My Barnwood Monogram

Boy, is fall coming fast?  Well, at least for some.  I always think it is so strange to start seeing Halloween stuff and even some Christmas stuff in August.  I live in Arizona, and it is H O T.  It is still very hot.  So Hot.  Did I say HOT.  My daughter took the summer off and didn't play softball.  She just started with a new team and is loving it and football is gearing up for my son.  My husband loves this time of year because of the sports (the games are sooo hot), and my son is a Senior this year, so he is very excited for his last High School football season.  I can't believe my babies are in the 11th and 12th grade.  That just makes me old.  Old and Hot and not the good Hot either.  Ok, I need an icy diet Dr. Pepper now.  Well, I am still crafting.  I hate to say that I am not cooking as much, just fast old recipes that no one would want.  My son did tell me that he missed me blogging because I cooked a lot more - he he.  We will try to do it again soon.  I made this Monogram Sign back in July and absolutely love it.  I thought I would share it with you today.

I got this awesome wooden sign thing at Michael's.  I love the pallet look.  I got a jig saw for Christmas, and hold on to your bottoms, I even have a few pallets outside.  I am just too lazy and scared to use my saw.  That will be a must learn  for this fall.  Anyway, I saw this at Michael's and thought it would make a cute sign.

They also had these awesome colored stains.  I had to have a couple, and thought this would be the perfect little project to try them out.

This was my first draft.  I wasn't too happy with it though.  I only bought two of the colored stains and used a darker wood stain that I had on hand.  The top board, I just put a little white chalk paint on it.  Not loving it though.

I put a white wash over the darker stain and liked it a little more, but, still not there.  A white wash is taking a little white chalk paint and adding water to it.  I made it really thin and painted a little over the stain.

Now, I found myself back at Michael's buying the red stain for the top.   Now, I am loving it even more.  I bought this cute galvanized "C" first.  I really didn't know what I was going to do with because it was a little small.  My daycare business slows way down in the  summer, so, I have time in the summer but no money.  I really couldn't swing the larger one.  Now look.  It fits perfectly.

I love it.  What do you think?

Linking to: Frugal Friday

Mason Jar Lid Pumpkin

Over the weekend, I was cleaning out my lid drawer and found that I had an abundant supply of Mason jar lids.  Over the summer, I replaced my drinking glasses with Mason jars.  I just got tired of my kids breaking and/or chipping my pretty ones.  This way, I know I can replace them with the same thing.  I can't tell you how many times I fell in love with a certain style and couldn't find it when it was time to replace a couple.  I even got a six pack of the pretty vintage blue ones from Target.  Now, a little rant -- I only have THREE left.  Why do they have to use the blue ones when there are twelve of the other???????

Now, back to the purpose of this post, I found a use for the many rings I had in my drawer.

My Mason jar ring Pumpkin.

I couldn't think of a better way to use my large supply of mason jar rings.  I am even making a few for Fall gifts.

My new sets of drinking glasses.  I love them -- I can also use them for so many other things.

Love my Dollar Store sunflowers too.

Just take your rings and string them on a piece of jute.

Bring the ends to together and tie it off.

Shoot it with some orange spray paint and add a stick from the yard as a stem.  I used a strip of festive material and there you have it.

Happy Fall.

Chalkboard Lazy Susan

Happy Monday everybody -- I missed you all last week, it was a little wild around here.  Let's just say that a woman of my size and age should not fall over a child gate.  Yep, that's what happened -- my bruised pride and ribs are healing up fine this week.  Anyway, on to my latest craft.  I love doing daycare (apart from falling over a child gate), but, I always find it a challenge to decorate my home.  If it is within a child's reach, they think it's for them to play with.  What has happened to; You can look, but, not touch Mrs. Rhonda's pretties.  I bought a Lazy susan at Saver's a while back for very little money.  I have always wanted one, but, didn't know how it would work.  As soon as I put in on the table, my daycare kids were catapulting things off of it.  It was not pretty -- a little dangerous at times.  Needless to say, I had to put it away.   

Well, I got it out the other day and decided to paint it with chalkboard paint.  

After sanding it down a little, I covered it with about three coats of chalkboard paint.

This was the original color, and

this was after the third coat of chalkboard paint.

After painting, I covered it with chalk and let it set for a little bit.

