Lucky Thrift Store Find

It was a good day at the thrift store! I found a nice, stable, kiddy bookshelf ! It was 15.00 and only a few scratches and plugs to fix. I have been eyeing these for a long time in the catalogs because they are PERFECT for the little kiddos to reach their books. 

 You can tell from the picture that my little guy just loves it! 

Ignore his crazy hair, we just came back from swimming and he had sunscreen plastered in it! :)

Funny thing is... I'm in charge of helping a few ladies in my local craft group build

Knock-Off Wood's version in the month of September.  

 Now I will have the perfect pattern for all the curves that need to be cut.  Lucky day!

We will have to see, but I don't think it will cost more than 15-20 dollars to make Ana's pattern.

I'll be sure to share as I start prepping for the night.

Gotta Have Some Glitter!

Okay if you guys didn't catch Jen's post over at

Tater Tots and Jello

you'll have to head over for the low down

on one of the funnest summer activities!

My little girl and I have been a bit

obsessed with the fancy glitter polish

ever since we read her great tutorial!

When I came to church my Sunday School class girls couldn't help but notice

my Bling-ed out toes!

So....

I had my little Sunday School Girls over this week

and we got our Glitter Toe groove on!

It was fun, crazy and a bit chaotic

with 12 little girls

(we were actually missing 5!!)

trying to get that glitter on as fast as we could

but the end result was

FAB-U-LOUS!!!!

Thanks Jen for sharing such a great idea!

P.S. Hobby Lobby has a 40% coupon this week

so you can grab a pack of fine glitter for a little over $4!

& it lasts forever!

Framed Jersey

Have I put you all to sleep yet with my ongoing projects for my son's room?! I haven't even started on the furniture building yet!  I don't know about you, but the summer heat sucks out any enthusiasm I may have of working in the garage. So, I've been busy working in my a/c on the little projects needed for his room.

I had grand plans for building another shadow box for this Brazil World Cup jersey my son picked out at Target. (They were on clearance! ) I thought I better save my building energy for the furniture.  Instead, I squeezed it into another model home sale frame.  I picked up a number of them that day in the unwanted, pretty much free, section.  I don't think anyone could see past some of the ghastly pictures inside.  I swore that I would find something to use all the frames for!

Going back to the inspiration room, PB used a simple Lacrosse Penny jersey.  My husband lived in Brazil a couple of years and quickly became obsessed with soccer and the World Cup.  His enthusiasm has rubbed off on my boys. So we'll mix up my son's "lacrosse" room with a couple of other sports. He does love to play them all.

Here's the frame before I took the spray paint to it.

I looked up "how to frame a jersey" on the Internet.  I found a couple of good sites.  I like  this one the best.

Although, I really didn't follow it at all.  If you want a more professional look, go and check it out.

I used poster board to insert into the jersey as a form, after tracing and cutting the outline of the shirt.

I took the matte board (picture included) and used spray adhesive to adhere black felt.  Trimming the excess off and smoothing out any wrinkles.

And then after tucking and taping, (so not professional) stuck...or squeezed it into the frame.

My son's happy with it, yep~ he is easy to please! :)

Curtains

Well, this was super easy!  I'm not sure who was the first one in blog land to come up with this, but it's brilliant!  Was it Layla?  I only started reading diy blogs last summer...so I'm not sure?

Old news for many of you, but it's still a great idea!

At Home Depot they had a "bonus pack" of 2, 6x9 ft. drop cloths for 10.00!  What a steal!

After washing them, they were perfect and soft with the exact color I wanted for my son's room.

They sort of look like PB's room I'm trying to mimic, right?  How do they get everything to look so pristine in their pictures!? I wanted to try the grommets but that's too much work for me right now, and as I read around they sound difficult to put in.

Instead, I picked up a (kind of cheap) rod from Target and the clippy things to hang the fabric. Very easy! I think I may need a few more to make the fabric hang a little better.

I also found a deal on bedding at Target today.  I'll post on that next.  I thought for sure if I "made it myself" I would save tons of money...that's not always true. I have to be careful to add the cost of materials before I plunge into making something!

Display Rail System

Thanks for all the encouragement and ideas for my son's big boy bedroom.  I am stumped in a few areas because the room is about 1/3 the size of PB's.  I'm not sure how I am going to make it all fit? 

So as I ponder putting it all together, Nicole helped me start with one of the simplest projects in the room.  PB's Display-it Rail System.  Pottery Barn's is way more intricate, but ours serves the function...and it was 10 dollars for all of it! Yeah!

