Blue Chalkboard Project

This chalkboard project has been a long time coming. I purchased the frame last year from my neighbor's garage sale for only $8 but it sat in the garage for months, 13 to be exact.

The frame caught my eye as I as getting out of the car from a Target trip with my Momma. I loved it because it was very long and I thought I could hang it in my screened porch. 

Here it is:

I was just going to paint it with black chalkboard paint and paint the frame red, my go to color, but then I found this.

Katie and I found this at Frisco Mercantile, I picked up a small can and brought it home with me.

First, I took the canvas out of the frame.

Next, I painted 3 coats of the chalkboard paint onto my pre-cut board.

I let the paint dry overnight and sprayed the frame in the meantime. I had brown in the garage so I just used that.

My Husband tacked the blue board into the newly painted frame and we ended up with this.

I seasoned the board with chalk so it would take the chalk better and not look so new.

We put it in our small butlers pantry area, we had a blank wall that needed some color.

If my goal were to get a chalkboard in every room of the house, I would be very close. I think I am only lacking our bedroom and the TV room upstairs.

Kitchen Lighting Update

Its been awhile since I first posted about our kitchen pendants that I got for my birthday. If you remember, it looked like this after the hubby put them up. 

Remember our unpainted ugly ceiling with the gaping hole.

Well a few weeks later I just couldn't stand the dim lighting so we had 4 can lights and 1 pendant light installed.

And I did a last minute paint job just before my Brothers rehearsal dinner.

You know I work best under pressure. 

This is what it looks like now with fresh paint and the new lights.

We also got a light in the pantry, can you believe there was no light in the pantry?

Before:

It was so dark, impossible to find things in the evening.

 After:

So much brighter

Here is a close up of the pendant over the sink. I purchased this light on sale at World Market in March or April. I bought it well in advance because it was only $25 and I knew one day we would have a light over the sink.

And just for kicks here are a few new items added to our kitchen in the last few months.

Winking Owl cookie jar from Earthbound Trading Company

A few cute brightly colored kitchen tools to mix with my current red ones

Two planter baskets from Kirklands, I'm using one to hold fruit and one for vegetables. 

Looks like I need to buy more apples.

Little yellow metal stool from Frisco Mercantile

Have a great week!!!

Lalaloopsy Party

In May we hosted a Lalaloopsy party for a sweet little 7 year old. I was new to Lalaloopsy but after spending weeks getting this cute party stuff together I think I will change my name to Crafty Mcstitchy Pants. (for those that don't know these dolls all have really funny names like that).

Here are the details:

These were their sack lunches

Each girl made a "scrap" skirt

Each girl received a Lalaloopsy shirt personalized with their Lalaloopsy name

We did their make up and sprayed their hair purple, some got curls

Lalaloopsy pinata, I made this by covering a baseball pinata

Candy toppings

Syrup and sprinkles

The cake

Cake topper

The girls showing off their skirts and shirts

Each girl also received a doll made by the birthday girls grandmother

Wouldn't be a Piper party without a dance party

Close up of the Birthday girl's shirt

Have a great weekend!!!

Recovered Chair

Last spring I purchased a cute little yellow chair from a sweet lady on craigslist. Her mother had passed away and she was having an estate sale. She said the chair had hardly been sat in, really just used for a bedroom. So I snatched it up for $50 and had ideas of recovering it for my classroom. Well I finally got to it this last week and love the way it turned out.

Here is the little chair, already it was pretty cute but I teach Kindergarten and have an impulse to make everything super colorful.

I bought 4 yards of this fabric from fabric.com and 4 of the chevron to use for another project for my Mom, but I sneaked some in here. As for the piping, I bought that fabric at Joann's to use to cover two of my bulletin boards, but snipped off an inch from the bottom to tie it into the chair.

After several hours of cutting and sewing and adding zippers to the back, I came up with this.

I really love it, and cant wait to use it this year, I do have to remember that I can't get all Ross (MY SANDWICH) if it gets a stain or a kid stands on it. 

MYYY CHAIR!! YOU YOU YOU DREW ON MY CHAIR?!!!

Have a great week!!

Guess WHOOOO got painted?

Thats right, my Anthropologie knock off owl from my post this morning got painted. About an hour after I finished my post I  ran out and got some bright orange spray paint!

I taped off the eyes, which made the owl look sad and kind of like he was waiting for execution or like he got in a fight with another owl and got his eye scratched out.

Anyway I took him outside and painted him up!

Then I mixed up some blue craft paints and went at it.

Here is the finished project

                                         Anthro's Owl                                             My Owl

I am so pleased! I love it when things turn out just how you plan.

I put him up in my kitchen cabinet

I'm glad I went with the orange, it so much more cheery.

Anthropologie Wise Ol' Owl knock off

I have loved this Anthro owl for a long time but I couldn't imagine spending $120 for it. I started looking at thrift stores and antique stores for a similar one to paint. Well what a surprise it was when I spotted this identical owl at Kirklands. Can you believe it.....Kirklands!

I think I will try to paint it like the Anthro owl but I haven't decided yet. It shouldn't take much, notice how the eyes are already painted with the same colors. And the best part was the price tag $18.99 whoop whoop!