Make a Treasure Tray.

It's been a while since I posted a craft.

Crap.

That last part wasn't necessary.

It's been a while since I posted. Period.

I'll skip the assumed reasons and get down to business. I'm frugal. And when I see something crafty being sold at an amount I'm not willing to pay (calculating time spent + materials = worth it?), I immediately think "How can I make that for cheaper?"

Such is this story about a cute "treasure tray" being sold by an awesome company a friend recently introduced to me at a home party. The concept is great! A unique way to display photos or notes. While I love most the products and what their origins represent with this company, I'm still not willing to overpay for a simple project.

[And when I say simple I mean I literally made this in 10 minutes. But more on that later...]

That price, though!

I saw this tray in the catalog and just loved it. Even more, my older sister loved it, too. But neither of us loved the price (darn it). And you know how you know when someone is thinking of buying something, but doesn't want to spend the money so she ponders it out loud? My sister did that. And I told her, "Don't buy it. I'll make you one." She replied with "Seriously?" and I was like "Uh, yea." Cuz I knew I had all the materials at my house to duplicate it. So, I added it to my forever growing craft to-do list.

About a week after attending the party, I grabbed everything I needed. And in about 10 minutes I had a finished treasure tray of my own ::cough:: for my sister! And it cost me NOTHING (sort of) since I already had all the supplies, even the shallow basket which was not being used. I recommend, if you plan to do this, using a loosely woven basket so the big needle can get through with the twine.

Look at that cutie. She's not a baby anymore...

The steps are simple and easy if you have a good sturdy needle. It's a matter of weaving the twine criss cross one way, then criss cross back the opposite way. You can make more or less rows than I did. And use any sort of clips you like. I happen to have some mini clothes pins in my craft supplies, so those were perfect!

I texted my sister a picture of the final product with something to the effect of "come and get it." And if I remember correctly, she was at my house in about 5 minutes. And she loves it.

If you try this craft, feel free to post pics or links to your projects in the comments here. I'd love to see them!

Did you know I'm on Facebook? Well - now you do! Please, show me some love and "like" me at www.Facebook.com/dwbhkl

Happy Crafting!

Organizing photos.

We have a stainless steel refrigerator.

We have lots of photos of family and friends.

We don't want to clutter our frig with said photos.

So what's a family to do?

Well . . . while going through old boxes in our garage, I found a cork board I used in college 2,452 years ago. It was boring then. It was boring when I found it.

The choice was to trash it or make it beautiful. 

I chose to make it beautiful. And to utilize it for displaying our bunches of photos in our kitchen.

I used blue painter's tape and black spray paint. That's it! 

(and you'll notice I didn't tape the whole thing because halfway through I realized I'd be covering most or all of the board with photos, so I stopped)

Okay, now go make something new again.

Happy spray painting!

Build a mantel (no fireplace needed).

I've always wanted a mantel.

I've not always wanted a fireplace, though I'd enjoy one if we had one.

But, I've never understood why I couldn't have a mantel even if we didn't have a fireplace. Why should the two be mutually exclusive?

Well, they're not.

When we moved into our new home a year ago, I had already planned a mantel project in my head. Within a few weeks of living here, I painted the wall blue on a whim. Seriously. On a random Tuesday night I got a burst of energy and just painted the wall.

Once that was done, I talked to my grandpa about helping me follow through with my mantel project plan and last summer through fall, we finally got it done!

The process from start to finish took a few months. Time and energy played a big part (I was working through my first trimester filled with wonderful fatigue and nausea).

But in the end, I'm so happy with it.

I'll spare you the initial steps, ya know, like measuring, shopping for the wood and all that. Basically, Grandpa had some spare wood in his shop for the end pieces and front beam.

By the way, this is how my Grandpa organizes his screws and such, using baby food jars. He's so smart.

Grandpa and I went together to purchase the wood planks from Menards for the top and the bottom. Shopping at Menards was fun with Grandpa!

After we had all the measurements and the wood cut to size, he and I built the mantel. Essentially, it's a big box. We sanded it and then I took it home.

(Don't mind the old mattress in our garage...)

I had a couple different stains to choose from, but I settled on the one I liked and got to work. For those concerned, yes I did wear a mask to protect babe and me from the fumes.

I ended up doing two coats, no top coat, though. I wanted it to look rustic.

Once I made the call to Grandpa that I was happy with the stain job, he came over so we could mount it on the wall. (This was when I got really excited. It was all really happening!)

