Recipe box redo

As you can probably see by the pictures of my recipe boxes (the brown, torn, sun faded ones), they're kind of hurting in the "appeal" department. I've had them forever, and they've served me well. The other day I was looking at them though, and thinking, gosh those things look ratty! I had several more in my closet being used for pictures (which I think is their original "purpose"- but since my recipe cards are bigger than the average recipe box, I went for the picture boxes), and since these are on their last legs, I took some of the ones in better shape and lightly sanded them (since the paper was glossy), and then took my trusty acrylic paint and went at them. I used crackling medium with one, and went for a "plainer" look on the second, thinking a) if the crackling doesn't go as I liked, I didn't do the work on 2 boxes for naught, and b) it's a nice 'contrast' to the crackling to have the eyes rest on. I played around with the lids, and I think I like using the crackled lid on the solid colored box... The beauty of it is that I can switch them around if it starts bugging me. I used my Cricut to cut out some red vinyl numbers for the boxes, just for whimsy. Anyhow, I didn't spend a thing- I already had the supplies that I needed right here at home, and now my kitchen is starting to look a little more coordinated with the colors. I don't know why I'm on that color combo kick right now of that aqua-ish with red... I think scrapbooking paper has inspired me. I suppose the bonus of painted things like that is that if I want to change things up, I'm not committed to those colors, I can just repaint or cover with paper....anyway, I hope you might have gotten an idea or two about changing something up without having to go out and spend money to do so...

Dollar Store Frames Revamp

I found the idea for this from I think it was Dollar Store Crafts- a site/blog, something like that. She spray painted the frames (they started out this oogly brown...) and then added neato things to be framed. I did basically the same thing, except I used my monogram acrylic stamps and stamped two Fs and an H. I then used one of my Cricut cartridges to cut out "home" "family" and "faith"- a few handy little bonuses on the cartridge. I put the vinyl on the OUTSIDE of the glass, and the stamped images on the inside. I really like how it looks... they're now on my mantle. What took the longest was having to spray a couple of coats (separately) of the spray paint on the frames. I think I need to invest in a can of spray primer. Anyhow, here's to having vision to overlook the initial "ugh" of something, and to spray paint! And to the ladies who inspired me to find these frames in the first place from the Dollar Store. :)

Is it bigger than a breadbox? No, it IS a breadbox!!

I found this breadbox in a thrift store near our house, and it was 2.99, and a lime-ish green. Not particularly shabby, but I knew it had potential. I played around with some paint- a Caribbean blue color, with some crackling and an undercoat of brown paint. I decided it was a bit too bright for me, not to mention the crackling medium was dragging in places and didn't look good. I think the problem was that the paint was too thick. So, I mixed a bottle of the blue with a bottle of white and it was a bit lighter, and then added some water to thin it down enough so I could get full coverage with one stroke of the brush across and not have the brush drag and mess up the crackling medium. On this project, I tried a different brand- Americana weathered wood crackling medium, in which you allow it to dry. I had previously used DecoArt brand crackling medium which requires you to NOT allow it to fully dry. I think I'm just getting aggravated with crackling at this point (at least on bigger projects), but I have figured out that the thickness of the paint used on the top coat can make a big diference in the success of the attempt. I haven't yet tried the spray crackling medium from Valspar- I so want to try it, but it's 6.50 a can and you need a base coat and top coat color, meaning, a little chunk of change for something you've never tried before and not sure what success you'll have with or like. The advantage of the spray would be that you don't have a brush dragging through the medium and smearing it..... Okay, I'm seriously rambling here. So after repainting/crackling the whole thing, I'm happy enough with it to put in my kitchen, but NOT for bread- I'm going to use it for my dish towels. I'm glad I changed out the knob too, those suckers are expensive though! I have a little set of wood drawers that I need to switch 3 knobs out by the time I'm done and I don't want to spend that money on them, and I need smaller knobs.. but I'm digressing again... Anyhow, I think my distressed little breadbox is a happy distressed at this point...

