Like Pinterest, But Real

I'm sometimes a bit slow catching on to the latest and greatest on the internet. I mean. I really don't understand twitter at all (#I'mlame #whatdoesthisevenmean?).

BUT.

I love Pinterest. It's like bookmarking except 10,000 times better. If you aren't on Pinterest yet and want an invite, email me! Apparently I can give those out. So. That's cool.

#Here'sthepoint: I have this awesome way of keeping track of cool stuff I find online, but I'm not always online. Sometimes I find awesome stuff in magazines, and then I need a real-life Pinterest, ya know? So, basically, I am telling you that I was inspired by a virtual pinboard to make a real-life pinboard. Baudrillard would totally eat this stuff up (#nerdygraduateschoolreference).

So. Recently I was in Ikea [For some unfathomable reason, there is no Ikea in Vegas, which means I have to stock up every time I am someplace that has one (like anywhere else in the civilized world). #tangentialrant]  and I saw the simple, metal, magnetic Spontan boards.  

Ikea

I figured I could totally spruce that sucker up. I took a quarter yard of fabric (a long quarter yard is the perfect amount for this) and some matte mod podge and went to town. 

Start by painting some mod podge onto the top of the board. Stretch and put the fabric to keep it smooth and bubble-free.

When the top is nice and smooth, wrap the fabric over the sides and stick down with mod podge.

#mintgreennailpolish

Make yourself some nice pretty corners. 

Trim off the excess fabric.

#soyoucanseeionlypaintedonefingernail

Then cover the whole thing in one or two coats of mod podge. When she's all dry, stick her up on your wall, and enjoy!

The magnet canisters were purchased at Ikea as well. They hold rubber bands, paper clips, buttons, and things nicely.

We also bought a three dollar bygel rail and a few hooks to hold up cups and baskets for assorted office/crafty stuff. That metal bin originally came with a flower arrangement.

So there you have it. I like it. It's easy. It's colorful. #winwinwin

I'm linking up at What I Whipped Up Wednesday at Sugar and Dots, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, and Hoo's Got Talent? at Night Owl Crafting.

I Learned Something New...

Something new today!

Do you know Sid the Science Kid? Do you know this song? "I learned something new, something new today! I learned it upside down and inside out. I learned all aboooooooooooooout HTML IMAGE MAPS!"

Have you noticed a few changes around here? I'm playing around and remembering things from that one HTML class I took five years ago. Anywho...

What do you think? More changes to come soon!

Small Spaces

So, first of all, I have been totally MIA for the last week or so, but I am feeling all inspired and ready to get into some projects this week. Hopefully I'll have some fun stuff to share!

Now for some inspiration:  I just got the most recent issue of House Beautiful, which is the "Small Spaces" issue. Last year's small spaces issue was my favorite, so I was excited to study it, and I was not disappointed.

House Beautiful via Everything Fabulous

It included this beautiful 295 square foot studio apartment. It is amazing that such a tiny space can contain so many great, inspiring ideas (like that chair covered in the Mexican blanket - WANT). You can check out a video tour of the apartment here.

House Beautiful via Everything Fabulous

Here's an image from my favorite small space from last year's issue.

House Beautiful

A family of three live in this beautiful, vibrant 390 square foot apartment. I mean...... Right?

Sometimes I get the crabby greedy wanties. Do you ever get those? You know, "If I just had a craft room..." "We really could use another garage..." "A guest room would be so nice..." That's pretty ugly.

Looking at these beautiful 300, 600, 900 square foot spaces gives me perspective, and I've decided I love my smallish home (which now seems almost obscenely large). I have decided that smaller spaces have quite a few advantages I may have occasionally overlooked. Like. Smaller spaces require more creativity. And. In a smaller space, its easier to fill up every little corner with beautiful, useful, meaningful things.

The magazine included a couple quotes on living in small spaces. I made a little printable of my favorite quote from the magazine. It is an 8x10 jpeg. To get the printable, click on the image below. Then, right click on the image that opens in a new window. Finally, save and print! The printable is totally free for your personal use.

What are your thoughts on small spaces? 

I'm linking up at M.M.M. at C.R.A.F.T and Make Something Monday at Sarahndipities.

