Well, it's been over a year since I blogged, but now it's time to get back to it - but not here! Nickety Nackety Noo has now moved, you can find my new blog over at
nicketynacketynoo.wordpress.com
I hope you'll come over and join me, I will soon be listing new projects, musings and other stuff and nonsense from my head and home! I hope to see you there!
Nikki
Thursday, 20 June 2013
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Milk Crate Bookshelves
This one is really easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy and really requires no DIY or crafting skill at all - plus it will only take you about 10 minutes to do! I had intended to include this amongst the "last bits and pieces" blog post before the final reveal, but this week it seems I have nothing else to blog about, since my 5 or 6 ongoing projects are all in various stages of completion...so it's a quick little post today!
I acquired a pile of milk crates from freecycle, and picked out four of them. I game them a good scrub with soap and water and let them dry.
From Dollarama I purchased a pack of these pull ties - the kind with the little teeth so when you pull them tight you can't loosen them again.
I took two of the crates and began to attatch them together using the ties - a couple where the handles meet, and a couple more where the sides meet.
I then did the same with the other pair, then tied both pairs together to make a square of 4 crates. And it's really as easy as that!
Total cost of Milk Crate Bookshelves - $1
Total cost of room to date - $26.82
Nikki x
You can see more about Brodie's bedroom makeover below:
The Bedroom of Doom! - Before the transformation began
The Manga Dresser
Paint Chip Bedside Table
I acquired a pile of milk crates from freecycle, and picked out four of them. I game them a good scrub with soap and water and let them dry.
From Dollarama I purchased a pack of these pull ties - the kind with the little teeth so when you pull them tight you can't loosen them again.
I took two of the crates and began to attatch them together using the ties - a couple where the handles meet, and a couple more where the sides meet.
I then did the same with the other pair, then tied both pairs together to make a square of 4 crates. And it's really as easy as that!
Depending on the amount of crates you can come up with, you could make this as big as you want - floor to ceiling, wall to wall! I do recommend however that if you go much taller than 2, it's probably best to secure it to the wall with something.
We have lots of shelving in our family room for the kids books, I just wanted something small to fill the space at the end of Brodie's bed, and where he can put his current favourite books! I really like the different colours, and particularly like that each of the crates has a slightly different pattern that you can see against the wall. I also threw a small, colouful blanket over the top to finish it off.
milk crates - free
pull ties - $1
Total cost of Milk Crate Bookshelves - $1
Total cost of room to date - $26.82
Nikki x
You can see more about Brodie's bedroom makeover below:
The Bedroom of Doom! - Before the transformation began
The Manga Dresser
Paint Chip Bedside Table
Linked with
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Bike Wheel Notice Board
So far I am pretty pleased with my projects versus budget ratio - and here's another cheap and cheerful addition to Brodie's bedroom! The bike wheel notice board.
I was inspired to try this when I saw My Tattered Angels version. I originally found this old bike wheel on a beach last summer - in actual fact, the worst beach the family has ever been to (we are all in agreement with that, but it's a story for another time ;O) - I brought it home with the intention of making a bike wheel pot hanger similar to this one from Apartment Therapy, but on closer inspection it wasn't quite perfect enough for me since a couple of the spokes were missing. However, I didn't think that would be too much of a problem for this project.
I was so keen to get started, I completely forgot to take any "before" pictures of the tattered old thing prior to painting - sorry! Suffice to say, it was pretty scabby looking. I gave it a good scrub with soap and water and then got on with it.
I had bought some spray paint with this in mind, so went to work with several thin coats of green, and here's how it turned out.
I really didn't like this Krylon spray paint - it was supposed to be no mess but after the first coat my hand was covered in spots of green - after that I donned the good old rubber gloves, and they ended up covered too! I'm just glad I did this over a large drop cloth! The paint job may not stand up to close inspection, but it's not too bad.
Once it was dry I also attached a little piece of protective sticky stuff (you know, the stuff you put on the bottom of your furniture to stop it from marking the floor) to the middle of the back side, so it wouldn't mark the wall.
Then I had to figure out how to hang it on the wall, and dug these hooks out of the shed, which we bought last year but didn't use.
When I tried a dry run with the wheel hanging off the hook, it turned out to be too small - the bottom of the wheel was sticking out too far from the wall, it wasn't hanging level - so I broke out the big guns! The hook below was another unused one from last year, and although it's pretty big, it was all I could come up with (I'm not sure how Apartment Therapy did it with concealed hanging, clever things! Maybe they removed the middle bolt entirely and replaced it with a really long screw?)
The wheel hung much better, and those missing spokes actually helped it to hang better! I know this hook is pretty big, but the "pokey outey" bits could also be used to hang things from. Then it was on to the pegs I decided to use to hold things on there.
I grabbed some pegs from my washing line...
And some paper from my stash (these were from a "page-a-day" origami calendar from a few years ago, but you could use anything - wrapping paper, colourful flyers or construction paper to name but a few) and got out the white glue.
I painted one side of the pegs with glue and placed them face down on to the paper. Once it was dry I cut around and then did the same with the other side. Another coat of white glue on each side as a protective coat, and they were done.
