No more silence

  A good friend of mine has been featured on Knock off decor.  She doesn't really have a craft blog, but I think she should.  Actually I think she should be a part of The Painted Dresser.  (She would make me look good)  What you don't know about this crafting genius is that she is basically the silent partner behind my blog.  She is my sounding board, my fellow brain stormer, and sometimes she is my partner in crime.  I think it's time to make it official and have Debbie join the painted dresser.  This is as much her blog as it is mine and she has AMAZING craftiness.  Check out this project that I WILL be copying sometime soon.  LOVE IT!

Lamp Shade make over

I know lamp shades aren't SUPER expensive, but if I can do it myself for cheaper I will.  A while back I found a lamp and a lamp shade at DI for $3 each.  The lamp was a fair price, but the shade wasn't worth a dime, so I talked to a worker and she said I could have both for $3.  YAY!  Here's the before pic.

I haven't gotten around to changing up the lamp, but on a recent trip to Hobby Lobby I found a lamp shade that I thought would go perfectly in Riley's room.  I have no idea how much it was because I knew I could do it for less than five bucks.  And unfortunately I couldn't find a pic of it online.  BLAST!

Here's how I did it...

First I hot glued a piece of fabric around the outside of the shade.  Then I made a bunch of these fabric flowers without the burning.  Then I twisted the ends of the flowers and hot glued them onto the lamp shade.  What do you think?  Super easy, but quite time consuming.  I used about One and a half yards of fabric.

I think it'll look really great in her room, but I will be putting the shade on the other lamp after it's done.   Her dresser should be done by next week, so I should be able to show it in it's rightful place soon.

Feature Friday

I really love Feature Friday.  It's a chance for me to really focus on the awesome that is available to us.  I also, love cheap or free stuff, so you know that my features are going to be in those categories.  I am always looking for things that are cheap and will also make my life much easier.  So today I am featuring FlyLady.  I'm not really sure why I've never heard of this website before, but I LOVE IT!  And best of all it's FREE!  I am totally going to do her "baby steps" which is a month long program to change your daily habits.  I totally need this program.

After having kids I have totally let myself get into the "shower optional" mode and I'm done with that.  So starting Monday August 15th I am doing this program.  You should do it too and we'll see how we feel about ourselves, our homes, and our lives when we're done.  It's not a time consuming program which is nice, so let's do it together!  Who's with me?  haha.  Make sure to check out her awesome website.

Glass Magnet Tutorial

This is a fun easy project.

Supplies
Glass rocks found in the floral isle of your local craft store
Material or paper you want to show through
hot glue gun
glue sticks
modge podge
REALLY STRONG Magnets
Paper or material you want to show through

Step 1: Cut your circles

Step 2: Cover the back of your glass stone with modge podge.

Step 3:  Put your circle of fabric or paper on and let that dry.

Step 4: Modge podge the back of your paper/fabric and let dry

Step 5:  Hot glue a magnet to the back.

 Step 6:  Use them in your favorite metal places.

Easiest project ever, but they look so cool!

Magnet Board Tutorial

I bought this picture frame thing from DI a while ago.  I thought it would make a fun project, but I didn't really know what to do with it, so it has sat around in my garage for a few months.  It was $2 and I ginormous frame, so I was pretty sure I scored on this one.  Well I didn't even know what I had when I bought this little baby.

And by little I mean large.  Trust me you'll see.

 I was thinking it would make a nice chalkboard, so I decided today that I would finally get started, so I took it all apart.

When I opened up the back of the frame I was pleasantly surprised to find out that that big bright blue thing is in fact metal and not plastic covered cardboard like I had thought.  So I tested it to see if it would hold Magnets and it did. SCORE!  Instantly I thought of this magnet board that  friend of mine who is a creative memories consultant has.

(I stole this picture from The sewer, the caker, the copy cat maker.  Which is a fun blog you should go check out, but not yet.)

 I have loved these boards from the second I saw one and now I made one, but for $2 instead of the $50+ it would have cost me to buy one.  And here's the SUPER easy how to.

Supply List:  Picture Frame, Enough material to cover the back of the frame.  Hot glue gun, glue sticks, Paint, Primer, Magnetic metal paint or primer.

First things first you're going to need a picture frame.  Make sure to get one that has a pretty sturdy backing that you could wrap some material around.  DI sells frames ranging from $.50 to $2, so I'd start there.

After you have your frame take it apart and prime the frame.

If you choose to spray your cardboard with magnetic paint or primer do so now, or you can move on to the  next step if you choose metal.  Price them out and see what's cheaper where you are.

Lay out your (ironed) fabric and place your cardboard or metal piece on top of it.

Then hot glue the edges around your piece. 

It should look like this when you're done.

After your primer dries it's time to paint the frame.  It'll probably take two coats to cover it well.

After your paint dries you can glaze, stain, or sand the edges to make it look how you like.

Next you'll want to seal your frame with a protective coat.  I like polyeurothane because of it's leveling agent.

After everything dries you just put it together and hang it on the wall.  Make sure to decorate it using your favorite magnets.  I will be posting a tutorial for making your own magnets tomorrow, so be sure to check back then.

Bunting Banner

I made a fun bunting banner for my husband's college graduation party.  It was kind of a pain, but It turned out so totally cute and I love it.

Supplies
Old book or awesome scrapbook paper
hot glue
ribbon
ink(optional)

Step 1:  Cut out your flags. Depending on what you want your banner to say, if anything, will determine how many flags to cut. I found out it's easiest to do this by folding the paper in half to make a square and then folding it in half again, but the other direction and cutting it from one corner to the other.  I know this makes no sense without looking at the picture, so just look at the picture.

They should look like this when you're done.

Step 2 (Optional):Antique them.  You can buy distressing ink, but I'm cheap and just bought some regular "brown" ink. It looks kind of orange to me.

Step 3:  Stamp your letters on or glue chip board/paper letters on where you want them.

Step 4:  Hot glue the flags to the ribbon

First add hot glue to the crease of your flag.  Then press ribbon on top.

Next add hot glue on top of the ribbon and press flag down.

Next glue the tips of your flag together.

Do step 4 a lot.

Step 5:  Hot glue ends of the ribbon back to make loops.  Be careful not to close off the ribbon.

Step 6.  Hang it up and enjoy your handy work.

Another nice try

I bought this night stand from DI for $5 and I thought I could revive it.  Why do I think that?  Hopefully I have gotten over this need to save poor sad furniture.  I took it home and decided I would turn it into a night stand that has one drawer and a basket underneath.

So I sanded and primed and painted and WHAT THE HECK?  The nightstand was swelling.  So, I sanded and sanded and sanded and put wood putty on top and primed and painted and STILL, it was swelling, (This is the short version of events.  I tried about one thousand times to make it work)  So I changed my mind about the plan.  It was around Christmas time, so I decided to make a kids kitchen similar to this one over at The land of oz.

So we got to work.  We ran into a lot of snags, but we got it done on Christmas eve.  The kids were so excited the next morning.  They wanted to play with it right away.  And... thirty seconds later it broke.  Pretty much everything broke on it, so we set it aside saying we'd fix it, but here we are in August and we haven't fixed it yet.  Do you think it will happen?  Probably not.

Another glorious moment in parenting documented for all to see.  My poor children.  Just so you know my children are not toyless.  On the contrary they have way too many toys.  Feel free to share your own parenting mishaps, so I will feel better about my failures.