Colorful Doormat Part 1

This project is by far one of my favorites.  I have been attempting to redo my house in a way to make it less 'store bought' and more homemade. I decided the easiest way to do this would be room by room so I decided to start with the porch/entrance.  That is where the whole doormat idea came in.  I wanted my guests to be greeted with something cute, colorful and original.  So, here is my How-To for my summery cute doormat- Part 1!

SUPPLIES:

• 14 pieces of wood cut 1"x2"x14"
• A Drill
• Primer/Sealer
• Sand Paper 
• A Paint Marker

*A side note- OK so you need 14 pieces of wood that are 14 inches long, 1 inch tall and 2 inches wide.  How do you get that? Well, I went to Home Depot (Home Depot!) and I purchased three 8 foot long pieces of wood that were 1 inch tall by 2 inches wide (they were like .75 cents each.)  Then I asked the nice man working (who actually wasn't that nice) to cut them into 14 inch pieces for me.  They do it for free, you just buy the wood and tell them how you want it cut.  Then you walk around a bit and check back periodically until your pieces are cut! When I came back I actually had 18 pieces because you could get six 14 inch pieces per board.  I didn't want a super long doormat though so I only used 14, spares are always great though for mistake purposes!

DIRECTIONS:

1) Ok, on to step one! Now, you have 14 1x2x14 inch pieces of wood you are going to want to drill two holes in each one through the 2 inch width of the board.  I chose to do it 2 inches from each end.  I took a paint marker and on the "sides" of each piece I made 2 marks two inches from the end. Be careful when you drill because sometimes a large drill will split the wood and make it unusable.  I actually drilled a small hole in the correct location and then drilled the larger hole so there was less stress on the wood. 

*You must make sure that holes are across from each other and will meet up in the middle when you drill through.  This requires you to drill STRAIGHT through from one side to the other.  Here is an image to help explain better... Basically, do this to each side...

2) Ok so hopefully you've now drilled two holes straight through each board two inches from the end and through the width.  Now you are going to need to sand the wood until it's smooth.  When you drill it sometimes splits the wood weird so you are going to need to do some serious sanding in some areas.

3) Lay your boards out and spray paint them with your primer/sealer.  I used an 'all in one' because I am slightly impatient and thought it would be easier and more efficient to knock them both out at once but you can do it separately if you'd like!

Let it dry! Part one COMPLETE!

Did you use different dimensions or amount of boards for your doormat?

Traveling Hearts Wall Art

Brian and I love to travel.  We have been together for almost three years now and in that time we have already traveled to Buffalo NY, New York NY, Portland ME, Nantucket MA, Boston MA, Hampton Beach NH, Cape Cod MA, Atlantic City NJ, Nashville TN, Chicago IL, New Orleans LA, Fairhope AL, Columbus OH, Pittsburgh PA, Provincetown MA, Newport RI and more together.  Because of our love of travel and our great memories of the places we've visited I wanted to make something to remind us every day of those trips.   I saw something that inspired this project on Pinterest or StumbleUpon, I can't remember which, and decide it was perfect. Here is the how-to for my Traveling Hearts Wall Art... hope you like it!

SUPPLIES:

• Decorative Picture Frame
• An Atlas or Maps (of the places you'd like to include)
• A Heart Stencil
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Glue
• Ruler
• Scrapbook Paper

DIRECTIONS:

1) Take the map of your choice and your heart stencil and trace the heart around the area of the city or place you'd like on your wall art.  For example, place the heart over the map of a section of Cleveland and trace it.  I chose six different locations but you can do it as many times as places you'd like to be framed. I placed mine in the order of a six pack of soda because I liked the space between and a more organized, less cluttered  layout but you can get creative with your placement also.


2) Cut out the map hearts.


3) Paste the mapped hearts to the scrapbook paper in the location you want them. Again, mine is two across and three down like a six pack but whatever way you choose will work.  Also, make sure you have measured the scrapbook paper to fit the back of the frame, I usually take the image that the frame comes with, cut it out and trace it onto my scrapbook sheet.  Then I cut out the scrapbook sheet and it's always a perfect fit.  


4) Put your paper with the hearts glued on it in the frame, hang and you're done.

Here is ours... 

We chose:

Chicago           Portland ME        

           Fairhope AL         Boston 

                

New Orleans  &   Pittsburgh

What places would you choose? Maybe a timeline of your life? First date to proposal to wedding and so on? Could be neat!

Glue!

I have done quite a few projects that have required glue and by now I have a favorite I wanted to tell you about! That may seem weird but this one is the best so far.  It's called Gem-Tac and it is made by a company called Beacon.  