It's looking a bit empty here, but once I added some of Brodie's bits and pieces, I think it turned out really good! As seen on the right of the photo below, the pegs can be stored on the outside rim when not in use. I think I may have to make him some more as they didn't go quite as far as I thought they would (I made 13 initially).
Wheel - free
Spray Paint - $4.84
Hook/screws/rawl plugs - from my shed
Pegs - from my washing line!
Origami paper - from my stash
White glue - from my stash
Total cost of Bike Wheel Notice Board - $4.84
Total cost of room to date - $25.82
I am still well on course for my $100 budget. I am delighted that I also finished painting all of Brodie's walls this week, and managed to get the ENTIRE ROOM done with the paint I recently got from Freecycle - I am really chuffed, as the paint was probably going to take a fair chunk out of the budget. And so, on to the next project - tune in next week to see what's next!
Nikki x
You can see more about Brodie's bedroom makeover below:
The Bedroom of Doom! - Before the transformation began
The Manga Dresser
Paint Chip Bedside Table
I was inspired to try this when I saw My Tattered Angels version. I originally found this old bike wheel on a beach last summer - in actual fact, the worst beach the family has ever been to (we are all in agreement with that, but it's a story for another time ;O) - I brought it home with the intention of making a bike wheel pot hanger similar to this one from Apartment Therapy, but on closer inspection it wasn't quite perfect enough for me since a couple of the spokes were missing. However, I didn't think that would be too much of a problem for this project.
I was so keen to get started, I completely forgot to take any "before" pictures of the tattered old thing prior to painting - sorry! Suffice to say, it was pretty scabby looking. I gave it a good scrub with soap and water and then got on with it.
I had bought some spray paint with this in mind, so went to work with several thin coats of green, and here's how it turned out.
I really didn't like this Krylon spray paint - it was supposed to be no mess but after the first coat my hand was covered in spots of green - after that I donned the good old rubber gloves, and they ended up covered too! I'm just glad I did this over a large drop cloth! The paint job may not stand up to close inspection, but it's not too bad.
Once it was dry I also attached a little piece of protective sticky stuff (you know, the stuff you put on the bottom of your furniture to stop it from marking the floor) to the middle of the back side, so it wouldn't mark the wall.
Then I had to figure out how to hang it on the wall, and dug these hooks out of the shed, which we bought last year but didn't use.
When I tried a dry run with the wheel hanging off the hook, it turned out to be too small - the bottom of the wheel was sticking out too far from the wall, it wasn't hanging level - so I broke out the big guns! The hook below was another unused one from last year, and although it's pretty big, it was all I could come up with (I'm not sure how Apartment Therapy did it with concealed hanging, clever things! Maybe they removed the middle bolt entirely and replaced it with a really long screw?)
The wheel hung much better, and those missing spokes actually helped it to hang better! I know this hook is pretty big, but the "pokey outey" bits could also be used to hang things from. Then it was on to the pegs I decided to use to hold things on there.
I grabbed some pegs from my washing line...
And some paper from my stash (these were from a "page-a-day" origami calendar from a few years ago, but you could use anything - wrapping paper, colourful flyers or construction paper to name but a few) and got out the white glue.
I painted one side of the pegs with glue and placed them face down on to the paper. Once it was dry I cut around and then did the same with the other side. Another coat of white glue on each side as a protective coat, and they were done.
It's looking a bit empty here, but once I added some of Brodie's bits and pieces, I think it turned out really good! As seen on the right of the photo below, the pegs can be stored on the outside rim when not in use. I think I may have to make him some more as they didn't go quite as far as I thought they would (I made 13 initially).
Wheel - free
Spray Paint - $4.84
Hook/screws/rawl plugs - from my shed
Pegs - from my washing line!
Origami paper - from my stash
White glue - from my stash
Total cost of Bike Wheel Notice Board - $4.84
Total cost of room to date - $25.82
I am still well on course for my $100 budget. I am delighted that I also finished painting all of Brodie's walls this week, and managed to get the ENTIRE ROOM done with the paint I recently got from Freecycle - I am really chuffed, as the paint was probably going to take a fair chunk out of the budget. And so, on to the next project - tune in next week to see what's next!
Nikki x
You can see more about Brodie's bedroom makeover below:
The Bedroom of Doom! - Before the transformation began
The Manga Dresser
Paint Chip Bedside Table
Linked With
Coastal Charm - Nifty Thrifty Tuesday #103
House of Grace - Twice Owned Tuesday #84
Hope Studios - Tutorial Tuesday!
Tip Junkie - Homemade Projects - Add Yours!
