Menu Chalkboards

A few weeks ago, my sister and I made chalkboards that could be used to plan out our weekly menu for dinner.  It was pretty easy and I thought they turned out really cute.

Here is what you need:

Mod Podge, Chalkboard Paint, Paper, Paint (optional), and
a piece of  sanded Wood (We bought ours at Walmart for around $3)

First, we painted the boarder with craft paint and applied the chalkboard paint.  We had to put on a couple of coats of the chalkboard paint and then we set it aside to dry.

While the paint was drying, we cut out strips of paper to use as a border for the chalkboard.  Once the paint dried we glued the paper to the wood using mod podge.  I'm not a mod podge expert so my sister had to teach me how to use it.  Just so you know, you do this by first adding it to the back the paper, stick it on to the wood and then on top of the paper as well.  This was the trickiest part for me, because it is hard to not get bubbles in the paper.  Also, make sure not to get mod podge on the section you want to use as a chalkboard.  My sister also used mod podge to apply letters for each day of the week on her board.  I left mine blank so it could be used for writing notes/lists as well as a menu.

And now, the final product...

This is how my chalkboard turned out. 
(We made these around New Year's Day.)

This is how my sister's chalkboard turned out.

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!

Valentines Garland

I used fabric and double sided fusible webbing, but it would be easier with just some cute scrapbook paper and a glue stick! (Though I love that I can tuck mine away in the bin and use it year after year!!)

To create a 3D look, for each heart, I used 3 hearts the same size and using fusible webbing, ironed 1/2 the heart to 1/2 the other heart, to 1/2 the other heart. Get it? Click on the picture to make it bigger...it's pretty self explanatory... :)

Paint- it can do wonders!

We bought our house last summer and the door has been bugging me ever since, I really didn't like the color. So solution=paint!

I love the new dark greenish gray. Paint is so great and I love to paint!

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!

Using books to decorate

After Christmas I was trying to clear away some books from our bookshelf to make room for the new toys (a classy addition to the bookshelf, I know). After taking a box of books out to the garage I was still left with quite a bit. So I decided to take the best looking books/photo albums and use them as decoration in different parts of the house. Pottery Barn is always using books to decorate, so why couldn't I?

Quicky Solutions

1: Flowers year round- As women... sometimes we just want flowers... so if you don't have a husband that is in tune with your flowery needs... then go just pick up some silk flowers at any craft store, or places like Pier One Imports and make your own arrangements that last all year long. (I find great vases at thrift stores for 1-2 bucks a piece)

2: Place-mat table toppers - I found these place-mats on clearance at Anthropologie for $3.75 a piece...  I got them because they were so cheap and I loved the print... I came home and they just looked darling on top of my end table and kitchen table... they just added a bit of spunk instead of having to put a big table cloth over the table.  Just find ones you like and you are set.  Easy, easy easy. 

3: DIY curtains- I will give more info on these later... but I just had a fabric tip to share.  I went to Joanne's and they had TONS of designer fabrics that you could special order... when I looked at the price I was so sad... way too pricey for me... but I brought home the samples anyway to get an idea of what I wanted and I started to look online... and look up the brands of fabric I had samples of and found this website where they had all the same fabrics but they were all cheaper and all within my price range (now I'm new at this whole crafty/sewing thing so you might have all already discovered this).  So check it out.  I will keep you posted on my DIY curtains... I'm really excited to make them... wish me luck.

So here is the link you will LOVE: http://www.fabric.com