Making Old New Again

 This summer, our little family underwent some major changes.  Our household of 4 went to 3 when I went through the divorce.  Thankfully for the three of us, we are able to stay put in our home and create a new future with eachother.  One way I deal with stress and overwhelming emotion is to focus on one task.   So over the summer, I began focusing more on crafting.  Many of the decorations in the home were a constant reminder of a failed marriage, so I began my new crafting journey by turning some old things into more appropriate decor! 

One of my favorite wedding gifts came from my bestie Cathy - a simple little sign above the doorway that says, "And they lived happily ever after."  Beautiful sentiment for newlyweds.  Knife to the gut for the newly divorced.  After getting Cathy's permission to change the sign to read something more appropriate, I got to work!

 

Two coats of white gloss spray paint quickly removed the original wording.   The wooden sign was now ready for a new life!  Since the "change," my life focus is happiness through my children.  And my new living room theme is grey and yellow.  So after Pinteresting some yellow-gray ideas, I decided on "You are my Sunshine."  I loved singing that song to my babies.  It was our special song - so it seemed perfect for my new life theme!  I couldn't figure out how to make perfect letters without stenciling or printing.  So while perusing the miniscule craft department at Wal-Mart, I found yellow felted iron-on lettering.  Perfect!  I ironed the yellow letters "SUNSHINE" directly to the painted wood.  Yes - it worked!

 I also like mixing fonts, so I decided to go with the free-hand cursive for "You are my."  It's not as straight and neat as I would have liked it to be, but it works.  


The two words left a little gap big enough for another embellishment.  Since I have also started a "Star Wall" in the living room, I painted a small wooden star gray and attached it to the sign.  Now it was perfect!  It hangs in the same spot it did before.  Only now, when I look at it, I am reminded of my beautiful boys and the happiness they bring to my life!  Don't be afraid to turn old things new.  Create new connections to items that no longer bring happiness into your home! 

 Being an avid Pinterest-er, I was finding more and more posters with the "Keep Calm" theme.  I researched the origination of the poster and found that the first was "Keep Calm and Carry On."  They were posted all over England after a war, encouraging the people to just relax and get on with life.  I was relaxing and getting on with life!  I needed a Keep Calm poster!  But keep calm and what???  I'd seen them on Pinterest saying, "Keep Calm and Read Books," "and Dance On," "Potter On," "Follow Me."  None of them worked for me.  So, again, thinking of the "Sunshine" sign and the star wall, I came up with "Keep Calm and Shine On."  I had the yellow felted iron-on letters from the first craft and had my starting point!  I purchased a canvas and some rhinestone letters to complete the craft.  Again, all of the letters are iron-on, which made it super easy as far as keeping the letters the right size.  The stars are painted to match the letters to keep it really simple.  It turned out just the way I wanted!

Ok, so the Keep Calm canvas does not fit in with the "Making Old New Again" title, but it ties in with utilizing the same group of craft items for multiple projects.  The next one, however, is one I'm VERY proud of!  I have had this cheapo book case for probably 15 years.  It's from Wal-Mart - one of those $15 shelving units with pressed wood case and shelves, and cardboard backing.  Top quality, no doubt.  AGAIN, Pinterest suggested turning an old book case into a beautiful piece of furniture by adding a few things to make it "New" again!  I was ready for the challenge!

I called my mom over to help me with this project.  It was going to involve cutting wood and making very important decisions regarding wood trim and paint colors.  I was going to need back-up.  Thankfully, the shelving unit was still in good shape, considering the quality and age.  

I removed the shelves and cardboard backing.  I had been hoarding scrap wood in the shed and pulled out some scraps for ideas.  I had a long piece of 1x6 that became the new base for the shelf.  Some old unused skinny door trim became a frame around the entire case.  Wood glue and small nails attached the trim to the case. I couldn't find chunky fat couch-type-feet for the unit, so round wooden cabinet knobs had to suffice.  I used 6 - one under each corner and in the middle of front and back for stability.

 I spray painted the entire case black gloss including the two shelves.  However, once it was assembled, only one shelf seemed necessary.  I found a scrap piece of plywood in the shed as well, and painted it white and gray - using some of the wall paint to tie it into the living room.  I was so pleased with the way the color of the backing turned out!  I screwed the backing onto the unit and VOILA!  Now to find a new home for this furniture!

Once in place, I was able to fill it with the other random pretties I had either made or accumulated.  

 It doesn't take a whole lot of money to make things prettier!  Just use your imagination, and don't be afraid to take ideas from others.  I use Pinterest A LOT to give me ideas of what to make next.  I don't always do them exactly the same because I want to give my own "flair" to my projects.  Be creative - use what you have - and don't stop until it's just the way you want it!

Bachelorette Cowboy Hat

My mom is going to a Bachelorette Party tomorrow and needed some crafting assistance.  So obviously, she asked me to help out!  My cousin is getting married in a couple of weeks, and his bride-to-be has her last "fling" tomorrow evening.  Momma brought the cowboy hat for some "blinging" and I was happy to oblige!  Here's a brief tutorial on how I used extra left-over crafting supplies to turn this hat from cowboy chic to blingin' bridal-ware.

