Hanging Jewelry Board

After my success making my own french memo boards, I decided to use a similar technique to make a board for Cavegirl to hang her necklaces, bracelets, and hair elastics on. She has a decent amount, but she rarely wears any of  them. My theory is that it's because she can never FIND them. A pretty, convenient display would not only get more bling into the rotation, but would, perhaps, keep me from finding her jewelry in odd places (all over the floor, under her bed, in her clothes hamper, etc.)

For this project:

12 x 6 inch plywood (I used 1/2 inch thick)
Scrap fabric that is about 15 x 8
Picture hanger
Small hooks (I used white cup hooks I found on ebay)
Piece of paper or cardboard cut to the size of your board.
Heavy duty stapler
Awl (or another pointy object capable of pushing a similar sized hole into a piece of fabric)
Duct or masking tape

I had several misfires on this project so I am not going to tell you how I would do it, but how I would do it if I did it again.

Put your paper or cardboard over the board and line it up with the edges.  Tape in place. You are making a template of where the holes are going to be so you can find them again later once the fabric is on. Drill your holes through the template and into the board. Use a bit as close in size to the screw portion of your hooks as possible. I chose to put two holes across the top and two across the bottom, staggered. (see photo at the bottom of post). You can also put them coming out from the bottom, if you wish. I might add those on later.

Remove your template and attach your fabric. Unlike the french memo boards, I don't recommend using batting. It will make putting the hooks in difficult. Use the wrapping strategy discussed here to wrap the fabric around your board and staple it in place.

Put your template back on top of your board, line it up, and tape in place. Use the awl to poke a hole through the template, fabric, and into the pre-drilled hole in your plywood. It only has to be big enough to insert the screw part of your hook. Be careful not to tear the fabric more than just making a small hole. Do this for each hole.

Attach your picture hanger to the back.

Screw in your hooks. If they seem a little loose, you can use a tiny bit of glue to hold them in place. Try to avoid glue if you can, because you run the risk of getting it on your fabric.

Hang on your wall, fill it with bling, and admire!

French Memo Boards

Cavegirl loves hanging photos and cards in her room. She has a little memo board that we got at Five Below, but it's stuffed. I had some fabric left over from when I made her quilt, so I thought, why not make our own?

Here's what you will need:

12 x 12 piece of plywood. You can go bigger, certainly, but we had two specific spaces on the wall that we wanted to fill, and two of these worked perfectly. We used plywood that was about 1/2 inch thick.

• Fabric remnants. Should be at least four inches longer and wider than your boards. So for us, 16 x 16
• Quilt batting, if desired. We wanted a puffier, softer look. 16 x 16, same as the fabric.
• Ribbon in coordinating colors. We got the cheap stuff at AC Moore.
• Upholstery tacks. We used white
• Heavy duty stapler
• Hammer
• Cloth or rag
• Picture hangers

Sand the edges of your plywood and iron your fabric. Place your fabric good side down on your work surface, then line up the batting right on top.

Place the plywood in the middle. Now you are going to wrap the fabric round the board. Start at the bottom. Wrap the excess fabric and batting around the plywood and staple in place at either end and in the middle. Do the same with the top, being sure to pull the fabric and batting snug.

I have found that the easiest way to do the sides is to fold the corners in and then pull the triangle you have up and staple that - kind of like you are wrapping a present. The problem is, there will be a lot of bulk in the corners. I wound up cutting away some of that so it wouldn't be as bulky.

Here's what you will have when you are finished.

Cut two pieces of ribbon the length of your diagonal plus about three inches. Staple these in place. These have to be tight, too, or the cards and photos will slip right out. Put your staple on the back as close to the corner as possible to keep the ribbon from slipping off the corner.
You will need to hammer the upholstery tack in. Make sure to cover the tack with a cloth or rag so you don't scrape off the finish with the hammer.
Attach picture hangers on back. I like the sawtooth kind.

Ta - da!

Now certainly you can make these different shapes and sizes. Just be sure to use an upholstery tack any place where two pieces of ribbon intersect.

