Bulletin Board Frames Wall

Here in my rental home I have a very odd stairway. I will never buy a house that has a stairway like this. All my boys do is want to throw things down it. Up the stairs there is a half wall all the way around the staircase. So if you look over the wall it goes straight down two flights of stairs. My boys have started scaling this wall. They put themselves over the wall and then slide down it to the ground. Yes, leaving dirty feet marks all over it. So I decided the wall must be decorated so they can no longer do this. I have been loving the walls of frames you see everywhere you turn. So it's been about three months now that I took all of our frames and hung them up with command strips. I ordered a roll of cork board, received the cork board and put it in my craft room. You get the drift. That's what I am good at. Purchasing the supplies to make something, start it, and then never finish it. So I finished it this week.

Here is the before:

And here is the after:

I love it. And I just want to walk up and down my stairs all day now. My husband asked me if I was planning on hanging the Easter Bunny up with them. I didn't think it was very funny! I love the bright pastel colors. He better watch out or maybe I just will! This project was super simple. First I removed the glass and the back of each frame. Keep the back, discard the glass. Then cut the cork board to the back of the frame. I also mod podge the back of each piece of cork to the back of the frame to keep it from rolling, since it came to me rolled. Then I spray painted the frames and scratched them up with sand paper. Then put the cork and the back of the frame back together and hang up.

Grab your pins and stick up the kids artwork.

It brings a smile to my face every time I walk past.

And the boys are so proud of their art museum.

Have you joined the wall of frames craze yet? If you have link up in the comments I would love to check yours out!

Oh and just because I know someone will ask. Yes, I have a ton of corkboard left so stay tuned for more projects using that. I got my roll, which is very thick industrial corkboard made to last years here. And what are command strips? Um, the most awesome picture hanging devise ever! You can check them out here. And No, I am not affiliated with either company. Just love their stuff!

Family Name Board

Family name boards make great wedding gifts as well as house warming presents. They are really easy to make or you can simply purchase your custom sign from me directly through etsy. Just send me a convo or purchase the listing.

What you need for this project is a wood board that is 5.5 inches high and 24 inches wide. Spray paint, sandpaper, and the vinyl decal.

Start by spray painting your board.

Then using your sand paper rough up the edges a bit.

Take your last name piece of the decal and flip it upside down and remove the paper backing.

Now flip it the right way and place it in the center of your board width wise and 1/2 inch from the top of the board. You should also have 1/2 inch on both sides of the name. Press it down.

Remove the clear plastic layer. You will notice that because I am adhering this to flat paint it is a little more time consuming. You just need to go slower. Your vinyl isn't defective and either are you! Take a squeegee or a debit card and rub really hard. In the this picture you will see that the M is sticking to the clear layer and not the painted board.

So just lay it back down and rub it really firmly.

Then peel back the layer and it will stick to the painted board and come off of the clear layer.

Remove the clear piece completely.

Then grab your second piece and turn it upside down and remove the paper backing. Place it on the board with 1/2 inch below the bottom of the decal and having it centered width wise. This layer will overlap the last name layer. Remove the clear sheeting.

And there you have it. A personalized sign for your friends and family.

Let me know if you try it out! I would love to see your version! And don't be afraid to play around with color as well to match a home or wedding colors!

Shirts For My Sister In Law. Check.

My Sister in Law wanted some shirts made for her children. She saw one like this and LOVED it but couldn't find where to get one. So I whipped two up for her...

What do you think? My craft room is slowly getting cleaner. Are you conquering your projects using stuff you have around the house? If you are get ready to link them up on our Friday Use Your Crap party Challenge!!! I can't wait to see them!

You Make Stuff Tuesday

Look I finally made a button!!! Aren't you proud of me! Make sure to add it somewhere to your blog or post to share the fun party we're having over here every Tuesday!!!

<a href="http://shannonmakesstuff.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8Cvg79y7wHw/TKC-_dcWVAI/AAAAAAAASb8/E3pXghMC07Q/s400/You+Make+Stuff.jpg" /></a>

First off. Remember this Tutorial I borrowed From I am Just Lu? Well I hung my version in my bedroom and didn't really love it. The black didn't match the beach theme I had going on at all! The seashells did but that was about it. So I spray painted my black frame blue and sanded it to distress it. Oh how I love blue. Maybe it's because having three boys it's all I see anymore! And then I slide a piece of pattern cardstock in between the glass frame layers and wrote my grandmothers name below the heart. I then took the heart, cut off the black matte board on the back and used my E6200 and glued it right to the glass on the frame. And I LOVE it now. Thanks again Lu for sharing such a fabulous tutorial with us a few weeks ago!



