Floating Books

One of my many New Year's Resolutions was to get ORGANIZED this year.  Organized like- no more piles of clutter, or stacks of projects that i am working on, or spending countless hours shifting things to look for other things that i have misplaced.  My new found love is The Container Store that has graced Nashville with everything  you could possibly need or want to get your act together and make your life amazing.  I can easily talk about a two dozen products that i have recently bought that have saved me time and space.  But today i will just mention my first favorite solution for my cluttered book problem.  I want to become an avid reader but didn't have the space (until now) to store books that i have purchased and made. 

This is what the wall looked like pre- floating book shelves.  Empty and not using the potential vertical space.

After drilling screws through the floating bookshelves that i got from The Container Store, and mounting them to the wall...

I was able to chose one book for each shelf that would become the 'base' of each shelf.  The back cover hooks into the bottom, and the front cover rests on top of the extending metal. Which ultimately hides the shelf itself. Brilliant!

I am so amazed at how many books i was able to put on my floating shelves!  Having these books on the wall opened up other space in my room and de-cluttered my nightstand.  It also is a great way to display some of my decorative handmade books.

And of course i had to add an owl to the bottom shelf!  So wise!

I'm excited now to finish reading the books that i started so long ago!  Resolutions here i come!

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I’m Back!

Hello friends! Sorry if you were starting to worry about my absence, and i apologize if you never knew i left... but this is my first post in about two months and it feels like a lifetime since i have created and blogged.

A crazy amount of change has happened in my life. With the whirlwind of the holidays, illness, and my computer getting a virus worse than mine, i feel that this weekend was the first time in a long time that i could literally breathe and relax.

Since i have last spoken to you guys my little blog has done something i never thought that it would. It won not one, but two awards! I am so blessed that i have been able to accomplish what i have, but still have so far to go. If you are visiting from Two Hoots & a Holler or Shoe String Bean, i welcome you! You are the reason that i have started this little crafting blog!

I started blogging so i could start to document my creative processes and finished products. Through this outlet i have begun to build a new artistic and creative community that is more supportive, encouraging, and inspiring than i ever imagined. I cannot thank Julia and Mae enough for their words of affirmation and backing my crazy ideas (and lending their amazing ideas in the meantime!)

Okay so enough of me pretending that i am on the Golden Globes of blogging. i need to stop feeling guilty about winning an award while not actually blogging and get to work! Stay tuned for actual crafts and pictures and less ramble of words.

It's so good to be back!

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Merry Indie Christmas!

Welcome from the Follower's Fest!

Thanks for checking out my blog- leave a comment and a link and i will check out yours!

On with the spirit of Christmas!  I have been dying to post about my Santa that i found for free at a yard sale several months ago.  I love a good find, especially when the 'find' is FREE.  The women who's house the sale was at seemed super eager to have someone get the Santa (among several other things) off her hands.  I gladly took the Santa plant holder knowing what potential he held.  This is the Santa pre-craft intervention:

 Gotta love his mustache!

After cleaning him up, i took a can a Holiday Red spray paint to him and gave Santa three good coats to make sure he was completely covered.

After Santa was solid red, i went back and spray painted his bucket Holiday Green and added white to make his mustache pop! 

Like i have mentioned before, i have zero ability to keep plants alive, so instead of adding something green to the plant holder i opted for CANDY!  Now my Santa is a candy holder and i can't wait to go out and buy candy canes to go in his bucket!

This project has put me in the spirit to decorate my house for Christmas!

Early Season Greetings to everyone!

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Frames and Twine...

Since Christmas is just around the corner, and i tend to always procrastinate, i wanted to go ahead and start thinking about gifts i can make for my family.  Each year i force my hand-made projects on them discreetly wrapped in really adorable wrapping paper with hand stamped tags.  I found out today (at Thanksgiving dinner) that some of these gifts were conveniently left at my parents house and never brought home last year.  Apparently my cute chalkboard frames were a little too cute for my younger brother, and i am finally taking a hint.  I should probably step away from the chalkboard paint and broaden my crafting horizons before someone gets hurt.  So after seconds of research on pinterest i found a great idea for frames that doesn't involve chalkboard paint:

Inspiration from a really cool lady- gotta love her birds.

So of course after seeing that i immediately had to jump on the frame train and create something just as adorable.  I took an old oval frame that i had lying around and removed the boring print from the back and sprayed painted the frame white.

