Furniture Make-over: Blue Chest of Drawers

Another furniture makeover... I wanted to do this one forever and finally did it- yay!

HERE IS THE BEFORE:

I had this little chest of drawers for about the last 15 years. I paid way too much for it, at a chain furniture store- but at the time I needed some furniture. It had some cheap-o knobs on it that about fell off every time you opened the drawers.

So we gave it a new life - {we means my husband helped me a lot- as usual :)}

We kept this one very simple:

We used KRYLON spray paint and primer. The primer was white, and the paint color is called  KRYLON BLUE OCEAN BREEZE. 

 And now it looks much better:

Here are my other furniture makeovers- the fun never ends!

*Yellow End Tables
*Pottery Barn Heirloom Frames
*China Hutch turned Bookshelf

*Yellow octagon table
*Bunk bed Make-over
*Red Sewing Desk
*Play kitchen from a nightstand
*Nightstand make-overs

*Kitchen Table re-do
*A few chairs
OK that list makes me tired. And that isn't everything.  Most of our furniture comes from one of these places- Thrift stores, Target, Pier One, or IKEA. I don't have the money for the expensive stuff. But you don't have to spend a lot to get the look you want. :)

And don't faint, but I'm linking this post to Centsational Girl Paint Projects Linky Party: {I don't link very often, but I'm trying to do better...:)} Go check out the around 500 amazing projects linked up over there! You will be so inspired, amazed, and you might faint because of the amazing creativity that is out there. :) Have fun!!

Teacher Appreciation Idea: Make A Teacher Survival Kit

The other day I got distracted from doing the laundry and made this. Sometimes that happens...especially after I go to Target. ☺ Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Being a teacher myself, I know how nice it is to feel appreciated. My son has a great teacher this year! We just love her. So I made her what I call a "Teacher Survival Kit". {Just need a cute poem to go with it....hhhmmm....}

Want to make one for your favorite teacher?

Here ya go:

 I started with this container. You can find these lots of places now- but look in the fishing gear where the tackle boxes are for one that is really affordable. I had used this one before, so it had letters written on it, which I scrubbed away with my Mr. Clean eraser.
Next, fill the box with things the teacher might need and enjoy.

 The nice thing about these boxes, is that the divider thingys come out so you can make the sections any size you like. I included the extra dividers, so she could reuse the box. There are some Dr. Seuss erasers throughout, to fill the empty spaces.

Some of the things do not fit in the box. I got our teacher's favorite treat, and few other things.

 SO...this stuff will need a container too.

To make the pencils not so boring, I added fabric and twine on top to make a little flower. I used a hot glue gun, and just folded the fabric and twisted it until it sort-of-kind-of looked like a flower. I added twine at the bottom of it to help hold it on and cover the messy end of fabric. ☺

 So this stuff needed a box....and I just used a cracker box which I cut in half.

 It had to be CUTE though. I found this cute wrapping paper in the dollar section at Target. I had some Dr. Seuss stuff that I was including, so this matched perfectly. I think I bought about 10 rolls of this cheap wrapping paper-- they had really cute patterns and designs! {thanks Target dollar section- I never spend just a dollar there....}

I used the same wrapping paper to cover the other container, and added a tag, with some stickers. That is it. Now all I need is a card letting her know just how much we really appreciate her!

Thanks for reading!

oxoxo

Spring Sign Tutorial {using juice can lids}

In case you missed the tutorial at Creation Corner, here it is! Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter weekend!
Enjoy!

Today I'm going to show you how to reuse those frozen juice can lids to make something fun and springy! Earth Day is this month, and this project is all about recycling and using up materials that you might already have on hand.

Supplies:

 6 Juice Lids from frozen juice cans

Fabric Scraps

Scrapbook paper scraps

Small piece of twine

A board {I recycled a wooden sign I had that I wasn't using by painting it}

Spray Paint

Chipboard lettering, vinyl letters or stickers will work too

Hot Glue/ glue gun

Modge Podge (but glue will work)

Scissors

 Spray paint your juice can lids and piece of wood. The spray paint does not stick really well to the juice can lids, but you only need it on the edges. Let dry for a few hours.( If you don't have a board, you could use a long piece of fabric, such as burlap. That would work also.) The board I had was black, and had a saying on it. I was tired of it, so I just painted it and reused it. 