Here is a link to their site to learn more about the product:  

Beacon Adhesives Website- the Gem-Tac Page! 

I find it weird because I never thought I would have a 'favorite glue', that seems silly but it REALLY, REALLY is the best glue I have ever tried! It dries fast and clear, it has worked for EVERY project I have ever tried and its not too messy.  The bottle is even easy to squeeze which means it doesn't hurt my hand like Aileen's does and the consistency is not too runny or too thick. It's perfect! 

It is a little bit more expensive though. I think at Micheal's, my local craft store, it is around $10 for the 4 oz. bottle but I just wait to buy it when I have a 40% off coupon.  

I really and truly recommend it from the bottom of my crafty little heart so if you are ever fed up with the glue you are using or are looking to try another, choose Gem-Tac!! You won't be disappointed! 

Glue Facts from the Website:

• Permanent adhesive
• Bonds gems, sequins, glitter and rhinestones to fabrics
• Bonds fabrics to glass, vinyl, metal and patent leather
• A great multi-purpose adhesive
• Washable, dries crystal clear

Mosaic Tray

For Christmas this year my little sister bought me a complete mosaic making kit.  She knows I love to craft and that I hadn't tried mosaic before so she thought it would be prefect.  Well, it was!  The set came with small glass tiles, 'nippers' (which is the tool you use to crack the tiles into different shapes), glue, grout and a few various other things for the project. I recently got around to making a mosaic and I wanted to post about it.  When she gave me the set she gave me a terracotta pot to create a mosaic on but after browsing Pinterest- Best site EVER for ideas on cooking/crafting/wasting time... I decided I wanted to do a mosaic serving tray. I bought the tray at Old Time Pottery Barn and then I went to Michael's, bought some iridescent tiles to add and then I sat down to create! Here is the how-to and how it turned out.  I LOVE IT! <-I feel like I always say that haha but it's true!

SUPPLIES:

• A Tray
• Tiles
• A Nipper (and a plastic Ziploc bag)
• Glue (and a Popsicle stick) 
• A Marker
• Grout 
• A Sponge
• A Trowel of some sort

DIRECTIONS:

1) Take your tray and your maker and outline a pattern you'd like to mosaic.  I chose something simple that I thought would look nice, it is a few swirls of solid colors with the rest of the background filled in with iridescent blue tiles. 

2) Take your nipper (Click here to learn about Nippers!) and cut the tiles into the shapes you'd like to use.  You can use the squares 'as is' but I liked the look of the cut glass so even though it was more time consuming I chose to cut each tile.  I would recommend cutting them inside of a bag.  I would place the tile in the grip of the nipper and then stick the entire front end and my hand into a large Ziploc bag.  When the tiles shatter they tend to fly everywhere, I had tiny glass slivers all over my couch and floor until Brian suggested this method. MUCH smarter/less messy!

3)Next, glue each piece of tile onto the tray.  You are going to want to make sure the pieces are close together, almost like a puzzle. Here is what it should look similar to so far...

4) After the glue dries you then need to grout the entire tray.  The grout is powdered cement that you mix with water. Start with a teaspoon of water at a time, you want the grout to be of a similar consistency to toothpaste, not too much runnier.  You are going to spread the grout over the tiles evenly and make sure it gets between the cracks of the tiles or those spaces in between.  Here is what it will look like grouted...

5) Let the grout dry for about fifteen minutes, then take a damp sponge (not wet!) and clean off the top layer of grout.  The tiles will become clear an shine/sparkle.  I did it a few times because I wanted the tiles to be as least hazy as possible.  Once you've cleaned it off to your liking let the grout dry completely and you're done!

Here is how mine turned out!

What color scheme did/would you choose? Did you make a tray also or are you going to make something else? 

I really like the way the iridescent colors turned out, it's looks great in natural light.  Maybe I'll try to get another photo in natural light soon!

Colorful Plant Stands

We have acquired quite a few plants at our house and thankfully we have a large east facing window in the front of our house so all of those plants can get ample sunlight.  This does however require a large amount of plant stands all along the window and since we have acquired them over time they didn't match. Well, after looking at them daily I thought of a new idea! I was going to 'repurpose' them! Here is the how-to...

SUPPLIES:

• Plant Stands
• A Tarp
• Spray Paint

DIRECTIONS:

1) Lay the tarp out in a well ventilated area... I painted the first two in my craft room, with the window open, but it still didn't help.  The entire upstairs smelled like spray paint... oops..  Anyway, then I asked Brian to move the cars from the garage and set the tarp up in there. MUCH better.

