Pink Dresser Redo

Almost 2 1/2 years ago I stumbled upon

this little dresser at a local thrift store.

It was pretty sad looking and the drawers were a bit messed up.

After bargaining with the sales guy~something I'm proudly

getting better at~yup, I'm one of those gals

that if you look even slightly intimidating I'll just hand my cash over

and run away, I got it for $6.

So it has set in my garage and been chewed on by the squirrels

until I had any time to rescue it.

The exciting thing was that it's solid wood, no particle board crap here.

I gave it a good sand over and had to repair some corners.

Wood putty is amazing stuff~you can literally reshape missing corners.

Candace and I reshaped a whole table edge using the stuff eons ago

and you would have never guessed it at all.

So be brave and get some!:)

It did take almost 3 cans of spray paint to give it a luscious finish

and I was sure happy with the color.

I used spray paint because I knew it would stick.  

I didn't want to worry that I didn't get all the varnish off

so acrylic paint would stick.

Plus it's just easier!

My daughter and I have been working on redoing her room.

Gone is the Pepto-Bismol pink I agreed to when we moved in.

I know, I know, who listens to a 3 year old=2 thumbs pointing at me!

We have a warm butter yellow and now the pink is just a nice addition of pop.

 I picked the cute knobs up at Hobby Lobby for just over $7

and fixed the inner sliding hardware for $6.

 The knobs couldn't be more perfect!

So for right around $25

my daughter has a new dresser nightstand!

Now to find the perfect lamp......

Duck, Duck.....

Life is crazy with the school year wrapping up,

lacrosse and baseball games, even being called in for jury duty.

Amidst it all last week my hubby left for work and

quickly returned running into the bathroom with his 

hands cupped around something....

"I almost hit it with my car and I couldn't find any trace

of it's mom or siblings.....can we keep it?"

Which of course was quickly followed by handing it over

to me, kissing me on the cheek and "sorry, I gotta run to work!"

My daughter and I scoured the neighborhood for an hour

and then went periodically driving through
looking for any signs of ducks.

Thank goodness for Google and for our local farm & feed store.

I actually let my daughter stay home with me

while my hubby called every 30 minutes to check on "his" duck.

He was afraid it would imprint on us instead of him.:)

Since we were skipping school we just had to take
it over to Grandma and Grandpa's house.
This is where we found out how fast it could run!

Of course we couldn't let it be lonely,

so the next morning we ran and got a companion

so now.....there are two!

Here they are swimming in my favorite popcorn bowl

~yes it's our ghetto attempt at a pond for them for now.

No worries, I have a date with Walmart for a kiddie pool....

I sometimes wonder how absolutely crazy I must appear to others.

But then I see the little ducklings follow my little girl around the yard

quack quack quacking the whole way,

and I know that sometimes, yes sometimes, crazy is good.:)

Let's cross our fingers that I don't get called in for jury duty tomorrow
so I can post pics of the cute dresser makeover I did for my daughter's room!

Wood You Like To Craft? Garden Bird Stakes

Hello!

Wood You Like To Craft? is going on this week.  

The theme is SUMMER bling!

Nicole and I recreated in WOOD some very fun and whimsical garden bird stakes

 that we found at at Foreside Home & Garden. 

Come on over and see the full tutorial...it includes using PUFFY paint! :)

Teacher Appreciation Week 2012

Teacher Appreciation Week 2012 is officially here!

Friday was a crazy scramble trying to get

each Teacher and Staff member's door decorated!

It was so fun to see all the great ideas everyone had

but even more so was the great feeling in the air 

of doing something nice for those special Teachers from our school!

This year I only had to do 2 doors,

yes only~that sounds crazy but I was almost disappointed

I didn't have more to do but grateful that I actually got them

done on time with out stressing out too much!:)

This year I went with movie themes

and since my daughter has the same teacher that moved

up grades~I had to incorporate her into the design!

Above is her door~

Who doesn't love a little bit of the Wizard of Oz!

Here's my second door for our fabulous Librarian!

I've been hanging around Candace's little guy

who's obsessed with Toy Story~~it's kinda rubbed off.

I especially loved the cute cupcake ideas which would be super easy to do

and the door that looked like it was graffiti!  Very Cool!

Make sure to bookmark these great ideas for next year!

Plus an extra SPECIAL THANKS to all of you AMAZING TEACHERS

who inspire everyone around you!

Quilting with Birch Fabrics

Birch Fabrics was kind enough to send us some very cute 100% organic cotton fabric to play around with!

I take absolutely NO credit for making this quilt.  I roped my mother-in-law, Kathleen, who is a master quilter- to create a wall hanging quilt with the Birch fabrics. She was too kind to give in! The original plan was for her to teach me how to make a simple quilt, but when she saw the adorable whimsical printed fabric, she was excited to create her own with her own unique style.  I was happy to let her take the lead, she is so very talented. We couldn't wait to see what she would come up with.

Kathleen is an incredible creative quilter, she loves to go beyond the traditional. She has been involved in an art quilt group for years that encourages the members to be expressive with fabric and not use patterns. I love taking a peek in her sewing room to see what she is up to. Our family has been blessed to receive so many of her beautiful quilts.

Kathleen used the Commute and Mod Basics fabric line 

from Birch Fabrics to create the quilt. 

"Birch Fabrics was created in an effort to provide an environmentally friendly cotton alternative to the quilting and crafting community. Is produced from 100% organic cotton, and printed with low impact dyes. Birch fabrics, mixes retro style with whimsical juvenile accents that lend themselves perfectly to nursery bedding, while still being sophisticated enough for pillows on your sofa, or curtains in your craft room."

What a great idea to use organic fabrics, especially if you are sewing for a baby's room, or children.

Kathleen used a free form rotary cutting method to piece the quilt. The Commute fabric is filled with bicycles, airplanes and buildings. She envisioned curves similar to roads, rivers and  trails that one would travel on. The free form method is the perfect way to quilt the curves.  

When you free form cut with a rotary tool, there's no pattern, just whatever your imagination and free hand can come up with.  As seen in the picture below, you first place BOTH right sides up, overlapping about 1/2 inch.  Then you cut to create the curves. She then used the first piece as a pattern to create the next piece, and so on...building as you go. Then you just stand back and see what you need next. The more contrast you have- the more interesting it is.  Add contrast with color and pattern.  Kathleen encourages you to do it the way you want to, and not follow the traditional rules. Be expressive! 

Next, she took the matching seams and sewed them together.

Sew right sides together with a 1/8th inch seam.  

When she was finished piecing the top, she squared it up on the sides.
For batting, Kathleen used 80 percent cotton / 20 percent polyester Hobb's heirloom batting.
She then machine quilted each fabric section with curved lines, circles, and squares.  Again, no rules, just being expressive.

For the binding, she used left over scraps to make a 2 1/2 inch strip, folded in half.  Kathleen calls it a "scrappy binding." I love the mix of colors!

Isn't it great?  I love the non-traditional look! Thank you to my sweet Mother-in-law! 

The quilt is now on it's way to Quilt Market for Birch Fabrics.

If any of want to learn basic piecing and quilting, I will be back soon (with Kathleen's help), to share a simple beginner's quilt with the adorable Birch fabrics.  I have a bicycle loving son that is saving a spot on his wall for the quilt. 

(To purchase Birch Fabrics online, you can go to fabricworm.com)

Nicole is busy working on Teacher Door decorations this week and tomorrow she will be back to share some of the great ideas from her school!