Faux Shell Wall Hanging

This is the project I shared over at the Country Chic Cottage's Beach Bash last week. Ain't she purty?

It was inspired by a beautiful piece of art I saw a several months ago in House Beautiful:

Sorry the picture looks wrinkled... My magazine may have been dropped in the bath tub.  Maybe...

See that sparkly loveliness on the mantle? Here's what the magazine has to say about it: "A framed grid of shells on fishing wire 'sparkles and catches the light from the windows and the fireplace.'" Sounds like a dream, right? It also sounded fairly do-able to me, so I went to work. I quickly learned that pretty, sparkly shells are not so cheap. BUT - do you know what is? Wax paper. Wax paper is totally in my budget.

Maybe you saw that awesome wax paper cadiz shell chandy over at design sponge a while ago? Well, I used that tutorial to create my own shells.

Basically, you need wax paper, parchment paper, and an iron. Take three pieces of wax paper, place them between two pieces of parchment paper (to protect your ironing board and iron), and iron them together. The heat of the iron causes the wax to melt the papers together and creates a stiff, bubbly-looking paper. 

I added a bit of color to my shells by using crayons. I rubbed bits of crayon onto my wax paper sheets to create a marbled look in my shells. 

I think the crayon gives the shells character and a more natural look. I used a 1 1/2 inch circle punch to cut out my shells, although that was not the ideal tool. A circle cutter would probably work much better. I often had to go back with my Xacto knife to trim off edges that did not punch cleanly through.

Once my shells were all punched out, I used a 1/16 inch hole punch to create two small holes in each end of every shell. 

Next, I used fishing line to string up my shells. I tied the shell to the line through the hole at the top and then passed the line behind the shell and out the bottom hole.

My finished piece used 17 strings of about 12-14 shells each. Once I had all my shells on strings, I needed a frame to hang them from. 

Making the frame was definitely the part of this project that was most outside of my comfort zone, but it was very easy. AND I did it all myself, completely sans-husband. It took three steps:

1. Cut the wood and miter the corners. I started with about 12 feet of 1 1/2 inch wood molding from the home improvement store, and ended up with a frame 34 1/2 inches square. I used a simple miter box and hand saw (which you can pick up for about fifteen bucks) to cut my wood.
2. Glue the corners together. If you don't get your corners mitered at just the right angle, this may be a bit tricky. I just used Elmer's wood glue, and it is holding well. 
3. Stain the frame. I used some pickling stain that I had leftover from my paneling wall hanging project.

Finally, I attached my strings of faux shells to the frame using white glue, a paintbrush, and strips of cotton fabric. I painted glue onto the back of the frame and pressed the strips of fabric over the fishing line. When saturated with the glue, the fabric becomes a bit like tape. Using this method, I was able to get the lines securely fastened to the frame without tying it or drilling into the frame. 

I am really happy with the way this project came out. It has movement, shine, and a slightly weathered look.

It definitely gives our entryway a pretty, seaside feel. So, whaddya think?

I'm linking up at Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T, Nifty Thrifty Sunday at Nifty Thrifty Things, and The Inspiration Board at Homework.

Papercut The Second

So, these aren't great pictures, but I wanted to show you my second papercutting attempt. After I posted my last attempt, Maggie from Chica es Artistica sent me over to an AWESOME papercutting blog, Scherenschnitte. Seriously, you should check it out if you are at all interested in paper cutting. She has TONS of free papercutting templates that are cute and whimsical, including this sweet Alice in Wonderland one.

I used paper from an old book I got at the thrift shop. I made a few mistakes, and I don't like it mounted on the white paper, so I may try a redo. We'll see!

Guest Post at the Beach Bash!

I am very, very excited to be guest posting over at The Country Chic Cottage today as part of Angie's fun Beach Bash series!

I'll be sharing this project:

Go check it out!

DIY Baker's Twine

Yesterday I posted a few pictures of my most recent canning adventure, and you may recall that the jars had little baker's twine bows tied on them. Well, when I decided I wanted to tie baker's twine bows onto my jars, of course, I did not actually have any baker's twine. So with the powers of Google and making do combined, I came up with this technique for making your own.

