Santa's Magic Key

As part of my walk down the isles at Michael's I came across these beautiful keys. They were only $1.75 each so I picked up a bunch of white, brown and black ones. I wasn't sure what I was going to do until the other day. Santa's Magic Keys. I designed the tags and found the little poem. I have so much ribbon in my stash so I just used what I had. Attached the key to the tag and that is it. My son is so excited as we don't have a chimney.

                                                            (sorry the picture is not the best)

Happy Crafting!

Easy Burlap Gift Card Holders

I love the discount bins at Michael's. I always love the coordinating items they have. But these little burlap bags caught my eye. There were two in a pack for $1.50! I just grabbed my sharpie pen, drew some words (joy and noel) and that was it! So cute.

Happy Crafting!

Easy, Inexpensive DIY Mugs

So a few years ago I found that many pinners were pinning DIY sharpie mugs. So I went to the store, got some inexpensive mugs, some coloured sharpies and let the kiddies go to town making Father's Day mugs. I baked them according to the pins and well.... They were not permanent.  Pretty disappointed.

But then I found out that you were suppose to use the OIL BASED sharpies. They are a little more expensive so I used my coupon from Michael's and bought a white and a black oil based pen. Bought some great mugs from Dollarama and followed the same instructions as before. Did my doodling, baked at 350degrees for 30 minutes (make sure the mugs are in the oven as it heats up and cools down). And TA-DA!!! They are permanent!!

So easy and simple. Imagine the possibilities for teacher's gifts (can personalize it) and so much more!

Happy Crafting!

Jumping on the Faux Taxidermy Train!

Hello there :)

So I jumped on the train. The faux taxidermy train ;)

I was out on a shopping trip at Canadian Tire and was browsing the Christmas isles when these cute little sparkly deer ornaments jumped out at me! The best part is that they were only $2 each! So I brought them home and knew what I wanted to do with them.

With a little bit of white and black paint, I distressed these very inexpensive frames that I got at Dollarama then I replaced the glass with some burlap, screwed and glued the deer to the wood backing and added a little sentiment under the deer. Done. Love how they turned out. I have three in my booth.

Happy Crafting!

My Christmas Booth

I set up my booth at the Woodpecker's Cabin in Haliburton, Ontario all in time for the Holidays. I am happy with all the little items. So please if you are local take a peek. If you are not local please enjoy the pictures.

Thank you for stopping by!

Stacy

DIY Snow Globes

So sorry for the delay in posts. Life has been a little crazy lately. I moved and my life has been turned into a different direction. But I was able to find some time to create more items for my booth (can be found at the Woodpecker's Cabin in Haliburton, Ontario).

I bought these great jars at a yard sale this summer for $2!! Not each but all of them! I had 5 big ones and two small ones. I knew I wanted to make something special with them but didn't know just what until one day I saw this great post by fellow Ontarian Lorrie Everitt. I just loved the simplicity and wonder of her salt shaker snow globes . So I knew that is what I was going to make with my jars. I looked high and low for cute little trees and found the best ones at Walmart for only $1. Bought some snow and sparkly snow and that is all I needed to make my globes.

I typed some sentiments on some card stock using my typewriter and glued them onto the trees. Then I used some good epoxy glue to glue the trees to the bottoms of my jars, added the snow and voilà! They were done and ready for my booth!

Happy Crafting!

Chalkboard Caddy

I picked up this little caddy from a yard sale earlier this summer. Sorry I didn't take a before picture of the whole thing but you can see it in the photo below. It had a loon on the one side.

I painted the whole thing with some Ironstone MMS milk paint, sanded it down and then painted the front with chalkboard paint. Pretty easy. I love that you can change the drawing according to the different seasons. Kinda wish I kept it for myself :)

Have a great day!

Stacy

Dollarstore pumpkin make over

I love the dollarstore. It's like a big thrift store for me :) I love how you can get something for a great price and with a little effort they can be transformed into something amazing!

I picked up three little pumpkins. They were cute the way they were but I had an idea. With a little chalk paint that I had left over I painted the pumpkins all white. Then I sanded down the ridges and with some distress ink, I inked the ridges. Had some wire rope that I have been hoarding forever that I wrapped around a pencil to get the spirals. I then created a leaf form from some wire I had and glued some burlap over it.

These three little pumpkins are now waiting to be sold at my booth.

Have a great day!

New items in my booth

I have been pretty busy working on some new items for my booth over at the Woodpecker's Cabin in Haliburton, ON.