As for this week! There were so so so many fun projects that you linked up! I had a hard time narrowing down my favorites... So this week, I picked Three!!!

One of them is this darling not so creepy Halloween wreath by FlamingoToes. I love how she incorporates black and a crow for Halloween but then gives it a fun pop with the tulle and the pink!



And another Halloween inspired craft from SustainablyChicDesigns. It's a knock of from Pottery barn done Dollar Store Style! It's amazing.



And last and so cool I wish I could get married again to make them:), Okay, maybe I really don't want to rewind life that far but they are gorgeous. From MyCheapWeddingShoes you can find how to create these hangers you can personalize!

Thanks again everyone for linking up last week! Now it's your turn again this week! What have you been creating?

And ladies, if you were featured today don't forget to grab yourself a featured button over there to the left!

Family Cube Puzzle

My mother in law bought each of her children a Book Of Mormon Characters Puzzle for Christmas a few years ago. My boys LOVED it. They loved it so much they destroyed it. The stickers on the plastic cubes peeled right off from all of it's use. So I finished taking them off and it has sat for about 6 months. And since I am taking on my own USE YOUR CRAP challenge I decided to conquer this project.

I could not find this exact puzzle anywhere for sale. The closest one I could find is here. So the first thing I did was peel off all the stickers.

And then I printed this design that I made in photo shop. You need to print it on photo paper or the ink will smear.

I then rounded the corners with a corner rounder punch.

Put mod podge in the tray.

And placed my photo in the slot.

Applied a layer of mod podge over the top of the photo.

And then I printed off 6 photo's for the sides. I then cut the photo's apart. I did one photo at a time to make sure I got them on the right square.

Then I mod podge one side of each square cube.

And placed the photo on.

And then I covered it with mod podge making sure to go down over the sides to seal the edges in.

The cubes I used had one side open. I thought of filling them with rice, but really, what mom wants more noise in the home? So I grabbed my E6200 and glued the top down.

So it doesn't open anymore.

And then I cut the remaining pictures, put them on the other sides of the cubes, and layered them with mod podge.

And it's currently the hot item of the house.

The boys have been playing with it non stop.

Even if the older brother gets exiled to the wrong side of the puzzle.

Have you joined my Use Your Crap challenge? If not head on over here to see what it's all about and get ready to share your first project on Friday!

DIY Flower Arrangment

So many of you who know me, even in person, probably have no idea that I worked in a floral shop. I worked there for about 3 years. I loved it. However, I never worked with fake flowers. And I really despise them. Usually they are ill colored and ugly. I prefer the real ones, the scent, the touch...too bad they don't live forever. But I was given these flower pots a few weeks ago and they've been waiting to be filled! I purchased the flowers BEFORE I issued my challenge...sneaky eh! (However I did cheat yesterday at Goodwill. I promise I won't cheat again...) I finally tackled my project. And I still have to admit... I really don't love fake flowers. They are pretty, but just not the same...

Get flower Styrofoam. Fill your post with them and have them stick over your pot about 3-4 inches for a small one and 5-6 for a large one.

And a little trick I learned from the floral department. Elastic. It holds the foam together nicely.

Using wire cutters start trimming down your flower stems. And trim off the leaves. Then stick your flower into the foam. You will need alot of flowers. More than you think.

Just start with the top middle and keep adding down and around making the flowers go lower as you get closer to the outside and to the pot.

Fill until you like it.

Then take it to it's resting place and decide it's really big. But you love it. But it's big.

So even though you love it. You take it apart.

And make it smaller.

And then you have enough flowers to fill both of the pots that you originally planned to fill.

So you put them both in their place.

And they look great.

But they just aren't real.

Are you sick of me yet?

I love my entry table. I am just about done decorating it. Just need to frame the picture of Christ and the children.

And the small pot found his home on top of the book shelf.

And that's a wrap.