Sugar Bee Crafts - Take-A-Look Tuesday
New Nostalgia - Anti-Procrastination Tuesday #88
I'm Topsy Turvy - Topsy Turvy Tuesday
Funky Polkadot Giraffe - TOO Cute Tuesday
Rook No. 17 - A Little Birdie Told Me #61
Pinkapotamus - Pink Hippo Party #69
Strictly Homemade Tuesday
A Little Tipsy - DIY Under $5
Cherished Bliss - Craft and Tell
Sassy Sites! - Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday
The Blackberry Vine - Tuesday To Do #51
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #40
Blue Cricket Design - Show and Tell
Someday Crafts - Whatever Goes Wednesday #106
Sew Much Ado - We Did It! Wednesday
We Are THAT Family - Works For Me Wednesday
The Thrifty Home - 127th Penny Pinching Party
Creations by Kara - Look What I Made
DIY by Design - Winter Blues Wednesday - It's a Party #54
Night Owl Crafting - Hoo's Got Talent #78
Sugar and Dots - What I Whipped Up Wednesday
Handy Man, Crafty Woman - Wicked Awesome Wednesday #52
The DIY Dreamer - From Dream To Reality #5
Oopsey Daisy - Wednesdays Wowzers {9}
Thrifty Decorating - Thrifty Thursday #49
House of Hepworths - Hookin Up With HoH #89
Tales From Bloggeritaville - Thrifty Thursday #150
Katie's Nesting Spot - A Crafty Soiree #79
The Shabby Creek Cottage - Transformation Thursday
Beyond The Picket Fence - Under $100 Linky Party
Christina's Adventures - 20 Below Thursday #62
Between U & Me - Crazy Cute Link Party #40
Thrifty 101 - DIY Thrifty Thursday #56
The Brambleberry Cottage - Time Travel Thursday #86
A Glimpse Inside - Catch a Glimpse Party #69
Rhinestone Beagle - Doggone Dirty Link Party
Crafty, Scrappy, Happy - Crafty, Scrappy, Happy Me Thursday #24
The 36th Avenue - Show Me Extraordinary
House of Grace - Twice Owned Tuesday #84
Hope Studios - Tutorial Tuesday!
Tip Junkie - Homemade Projects - Add Yours!
Sugar Bee Crafts - Take-A-Look Tuesday
New Nostalgia - Anti-Procrastination Tuesday #88
I'm Topsy Turvy - Topsy Turvy Tuesday
Funky Polkadot Giraffe - TOO Cute Tuesday
Rook No. 17 - A Little Birdie Told Me #61
Pinkapotamus - Pink Hippo Party #69
Strictly Homemade Tuesday
A Little Tipsy - DIY Under $5
Cherished Bliss - Craft and Tell
Sassy Sites! - Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday
The Blackberry Vine - Tuesday To Do #51
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #40
Blue Cricket Design - Show and Tell
Someday Crafts - Whatever Goes Wednesday #106
Sew Much Ado - We Did It! Wednesday
We Are THAT Family - Works For Me Wednesday
The Thrifty Home - 127th Penny Pinching Party
Creations by Kara - Look What I Made
DIY by Design - Winter Blues Wednesday - It's a Party #54
Night Owl Crafting - Hoo's Got Talent #78
Sugar and Dots - What I Whipped Up Wednesday
Handy Man, Crafty Woman - Wicked Awesome Wednesday #52
The DIY Dreamer - From Dream To Reality #5
Oopsey Daisy - Wednesdays Wowzers {9}
Thrifty Decorating - Thrifty Thursday #49
House of Hepworths - Hookin Up With HoH #89
Tales From Bloggeritaville - Thrifty Thursday #150
Katie's Nesting Spot - A Crafty Soiree #79
The Shabby Creek Cottage - Transformation Thursday
Beyond The Picket Fence - Under $100 Linky Party
Christina's Adventures - 20 Below Thursday #62
Between U & Me - Crazy Cute Link Party #40
Thrifty 101 - DIY Thrifty Thursday #56
The Brambleberry Cottage - Time Travel Thursday #86
A Glimpse Inside - Catch a Glimpse Party #69
Rhinestone Beagle - Doggone Dirty Link Party
Crafty, Scrappy, Happy - Crafty, Scrappy, Happy Me Thursday #24
The 36th Avenue - Show Me Extraordinary
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Bedside Table
Next on my list - a bedside cabinet.
This was one of a pair, given to us by my buddy. It was actually in hubby Dave and I's bedroom, but I decided one will go in Brodie's room, and the other in Lucas's.
It's not massively fun and kid friendly at the moment, but we'll sort that out right now! First thing to go was the floral pattern over the middle bar. Bring on the polyfilla!
Next, the handles. Sorry, but they're just not "kid" enough for me. You can see from the next picture, once I took the handles off there were actually two holes in the front of the drawer, but only one going all the way through. I filled in the "fake" hole, leaving the real hole for the new handle.
Picture the above on it's side so the brick portion is on the bottom, and the yellow portion is on the top. This was my cunning plan!
However...
After FOUR coats of yellow paint, it was not looking good (in my own defense, I did sand it like nobodys business before the first coat) - should have primed it, but didn't. DOH!. That lovely chocolately brown was NOT loving the yellow.
To add insult to injury, I stupidly assumed that both drawers were the same size (we all know what assuming does, it makes an ass out of YOU and ME, however YOU had no part in this dear reader, it was all ME), so it actually turns out that I painted the bottom drawer yellow instead of the top. ARGH! Epic fail, as my son would say.
So, I have decided it is time for plan B. Paint samples!
I re-sanded all that glossy, yellow paint, and went at it again. I am on a paint sample roll just now, did you see the bookmarks that the kids made for valentines? Again, collected over a period of time from different stores.
I started with the drawers. The one in front is still wet with mod podge in this pic.