You may have seen this clever tutorial at the Frugal Crafter for making your own baker's twine using cotton crochet thread and a permanent marker. Well, that's great, but I didn't have any fun permanent markers, so I moved on. Next, I stumbled upon this idea at Between the Lines to twist together two strands of colored embroidery floss, which I always have on hand.

Here's how you do it. Tie two strands of embroidery floss together (not too long, maybe about two yards), and then tie one end to something like a door knob, a stair banister, or your big toe.

I liked the big toe method. If you use this method, you can make baker's twine while you relax on your couch and catch up on So You Think You Can Dance. Totally recommended.

Anyway. I found that twisting the embroidery floss is all fine and great, but it tends to quickly untwist as soon as you let go. The solution I came up with is to water down some Elmer's white glue and run your fingers along the twisted strand. You do not need to soak it, but you want the glue to help hold your twists in place. Let it dry for a few minutes, and then wrap your new baker's twine up on to a bobbin or spool.

What I really like about this method is that you can pretty much make up any color combination you want. You can do a more traditional primary color with white.

 

Or, how about mixing it up? Like pink and green? Or yellow and lavender?

Fun, right? I wound my new baker's twine up on the adorable and FREE (!) printable bobbins from Wild Olive. Go get em!

Hey! By the way, I would LOVE it if you would like to link up some of your favorite projects from the last few months here.

I'm linking up at Friday Flair at Whipperberry, Weekend Show Off Party at Ladybird Ln, Friday Fun Finds at Kojo Designs, Pity Party at Thirty Handmade Days, and Simply Creations at Simple Home Life. 

Strawberry Peach Jam

This little blog has been a bit neglected lately. Poor thing. What have I been doing?

Well... visiting with family, cuddling my babies, and eating peaches, mostly. All good things. I love summer fruits and berries. My neighbor and I got a few cases of peaches recently and spent some time "putting them up."

( Psst... Don't you love my new cake stand?!? I got it at Home Goods for 15 bucks a couple of weeks ago, and I've been meaning to share it with you all. I just love looking at it. I'm sure it will surface on this blog again.)

I wanted to try out this strawberry peach jam recipe. It is yummmmmmmy, but it just did not want to gel for me. I cooked the stuff for nearly an hour and then decided I was okay with runny jam. It ended up not being too too runny, so we'll call it a success.

Mmmmm... tastes like summer.

If you make 16 jars of jam, you really need to give some away. No one needs 16 jars of jam. Right?

And if you are going to give jam away, you probably need to stick some cute tags on the jars and tie on some little bows. Right?

Right. 

I downloaded these FREE (!) printable tags from the Cottage Industrialist here. And I made my own baker's twine. I will tell you a little bit more about that tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Hey! By the way, I would LOVE it if you would like to link up some of your favorite projects from the last few months here.

I'm linking up at Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, What I Whipped Up Wednesday at Sugar and Dots, Pity Party at Thirty Handmade Days, Hoo's Got Talent at Night Owl Crafting, Making It with Allie at Allie Makes, Creative Juice at Momnivore's Dilemma, Strut Your Stuff on Somewhat Simple, Friday Flair at Whipperberry, Weekend Show Off Party at Ladybird Ln, Friday Fun Finds at Kojo Designs, Pity Party at Thirty Handmade Days, and Simply Creations at Simple Home Life. 

Favorite Projects: Yours and Mine

Can you believe it is July already? Well, it is! And that means that I have been at this blog thing for four months now. I have so enjoyed sharing my projects here, being inspired by the wonderful creativity out there, and getting to know some amazingly talented people.

I thought it would be fun to pick out a few of my favorite projects from the past four months, and I want to hear about your fovorite projects too!

This simple ruffle pillow is still a favorite. I think I need more. I definitely need more.

This makeover is another favorite. I think the main reason I like it is because I HATED the before so much.

I mean... That's a pretty nasty before, right? Right.

Then there was the time that I drew on my walls with markers. That was fun.

So. What are some of your favorite projects from the last few months? Tell me all about 'em!! If you have a blog, you can link up your favorite projects below. Or, if you don't, tell us what you've been up to in the comments section. Can't wait to see what you are most proud of!