Cute Kitchen Calendar

I know you have heard it before, but Necessity is the Mother of Invention.  We were in desperate need of a calendar as the summer events came rolling in.  I had the perfect place to hang one.  The problem was I didn’t have a calendar to hang.  So, what’s the problem??  Just make one!

See this empty little space next to my “collect-all” counter space.  This is where life happens in our kitchen and it would be the best place to hang a little piece of organization.


I wanted something simple and cute to match the overall feel of our house, and more importantly, being on a 2 Teacher budget, I really didn’t want to spend a dime on this project.  So I went on a hunt around the house.

I found an old cork board, the plexi-glass from an old picture frame, some white linen fabric, and some twine.  I could see my vision coming into place.  I gathered a few more supplies and got to work.


I started by carefully gluing down my fabric to the cork board.  It didn’t have to be perfect since I knew I would cover it with twine.


Once I had the fabric glued down, I used my rotary cutter to cut off the extra length around the edges.


Next I started in one corner and glued down the twine around the inside edge of the frame of the board.  I continued to follow around the frame of the board until I had covered it completely.


  I just love this Natural Jute and I use it on a lot of projects.  It has such a natural look and adds a lot of texture to any project.


I used my rulers to measure out the perfect lines for my blank calendar and my “notes” section.  I basically tried to think of any parts that I wouldn’t want to have to re-draw every single month.  I drew these lines directly onto the fabric with a black Sharpie marker.
 

I had Joe drill me a hole in each corner of the plexi-glass so I could use push pins to hold it to the cork board over top of the blank calendar template.


I added a dry erase marker with a section of jute, and I wrote in my dates for the month.


The plexi-glass didn’t fill the whole space of the cork board, but I love the fact that there is still a little space at the bottom where I can tack on some reminders and invitations. I looks just perfect in that little empty spot and hopefully it will bring some organization to our lives (and less of the “You never told me that” conversations :)

Christmas Project – Front Door Wreath

A while ago I shared my summer To-Do list with you for completing my Christmas decorations.  Today I am so happy to share with you that I have completed the first task!!

I saw a wreath very similar to this in an Etsy store and I thought, “I can do that.” So I did. :0)

I bought the totally wrong wreath form to begin with, and I couldn’t get the burlap to stick to it, so I wrapped it in burlap strips to give something to grip the burlap “bubbles”.  Be prepared to go through a LOT of glue sticks and to have nice glue gun burns on your fingers (it majorly oozes through the burlap).



I bought a roll of burlap for super cheap from the garden section of my local hardware store.  It had a ton of burlap on it and was the rough look and texture that I was going for on this project.  I used my rotary cutter to cut strips about 7 inches wide.  You have to have wide strips to achieve that “bubble” effect.



There is basically no rhyme or reason to how I created the burlap “bubbles”.  I just gathered the burlap and glued it down where I thought it would look good.  It took a lot of burlap and about three layers of “bubbles”.  

 I mainly made my bubbles down the center, then worked my way on either side.  Just keep working around the wreath form until you are finished.  This was a huge wreath, and took a long time, but I love the final look of the oversized wreath on my front door.


I added a ribbon on the back to hang the wreath on the door and secured it with a lot of layers of hot glue.



I added a large red silk flower that I got on clearance at the local craft store.  I cut off the stem and added a LOT of hot glue to secure it.  I held the wreath up and put the flower on the place where I felt the bubbles just weren’t up to par so it could hide my mistakes.


Finally I added some red ribbon (which I already had) and a monogram (that my mother-in-law had) for some finishing touches.  Love it!!!

 

I may hang some large bells down the middle of the wreath to fill in the big space in the middle and I plan on raising the height that it hangs a little higher but, but overall I am very pleased and….
I get to mark something off the list!!  1 project down…9 more to go!
1. Burlap Wreath for the Front Door
2. Tree Skirt
3. Burlap Stockings
4. White Button Ornaments and Brown Button Ornaments.
5. Two Pinecone Hangings
6. Six Wrag Wreaths for Hallway Doors
7. Two Burlap Pillows
8. Four Snowman Posts
9. Last Year's Tree Ornament
10. Kitchen Door Wreath

Mother's Day Surprise

Let me just take a moment to tell you that I have the most amazing mother on the planet.  Of course she is my mother, but I wouldn't trade her for all the world.  If I could have hand-picked a mother, I wouldn't have been able to pick a better one. 

My momma is so many things:  intelligent, caring, compassionate, hard-working, selfless, beautiful, patient, kind, generous, forgiving, devoted, and my WHOLE world! (among many other things)  I don't know how I could make it through a full week without the listening ear and wise advice that my momma gives.  With my family being in Florida I have to settle with the e-mails and phone calls for 90% of the year, but those moments when we can be together are priceless to me.

My  momma is the embodiment of the woman, wife, and mother that I strive to be daily.  I try to drink up everything I can learn from her any chance I get.  If I can be 1/10th of the woman my mother is to me, then I will be successful.

I love you momma!!

And of course she makes a great mother-in-law and loves my husband just like he is one of her own. (Sometimes I think she likes him more than me ;0)

Sooooo - today is the big day that I reveal my super secret project that I have been working on!  Yay!!  Of course I was working on this project for my momma for mother's day. And since she is my momma and actually reads my blog, I had to keep it a surprise...hopefully you will forgive me. :0) 

If there is anything that my momma is good at, it is being a mother.  Since she no longer has her real babies under her roof, she is the mother to 5 (all rescued) fur-babies.  