Homemade Grungy Timer Tealights

I love grungy candles.
But even moreso, I love flameless candles.  My love began when my kids were little: Cave toddlers and open flames are not a good mix. The more I got to know flameless candles, the more I liked them. No mess, no melty wax goo, no soot marks on my wall, no panicking about whether the candles were all blown out or not.
When a friend turned me onto flameless candles with TIMERS, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Going around and turning on a dozen or so candles every day was only slightly less annoying than lighting a dozen candles every day.
The problem for me was, that there really weren't a ton of options available with the flameless timers. I found some pillar that I liked, and managed to find some grungy candlestick type ones that I put in my windows. But search as I might, I couldn't find any grungy-esque tealights with times.  Grungy tealights, no timer. Timer tealights, no grunge. But no combination of the three.


So I decided to make some!
You can buy white timer tealights lots of places - craft stores, online, etc. I bought about four 4 packs of these.

 

You will also need:

 

• Mod Podge
• Ground Coffee (for texture)
• Instant Coffee (for color)
• Plastic container with lid
• Disposable spoon
• Small flat painbrush - bristles should be about 1/2 inch wide
• Water
• Wax paper

 

I don't have any pics of the process because I did these awhile ago. But it will be fine.

 

Pour some Mod Podge into your plastic container. Add a little instant coffee and stir. This will dissolve completely and will give you mixture it's color. Keep adding until it gets to the color you like.
Then add your regular coffee. This won't dissolve as easily and will give you the little bumps and granules that will add texture. Add as much as you like.  Stir stir stir.
Cover your work are with wax paper. These suckers are going to be sticky.
When painting your tealights, hold them by the flame part and paint the top first. Don't worry if you get a little on the flame part - it's not supposed to look perfect. Then paint the sides. It will go on thick, don't worry. If it seems TOO thick add a LITTLE water. But you don't want it too think. Somewhere between paint and glue is a good consistency. Also, don't panic if it doesn't seem to cover much with the first coat. This is plastic, after all. It's a multiple coat project.
Once all of your tealights have their first coat, leave them on the wax paper to dry COMPLETELY. Drying completely between coats is an important step. Otherwise, you will end up with a mushy mess. If you press in with your finger and you feel movement or leave a fingerprint, they are not dry.
The first coat will probably take about 6 hours to dry. Subsequent coats, even more, like overnight.
Keep adding coats until you have achieved the coverage you want.
Add batteries, turn on all the timers at once, scatter throughout your home, and enjoy!

Put the lid on your container, and save this gooey goodness for another project!

How to Apply Wall Vinyl

I saw this awhile ago while fooling around on the Internet, and thought it would look great in my home. It kind of summed up how I feel about life in my family. My mom got it for me for Christmas, but it's been sitting in the mailing tube for six months waiting for me to get brave enough to try to put it up.  Well, I finally got brave.

I've never put up wall vinyl before, so I was a little bit intimidated. What if it was crooked? What if it didn't stick? What if half of it stuck and half of it peeled off? The truth is, applying wall vinyl is not hard at all, though it can be a little bit of a pain.  The directions that come with it are pretty basic, so here it what I learned along the way that, added to the directions that arrive with your purchase, you can use to streamline the process.

First, I took down the picture collages that were on the wall (truly, who really has just an empty wall waiting to put something up, unless you just moved in? There's always something to remove.) I spackled and sanded the holes, then dug the wall paint and a roller out of the basement and did sort of a once-over on the whole area. I didn't tape or edge the ceilings or anything - just wanted to start with a clean surface. I let that dry for a couple of days.

My wall vinyl came in five pieces. My first step was to use painter's tape to tape everthing up there exactly as I wanted it.  I had to move things around a few times, but I finally got them centered horizontally and a little higher than centered vertically. I kept measuring and moving until I got it right.


Then I retaped. I knew I wanted to start applying from the bottom (I was unsure enough about this project, let alone doing the first application on top of a chair) so I started from the TOP. Each piece of the decal is held in place by one vertical strip of painter's tape. The one I'm currently working on also has a piece keeping each end flat against the wall.

Does it look straight? Measure, measure, measure!

OK, listen close. Remove the piece of tape on the right side. You'll notice that the vinyl letters are sandwiched between two sheets of plastic or whatever.  You are going to start at one of the right hand corners and gently and slowly PEEL the BACK sheet (closest to the wall) away from the letters and front sheet. Whatever you do, make sure the vertical piece of tape stays put. That is what is holding your decal in the perfect place. Keep peeling until you get close to the tape.



Yes, I know it looks crooked. You try peeling with one hand and photographing with the other!

Then get a pair of scissors, and use your RIGHT hand to cut away as much of the peeled-away paper as you can, and drop it to the ground. Lose the scissors (it helps to have a chair or something nearby that you can drop them on),


Cut as close to the tape as you can.

