DIY Scarf Hanger

It seems lately that all my projects start with..."I saw this pin on Pinterest..."

But it's true!  I get so much inspiration (PINspiration?) from Pinterest.  I just can't help it!

Anywho, I have seen a lot of DIY scarf holders from shower curtain rings, and I always think, "I have extra shower curatin rings" I also have this unhealthy obsession with scarves.  I buy them whenever I see them, especially at garage sales and estate sales.  You just find the coolest vintage scarves there!

It wouldn't be so much of a problem if I actually wore them more often.  But I don't.  They stay in my closet and I forget that I have them.

So I thought, maybe if I had a nice way to display them I will see them and then wear them and then not feel so guilty about buying more.  Because I know I will buy more.  I just can't help myself!!

So I found my shower curtain rings, left from when we moved in and the previous owners had them in the bathroom.  I washed them (ok, I wiped them down with lysol wipes...actually washing was too much effort) and then I had this.  A pile of rings.

Enter the glue gun and an extra plastic hanger!  (the cell phone is just to keep the hanger from sliding on the table)

I glued the rings in a line to the bottom of the hanger, my OCD compelled me to put them all facing the same way.  I also didn't want the scarves to catch in the spot where the rings hook together.

As I attached the rings, I glued them to the hanger and to each other, for more stability.  It was a little tricky gluing them and keeping them straight and not have them stick to my coffee table.  In hindsight, I probably should have put some wax paper underneath, but at the time that was just one too many steps :)

Then I glued one more row underneath.  I was just ONE ring shore of being able to make an even row, so I added it to the bottom.  Again, OCD made me do it.

The ones that I have seen on Pinterest have either a little bit of ribbon tied around the rings, just to cover the part where the rings hook together, but that wasn't sufficient for me.  I decided that I wanted to whole thing covered.

So I found some leftover ribbon and wound and wound and wound and wound it around, gluing every so often so it wouldn't slip and all my hard work would stay where I put it!

I ran out of yellow ribbon with two and a third rings left.  It couldn't be an even number, oh no.  Two and a THIRD.  It will be mostly covered up anyways, and maybe it adds a little 'extra' interest...maybe?

So here it is hanging up with all my scarves!  I really like how it turned out, even though it was a lot of work to put the ribbon around everything, I know that the scarves won't snag on anything when I take them out and put them back in.

I still haven't worn them any more often than before, but at least they look pretty now!  Maybe I'll find another craft to use them for.... heeeeeey Pinterest!!!

Egg in a Turkey Cup

I'm always looking for something new and tasty for breakfast.  Growing up, it was cereal everyday.  Now that I'm all growed up, I like to try to have growed up breakfasts.  During the week I bring my yogurt and granola with me to work (that's another post, the making of the yogurt)

But on the weekends I want something different.

I stumbled upon this little gem and decided to give it a try.  Except I didn't have any ham, only turkey.

So I stuffed some Turkey into my (greased) muffin tin, broke an egg into it and put a bit of salt 'n peppa on that bad boy.

Then I baked it at the recommended 375 for a while...I checked it at 10 and 15 minutes because sometimes, I like a little runny yolk.  But I did end up letting it cook almost the whole 20 minutes.  And the yolk was not runny, to my dismay.  It still seemed to jiggle a little in the tin before I took it out, but alas, no runny yolk.

It came out of the muffin tin easier than I thought it would, I just ran a knife around the edges to make sure it wouldn't tear when I took it out.  Here it is in all it's glory:

It was pretty delicious!  Even though the yolk wasn't exactly what I thought it would be, this was definitely a win.  It would be easy to make a whole bunch at the same time too, you could scramble the egg first if you don't like it like this, or even add stuff like veggies and cheese...MMmmmm, that sounds yummy!

Mr Pringle head

I've been a bad blogger lately, and I really had no plans on changing that anytime soon. But my wonderful sister had other ideas, she wrote this awesome post and maybe it will give me just the kick in the pants that I need to get me blogging again! Thanks sister!



Mr Pringle head

One-year olds are busy.  Very busy.  Sometimes they need something to keep their minds and fingers busy.  Not as a babysitter, but as a mind-grower.  I love using Pringles cans to make things!  They hold the supplies and can be great for fine motor skill growth.  Enter Mr. Pringle Head- a spin on fitting pipe cleaners into small holes in the lid.  My young toddler loved pulling the pipe cleaners out of the holes when I put them part way in for her, but she isn't able to put them back in.

Supplies Needed:

Pipe Cleaners (or "chenille stems" for you new school folks)

Empty Pringles Can

Something to poke small holes in the Pringles lid (I used an eyeglass screwdriver)

Decorating Supplies of your choice (glue, paper, markers)

First things first, mark the hole placement and poke those holes!  To make it a bit easier I put the lid on top of a sturdy plastic container and with a little bit of muscle poked right through. (be careful and go slowly, it's easy to crack the plastic and then you have to eat a whole other can of Pringles.  On second thought, I want to eat more Pringles!!)

Next fold over 1 end of each pipe cleaner so it can't fit through the holes you poked.  Insert the pipe cleaners into the holes and fold over the remaining ends.

