Advent Calendar 2012

Every year after Christmas I carefully take down and store our advent calendar because I always plan on using it the following year.

And at the beginning of the next Christmas season I make a new advent calendar.

I can help it.  I'm a compulsive crafter.  

(You can see our 2010 calendar here and our 2011 calendar here.)

This year I wanted to use the silhouette.  

And chicken wire.

And old fencing.  

This is what we celebrated with this year.

Each tag is actually a pocket which held our daily activity.   

The pockets have a front piece and a back piece that were sewn together.  (Did I mention that I also wanted to use my sewing machine?)  

 We used ribbon and twine to tie the tags to the chicken wire.

 I made the frame with some old fencing and staples.

Definitely my favorite yet.  This may actually be fantastic enough to ward off my craft addiction and need to reinvent the advent calendar next December.  Perhaps I could pour the effort into homemade stockings... or a tree skirt... or ... hmm...

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P.S. I have already uncovered my Valentine's Countdown Calendar already.  Come on February!

DIY: Chalkboard Wall Calendar

It has been a long time coming and seeing this project completed is a dream.

One huge blank wall.

Two hours and two rolls of painters tape.

Three coats of chalkboard paint.

A think it is a great way to start the new year.  Organized.

Here are a few more pictures of the process...

Just took the tape off.

Priming.

Goodwill Desk - Polka Dot

On a donation trip to Goodwill a couple summers ago, this ugly little desk caught my eye...

A small investment later it was in the back of my van and settled into a dark corner of my crowded garage.

Fast forward to this spring...

Supplies for summer projects have come earlier than expected and every inch of space possible is needed.  So let's get this desk out of the garage and into the driveway for another refinishing job.

I find lots of inspiration for paint color and design pieces on this site.  While I love the paint color for the body of the desk, a great mix of blue/grey/black, (the same color from the first piece I did) the desk felt way too serious for me.  I wanted something a bit more playful.  Then I found this piece and felt it fit.

I traced a plastic cup for the circles and then free hand painted.  Distressed sanding and a coat of stain... (I really want to start using paste wax, just need to research more about it!)

It's perfect.  I know I say this every time I finish a piece, but I think this might be my favorite.  I originally had pictured this for my son,  Then I recanted and gave it to myself to replace the decopage bookshelf I've been blogging out of.  Brought it in, transferred stacks of paper, pens, cords, magazines, clipboards, electronics and such.  Took a bunch of pictures.  Tried to admire it...

Hmmm... looks weird.  Still love it, just not here.  And a quick tour around my place tells me I need to stop holding onto pieces I fall in love with after refinishing.  Yes.  This will be my first heart break.  My first loss.  He must go...

Any takers?

Paper Wreath

I picked up an interesting book a couple weeks ago.  As you know, I love books.  To read, yes, but also as craft inspiration.  This naval book full of equations, charts and other math stuff needed to be on my walls.  What can I say?  This house like math.

A couple of Christmas' ago, I made this book wreath.  I also made Lauren a larger one.  Staring at a bare wall (ha! most of my walls are still bare...) I knew I wanted a big paper wreath too.   

Start with a light cardboard circle.  I'm sure you have at least one empty cereal box in your recycling.  Grab it.  Trace a dinner plate for a large wreath and a salad plate for the little one.  Or do both!  Cut a hole in the middle.

Cut a six inches of twine and make a loop.  Glue it to your cardboard circle.  

Add more glue and top it with a small section of more cardboard.

Cut or tear pages from the book.  These were coming out ragged when torn so I trimmed them with a blade and a straight edge. 

For the large wreath you need both full pages and half pages.  For the small wreath, only the half pages.   Based on my dinner plate, I needed about 30 of each.

Begin rolling in the bottom corner.   

It doesn't matter how tight or loose you roll.  In fact you need some of each and even in between to make your wreath worth.  Plus the variety adds interest.  

When you get to the other corner, add a drop of hot glue then continue rolling.  This is my little way not to burn my finger over and over again.  Hold it there on the table just for a second to allow the glue to cool.

Do the same with the half sheets of paper.  And now you have a collection of paper cones, all different sizes.

Starting with the large cones for the large wreath, glue to the cardboard circle.  I like to work in quarters to make sure they are straight.  Vary the placement of the paper cones so they aren't perfectly straight in the middle.

Secure a few, then jump ahead and glue.  Now fill the space.

Even if the space is small, you can wiggle a cone into the spot.  

There will be gaps.  (If you are making the small wreath gently separate cones and add a drop of hot glue then press with the palm of your hand.  Doing this will minimize gaps.  Or you could just leave them...Depends on the look you are going for.)

