Pinterest to Done! :: Chalkboard Daily Calendar

I am so excited to share with you the finished product of this project that I showed a sneak peak of this weekend!

 

This project has been one that I have slowly been working on here and there for about a month now. It all started with this amazing pin that a pinned over a year ago:

 

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First things first: it had me at chalkboard.

 

Next, I loved the idea of using smaller squares for an entire week worth of planning.

 

Loved it, pinned it, and well....forgot about it :)

Lately, however, the kids have had so much going on (dr's appt's, practices, homework due, etc) that I really wanted to start writing all their stuff down in its own place. And that is where this came in!

 

We happened to have some cheap wood laying around from some of the misc projects we did in our family room, and even had some of the left over chalkboard paint as well. Since the project was practically free, there was really no reason NOT to do it, right??

 

 

1. First we cut out wood down to 6" squares.

2. Jason used our router along the edges to really make this piece look nice.

3. He drilled a hole in the back (center!) so that we could mount this flush against the wall.

 

Since we were using the cheap stuff on this project, he had to use wood putty to fill in some of the spaces.

 

Next, I primed it. When painting things like this, I like to prop it up underneath with something smaller so that the paint doesn't dry to the paper.

 

A few coats of black chalkboard later, we were looking good! The original pin used wooden letters for the days {which I really wanted to do!}, but I couldn't find any in a font that I liked at the craft store, so I chose some nice scrapbook letters instead.

 

I also purchased clips because I was obsessed with this pin:

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I loved, loved, loved the idea of being able to just clip the invite right to the day it was going on. With three kids, we get a ton of birthday invitations, which usually clutters up our kitchen command center. Jason and I both agreed that the pin board would probably end up too messy, so we stuck with my original plan of the chalkboards; the clips were a compromise.

 

 

To add the clips, I measured the center of the top and marked it with a pencil. I just hot glued them on next.

 

And then they were done!

 

The boards are hung next to the kid's art display boards {which don't be surprised if you see a redo of that coming up!}:

 

The clips are small, so they don't take too much away from the chalkboard, but are surprisingly really strong.

 

Since the tiles only cover a week worth of stuff, I added a folder to the bins in the kitchen:

 

I toss all the time sensitive stuff in there and pull it out at the beginning of each week.

 

Oh, pinterest, where would I be with out you???

 

 

xo,

Rachel

 

 



Pinterest to Done :: Knife Block

Happy Monday!

Today, I want to share with a quick and easy project I finished up a while back.

The inspiration began with this image on Pinterest:

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The idea is super simple- take your old knife block and paint it.

Although I didn't take any before pictures, trust me when I say ours was old and looking ugly.

So, while I was in the middle of the larger project of painting an old secretary we have, I just took some of that paint and the craft stencil (Martha Stewart; Joanns) we bought, and gave ours a little face lift.



Even with only the cream paint alone, it already looked a TON better.

There are so many different ways you could take this project!

Thanks for looking!

xo,

Rachel



Tire Inspiration

Hello!

As promised yesterday, I have found some amazing inspiration for the awesome tires we found this weekend at the fleamarket (shown yesterday).

Like this beanbag toss game:

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Or use it to make cool graphic art (I am thinking maybe on a table cloth or back drop?)

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LOVE the idea to use it to boost a plate or platter

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I think I might have do something like this:

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I would love to use the rims for an amazing backdrop like this:

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This would be a good way to reuse it after the party...OR you could even put a can in it and fill it up with ice and put your drinks in it!

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You can see a lot of the ideas I am slowly gathering for his party on my PINTEREST BOARD. What do you think so far? Which idea do you like best?

Also, while you're busy doing that, you should stop by Goodwill's Facebook to vote on my "upcycle" project. All you have to do is first like the FB page and then like either of the two projects I submitted (shown below). Both were projects I created using (duh) things I found at Goodwill. :)

{lazy susan turned art supply organizer}

{broken frame turned pinboard}

Thanks in advance for any support! You have until April 23rd to "like".

Tutorials on both projects to be posted this week in honor of EarthDay!!

Hope you all are having a "wheely" great day :) lol

How to Print on Fabric

Happy Monday!

A couple weeks back I wrote a post about the Care Bear goody bags I made using one of the techniques I found through Pinterest HERE.