After the paint had dried i gathered some small screw hooks, twine, and miniature clothes pins.

I screwed the hooks into the backs of the frames trying to keep them as level as possible.  After the screws were in place i looped twine through the hooks and tied it tightly, creating several different rows.

 

I then cut the extra twine off and hammered the hooks flat against the frame so they would have flush against the wall.

I love the way these turned out!  I plan on hanging these in my kitchen to use it as a recipe holder and message board.   This Twine Frame would be great for photos, jewelry, or even to organize mail or bills.

I loved this so much i had to make another one! And of course add a bird to mine! 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and can find some time this weekend to get a head start on Christmas crafts!

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Mission to Haiti...

I recently found out that a dear friend from college is raising support to go to Haiti for an entire year to do mission work.

For as long as I have known her, Marlo has had a super sweet and sincere heart.

So it was no surprise to learn that while in Haiti she will be working at an orphanage in Pention-ville.

Marlo has been to Haiti before and wrote about her previous trip to Haiti in her blog:

 

 

“I went to Haiti for the first time at the beginning of June. I was going as a small group leader with our church high school kids. I have lived in many other places before and have been on two mission trips before this one. Usually I get excited about traveling, but this time I felt nervous as well as excited. Going to Haiti was something new, and I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea what God would reveal to me on this trip."

She is having a silent auction fundraiser to raise money for her January trip and i wanted to contribute by donate a painting.  In no way do i want this post to be about be or sound like i am tooting my own horn.  I want to bring awareness to her genuine desire and love to go and help others in need.  I would like you to also support her if you feel led to.  She is going with an organization called Haiti Christian Orphanage and you can support her by purchasing this painting OR going to the HCO's website and clicking on the Simply Give tab and support Marlo Wilt specifically or make a general donation. 

100% of the proceeds will go towards supporting Marlo,

or you can make a donation here: HaitiChristianOrphanage.or​g

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere

you go.   -Mother Teresa

Happy Monday

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Matching Lamp...

Well i will be the first one to admit that i am the worst when it comes to technology and seem to always find myself puzzled as to why it is constantly failing me.  After my computer spent the last 24 hours installing updates, i finally can post about the matching map lamp!  I went to upload the before, during, and after photos, and somewhere between the camera and my laptop i lost the whole process of making the lamp.  Needless to say i am super frustrated! 

However i still want to show you where the lamp started and how it ended up.

Here is a teaser of where i had begun to take how to pics.  I used the leftover map piece and Mod Podge to seal the map to the generic, plain, gross, off white lamp shade.  I first painted a coat of Mod Podge on the shade and used bull dog clips to help keep the map in place as i wrapped it around the shade.  Once the map was wrapped all the way around i brushed on another coat of Mod Podge and let it dry.

I moved the Map Lamp to my orange nightstand so it would stand out and not blend in with the desk.

I love that it coordinates with the color scheme of the rest of my bedroom, and the blue i used to paint the base was left over from when i painted my bathroom- which can be seen in THIS POST

If you somehow missed out on the matching Map Desk that goes with the lamp click HERE.

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Desk Part 2...

So i am a couple weeks late in posting the finished desk- but i am so pleased with how it came out i can't really be upset with myself! :)  Like i posted before, the desk started out solid brown wood with really great potential in becoming something unique.  Well after finishing the desk i can't help but just stare at it and how pretty it has become!

I first painted the desk with Behr Premium Paint with three coats.  After the paint had dried i measure the inner square on the front of all four drawers and made templates using office file folders.  Once I had my templates i traced an outline of the template onto a vintage map i 'borrowed' from my dad for a bookmaking project that never happened.  (I always have good crafting intentions)  But i am glad that i still had it in my stash because i think it adds just what this desk needed.

Now normally i'm not into things that are super matchy-matchy, but i couldn't resist taking an old lamp that i bought at Walgreen's my freshman year in college, and transforming it into a vintage map lamp.  LOVE the way this looks lit up.  (I'll post tomorrow how i used the left over pieces to make the lamp).

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Mason Jar Giveaway!  Congrats to Mae Mae for winning!

 Stay tuned for more giveaways and furniture makeovers!

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Brought to you by another Wow Us Wednesdays!  Thanks Kim for keeping us on track! :)

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