Then you get to decorate the can!  I used scrapbook paper and some sharpie and glued the whole shabang together

The little bean loved it and I'm sure yours will, too!

Happy playing!

Living room photo arrangement

Two things prompted me to get my butt in gear to do the second part of transforming my living room. 1-I bought the rights to all of our gorgeous wedding photos and 2-there was a giant bare wall staring at me every time I walked in.

The first step was to find a bunch of frames that were similar.  No problem there...for some reason I ALWAYS have extra frames hanging around!  I don't buy them very often either, so I can't figure out why this happens... ah well, it serves me well in the end!  I did have to buy one frame though, our photographer gave us a few prints, which included one 11x14 that I really wanted to put on the wall.  I found a clearance frame at AC Moore (in the clearance section in the way back corner of the store--my fav place to shop!)  Plus a poster frame (for another project) BOTH for a total of UNDER $20!! Yay!

Now to choose pictures.  This part was harder for me, there were SO MANY great ones from that day!!  In the end, I narrowed it down to pictures to fill 6 frames of various sizes.  I included a few from our engagement session too, since I already had those printed.

Alright.  After I washed all the glass and dusted all the frames (like I said, lots of frames just hanging around...they tend to get dirty when they're just sitting in the basement, ick!) then I had to decide how I wanted to arrange them on the wall.  I traced each frame onto some brown paper I had from the packaging of stuff I bought online.  Then I payed around with different arrangements until I found one I thought I liked.

I taped them up on the wall to see if it worked as well there as it did on the floor.

Now I got to use my level!  I'm such a DIY/Crafty nerd, I was so excited when my husband brought it home for me!!!  Nerdy craft excitement aside, I started hanging up frames.  As I got them on the wall I moved the ones on the end around a little bit.

It actually stayed like this for about 2 weeks, the frame I originally wanted to use for that last spot ended up being very difficult to find pictures for.  Then I found a frame someone had given me (That must be why I have so many frames!!) that fit perfectly in the spot I had open.

So then I had to adjust the rest of the frames a little more.  I didn't like the way all the matted pictures were on one side and the not matted ones were on the other.  It was like I was segregating my frames or something...so I changed it, and ended up with this: 

I tried really hard to take a picture without the glare, but I have a BIG picture window directly across from this wall and I was too impatient to wait until later to use more indirect light.

My favorite part of this is that when people come over, they stand in front of the wall and actually take time to look at all the pictures.  I love pictures!

"I write you a blog post"

So my sister has been fascinated with being a 'guest blogger'  for my blog.  I'm not quite sure why, since I have a funny feeling she's really the only one who consistently reads this blog.  But that's ok, I love my sister and she does some pretty crafty things!  Here's one of her latest:

I'm always reading about these awesome developmental baby toys people make.  They look so... time consuming!  The last time I made one (a really cute teething ring!) I spent a whole day working on it, and for what?  Less than 1 minute of baby entertainment.  Now, I'm all for cute looking baby toys, but if she is more satisfied with a poptarts box (current favorite toy) I want to spend less than an hour making it.  

Last week I ordered some checks.  Four boxes, which my husband lovingly pointed out will last us more than 10 years (600 checks may have been a few too many!!!).  But I had these  checks boxes begging to be made into a cute baby toy.  So I decided that this was my chance to redeem my baby toy making career and create some fun sensory blocks!

Materials needed:

small checks boxes (or another type of small box that a baby can hold)

random materials to put inside the boxes

     some examples: rocks, screws, beans, rice, flaxseed, sticks

scrapbook paper

scissors

packaging tape

First I gathered 4 materials from around the house that would 1. not go rotten and 2. would make a variety of sounds

I chose flaxseed (from my "I'm going to be healthy" kick that didn't last long), rice, dry beans, and a few stones. I put each material into a box and tested the sounds to make sure they were cool enough.

Next I picked some pieces of scrapbook paper and began wrapping each box.  I taped the boxes closed to make sure the materials wouldn't escape with all the shaking they had in their futures.  I trimmed the paper and folded it around the box without taping it first.  Wrapping looks better with crisp corners, so after folding to see where the creases would be, I took the paper off and went over the creases with my fingernail to make sure they were crisp.  Then I proceeded to wrap them like presents.

This would be all well and good, but when you have a baby playing with something made out of scrapbook paper, its not going to last very long.  Now comes the slobber-proofing! (Note: these probably aren't waterproof, like, don't go making them a bath toy or something, but it will guard against the paper disintegrating in your child's mouth)

I wrapped 3 strips of tape around the middle of each block making sure they overlapped a tad. Now the middle is covered but the edges and short ends are still untaped.

Each end takes 2 pieces of tape, each about at inch longer than the box.  Put each piece of tape on the end so they meet in the middle (they are going down the length of the box) and fold them around the sides, Like this:

Then snip down each corner of tape.

and fold each of the 3 pieces of tape down.  You will do this 4 times, twice on each end of the box.

Then let your child enjoy!

=)




Thanks sister!!

My New TV Stand, Part 2!

So here is where we left off in the dramatic transformation.  This sitting in the garage and me waiting on some inspiration.