Right now you are holding the decal with your left hand. Switch to your right hand, and then, again, slowly and gently, starting at the tape and working towards the right, smooth the decal down with your hand. Now, the decal is being held to the wall by the letters on the right half of the decal. Remove the rest of the tape, peel off the rest of the backing sheet, and smooth down the other side of the decal, again working from the center out.

Do not whip out your credit card or start peeling the front sheet off just yet. Be patient. Why? Because you are going to need to tape the next piece down, and if you take off the paper, you will be taping over your decal. Not a good idea. Just leave the paper on until all of the decals are in place.

Move up to the next decal. Make sure it centers properly over the one you just applied. Keep in mind that the PAPER might not be cut straight, so you are making sure that the DECALS line up, not the PAPERS. Repeat the peel, cut, remove tape, smooth, peel, cut, smooth.  Each time you move to another decal, make sure it lines up with the decals that are already in place. Don't worry about whether they are centered on the wall or not: if the first one was in place, and you align all remaining ones with the first, they will be. And if the first one wasn't, it's too late to fret now.  Just keep on keeping on.


Almost done this part!

One all of the decals are adhered to the wall, get out that credit card. USe the edge to burnish the decal onto the wall. Don't be too hardcore with the rubbing, just go back and forth over each word a few times with moderate pressure. You can do all the pieces at once or one at a time - it doesn't really matter. I did them one at a time.

After burnishing all the words on the strip, start at one of the bottom corners and gently and slowly peel up diagonally.  It's not uncommon for the letters to stick a little to the top sheet. You might have to press it back down and burnish some more. Or if the letter comes partially off, you can use the credit card to hold the edge down while you gently pull back the paper. Be sure to check the inside of circular letters, such as D's and O's. A couple of times I had to pick out a piece of vinyl that was stuck inside. Make sure you do this when the vinyl is still on the sheet.  It will be WAY harder to get it off the wall without messing up the letter.

Take your time, and be careful. This isn't hard, but you can't rush through or not pay attention, or you might wind up with a mess. When you are done, it will look like this:


OK, THIS photo is crooked.

And your floor will likely look like this:

So then I put my photo collages back up on either side, and I was PSYCHED about how everything turned out.

Spray Painting Cabinets - Yes, You Can!

I'm getting sick of the builder's grade oak cabinets that populate my bathrooms and kitchens. I've seen a lot of pins and such about repainting them, and to be honest, it seems like quite a chore. Take off hardware. Remove doors. Tape. Sand. Prime. Flip. Prime. Flip. Paint. Flip. Paint. Flip. Paint. Flip. etc. WAY too many steps to mess up.
I know the issue is getting the paint to stick to the cabinets, since they aren't new wood. Then I thought about spray paint.  This Rustoleum Metallic that I've been digging on lately seems to stick to anything.
I decided to start with the sink cabinet in the powder room, because frankly, it's the smallest project, and if this didn't work, I didn't want a huge mess on my hands. The hardware in the bathroom is like a hammered black, so I was going to go for a flat black (as opposed to glossy), but then at Home Depot I saw this:

Who knew?

Paint AND primer. Hammered. That would look cool.
So I started taping and papering. In my opinion, the only downside to spray painting is overspray.  I can't really take my sink out onto the lawn to spray paint it there. So I got my roll of kraft paper out and my tape, and got to work. Powder rooms are tiny, which makes it a little tricky to tape and paper, especially with the toilet right there in the way. But I didn't want black paint all over the wallpaper or floor. I papered all the way into the hallway, and covered the toilet.  It looked like this

Ignore that piece of paper popping out from under the sink. I slipped the paper between the sink and the cabinet, and it popped out right before I took the picture.  Believe me, everything was safe and secure before I started spraying.  That little brown spot on the side? We had a cabinet lock on there from when Caveboy and Cavegirl were babies, and when I took it off, that's what we were left with. I sanded it down and hoped for the best.
Confession: I didn't sand anything else.  Even though the can said to sand.  I ignored it and went right to the spraying. I tested it on the inside of the cabinet, and when that looked all good, I continued on.
Even, light coats. I cannot stress this enough. Keep moving that can. Even if it looks like it's not all covered with the first coat. I made the mistake of spraying a little too much at once and got some drips. It was fixable - I used a foam brush to gently smooth out the drip, and let it dry. Once I didn't notice a drip until it was dry, so I used a sanding sponge to gently rub off the bump.  Once I covered these boo boos with another coat, it wasn't too noticeable.  But try to avoid if possible.