Here it is with it's new coat of paint.  I love the black color.  I really didn't think I would like it, but, it sets off all the colors in my table runner.

Now, the super cute bottles and holder came from Decor Steals (I am so addicted to Decor Steals right now).  I took a bunch of red tulips from The Dollar Tree and cut the stems apart.  I put one stem per bottle with the exception of two end bottles where I put two red Dollar Tree candles.  This look is totally me.  A very casual elegance -- trying to find pretty in all of my chaos.  The best part, I can remove all breakables to the counter and  easily return it after hours.

  

I put extra chalk into an egg cup.

I love this rooster.  He is so colorful and just adds the perfect wow to this little table scape.

 Oh, and the kids love it.  They don't even try to fling toys from it anymore -- YEAH!!!

xxxooo

Eggs on a Stick

I have had this idea in my head for a year now.  I thought of it last year, but, I had no one to drill my holes.  I asked my husband to do it, but, he was/is so busy with my daughters softball and his parents, he really had no time.  So, just last week, I was in the garage and saw the drill.  How hard could it be??  I found drill bits and at least an hour later, I figured out how to change the drill bit.  I plugged it in, started it, and thought that it really isn't that scary.  When I told my son that I was going to drill holes in my wood pieces, he asked me how I was going to hold them while drilling.  Hummmmmm......  That was a good question.  My holding them, apparently wasn't a good idea.  So, I used the vice attached to my husbands work bench.

I know the middle one is a little crooked. but, I did it all by myself.  I now belong to the secret society of  power tools -- Ya Ya!!!!!  

This one is my favorite.

This is what I started with.  I wanted something to go with my new white egg wreath and topiary.  Michael's has these in many different shapes and sizes.  I think this size is about .79 cents.

So, I shot it with the same white paint.  Sanded it, stained it, and glued some pretty paper on the front.  For the stick, I used the same dowels that I used for my ribbon projects.  I just cut them down to make different heights.  The hole was pretty snug, so,  I didn't use any glue.  After the holiday, I plan on drilling a straight hole on the other end and filling the crooked hole in with wood putty.

I used these same ovals last year for my Eggs in a Frame.  I have them on my hutch.

For my first drill project, it's not too bad - just a little crooked - ha ha.  (I got the He Has Risen printable last year -- I can't remember where I got it.  If it is yours?  Please let me know so I can link it to you.)

Happy Easter

This is where I hang out and Party - here

Matching Egg Topiary

Happy Hump Day everyone.  I really didn't want spring break end, but, all good things always come to an end.  I am so crazy busy this year.  My house, my blog and my crafting life are becoming more and more difficult to stay on top of.  I don't have any more children than I normally do.  I just have two VERY busy toddlers.  I really believe they think no means go.  They are into everything and they go two separate ways doing two separate naughty activities at the same time.  So please, hang in there with me and things will get better soon.  I really wanted to thank everyone for their sweet comments regarding my updated Easter egg wreath.  I have replied to some, and, I will reply to my remaining comments hopefully tonight.  I want to apologize for not letting you know what paint and technique I used to get the end results. 

So when I was looking through my box of Easter decorations, I came across my topiary from last year and decided to make one to match my new wreath.    

This is my favorite white paint.  Rust-oleum heirloom white satin paint.  I use this on everything.  I even used it on my Halloween bottles.

I just started to paint.  I try and cover as much as I can, then let it dry.

Don't get discouraged when you see the colored eggs peeking through.  It honestly takes about four times to get it covered evenly.  I don't know if you can see the green peeking through?!

I just keep going outside to give it coat whenever I think of it.  I honestly did this for an entire day -- you can still see orange in the holes - ha ha.

Next, I get out my favorite stain.  Minwax Early American.  I like to dirty things up (since I am a dirty girl - ha ha).

I put a little stain on an old rag and just wipe it on.

Then, with the clean end of the rag, I lightly wipe it off and clean up some of the hard lines left behind.

Don't worry when you see the big glops of glue that look like dripping boogers - gross.

Because that is where I stick my Spanish moss.

It hides big holes, glue boogers, and small imperfections really well.

I am still very happy with the end results.  It looks a little vintagey.

I hope this helps, and, please let me know how yours turns out if you choose to try one.

Have a great Wednesday.  It's all down hill to Friday from here.

xoxo

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