just don't work correctly after you straighten them out.  

I started at the center and worked down each arm a little bit at a time.

I left a gap where I planned to put our anniversary date.
 

I had ideas of burning the date into the wood or cutting the date into the wood.  As many fails as I had starting out, I decided good old fashion stamping would probably be safer, couldn't find stamps the right size or style, go figure, and went with foil stickers for the win!

I initially wanted to hand paint wording to the bottom, if you have ever seen my hand writing, you know why that was a bad idea.  Stenciling or stamping would work for this as well.  I just happened to find a vinyl decal that said exactly what I wanted as was a perfect size.

Not bad for some scraps in the garage.

Please excuse the poor photo, it was this or this would never get posted.

Easy - FREE - Fall Decor

Like so many things I make, I didn't thing this was blog worthy, until the reactions from friends thinking it was rather clever.  While I do love them, I didn't think they were anything groundbreakingly creative.

Any-who, fall wine bottles!

We have friends who generously donate their wine and assorted liquor bottles, as we aren't wine drinkers and Dashman's Miller Lite bottles just aren't as fun to craft with.

They needed a good cleaning, to remove labels and any goo left behind from said labels.

I spray painted, yes spray painted, them in various fall colors.

Then wrapped them in lace, burlap, and other misc fall looking items I had on hand.  Burlap. lace, twine, etc.  I thought about hot gluing these on, but one, I knew I would burn myself and two stitching them on really wasn't that hard. 

I chose to do a few Halloween ones as well, skull lace wrapped and Jack-O-Lanterns, which pull double duty as Halloween and fall pumpkin decorations.   I saw others done as Frankenstein and a witch, as I was going for more fall then Halloween, I opted to not.

And there you have it, all made from things I had in my craft stash!

Surprise Beauty

Well, maybe the table wasn't a surprise, but how gorgeous she turned out to be was.

Sadly, I do not have a before picture as I never expected this project to be blog worthy.

And maybe the project isn't blog worthy, since it wasn't much of a project, but the underlying thought is.

I snagged this table at a yard sale for less than $10.  Was a good size and I liked the shape of it.  It however was robin's egg blue.  Not horrible, not my favorite and wasn't a great paint job to begin with.  I thought it would work well in our itty bitty entryway as a landing zone/catchall.  I underestimated the tininess of our entryway, the table was a no go.  To the garage she went, where she sat for a while.

And sat some more.

And continued to sit.

During my "lets spray paint everything yellow" phase, the table fell victim.  I didn't sand it or prime it prior to painting, I'm cool like that, and I also ran out of paint, I'm also cool like that.

So she went back to sitting.

Insert me finding the most spectacular, giant red glass bottle, that would fit perfectly on this table.  Finally some motivation to finish.

I settled on black paint.  As the paint job initially wasn't great, was cracking and peeling, and my yellow attack on her didn't help.  I finally have a power sander which made this job SUPER easy.  Sand all the paint off, prime her and paint her properly.

Yellow, blue, some red, white, then wood.

Wood?

Wood!  Like real wood!  Not plywood or pressed wood, WOOD!

GLORIOUS, beautiful, raw wood.

WHY WOULD ANYONE EVER PAINT THIS????

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Isn't she beautiful.  Talk about a diamond in the rough.  She isn't perfect, but neither am I, so we are totally cool with her imperfections.

Let that be a lesson to me, you never know what you may find if you put in some work.  Had I done the job correctly initially, this table would have been living in our house the last two years, instead of the garage.

Take the time to peel back the layers, you NEVER know what is hiding underneath.  I'm no longer talking about just the table :)

Tiled Ikea Tray

Remember my transformed IKEA tray?

Here is her sister.  Her beautiful, sleek, gorgeous tiled sister.

I knew I wanted to tile one of these trays, or at least have the tiled look.  I found some multi-color tile that I loved, go figure, it was out of stock.  Unable to find any other tile I liked at any home improvement store, go figure, I opted for these, in a whole slew of colors. 

Again, wait for sales, EVERYTHING at Hobby Lobby will eventually go on sale, alot of times at 50% off.  

I painted the tray black, be sure to paint the entire tray, bottom included, some of the base will peek through the tiles.  Then came the fun part, arranging the tiles.  Seriously, much more difficult than I had thought it would be.  I tried a few different configurations, different spacing, no spacing, they just didn't fit quite right.  

Then, the Dashman had a stroke of genius.  Arrange them on an angle.  BAM!  They fit PERFECTLY!

This was the time consuming part, laying a few rows, gluing, waiting for them to dry, repeat.  Gluing too many at once caused the tiles to shift and the pattern to get wonky, what a technical term.  They REALLY need to dry before trying to put too many rows in otherwise headache city, trust me.  

I opted to use my handy dandy E6000 glue, that stuff will glue anything to anything, it's amazing.  

I let the tiles dry for over 24 hours before covering in this resin.  

 And ... 

Perfection!!!!!!! 

