Too Heavy to Hang

I wanted to entitle this post as "To the windows"  in honor of a recent karaoke session on my trip to Korea town in New York, but apparently I have already used that title.  (Lil Jon would be so proud.)

So how about:  DIY Message Board Windows. 
Probably appeals more to my followers.
If you have no idea who Lil Jon is then I was correct in my assumption.

Any who, over Christmas break I got thrifty and wanted to up-cycle some old windows a friend had given me.  Like most things in my life they were stacked against a wall in my dining room.  I sort of cleaned them off, removed the wooden cross bars and went to work painting two different windows brown.

After allowing 3 coats of brown paint to dry, I put the crossbars back into the window, used sandpaper to scruff up the painted edges creating a shabby chic look and set out to use the divided sections for a chalkboard, cork board, message board, and dry erase board.  I purchased scrap booking paper from Hobby Lobby to be the 'backdrop' for my dry erase board and used spray adhesive to attach it to the back side of the glass. 

 

Then on the bottom of both window frames I drilled holes and screwed in burlap knobs (also from Hobby Lobby) adding an extra hanging feature to the window message board.  I am not sure what my mom and sister will hang from the knobs, but come on- they're burlap!

Lastly, on my mom's window I added an extra detail by using her initials with painted wooden letters glued on top of a stencil that I painted directly on the front side of the bottom window pane.  I LOVE how her window turned out!  Since these are real windows they weigh a ton!  So we need to make sure that we securely hang them to the wall... minus toggle bolts. I'm trying to cut down on the swearing.

I'm thinking now that I need to use the rest of the windows and make one for my kitchen for grocery lists, menus, and to display all those adorable Happy New Years photos that people are sending out. 



p.s.  I promise I really have tried to live up to my New Years Resolutions... has anyone else been frustrated with not being able to upload pics to blogger??  Ohhh technology- you keep me young!

2013... WHAT?!

Happy New Years Everyone! What? Yes- I am alive... sorry if you got bored with the lack of postings and moved on to bigger, brighter and bustier blogs.  I guess time just got away from me?  I never intended to take a three month hiatus from this little blog, but hey... a lot has happened.  Good things.

I guess I should catch everyone up on what you missed before I start yapping about the New Year.

So lets do a little recap from October. (ugh I hate myself, that was 10 weeks ago).  For Halloween I dressed up as Zooey Dechanel from New Girl.  Some people got it.  Those are the cool people.



Then there was my birthday where I wanted to revive the 80's.  Little did I intend- I ended up looking exactly like I did in the 80's.



Fast forward through an amazing December, this is what happened after Christmas brunch with my parents.  Yes I inherited their swagger and skills.

Immediately after Christmas I hopped on a mega bus with my bestie and headed to NYC to spend the remainder of 2012 living it up and ringing in a new year!  We hung out with the Radio City camels, had a beautiful snow day in Harlem, and danced the night away on a yacht with fireworks for New Years Eve.










I had an amazing time and have loved reading everyone's New Years Resolutions.  You guys are extremely ambitious.  I know you guys are more than capable, but seriously some lists are crazy long.  I would like to list out my resolutions for 2013.

Blog More.

There.  One thing at a time people.  But don't roll your eyes, I intend to do more than upload posts.  It's about to get real... with real working tabs! Whoop whoop!  Now that I have your attention check back soon (cross your fingers tomorrow) and see what I created for loved ones over the holiday season!

Cheers to the New Year!  It's good to be back!

My Weekend In Color...

xoxo

DIY: Happy Fall Banner

Continuing along with the Fall crafting spree, I added to my a Fall banner created from a vintage map, twine and a little bit of paint. 

Happy Fall!

 

You will need:

Vintage paper of some sort

A laser printer with Orange Ink

Twine

Hot glue gun/sticks

Manila folder (or something to make a triangle stencil with)

Scissors

Using this free font I printed out each individual letter on the glossary of an old book of maps I had left over from this project.  (You can find the Halloween font for the Pumpkin symbol here)

 

I created a triangle template out of a manila folder to trace over each letter after they were printed.

Once cut out, I dry- brushed goldenrod paint along the edges of the triangles keeping the brush dry and paint inconsistent. 

 

 

By the time my glue gun was warmed up my paint was dry and I was ready to glue twine to the back top of the triangles.  Almost instantly I was able to hang up my new Fall Banner onto my mantel.

 

 

 

It is a festive addition to my Fall Feather Wreath and goes perfectly with the handmade pumpkins I will be adding tomorrow!

See you then!

Linking up with WOW US WEDNESDAY!

Fall Feather Wreath

Hello Birdies!   I just wanted to let you know that it is mid-October and I have not done a single thing to decorate my house for Fall.  {Enter gasps and judgment here.}

Don’t get me wrong, I have been busy.  I jogged for 15 minutes last week.

But after seeing all of you Instagram pictures of the autumn trees, post your pumpkin recipes and pin your ideas for the latest and greatest painted pumpkin,  I decided I should put down the bottle (of cough medicine) and get to work.  So I set out to craft as many Fall themed crafts I could possibly manage in one weekend.

So I pushed through my sore throat (I don’t just drink cough syrup for fun people) and went to my local craft store for a couple of feathers and burlap.  As I was checking out the sales girl repeatedly told me how lucky I was that they actually had burlap in stock.  Apparently some Pinterest wreath is causing a burlap shortage everywhere.  I think my wreath is going to cause the same phenomenon.

 

I sewed some fabric and burlap flowers, cut out burlap leaves, gathered a wreath, found coordinating twine, heated up my hot glue gun and set out to work.

 

 

I’m not sure if it was my fever breaking, or me just being dramatic about the gorgeous outcome… but I have chills!

 

 

Join me tomorrow to see how I made a painted Fall banner for my mantel using a vintage map and twine.

 

Linking up with WOW US WEDNESDAY!

Words to live by...

Sometimes others can just say it better than I can...

Keep walking, though there's no place to get to.
Don't try to see through the distances. That's not
for human beings.
Move within, but don't move the way fear makes
you move.
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and
frightened.
Don't open the door to the study
and being reading. Take down a musical
instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the
ground.

Rumi

Tea Take Two

Yesterday I was drinking some tea.

By yesterday I mean last week because it has been a good minute since I blogged last. 

So today I thought I would carry on with the tea trend and show you a tea cart that I have made over.  Now this is the second tea cart that I have painted; the first was a gem that I purchased for next to nothing at a yard sale:

It’s super cute with its new key lime make up.

The second and most recent tea cart was found on the side of the road about 100 yards from my house.

I stole it from my neighbor.

Just kidding, they were throwing it away.

On it was nothing but, you guessed it, bird poop.

I’m all about the birds people, but that’s disgusting.

So it sat outside of my house on my back stoop for a couple of days until I go the nerve to clean it.

 

Once wiped down, I took an electric sander to the surface to rough it up so the layers of white eggshell paint would adhere nicely.

 

 

Next I took Miniwax's grey wood stain and barely dipped a clean rag into the can. (make sure it is mixed incredibly well, this stuff will settle on the bottom of the can like crazy).

 

Taking my stain dipped rag I then rubbed it across the edges of the tea cart and anywhere where it had detail.  Keep repeating this process until you get the desired look.  For a darker contrast keep applying more stain to your project.

 

 

Well there you have it.  Lesson learned today: If you are my neighbor, I will steal and paint your trash. 

Linking up with Wow Us Wednesday!