Maximum (German shepherd) 
Birthday - October 2003

Mollie (basset hound)

Birthday - May 2006

Manny (black tom cat)

Birthday - October 31, 2002

Zoe (calico)

Birthday - June 6, 2004

MoMo Ferrari (tabby)

 Birthday -  November 15, 2010

I wanted to make her something special so I got inspiration from this post on The Crafted Niche.  Of course my creativity spark only runs so deep, so I am usually copying someone else's idea pretty closely but this one ran me into a few dead-ends that forced me to think.

I began this project by searching for the encyclopedias that I would need and putting daddy on a mission to get the just-right shots for silhouettes of all 5 of momma's babies.  The encyclopedias were a no-go so I came up with another idea.  I researched the history of each animal (German Shepherd originated in Germany, Basset Hound in France, first documented Tabby was in the manger with Jesus, first documented domesticated black cat was in Egypt, and first documented calico was in Calicut India).  I then took these histories and cut and paste them into Google translate and translated them into the language of the country from which they originated (German, French, Aramaic, Arabic, and Tamil).  I printed these pages and then tea stained them to create the impression of them being old.  (See my tea stain tutorial here).

I then took the images that daddy got secretly for me and created silhouettes of each animal (see my silhouette tutorial here).  First, I tried tea-staining and then printing the silhouettes on the dried paper....the printer didn't like that very much, so then I printed the writing, then the silhouette, then I tea-stained.  That worked much better. :0)

Zoe Callahan

Manny Callahan

MoMo Ferrari Callahan

Maximus Callahan

Mollie Callahan

I framed each piece (dogs in 8x10 and cats in 5x7) and these are some ways that I imagine it will look on a wall in my momma's house.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

But of course she can hang them however she wants :0).  I didn't ship these yet, because I am so fearful of them not arriving in one piece.  So if you are reading this, you are seeing my momma's mother's day gift the same time she is!  

I hope you love them as much as I do, Momma!  I will bring them down with me in July and I can't wait to make some for myself!

Daddy's Birthday Gift

For my Dad's birthday I wanted to make him something personal and avoid the go-to Amazon gift card.  I saw this tutorial online for how to transfer photos to wood and I thought the final look was really unique.  I decided to try it out for dad, and I was very pleased with the final results.

 

I took a 1 x 6 and cut two pieces 7 inches long.  I printed my pictures in 5 x 7 size and then made a photocopy of them on the copy machine at work.  I covered the boards with gel medium and then placed the photocopy, face down, onto the gel medium and rubbed the bubbles out gently.  I let the piece sit overnight to dry.  The next day I took a sponge with warm water and gently scrubbed the paper off of the wood to leave the transfer of the picture.  You have to be careful not to scrub too hard or you will scrub the picture right off with it!  It took a few times of letting it dry to see where there was still a few remnants of paper, re-wetting, re-scrubbing, re-drying before I finally was happy with it.  I then used wood glue to glue the two pieces together so my dad would have a side with normal children, and a side with his real children. :0)  I had Joe use the belt sander to round out the edges a little.  I stained the edges and sprayed the whole piece with lacquer.  I think it turned out amazing, and dad loved it too!  Success!!

Add it to the list

Joe picked these up for me from Lowes today.

I plan to use them to make this paint swatch chandelier.

Stay tuned to see how it goes :). 

Tea Stained Paper Tutorial

I am in the middle of a super secret project, but I wanted to share a simple tutorial with you to make brand new paper look aged. 

Originally I was on the hunt for some old encyclopedias for my project, but all I could find was children's encyclopedias which had too many pictures (I wanted words only) or whole sets (wouldn't sell just one or two) that were antique and I wouldn't want to cut up anyways.  I finally gave up and just came up with another idea.  Which turned out so much better and cheaper (FREE) anyways.

I have done this technique with my classes, as young as third grade, before so it must be simple.

I printed out my 5 pages for my project (words only!!) in 5 different languages.  I know you are wondering now what this secret project is all about, but you are just going to have to wait. :)

I wanted the final look of the pages to have a little dimension, so I crumpled the pages up one time.  If you want it to have more creases and cracks you should open, flatten, and crumple your paper a couple more times.

I flattened out the papers onto aluminum foil.  Don't use newspaper because the newspaper will bleed and tear when it gets wet.  I put a tea bag in hot water for just a few seconds.  I squished it a little until I started to see color coming out of the bag.  You will need the tea bag to be pretty wet.  I used regular computer paper and got it pretty wet and it held up really well (as long as you don't try to move the paper after you start).  You will need to blot the tea bag over the entire paper until it is completely covered. 

Do NOT try to rub the tea bag over the paper.  The teabag might break, the paper might rip, and your words might bleed.  Just keep up the blotting.  Make sure you cover every single part of your paper, or when it dries you will have really bright white spots.  The tea will soak into the paper and make it a little darker as it dries.  Make sure you squeeze out some of the tea as you are blotting to give the color to your paper. 

Leave your papers alone to dry overnight.  They will stiffen back up and be ready for you to use or display.  Happy Staining!  Stay tuned to see how I use these papers in a project that I am SUPER DUPER EXCITED about!