Then on to the main part. I did the sides and top. In the shot below, you can see the bottom edge plus the edge on the left still need to be sanded off.
I tried very hard at all times to keep the white lines between the colours straight, to give it a bit of continuity, and managed pretty well. I also made sure that all of the samples were the right way up so that you could read all of the paint names without turning upside down. If you are going to try this yourself, I recommend doing what I did - I did one section at a time (top, side etc) and laid the unit so the side i was working on was facing up - once I had mod podged the surface of the unit and laid the paint samples on, I covered it all with cling film them put lots of heavy books on top for a few hours to keep it flat.
The fiddliest parts were those small sections - the rim around the top, then the three sections above, in the middle and below the drawers. I thought it was quite apt that the very last piece I put on was called "Scottish Waltz" - it was the first time I had noticed ANY of the names on the whole piece!
I finished it off with wooden handles painted in that same yellow as my first attempt, and painted the legs in the same colour. You'll notice from the picture above that one of the drawers is still yellow on the edge, while the other is brown. Adds to the colour, don't you know! I suppose I could have done the edges too, but I was running out of samples. Also, I did the "sanding off the edges" technique as seen in my Manga Dresser, but the paint samples are way thicker than comic book pages, and some of the edges were not as neat as I would have liked, so I was just happy to get it looking like this.
I painted the handles seperately, and before I attached them, I gave the whole thing 2 coats of mod podge and 3 coats of spray varnish.
So in the end, no Super Mario tie-in, but Brodie loves it anyway!
Bedside cabinet - free
paint samples - free
yellow paint - from my stash
wooden handles - from my stash
mod podge and varnish - already counted in my total
Total cost of Paint Sample Bedside Cabinet - $0.00
Total cost of room to date - $20.98
A score for Brodie's bedroom makeover, look at this colourful bedside cabinet for ZERO addition to the bedroom total. Yes please, I'll have some of that!
Nikki x
P.S. Don't forget you can follow me of Facebook!
You can see more about Brodie's bedroom makeover below:
The Bedroom of Doom! - Before the transformation began
The Manga Dresser
This was one of a pair, given to us by my buddy. It was actually in hubby Dave and I's bedroom, but I decided one will go in Brodie's room, and the other in Lucas's.
It's not massively fun and kid friendly at the moment, but we'll sort that out right now! First thing to go was the floral pattern over the middle bar. Bring on the polyfilla!
Next, the handles. Sorry, but they're just not "kid" enough for me. You can see from the next picture, once I took the handles off there were actually two holes in the front of the drawer, but only one going all the way through. I filled in the "fake" hole, leaving the real hole for the new handle.
Let me just point out - this is not a "themed" bedroom. There is nothing tying all the pieces and colours together, apart from my intention to make it bright, fun and cosy. However, saying that, the ONE thing Brodie really wants is a Super Mario mural on his wall. More on that later, but I wanted to tie in this little cabinet with a Mario theme - I thought the shape was great for doing something like this:
However...
After FOUR coats of yellow paint, it was not looking good (in my own defense, I did sand it like nobodys business before the first coat) - should have primed it, but didn't. DOH!. That lovely chocolately brown was NOT loving the yellow.
To add insult to injury, I stupidly assumed that both drawers were the same size (we all know what assuming does, it makes an ass out of YOU and ME, however YOU had no part in this dear reader, it was all ME), so it actually turns out that I painted the bottom drawer yellow instead of the top. ARGH! Epic fail, as my son would say.
So, I have decided it is time for plan B. Paint samples!
I re-sanded all that glossy, yellow paint, and went at it again. I am on a paint sample roll just now, did you see the bookmarks that the kids made for valentines? Again, collected over a period of time from different stores.
I started with the drawers. The one in front is still wet with mod podge in this pic.
Then on to the main part. I did the sides and top. In the shot below, you can see the bottom edge plus the edge on the left still need to be sanded off.
I tried very hard at all times to keep the white lines between the colours straight, to give it a bit of continuity, and managed pretty well. I also made sure that all of the samples were the right way up so that you could read all of the paint names without turning upside down. If you are going to try this yourself, I recommend doing what I did - I did one section at a time (top, side etc) and laid the unit so the side i was working on was facing up - once I had mod podged the surface of the unit and laid the paint samples on, I covered it all with cling film them put lots of heavy books on top for a few hours to keep it flat.
The fiddliest parts were those small sections - the rim around the top, then the three sections above, in the middle and below the drawers. I thought it was quite apt that the very last piece I put on was called "Scottish Waltz" - it was the first time I had noticed ANY of the names on the whole piece!
I finished it off with wooden handles painted in that same yellow as my first attempt, and painted the legs in the same colour. You'll notice from the picture above that one of the drawers is still yellow on the edge, while the other is brown. Adds to the colour, don't you know! I suppose I could have done the edges too, but I was running out of samples. Also, I did the "sanding off the edges" technique as seen in my Manga Dresser, but the paint samples are way thicker than comic book pages, and some of the edges were not as neat as I would have liked, so I was just happy to get it looking like this.
I painted the handles seperately, and before I attached them, I gave the whole thing 2 coats of mod podge and 3 coats of spray varnish.
