After School Project

H came home from school with a list of her school supplies last week and one of the items she needed was an art smock.  Okay, I have a million old soccer t-shirts she can have.  But, then I got all girly and started thinking she needed something that wouldn't mess up her hair and would be easy on and off.  I remembered that when I was a kid, I wore my Dad's button down shirt on backwards.  I liked this idea except for the fact I remember my sleeves being really baggy and getting into the paint.  I needed to just take a shirt in and cut the sleeves shorter.  This will take me ten minutes tops!  WRONG....

I wish I had step by step instructions but, it will be different for anyone who attempts this project.  All I did was cut the collar off the top using an old shirt of my daughters as an example.  Then, I cut the side seams all the way through the sleeves, leaving the shirt attached by the part that hangs over the shoulders.  Next, I turned the shirt inside out and used my daughter as a model.  I simply pinned the shirt together where it fit her best and sewed and cut new seams.  But, I did get a little fancy by adding ruffles to the sleeves and reinforcing the stitches with a decorative hem. 

As I stood back and admired her smock, I got to thinking it still needed something.  I also wanted the shirt to be fitted around the waist so I though adding ties to the sides of the shirt would be perfect.  But, then I got this idea to use a cute little apron pattern instead.  So, and hour and a half later, I had an art smock fit for a princess!  

Stairway to Heaven... another chapter!

Again, here is a project that we have been working on for months! You may remember THIS HERE.  Well, I'm not done entirely, but the spindles and the stairway have been painted.  All that it left for me to do now is strip the varnish, sand and re-stain the banister and steps and put a good coat of poly to seal my hard work! I'm sure a few nights without sleep will have me the staircase of my dreams!  Oh, and I need to get some paint on the walls!

Wainscoting revisited

A few months ago, I showed our work on the wainscoting with the anaglypta HERE.  Finally, it is painted and are currently painting the walls!  Here is what the final outcome is!

playroom storage on a budget

I needed a storage unit that was low enough to the ground that the kids would be able to put the storage bins back by themselves.  Too many times, they would pick up their mess and then leave the bins on the ground or they would bug me in the middle of something important to pull certain toys down.  This was my previous solution....

You can also see that it wasn't very safe for my three year old to be hiding up in the shelves!  These bookcase shelves were originally from an entertainment center I had purchased in college that held a TV in the middle.  I don't have any photos of it but it was HUGE!  Years ago, I figured out I could take the thing apart and make nice little storage shelves for bins.  One problem though, my husband HATED it!!!

He coerced me to self them on craigslist so I put out an ad and I got so many offers to fast.  I begged and pleaded with him to keep them.  He let me reluctantly.  Around 2am the other morning, I was staring at the bookcases and started hating them myself.  While everyone was asleep, I began working on my brilliant idea!  With a drill and handsaw, I turned the two shelves into this....

Now I know it's not the greatest picture!  But I'm also not done entirely.  I want to paint the unit white and top it with a mahogany stained top.  I'm in the middle of redoing their play table right now and it would match beautifully!  This is what I've got so far on the play table so you can see what I'm talking about...

 Again, it's not a great picture but I was too excited to wait for good light!  Keep checking back for the finished product on both projects!

More refurbished playroom stuff...

After redoing the flash card holder, I couldn't stop there.  I had to redo the bins I's started as well.
With this....

I made these using the same method of painting and modge podging on bird silhouettes out of craft paper...

Please excuse the mess in these photos too!  The house is really undergoing its largest transformation now!  If you are curious about what shelving unit the bins are in now, continue reading on in the next post!

Already re-doing old projects...

Remember this?

Well, the other day, as I was impatiently waiting on J to finish the foyer, I started to HATE the playroom. I knew that when I put it together that it wasn't perfect and eventually I would get new storage shelving. I'd been begging my husband to do some building since it's been to wet to paint but he always tells me that what I have planned isn't a 24 hour project. I take that as a challenge. So, being who I am, I went with it and this is what I did and have done so far: The problem with the original flashcard design was that a small bump would send the cards falling off their nails. I also started to hate the color I'd chosen for the background. I needed color and I needed it FAST!! Here's how I fixed it. I used teh same hooks I used in my window/jewelry project.

I also took a plain white t-shirt and painted it yellow as the background.  Then, I modge podged some craft paper cut outs of some bird silhouettes I pulled up online.  Wa-LAH!  I totally love the transformation!

Window Decorating

Several months ago, I picked up this super cute vintage window in an antique store.  I love the look of vintage made new and for $14 dollars, I couldn't pass.  Originally, I wanted to hang the window about the toilet in my guestroom bathroom where I displayed the vintage ladder towel bar. (see here)  Anyhow, J thought I was a fool and hated the idea.  I didn't end up liking it because it was too close to a real window.  I've tried hanging it on three different walls but it's huge and just didn't fit.  Until NOW that is!!!
The other day I was searching for a pair of old earrings of mine for E.  As I was searching, I found a bracelet I forgot I had and a few necklaces too.  Even though I have three jewelry boxes, I forget what I have since I don't have them on display.  I've seen on Pinterest where people creativity display their jeweler y in vintage picture frames and I was 5 minutes from heading out the door when I realized I didn't want to leave the house and thought I'd rummage my things before driving to Goodwill.  That's when I spotted the window....
I had already began busting the glass out of the window when I remembered to grab the camera for a DIY on this project.  To bust the glass out, I din't do anything fancy.  I just put it in the yard and took a rock to it, making sure to get the glass out of our severely droughted lawn.

I sanded and smoothed the frame just to soften it up a bit but decided no to paint it because I liked it the way it was all naturally distressed.

Then, I took a template of the window panes and traced 5 onto a cardboard box and cut them out.

I had some old fabric in a bin with just enough for three windows.  I hot glued the fabric to three of the cardboard sheets.

I made sure to over lap the cardboard like so:

I added two lace strips so I could pin small stud earrings to the lace.

I ran a line of hot glue around the window and inserted the covered cardboard back into the window frame.

I repeated this three times with the burlap looking fabric and used two sheets of left over anaglypta because I didn't have anything better to coordinate with the burlap and lace and I was too tired to go to the store.

For the 6th slot, I found a piece of wire rack from a closet I redid and wire clipped it down to fit the window size.  You could always use chicken wire or rabbit wire instead but again, I was using what I had on hand.

I had a soccer game and did end up at a store looking for hooks of some sort.  I wound up buying these pin sharps for $1.75 at Joanns.  I used my 50% coupon and got two packages.  WOO HOO!

I just stuck the pin sharps directly into the cardboard and it made a really nice, firm, hard grip that can support a great deal of weight more than any necklace I own.

Here's the finished project!  I'm absolutely delighted except for one thing... I have the worst jewelry collection now that I can see everything.  I guess I'll have to get on J to expand my pathetic collection!