Jewelry Holder / Shadow Box

 

 

Mouse's jewelry was getting a little out of hand this past year. She had them in various boxes, bags and just thrown around between her bedroom and bathroom. While doing a bit of Pinterest searching I saw a great idea for a jewelry holder using an old frame. Now it was just looking for an old frame, Oh wait I have an entire box downstairs. Don't judge I may be a semi-hoarder when it comes to future arts and craft stuff, I get it from my parents.

After digging through my collection I settled a  pretty simple one and Steve put together the box frame for me. Praise to all the woman who can do this on their own, I learned I am not one of them. For numerous reasons I am not. But lets just end with saying he needed to extract the nails I put in and redo it then wood putty over the nail holes I made before I could paint it. I learned a lesson just let him do it. It will save me a lot of frustration and pain.

After the frame was done I did a bit of Mod Podge on the backer board with some scrapbook paper that matched the wall. Mouse really liked the paper. I did make sure I sealed this part since this will be housed in her bathroom. And the girl takes really hot and really long showers causing a lot of steam.  

For the storage part I added three rows of 3M mini-command hooks and four plastic bins at the base. Then came the fun part gathering all her jewelry and purging it. I love purging almost as much as I love the hoarding part.  

The first picture showed it on the wall like we had planned but Mouse couldn't reach it well from there so it was moved to the counter top. Thankfully she has a really big counter in her bathroom. And yes that is still a box next to it of more jewelry, even with purging we couldn't fit it all on the new box. Mostly because the third row I added was suppose to be for bracelets but all of her bracelets where to thick for the mini-hooks. But over all I really like it and it looks so much better than the old box. I should have taken a before picture.

~ Cassi

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Best of DIY of 2013

I have to say we really didn't rock the projects this year but the few we did get done I am quite happy with. 

Here are the top three we did this year.

 Colorful redone dining room chairs

Faux Pallet Headboard

Re-purposed painting to chalkboard

~ Cassi

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Multi-Colored Chairs

Oh man, we started this project soo long ago. We have a tendency to do that...headboard, basement, it might be a theme. But at least I can say we do finish them.

Through out the year Steve and I have been collecting random chairs from thrift shops and garage sales to replace our current chairs. We decided on the multi-colored and design look.

 First we took apart the old chairs and gave them a thorough clean. 

 Next we painted each one with a white primer. The final steps was one to two coats of paint. This one we used spray paint.

 We finished of two of the chairs with a pale beige cushion.

 These next two we used a spray gun with interior paint in it. 

The final one we used a brush and interior paint. But it left too many brush strokes on the chair so we didn't do the rest of them like that.

 Thankfully Steve's Dad gave us a spray gun. 

 I love the pops of color it brings to our very wood based dining room.  

 Check out links page to see where we posted this project to.

~ Cassi

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DIY Faux Pallet Wood Headboard

 Thanks to Pinterest and other blogs, Steve and I fell in love with the pallet wood headboards. So we  planned this out back in February. The decision was to use various size wood planks and multiple stains. But Steve was nervous to use pallet wood, since you never know what was used on them he didn't want it that close to our heads. That means we bought new wood from the store and instead.

Once we got all the wood together, Steve and I laid it out in the pattern we wanted. Then marked the backs for color and location. This was a life saver in putting it back together.

 Steve had fun! The life of a blogger, dealing with photo bombing husbands. I was really trying to go for a random pattern in wood and stain.

We decided on a darker warm stain, a light wood stain, a gray drift wood stain and a blue stain. The blue shown here was a bit dark so I gave it one quick coat of the gray stain. The grey took four coats to get it to the color I wanted. 

Once the stain dried about 12 hours just to be safe we flipped them over in order of how it should look on the front. To keep it together we used four 2 x 4 along the back of the pieces. This is where we connected the small pieces and stabilized it.

I wish I would have taken a pictures of how Steve hung it on the wall. He made these wood wedges; one on the wall and one on the headboard. The two wedges came together and held up the boards to the wall. He also added L brackets to the base of the four 2x4 coming down the back to the wall.

Seriously I love it! I am soo excited about it and it fits perfectly with the look we are going for. And the blue brings out the frames!

Check out our links page to see wher we've linked our newest project.
~ Cassi



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Pinterest Week ~ Day One

My family has to be Pinterest crazy. We always checking the site for ideas, recipes and just for fun. So this week I am doing my Pinterest Inspired posts. These will be from various pins through out our Pinterest File.

Let's get this week started! Here is my inspiration post.

I started with some DIY bracelets. I have loved the look of the multi layers for a while now but haven't found the right style at the store. But when Mouse and her friend decided they wanted to make friendship bracelets the idea hit me to make my own.
I started with a tennis bracelet that I haven't worn in years and added some embroidery floss around the edges.