So in the end, no Super Mario tie-in, but Brodie loves it anyway!
Bedside cabinet - free
paint samples - free
yellow paint - from my stash
wooden handles - from my stash
mod podge and varnish - already counted in my total
Total cost of Paint Sample Bedside Cabinet - $0.00
Total cost of room to date - $20.98
A score for Brodie's bedroom makeover, look at this colourful bedside cabinet for ZERO addition to the bedroom total. Yes please, I'll have some of that!
Nikki x
P.S. Don't forget you can follow me of Facebook!
You can see more about Brodie's bedroom makeover below:
The Bedroom of Doom! - Before the transformation began
The Manga Dresser
Linked with:
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #39
Blue Cricket Design - Show and Tell
Someday Crafts - Whatever Goes Wednesday #105
The Trendy Treehouse - Create and Share
Free Pretty Things For You - Whatever You Want Wednesday #65
DIY by Design - Winter Blues Wednesday, It's a Party #53
My Girlish Whims - Your Whims Wednesday #47
Handy Man, Crafty Woman - Wicked Awesome Wednesday #51
The DIY Dreamer - From Dream to Reality Linky Party #4
Oopsey Daisy - Wednesday's Wowzers {8}
Tales of a Trophy Wife - Will Craft For Laughter and Grace
Seven Thirty Three - Sugar and Spice #99
House of Hepworths - Hookin Up With HoH #88
Somewhat Simple - link party
Tales From Bloggeritaville - Thrifty Thursday #149
Katie's Nesting Spot - A Crafty Soiree #78
The Shabby Creek Cottage - Transformation Thursday
Beyond The Picket Fence - Under $100 Thursday
Suzy's Artysy-Craftsy Sitcom - Commercial Break Thursday
Christina's Adventures - 20 Below Thursday #61
Between U & Me - Crazy Cute Link Party #39
Thrifty 101 - DIY Thrifty Thursday #55
The Brambleberry Cottage - Time Travel Thursday #85
What Allie's Making Now - Making it With Allie
A Glimpse Inside - Catch a Glimpse Party #68
Rhinestone Beagle - Doggone Dirty Craftin Link Party #22
Fabulously Flawed - Super Sweet Thursday #22
Crafty Scrappy Happy - Crafty Scrappy Happy Me Thursday {23}
The 36th Avenue - Party Time!
Stuff & Nonsense - Fridays Unfolded #55
Momnivore's Dilemma - Creative Juice #60
Sassy Sites! - Party in the FFA!
WhipperBerry - Friday Flair
Thirty Handmade Days - Pity Party #76
Freckled Laundry - Air Your Laundry Friday #55
The Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday
Redoux - Friday Link Up Party #44
Simply Designing - Link Party
Funky Junk Interiors - Saturday Night Special Link Party #122
Craft Envy - Saturday Spotlight #78
Be Different, Act Normal - Show And Tell Saturday
Lolly Jane Boutique - Watch Got Weekend #52
Little Becky Homecky - Fantabulous Friday #1
Flamingo Toes - Think Pink Sundays No.50
I Heart Nap Time - Sundae Scoop Link Party
Brassy Apple - Make it Monday #20
DIY Home Sweet Home - More The Merrier Monday #51
It's So Very Cheri - It's Party Time
Craft-O-Maniac - Craft-O-Maniac Monday Link Party #26
I Should Be Mopping The Floor - Mop It Up Mondays #5
Get Outta My Head Please - Show It Off Party #13
Sew Can Do - Craftastic Link Party
Blue Cricket Design - Show and Tell
Someday Crafts - Whatever Goes Wednesday #105
The Trendy Treehouse - Create and Share
Free Pretty Things For You - Whatever You Want Wednesday #65
DIY by Design - Winter Blues Wednesday, It's a Party #53
My Girlish Whims - Your Whims Wednesday #47
Handy Man, Crafty Woman - Wicked Awesome Wednesday #51
The DIY Dreamer - From Dream to Reality Linky Party #4
Oopsey Daisy - Wednesday's Wowzers {8}
Tales of a Trophy Wife - Will Craft For Laughter and Grace
Seven Thirty Three - Sugar and Spice #99
House of Hepworths - Hookin Up With HoH #88
Somewhat Simple - link party
Tales From Bloggeritaville - Thrifty Thursday #149
Katie's Nesting Spot - A Crafty Soiree #78
The Shabby Creek Cottage - Transformation Thursday
Beyond The Picket Fence - Under $100 Thursday
Suzy's Artysy-Craftsy Sitcom - Commercial Break Thursday
Christina's Adventures - 20 Below Thursday #61
Between U & Me - Crazy Cute Link Party #39
Thrifty 101 - DIY Thrifty Thursday #55
The Brambleberry Cottage - Time Travel Thursday #85
What Allie's Making Now - Making it With Allie
A Glimpse Inside - Catch a Glimpse Party #68
Rhinestone Beagle - Doggone Dirty Craftin Link Party #22
Fabulously Flawed - Super Sweet Thursday #22
Crafty Scrappy Happy - Crafty Scrappy Happy Me Thursday {23}
The 36th Avenue - Party Time!