While that is drying, cut your fabric for the ruffles. You need a strip of fabric about 2- 2 1/2 inches wide for each ruffle. I cut my fabric about 24 inches long, and ended up having a few inches left over that I cut off at the end.

 Fold your fabric strips in 1/2 lengthwise and iron.

Set your stitch length to 4, and run a long stitch for gathering along the raw edges of each ruffle piece. Leave the threads long on each end.  To make your ruffle, you are going to pull one thread from the end and the fabric will start to gather. {If you don't have a sewing machine, you could do this with a needle and thread.}

 Next attach the scrapbook paper to the juice lids. If you have a fancy machine, you could probably cut your circles out with that. However, I used scissors and traced the lids on the paper and cut them out. I used scalloped scissors to make the edge more interesting. I attached the paper using Mod Podge, but glue would work too. I hot glued the chipboard letters on afterwards. You could also distress the letters with ink or paint if desired. (If you don't have chipboard letters, stickers, vinyl lettering, or even printing letters off of your computer would work.)

Decide which way you want your sign to go. I wanted to hang mine on the front door, so I went with

vertical, but horizontal would work too.

Lay out your ruffles, deciding which fabric you want to go with which letter. Don't worry about the messy threads just yet. ;) Now you are ready to glue the ruffles onto back of the juice lids.

 Carefully, apply hot glue to the lid, and place the ruffle around the edge. Fold the raw edges under so they do not show.

 Once that is done, hot glue the pieces onto the board. It is easiest to apply the hot glue to the fabric, instead of the lid, when doing this. Now trim the threads and glue strings.

To hang the sign- I made a tassel and attached it to some twine.

To make a tassel, cut fabric into very small strips so it looks like ribbon. Tie it together in the middle, and attach to the twine. {You could use ribbon or wire to hang this up also.}

Hot glue the twine to the back of the sign, making sure it is even on both sides.

Hang your sign up and admire your pretty craft creation! ☺☺☺

 The best part of this is, it cost next to nothing! If you have a "stash" like me, you can just use it up to make this. AND no one will know you used juice can lids to make this. :) I'm off to start something similar for summer!

                                                           Happy Spring Everyone!

Happy Easter Sunday

Wishing you a very Happy Easter Sunday!

Spring Tutorial & Guest Blogging

I'm participating in SPRING FEVER over at CREATION CORNER. I'm sharing a tutorial on how I made the above little SPRING sign. Go check it out!

Happy Spring and Happy Easter tomorrow!

Thanks for Reading!

oxoxo

p.s. I have two tutes to share with you next week...and in case you miss this one- I'll be posting it too :)

Easter Party Activities for Kids

Here are a few of the things we did this week from preschool for Easter and Spring.

 In the past, we have used Easter Eggs to match lower and upper case letters. This year, I had them find a letter from a bowl of letters (tiles found at a discount store years ago) and put them in the egg that matched. They also practiced ABC order, but putting the eggs in the carton in ABC order.

                              Super simple- chalkboards w/ Easter Egg Chalk to practice writing

Spring Sorting using tweezers and muffin tins- I buy these little erasers all the time at the dollar store, and use them for sorting tubs, etc. Every season there are different ones that match the holidays. The kids love them. They don't know these are erasers :)

Spring grass, flower, and rain painting- What kid doesn't like to paint?

We also made rain in a jar this week- to go with Spring weather. {Even if our weather is pretty much the same every day here- hot and sunny, repeat, repeat, repeat... :) }

The Enormous Carrot is a really fun story to read around Easter.  After reading we made our own Enormous Carrots. We also used the wooden carrots to practice basic subtraction, with a song from Charlotte Diamond, called 10 Crunchy Carrots.

Edible Birdie Nest Treats are always fun and the kids love to eat them.

Thank you Target- for providing the cutest little Easter favors for our party. I filled these cute bunny baskets with a pencil, a plastic egg w/ candy, a bunny notepad, and a few other small items.

 We decorated Easter egg shapes with markers and Easter stickers- another thing that kids just {love}-stickers!

 Here are the cute bunny baskets we made from a recycled milk jug. We used them to collect small candies that someone {maybe the Easter Bunny?} hid all over the classroom!