And then I saw it.  It had been staring me in the face for months, but it took a while to put two and two together.  This is one of those wall decals, I got it on sale (plus coupon!) at Joann's.

I really wanted to try to get the same black & white, graphic feel.  So I searched google images until I found something I liked.  It was in the background of some picture.  So i took it and put it in photoshop, took out all the extra stuff (you know, the stuff that they actually wanted to show in the picture).  I measured the tv stand to get a rough idea of how big I needed to make the picture, I didn't write it down so I really don't remember... It was a pretty rough estimate anyways, I didn't want it to be perfect.

So I made my canvas size in photoshop that size and resized the image.  Then I printed it out on lots of pieces of paper and taped them together.

Then I had the conundrum of how to get the outline I just printed onto the wood to actually paint it...Then I saw it - I could transfer it using newspaper! Thank you livingwithlindsay!!

It came out really light...

So I traced over it with pencil to make it darker, so, you know, I could actually see it when I started painting!

When I did it on the doors, I had to kind of bend the paper around the curves to make it look consistent.  I bent it around the edges too, so it looks like the design goes all the way around the tv stand.

Then I painted in the lines using black acrylic paint and a small paintbrush.  Sometimes I missed and painted outside the lines, but since the edges are supposed to look a little funky I just made it look like part of the design instead of an oops.

Here's the base!

So I used spray sealer to seal it.  In retrospect, I probably should have used the kind you use when you stain a table, the kind you paint on.  Oh well.  It's all set up now, if I want to do it I'll have to wait until we decide to move the tv again.  So spray sealer it is!

So, do you remember when I said I sanded because I was afraid that the paint would slide off?  Well, apparently I didn't sand the front of one of the shelves very well.  I somehow got one tiny little nick in it and then this happened!

So I cut off the little piece of hanging paint, then lightly sanded and repainted it.  All is right in the world again.

Until...

So when you paint shelves...be careful about the drips on the edges...they make the shelf too wide for it's home.  More sanding!!

So it fit after sanding, which I hope was the last of the sanding for a while, cause, it's pretty tedious!!  I put the doors back on and put all the stuff back in.

Oh yeah, and we bought a new tv too.  It just happened to work out that we both got bonuses from work at the same time that I finished this project.  And what goes better on a $5 tv stand than a brand new HDTV LED TV!!

So there's the first step of my grand living room redo!!  Big things take time, at least that's what I'm telling myself.  Mostly they take money, and we just spent a lot of our money on a new TV.  Next on my list, displaying our wedding photos!!!

New TV Stand, Part 1

We moved into our house *just* over one year ago.  It sure doesn't seem like it's been that long!  Anyways, the previous owners left a bunch of furniture for us.  Some of it was nice, like the double bed with headboard and the two dressers.  Some of it was....not as nice.  Like this monster of an entertainment center.

I was pretty focused on the wedding, which was in May, so there it sat for a long, long time.  Every time I sat down to watch tv (usually HGTV, of course!) I would think, "ugh, that's so ugly!"  But like most new homeowners/almost newlyweds, I had neither the time or the energy to make anything happen.

I was, however, able to go to a ton of garage sales last spring!  I found this beauty for $5!!

(I have to remember to take a real 'before' picture of these things) 

This is after I gave it a good sand and had taken the two doors, all the shelves and all the hardware off:

 This guy sat in my garage for a good 3 months while I was busy planning the wedding and making things for the wedding and thinking about the wedding and pinning more things to make for the wedding.  I was so excited to get moving on this project after being so wedding focused for so long!  Anyways, it was originally that nasty, fake laminate wood stuff.  Not pretty.

Another not pretty, the molding along the top was loose.  It looks like someone tried to fix it but the screw (or the hole maybe?) was stripped.

Rather than try to fix it the, ahem, correct way (like, actually using power tools and putting a new screw in) I pulled out my handy-dandy contact cement.  I think I use it too much....this bottle is almost empty!

After I let it dry, overnight I think.  I took too long to write this post that I don't remember time frames.  I do know that I would do one step (or part of a step) and then I'd leave it either overnight or maybe for a few days...or a week maybe.  Hey, I'm busy!

Alright, let's get back on track here.  Next step, primer.  I bought glidden gripper primer and painted on 2 coats after sanding.  I think you can paint without sanding (I keep seeing it on Pinterest at least) but in my mind, roughing up the slick laminate will make the paint stick better.  I don't want to do all this work just to have the pretty new paint slide off!

After priming.  Looking better, but not quite there yet.

Don't forget to prime the shelves and doors!

I primed the cardboard back too.  I knew I didn't want it open to the back so I just wanted to reuse this back.  If you look close you can see that I was too lazy to even take the little nails out.  I just painted right over those suckers.

After the primer dried, I painted.  It's hard to see but the backs are actually green, not white.  Both colors came from leftover paint cans in the basement.  Thank you previous homeowners for leaving all the paint colors that are in the house!! (Except the pepto pink you put in the dining room.  That I could have lived without)

And here is where I took a long pause.  I was waiting for more inspiration, since I knew I didn't want to leave it plain white.

So stay tuned for the rest of the magical transformation!!