Stuff & Nonsense - Fridays Unfolded #55
Momnivore's Dilemma - Creative Juice #60
Sassy Sites! - Party in the FFA!
WhipperBerry - Friday Flair
Thirty Handmade Days - Pity Party #76
Freckled Laundry - Air Your Laundry Friday #55
The Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday
Redoux - Friday Link Up Party #44
Simply Designing - Link Party
Funky Junk Interiors - Saturday Night Special Link Party #122
Craft Envy - Saturday Spotlight #78
Be Different, Act Normal - Show And Tell Saturday
Lolly Jane Boutique - Watch Got Weekend #52
Little Becky Homecky - Fantabulous Friday #1
Flamingo Toes - Think Pink Sundays No.50
I Heart Nap Time - Sundae Scoop Link Party
Brassy Apple - Make it Monday #20
DIY Home Sweet Home - More The Merrier Monday #51
It's So Very Cheri - It's Party Time
Craft-O-Maniac - Craft-O-Maniac Monday Link Party #26
I Should Be Mopping The Floor - Mop It Up Mondays #5
Get Outta My Head Please - Show It Off Party #13
Sew Can Do - Craftastic Link Party
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Hearts and Flowers
So, Valentines Day is upon us once again!
Valentines Day in Canada is a much bigger deal than it is in Scotland, the kids all hand out Valentines to each of their classmates every year (In Scotland, it's Christmas cards, but they don't do that here in Canada - aye well, each to their own!)
The last 3 years I am ashamed to say they have handed out piddling little shop bought cards, so this year I decided to plan ahead and get them to make their own. Here is what we came up with:
Paint sample bookmarks! The above is but a glimpse, there are a few more...
I have to point out that I take absolutely no credit for this idea - I came across a website with paint chip valentines (sorry, I can't remember where) a while ago and then did some research - there are LOADS of sites on the internet where crafty people have made all sorts of different valentines using paint samples, some of them very clever and oh so sweet. We decided (with 4 kids in the family!) to keep it simple and make bookmarks!
Some of them are downright GLAM (my daughter has discovered a love of glitter glue which I'm sure will last a lifetime!!) while others are quite minimalist - it really depended on their mood while creating.
Personally, I like the unglittered look, but hey, they are for the kids teachers, and the kids can have their say...
Lucas chose "TARDIS" blue (of course) for his teacher...
Brodie went with traditional red...
Nikki x
Valentines Day in Canada is a much bigger deal than it is in Scotland, the kids all hand out Valentines to each of their classmates every year (In Scotland, it's Christmas cards, but they don't do that here in Canada - aye well, each to their own!)
The last 3 years I am ashamed to say they have handed out piddling little shop bought cards, so this year I decided to plan ahead and get them to make their own. Here is what we came up with:
Paint sample bookmarks! The above is but a glimpse, there are a few more...
I have to point out that I take absolutely no credit for this idea - I came across a website with paint chip valentines (sorry, I can't remember where) a while ago and then did some research - there are LOADS of sites on the internet where crafty people have made all sorts of different valentines using paint samples, some of them very clever and oh so sweet. We decided (with 4 kids in the family!) to keep it simple and make bookmarks!
I broke out the hole punch, plus some other little punches (heart, flower, star), some different shaped stamps and red ink, valentine stickers, a few different glitter glues and some dollar store ribbon, and let the kids run amok.
Some of them are downright GLAM (my daughter has discovered a love of glitter glue which I'm sure will last a lifetime!!) while others are quite minimalist - it really depended on their mood while creating.
They had really great fun making these, I tried to limit them to 2 or 3 per day over the last couple of weeks so as not to make it too much of a chore, but most days when they got home from school the first thing out of their mouths (even before asking for something to eat, and THAT'S rare) was "Can we make some Valentines??"
FYI - these paint samples were collected over a few weeks and from different stores, I didn't clean any of the chain stores out of their samples. Just sayin'.
Almost as an afterthought, the day before Valentines Day, it occured to me that the teachers should have something too. I am really into using paper at the moment (see my Manga Dresser) in various ways, and I saw these really cool paper roses made from book pages at Market Nine Home, so thought I would give them a go!
I dug out an old romance novel (fitting, don't you think?) and followed the tutorial (and of course, had to add some of that GLAM glitter) and here is what I ended up with:
Lucas chose "TARDIS" blue (of course) for his teacher...
Brodie went with traditional red...
Naomi has 2 teachers who job-share, so she went with silver and pink. The pink is glitter glue while the blue, red and silver were done by painting white glue on the petals and then pouring over loose glitter. My kitchen was very sparkly!
I had some containers that we got chinese food in a while ago, and they were perfect for these flowers! We don't want them getting smooshed on the way to school...