Space the smaller cones over the large ones.  No rhyme or reason for placement here.  After you like the placement of all the smaller cones, begin gluing.  This is your chance to hide some of the gaps between the larger cones.

Again, vary the placement of the smaller cones, allowing some to reach over the outer edges.  After all the cones are connected, gently pull apart at seams and add a dot of hot glue.  

My finished large wreath...

... and for now my favorite wall in the house.

This paper wreath took me all of one hour to complete, start to finish.  If I could give this up it would make a great housewarming gift.  How about using old street maps or encyclopedias?   Dilapidated children's picture books, dictionaries...  Or maybe I'll make a bunch of them all different sizes to fill a huge empty wall space.  Really, so many possibilities.  I think I'll have to make another.

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After a long summer dedicated to our families and gardens we are back to blogging. Joining up again with the lovely Farm Friend Fridays at Verde Farms. If you are stopping by for the first time welcome! There is a lot to see. If you are an returning friend we have missed you after our long hot summer and would love to catch up. Happy Weekend!

More furniture ... Before and After

I have been dreading the start back to school.  Ugh!  Early mornings.  Fighting with the boys over breakfast.   Dealing with tired kids in the afternoon.  And entertaining the girls all by myself.  Could the summer months have already passed?  Did this used to be my life?  

And then the first day,

 and week...

But what's this?  The house?  Spotless and orderly.  The girls?  Perfectly polite and interacting with each other happily.  The boys get up and ready basically by themselves.  The girls wake after they are well on their way to school and we settle into slow, quite days.  

So I have had some time to do fun things like have tea parties, lounge with the girls in my big white bed and tackle some of the furniture in the garage.  You already saw victim number one.  Here is number two.

The top isn't even real wood and did not cooperate when sanding.  Originally I wanted the top to be dark stained wood but that was out of the question.

So after two coats of off white paint I had this...

And after distressing and a coat of brown stain, I now have this...

The bottom handles were on the original.  The top four were pulled off some other furniture.  They were gold (of course) so I spray painted them with some cream paint and when they were dry I rubbed them with stain too.  Ahhh... much better!  

I adore how painting, distressing and staining reveal details that were lost on the original finish.  These little squares cut out under the top were completely invisible when it was just boring brown but now its a great eye-catching detail.

But again with the garage finish?  Let me see if I can fix that...

This  painted dresser finds a new home in a small odd spot in the corner of the living room that was until recently occupied by multiple pairs and sizes of mud boots.  Yes, mud boots in the living room.  I think this looks much better.

Hope I can keep it up with the furniture painting and get the garage empty enough to park our vehicles in it before the snow comes.  My mind is busy matching pieces and paint colors.  It is keeping me up at night and waking me in the morning.  I think that is a good thing, don't you? 

Baby Dresser / Party Pics

When my friend Heather found out she was just barely pregnant she immediately requested that my gift to her be a refinished dresser. Goodness does she know me. I have a basement with half empty paint cans and a garage full of quality wood furniture that simply needed attention. She peered into the packed room and pointed to this little treasure.

Well it wasn't exactly a treasure in that state. Maybe it takes a mother's eye to appreciate that kind of beauty and potential. Yellow greasy finish and sticker residue? I saw through that...

I sanded it to the bare wood and covered it with two coats of a dark blue grey.

While this would be super for a baby bachelor pad, the coastal blues and sea greens she wanted in her nursery would not mesh well with this dark dresser. Back to the basement to mix some paint.

After a thin coat of a light blue grey, I sanded some of the top coat off to reveal the dark underneath. Then I applied stain in a mahogany satin with a foam brush, let it sit a minute and then rubbed it off with a clean towel. The look?

Much better. A quick coat of black flat spray paint on the bronze hardware and the transition was complete. Yes, I lightly sanded the hardware after painting too.

I wrestled a lot with the colors and finish of this piece. Overall I love the look. Its cool blues is a great pop of color for a neutral nursery but the shade and style can grow with the child.

Ahem... Please ignore the lawn mower, kite, saw horses, bike trailer, random rusty items and other dilapidated furniture in the background of these pictures.  Is this the best ta-da I can do?  If I ever plan on selling anything ever I need to learn to stage better.  

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I'm finally going to do it!

Post pictures from a party that I made something for... I know, you are shocked.  Don't worry, I'm sure I'll get around to posting pictures I promised from summer parties during the frigid and dark winter months when all I have to to is sit inside and stare at this computer screen.  Sigh. 

Just last week I posted a bunch of things I was putting together for a very special baby shower for a very special friend and her very special sister.  Yep, a double shower.  Two sisters due just days apart.   Here are a few pics from the occasion...

big sister


little sister

It was such a simple beautiful shower.  There was so much love and support for the girls.  So glad I could be a part of it.  Those are some lucky kids!