Hello super simple cupcake decorating! :) I have decided that kids don't need a lot of extras- they are just happy with a cupcake with frosting. I gave them a few jelly beans to put on top. HERE are other simple Easter Cupcake Ideas. I know there are really cute Easter Cupcake ideas out there- but these are super simple and the kids are just as happy as if I slaved for hours to make something fancy... :)

We ran out of time...{as usual I over plan things...} but we may have attempted my Don't Eat the Peep game. We played "Bunny Bunny where's your tail" a silly simple game I made up where you hide the bunny tail (a yarn ball)  - that of course they loved. Ya gotta love kids! 

That is my super simple Easter Week and Party for preschoolers.

 What fun things are you doing for Easter?

I'd love to hear!

Happy Easter!

Kids Crafts: Bunny Basket from a Milk Jug

This is one of the things we are doing in preschool today. I seriously need a whole month for Easter  and Spring crafts! There are so many fun and cute ones out there.  You can find lots of ways to recycle a milk jug on the internet. Here is my version of a Bunny Basket from a milk jug.

I used a razor blade to cut off the top of the milk jug. Then where the nose was going to go, I cut two slits on either side. I twisted the three pipe cleaners together in the middle, and threaded them through the slit, to make whiskers.

From your paper scraps, cut ear shapes (use cardstock so they stay up) and eye shapes. This milk jug had 1/2 circle shapes left on it, after I cut it off- which was a perfect place to put the eyes.

Next glue on the pieces. I used Elmer's glue. The cotton ball tail and fuzzy ball nose could use a staple, or some strong tape. The ears work best with a stapler.

I think the kids are going to love making this! I have a fun game to go with it- "catch the bunny tail" using a white yarn ball. It should be fun!

Thanks for reading!

oxoxo

Fabric Covered Easter Baskets {tutorial}

This post should be titled- "How to glue fabric to a tin bucket using a glue gun to make a cute basket."
I wanted to make the beloved Easter Baskets this year. And so I did. My 3 year old even helped me make his. {And He was very excited about it!}

We are using these for Easter Baskets this year, and in case you are still in need of a cute Easter Basket, here is the tutorial.  {Time to make each one: 30 minutes-1 hour; Cost for each one: $2.50-$4-depending on what you have on hand-mine cost only 2.50 each- since I already had everything:) }

I found the tin planter baskets at Target in the dollar section for $2.50. I had my husband drill holes in each side so I could add handles.



Next, I cut 4-5 fabrics into 2-2 1/2 inch strips. I cut the full length of the fabric- about 44-45 inches, and had a few inches left over with each strip of fabric when I was done. Decide which fabric you want for the handle. You will need two strips, about 2 inches wide, and about 45 inches long for the handle.

With your handle pieces, fold in 1/2 so the right sides are facing out, and stitch a zigzag stitch along the edge. You could sew both of these strips together first, but you really  don't need to.

Next, cut your wire about 23 inches in length- depending on how long you want your handle to be. I cut mine longer than needed, and trimmed of the excess when I was done attaching the handle. I don't know what kind of wire I used, since I already had it. It was bendable, and not too heavy or thick. Thread the wire through both fabric strips scrunching it up as you go. It helps to attach the wire to something on one end, while doing this so it doesn't come off.

When the fabric is on the wire, attach the handle to the container, by bending and twisting the wire shut. Flatten the wire as much as possible so that the sharp end does not stick out.

Using your hot glue gun, cover the sharp wire end with hot glue. Pull the fabric from the handle over the top of this and press closed.

Now you are ready to glue the fabric around the container.

Get your fabric ready and in order.

 Glue fabrics on so they overlap one another.

Fold the raw edges under with each strip.

Trim thread and clean up those crazy glue webs from the glue gun.

Add chipboard lettering on the front side.

And you are finished! My three- year old helped me- and picked his own fabrics.  He really wanted the "orange one with leaves..." :) He mostly just watched me cut and glue everything, but he felt like he was part of the entire process and was very pleased with his work!

{If you have girls, you could totally add some flowers to this project)

I think we will reuse these baskets for carrying stuff from downstairs to back upstairs where it belongs.

These will be perfect for all those legos and cars that somehow find themselves all over the floor!

Hopefully, that darn Easter Bunny will fill these things up with treats and goodies!

Happy Easter!

Thanks for reading!

OXOXO