Snow Day Surprise

On snow day #20 (I learned the official count last night), we decided to get the heck outta Dodge! We told the boys we had a surprise for them. Of course the pestering was incessant, but it was kind of fun driving them nuts! We decided to eat at McD's to save time and, since we were spending gift cards for the meal, we let them get Happy Meals. Reed asked, "Is this the surprise?"

This is a rare treat, as we are usually dolla menu kinda tightwads, but, no, that wasn't the surprise. Then, we headed to the big city. At this point, we asked the boys for their guesses. Reed thought we were going to Le Bounce (a bounce house heaven). Max had no idea what was going on, he was just along for the ride. Calvin decided someone had a "whole bunch of Legos and they're gonna give them to us for free." Sorry, bud, but you're closer than you might think...

We were going to THE LEGO MOVIE! But first, we passed up the theater to get candy. The surprise? No, but I was starting to think we could sure get off cheap with our surprises if all they were expecting was Happy Meals and candy...and a bunch of Legos. Ok, maybe not. Legos are most certainly NOT cheap! When we turned around from the candy joint and headed back toward the theater, the boys figured out that we were going to a movie, and they were excited. But they thought they were going to see Frozen, which their aunt and uncle had taken them to see recently (and then kept them overnight - HALLELUJAH!) It wasn't until I purchased the tickets that they knew what they were in for. I had hoped for a great response, and I wasn't disappointed. "Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you!!" Reed proclaimed. Calvin made similar exclamations. Max was giddy, and kept bouncing around while we made our pre-movie drainage trip to the bathroom. When I showed him to a stall, he said, "You give me some privacy," and loudly added, "and den we're gonna see the LEgo Movie!"

The movie was adorable. Since we practically live in Lego Land, Ryan and I got a kick out of several of the little "inside" jokes. The two bigs were so into the movie, they hardly touched the candy. Max and I totally made up for them in that department.

After the show, Reed said, "Thaaank you, Mom and Dad! How can we ever repay you?" I totally should've taken advantage of that question, but their reactions were payment enough.

Craft Nook: The Whole Shebang!

I was gonna do a post on how I designed and installed shelves in my craft nook all by my lonesome, but, really, who wants to see all the details? I used some wood. I painted it. I used a level and other impressive-sounding tools to install them. It took for-e-ver, and now it's done and I love it. The end. Wanna see?

Click on the links for details on how to make the storage containers, decoupaged boxes, pallet desk, crib chalkboard easel, and crib springs bulletin board.

The kicker? The whole shebang only cost $122!!

Shelves:
   Corbels                      $ 34
   1x2" Support wood   $ 19
   1x12" shelf                $  9
   1x8" shelves              $ 14
   Paint, screws             on hand

Desk:
   2 spindles               $10
   1x8" boards            $15
   1x12" board           $ 11
   1x2" apron wood   $ 2
   Mending plates        Can't remember, but they were pennies each
   Pallets                     FREE
   paint, screws, stain  on hand

Jars:
   chalkboard contact paper     $ 8

GRAND TOTAL - PRETTY STINKIN' GOOD!!  (Unless, of course, you count the labor... But I thoroughly enjoyed most of the man-hours it took, so I don't count it!)

Linking up to Kammy's Korner Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday
                      Hunt and Host Laundry and Craft room linky party

Pallet desk

Yippy, skippy! I made furniture! By myself! And it was mostly free! I started with four or five sets of pallets, free from the local hardware store. Ryan helped me saw them about in half with a skill saw (but just for the record, I learned how to use the skill saw later and I totally coulda done this step by myself!)

All of the pallets got a heavy sanding and a whitewashing with watered down wall paint. 

This process took several days this summer, and life went on. This is what the nublins did while mama was cutting, cleaning, sanding, and painting. 

Then, I simply stacked the pallets on top of each other for the left half of my desk. 

For the top, I used two 1x8" and a 1x12" board.  I dry brushed them with red craft paint, sanded, then used a mixture of stain and black craft paint to make it look like weathered barn wood. I was thrilled with the results, though the pictures don't do it justice. 

The bottom board is unsanded

I brushed on the stain/paint combo, then wiped it off with a rag. The top board hasn't been wiped yet.

I made a wood "apron" to go around the edge, but only the front and sides. I also used scraps from the apron to help hold the three boards together.

Those metal pieces are called "mending strips" and I thought about them when I looked up in the rafters of our shed. They're used to hold trusses together, but they work for slightly shoddily-crafted desks as well. I used two stair spindles for legs.  

The pallet slots are perfect for all my scrapbook papers, maps, and vintage newspapers. I have stove drip pans for "drawers," but they're pretty flimsy. I'm thinking jumbo cookie sheets would be perfect, but they're not in the budget right at the moment. 

And the desk is an adorable, practical addition to an unused corner of our bedroom, all for under $40! 

Check out the whole craft set-up here.

Linking up to The Shabby Nest

Decoupaged Boxes

My sister was cleaning out an attic somewhere a while back and came across stacks of local newspapers from  the 50s. Who did she think would want to do some dumpster diving vicariously through her? Me, of course. I've got to admit, I've hardly used any since then, but not because I don't love it. On the contrary, I love it so much that no project seems worthy of using it up. Until now. One of my craft nook ideas was covered boxes. A workplace dumpster dive resulted in five perfect boxes. They were large and shallow - almost like board game boxes, but much sturdier. I mixed up a batch of homemade Mod-Podge and got to work. Using the newspaper like wrapping paper, I smeared glue under and then over it. Once it dried, it held very well, and most wrinkles worked themselves out.