I started with a simple cowboy hat, borrowed from a friend.  Because the hat will be returned, I had to make sure the embellishments were not going to be permanent.  

Her bachelorette theme is black and hot pink - so I looked through my plethora of crafting goods and found some items that would work out perfectly!  Luckily, I had planned a pink themed baby shower late last year and had some pink supplies.  I had also planned a bridal shower about a year ago and had some white tulle left over.  Tulle, ribbon, flowers, and elastic should do the job - not to mention plenty of hot glue ;)  I started by gathering the tulle (approx 5 feet) a little less than the middle so that when it folded in half at the gather, it formed a top layer and bottom layer approx 12 inches difference.  Once gathered, I hot-glued the gather to the 4 inch strip of thin elastic.  Then I flipped it over and glued black ribbon to the other side to hide the elastic - but did not glue the elastic down to the ribbon - only the tulle to both pieces.

 Bling - I had some iron-on bling letters left over from a project I created over the summer.  Lucky for me, I had the 5 letters needed to make this hate special!  B-R-I-D-E!  I measured around the hat and left about 2 feet of ribbon to hang down each side after tying a bow in the back, folded in the middle to find the middle, and began placing the letters on the ribbon.

 Once placed, I put the ribbon between two layers of towels and ironed. 

 Simple simple simple!!  Of course, my blackberry doesn't take great pics, but you get the idea!

 Next, I glued the black ribbon to a shorter piece of wider pink ribbon.  The pink ribbon didn't reach all the way around the hat - I wanted to glue the elastic to the pink to make sure the ribbon had a snug fit around the hat without too much glue needed to hold it in place.  Remember - we're giving the cowboy hat back after the party!

 Once the shorter pink ribbon was attached to the elastic (the elastic we glued to the tulle veil), the black ribbon (embellished with BRIDE) was tied in a bow between the two layers of tulle to tighten the ribbon to the hat a bit more.  I even added a little dab of hot glue in the back behind the pink ribbon for added securement.  After all, this IS a bachelorette party ;)  You never know how wild it may get ;)  Now at this point, the hat looked very simple and could have worked just fine!  HOWEVER, momma wanted to go all out - so I broke out the hot pink flowers (again, left over from the baby shower) and some jewel rhinestones.

 I cut a piece of the pink ribbon long enough to accommodate three flowers - poked a hole for each to slide into, and hot glued into place. 

 The centers of the flowers were the perfect size to get embellished with the jewel rhinestones.  Pink Pink and more Pink!

 The flowers were then attached to the back of the veil with some extra black ribbon to carry out the hot pink and black theme. 

 The front (momma modeling)

I will post a pic of the actual bachelorette/bride after the big party!  I hope she likes it!

Dead Frog

"What's this, mom?"  I looked at the crumply brownish lump on the bedroom carpet and wasn't quite sure.  It sort of looked like a flattened small pine-cone; completely out of place amongst the shiny Hot Wheels surrounding it.  I bent down for a better look.  Well, it was organic alright - a little more organic than I had first thought.  There, lying on the floor was a perfectly deceased dried up frog.  Lucky for me, there was an empty snack bowl nearby that became the scoop to retrieve the corpse from the floor.  "Where did this come from, Nolan?"  I was expecting any one of the following responses, "Outside," "Michelle's house," "The driveway."  Any of those would have been fine.  "Under the dresser."  ACK!  This petrified amphibian was laid to rest under a piece of my furniture?!  I immediately ran to Dillon, "Dillon, is this a dead frog?" knowing the answer.  "My frog died?" he asked with tears welling.  Gulp!  Ok, A) he knew there was a frog in the house? and B) was apparently so fond of said frog that he is upset by it's passing?  I wasn't quite convinced of the story that began spilling from his loose-toothed little mouth.  "He was alive, he was my pet, I brought him inside when dad was gonna take me somewhere and I can't remember where....it was like a year ago."  I couldn't stop looking at the poor little frog.  He was dusty - which made sense.  He'd been under the dresser for WHO knows how long?  He had a little fuzzy tongue peeking out of his mouth.  There's no way this frog died inside this house!  The Facebook comments began coming in..."EWWW....." "Did you smell anything?" "ewww!"  NO!  I didn't smell anything!  Boys generally smell anyway, but I'm guessing a dead frog would give off a more pungent smell.  So I ask Mr. Story-Teller again, "Where did the frog come from?  Was he already dead when you brought him into the house?"  The truth finally came out.  Yes, Mr. Frogson had indeed been deceased before finding his final resting place under the dresser.  I felt a little better knowing it hadn't suffered inside the home.  It's a dried out, unsmashed frog.  We've had a very dry and hot summer.  He's peaceful - arms and legs tucked underneath with no signs of external trauma.  He passed very quickly and painlessly and most likely in his sleep.  (Hey - it's my story I'll assume what I want!)  With the truth finally out, I placed Mr. Frogson in his very final resting place.  One of the Facebook comments was from my aunt.  She told of her boys bringing a dead snake into her house asking to keep it.  I'll take a petrified frog over a dead (or alive!) snake any day! It's going to take some real guts to raise these boys!