Jewelry Holder

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Jennifer

I love necklaces but never seem to wear them since they are always at the bottom of my jewelry bag.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Therefore, I decided to make a jewelry holder which allowed me to view my collection.

Several months ago I found an old spice rack at Goodwill for $2.99. I originally bought the rack with the intention of using it for storage in my craft room but eventually decided against it.

Yes, someone else attempted some lovely DIY before me.

First step – Sanded the piece down

Second step – Cut off the middle shelf and dowel to allow for the necklaces to hang

Cutting the shelf left holes so wood putty was used to fill them

Third step – Paint (primer from the garage), add hooks ($3.94), and secure to closet wall

Fourth step – Hang jewelery

The little shelves allow me to display bracelets and gives me a place for my earrings in boxes

Before

After $6.93

Hopefully, I’ll wear more jewelry now that I will see it every day

Do you have a favorite way to display jewelry?

Chair Redo – Guest Post By Kelly

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Jennifer

My sister Kelly has graciously agreed to guest post today about her furniture redo. She is our family traveler, a mighty fierce businesswoman, and always up for fun. Kelly is slowly adjusting to Chicago winters by taking extended tropical vacations.

Aunt Kelly & Caroline at our sister Amanda’s wedding

Hi, I’m Jennifer’s sister Kelly. I am thrilled to write my first ever blog post and share with you my little bit of creativity. To set things straight, Jennifer is the creative one, I didn’t inherit 1/10th of her DIY, artistic abilities. However, when you are trying to find ways to not constantly spend (bleed!) money, but improve your house at the same time, you have to get creative.

I inherited this Adirondack chair a couple of years ago and it has just sat on my patio for the last couple of years.
I was ready to throw it out and go purchase new furniture, however, given that I live in Chicago and we frankly don’t have that long of a summer to use outdoor furniture, I decided to give it a shot to see if I could re-purpose it.

I sanded all of the old paint chips off the chair just using sandpaper sheets
I decided to use some left over blue and purple paint samples I had laying around from another project. I had great aspirations of painting lots of different stripes, but then realized paint samples just don’t really contain all that much paint!

**Paint Samples & First Coat of Paint**

I let the first coat dry overnight and then painted a second coat which actually ended up being a different color (hey, I ran out of the first sample, I was trying not to spend much money!)

The final step was to add a coat of polyurethane to seal the paint and hope that maybe it will survive one Chicago winter

The only money I spent was for the container of polyurethane which was about $8. A new Adirondack chair costs well over $100, so I feel pretty good about my DIY project.

Job well done Kelly! I am so impressed that you started and finished a project in one weekend. Unheard of around here.

Have you salvaged any old furniture like this?

Lego Minifigure Wall Storage

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Jennifer

I am sure those of you with girls are saying “Yeah, another Lego post!”

But even if you don’t share that same enthusiasm, this project may still be useful to you.

Instead of Lego mini figures insert – barbie accessories, strawberry shortcake paraphernalia, or porcelain figures

Just trust me and keep reading

Started off with wooden boxes which previously held a stamp set and a puzzle

Painted them white – two or three coats

Anchored them into the wall

Placed a small collection of Lego mini figures into the boxes

The boxes were placed next to the red display boxes we made a few months ago.

We added shelves I bought almost two years ago when a Container Store was going out of business (75% off baby!)

I need to add something above the boxes to finish out the space but for now it’s done.

The desk has papers covering it, the floor is covered in paper, and there are Mardi Gras beads in the shot. Just keeping it real. Many bloggers would have cleaned up their space before taking the pictures.

I did not….. Why?……. #1. I hate cleaning #2. It’s their room #3. I wanted the boys in bed so I could run downstairs and enjoy a bowl full of ice cream and magic shell.

Worked on any house projects lately?

Little Bity Organizing

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Jennifer

Caroline doesn’t have a dresser in her room so I needed a place to put her socks, hair bows, tights, and diaper covers. Leaving everything in a pile on the closet floor worked well for several months but was a tad embarrassing when people would come over.

Since I had great success in the past with a clear shoe organizer, I decided to try one again.

In our old house I used a clear shoe organizer for toys and general house supplies (tape, scissors, pens, batteries – loved always being able to find these things).

Do you have any simple but effective organizing tips?

The Gift of Mowing?

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Jennifer

My 9 year old mowed the lawn as a gift to me.

When he “completed” the job, I mowed the lawn again.

I received several “work coupons” for Mother’s Day. I decided to turn one in this weekend since our lawn was looking quite neglected.

As I watched him cut the grass, I realized he must have a method to his madness but it completely eluded me.

I believe the path he followed was something like this….

Next time, I should probably be more specific with my contractor.

1. Please cut all of the grass. This is not an art project.

2. The neighbors like straight property lines. They’re kind of finicky that way.

Can’t wait to see the results of my “cook a meal” coupon.

Lego Mini Figure Party Boards

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Jennifer

For Andrew’s Lego party we created large wooden character boards.

