Creative Black Cats Friday!!!

Happy Halloween Eve!

Today is Creative Black Cats Friday!!

You know there's a curse that goes along with black cats...

If you click on a Creative Black Cats link without

making a comment...you will have bad luck for 7 yrs.

Just thought I'd warn you.

Here's our features from last Friday...

Headboard turned corner bench brought to you by:

My Repurposed Life

If you haven't seen what Gail can do with headboards

you are seriously missing out!!

Check out this gorgeous buffet makeover brought to you by:

Cottage Instincts

How to make your own birdie knobs brought to you by:

The Graphics Fairy

These are so fantastic I can't even stand it!!!

Find out how to dress up a gift with tissue paper brought to you by:

Life with a Lady

P.S. Miss Lady, it is impossible to comment on your blog. I tried....a lot.

Don't be spooked by the talent these amazing ladies have...

You are just as amazing and talented and

CREATIVE

So get your Black Cat groove on and start linking up!!

Have a Happy Halloween!!!

think about it Thursday...

This week I have been thinking about Christmas...strange I know since Halloween is on Saturday, but I am determined this year to get my Christmas shopping done earlier. I am always the one running around a few days before Christmas frantically trying to get my gifts together. Not this year...the only bummer is that all of the fun and exciting crafts that I have been working on are top secret for now...if I talked about it here...well that would just blow the surprise! So be prepared for January when I can tell all!

I did see this picture of a way fun idea for a fall decoration. I think I am going to do this on my kitchen table!

I also saw these ideas of some cute decorations for a game or toy room!
They look super easy to put together!

I did figure that I could share a little of what I have been working on with out blowing the whole surprise. Has anyone ever "stitched" before? Have you ever wanted to, but didn't know how to get started or what you even needed to get started? I LOVE to make homemade gifts and this is one way to do something thoughtful and cute for not much money!

Things you need to get started:

• A pattern
• muslin (I adore the tea dyed kind)
• warm and natural batting (this helps so you can't see your threads through the front)
  
• embroidery hoop
• Mark Be Gone marker
• embroidery floss (most patterns call for DMC floss)
• frame (optional...I like to buy unfinished frames and paint them myself. Roberts Craft has some great sizes that I LOVE )
  

When I got started I just kept my floss they way that you buy it...after a while it gets kinda messy and tangled. Then I was introduced to the floss box! You buy the little white cards and wrap your floss around it. They you write the number on the top and you can organize them by number! I LOVE my floss box!

Don't know the basic stitches...most patterns have examples and diagrams of the stitches needed to complete them. When you pick up a pattern at the store if you flip it over and look at the back it usually has a list of the colors (by number) of floss needed.

First step: Cut out the size of muslin recommended by the pattern. Then cut a piece of warm and natural batting the same size.

Next: Use a light box if you have one...(honestly I don't think I know anyone who owns one..do you?) I use my window. Tape your pattern to the window and then your muslin over it. You should be able to see the pattern through your muslin. Use your Mark Be Gone marker to trace the pattern onto your muslin.

Place your muslin back on top of your batting and place both into your hoop. Thread your needle with your beginning color and stitch away!

After your done with the entire stitch run the whole thing under water until the blue marker disappears. Pat dry and leave out until completely dry. Frame, or finish into a pillow!

If anyone is interested in more detailed details just leave a comment!

My challenge to you...make a homemade gift for Christmas. The possibilities are endless...just think about it!

Coffee Table

Happy Monday!

I bought this great coffee table off craigslist a while back. I loved the piece with all the drawers and the little compartment along the back. It was fairly beat up, though, and 'poopy brown' is not my favorite color.

Before

After

I took off all the hardware and then sanded the dickens out of this thing. Then, applied several coats of primer on the bottom of it. Then, several coats of paint (Olympic "Heirloom Lace"). I did a little sanding around all the edges and then brushed on and wiped off the stain to rustify it a bit. Then, several coats of polycrylic. (LOTS of coats on this thing!)

On the top I sanded it down and stained it with MinWax "Dark Walnut". And then several coats of polycrylic. I put all the hardware back on and replaced a few knobs on the drawers (goodbye Lions head knobs).


There was another fix I had to make. One of the top corners looked like this...

Broken. I didn't really have a clue how to fix this. I thought about taking that piece to my brother (I believe he's known around here as "The Joe"), but I wasn't going to make it down there anytime soon. So, my hubby was cruising the Internet one day and found this stuff that was a daily special on ebay....


I decided to give it a try. Basically, you take a piece of this putty and 'activate' it by pushing it in your fingers a while. Then, you just mold it onto whatever you want, in whatever shape you want. In about a half our it is hard as rock and you can sand it, paint it, whatever. Here's the result on the corner...

I know, not perfect, but I'd say better than no corner at all. It was pretty cool stuff and I think I could make it look even better now that I've used it once.

And there you have it. What are you working on this week?

PS: If you care about my top coat experience, read on....