I had planned on putting them back together as boxes with lids for storage, but they looked so adorable I wanted more! I stacked all five bases on one pile and all five lids (very slightly larger) on another. I had to fill them up to the brim to keep them from sliding down inside one another, but I had so many odds and ends to store, that was no problem. Now I have twice the impact, twice the storage, and I love it!

Check out the whole craft nook here.

Linked at Kammy's Korner 

Cute, Almost Free Storage

I've been pining for and pinning craft room ideas for a few years now. I'm proud to say I finally have it. It's more of a corner, really, but I'm in love. And I'll show it all in a few days, but first some of the details.

I have a lot of random craft crap. Some of it is cute, some, not so much. So, for about two years I saved oatmeal containers and spaghetti and baby food jars. The oatmeal containers were simple to transform. I just peeled of the label, added new ones of old newspaper, maps, and scrapbook papers. I decided to make the new labels much smaller to let the Kraft paper-looking cardboard show through.

I also cut circles to fit on the top. I may still add chalkboard labels somewhere, because I crammed so much stuff in those tubs and I already forgot what all's in there.

The jars were probably the biggest hold up. I thought I could remove the sticky label glue with hot water and scrubbing, but that didn't work. I finally discovered dipping them in a pot of boiling vinegar. Worked like a charm. My awesome sister-in-law used her Silhouette machine to cut out cute labels in three different sizes. She used chalkboard Contact paper, so the labels peel off and stick on easy peasy. A whole roll was less than $8 and she made a ton of labels for me and still had paper left for herself (she was eyeing her pantry last we talked)

I spray painted the jar lids red. The baby food jars look great, but the large lids ended up pretty streaky. The unlidded jars look ok, but don't want to deal with dust, and I prefer the jars with lids, so it looks like I'll be hoarding pasta lids again.

And then there are these babies:

I scored them for FREE this summer at the grocery store on a double-fortuitous day. The only problem with these bad boys were that they made the spaghetti jar sticky-stuff removal look like child's play. I'm not really sure what finally did the trick, but it must've been a combination of soaking in hot water, drowning in vegetable oil, smearing peanut butter over the label, then scraping with a spatula, steel wool, my fingernails, and a scrubby sponge. The plastic was a little scratched up after the process, but I labeled the back side, and once I loaded them up you could hardly tell.  

Check out all the other storage in my craft "room" here.

Let the Pooping of the Pants Commence

Well, Mom, we made it before you were in Depends but you might still drop a deuce when you see this transformation of the $20 dresser I bought at the beginning of the summer.

It only took three months. (I’m not being sarcastic here. This would normally take me at least three years to complete, but I’ve been on a supernatural multiplier  lately). I swear, half of that three months was spent removing the stupid veneer.

Then, I sanded it down with Scratchy, my electric sander, who has become a close second to my husband in my heart this summer (except for the days when #1 is more abrasive then #2 and they switch spots for a bit.) 

After it was smooth, it got two coats of black paint (chalkboard, but only because I’m cheap and had it on hand). 

Scratchy and I distressed it on the edges, in keeping with my “old and crusty” taste. 

Then I used some Grammy fabric and a tiny tension rod to make a little skirt for missing drawer #2. I stacked black matte board (also on hand - thanks, Nana!) inside the empty drawer space so it functions as a shelf with cute curtains.

Missing drawer #1 took a little longer to remedy. I was hoping to find baskets to fill in the space, but have I mentioned that I’m cheap? Plan B was to find and cover boxes, but there were none that fit, so I resorted to Plan C--make my own. I measured the drawer space, divided by four, subtracted a little for spacing (shoulda subtracted more--those suckers are tight!), then used cardboard from random trash to make an open tray-like box. Using a board as a straight edge, I cut the shape with a box cutter.

That's a dinosaur I drew to appease Max, who wanted to color Reed's super cool 3D cardboard dinosaur. Reed, while a generous big brother, is a bit too anal to tolerate with scribbles on his masterpiece. As you can see by the lack of coloring on the cardboard, my distraction was a total fail.

I hot glued the sides together.

Then, I bought some white burlap and sewed covers for the boxes. I used the box and my iron to mark where the seams needed to be.

This piece is the same size as the box.  I figured the fabric could stretch and it would make for a tighter fit. The sides are more than twice as "tall" so they will cover the outside and inside of the box by folding over the top edge.

I removed a little of the waste area to cut down on bulk and then trimmed to the corner. 

Then, I just folded and pinned the sides up and sewed it into a tall "box."

The edges folded over to cover the inside of the box. They got hot glued down eventually, but first I marked where I wanted my handles to be and took the cover back off.

Then, I watched the incredibly exciting instructional DVD that came with my sewing machine and learned how to sew a buttonhole. I won't show you pictures of my first attempt. Let's just say I should've practiced on a piece of scrap fabric. A thousand ripped-out stitches later, I had it figured out the right way. 

 For the handles, I used the curtain fabric from the other drawer to make little pulls. I folded the sides in, then folded the whole thing in half and stitched on top. 

The handles slipped through the buttonholes, a hole I poked in the cardboard, and a tear on the inside fabric. I wasn't about to sew more buttonholes than I had to.

I tied the handles to keep them in place, hot glued the fabric tightly to the inside, and cut a cardboard base to squash the whole thing down. I thought about covering the cardboard base with fabric, but I was feeling kinda lazy, so I didn't mess with it. 

Now I have all kinds of extra storage and a cute addition to my living room. Right now all those painstakingly-made drawers and the curtained shelf are empty and the other compartments are just shoved with a random assortment of stuff I was probably just trying to hide from company. I have big plans to re-organize my Sunday school/regular school/officey/desky stuff. Ask me about it in about three months. Or years. 

Linked to Kammy's Korner Trash 2 Treasure.