During the party we took pictures of each guest behind the boards. When Andrew sent a thank you card in the mail, each guest also received a photo of himself as a Lego mini figure.

Below you can see Andrew is “Jay” from the Lego Ninjago sets.

On the back side of the boards are different characters I painted for our Halloween party. Since we already had the boards cut, it was a simple tracing and painting process to complete this set.

Below – “Penguin” from Batman Lego sets

Steps to Create Lego Party Boards:

1) cut board into desired size

2) use a tracer to copy image directly onto board

3) cut out head section

4) paint

5) cut large blocks for legs so the structure will stand up.

“Batman and Robin” mini figures

Below: The large board slides into the ground blocks in order for the structure to stand.

In case you missed it, we also played Lego Bingo – go here for a copy.

One more Lego party post coming soon!

Junk Drawer

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Jennifer

I opened our junk drawer for the last time today.

Well, at least until it gets cluttered again but let’s focus on the now.

Here’s the before:

I cut up cereal boxes, granola boxes, and used an old thank you card box to organize the drawer contents. I could have gone to a store and bought fancy containers but I wanted to complete this project immediately. The pens are now housed in a Rice Krispie box.

The After:

So, do you have a junk drawer? Go ahead and clean it out. I guarantee it will put a smile on your face

Kitchen Bench

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Jennifer

We have a window seat in the kitchen which the kids use to sit on when they eat. The table gets pulled up close so they can eat easily. It’s practically been a year since we moved into our house so we thought we’d give them something comfier to sit on. Here’s the before picture:

Derek started by cutting two boards into the needed size. The seat is 116 inches long so two boards were necessary.	Next we bought 4 inch foam from the craft store & spray adhesive.
The craft store used an automatic knife to cut the foam so we decided to cut our foam this way too. Great idea until we realized we didn’t have an automatic knife. Turns out stores don’t carry these unless it’s Thanksgiving. We finally found ours at Dillard’s.	Derek is cutting the foam – I would have loved a chance to try but I think he was enjoying it too much.
Next, we put the boards on top of the fabric. We used a staple gun to secure the fabric on either side. We spent plenty of time trying to get the pattern on the fabric in the center.	Once the long sides were secure, we folded and stapled the short sides.
Here’s a shot of one completed board. (I originally bought a different fabric for the project but it was about 5 inches too short – Great measuring from a math teacher!)	Close up of the pattern: Waverly Sun N Shade Parterre Indigo – I bought outdoor fabric since it’s described as durable, and in this family, we need durable. When we finished making the boards, we used scotchguard to further protect the fabric.

The final product! I love it and more importantly, I think the kids do too.

My next goal for this area is to ~~figure out~~ buy some artwork for the wall.

Have you completed any home improvement projects recently?

Spring & Summer Wreath

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Jennifer

Our front door has looked rather bare the last several months so I decided to make a wreath for it.

On a recent trip to Goodwill, I found a huge bag of raffia for fifty cents – score! I bought a styrofoam ring, brought out my glue gun, and went to work.

It took a little while to wrap the entire ring but I finally got it covered. Next, I cut off all the raffia pieces which were hanging off.

At Goodwill I also found this sisal grass in a bag. Since it was fifty cents I thought it was a great deal – wrong, I will never buy this again. It’s a PAIN-IN-THE-REAR. When you pull it apart, millions of little pieces fall off. Huge mess.

I managed to get a few chunks of it to glue around the wreath.

I bought three wooden pre-painted flowers for 69 cents each and glued them onto the wreath.

Here’s the final product – I thought about adding the word “spring” to the wreath but decided this will probably be a spring/summer wreath so best to leave it blank.

Have you completed any crafty projects recently?

Display Board for Kids Room

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Jennifer

Do you have a large frame you haven’t used in years? We have several and I decided to turn two of them into something useful for the boys’ room. Since our marathon displays have been in a closet for probably five years I decided it was time to change them up.

After taking the back off of the frames, I sprayed them with red paint. The boys have red beds in their room so I decided the frames would coordinate nicely with those.

I had some chicken wire lying around and decided to use it. Yes, I know. We do not live on a farm and I just happened to have some chicken wire lying around. Last summer I was going to make a jewelry holder using a frame and the chicken wire but I never got around to it. So, yes…I had the chicken wire just sitting around.

The frames were 22 x 26 inches so we cut out a piece of wire that was 24 x 28 inches. This gave an extra inch on each side for bending and stapling.

I declined to include pictures of our bloody hands from the wire. This was for the benefit of everyone with a weak stomach.

Derek bent the wire edges roughly 90 degrees using pliers. The bent section was the extra one inch of wire initially added on.

He then stapled the wire in place.

We hung the boards on the wall using the same wire that was originally on the frame.

The boys were able to each place their special papers (drawings of their imaginary soccer teams) and ribbons on their own board using clothespins. (We didn’t make a cork board for the boys since having the push pins around would have been dangerous for Caroline.)