Linked with:
Blue Cricket Design - Show and Tell
Someday Crafts - Whatever Goes Wednesday #104
Sew Much Ado - We Did It! Wednesday
Domestically Speaking link party
The Trendy Treehouse
Creations by Kara - Look What I Made link party
Free Pretty Things For You - Whatever You Want Wednesday #64
DIY By Design - Winter Blues Wednesday - It's a Party #52
My Girlish Whims - Your Whims Wednesday #46
Handy Man, Crafty Woman - Wicked Awesome Wednesday #50
House of Hepworths - Hookin Up With HoH #87
Somewhat Simple - Blog Link Party
Tales From Bloggeritaville - Thrifty Thursday #148
Katie's Nesting Spot - A Crafty Soiree #77
The Shabby Creek Cottage - Link Party
Beyond The Picket Fence - Under $100 Linky Party
Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom - Commercial Break Thursday
Between U & Me - Crazy Cute Link Party #38
Thrifty 101 - DIY Thrifty Thursday #54
The Brambleberry Cottage - Time Travel Thursday #84
Allie Makes - Making It With Allie
A Glimpse Inside - Catch A Glimpse Party #67
Fabulously Flawed - Super Sweet Thursday Par-tay!
Crafty Scrappy Happy - HUGE link party!
Someday Crafts - Whatever Goes Wednesday #104
Sew Much Ado - We Did It! Wednesday
Domestically Speaking link party
The Trendy Treehouse
Creations by Kara - Look What I Made link party
Free Pretty Things For You - Whatever You Want Wednesday #64
DIY By Design - Winter Blues Wednesday - It's a Party #52
My Girlish Whims - Your Whims Wednesday #46
Handy Man, Crafty Woman - Wicked Awesome Wednesday #50
House of Hepworths - Hookin Up With HoH #87
Somewhat Simple - Blog Link Party
Tales From Bloggeritaville - Thrifty Thursday #148
Katie's Nesting Spot - A Crafty Soiree #77
The Shabby Creek Cottage - Link Party
Beyond The Picket Fence - Under $100 Linky Party
Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom - Commercial Break Thursday
Between U & Me - Crazy Cute Link Party #38
Thrifty 101 - DIY Thrifty Thursday #54
The Brambleberry Cottage - Time Travel Thursday #84
Allie Makes - Making It With Allie
A Glimpse Inside - Catch A Glimpse Party #67
Fabulously Flawed - Super Sweet Thursday Par-tay!
Crafty Scrappy Happy - HUGE link party!
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Manga Dresser
And so, the quest begins, to make my 8 year old son Brodie's bedroom much more fun than it currently is, and honestly, that won't be hard since it is dull, dull, dull! I am trying to do this on as small a budget as possible, hopefully under $100. Is this stupidly optimistic? I guess we'll find out!
The first project I embarked upon - a Manga chest of drawers! Isn't it COOL!!?
So, here is what I started with. A chest of drawers, which was given to us about a year ago by a friend, and was being used by my son in all of its chipped, white glory.
Some paint from freecycle
and a couple of nice, thick, black and white manga comics from Value Village.
I tackled the handles first. After removing them from the drawers, I sanded and wiped them, then attached them to some cardboard so they would sit nicely without falling over during the painting process.
I cracked open that lovely freecycle paint as fully intended the paintwork on this project to be that nice, dark red. However, this is what happened when I began to paint...
Yes, it was rather pink! I don't think my son will appreciate a pink dresser in his bedroom. Also, it was very translucent - it just wasn't going to work, I think the previous owner has mixed something into it. So, I wiped it off and started again. What did I learn? When I get lovely free paint from freecycle, I may not be getting exactly what it says on the tin! I cracked open a tin of green paint, from the same freecycler, and once I had established it was just good old regular paint, I made a(nother) start!
Once the handles were set aside to dry, we started getting the rest of the parts ready - we removed the drawers, sanded the fronts and put them aside, then started on the main body - I actually attracted a helper for this part! No, this isn't Brodie, it's his older brother. If you look closely in the background, you can see part of another dresser which I previously gave a good old overhaul to!
Once the sanding was finished, we got out some flyers and tape and taped off all the parts that I didn't want to paint - namely, the top and the two side panels, then got going with the green paint again!
It took 3 coats of paint until I was happy with the coverage (no pics of that stage, sorry) - then came the fun part! Brodie and I went through the comics and randomly chose pages we liked. For about a nanosecond I considered trying to have a flowing story, but it never would have worked since every other page would be the face-down part pasted to the wood. So we just went with stuff we liked! I cracked open the mod podge, and started to paste!
The side panels are sort of self-contained/recessed a bit, I did have to trim some little edges to get a good fit. With the top, I made sure to get a nice, straight line at the front, then left the overhang at the back, but made sure to fold it over the edge to get a good fold line - hopefully the next picture will explain it better than I can.
This is the back edge of the dresser where the overhang was. Once the mod podge was dry, I took my sanding block and sanded along the edge, which shears away the excess and gives a lovely, neat line. The white you can see in this pic is the edge of the original white paint on the back on the dresser and dripping down the back a bit - the edge of the paper is really neat, honestly!
Then it was time for the drawers. I again left the pages to overlap on all 4 sides and once it was dried, sanded the edges off.
A top coat of mod podge on the drawers and the main unit (comic book pages only, not paint) to seal it all, and finally 3 thin coats of spray varnish (during the varnish stage, I put some tape over the painted edges that met the comic book pages so they would stay matt and not get all varnishy!) Finally, I reattached the handles, and voila!
Now, I have to be honest - despite much smoothing of the paper during the application stage, there are still some wrinkles here and there. But I'm not going to let this bother me. I think the finished product turned out pretty awesome.