There are a lot of different techniques out there (several I have personally pinned!), but I ultimately chose this one because it only involved ONE "ingredient" needed to create and was SUPER easy to do. Pretty important for this super cheap and lazy gal :)

To begin, I created the images and text I wanted to use for my goody bags on a basic computer draw program (I use CorelDraw). The one downside I see to creating projects by printing on fabric is that you are limited to the size that you can print from a home computer . Luckily for me, this project worked perfectly as a full 8.5 x 11 sheet (half used for the front; half used for the back).

After you have designed the image you want to print, here is what you will need:

To begin, cut down you fabric so that it is just slightly larger than your cardstock.

For the next step, you will want to go outside. Just trust me :) Spray your cardstock evenly with all purpose adhesive. Quickly place your fabric onto the cardstock and smooth out any wrinkles or bubbles.

Once dried, cut your fabric so that it is the same size as cardstock. (you don't want any hanging off the sides. When you are done it should look like a thick piece of cardstock).

Once this is done, you are now ready to print! Just place in your printer making sure to place the correct side down so that you are printing on the fabric side. I forget which setting I set my printer to, but I just chose a setting that was made for thicker paper.

Next, watch in amazement as you print on paper! My printer messes up constantly when I print on iron-on transfer paper, so I expected many problems to arise, but I swear to you, it printed up perfectly every single time. Color was crisp, and the fabric looked beautiful!

At this point, this is what I had:

(sorry for the horrible pictures; I didn't make these until the night before the party, so by then it was late and dark.)

As you can see, the left side is designed to be the front of the bag and the right is the back. This size allowed for me to sew with a small hem and was the perfect size for the goody bags.

Next, gently peel off the fabric from the cardstock. It curls up a little on the edges, but this wont effect anything when you sew them.

You are now ready to use your fabric!

One of these days I may have to try out some of the other methods, but I am pretty happy with this one :)

Hope your Monday was a good one!!

xo,

Rachel

Care Bear Party Plan of Action!

One of the things I am really excited to do with this blog is to show how I come up with my parties and design ideas. I really want to show the whole process from start to finish.

About 2 months before a party I start searching the Internet for ideas. Google Images has become my best friend. Pinterest is amazing, not only to sort all the great things I find in my searches, but to also FIND cool things that I might not have ordinarily come across myself. I usually also create a digital image board that helps me to feel inspired and remind me of what I want the space or party to be. Sometimes I am easily sidetracked by pretty objects :)

From there, I typically come up with a mental plan of what I want the party to look like. About 4-6 weeks out, I usually draw up a sketch of all my ideas. I LOVE to do this because it helps organize my thoughts. As you'll see soon, my sketches are pretty rough. Sometimes, when I have more time (or motivation!) I spend more time into making them nice. I love doing this for my clients as well (although, I always make sure theirs looks nicer than the ones I throw together for my parties lol) because I really think it helps them visualize what the concept is going to look like.

The other reason I always do this is because it allows me to see what things I am going to need to buy and/or make. SO important when sticking to a budget. (although, I am sure if my boyfriend read this he would laugh, because I almost always go over ours :)  ) Plus, by drawing out the layout for the dessert table, craft station, etc I can see where there are empty spaces are that will need to be filled.

I typically sketch in pencil and then go over it marker. As I draw each item I am sure to add them to my 'make' list or 'buy' list. For this party, I did a quick sketch one day at the library and came home to finish it. I was really excited to color it in today, but realized it ended up looking a little boring on paper since most of what I am doing are WHITE clouds, so there really wasn't much to render today :) But I hope you will get the idea of what it will look like.

The dessert table:

Remember how I said sketching everything made me realize where there were empty spots, etc? Well, this is a great example, because after finishing it, I noticed that the left side is just way out of scale with the right. I figure I have two options: flip some things around, or put the items on the right on covered boxes to bring them to the same height. I think I am going to do the second option: always a great way to get creative with boxes!! Just add that to my 'make' list! lol

The ice cream bar and the table where they will be eating lunch:

By this point I realize I wasn't getting much out of my rendering, so I just left the last page colorless. It's my idea for the entrance (that part was cut off, so I guess it will just have to be a surprise!) and the gift table:

The little guy was busy coloring his picture while I did mine :)

Looking at all the photos from here I noticed that my rainbow ribbon backdrop almost looks like streamers...which makes me question if I should try to do the ruffled/sewn streamer thing I have seen floating around Pinterest.... hmm. What do you think??

I hoped you enjoyed the little sneak peek into my planning mind :) I hope to do a better job at explaining the whole process after the party....when we have already moved :)

Rachel