This is after one coat.  See how it looks uneven? Don't panic!
I did about three coats, letting them dry about 30-45 minutes in between each. I considered a clearcoat, but I didn't want it too shiny, and all I had was gloss clearcoat.
Another trick I learned is to wear a pair of cheap white socks while painting. Last project, I made the mistake of wearing flip flops, and wound up tracking paint dust all over the floor.  Here, I wore the socks while painting, then took them off before stepping off the kraft paper. When I went back in to do another coat, I put the socks back on.  They were black when I was done (I told you about that overspray!) so I just threw them out.
I even sprayed right over the handle. Didn't even take it out.
The only downside was that despite all of this papering, there was a dusting on the small part of the floor and baseboard I didn't paper.  Next time, paper everything! A little 409 and a rag took care of it. But it was another annoyance that could have been avoided.
The amount of overspray has me nervous about trying this in the kitchen, where there are way more cabinets to paint. I might try in the master bath. Here's the finished product:

Sweet!

Crafts for Kids: Cement Garden Stones

This is one of my kids' favorite crafts.  It's messy, they get to dump stuff in a big bucket, and they can be as creative as they want to be.

Don't be intimidated by the cement.  It's super easy.

You can buy a pre-packaged kit at AC Moore or Michael's, but personally, I like to just buy the cement (also from AC Moore or Michael's) and then use whatever we have lying around for decoration. The first time we did this I bought some plastic hexagon-shaped molds and letter stamps just for this purpose.  The molds also come in handy for stuff like play doh and moon sand (you know, keeping the mess contained) and the letter stamps can be used for play doh and clay creations, so you really can't go wrong.

I got a little bag of river rocks, plus Cavegirl picked out two bags of colored stones (she calls them "gems,") Plus a couple little rocks that had words like "Love" and "Trust" printed on them.

Caveboy mixing it up

Use a bucket to mix the concrete.  Be careful dumping the dry mix into the bucket because it tends to "cloud". Use exactly the amount of water it calls for.  It says to add more if needed, but I never need to.  If anything, the cement is a little TOO wet, but I usually don't notice that until it's in the mold. I mix and pour one at a time.  I only have one set of letters, so it works out better for that reason, too.



I put the mold on an old cookie sheet that we use just for crafts. Smooth it out with a wooden spoon, then lift the cookie sheet a little and kind of bang it down on the table a couple times.  This will help spread and smooth out the concrete.  If you get water pooling on top, use a paper towel to soak it up and re-bang. If it's too wet, it won't hold a handprint or the letters.

Cavegirl, creating.

If you want a handprint, do that first.  It might not turn out, and then you might have to smooth the cement over and start again. Depending on the age of your kid and the size of your mold, you might only be able to fit in one hand. Make sure it's in deep enough...impressions tend to shrink a little as they dry. If it's barely pressed in, you might not be able to see it at all once the cement has hardened.


Letters next. Arrange and space them the way you want before pressing any in.  Leave them in for a little while, so the impression sets.  If you pull the letter out and a pool of water forms at the bottom, put it back in for a little while.

Let the kids put in their stones, shells, sticks, whatever treasures and trinkets they want. Again, I suggest they "arrange" them all the way they want them, THEN push them all into the cement once they have them the way they want them. It's really tough to pick something out and smooth the cement over without having it look like you picked something out and tried to smooth the cement over. Push the stones and whatnot in so that they are about level with the cement. As the cement dries, they will push up a little, so you want them in deep enough that they won't be hanging out once the stone has hardened.

This one is a tad wet.  The green things at the top are the letter stamps. Don't pull them out until you don't see any water shining on the surface. Otherwise, the cement is too wet to hold the shape of the letters.

I let these puppies dry for at least a day. They will be hard to the touch in a few hours, but just to be safe......Then gently turn it over and pull the mold away.  It will want to stay in...you have to kind of break the suction.  Then stand back and marvel at your beautiful creations, and then find a spot in your garden or flowerbed where you can see these lovelies every day.

Sweet!

Tile Coasters and Clay Pots Coasters

I've seen several pins on Pinterest about how to easily make coasters with scrapbook paper and Mod Podge, and I decided to kick it up a notch.