We started with one and a half rough grade 1x4's .  I was just going to chop them all up, but Nicole stopped me and said... you gotta router them.  I'm glad we did because it finished the boards up nicely.

By the way, I get giddy out there making stuff with her.  Taking ordinary wood and making it extra-ordinary with a few tools.

Instead of painting, I used a stain for a rustic look. 

The cheapest place to find wood pegs was Hobby Lobby. There are 5 in a package for 1.47! 

You can't beat that.

I used a countersink drill bit to make the holes and pounded them in after applying a little wood glue.

For the cork board, I had some squares already on hand.  I had to piece them together so it doesn't look as nice, but it will most likely be covered with something.  I used spray adhesive to adhere the cork board.  To make it blend with the wood , I also rubbed  a little stain all over the cork board.

The worst part is hanging for me.  I hung the board with D Rings onto screws.  I may have Nicole help me put keyholes in the back so they will sit flush against the wall. 

I gathered up some of my son's stuff and made it look pretty!  I printed a few pictures off of  the computer and spray adhesived them to card stock.

One project down and many more to go.  I am moving at the pace of a snail with projects!  My days are full of swimming, cleaning, laundry, cooking, and more cleaning!  Busy, busy with these boys all home, but we are having a good summer! 

I think the project up next is curtains, see you soon! :)

Mom, can you BUILD this for me please?

I think my son has greatly overestimated my "craft" skills.

 I usually snag a copy of Pottery Barn Kids when I'm at the mall, but this time I grabbed PB Teen.  My nine year old son grabbed the catalog right away because it had Lacrosse sticks on the front. He has been obsessed with learning lacrosse. Nicole's husband played Lacrosse in high school and college, and he recently coached the local varsity team.  My son was eagerly watching and taking it all in. 

He opened  up the catalog and quickly found this room.

"Please, PLEASE, will you build it for me?  I want the stuffed blue chair too!!  You can do it!!" 

Um, is that normal?  What have I done to my kids? How many moms BUILD rooms?

I don't know about the blue stuffed chair, but now I'll have to give it a try!

Wish me luck....lots of luck.

One Last Patriotic Hoorah!

Happy 4th of July!

We just had to sneak in one last Patriotic Craft!

Not only was it totally inexpensive to make

but it was really fun to fiddle with!

I started with some 1 1/2 inch x 4 foot long firring strips or shims as some call em'.

I cut them into 2 foot lengths.

I used a couple of them to tack them all together down the back.

I had a star hanging that I loved the shape of

so I traced it onto the boards.

Using my quilting ruler I just enlarged the star

to fit within the board margins.

You'll need a jig saw next!

These are pretty easy straight cuts to do

but it helps to have your project clamped to a table while you cut!

I then did a light sand job and started up with the paint.

I was so glad to not have to tape off any straight lines!

Whenever I paint I usually never use "full strength".

I usually do a 1 part H2O to 2 parts paint mixture.

Especially when I'm going for a primitive look on cedar like this

it just helps the paint soak in a bit,

not be so over powering or look too patchy.

Then out of my extra pieces I cut out a smaller star to layer on top.

I sanded again so some of the wood would peek through,

and also because when cedar or most woods get wet

all their little fibers stick up and make a rough mess.

Using a damp paint rag I used a bit of watered down

burnt umber to "age" the edges a bit.

I tied some extra pieces of ripped fabric and twine

to a wire I curled for it to hang on.

It got the 2 thumbs up from the hubby

so it must be okay!

We are so grateful for this day that is set aside to honor

the Freedom's we are so blessed to have

and for all those who have sacrificed

for us to have them.

God Bless America, Land That I Love!

Wood Flag With a Little Shimmer...

Here's a wood flag idea....if any of you dare whip out your saw three days before the 4th.

I believe it's about 24" x15" made all out of  pine 1x2's.

I finished a few of Nicole's firecrackers to go along with it.

After painting all the slats, I secured the 1x2's. I first glued three wood slats on the back and then became really impatient and nail gunned them all.  Much easier!

I had a container of Hobby Lobby ornaments stars I was dying to use.  

I ended up clipping all the ornament loops off and hot gluing two buttons on the back to make the white stars pop up.

The star ornaments have an iridescent finish on them that made the painted slats look dull.  I ended up applying some wipe on iridescent glitter all over the flag (lightly) to give it a little sparkle.

There you go! Bright and festive for the 4th! 

Nicole has one last cute star project up next.  Stay tuned! :)