Another Magnet Chalk Board Organizer

So I take ZERO credit for this project but I have this super creative friend Whitney who I've tried using excessive force to have her post on here... but she gave me permission to do it for her... so here I go...
She bought this....

... At the thrift store for really cheap of course.

Its just a picture painted on a canvas with no glass in the frame.  She then just sprayed over it with chalk board paint (I'm sure if it was a real oil painting you would have to sand it down a bit to get rid of all the lumps)... and then she glued some BIG magnets on the back and stuck it on the side of her fridge... like so...

I love the way it looks in her apartment... it doesn't take up any wall space because its on the fridge and it matches the vintage feel of her living room... any framed picture will do as long as its on a canvas... give it a try.
Whitney's Instructions: 
Pretty self explanatory.  Remove picture from frame.  Clean of dirt and dust.  Spray with chalkboard paint.  I did several coats.  Staple the picture back into the frame (or attach it however the frame requires).  For magnets I used about 6 of the biggest one-sided sticky magnets I could find.  These still didn't quite hold the frame onto the fridge (even though it was really light) so I added a really large rectangular magnet that used to be on my fridge as decor.  I think I got it at Target.  Something the size of this...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40386452@N05/5371538348/

wall decor

Everyone else posted their cute wall collages so I thought I'd post one of mine.

This is for my little boys room, I love the letter! My husband saw it before I painted it and hung it and he was like "are you seriously going to hang that in Pete's room?" uuu...yeah!

Directions...

Just get your letter that you want at a craft store, there is every size and font, paint and distress if you want. and wall-la! I think it turned out really cute, just a simple little decoration!

Valentine's Wreath

For this project all you need is a grapevine wreath ($4), a yard of felt ($3), a glue gun, and about 5 hours. Ha! This took me FOREVER. You can find the tutorial here. Even though it took a long time, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. But if I could redo it, I probably would have bought a smaller wreath and still used the same amount of flowers, so the flowers covered the sides too. This wreath looks a little big on my door. To attach it to the door, I took some old ribbon I had, wrapped it around the top, then thumb tacked it to the top of my door (so you can't see the tacks, but can still shut the door). Enjoy!


I will definitely be using these felt flowers in some upcoming projects. I seriously cannot get enough of fabric flowers!

A Frame Collage

I always love to see lots and lots of frame collage's before I create my own. So I am sharing with you MY frame collage. It was super cheap to create and I am really IN LOVE with it. I love being able to share my pictures and to see them daily hanging on my wall.

Please don't mind my dirty mirror :)

I decided that if I was going to create a frame collage, I needed to do it as inexpensive as possible. So for the last few months I have been searching thrift stores and garage sales to find frames that I could just paint.

Total cost of project: $17.00

Something to keep in mind when creating a frame collage is: spacing (clean lines always look great!), texture, and color.

I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out!

Scrapbook paper frames

I'm in the process of giving my boys' room a red, light blue, and dark blue color theme, so I started with these frames. I bought these wooden frames at Michaels years ago, but Ikea has a cheap version of the frame for only a few dollars each. I painted each white, then bought 3 pieces of 12x12 scrapbook paper, cut out a square in the middle and glued them on to the frame. I decided to put pictures of my kids in the middle, but you can also put different colored squares of paper in the middle (for example put the square you cut out from the red frame in the middle of the dark blue frame. A pretty easy project and a great way to give a room some color!

Organization... tip #3

This isn't crafty or anything, but I thought I'd throw it in here anyway. It has been a LIFE SAVER having these hooks in the kids' room. And total there are 30 hooks to hang stuff on! What more could you ever want. I bought them from Home Depot for about $15 each, worth every penny. With very little closet space, this was my solution for pretty much anything that can hang on a hook... backpacks, hats, coats, snow pants, sweatshirts... anything the kids might need on the go. Everything is easily accessible, and I make sure to put the older kids stuff on the bottom so they can get it themselves. When it comes to organization, a couple things I try to do is (1) make sure everything has a place, and (2) have things I use a lot in a place that is easy to get to. That way I have no excuse to leave things sitting all over the table, floor, wherever.

Organization... tip #2

I have finally come up with an idea that will (hopefully) free my desk and kitchen counter from all random papers, mail, bills, receipts, coupons... the endless clutter that accumulates that I don't really know what to do with. I call it a wall file. It takes everything that might be covering your desk/counter space and puts it on the wall, hidden inside folders, but still easily accessible and easy to find.


Here's how I made it:
-I started with a magazine/newspaper rack that I found a couple years ago at Ikea for $2-$3.
-Cut out 5 pieces (or however many racks there are) of foam core. I cut them to be 11 5/8" x 8 1/4". As wide as a manilla folder and short enough so you can see the top of the folders.
-Use spray adhesive to stick scrapbook paper onto the foam core. Choose colors that will go with your room.
-Place on rack, then put manilla folders behind each. Label for whatever loose papers you want to hide... bills, receipts, coupons, letters, etc.
-Enjoy feeling organized and still having the room look cute!

jewelry frame

I was tired of having all my jewelry stuffed in a drawer, it was hard to find what I wanted and always tangled up! So I came up with this jewelry frame to help me organize (I LOVE organization). I found a frame at DI and painted it black. Then bought hooks and chicken fencing (the most expensive part of this project) at Home Depot. I cut out the chicken fencing to fit the frame then hot glued it on. Then I covered a piece of cardboard with fabric (just some fabric I already had... you could also use scrapbook paper for a more fun look) and hot glued that on to the back of the frame. Then screwed on the hooks and glued on some decorative flowers (I learned how to make them from my sister-in-law here). And now I love getting ready for the day! I can see everything in one glance.

ribbon board

I've been rearranging/decorating my daughters room and made this for her to hang her favorite pictures and artwork (aka scribbles).

It was easy smeasy to make as my kids would say.

The backing is cardboard, I just used a big huggies box and opened it up and stapled it together. You can make it any size this is about 2x3ft.

I put batting on next, you don't need to do this but it gives it a little puff! glue gun that on.

Then hit up Joannes sale rack, they always have cute remnants for super cheap, get some ribbon and buttons to match.

Then just glue gun it all together! I glued the buttons on and the ribbon at each cross, you could sew them on- but that takes effort!

Cute hu!

A gallery in your home...

This really isn't anything too creative, its just something I've grown to love and I think it looks good on a wall if you don't have any big paintings to fill the space (being young and unwealthified I doubt many of us have large fine art pieces to hang on our walls)... I like to hang my photos and small art pieces I've collected in gallery style... you can do a variety of frames such as this.... (we're really not obsessed with ourselves, we just don't have kids yet to show off so we have to put up pictures of us)...

 Or a monochromatic display of frames such as this...

 See? Its simple, and it takes up space and it creates a neat design in any room.

I just bought my frames at TJ Maxx and Target, not expensive at all, give it a try!