The tile coaster method usually involves buying the cheapo 4 inch ceramic tile squares in basic white.  But while I was browsing the tile aisle at Lowe's I found some really cool porcelain tiles that had more of a tumbled stone look. Were they as cheap as the cheapos? No, but at 33 cents apiece I didn't really feel that it was an issue.  This was still going to be a super inexpensive project.  I bought four in a cocoa color and four in a lighter beige color.  Since most of my home is decorated in browns, it made more sense to me than stark white tiles, anyway. I also bought four 4 inch clay pot saucers at Michael's.

Scrapbook paper in the brown family is not exactly plentiful, but I did find two really cool patterns that I absolutely loved.  One was the words "live," "laugh," and "love" printed in various fonts against a beige background.  The other looked like letters and numbers in various sizes of printer's type - all brown shades. The other ones I had would have been ok, but these were the ones that seemed to "pop" the most when held up against the different types of tile.

Be sure to use wax paper!

I used my paper trimmer to trim four squares of each of the papers. I made the squares a little smaller than 4 x 4 so the paper didn't extend competely to the edge.  Once I decided which paper I wanted on which colored stone, I brushed a layer of Mod Podge on each tile and centered the paper on top, making sure not to have any bubbles.  Once it had set, I covered the top and sides with two coats of Mod Podge, letting it dry in between coats for about an hour.do this on wax paper in case it drips down.  If it does, you can pretty much just pick off the excess.  If it leaves a bump, a little sanding block action should take care of that.

Make sure it's dry before flipping!

 Moving on to the saucers.  First, I painted the tops and bottoms with two THIN coats of Rustoleum Metallic spray paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze. Be sure to let the paint dry adequately in between.  Don't be impatient, especially once you flip over to do the other side.  If you rush it, you'll be sorry, in the form of messed up edges.

Meanwhile, get out your circle cutter.  Or, if you're like me and don't have one, find a glass or some other round object that is close to the size of the inner circle of the saucer.  Use that cup to cut out four circles of your choice of scrapbook paper. Use the same Mod Podge technique described above. This time make sure to coat the inside of the saucers as well.  You want the whole thing waterproof. Two coats again, being sure to let it dry completely in between coats. Then a coat of clearcoat, just cause.
 
Last step.  You need something on the bottom to keep the stones and saucers from roughing up your tables.  I used little felt circles that you put on chair legs. They're a little thicker than I would like, but it's what I had. I cut them in quarters and put one in each corner. You could also use felt or cork. Thin cork sheets would probably work best.  But I'm happy with these.  I think they look really unique and I'm so glad I didn't go with the cheapo white ceramic tiles.

Lamp Base Update: Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze!

Since I'm off for the summer, I usually make a huge list of various organizational/home improvement projects that I want to tackle while I have the time.  The reality is, there is simply no time to dive into them during the school year. As soon as July hits, I feel the pressure start: the summer is slipping away and I'm stressing out about getting all of my projects done. The irony is that these projects are supposed to be RELAXING.

Taped up good

Today's project was revamping the hideous silver lamp bases that had been sitting in my master bedroom for six years. Actually, the lamp bases weren't hideous.  They were just, well, SILVER. I'm not sure why I purchased them in the first place, since all of the metal in the room is more of an aged bronzey color. They were perfectly good lamps, so I seriously couldn't justify just throwing them out. 

Then I went downstairs and saw my new bestie, Rustoleum American Accents Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze.  I had just finished a clay saucer coaster project with this that I LOVED.  Why not try it on the lamps and see what happens? After all, it says it's for metal, among other things, so I shouldn't even have to prime anything.

After one THIN coat

First, I removed the bulbs and lampshades, then placed the lamps on  brown paper bag. I taped down the cords so I wouldn't paint them. Then I taped off the little metal part where you screw in the bulb. The key here is thin coats. It can get tricky because the lamp base has a lot of curvy parts. I held another paper bag behind the lamp bases when spraying them horizontally. This is after one coat.  Mostly covered, but not exactly evenly.

 Let dry 30 minutes. Then another 2 thin coats, followed 2 thin clear coats. I let all that dry a couple of hours before putting the light bulbs and shades back on.

Oooh pretty!

Can I just say that this rustoleum Metallic comes in about seven different shades and later this summer I am going to tackle repainting my door hinges and door knobs, and maybe even my faucets! So pretty, and so much better than plain old silver or brass.