2) Mist each stand with a different color of spray paint, do lots of thin layers about ten to fifteen minutes apart.

3) Let the paint dry for over an hour and then you're done! Here is my before and after...

 The colors I chose were... 


Watermelon, 




                  Sea foam Green, 






         Mustard Yellow

         Bright Red, 
               
                                   Mandarin Orange,  




                  and Sea Blue

MUCH better! I really like color, it cheers me up so I love the new addition.  

What are your ideas? Polka Dots? Stripes?

Bookmark

I was wasting some time and flipping through pages on either Pinterest or StumbleUpon and saw the cutest little bookmarks! I actually made a bunch of them for gifts for my family and friends. You can use any design for the paper and any type of teeth or eyes too, it's easy, fun and cute!


Here is the how too...

SUPPLIES:

• 1 Page for your template
• 1 Page Designed Scrapbook Paper
• 1 Page Solid Paper for the background (should complement the designed paper)
• 1 Page Solid Paper for the eye color
• White Paper for eyes and teeth
• Black paper for eye pupils
• Scissors
• Glue
• Ruler
• A Pencil

DIRECTIONS:

1) Make your template.. here is how...

• Take your ruler and draw a square 2.5 inches by 2.5 inches. Then draw two more coming off of or sharing the side of the square...hard to explain! Draw this!...

• Now, take the two end squares and draw a line straight through the middle like this...

• Now, cute out the exterior bolded line, that will be your template!

2) Trace your template on the plain piece of complementary solid colored paper. Also, cut our 3 squares about a quarter inch smaller than the square used for the template. In my case, I used a 2.5 inch square so my other squares are 2.25 inches per side. Then cut out the pieces for the eyes. As you can see my pieces for the whites of the eyes are larger than the pieces for the color and the pupil. I just free handed mine buy you can use a nickle and a dime to trace the whites and colors and then the top of a pencil for the pupil if you want.

3) Take two of the smaller squares of designed paper and paste them on either side of your main solid piece. You want to paste them over the position that was the original square from your template and center it. Like this in number 2.

3) Fold the ends up and over the paper like in the photo and glue them together, it will make a little pouch like in number 4.

4) Now, you are going to want to take the third small square you cut out earlier and cut it diagonally down the middle, creating a triangle. Then, paste the triangle on the top of the pouch as seen in image 5 behind the eye ball.

5) Paste your eyeballs together. Whites to the rim of the pouch, color to the white and pupils to the colored in a stacked kind of way... it should look like #5.

6) Finally, cut out the teeth! You can be creative here and chose and style of teeth you like, I free handed some buck teeth. Make sure to leave room and the top of your teeth so that you can glue it to the upper inside flap of the pouch.

YOU'RE DONE!

Here is how mine turned out...

Cute, functional and fun!

Sorry about the confusing directions everyone, hopefully it still worked out for you!

What do you think? Any other ideas for goofy faces?!

Give a New Look to a Bookshelf

This project just kind of fell into my lap and turned into something really great that was totally not what I had originally planned.


Here is the story...


My boyfriend and I went to Target to look for a plant stand for a Meyer Lemon tree we had purchased. We wanted to put the stand in in the front picture window of our home so our lemon tree could get enough light. Well, while looking through the aisles of Target I found this bookshelf for only $15. I thought it was a GREAT deal so I decided we would be leaving the store with it also!


We got home and put it together in our living room, it's not real wood it's like compacted cork but it looked nice! So we put it together and then he asked me what I planned on doing with it. Well, my original idea was to put the bookshelf in my craft room to help organize all of my supplies but he had a different idea. He suggested since the shelf looked so nice, we should put in in our hallway as a decoration.


We put the bookshelf in the hallway and it looked really nice so we agreed to keep it there. BUT being that I am obsessed with crafting I wanted to make the shelf a little bit more me and less plain. This is where the crafting comes in, it was so simple too! I decided to take some Martha Stewart paint testers I had purchased at Home Depot a few weeks earlier and paint the inside bottom panel of each shelf a different color. It was simple, easy and fun and it added that something extra I needed to make the shelf 'mine'.


Here is the How-To...

SUPPLIES:

• A Bookshelf
• 3 Different Colors of Paint
• Painters Tape
• A Paintbrush

DIRECTIONS:

1) Take your bookshelf and the painters tape and tape off the sections you do not want painted. I did the a strip on the right and left inside sides of each shelf and the back panel because I was painting the bottom panel. I also taped of the front lip of each shelf.

2) Paint! I did a few coats because I wanted the colors to be bright.

3) Let it dry and remove the tape. You're done!

here is what mine looks like!...

What do you think? Are you refinishing any furniture?