I ended up using Minwax polycrylic for the top coat. I saw that they had a spray version and after ALL the coats of paint, I couldn't pass up the opportunity for some beloved spray. The can let me do 2-3 coats on the entire table. I thought it looked great...no streaks, no brush strokes, no drips. Great! But, then I was putting a drawer back in and hit it on the piece just above it and a little circle of paint chipped off. AHHH! I was concerned about this and ended up brushing on (yes, MORE brushing) 2 coats (MORE coats) of polycrylic after fixing the chipped spot. Was the spray not good enough? Did I just not spray evenly enough and missed that little skinny piece of wood? Would the same thing have happened (will happen?) with the brush on? Time will tell, I guess.

****You all liked this table so much (thanks!), that I decided to join in to Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party and share it with the peeps over there. Have you ever been to TDC? She's got a million great DIY ideas!****

Creative Cats Friday!!

Welcome to Friday!!!

I've decided that I'd like to feature a couple of my favorite links from the previous week. I'll be doing this every Friday.

Here are a couple of my favorites from last week.

This transformation is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!!! It's found on

Craftify It

Also, you'll find a detailed tutorial for this gorgeous magnet board that fits on the side of a kitchen island on

Shanty 2 Chic

Isn't it beautiful!!!

Now it's your turn!!

Link something creative that YOU have done!

Link back to Creative Cats!

Grab Yourself a Creative Cat's Button!

Check back next week to see if your project is featured as a favorite!

Have fun and create...create...create.....

think about it Thursday...

This week I have been thinking about cake...yup cake!

It's been a busy week! My oldest turned 8 and my youngest turned 1.

When I was growing up my mom always made a homemade cake. Not the homemade from scratch kind, but the pick your mix and frosting kind. It was the choice of the birthday child to pick what they wanted mom to make. Chocolate with vanilla frosting, rainbow chip with rainbow chip frosting etc... My ALL time favorite is Lemon cake with Chocolate frosting! (Hey...don't knock it till you rock it!! It is seriously amazing!) I looked forward to this choice every year! I loved the idea that I could pick ANYTHING I wanted and she would make it just for me!

Now that I have kids of my own I have continued with this tradition. I am an anti "leave it in the pan" cake maker. So I started out always making a two layered round cake. As my kids got older they started wanting a theme for their birthdays. I have discovered you can do some amazing fun things with sprinkles! I also LOVE the Family Fun website. It has some great ideas for cakes. That is where I got the idea for some of my more elaborate cakes. I have done tiger stripes, spider man, batman, a princess castle, a snake, a moon, a lego, and a dot cake! Probably the funnest was the snake cake. It was super easy and the boys loved that it was made with red velvet cake so when you cut into the cake it looked like blood! (to see the party that went the Moon cake just click....for some reason blogger lost my post about the Snake cake so if you are interested in the jungle party that went with it just leave a comment!)


A very wise man recently said:

"In my office is a beautiful painting of a wheat field. The painting is a vast collection of individual brushstrokes—none of which in isolation is very interesting or impressive. In fact, if you stand close to the canvas, all you can see is a mass of seemingly unrelated and unattractive streaks of yellow and gold and brown paint. However, as you gradually move away from the canvas, all of the individual brushstrokes combine together and produce a magnificent landscape of a wheat field. Many ordinary, individual brushstrokes work together to create a captivating and beautiful painting."

I like to think that every tradition that my husband and I bring into our family is like a single brush stroke. I hope that someday each of my children will look back at their childhood and remember times filled with happiness. Here and there a "stroke" or event will stand out, but for the most part it will be the traditions that they remember most. The things that we always did!

This time of year is usually filled with family traditions. Sometimes it can be pretty stressful on us mommies!

Just remember why we are doing it!

Take some time today to think about it....

Another go-round with the green...

I really liked the green from last week, so hopefully it's not too boring to paint something else the same color.

I found this hutch at D.I. last week.

Someone asked me what that was...I apologize for not explaining earlier for those of you who don't know. Deseret Industries is a church owned consignment store. It is a non-profit organization that helps people find employment as well as get supplies to people all over the world. It really is the coolest ever. Especially when I find gems like this corner cabinet! I of course had no room for it in my van, so I called The Joe to see if he could load it into his truck on the way home from work. He is such a sweetie. I really wanted to get it painted before we move, so I was working like mad yesterday to get it all done. I had to break out the crossbars in the top doors because they were broken. I hit them out with a hammer...

demolition is always fun.

I used the piece of glass as a template for my bead board.

I really wanted to have the bead board be vertical instead of horizontal, but I didn't have a big enough piece.... well, actually I did, but it was totally buried in the garage underneath everything we've packed. I bought some

really cool knobs at Hobby Lobby.

Since it needs 7 knobs that are all pretty close together, I decided to pick two different kinds. Of course I love the glass and for the drawers I chose a rustic handle.

I painted, sanded, antiqued with stain and topped it with a clear varnish.

Yay!!!

That's the last furniture project on my list before moving, so now I devote all of my time to packing. You may or may not see me next Tuesday... it's moving day!! {{{yucky}}} Wish me luck!!

Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!!

~Andy

I'm participating in DIY day on A Soft Place to Land
Linking to Transformation Thursday @ Shabby Chic Cottage

Monday room redo

Happy Monday!

I decided to finally post the finished product for my littlest boy's room redo.

There's one main problem with a before and after on this room, and that is that I never took a before picture. In all my folders and folders of pictures, I do not have one that shows this room well before. That's a pretty good way to describe it though...not worth taking a picture of. Blank walls. Crib. Too big, hunter green dresser that took up the whole other wall. That's about it.

And here's what it looks like now...

I want to point out a few things we did in this room...

The white on the walls may look a bit like bead board, but it's actually just textured wallpaper. For those of us that don't have fancy tools and the know-how, the thought of fitting bead board on the wall with perfect holes for the outlets may lead to some sleepless nights. So, we found this stuff at Lowe's and tried it out. Here's the verdict: So easy!! I love it! When I was at Lowe's yesterday I saw that they have some new varieties that I'm trying to figure out where to put up. And it's cheaper... This room took 2 whole rolls...$28 total.

This is a fun little shelf I found at a yard sale. I left the paint as-is, but added some scrapbook paper on the drawers for some color. The little truck I got at Hobby Lobby when it was 50% off...isn't it great?

I wanted to put something else on this wall, but I'm always hesitant to put things above the crib. I'm afraid it'll fall off the wall or something. Anyway, I had the idea to just clip some pictures up there. No baby will be hurt if an unframed picture happens to fall down, right? So, I just bought a picture hanging wire kit thingy at Wal-Mart for 98 cents, screwed the hooks right in the wall (I had to make a little hole first. You could drill it, but it was faster to just hammer in a nail and then pull the nail out. It was all I needed to get the hook going), wrapped the wire through the hooks, spray painted some mini clothes pins and viola! A perfect spot to hang some pictures with no danger to a sleeping baby.

Just a cute little dresser I got off craigslist and an old chalkboard from a thrift store.
You've seen these squares before. If you didn't see my bed redo, you can find it here. I love this blue bed to pieces. It's probably my favorite project to date.

My friend, Rachel, made this quilt and gave it to me when she saw that I was looking for bedding for this bed. Isn't it perfect! Thanks, again, Rachel...I owe you!

And that's the room! If you're interested, this room redo cost me a total of about $140. That includes the bed and the dresser.

What I learned:

1. A sharp blade is imperative when wallpapering!

2. Although I love this wallpaper, it's not as easy to clean as painted walls. One of my boys drew on there with a pen and I can't get it off. But, this kind is paintable...maybe I just need to paint over it to get that protection?

And one question to throw out into a blogosphere full of crafty people...I am re-doing a coffee table. I know it's going to be necessary to put a protective coat on it. But, there's so many different kinds out there....brush on, wipe on, spray on, poly, poly-crylic, acrylic, etc. So, what's your favorite one to use?

THANKS!

~Hannah

Creative Cats Friday!!

I'm so not used to writing Friday next to Creative Cats.

Luckily you all seemed to handle the switch with grace!

Thanks for all of the amazing links last week!!

I had so much fun visiting all of your projects and I really got some great ideas that I'd like to copy. Creative Cats is going to have to be renamed "Copy Cats" because you make me want to do everything that you do!! Thanks so much for playing along. It really gives me something to look forward to.

Before we jump in I'd like to admit something....

I'm addicted.

I'm addicted to furniture.

I just love it.

We are in the process of moving right now. We actually sold our house!!!

{{{Yay!!}}}.

I should be packing

and cleaning

and touching up paint.

Instead I getting sucked in by the end of season yard sales. The people that are buying our house asked to buy a lot of decor that we have in the home so I can sort of justify buying some new pieces {{right}}?!?

I have been CRAVING a sofa table forEVER and haven't been able to find one anywhere!! At least not at my cheapskate price. Well, on Monday as we were on our way to Costco to get hotdogs for dinner{{I told you I'm a cheapskate...10 bucks to feed a family of 7}} we drove past this beauty.

I really really wanted it and The Joe somehow managed to squeeze it into our mini-van. Can I just tell you how crazy excited I am to have it. It's going to be a high traffic piece so I bought some Krylon latex acrylic paint for it to wear. You can buy a quart size at Walmart in the basic colors for about $9.

At first I had visions of cute redness, but after it was done I decided that I didn't want to commit my new house to such boldness without getting a feel for it first. I played it safe and switched to black.

I threw some Knicky Knacks on it for a picture. Now I just have to add it to the pile of things to move in the garage.

When our house is done in about 6 mos. I'll put it in the entry way.

DANG IT!!!

At times like these I wish I collected stamps instead of furniture. They would be so much easier to move.

Anyhoo, I'm excited and I hope you have had some projects this week that have made you giddy too. I'd love for you to throw some creative inspiration my way!! Link up a specific blog post, link back to Creative Cats and grab yourself a CC button!!

Have a fabulously creative weekend!!

~Andy