Thrift store shelf

I love thrift store finds and paint!!

I had originally bought this shelf to stick in my kids bathroom but realized it stuck out a little too much in the narrow space so now it is used in my guest room.

The shelf was $6
My black gloss spray paint was $1 at Walmart

Before

After 

I do plan on hanging photos with ribbon from the pegs to add to it. I'll post pics once I get that done, the hard part is choosing pictures to go in the frames!

Thrifty Bathroom Art

This was for my children's bathroom. I will post before and after pictures of the bath as soon as I frame the contractors mirror but I wanted to show the cute art that I made.

Items Needed:
Picture Frame with Glass
Paper
Printed Letters or Sayings

I bought the frame at the thrift store for $4.99
Green paper at Hobby Lobby at 50% off
I then used a Word format and printed off my sayings that I used in the frame
I cut them to look like newspaper clippings to make it more fun!

The frame before 

My frame after painting

Words on printer paper

Finished art with kids hand prints for a signature!
Now I just need to hang it up!

Everything Oil Rubbed Bronze

My friends and family have heard me rave about this wonderful product so I must share!

We moved into our house that was FULL of brass fixtures, knobs, door handles, etc.... TONS of brass!! I wanted to replace them with bronze but soon realized that was a bit costly and well I wanted new floors so that was done instead. I'm happy about that desicion, however I stare at this brass and I swear it taunts me!!

BUT then I found Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint at Lowes and it has taken the brass by the... well ok let me just show you some of the results ;-)




Before



After

  

These are Candlesticks I found at the Thrift store for $4.

During Painting

After 

Knobs After



Light Fixture After


I plan on painting my door knobs and this chandelier! Once it's done, I'll post the results.

Deco Mesh Christmas Garland

Although the holiday season has now passed I wanted to add my garland because honestly I am still proud of it! I'm sorry I dont have pictures of the process but I did this before I started my blog. However, this how to video Deco Mesh Garland was my guide when I made mine.

When I decided to buy my supplies, they were sold out of work garland so I used regular garland I had already.  So my materials used were:

 (2) 9 ft. garland that had lights on them already and connected them together using needle nose pliers to twist the metal pieces together
(1) 10 yard roll 21 inch poly mesh
(1) 10 yard roll 4 inch ribbon (you can use 6 inch mesh here as well)
(2) 10 yard roll 1 inch ribbon
(2) Large red sparkly ornaments
(4) Medium white ornaments
(4) White sparkly ball picks (these are hard to see in the picture)

I layed the garland out on my living room floor and started with my deco mesh measuring about 6 inches to leave hanging down off the end and then tied the mesh to the end of the garland.

Then I measured 12 inches up the garland for my next spot to tie it in. I did this all the way around the garland and then left some to hang off the other end of the garland too.

I did the same thing with the 4 inch thick red sparkly ribbon.

The small 1" ribbon I tied in doing the loop bows like the video but I alternated every other spot with a bow instead of making a bow at each spot. I liked this better but it's just preference really.

After all that tying, I hung it around the door and then put my big ornaments on to make sure they were in the right place. I used floral wire and looped it through the top of the ornament and tied it to the garland. I put one pick by each white ball and tied them in the garland too.

My door wreath was one I already had from Hobby Lobby but I added the red sparkly picks and the red bow from left over ribbon to make it match my garland.

Here's the end result

I have to say it turned out awesome and I've had lots of compliments!! I should've had a cute santa outfit on my dog for this picture, dont you think?

DIY No Sew Roman Shades from Mini Blinds

My kitchen and breakfast area I had cheap ugly blinds and wanted some custom roman shades for these windows instead. So I started looking online for custom shades with the measurement of my windows and HELLO!! I didn't want 10 of them, just one!

I found this great DIY tutorial Easy No-Sew Roman Shades and decided to try it out.

Here are my results:


  
I did do a couple things different than the tutorial and I wish I had pictures of the process but I did this before I knew I'd be posting it on here, so I'll try to explain as best I can!

Things I did different are:

-- I glued about three mini blind slats together to make it more sturdy

--Then when putting the fabric on the blinds I tucked in each slat to the 1 inch edge on the sides of the fabric. Since I used Heat n Bond instead of sewing, I could easily open up where each blind was suppose to go and then glue on the back side of the blinds to secure.
Here's a picture of the back where the slats are tucked into the fabric

Top of the back

 --I wanted the back covered where you couldn't see the mini blinds from the outside like this.

Back side of the curtains

This is how I fixed the back:

- I measured my fabric to cover the back from the top of the mini blind mechanical part to the bottom metal part and from side to side to just a centimeter over the 1 inch of fabric on the edges so that I could glue it to this fabric (well that's how I planned on doing it but you'll see in the pictures that I had just enough fabric where you could see about 1/2 centimeter on each side but unless your really looking at the blinds from the outside you can't see it so I went ahead and used what I had instead of buying more fabric)

- I hemmed the edges of the fabric using heat and bond.

- I started at the TOP of the blinds at the mechanical part and glued the fabric using E6000 glue to the back part of the mechanical piece. I let this dry for about 30 min before I continued. (You could use Fabric Glue here but it would need to dry A LOT longer before continuing on)

- I worked my way down from the top slat gluing the fabric to each blind and the sides of the fabric with fabric glue. I glued the bottom of the fabric to the fabric, not to the metal at the bottom, because it made the curtain hang a little too short when I did it the first time around and I had to fix it after I hung it up.
BEWARE depending on your fabric the glue will bleed through so you do NOT need much glue. I would put it on the blind then wipe with my finger to smooth it out!

- Let this dry (mine dried about 8 hours)

- Hang up your new custom roman shades!

Again sorry for minimal pictures! I'd love to see your curtains and please feel free to give some tips if you have alternate ways that would make this project easier!

Photo turned Canvas

You might have seen how you can turn a regular picture into a canvas style picture using Mod Podge, if not here's a great blog that shows you how DIY Canvas.
Here's one that I did with a 20 x 24 photograph.

I didn't use paint or put the scrapbook paper on the sides because I was framing it. This was just Mod Podge to make it look like canvas.

The print was around $20 (I ordered it from Mpix online)
A 20 x 24 Canvas $7 with 40% off coupon
The frame $13 (on cleareance because of a scratch)
And the Mod Podge which was around $3.50 with my 40% Off coupon at Hobby Lobby

So it cost me around $43 to make it because I still have plenty of Mod Podge left over for other projects! You can't get a framed canvas print that large for that price!

Framed Wood Art

I wanted something to go over my bed that was personalized, my husband and my initials came into thought and this was what I came up with. It's more of a burgandy color but the picture made it look a lot brighter. Oh yes, excuse the mismatched headboard!! I'll be working on that soon!

Items used:

A frame that I picked up at a local thrift store for $5.99 it had a really ugly canvas picture that came with it that I covered with fabric

Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. (I absolutely LOVE this paint!)

Wooden letters

Walnut color stain

Fabric of your choice

E6000 glue (you can get this at Hobby Lobby)


1st - Spray painted my frame the oil rubbed bronze color. (I painted both sides of the frame)

2nd - Stained the letters the walnut color (the top and sides) You can also paint them too but I had the stain so I used it.
3rd - Wrapped my fabric around the old canvas that was in the frame and glued it to the back of the canvas.

4th - Glued the letters to the front of the canvas, the glue goes through the fabric to the canvas so it sticks very well.

5th - Let this dry overnight

6th - Put the frame back on and secure, I used what was on the frame already to secure it back in place.

7th - Hang it up and ENJOY!