Chest of Drawers - free
paint - free
comics - $1.99 each so $3.98 in total
flyers - free
Other items I bought for use in this project, and will use for others too as still have some left (so will add them to the running total):
tape - $1
mod podge - $10
varnish - $6
Total cost of Manga Chest of Drawers - $3.98
Total cost of room to date - $20.98
Eek - project number one is under my belt, and a fifth of the budget already blown. Not looking good for my $100 budget - I guess I have to go even cheaper on my plans!
You can see more about Brodie's bedroom makeover below:
The Bedroom of Doom! Before the transformation began...
The first project I embarked upon - a Manga chest of drawers! Isn't it COOL!!?
So, here is what I started with. A chest of drawers, which was given to us about a year ago by a friend, and was being used by my son in all of its chipped, white glory.
Some paint from freecycle
and a couple of nice, thick, black and white manga comics from Value Village.
I tackled the handles first. After removing them from the drawers, I sanded and wiped them, then attached them to some cardboard so they would sit nicely without falling over during the painting process.
I cracked open that lovely freecycle paint as fully intended the paintwork on this project to be that nice, dark red. However, this is what happened when I began to paint...
Yes, it was rather pink! I don't think my son will appreciate a pink dresser in his bedroom. Also, it was very translucent - it just wasn't going to work, I think the previous owner has mixed something into it. So, I wiped it off and started again. What did I learn? When I get lovely free paint from freecycle, I may not be getting exactly what it says on the tin! I cracked open a tin of green paint, from the same freecycler, and once I had established it was just good old regular paint, I made a(nother) start!
Once the handles were set aside to dry, we started getting the rest of the parts ready - we removed the drawers, sanded the fronts and put them aside, then started on the main body - I actually attracted a helper for this part! No, this isn't Brodie, it's his older brother. If you look closely in the background, you can see part of another dresser which I previously gave a good old overhaul to!
Once the sanding was finished, we got out some flyers and tape and taped off all the parts that I didn't want to paint - namely, the top and the two side panels, then got going with the green paint again!
It took 3 coats of paint until I was happy with the coverage (no pics of that stage, sorry) - then came the fun part! Brodie and I went through the comics and randomly chose pages we liked. For about a nanosecond I considered trying to have a flowing story, but it never would have worked since every other page would be the face-down part pasted to the wood. So we just went with stuff we liked! I cracked open the mod podge, and started to paste!
The side panels are sort of self-contained/recessed a bit, I did have to trim some little edges to get a good fit. With the top, I made sure to get a nice, straight line at the front, then left the overhang at the back, but made sure to fold it over the edge to get a good fold line - hopefully the next picture will explain it better than I can.
This is the back edge of the dresser where the overhang was. Once the mod podge was dry, I took my sanding block and sanded along the edge, which shears away the excess and gives a lovely, neat line. The white you can see in this pic is the edge of the original white paint on the back on the dresser and dripping down the back a bit - the edge of the paper is really neat, honestly!
Then it was time for the drawers. I again left the pages to overlap on all 4 sides and once it was dried, sanded the edges off.
A top coat of mod podge on the drawers and the main unit (comic book pages only, not paint) to seal it all, and finally 3 thin coats of spray varnish (during the varnish stage, I put some tape over the painted edges that met the comic book pages so they would stay matt and not get all varnishy!) Finally, I reattached the handles, and voila!
Now, I have to be honest - despite much smoothing of the paper during the application stage, there are still some wrinkles here and there. But I'm not going to let this bother me. I think the finished product turned out pretty awesome.
Chest of Drawers - free
paint - free
comics - $1.99 each so $3.98 in total
flyers - free
Other items I bought for use in this project, and will use for others too as still have some left (so will add them to the running total):
tape - $1
mod podge - $10
varnish - $6
Total cost of Manga Chest of Drawers - $3.98
Total cost of room to date - $20.98
Eek - project number one is under my belt, and a fifth of the budget already blown. Not looking good for my $100 budget - I guess I have to go even cheaper on my plans!
You can see more about Brodie's bedroom makeover below:
The Bedroom of Doom! Before the transformation began...
Linked with:
Thrifty 101 - DIY Thrifty Thursday #53
The Brambleberry Cottage - Time Travel Thursday #83
Making it With Allie
A Glimpse Inside - Catch a Glimpse Party #66
Rhinestone Beagle - Doggone Dirty Craftin Link Party
Fabulously Flawed - Super Sweet Thursday
Sassy Sites! - Free For All Friday
Whipperberry - Friday Flair
30 Handmade Days - Pity Party #74
Freckled Laundry - Air Your Laundry Friday #53
The Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday
At The Picket Fence - Inspiration Friday
The Brambleberry Cottage - Time Travel Thursday #83
Making it With Allie
A Glimpse Inside - Catch a Glimpse Party #66
Rhinestone Beagle - Doggone Dirty Craftin Link Party
Fabulously Flawed - Super Sweet Thursday
Sassy Sites! - Free For All Friday
Whipperberry - Friday Flair
30 Handmade Days - Pity Party #74
Freckled Laundry - Air Your Laundry Friday #53
The Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday
At The Picket Fence - Inspiration Friday
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