Life is beautiful sign { Tutorial }

In my many months of perusing pinterest I spotted this sign idea...

But I guess I never pinned it!

Lame

Props to whoever came up whit it!

It stuck with me though, and I have been dying to make it ever since.

I actually started this project right after Mattie was born 

but it took me forever a bit to finish it.

Those sweet newborns sure are needy aren't they!

Do you wanna make one of your own?

It was so fun!

*Tutorial*

I took an old beat-up piece of wood we had in our junk pile

(gotta love post baby body...)

and cut it into four equal sized pieces.

Paint them with a couple coats of stain and let them dry.

Grab one piece of cut wood (I grabbed the one that was the most warped and damaged)

Pull some scrap book paper from your stash and brush mod podge on the back.

Place the paper on the wood where ever your heart so desires.

smooth any bubbles out

and then smile at your handy work :)

Finally slather on a thick layer of mod podge onto the entire board.

For the letters:

If you are like me and do not own any type of professional cutter thingy 

(you know what I am talking about :)

you will need to grab some contact paper and cut out your letters.

(If you have one of those cool cutters feel free to whip it out now)

adhere the paper to the wood and paint the letters

(I did this same technique to all 4 boards)

I love the imperfections it came out with!

(Isn't it just a perfect fit for the meaning of this sign- 

It is usually the imperfection that makes life beautiful.)

Okay.

Enough of the deep thoughts :)

I used a scrap piece of wood and nailed it to the back-connecting the four boards.

(sorry no picture)

(I have changed it up a bit since this picture.

 I have filled all the frames and 

I added a large empty frame behind the

 pictures on the right to balance it out a bit)

Now it is sitting cute on my fantle (fake mantel)!

And I L.O.V.E. it!

Do you ever have those projects that just make you smile every time you look at them?

This is totally one for me!

I'm linking to these great parties!

shabby chic jewelry hanger ... tutorial

So on a whim I decided to put one of my cute new old frames from this post to good use.

I made, a long while ago- like when I lived in an apartment 1/3 the size of my house, a holder for necklaces.

Well sadly enough I and my space grew out of it.

I needed something that gave me more room to organize and  something that made a little more of a statement for the space.

I came up with  this

Isn't it cute!?

Wanna make one of your own?

It is WAY to easy!

You'll need:

Chicken wire

wire cutters

a frame

staple gun

Step one: Lay the chicken wire over the back of your frame

and staple it down.

Step two: Use wire cutters to cut the the chicken wire down to size.

Step three: There isn't one! Seriously.

It is that easy.

Now go make one to hang on your bathroom wall!

Much love

I'm linking to these great parties!

Cloth napkin pillows

I am pretty sure I showed you these napkins from World Market before.

P.S.If you have never been in a World Market you need to plan a trip soon. 

Trust me!

This is the color palate I have used to decorate and paint my house.

I have been whipping up some easy throw pillows from these napkins and I wanted to show you one I just finished.

I just added some cute little pin tucks and then I sewed two napkins together.

Easy, peasy.

I love the mixture of girly fabric and modern clean lines.

On another note, as I was sewing these pillows I had a realization.

This has been a big year of first for me sewing wise.

My first zipper.

My first darts.

and now my first pin pleats!

Yay for me!

In honor of these accomplishments i have decided to make 

"try new sewing techniques"

a late new year's resolution.

I think this may be the only way I keep these resolutions,

to make them after I have already accomplished them.

You may call it cheating, but I call it smart! :)

How are you doing with your new year's resolutions? Have you tried any new sewing techniques this year? I want to hear!!

much love

Glazed and confused... Except not confusing at ALL!

This is going to be a short post because I am

TIRED!

Today we had our newborn photo shoot.

We also tried to get some family pictures done with a newborn and a one year old..

On just a couple hours of sleep..

With two mini hell doxi dogs getting in the middle of EVERYTHING!

So here it goes.

One of the biggest projects I worked on in 2011 was

Z-baby's big girl room.

EHHH!!

I can't wait to show it to you!

But

For now...

I am just going to show you one project I worked on.

I decided to try my hand at glazing.

This is not the best picture.

I meant to take a finished project picture before my sweet girl went to bed

But

of course...

I forgot!

So I will add it later.. I promise!!

I am going to give you a quick tutorial on my glazing technique.

If you have ever looked up how to glaze you know that there are TONS of different techniques out there.

I read a lot of different blog tutorials before I began...

Some were VERY complex.

I decided to just use what I had and see how it turned out.

Well it turns out that I loved the finished product and it was SUPER easy!

I started with this mirror my grandmother found at a yard sale years ago.

I LOVED the ornate design

But I was not so wild about the white and gold paint.

Step one:

I painted the frame a bright turquoise and let it dry.

Step two:

I got my glazing supplies ready.

water

black paint

sponge brush

paper towel

Step 3:

I squirted a small amount of black paint into the cup with the water.

The ratio is 1/3 paint to 2/3 water.

You do not need much.

I painted a layer of the watered down black paint using the sponge brush.

Step 4:

I used the paper towel to wipe off the black paint until I got the look I wanted.

Then I simply let it dry!

SO SIMPLE!

I hope you like it!

You should totally give it a try!

~happy glazing

P.S. It REALLY sucks when you accidently sit on your finished mirror and crack it... Trust me, I know!

Finished lamp

A while ago I shared a picture about a lamp I redid using an idea I got from pinterest(surprise surprise!)

Here is the post if you missed it.

And a before picture, just for kicks! :)

It is a cute lamp it just didn't match my house anymore

AND

I paid entirely TO MUCH for it to get rid of it.

Step one:

I wrapped the base in rope and hot glued it down as I went.

Step two:

Was to remove the existing fabric from the lampshade and recover it.

But, miss happy fingers over here :)

destroyed the ENTIRE shade as I TRIED to take the fabric off.

I looked for days and days trying to find a way to salvage at least the metal supports of the shade.

There were options

but

they were expensive options.

THEN one day while meandering through JoAnn's

I happened to see that they sold self adhesive lamp shades!

So I whipped out my coupon and paid a whopping 7 bucks.

I had this burlap remnant from a previous trip to JoAnn's.

I just cut it to size and pressed it down.

I folded the excess fabric inside the shade and hot glued

it down.

I covered the rough edges with gray bias tape.

Step three:

Should be adding the painted knob to the top to hold the

shade down.

BUT

It was Z-baby's favorite toy for a little while

AND

now it is in never-never land.

I WILL find it though!

DO any of you have my luck? It seems like every time I am almost done with a project I realize I missed a step/ or am missing something!

It just causes me to be even more creative right?! ;)

I hope you have a wonderfully magnificent Thanksgiving week!

~Happy creating