Bulletin Board

Quite a while ago, I had stumbled across someone's blog and they had re-done a bulletin board. You know those plain brown cork bulletin boards that are very functional but not so cute? Anyways, I had seen someone cover it with fabric, and I had an idea. So, I bought some great fabric and completed this project with an old bulletin board of mine that I never used.

So, I bought some strong glue and glued the fabric onto the bulletin board.

I then took the super cheap push pins that are sold at Wal-Mart. They were just a plain white, and I wanted to add some color. So, I took craft paint and swirled several colors together and painted the pins.

I took the pins and pushed them evenly around the fabric to create a sort of boarder.

I have finished this project, but you'll have to wait to see what I've been doing in the office! Depending on my jury duty, I should be able to show you later this week!!!

Necklace

I have to apologize in advance because the pictures are a bit blurry and didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. But, I have a friend who wore a necklace to a wedding a few weeks ago. It was cute, and I thought that I could totally make it.


Can you see the girl on the left with the black dress wearing it?
Well, on Monday I went to a huge fabric store. I found some cheap (I think 2.98/yard) black and white fabric and decided to give it a try. I found some "directions" online that helped me figure out how to do it. So, here's what I did. I used white hemp thread, some necklace clips and some cheap, wooden, different-sized beads. Here's the fabric that I used. I cut it into a 4-5 inch wide strip. (not very evenly)


Here is a close-up of how I attached the thread to the hook. Its very simple - I just tied it in a knot. Nothing fancy. I only attached one side.


The next picture is of the beads that I used. I purchased them at JoAnns, but I'm sure you could get them anywhere.


Next, I tied the fabric around the string and hook. I used black thread to tightly secure it. I would take a 12 inch (approx.) piece of thread and wrap it around and around and then tie it.

Next, I threaded beads onto the string, and after each bead, I would wrap the fabric and tie it securely with the thread.
This is a close-up of what tying a bead looks like.


This is what it looked like after a few beads were attached:



This is the finished product. Its a shorter necklace, and I think next time, I will add a few more beads onto it and make it longer.

Wisconsin

This last week, Dave and I went to Wisconsin to visit my family. We stayed a bit in Milwaukee with my mom's dad, but we spent the majority of time in northern Wisconsin with my dad's family. Every year we do a sort of family reunion, at a family camp - Camp Forest Springs. This year, there were over 40 family members who came. It was a lot of fun to see all the aunts, uncles and cousins. At this camp, there is so much to do! The lake (see the picture above), hiking trails, mini-farm, archery, mini-golf, and so many more! Here are some pictures from our trip:
Dave and I (and my brother in the background)


Teresa and Jon (my sister and brother) and Missy, a cousin.



This picture was taken on my grandpa's property. Can you tell I love this place? This is the view from the house.
This picture is on my uncle's property. He has this old barn that is probably over 100 years old, and it is so neat!
Anyways, there is a lot to come. I have been busy since I've been back with different craft projects. In the next few days I will post some pictures.

Things I am up to

I've been feeling crafty lately, and want a challenge. The picture frame I did was a test to see if I really could be crafty, and I'm feeling like it was a success. For my new office, I realize I need more storage/desk space. So, I've been thinking a dresser might be nice. Something like this or something like that might be nice to have. But, where am I going to find one?


So, I decided to go thrift store shopping. I have found the perfect dresser. When I start restoring it, I will let you guys know. But for now, its in the garage waiting for a cool weekend to get started. When its done, it will add quite a bit of storage space to my room, and hopefully add a nice, warm, homey feeling to the office.
Here is a picture of my dresser - the picture is from my phone, so I already know the quality isn't that great:
Look at those beautiful handles! And the details on it! This dresser is going to be perfect. The only problem is it is still sitting in the back of my truck. Hubby is out of town, and there's no way I can get it out of my car by myself..... so, this project will be started in two weeks.


The other exciting thing about the dresser is that it came with a mirror. At first, I thought it was ugly and I would end up throwing it away or donating it back to the thrift store, but then I had a wonderful idea (well, thanks to some other blogs I read)
Ever since I've seen things like this
or this (check out the link!), I've been wanting to make my own chalkboard. Cute, simple, looks great, and I have a spot for it in my new office! So, I will be using the mirror, painting it with blackboard paint, and it will also be hanging in the office. Now I have these two big projects, I better get to work....

My new office

So, we had a roommate who recently moved out, leaving us with an extra bedroom. This room was originally going to be the office before we had this girl living with us, so I have been spending time re-claiming this room to make it into more of an office.


The room was originally a red and peachy color, and it wasn't working for me. So, I did some research and found a color I really liked: Benjamin Moore's Smoke.

I wanted a color that was calming, and not too bright. I wanted something that had a bit of gray in it. This color seemed to fit perfectly. Only problem - when I began painting - was that it seemed too baby-blue-ish. I didn't want that for the office, so I went back to Ace and asked them to help me change the color.
This color - Cloudy Sky - was very similar to Smoke, only a bit darker. We weren't able to match it exactly because of the way the machines work, but we got close. This color of my paint is a little lighter than this sample, but more gray than the first one and looks less baby-ish in the room. And made specially for me thanks to the manager at Ace!


In this picture you can see the ugly red-peach combination that was previously going on. You can also see the light blue that I tried first. Granted, it probably wouldn't have been as bad as I think, but the darker color is just so much more what I'm going for.


Since Hubby has the camera and is now on the other side of the world, I do not have picture of the finished product. Those will come in time..... But, how's the color?

Picture Frames

Above is the final project of something I've been working on this summer. I really enjoy the Shabby Chic style, but its super expensive! So, I decided to try to figure out how to make a frame. Its actually very easy. It starts with a frame like the one below. I got this at Goodwill for $3.99. A little pricey, but much cheaper (and more fun!) than buying the one of these at a store.


I took the frame apart, cleaned the glass, and got rid of the picture in the frame. I started by painting the wood frame a brown color. It wasn't quite as dark as I had hoped, so I did a topcoat with a black. The finished product was a black-brown color.



I then melted a candle. You can use any cheap candle, but it does need to have white wax. I took the melted wax and dripped it over the picture frame. I spread it with my fingers and a napkin. It was quite thick.


I then painted two coats of white paint over the wax. As you can see, it is still rough-looking.



The last thing I did was take some sandpaper to smooth it out. The wax makes it very easy to sand. The black-brown color shows through quite nicely. I found a quote that I liked, printed it up and put it in the frame.



This project was super easy, and I have to say I love the frame! You can try different color top-coats - a light yellow, blue, or pink would look lovely in this style. I'm not very attached to the quote I put in the frame, I am going to be looking for something else to go inside this picture frame. Any ideas?

January was a fun month for us. We went on the APU Alumni cruise to Ensenada, Mexico with some friends of ours. We decided to start a small group with them, and we have been meeting weekly. It has been great to build relationships and to have deep conversations with other people!

As for the picture on top of the blog, this is French Fry. French Fry is our kid. Well, when we have kids, she will just be the dog. But, she is very entertaining, and she's what we spend our money on. Ask anyone who's met her, and she is a very entertaining, goofy, and loving dog. The kids that I teach love hearing stories about her, and will hopefully get to meet her someday soon.

That's all for now....