Next I added a silver charm to a standard friendship bracelet style. Wow, it's been awhile since I made one of these I remember it being way easier then it was.

My final one was just a quick ribbon addition to an old chain bracelet.

Add those to a few that already had the look and the fashion Pinterest inspiration was achieved.

~ Cassi

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Tops from 2012

This past year has seemed to fly by. Looking back through the post of this last year, I must say it's been a fun one.

My favorite part of last year was a family trip to here. 

I love that we can take these trips and experience all that there is. So looking forward to our family trip to Jamaica this year.

We also managed to get a lot of projects completed this past year. My favorite one being our new door.

Seriously the difference this made to the look of our house is incredible. Still months later this makes me smile when I pull into the drive.

Another remake we did that I love is our thrifty bench find.  

 I can't wait to get some pictures taken using this bench. Which brings me to a huge thing from last year. I started my own business. That has been challenging and fun all at the same time.

Thus being said my picture taking in general has increased a lot this year. And I have been looking at different ways to document those pictures. That is when I stumbled on this thing called Smash Journal / Art Journaling. So I combined the two (though this one is much more just a smash journal).

I hope to work on more of this in this next year.

 I haven't forgotten Mouse. Her and I did some fun knock offs for school this year. No Mini Boden budget here but you couldn't tell with the shirt we made. I had so much fun planning these out with her. We will have to do move of that next year.  

 So what else do you our readers (and us) have to look forward to next year. I am hoping to get our project page done. Then you can see all that we have been working on in one place. I am hoping to do more recipes. I cook all the time I need to post more. We have one more room in our house that needs to be finished and a few more outdoor projects. But for now it's New Years and we have a party to get ready for. So see you all next year.

~ Cassi

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New Front Door

We have been in our house now going past seven years. It is the longest we have lived any where. So of course we I am going crazy with lack of a new house to decorate. So Steve did the next best thing for his new house loving wife.

He painted a new entry way!

Here is a quick before picture.

Ok, it really needed a new coat of paint, dang Minnesota weather.

Then since it's Minnesota and freezing he sealed off the entry way and warmed it up a bit so the paint would stick.

And then we had a whole new house. So excited with the way  it looks.

And it's holding up well through rain, winds and snow already.



~ Cassi

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Hoop Art

This summer I took up the hobby/ craft of embroidery. It is a nice road trip project. In getting inspired I saw a lot of mixed media hoop art and I fell in love with the style. I have also liked mixing up the background with patterned fabric. This one I used a clip are design of a sewing machine. I blew up the picture and traced it on to the fabric using carbon paper.

 The fabric piece is a bit of vintage quit fabric I had on hand from Mouse's baby quilt.

It works perfectly into my growing collection of hoops.

~ Cassi


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DIY Tent

For this years family pictures I wanted a stylized camping session. These pictures are for our main living room and wanted to express something our family loves to do. But I also wanted it whimsical in away. When I saw this tent on A Beautiful Mess I knew it was exactly what I was looking for.

I showed the design to Steve and then told him I wanted it a little bit bigger to fit the three of us in it. He got to work and did a fantastic job!

First he picked up four 6 foot 1x2 and three 3/4 inch dowels. At the ends of each 1x2 he drilled out a 3/4 inch hole for the dowels. Then we put it together.

Here is what the frame of the tent looked like, before I added the fabric.

Next I picked up a bunch of lace curtains from thrift shop and some white fabric.

Once we started placing the fabric over the tent we realized it wasn't going to be big enough so I had to make a little sewing and draping magic. This matched it more to the style on the blog.

I am so happy with the way it turned out. It made for the perfect backdrop for the pictures.

More of the pictures with us in them to come.

~ Cassi

ps. Check out my links page to see where I have linked to.

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Chair / Photo Prop

In our search for vintage dining room chairs I found this chair with great lines!

I knew I had to have it for my business.

Steve painted the chair a olive green color.

Then I got to work on redoing the seat. First note to those trying to recover a seat.

Since the pad I bought was obviously not going to work, I came up with a new idea. I had some fleece that would stretch all the way around so I staple that to the back leaving a spot open. I then filled the space between the seat and the fleece with batting. Once filled I stapled the fleece closed.

After that I took this pleated material and started stapling that. When recovering a seat you want to staple once at the front center and then back center pulling the material tight with each staple. Then repeat this step as you move to each side of the center staple. Then repeat set one as you move to the sides. I leave the corners for last. Finally fold the corners and staple.

Then you are done and can screw the seat back on to the chair. I am so excited with how this chair turned out I can't wait to use it.

~ Cassi

Please check out my links page to see where I have linked up to this week.

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