- Fall banner

- magnets (on side - see below)

 

- Reusable Chalkboard Bunting

- Vintage chalkboard

- Black wire baskets with diy enamel tags

- Chalkboard Caddy

- Brown frame chalkboard

- tins (shown in previous post)

- dollarstore makeover pumpkins

- give thanks burlap frame

- shabby chic vase

- Little white thrifted owl I spray painted white.

 

- some magnets I made from some scrap paper and glass pebbles.

 

 

Happy that my booth looks a little more full now :)

 

Stacy



Fall Wreath

I had this wreath form that I thrifted a long time ago and thought I would make a nice fall wreath for my booth at the Woodpecker's Cabin in Haliburton, ON.

It is a tad more shabby-chic then I like to have in my décor but I love how it turned out! I used some burlap to make the flower, with a little black felt and some vintage pearl jewelry pieces. For the leaves I painted with some left over chalk paint some dollar store fall leaves. I then had a bunch of burlap, canvas and twine left over from my FALL bunting on the wreath so I thought it would look nice dangling from the flower.

I hope it sells :)

Bye for now,

Stacy

Vintage tins DIY

This was probably one of the easiest DIY ever. It took longer to clean these tins that were found at our local dump. I used a wire brush to scrub some loose rust then a good cleaner to clean them up. I dug through my alpha stickers to find the style of numbers that i wanted. Cut around them and peeled the outside part of the sticker to create a stencil. Used some washi tape to mask the area around the stencil.

Some good craft paint (tested to make sure it stuck to the metal) and peeled away the stencil. Easy peasy :) These are heading to my booth this weekend.

Have a great day!

Thrifty Finds

Hello to another Thrifty Finds post! This is the ultimate Thrifty Find as it cost me $0!! Yup!!!

I am kinda embarrassed to tell you all this but another place we like to go 'thrifting' is at our local dump. Yes you read that right. The local dump. We have a little shed that 'too good to be put with the kitchen trash, but I am too lazy to bring to the second hand shop' items can be found. One day last week my partner in thrifting, Jay, went to the dump and came home with these. I have a plan that will be quick and easy and I will show you the results soon! A little elbow grease to clean them up and I think they will be great in my booth!

Bye for now!

hello *there* is now in a store!

I took the plunge! It's not my first time that I have some of my handmade items in a store but it is the first time that I have sold home décor items.

There is this new store in Haliburton called the Woodpecker's Cabin and you can find my items there. I have small booth (only 4 feet wide) and it's pretty empty at the moment. I am planning on making much more and have been working hard at getting more items. Some have sold already (yay) so I need to keep busy!

Here's a few pics of my booth last week.

- chalkboard tray made from old wooden tray

- chalkboard note books

- chalkboard coasters from tiles

-my numbers bench/side table

- chalkboard candles

- milk painted candle sticks

- wooden bowl (key to my heart)

- chalkboard frame from vintage artwork (sold)

- chalkboard from vintage frame (two of them)

- chalkboard recycled sign (sold)

- chalkboard vintage plate

- milk painted pedestal table

- more chalkboard candles

- more chalkboard coasters from tiles

 

 

Will post more pictures of my booth soon!

 

Hope you had a wonderful day!

Thrifty Finds

So a new adventure is happening tomorrow and I will post about it soon! We went to Barrie, ON a few weeks ago and we hit not 1, not 2, but 7 different thrift stores! Crazy - I know! So that meant one full truck on the way home! Here are some of my goodies that I am just about to revamp!

 

Will post the results very soon. Plus I got this in the mail! So Thrifted pieces plus MMS = SO EXCITED!

 

Happy Thrifting!!

Chalkboard Love - In the kitchen



If you look at my pinterest boards you will definitely notice that I am obsessed with chalkboards! I bought two of these frames a few years back at Ted's (local restore) and they were u-g-l-y! They were gold and black plastic with a flower print. I have painted it a few times and had different things in it but knew what it was going to be next! A beautiful chalkboard for my dining room! First I repainted the frame white with some spray paint and then I sprayed three coats of Rustoleum's Chalkboard Spray paint. Then I used the Rhonna Designs app and used one of her pre-made quotes. I modified the layout a bit and printed it up and used this tutorial to transfer the image over. I sprayed it with some hairspray so that the little fingers in the house wouldn't be tempted to erase it and I love it!