We left the bottom off so we could secure the back to the wall into the studs.

Then Grandpa did a fine job of attaching the bottom beam.

Soon after the mantel was hung, my husband and my cousin got busy mounting the TV on the wall using a wall mounting kit. They did some kind of fancy cord hiding, hold drilling in our wall and such and POOF!  a floating TV.

I was so happy that it was done in plenty of time for Thanksgiving and especially . . . Christmas.

I couldn't wait to hang our stockings from it and marvel in our handy work!

I'm very happy with how our living room wall looks and especially the mantel. It means so much more that my grandpa and I were able to make it together. I told our realtor that if we ever move, I'm taking it off the wall and it's going with us.

I'm not kidding.

Happy woodworking!

Scarves Organized.

There are a lot of ways to organize scarves that I've found online. I used to keep all mine in a basket on the bottom shelf of our closet.

That was until my cat decided it was her new bed and kept sleeping in said basket. Not wanting my scarves to smell like kitty fur, I had to find a new way.

I've seen them hung on hangers.

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And I've seen them tucked in shoe organizers.

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I've also seen them folded in a drawer.

Image Source

But what's been working great for me is hooking them on a rod in an unused section of our closet. I can see all of them and I even have them color coordinated. Watch out!

It's easy to pick the right color for any outfit quickly.

And when I'm done wearing one, I just tie it right back onto the rod and it's ready for next time.

How do you organize your scarves?

Happy Organizing!

Christmas Card Display.

It's been 11 months since my husband and I moved into our new home. I was flipping through old blogs about when we moved and came across the one about settling in.

I thought it would be timely to show you again how I organized and displayed all the Christmas cards we received (while homeless at Christmas last year). Even though it was January when we moved in, once we got in I was anxious to put all the lovely cards up somewhere to appreciate since we spent the month of December setting them aside.

If you'd like to read the original post click here.

All I used were some basic ribbon and mini clothes pins (found at most craft stores or box stores) to secure the cards to the ribbon. You could use tape if you decide the pins aren't your thing, of course.

Click on the photo to view larger.

This year I'm using the neat card display stocking I usually use since I was able to bust out all the decorations again! It's crazy to think that it's been 2 years since I saw most of the Christmas stuff.

Is your house all decorated for Christmas already? When did you start (I mean, did you wait until after Thanksgiving like I did) or did you have stuff up at Halloween?

Happy Holidays!

Lamp revamp and such.

I haven't begun nesting yet. At least I don't think I have.

However, there are little "projects" around my house that I've been checking off my list.

One project that I've been meaning to do is spray paint some lamps. There's this one lamp in our living room that I've had a few years but never loved the GOLD. Not my style.

I removed the finial and shade. Then, I grabbed a can of spray paint and went to work.

First I taped off the part of the lamp that I wanted to save. You can't see it in any pictures, but I do like the reddish color on the top portion of the base, so I decided to keep it.

Then I sprayed it down using a metallic spray paint.

I used a cardboard box under the lamp in our garage, because it was raining. But in hindsight, I'd recommend using a larger piece of cardboard or doing it outside. I sort of left a mark on the garage floor. Oh well, character!!

I love how the lamp turned out. Even my hubby said he prefers the new color over the old gold.

And looking at the side by side of how it used to look, I like it even more!

While I was painting that lamp, I decided to spray a lamp I've had just sitting around (shade-less) that I plan to work into the baby room. I don't have a shade yet (so I won't show you the finished product) but it's one less thing to paint later. Plus, I just love this pewter color metallic spray paint!


Another small item on my to-do list was creating a bumper-like something or other for behind our trash can. I didn't take a before picture, but let's just say our trash can lid was tearing up the drywall behind it. Every time the trash can got scooted back against the wall the lid scraped against the paint. Over the last 9 months in our home, we had created quite the impression on said wall. So, I painted a piece of scrap wood and screwed it into the wall.

Now, if it scrapes the wood, I can just paint over it and our wall is saved.

I also cleaned out an old powder foundation container to use as safety pin storage. The plastic insert that sifts the power is easy to pop out and toss. The rest just needed a good clean.

It goes right into our "junk" drawer but it has a screw cap that keeps the pins secure.

I know these are all such little fixes, but they are 3 things checked off my ever-growing to-do list. It feels good to have a couple small projects finished!

Happy Day!