Cork Craft

So, I came across this old corkboard I bought it at Pottery Barn 2 years ago for $29.00 (I believe that they still have them on the website)  But I had it sitting my my trash pile when I was going through things in my room, but the crefter in me had to pull it out because I knew that I could fix it up and do something with it, so this is what I decided to do!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
-Corkboard
-2 Cans of Spray Paint (Different colors)
-Stencil
-Tacks

For me I chose purple and white because I needed to incorporate some purple into my room besides my dresser.  I have started by spraying the corkboard white coating ALL sides with a couple of coats.  Keep in mind that cork is porous and the paint will sink into it some giving it a worn in look.



After you spray paint it all it should look something like this.



This is the stencil that I chose, I used tacks to tack it down to the corkboard.



After tacking the stencil to the corkboard you will take your second can of spray paint and spray all over your corkboard.

After letting it dry some I removed the stencil, and sprayed a little more purple on top so it didnt look as perfect.  and this was the outcome.  I love distressed old looking items and I really like how this turned out.  I may use some ribbon to hang it, Im not sure.. But in the end Im glad I didnt throw it away!

Zebra love for the home.

I have never been a fan of animal prints, but I do love Zebra print. So my sister bought her first home in August/September of last year and she decided that she wanted to do Hot Pink and Zebra Print as a theme in my 3 year old nieces room. Naturally I thought it would be fun to have a hand in it and I thought it would look cool to do a focal wall in zebra print, only one wall though because it is a smaller space and too much print can be overwhelming and can make a space look a lot smaller. So my sister and I started painting the hot pink walls, then a few days later I came in with my paint pens and traced zebra print onto the wall. It has been that way for about 4 months as I have poked and proded my sister to get the actual black paint so I can finish the process. BUT she still hasnt, so this is how it looks now, my goal is to go get the paint myself this week and finish the job.

I also painted myself and my niece Monogramed signs for our rooms, as I told you all I am OBSESSED with monograms! So I stuck with the theme for Keylees room and did Zebra print. The one I did for my room was damask and was Green black and white.

I adore this sign, I handpainted it.. From start to finish it took me about 6 hours.. But I was in the zone..

and of course this one is mine for my room handpainted as well.. A lot less time consuming than my nieces.

I went on and added this because it was zebra print and I wanted to throw it in because of its insane cuteness! I found the zebra print fabric for a dollar and I used fabric glue to attach it to the shirt then I found the pink, orange and yellow ribbon for the ghost's bow. But it was a great shirt and very cute for all of October!

Repainting my dresser

As I have said in a previous post I am head over heals for my dresser, its one of those sturdy heavy true wooden dressers that can take a major beating. It is rustic and corners are rounded and chipped and I cant even begin to imagine all of the things that this dresser has seen. It is probably every bit of 20+ years old.. I love furniture with a story, but I like to be able to have the furniture that needs love, I’m not really into the antique type of furniture mainly because you cant touch it, it will devalue it. But after tonight, after talking about redoing my dresser and posting the things I posted on here, I felt the need to at least start the process. And needless to say I HATE sanding down furniture, I promise if you do it by hand you WILL find muscles you didn’t even know you had. I had mentioned in a previous post that maybe I would do color this time, as it has been neutral colors every time that I have painted it. So I went to the store tonight and I decided on a color, it isn’t exactly in anything in my room but I think that it will all work cohesively together.

Before, but ignore all the mess around it..

So I have started sanding, and sadly it is taking me forever.. BUT It will be worth it in the end.

I know that this looks VERY VERY purple but I promise its the flash. This is more of a deep purple like eggplant. I know this color is not in my room BUT I love yellow purple and gray together I have colors all over my room BUT I think that they all work very well together..


The basic colors I have going on in my bedroom are;

I’m hoping the weather will be good and that I wont be exhausted tomorrow (I’m taking my sisters fiance to the Airport so I have to get up at 5:30 and drive about 1.5 each way..) If everything goes in my favor tomorrow Ill hopefully finish my dresser.. But we will see!

