New Shelves For the Boys...

I have been wanting to make some book shelves for my  boys for their room.  So I asked my husband if we could make them a couple.   I so wish that I had taken a before shot of the wood.  We used reclaimed wood that was in our pole barn when we moved here and it was painted a faded red color.  We were both so surprised when we sanded and here was this neat looking wood underneath!  Oh I when I added the poly to it!  Gasp!  I couldn't believe how unique and beautiful they looked.  WOW!   The swirls of different colors in the shelves were great!  I could hardly wait for them to be put in their rooms.  So never underestimate that ugly board that you think will never be pretty no matter if you sand it or not, because you just might come up with a beautiful project that you keep going back to look at!

Starburst Mirror...

I have fallen in love with the look of the starburst mirrors that are out there.  What I couldn't fall in love with was the price tag!  There are some that are around $400, totally not in my budget.  But I read on Dollar Store Crafts how she made her mirror here...so I had to make my own...and here it is!

I really wish that the camera would do this justice.  But for the starburst I used bamboo skewers and wooden dowels that I got from Joann's, I also got the middle mirror which I think was a 4 inch mirror and the only smaller mirrors that they had were the 3/4 inch mirrors from Joann's.  I was pretty upset because they only had the one smaller size and I had wanted to start the mirror the next day.  So I ran over to the Dollar Tree and found the rocks that they put in the bottom of vases, you know the decorative ones with the flat bottoms.  They turned out really cute.  I painted the skewers with silver metallic paint and then I hot glued it all together, using a piece of round cardboard for the middle to glue all of the skewers to.  I love it, I think that I am going to make a few more and have the hallway of staburst mirrors!

Part 1 of Bedroom Fix Up...

I guess this should be really part 2 because I have already shown you a picture of my new comforter set. Well I have been working on cleaning up my bedroom and trying to make it a nice place to go into. I don't have really any budget to work with right now, but I think with a few small changes and a few dollars it will make a good difference. First I bought a can of Rust-oleum Hammered Metal Finish in silver. I really had wanted to have a brushed nickel type of finish, but this was all my hardware had at the time, and another store is at least 20 minutes away. Too much for just a can of paint. So I gave it a whirl, it is a little brighter silver than I wanted but I like it.

Before: They were a tarnished brass color. Not much into brass and since they are tarnished they just blend in with the wood.

After I removed the hardware I sanded with a 600 grit paper, that was all my husband had, I read online that you could use 400 grit. Then washed them off and let them dry. When they were dry I used a metal primer. The one I used was a self etching primer that is sometimes used on cars. I think that it worked great! Then when the primer was dry, which was about 30 minutes, I sprayed a few light coats of the silver. I had to flip over the handle on some of them in order to get them covered evenly. But I only did that when they were dry to the touch. Now the next part is the hardest! Let the hardware sit for as long as you can before you can't stand it anymore and just have to put them on your dresser or cabinets. I could only wait for 2 days and then told my husband to be careful! :) Later I will show you what else I have been up to in my bedroom. I still haven't got far enough on my craft room to show you yet, but I will.

After...it is a little hard to tell the real color in the photo. It is dark and rainy here today. But I will be sure to show a better photo when I reveal my bedroom!

My new bed set!

I have just received my new bedroom set and I love it! I looked all over to find one that I liked and I found this at Macy.com. CUTE! I just love the embroidery and the colors. I already had some of these colors in my room. But I will post the after pictures later. I know I have a lot of different things going on ... my basement, my bedroom. It seems like I start one thing and almost finish and move on to another. But I am going to get them all finished after the kids start school next week. I will blog about those later.

Why I would LOVE to win a serger from SewMamaSew.com....

The first time I ever got to use a serger was in the 7th grade in my Home Ec. class. I fell instantly in love!! Who wouldn't love the wonderful edges that a serger makes and it cuts as you go! I made my cousin a blanket for her baby while she was pregnant. I didn't know what she was having so I made a blanket that had solid pink fabric and an elephant print in pink, the other side had the same but in blue. I loved that blanket so much! I have wanted to do that pattern again, but I have not had a serger, and it makes it SO easy with serger! :) I had a chance to use a friend's serger a few years ago, but I couldn't decide on what fabric to put on my comforter so I gave it back. I didn't want her to think I was going to keep it! :) I have been redoing my craft/sewing room and KNOW that I could find the perfect spot to put it! My sewing machine is SO lonely without a new Husqvarna Viking Serger and my life would be so much better because I could make my comforter (warm body in the winter :) ) and I would be able to put clothes together a lot easier for my kiddos. In short...I would be able to sew, sew, sew...

This is a small preview of my craft/sewing room redo, sorry for the side ways photo! I will show a full reveal later. But I painted the lower part of the walls a turquoise blue color and I am still rearranging and putting things away. That is why there is only a close up of my sewing machine. But doesn't it need a serger for a friend?

Dragonfly Bags

When my mom was visiting we went to Joann's and she found the dragonfly material and she liked it so much she wanted a bag made out of it. But she went back home to UT without it. It took me a little while to make it. But I think it turned out really great. It has turned into one of her favorite bags and I am so glad! She shows it off to everyone and lets them know I made it for her. Proud Mama! I had enough of the dragonfly material that I made a laptop bag for her. I had never done that so I just took her measurements over the phone and went for it. I used batting on the inside and quilted the cover some to keep it place. I loved how nice they both are, this was the first time I used home decorating fabric on a bag and it really makes a bag look nice!

Got Zucchini? Make Popsicles...

Now don't cringe, I know that some might. But my kids LOVE the fruit smoothies that I make with frozen fruit, vanilla yogurt and a little milk. But this time I thought that I would "hide" some zucchini in them. They never even knew. :) So since this was a success I made another batch but to make popsicles for the kids and this time I put little more zucc with fruit. Tasted pretty good. What great way to hide the veggies! And I also made some cantaloupe pops too, gotta use that fruit before it goes bad. But haven't tried 'em yet. We'll see!