More Frosting Spray projects- Toothbrush holders and Q-tip jar

So just to clarify on the Frosting spray- it's the Valspar variety I used on my Mason jars, not the Betty Crocker kind for cupcakes and cookies and such . ( Just clarifying because of the mystified expression on my 8 year old's face when I said the words "frosting spray" and "glass".) Anyhow, I bought these glass containers at the Dollar Store in their craft/candle section, and I used my Cricut to cut out letters for the toothbrush holders and a pretty little design for the Q-tip holder, from vinyl. It is quite handy (but completely unnecessary), if you revisit my post on the Mason jar teacher gifts, you'll see why, and the link to the original poster of this idea- who didn't use a Cricut, or vinyl. I needed two holders for toothbrushes since we now have 2 bathrooms. I still have more plans for the Frosting spray....

Dry Erase To Do Board (In the same fashion as the Menu board)

As I was making my Menu board, I thought about how handy it would be to have a "to-do" board, to jot down my notes for what I needed to do that day. I'm always writing notes down for what I need to do on any given day, and this is so much easier (at least for around the house). So I just made a little bit smaller of a "to-do" board in the same way I made the Menu board- with a picture frame and vinyl cut outs. I really like how it's practical and looks nice on the wall with the Menu board at the same time. Are you feeling a little urge yet to make something like this? :) They're very easy... anyhow, I suppose it depends mostly on what appeals to you, but I'm enjoying (and using) my latest creations.

Loving those Mason Jars!

I found these the other day whilst ( I like that word- a little more interesting than "while" ) perusing craft blogs and some of their links to other blogs... I've been finding the neatest ideas that way! I was able to track down the original post and blog for this craft- since I don't always know where I found the pictures I save for future crafts, this is very cool. I don't want to ever take credit (or be given it for that matter) for somebody else's great idea, that is NOT cool. Okay, so I found this idea here: http://www.recapturedcharm.com/2010/05/mason-jar-tea-lights.html on a blog called Recaptured Charm. I'm going to have to spend more time perusing her blog. I showed my best friend and we both made these using apples, so we could give them as teacher gifts. We used vinyl die-cuts made with the Cricut die cutting machine, but as you will see if you check out this talented lady's tutorial at Recaptured Charm, she did not have a Cricut and still found a way around that little (in)convenience- she made her own- yep, she's just that good! While I'm at it, I'm going to give the link to my best buddy's blog too, so you can check out her cool stuff, and her take on these little gems : http://dlemmascraftsbykatherine.blogspot.com/

I used the wide mouth Mason pint jars, my buddy used the half pint wide mouth jars- which I happen to think are adorable.. gush.... :) After making these, I have become a big fan of the Frosting spray- I used Valspar brand, and found it at Lowe's home improvement store for $4.98, you can find it at Michael's too, but it was several dollars more. Anyway, check out the link, and you can see how she did it. Easy peasy. I'm thinking this technique would be fabulous with Dollar Store glass plates on the underside- think of all the possibilities. The next thing I try with this will surely get posted here :) Thanks for checking it out, I hope you got some fun ideas to try!

Menu Board (dry eraseable)

I can't remember which blog I got the idea from :( , but the original poster had printed out the days of the week in a typewriter key font and it was in a skinnier frame. They may have even painted the frame... but I digress. I went out and bought a black 12x12 inch frame, and put the rest together with scrapbooking paper and Cricut-cut letters and flourishes. I used paper for the "menu" and flourishes next to it, and vinyl for the days of the week. It's very basic. I even cheated a little and because I wanted ribbon hanging it, I used the hanger at the back of the frame and hung it that way, and used glue dots to stick the ribbon on the back, making it look like it's hung by the ribbon, when it's not. Since I didn't stick anything to the frame on itself, I can change the paper out and redo it in different colors/themes. I want to play around with more frames for a to-do list or something like that. I'm seeing a lot of frames being used in 'blog-land' and it's making me itch to play around with some. All I need now is a dry erase pen, and I can write the meals I plan out for each day (eliminating paper notes all around). I realize some people already just use a dry erase board on their refrigerator or wall, but I like this version too... and I'm glad I got to "play", after the move recently, I needed some craft therapy!