Re-Upholstry

As I have said before I am all about getting into any crafty thing that I can, even if I have never done it before and I have to essentially find my way around in the dark. I have always been attracted to the idea of reupholstering things but had never found an item that I loved enough to do it with. Until I happened upon the PERFECT chair for $8.00 at Goodwill, needless to say I was anxious to start the process. Some things you will need to know, as far as fabric you need to get the thicker canvas type material that can withstand much more use than the basic cotton. I painted my chair first then ripped off the fabric and reupholstered. You can find a million and one tutorials online for this but you will need pliers to remove staples I used a hammer and a staplegun as well. So here was my process;

This is what I bought, the seat was flattened and it needed a paint job.

So it took a while to sand it down, and this is the finished sanding down part.

I picked out black spray paint and this is with the first coat. And a side note if you are going to spray paint things it is really nice to go with the spray paint that costs a little more because it sprays on much better due to the nozzle and with a lot less coats of paint.

This is the final spray painted coat.

So I dont have any pictures of the re-upholstery process but this is the finished product of my chair. I wish this was a better picture but I dont have a better one! But it turned out amazing!
So after this I decided to reupholster my kitchen chairs, as well as spray paint them.

This is what my kitchen chairs looked like originally.

…and this was after. reupholstering CAN be hard depending on what you do.. But choose a simple item originally and just work through it.. It truly can make a MAJOR difference in the furniture!

My Sanctuary

I feel that everyone’s bedroom is their sanctuary, it is a place to cry to laugh to rest or play. I think that your bedroom should encompass who you are as a person and I would like to think that my bedroom does just that! I love shopping around online and this is what I have discovered; Frames, bedding, pillows and odds-an-ends that create my space. Here are a few of my favorite aspects of my sanctuary!

Frames are such great things because they are so different in size color and shape. I have always been envious of people who could throw a bunch of frames on a wall and it looked so cohesive while still seeming so different as it seems that each of them have their own story. I am a picture person I literally have 4000+ on my Macbook and since I think they are such a great way to relive special moments I love to put them on display all over the home. My frames on display here are all from various places, some are from walmart, Ikea, little boutiques and some I got for christmas and various other places. But take some frames choose your “moments” that you want to use and put them all over or on one wall like I did!

Bedding is a major weakness for me, I have so much from Pottery Barn, Urban Outfitters, Ikea and Now West Elm. The bedding you see above is from West Elm and if you have never visited their site then it is definitely a MUST SEE! I love some of the dainty items they have but it is all so beautiful and if you like Pottery Barn but it is a bit too pricey for you West Elm offers that same feel for a price that is not as steep! They have many things to look at and many things that you should take advantage of! My favorite of this new bedding besides the Monogram (Im a monogram freak) is the Amazing Euro Shams, which actually was not listed with my bedding it was meant to go with another set but I fell in love so I decided it was a must have as well!

I love little accents that you never thought would make a difference but it does. I consider my room rustic country and I am beyond in love with the Mason Jar craze and even though this isnt a “mason” jar (its a Kern) I painted it white added the blue sand and the little fake flower is from ikea. It is very cute in person and I have a few more all together in a vase.

This is a craft that I did to pass the time. There are a few ways you could achieve this and is was fairly inexpensive. I spent $5.00 total on the buttons I traced a large T on the paper and I glued the buttons around the T then I added the ribbon and framed it, the actual frame only cost $3.00. You could alsop use cloth instead of paper and sew the buttons on (much more time consuming!).

This is my dresser! I do love it like it is now but I will be sanding it down in the next month and re-painting it and hand painting some kind of new design. I really have to get my mind set on one design for my dresser. I absolutely adore this dresser I got it 5 years ago at a yard sale and it wasnt in the greatest condition, I love that it is chipped and knicked and looks old (totally up my ally). Of course once I re-paint this dresser it will be a post on here! Maybe ill be bold and do a bright color (it has always been Black, Brown or white.) Maybe Chartreuse! We will see! I cant wait to get started!