I can’t believe I forgot to share this with you all! I was so proud of the final product and it has been hidden away?!

I took a jewelry box and painted it to give it a new look.

Sanding of course is the worst part of any wood working job.

I got the paint in the oops section of Home Depot.
50 cents for for a paint sample that no one wanted.. score!

I painted the flower and swirls using craft paint. I didn’t really have a plan, I kind of just went along with how it looked and what it needed more of. I think it turned out nice.

I also mod-podged some scrapbook paper to the insides, but I forgot to take a picture of that… of course! I also painted the handles white (another oops paint score for 50 cents).

- ASH

Have you wanted to decorate your walls but had no idea what to decorate with? These vinals are a great idea to spruce up any room. The best part is, if you don’t like it in a particular location or you change the theme of your room, these are easily removable. Some of them even come in multiple colors. Most sellers ask you what color you want the vinals in as well as provide you the option to customize a decal. Here are some of my favorites from Etsy.

- ASH

Happy tax day! I hope you all got everything in on time. We did well this year, the Hubster and I finished up ten days before! Last year I was in the long line at the post office getting the 4/15 date stamp on my envelopes.

Umm .. I digressed early this time. Back to my chalkboard.

I had this black, framed, plastic thingy that my sister and I had since our college days. It was used as a white board, except you had to have it over something light to see the writing. It was cool, but after the years, the markers don’t erase as well as they used to. It had been hanging around on the kitchen floor. Yea, I know what you are thinking. I have no explanation for it. I promise, my house is not as messy as it sounds .. okay just a little messy. Hehe

Annywhoo.. a few weeks ago, I was cleaning up and I finally got fed up with it hanging around the kitchen floor and I came up with an idea of changing it up to a chalkboard. I already had the paint from one of my incomplete/failed DIY wedding projects last year. So that’s what I did!

The front and back of the chalkboard.

Of course, my impatience got the worst of me as I didn’t bother to spray primer on before hand. But I jorified (jorified: my word for when I come up with a weird way of fixing something ) the process. I painted one thin coat and used a blow dryer to dry it as a base coat. Then with each coat I kept using the blow dryer to dry it until I got a nice smooth surface. It worked out well; except I didn’t get in the cracks so I have to go back.

See that slit of white/cream color, that’s the crack that I missed. 

It looked nice but it needed something more, like designs around the frame. I got this nice template of floral border designs, sorry I don’t have the link for it but you can google “floral border designs”. I couldn’t figure out a way to trace on to the frame so I free handed, while looking at it.

Isn’t the design pretty? I free handed with a pencil first.

Then painted using the paint you get at the craft store.

 Here it is half way done, with just the vines painted in.

I just used what I had on hand. I think it turned out pretty nice. I still need to gloss the frame so that it looks a bit different than the middle chalkboard.

I think it turned out quite nice!! Do you like it? I was thinking of selling it, anyone interested?

- ASH

.. which mirror is the most beautiful of all.

Uuuh maybe it didn’t go that way exactly. but I didn’t like Snow White much anyways, Aladdin appealed better to my taste. What I do like are mirrors! We can make all sorts of illusions with them, which is why they are great.

Add depth to your kitchen by using it as backsplash.

(source)

Lighten a room by strategically placing it with a window.

(source)

Or just add a bit of interest to the walls.

(source)

But I’m here not to tell you how to use them. I’m here to tell you that you can get them on the cheap! I found some that could be done DIY style, take a look.

These mirrors hanging from a chain are simple but give the right amount of pop to a room. How about framing a mirror with wood, attaching a chain and coloring it with Rust-oleum. Then hanging it on the wall with a big nail.

This scroll fence like mirror has a feminine touch.  Maybe you don’t have such scroll metal lying around, but how paining in the fancy scrolls? Or if you are lucky to find an old iron scroll, give it a new life by repurposing it as a mirror frame.

This lattice mirror gives an illusion of an extra window. You could create one by gluing down some wood on to an existing framed mirror.

This tile framed mirror is a perfect addition to home. And with the use of a base board, some fancy tiles, and a mirror it can go a long way to enhancing your decor without biting much off the wallet. How about using tiles like this to add a bit of beauty on the cheap?

Nail head trimming on this mirror is simple but elegant. Creating this may be easier than it seems; use a mirror that is nicely framed and add nail head trim around.

This rope framed mirror is my personal favorite! I think this will be my project in the future. Creating this will be simple as tying a not all around a frame that will allow the mirror to sit on top. Then use old leather straps or just more rope to hang it up. You can even use jute instead of the rope if you have that handy.

Pretty sea shells make a great frame around these mirrors.You can use hot glue to make your own, or if you are more of the flower kind, user flowers to frame the mirrors.

This mirror tile framed mirror is another favorite. Use mirror titles to frame a larger one. Use wooden frames to add some pop.

I’ hope I’ve inspired you to create a mirror perfect for your home. I sure am adding this project to the list. Of course, once I get around to doing it, I’ll show you the results.

-ASH

Aah yes, I know what you are thinking. Christmas has come and gone and I’m writing about it February?!? Yes, I am. I can’t let my decorations go unheard of can I? And this past Christmas was a special one, the first the Hubster and I had as a married couple.

2-D Christmas Tree

So, for the first item today is the 2-D Christmas tree. I didn’t want something big and fancy just yet. We’ll probably wait on that when we have kids. So to save some money, some space, and time I decided to make one out of foam board. You got it. Actually I didn’t come up with this idea on my own. I saw it in a Peir 1 Imports magazine back in 2008. I liked the idea and kept the clipping for later.

Here’s what you need:

• 5 pieces of poster size foam board (about 1/2′” thick)
• Fabric of choice
• batting
• glue gun
• staple gun
• exacto knife

The first thing was to glue (using the glue gun) the foam board all together. I placed 4 of them vertically together, and the 5th one horizontally on top. Not sure what I mean? Check this out:
Then I traced a tree shape on to them in such a way to maximize height and width of the tree. I used the exacto knife to cut the shape out. I exaggerated the contrast in this picture so you could see the different pieces of foam board.
The next step was to make it sturdy and stand tall. I used the left over pieces of foam board and glued them on the “seams”. This part won’t be seen. After that I laid the batting down, folded it over and glued it to the back of the tree.
The final step was to stable the fabric to the back side. I used three different fabrics but you can use 1 or as many as you like. The end result should look like this:

You’re all done! Now you can decorate with ribbons and cards like so.

Wreath

This one is pretty simple. I took a pre-made wreath and some decorations and used the handy dandy glue gun to stick them all together. Of course wreath making is much more fun when you have a good friend to help out like I did. Here are some pictures of the outcome. My favorite part is the red lantern.

Sequin Decorations

For this fun idea, the credit goes to two people. Centsational Girl and her featured guest, Living with Lindsay. I told my friend about it and she suggested doing more than just trees. So we picked up some fun styrofoam shapes and began our project. I will warn you that this take some time and patience! But the results are great.

So there you have it.

- ASH