Before and Afters...

I just wanted to share some thrift store items I redid over the last few months...I think you'll agree that the "Befores" are a little scary!

Letter Sorter: BEFORE

I knew this metal letter sorter had potential~ but man, was it rough!

AFTER:
I sanded and painted and distressed this thing until I could no more!

Now I love it! (And it's for sale...)

The next specimens are these adorable owls. Ok, so they're stuck in the 70's, but not for long!

BEFORE:

(Still BEFORE!)

AFTER: Whooooo you calling stuck in the 70's?

I just love how these all turned out!

I was tempted to keep them & add them to my daughter's woodland/owl themed room...but I put them in the local shop where I consign some stuff & they're for sale! (A few of them in these photos are sold.)

That's all for now! I had fun turning trash into treasure.

Outside Arrangement for Birthday Party

Before my daughter's birthday party, I already had the wall bucket with the "grass" (it's actually plastic-and admittedly a little out of control!) hung by my front door. I simply made a few things to embellish it to welcome our guests to the party...
The first was a letter "M" that I bought at Hobby Lobby. I painted it with polka dots and later came back & added glitter around the polka dots...because, like I always say, everything's better with glitter!

Before glitter:

After glitter:


Then, I tied a bow & hot glued it onto this little premade wooden owl from HobLob. I painted a kabob stick (found in my kitchen drawer!) and glued it to the back of the owl to make a pick.


I added ribbon to the "M" to hang it...

...and made a big bow out of deco mesh. I think it added a nice touch to the entryway.

DIY Balloon Wreath

I've seen many versions of this type of wreath lately and since my son's birthday was last month, I decided I needed to make one before his party! I plan to use it for all of our family birthdays. I can change out the "M" if I want, although our last name also starts with "M", so it will work either way.

There are many tutorials out there, but here's my (fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants) version:



Supplies:
Straw wreath (or foam)
Floral pins (I bought the 1 lb. bag & will be using them for the rest of my life!)
Balloons (I bought 2 bags of 72 each & used about 3/4 of them)
Ribbon (wider makes it easier)
Fuzzy pipe cleaners (Optional)
Large painted wooden letter (Optional)



I used the straw wreath I bought at a thrift store a while back for 30 cents! I wish it was actually a little larger in size, but hey...you can't really argue with 30 cents. I left the plastic wrap on the straw to keep it contained.

Here's where I went wrong. Instead of first wrapping the entire wreath with ribbon, I started by pinning on balloons. See, I thought I was going to put balloons around the entire wreath, thus not needing any ribbon. Well, once I started out I decided that it would look better with about 3/4 of the wreath covered with balloons. So I wrapped the ribbon on the remaining part of the wreath & tried to cover the ends with balloons.




Carrying on...I thought it looked kind of plain, so I wrapped some colorful pipe cleaners around a pen to make them spirals, grouped them & glued them on. I then painted the whimsical wooden "M". I painted the edges yellow to try to make the letter stand out better. (Still wish it stood out more.) Then I tried hot gluing the letter to the balloons. Note to self: (and to you): Hot glue does not stick to balloons. At least it didn't for me. I tried another type of glue with no luck. I finally tied the letter on with a piece of red pipe cleaner. At least this way it's removable & I can use other letters or numbers if I want. So that ended up working out.




Here's how it turned out:

Scrapping here & there...

Well, I have not been keeping up with scrapbooking at least 1 layout a week, but maybe 1 a month! Which I guess is still better than Zero.



I made this one recently about my son's favorite toys when he was 19 months old. He's now almost 5 years!



Man, am I glad I took the time to lay out his toys and take these pictures back then!! I need to do it again now that he's older & into different things.

It's like a time capsule of his childhood & helps me remember the little things...



I used bright colors to reflect the "fun" of the toys, but put the photos & title in straight lines to give the layout some order since the subject matter was so "busy." I used my old-school Dymo labeler to label the top corner of each picture. One layout down, a million more to go!



Linking up here:


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Gimme a W...Gimme an H...

...what's that spell??? Well, nothing.
I have many letters on hand to create custom gifts & decor & made these just for fun. I tried to make the W more boyish, but it would work for a girl as well. And I always have fun making girly pink stuff!

If you're interested, they are approx. 7 inches tall & are raw wood that I've painted & dressed up. Each letter is "shabby chic" style with distressed edges & imperfections to add to the character & uniqueness. They will stand up on their own or can be hung by either the ribbon or the drilled hanger holes in the back.

You can have your custom letter made in the colors/patterns of your choice for a mere $10/letter! ;)
(I also make a larger size like this one that is more like 12 inches & it runs $15/letter. The large letters are thin and will not stand up on their own & must be hung by ribbon.)

New Funky Frame and the Letter "G"

My latest creations are:

This "G" that my friend, Lela asked me to make for her daughter's room. The colors didn't show well in these pictures, but you get the idea.




And this fun, bright, girly frame that is up for grabs! ($22 if you're interested!)
The frame itself is almost 8x10 and the opening is 4x6. Hot pink & bright green--looks cuter in person.

A few of my latest projects

The paintings I promised to show you are STILL not completed. I just haven't made it back to Hobby Lobby to get the last few supplies I need, so I'm at a stand still with those for now. Maybe I'll make it there this afternoon (if it stops raining) or tomorrow. I'm just dying to get them done.
Here are some letters I made a few weeks ago. The "S" is up for grabs (anyone want to buy it for say, $10?) but the "J" is reserved for a certain someone who MIGHT be having a boy (you know who you are--and no, it's not me!)
I've just been playing around with my supplies and these distressed letters are fun to make!