I haven't quite found a permanent home for her, but right now as a centerpiece on the kitchen table is working well.  

It makes me happy just looking at her!!!!

DIY Canvas Art

I purchased these wall decals on Etsy a few months back.

 I LOVE them but was having some difficulty committing to a place to hang them.  I knew once I did they were done and I didn't want to change my mind, as I have frequently, and them essentially go to waste.

So they sat, and sat, and sat, and sat some more.  They even made it out of the shipping tube once to get flattened out, then back in they went because I couldn't decide.

At least I know myself well enough to know to wait if I am not 100% sure.  Right?!?!?!

Fast forward 3 months, on a shopping trip with my sister we spotted a canvas with similar wording that I liked but wished the wording was just slightly different.

She said to buy it, I said I couldn't justify it when I already had the decals, that I preferred, at home un-hung because of an apparent wall art commitment issue that I have.  Who knew?

She suggested to put my decals on a canvas.  D'OH!

D'OH!  D'OH!  D'OH!

She is the funny one, I am the smart one.  Why the hell didn't I think of that?

D'OH!  D'OH!  D'OH!

So now she is a GENIUS!  What a simple and smart idea.

I measured the size of the decal and the intended space to hang it and decided on this canvas found here.

Wait for sales, EVERYTHING at Hobby Lobby will eventually go on sale, just wait for it. 

I could have, and wanted to, paint it something fun and colorful, however, I settled on this.

Yes, spray paint.  Super easy, fast and affordable and it also happened to be the PERFECT gray!  It looks fantastic to boot!

So why did I choose to go plain, simple and colorless, when it is TOTALLY not my style.  First, this will likely get moved and I wanted it to be neutral enough to fit in wherever it may land.  Second, I REALLY liked that gray.  Third, I wanted the text to be the focal point, not the canvas.  Last, it is going next to these (quite possibly the FIRST art I made for the house, still LOVE these). 

Anything too busy and it may clash and just become too distracting.

So here she is.

Do you love her as much as I do???

This happens to hang in our entryway and is SUCH a nice thing to see when I walk in the door. 

So glad my super genius sister came to the rescue.  Less than $25 for completely customized wall art.  Can't beat it.  

So pleased this turned out well.  Living in a bi-level home presents some design challenges and the entry way is no exception!  That wall at it's tallest is over two stories.  My Dashman came to the rescue with getting these hung.  I was hanging over the stairs like a crazy lady trying to reach the wall. Amusing, however not safe. 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.  Seriously, LOVE this!!!!!

"What is your obsession with painting everything"

I hear this around my house at least once a day lately.

"What is your obsession with painting everything"

Or I just get the ever famous side eye stare when I mention spray paint.

I spray paint things, a lot of things, sometimes the same item multiple times.  Sometimes the same item multiple times to only end up back with the original color.  After all, it's just paint.
Here is my philosophy ....

If I am contemplating changing something, it is because it is no longer bringing me joy as is.  So it should or it should go live elsewhere.  Clearly I would never spray paint my great grandma's antique furniture, but things within reason, that weren't overly expensive or have deep sentimental value, and are easy to spray back to their original color, are fair game to paint to change them up a bit.  If it is a fail, I wasn't happy with it in the first place so it isn't a huge loss.  

For example ...

Our home came with brassy, gold, not at all our style, do not match our house, doorknobs.

I clearly don't like them anyway, if the spray painting doesn't work, it's a dollar in spray paint and a few minutes of time.  If it does work, I spare myself the guilt of throwing away something that works just because I don't care for it, because I really do feel guilt about being wasteful.

Look how much better they are.

Moral of the story, spray paint will stick to doorknobs just fine, easing the big guy's concerns.

I used a hammered finish paint, has been on about a month, holding up great and we LOVE them!  Not only do they look great but they have a great texture too.  

Painted Mason Jars

Painted mason jars, my solution to fun, colorful, kitcheny ( to go with our kitchen themed kitchen - very original, I know) storage for our cooking utensils.

Jar + Mod Podge + Food Coloring = Amazingness

I used large jars and poured enough Mod Podge in to be up the side of the jar about 1-1/2".  Next add it a few drops of your food coloring.  More food coloring the darker the color and vice versa.  Mix together well, any unmixed color will show up on the dried jar.  Next tilt the jar every which way to cover the entire inside of the jar.  Be sure to NOT use a paintbrush or any other tool to help spread the color.  It will leave marks that will be visible after the jars dry.  After it is completely coated, turn the jar upside down on a paper plate to allow excess glue to drain.

Here are my jars about half way through the drying process.

Notice the pastel color versus the solid, wet versus dry.  Depending on how warm your house is, it can take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to dry.  I opted to not put mine in the oven, I had read something stating that may cause bubbles.  I just stuck to good old fashion air drying.  Be patient, they will dry. 

Here they are finished and being put to good use. 

Just wonderful!  Love the pop of color these added to the kitchen. 