EAT sign

Another one of my summer bucket list items was to make an EAT sign for my kitchen. It's kinda ironic to have an EAT sign in my dining room as EAT! is something I say a lot during meal time. See my son is type 1 diabetic and we give him his insulin before he eats. Meal time is very stressful as he has to eat all the food he is bolused (insulin given on his pump) for because if he doesn't he will get hypoglycemic (which is very dangerous). So I do repeat EAT a lot. Anyway... getting side tracked ;)

I had found this sign on sale at our local grocery store for $2 (marked down from $14.99) and I did have it in the kitchen for a few months. But I just didn't love it. I was planning on making an EAT sign for another wall but thought - hey, why not just redo this sign.

I first painted it black, used wax around the edges to help distress it then painted it white (2 coats). Then I sanded it with sand paper to distress the edges. I printed on some plain paper my word EAT and used some graphite paper to transfer the letters onto the sign. A little black paint, then some more sanding and there you have it!

After - Like it much better than before. (Just wish my cascade walls would show better)

Thanks for stopping by!

Stacy

Product Review: Rhonna Designs Photo Editing App

LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! The new Rhonna Designs Photo Editing App! Even though it's primarily designed for instagram I have used it for so much more! (Will post soon).

I had fallen in love with Rhonna Farrer's style a very long time ago and bought a lot of her designs over the years. I love the vintage feel and like many of you with I was as talented as her with her Chalkboards she creates! What I especially love about this app is that a lot of her great insta-loving fonts and art are included in the unbelievable $1.99 cost to buy the app! YES you read correctly - $1.99!!!!

Here's a sample of the amazing things you can create! (Will be playing and sharing soon my own images)

Highly recommend this app! Would love to hear about the images you create with this app! Please just leave a comment with a link to your blog/board etc...

Have a great day!

Stacy

My burlap and felt flower wreath

A fun project that I have been wanting to do FOREVER is a wreath. I have fallen in love with the burlap or yarn wreaths that are all over the place and thought "I can do that!". I have had this green wreath frame around for a long time and thought it was time to get in gear and finally make one!

I had some burlap left over from a project way back and cut on continuous strip and wrapped it around the wreath. Made some felt flowers and leaves, painted a wood banner that I got here and some hot glue and voila! Used a 3M hook to secure it to my steel/glass door and it's been holding up to the elements very well!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stacy

Thrifty DIY: $1 Bird Feeder

One of my bucket list items was a bird feeder from a thrifted cup and saucer. My first thrifty finds post I showed you my $1 cup and saucers I found at my local restore - which I call Ted's. This bird feeder was one of the easiest diy's I have ever done! Just a little e6000 glue and a few days curing and voila! I just had a garden hook and hung it from there.

Now I have little birds in my yard! So excited. Think I will be making more of these for friends and family!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stacy

note: I used the Rhonna Designs app to create my pic :) love this app!

Thrifty DIY - Magnetic Chalkboards

As soon as I got home from Ted's with my vintage trays in hand I knew exactly what I wanted to do with two of them! I have a confession - I am a little obsessed with chalkboards. Not sure if it's the black and white with a vintage look to it but I have definitely jumped on the chalkboard band-wagon!

 

Two coats of my favourite Zinzer BIN 1-2-3 spray paint primer and three coats of the Rustoleum Chalkboard Spray Paint got these trays ready for embellishing. I finally tried using vinyl in my Silhouette Cameo and love the results! To hang them I used the Aleene's 7800 all-purpose glue to glue on some pop tabs onto the back.

All that is needed now is to prime the chalkboard - see this great tutorial from {Ella Claire}and find a place to hang it!

Have a wonderful day!!

Products used:

Summer/Fall Project Bucket List

One thing that I have been working on is not putting too much on my plate. Well - by the end of the post you will think that I am not doing so well. I have so many projects that I want to do (and my pinterest boards will demonstrate that) that I thought I would do a bucket list of the projects that I would love to tackle this summer (what's left of it). Doesn't mean that I will be upset or disappointed in myself if I don't accomplish them all. It's my guide post. That way I won't add too much more to my list (or so I have convinced myself of this). I am sure I will add more as I go thrifting or yard sale shopping but that is ok.

** I know that whatever I do get accomplished will be enough **

So here's my 2013 Summer Project Bucket List: (click on description for source)

Kitchen:

1. EAT sign
2. Plates
3. Chalkboard
4. Boxes for under island for kids games and colouring items

Living Room:

1. Pillows and hang curtains
2. Shelf behind tv console (and do final coat of paint on console diy)
3. Art
4. Scrabble tiles (source not found)

Entrance:

1.  Repurposed table into wall shelf/hooks with misc. art for shelf
2. Bench

Outside:

1. Bird Feeders (no source for this image)
2. Wreath
3. Stepping Stones (no source)

I will see how many projects get done and how many get swapped out with something else that I get hooked on!