What fun projects have you found for mason jars?

Linked up at  Work It Wednesday

Transformed IKEA Tray

I scored three of these little beauties on my last round of IKEA shopping, that's a hint to be prepared for more posts about trays.

These are fantastic and the price can not be beat.


I intended to use one as a workspace while sitting on the couch.  to update my planner, meal plan, joint down ideas in a notebook, etc.  Instead of having all of those things laying on the sofa, which happens for more than I care to admit, they are now contained.  Trays make instantly beautiful clutter.  Truth!

That little baby got a coat of red spray paint.  Yes, again with the spray paint.  I then taped off the edges and used my homemade chalkboard paint, read about that here, to paint the bottom.  The bottom of the tray as is, worked well as a dry erase board, which is another great option.

Turned out perfect, this little beauty gets a lot of use.

The chalkboard paint turned out to be a fun little touch to leave myself notes or happy little drawings.

Again, super simple, huge organizational impact for us,  I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY dislike piles of stuff on the sofa. Even if it is just the facade of organization instead of actual organization.  I'm quite ok with that!

Linked up Work It Wednesday

DIY Chalkboard Paint

My experience with store bought chalkboard paint has been less than wonderful, FAR, far less than wonderful.  That stuff is expensive and BOTH cans we purchased turned out to be duds.  Wouldn't mix together, very clumpy, no chalkboard results were achieved, there was sadness.  

Not to be defeated and REALLY wanting a chalkboard pantry door, I took to pinterest to find a solution.


1 cup of latex paint

• any shade and any finish

2 tablespoons of unsanded tile grout

mixing container
paint stick
foam brush / roller
fine grit sander

Truth, it is REALLY that easy!!!

Seriously, mix together, paint a few thin coats, bam, DONE!

The directions I found said to sand between each coat, I only did if I noticed an uneven area between coats.  When I was finished I did it a very quick once over with a sanding block. 

Condition your new chalkboard by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk over the surface.

One of the most wonderful things about this, for me, was that I could use any paint I had on hand and had the ability to make it any color I wanted. 

ENJOY!

Here is our door, most often used for tic-tac-toe games amongst friends.  This was one of our first house projects when we moved in, still love it, so much so I am trying to convince the big guy to let me make our largest kitchen wall chalkboard, so far I am failing. 

That gold, brass, hideousness of a knob is getting the boot soon, stay tuned!

So .... I just opened an Etsy shop ... true story.

Per my usual fashion, I made my kitchen gallery wall the hard way.  Designed all of the artwork myself, could I have just bought it off of Etsy, PROBABLY!  Did I, OF COURSE NOT!  In my defense I had a set picture in my mind of what I wanted the finished wall to look like and nothing was QUITE it.

So here is a peak of the gallery wall.

Not done, but close.  What do they always say, the mechanic has the worst car.  Well the photographer/digital art designer can't seem to get her photo and art projects finished.

Be sure to go check out my new Etsy shop!!!!! 

Tray, Tray, Tray

I like trays.  I'm not 100% sure why but I am sure it has to do with their ability to corral clutter and make it seem semi organized.

Problem is, some of those decorative trays are a bit pricey.

Love this one, not the price. 

And this one, but again, not budget friendly.  


So then I found this guy here

Not fabulous or glamorous, but a fantastic blank slate begging for some creative love.

A little paint later and they were already looking better.

I knew I wanted to somehow line these trays with tile.  While at the store searching for my options, I came across these, PEEL AND STICK TILE!  I was in LOVE!!!!

Why was I so excited about this you ask?  Two reasons.  Firstly, they would be super easy to use.  Peel, stick, DONE!  I had planned on having to glue down the tile, so this would be saving me a good bit of work.  Secondly, they were kinda exactly what I wanted, without knowing that I wanted them.  None of the smaller tiles that I found and liked were working to fit in the tray.  I knew the small 1 x 1 tiles I had come across would work but I didn't LOVE them.  I wanted something with a little interest.  These were that.  They would be easy to cut to fit my tray and have more interest than the small tiles I found.  WIN!  In my cart they went.

Now here is how they looked with the first rough cut.

Notice the spots that I purposely cut larger than need be?  Take two of this project I got smart and made the cuts to fit one large tile back in, wherever possible, instead of 4 or 5 little ones.  Hey, I was impressed with myself.


I could have left them as is, they function just fine, I could have also grouted the tile ... LOL ... that wasn't going to happen.  I opted for resin.  Easier than grouting and I love the finished look of resin.  

FOLLOW the instructions, coming from the girl who doesn't even read instructions, this is important.  They aren't joking on those mixing instructions.  Seriously!

Isn't she pretty?

Current use, as there is some sickness floating around our house.

I'm sure in the end she will end living a super glamorous life holding the cats water bowl or something of the like.

LOVE how these turned out.  I bought three of theses trays as well as some from IKEA, keep a look out for those future projects. 

Linked up over here.